Tag Theology

Seek The Things That Are Above – Sermon Notes

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One of my goals or resolutions for this year is to learn about God and His Word daily. My thought process is if I can spend a daily average of 4 hours on social media, collectively then I have no excuse to not spend time in things that matter – like studying His Word or furthering His Kingdom.

Here are my notes on a powerful sermon given by John Piper on December 29, 2019. This is an excellent sermon to start the New Year.  It is about 45 minutes long.

Colossians 3: 1-4 This verse reveals an unbelievable reality. We will not believe what is here in this verse without the Holy Spirit in your mind.
There are 5 realities in this passage:
1. Reality of God – This is the most foundational. We see this also in Col. 1:14, 2:14
2. Christ is seated at the right hand of God
– Christ is seated
– He was once dead and is now alive. Col. 2:12
– There are 3 positional things told about Christ:
1. He is above – meaning He is above all and all things are under Him
2. He is at the right hand of God – This is a place of honor and authority. He is not below or above God. He is acting as God. Col. 1:15-19; Rom. 8:34
3. He is seated – Finished Heb. 1:23
3. As a Believer in Christ my death is behind me
– My life is hidden from the world. Even from me. What I see in the mirror is not my life. Verse 3 – I have died, so the worst is behind me. verse 4 – I have been raised                     – Quote – “The resurrection that awaits is as sure as the one you have already experienced”
          – Col.2:12 – We have passed from death unto life. I John 3:4
– Quote – “The most horrible experience is behind you. Your most glorious one awaits you. “
          – My death is over. The worst is behind me. My life is hidden. My glory is hidden. The true me is hidden.
– Quote “May God grant you to see that what you can’t see is more real and precious than all that you can.”
 4. Christ is going to appear. Verse 4
– Christ is here now in this world. Totally in charge. He’s reigning over the world now. He is also hiddena nd it will not always be so. Titus 2:13 – He is coming
5. My hiddenness will also be over as well. Verse 4
– We will appear with Him in glory. We are invisible right now. The true me is invisible, but will be manifested.

I must be shaped in my mind, attitude and in my longings. Have my mind shaped by these 5 realities. Not by TV, social media or other things. Let this shape how I see the world. How I feel about the world. Let it shape my perspective. Let it shape everything. How do I do this shaping? By seeking. Seek the things that are above. That’s the pathway to the mindset, to the shaping. No one gains the mindset of heaven passively. Seek, treasure, look, find. All these are not passive words. You seek it, or you don’t have it.

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mirrorWhat an excellent sermon. I was so inspired by this reality. I just loved how my true self hasn’t been revealed yet! My true self doesn’t have the baggage of all my sins and dispositions. I am still hidden. When I look at myself in the mirror, I am really not seeing myself! I can just meditate on that for so long! What truth! What hope! The quotes included in the notes are so encouraging! Also, the part that encourages me that the worst is already behind me because the worst time in my life was when I was not saved! This is so encouraging, that no matter what pain may come, the worse is already behind. Praise the Lord. This new year, it is my hope that I seek Him with all my heart and await to meet my true myself!

 

The Forgotten Trinity – Book Review

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I know that I know nothing!trinty

The Trinity – what a beautiful doctrine, but such a difficult concept! In my ignorance to try and comprehend such a complex truth, I have fallen in and out of heresy. This make me thankful for His grace and gives a deeper appreciation for the profound vastness and mystery of our Creator. I will never completely know Him, but I can know Him.

This book was magnificent and just revealed to me just how much I do not know. That is our God – knowable but also not. This book helped clear out a lot of questions that regularly pop up for me regarding the Trinity. It strengthened my trust in His Word. Mr. White gives plenty of verses in Scripture to make his points and explain as best as humanly possible who the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are. This book also elevated God to another level for me. It made Him bigger somehow. I couldn’t help but just marvel at how awesome (in the old definition of the word kinda way) God is. Full of awe!

All examples previously given to try to explain the Trinity like the egg, or the different states of water fall short of describing His true essence. Nothing on earth can describe Him and frankly, we lack the intelligence to fully understand it. And that is okay! He wouldn’t be God if we could completely understand him. God said in Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

The book is a bit academic, but what else would you expect from a book written by James White.  I truly appreciate men like him who devote themselves to reading and researching such deep truths and helping the layman discern such beautiful things. Mr. White has a YouTube channel where he discusses different Biblical topics. You can buy the book here. The book is 224.

The truths in this book bring the Believer to a deeper worship of such an intimidating God.  I leave you with this description of our Lord:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.  Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.  Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.  – Deut. 10:12-16

Hole In Our Holiness

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I believe many Americans, including myself, have a mindset that holiness is basically the quick killing of any joy or anything fun. It is a long list of “don’ts” and I was prepared to feel awful and shameful after reading this book. I didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, there were times throughout the book that I did feel conviction, but shouldn’t I, if I have loved something that God hates? But overall, the book was truly encouraging. It was though-provoking and Mr. DeYoung poured out Scripture after Scripture and the Word of God did what it does best: it cut me the way a surgeon cuts – to heal, not to hurt.

I was relieved so many times, as I read, that I am not alone in my feelings with my faith. In page 75 Mr. DeYoung writes: “Some Christians are prone to go on lengthy idol hunts and can’t feel good unless they feel bad about something.” This spoke to me so strongly. Holiness is not about feeling bad all the time, it is more about finding joy in the things that God finds joy in. And when we do that, other things really grow dim.

I also appreciated that Mr. DeYoung does allow for the ranking of sin. Clearly, there is a difference between the saint who struggles with lust and doesn’t act on his thoughts and the saint who struggles with lust and then continually commits the actual act of adultery. One saint is more holy than the other, and there is nothing wrong with seeing the difference. One of these saints is more pleasing to God because he is practicing holiness. Mr. DeYoung plainly states that we can please God with our behavior. As many other Christians, I am so quick to cheapen any good deed of mine as a pile of heaping hot dung as I quote Isaiah, but Mr. DeYoung gives a good rebuttal to that type of thinking. In page 69 he writes “We need the imputed righteousness of Christ. More than that, we cannot produce any righteousness in our own strength. But as born-again believers, it is possible to please God by his grace. Those who bear fruit in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God are fully pleasing to God. (Col. 1:10)” This tells me that there is nothing wrong with trying to please God and to strive to bring my Father pleasure as I work out my sanctification muscles. Let me quote the verse I mention above: “. . .  so that I may please HIM in every way”.

But Mr. DeYoung also warns for those who fail in their walk: “But God does not expect our good works to be flawless in order for them to be good. If God only accepted perfect obedience from His children, the Bible would have nothing good to say about Job or David or Elizabeth or anyone else except for Jesus.” This gives me hope. Yes, I am going to fail in my pursuit of holiness. But, yes, I am going to get up again using the cross to help me up. In page 105 he writes: “Sin may get in some good jabs. It may clean your clock once in a while. It may bring you to your knees. But if you are in Christ, it will never knock you out. You are no longer a slave, but free. Sin has no dominion over you.”

This book did challenge me and pointed out some areas that I need to work on. But it was full of grace and the Gospel.

I do recommend this book to any Christian wanting to grow in holiness, which should be all of us, because all of us need help in this area. This would be a great book to use for a discipleship class. There are study guide questions in the back of the book for each chapter. The book is about 147 pages long. You can buy the book here.

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Disciplines

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boxer

Spiritual Disciplines For the Christian Life by Donald Whitney

Self-control, persistence, long-suffering, restraint all these words and others are words that sometimes feel foreign to me. I cherish my freedom in Christ. I appreciate the 1st amendment that allows me to express myself and not be silenced. I truly revere how Jesus compacted all the law and prophets into two commands. I love simplicity. I love fun. I hate discipline. And because of the erroneous fear of barriers and structure, this book was a necessary read. I was so mistaken on what freedom really is and Mr. Donald Whitney uses great illustrations to maximize what he is trying to say in order to help the Believer understand just what truly is freedom. He explains it best at the end of the book when he quotes John Guest:

           “Discipline” has become a dirty word in our culture . . . I know I am speaking heresy in many circles, but spontaneity is greatly overhauled. The “spontaneous” person who shrugs off the need for discipline is like the farmer who went out to gather the eggs. As he walked across the farmyard toward the hen house, he noticed the pump was leaking. So he stopped to fix it. It needed a new washer, so he set off to the barn to get one. But on the way he saw that the hayloft needed straightening, so he went to fetch the pitchfork . Hanging next to the pitchfork was a broken handle. “I must make a note to myself to buy a broom handle the next time I get to town,” he thought . . .
By now it is clear that the farmer is not going to get his eggs gathered, nor is he likely to accomplish anything else he sets out to do. He is utterly, gloriously spontaneous, but he is hardly free. He is, if anything, a prisoner to his unbridled spontaneity.
The fact of the matter is that discipline is the only way to freedom; it is necessary context for spontaneity.

Whitney then elaborates and says: “I have several friends who can improvise beautiful melodies on a keyboard or a guitar. But the only reason they can play so “spontaneously” is because they have spent years in the disciplines of playing musical scales and other fundamental exercises. . . . if you desire effective spontaneity in the Christian life, it must be the fruit of a spiritually disciplined faith.

This lit a light bulb for me that shone so brightly that it knocked me off my know-it-all horse! I knew about the importance of prayer and Bible reading, but didn’t see that the more I did it, the more freedom I experienced in those areas. Mr. Whitney covers 10 areas of discipline for the Believer:

Bible Intake
Prayer
Worship
Evangelism
Serving
Stewardship
Fasting
Silence and Solitude
Journaling
Learning

All of these chapters were so beneficial to me and I will be implementing – very slowly – some of Mr. Whitney’s Biblical suggestions because I want that kind of freedom. True freedom!

I recommend this book to all Believers. It is not the law or a to do list, it is a heightening of the pleasures of the Christian to a new level that comes with discipline. There is so much to gain by reading this book.

 

 

 

Remember – Poem

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worship

I wrote this poem a couple of days ago. It has been a long time since I have taken the time to express myself this way.  These are sins I struggle with it, and may it be understood that these are not the only ones, but the biggest ones at the moment. There are many of our past brothers and sisters who have insisted that the Christian ought to be preaching the Gospel to themselves. And this is what this poem is about. The salvation of a believer is a mysterious and beautiful thing that we should never tire of. It should shake our very core that God chose to save us and lead us into a gladness unheard of. I hope this poem encourages you and reminds you that when in any doubt regarding your faith, always go back to Gospel and the miracle of  our salvation. Blessings.

 

Remember

There are days when I am too busy to open up and read Your word.

When I don’t want to hear from you because it all seems absurd.

I become haughty, full of myself and full of pride;

Forgetting of my Savior of who for me He died.

When I lose my way like this, Oh Lord, let there be no hesitation;

May I remember, always remember Your meritless salvation.

 

There are moments when my familiar sin has lead me into darkness.

The temporary pleasure I seemed to have wanted keeps me in a harness.

I then hate myself for my weakness and for my lack of volition.

I want to hide and let no one see my disgraceful condition.

When I am hidden because of the shame of my instant gratification;

May I remember, always remember, the grace of Your salvation.

 

Some days I am tired and the sadness overtakes my mind.

I think of better days, of how things used to be, of what I’ve left behind.

I seem to have forgotten how to laugh and the tears never stop to flow.

I feel so all alone, and it seems that no one cares or even knows.

When everywhere is better except for where I am in my habitation;

May I remember, always remember the joy of Your salvation.

 

There are times when I feel so lost and it feels I have lost my way.

Am I even saved, how could You want me, have I been lead astray?

The desire to pray, the desire to serve, and even the desire to worship is distant.

I worry about Your anger, am full of despair and the fear of Your fury is constant.

When I am afraid of Your wrath and all I seem to see is my own contamination,

May I remember, always remember the peace of Your salvation.

 

For You ask me to remember, always remember the things that You have done;

For only those things are worthy and were fulfilled in Your Son.

May I never forget that You saved a wretch like me.

That I did nothing for my salvation and was for a long time Your enemy.

I do not know why You redeemed me, I may never comprehend

That You sought me and have promised to preserve me until the very end.

May I remember, always remember the miracle of Your salvation

Even when the enemy bombards me with his manipulation.

For he is the father of lies and You are the Truth and the Light;

Give me strength to remember those things and continue the fight.

 

I will be crushed and bruised, but I will never be broken.

This is all true, for Your word of this has spoken.

That You will sustain me and nothing can snatch me from the palm of Your hand,

And not one will You lose to hell, this I have to understand.

“I am saved, I am saved, I am saved” may this be my anthem and song!

May I remember this when I have done so much wrong.

So, when I am prone to wander, or in any other ugly situation

May remember, always remember the beauty of Your salvation.

 

 

 

Written by Anna Tobey

What is the Gospel? – Book Review

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The Gospel has been proclaimed for over 2000 years and still we get it wrong sometimes. The author, Greg Gilbert, does a great job in this little book to describe exactly what the Gospel is and what it isn’t. He uses great examples and analogies to further describe exactly what he is trying to say. I read the book in three sittings and highlighted a bunch of great quotes from the book.

This book also included several stories in the Bible I wasn’t very familiar with. I was grateful for this. This just proved even more to me that the Bible is so profound that we will never truly know everything about it.

Here is a quote in the book that I just loved:

You see, nobody wants a God who declines to deal with evil. They just want a God who declines to deal with their evil.

This is just so true. Above all, I think hypocrisy is the sin that kills the church’s effectiveness the quickest. Mr. Gilbert has a whole chapter dedicated to this. As Christians saved by the work of the cross through no merit of our own, we should the least hypocritical.

I recommend this book to the Christian who loves the Gospel and still gets excited to hear about how Jesus saves. I also would recommend this book to a non-believer who is open to understanding why exactly Christianity is so different than other religions.

The book is not expensive at all and you can buy this book here.