Together For The Gospel Talks

Here are a few videos below telling us what to expect at the upcoming T4G Conference.

T4G Talk #1 – Mark Dever on CJ Mahaney from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

T4G Talk #2 from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

T4G Talk #3 from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

T4G Talk #4 from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

How Bad Does Man Need Salvation?

“The magnitude of his sin is also the measure of his need of salvation.  The wonder of God’s saving purpose lies int eh fact that he longs more than we imagine to restore what has been lost.  But the old creation must pass away, and a new one be established; what was lost in Adam must be restored in Christ if there is to be any hope of sharing the glory of God from which we have fallen.”

Sinclair Ferguson, The Christian Life, p.13

Feb. 7, 2010 AM

Sunday Morning Sermon – Exodus 8:20-32

The Image of God

“The ‘image of God’ probably means that God originally made man to reflect his holy character and his position as bearing rightful rule over all his creation.  In that respect he is like God.  It is an amazing thing to think of man set in the world in order to be God’s personal representative upon the earth.”  Sinclair Ferguson, The Christian Life, p.12

Father…

“This one-word prayer, Father, is uniquely Jesus’ prayer.  His first recorded sentence at age twelve is about his father:  “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  (Luke 2:49).  Abba is the first word the prodigal son utters when he returned home.  It is the first word of the Lord’s Prayer, and it is the first word Jesus prays in Gethsemane.  It is the first word on the cross–”Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34) –and one of his last — “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit?”  (Luke 23:46)….You don’t need self-discipline to pray continuously; you just need to be poor in spirit.”

A Praying Life, p.  65

Rejecting Efficiency, And Choosing Love

“Theoretically, Jesus could have concentrated on his Father while he healed people.  He could have used his deity to protect himself from the slowness and inefficiency of life.  When the bleeding woman interrupts him on the way to Jairus’s house, Jesus could have healed her without stopping to connect with her as a person (see Luke 8:40-48).  But he doesn’t.  When he rejects Satan’s temptation to turn the stone into bread, he rejects efficiency and chooses love (see Matthew 4:1-4).  So, as a fully human being, he needs to get away to pray.”  A Praying Life, p.46

32 Hours: The Church In Haiti

A Kingdom Kind Of Prayer

“God would much rather deal with the real thing.  Jesus said that he came for sinners, for messed-up people who keep messing up (see Luke 15:1-2).  Come dirty.  The point of the gospel is that we are incapable of beginning with God and His kingdom.  Many Christians pray mechanically for God’s kingdom (for missionaries, the church, and so on), but all the while their lives are wrapped up in their own kingdoms.  You can’t add God’s kingdom as an overlay to  your own.”  A Praying Life, p. 34

What is a praying life?

“A praying life isn’t simply a morning prayer time; it is about slipping into prayer at odd hours of the day, not because we are disciplined but because we are in touch with our own poverty of spirit, realizing that we can’t even walk through a mall or our neighborhood without the help of the Spirit of Jesus.”

A Praying Life, p.68

A-maze-ment

“The word amazement is related to the word maze, and its root meaning has to do with being perplexed and bewildered.  But when you tell non-Christians, “God loves you,” they aren’t surprised, they aren’t perplexed, they aren’t stunned.  Regrettably, the same is true among most evangelicals, who simply assume this gracious disposition of God–and therefore presume upon it.  And we’ll continue to do this until we learn to see our condition more fully from God’s perspective.”  C.J. Mahaney, Living The Cross Centered Life, p. 61

I think the lack of amazement in the so called church is an indication that the so called church is not as Christian as they think they are.  Remember a previous quote, I cited on this blog:

“I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight.  Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry.” (D.A. Carson, quoted in Living The Cross Centered Life, by C.J. Mahaney, p.16)

Jan 31, 2010 AM

Sunday Morning Sermon – Exodus 8:16-19

The Heart Of The Gospel And Its Persuasiveness

“The cross is the heart of the gospel; it makes the gospel good news.  Christ died for us; He has stood in our place before God’s judgment seat;  He has borne our sins.  God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves.  But God does something to us as well as for us through the cross.  He persuades us that He loves us.”  C.J. Mahaney, Living The Cross Centered Life, p. 17

The above quote helps me to think further, that the Gospel is the best apologetic or persuader.  When someone is having a hard time believing, the Cross is the only powerful means to bring that person to faith.  Yet, at that moment, when the person looks on the message of the Cross, it will either indicate they are being saved, or perishing.

The Goodness Of God In A Snow Storm: The Testimony Of C.H. Spurgeon

An Excerpt of C.H. Spurgeon’s testimony of conversion

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache. The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man,* a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed; but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was,—

“LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.”
He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus—”My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pains. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just, ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Ay!” said he, in broad Essex, “many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some on ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’”
Then the good man followed up his text in this way:—”Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin’ at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!
When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, “and you always will be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death,—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.” Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live.” I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said,—I did not take much notice of it,—I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, “Trust Christ, and you shall be saved.” Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now I can say,—

“Ever since by faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die.”

I do from my soul confess that I never was satisfied till I came to Christ; when was yet a child, I had far more wretchedness than ever I have now; I will even add, more weariness, more care, more heart-ache than I know at this day. I may be singular in this confession, but I make it, and know it to be the truth. Since that dear hour when my soul cast itself on Jesus, I have found solid joy and peace; but before that, all those supposed gaieties of early youth, all the imagined ease and joy of boyhood, were but vanity and vexation of spirit to me. . That happy day, when I found the Saviour, and learned to cling to His dear feet, was a day never to be forgotten by me. An obscure child, unknown, unheard of, I listened to the Word of God; and that precious text led me to the cross of Christ. I can testify that the joy of that day was utterly indescribable. I could have leaped, I could have danced; there was no expression, however fanatical, which would have been out of keeping with the joy of my spirit at that hour. Many days of Christian experience have passed since then, but there has never been one which has had the full exhilaration, the sparkling delight which that first day had. I thought I could have sprung from the seat on which I sat, and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren who were present, “I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A sinner saved by blood! “My spirit saw its chains broken to pieces, I felt that I was an emancipated soul, an heir of Heaven, a forgiven one, accepted in Christ Jesus, plucked out of the miry clay and out of the horrible pit, with my feet set upon a rock, and my goings established. I thought I could dance all the way home. I could understand what John Bunyan meant, when he declared he wanted to tell the crows on the ploughed land all about his conversion. He was too full to hold, he felt he must tell somebody.

It is not everyone who can remember the very day and hour of his, deliverance; but, as Richard Knill said, “At such a time of the day, clang went every harp in Heaven, for Richard Knill was born again,” it was e’en so with me.** The clock of mercy struck in Heaven the hour and moment of my emancipation, for the time had come. Between half-past ten o’clock, when I entered that chapel, and half-past twelve o’clock, when I was back again at home, what a change had taken place in me! I had passed from darkness into marvellous light, from death to life. Simply by looking to Jesus, I had been delivered from despair, and I was brought into such a joyous state of mind that, when they saw me at home, they said to me, “Something wonderful has happened to you;” and I was eager to tell them all about it.

Christians Are Not Supposed To Look Like Roller Coasters

“Knowing and wholeheartedly believing the truth will always bring you in time, to a trustworthy experience of truth.  But if you trust in feelings, first and foremost, if you exalt your feelings, if you invest your feelings with final authority–they’ll deposit you on the emotional roller coaster which so often characterizes our lives.”  C.J. Mahaney, Living The Cross Centered Life, p.36

Christians Are Not Supposed To Look Like Roller Coasters, They Are Supposed To Look Like Jesus.

But, I feel like…

Most people base their lives on what they feel or believe, though their feelings and beliefs are not biblically true.  I add “believe” in here because, many people believe what defines them is their job, their church, their family, etc.  This type of belief is enslaving to the wrong master.

If we are to be free, it is freedom by what Jesus has done to unglue the cohesion the devil has had on our lives, and to destroy the works of Satan that have bound us not to believe in Jesus and His Cross.

False belief is only a religious veneer for a really sad sinner.  Deep inside the religious person who is defined, not by Jesus, not by His work, but by their own work and their own person, is deep sadness and wretchedness.

We wander why we feel so depressed, and the answer is right in us–we are lousy saviors.  Joy is not in us.  And therefore we wander as well, why we don’t evangelize or praise God with open lips, and the answer is:  We don’t have the joy of God’s salvation (see Psalm 51).  We are still in ourselves and into our sin, instead of into God and into His Son.

Perhaps we just are off track, but probably not.  Most people that think they just came back to God, probably just came to God for the first time.  Because you cannot possibly be unchanged by someone so big; just like you would not be able to convince anyone that you were ran over by a logging truck, and did not have a scrape on you.  It is impossible to encounter God who is immeasurably large and powerful, and not be changed–No matter how you feel about it, or what you believe, that is a fact.

How Great Is Our God! (40min. Video)

We played this video during our Wed. night service, ignore the ads on this version, it is the best I could find online. If you find a video without ads please let me know.

Have You Moved On? Stop.

“Too many of us have moved on from that glorious plan.  In our never-ending desire to move forward and make sure that everything we think, say, and do is relevant to modern living, too many of us have stopped concentrating on the wonders of Jesus crucified.” (this quote and below from Living The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney, p. 18)

Signs that you have:

• You often lack joy.
• Your not constantly growing in spiritual maturity.
• Your love for God lacks passion.
• Your always looking for some new technique, some “new truth” or new experience to pull all the pieces of your faith together.

What Defines You?

“What is it that defines you?  Is it your career?  A relationship?  Maybe it’s your family, or your ministry.  It could be some cause or movement, or some political affiliation.  Or perhaps your main thing is a hobby or a talent you have, or even your house and possessions.”  C.J. Mahaney, Living The Cross Centered Life p.13-14

This is a real dilema for every person, in my estimation.  I have experienced the failure of defining myself by the wrong things, and often slip back into the trap of doing it again.  The most fatalistic mistake was defining myself by my ministry, then my ministry was gone.  My identity was wrapped up in what I did, instead of who I was in Christ.

At CLBC we  believe in the Gospel as taught in the Holy Bible, summarized as follows:

The good news that Jesus Christ has removed the obstacles of our sin and God’s wrath, through His death, burial, and resurrection, so we may have fellowship with God, by faith, forever.  Furthermore, the good news of Jesus Christ, includes the eschatological restoration of all things, everywhere, at their proper time, and to their proper state, for God’s eternal glory and praise, and man’s eternal joy in God.  Thus, the true and total Gospel may be distinguished by Its being planned by God the Father, being historically accomplished by God the Son, being freely offered to the world, being applied by the faith of those whom God has freely chosen, and Its goal to bring people gladly to God, in a new heavens and new earth, no longer subject to the futility of sin, but subject to God, and reigning with Christ, eternally.

The Gospel is what defines us, individually, and as a group.  And the center of the Gospel is the Cross.

The quote that began this posting, Living The Cross Centered Life, contains much helpful material on the most important thing, that is assumed and overlooked, which we daily need to be reminded of–The Truth of the Cross!

D.A. Carson says, “I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight.  Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry.” (Ibid, p.16)

That is what I think defining myself by my ministry was, idolatry.  I was worshiping myself and the work of my hands–it is a sin to do such a thing and it is futile and devastating to one’s life–so don’t go there, and if you are there, get out quickly!

The message of the Cross is near, Jesus died for your sins–this truth defines us as children of God, if we believe it.  Anything less than trust in the message of the Cross is trust in yourself or someone or something else, and is idolatry.  You will truly be showing that it is what you do or what something else does that is saving you, but it is not, neither are you, the Savior–Jesus is.

Everything, everyone, including you, make a lousy savior, because we degenerate and die.  If we want to last, we must put our confidence in the message of the Cross which makes us children of God, according to God’s gracious will.

If you are reading this and find your identity in your job, your family, your home, church, ministry, etc.  Stop and think about what Jesus did on the Cross to define you as His child.   Jesus said to rejoice, not in that the demons are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven.  What defines you, is not what you do, but who you are in Christ, because of His Cross, please don’ t neglect the substance of your hope and joy.  God’s grace be upon all who believe.

Finding Fresh Oil

The following are key quotes from today’s broadcast by Reviving Our Hearts on the subject of Finding Fresh Oil:

* The passion of God has got to first fill us before we can expect to proclaim it with power.
* We can’t expect people to be stirred by truth any more deeply than it has stirred our own hearts.
* The world and the church do not need to see what we can do. They’ve seen what we can do. They need to see what only God can do.

Jan. 24,2010 AM

Sunday Morning Sermon – Psalm 51

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