More on Memorizing and Meditating

(If you still need the study for this week it is directly below this post)

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Psalm 119:97

Charles Spurgeon once said, "It is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you."

On memorization Dallas Willard writes,
"Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our mind with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. Thats where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization."

John Piper wrote in his book "When I Don't Desire God" that memorization "offers us all day the immediate beauty of Christ in his Word, and it offers us all day the weapons by which we cut the nerve of sin's sweet deception...Memorizing Scripture is one of the surest routes to going deep with God and walking in communion with him. Which means walking in joy."

Charles Spurgeon wrote that John Bunyan had "studied the (Bible) till his whole being was saturated with Scripture; and ...his writings...continually make us feel and say, 'Why this man is a living Bible!' Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the word of God."

Last quote I promise:

John Piper on why he places so much emphasis on memorization in his ministry,

I spent this much time on Bible memory because I believe in the power of the indwelling word of God to solve a thousand problems before they happen, and to heal a thousand wounds after they happen, and to kill a thousand sins in the moment of temptation, and to sweeten a thousand days with the 'drippings of the honeycomb.' Christ will be seen as the fortune he is when we treasure his word more than money, and when the joy it wakens overflows with sacrificial love."


Let me challenge you to begin memorizing God's word this week so much say that you begin thinking and talking in "scriptural language."

Bible Intake: Meditating and Memorizing

Here is the study for this coming Sunday if you didn't get it. Have a great week.

Bible Intake: Meditating and Memorizing

The Discipline in Focus

If we only just read the word of God and hear it we may gain a lot from it, but in the long run it does not compare with meditating and memorizing on God’s word. The value of memorizing scripture is immeasurable. Donald Whitney gives us five rewards when memorizing the Bible.
1. Memorization supplies spiritual power – When we memorize scripture it is available for the Holy Spirit to take and bring to your attention when you need it. (Psalm 119:11, Col 3:2, and especially the example of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11).
2. Memorization strengthens your faith – When you memorize scripture you are increasing your faith because you are constantly reinforcing the truth. (Pro. 22:17-19).
3. Memorization aids in witnessing and counseling – Scripture memory can prepare us for unexpected witnessing and counseling opportunities. (Acts 2:14-40, where Peter shares the gospel by quoting much of the OT).
4. Memorization is a means of God’s guidance – The Holy Spirit will bring scripture to our minds and provide guidance for us in times of need. For example anytime we wonder what we might say in a certain situation if we have Ephesians 4:29 memorized we will be able to proceed the best way.
5. Memorization stimulates mediation – When you have a verse memorized you can meditate on it whenever and wherever.

Mediation is often a buzzword that brings up images of Buddha, yoga, or new age movement. Many Christians are even uncomfortable talking about it. The kind of meditation done in the Bible is different from the world’s way. Mediation according to the world is about emptying your mind, but Christian mediation involves filling your mind with God and truth. Mediation, God’s way, involves prayer, and his word. Mediation is defined as deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer. Thomas Watson once said, “The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.” Mediation is key to Christian growth because it helps us to absorb the living water of God’s word. See John 15 and Psalm 1.


Getting Practical

Memorize Scripture
1. Have a plan. Select some verses on a particular topic where the Lord is working in your life at the moment. For example, memorize verses on faith or humility.
2. Write out the verses. Make a list and keep it with you. Use index cards.
3. Memorize it word for word. Make sure you know exactly what is being said in that verse. This will give you more confidence when sharing it with someone else.
4. Find a method of accountability. Meet with someone else and review your verses.
5. Review and meditate everyday. If you do not review verses you have previously memorized you will forget them. Review right before you go to sleep.
6. Don’t forget why you are doing this. Godliness.


Meditate on Scripture
1. Select the right passage. Choose a passage, phrase, verse, or word that gets your attention while reading. Choose verses that pertain to your circumstances.
2. Repeat the verse in different ways. Think deeply upon the truth that flashes into your mind each time you read a word.
3. Rewrite the verse in your own words. Paraphrasing a verse could help you understand the meaning.
4. Look for applications of the text. Ask yourself, “How should I respond to this text?” The outcome of mediation should be application.
5. Pray through the text. Pray as you meditate.
6. Don’t rush. Take your time. Make sure you have allotted yourself plenty of time to spend meditating on God’s word.

Respond
1. How important is memorizing God’s word? How important is meditating on God’s word?
2. Why are these things important?
3. Are the tasks of memorizing and meditating difficult because they take a lot of time or because you just don’t see why you should do them? (They are called disciplines for a reason).
4. What is holding you back from making a plan this week to memorize scripture?

Herme...what?

The hermeneutics and exegesis discussion is not something that you have to talk about when you teach on Sunday, but is mainly for your study. The following is a really really short explanation of hermenetics and exegesis (there are whole classes just on these words so we are talking really short). For further study check out these books: Gospel Centered Hermeneutics by Graeme Goldsworthy and Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible by Robert Stein.

When you study the Bible the basic components that help you do this are hermeneutics and exegesis. Hermeneutics is a scary word that describes the "practice or discipline of interpretation." Exegesis is a process that comes in under the umbrella of hermeneutics and is just a scary word that simply refers to the "process of understanding or interpreting a text or the careful, systematic study of Scipture to discover the original intended meaning." (Both defintions taken from Steins book). These two big words are centered around the basics of communication, meaning, and understanding? How can we understand what the Bible is saying? What does that verse mean? Everyone does hermeneutics and exegesis. The question is how well do you do it.

In all communication there are three parts: author, text, and reader. The main goal of interpreting the Bible is figuring out the meaning of the text we are reading.

The best way to approach finding the meaning is to find what the author intended to say when he wrote it. What did the author purposely will to get across to his readers? This is the basic foundation to all communication. Even as you are reading this very sentence you are seeking to understand what I (the author) am seeking to say to you. We use such things as context, languages, audience, and other things to help us understand the intended meaning.

In addition, often in the Bible we understand that what an author has willed to communicate in the past (2000 years ago) has implications for us in the present that the author was not aware of. These implications are a part of the meaning of the text. Stein gives us an illustration,

"When Paul wrote Ephesians 5:18, 'Do not get drunk on wine,' he was consciously thinking that the Ephesian Christians should not become intoxicated with the mixture of water and wine that they called wine. This saying however has implications that go beyond what Paul was consciously thinking. Paul gave a principle or patter of meaning that has implications about not becoming drunk with beer, whiskey, rum, vodka, or champagne. If asked, Paul would state that although he was not consciously thinking of these other alcoholic beverages, he meant for Christians not to become drunk by using them as well."

When we seek to interpret the Bible we are seeking to understand what the author is meaning to communicate as well as the principles or patterns of meaning he communicates. Often what we do when we study the Bible is try to understand what these implications are for us in the present.

In short, hermeneutics and exegesis are the processes we go through when reading scripture that help us understand what is being said. Ultmately "hermeneutics is about reading God's word with understanding so that we might be conformed more and more to the image of Christ" (Graeme Goldsworthy) The goal of hermeneutics and exegesis is knowing God through His word.

Because I have barely even skimmed the surface of these things please feel free to ask questions and read up on these terms and how we can use them to know God better through His word. Most of this blog entry was taken from the books mentioned above.

Reading the Word of God

Psalm 19:7-11

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is thy servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

From Pastor John Piper:

"If you decide that you don’t need to receive the word, you are like a person who decides he doesn’t need to breathe. If you are spiritually dead, you can carry through that decision. You can choose not to breathe. But if you are spiritually alive, you can’t.

"So the Bible is the Word of God, and the Word of God is no trifle. It is the source of life and faith and hope and freedom and guidance and wisdom and comfort and assurance and victory over our greatest enemy. Is it any wonder, then, that those who knew best said, "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart" (Psalm 19:8)? "I will delight in thy statutes, I will not forget thy word" (Psalm 119:16). "Oh, how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97). "Thy testimonies are my heritage for ever, yea, they are the joy of my heart" (Psalm 119:111). "Thy words were found, and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by thy name" (Jeremiah 15:16).

"We despise God if we treat the Bible as a trifle in our lives."

Jesus has the words of life. Where else are we to go to find life, joy, peace, guidance and love? Where can we turn to find our purpose in living? The Word of God.

The Jouney: Training Session #1

Hey everyone, here is our first lesson for the new "The Journey" study.

The Why and What of Spiritual Disciplines

Focus
Spiritual Disciplines are those personal and corporate disciplines that promote spiritual growth. These spiritual disciplines include bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence, journaling, and learning. The most important feature of any discipline is its purpose. Without purpose there will be no desire to continue any discipline. Take an Olympic athlete for example. If their training did not have the purpose of making it to the Olympic Games and winning a medal then there would be no reason to continue the training. The purpose of the spiritual disciplines is godliness aka Christlikeness. These disciplines are the God-given means we are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of becoming like Christ. Godly people are disciplined people. God seems to use three things that help us become more like Christ: other people, our circumstances, and spiritual disciplines. The disciplines are a way that we can further the process of holiness by God’s grace. God has given us the spiritual disciplines as a means of receiving His grace and growing in godliness. When we practice the spiritual disciplines we are placing ourselves before God for Him to work in us.

Think of these disciplines as a river out of which flows God’s grace to us. If we do not practice these disciplines we run the risk of God’s transforming grace being held back and as a result bearing little fruit. Once we begin to practice these disciplines, however, the river of grace flows and we are changed. Many times students and adults will ask, “Why can’t I change?” or “How can I become more like Christ?” Our best place to look for these answers is in the spiritual disciplines. The great Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon once said, “I must take care above all that I cultivate communion with Christ, for though that can never be the basis of my peace yet it will be the channel of it.”

God expects us to practice the spiritual disciplines. This is implied in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” The same is true in this offer of discipleship: “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’” (Luke 9:23). These verses tell us that to be a disciple of Jesus means to lean from and follow Him. Learning and following involve discipline, for those who only learn accidentally and follow incidentally are not true disciples. Godliness is a life long journey. The spiritual disciplines should always have the goal of godliness in mind or they will become boring and drudgeries. But if we follow the example of Jesus we will find that he was the most disciplined man who ever lived and the most joyous and passionate man to ever live.

The Word
1 Timothy 4:7, 1 Peter 1:15-16, Matthew 11:29, Luke 9:23, and Galatians 5:22-23.

Respond

1. Name some of the spiritual disciplines?

2. What is the goal of the spiritual disciplines? (Why discipline yourself to read the Bible, pray, fast, meditate, serve, evangelize, give, worship?)
3. Did Jesus practice the spiritual disciplines? (prayer, worship, bible study and etc.)
4. What is more valuable? A healthy and fit body or godliness? Read 1 Tim. 4:7-8. (We know the Sunday School answer to this question, but what do you place the most value on in your life? Comfortable life, fun, sports, friends, girlfriend or boyfriend, or godliness?)
5. How much TV do you watch? Why does this matter? How does this relate to godliness? (You can often see what you value most by how you spend your free time).
6. How much do you value godliness?

Activity Response

This week pay attention to how you spend your time. Read 1Timothy 4:7-8 and believe it as the word of God.

One God: Celebration

"Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love. justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.'" Jeremiah 9:23-24

A.W. Pink wrote that "God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments."

In other words a knowledge of God that does not leave our heads and flow into our hearts is not transforming knowledge. A knowledge of God that does not lead us to a love for our Father characterized by obedience to the Father is only knowledge that puffs up.

This week select a few of God's attributes from our study (or even some we didnt cover) and meditate on these. If anything is worth our time it is our Creator. Focus on the passages that describe our wonderful God. Think about Him. Think about how these passages should affect the way you live. Begin your times of prayer by telling God how great he is. Focus on him and not yourself in times of prayer. Ask him for a transforming knowledge of His character and that His word would capture your hearts.

More Thoughts

Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. The apostle Paul loved his Lord. Everything else paled in comparison.

When you look at the way you live your life, what do you value above all things. It is easy at church to say, "I love Jesus more than anything and he deserves all my praise." But when you look at your normal day to day life what do you see about what you love? Can someone on the outside looking in say "He counts all things as loss compared to knowing Jesus." Or is it more like, "He counts all things as loss compared to knowing/having ______________." (respect, money, easy life, nice stuff, friends, family etc.)

The point of "One God: Celebration" is to point ourselves and the students towards Jesus Christ by saying, "Hey, God is worth knowing and loving above all things in your life! Don't just think this but believe it and live like it."

Here are some of the attributes that we have talked about over the past few months. Pick one or two and meditate on them in Scripture. Be ready Sunday to share the impact these attributes have had on you.

God is faithful.
God is holy.
God is patient.
God is immutable.
God is all-powerful (omnipotent)
God is all-knowing (omniscient)
God is all-present (omnipresent)
God is loving.
God is gracious.
God is wrathful.
God is wise.
God is sovereign.
God is Father.
God is Son.
God is Holy Spirit.
God is good.
God is self-sufficient.
God is merciful.

At the end of our time on Sunday we will transition into a time of encouraging the students to continue their quest to know God and the best way to do this is through the Spiritual Disciplines (which we start on April 13.)

Do You Know God?

Donald Whitney, author of "How Can I Be Sure I'm a Christian?" gives some evidences from 1 John that help us discern if we know GOD. Here they are:

Do you share the intimacies of the Christian life with other believers? Do you love talking about the Bible and how to live as a Christian? Do you hunger to learn from other believers so you can grow in grace and get closer to Christ and live more in obeidence to Him? See 1 John 1:6-7

Do you have a deep awareness of your sin against the word and love of God? Are you aware of your sin daily? Does this grieve you, not because you will be disciplined but because you have disappointed your Father in heaven? See 1 John 1:8,10.

Do you live in conscious obedience to the word of God? Do you seek out the Word of God and find yourself compelled to obey it. Do you try to live out what you encounter in the Bible? See 1 John 2:3-5.

Do you despise the world and its ways (world meaning the world system not creation)? Do you immerse youself in the things of this world and love this world more than God? See 1 John 2:15.

Do you long for the return of Jesus Christ and long to be made like Him? Do you dream about a time when you will be with Christ? Do you ever longinly wonder what it will be like to never think another sinful thought or sinful act? See 1 John 2:2-3.

Do you habitually do what is right more and sin less? Are you growing and fighting sin in your life? See 1 John 3:7-8,10.

Do you love other Christians sacrifically and want to be with them? Do you sacrifice money, time, comfort because of the depth of your love for your Christian brothers and sisters and God? See 1 John 3:14.

Do you discern the presence of the Holy Spirit within you? Does the Holy Spirit make himself known in you through speaking assurace through your mind, cause you to love God and hate the world, look forward to Christ's return, sacrifice for other Christians, or become overjoyed in your thoughts of God? See 1 John 4:13.

Do you enjoy listening to the doctrines the apostles taught? Are you hungry to hear the bible taught in depth? Do you love to discuss the Bible with other Christians? See 1 John 4:6.

Do you believe what the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ? Resurrection, sinless, divinity, humanity, etc. Do you treasure Jesus Christ and love reading about Him in the Bible?

Do these evidences describe you? If not then no previous experience should hold any weight in determining whether you know God or not. If these evidences from 1 John do describe you (not perfectly of course but for the most part) then you can rest in God's promises of 1 John.

Thou, Our Guide.

Here are some excerpts from J.I. Packer's book Knowing God:

Thou, Our Guide.

Belief that divine guidance is real rests upon two foundation-facts: first, the reality of God's plan for us; second, the ability of God to communicate with us.

Has God a plan for individuals? Indeed he has. He has formed an "eternal purpose", "a plan for the fulness of time" in accordance with which he "accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph 3:11, 1:10-11). God has a plan for each of His children.

But can God communicate that plan to us? Indeed he can. As man is a communicative animal, so his Maker is a communicative God. He made known his will to and through the Old Testament prophets. He guided Jesus and Paul.

Scripture contains explicit promises of divine guidance, whereby we may know God's plan for our action. "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you," says God to David (Ps. 32:8). In the New Testament...Paul counsels, "Let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Christians have an indwelling instructor, the Holy Spirit. "You have been anointed by the Holy One . . . The anointing which you received from him abides in you, . . . his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie" (1 Jn. 2:20, 27). The giving of guidance is specifically ascribed to the Spirit.

It is impossible to doubt that guidance is a reality intended for, and promised to, every child of God. Christians who miss it thereby show only that they did not seek it as they should. It is right, therefore, to be concerned about one's own receptiveness to guidance, and to study how to seek it.

How We Receive Guidance

The basic mistake is to think of guidance as essentially inward prompting by the Holy Spirit, apart from the written word. The consequences of this mistake among earnest Christians have been both cosmic and tragic. The idea of a life in which the inward voice of the Spirit decides and directs everything sounds most attractive, for it seems to exalt the Spirit's ministry and to promise the closest intimacy with God; but in practice this quest for superspirituality leads only to frantic bewilderment or lunacy.

The true way to honor the Holy Spirit as our guide is to honor the holy Scriptures through which he guides us. The fundamental guidance which God gives to shape our lives -- the instilling, that is, of the basic convictions, attitudes, ideals, and value judgments, in terms of which we are to live, -- is not a matter of inward promptings apart from the Word, but of the pressure on our consciences of the portrayal of God's character and will in the Word, which the Spirit enlightens us to understand and apply ourselves.

The Spirit leads within the limits which the Word sets, not beyond them. "He guides me in paths of righteousness" -- but not anywhere else.

Guidance, like all God's blessings is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he will also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God's promise; this is how good he is.

Idolatry, Part 2

Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Book of Daniel? Let me sum it up real quick and make some quick observations.

King Nebuchadnezer decrees that at the sound of all kinds of music every man shall fall down and worship the golden image that he has set up or be cast into a fiery furnace. It is brought to his attention that there are some Jews (our three friends) that are not obeying the King and do not worship this golden image when the music plays. The king gets very angry. He summons our boys and gives them another chance to worship the golden image or die. They respond by saying,

O Nebuchadnzer, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Shad, Mesh, and Abednego were willing to die rather than worship anything other than the one, true, living God. They knew and strived to obey the commandment "You shall have no other gods before me."

King David says in Psalm 63, "Because your lovingkindness is better than life my lips will praise you." Is God's love better than life to you? Here are some helpful questions similar to this that help us evaluate what we value most in our lives:

Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than a nice car (or even a working car)?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than good health?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than an easy life?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than a godly husband/wife?
Do I think that God's lovingkindness is better than obedient children?
Do I prize God more than everything else in my life? If everything around you was going wrong and nothing went your way would you be content and still be able to praise God?
What do I think I need besides God?
In your life right now what do you place the most value on? You can see this by asking yourself, "How would I respond if _______(spouse, children, health, job, money, house, etc) were taken away from me? Would you with Job be able to say "Blessed be the name of the Lord." or with his wife who encouraged Job to "curse God and die."

Think about it.

Updated "One God" Schedule

Here is the updated "One God" schedule.

March 16 - What is Idolatry?
March 23 - God is our Guide
March 30 - Do You Know God?
April 6 - One God Celebration

April 13 - Begin New Spiritual Disciplines Study

The new schedule for the spiritual disciplines study should be up some time today if you are interested.

Give me children, or else I'll die. - Idolatry

In the book Idols of the Heart, Elyse Fitzpatrick reminds us of the story of Rachel in Genesis 29-31. After seeing her sister Leah have six sons and longing for the favor of her husband Jacob, she demands of God, "Give me children, or else I'll die." That is a pretty strong statement. "God, give me this or else." We would all agree that a desire for children is not wrong but a desire for children that says, "I must have more children to be happy" is idol worship. Rachel believed that having children was something she had to have so it was her god.

So what is an idol? Fitzpatrick goes on to say that "idols are thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that we worship in the place of the true God. Idols cause us to ignore the true God in search of what we think we need."

Idolatry is all about love. Read Matthew 22:37-38. We worship what we love the most. Rachel loved the idea of having children. So much so that she had to have children or else she felt like she would die (Fitzpatrick notes the irony that Rachel died giving birth to her second child). What we love and want most is our god.

In 1 John 5:21 when John says, "Little children, guard yourselve from idols" he is essentially saying what Solomon has already said in Proverbs 4:23, "Guard your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life."

What do you desire more than anything? What do you have to have in order to be happy? What do you want so badly that you say to God, "Give me this, or else I'll die"?

Your answer to these questions reveals what you worship. Your answer reveals who your god is. Idolatry is when your answer to the above questions is something other than our triune God of the Bible.

This week spend time thinking about what you love the most in your life. What do you desire? On what do your affections rest on? Do not be surprised if your joy and love do not rest on Christ alone. John Calvin once wrote that man's nature is a "factory of idols." But Christ came to change our hearts from being hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. We have been made into a new creation, because of the work of Jesus Christ. We have hearts that can love God more than the things of this world. At one time you were enslaved to these idols, but no longer. "For freedom Christ has set you free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" Galatians 5:1.

With arms wide open, Christ is calling us to repentance and faith. Run to Him today and allow the person of Jesus Christ to capture your heart. And be ready to challenge your students this week to do the same. They may not have a miniture Buddah at home that they worship, but their hearts do worship something. Challenge them to find out what that something is and lead them to love God above all things.

Adoption

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12

And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18

How great and wonderful it is that we are called sons and daughters of God. We who were once slaves of sin are now sons and daughters of the Creator. Adoption is an amazing thing.

“Adoption is the highest privilege available to fallen children of Adam, with all its privileges accruing to the one who enjoys the status of being an heir of all the promises of God and of everlasting salvation – access to the Father’s throne of grace, his pity, protection, provision, and chastening, and the seal of his Spirit unto the day of redemption.” (Robert Reymond)

In my reading on adoption I came across 6 wonders of adoption that I think will increase our awe of our God. (This is from the book “Body of Divinity” by Thomas Watson)

1. God adopted us when he already had a son of his own. Normally, people adopt because they want kids but don’t have any. In God’s great love he adopted us though he had a son.

2. We have been adopted from the worse situation possible. Slavery to sin. Watson says,
“Pharaoh’s daughter took Moses out of the ark of bulrushes in the water, and adopted him for her son; God did not take us out of the water, but out of our blood, and adopted us. He adopted us from slavery; it is mercy to redeem a slave, but it is more to adopt him.”

3. Our adoption was costly for God. “It was no easy thing to make heirs of wrath (into) heirs of promise”. He sealed the adoption papers by the blood of his own Son.

4. God adopted his enemies. “If a man adopts another for his heir, he will not adopt his mortal enemy; but that God should adopt us when were not only strangers, but enemies, is the wonder of his love.”

5. God is taking great numbers out of the Devil’s family and adopting them into the family of heaven. “God is resolved to increase his family, he brings many sons to glory.”

6. What an honor it is to be adopted by God. We are sons and daughters of the Most High. We are sons and daughters of the great “I AM”.

God is the Gospel

“Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘BEHOLD YOUR GOD!’”

J.I. Packer in his book “Knowing God” says,

“The gospel tells us that our Creator has become our Redeemer. It announces that the Son of God has become man and had died on the cross to save us from eternal judgment. The basic description of the saving death of Christ in the Bible is as a propitiation, that is, as that which quenched God’s wrath against us by obliterating our sins from his sight. God’s wrath is his righteousness reacting against unrighteousness; it shows itself in retributive justice. But Jesus Christ has shielded us from the nightmare prospect of retributive justice by becoming our representative substitute, in obedience to his Father’s will, and receiving the wages of our sin in our place. Justice has been done, for the sins of all that will ever be pardoned were judged and punished in the person of God the Son, and it is on the basis that pardon is now offered to us offenders. Redeeming love and retributive justice join hands, so to speak, at Calvary, for there God showed himself to be ‘just’ and the justifier of him that has faith in Jesus.”

Man’s greatest need is redemption. The greatest need for the students at your table, for you, for your family, for your co-workers, for your enemies is the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:4)”

So what is the good news (and by news I do mean a message of joy and victory that is carried by a messenger for the purpose of proclaiming it.)? Let me say first what the good news is NOT. The good news is NOT that there is no pain, or death, or sin, or hell. These are still present with us. The good news is “that the King himself has come and these enemies have been defeated, and if we trust in what he has done and what he promises, we will escape the death sentence and see the glory of our Liberator and live with him forever” (John Piper).

This leads us finally to the purpose of this good news. Why did Jesus come? Why is this news good? John Piper again helps us understand the aim of the gospel:

“What makes all the events of Good Friday and Easter and all the promises they secure good news is that they lead us to God. –Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18—And when we get there, it is God himself who will satisfy our souls forever. Everything else in the gospel is meant to display God’s glory and remove every obstacle in him (such as wrath) and in us (such as our rebellion) so that we can enjoy him forever. God is the gospel. That is, he is what makes the good news good. Nothing less can make the gospel good news. God is the final and highest gift that makes the good news good. Until people use the gospel to get to God, they use it wrongly.”

The Good news of Jesus Christ is not about God seeing us as supremely valuable, but about God seeing himself as supremely valuable and loving us enough to make a way for us in Jesus Christ for the purpose of us enjoying his greatness forever. The good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is that those who put their faith in Christ gain God. He is what makes the gospel good.

“Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘BEHOLD YOUR GOD!’”

Clarifying Our Vision - Contribute

Teaching this week is Brian Manns. This week Brian is teaching on the third step in our process of making disciples: Contribute.

Focus
Contribute is the third step in the disciple making process at First Baptist Church. Contribute involves discerning your spiritual gifts and finding a place of service. Your spiritual gifts play a huge role in this step because if you’re in a place of service that doesn’t match your gifts or personality you won’t feel comfortable doing it. We serve the Lord because we have some very explicit commands in scripture to do so. Serving comes from an outflow of your heart. When you realize how the Lord has done for you, you realize how much we can do for Him.

Quote
Jesus is the perfect example of a servant. Though he is God he didn’t cling to his rights as God but took the place of a servant. If we have been born again our attitude should be that of Jesus. We shouldn’t try to always get and never give. Rather we should ask ourselves, am I doing the will of my Father in Heaven? The best way to bring glory to God is to use the gifts that He has given you to serve Him with a loving and thankful heart.

Key Scripture
Matthew 20:26-28, Matthew 23:11-12, John 12:26, Ephesians 4:11-12, James 2:14-26

Respond
1.What purpose does it serve to serve Christ?
2.What should be the attitude of our heart that would prompt us to serve?
3.What does Jesus mean in Matthew 20:26 where he says “it should not be this way among you”?
4.Why do we have to follow Jesus in all areas of life to serve him?
John 12:26
5.Why does it matter what our spiritual gifts are if we are serving the Lord? Ephesians 4:11-12
6.What does faith without works have to do with serving God?
James 2:26

One another

The Bible commands us at least 32 times concerning our relationships with one another:

Accept one another - Rom. 15:7
Admonish one another - Rom. 15:14
Bear with one another - Col. 3:13
Build-up one another - Rom. 14:19, 1 Thess. 5:11
Care for one another - 1 Cor. 12:25
Comfort one another - 1 Thess 4:18, 2 Cor. 1:3-4
Confess your sins to one another - James 5:16
Do not complain against one another - James 5:9
Be devoted to one another - Romans 12:10
Encourage one another - 1 Thess 5:11
Do not envy one another - Gal. 5:26
Fellowship with one another - 1 John 1:6-7
Forgive one another - Col 3:13, Eph 4:32
Greet one another - 1 Peter 5:14
Be hospitable to one another - 1 Peter 4:9
Be humble toward one another - 1 Peter 5:5
Be kind to one another - Eph. 4:32
Do not lie to one another - Col. 3:9
Love one another - John 13:34-35, 1 Thess. 3:12
Live in peace with one another - 1 Thess 5:13
Pray for one another - James 5:16
Prefer one another - Romans 12:10
Regard one another as more important than self - Phil. 2:3
Be of the same mind toward one another - Romans 12:16
Seek after that which is good for one another - 1 Thess. 5:15
Serve one another - 1 Peter 4:10, Gal. 5:13
Do not speak against one another - James 4:11
Stir up one another - Hebrews 10:24
Be subject to one another - Eph. 5:21
Do not sue one another - 1 Cor. 6:7
Teach one another - Col. 3:16
Be truthful to one another - Eph. 4:25

Clarifying Our Vision - Connect

This Sunday we will be looking at our second step in our church's process of making disciples.

Here are the main Scripture passages that we will be looking at and some response questions to get the conversation going.

Scripture:
Ephesians 4:4-6, Ephesians 2:14-22, Ephesians 3:14-21, 1 Corinthians 12.

Central Points of the Study:
1. A Christian is not only a child of God, but a member of the family of God.
2. Christians cannot grow to the fulness of God by living independently of others.
3. Personal transformation takes place in the context of redemptive community.

Personal Applications from these points:
1. I continually need to learn more about God's love for me in Christ, and I cannot do this alone.
2. I need to understand my gifts and my role in the larger body of Christ.
3. God calls me to be committed to a lifestyle of mtually edifying relationships.

Relational Application:
4. I want to pray for others to gain a greater understanding of God's love for them in Christ.
5. I want to help others understand and own their vital place in the body of Christ.
6. I want to help others grasp the privilege and responsibility of participating in intimate Christian relatioships that promote biblical growth and change.

Main question:
1. How does your life reflect your commitment to meaningful relationships that help you grow and change? What things get in the way or serve as replacements for you? Some possibilities might include:
-- The busyness of life (keeping relationships distant and casual)
-- Being totally immersed in frindships that are activity-and happiness-based.
-- Consciuous avoidance of close relationships.
-- Formal commitment to church meetings and activities but no real connectins with people.
-- One-way ministry driven relationships (always ministering to others but never allowing yourself to be ministered to).
-- Self-centered relationships that only look to receive and not give.
-- A private "just me and God" approach to the Christian life.

More questions...
---What opportunities for redemptive relationships are already in your life? (friendships, parents, small groups)? Are you committed to and experiencing the personal transformation that God has planned for these relationships? If not, what things are in the way?
---IF you do not have this kind of relationship in your life, what is God calling you to do so that you can participate in a redemptive community?

Reminder

We will be having an important meeting on March 30 at 4:00. Please do your very best to be there. There will be door prizes and snacks.

Topics of discussion will include disciplinary issues, future bible studies, and anything else you want to talk about. I will send out a reminder to everyone a couple of weeks before that day, but mark your calendars now!

Clarifying Our Vision - Celebrate

For the next three weeks along with the whole church we will be "clarifying our vision" by studying the process that our church follows in making disciples. This process can be described using three words: Celebrate, Connect, and Contribute.

This Sunday, Josh will be leading our time together. Here are some things Josh has given me to be studying and preparing for:

Ice-Breakers (Introduction Q’s to get em’ talking)
- What has been a time in your life when you felt God’s presence in a particularly strong way?
- What is the goal of missions? (This is a good one to get them thinking, but that will need some direction from you as a group leader. The ultimate goal of missions is to see worshippers created out of the lost. Missions exists where worship doesn’t and for the purpose of inspiring worship in new hearts.)
- What picture do you get in your head when you think of “worship”?


Lesson-Builders

Worship/Celebration in the church is primarily a “corporate” act; something we think of doing as a group instead of thinking about it as if we were individuals worshipping in the same room.
o Read: Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 10:24-25, Exodus 7:16 (God’s purpose in freeing Israelites from Egypt was so that they could worship Him, Hebrews 12:18-29
o Possible Discussion Questions: based on those passages, what should be different about our corporate worship gatherings? What should be some of your goals when you go to WOW or come on Sunday morning? Based on these passages, what could you do to enhance our Student Ministry’s worship gatherings?

We should Celebrate/Worship in “Spirit and Truth” (John 4:26)
o This means worshiping God inwardly (in spirit) is more important to God than exterior things such as raising our hands or closing our eyes and that worshiping God for who He has revealed himself to be in the Bible (in Truth) as opposed to who we’ve made him out to be or wish that He was is of the utmost importance.
o Read and Discuss: John 4:23
o Possible Discussion Questions: What does it mean to worship God “in Spirit”? How could someone fail to worship God “in truth”?

Worship is an action and not a feeling
o Possible intro question to this point: Is worship something that we do or something that we feel?
o Scripture: point out to them that in every passage concerning worship in the Bible worship is a verb that is often described as being accompanied by feelings, but not as a feeling – ever.
o Possible Discussion Questions: What does it mean if your worship isn’t accompanied by emotion? What emotions are most prominent during your worship? Are these feelings unique to times of woship?

The Love of God

(The Love of God study for this Sunday has been posted under this post.)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10.

The love of God is uniquely expressed through Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins in dieing on the cross.

When we speak of the love of God we are not talking about the love of God expressed only in him providing clothes, shelter, food and friends and family. These provisions are wonderful provisions and we should praise God for them. But when we speak of the love of God what we are talking about is different from how any other religion on earth talks about the love of God. As Christians when we talk about the love of God we talk about it as being expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

God's love for me, you and the many students you will be teaching Sunday is expressed in the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. God's love is very unique and his expression of his love is one of a kind. It is like no other love. And a rejection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is a rejection of God's love; a rejection of God.

This Sunday help the students to see the Big Picture. God has created us for himself; for His glory. Because of sin we are separated from Him and cannot please or glorify Him. Sin has made us enemies of God; children of wrath. But God has demonstrated his love for us in sending His son to die for our sins that we may have peace with God and be in the family of God if we would only repent of our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ.

Help the students to see God's love as not giving them what they want on earth and making their lives easy but to see God's love as giving them what they most desperately need now and for eternity for their good and God's glory; His Son Jesus Christ.

The Love of God Study

Attribute Focus
God is love. Love is an essential attribute of God. When we look at the other attributes of God we recognize things about His love. “We see that because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense, His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats confused and abashed.” (Tozer) Because God is holy and righteous we might stand in fear and think it unthinkable to enter into his presence. But God’s holiness and justice are counterbalanced by the fact that He is a God of love. The death of Christ is the greatest expression of God’s love toward us. In His life and death for us we see clearly that God loves us.

Quote
One of the words used in the Old Testament is “the verb habab, it is translated ‘to love,’ but it also has the connotation of ‘having in the bosom’. Thus it speaks of a tenderness and closeness of feeling toward the object of love. The verb hasaq appears more frequently in relation to divine love than does habab. This word emphasizes that which attaches to something or someone. When used in regard to emotions it speaks of a love which is already bound to its object. Such inward attachment is true of God’s love for Israel (Deut 10:15), and yet that happened because of his own free will, not because Israel did anything to deserve it (Deut 7:7). This is the love that won’t let go of the object of love.” John Feiberg.

Another Quote
“No tongue can fully express the infinitude of God’s love, or any mind comprehend it: it ‘passeth knowledge’ (Eph. 3:19). The most extensive ideas that a finite mind can frame about Divine love, are infinitely below its true nature. The heaven is not so far above the Earth as the goodness of God is beyond the most raised conceptions which we are able to form of it. It is an ocean which swells higher than all the mountains of opposition in such as are the objects of it. It is a fountain from which flows all necessary good to all those who are interested in it.” John Brine, 1743.


Key Scripture
1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13, Hosea 11:1-4, Jeremiah 31:3, Zeph. 3:17, Hosea 3, John 15:13, 1 John 3:16, 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:35-39, 2 Corinthians 13:11

Respond
1. Read through some of the passages and get a sense of what is being said. After each one talk about how it relates to God being a God of love.
2. What is unconditional love? Does this kind of love mean loving someone for who they are with no desire for them to change?
3. Is God’s love unconditional? Why or why not?
4. How did God show his love for us?
5. How can we show our love for others?
6. How can one know if they really love God?