Lately I've been praying for a heart to share the gospel with my coworkers. I think God is giving it to me. I had a conversation with a coworker about the authority of Scripture, the nature of man, and the value of antidepressants. I felt a little bit of the old burning in the chest as I got into the debate, but mostly I felt sad for her.
I am starting to feel a heaviness about my lost coworkers. I guess this is good, but I was a lot happier when I just ignored their lostness. I want to make the same request that Paul made to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 6:18-20 ESV
(18) praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
(19) and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,
(20) for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A Reminder
Psalms 97:9-12 ESV
(9) For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
(10) O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
(11) Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
(12) Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!
I came upon this as part of my reading today. There are a couple of points I think bear emphasis:
One is that we must rejoice in the Lord. We are righteous if we are in Christ. Of course, this is not because of anything we did, but because of what He did for us on the cross.
The other is that we are to hate evil. Do I hate evil? I'm afraid I don't hate it as much as this command would seem to indicate I should...
Do you?
(9) For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
(10) O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
(11) Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
(12) Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!
I came upon this as part of my reading today. There are a couple of points I think bear emphasis:
One is that we must rejoice in the Lord. We are righteous if we are in Christ. Of course, this is not because of anything we did, but because of what He did for us on the cross.
The other is that we are to hate evil. Do I hate evil? I'm afraid I don't hate it as much as this command would seem to indicate I should...
Do you?
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Importance of Scripture
Deu 17:18-20
(18) "And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.
(19) And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
(20) that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Are we this serious about the Word? Granted, the kings only had to transcribe Genesis-Deuteronomy, but most of us cannot be bothered to read through the Bible every day.
(18) "And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.
(19) And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
(20) that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Are we this serious about the Word? Granted, the kings only had to transcribe Genesis-Deuteronomy, but most of us cannot be bothered to read through the Bible every day.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Cure for Bitterness
Psalms 95:1-11 ESV
(1) Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
(2) Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
(3) For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
(4) In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
(5) The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
(6) Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
(7) For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
(8) do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
(9) when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
(10) For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways."
(11) Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
When I read this I was thinking that the first two verses would make a great invocation for a worship service. I suspect that they will be used in a few places today. As I finished this Psalm I was reminded of Paul's admonition:
Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV
(18) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
(19) addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,
(20) giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(21) submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Note verse 20. We are not just to give thanks when things are going well. We are not just to give thanks for the pleasant things. We are to give thanks always and for everything. In case you're wondering, in the Greek this would be literally "in a continual state of giving thanks at every time on account of every thing".
Contrast the first half of the Psalm with the second. God is telling us to give thanks and then He gives an example of a time when the people didn't give thanks. It didn't work out too well for that generation, did it?
I want to enter His rest. Knowing that I am going to do that is a great source of thanksgiving, amen?
(1) Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
(2) Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
(3) For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
(4) In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
(5) The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
(6) Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
(7) For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
(8) do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
(9) when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
(10) For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways."
(11) Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
When I read this I was thinking that the first two verses would make a great invocation for a worship service. I suspect that they will be used in a few places today. As I finished this Psalm I was reminded of Paul's admonition:
Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV
(18) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
(19) addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,
(20) giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(21) submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Note verse 20. We are not just to give thanks when things are going well. We are not just to give thanks for the pleasant things. We are to give thanks always and for everything. In case you're wondering, in the Greek this would be literally "in a continual state of giving thanks at every time on account of every thing".
Contrast the first half of the Psalm with the second. God is telling us to give thanks and then He gives an example of a time when the people didn't give thanks. It didn't work out too well for that generation, did it?
I want to enter His rest. Knowing that I am going to do that is a great source of thanksgiving, amen?
Friday, April 11, 2008
Walking Around
I just took a walk around our building. I used to do this just about daily with my friend Cliff, but our schedules haven't worked out lately. I figured that it would be a better use of my lunch hour than giong into the secluded room I have for a nap. We are having one of those picture-perfect North Carolina spring days. If anything it might almost be a bit warm, but that's OK. The sunshine is welcome after our week of darkness. I know that my family in NE Ohio don't want to hear about a week of darkness after they suffered a month of it in January.
I finished my daily Greek vocabulary review on my walk. I also did my review for my Biblical Counseling scripture memory verses. That got me through about half of the walk and then I had time to just sort of think.
One thing I noticed is that we still have a lot of walkers inside the building on a day like today, but few go outside. Why don't more people go out when the weather is so nice? I know that for me it is because there is a certain sense of naughtiness I feel when I go out. It's as if playing hooky is OK if I'm at my desk surfing the web or if I'm walking down to the mailroom, but if I go outside for 15 minutes there is a problem. I think it's the sense of departure from availability.
I thought about how I was playing with fire at the end of my workday yesterday afternoon. I thank God for deliverance from porn, but I am still tempted. It's easy to look for things I shouldn't and get close to the edge. Yesterday's Biblical Counseling class was convicting as I was reminded that legalism doesn't save. It doesn't matter what I do if my heart is wrong.
I was tempted to make a few comments in that class yesterday. As we talked about legalism I thought about making a joke regarding Baptists, but thought better of it. We also talked about essentials of the faith and how eschatology is not one of them for fellowship. I wanted to make a snide comment about Dispensationalists, but I decided against that too.
My overarching thought was that I didn't really want to come back into the building. I'm ready to go home and enjoy some homemmade BBQ.
I finished my daily Greek vocabulary review on my walk. I also did my review for my Biblical Counseling scripture memory verses. That got me through about half of the walk and then I had time to just sort of think.
One thing I noticed is that we still have a lot of walkers inside the building on a day like today, but few go outside. Why don't more people go out when the weather is so nice? I know that for me it is because there is a certain sense of naughtiness I feel when I go out. It's as if playing hooky is OK if I'm at my desk surfing the web or if I'm walking down to the mailroom, but if I go outside for 15 minutes there is a problem. I think it's the sense of departure from availability.
I thought about how I was playing with fire at the end of my workday yesterday afternoon. I thank God for deliverance from porn, but I am still tempted. It's easy to look for things I shouldn't and get close to the edge. Yesterday's Biblical Counseling class was convicting as I was reminded that legalism doesn't save. It doesn't matter what I do if my heart is wrong.
I was tempted to make a few comments in that class yesterday. As we talked about legalism I thought about making a joke regarding Baptists, but thought better of it. We also talked about essentials of the faith and how eschatology is not one of them for fellowship. I wanted to make a snide comment about Dispensationalists, but I decided against that too.
My overarching thought was that I didn't really want to come back into the building. I'm ready to go home and enjoy some homemmade BBQ.
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