November 2018 – Gospel Progress

2018-11-30

Bible.11: You Search the Scriptures

Can you imagine a husband checking off a marriage list at the end of the day that included items like told her I loved her, kissed her, bought flowers, warmed her car …. The very nature of a relationship defies a checklist. It is intimate, deep, and abiding. And, while you can gain knowledge about your spouse, it is the application of that knowledge in your marriage that makes it a good relationship.

So it is with God. Knowledge of His Word is not the end but only the means to an end. It is what we are doing with that knowledge that makes all the difference.

I. John 5:36-40. Knowing the Bible isn’t the same as knowing God. This is what Jesus tried to get the Jews who were seeking to kill Him to understand. He does not refute that their Bible study was diligent. Nor does He dispute that in the Scriptures can they find the way to eternal life. Their struggle was in application. They refused to obey to know God (1 John 2:3-6), live them out, and recognize that they testified about Him.

II. Matthew 7:21-23. Bible study is the means to an abiding relationship with God. Since Adam and Eve ate the fruit and became like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:6-22), we have had to perceive the world through knowledge. Animals have instincts; we must be taught. This has many downfalls, but the biggest one is believing that if we are doing for God, then He knows us. In our attitudes towards worship, attendance, serving, prayer, and His Word, are we “doing His will”?

III. Hebrews 4:12-13. One of the reasons they, and we, refuse to come to Jesus to have eternal life is because we don’t like the double-edge on the Sword of the Spirit that cuts back on us as we try to wield this knowledge on others. Neither do we like our deeds exposed by the light (John 3:19-21), so we keep from applying knowledge of God’s Word from becoming obedience. We do not commit to an abiding relationship with God and so live in a state of quasi-light and quasi-darkness.

Many books have been written about how to have a better marriage, and these are people’s best guesses at situations that vary from spouse to spouse. But, only one Book has been written by God Himself that helps us have an abiding relationship with Him. Do you study it to love Him more?

2018-11-30

The breath of our being

Glorious God,

May prayer become more and more a constant in our lives, the breath of our being.
Bring to faith those who are searching Scripture for evidence of your goodness.
Convert us all, O Lord, that we might be truly converted.
Make the Kingdom arrive in many hearts so that many children are brought to your glory.
We trust that you will provide for our every need, Father. Send us forward well supplied.
We walk by faith, not be sight, and we love him whom we do not see. Strengthen our hearts and minds in this walk!
Our hope is in you — may our Lord Jesus come quickly!

2018-11-29

From Me No Argument

From me no argument, Lord — I accept
your will — come what may — events
delightful or traumatic. Be done
in me and in the world your way.

Omniscient God, I confess —
my ignorance, my lack of vision,
my limited view, and yes my blindness.
You know, you see, you cause to be.

Submission belongs to me — you love,
you care — you desire, in so many words,
communion, fellowship, connection —
For this, O Lord, come down to save!

2018-11-28

Let Jesus Be

Let Jesus be my light and joy,
Yes, this, O God, is what I want —
Surrender wild and worried mind,
Messiah’s peace and power rule.

Let Jesus be my greater work,
O Father, in me be glorified —
That I and all eternally share
Your life among the worshiping saints.

2018-11-26

Mercies never ceasing

O God, come save without delay!
Keep Satan and his wiles at bay!
Nefarious forces surround us,
Temptations daily pound us!
Remember, Lord, we are but clay!

To you belong all power and praise,
Spiritual worship to you we raise!
Your mercies never ceasing,
Your blessings come increasing!
O God, how wonderful are your ways!

2018-11-25

Upon Your Spirit

The mind is marked with sin’s impress,
The past disrupts the single eye;
O God of power, we confess:
Upon your Spirit we rely.

2018-11-24

From Deep Within

From deep within we open our lives,
O God, that you might enter and dwell;
As Lord who calms the winds and waves,
May you our fears and worries quell.

2018-11-24

Command & Teach These Things

Timothy was a young evangelist, and yet Paul told him to “command and teach” the things that he had been writing to him about (1 Timothy 4:11-14). The bigger issue was how could Timothy (or us for that matter) be the kind of Christian that when he would command and teach that others would want to listen and learn?

I. 1 Corinthians 11:1. The first thing to remember is that we are not asking others to follow the best version of ourselves that we can put forth. No, we want others to follow us as we follow Christ. So, Jesus is the example to others that we must follow ourselves, so that others in our sphere of influence can listen and learn from us.

II. Acts 2:42. To ensure that our example of Christ is one to follow, we must be devoted to God’s Word. We have the example of the early Christians who, among other things, devoted themselves to the public reading, exhortation, and teaching of Scripture. When others we hope to command and teach see our devotion, then they will want to listen and learn from us.

III. 1 Corinthians 12:14-31. The illustration of the church as a body with all of its parts working together and arranged just where God has placed them is a powerful one. When others see us encouraging and ministering in whatever way God has blessed us to work for the whole of the body and not just ourselves, then they will want to listen and learn from us.

Whether young or old, rich or poor, educated or unschooled, God has a place for you and work that He has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). When we are about it, only then are we in a position to “command and teach these things.”

2018-11-16

New Covenant in My Blood

Apparently in the religious world at large, some suggest that Jesus’ plans to establish His Kingdom were thwarted by wicked men who put Him on the cross, and so He had to establish His church instead. Ridiculous on so many levels, this false idea is easily refuted through a look at the new covenant that Jesus said He was establishing through His blood.

I. Acts 2:22-24. How would you ever surprise an omniscient and omnipresent God with a surprise party? Yet, at the base of this false teaching is the idea that man somehow tricked God, that the One who breathed everything into existence was derailed by wicked men who were too clever for Him. The cross was done through God’s purpose and foreknowledge as evidenced by how often Jesus spoke of His impending death.

II. Luke 24:25-27. What a Bible study the two disciples must have had when the resurrected Christ revealed ALL the Old Testament scriptures that spoke about His suffering, death, and resurrection! Among them must have been the fulfillment of the Passover (Exodus 12:5-11) and the eyewitness-like descriptions of Him on the cross in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 recorded centuries before He came in the flesh.

III. Jeremiah 31:31-34. Perhaps the most convincing was the prophet’s description of the new covenant that God would make with His people, its hallmark forgiveness of sins and knowing God. Jesus announces that that is what is being established at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19-22) with plenty of time to avoid the cross if that truly indeed was what God was trying to do. Indeed, the new covenant, as with the old one, was established through blood (Hebrews 9:16-28).

Many passages use Kingdom and church interchangeably, but the establishment of the new covenant through the blood of the perfect Lamb truly shows that the church is His Kingdom on earth. Have you entered the new covenant with God through Jesus’ blood being shed for you?