“But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.” 1 Samuel 2:25b

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1 Cor 15:58

“It is the quality of leaders that they can bear to be sat on, absorb shocks, act as a buffer, bear being much plagued,’ wrote Fred Mitchell, a one-time leader in the old China Inland Mission. ‘ The wear and tear and the continual friction and trials which come to the servants of God are the greatest tests of character.” – Gordon MacDonald, Building Below The Waterline

I would add, “…while believing and teaching the Good News of Jesus Christ with zeal and clarity.”

I was reading this section:

     Teach and urge these things. [3] If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, [4] he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, [5] and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. [6] But godliness with contentment is great gain, [7] for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. [8] But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. [9] But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. [10] For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
[11] But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
(1 Timothy 6:2-11 ESV)

It struck me in this passage how clearly God’s Word contradicts the popular teachings of so-called “Prosperity Gospel” preachers—those who put great emphasis on what they call “the law of faith” and teach that God will and wants to give to you whatever “you believe Him for”. I once had a well-meaning friend who was grieved because of our financial struggle. He sincerely believed that God wanted us to be free of money worries and that we simply lacked faith to receive God’s material blessing. This morning I saw again how clearly God’s Word speaks against setting our sights on financial prosperity. Verse 8 is key: “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

And that’s when the other three fingers pointed back at me. I saw my own hypocrisy for being critical of people who believe the name-it-and-claim-it, speak-it-and-keep-it, blab-it-and-grab-it ( though I myself feel no desire to be rich) while at the same time I am not “content” with food and clothing”. I want my house in Alberta to sell, so that one day I might be able to buy a home in Victoria where we live. I may not want to be rich according to the standard of what I think of by the word “rich”, but I have trouble seeing that I am rich in that God has blessed me with a home to live in, food on the table, healthy, happy, Christ-loving children, and most of all a godly wife.

So my prayer is this: “God, teach me, ‘with these to be content’ (1 Tim 6:8b).”

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

The context helps us avoid coming away with the misunderstanding that God saves everyone (the heresy of Universalism).

In verses 1-5 Paul warns about people the Holy Spirit predicted would lead many astray in “later times” through anti-Gospel teaching that emphasizes legalistic abstinence from good things God created for people to enjoy.

In verse 6, Paul commends Timothy to keep on doing what he was trained to do: to know and teach faith in Christ (not in one’s own works) and “good doctrine” that is the sound teachings of the Gospel, which Timothy had been trained in, had believed, and had followed. Paul charges him to keep on putting “these things” before his Christian brothers and sisters in the local church.

In verses 7-8, Paul encourages Timothy to stay focused on the true faith and good doctrine of which he was a minister, rather than being distracted by other things that seem important to some people (e.g., “irreverent, silly myths”). Because the kind of “godly” training that Timothy had received already, which verse 6 says was in “the words of the faith and of the good doctrine [Timothy had] followed”, “holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (v 8).

So that’s what Timothy, and all of us who are called as local church elders and ministers of the Gospel, is to strive for: to proclaim and train others in “the words of the faith and of the good doctrine” that alone “holds promise… for the life to come”. Because though many hear the message that God is Savior, and many appear to hold to this faith for a time, not all truly trust (“have faith”) that Christ has saved them. Though God is the only Saviour for all people, only those who believe (trust in) Him, and cease relying on their own good works, religious rules, or laws about abstaining from this or that (verses 1-3) are particularly, actually saved (verse 10b).

How can God simply excuse such heinous sin? How can God just “put it away”—sin like that… like the sin of someone who has done the worst kind of wrong to you… we don’t want God to excuse it; we want Him to punish it. Here, David had slept with another man’s wife and then had him killed to cover up the deed. How can God “put away” his sin and forgive him?

That’s the issue in Romans 3:25:

“…in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”

 How can God “pass over” sins and excuse the truly guilty?

Above, I gave the last part of Rom 3:25, now check out what comes right before that:

“God put forward [Jesus] as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness…” (Rom 3:25).

The answer to the above question is that God could only maintain His own “innocence” (i.e., His justice or righteousness) for His mercy and forgiveness of sin by decisively punishing all sin, once for all, on Jesus who voluntarily substituted Himself for the guilty.

“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” (Acts 5:20) http://esv.to/Acts5.20

They thought it makes people LIVE.

Luk 24:47-48
…and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
http://olivetree.com/b3/Luk.24.47.ESV

Today I saw this superb yet simple blog article from Crossway. Enjoy!

We know we’re supposed to read our Bibles. We hold the deep conviction that this is God’s special revelation to us. But let’s be honest, sometimes it’s hard to nail down what reading God’s Word is actually supposed to accomplish.
Fortunately, the Bible isn’t silent on matters of its own effectiveness.

(click below to keep reading)
http://www.crossway.org/blog/2012/01/what-does-scripture-actually-accomplish/

What made that a difficult funeral for me was not merely that I loved my friend dearly, but that he was so young in his faith in Christ and so much that had been wrong in his life was in the process of being healed. He was only just married the previous year. His step-son really needed the father influence my friend was providing. His new wife was also making new, great strides in her faith. A vast amount of pain and dysfunction was experiencing touches and beginnings of fresh healing and redemption as Jesus exerted His transforming power in their lives. And then all that seemed to be cut short–too short, too suddenly in a car accident.

I wrestled also with this because his funeral meant I had to return to the church and town I had only just left a few months earlier, under great conflict. I felt deeply inadequate, and intimidated stepping into that situation again. So with all this in my mind and weighing down my heart, I preached a Gospel message at my friend’s funeral. The Word of God had the effect that day of not only penetrating the hearts of some of my hearers with the news of hope in Jesus Christ, but also of comforting and restoring my own soul with the same Good News. If you can relate to the call to preach in turbulent waters, read Brian’s post below and take heart:

“So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told” (Acts 27:25 ESV).

I have easily done over 100 funerals in the last 10 years, but none quite as burdening and difficult as the funeral I preached on Tuesday.  It was the funeral of a dear friend and faithful deacon in our congregation that had been killed in the head on collision on the 2nd St. Bridge last Friday.  The funeral was in this man’s hometown about 3 hours from home.

As the funeral approached, nothing I tried lifted the burden.  No matter how much I prayed or meditated on Scripture, the weight remained and it was to an intensity I cannot recall ever feeling.  As I reflected afterwards, here are the factors that seemed to create this “perfect storm” of struggle that peaked at an unbearable level just a few minutes before the funeral began…

[Read the rest of this post at the 9 Marks Blog]

Serious Coffee, James Bay

In particular, if you take a stroll through the village of James Bay, south of downtown Victoria and right next to the parliament building, you will notice a common addiction: coffee. There are a lot of coffee shops in James Bay’s village centre. The more popular places seem to be,

• Serious Coffee
• James Bay Coffee
• James Bay Cafe
• Discovery Coffee
• Starbucks

I’ve logged quite a few hours in most of these shops. I see people come in with groups, as couples, by themselves. I see people wait for someone else to join them, bury their head in a book or screen (laptop or tablet), or sit and watch others. But why do people come at all? One reason must be because they want a meeting place. But for those by themselves, why then come? Why not make a pot of coffee at home? Or, if the quality is the issue, come out, buy a cup of coffee and return to drink it in the comfort of their own home? I have no real way of knowing why people do this, but I can guess. I think it might be that being in a busy place, where relationships are happening, where hot drinks and comforting food are available, where a warm ambience can be found, people feel a bit less alone.

I’ve talked to some locals about what they see as desirable about James Bay. Something all of them have pointed out is that people can come here to live and find that regardless of religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic standing, they find James Bay to be a place of tolerance and potential inclusion. As I sit and write this, some people at a table next to me are discussing some community needs. The local community organizations have lots of posters up about community events involving things like arts and crafts and live music. I think it might be fairly common that people live in James Bay hoping to have more connection in the future than they presently have, or than they might have had in the past. And I think that’s why there are so many coffee shops in this small little village. Because the residents of this community are willing to spend their money on a cup of coffee in search of the idea of community. I feel the same way.

The way I see it, this is a natural entry-point for the Gospel.

…Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…

(Ephesians 2:12-19 ESV)