August 2014 - TableTalk Articles

August 2014 - Here are some of my thoughts from TableTalk from this particular month and the articles. The two articles that stuck out the most to me were "Ministering to Grieving Parents" and "The Church:Your Story."

Divine Incomprehensibility
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/divine-incomprehensibility/
Article on God being in comprehensible. None of us can comprehend God exhaustively. A finite being will not be able to completely grasp and understand an infinite God. However, that doesn't mean that God is unknowable. God has revealed himself and his son. God can reveal himself to us, and talk to us, not in his language, but in our language. 

The Ordinary Christian Life
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ordinary-christian-life/

No one wants ordinary, they want their kids to be honor students and they want to be able to show how outstanding their lives are. But is there something else happening?

One issue that came about in this article was the birth of revivalism. The thought was that a special event or experience was needed in order to ignite people to conversion, thus extraordinary. It is the next big thing and new and improved. To be young is to be restless. We are called repeatedly to put away our childish ways and to grow in maturity. Jesus life and way of life was actually ordinary and he grew in ordinary means. The prophets were ordinary people. God came into the world in His Son through an ordinary birth. It does not mean mediocre. It is simple. 

Ordinary Christian Work 
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ordinary-christian-work/

Reformers have seen a transition in thinking that a vocation is not just full time ministry but can't be applied to any discipline. Thus, doing the Lords work occurs while living an ordinary life. In first Thessalonians the question is asked, "Paul, how can we live lives pleasing to God?"  His response addresses three issues: sexual morality, the local church, and work. Abstain from sexual immorality, know how to control your own body. Love people like crazy especially those in the church. Live quiet lives, unknown, unnoticed. honor God by being content and working hard. We please God—we thrill God—when we live as ordinary people in ordinary lives who use our ordinary circumstances to proclaim and live out an extraordinary gospel.

Ordinary Christian Family 
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ordinary-christian-family/

Husbands are to display loving leadership. Godly authority is seen in serving, and laying down one's life as a living sacrifice.  The wife submits to the leadership of her husband as the church submits to Christ. And it will go well for children that honor and obey their parents. 

A father is called to be wise, not always fair, in his decisions. 

Theology: Parents must be dazzled by God if they want to have children that are.
Loving others: relational conflicts come from desires that battle in our hearts. Family should be the place that we learned of sacrificial love, seeking the interests of others.
Living the Gospel: God shows his grace, forgiving us and we forgive others. We should solve problems not with human wisdom but with references to the Gospel, God's word and scripture.

The Ordinary Christian Church 
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ordinary-christian-church/

Ordinary ministry is found often in the work of elders and deacons. Apostles and prophets set up the church and establish the canon of Scripture but it is through the ordinary work of shepherding the flock, praying for others, serving those in need, that is found in the work of the elders and deacons.

As men and women trust in God in their ordinary daily work, they do good works. A believers vocation does not need to be extra ordinary, but the believers work does need to be done in faith. The minister who preaches the Sunday morning message to masses is equally significant and valuable as the Sunday school teacher for toddlers. All believers have God's anointing and are his vessels.

We need to be really reminded that God doesn't need extra ordinary means to do his work.  He doesn't need a flawless worship service presentation. 

The Ordinary Christian Pastor
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ordinary-christian-pastor/

The shepherd’s crook has two ends. With one, he gathers and feeds them, with the other, he protects them from the wolves. This is the ordinary work of the shepherd.

Be Careful of Nice People by Tim Challies

Galatians 5 contrasts the qualities of fleshly, worldly people with the qualities of spirit field Godly people. Why isn't niceness a fruit of the spirit?  Because you can be nice without the Holy Spirit in your life. Evil and ungodly men often rely upon niceness to cover their sin.

Healing in the Atonement by John MacArthur

Suffering is part of life and actually makes us stronger. In Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor; you sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind; set liberty to those who are oppressed."

Ministering to Grieving Parents
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ministry-grieving-parents/
Losing a child is extremely difficult. Say something - don't say, I don't know what to say. Instead, say, I'm so sad with you. Don't be afraid to make people sad. It is important to release the sadness. How is your grief today? Do things without being asked. Don't wait for people to ask for help. Don't compare our hurt with someone else. Help people to move forward, not forget the past.

The Church: Your Story 
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/church-your-story/

The church is a very necessary part of our lives. To me, it seems, the churches significance is at times is being diminished. Once again, I believe we are a growing generation of people not relying on the reading of God's word. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says that "he built his church and the gates of hell will not stand against it." So there is also this idea that there are great benefits in going to church. Paul in Ephesians 3:10 encourages us that the manifold wisdom of God is being displayed in the church as the vanguard of that day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. In Ephesians 5:27 Paul promises that one day Jesus will finish His work of perfecting His bride, the church. 

Cultural Engagement
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/cultural-engagement/

Oftentimes in ministry, especially youth ministry there is a ploy to connect with you and the thought that there is a need to bridge the gospel by using the current culture of movies, music, and other forms of entertainment in order to get people focused. This seems to be an attempt to make Christianity relevant or that it will fit like a piece of the puzzle into the rest of the puzzle pieces of our life. Christians feel that other people won't resonate with this strange biblical world of talking snakes, partying seas, floating ask heads, virginal conceptions, and emptied graves. But the gospel is freakish. We need to stick with its message.

Romans 15:14-16 - Paul's Priestly Service

Romans 15:14-16 - ¹⁴ I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. ¹⁵ But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Message: You are mature in Christ, now keep on ministering and offering the Gentiles as acceptable to God

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome

What the Lord is Saying:

Background
Paul has been speaking to the strong ones, primarily, the strong in faith, and reminding them of the importance of being sensitive to people at different levels of faith. And to be sensitive to them regarding their beliefs or convictions. I am to build other people up, to live in harmony with others, to welcome others. Christ has welcomed me. The Jews and the Gentiles have both been grafted into the family of God. I am not to pass judgment on another person because of a conviction they have, though this is in the context of what that person believes regarding a religious conviction. This doesn't mean I can never judge nor does it mean that I am to accept everything a person does. Sometimes what people do is outright sin. I am not to be accepting towards everything a person does. 

You are mature in Christ
Paul then in verse 14 says some things to the Jewish Christians here, which is who he is primarily speaking to in this book of Romans. Verse 14 kind of reminds me of the letter to seven churches that is recorded in Revelation 2 and 3 and the words John says to each of those seven churches, praising them first for something they are doing right. "You yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another." 

There may be a tendency to think that because of all that Paul has said in this fine book that these Christians were therefore deficient in their understanding but this verse is a bold proclamation that these Jewish Christians were in fact living out their faith in a doctrinally sound manner and were passing on what they learned to others. And this was all based upon what he had heard concerning them because he had never visited them personally.  

These were Christians that came along the side of other Christians and counseled them. They were there for each other, providing encouragement and instruction. 

Reminder
Paul makes a transition in verse 15 to state why he has stated what he has. All of us need to be reminded. And Paul has not held back in his explanations. He has been bold in those explanations, comprehensively describing the explanation of thought and deed. 

Ray C. Stedman makes this remark:

"I saw a man the other day with a string around his finger. The string was to remind him of something. The fact that we so easily forget things is somehow built into our humanity and I think one of the greatest proofs of the fall of man is that we have such a hard time remembering what we want to remember, yet we so easily remember what we want to forget!... Living out in the world, as many of you are, working every day among non-Christians, it is so easy to be sucked into the attitudes of the world around. It is so easy to get the idea that life is designed to be a pleasant picnic, that we can work toward the day when we can retire and enjoy ourselves. I find that attitude prevalent among people everywhere, but that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says we are in the midst of a battle, a battle to the death, against a keen and crafty foe. He wants to discourage us and defeat us, and to make us feel angry and hostile. He knows how to do it, and he never lets up. This life is not designed to be a time of relaxing. There are times when we need recreation and vacations, when we can slow down a bit. But you never see the Apostle Paul talking about quitting the battle. You cannot quit, as long as life is there. So Paul tells us that we need to be reminded, day by day and week by week, that we are in a battle and that we have a crafty foe. This life is not all there is, by any means. This is school time, a training ground, where we are to learn our lessons. This life is getting us ready for the real thing that is yet to come."

I agree with this statement. We believe so often that life is about us and about our enjoyment. In Christ, however, I am on mission. 

Be a minister
Throughout these past 2 chapters, the overriding message in these chapters is to be a minister to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is to think of others as more important than myself. It is to want the best for others. I think we all just have this tendency over and over to make ourselves happy and please ourselves. Yet, Paul uses a different word here for minister to emphasize something. He uses  leitourgos because he saw his missionary work like that of a priest offering sacred worship to God.

Paul desires to present Gentiles before God. A person makes a sacrifice or presentation before God to show God that I am denying myself and bringing something before you, hoping that you find it pleasing. So Paul wants to encourage these Christians to not just accept the Gentile but to present these Gentiles to God as a sacrifice like a priest would do. It is one thing to accept others that are different from us, but it is quite another thing to present them before God. It is to come alongside them and really desire their best.

Offering of the Gentiles
Transformation of thoughts are possible. Paul is a testament to this. Prior to being in Christ he hated the Gentile believers and now he is bringing them before God as a sacrifice, desiring them to be pleasing to God. The Lord will reward us as we offer up these sacrifices.


Promise: We labor, not only for the saving of men, but for the satisfying of the heart of God. This is the most powerful motive.

 

Jesus Calling: July 12

Whenever you feel distant from Me, whisper My Name in loving trust. This simple prayer can restore your awareness of My Presence.
     My Name is constantly abused in the world, where people use it as a curse word. This verbal assault reaches all the way to heaven; every word is heard and recorded. When you trustingly whisper My Name, My aching ears are soothed. The grating rancor of the world's blasphemies cannot compete with a trusting child's utterance: "Jesus." The power of My Name to bless both you and Me is beyond your understanding. 

Acts 4:12
English Standard Version
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Verse Thoughts
The name of Jesus is to be used by man for salvation.  

John 16:24
English Standard Version
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Ephesians 4:29
English Standard Version
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Verse Thoughts
I added this verse because it has meant a lot to me.  


My Prayer
Lord, thank You for saving me. I trust You. Your ways are the best ways. Forgive me for settling for a way of life outside of You. Lord, I hate it when Your name is abused in the world. It is so horrible to hear Your name misused. It is amazing how it is thrown around and abused. Every time I hear it used that way, I want to praise You instead, but often I don't. I try to pretend that it wasn't used that way. Lord, forgive me for remaining silent. Help me Lord. Give me power to not just stand by.

Note: The devotion and scriptures are from author Sarah Young. If you haven't already, please purchase the book and support the author. 


Also, bookmark https://bibletags.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-calling-366-days.html to have an easy link to the entire year of these entries.

Jesus Calling: July 11

Worship Me only. Idolatry has always been the downfall of My people. I make no secrets about being a jealous God. Current idols are more subtle than ancient ones, because today's false gods are often outside the field of religion. People, possessions, status, and self-aggrandizement are some of the most popular deities today. Beware of bowing down before these things. False gods never satisfy; instead, they stir up lust for more and more.
     When you seek Me instead of the world's idols, you experience My Joy and Peace. These intangibles slake the thirst of your soul, providing deep satisfaction. The glitter of the world is tinny and temporal. The Light of My Presence is brilliant and everlasting. Walk in the Light with Me. Thus you become a beacon through whom others are drawn to Me. 

Exodus 20:4-5
English Standard Version

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

2 Samuel 22:29
English Standard Version

²⁹ For you are my lamp, O Lord,
    and my God lightens my darkness.

Note: The devotion and scriptures are from author Sarah Young. If you haven't already, please purchase the book and support the author. 



Also, bookmark https://bibletags.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-calling-366-days.html to have an easy link to the entire year of these entries.

Romans 15:13 - Abounding in Hope

Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Message: Abounding in Hope

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome


What the Lord is Saying:  

This statement here is a concluding admonition offered to the Gentiles which was the audience for verses 9-12. Jesus brought hope to the Gentiles. 

May the God of Hope
This verse is a prayer and word of encouragement that begins and ends with hope. God is the God of hope and His goal is to give hope to the believer. He orchestrates this through the Power of the Holy Spirit. I am filled with hope with joy and peace when I believe.  

God is the origin and object and giver of hope. Abounding in hope is only possible when the God of Hope moves in the life of a believer. Society may think they have hope, but it is a false hope. With God hope is a permanent state.

Fill you
This idea means literally to fill to the brim. Filling is to make something complete. When I fill a glass or container with something, I make that empty container complete with that substance. Here it is the idea of filling a person with all that they need. 

With all Joy and Peace in Believing
God is filling the person with joy and peace. The believers responsibility in this process is simple: to believe.  God will give the believer joy and peace. Joy is something we have that signifies our position in Christ. There is great joy in our salvation. But, that joy can go away at times, but peace will always hold. We need peace to be reminded that our condition of salvation is permanent. 

Joy is a state of knowing I belong to God. It looks past my sin and gives me joy. Peace makes this state a permanent thing. 

The act of believing is done when we consider something to be true. It is not enough to read the scripture. It is not enough to go through the motion of going to church. It is not enough to be in the habit of lifting up concerns to heaven. We must believe. A person is to believe. In believing, the floodgates are opened to joy and peace. Reading the Word, going to Church, and Praying are each important, but they all are only real under the umbrella of believing. 

I have seen this in my life. Sometimes I think that by just going through the motions of reading, church going, praying, listening to sermons or Christian music that it will make all things fine. But, my real issue is whether or not I really believe. Have I placed my trust in God?

By the Power of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is not an afterthought or this other option that is just there. The Holy Spirit has a real purpose and we cannot, as a Christian, live a life of power without the Holy Spirit living and working in our life. 

I saw this written on preceptaustin.org and it is is so perfect regarding the Holy Spirit and His Power:

Remember that when Jesus was on earth, having emptied Himself of His divine prerogatives (albeit still fully God - mystery of mysteries! See Phil 2:5, 6, 7-note), He presented us the perfect example of how to live a supernatural life. And what was Jesus' "secret"? Luke unfolds the beautiful truth that at the beginning of His ministry, "the Holy Spirit descended upon Him" (Luke 3:22, compare Isa 11:2, Isa 61:1, 2, 3, notice also the timing = Luke 3:23 "And when He began His ministry..."). Note what Luke is saying - Jesus receives the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and this event marks the inception of His powerful ministry over the next three years. Luke goes on to record that then "full of the Holy Spirit" (Luke 4:1, see  Paul's command to believers to be continually full of the Spirit, Eph 5:18-note), Jesus "was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness" (Luke 4:1b) which resulted in a period of intense temptation "by the devil " (Luke 4:2-17). In short, Jesus gives us His example for powerful ministry - filling with and submission or surrender to the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that now indwells all believers (Ro 8:9-note, 1Cor 6:19-note, 1Cor 6:20-note). In the book of Acts, Luke reiterates the vital role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' ministry recording Peter's declaration...

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power (dunamis), and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him. (Luke 10:38)

Notice the association of the Holy Spirit with the presence of enabling power, power to accomplish the ministry the Father had assigned to His Son (Do you see the Trinity at work?). Now return to Luke 4 and notice that after His victorious temptation.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power (dunamis) of the Spirit (Luke 4:14).

Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit began His ministry. In so doing, Jesus the perfect Man is providing us the pattern for powerful ministry! Have you learned the "secret" of the Holy Spirit's power in your life? Paul (1Cor 11:1), Peter (1Peter 2:21-note) and John (1Jn 2:6) all call on believers to follow in the steps of Jesus. While clearly there are some exceptions (Jesus' miracles of raising the dead, etc.), the basic pattern of power for supernatural ministry is provided - the secret is the Holy Spirit! Jesus' charge to His men in Acts 1:8 and playing out of that verse in the remainder of the book of Acts affirm the basic principle of the Holy Spirit's power  enabling us to live the Christian life as more than conquerors!

May God open the eyes of our heart to the surpassing greatness of the power of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:18, 19-note) available in our lives so that we might experience an abundant, fruit filled life (Gal 5:22-note, Gal 5:23-note), in turn so that God the Father might be greatly glorified by the supernatural deeds the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29b) enables us to perform (cp Mt 5:16-note, Jn 15:8) as we progressively learn more and more to yield to Him, to be filled with Him and to walk by Him (Eph 5:18-note, Gal 5:16-note).

You may abound in Hope
Hope here is not just the desire that something will happen in the future, but it is the assurance and confidence that it will indeed happen. We spoke to a man at the mall last night at the mall and it was clear in our discussion (eventually) that this man was in a permanent state of hope, believing that Jesus Christ did it all for him, and his confidence was not in his own ability to be obedient, but his confidence was in Christ and all his hope was in Him. He knew his future was secure not because of anything he had done, but because of what Christ had done for him. He was in a state of hope. 

Promise:  The promise to the Christian is by believing they receive the Power of the Holy Spirit and in their life, this gives them a Hope that never fades.

Jesus Calling: July 10

Relax in My peaceful Presence. Do not bring performance pressures into our sacred space of communion. When you are with someone you trust completely, you feel free to be yourself. This is one of the joys of true friendship. Though I am Lord of lord and King of kings, I also desire to be your intimate Friend. When you are tense or pretentious in our relationship, I feel hurt. I know the worst about you, but I also see the best in you. I long for you to trust Me enough to be fully yourself with Me. When you are real with Me, I am able to bring out the best in you: the very gifts I have planted in your soul. Relax, and enjoy our friendship. 

Revelation 17:14
English Standard Version

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.
 
John 15:13-15
English Standard Version

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Verse thoughts
Christ lays down his life for sinners, who have enmity with God. The test of friendship with Christ is obedience. Friend suggests a close relation.  

Note: The devotion and scriptures are from author Sarah Young. If you haven't already, please purchase the book and support the author. 



Also, bookmark https://bibletags.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-calling-366-days.html to have an easy link to the entire year of these entries.

Jesus Calling: July 9

Stop worrying long enough to hear My voice. I speak softly to you, in the depths of your being. Your mind shuttles back and forth, hither and yon, weaving webs of anxious confusion. As My thoughts rise up within you, they become entangled in those sticky webs of worry. Thus, My voice is muffled, and you hear only "white noise."
     Ask My Spirit to quiet your mind so that you can think My thoughts. This ability is an awesome benefit of being My child, patterned after My own image. Do not be deafened by the noise of the world or that of your own thinking. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Sit quietly in My Presence, letting My thoughts reprogram your thinking.

Deuteronomy 30:20
English Standard Version 

loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Genesis 1:27
English Standard Version 

So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.
 
Romans 12:2
English Standard Version

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Note: The devotion and scriptures are from author Sarah Young. If you haven't already, please purchase the book and support the author. 






Also, bookmark https://bibletags.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-calling-366-days.html to have an easy link to the entire year of these entries.