Rejoicing...Always!

"Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:4-7

Need a Job?

I hope that you and your family had a blessed Christmas. As we transition our thoughts to the new year, let me share this excerpt from the book The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. I am praying that my perspectives on ministry/mission will be radically changed. And I am praying the same for you.

"Imagine a reasonably solid Christian said to you after church one Sunday morning, 'Look, I'd like to get more involved here and make a contribution, but I feel like there's nothing for me to do. I'm not on the inside; I don't get asked to be on committees or lead Bible studies. What can I do?' What would you immediately think or say? Would you start thinking of some event or program about to start that they could help with? Some job that needed doing? Some ministry that they could join or support? This is how we are used to thinking about the involvement of church members in congregational life-in terms of jobs and roles: usher, Bible study leader, Sunday School teacher, treasurer, elder, musician, song leader, money counter, and so on. The implication of this way of thinking is clear: if all the jobs are taken, then there's really nothing for me to do in this church. I'm reduced to being a passenger. I'll just wait until I'm asked to 'do something'. The implication for the pastoral staff is similar: getting people involved and active means finding a job for them to do. In fact, the church growth gurus say that giving someone a job to do within the first six months of their joining your church is vital for them to feel like they belong. However, if the real work of God is people work-the prayerful speaking of his word by one person to another-then the jobs are never all taken. The opportunities for Christians to minister personally to others are limitless."

Christmas Thoughts from Spurgeon

"They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

Matthew 1:23


"Do you know what 'God with us' means? Has it been God with you in your tribulations by the Holy Ghost's comforting influence? Has it been God with you in searching the scriptures? Has the Holy Spirit shone on the word? Has it been God with you in conviction, bringing you to Sinai? Has it been God with you in comforting you, bringing you to Calvary? Do you know the full meaning of the name, Emmanuel, 'God with us'? No, he who knows it best knows little of it. He who knows it not at all is so ignorant that his ignorance is not bliss, but will be his damnation. 'God with us'-it is eternity's sonnet, heaven's hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky."

Charles Spurgeon

Christmas Truth with Charles Wesley

I have always said that Christmas songs contain some of the most beautiful and theologically profound lyrics found in our worship music. Consider these two compositions from the pen of Charles Wesley:

Come, Desire of Nations, come! Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman's con-q'ring seed, Bruise in us the serpent's head.
Adam's likeness now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love.
Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the new-born King!"

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

Born Thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever-Now Thy gracious Kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit, Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Celebrating Salvation!

"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him..."

Colossians 1:21,22


We must remember that the birth of Christ is but one chapter in the story of redemption. It is a single frame in the panorama of scripture. Jesus came in "his body of flesh" so that we, as sinners, could be reconciled to God. The promise concerning a Savior initially appears in Genesis 3, some 4000 years prior to the birth of Christ. Specific details are revealed around 700 B.C. by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14 reads, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Concerning the birth of Jesus, Matthew writes in 1:22, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet." But the birth of Christ did not come to pass to bring us a Norman Rockwell moment to be captured on a Christmas card. Jesus came in the flesh because "he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become the merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:17). As we celebrate Christmas, let us remember that we are not rejoicing over a single moment of biblical history. We rejoice in the entire story of God's love, grace, and mercy! As we often sing in December:

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born,
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.

The Sin of Self

"This is what sin is all about. Sin is all about promising us satisfaction, but it never keeps its promises. It can't, because we weren't made to satisfy ourselves. No, all sin does is blind us to the truth..We were made to find our satisfaction in a loving relationship with God, but sin convinces us to spend our lives in a self-loving relationship with ourselves. The tragedy is that in the end it doesn't even work. Sin leaves us bitter, empty, and filled with regret. Worst of all, it leaves us outside the love of God, the one thing that could have satisfied us. It leaves us exposed to his righteous anger that was provoked by our decision to love anything and everything except him, the one and only who was worthy of our love. Christian, I wonder what self-interested lies you are tempted to believe today? Is it the lie of lust, the lie that says satisfying your cravings-whether for sex, food, power, recognition, or whatever it is-will make you happy? Is it the lie of circumstances, that if only you were married, if only you were married to someone else, if only you had kids, if only you had different kids, if only you had a better job, a better house, a different career path, then you'd be fulfilled? Is it the satanic lie of doubt, that if you weren't a Christian, life would be better, or that if God really loved you, life would be better? Christian, stop measuring your life, stop ordering your life by this cramped and distorted ruler of self-interest. You were created to find your joy and meaning in something much bigger than yourself. Recognize your sin and confess it. Then set your eyes on Jesus, who alone will satisfy you."

Michael Lawrence, It is Well

Whitefield on Imputed Righteousness III

"Learn hence the great mistake of those writers and clergy, who, notwithstanding they talk of sanctification and inward holiness, as indeed sometimes they do, though in a very loose and superficial manner, yet they generally make it the cause, whereas they should consider it as the effect, of our justification...For Christ's righteousness, or that which Christ has done in our stead without us, is the sole cause of our acceptance in the sight of God, and of all holiness wrought in us: to this, and not to the light within, should poor sinners seek for justification in the sight of God: for the sake of Christ alone, and not anything wrought in us, does God look favourably upon us; our sanctification at best, in this life, is not complete: though we be delivered from the power, we are not freed from the in-being of sin; but not only the dominion, but the in-being of sin is forbidden: for it is not said, thou shalt not give way to lust, but 'thou shalt not lust'. So that whilst the principle of lust remains in the least degree in our hearts, though we are otherwise never so holy, yet we cannot, on account of that, hope for acceptance with God. We must first, therefore, look for a righteousness without us, even the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ...And whosoever teacheth any other doctrine, doth not preach the truth as it is in Jesus."

George Whitefield

Billy Graham on Evangelism

"I used to think that in evangelism I had to do it all, but now I approach evangelism with a totally different attitude. I approach it with complete relaxation. First of all, I don't believe that any man can come to Christ unless the Holy Spirit has prepared his heart. Secondly, I don't believe that any man can come to Christ unless God drives him. My job is to proclaim the message. It's the Spirit's job to do the work. Period."

Billy Graham, Harvard Divinity School, 1964