Hopless Situations and the Glory of God

For those few who may read both blogs, forgive this repeat. I'd recently posted this on Rockportviews, but wanted to share it here as well.

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

Hopeless situations must be some of God’s favorite things, for he always seems to show up in the middle of them. Think of all the hopeless places in the Bible where God has made his presence known.

• Abram is over a hundred years old with a post-menopausal wife who’s never been able to get pregnant. But God says, “I’m going to give you a son.”
• The children of Israel have their backs to the wall – the Red Sea in front of them, Pharaoh’s army behind them – with no place to run either left or right. There’s no way out of this jam. But God tells Moses, “Stand back and you will see the salvation of the Lord”
• Gideon’s army is whittled down to 600 men, when God tells him to defeat a Midianite hoard of thousands.
• And who could forget David the shepherd boy sent out to face the Giant; or Daniel in the Lion’s Den; or the young virgin girl who’s told she will bear God’s Son even though she’s never been intimate with any man.
• And then there is Christ, God’s Messiah, hanging on a cross, despised and rejected by the very people He came to save. What hope could there be in such a Man? Or what hope is there for the ragamuffin band of disciples He sends out to evangelize the world.

God, it seems, does his best work when he puts us in impossible places. That theme, of God’s strength made perfect in our weakness, is what drives the action in Mark 5. Here Jesus steps in to rescue three different people who are drowning in despair: A man controlled by evil, a woman afflicted with an incurable illness, and a father grieving the death of his only child. In each case, it seems like a hopeless situation! But then, that’s just where God’s grace shines best.

I was thinking about this chapter the other day, when it occurred to me, that the real miracle here is not just what Jesus did for these individuals, but who He shows Himself to be in each case.

One man is possessed by demons – Satan has taken over His life! Jesus comes and sets him free. But that's not all. 1 John 3:8 says, “the Son of God has come to destroy the works of the devil.” Jesus not only has power to set this man free. He came to purify all His people from sin and it’s terrible consequences

The woman is suffering under the crushing weight of a terrible affliction. And Jesus heals her of her affliction. But Isaiah 53:4 goes on to say “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; . . .by his stripes we are healed. Christ came to take upon Himself our wounds and our sins and bear them away to the cross!

A child was dead! Beyond all hope of recover. And Jesus raises her from the dead. But even more, in John 11:25 Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in me will live, even though He dies.” He Himself is our source of Life! Eternal Life comes to us by trusting in Him!

In each one of these cases, Jesus not only gives what each one needs! He Himself is what they need! He is our victory over sin! He is our healing righteousness! He is our resurrection life! In other words, we don’t come to Him for what He gives! We come to Him, by faith trusting Who He is!

My prayer is that thought will give you hope in a lot of "hopeless situations" as you look by faith to Him

SSL

What a Faithful Savior!

I'm sitting here preparing this morning for the message I'll get to preach on Sunday morning, and thinking, "What a privilege!"

God has so faithfully given us the truth of His Word! (John 17:17) That's where we see Him! And that's where He meets us with "grace to help in time of need!" (Heb 4:16)

But not only that, God is just as faithful to open up His word to our eyes, and by His Holy Spirit apply it to us, to our understanding and for our transformation by grace through faith! (Rm 12:1-2, etc)

Oh what a faithful Savior!

Looking forward to meeting with His people again this Sunday.

Soli Deo Gloria

Starbuck's Theology

I'm hoping to get the time to write some thoughts of my own someday soon, but until that happens, I keep coming across some great things by other people that I think are well worth sharing. The following was sent to my by my friend, Mack Tomlinson. I thought he gave an excellent insight on the nature of true faith, as opposed to its shallow substitute in the culture at large

------------------------------- Mack writes....

I stopped this week at my friend Michael Durham's 3rd favorite place, Star Bucks Coffee (after his home and Oakgrove Baptist Church), to get some hot tea and study for about an hour before getting my children at school in the afternoon.

As I sat down at the table outside to enjoy the pleasant weather, I saw words written on the Starbucks cup which intrigued me. I began to read these exact words by James Brown, a pro football television sports anchor:

"I have faith--faith in our wondrous capacity for hope, good, love and trust, for healing, and forgiveness; I have faith in the blessing of our infinite ability to wonder, question, pray, feel, think, and learn; I have faith in the infinite possibilities of the human spirit."

I began to think, smile, ponder, and then grieve-- everyone's religious in America these days; Brown sounds like he lifted a quote from yesterday's Oprah show, though he probably wrote it himself. Everybody's talking about faith today, from Obama to Joe Biden, to Rush Limbaugh, to Oprah and Hillary, to Barbara Streisand and even Madonna-- everybody loves "faith"-- it's very fasionable and in vogue to say you have faith.

It all sounds so sweet, kind, inspiring, gushy and mushy, making people want to bust out singing in unison, "We are the world, we are the people!" But the real question is this:

What in the world do they mean by faith?

Brown's words above are loudly and clearly saying one thing: "I have faith in me-- I have faith in man-- I have faith in my own endless capacity to be really good; I have endless, infinite abilities and capacities because I am human."

The world is groveling and drooling over such language every day- in advertising, in movies, in the media, in Hollywood, from L.A. to New York, in office buildings, coffee shops, in press conferences, in presidential candidates' speeches, in churches, at weddings, funerals, graduation ceremonies and in university classrooms across the country and in many towns in rural America, where ladies will have coffee together tomorrow morning. This disease is everywhere and it continues to spread.

Such words as Brown's are meant to teach only one thing-- have faith in yourself and in innate human goodness, for that is the only thing that matters. Neither Marx, Lenin, or radical atheistic communism ever had a better humanism than the words on that Star Buck's cup. America has swallowed the biggest lie of all-- I trust in myself because I am good.

Never has there been worse blindness than that. Such people are clueless as to what faith is at all. Because there is no faith apart from a true objective basis of faith-- the Word of God; and there is no object of faith that is credible and true except in one person-- Christ Himself. The Bible is the only basis of faith and Christ is the only object of faith. Accordingly, true believers are the only ones who have any faith at all and are the only ones who can even talk about faith in a true way.

There is only one faith in existence- the faith once delivered to the saints; there is only one basis of faith-- the Bible, and there is only one object of faith-- not you, not me, not man, but Jesus Christ Himself. Faith doesn't even exist apart from the exclusive reality of the Lord Jesus. Every person who has ever been on the planet is shut up in complete unbelief until he or she finds a resting place solely in Jesus Christ Himself, the only place for true faith.

Sorry, James; the hot tea was good, but the cup's advertising fluff about faith is emptier than cotton candy. I'll drink the tea, but not the faith you are spreading; I don't want it because it's not the faith of Jesus and it does not work-- cannot work-- in life, in death, or in eternity.

- Mack T.

What are you living for?

"We have met the enemy and it is us!" I think it was Pogo who said that, or something like it. But whoever it was, it certainly is true. Most often my falls into sin have come from tripping over my own two fleshly feet. Far too often I find that there's just too much of "me" in me, and too little Christ. That's when I thank God for the grace of repentance that turns my focus off of me and my wants and onto Him and His matchless, graceless provision.

I found the following quote from Horatius Bonar to be a help toward giving me a clearer view of the reality of things. My prayer is that it will be helpful to you as well.

Horatius Bonar, "Self or Christ--Which Is It?"

What are you living for?

Most, perhaps, live to enjoy present things as
much as possible--and to escape hell at last.

Have your ideas, your hopes, your aspirings--ever
risen beyond these two things? Are you living only
for self? Is that all? What a poor object--what a
base and narrow aim! What an insignificant, empty,
hollow being is yours--wasted, shriveled, useless!

"My purpose is to give life in all its fullness."
John 10:10

What stands between you and that life? It is self,
the accursed thing! What separates you from God?
It is SELF--your love of self, your admiration of self,
your confidence in self. It is SELF which is blinding
and bewildering you!

What is it that is dragging you down, and making
you cleave to the dust? It is SELF! And what is it that
will before long be your everlasting ruin? It is SELF!

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants
to come with Me--he must deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow Me." Matthew 16:24

Your Life Preaches Every Day

A Great Reminder from Robert Murray M'Cheyne

A man is what he is on his knees before God and nothing more! In great measure, according to the purity of the instrument, will be success. It is not great talents which God blesses so much as true likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is a powerful weapon in the hand of God.

Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this; your sermons last but an hour or two, but your life preaches every day! If Satan can only make a minister covetous, or a lover of praise, of pleasure, or of fine worldly things, he has ruined your ministry!

"Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be!"

- Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Looking Forward to Sunday

Dear Rockport,

As we look forward to Sunday and what will be the last of our short series on "Raising Children Who Delight in God", I've really been enjoying God's teaching on wisdom, (or as I see it, "the God-centered life") found in Proverbs 1:7-9. This is what we are to train our children to see! That all of life relates back to God...and life is sterile and empty if anything but him takes center stage!

It also occurred to me this weekthat the Bible's emphasis on family is not something we should see as exclusive, as if those who are single or no longer have children in the home, are left out. The Bible's emphasis on family is "inclusive." We as Christ's church are meant to see ourselves as a "household of faith" (Eph 2:19). Thus we are commanded to open our lives and homes to one another so that all the benefits that are designed to flow from a healthy home into the lives of the children of faithful parents, can also flow out of our homes into the lives of those around us who are hurting, lonely, or just in need of seeing the beautiful picture we find on display of the love of God in Christ whenever we do see a biblical, healthy family.

I also have found great encouragement in the fact that there are no perfect families. Nor does it take perfection for God to work in the life of our children. 2 Tim 1:5 and 3:14-15 give us a window into Timothy's home life: an absentee father, raised and trained in Scripture by his mother and grandmother -- anything but ideal! And yet Timothy was trained well because of the God-centered faith and love of these two women who brought him up (1:5). It seems that God's grace can make up for an awful lot that sin would otherwise destroy! So it's true, no one comes from a perfect home. And yet, no matter what kind of home you may have had, God's grace is sufficient, and more than able to make up for what sin has stolen. What a joyful thought! When our lives are shaped by His Word, His presence heals and corrects, strengthens and solidifies us into men and women who are able to know the joy of living to the praise of His glorious grace!

Now certainly this does not excuse parents to slack off and just "let grace handle it". Far from it (See Romans 6:1f)! We can do much to set our children on a God-glorifying path -- and we must do all we can as we prayerfully seek God's help! But it is a great encouragement to those who feel deeply the loss of not having a solid home life to find that God really is able to restore all that sin has broken! And he does that through the larger family we all 'the church" when it really is being "the church", the "household of God" There wounded hearts can heal, the fatherless can find a Father, and the unloved outcast finds that he has a family who cares for him very deeply and will not let him go. And there, by the patient love of a church family, built on the solid structure of healthy families, God will use what Satan meant for evil, in order to bring about great good! What a wonderful plan our Father has for His children of grace!

Well, that's a small taste of what we'll be thinking about together this Sunday.! I pray you who live near Arnold, MO will be able to join us!

God is at work. I'm looking forward to worshiping with my beloved family in Christ!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Scott

It's a time thing

I was looking at my blog and realized it's been a while since I posted. Not good. There's so much I really could put up here to talk about -- What God's been doing in our lives, Questions about missions support that we're dealing with at church, etc. Remembering the importance of today (9/11), or just talking about how faithful God is at all times, especially in the midst of such incredible busyness. But, there's the rub. Busyness!

I hope to get back to this soon!

God bless

SSL