Holy Contentment

In some ways and for a particular group of people (of which I am one) the title of this post doesn’t quite seem right.  There is a phrase that in recent years has really taken hold within some evangelical circles, namely, “Holy Discontent”".  By using this phrase, people are driving at keeping moving forward for God, to strive for better, to not settle for what we have but rather believe God has more to do among us, and I truly subscribe to having a healthy doze of “Holy Discontentment” , therefore, it is perhaps all the stranger that the title of this post is “Holy Contentment”.

So what am I saying then? 

Well, let me explain, as usual it is borne out of the book I am reading, Gospel by J.D. Greear.  What has driven this post is the part of the Gospel prayer from the book that says:

“You are all I need today for everlasting joy”

As I have mulled that over, it has really struck me how impacted I have been with this materialistic world view that is all around us.  When you boil it all down, all the marketing and advertisements around us are geared towards stoking up our discontentment.  Whether it be discontentment with your mobile phone or your toilet roll, the message is the same -  you are missing out!  Having this world view drive our materialistic society is all well and good, however, if it seeps in to our spiritual life, as it often does, then we are in trouble.

So I urge you to join me this week in focusing on the Gospel, let the truth that in Christ, the Father’s love, acceptance and presence is all we need today for everlasting joy.  Please, like me, resist the message of the world that tell us we never have enough, there is always something better to be desired.  Proclaim with me this week:

Christ IS enough and there is NOTHING better!

Gospel Finances

As you know if you have been keeping up to date with the blog recently I am enjoying working my way through the book GOSPEL by JD Greear and the latest chapter on handling our finances through a Gospel framework was particularly challenging and pertinent.  So I thoughts I would put the headlines here so you can feel the challenge too .

 

 

The Gospel Generosity Matrix:

1. God gives excess to some so that they can share with those who have less
2. Jesus’ radical generosity toward us serves as a model and a motivation for our radical generosity.
3. The Holy Spirit must guide us as to which sacrifices we, personally, are to make.
4. God DOES enjoy in our enjoyment of His material gifts
5. God, not money, should be our primary source of beauty and security
6. wealth-building can be wise

 

Greear, then makes the great point that we all we want to know is how much a Christian should give, a tithe, more?  Well I think he is right that this stems from our hearts that  love laws to follow so we can earn God’s acceptance, the reality really is a challenge of the heart and it is that he tackles with the following questions:

 

• What does your spending show that you delight in?
• What does your savings show you find security in?
• Whose kingdom are you building?

Please if you find the above helpful or challenging, then please get the book, it is very practical and challenging.

God Bless

Jim

Good Book : JD Greear – Gospel

    I know we all like a good book and here today I have one for you that I can so far heartily recommend ( I am up to chapter 7).
    So far this book has really gripped me, as you can tell from the number of people I have pointed in it’s direction.  The main thing thus far that has made a difference in my daily walk with God has been the truth that the Gospel isn’t just our entrance ticket to the Kingdom but the very Power of God to transform our daily lives in day to day sanctification. 

Greear, makes the point well that we are apt to forget the truths of the Gospel and their live changing power so developed a prayer that he encourages to pray daily so as to remind ourselves daily of the amazing Gospel we have to share.  Obviously, he makes the point clear that there is no great mystical power in the prayer itself but is purely a tool to aid our Gospel focus.

The Prayer is as follows:

A big chunk of the book is about unpacking these truths and appliying them to daily life.  As I say, please if you get the chance have a read and let me know what you think, and if you have read it already then drop a comment below of what you think.

 

God Bless
Jim

 

Here is some info on the man himself:

J.D. Greear is the lead pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, NC and author of Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary (2011) and Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved (2013). Two main things characterize The Summit Church: its gospel focus and sending culture. The gospel is not merely the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity, it’s also the pool itself. Joy, reckless generosity, and audacious faith all come by learning more about God’s extravagant love found in Christ.

God has blessed The Summit Church with tremendous growth. Under J.D.’s leadership, the Summit has grown from a plateaued church of 300 to one of nearly 8,000, making it one of Outreach magazine’s “top 25 fastest-growing churches in America” for several years running.

J.D. has also led the Summit to further the kingdom of God by pursuing a bold vision to plant one thousand new churches by the year 2050. In the last ten years, the church has sent out more than 300 people to serve on church planting teams, both domestically and internationally. J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he is also a faculty member, writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the gospel and Islamic theology. Having lived serving among Muslims, he has a burden to see them, as well as every nation on earth, come to know and love the salvation of God in Christ.

He and his beautiful wife Veronica live in Raleigh, NC and are raising four ridiculously cute kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon.

Reaching A New Generation

I was reading a blog series recently by Kevin DeYoung.  It was very interesting and to be honest I a m still working through what it means for myself and our church.  

Kevin’s Premise was that if you need to reach or in fact keep young  people for Jesus then the best way to do that is not by trying to always being young hip and trendy (Culturally relevant) but by going after them with the following 5 principles:

1. Grab them with passion
2. Win them with love
3. Hold them with holiness
4. Challenge them with truth
5. Amaze them with God

I am sure you will agree all very interesting and thought provoking, you can read how he unpacks each of these by clicking the relevant point above.

Much Blessings
Jim

Gospel Living

Here is a quote that I came accross the other day.  It is from a book by Jerry Bridges & Bob Bevington called 'The Bookends Of The Christian Life'. 

Much Blessings

Jim  

"Faith involves both a renunciation and a reliance. First, we must renounce any trust in our own performance as the basis of our acceptance before God. We trust in our own performance when we believe we've earned God's acceptance by our own good works. But we also trust in our own performance when we believe we've lost God's acceptance by our bad works--by our sin. So we must renounce any consideration of either our bad works or our good works as the means of relating to God.

Second, we must place our reliance entirely on the perfect obedience of the sin-bearing death of Christ as the sole basis of our standing before God--on our best days as well as our worst."

Deborah Drapper - Teen Evangelist!

Here is an entry for the yoof among us!

Some of you may or may not have seen this young Christian in a recent BBC documentary but to say the least this young girl and her passion for the lost and confidence in the Gospel is a real challenge and inspiration!  Check out out some more here:


Also Check out her Blog here: http://deborahdrapper.com/
Another cool place to check out for the younger folks among us is this site:
http://www.therebelution.com/
Enjoy!

Redemption and Blood

Whilst researching Sundays sermon on Redemption I read many very interesting things. One of which I would like to share with you on this new blog, A quote from the great church father ANSELM - The debt was so great, that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it. CJ Maheney in The Cross Centred Life reports this story:

She was what psychologists call a "cutter" - and a friend of mine (who's a pastor) wrote me a letter in which he described an unforgettable counseling session with this troubled young woman.

It was her mother who had asked for the meeting, as my firend explained to me: 2she related how he oldest daughter had been in the emergency room four times so far that year. Three times she had cut herself so deeply that stitches were required. Another time she had taken a bottle of pills, survived, and was detained in a psychiatric ward for teenagers. Now back at home, her daughter had cut herself again." The pastor agreed to meet with the daughter.

The next day, the woman's daughter walked into my office. My friend's letter explains how the session developed:

She wore an oversized turtleneck with sleeves that went down almost completely over her hands. After a time of gentle questions and listening, the conversation turned to "cutting." She said that when she was upset with herself, or upset over the offences of other people, she cut herself. It seemed to relieve tension. Cleaning up from the bloody wounds distracted her from other problems.

She pulled up her sleeve and showed me her arm, and I don't think I will ever forget the sight. That image stayed in my mind for days and was painful every time I recalled it.

What could I do? All I really knew about biblical counselling was to pray for people and to tell the about the gospel. Very small errors in a person's understanding of the gospel seemed to result in very big problems in that person's life.

The pastor pulled out a pad of paper and drew out for the young woman a diagram of the gospel. He agreed with her that blood can indeed "solve problem" - but pointed out that the blood "did not have to be here own, and that the cutting had already been done on her behalf. The Spirit brought illumination, and she prayed to accept the gospel."

At the time the pastor wrote tome, six months had passed since that meeting, and the young woman had gone the entireduration without cutting herself again.

Yes it requires blood to solve our very worst possible problem. For God, who in righteous wisdom determined that sin's just penalty is death, also determined that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

That is really all simply to say that redemption was accomplished and it cost nothing less than the unimaginably valuable blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to solve the problem that sits at the very basal level of all humanity our slavery to sin.