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.

We are back!

We are back in business. I thought it about time to get blogging again as a good way of keeping you all informed of all the things going on at PEC of which there are many.

So watch this space!

Jim.

 

Prayer for the Lukewarm Heart - Jon Bloom

Hi folks,

Here is an interesting post from Jon Bloom over at Desiring God, Very challenging:

O Infinitely Passionate Father, 

You have created me with the capacity for deep affections — to love, to loathe, to desire, to delight, to excite, to grieve, to laugh, to enjoy, to fear, to be depressed, to be thankful. And you made me this way that I may glorify you by finding you my Supreme Satisfaction and the Fountain of everything delightful. 

But I confess that my affections for you are often grievously tepid while my selfish interests steam.

• I am bold to defend my own honor and reputation and often timid to defend yours.

• I am quick to satisfy my bodily appetites and often slow to feed my soul with the Bread of Life.

• I squander moments devoted to communing with you while carefully protecting moments devoted to banal entertainment.

• I am distracted from speaking with you by books that need straightening, email that needs answering, and a bald spot in the yard that needs seeding.

I am easily and foolishly concerned with worldly success and prosperity while languid and unmoved about the greater things of another world! 

And I know that my errant affections are most offensive to you when I hear of the infinite height, depth, and length, and breadth of your love for me in Christ Jesus,

• Of your giving your infinitely dear Son to be offered up a sacrifice for my sins,

• Of the unparalleled love of the innocent, holy, and tender Lamb of God, manifested in his dying agonies, bloody sweat, loud and bitter cries, and bleeding heart,

• And all this to redeem an enemy like me from deserved, eternal burnings, and give to me unspeakable and everlasting joy and glory,

• And my response is cool, lethargic, and indifferent.

O gracious Father, thank you that your Son’s great sacrifice is so great and so sufficient that it pays even for such sins of erroneous affections! 

But, my affectionate Father, I am humbled to the dust that I am not more affected at what affects you! I repent of being “slothful in zeal”! No more, Father! Make me boil in spirit as I serve you (Romans 12:11)! To be moved by your glorious gospel and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4) is why you gave me affections! Nothing in earth or heaven is greater or more important. 

Today, I take to heart your Son’s warning: “Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm… I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15–16). Merciful Father, make me hot! Whatever it takes, whatever it costs me, give me the Spirit-salve for my heart-eyes (Revelation 3:18) so that I may see what is Real, believe what is True, treasure what is Valuable, and forsake what is worthless. 

In the name of Jesus, your glorious Son, the Pearl of Great Price, amen. 

This prayer was inspired by and adapted from a portion of Jonathan Edwards’s book,Religious Affections (the last three paragraphs of Part 1).

You can Find the original post here. 

Loving others - Paul Tripp

PaulTripp: We're called to serve one another in love, but only grace can dethrone the love of self that is in the way of our love of others.

Discipleship

Discipleship is truth transferred through relationship.

 Justin Buzzard

RC Sproul - the Holiness of God and a boring church

How awesome is this place!" This was Jacob's response to being in the house of God. People do not normally feel that way in church. There is no sense of awe, no sense of being in the presence of One who makes us tremble. People in awe never complain that church is boring

Transforming Prayer - Quote 15 (Last one)

Well folks this is the last of the quotes from Transforming Prayer, I hope you have found them useful and challenging,  

Jim

Prayer was not supposed to be the only thing the church did, just the first thing they did. That’s the way Jesus wanted it to be.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 14 of 15

Young Christians must learn to pray in community with mature believers. Prayer is vital for transformation, and corporate prayer is indispensable as a part of the process.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 13 of 15

Scottish writer Robert Law said, “Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done on earth.”

Transforming Prayer - Quote 12 of 15

Spending quality time with an opened Bible, delighting in the names and character of God, is the most important engagement in our lives and the vital starting point of prayer.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 11 of 15

Graciously, the Lord has taught me that the only enduring motive for prayer is that God is worthy to be sought.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 10 of 15

“There is a difference between seeking revival from God and seeking God for revival.”

Transforming Prayer - Quote 9 of 15

John Piper describes it well: “The number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of believers is that they try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom. Until you believe that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission.”

Transforming Prayer - Quote 8 of 15

Samuel Chadwick wrote, “To pray in the Name of Christ is to pray as one who is at one with Christ, whose mind is the mind of Christ, whose desires are the desires of Christ, and whose purpose is one with that of Christ.”

Transforming Prayer - Quote 7 of 15

We’ve seen that prayer is best experienced with an open Bible. We read the biblical text, looking for great truths about God. These truths fuel our worship as we engage in prayer and song, in reverence for His name, character, and works. Our meditation and application of these truths becomes powerful as we open our hearts to the Spirit. These are the essentials of transformation.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 6 of 15

I have seen that those whose prayers are most saturated with Scripture are generally most fervent and most effective in prayer. And where the mind isn’t brimming with the Bible, the heart is not generally brimming with prayer.”

Transforming Prayer - Quote 5

many of us fail to focus our prayers on the core motive: that God would be magnified in everything we seek or say. If we were to be honest, our prayers are often motivated by a desire for comfort andconvenience.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 4

Perhaps the fundamental difference between our prayer lists and the prayer concerns we find in the Bible is that we pray about personal problems, while most of the biblical prayers focus on Christ’s purposes.

Transforming Prayer - Quote 3

We spend more prayer energy trying to keep sick Christians out of heaven than trying to keep lost people out of hell. JAMES WALKER

Transforming Prayer - Quote 2

Here is the 2nd Quote in the series from the Transforming Prayer book:

David Butts, chairperson of America’s National Prayer Committee, says, “The reason most people do not attend prayer meetings at their church is that they have been to prayer meetings at their church.”