Happy Easter

Over the last several years I’ve heard of this wonderful concept called resurrection eggs. I heard of them both by people saying how cool they are and also by those making fun of them. Until 2 weeks ago I had never actually seen them though. Personally I think that they are good tools to use as long as the gospel is presented well and the toys/symbols are not a distraction. As I walked through the story of the resurrection with my group that night it started to sink in how close Easter was fastly approaching which has lately been met with preparation by reading the Gospel of Matthew.

Now after reading the Lords supper passages it has brought me to looking over some sermons on the subject and I found one by John Piper that intrigued me entitled The Lords Supper as Worship. He say’s in it “The essence of worship is the inner experience of treasuring the true beauty and worth of God. And the outward forms of worship are the acts that show how much we treasure the beauty and worth of God. Therefore God created all of life as worship because he has told us, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Do everything you do in a way that expresses your treasuring of God.”

The base scripture of the sermon was 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. In this Paul covers alot about the Corinthians and needs that they have but he warns of the seriousness of taking the Lords Supper. It is not to be taken lightly. But I do believe that it is also to cause us to worship through remembering, acknowledging, and proclaiming the gospel and all that it entails. Especially with the cross and the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God in mind.

Happy Easter!
Grace and peace

Considering Heaven: An Invitation

When we set our minds on things above and fill our minds with the Bible's teachings on Heaven, then there should be much blessing and motivation for our living in the present. Yet our meditation on Heaven should also spur us on in our proclamation of the Savior. If we are truly loving God and man, and truly excited about the New Heavens and the New Earth then we ought to be eager to extend the Gospel invitation to the world.

Consider these passages from the Word of God:

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price."

- Revelation 22:17

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

- Matthew 11:28-30

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live..."

- Isaiah 55:1-3a

"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst'."

- John 6:35

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

- John 3:16

Are we eager to declare the power of God for salvation? Are we eager to join Christ and say "come to find rest"? When we think about the glories of Heaven we should be all the more inspired to preach the message of these verses to the lost. For those who are hungry, thirsty, and heavy laden the invitation of the Gospel is there. Simply come. Christ's perfect life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection have secured for us peace with God. When we think about Heaven and being able to worship in the presence of our Creator and Redeemer, satisfied, unstained, and restored for eternity, our passion for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ ought to be increased. When we meditate on the infinite majesty of our King and the reality that we will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, then we ought to more greatly desire to proclaim the Wedding Feast invitation!

Do we have a genuine desire that none should perish but that all should repent and find salvation in Jesus? Is that our passion? Do we want everyone to love our King and to experience the indescribable joy, glory, and peace of being in His majestic and loving presence in the New Heavens and the New Earth for eternity?

It is really quite a simple thought. If we consider how glorious, how beautiful, how joyous, how desirable, how breath-taking, how shockingly, mind-blowingly awesome it will be to forever be with the One who gave us life and breath and rescued us from sin and death, then we ought to be more eager to invite anyone and everyone to come to Christ that they might worship Him forever in the Kingdom of God. This is a convicting thought for me. May the Lord grace us with His love and strength that we might be empowered to preach the Gospel as we should. I believe that when we meditate on the glory and wonder of Heaven, then we will be more eager to extend the Gospel invitation to those who are lost.

A Reflection for "Holy Week"

"We’re now in the realm of the sublime and profound
With God at the helm it’s about to go down

The Father’s wrath precise will blast and slice
The priceless Master Christ as a sacrifice

Willingly, He’s under the curse
To be treated as if the Son was the worst scum of the earth

The scene is the craziest
Jesus being treated as if He is the shadiest atheist

How is it the Messiah is in the fiery pit
As if He was a wicked liar with twisted desires?

The One who’s sinless and just
Punished as if He was promiscuous and mischievous with vicious lust

The source of all godly pleasure
Tormented as if He was a foul investor or child molestor

How could He be bruised like He was a goodie two-shoes
who doesn’t think that she needs the good news?

He’s perfect in love and wisdom
But He’s suffering as if He constructed the corrupt justice system

We should mourn at the backdrop
Jesus torn like He’s on the corner with crack rock with porn on His laptop

What is this, kid? His gifts are infinite
But He’s hit with licks for religious hypocrites

He’s the Light, but being treated like
He’s the seedy type who likes to beat His wife

He’s treated like a rapist, treated like a slanderer
Treated like a racist or maybe a philanderer

Jesus being penalized like He had sin inside
Filled with inner pride while committing genocide

I could write for a billion years and still can’t name
All of the sins placed on the Lamb slain

But know this: the main thing the cross demonstrated
The glory and the holiness of God vindicated"

"So forever will I tell
In three hours, Christ suffered more than any sinner ever will in hell"

-Shai Linne The Cross (3 hours) verse 2 and bridge.

New Experiences

Yesterday i got to experience something new. I got off work and i spent some time outside soaking up the beginning of spring. There was a nice breeze outside, birds were singing...all around me was life, accept for the place i was at. Spring is nothing new for me, but praying at an abortion clinic is.

Yesterday some church members and i were able to take place in the 40 days for life campaign. All across the United States people are going to abortion clinics (well across from them or on the sidewalk) and praying from 7am to 7pm for the right of life. We prayed silently to ourselves and quietly in small groups. We prayed for the doctors, staff, the mothers, the men (fathers, husbands, boyfriends, etc) who desire the women in their lives to have abortions, the babies, the mothers who have gone through this procedure, our government and its leadership to put an end to ending life. Its weird being in a place like this knowing that its so dark and untouched, but we know that darkness cannot hide from God. It is humbling and once again a tremendous reminder of the grace that we have through faith in Jesus because i know that at one time i too have been just as depraved and hateful towards God, deserving death.

This campaign is almost over but they (the arkansas branch? try to do it in the fall every other year or so and the national one occurs at the start of lent). Here is a link for more information:

http://www.40daysforlife.com/splash.cfm

I know that people who go through something like this may be hard to reach, but nothing is impossible with God. All of us are sinners and need to be covered by Christ.

Grace and Peace
sarah

Remember Grace

Considering Heaven: A Motivation

We have already looked at the fact that meditating on Heaven brings blessing. What I would like to think about in this post is the idea that meditating on Heaven brings motivation. I do believe that when we spend time thinking about, reading about, meditating on, and singing about Heaven we will find motivation to seek to be who our Father has called us to be. If we set our minds on things above, then I believe that our hearts will experience motivation for obedience, love, and sacrifice.

We have been commanded to be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16). Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed because they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). Though we do not obey God's law in order to earn salvation, we do seek to obey His word because we love Him and we want to live lives of worship. When, by faith, we meditate through the Scriptures upon the glorious perfection and the infinite purity of our King on His throne, then the impurities of the world seem all the more vile and repulsive. When our minds biblically picture our Savior reigning in the New Heavens and the New Earth, where the old things have faded, where newness and restoration abound, where sin has no place, then our desires for the fleeting pleasures of sin are weakened. If we could realize and think about the beautiful purity of our future home, would it not fill our hearts with zeal in our preparation for it? We ought to begin pursuing and enjoying this purity and righteousness all the more today so "that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming"(1 John 2:28). We ought to find motivation for obedience when we meditate on the pure, spotless, and perfect place to which we are going.

God has called His children to love. Jesus summarizes the commandments by saying we ought to love God and love God's image-bearers (Matthew 22:37-40). We are on our way to the Kingdom of love. When we think about the beautiful, tender, affectionate love that rules in Heaven, we ought to be motivated all the more to love others! What a love God lavishes upon us! God will be with us and we will be His people in His presence. God's love is so indescribably astounding. In the gospels we see God wiping away dirt from people's feet; in Revelation we see God wiping away tears from people's eyes. The thought of God dwelling with His people is breath-takingly stunning enough, yet He also wipes away the tears of His children! The holy Maker of all things brushes away the tears from the faces of the people that He created, loved, and adopted as His children. What a lavish, affectionate, and motivating love! Jesus went to prepare a place for us. God is getting ready to welcome us home to a place that is filled with infinite, matchless, and majestic love. How much should we love others in light of the love God has shown us and will show us? We should even love our enemies in light of the reward. "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High" (Luke 6:35). Reminding our souls of the glorious Kingdom where love is so brilliantly shining should bring motivation for us to love God and love people.

To meditate upon Heaven is to meditate upon sacrifice. When we read through Revelation it can be surprising to see the songs of violence that are sung.

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" -Revelation 5:12
The only reason we can have hope of Heaven is because of sacrifice. The only reason that we can meditate upon Heaven is because of sacrifice, so we aren't meditating on Heaven biblically if we don't think about the Lamb that was slain. The Author of life, our precious Christ, was murdered that "he might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus Christ was killed and raised up so that we could know God and have everlasting life. How could we not now make any sacrifice necessary for Him? He laid down His life that we might know an abundant and eternal life. When we reflect upon Heaven's song of sacrifice, we ought to be driven to give up whatever needs to be given so that our worship might be holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). When we gaze upon the picture in Revelation of the lamb that was slain we ought to find motivation to make any physical, mental, spiritual, philosophical, or financial sacrifice that needs to be made that we might glorify our Savior.

Filling our minds with thoughts of Heaven not only brings blessing but it also brings motivation. We ought to be stirring up in our souls and in the souls of others excitement about our future dwelling place with our King. When we increase in Heavenly-mindedness then we will have fewer worldly distractions and our hearts will desire greater things for our Lord. If we set our minds on things above, then I believe, by God's grace, we will be more motivated to pursue obedience, love, and sacrifice for the sake of our great and awesome Creator.

How Much Does God Love His Children?

If you belong to Jesus Christ, he is speaking of you; for says he, “I know
my sheep”. “I know them”; what does that mean? Why, he knows their number, he
knows their names, he knows every one for whom he died; and if there were to be
one missing for whom Christ died, God the Father would send him down again from
heaven to fetch him. -George Whitfield