Simple yet true.
Peace of Good Theology
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Effective Light
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltines be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
~ Matthew 5:13-16
A few months ago, I was down in Brazil on a mission trip to a Children’s Home for two weeks. While there I was reminded of a few things:
- The World is a Dark and Hurting place
- Sometimes we have to get outside of our small comfortable bubble to realize this
- The truth is there are hurting people in other countries, but there are also hurting people in the cubicle next to us, in line at Wal-Mart, and across the street
- We just have to have eyes to see
- Jesus said that, us believers ARE the light of the world
- Not that we should be, or if we get a chance to be to do it but that we ARE
- You see light makes what was once unseen now seen
- Light is only effective in the midst of darkness
- When you turn on a flash light in a well-lit room it adds no benefit
- When I was walking back to my house at night in Brazil, a flashlight was a huge benefit
- As Christians we love simply hanging out with each other, so all of our lights are together, essentially turning on a flashlight in a well-lit room
- For light to be effective it must be shown in the darkness – in order for Christ light to shine in the World, His disciples must go out into the world
- Sometimes that means jumping on a plane and traveling thousand of miles away, and sometimes it means meeting your neighbor where they are
- We do this to shine in the darkness, so that the world can be shown Christ
- We shine our lights so others may see and give Glory to God
Read this last week as I’ve continued to think over all that the Lord showed me this summer:
Charles H. Spurgeon – Morning and Evening Devotional
Morning September 6th
“In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”
— Philippians 2:15
We use lights to make manifest. A Christian man should so shine in his life, that a person could not live with him a week without knowing the gospel. His conversation should be such that all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is, and whom he serves; and should see the image of Jesus reflected in his daily actions. Lights are intended for guidance. We are to help those around us who are in the dark. We are to hold forth to them the Word of life. We are to point sinners to the Saviour, and the weary to a divine resting-place. Men sometimes read their Bibles, and fail to understand them; we should be ready, like Philip, to instruct the inquirer in the meaning of God’s Word, the way of salvation, and the life of godliness. Lights are also used for warning. On our rocks and shoals a light-house is sure to be erected. Christian men should know that there are many false lights shown everywhere in the world, and therefore the right light is needed. The wreckers of Satan are always abroad, tempting the ungodly to sin under the name of pleasure; they hoist the wrong light, be it ours to put up the true light upon every dangerous rock, to point out every sin, and tell what it leads to, that so we may be clear of the blood of all men, shining as lights in the world. Lights also have a very cheering influence, and so have Christians. A Christian ought to be a comforter, with kind words on his lips, and sympathy in his heart; he should carry sunshine wherever he goes, and diffuse happiness around him.
Gracious Spirit dwell with me;
I myself would gracious be,
And with words that help and heal
Would thy life in mine reveal,
And with actions bold and meek
Would for Christ my Saviour speak.
Prayer As I Enter Seminary
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
~ 1 Timothy 1:5
Father,
Tomorrow morning I step onto Dallas Theological Seminary to begin the next chapter of life on the path you have laid out for me. Feeling anxious and nervous, about getting started and staring at the long road ahead, but at the same time feeling peace because You have asked me to go and You are with me. I ask, Lord, will You help me to study and learn well; not only for a grade but also as preparation for what You have for me. Use this season to refine me and mold me into the man You are calling me to be. For the sake of you Kingdom and the Glory of Your Name, I ask will You please train me and use me. And help me to remember that the two greatest commandments are to Love You and Love People. Help me to seek and love You, more than study and head knowledge, but You personally. And may all that I am taught and all that I learn, stir in me a love and passion for You and those You place around me. Teach me Truth, and help me to Love Well. And as I stare at the task at hand, help me to find my rest, strength, encouragement, and peace in You.
Amen
Prayer of Francis Drake (1500’s)
“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,
when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the waters of life,
having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity,
and in our efforts to build a new earth,
we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas,
where storms will show your mastery,
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes,
and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ. ”
~ Francis Drake
Is It Not Enough?
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
~ 2 Timothy 4:1-2
Paul’s urge to Timothy was to PREACH the WORD, to be ready! To reprove, rebuke, and exhort? How? By preaching the Word. I fear that often times in ministry we spend as much or maybe even more time in preparing other parts of our service, that we neglect the Word.
- We worry about how to draw a crowd
- How to keep a crowd
- Lets make sure they are entertained
- Make sure everyone is comfortable
These things aren’t necessarily bad by themselves, but the focal point of any and every ministry ought to be to Preach the Word. In the end we must remember that the Gospel alone has the power to save! It’s the Gospel alone that has the power to sustain! It’s the Gospel alone that has the power to sanctify! The Gospel has the power to draw men to Christ! The Gospel alone has the power to convert someone from death to life!
Let us not neglect giving the Gospel! We ought to be ready in season and out of season, meaning we should always be ready to present the Gospel. If we gather together in church, at a conference or some other gathering and the Gospel isn’t presented, have we wasted everyone’s time if the Gospel is not the focal point? I wonder this a lot when I attend conferences and other youth events, as I have worked with youth ministry for the past ten years in some shape or form. There seems to be a huge push of what can we do to get the students to come? How can we best connect with them? What will make want them to come back and bring a friend? All good questions again, we should want them to come and connect and bring a friend; whats better at doing that then the Gospel? Often times at these events it seems the attraction is the band or the funny speaker. It breaks my heart when after these events when talking to students there or seeing the Facebook and Twitter post and they are all about the band or the speakers funny stories, have we missed the point? Have we done our best attempt at drawing students in and left them empty? Maybe liking a cool band or only remembering the speakers funny stories, other than walking out going, “WOW God!” If the main thing remembered from a conference is the band or jokes, have we missed our opportunity? In an attempt to draw and to connect, do we allow these things to become the focal point of our ministry / event? Again, its ok to have bands, its ok to have a funny speaker, but if the funny stories are remembered and the passages taught and points made aren’t remembered, then the stories have become larger than the Gospel in our presentation.
No matter how cool or how funny, lives will only be changed by the power of the Gospel.
We must not forget this!
A few examples from Heroes paving the way before us:
Jesus
If there was ever someone who could draw a crowd it was Him, but yet how many times do we see Him teach in such a way that the people who were only there for the show turned around a left sad, as He continued to pour into the ones who were serious about following Him, into the good soil.
In John 6, we see a large crowd following Him after He just fed 4000 people, and He turns to them and tells them you are only following me because I fed you; so unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you cannot follow me. The crowds went away sad. Then He focused on teaching HIs 12.
Jesus, performed many miracles, and did many signs, but were these for the sole purpose of getting the crowds to come? Or were they to point to who He was, and the ones who were searching and believed He poured into them.
Paul
The one we started with charing Timothy to preach the Word at all times, and may the preaching of the Word be the way that we go about reproving, rebuking, and exhorting one another.
I think you can sum up Paul’s aim in ministry in two verses:
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
~ Colossians 1:28-29
Paul used all his energy, all his strength that the Lord worked in him for the purpose to teach will all that he had in order to present everyone mature in Christ. This has become my ministry verse. What a goal, to be able to present all those that you have taught and poured into, as mature in Christ! Only the Gospel has the power to mature us in Him!
Charles Spurgeon “The Prince of Preachers”
A man who has quickly become a favorite to read, a man who who continually points me to Christ and makes me want to understand and love Him more. I came across this on Justin Taylor’s blog on The Gospel Coalition website last week:
Why Spurgeon Thought the Plain Preaching of the Gospel Was Sufficient to Grow a Church
Spurgeon:
Are you afraid that preaching the gospel will not win souls? Are you despondent as to success in God’s way? Is this why you pine for clever oratory? Is this why you must have music, and architecture, and flowers and millinery? After all, is it by might and power, and not by the Spirit of God? It is even so in the opinion of many.
Brethren beloved, there are many things which I might allow to other worshippers which I have denied myself in conducting the worship of this congregation. I have long worked out before your very eyes the experiment of the unaided attractiveness of the gospel of Jesus. Our service is severely plain. No man ever comes hither to gratify his eye with art, or his ear with music. I have set before you, these many years, nothing but Christ crucified, and the simplicity of the gospel; yet where will you find such a crowd as this gathered together this morning? Where will you find such a multitude as this meeting Sabbath after Sabbath, for five-and-thirty years? I have shown you nothing but the cross, the cross without flowers of oratory, the cross without diamonds of ecclesiastical rank, the cross without the buttress of boastful science. It is abundantly sufficient to attract men first to itself, and afterwards to eternal life!
In this house we have proved successfully, these many years, this great truth, that the gospel plainly preached will gain an audience, convert sinners, and build up and sustain a church. We beseech the people of God to mark that there is no need to try doubtful expedients and questionable methods. God will save by the gospel still: only let it be the gospel in its purity. This grand old sword will cleave a man’s chine [i.e., spine], and split a rock in halves.
How is it that it does so little of its old conquering work? I will tell you. Do you see the scabbard of artistic work, so wonderfully elaborated? Full many keep the sword in this scabbard, and therefore its edge never gets to its work. Pull off that scabbard. Fling that fine sheath to Hades, and then see how, in the Lord’s hands, that glorious two-handed sword will mow down fields of men as mowers level the grass with their scythes.
There is no need to go down to Egypt for help. To invite the devil to help Christ is shameful. Please God, we shall see prosperity yet, when the church of God is resolved never to seek it except in God’s own way.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1888, vol. 34, p. 563
John Piper
He has constantly over the past 5-10 years of my life pointed me to Christ, through his books, sermons, and blogs, to love Christ more and find joy in following Him. I have written in the front of my bible a tweet he sent out almost two years ago:
“Every person who hears me preach will very soon be in Heaven or Hell. There is a seriousness that goes with this truth”
When asked about takeaways from speaking at Passion, Piper states that:
“In my 17 years with Passion I have never heard a joke or seen a silly skit from the stage. And that’s remarkable when you really think about it because a lot of student leaders think you have to yuck it up with college students and be as silly as the latest comedian or the latest talk show host in order to make them feel like your real. And Louie’s not like that and neither is Passion and 60,000 students are coming to a God honoring singing and preaching event that exalts Jesus Christ.”
Is it enough? Is the Gospel enough to draw, save, sanctify, and grow?
Yes let’s do our part to the best of our God-given abilities to draw in and connect with, but let us not forget that it’s the Gospel that saves! And if we are not giving them that, we are simply having a fun time with people who will soon be in Heaven or Hell, leaving happy, but perhaps not eternally satisfied!
As Paul would say to Timothy:
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
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* All Scripture taken from English Standard Version (ESV)
* The Gospel Coalition site of Justin Taylor’s blog: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/01/10/spurgeon-church-growt/
* Link to Piper interview: https://soundcloud.com/askpastorjohn/john-piper-passion-2013
Ponderings & Reflections of 2012 and So Forth
What a year 2012 was! A year I saw God continue to be faithful in my life, to continue to grow me, stretch me and lead me in a new direction. I have been reflecting on the past year a lot lately,partly cause its the start of the new year, and partly because the Lord is just stirring a lot in me right now and beginning to lead in a whole new way, that as early as six months ago I didn’t see coming.
As I reflect on the year, I can yet again say that God is faithful and continues to prove in my life over and over that He is worthy to trust and worth following. That when life doesn’t make sense that He is faithful to encourage, grow and lead.
He has taught me a lot this year, grown me, and stretched me, more than I can put into words here as I am struggling to that. Here are a few random highlights of the year, a few top of the Year list, and a closing prayer:
HIGHLIGHTS
1) Haiti Trip:
Once again this year God allowed me the opportunity to serve the people in Canaan in Haiti. Haiti is a place the Lord placed on my heart several years ago and He continues to be faithful to provide ways to go there and serve the people there. The people in Canaan I have fallen in love with and hope, if the Lord allows to go back again to. This year the Lord sent me to a small town by the name of Crossnore, in North Carolina to lead a team from there to Haiti, with Crossroads Worldwide. I have written about the trip in detail this past summer. It’s just amazing to see that when God puts a place on your heart and you beg Him to send you there He provides the opportunity. He is so faithful.
2) New Friends
Another highlight this year has been new friends I now have. Friends that I have learned a lot from, and that constantly encourage me and push me to want to love the Lord more. I have prayer warriors in my life that I know are constantly doing battle on my behalf in prayer, this is humbling and more encouraging than I could ever describe. Through a team member on my trip to Haiti, I got to see what it really looks like to love everyone you come in contact with. I’m always so focused to getting to where I’m trying to go that I often times miss opportunities right in front of me. Had a team member not wait to get to Haiti to love people, got to see them love people in the airport and on the plane and in customs. Then once the trip was over and we left the people we were sent to love and serve, their job wasn’t over they continued to love those around them as we traveled home. God just started speaking to me that is what love looks like. Other friends have come into my life and been constant encouragers, and have jumped right into whatever ministry opportunities are available and looked to love and serve the church. I am eternally grateful for those people the Lord has brought into my life this past year, and how He has used them to teach me.
3) Youth Group
Although this is a sad highlight it is a highlight. At the end of this year the Lord has closed this part of my life as I have stepped down as Youth Minister at my church. I absolutely love these students, and it has been an exciting journey over the past four years. I remember years ago telling God and everyone who asked that I would never be a youth pastor. Never would I of thought that the Lord would lead me to be one, and never did I think it would have been as amazing as it was. It was a complete roller coaster, but it has been the best four years of my life. Doing life with students and getting to see some become gripped with the Gospel and fall in love with Christ, not just an idea of Him but fall in love with Him and pursue Him, you can’t beat that.
As I continue on the journey the Lord has me on, and into Seminary staring this year, the past four years of doing life with the students I was blessed to serve alongside and minister to I will always cherish.
______________________________
Top Three Albums of Year
I love music, and am always getting new albums. I based this list on the three albums I think I listened to the most this year. Albums that I constantly listen to the whole album through and through:
1) “Clear the Stage” by Jimmy Needham
This album is incredible, the lyrics and stories in the songs grouped up with the incredible voice of Jimmy, make this album a must have. And the title song “Clear The Stage” is one that needs to be heard and sang and taken to heart. Perhaps the most powerful song of the year for me.
2) “Gravity” by Lecrae
If you know me, you know I have Christian Hip Hop, and this is perhaps will go down as one of the greatest Christian Hip Hop albums ever. The issues this album addresses, and the impact it has had is amazing. The Lord has and is raising up a generation of hip hop artist to declare His Name and Grace and Love, Lecrae is leading the way.
3) “White Flag” by Passion
Always look forward to the new Passion album to come out. And this album was a constant for the year in my quiet times. This album leads to worship in my life, often gives me words to sing to the Lord that I need to say and can’t figure out what to say.
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Top Three Books Read of The Year
1) “BONHOEFFER: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxas
Easily a top 5 book all time for me. Great read from a historic and theologic view. Challenging and thought-provoking, Bonhoeffer was fully submitted to the Will of God, no matter where it lead him. We can learn so much by reading the stories of those who have lived before us.
2) “Explicit Gospel” by Matt Chandler
Great Gospel Centered challenging read. Challenging the Church to get back to the Gospel. Encourage every church leader to read this book and read it slowly. It’s the Gospel that saves us, sustains us, and sanctities us.
3) “Am I Called” by Harvey Clark
Any man who feels that God may be calling him into pastoral ministry has to read this book. This small book focuses on the Biblical standard that is laid out for those in pastoral leadership positions. Small but powerful and straight to the point. Really can’t recommend this book enough to those feeling lead into ministry.
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Prayer for New Year
Father, I ask that as we thank You for all that You did in 2012 both in us and around us, may 2013 be a year where we pursue You like never before. Lord, please grow us in the knowledge of You and Your Will this year and increase our faith and trust that we may follow as You lead us. You are so good, I thank You for who You are and all that You have done, please use us to magnify your Name this year make your Name known everywhere You send us. Amen
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Will close with a quote I read this morning that is a perfect reminder as we head into a new year wondering what all God has in store for us:
“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may only be aware of three of them.”
~ John Piper
New Years Eve Devotional from Piper
This was this mornings, December 31, daily devotional from Desiring God’s App “Solid Joys.”
You can get the app for your iPhone or Droid here:http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/new-devotional-app
Highly recommend this app.
Here is todays devotional, a great reminder and as we enter a new year:
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Reading for December 31 from Desiring God’s Daily Devotional app, which features the best of over 30 years of John Piper’s teaching to your everyday life and satisfaction in Jesus. Download it for free in the app store.
Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and withers. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5, 6, 12)
For me, the end of a year is like the end of my life. And 11:59 pm on December 31 is like the moment of my death.
The 365 days of the year are like a miniature lifetime. And these final hours are like the last days in the hospital after the doctor has told me that the end is very near. And in these last hours, the lifetime of this year passes before my eyes, and I face the inevitable question: Did I live it well? Will Jesus Christ, the righteous judge, say “Well done, good and faithful servant”?
I feel very fortunate that this is the way my year ends. And I pray that the year’s end might have the same significance for you.
The reason I feel fortunate is that it is a great advantage to have a trial run at my own dying. It is a great benefit to rehearse once a year in preparation for the last scene of your life. It is a great benefit because the morning of January 1 will find most of us alive, at the brink of a whole new lifetime, able to start fresh all over again.
The great thing about rehearsals is that they show you where your weaknesses are, where your preparation was faulty; and they leave you time to change before the real play.
I suppose for some of you the thought of dying is so morbid, so gloomy, so fraught with grief and pain that you do your best to keep it out of your minds, especially during holidays. I think that is unwise and that you do yourself a great disservice. For I have found that there are few things more revolutionizing for my life than a periodic pondering of my own death.
How do you get a heart of wisdom so as to know how best to live? The psalmist answers:
Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and withers. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:5, 6, 12)
Numbering your days simply means remembering that your life is short and your dying will be soon. Great wisdom—great, life-revolutionizing wisdom—comes from periodically pondering these things.
The criterion of success that Paul used to measure his life was whether he had kept the faith. This is what I want us to focus on.
And if we discover that we did not keep the faith this past year, then we can be glad, as I am, that this year-end death is (we hope) only a rehearsal, and a whole life of potential faith-keeping lies before us in the next year.
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Happy New Year may we remember to number our days and in the New Year and live a life that counts for the Sake of His Kingdom and the Furthering of The Gospel.
Reminder in the Little Things
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind
~ Job 12:10
Take a deep breath…
Exhale…
Again…
Again…
Again…
Again…
One More Time…
This past Monday I sat in a doctor’s office dying (Ok not really dying but if I was in at a doctor’s office its safe to say I was real sick); hoping for a shot maybe a few antibiotics and told I will be better soon. As probably with a lot of people when sick being a little selfish, wanting to hurry up and get past this sickness, I have too much to do to get sick right now, this is not a good time for me to be sick, work will be crazy tomorrow, etc. Then along came one of those small moments in time, that we generally look past hundreds of times weekly if not daily, that this world isn’t centered around us, or even all about us, but that there is a God in heaven who is currently holding everything together, and what does He ask of us? To love Him with all that we have then love others as ourselves.
My reminder? The doctor walking into the room asking me my symptoms, and saying ok lets have a look, then grabbing his stethoscope he places it on my back and says “breath”. He repeated this about 6 times as he was listening to my breath, but every time I took a breath for him, my thought was simple, wow God allowed me to do that! He allowed me to do it again! This may not seem like much, but have you every stopped to think that you are breathing right now because God in heaven is allowing you to?
So many times we thank God for the LARGE things in life, or the BIG miracles He has done for us, which yes we should. Just been wondering lately how many small things do we neglect to thank God for on a daily basis?
- Our breathe
- Our family
- Our friends
- Our Church He’s placed us in
- The people He has placed in our life that have greatly influenced us
- The abilities He has given us
- The fact that we can have a His Holy Word in our language readily available to us
- Nature, sunsets, sunrises,
- Books
- and so on…
Yes lets take time to thank Him for the LARGE things He has done for us, but lets also be mindful of those things that often get neglected in giving Him praise for and remember to thank Him!
Take a deep breath….
Yeah God let you do that!
Spurgeon on Isaiah 49:16
Read this earlier this week and had to share:
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”
Isaiah 49:16
“Behold,” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marvelling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written upon the palms of his hands. “I have graven thee.” It does not say, “Thy name.” The name is there, but that is not all: “I have graven thee.” See the fulness of this! I have graven thy person, thine image, thy case, thy circumstances, thy sins, thy temptations, thy weaknesses, thy wants, thy works; I have graven thee, everything about thee, all that concerns thee; I have put thee altogether there. Wilt thou ever say again that thy God hath forsaken thee when he has graven thee upon his own palms?
**Taken from Spurgeon Morning & Evening Devotional**
The Reward of His Suffering
Video
Every penny from the purchase of this song goes towards funding Global Missions. Its 99 cents on iTunes, please purchase it. Please tell people to purchase it.
Thankful for Matt Papa, and his ministry. May this song do more than simply raise funds for Global Missions, but may this song also stir our hearts towards living for a Global Purpose. One day people from every tribe and nation will gather around the Throne and worship the Lord with praise that He alone is worthy of; may or lives be given towards that end.
Visit TheReward.org for more information.
Nick Elizondo 