Who shall separate us from Christ's love?

Again this morning I was really blessed by Romans 8, this time by verses 35-39:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be abled to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NIV)

These verses acknowledge that we may very very well face trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakendess, danger, or sword. In fact, the Old Testament speaks of facing the threat of being killed for the Lord's sake all day long. The question is, will such things separate us from the love of Christ? The answer is, absolutely not! Instead, in the midst of all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. As was mentioned back in verses 28-30, God has determined a day in the future when He will glorify us, finally and completely conforming us to the likeness of Christ! On that day, all the hardship will come to an end. And as verse 28 indicates, right now God is using the hardship to bring about His plan of conforming us to the likeness of Christ. This is the greatest love, to be freed from sin to stand face-to-face with Christ in holiness and purity, to be freed from sin to truly gaze upon Christ without shame! He is the greatest treasure!

Who will bring any charge against God's elect?

In my devotions yesterday, I was memorizing and meditating upon Rom 8:32-34. I was really blessed by them. Here they are:

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemnds? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (NIV)

Paul raises the same question twice: Who will bring any charge against us? Who condemns us? Notice how he answers. The only person who has the right to condemn us is God the Father and His Son. Yet God, far from condemning us, has justified us, has declared us righteous! And His Son, far from condemning us from the throne of God, is interceding for us from the throne of God! So the implied answer is, no one condems us! Just the opposite is the case! Our judge has justified us and is praying for our well-being as we speak!

Often my flesh and the Evil One condemn me. My thoughts can go wild with self-condemning thoughts. These verses are so useful for combatting such thought patterns.

Leadership in the Home

I just finished a series of blog entries by Tim Challies on leadership in the home. They were excellent! I highly recommend them to any Christian man who is interested in getting married, or who is already married, no matter how long he has been married. Here are the links:

1. Introduction

2. A Defense

3. A Godly Man Leads

4. A Godly Man Protects

5. A Godly Man Provides

Casting our anxiety on the Lord, and Listening to preaching

In the last couple weeks, I have read a couple excellent blog entries that I want to point you to for your edification.

First, Thabiti Anyabwile wrote a brief but excellent exposition of 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." You can read it here.

Second, Tim Challies wrote some helpful exhortations for how we listen to preaching in our church on the Lord's Day. He goes into preparation beforehand, what we do during the preaching, and what we do after the sermon. You can read it here.

What the Bible says about Worship

A few months ago, I thoroughly enjoyed studying what the Bible says about worship. Here is what I learned:

What It Means to Worship the True God

The Hebrew and Greek words for “worship” teach us that worshipping God involves (1) bowing down before God, (2) serving God, and (3) fearing God.

In the Bible, true worship is always a response to revelation from God, or to an act of God.

Definition of worship: To worship God is to respond to His revelations of his great glory, goodness, and sovereignty, and to His sovereign acts of glory and goodness. It is to respond with a reverential attitude and actions that acknowledge God’s great glory, goodness, and sovereignty.

The Ability to Worship the True God

How is one able to worship the true God in an acceptable way? In what condition must a person be to worship God?

1. You must be righteous (Gen 4:2-7; Ps 24:3-4; Isa 1:10-17; Mic 6:6-8)

2. As a sinner, you can only worship God through Christ (Heb 9:13-14; 10:19-25; 13:15-16; 1 Pet 2:4-5)

The Means of Worshiping the True God

Nine means (or types) of worship required by God:

1. Grow in the knowledge of God through His Word (Hos 6:3, 6)
2. Surrender yourself to God (Rom 12:1-2)
3. Give praise and thanks to God (Psa 96:2-10; Heb 13:15; Rev 4:8-11)
4. Rejoice in God (Psa 2:11-12; Psa 47:1-4; Psa 95:1-6)
5. Sing to and of God (Jas 5:13; 2 Chron 29:27-30; Psa 96:1-2)
6. Pray to God (Lk 2:36-37)
7. Give financially to God’s work (Phil 4:15-18)
8. Love people (Heb 13:15-16)
9. Evangelize the lost (Rom 15:15-16)

The Manner of Worshiping the True God

1. By the Holy Spirit (Phil 3:2-3; cf. Rom 8:12-13)

This means that we are to worship as a result of being regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9-10), worship with our mind set on the Holy Spirit rather than the flesh (Rom 8:5-6), worship following the lead of the Holy Spirit rather than the lead of the flesh (Rom 8:14), and worship trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than the power of the flesh.

2. With a broken and contrite spirit (Ps 51:14-17)

3. In your spirit (Mt 15:7-9; John 4; Rom 1:9)

4. In truth (John 4:23-24)

5. In righteousness of life (Lk 1:74-75; 1 Tim 2:8; 1 Pet 3:7)

6. In unity with the body of Christ (Mt 5:23-24; Rom 15:5-6; 1 Tim 2:8)


I thoroughly enjoyed preaching these Scriptural truths. You can download audio recordings of the sermons at www.cfcnb.org . Look for sermons between 4/26/09 and 5/24/09.

God's Purposes in the Recession

John Piper preached a helpful message recently titled, "What is the Recession For?" He gives 5 of God's purposes in the recession: (1) To expose sin and bring repentance, (2) To awaken us to world poverty, (3) To relocate the roots of our joy in His grace, rather than in our goods, (4) To guard His glory by advancing His saving mission in the world precisely when human resources are low, and (5) To bring His church to care for her hurting members and grow in love. To read, listen, or watch the sermon, follow the above link.

Homeschooling Workshop by Gregg Harris

This is my first blog entry since we moved in the Fall. The Lord provided a larger house for our growing family, which is a real blessing! I have been super busy since then. We have decided to homeschool our kids, starting this next Fall. So in December, I started researching the various homeschooling philosophies. I found a series of lectures by Gregg Harris to be very helpful, both for parenting and homeschooling. It is called, "Basic Homeschooling Workshop." It is in MP3 format, and can be downloaded for $15.95. I considered it to be very worth my money.

There are 8 lectures, all relating to Christian homeschooling: (1) Why Home School?, (2) The Battle for Your Child, (3) Child Training God's Way, (4) How to Do a Great Job, (5) Delight-Directed Studies, (6) The Battle for Your Rights, (7) Teaching History in the Home, and (8) Home School Hazards: Passive Dads, Active Toddlers, and Teacher Burnout.

Here are some of the ideas that stood out to me. First, a benefit of homeschool is that your children receive much more personal instruction, like what a tutor gives, which is more effective. Second, your children will be more challenged to grow and mature than they would be in a classroom of 25 other kids at the same maturity level. Kids emulate those around them. In homeschool, they get a lot of interaction with their parent and are learning alongside their older siblings. Third, the teaching can be customized according to the interests and needs of the children, which helps keep it interesting. Fourth, the way for families to evangelize isn't sending their children into a public school, but using their home for hospitality, bringing unbelievers into their home. Fifth, in homeschool, older children can be taught how to start and run a family business. Sixth, children don't need traditional school for socialization, but can have adequate socialization time with children their own age at church. Seventh, it is vitally important for fathers to be involved in homeschooling. Eigth, teaching history biblically will highlight God's providential control, teach children how God is actively involved in history, and spur children on to trust in God.

The lecture, "How to Do a Great Job," is somewhat out-dated. It largely surveys various homeschooling books, many of which are now out-of-print. However, I found the section on teaching Bible to very helpful.

If you are only able to listen to a few, I would suggest the following lectures: "Why Home School?" "The Battle for Your Child," "Child Training God's Way," "Delight-Directed Studies," and "Teaching History in the Home."