Our vision (as you heard Sunday) is to be a church that embraces the gospel from beginning to end- at all times, in all places, in all circumstances.

Today Justin Taylor posted a powerful quote over at Between Two Worlds.  This is what we want to be about…

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be trust as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.

B. B. Warfield, Works 7:113

If you are anything like me, comforting those who are grieving is a challenging. At the same time the need to do so is inevitable and necessary. This is part of being part of the body of Christ- we are a spiritual family and we share life together.

I found the following article on this topic superb. It is written by Jon Smith over at the New Attitude blog. I have included just his introduction and main points but I would encourage you to read the whole thing here.

I will never forget those grief-stricken 4 hours – sorrowful, painful, tragic. My wife and I embraced our infant son Chase, singing to him, praying for him, and could do nothing but helplessly watch his life wither away.

Six months earlier we discovered our son Chase had a fatal birth defect. We knew, barring a significant miracle, that he was going to die, but we did not know of the unimaginable pain and suffering that his death would bring to our door – we had never really suffered the loss of anything. We were able to spend four precious but painful hours with our little boy and our last act as his earthly parents was to hold him in our arms as we sang, “It is Well With My Soul.” Chase breathed his last right before we concluded the last line of this never to be forgotten song.

My wife and I never imagined that we would lay any of our children in the grave, let alone watch them suffer and die in our arms. But, neither did we imagine the band of close friends and comforters that God would send to us in our greatest hour of need. We weren’t the only ones that held him, sang to him, and prayed for him that day in the hospital, nor were we the only one’s weeping at his departure - they were too. They walked with us, cried with us, prayed with us, and carried us for months. They were great comforters to us. They were Christ to us.

This article provides some pastoral reflections on being great comforters to the suffering, but also acts as a tribute to my closest friends, for they were the one’s that taught me many of these truths. What follows are some lessons that I have learned and will continue to learn in caring for people who are suffering. It’s not an exhaustive treatment, just a start.

Weep with those who weep.

Help them run to where their supreme comfort can be found.

Help them speak with honest emotion.

Let them initiate the doctrinal questions.

Don’t ignore them or the death.

Pray for those who are suffering.

The elders and deacons have been going through Paul Tripp’s book “How People Change.”  I think we would all highly recommend it.  I will probably be posting many more quotes from it in the future.  Take a few minutes and reflect on this one.

The Christian hope is more than a redemptive system with practical principles that can change your life.  The hope of every Christian is a person, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  He is the wisdom behind every biblical principle and the power we need to live them out.  Because Christ lives inside us today, because He rules all things for our sakes (Eph. 2:22-23), and because He is presently putting all His enemies under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25-28), we can live with courage and hope.

Our hope is not in our theological knowledge or our experience within the body of Christ.  We are thankful for these things, yet we hold onto one hope: Christ.  In Him we find everything we need to live a godly life in the here and now.  Paul captures it so well: ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).’                                                 -pg. 17-18

Recently Joe Thorn wrote a post on his blog on the connection between systematic theology and prayer. His contention is that one of the most helpful things we could do for our prayer lives is to know and love systematic theology. Read on and see if you don’t agree with him.

When it comes to struggling with prayer I often hear things like:

“I don’t know what to say.”
“I run out of things to pray about.”
“My prayers amount to little more than a laundry list of requests.”
“I feel like my prayers just bounce off the ceiling.”
“My praying feels artificial.”

There are a number of things I recommend to people who are learning, or re-learning, to pray. The simplest is the ACTS acronym. Most of you know what it is, but just in case - it is the model of prayer that encourages us to begin with Adoration (praise), and then continue with Confession of our sin, moving on to Thanksgiving for all God is and has done for us, and concludes with Supplication (specific requests for self and others). I like this model, and it typically structures my prayer time even when I am not thinking about it. There are some great books I encourage people to read and use as well. Reading and praying through the Valley of Vision is a great aid to learning to pray more theologically. The Bible and the Closet by Thomas Watson and Samuel Lee was instrumental in altering my prayer life forever. Herman Witsius’ Sacred Dissertations on The Lord’s Prayer should be read by every pastor. But the best advice I can give someone who wants to deepen their prayer life, is typically the most unexpected. I am convinced that one of the best things to help your prayer life is systematic theology. (more…)

As you prepare yourself and your family for the first Sunday of 08 here’s some info to help fuel your preparations.

To start with, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together (as we do every 1st Sunday). I think this makes this Sunday not only the best day of the week but the best day of the month.

Text/Topic-

Body Life Pt. 5- The Ordinances

Romans 6:1-5, Luke 22:14-20

Songs-

My Raptured Soul by John Berridge

And Can It Be by Charles Wesley and Thomas Campbell

The Glories of Calvary by Steve and Vikki Cook

My Stronghold

Jesus, I Come by William Sleeper

Sing to Jesus by Fernando Ortega

Amazing Love by Charles Wesley and Jeff Foote

I’d Rather Have Jesus by Rhea Miller and George Beverly Shea

Over at The Blazing Center Stephen Altrogge recently posted some reasons to memorize Scripture.  Below is the bulk of the post (he concludes the post by advocating the use of music as an aid).

If you’ve stalled in memorization, this would be a great time to start up memorizing again.  The verse for the week is listed weekly in both the bulletin and the Grace Group Study guide- this week’s verse is 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

If the spiritual disciplines were personal hygiene, then scripture memorization would be like flossing. We know we should do it, we know it’s good for us, but we still don’t do it. Why don’t we memorize scripture? Here’s my guess: because it’s work. It takes some serious effort to get those words off the index card and into our rather dense brains. So why should we even bother memorizing scripture? If it’s so much work, why make the effort. Here’s why:

1. For our holiness

Psalm 119:11 says, ” I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The word of God is a sin-killing sword. The Holy Spirit uses scripture to help us put our sin to death and overcome temptation. However, it’s very rare that I have my Bible sitting next to me when temptation comes my way. And so I must memorize scripture for the purpose of holiness. I must fight the promises of sin with the superior promises of God - promises like Psalm 16:11, which says, “…in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” The Holy Spirit uses scriptures we’ve hidden in our hearts to help us overcome sin.

2. For our happiness

Each day we will face some degree of trouble. Some days the troubles will be minor, like a flat tire, or a bad performance review at work, or an unexpected bill. Other days the trouble will be massive, like the death of a parent, or the discovery of cancer, or a major marital conflict. The word of God is what sustains us, and gives us joy and peace in the midst of trouble. If we want to honor God in our trials, we must memorize promises like Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” You will face troubles, I promise you that. Ready yourself for the storm by memorizing God’s word.

3. For our prayers

The promises of God are fuel for passionate prayers. When we pray we should in a sense argue with God, presenting to Him the promises He’s given as ground for our prayers. For example, when I pray for someone to be saved, I can plead 2 Peter 3:9, which says that God is patient, “…not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God Himself has told me that He does not wish that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I can plead this verse to God, presenting it to Him as a reason for saving an unbeliever. No one I know models this better than my dad. His prayers are laced with the faith-building promises of God. Why? Because he’s hidden the word of God in his heart.