Preach the incarnation - Reformation21 Blog

Preach the incarnation - Reformation21 Blog

Giving Thanks to Whom it is Due and a Joy to Praise.

¹Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
²Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³For the LORD is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.

To those reading,
      I hope your thanksgiving is enjoyed in the light of God's Glory. That you remember as you're with family that they are a gift from God, and even a part of your sanctification (How you love and interact with them). If you have any contention, lay it down, if you have any bitternes, enmity or anger, lay them down. Repent and believe in God's Gospel and enjoy fruits of fellowship, love, grace and kindness with your family. It is a glimmer of the banquet in some sense.
Grace and Peace to you.

Homework assignment...The best homework EVER @ RTS Orlando!

Jesus doesn’t just demand right actions in line with the law. These are certainly required but only out of the genuine faith given by grace because of the mercy of God. This summary is clearly stated in 2 Samuel 15:22 “Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than to the fat of rams” (ESV). This was true in OT times just as NT and ours. Sacrifice is only meaningful given our posture to God. If we are prideful or boastful in his presence he will knock us down. If we are humble and penitent he will hear us.

In this humble posture we may pray and ask God for those riches of the spirit he has promised. We have faith that believes the impossible, i.e. casting down a mountain into the sea, or a man being raised from the dead. We will have hope in the return of the Christ and the promise of the kingdom filled and perfected in glory.

There is also a warning in the summary. We should constantly seek to lean on Christ during this life so as not to go astray from the faith. In John 15 Jesus teaches “¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (ESV) John using the words of Jesus to teach the Jews and the gentiles shows that real ‘fruit’ or life can be ‘produced’ or lived in real faith or abidance in Jesus as Lord.

Riches of the Lord

I see a lot in the world about money, cars and clothes. It is apparent many people, Christians included have forgotten (including myself) what it means to believe in an omnipotent Covenant God who takes care of His children. In Genesis 15 God tells Abram " Look, now toward Heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them". And He said to him, "so shall your descendants be". Why would God have pointed Abram to the heavens? God created them out of the word of His mouth! If God can do that, surely God can provide the children of the covenant to a man far too old to have children and a wife of barren womb. God has all that we need. The faith in Him that He provides by Grace is more precious than any richness acquired on this vapor trail we live on. Christ's righteousness is a glory to which we can have under the blessings of faith from God by grace. I have to remember this constantly: that God is going to provide because of the righteousness He has provided unto me by the graciousness of His own heart. He has reconciled me to him and faith is now mine to believe. I want that. I NEED that daily; much less than a coffee fix or new guitar. I need to remember the Sovereign Lord loves His children and provides for them, NOT NECESSARILY by the accumulation of money and things, but the things that REALLY matter. Provisions of Love, Mercy, Faith, Hope, Trust, etc and even, yes even! in times of trial and affliction!
Moreover, this faith is only realized in the death of the old self. Righteousness can only be put on we God circumcises our prideful, disobedient hearts and puts in us a law of love. These are the riches of the Lord. Amen

Weightless in a Vaccum Through a Glass Darkly...

David wells writes

“It is one of the defining marks of Our Time that God is now weightless. I do not mean by this that is ethereal but rather that he has become unimportant. He rests upon the world so inconsequentially as not to be noticeable. He has lost his saliency for human life. Those who assure the pollsters of their belief in God's existence may nonetheless consider him less interesting than television, his commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence and influence, his judgment no more awe-inspiring than the evening news, and his truth less compelling than the advertisers' sweet fog of flattery and lies. That is weightlessness. It is a condition we have assigned him after having nudged him out to the periphery of our secularized life. His truth is no longer welcome in our public discourse. The engine of modernity rumbles on, and he is but a speck in its path.” Quote http://members.aol.com/augusteen/Weightless.html

God's distance from us at times seems to be a great deal of perspective. I would argue that perspective has to do with our view of the scripture. God is never more real than through the illumined truth of the Bible, Old and New Testaments. This is His revelation to His people for all time.
We live in not just a period of time (the 21st c) but in a place that is at it's core dark and bleak. The hope however is in the washing of this earth in the blood of a savior that has come to heal and make glad his creation and people! We would do well to consider this as we go through the ins and outs of our daily routine and consider the immensity and intimacy of our God.

Amen.

The Sin of Watered Down Faith

Radical Reformation, Radical Redeemer

In Mainstream Evangelical Churches of the 21st century there is a lack of understanding about who Christ and is as Redeemer and Savior. Many tout bad, liberal theology that looks like marketing any number of insurance companies, real estate agents and mega-malls would us to promote consumerism. In fact, many churches do promote consumerism, "come and buy" salvation or spiritual healing, "listen and give me money so that I may be glorified". This is embezzlement of God's Riches: Mercy, Grace, Glory. 

The Church must repent, we all must, in order to allow God's Grace to shine through. 

The Five Solas Of the Protestant Reformation

1. Sola Gratia

2.Sola Fide

3.Solus Christus

4.Sola Scriptura

5.Soli Deo Gloria

Biblical Backing for the Solas: An Introduction to The Doctrines of Grace.

1 & 2. " Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by into his grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Romans 5:1&2 [ESV](see also Romans ch. 3) By the gifts of God's faith and grace we are saved. Grace comes to us to allow us to understand, humble and submit to God's holy will. Faith is also a gift, not an action we do in order to gain or earn our salvation. It is a means of believing Christ and his word that God has bestowed on us, alongside grace, in order for us to work out our salvation according to His perfect will and sovereignty over all creation. 

3. "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44) [ESV]. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"(John 14:6) [ESV]. God sent Christ as our ransom for our sins. The only way to salvation is through him upon God's sovereign calling in our hearts, which is the gift of grace, and we believe because of the gift of faith.

4.  " All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man (messenger) of God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16) [ESV]. The bible is our sole means of discovering God's full plan through history and how we are to act as Christians. Without the Bible, there would be no understanding of God's direct involvement in history or mankind. We must study diligently with open eyes, hearts and humble minds as well. It keeps our attention on Christ and focuses on God's will over ours; as it should be. 

5. "For from him and through and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:36) [ESV]. 

"...To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen (Romans 16: 27) [ESV]. Life and the sustaining of the universe comes only through Christ the sustainer and for God's glory alone does it survive.