Thursday, June 30, 2011
Hope of the Broken World
The "place" of the dayspring is the particular point of the horizon at which the sun comes up on any given day.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Take Dead Aim, Two Volume Set - Resource Center - Truth For Life
Take Dead Aim, Two Volume Set - Resource Center - Truth For Life
Below is the link to download for FREE!
http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/series/take-dead-aim-volume-1/
The Apostle Paul was in no doubt as to his direction and purpose in life. In the very heart of this letter to the Philippians, he makes his focus clear. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."Throughout this letter, Paul urges upon these dear Philippian believers the need for them to be equally focused when it comes to the matter of living for Christ.
This series of studies will not only prove useful for the Christian who is seeking to get "back on track," but also to the local church that is seeking to discover its identity in Christ and fulfill the purpose God has for it. The problems that had arisen among Philippian Christians could not be allowed to jeopardize their enjoyment of one another’s company, nor their witness before the watching world. Like a skillful shepherd, Paul establishes them in the truths necessary to live for Christ.
(The second sermon in this series called Feeling and Longings is BEAUTIFUL!)
Below is the link to download for FREE!
http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/series/take-dead-aim-volume-1/
The Apostle Paul was in no doubt as to his direction and purpose in life. In the very heart of this letter to the Philippians, he makes his focus clear. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."Throughout this letter, Paul urges upon these dear Philippian believers the need for them to be equally focused when it comes to the matter of living for Christ.
This series of studies will not only prove useful for the Christian who is seeking to get "back on track," but also to the local church that is seeking to discover its identity in Christ and fulfill the purpose God has for it. The problems that had arisen among Philippian Christians could not be allowed to jeopardize their enjoyment of one another’s company, nor their witness before the watching world. Like a skillful shepherd, Paul establishes them in the truths necessary to live for Christ.
(The second sermon in this series called Feeling and Longings is BEAUTIFUL!)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
No More Scarlet Letters
No More Scarlet Letters
No More Scarlet Letters
W. Somerset Maugham once said, “There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror.”
With networks and newspapers broadcasting another New York Congressman’s sordid sexual secrets, and the public in a swirl of surprise and horror (and prurient fascination), it’s good for us to ponder again the profound grace that Jesus Christ extends to sinners like us, guilty of shameful things.
History has tended to give Mary Magdalene a reputation as a woman with a sordid sexual past. We’re not sure why. The Bible tells us little about Mary other than she had seven demons cast out of her, was present at Jesus’ crucifixion, saw where Jesus was buried, and saw the resurrected Jesus.
Maybe Mary’s rep is a bad rap. Maybe she’s been unjustly identified as the immoral woman in Luke 7. Maybe she’s borne the disrepute of her (likely) hometown, Magdala. Or maybe those strange early Christian apocryphal writings are to blame.
Or maybe Mary really did have a past. That’s the way I lean. It seems reasonable that a vague remnant of what was once her public shame lingers to highlight her Savior’s grace.
If that’s true, consider this: Mary Magdalene was the first person Jesus appeared to after being raised. The first person! Not his mother, not Peter, but a formerly immoral, demonized woman.
No wonder the disciples doubted Mary at first when she told them Jesus had appeared to her. You mean he appeared to Mary first and not us? Why would he do that?
Why indeed. I think that’s precisely what we’re supposed to ask.
I think one reason is similar to why God included Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba in the lineage of the Messiah and why the first recorded person to whom Jesus self-disclosed as the Messiah was the woman at the well: to illustrate that Jesus came to take away the horrible shame of sin and bestow the greatest honor on undeserving sinners. Jesus removed the scarlet letters these women carried around and made them heirs of the kingdom—daughters of the King!
And if your trust is in Jesus, that’s exactly what he does for you. Before God you wear no scarlet letter for any past sin anymore. Jesus takes away your sin. It is gone. You are clean. There is no lingering surprise and horror before God’s throne. Only honor bestowed on the children of God.
With networks and newspapers broadcasting another New York Congressman’s sordid sexual secrets, and the public in a swirl of surprise and horror (and prurient fascination), it’s good for us to ponder again the profound grace that Jesus Christ extends to sinners like us, guilty of shameful things.
History has tended to give Mary Magdalene a reputation as a woman with a sordid sexual past. We’re not sure why. The Bible tells us little about Mary other than she had seven demons cast out of her, was present at Jesus’ crucifixion, saw where Jesus was buried, and saw the resurrected Jesus.
Maybe Mary’s rep is a bad rap. Maybe she’s been unjustly identified as the immoral woman in Luke 7. Maybe she’s borne the disrepute of her (likely) hometown, Magdala. Or maybe those strange early Christian apocryphal writings are to blame.
Or maybe Mary really did have a past. That’s the way I lean. It seems reasonable that a vague remnant of what was once her public shame lingers to highlight her Savior’s grace.
If that’s true, consider this: Mary Magdalene was the first person Jesus appeared to after being raised. The first person! Not his mother, not Peter, but a formerly immoral, demonized woman.
No wonder the disciples doubted Mary at first when she told them Jesus had appeared to her. You mean he appeared to Mary first and not us? Why would he do that?
Why indeed. I think that’s precisely what we’re supposed to ask.
I think one reason is similar to why God included Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba in the lineage of the Messiah and why the first recorded person to whom Jesus self-disclosed as the Messiah was the woman at the well: to illustrate that Jesus came to take away the horrible shame of sin and bestow the greatest honor on undeserving sinners. Jesus removed the scarlet letters these women carried around and made them heirs of the kingdom—daughters of the King!
And if your trust is in Jesus, that’s exactly what he does for you. Before God you wear no scarlet letter for any past sin anymore. Jesus takes away your sin. It is gone. You are clean. There is no lingering surprise and horror before God’s throne. Only honor bestowed on the children of God.
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