Yesterday Mark wrapped up our series of messages on the Trinity by helping us think about Trinitarian Christian Living.  He showed us that God’s triune nature shapes the way we live in at least three ways:

1. God’s triune nature shapes the way we relate to God in prayer.
2. God’s triune nature shapes the way we relate to others in community.
3. God’s triune nature shapes the way we relate in marriage.

Ok, I realize that the third point doesn’t apply so much to the students in five15, but for most of you, it will.  For now, maybe it is best for us to focus on the first point.  I’ve found that paying attention to how I address God in prayer has a profound affect on my prayers by giving me confidence and clarity.  The best way to learn to do this is to study the prayers that are recorded for us in the Bible.  Here are a couple of my favorite examples.  Nehemiah started his prayer like this:

“And I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.’”  (Neh. 1:5-6)

Look at the way Daniel keeps referring to God in powerful ways throughout this excerpt of his prayer:

“I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.  To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.’” (Daniel 9:4-10)

And of course the guys in Manskool have memorized Revelation 1:5b-6,

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen”

Are there other verses that have helped you to address God rightly? 

Categories: Monday Matters
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Every now and then, I get to tell you about some really exciting things. Retreats, Mexico Trips, stuff like that. Today I’ve got something even better. It’s called Gospel Translations.

Mr. Yee has been hard at work bringing to life an amazing idea: creating an online resource to translate the many great Christian resources we have in English into other languages. You may not realize this, but if you went to church in a country that spoke almost any language other than English, the bookstore of your church would be nearly bare. If you wanted to get a good book to learn more about, say, the cross or heaven or spiritual gifts, you’d have to start by learning English. We are rich people and it is easy to take for granted the quantity and quality of the books that are available to us.

But the internet is a powerful tool, and Mr. Yee and his friends have harnessed it in a way that could have a profound effect on the lives of — I don’t think I’m exaggerating — millions of Christians around the world. The Gospel Translations website is the collaboration of many multi-lingual Christians, and they have already translated great Sovereign Grace Ministries and John Piper articles into Spanish, Indonesian, and Chinese. The English section of the site indicates that French, German, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, Assyrian, Hebrew, Korean and others (some I’ve never heard of!) are on the way.

Maybe you’re wondering how you can get involved. (If you weren’t, you should be. I think this is going to be the kind of thing that we tell our grandkids we were there when it started)

• If you are proficient in another language, you may be able to help with translating.
• If you have a friend or family member who is proficient in another language, tell them! I told a friend of mine in Germany, and he signed up to translate into German! Tell a friend!
• Even if you don’t know another language, there is work to be done on the website and in formatting the documents and that sort of thing. I know some of you are learning web design or HTML. Put that stuff to use!
• Minimally, we can all pray for Gospel Translations, that God would bless the work that Mr. Yee and others are doing, that He would provide translators, and that these materials would change the lives of Christians around the world who don’t have access to the books and articles that we so easily take for granted.
• Finally, when you see Mr. Yee, please thank him. He doing 1 Peter 4:10, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace…”

Categories: Announcements
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Here’s a couple:

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Did you guys have fun ice skating?  I thought it was great!  Cold, but great.

Pictures on the way.

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Jack greeted me at the end of my run this morning:

“Dad, did you get sprayed by a skunk or something?”

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If you’re coming ice skating with us on Sunday, here are the details:

• Sunday, 5-7p
• Weather: Cold! Dress warmly.
• Good food nearby: Tony’s Pizza, Guapos Mexican, and more…
• Directions here.

Categories: Announcements
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Everyone needs a little dose of the gospel today! Here’s a bit from our boy J.C. Ryle:

“Every one that believes on the Son of God is at once pardoned, forgiven, justified, counted righteous, reckoned innocent and freed from all liability to condemnation. His sins, however many, are at once cleansed away by Christ’s precious blood. His soul, however guilty, is at once clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness. It matters not what he may have been in the past. His sins may have been of the worst kind. His former character may be of the blackest description. But does he believe on the Son of God? This is the one question. If he does believe, he is justified from all things in the sight of God.” J.C. Ryle, quoted in J.I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness, 74.

Hope these great truths fill your heart with great joy.

Categories: five15 blog
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I want to invite you all to a 4-week Sunday School class that begins next week called:

The Giver and the Gifts
What the Holy Spirit Does in the Christian and the Church

Mark taught a wonderful message on Sunday about the Majesty of the Holy Spirit and his role in the Trinity. For some people, a message like that raises question:

• What does the Holy Spirit do?
• What are the spiritual gifts?
• What are my spiritual gifts?
• How can I grow in the spiritual gifts?
• Are there other ways the Holy Spirit works?

These are some of the questions I’m hoping to answer in the class. This class is for anyone who wants to know more about who the Holy Spirit is and what he does, or for anyone who wants to experience more of the power of the Holy Spirit through the spiritual gifts.

Over the four weeks (Feb 17, 24; Mar 2, 9), we’ll cover the following topics, moving from the more general to the more specific:

1. The Broad Work of the Holy Spirit
2. The Spiritual Gifts
3. Prophecy & Tongues
4. Gifts of Healing & Ministry to the Sick

If you’re interested in coming, here is what you need to know:

• You can sign up at the Welcome Center on Sunday.
• There is no fee for the class.
• Times are 8:30-9:45am in Room 204.
• Read Acts 1-2 as homework before the first class.

Hope you decide to come!

Categories: Announcements, five15 blog
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What’s with five15, anyway? Why all the BIG MEETINGS, Manskool, GirlTalk Groups, retreats, Mexico trips, service projects, Leadership Council, ministry teams, discussions with parents and teens, and so on? Why not just tell people to read their Bibles and live for God?

We do what we do all this because we want to cultivate zeal. There’s a strange word that we don’t use often, but when we do, it is often connected to religious fanatics. But there is this little command in Romans 12:11,

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”

So what does it mean to be zealous? J.C. Ryle was an Anglican bishop who died in 1900, but his explanation is still relevant today:

“Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do his will, and to advance his glory in the world in every possible way…

The desire is so strong, when it really reigns in a man, that it impels him to make any sacrifice, to go through any trouble, to deny himself to any amount, to suffer, to work, to toil, to spend himself and to be spent, and even to die, if only he can please God and honour Christ.

A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing… He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God.” J.C. Ryle, quoted in J.I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness, 77.

Talk to your parents:

• How are they zealous for God’s glory and obedience to His Word?
• How is God calling you to zeal and passion to “please God and honour Christ”?

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So we’ve just finished our first month together of the Bible Reading Plan that Mark introduced in December.  Now we’re in Psalms and Amos.  How is it going so far?  I read this quote this morning and thought that it is a helpful reminder about we’re trying to accomplish:

“The Puritans in particular had described such meditation as doing for yourself, before the Lord, as a preface to prayer, what preachers do for you from the pulpit each Sunday; namely, applying to yourself for guidance, comfort, correction, and motivation universal truths about God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and human relationship with the holy Three, as these truths emerge from the Biblical text.”  J.C. Ryle, quoted in J.I. Packer, Faithfulness and Holiness, 76.

What have you learned recently as you’ve meditated on Scripture? 

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