The Christmas Message - John 1

Quick update before I proceed to a Christmas passage. Not much happened today on the job or home front. In some ways I feel like I am living the movie Groundhog Day. Until I finally land the job every day is very similar. Again today I put in more applications online and searched for leads and made a few telephone contacts. Again today nothing solid materialized. I'm not too worried about it right now because the next couple of weeks are sort of dry anyway because of Christmas and New Years. So until then I'll just lather, rinse, repeat (being a bald guy, that metaphor always bothers me a bit).

I'm now exploring housing possibilities because we will need a place to stay very soon. I've focused most of my efforts on one neighborhood because our friends live there and it has a great community center (complete with treadmills!). There is one house for rent available there and a couple of inventory homes available. The inventory homes would be great because you can get a pretty good deal at this time of the year. However, there's that job thing that continues to be a sticking point. I talked to a mortgage broker today to see what our options are, and I'll continue to look tomorrow before Cheryl and the kiddos come down for the Christmas trip to DC and the 'burgh.

Now for a quick Christmas passage. I've been mulling over the importance of Christmas lately, especially since I've been listening to John MacArthur's sermon series during my morning runs (as in exercise, not...well, you know). I found a good familiar passage in John that wraps up the message of Christmas, even though it does not specifically spell out the Christmas story.

John 1:9-18 (ESV), "9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") 16And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known."

That's it for now. Maybe over the next couple of blogs I'll expound. But for now, I'll just let it stand on its own.

Soli Deo Gloria!

A Pretty Good Day in God's Mercy

One of the coolest things that has happened to me recently was that I received an advanced reader's copy of Gary Thomas' new book The Beautiful Fight a couple of months ago. People that know me well will get a good chuckle out of that because in no sense have I ever been considered an advanced reader. At best I am a plodder, and I always have been. I have tremendous retention, but pitiful speed. Therefore it was quite a shock when this advance reader copy came to me from Zondervan. But, since Gary Thomas is one of my favorite contemporary authors, I was thrilled. And now, three months later, I am six chapters into it (I told you I'm slow!), and I am even more thrilled. It is excellent spiritual nourishment, and I highly recommend it to supplement your devotional reading. I'd like to share briefly about one thought from the book that has been recirculating in my heart this week.

If you have been keeping up with us, through this blog or in real live conversation, you know that these past few weeks and months have been somewhat of a valley, not in the sense that we are in the depths of despair, but very much in the Biblical sense of being in a transitional place where God leads you through on the way to somewhere else. We know God is leading us in this time, yet the terrain seems somewhat treacherous. When I was discussing this with a friend who has also been through some treacherous valleys, I remarked that there must be some sort of "Valley Theology" that could be developed from Scripture. We both agreed that the Psalms would be a good place to develop such a theology, and he even e-mailed me an excellent musical adaptation of Psalm 134 that he wrote after he went through his valley.

But I think that if I were to develop a "Valley Theology", I would start not with the Psalms, but with the Gospel. This thought occurred to me last week as I read the following passage from The Beautiful Fight (pp. 57-58):

"Pastor Randy and Janet Murphy offered a moving account of God's grace and healing in their marriage, and in the midst of their story, they recounted the words of a counselor who reminded them that, apart from Christ's we all deserve hell. Not off in the future, but right now, at this very moment, we've all qualified for eternal judgment.
"'So if it's true that we all deserve hell,' Randy's counselor had said, 'then isn't it also true that anything less than that is a pretty good day?'"

It really struck me then that the Gospel is good news, not just for the conversion of the sinner, but for every day of the converted life of a Christian. While I can mine the Psalms for strength from God's incomparable attributes while I am walking through the valley, I must always do so in the light of God's eternal grace displayed in the gospel.

So, last week when I got rejected from the umpteenth employer for yet another different reason, I could frame that in comparison to what I really deserve. And since I didn't get what I really deserve, it was a pretty good day! Now, almost a week later and facing the holiday lull, I still don't have a job, and we haven't quite sorted out all of the details of our immediate future, but considering what I deserve, today was a pretty good day too.

This is not head-in-the-sand denial. Far from it. This is gospel-centered reality, and it really helps us to frame the rest of our 'Light and momentary' trials accordingly. So, how was your day?

Soli Deo Gloria

Candy Bars and Quotations

Well, one more week down, and God's faithfulness is still carrying us through this difficult transition. I still don't have a job. I've got a few prospects, but nothing solid just yet. We were relieved last week when the house sold (we still have to pass inspection tomorrow), but we do have the minor concern of finding a place to stay after we close on this house on January 9. That seems to also mean that I'll have to have a job by then, since most mortgage approvals or rental contracts tend to hinge on that sticky little matter of employment. That leaves us a little more than three weeks to sort that out, and we'll be in Washington, DC and Pittsburgh for one of those weeks.

So to recap: I've been unemployed for five weeks, and in another three weeks we'll be out of a place to stay. "How exactly does that spell God's faithfulness?" you might ask. Many more ways than I could possibly recount in this blog, but I'll focus on a few little "candy bars". Let me explain. A "candy bar" is a concept that was explained to us by our new friends, Brian and Amy, when we were staying with them last week in Dallas. Amy said that when you face a long difficulty like this, one of the ways that the Lord encourages our faith is by giving us little things to chew on while we are on the journey. "Kind of like finding a candy bar on a long hike when you're starving" she said. "It's not the whole meal, but it's something to tide you over."

I should back up and explain a little bit of their story. These are some of the finest people that you would ever want to know in a time like this, or any other time for that matter. About six months ago they were facing a transition that was very similar to ours in a lot of ways, but different in a couple of very significant ways. The most significant of those ways were that 1) it took a full 8 months for their house to sell, and 2) they have 8 children--that's right. 8 children. 8 months in transition. Amazing. Oh, and for two weeks during the transition they lived in their travel trailer with their 8 kids so that they could all be together while Brian was job hunting. Heroic doesn't even begin to describe what they are to us right now.

At one point they were really tapped on money, which wouldn't take long with 10 mouths to feed, and Brian was facing another difficult day job prospecting. As he was leaving his favorite internet café (an invaluable tool for the prospector), he looked on the ground next to his driver's side door and found two crisp 100-dollar bills, abandoned and looking for shelter. I don't need to tell you that these were two orphans that he was glad to take in. Thus the idea of the "candy bar" from God was born.

Brian did eventually find work, and the Lord has continued to miraculously provide for them. This doesn't mean that their struggles are over, but it also doesn't keep them from encouraging this small family during its light and momentary troubles. It is important to point out that they invited Cheryl and the kids down for the weekend because they didn't want us to be apart during the ice storm. And despite the fact that they have 10 people in a four bedroom house, they gave us two bedrooms and one bathroom, leaving two bedrooms for the 10 of them. That means that our kids stayed in a room with three beds while their kids slept on the floor. And they did it joyfully.

Back to our story, then. One of the things that has been a struggle is for Cheryl and I to find time to go out together. So even amid the financial concerns, we decided to give it a try last night. Neither one of us had a particular hankering for food, so we settled on Ted's Café Escondido on the South Side of town. Two facts are important here. First, we almost never go there. In fact, I don't know that we've been there by ourselves in the last year, if ever. Second, we don't know many people on the South Side of town. Why are these facts important, you ask? Because when it came time to pay the bill, the waiter informed us that our bill had already been paid. When we pressed him to tell us who paid it, he just said that his manager told him that it was taken care of. When we stood up to leave we scanned the restaurant, but we didn't see anyone that we recognized. We left the restaurant with our bellies full of some excellent Mexican food, but what we will remember for a long time after that is the "candy bar" that we got after the meal.

One more thing. After the meal we went to Mardel Christian Book Store to look around for a few minutes. While Cheryl browsed for a few last-minute deals on gifts, I wandered over to my new favorite section, the Puritan Classics. What I picked up was a collection of sermons by the great Puritan preacher and theologian, Johnathan Edwards, entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. History buffs will know this as the title of his most famous sermon and catalyst of the Great Awakening in North America. What most don't know (including me until last night) is that eight years later he was fired from the same pulpit where he preached that sermon over his Biblical stand for closed Christian communion. This left him unemployed with eleven children and a wife and no employment prospects. The book begins with this story, including the following excerpt from a letter that he wrote to a friend three days after leaving his employment unceremoniously:

"I am now, as it were, thrown upon the wide ocean of the world, and know not what will become of me and my...family...We are in the hands of God and I bless him. I am not anxious concerning his disposal of us."

Needless to say, my faith was challenged, and my mind was full. After all, that was my second candy bar in one night.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Homeless and unemployed--yeah!! Plus Psalm 25

Well friends, I'm back on the blog after a long layoff. I can't promise that I will be posting on a daily basis as before until my life becomes more settled, but I will try my best to be more regular than every two weeks!

Here's the quick version of the update on the last couple of weeks since my last post. Last week I was holding out hope for a position that I became aware of after my last post. I went through three pretty intensive interviews for it, and it seemed like a good fit for me, but ultimately it fell through at the end of the week. It was a bummer, and it took quite a bit to rebound from that hit, but the Lord was faithful even in the depths of disappointment. I don't want to say that casually, so let me emphasize that for a moment. The Lord is faithful, especially in the depths of disappointment. I want to say that a hundred times in a hundred different ways. Let me give you just a few. He is faithful through His leading. He is faithful in His teaching. He is faithful in His gentle, loving, encouragement. He is faithful in discipline and chastening. He is faithful in deepening my walk with Him. He is faithful through His church. He is faithful in miraculous provision. He is faithful in normal ways. He is faithful in Fathering. He is faithful in His Word. He is faithful in joyous times and in sorrow. He is faithful prosperity and in lack. He is faithful in success and in disappointment. He is faithful. A thousand ways He is faithful.

When the disappointment hit last Thursday I went through my usual whirlwind of introspection and doubt. This is a dangerous and very tempting combination (see the Israelite children in the wilderness, Job's friends, Elijah in the cave [I Kings 19], Jonah, the disciples in John 9:1, etc.). Thankfully, a couple of things helped to point me back to our Great God before I had a chance to spiral too far into despair. First, the family of God was very helpful. Many people, both in Texas and in Oklahoma (and other places) have been repeatedly faithful to encourage me to look to the Lord. I say repeatedly faithful, not because they forget that they have already told me to look to the Lord, but because I need it over and over again. Within 2 hours of the time that I was notified that I didn't get the job, Cheryl e-mailed me a long and encouraging Scripture complete with underlined points that helped me to see the wonderful, kind hand of God, even in the valley of disappointment. Many others also gathered around to point me to the Lord and encourage me to rejoice in the faithful direction of the Lord (even closed doors are direction!).

Secondly, the Word has been very helpful (of course). I had a little trouble sleeping on Thursday night (always a troublesome sign for a person that is supposed to be completely trusting in the Lord). After some time tossing and turning and ruminating on my [light and momentary] troubles, I woke up and turned to the Word. For no particular reason I turned to Psalm 25, which will now be one of my all time favorite Psalms. It spoke deeply to me in the timeliness of my circumstances, and it specifically pointed me to my sinfulness, God's mercy, and His faithful hand.

At the risk of giving a very subjective interpretation let me just make a few guarded comments. First, it spoke to my circumstances and my sin. Verses 16-18 say, "16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. 18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins." (ESV) It seems as if this is the exact pattern that my heart follows. Affliction and trouble most often turn me inward. When this happens "the troubles of my heart are enlarged" and I become fixated on the problem. When that happens loneliness is not far behind. After all, when I am fixated on my own problems I have a very difficult time seeing how anyone in history could have possibly ever survived something this bad. Gloom, despair, and agony on me. It is a startling discovery sometimes to realize the many different manifestations of pride, in this case through despair. Thankfully, the Psalmist lead me out of that place by adopting the Lord's perspective in verse 18, "Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins."

Then, this Psalm encouraged me by pointing past my heart toward God's mercy and faithfulness. As one friend encouraged me, "Your hope is not in job opportunities. Your hope is in the Lord." It was so helpful to see how this truth rang out in this Psalm. The points that were especially helpful to me were the following:

1) God has a history of mercy and faithfulness - v. 6, "6Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old."

• This is not a reminder to God that He is faithful. This is a reminder to me that He is faithful. And His résumé goes way back. Like, way before me. The Psalmist is not saying, "Remember the time you helped me with a math test in sixth grade." He is saying that from the dawn of time, God has caused the sunrise and sunset with startling regularity. He has given us oxygen to breathe, and He has sustained life on this planet. With that same regularity He has exercised love and mercy with His people. He sent His Son according to His faithful plan to redeem His people from their sins.
• We know that God is faithful because He has a history of faithfulness.

2) My hope must squarely rest on God's attributes, not my own

• This is good news. I can't even be faithful for five minutes, let alone through the ages of time! But God on the other hand...
• He is the God of my salvation - v. 5
• He is merciful and loving - v. 6
• He is forgiving and good - v. 7
• He is upright (no sin or error in His ways) - v. 8
• He is the faithful teacher - vv. 9-10
• In contrast, I am the faithless, sinful transgressor.

3) Even when I really, really want a position, God's patient faithful hand guides me

• I know this is a very personal application for this Scripture, but it really struck me. There are assurances of the Lord's leading all through this Psalm, but the phrase that lept off of the page for me was v. 4, "Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths." I am not smart enough to know which job position is the one that would glorify the Lord. Even if I had five offers on the board, all with great pay and benefits, I would be utterly incapable of knowing which one would be the best one to take. And so my prayer from this Psalm has become, "Make me to know your ways, O LORD."

4) Sometimes waiting is the open door that the Lord has for me

• This part is the hard part. I'm not good at waiting. Don't judge me--you're not either. If you think you are, I dare you to pray that God would test your ability to wait on Him.
• Let me encourage you and me then. Sometimes walking past all of the closed doors is a very frustrating experience. Nothing seems less productive than identifying a door, walking up to it and turning the knob only to find out that it is locked. But God doesn't waste that time. He is using that time to teach me to wait. He values waiting.
• v. 3, "None who wait for you shall be put to shame."
• v. 5, "Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long."
• I can't clearly tell you what the purpose of this waiting is in my life right now. But I can tell you that God is not wasting this time. He is teaching me to wait.

Let me wrap this up then by giving the latest updates. I still don't have a job. I have a couple of possibilities, but nothing firm yet. I've faced some more closed doors (hopefully with more faith and grace). But the big news is that the house did sell! We signed the contract over the weekend, and we will close on it on or before January 9. This is a huge relief to Cheryl and I, and we are very grateful to the Lord for His wisdom and direction through the selling process. It was clearly Him. Before last week we were facing a lot of rejections on the house because of the roof, even though we had put in the offer sheet that we would replace the roof. A friend here wisely advised me to just replace the roof so that it is a positive instead of a negative. So we did. Literally one hour after the roofer was finished the buyers were inside, and they put an offer on it the next day. Thank God!

One last thing. When I told my Mom that the house sold, her response was, "So now you're homeless and jobless!" Yep. Just the way the Lord planned it.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Not a quick post

I have now vowed to stop writing at the top of my posts, "This is just a quick post..." because they never wind up being a "quick post". I just have to face facts, I may just be long-winded blogger.

First the update stuff. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty desperate yesterday. It is a strange thing to arrive at the place where you know you need something to happen, but you don't have any way of making it happen. I spent some time updating my résumé yesterday morning and stopped by Staples to print it out. The feeling of urgency was so overwhelming that I just stopped in the parking lot and prayed out loud, "God, I really need a miracle today." There was much more to the prayer to that, but that was the main point. But it was different than you might think. You see the prayer was more of a realization than a request. When I say that the main point of the prayer was that I need a miracle, it was not that I was communicating this to God. It was that God was (and has been for some time) communicating this to me. I am now at the point in time where I am utterly and helplessly and literally dependent on Him. I don't even know where to start without Him. I have some ideas, but all of those ideas even have a sort of dark cloud of hopelessness without Him. But I think that among other things, the Lord has prepared this season for us to realize that this is not different now than at any other time. More than just a miracle, I need the Lord. Right now, sure. But not just right now. I need Him this way all the time. The line that keeps repeating in my head comes from John MacArthur's Thanksgiving sermon last week is, "I have nothing [besides Him] and I need nothing [besides Him]". Now I must say, that I have proclaimed a thousand times in the past my trust in the Lord, but this is entirely different. I don't even know that I did (or do) trust Him without this testing time. How faithful the Lord is to bring these times of testing and strengthening to us.

At any rate, I continued to pray out loud for most of the rest of the morning until I stopped to drop a résumé off at a Christian internet company. Before I went in I received a phone call from my mom which kept me in the car for just a few extra minutes. This is unremarkable by itself (after all, my mom calls me all the time), except that while I was talking on the phone with her a guy from the church walked by my car. This is also not that remarkable, except that I only know five or six guys from the church, and this particular guy was the one guy that I was supposed to be connecting with for potential job opportunities. I had left messages for him the previous two days, but we had missed each other. I blurted out, "Mom, I gotta go!" and hung up the phone while I darted out the car door. Almost before I knew what I was doing, I was calling out the guy's name and chasing him down. I quickly explained to him what I was doing there and handed him an extra copy of my résumé. He very graciously apologized that we had been missing each other and mentioned that he works on the same floor as the Christian internet company! (I know, this is starting to become remarkable!) Oh, and did I mention that he is a HUGE Steelers fan? As in the only person West of the Mississippi that is a bigger Steelers fan than me.

Through a long set of circumstances no less remarkable than these already mentioned and clearly ordered by God, I wound up at his house that night for a care group meeting. All of those that were gathered were wonderfully encouraging to me in exactly the ways that I needed to simultaneously remove the impending desperation and encourage my utter dependence on God. It was really remarkable. Now, I don't know if anything will develop at this company or not, but it doesn't matter to me. The miracle has already happened. God has reassured my weak heart that He is in control and He is at work. The rest is just details.

I can't say that I won't waiver any more. Heck, I can't even say that I haven't waivered since then. But I can say for certain that when I do, a very faithful and very real God has aggressively addressed my faithless heart. I John 3:20 says it well, "whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."

Thank you for your prayers and your support. It means more than you will know. We are grateful to God for His faithfulness, and for His peoples' faithfulness as well. Maybe I'll do more than the update stuff later.

Soli Deo Gloria

Update and No Fear

For those of you that are keeping up with our transition to Texas, I've been trying to keep the new information at the top of each blog post so that you don't have to wade through my devotional meanderings to find out where in the world are the Websters. Here's the skinny for today. As you may know, my warmest job lead went ice cold yesterday when the company decided to pursue someone with more sales experience. The nerve! Ah well, back to square one. So the rest of the day yesterday and the majority of this morning was spent heating up the phone lines again to scare up some leads. About lunch time I hopped in the CRV and headed down to Big D with some possibilities and a lot of prayer. I dropped one résumé off at a church that needs a Business Administrator, and then I dropped in at the NACBA (that's the National Association of Church BA's) office that is headquartered in Richardson, just North of Dallas. I picked up one possible contact there, and I'll try to track it down with the rest of my warm leads tomorrow. I'll post the progress as it comes. Many people are a tremendous source of encouragement to me in this process, but I want to make special mention of Cheryl, my wife who is full of faith and encouragement. She never seems to waiver, while I seem to be waivering moment by moment. I am convinced that the Lord will faithfully provide to the praise of His glory; however, sometimes it is difficult to get my feelings to catch up. Our house has some warm leads as well. Nothing concrete, but there is some activity. If you are praying specifically, please keep these two requests in mind. Thank you.

Now for one quick devotional thought from John 15-21. I read most of this while I was in the car on the way down here. I know, not safe. But it was the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of Oklahoma. A car wreck would have been a welcome break from the monotony. At any rate, I can read while I drive, and I can blog while I drive, but I can't read and blog while I drive with any coherency. Nor can I take notes with any efficiency. So I'm just going to have to leave it to a simple thought.

You may be aware that these chapters represent the last hours of Jesus' life through his resurrection. Included in this is the greatest injustice and the worst trial and sentencing in the history of man. All of these, of course, were inflicted on our Savior for our good (Hebrews 12:3). The thought that struck me from a couple of verses in this passage was that Jesus faced all of this with an utter lack of fear of man. Consider this progression.

• John 15:18-20, "18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Jesus rightly describes the hatred that the world has for the embodiment of the Rigtheousness of God, and He correctly predicts his suffering. But the tenor of the passage is not fear or dread or complaining or even pity-mongering. Amazingly it is assurance and encouragement. "The world hates me and is going to kill me. They'll do the same to you. Be encouraged." No fear of man there. In fact the exact opposite, an encouragement to not fear man. The encouragement concludes in the first part of chapter 16, "1"I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you." Praise Him.
• Jesus continues to teach and pray in the same setting until chapter 18 when they change locations to the Garden of Gethsemane. The remarkable scene is described this way, "1When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" 5They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am he." Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground." Again, Scripture is clear. Jesus was fully aware of all that would happen to Him. More than that, He had embraced His redemption mission. Without waiting for the betrayer's band of soldiers to press the procedings, Jesus approached them and seemingly leads them through His arrest. It is obvious that He could have overpowered them with a word, yet instead He offered Himself to them.
• When Jesus is brought before Annas, the High Priest's father-in-law (Oy, I could spend a while on this guy, but I am reminded that my sins condemned the Savior as much as his) he is asked a ludicrous question. Even though it is in the middle of the night in front of a kangaroo court, Jesus answers boldly, "I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said." No fear for the scoundrel High Priest (who was not, in fact, the actual High Priest) or his paid muscle that inflicts the first unjust blow. He is so taken back with the Lord's lack of fear that he intones, "Is that how you answer the high priest?" Again Jesus, without a hint of fear, responds, "If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?"
• You may ask, "Yeah, but Web, what about when He is praying in the Garden? Isn't there fear there? After all, what was all that sorrow and sweating drops of blood?" Perhaps it is fear, but I would submit that if it is, it is fear of the wrath of the Lord. Remember His prayer? "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Never in all of the proceedings did He ever exhibit fear towards man. Grace, yes. Truth, yes. Love, always. Fear--absolutely not.

The conclusion? Remember the Lord's words from Luke 12:4-7, "4"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

Don't miss the great encouragement and strength that comes from this perspective! Jesus says, "I will show you whom you should fear." We don't have to fear man. All he can do is kill the body. Yet in the fear of God there is great comfort. I am not forgotten by God. All of the hairs of my head are numbered. Okay, maybe that is a bad example. Nonetheless, I am loved and provided for by a great, fearsome, awesome God. That's great news!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jesus loves you. So...John 11:5-6

A quick update before a quick post. The main job lead that I had fell through today. I went on a second interview with them last week, but they decided to pursue someone with more sales experience. Back to square one on the job front. I will drive back down to Dallas tomorrow to try to scare up some more leads. As much as I am disappointed, it is appropriate for today's post. God is so faithful and loving, and I am confident in His faithful plan. Please continue to pray for wisdom and patience for me during this process.

Now to today passage. I am working my way through the Gospel of John now for the third time, seven chapters at a time. There are many things that you see when you work through a book of the Bible this way, several of which I posted in the Random Things post from November 12. One of the most enjoyable things about going through the Bible this way is that unexpected things seem to jump out from familiar passages. Today I was in John 8-14, which contains the very familiar story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11. Most people have heard or read this passage at least a hundred times, so I won't go through the whole story. I just want to focus on two verses that I never noticed before today. That's not exactly accurate. I noticed them before, I just didn't notice how the two verses went together.

Here's the context. Martha and Mary send word to Jesus that Lazarus is sick. Jesus tells the disciples that, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." (ESV) That part is important too, and we'll get to it later. The interesting part comes in the next two verses. It says, "5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So..." Stop right there for a minute. We have a lot of ways that we would like to finish that sentence. "Jesus loved Lazarus so he healed him." We know that Jesus could do that. He had already healed several people in John's gospel, including the official's son in 4:46-54, whom he healed from a distance. Surely he could have done that for Lazarus. "Jesus loved Lazarus so he went to him and comforted him." Now, if he wasn't going to heal him, the compassionate thing to do would be to go and be with him in his sickness, right? I mean if he loved him, he would, wouldn't he? There are a lot of other ways that we could presume to finish that sentence, about a thousand of them would come before how the sentence is actually completed. It says, "5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was."

Now, since we're so familiar with the story, this is not necessarily surprising to us. We know that Jesus stayed two days longer until Lazarus was 4 days dead. We know that Jesus had compassion on Martha and Mary in their loss. We know that Jesus wept for them. And we know that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to delight of Mary and Martha, and the amazement of all that had gathered (they were so amazed that they continued to talk about it until the triumphal entry [12:17]). The point is not that he stayed two days longer. The point is the connection between his love for Lazarus and his sisters and the fact that he stayed. Scripture is very obvious in making this point. Some of the translations weaken this point by changing the location of the "so", and the KJV leaves it out all together, but it seems to me to be consistent to leave it there. It certainly convicted me when I read it that way.

Let me just confess my own sin and weakness at this point. There are times in my life (now would be one of them) when I feel like I am at least 3 days dead. Right now I am waiting for a job, and I can't help but think of the bills coming, and wonder how in the world God is going to work this out. And if I'm honest, there are moments when I think I should be more love-able so that God will work everything out the way that I want. When I read this passage, I was convicted deeply of this, and reminded again of God's faithfulness. A couple of points became very clear.

1. Sometimes being dead 4 days displays God's love. It sure doesn't seem like it sometimes, but the truth is that God always shows his love in the ways that are most glorious to him and best for us. After all, even being dead 4 days can't separate me from his love (Romans 8:35-39).
2. God loves me out of His bountiful grace, because of His Son who always does what pleases the Father (John 8:29). Nothing that I can do can surpass His grace and make me more love-able so that He would have to work things out according to my plan. How can the recipient of such grace and love complain about the means by which he receives that grace and love?
3. God loves me this way to display His glory, not to work things according to my plan and glorify me. This is my consistent sin. Falling short of His glory in all of my thoughts. Most of the time I stop at would would bring me the most glory. John Piper says that this is the fundamental definition of sin according to Romans 3:23. God is immeasurably glorious, and He displays His glory in His kind love for us.

So, am I now convinced of His great love for me, despite my circumstances? Am I resolute in bringing Him glory in all of my circumstances? Am I grateful for His kind provision in all things, knowing that He is the absolute source and my only need? Well, I can only say that I am learning to do so more each day.

One last note before signing off. Even after all of that it would still be tempting to say, "Yeah, but look at what Jesus did for Lazarus. He raised him from the dead. Surely Lazarus didn't have any problems after that." I would just like to point out that his problems were only beginning then. John 12:10-11 says, "10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus." Hmmm. Maybe a quick post on Tuesday on the question of whether or not Lazarus would change things if he could. Until then.

Soli Deo Gloria!

I John Revisit - Part 3

Today we finally wrap up the series on I John 4:1-6. By way of review, we are addressing the question of testing the spirits. How does a Christian know what teachers are true or false, what prophets are true or false, and what teachings are true and false. The way that John addresses the issue is stated plainly in verse 1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." (ESV) At issue then, is the discernment of the Christian with respect to teaching that he/she would receive. From what I can see, there are at least six critical questions that the discerning Christian can ask to determine whether or not a teacher/prophet/teaching is true or false. Questions 1-3 can be seen on the post on 11/21, and question 4 can be seen on the post from 11/23.

Before we get into questions 5 and 6, I thought that it might be helpful to point out some of the natural ways that we might evaluate teaching. These questions are not necessarily bad, they just don't help us to ultimately determine the truth of the teaching. Some of the questions that we ask ourselves (consciously or subconsciously) are:

• "Do they make me laugh?" - Like it or not, we live in an entertainment culture, and that culture has infiltrated the church. We have now come to the unfortunate place in Christianity that we are comparing the teaching of the word of God with programming that we see on Comedy Central. Now I'm a funny guy, and I like to laugh just as much as the next guy; however, we have taken this idea to extremes when it comes to preaching and teaching. Countless times I have sat in a church service where the teaching was thin at best, and the preacher's main goal seemed to be to spend 75% of their time telling funny stories or jokes, and 25% of their time reading Scripture and making comments about it. Often times, I've walked away thinking that they should have spent 100% of their time with the funny stuff, since the stuff that they did say about Scripture was, um, unhelpful, only to have other Christians that heard the same stuff say, "Wasn't that good!?" What they really mean is, "Wasn't that funny?" Now it is very possible to be funny and good, and all humor contains an element of truth (so does all false teaching), but funny cannot be the goal, nor can it be the sole criteria by which we evaluate the effectiveness of a teaching. My encouragement would be to let humor be a non-issue when evaluating teaching. Whether a teacher is funny or not should be as pertinent as whether or not they have a dog. It just doesn't matter.
• "Are they good-looking?" (or worse, "Am I attracted to them?") - I can think of several well-known ministries that have attracted people that I know to them with little more than physical appearance. Again, it should be a non-issue (see Isaiah 53:2).
• "Are they charismatic?" - By charismatic, I don't mean in the theological sense. I mean, spitt'n and holler'n and carry'n on, as they say in the South. Now, I believe in being passionate about the things that you believe in, especially when what you believe in is the greatest truth on earth, but nowhere in I John, or anywhere else in the New Testament are we encouraged to judge whether or not someone "got their preach on".
• "Do I want to be like them?" - Often times we are drawn to a teacher/preacher because they have some admirable quality that we would like to emulate in our own life. This is not all bad because all Christian teachers should be setting an example in life in love in doctrine, etc. However, sometimes it is not these Biblical qualities that we are holding up as our examples. Sometimes it is just that they dress nice, or have a measure of material success, or are a very powerful and commanding personality, or they have achieved some personal milestone. All of these things can be said of Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. Surely we should hold higher standards for our teachers.
• "Are they 'spiritual'?" - And by 'spiritual' I mean eccentric. Unfortunately we have often gotten these two terms confused in Christendom. I thought about giving specific examples, but that would seem to be ungracious. Turn on your TV. You'll get the idea.

My contention is that these (and many other criteria) are what the typical person uses to evaluate teaching. Instead, let's look to I John and find out what questions we should ask to determine whether or not a teaching is true or false.

Question 5 - Does the world listen to them?

• I John 4:5, "They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them."
• Not a lot needs to be said from this question other than what has already been said in question #4. The only thing that I would add is that this removes the pragmatism that rules the day in modern Christian thought. See John 6:66 and 8:31-59 where Jesus gives teaching that drives away people that had already believed in him. If the crowds are large and everybody likes them, that doesn't necessarily qualify them as a true teacher. Large crowds don't disqualify the teaching either; the question is if the world listens to them and embraces their teaching without ever being confronted on the larger scriptural points of sin and gospel.

Question 6 - Do they listen to scriptural rebuke?

• I John 4:6, "6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
• When someone rises to the level that they cease being humble and teachable, they are in grave danger for error.
• James 3 says that all teachers stumble in many ways, and we all need spiritual brothers and sisters to reprove and rebuke us in grace and love.
• Don't ever stop listening to rebuke.

Well, here's hoping that your ears are open to all scriptural teaching, and that your hearts are guarded from all false teaching.

Soli Deo Gloria!

I John Revisit - Part 2

Hope your Thanksgiving was great, and your heart and belly are full. We had fried chicken and white gravy. Gotta wait until the whole family is able to get together on Sunday to have the big bird (as in turkey, not the actual Big Bird--that would be creepy) and all the fixin's. I can't wait to get a mouth full o' stuffing. That was always my favorite part of Thanksgiving growing up. Racing through my first plate of food so I could beat my brother to a second helping of stuffing, and a third if some was still left. I miss that...

Anyway, now that the special Thanksgiving edition of the blog is over, back to part two of the discernment questions from I John 4:1-6. I'm proposing six questions that Christians need to ask when 'testing the spirits', or examining whether or not a prophet is from God or not. Specifically, the question that is more relevant for us today is, "In this day of 24/7 'Christian' programming on television and radio, how can I tell which teachers are worth following and which teachers are not?" Once again, there may be more than six questions that help us to determine this, but I think that these six form an excellent basis for any Christian to use. See the post from Wednesday, November 21, for the first three questions. I would only like to highlight the first question again, because it must be the basis for all other questions. Do they confess Jesus Christ? Not, "Are they a good person?" or "Do they act in clean movies?" or "Are they generous?" or "Do they sing about God and America in their music?" All of these things are fine, and I certainly wouldn't propose that we follow people that are not good and generous and patriotic. However, the fundamental question for the Christian to ask of someone that would aspire to teach (see James 3:1) is, "Do they confess Jesus Christ?" In the words of James MacDonald, are they "getting the flag of Jesus Christ to the top of the pole" as often as possible?

Now for questions 4 through 6.

4) Do they speak from the world's perspective, or from God's perspective?

• John says in 4:5-6a, "They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God." This is a difficult one to assess because all "Christian" teachers claim to speak from God, so how does the Christian seeking discernment tell which teacher is actually speaking from God? On top of that, any teacher that has achieved any level of notoriety has done so because they are charismatic in their delivery, compelling in their arguments, and passionate about their ideas. Most of the things that they say are very pragmatic and seem to make a lot of sense. They can even be captivating to listen to. On top of that even the most outrageous false teaching has some element of truth in it. Even Satan's lie that induced Adam and Eve to sin had an element of truth to it (Genesis 3:1-5). And some of the most cleaverly disguised false teaching doesn't have any falsehood in it at all. It just doesn't contain all of the truth. It is always more difficult to discern what is missing than it is to see what is present and wrong. When you add all of that together you can see how even a mature believer can wind up following a false teacher that says so many right and seemingly helpful things that are useful and practical for life.
  
• Having said all of that, I think that an excellent starting point for discovering whether or not a person speaks from the world's perspective or from God's perspective is to ask whether the central point of their message is "Up with man" or "Up with God". If they spend the majority of their time developing the idea that God is promoting man (not a bad point, just a bad starting point), rather than the idea that man should be exalting and submitting to God, then their teaching might fall into the category of speaking from the world's perspective. Always remember, the way up with God is down. See James 4:1-10 (note especially that "God opposes the proud"--how scary is that?) and Matthew 23:12.

Crud, it's late, and I've got to put my kids to bed, and then I've got to get to bed myself. Two more questions tomorrow, I promise.


Until then...Soli Deo Gloria

Thankful for...John 15

Since today is Thanksgiving, I am going to delay the final three questions that the discerning Christian needs to ask in evaluating the false and true teachers until tomorrow. Instead I am going to look at a couple of things that we can be thankful for as Christians from Scripture. This certainly is not an exhaustive list of all of the things in Scripture for which we can be thankful, and it is certainly not all of the things for which I am thankful. I am thankful for many things that are not found anywhere in Scripture--Stove Top stuffing and mashed potatoes and football and good running shoes and Cinnamon Dulce Lattés from Starbucks and such. And this is not to say that it is more spiritual to be thankful for Scriptural things and less spiritual to be thankful for every day things like money and food and multi-function pens. But I know that I often forget to be thankful for the Scriptural things, and when I am reminded of them, it only adds depth to the gratitude that I have for other things.

So this morning I did the simplest of all Bible-reading exercises. I sat down with my Bible and my journal and read with one question in mind: what can I be thankful for in this passage? The portion that I read was John 15-21, but I'll focus on John 15, in no particular order of importance. Here we go.

1. The privilege of fruitful prayer - 15:7-8, "7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
   
2. Christ's all-consuming love - 15:9, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love."
   
3. The joy that comes only from God - 15:11, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."
   
4. The true fellowship that comes from the love of Christ in our hearts - 15:12, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
   
5. Intimate fellowship with Christ - we are his friends - 15:14-15, "You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
   
6. God's gracious choice of me - 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
   
7. The power of the name of Jesus Christ--power to draw some and repel others; power to help us persevere; power to proclaim the word - 15:21
   
8. The helping power of the Holy Spirit - 15:26-27
   
9. Finally, and most importantly, I'm thankful for the death and resurrection of the savior. He stood in my place and received the punishment that was meant for me. And he rose again that I might have eternal life. I know that this is not from chapter 15, but I'll borrow from chapters 19-20 for this. Thank God that we have a faithful Savior!
   

Happy Thanksgiving! Soli Deo Gloria!

I John Revisit

A couple of days out of the routine and discipline of reading and blogging makes it challenging to get back into the flow. I know that routines can cause some detrimental side effects like lack of creativity and flexibility, but for an naturally undisciplined person like myself, routines can be very helpful. I've finally made it back into the Gospel of John, 7 chapters at a time for 30 days. After 5 days off it's going to take a day or two to pick up the gist of the Gospel again, so I'm going to dip back into an interesting passage from I John that I didn't get to blog about before.
Before I get to that though, a quick update. My interview in Dallas yesterday seemed to go pretty well. I'm interested in the job, but it would be a very different position for me. Essentially it is a consulting/sales position with no technical or accounting responsibilities at all. While that seems like a nice change of pace, it would definitely be a challenge as well. The job is a very goal-oriented, performance-based position. Along with goals and performance evaluation comes some pressure, so please pray for wisdom in the decision making process, along with grace and strength to accomplish any new challenges ahead. Right now I am strangely calm in the process and trusting in the Lord. He has led us with amazing clarity to this poing, and we are trusting that He will continue to do so. Cheryl is a tremendous encouragement in that regard. She seems to trust the Lord in a way that inspires me to do the same. We appreciate all of your prayers.

Now to I John. The passage that caught my attention the first time through is I John 4:1-6, "1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

This is certainly one of the most familiar passages in I John, and many people that are far more insightful than I have applied their expositional skills to it. I certainly don't expect to add any new insight to anything that has already been taught by faithful scholars on this passage. However, since we are in the age of mass proliferation of bad doctrine and false teachers on TV and radio and in local pulpits, I figure a little simple repetition of simple teaching in this passage surely cannot hurt.

The first thing that I would point out is that this passage is confronting two things that serve as a strong reminder for the church today as it did when John wrote. The first is stated directly and the danger is obvious. There are many false prophets that have gone out into the world, and their teaching is harmful. This is no less true today than it was back then. In fact, it may be more true today than it was back then. This will become more clear when we list the marks of the false prophet. The second thing that John is confronting is less obvious, but it is not less prevalent, and certainly not less dangerous. This is the lack of discernment in the church. John opens this passage with, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." This is an excellent reminder for the church today that the mature Christian is the Christian that is full of grace and truth. Personally, I think that it is a natural tendency for Christians to slide into the "all grace" mode. We all want to be more loving and more accepting and more kind and more gracious. But we must strive for the place in our lives where we can be gracious in our demeanor so that we can accurately reflect the kindness of the Lord, but never do that in such a way that we compromise the truth. The simple fact of the matter is that we cannot believe every spirit. Just because it is taught on a "Christian" program, or in a church, or sold in a "Christian" bookstore, doesn't mean that we have to accept it all. In fact, John seems to be so practical in this passage as to say that if we do accept it all, we are the ones in error.

All Christians need to be careful that we avoid the subtle drift into the "all grace" mode, and thereby accept erroneous teaching. In order to do that we need to ask ourselves at least six questions (there may be more, but these are a good starting point). Cheryl says my blogs are too long, so I'll take the first three today, and come back another time with the next three.

1) Do they confess Christ? v. 2

• This is the first and most important question to ask when evaluating any teaching. I know it seems like a no-brainer, but the sad fact of the matter is that things that are this obvious are often the first things that we take for granted. I just watched a movie that I was very much looking forward to watching because it was supposed to be a Christian movie based on historical facts and characters. The movie was okay, I suppose, and some might think me harsh for criticizing it, but the most glaring thing that stood out to me about the watered-down retelling of the powerful affect that Christ can have on a life is the fact that it NEVER mentioned Christ! I think that this would sicken the actual historical figures if they were to see their lives depicted in a strictly moral and sanitized retelling while removing the saving influence of Jesus Christ. John says that this is the first thing that we should notice, but if you read the Christian movie reviews, they never mention that the name of Jesus Christ is entirely omitted.
  
• I don't mean to pound the pulpit here over a movie when the point is much larger. The absolute number one goal of every Christian's life should be to get the name of Jesus Christ to the forefront as often as possible. We didn't "find God" or "get religion". Jesus Christ saved us. We are not about taking moral stands or fighting social injustice (though a natural outflow of the grace of God in our lives should be increased goodness and kindness as the fruit of the spirit). We were creatures of wrath, saved by a man named Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who stood in our place and took the punishment for our sins on an actual cross so that we might have a right standing before an all-holy God and live with Him in eternity. Any retelling of our own lives that leaves this fact out should make us sick. Any teaching that leaves this out should make us pause with great caution. Do you confess Jesus Christ in your life? Do you name the Name that is above any other? Do the teachers that you follow talk more psychology, self-help, self-improvement, or personal success than about the shame and rejection of the cross of Christ? All other teaching must flow in an obvious and blatant way from this core. Any teaching that doesn't has stooped to the level of motivational speech while leaving out the greatest source of motivation--the saving, amazing grace of Jesus Christ.
  

2) Do they acknowledge Him as fully God and fully man? v. 2

• John says, "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." There are great doctrines that have developed from this verse, but I will leave those for the more articulate minds than mine. What strikes me about this statement is the fact that John is writing this letter no more than 60 years after the death of Christ, and already the historical veracity of Christ has come into question. Now we are 2,000 years after he lived, and the questions have intensified exponentially. What is amazing about this is how consistently John argues for historical certainty in this letter and in the Gospel account. Over and over John stresses the validity of the eye witness account. Over and over he shows that the miracles that Jesus performed were confirmations of the fact that Jesus was fully God and fully man. Two times a voice from Heaven was audible so that there would be no doubt as to who Jesus was and where He came from. Never doubt that, and never believe any teacher that does.
  

3) Do they overcome the world or do they love the world? vv. 4-5

• John says plainly that one of the clearest marks of the Christian is that they have overcome the world. An excellent cross-reference for what it means to overcome the world comes from this same letter in 2:15-17, "15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
  
• Desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes and pride in possessions. That's the byline for the American dream. So much so that we have embraced it when "Christian" teachers appeal to these things with their teaching. Unfortunately, it is also the byline to the sinful nature. If you allow your sinful nature to be fed by false teaching that is entertaining and charismatic you are in great danger of losing sight of your own sin. When you lose sight of your own sin, losing sight of the Savior is soon to follow.
  
• Listen to Paul's words to Pastor Titus (Titus 2:12-15), "11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 15These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority."
  

The next three questions will be adressed next time. Until then, God help us all to be dilligent, mature, and full of grace and truth!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Blogging @ 80mph

It has been a busy few days since I last posted. Cheryl and the kids came down to Dallas Friday night, and we were able to spend the weekend together in a Spring Hill Suites hotel, compliments of some leftover Marriott rewards points that I had. It was a wonderful time. The kids loved staying in the hotel. We were able to do some outlet shopping on Saturday. And, most importantly, we got to go to Grace Church on Sunday. What a fantastic experience that was! So much hospitality and grace and encouragement.

Every person that asked about our current situation was purposeful in pointing to the faithfulness of God. Many of them have similar experiences to ours. Some of them have done what we did several times and over far greater distances. Yet, when they shared their stories, the "I" in the experience was always secondary to the faithfulness of God. Really, in that sense, they were all telling the same story. "God is faithful. Here's how I experienced His faithfulness..." And they would all end the same way too--"I can't wait to see how God works all of this out for you."

How different, and how much more Biblical than the standard level belly-aching and commiserating that I have so often been guilty of with other Christians. How many brothers and sisters in Christ have I let walk away from a conversation with me with nothing more than a, "Yeah, I know what you mean. That stinks." Where is the faithfulness of God in that? As you can see, I'm deeply convicted again, and renewed in my desire to live differently.

Having said all of that, some of their stories were downright scary. Like, "When I was doing what you were doing, I found a job on the day that my pay ran out from my old job." Gulp. Or, "On the same day that I closed on my house in Dallas I got laid off from my job." Beads of perspiration now forming on my faith-filled brow. The good part was that God faithfully worked things out to the most minor detail for all of them. But seriously, does he always have to play it that close? Maybe just this once He'll display His power and glory by showing up early. Here's hoping!

Well, I'm on my way to Dallas now for a second interview with Robert Half Finance and Accounting. Now that I know that I can blog from my phone it sure makes the drive go quicker! After all, what's the use of having a full qwerty keyboard on your phone if you're not going to use it? Please pray that I would have clarity and use wisdom in this time. I'll update more later.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Update and Quick Post

A quick post while I'm having a bowl of soup at Panera. Several have called and asked how the job hunt is going, and we've had many, many people encourage us that they are praying for me while I'm down here looking for a job. I am so grateful for the friends that we have; no, they are more than that. They are the body of Christ, the family of God to me. And I am more than grateful; I am dependent. There is no way that we could make it through this without them.

I am more convinced now than ever that the church, the body of Christ, is the most amazing organism in the world. The expressions that we have seen through this are remarkable. Beyond the phone calls and the words of encouragement, we are existing (quite literally) on the body of Christ. The bowl of soup that I just ate was paid for with a $50 Panera Bread gift card that was given to us by friends. I've been eating lunch on it all week (I love Panera Bread!). The people that are hosting me are wonderful, warm and hospitable. Amazingly, they seem to be fulfilled by expressing their hospitality to the body of Christ. I'd like to think that it is something about my warm and charming personality that makes them so happy to have me, but quite honestly, I think they would be just as happy to host a surly cuss like Brian Donnelly. We've had a couple of house issues since I left town--plumbing, electrical, and drywall. Several people have graciously helped us to resolve all of those (plus, Cheryl puts me to shame with how hard she works on that house). Truly the Body of Christ is amazing! And I don't mean in any way to slight the e-mails, phone calls, voice mails, text messages, and face-to-face words of encouragement that seem to come hourly. The Lord must know that I am feeble, and I need the wind of encouragement in my sails.

This is a good time to tack a Scripture on this and keep it consistent with the devotional/teaching tenor of this blog. As you may know, I've been thick in the writings of the beloved Apostle, and it is remarkable how real his writings become when you experience something like this. When I read things like John 13:34-35 (34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.) in a time like this, I have names to attach to it.

I am truly grateful, and I pray that this type of love abides in me too.

By way of an update...I have two potential job opportunities that surfaced yesterday. Either one would be a decent option. One has more earning potential, but it is all the way in downtown Dallas. The other is closer, but it is contract accounting work, so it wouldn't be a permanent position. I should know more on it by the weekend. Please keep that in your prayers.

That's all for now. More on the writings of John at another time.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Not Much

Today has been a long day, and I just finished my reading, so just a short post and then to bed. I have an 8:30 am interview downtown tomorrow, so I've got to be up at the crack. I'm in my second day of the Gospel of John, and I'm enjoying many things about it. Today was chapters 8-14, and there are so many fascinating things in there that I could post 100 blogs on these 7 chapters alone. Alas, I am out of energy, though, so I won't (somewhere Cheryl said "Hallelujah").

If you think about it, pray for me tomorrow morning. I have an interview and another job possibility that I am pursuing. Plus, I have to continue to search out housing. God is faithful and he has a plan, but there are times when I feel as desparate as Hannah in the temple, praying with her mouth moving, but no words coming out.

Ah, well. All for His glory. More tomorrow.

Soli Deo Gloria

Random Things

Today was a difficult day, full of a lot of different things. I was scheduled for an interview with Resource Staffing at 3:30 in Dallas, but we discovered a leak in our pipes on Saturday night. I had scheduled a plumber to come look at the leak in the morning, but until then we had the water turned off. Fortunately, the plumber was able to find and repair the leak pretty quickly, and relatively inexpensively. However, that made my trip to Dallas a pretty tight time frame. I made it in time and the interview went well, but I don't know of anything open just yet.

The other thing that made today difficult was the giant dose of reality that hit. For the past couple of months we've known that we would be heading this direction, we just didn't know what all of the details would be. Well, now we're here and we still don't know all of the details. The Lord is graciously providing for us in wonderful ways through the body of Christ, but it is still a bit nerve-wracking. We know that the Lord is working things out, but the waiting is a challenge. Cheryl and I had a quick cry together while I was quickly trying to get ready to go to Dallas. I love her very much, and I am blessed to have a wife that is full of faith and willing to exercise that faith in following God.

The dose of reality also hit the kids a bit today. Daniel came into my room this morning and expressed some anxiety over me coming to Dallas without them. That was hard. At the same time, I told him how important that was to me that he would come to me and say that he was going to miss me. And I was able to reassure him that we are trusting God through this time. I think that helped him. I know that it helped me. I know that this time will produce a great fruit in Daniel and Graca as well when they look back on it when they're older.

I made a brief overview read of John 1-7 today, and I'll share just a few brief, unrelated thoughts.

1. John is very time conscious in the first couple of chapters of the gospel. Three paragraphs in a row start with, "The next day...", and then the second chapter starts with, "On the third day...". I don't know that there's anything significant to that, except that it helped me to see how closely some things happened to the very beginning of Jesus' ministry--the cleansing of the Temple, the "born again" passage with Nicodemus, etc.
   
2. There is a huge statement of the depravity of man in 2:23-25. "But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man." Somehow, I've never seen that before.
   
3. In addition to the great and most familiar statement, "For God so loved..." in chapter 3, there is also a remarkable statement of God's wrath in 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." This is noteworthy.
   
4. I didn't realize the "woman at the well" passage came that early in Jesus' ministry. This is significant because it seems like Jesus was immediately showing God's plan of salvation for the Gentile nations.
   
5. Food and water are major imagery in this Gospel. From the miracle at the wedding at Cana, to the woman at the well ("...you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."), to his reply to his disciples, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me", to the feeding of the five thousand, to the "bread of life" passage where Jesus says, "You are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." Also there is the "rivers of living water passage in 7:37-39. It really is impossible to miss the point. Faith in God is not a part-time thing. It is a life sustaining thing. We need it like we need food and water.
   
6. There is a small story line that carries out across a couple of chapters that I have often missed because I didn't read in an overview fashion like this. In chapter 5, Jesus heals the lame man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees get ticked off at Him, and this carries all the way over to His address in the temple on the Feast of Booths in 7:14-24.
   
7. There is a very challenging passage in 6:64-71, "64'But there are some of you who do not believe.' (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65And he said, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.' 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67So Jesus said to the Twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?' 68Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.' 70Jesus answered them, 'Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.' 71He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him."More on that later.
   

That's all for now.

Soli Deo Gloria

His Commandments

This is the last day through I John, and I feel like I am still missing so many themes in the book--darkness and light, the love of the Father, the power of the witness, the false Christian, and so much more. But alas, I must move on to another month-long trek through another book. I know that I am not finished with I John, only finished for now. Even though there is much that I haven't deeply considered, I feel like I have a much greater knowledge and appreciation for this great, short letter.

Today I figured that I would finish up my study with a focus on the "commandments" references in the book. Once again, I was surprised at how much that I found in this theme, even though I had read it 29 times previously. So what do we learn about the "commandments" of God from our beloved writer?

In 2:3-4 we have the familiar theme of assurance showing up through the commandments. If we keep His commandments we have assurance. If we don't keep His commandments, we lie (and by inference have no assurance). In 2:5 it seems that "the word" is used interchangeable with his commandments in the previous verse.

In 2:7-8, John turns and addresses the continuity of the "old" commandment and the "new" commandment. In actuality, the "commandment" is the same, but it becomes new in the sense that it is fulfilled in Christ, and therefore in us. This breaks the darkness of the chains of the sinful nature (see Romans 7:7ff re: the law). The old commandment has been with us from the beginning, and it is the word that we have heard. The new commandment is the gospel that pierces the darkness of the old commandment with light.

In 3:22 we are told that we have whatever we ask of Him because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. This would be more confusing if it weren't for the fact that the commandment is clearly defined in the next verse. What are the commandments? Believe in the Lord Jesus and love the brothers. This surely has parallel to Matthew 22:34-38. The noticeable difference is in the first commandment. Matthew tells us that the first commandment is to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, etc. I John says that the commandment is to believe in the Lord Jesus. While this may seem inconsistent, it is actually a wonderful confirmation of the gospel--loving God is accomplished only through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ - Solus Christus. This clear definition of the commandments in verse 23 doesn't entirely clear up the confusion on having whatever we ask of him, but a solid New Testament understanding should easily dispel the popular use of this verse by the prosperity teachers. That and an ounce of logic. How can you love your brothers and live in greed at the same time? It's impossible, as the IRS may soon point out to certain prosperity teachers.

The next several references in 4:21, 5:2, and 5:3 show how intricately life in Christ is tied to keeping His commandments. We know that we don't earn the love of God by keeping His commandments, and these verses never even hint at that. But it is clear that keeping his commandments is the evidence that the love of God and the life of Christ have impacted our lives. This dispells the notion that all we have to do in life is "love God". 5:3 shows that loving God equals keeping His commandments.

My favorite of all these verses comes last of all in 5:3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." Why aren't they burdensome? Because of the glorious light and life of Jesus Christ that comes to us through His grace. This is the same news that Paul proclaims in Romans 7:24-8:1. We are completely burdened by these commandments until we meet Christ, and then His grace motivates and accomplishes what we could never do on our own in our flesh. That's some good news.

My application through this particular study? Never let the commandments of God be reduced to an "outdated, irrelevant Old Testament concept". This is clearly not true in John's letter, and it shouldn't be true in my life. God was serious about His commands when he gave them to Moses, and just as serious about them when John wrote, and just as serious about them in my life. God help me to honor you through your perfect word!

Soli Deo Gloria

The Scope of Love

Day 29 of the journey through I John. One more day and then on to the Gospel of John, which I'll do in 3 segments, 30 days a piece. What a wonderful thing this has been to find the depth and power of God's Word this way!

The interesting thing about reading a particular book this many times over is that it takes a couple of times through it to really get the overview. After that the themes start to jump out and you can catalog them into groups and start to really understand each of them. (On a side note, even after 29 times through I John, I still feel like there is so much more to grasp. I could do it another 30 times or 300 times, and I don't know that I would have it all.) These last couple of days, though, I've just started reading the book to see what would catch my attention, if anything (sometimes my attention is elusive). Yesterday I was literally surprised by the theme of "the world". I don't know how that could be since it seems so plain now, but 27 times through it, and I hadn't seen it before. Today I even noticed one reference that eluded me yesterday in I John 2:2. My Arminian friends would say that it was a subconscious Calvo-Freudian slip, but in actuality, I'm just that dull.

Today I didn't read with any particular purpose in mind at the outset either. What jumped out at me was the concentration of the concept of "love" in 4:16-21. I know, I know--everyone knows that John is the "beloved" apostle, and that one of the major themes in I John is love, so what's the big hairy deal? Even with all of that knowledge going in, I never noticed the specific and purposeful development of this theme in these 6 verses. I'll try to briefly summarize it here.

1. We must know and believe God's love for us (v. 16). The emphasis is specifically on understanding the depth and greatness and perfection of His limitless love first (see Romans 8:31-39). Not on conjuring up warm feelings or repeating empty expressions of our limited love. Our love is developed from His perfect love and motivated by our understanding it.
   
2. We must understand that God is love (v. 16). Our understanding of love at all is defined by God. Any feeling of love that we have ever had is proof of His existence. He is the source and substance. There are many places in Scripture where we can find this developed more, but here it is important to note that the emphasis is still on Him first.
   
3. A life lived in Him is a life that is lived in love (v. 16). So pervasive and powerful is His love that it literally consumes our life.
   
4. When we live in love His love is perfected in us. I wish I knew Greek tenses and definitions to be able to better understand that becuase that is an amazing thing. His love is perfected in us. His love is perfected in us. His love is perfected in us. I still can't wrap my mind around all of that, but I know that it is an ongoing process because I am not any kind of perfect in any kind of love.
   
5. The perfection of His love gives us confidence for the day of judgment (v. 17). That's not confidence here on Earth as if we become some type of super-assured, highly motivated Donald Trump type. Although we know that His love definitely does give us confidence over doubt, against persecution, in the midst of uncertain circumstances, etc. But that is not the specific point here. That comes next. The specific point here is confidence against the day of judgment. We are sinful, yes. But His love and grace overcomes our sin to the extent that it gives us confidence going into judgment. That's powerful love.
   
6. The perfection of His love drives fear out of our lives here (v. 18). Again, it's not fear of harm or spiders or heights. And we know that it's not the fear of the Lord--that's a good thing. It's a specific fear. It is fear for punishment. His atoning sacrifice, accomplished at a specific time in the past has paid for our sins, past, present, and future, and taken our future punishment. The punishment that was ours became His. It was completely accomplished so that we can be complete in love.
   
7. His love causes us to love (v. 19). Simply put, His love came first and sparked love in our hearts. Without His love, we are an engine without a spark plug. What causes us to love? His love. What increases our love for others? An increased understanding of His love (not a greater understanding of myself, not a greater understanding of people).
   
8. The effect of His love has demonstratable proof (vv. 20-21). There it is in plain black and white. Do I really understand how much He loved me? If I do, it will be shown in the depth of my love for others. It's that simple. It's that powerful. It's what caused Francis of Assisi to kiss the lepers (thank you Gary Thomas).
   

Gotta go. I've got a lot of perfecting to do.

Soli Deo Gloria

The World

The odyssey into I John continues. I have to say that I have often overlooked this small epistle in the past. Although I don't think that I purposely did so, I just didn't consider it to be as important or as weighty as some of the Pauline epistles or Hebrews, for instance. Now that I have been in it for twenty days, my attitude towards it has totally changed. There are many great and deep themes in this small book that encompass a lot of the Christian walk. Now I understand why John Stott says in his commentary on I John that in many ways the book can be considered an introduction to the New Testament. What amazing things you discover when you actually apply yourself to Scripture. What's taken me so long??

Today I accidentally stumbled on a major (and very interesting) theme in I John--the world. There are at least 13 separate references in I John to "the world". All of them are different, but all of them go together, and all of them are helpful.

The first reference is in 2:15 where it says that we are not to love the world or the things in the world. There is a lot in vv. 15-17, perhaps enough for a separate post at another time. For now, it is enough to note the idea--don't love the world. Then, in an almost passing reference, John tells us that we can use the worlds goods to bless someone in need in 3:17. Chapter 4 brings another major point about the world--false teachers and the spirit of the antichrist are from the world, they speak from the world, and they have the attention of the world. John is definitely sounding the warning to his beloved readers that they should reject false teachers that have the earmarks of the world, and we should heed that warning, especially in this day and age.

After that comes a turning point in 4:9 where we find the idea so familiar from John's Gospel in John 3:16. God purposely sent His beloved Son into the world so that we might live. Incredible. 2:17 says that the world is passing away, but here we have our Savior coming into that world so that we might live. The picture I get is of a firefighter running into a burning building and bringing out a helpless child. This is repeated again in 4:14, and we should never fail to repeat it.

An amazing statement is made about us then in 4:17, "as he is so also are we in this world." I don't think that I know everything that is in that statement, but I am greatly challenged by it. As He is, so also am I in this world. There's more in that than I can explore today.

Finally, chapter 5 tells us that our faith overcomes the world because He is greater inside us than the one that is in the world. And 5:19 tells us that the whole world lies in the power of that one.

God, grant us strength and understanding.

Soli Deo Gloria

Purity and fellowship

I'm still working my way through I John 30 times in 30 days. This was a recommended reading plan that I heard from John MacArthur for working your way through the New Testament. The goal is that in 2 1/2 years, you can read the entire New Testament 30 times, and have a very strong understanding of it. I'm only in my first book, and I am seeing great benefits from this approach. I've coupled this reading plan with the purchase of a new ESV Journaling Bible which is a terrific tool. This way I can make my own notes and cross-references in the 2" margins, and I can read each day with a new perspective on the book.

Today I read I John with the goal of noting the importance of Purity in relationship to Fellowship. This is a major theme in I John, and it seems like it is foundational to every Christian to understand. It's strange that I've never seen it before, and I don't think that I would have had I not been going through I John so thoroughly. The idea is that personal purity has a direct affect on many things in our Christian walk, especially fellowship. It is very natural for us to see some of them. For instance, it is very natural for us to understand how personal purity (or the lack of it) can have an affect on our walk with the Lord or on our prayer life. But we don't naturally see how it has an affect on our relationship with others. From what I have observed of the current church culture, we have an un-Biblical view of fellowship, and the result is that our fellowship doesn't have an upward push in our purity (see Hebrews 10:24-25).

Now to I John. We first see this theme show up in I John 1:7, "7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." Notice the direct correlation between walking in the light and fellowship. This continues in 2:9-10, "9Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling."
But the punch is added with the illustration in 3:11-15 about Cain and Abel. Why did Cain murder Abel? "Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." Amazing. Is there an upward lift to your fellowship? Are you spurred on toward purity and love by the relationships that you have with your Christian friends? Better yet, are they spurred on toward purity and love by their relationship with you? I pray that mine are.

Soli Deo Gloria

Humility and compassion--the keys to love

We are in a challenging time in our lives right now. We are transitioning out of full-time church work into secular work again, and there are a lot of uncertainties and challenges ahead for us. It is remarkable to me that out of all of the many things that can cloud my day with worry, the most challenging of them all is learning how to love my fellow Christians through differences. The Lord is slowly turning and shaping my heart, and teaching me the "most excellent way".Working through I John for 30 days is also helpful for this, since John so beautifully describes the Christians responsibility to love and fellowship within the body of Christ. I John 3:16-18 are very helpful to me right now. They speak of two keys that I often lack when I am not walking in love. Those two keys?

1. Humility - v. 16, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." Oh, how often I want to pick my life up, to defend my rights, to speak my mind. But Christ's example serves to plainly convict me. When it was in His power to defend His life, He did not. He willingly laid it down, and I ought to do the same for the brothers.
   
2. Compassion - vv. 17-18, "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." That phrase, "closes his heart against him". Oh, man that's convicting. Let's be clear. Rarely am I in the position of "having the world's goods" and seeing my "brother in need". That's just not my position in life right now. But often I see a brother that is need because of bad choices or foolish thinking or lack of trust in God or flat-out sin in their life. My reaction is normally to close my heart to them and judge them for being in that position. That is not the compassion that is commanded in this verse. This compassion would embrace a brother in deed and truth and let the love of God flow through Him. I have so much to learn here.
   

Enough for now.

Soli Deo Gloria