"If anyone aspires..."

Have you ever given a thought to how you view your future ministry to be like in the church? Take just a moment, considering all your strengths and weaknesses, gifts and abilities, and fears and desires to see where the Lord might be leading your heart regarding ministry to Christ in His body.

• Full-time missionary overseas
• Short-term missions leader
• Inner-city pastoral ministry
• Inner-city evangelism
• Biblical training center worldwide
• Church-planting team
• Church-plant elder
• Church-plant deacon/servant
• Church-plant administrator
• Lay elder in local church
• Deacon in local church
• Music ministry leader
• Staff member part-time
• Staff member full-time
• Professor in Christian education
• Christian school administrator
• Christian college professor
• Adult education teacher
• Senior pastor of local church
• Associate pastor of local church
• Biblical counselor
• Writer/author/speaker
• etc

Whatever it may be that you envision yourself aspiring to (1 Tim 3:1), you must pray for God to fill you with the godly desire to pursue it. And it will not come in an epiphany overnight and come to fruition the next morning--it is something that comes through faithful, steady, prayerful and sacrificial service to Christ and His kingdom for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God. Consider further if you are using your gifts, abilities, strengths, and desires for His kingdom's cause right now.

Christ Himself said, "Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest" (Jn 4:35).

Will you be the one among your friends that starts a revival in your sphere of influence?
Is the condition of your marriage conducive for kingdom efforts?
Is your speech regularly seasoned with the grace that sets sinners free?
Is your faith one worth modeling? One that inspires those of genuine faith around you?
Does your heart for the lost take you beyond your comfort zones to new places of ministry?
What holds you back from being elder/deacon qualified? What does God think about that?
Do you aspire to serve Christ's body with an ambition that seeks no higher aim?

Once again, Christ says, "We must work the works of him who sent me [Heavenly Father] while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work" (Jn 9:4).

Man as Creature and Person

What is man? Theologians call the doctrine of man Anthropology. There are zillions of ideas as to what man essentially is because of the endless unbiblical worldviews we see today. But what is man according a biblical anthropology? Here are some helpful thoughts that I believe take theology to humility and responsibility.

Anthony Hoekema in his book Created in God's Image says, "The human person does not exist autonomously or independently, but as a creature of God" (Gen 1:1, 27). Quoting Werner Foerster, Hoekema says, "Thus in becoming, being, and perishing, all creation is wholly dependent on the will of the Creator." God "gives all men life and breath and everything else," and "in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:25, 28).

He goes on, "Man is not only a creature, however; he is also a person. And to be a person means to have a kind of independence--not absolute but relative." This relative independence means that we have freedom to make decisions, set goals, and move toward them. We have options in life and we have the power to decide where we will go.

But do we have a contradiction in terms? Can man truly be a created person? Wholly dependent on God for life yet relatively independent to move in life as we see fit?

Filling these roles out further, Hoekema says, "To be a creature means that I cannot move a finger or utter a word apart from God; to be a person means that when my fingers are moved, I move them, and that when words are uttered by my lips, I utter them. To be creatures means that God is the potter and we are the clay (Rom 9:21); to be persons means that we are the ones who fashion our lives by our own decisions (Gal 6:7–8)."

Whole point: we must keep both of these truths clearly in focus. All worldly anthropologies of man will imbalance these two concepts in some form. Some more drastically than others. We have absolutely no existence without God who is central to all creation. AND at the same time we are not puppets or robots.

May our hearts be full of gratitude for God's sovereign grace in our lives, in creating and re-creating us in His image. And at the same time, may we "be imitators of God" as we have the responsibility to be conformed to His image.

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:12, 13).

"For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me" (Col 1:29).

Something for Your Monday

You have to watch this Video, all the way through...You'll at least get a good smile out of it;)

Walking in Repentance

The Valley of Vision is a small book stored with rich literature from the Puritans. They are mainly composed of prayers of different topics. What stands out most to me after reading through so many of them, is their utter hatred for and suspicion of their sin. As this prayer below reflects on the continuance of repentance (don't miss: "I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness"), be in awe of our great Father's great grace.

"O God of Grace,

You have imputed my sin to my Substitute, and have imputed His righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness. But in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for you always justify the ungodly; I am always going into the far country, and always returning home as a prodigal, always saying, “Father, forgive me,” and you are always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace."

The heart of the pray-er who penned these words surely "exceeds" my continual repentance. May we walk in repentance, putting off our filthy rags and dressing ourselves in our Savior's robes of righteousness.

A Prayer for Power

A prayer for the ROCK group...

"For this reason we bow our knees before our Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 

that according to the riches of Your glory, You may grant the ROCK Group to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith,

that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

that we may be filled with all Your fullness."

-Ephesians 3:14–19

May our heavenly Father grant to us, according to the riches of His glory: strength, sight, and satisfaction.

1.) Strength--the strength of the Spirit (Acts 1:8 "you will receive power [Gr. dunamis--from which we get "dynamite"] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you") in our inner man where Christ now dwells richly in us (Gal 2:20 "no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me," and Col 3:16 "the word of Christ dwell richly within you").

2.) Sight--only from a position of being rooted deeply and grounded firmly in the love of God (Col 2:6, 7 "as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him") may we have strength to comprehend and see ("Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" Ps 119:18) the boundless dimensions of God's love for us in Christ.

3.) Satisfaction--the perfect man or woman is the one who is completely full of God ("For in him [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" Col 2:9) and satisfied in Him ("Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" Ps 90:14).

"Now to You who are able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to You be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." 

-Ephesians 3:20, 21

The Sacrificial Lamb

Yom Kippur was on Saturday this weekend. On the biblical calendar, this is one of the most important days because it was when atonement was made for the nation of Israel (Leviticus 16:1–34).

Leviticus 23:26 says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 'Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord...28b to make atonement for you before the Lord you God."

I came across this video that will really grip your emotions and fix your eyes on the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). You will NEVER read Isaiah 53 the same way again. "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter" so our Savior was captured and crucified on the cross.

Never forget the cross, nor the Lamb.

What is Expository Preaching?

Ever wondered what "expository preaching" is really all about? Are we as a church doing it right? If you tried out all the churches in the Antelope Valley would you notice a difference between how they all handle God's Word? Here is an short video discussion between three men who have faithfully exposited the Word of God in their respective churches.

Upon watching this 10min clip, I hope you will...

1. Be able to define and describe what "Expository Preaching" is;

2. Have a greater respect for the preacher's regular responsibility in preparing and preaching sermons for churches around the world;

3. Be able to engage more on Sunday mornings with each sermon;

4. Know how to pray for preachers of the Word more educatedly;

5. Have a greater reverence for God's Word;

6. Be more grateful for Valley's commitment to proclaim God's Word.