"The Spirit of God is Arousing Us Within"

....

24 I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.

The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.

9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

12-14 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

18-21 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Romans 7:24-8:39 from THE MESSAGE

Does Our "Eschatology" Rescue the Perishing?!

Just thinking out loud. Particularly as the matter of "End Times" theology has paradoxically both excited/intrigued me AND irritated/deflated me....

I LOVE considering Jesus' return! I LOVE the urgency of seeing how current events line up with biblical prophecy.

But I DESPISE how matters of interpretation about prophecies that are still largely mysterious nevertheless manage to cause HUGE divisions in the Body of Christ, and to what end? (no pun intended....) If we are divided, on matters that are NOT intrinsic to the Gospel (see prev post - I am not advocating we abandon clear truths of Scripture - but where we have perhaps loved our TEACHINGS more than the WORD? let us lay those differences aside!), are we not in our division giving up the very ground to the enemy that WE should be conquering? Land that was promised to US?

So, lately, I find myself reading much about and also now in a church that holds to a kind of "end times" perspective that is a) quite different from my previously (albeit loosely) held assumptions, and that b) has VAST implications for how I might live, today, if this is an accurate interpretation of Scripture. So much so, in fact, that I am tempted to say every other "end times" view fits pretty squarely into the "not yet" category whereas this approach with which I now find myself presented is filled to overflowing with a sense of the "already." So, in my zeal, I whipped out the following as a status update on my facebook profile several minutes ago:

What if our "eschatology" - FAR from being a peripheral concern - were to not merely "inform" but absolutely TRANSFORM the way we live our life, NOW? That is, what if our "end times theology" is the wrongly held conviction that God's Kingdom is for THEN, but not NOW? What if the so-called tension between the "already" and "not yet" is so far much more defined by the "not yet" that we LOSE the ALREADY? What if "fixing our eyes on Jesus," and "setting our mind on things above," and praying "THY KINGDOM COME, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is - not some social justice march, per se, but rather the RALLYING cry for an army of Christ-followers who are storming the gates of Hell to take back all those lost and captive to sin, declaring Christ as King and Victor....NOW. ALREADY. AND FOREVER!

I wonder if anyone will have anything to say about this??

O, Church, where is our URGENCY? (And how and where along the line had I lost mine?!) Where is our dependence on God's GRACE and the leading of HIS SPIRIT so that we are STILL able to GO into the ends of the earth? Did he not say we are to make disciples of EVERY nation until the END OF THE AGE? Oh, it's there, right in the text! (cf Matt28) Because his promise is to be WITH us....until when? Do you see? This means AT LEAST until every last perishing one is rescued from the clutches of sin and death! (And of course, the "rest" into which we eventually enter is nothing less than the heaven of HIS PRESENCE, so he will NEVER leave us!)

O, Church, where is our HOLINESS? Where is our relentless mortifying of the sin in our own mortal bodies, so we may WALK in the freedom Christ purchased for us, not allowing the enemy to get strongholds in our thoughts and lives, setting up fortresses in our lives and minds AGAINST the knowledge of God! Where is our pursuit of the prize? Where is the JOYFUL EXPECTATION that our faith, ONCE FOR ALL delivered to us, is that SURE thing, kept and preserved by Christ himself - Do we not know whom we have believed? Are we not persuaded that HE is able to keep that which we've committed unto him against that day? And if we ARE, then why are we weak and whimpering and fattening ourselves in the day of slaughter when we were made MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Christ?!

O, ME of little faith! How I have sat, wearied by my own sin and frailty, longing and frantically searching for Home when I had the ruby slippers all along....GET UP, WOMAN!

You were made for more than this!

His grace IS sufficient for you!

His power IS perfected in your weakness!

Now is not the time for grieving! Now is the time for LAYING HOLD of the promises of God, not in weakness but in the strength of HIS might!

Sit no longer under the weight of merely enduring this life until you can be holy in the next!

O, Church! The Gates of Hell cannot prevail against us - Since when do gates launch an attack? Are they not stationary, trying merely to prevent OUR advance?

So what ought we to be doing? Standing STILL??

Deceived and Delighting in it

Recently, I had occasion to speak with a friend's dad - this man who has had a tumultous, even abusive relationship with his son from the beginning. I knew, going in, that this was possibly a demonized man, and so had prayed for discernment.

As he spoke, it was as if he had behind him a wardrober FULL of different spirits - all evil - so that he was actually switching from one to the next to the next, changing spirits like cloaks, savoring each one as he would take on a different form, even if only momentarily. The activity seriously resembled insanity as he worked himself into a lather by the end of the conversation, putting on verbally violent theatrics, yelling and screaming like it brought him some deep, perverse pleasure. Which, knowing my own indulgences and susceptibility to temptation, it probably did just that.

I could "see" the spirits, but perhaps more powerfully, I was able, in brief glimpses, to see through to the man who desperately needs Jesus' deliverance. Between "costume changes," I saw a shriveled, weak, frail, broken man, like a survivor of the Holocaust - HIDING behind these spirits because he thought they EMPOWERED him, though they really ensnared him. But he LIKED being their slave. (I suppose as we all once did, before we were given the Spirit of Christ....!)

I saw his deception, and I saw his delight in it.

I wouldn't, yet, have the first idea about how to reach him - but I have recently had occasion to re-read the story in Mark 9 where Jesus tells his disciples that "This kind cannot come out except by praying and fasting." I would need to wait wholly on the Lord to empower me if I am to speak to the man, again.

For now, I was grateful for the "discernment" - I had prayed to the Lord specifically FOR it, but then also needed a couple days AFTER the conversation to "see" clearly what had transpired.

It is a helpful reminder (one I'll try to note for future interactions in a similar vein) that I NOT be overconfident in my own powers of observation, but rather 1) ask the Lord to reveal, and then 2) ask the Lord to SORT the revelation and impress the TRUTH to my understanding.

I do not know if the Lord will yet use me in this man's life, but as for the man's son, my friend, the Lord enabled me (at least!) to comprehend, better, some of the complexity of the influence this abuser has been. My friend has been engaged in full on warfare for his OWN sanity as a result; and he has been trying to "lay hold" of Christ, though he always feels salvation is beyond his grasp. I know I cannot be his assurance, but I long for it for him, nonetheless.

Trusting in God's goodness, that He has promised He will NOT lose any of His own....

"Seeking Him" - Lesson One: Revival (What is it and Who needs it?)

"Seeking Him" - Lesson One: Revival (What is it and Who needs it?)
Submitted by Leah Page on Mon, 01/17/2011 - 9:24pm RevivalSH011Sovereignty

LESSON ONE

Key Verse(s): Hosea 10:12-13
"Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men."

The bulk of our discussion, last week, as we reviewed our study time in lesson one, focused on the questions laid out on pages 16-17 in our book. Based on that discussion, these were some of the main themes we discovered and/or traced throughout:


•Revival is for the BELIEVER ~ We must first have life from God to be able to experience life afresh. This isn't to say that the Lord doesn't newly save individuals in the context of, for example, a "revival meeting," but rather it is to emphasize that "Revival" is not some external activity or event (or something we ourselves can "drum up"). Rather, it is description of a work that takes place from within, and can only be brought about by God, who in Christ Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith.
•Revival is God's gift for his children, to give grace so that we have both the desire and the power to return to him. It's ultimately about our intimacy with our heavenly Father, and how that intimacy changes us from the inside out.
•As Nancy pointed out in the video segment of our study, the first step in the process is to "break up the fallow ground" ~ For us to have hearts that are soft and made ready to receive the good seed so that we may yield a harvest of righteouness, we must first have hearts that have been broken, tilled, plowed. And the plow needs to dig DEEP so that the soft soil underneath can be turned up, and the hard soil on the top can be broken up and made soft. It was by means of this analogy that Nancy warned us that these first few weeks of this study will be the most difficult, perhaps the most painful part. The Lord will begin exposing the soft undersides of our heart, and we will no doubt be disgusted by what he finds there. It makes us unconfortable, but we must be willing to submit to the process if we want to experience revival ~ Lord, we want you to search us and know us and see if there be any wicked way in us and lead us in the way everlasting. (see prayer at end of Ps. 139)
•One of the tools in our lesson, this first week, was a kind of heart "inventory" we took on day 5 ~ examining our own hearts, looking at our lives in light of Scripture, being honest about whatever sin we might be seeing there. Several of us found this very helpful!
•Questions 4 and 5 on pages 16-17 were especially revealing. Both touched on the issue of what other things - often even GOOD things! - in our lives to we hold on to for security, or do we turn to in place of God? And as we discussed, we are quick to depend on our money, our health, our intelligence, our family relationships or friendships, or any number of other GOOD things that can very easily become idols of our hearts. We cling tightly to our expectations (demands?)!, rather than "holding all things," as Pastor Krogh has said, "with an open hand." We become distracted from loving the Lord, deceived even by our own hearts, so we go about "trusting in our own way" rather than fully following after the Lord.
•It was a point of conviction - in keeping with the hard and painful work of "plowing" our hearts - but there is a sweetness to it! We must remember that it is the KINDNESS of the Lord that leads us to repentance! It is for our GOOD that the Lord exposes the uglinesses of our hearts to ourselves, so that these sinful motives, these sinful desires, these self-preserving actions can be seen for how ugly they really are - and WHY are they ugly? Because they keep up from the love of our Father, they keep us from living righteous lives as God desires - and God's desire FOR us in this regard is not only for his glory, but for our JOY.
•Let us keep that JOY before our eyes, even as we humble ourselves to the Spirit's examination of our hearts! Let us, like King Josiah (see "going deeper" corner on p. 1, and text in 2 Kings 22:8-13, 18-20), weep over our sin, to the degree that we would "rend our garments" in mourning over how we have failed to obey the word of the Lord. And let us truly invite the Lord's life-giving work, trusting that he is GOOD, and that he changes us from the inside out because of his great LOVE for us.


Book Recommendation: "The Valley of Vision" compiled/edited by Arthur Bennett

This is a collection of prayers from several writings from many "Puritan" Christians from the past several hundred years. This collection has been SUCH a blessing in my own life, and as I said in class, if I could own only one other book besides the Bible, it would probably be this book.

Like nothing else I've read, I feel this book has taught and is still teaching me how to pray, and the poetic phrases - aside from just being beautiful and worshipful in their expression - contain some of the richest theological truths that in themselves are teachers. These heart-felt prayers encourage us to give our all, and to willingly invite the Lord to do the work that only he can....


This next Wednesday, we will start class with a time of prayer, using p. 18-19 in our book as a guideline.

~Leah

New Study for GCC Women - "Seeking Him" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

New Study - "Seeking Him: Experiencing the JOY of Personal Revivial" (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)
Submitted by Leah Page on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 3:28pm

INTRODUCTION

Greetings, Ladies! Last week, we met together by way of introduction to our new topical study, "Seeking Him," which is focused on the who/what/when/where/why/how's of experiencing "REVIVAL" in our hearts and lives.

This past week, we started our journey together, working through the first lesson, and tonight we will begin discussion in earnest. It is my prayer that the Lord is already working in our hearts and minds, to search us, to know our hearts, to see if there be any wicked way in us, and to lead us in the way everlasting. And I hope, particularly, that this small group of women will become for you a "safe place" to share and fellowship and encourage one another as we grow in our intimacy with our Savior!

Over the past couple years, I have led what we have affectionately termed as one of the "non-precepts" studies offered for women at GCC. But even though we haven't worked through the sometimes more labor-intensive process of inductive study as laid out in the Precepts studies, we have nevertheless taken a more "inductive" approach. Working through "Before His Throne" (Malachi), "Lord, only you can change me" (Sermon on the Mount), and an 8-week Lifeway study on "Covenant" (various texts tracing the doctrine of Covenant from Genesis through Revelation), we have investigated texts for meaning, and I think it would be fair to say we have been learning much ABOUT God and his word, and thus also about ourselves.

"Seeking Him" is a different kind of study ~ more "topical" and introspective. And I think the Lord's timing is perfect! I am persuaded that he has already been "making ready a people prepared for the Lord," so that seeds of "revival" may already have been planted in your soul. I hope that this study will give us the opportunity to APPLY much of our knowledge (both new and old) about God to our own, everyday lives - Even as we are seeking to gaze more deeply into the face of our Savior, the fruit of that is the sharpening of our focus as we do serious heart-examination on ourselves, and labor to bring every area of our external and internal worlds under the headship of Christ. And I pray that the fellowship and exhortation we share, over these next 12 weeks, will be as water and nourishment for these seeds of the work God is doing!

God willing, it is my intention to update this blog, weekly, with a summary of our classtime together so that this might be a useful tool in review, and also for those who might have to miss class for any reason.

And there is more information to come, especially concerning reviewing videos for nights missed.

Thank you for giving yourself to the Lord's leading, these weeks! I pray we are able to regard our time in preparation each week, NOT as part of our "busyness" but rather, as part of our REST and restoration as the Lord meets us in these carved out quiet times!

Blessings,

~Leah

notes from ~Beauty for Ashes~ at GCC

notes from 5/12/10, final "Girl Talk" session for GCC Women age 12 and all the way up: [NOTICE ALL THE SCRIPTURE REFERENCES! What a great way to spend an evening - look up every reference and meditate on them, collectively.]

Beauty for Ashes; speaker Andrea Griffith [from “Revive our Hearts” ministries with Nancy Leigh DeMoss]

(with apologies that the outline formatting doesn't translate well to this blog)

Salvation

• Psalm 103:1-5 ~ [“I will tell you of how the Lord has done all these things for me.”]
o Forgives all your sins
o Heals all your diseases
o Redeems your life from the pit
o Crowns you with love and compassion
o Satisfies your desires with good things
o Renews / reinvigorates your youth like the eagle’s
• James 1:22 ~ Be doers of the word and not hearers only DECEIVING YOURSELVES.
o The most self-deceived people sit in church from Sunday to Sunday, hearers of the word.
• 2 Tim. 3:5-7 ~ Have appearance of godliness, but deny its power; always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
• Acts 20:21 ~ Repentance toward God AND faith in the Lord Jesus
o I had faith that Jesus was the son of God for as long as I could remember, but what was missing? Repentance!
• Matt. 7:21 ~ Saying “Lord, Lord!” [mere “lip-service”] vs. doing the will of the Father [living a life of obedience as unto the Lord!]
o ["The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me." –Martin Luther]

Brokenness

• df Brokenness = my response of humility and obedience to the prompting of God’s word or the revelation of God’s Spirit
• Isaiah 54:4-5 ~ forget the shame of your youth; ask the Lord to be your husband
• Luke 20:18 ~ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
o [“I started to get really sick....” – illustration of a “Sucker Shoot” on a plant; growing up out of the plant but robbing the true plant of its nutrients. She was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia….see notes re “bitterness”]

Confession

• df Confession = to say the same as God about our sin
• Is there anything in your life you have covered/hidden? That the Lord is telling you to confess? Do you need to seek forgiveness from God? From anyone else?
o [“God wanted me to have a clean conscience….” – she talked about her “Clean Conscience List” which was folks she had to go back to to ask for forgiveness, person after person.]
• Prov. 7 ~ list of the characteristics of the immoral (or “strange”) woman; she made a list of the OPPOSITE characteristics and this was her guide to show her what kind of woman she ought to be.
• [confessing to her husband before they were engaged, she told him about her past immorality and her abortion and says, “I watched as he wept over MY sin, and it was such a picture to me of how our sin breaks the heart of our heavenly Father...”]
o her word of caution: When confessing past sin, we don’t share with everyone; find a godly older woman whom you can trust with whom you can clean up all of that junk. Or we confess to someone when he is to become our husband; but we don’t just tell everyone. Share the DEPTH of the sin, but not necessarily all the DETAILS of the sin, or that could come back to have some serious consequences later.
• 2 Peter 1:3 ~ we’ve already been given everything we need for life and godliness
• 1 John 1:7 ~ the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin
• Proverbs 28:13 ~ Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
o When we confess and forsake, the Lord’s promise is that we will find MERCY
 [“God wasn’t honoring my (past) life; he was honoring his WORD.”]
 Prov. 31:10 ~ he gave her a ruby wedding band when he proposed

Bitterness

• df Bitterness = Harbored hurt; When we are bitter, we assume the negative (worst), and have a critical, fault-finding spirit.
• Ps. 32 ~ One who is bitter feels the consequences physically; they have no rest, no strength.
• Hebrews 12:15 ~ see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
• John 11:44 ~ when Jesus brings Lazarus back to life, he says “Unbind him, and let him go.”
o we too are called from death to life; we lie to ourselves and continue to say “but I deserve these grave clothes; I have the stink of death on me,” etc. In truth: We ALL “deserve” the grave clothes, but Jesus made ATONEMENT to set us FREE. (do you see the truth?)
o God’s specialty: He loves to take broken things and bring them to full restoration, to make them beautiful.
o Like Joseph with his brothers: “What you meant for evil, God intended for good.”
o Don’t minimize the sin – no! – you stare it STRAIGHT in the face and see it for the evil that it is. And THEN you THANK God for his sovereignty, that he makes even the darkness to be as light; he redeems, he restores, he recreates.
 1 Thess. 5:18 ~ give thanks in all circumstances

Forgiveness and Healing

• [“God has given us only ONE way to find healing, and that is through forgiveness.”]
• Isaiah 61:1-3 ~ Parallel passage in Luke 4
• God longs to:
o Heal the broken hearted
o Set the captives free
o Tell that NOW is the day for salvation
o Comfort all who mourn
o Give beauty for ashes
o Give joy for pain
o Give a garment of praise for our spirit of heaviness
• Q: Does this list sound to you like God is waiting for you to “crawl over broken glass” to get to him? To find forgiveness and healing? [This sounds like a God who LOVES to be gracious and merciful and set us free....!]
• Isaiah 43:18-19 ~ Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past; the Lord is doing something NEW – making a way in the desert, and streams in the wasteland.
• Deut. 4:29 ~ Seek the Lord; you will find him if you look for him with all your heart
• Hebrews 12:1-2 ~ Renew your mind by fixing your eyes on Jesus (laying aside all sin and ANY thing that encumbers us as we run towards him)
• 2 Cor. 10:5 ~ Renew your mind by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and by demolishing the strongholds of the enemy (ANY thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God)


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LCM - CH. 9 (final in this series): Being Salt and Light in this world....

*NOTE: Click on GCC - LCM tag at end of this post to see others in this series.

Blog entry LCM - CH. 9 (final in this series): Being Salt and Light in this world....
Submitted by Leah Page on Tue, 04/13/2010 - 9:42am LCM010 Sermon on the Mount

LCM - CH 9: Being Salt and Light in this world…
~GCC WOMEN'S BIBLE STUDY (final in this series)

Sorry for the overdue posting! I hope you will find this a helpful reminder of our last week together, as well as thought-provoking with respect to an increasing appreciation for the various nuances of what Jesus meant in his Sermon on the Mount concerning the fact that his followers are the “salt” and the “light” of the world.


Matthew 5:13-16 (Amplified Bible)
13You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
14You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16Let your light so shine before men that they may see your [a]moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and [b]recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.


YOU ARE SALT
Characteristics/uses of salt – preserves against decay, acts as an antibiotic, adds flavor, creates thirst, was used as a means to destroy the ground to prevent an enemy’s land from producing crops (from where we get the word “assaulted”)....

We talked about how “saltness” can be lost – for example, if something isn’t salt to begin with but only has a bit of salt “mixed in” it could be sold by a merchant as salt, but in fact was mixed with another “filler” compound that only mimicked the appearance of salt, and in fact would not hold its value or be effective as salt.


YOU ARE LIGHT
Characteristics/uses of light – dispels darkness, exposes what is hidden, gives direction – showing where the next footfall should be, provides warning of coming danger – like a lighthouse to unwitting ships as they approach the crushing rocks, causes critters who hate the light to scurry – like cockroaches scampering to shadowy cracks and crevices....

Among other things, we talked about how “Lightness” is a means by which others see what IS, that light exposes our self-deceptions.


BE WHAT YOU ALREADY ARE
I shared a story of my experience at work – When I first started working for the company by which I am now employed, the environment was very NOT “Christian friendly.” It was commonplace for the profanity to reach and sustain a “rated R” level for the entirety of any given work day, and it was also commonplace for my coworkers to YELL and SCREAM out their differences all about the halls of the offices and the plant. Not only was the newness of the job wearisome, but I also was ushered into a difficult situation concerning how the Customer Service office was being run, and I felt VERY keenly my inability to do anything apart from the empowering of the Lord’s spirit.

It was commonplace for me to spend several minutes every morning sitting in my car before I would go in to the building just BEGGING God to make me to be salt and light in this environment. I don’t now recall how many times I had prayed this way before I felt the Lord answered me in my spirit. It was as if he was saying, “I don’t need to make you salt and light, here. I already made you salt and light – now you just need to BE what you already ARE.”

It was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I could “rest” in my dependence on his spirit. I didn’t have to “try” so hard to say the right things, to confront “evil” at just the right time, or to perform in that perfectly admirable way, etc. This is not to say I ceased to be strategic in my approach, or that I somehow STOPPED doing and saying the right thing. But my focus shifted – and I was able to just ... Be what I already was. A child of my heavenly Father, being conformed to the likeness of Christ, dependent on his Holy Spirit to walk faithfully, day in and day out.

I do not know – perhaps I’ll never know – to what extent my being here has made any difference. Only the Lord knows! But today’s environment at work is no longer characterized by the crazy extremes that were normative when I started. People still have their outbursts to be sure. But the profanity has significantly diminished so that the occasional “F-bomb” is the RARITY, and the yelling – if it occurs, and that is also now more rare – is typically behind closed doors, and only between the two or three persons arguing.

The point is this – yes, salt needs to “get out of the salt-shaker” to be effective. But you’re STILL just salt in the LORD’S hand – be obedient, be faithful, but let HIM place you where you’re needed, trust HIM to empower you, to MAKE you salt (to make you REAL) and thus genuinely effective, and just be what you already ARE because you are in CHRIST. Follow hard after HIM, and the “natural result” will be that you will have that “salt and light effect” in the world. You won’t be able to help it any more than the full moon can help reflecting the sun when it has “fixed its gaze” upon it!


***
Our study through the Beatitudes and our study guide, “Lord, Only You Can Change Me,” has come to an end. BUT! We will be back – first this week starts the next Wednesday night adventure with “GIRL TALK” – a study in biblical womanhood for girls 6th grade on up through ladies of all ages! – and next fall we will pick up with more studies of varying kinds, including a study on the biblical theme of “Covenant,” Lord willing.

Ladies, I thank the Lord for your desire to know him more intimately through his Word! I hope and pray this study has been a helpful tool in your quiet times, as you learn more about him and abide IN his word and in prayer and fellowship with him.

One last word: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in HIS wonderful face! And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of HIS glory and grace.”

Blessings,
Leah




*a partial interview with Kay Arthur, below*

...

Do you feel like the Christian community
has lost their fear of the Lord?

KAY ARTHUR: Yes. I feel that the Christian community has lost the fear of the Lord, and because we have lost it, the world has lost it. We are salt and light. When I have a fear and a reverence for the Lord, then it spills over on people. I think that we have greatly lost it, and I think we have lost it because I don't think we are people of the Book. We don't have a biblical concept of God.

Why aren't people reading their Bibles?

KAY ARTHUR: I think because we are so busy, and I think it is because we have so many Christian books and so many Christian novels and that the enemy is going to do everything He can to keep us away from the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, which is the One and Only offensive weapon of the Christian. Everything about the armor in Ephesians 6 is connected with the Word, so he wants us to be standing there, spiritually buck-naked, so to speak, with no armor, not dressed for war, no Sword in our hands. He succeeded by deceiving us. Everything has been substituted for the Word, yet prayer is based on the Word: 'If you abide in Me and My Word abides in you'; revival -- 'Revive me according to Your Word'; evangelism -- 'Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God'; reconciliation -- 'Be reconciled to God.' It is all based on the Word. It is the foundation.


(taken in part from interview located at: http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/biblestudyandtheology/perspectives/bagby-kay_arthur_0404.aspx)

LCM - CH8: "Peacemakers...But Persecuted" ~ GCC Women's Bible Study

Submitted by Leah Page on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 10:13pm Blessed AreLCM010Sermon on the Mount


"Peace" is a very significant theme throughout Scripture - namely, the purchasing of our peace with God is THE theme of God's Scriptures! So there is this running picture of how God pursued us and gave his Son to die for us and purchase our reconciliation when we were yet ENEMIES of God (see Colossians 1:19-22 and Romans 5:10-11).

But this is not to say that God merely obliterated the punishment for our sins, as if to merely call a "cease fire" - rather God has, for as many as have received Christ, given us the right to be called CHILDREN of God!!

"The Greek word for peace signifies a harmonious relationship. This is important because it shows that peace is not merely the absence of war; peace is harmony. It's not a 'cold war.' It's not 'an uneasy truce.' It's not two frowning parties sitting back to back with their arms folded in stony silence. No, peace signifies a willingness to turn toward each other and embrace one another -- in spite of differences of opinion." (LCM p. 192)

So fundamentally, "peace" is reconciliation for relationship/intimacy/communion - and peace-MAKING, then, is a MINISTRY of reconciliation. (see 2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

For the sake of brevity - I broke down the application of this in the following way:

1) PEACE WITH GOD = RECONCILIATION; so our ROLE as concerns "making peace" with those outside of fellowship with Christ is to proclaim to them the Gospel - to seek their reconciliation with God.
2) PEACE WITH OTHERS = FELLOWSHIP/FORGIVENESS; so our ROLE as concerns "making peace" with those in the BODY - those who have already been reconciled to God through Christ - is to be merciful, quick to forgive, patient and longsuffering with each other, etc.
3) PEACE WITHIN OUR OWN SOUL = 1st OUR reconciliation to God and an ONGOING SPEAKING-THE-TRUTH-TO-OURSELVES from God's word so that our hearts are CALM (we likened this to the glassy surface of a calm lake) in our dependence on the Lord's spirit; so our ROLE as concerns "making peace" within ourselves has to do with abiding in the Word, examining ourselves according to God's word and walking by faith not by sight.

[And I daresay (at least this is true for me!), this also involves a continual reminder of the KINDNESS of God, of his AFFECTION and great LOVE for us as his CHILDREN! so that we are able to discern the difference between an assault of the enemy which is for our condemnation versus the loving voice of our Shepherd who, while he may gently convict, NEVER condemns us.....]

The Peace Christ gives us - as both reconciliation with the Father AND as the "calm" over the lake of our soul - is not as the world gives. We need not be afraid. (see John 14:27)

In this way, we can endure much persecution because we have so cultivated our trust in our Father, and our dependence on HIS sovereign hand, we can receive ALL things as GOOD - for our good, and for his glory....

LCM - CH4: “Meekness in the Presence of Sovereignty” ~ GCC Women's Bible Study

Submitted by Leah Page on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 7:36pm Blessed Are LCM010 Sovereignty


My apologies, ladies! It has been a frenzied few weeks, and I have neglected updating our blog as a result. I will try to catch up Ch. 4-6 in short order.

(Mediating) Lesson concerning God’s Sovereignty – LCM, Ch. 4

“Meekness speaks of a submissive and trusting attitude toward God. It is an attitude which accepts all of God’s ways with us as good. It does not murmur or dispute. It neither rebels nor retaliates. It realizes that what comes to us from the hand of man has been permitted by God’s sovereignty, has been filtered by His fingers of love, and will be used by God for His glory and our ultimate good. Meekness looks beyond circumstances – no matter how upsetting and hurtful – and bows the knee to the sovereign God....If we are to walk in meekness, we must know our God. We must accept His sovereign rule. We must grapple with the character of this One who rules over the affairs of men and the hosts of heaven. Of all the truths I have learned, none has brought me more assurance, boldness, calmness, devotion, equilibrium, gratitude, and humility than this study of the sovereignty of God.” ~Kay Arthur, p. 78


df. Sovereignty:

“God rules over all. He is totally, supremely, and preeminently over all His creation. Nothing escapes His sovereign control. No one eludes His sovereign plan.” (p. 79)


*We looked through many Scriptures in this lesson, “beholding God” in the pages of his word, his “self-disclosure”....

That he who is so far beyond our comprehension would “declare” and so make himself known is in itself miraculous!

For the “summary” of this lesson, let it suffice to “worship” God according to the way(s) he revealed himself to us – we recorded our observations on pages 100-103 in our books:



He is the most high
He lives forever
He deserves blessing and honor and praise
His dominion (df) is everlasting - his rulership, the borders of his territory!
His kingdom endures from generation to generation
He does according to his will in the host (armies) of heaven
He does according to his will among the inhabitants of the earth
No one can ward off his hand
No one can (has the right to) question him
His thoughts are not our thoughts
His ways are not our ways
He “declares” – self-disclosure / revelation
His ways are higher than our ways (as far as the heavens are above the earth / incomprehensible / eternally expansive / beyond our ability to search it out!)
His thoughts are higher than our thoughts
He possesses DEEP riches of wisdom and knowledge
His judgments are unsearchable
His ways are unfathomable (df) - we cannot explore their depths!
No one has known the mind of the Lord
No one can counsel him or advise him
God OWES no one
No one gives TO God [as if he possessed any lack]
All things are FROM him
All things are [subsist] THROUGH him
All things are FOR him
He alone deserves glory and FOREVER
He intends
All that he intends occurs JUST as he intends it
He plans
All that he plans occurs JUST as he has planned it
No one can frustrate his plans
No one can turn back his outstretched hand
God justly repays affliction with affliction
God gives relief to those who are afflicted
Jesus will be revealed from heaven
Jesus’ angels deal out retribution to those who do not know God
His penalty is eternal destruction
His penalty is to [cast] “away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power”
He is [the one true God]
He alone is God
He puts to death
He gives life
He wounds
He heals
No one can deliver [make a way of escape] from his hand
He [Jesus] is the first and the last
He [Jesus] is the Living One
He [Jesus] was dead
He [Jesus] is alive forevermore
He [Jesus] has the keys of death and Hades
He is the Lord
He is the only true God
There is none beside him
He is the Lord
He forms light
He creates darkness
He causes well-being
He creates calamity [in some translations “evil” / “disaster”]
He is the Lord
He is the one who does all these [claims responsibility]
What God has bent no one can make straight
God has made adversity as well as prosperity
He is indeed GREAT
He is the ROCK
His work is perfect
All his ways are just
He is faithful
He is without injustice
He is righteous
He is upright
He is worthy of our praise


He is MOST WORTHY of our praise!!




Daniel 4:34-35; Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-36; Isaiah 14:24, 27; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9; Deuteronomy 32:39; Revelation 1:17-18 (Jesus); Isaiah 45:5-7; Ecclesiastes 7:13-14; Deuteronomy 32:3-4

LCM ~ A couple questions answered - followup to last night's class (re ch. 3)

Submitted by Leah Page on Thu, 01/28/2010 - 9:35am humility LCM010 Luke 7 Poor in Spirit

Good morning, ladies!

Last night, I double checked on a couple of the questions that were asked, and thought I'd share with you what I found (I'll post on the blog, too):


Q: Was the woman in Luke 7 Mary Magdalene?

A: The text doesn't say so, and I have heard from several sources that it is widely believed to be Mary Magdalene. But we don't know for sure. There are other Gospel accounts of a similar event, (such as Mark 14), but the details are different, and we know that the woman there mentioned was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Luke 7 seems to be a different event altogether - though possibly the fact that the other accounts mention a "Mary" and there is even another "Simon" present (Simon the Leper), perhaps these similarities help inform the speculation about the women in the text with which we have concerned ourselves, here?

(We DO know this was a woman who washed Jesus' feet out of love for him and a "weeping joy" for his grace! Would that we were all such women!)


Q: Was "Simon" in the Luke 7 account the name of the Pharisee hosting the gathering? Or referring to Simon/Peter, Jesus' disciple, who may also have been present at this event?

A: In v. 44, Jesus addresses Simon directly and accuses him of not having welcomed him even half as well as this so-called "sinner" woman. So Simon is contextually understood, here, to be the name of the Pharisee hosting the gathering.


Q: In Ezekiel 9:8, we speculated that perhaps this phrase (as worded in the NASB), "I alone was left," meant that Ezekiel was in fact the only one to survive the divine execution of the idol-worshippers in Jerusalem, the only one who was "marked" to be saved?

A: However, the opening phrase of the verse helps to clarify - and looking further at the context, ch. 10 is where "God's glory departs from the temple" and ch. 11 is where Ezekiel is called upon to give greater rebuke to the people (I don't know if such "order of writing" is meant to be explicitely chronological, but that seems to be the "plain meaning" of the text).

The ESV helpfully translates this verse this way: "And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, 'Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?'" <-- a great case of finding help in other reliable translations of the text, and interpreting on the basis of context! ;) It seems Ezekiel is saying simply that while this horror (!) was being carried out, he remained in the presence of the Lord and - like Moses and others before him had done - was pleading with God on behalf of this rebelious people.

This is an event that is intended to "mirror" the Passover events in Exodus - though it is interesting, as we noted, that where in the Exodus account the faithful put the blood over their own doorposts, in this event, the Lord chose angelic messengers to somehow "mark" the foreheads of those who had "sighed and moaned" over the abominations committed in God's city. (Reminded me of how Peter in the NT [2 Peter ch. 2] describes Lot, Abraham's nephew who willingly lived in Sodom and Gomorrah and even rose to some prominence in the city!, and nevertheless was "vexed in his righteous soul" over their collective wickedness....)


Q: And finally, regarding good ol' Uriah Heep?

I had brought up one of the incidents that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones mentions in his book "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and it was a point of interest because he actually names the person with whom he interacted, and it was one "Uriah Heep" and Betty had pointed out that this was the name of a character in a Charles Dickens' novel, so I thought perhaps I had misread the story!

A: I double checked and in fact, the man's name was Uriah Heep, so perhaps he was named after the Dickens character? Or perhaps it was just strange coincidence? Either way, it appears to be a "true story" and not just an illustration to make a point. Here is the quote if you're interested:


"...To be 'poor in spirit,' therefore, does not mean you are born like that. Let us get rid of that idea once and for ever.
Neither does it mean that we are to become what I can best describe as imitators of Uriah Heep. Many, again, have mistaken 'poor in spirit' for that. I remember once having to go to preach at a certain town. When I arrived on the Saturday evening, a man met me at the station and immediately asked for my bag, indeed he almost took it from my hand by force. Then he talked to me like this: 'I am a deacon in the church where you are preaching tomorrow,' he said, and then added, 'You know, I am a mere nobody, a very unimportant man, really. I do not count; I am not a great man in the Church; I am just one of those men who carry the bag for the minister.' He was anxious that I should know what a humble man he was, how 'poor in spirit.' Yet by his anxiety to make it known, he was denying the very thing he was trying to establish. Uriah Heep -- the man who thus, as it were, glories in his poverty of spirit and thereby proves he is not humble. It is an affectation of something which he obviously does not feel...."
(DLJ, SITSOTM, p. 38)


Blessings!
Leah



--
~Growing in grace, and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ~
http://grace2grow.blogspot.com

It's Your Kindness that Leads Us to Repentance O Lord

~Grace Gem shared last night: "The Two Birds"~
Submitted by Leah Page on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 9:38am

The two birds

(J. R. Miller, "Finding God's Comfort" 1896)

....To correct, is to set right--that which has been wrong. Surely if a man is going in the wrong way, and God turns his feet back and sets him in the right way--a blessing has come to the man!

Afflictions are 'God's corrections'. They come always with a purpose of love in them. God never afflicts one of His children, without meaning His child's good in some way. So blessing is always intended by God. It is usually afterward that people begin to see and to understand the good that God sent them in their trial. "You do not understand what I am now doing" said Jesus, "but you shall understand hereafter." "No chastening seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." So when we have troubles and afflictions, we may know that God wants to do us good in some way through them.

...
He is not a true parent, who sees his children doing wrong, and yet fails to correct them for fear he may hurt their feelings. He ought to think of their higher good, and chasten them now--to profit them afterward.

This is the way our heavenly Father works. He never loves us better--than when He is correcting us. Therefore we ought not to despise this chastening. We ought not to murmur or complain when God does not give us our own way--but checks us, lays His afflictive hand upon us, and sends trouble upon us! We ought to have such faith in God--that we shall submit quietly, confidently, and sweetly to his will--even when it brings a heavy cross into our life.

A great many people need to pause at this line--and learn it. They do not treat God's chastening with reverence. Sometimes they are crushed by it, and refuse to look up into God's face with submission and love. Sometimes they grow bitter against God and say hard things of Him! We ought to reverence God's chastening; we ought to listen to the voice that speaks to us in our grief or pain.

The way in which God brings blessing through chastening, is emphasized: "For He wounds--but He also binds up; He strikes--but His hands also heal." Job 5:18. God never smites with both hands at once! When one hand is laid upon us in affliction--the other hand is reached out to help, to uphold, to heal.

Sometimes there is a trouble in a man's body which requires the surgeon's knife. There must be amputation, or cutting away, or cutting into. In such a case the skillful surgeon does not hesitate. He thinks far more of his patient's health for the future--than of his comfort at present. So he uses his knife--that he may cure disease, or save life. He wounds--to heal. He makes sore--that he may bind up. It is just so in all afflictions which God sends. He chastens--that He may deliver from the power of temptation. He hurts the body--that he may save the soul. He takes away earthly property--that He may give true, heavenly riches.

One writer tells of two birds and how they acted when caught and put into a cage. One, a 'starling', flew violently against the wire walls of its prison, in unavailing efforts to escape--only battering and bruising its own wings. The other bird, a 'canary', perched itself on the bar and began to pour forth bursts of sweet song, from its little throat. We know which bird was the wiser and happier.

Some people are like the starling--when they are in any trouble, they chafe and fret and complain and give way to wretchedness! The result is, they only hurt themselves, make themselves more miserable, and do not in any sense lessen their trouble. It is wiser always, as well as more pleasing to God, for us to bear our trials patiently, singing songs of faith and love--rather than crying out in rebellion and discontent.

Job wanted to get near to God in his great trouble; he cried, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" He felt sure that that would be the best and safest place for him to be. We ought not to lose this lesson. When trouble is upon us--the true thing for us to do, is to flee to God! Some people, in their affliction and sorrow--flee away from God. Thus they lose their joy and peace, missing the comfort which they would get if only they kept near to Him. The right way to respond, is to try to find the way to God's very presence. He is the only safe refuge, when the storms of trouble break upon us. The first thing always, in any time of trouble--is to find God and hide away in His bosom, as a child runs to the mother in alarm, or as the little bird flies to its nest. To find God--is to be safe!

God is our truest and best friend! He is our Father--we need never fear to go to Him. He gives heed unto our cries. He loves us. All His omnipotence is on our side. No mother's heart was ever so full of love for her child--as is the heart of God for us, His children!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~


I received this as yesterday's "Grace Gem" from the website www.gracegems.org, and it was so timely to our study! I pray the Lord would make me (and us) able to "turn back to praise" whatever we receive from his hand, recognizing even afflictions as his GOOD GIFTS, as the fire that ignites a fragrant offering to our God.
~L

Groups: Women of Grace

~B4Throne wk 6 of 10: Holding All Things With an Open Hand~

~B4Throne wk 6: BIG IDEAS Outline, and Holding All Things With an Open Hand~
Submitted by Leah Page on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 10:52am

The below "Big Ideas/Personal Application Worksheet" was printed out on paper for our ladies this past Wednesday - just an "at a glance" view of the major passages we've studied and discussed the past several weeks, with room to journal or take notes during our discussion time. The intent was to provide an open discussion in class, to offer room for the ladies to share their personal insights, experiences, convictions, as the Lord has been applying these truths to their hearts and lives as we've worked through the book. (to "pull back on the throtle" a little bit and catch our breaths to make sure we are seeking practically apply what we've been learning)

The "Big Idea" that was our take-away thought for this past week (brought in at the end of the below form) ties in with the theme of the lesson - which had primarily to do with the "unfaithfulness" of God's people, both in terms of marrying "the daughters of foreign gods" and also the practical outworking of that which meant divorcing their spouses and literally intermarrying with these other nations, breaking covenant with God AND with each other.

So our discussion of application of these themes led nicely into talking about what Pastor Krogh (and others) has (have) described as "holding all things with an open hand." What "daughters of foreign gods" have WE "married" (so to speak) in our own lives -

What entices us?
What are we unwilling to give up?
What do we feel the Lord is "withholding" from us?
What steals away our love and devotion to the Lord?
What things might be holding with a tight fist, refusing to give God rulership and sovereignty?

In effect, these things are idols of our hearts, and rob us of our faithfulness to God.

Our discussion recalled a GCC womens' retreat a few years ago where Bette Jo Nienhuis had taught on the very topic of "idols of the heart," and very practically speaking she had shown us how there is a visible progression that occurs:

Hopes --> Expectations --> Demands ("I have a right to...." and "you OWE me this ....")

We were challenged again this past Wed. night to examine ourselves, to see if there are any "good things" that have become "god things" in our own hearts -

What are we NOT holding with an open hand?
What "hopes" as regards the sometimes very good things God gives and/or promises have we allowed to morph into expectations and demands, so that they RULE our hearts, and steal away our first love for God?

******

“Before His Throne” – 10 week study
Week 6, Lesson 5: Spiritual Faith-less-ness

BIG IDEAS Outline ~ Personal Application Worksheet

I. Our Identity if we are “In Christ”
Eph. 1
1 Pet. 2


II. “the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom....”
Ex. 19
Is. 40
Ps 33
Ps 34


III. God’s first words: “I have loved you”
Malachi 1:1-5 ~ Jacob I have loved, Esau (Edom) I have hated....
Rom. 9 ~ What is “covenantal” love?
(Eph. 1, Rom. 8:29)
end of Rom. 8, end of Eph. 3
Heb. 12 ~ The Lord’s “severe mercies”


IV. Honoring God as Father, Revering God as Master
Malachi 1:6+
Rom. 6
Rom. 8
“Identity in Christ” ~ “X marks the spot” ~ [2 Cor. 10:3-5]


V. What Pleases the Lord (“Right Sacrifice”):
Malachi 1:7-10
Lev. 22
Ps. 51
Rom. 12:1-2
Col. 3 ~ “put off, put on”
Eph. 4 ~ “put off, put on”

1) __Perfection / Unblemished / Firstfruits / BEST _______
2) __Blood offering / Jesus’ blood / Substitutiary Atonement _______
3) __Broken and contrite Spirit / Broken heart / Repentance _______
4) __Living sacrifice / offer your bodies (whole self) / holy _______
5) __Sacrifice of praise / worship _______
6) __Spiritual sacrifices / put off the old / put on the new _______


VI. God’s Great Name:
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain....”
Malachi 1:11-14
1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 3:22-25, 1 Tim. 6:1
1 Pet. 2:4-5, 9-10 ~ living stones, built up together, made to be a declaration (!) of the excellence of HIS worth


VII. Starting Strong, Finishing Well
Malachi 2:1-9
Gen. 6 ~ Noah’s “ark” / a type of “Christ”
Heb. 11 ~ looking forward to a heavenly city whose designer and builder is God
[Heb. 8-10 ~ Jesus ushers in a better covenant (“identity” / “right sacrifices”)]
Heb. 12 ~ run the race, endure to the end, fix your eyes on Jesus ~ Matt 10:22


VIII. You have forgotten your First Love ~ Adultery / Idolatry
Malachi 2:10-16
Deut 7:1-6, 1 Kings 11:1-8 ~ the sin of Solomon; sin’s consequences
Ezra 9-10
Rev. 2:1-7
[Ezekiel 16, book of Hosea]
Isaiah 44
1 John 5:21
Proverbs 4:20-27




Groups: Women of Grace

~Starting Strong, Finishing Well; BHT Study from week 5~

~in class outline from week 5/Lesson 4; originally planned small groups~

Submitted by Leah Page on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 6:39pm


STARTING STRONG
(p1. allow approx 20-25 min.)

Take a moment to greet one another, introduce yourselves. [allow maybe 2-3 minutes at most to ensure we don’t run out of time for the lesson.]

Refer to p. 64 in your books, and read Genesis 6:5-10 and Hebrews 11:7 together.

What are some of the words/phrases you listed to describe Noah, according to these passages? [answers may include: found favor with God, was righteous, was blameless in his generation, walked with God, believed God (by faith), feared God (in reverent fear), obeyed God (constructed the ark), “condemned the world,” became an heir of righteousness]

Have you ever noticed that the most common way we present this story to our kids in children’s books is by teaching them (wrongly!) that Noah was a righteous man, in fact the ONLY righteous man on the earth, and that’s why God chose to preserve him through the flood. But according to the Scripture, what comes first in Genesis ch. 6, God’s favor (same as the NT word we translate as “grace”) or Noah’s “blamelessness”? [see v.8-9]

You could also ask it this way: What came first, Noah’s faith? Or Noah’s obedience?

Read Hebrews 11:1-7 together.

Noah “found favor” with God – Noah was “graced” by God – “chosen” by God. God set his “peculiar affection” on Noah and his family – and he acted on this love by preserving Noah both in his faith and his obedience. Noah and his family were safely delivered from the flood which destroyed the world because God faithfully kept them. Did you know that the “ark” which Noah built is a “type of Christ”? We have talked about what it means to be “in Christ” – as Noah was “in” the ark! Do you remember who shut the door to guarantee Noah’s “preservation”? [see 7:16]

Turn to p. 66 in your books

Studying Malachi 2:1-9, you observed how the first Levitical priests “started well” by walking faithfully in “covenant” with God. You entered information in the chart on this page concerning their attitudes and actions and the results thereof. Take a few moments to share what you observed from Malachi ch. 2.

Did you notice there is kind of an “if/then” pattern as you progress through the chart? Do you see any correlation between these patterns and the promises in Psalm 34:4-10 (see p. 73 in your books)? Do you see any application of this in your own life?

Keeping these things in mind, turn to 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10 and p. 70 in your books.

What words and phrases are listed in these verses to describe our position if we are “in Christ” (remember Ephesians ch. 1 from our first week)?

As we wrap up the 1st half and take a short break, let’s think about this: What is our identity? On what do we base our confidence that we are “In Christ”? (As with Noah, what came first? God’s grace? Or our “righteousness”?)

Now...how do we KEEP our “identity”?

**5 MIN. BREAK**

------------------------------------------------------
FINISHING WELL
(p. 2 allow approx 30 min.)

In the first section, you wrapped up by looking at what we are if we are “in Christ.” And we confess, our faith is, in effect, a “strong start”! Considering that CHRIST is our firm foundation, our “Ark of Preservation,” let’s look, now, at what it means to finish well.

Read Philippians 1:6, and turn to p. 74-75 in your books.

Take a minute to skim Matthew 10:17-33, with special attention on verse 22 and refresh your memories as to the context.

Keep a finger in Matthew ch. 10 and read Hebrews 11:13-16, and 11:32 - 12:2 together.

How do you think this might tie in with what you observed in Matthew 10? (feel free to “brainstorm”, using Scripture as your evidence)

Now, take several minutes to carefully read through the following verses (we will stay in Hebrews for now for the sake of continuity):

Hebrews 3:12-19
and Hebrews 4:11-16
and Hebrews 8:8-12
and Hebrews 10:19-25
and Hebrews 10:35-11:2
and Hebrews 12:18-29.

Based on what you have read in the above Scriptures, what does it mean to “endure to the end”? Can we have “confidence” and “assurance” as to our salvation? Why? (or why not?) (Support your answers with Scripture.)

And based on what you have read in the above Scriptures, do you have a stronger picture of what it means to “fear the Lord aright”? (You might want to look back at your notes on p. 74 and 75.)

Finally, sisters! Let us “finish” back where we “started.”

Turn to p. 65 in your books.

Take a few minutes, as time allows, to share some of the “roles and responsibilities” the Lord has given you in your life. Did he show you any specific areas in your life, this past week, he wants you to surrender to him? (Share only as you are comfortable. It can be a significant encouragement to “struggle” through some of these things together!)

Prayer Focus:

· For the Lord’s preservation (keeping) and your perseverance (endurance).
· For any specific things that you would ask of God for the “roles and responsibilities” he has given YOU, that you might be able to “walk in dependence on God’s grace.”


Groups: Women of Grace

Let the POOR Say "I am RICH!"

listening to "The Riches of Poverty" by P. Kevin W. at http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=211082159198

[taken from sermon series in which these address the "Blessed Are" statements of Christ at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew ch. 5]

....Because "blessed" is a positional distinction - it also MUST be true that "the blessed ones" - those who are approved by God - are those who exhibit ALL the characteristics listed here - these things that we have NO ability to do apart from Grace. If we do not have one, we do not have any insofar as our own righteousness is as filthy rags to a holy God; but if we have one we have all, by Grace. ONLY "the Blessed ones" will enter the kingdom of God.

Poverty of Spirit is "prominant" in that it is the first of the "beattitudes" - the supreme lesson of this declaration - the kingdom of heaven will only be ours if we are poor in spirit.

"...It declares for all time that no one is saved who believes that there is something within them that would make God prefer them, ever, or accept them, ever! It is wholly of the grace of God!...Can we with the hymnwriter say...'Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me Savior or I die!'...or are we Christ-less Christians?....This morning we need to confess our sin of spiritual self-sufficiency & look to Christ who is the author & finisher of our faith. We need to declare spiritual bankruptcy, and then as Christ fills us we need to recognize the spiritual riches that are for us in the kingdom of God...." ~PK

God, Lord over Life AND Death ~ (2nd of 3 meditations)

Recently, in the space of one week, our family experienced both extremes of life....One Sunday night, the passing of my Granddad, a man satisfied with years and the grace of God in Christ, into the presence of the Lord from this life, and the following Sunday night, the public dedication of my infant niece, as my sister and her husband stood before the church Body and committed themselves to raise their daughter "in the nurture and admonition of the Word."

That second Sunday evening, as my parents were able to be present to stand up, and commit themselves also to displaying Christ before their little granddaughter, there was a very sensible passing of the mantle - Granddad had gone on to Glory to be with the bride of his youth who had preceded him, and Dad and Mom were now the grandparents, and my sister and her husband are now the parents, I and my brother now the aunt and the uncle respectively, and my niece - along with her older brother - the new generation.

These are moments that occur in every family - and no doubt it was the space of the experiences - both Sunday evenings but a week apart - that highlighted for me this graduation of the generations, and this connectedness with the "human" experience of this life. But more than this, I was overwhelmed with a desire to worship God - the Lord of both life AND death. He has been working in me (at least for this moment) the ability to see that "our times are in his hands" and that he knows the numbers of our days before we have as yet lived even one of them.

I rejoice that my Granddad is now with Christ, because he was revealed to be one of the sons of God in Christ...and I pray with great depth of soul and longing that my nephew and my niece, now but in their first years of life, will eventually also come to be revealed as having been chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world.

And I rejoice - in our smallness, in our powerlessness, in having the "illusion" of control stripped from us for at least a moment, and I worship God, the author of salvation who has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he will have compassion. Who am I that I should say back to him "why have you made me thus!" And again, who am I that he would be mindful of me? have mercy on me? redeem my life from the pit - and give me a new heart, soft and teachable rather than a heart of stone? Surely it is not because of anything that I have done, but because of his OWN purpose and grace.....

How merciful is our God.

Worship ~ In Spite of my "Self" ~ (1st of 3 meditations)

**My Father, God - this is a morning in which I am having to FIGHT for joy. A spirit of depression is tempting me from the corners of my meditations, and I am having to keep your word ever before me lest I fail, and turn my eyes to myself. It is a weakness, to be sure, that I cannot (as if from within myself, or my own strength) keep my mind stayed on you, my eyes fixed on you, my heart treasuring that which is above - so I am laboring for discipline - setting about me quite literally various statements and promises and commands and declarations from your word, so that my eye is "caught" by YOU rather than the trappings of this world or my own emotions. My Father, God, please KEEP me, today, as I would be lost without your keeping.**

~

PSALM 118:13-23

13 I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. 15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things! 16 The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"

17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. 18 The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

20 This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. 22 The stone the builders rejected [Christ! HE is the gate of righteousness!] has become the capstone;

23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Edwards: The emerald rainbow around the throne of God....

**I have reflected on this very thing - the emerald rainbow around the throne of God - I have seen, similarly, a statistic to the effect that the color "Green" is the most soothing to the human eye. It would stand to reason, then, that God himself would surround himself in a light upon which it is most SOOTHING to gaze for eternity! How right, then, that we could consider such a mediating glow that of God's covenantal LOVE for his children in Christ!**

~

"...Love is the principal thing which the gospel reveals in God and Christ. The gospel brings to light the love between the Father and the Son, and declares how that love has been manifested in mercy; how that Christ is God's beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. And there we have the effects of God's love to his Son set before us in appointing him to the honor of a mediatorial kingdom, in appointing him to be the Lord and Judge of the world, in appointing that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

There is revealed the love which Christ has to the Father, and the wonderful fruits of that love, as particularly his doing such great things, and suffering such great things in obedience to the Father, and for the honor of the Father's justice, authority and law. There it is revealed how the Father and the Son are one in love, that we might be induced in like manner to be one with them, and with one another, agreeable to Christ's prayer, John 17:21-23, "That they all may be one; as thou Father art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."

The gospel teaches us the doctrine of the eternal electing love of God, and reveals how God loved those that are redeemed by Christ before the foundation of the world; and how he then gave them to the Son, and the Son loved them as his own. The gospel reveals the wonderful love of God the Father to poor sinful, miserable men, in giving Christ not only to love them while in the world, but to love them to the end. And all this love is spoken of as bestowed on us while we were wanderers, outcasts, worthless, guilty, and even enemies.

The gospel reveals such love as nothing else reveals. John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this." Rom. 5:7-8, "Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God and Christ in the gospel revelation appear as clothed with love, as being as it were on a throne of mercy and grace, a seat of love encompassed about with pleasant beams of love.

Love is the light and glory which are about the throne on which God sits.

This seems to be intended in that vision which the apostle John, that loving and beloved disciple, had of God in Rev. 4:3. He tells us that when he had a vision of God on his throne there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

That is, God as he sat on his throne was encompassed round with a circle of exceeding sweet and pleasant light,' pleasant like the beautiful colors of the rainbow, like an emerald. An emerald is a precious stone of exceeding pleasant and beautiful color. This represents that the light and glory with which God appears surrounded in the gospel is especially the glory of his love and covenant grace. For the rainbow, you know, was given as a token of God's love and covenant grace to Noah. Therefore this spirit, even a spirit of love, is the spirit to which the gospel revelation does especially hold forth motives and incitements. And this is especially and eminently the Christian spirit, the right spirit of the gospel...."

(Jonathan Edwards, from Charity and its Fruits)

http://truthinheart.com/EarlyOberlinCD/CD/Edwards/Sermons/Cor13book/1.htm

Reflections of Joy - D. Willeman

One liners from the Grace Community Church ladies' retreat this past weekend, Speaker: pastor's wife and co-church planter, Dori Willeman

* [re her husband] Our greatest common factor is that we love Jesus....We live to know Him and make Him known....

*The younger we are, the more we think we know.

*...The Lord has used those circumstances to shake, and shape, my faith in Christ.

*Sometimes it's the silent answer that speaks the loudest to you.

*...It was just an uncovering process....and God met me.

*There were no bells and whistles. We were just trying to meet people and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

*The one thing we had to cling to was the Gospel.

*Trusting the Lord is not an easy thing. Sometimes it's a wearisome thing.

*...It became obvious there was no stopping it. This woman's life was being changed by Christ and I had a front row seat.

*..."You know what I see? When you sing, you forget to not believe." [re a story of an athiest friend of hers who had joined a local Gospel choir.]

*...God is just catapulting her towards faith in Christ! And it is a beautiful thing!

*..."Why me? Why me? Why of all the people in the world, why why why would God want to be merciful to me?"

*...We want our faith to be authentic; we want our hope to be genuine and true; we want our love to be genuine and true.

*...The reality of Joy is that it is not trivial, it is not merely surface or temporary. Rather, it is a deep satisfaction in God; our participating in God's delight in himself. [with a nod to John Piper's teaching on this topic]

*...The God who called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a fountain of joy, full as a spring is full. We were created by God - not because of some lack in him, as if he needed us to be happy, but because he wanted to give...of himself. ["...for Thy pleasure, they are created...." and re "...the kind intention of his will...."]

*...God magnifies his glory by creating and redeeming creatures who would reflect back to him his Joy. [here, she quoted Piper re "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied him him."]

*It is precisely our NEED which qualifies us for the Joy of Jesus....SIN is the means by which we approach Jesus! Until we experience our desperation and absolute [spiritual] bankruptcy before God, we won't come to him!

*Guilt makes us hide. We don't want to get close to the one to whom we are guilty.

*My primary concern cannot be to get gifts from God; my primary concern is to get the Giver!

*As he exposes us to ourselves, LET that feel good....It is a gift for him to expose [the sinfulness] our hearts. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance....It is a beautiful thing as he opens our eyes and we can experience the Joy of knowing HIM!

*Repentance is owning the responsibility for our sin and turning to Christ for forgiveness. Repentance makes us broken, and broken people are beautiful, and make for beautiful relationships.

*Our big problem with Joyful community is "rivalry" and "empty conceit." Where we tend to struggle? Self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-importance. In a word - Pride. "I can only really trust me."

*We live by the motto: "Never let 'em see you sweat." We'd rather give than receive and have difficulty being receivers. But we need to do both - our receiving is giving others the blessing of giving.

*Conceit takes a defensive posture. We believe the lie that "I must be my own savior!" And we put others down to make ourselves feel better.

*Our perspective towards others is perpetually and incurably cloudy. [cf. Matthew ch. 7 re log vs. speck] We lobby for our own cause; we think we are worthy or able, self-sufficient. And we are thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

*Jesus' pattern of action is in exact contrast to ours. He, who had every right to be "puffed up," emptied himself, humbled himself.

*Our ego is empty, yet we seek to put ourselves equal with God. Christ's "ego" is full of God, but yet he emptied himself. Consider the beautiful portrait of Christ!

*When God exposes our conceit to us, we tend toward one of two reactions: One, we are crushed by it - and we need to repent. Or Two, we get angry! At ourselves for not being as good as we think we ought to be, or angry at God for making us this way. This is pride! STOP it!

*The Gospel is the only power that can break this self-addiction, our dependence on our idols.

*Here's how God graciously rescued me from the destructive kingdom of my self: He gave himself up for me and for my sin, even when I hated him! I am radically dependent on God....This produces in me a radical humility - a humility that I am unable to create on my own. On my own, I've earned nothing but death and condemnation.

*God is in total control and loves me absolutely. What do I possibly have to fear? Everything and everyone that comes my way is designed by God for my ultimate good and enjoyment in God.

*What right do I have to my own life? It is all a gift.

*To the degree that we trust in ourselves, we will feel displeasure at the world's criticism or persecution. [context was the command to be Joyful even in times of persecution. Text was 1 Peter, ch. 1]

*Some may say "But I don't experience joy when I am persecuted," and they conclude that the test has failed. No, the test is working just fine, you just don't like what it is showing you....You need to repent! Your trust and your treasure is not CHRIST!

*Self-justification robs us of our Joy. Our Joy is anchored in who God is, and what he's done for us.

Sleeper, Arise! and call out to your God!

"...'What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish....'" (Jonah 1:6)

**I have been profoundly affected by this verse in recent days - the cry of the captain of the ship to Jonah who was asleep in the midst of the storm was a cry of desperation - I almost envision the captain violently shaking, and maybe even slapping Jonah around with one hand while he's grabbed his garment about the throat to pull him out of his slumber with the other....

The mariners had done all they knew to do - and had cried out to their own gods to no avail. They know nothing of Jonah's "god" - only that this man hasn't done his part to try to save the ship.

What is perhaps most profoundly convicting to me is even when these men cry out for salvation from certain death, and Jonah knows precisely what is needful - because while these men may not know so, Jonah CERTAINLY knows so even by his own confession a few verses later that HIS "god" is THE God, and the Maker of the earth AND the sea, this very sea upon which they are tossed and which threatens to claim all of their lives, and yet he still refuses to call upon the Lord! It would seem he would rather drown and take all these men and their ship with him because he would rather run from God's calling on his life to proclaim the Gospel call for repentance.

That is - Jonah himself is refusing to repent.

There is just so much desperation and agony in this, as I meditate on it. As I have occasion to look around me and see so many of my own ship-mates tossed on this sea, desperate for salvation from the storm which threatens to undo them, and they have no concept of what it means to call on the Lord, or even how to do it.

Oh Jonah, where is your compassion! to say nothing of your obedience!

It compells me to my knees, and I pray to God that I would not miss the cry - that a pagan and unbelieving generation would not exhibit more faith than I - that perhaps God would give a thought to them and they would not perish!

My God, let me not be guilty of refusing, myself, to repent, and do not let me run from your call on my life - but rather let me proclaim boldly the Gospel call to turn back to God and receive mercy and forgiveness rather than His just condemnation!

My God, let me love what you love and hate what you hate - let me hate sin, but desperately love those who are as yet imprisoned by it so that I long for their freedom and love your glory.**

Discipline me, Lord, that I might be Faithful

**Lord, my inclination to consider you such that my mind would be "stayed on Thee" is so weak. Thank you - as I am beginning to experience the joy of my "first thought" each day being directed to you! Please continue to make yourself known to me, teach me to surrender my desires so that they are in line with your will, and grant me your continuing discipline in my life. I may feel knocked down at any given moment, but when I turn to look at you and get up again, I KNOW I am strengthened. Let me be aware that EVERY thing that knocks down is ordained by your sovereign hand to conform me more to the likeness of Christ - I can feel, in those moments, the exposure of my heart and soul, the selfishness which is laid bare for all to see, and I need you - in your grace and kindness which I know will not give me more than I can bear! - to continue to expose me to myself, and in the exposing not to make me mindful of condemnation but your mercy. Let me, therefore, be GLAD for your discipline, and let me receive it joyfully, as a true "son." Lord, let my continuing prayer, this year, be that you would make me faithful - and for that, I must endure. Thank you, so, for your grace. Without your kindness, my God, I would be undone!**

~

Hebrews 12:3-13
3 Consider him [Christ!] who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame

may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.