Showing posts tagged Jesus Christ

”The greatest gift is knowing Jesus Christ… Merry Christmas

Lisa Johnson

Posted 1 year ago

Tags: Gift, Christmas, Jesus Christ,

Thoughts On The Gospel

The gospel is God the Father’s irrepressible commitment to redeem his pan-national, trans-generational family, and restore his broken creation through the person and work of Jesus and the power and presence of his Holy Spirit

The gospel is the glory-story of how God the Father is redeeming a people from every single race, tribe, tongue and people group for a life of worship service in the new heaven and new earth. All of this is being accomplished through the person and work of his Son, Jesus, and the power and presence of God the Holy Spirit.

The gospel is the doxological drama in which Jesus, the second Adam, servant-Savior and loving Lord, is redeeming his pan-national Bride and making all things new, to the glory of God

The gospel is the unfolding story of God’s contra-conditional love for an ill-deserving people, and for his beloved and broken creation-a story which has Jesus as its hero, the nations as its characters, the world as its storyboard, and the new heaven and new earth as its goal.

The gospel is like a great song: It has a lyric to be known (theology), a music to be loved (doxology) and a dance to be learned (mission). Indeed, the gospel calls for informed minds, en-flamed hearts and engaged feet.

The gospel is God’s passionate, joyful, covenant commitment to make all things new through the person and work of his Son, Jesus, and by the power and presence of His Holy Spirit. “All things” include both a people and a place-the Bride of Christ, and the new heaven and new earth. We dare not emphasize one of these to the exception of the other.

Scotty Smith

Posted 1 year ago

Tags: Tullian Tchividjian, Gospel, Scotty Smith, Christ Community Church, Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Redeeming, Love,

”Belief in Jesus Christ is total identity with Him. There is no such thing as partial belief or partial salvation. A person who does not totally commit himself to Christ disbelieves in Him, no matter how many positive things he may have to say about Him.

- John MacArthur

Blessings,
David Jee [Eternity Bible College]

Posted 1 year ago

17 notes

Tags: John MacArthur, Surrender, Jesus Christ, Belief, Commit,

Missionary One of Thousands Who Lost Homes as Floods Devastate Sri Lanka

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Anthony lost his home and everything in it as floodwaters washed through his village this week in Sri Lanka.

Anthony, who also serves as a pastor in the Batticaloa district, took refuge with relatives. Thankfully, he, his wife and children all escaped injury as the house collapsed due to the flood waters, but they did lose all of their possessions.

Anthony, and hundreds of believers from churches led by Gospel for Asia-supported pastors, are reeling from this blow. They have lost their homes, their crops lay ruined and they have nowhere to turn for help.

The Latest Blow
Sri Lanka has borne the brunt of several major flooding events in the last 12 months. This latest flood is the result of unusually heavy monsoon rains that began in November and continue to fall. The worst-affected areas are in central and eastern Sri Lanka—with the districts of Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee seeing the most damage.

The people in this region of Sri Lanka were just beginning to emerge from the horrors of a 20-year-old civil war, which ended in 2009. Many had finally made strides in recovering from the 2004 Asian Tsunami, which devastated much of this same coastal region.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 1 million people have been affected by this round of floods—more than half of them in the Batticaloa district alone. The death toll stands at 18 and includes a 6-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl who were killed in landslides on Sunday.

The Sri Lankan military has even been called out to rescue hundreds of people who were trapped in the flood waters.

At least 5,000 homes have been washed away and more than 200,000 acres of crops—including the country’s staple rice paddies—are under water.

“The people of Sri Lanka are suffering in a way that is almost unimaginable,” said Gospel for Asia President, Dr. K.P. Yohannan. “The country has not yet recovered from the record rainfalls that brought severe flooding last year, and now they are battling the same thing again. They need relief, and they need our prayers.”

Gospel for Asia Compassion Services teams are already venturing out into the affected areas to bring emergency relief to the people. On Sunday, they took 200 food packets to people in the Batticaloa region. Each food packet contained rice, lentil beans (dhal), sugar, dried fish and soya meat (soy protein and meat substitute). The families also received soap so they can prevent the spread of disease which happens frequently after floods.

The teams also handed out mats to the people who are sleeping on the floors in the emergency shelters, which are mostly in schools.

Feeding Body and Soul
The teams do not just drop off food and run on to their next destination. They spend time with the people, who are desperate for someone to listen to their sorrows.

“Gospel for Asia’s Compassion Services Teams are there to help, to listen, to pray and to share the love found in Jesus Christ,” Dr. Yohannan explained. “Of course we will meet their immediate physical needs, but we’ll also be there to tell them about a cure for their spiritual hunger and a love that will long outlast the food we give them.”

The teams encountered difficulty reaching the affected areas because of high water; however, they persisted and their vehicles were able to make it through some of the flooding, for which they are thanking the Lord.

“I spoke with our Sri Lanka country leader early Thursday morning, and he was heartbroken as told me about the massive devastation,” Dr. Yohannan said. “I assured him that our commitment to care for the suffering is strong and that we will commit whatever resources necessary to help these people rebuild their lives. We will continue to get teams in to deliver emergency supplies as long as necessary, and we’ll also commit to working with them for the long-term.”

Dr. Yohannan shared the following prayer requests for Sri Lanka:

Pray that the Lord’s mighty hands would be upon this area and that He would cause the weather conditions to change and bring relief to the beleagured people.
Finding food and drinking water is a major problem. Pray that the teams would be able to get in with emergency rations and that the Lord would provide for the needs of the people.
Pray for protection for the people. Many of those who lost homes are now living exposed to the elements or in crowded shelters, sharing space with hundreds of other families.
Pray for the people who have lost all their crops and are now without their major income source for the year.
Pray for the people who are helping the flood victims, that the Lord will give them strength to keep going forward and bring aid.
Please pray for the Lord to miraculously provide a way for our teams to get to the people who are inaccessible due to flooded roads.

Posted 1 year ago

1 note

Tags: Sri Lanka, Flood, Home, Gospel for Asia, Batticaloa District, Ampara, Trincomalee, Monsoon Rain, WOrld Health Organization, Asian Tsunami, 1 Million People, Crop, Dr. K.P. Yohannan, Jesus Christ, Pray,

Crucified

Galatians 5:24

‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh and its passions.’

~~Not: lessened. Wrestled with. Wounded.~~

Crucified.

Blessings,
David Jee [Eternity Bible College]

Posted 1 year ago

4 notes

Tags: Crucified, Jesus Christ, Adoption,

When Humility Is Pride

Rev. Joshua Symonds (1739–1788) was the pastor of a church in Bedford, England who suffered from frequent afflictions, temptations, and what we might call depression—“family cares and severe bodily affliction sometimes cast a gloom over his spirit and led him to take desponding views of himself” [1]. Symonds’s despondency and sense of personal worthlessness engrossed his life, which is made clear in the letters he exchanged with his friend John Newton.

Symonds was aware of his own depravity and spiritual barrenness. But the bigger problem in Symonds’s life was not in thinking too lowly of himself, but in thinking too lowly of the Savior. He was sliding into legalism. He was aware of his own sinfulness, but unable to appreciate the all-sufficiency of the Savior.

Writes Newton,

You say, you find it hard to believe it compatible with the divine purity to embrace or employ such a monster as yourself. You express not only a low opinion of yourself, which is right, but too low an opinion of the person, work, and promises of the Redeemer; which is certainly wrong.

And therein is the danger of understanding total depravity without understanding the sufficiency of the Savior.

Satan’s School of Humility

So what went wrong in his friend’s thinking?

According to Newton, Symonds had been duped in Satan’s “school of humility,” where humility is twisted and distorted into prideful self-loathing that pushes the Savior away.

Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. He sometimes offers to teach us humility; but though I wish to be humble, I desire not to learn in this school. His premises perhaps are true, that we are vile, wretched creatures—but he then draws abominable conclusions from them; and would teach us, that, therefore, we ought to question either the power, or the willingness, or the faithfulness of Christ.

Indeed, though our complaints are good, so far as they spring from a dislike of sin; yet, when we come to examine them closely, there is often so much self-will, self-righteousness, unbelief, pride, and impatience mingled with them, that they are little better than the worst evils we can complain of.

Tim Keller quotes and explains the significance of Newton’s words in his forthcoming book King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus. Keller writes,

There are two ways to fail to let Jesus be your Savior. One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex—not to accept his challenge. But the other is through an inferiority complex—being so self-absorbed that you say, “I’m just so awful that God can’t love me.” That is, not to accept his offer.

And that is how Satan turns humility into false humility, false humility into despondency, and despondency into an inferiority complex that pushes away the gospel.

Looking Directly to Jesus

Newton was keenly aware that at the root of Symonds’s problems were his small thoughts about the Savior. Symonds was tempted to see himself as unworthy of the gospel, the very gospel that invites the most unworthy sinners.

Newton writes,

You have not, you cannot have, anything in the sight of God, but what you derive from the righteousness and atonement of Jesus. If you could keep him more constantly in view, you would be more comfortable. He would be more honored.…Let us pray that we may be enabled to follow the apostle’s, or rather the Lord’s command by him, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice [Philippians 4:4]. We have little to rejoice in ourselves, but we have right and reason to rejoice in him.

And in a later letter Newton writes,

The best evidence of faith is shutting our eyes equally upon our defects and our graces, and looking directly to Jesus as clothed with authority and power to save to the uttermost….Plead the Apostle’s argument (Romans 8:31–39) before the Lord and against Satan. [2]

We find no eternal hope within ourselves. Revisiting personal depravity is not the solution. Revisiting past periods of spiritual strength is not the solution. Prolonged introspection is not the solution. The solution is to look outside of ourselves, and to gaze again and again at the all-sufficient Savior who welcomes sinners, forgives sinners, and saves sinners to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25).

In other words, Christ is powerful to save, he is faithful to save, and he is willing to save even the most “monstrous” of sinners.

Conclusion

Rev. Joshua Symonds died at the age of 49. His life was difficult, but in his last days he wrote that the Savior “filled him with a steady, constant peace, and sometimes with unutterable joy and transport” [3].

There can be little doubt that his joy-filled confidence in the Savior at the end of his life was deeply shaped by the caring wisdom that he read in the letters penned by his friend John Newton.

Blessings,
David Jee [Eternity Bible College]

Posted 1 year ago

4 notes

Tags: Tony Reinke, Humility, Pride, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Joshua Symonds, John Newton, Depravity, Jesus Christ, Gospel, Savior, Satan, Tim Keller, King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus,

Spurgeon’s Sermon Notes: Our Hiding Place

Isaiah 32:2 — “Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm.”

Blessings from God by men

God’s best blessings to men have usually come by men. When our Lord ascended on high, he received gifts for men, and these gifts were men (Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:8, 11).

Immense blessings have come to nations by kings like David, prophets like Samuel, deliverers like Gideon, lawgivers like Moses.

But what are all good men put together compared with The Man Christ Jesus?

We are now to view him as our shield against ten thousand evils: the hiding place and cover of his people.

Let us consider:

This life is liable to storms

Mysterious hurricanes within, which cause the most dreadful confusion of mind. Winds, whose direction is uncertain, shaking everything, creating unrest and distraction. Frequently no definite cause can be assigned for them; the cause may be constitutional, or physical, or circumstantial.
Overwhelming tempests of spiritual distress on account of sin, wrong desire, conscious declension, unbelief, etc.
Fierce blasts of temptation, insinuation, suggestion, denunciation, etc., from Satan.
Wild attacks from human enemies, who taunt, slander, threaten, etc. David often used this refuge. He says, “I have fled to you for refuge!” (Psalm 143:9).
Trying gales of temporal losses, bereavements, and other afflictions.
Above all, the storm of divine anger when we have grieved the Holy Spirit, and lost communion with God.

None of these winds and tempests are we able to bear: our only safety lies in getting out of them by finding a shelter where God has provided it (Isaiah 25:4; 26:20; Psalm 32:7).

From these storms, the man Christ Jesus is our hiding place

As truly man.
- Sympathizing with us, and
- Bringing God near to us.
As more than man, ruling every tempest, covering every feeble traveler, as within the cleft of a rock.
As Substitutionary Man, interposing, breasting the storm for us, hiding us by being weather-beaten himself.
As Representative Man, more than conqueror, and glorified.
- In him we are delivered from divine wrath.
- In him we are covered from Satan’s blasts.
- In him we dwell above trial by happy fellowship with him.
- In him we are victors over death.
As Ever-living Man: we live because he lives, and thus we defy the tempest of death (John 14:19).
As Interceding Man. He says, “I have prayed for you,” when Satan is seeking to destroy any one of us (Luke 22:32).
As the Coming Man. We dread no political catastrophes, or social disruptions, for “he must reign.” The end is secured, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds” (Rev. 1:7).

Let us see to it we take shelter in The Man

Let him stand before us, interposing between us and the punishment of sin. Hide behind him by faith.
Let him daily cover us from all evil, as our Shield and Protector (Psalm 119:114).
Let us enter into him more and more fully, that we may be more hidden, that he may be more known to us, and that we may have a fuller sense of security.

“
He is an open refuge, available now, for you.
”

O you that are out of Christ, the tempest is lowering! Come to this refuge; hasten to this hiding place!
He is an trustworthy shelter, tried and proved.
He is an open refuge, available now, for you.
He is a spacious hiding place: “Yet there is room.” As in Adullam all David’s army could hide, so is Jesus able to receive hosts of sinners.
He is an eternal refuge: our dwelling place throughout all generations.
He is an inviting shelter, because he is Man, and therefore has compassion towards men, and a joy in their salvation.

Instances and instructions

Well do I remember being caught in a tempest in France, when it blew with unusual fury; it not only drove clouds of dust with terrible force, but limbs of trees, and all sorts of light material were propelled with tremendous force. One wondered that a tree remained upright, or a fence in its place.

What a joy it was to hide behind a solid wall, and under its shelter to run along till we were safe within doors! Then we knew in some measure the value of a hiding place from the wind. But what is that to a cyclone, which tears down houses, and lifts ships upon the dry land? Friends who have lived abroad have startled us with their descriptions of what wind can be, and they have made us cease to wonder that a hiding place should be greatly prized by dwellers in eastern lands.

The tempest’s awful voice was heard;

O Christ, it broke on thee!
Thy open bosom was my ward,

It braved the storm for me.
Thy form was scarred, thy visage marred;

Now cloudless peace for me.

— Sacred Songs and Solos

“
Our safety lies in getting behind Christ, and letting him stand in the wind’s eye.
”

I creep under my Lord’s wings in the great shower, and the waters cannot reach me. Let fools laugh the fools’ laughter, and scorn Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon to sing them one of the songs of Zion. We may sing, even in our winter’s storm, in the expectation of a summer’s sun at the turn of the year. No created powers in hell, or out of hell, can mar our Lord’s work, or spoil our song of joy. Let us then, be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord, for faith had never yet cause to have tearful eyes, or a saddened brow, or to droop or die.

Samuel Rutherford

You must stay hidden to be sheltered by Christ

A shelter is nothing if we stand in front of it. The main thought with many a would-be Christian is his own works, feelings, and attainments: this is to stand on the windy side of the wall by putting yourself before Jesus. Our safety lies in getting behind Christ, and letting him stand in the wind’s eye. We must be altogether hidden, or Christ cannot be our hiding place.

Foolish religious people hear about the hiding place, but never get into it. How great is the folly of such conduct! It makes Jesus to be of no value or effect. What is a roof to a man who lies in the open, or a boat to one who sinks in the sea? Even the Man Christ Jesus, though ordained by God to be a shelter from the tempest, can cover none but those who are in him. Come then, poor sinner, enter where you may; hide in him who was evidently meant to hide you, for he was ordained to be a hiding place, and must be used as such, or the very aim of his life and death would be missed.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon notes.