Category Archives: General

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

We live in a fast-paced, burnout inducing culture — always going, going, going, but seemingly never arriving. We are often deprived of both sleep and satisfaction, and we yearn for stillness. So how do we arrive at the intersection of our reach and His rest that has been promised to us, even on this side of the grave?

First, we must keep in mind that we are image-bearers of God (Genesis 1:26); we are to reflect Him through both our reach and our rest. God reached down from the heavens and created everything in the universe, but He did not keep creating non-stop. After six days of creative reaching, God rested on the seventh day. Please note that His rest was rooted in relationship; He walked with Adam and Eve “in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). But when sin entered the world through their rebellion, our reach was disconnected from His rest. And herein lies the key to rest: It is not simply a cessation of our labor; it is a connection with our Lord.

When we are not in right relationship with God, we reach and we reach but we cannot find His rest. We toil and we labor, but we find no rest or relief from all of our reaching. Even when we are in a right relationship with God, rest often feels as far away from us as the east is from the west. And that brings us to God’s promise given us in our passage today: When we come before the Lord and we are still in His presence, we will experience His promised rest. You have His Word on that.

It is important to keep the context of today’s verse in mind: Psalm 46 was written during a time of great difficulties and challenges for God’s people, including war. Rather than offering a gentle reminder for “stillness,” God’s word is commanding us to stop struggling and shift our focus from ourselves to our God.

Jesus invites all those who are weary and heavy-laden to receive the rest that He alone offers (Matthew 11:28-30). At the deepest level, this is rest for the soul apart from the yoke of the Law. But Psalm 46 is also reminding us of the rest we need every week to be refreshed in our reaching. There is a special silence and stillness that will only be experienced when we are deeply connected to our Savior. Remember, God is in control of everything, even when it looks like everything is in chaos. When we are reaching within the context of our relationship with God, looking to Him for our guidance and direction and strength, we will experience the promised rest we need for everyday life as we make our way toward our promised rest for eternal life.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Ask and it will be given to you. (Matthew 7:7)

It is an undeniable fact that we all want our prayers to be answered in the high court of heaven, yet we all know from personal experience that the answer to those prayers is often “No.” So the question is, What prayers are guaranteed to produce? I believe the Scriptures give us a clear answer. Let’s take a brief look.

When Jesus was teaching His disciples about the True Vine and the branches, He said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7). “Ask whatever you wish” seems to be an amazing, open-ended promise to the believer that should keep us on our knees before God. But we cannot separate it from what Jesus said just before that: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you.” Clearly, prayers that produce are those prayers that align our desires with His desires; when they do, we can rest assured that when we ask, it will be given. Here is how James explained it:

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

The Bible makes it clear that the prayers that produce are the prayers that bring our lives into conformity with Christ and His will for our lives. Now, do not misunderstand what James was saying. He was not saying that our prayers should never be connected to our pleasures. Rather, our pleasures are to be connected to the will of God. We should take great pleasure in the expansion of the Kingdom of God, for the glory of God and the good of others. On the other hand, if we let the natural desires of the heart dominate our lives, we will miss God’s greatest blessings, because we are praying with “me-centered” motives, not God-centered ones.

The prayers that produce are the ones that keep us connected to Christ through His Word. The more we get into the Word of God, the more the Word gets into us; the more the Word gets into us, the more our desires are aligned with God’s desires for us. Remember, to want a pleasurable life is to want a good thing. God gives us good gifts for our enjoyment and our pleasure. God is not a cosmic kill-joy; He simply wants us to align our pleasures with His plan and purpose for our lives. When we do that, we will be pleasing our God by offering up prayers that produce.

What have you been asking for lately? Have you been seeking God’s will for your life? Or your own will? Let this reminder from John fill your prayer life with great expectation –

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. (John 3:21-22)

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

This is one of the most misunderstood promises in all of sacred Scripture; when taken out of context, it can lead to frustration and disappointment in the life of the believer. So let’s take just a moment to drill down a little bit and discover what are the desires that God will deliver.

Look again at the opening phrase of today’s verse: “Delight yourself in the Lord.” You can see that Psalm 37:4 is a conditional promise, can you not? Simply stated, the desires God will deliver to us are those that are rooted in our delight in Him. God is promising that He will fulfill the desires of the heart for those who keep Him in the center of their lives as the object of their desires.

Many theologically barren pulpits have preached this passage as if it gives Christians some sort of “cosmic carte blanche” that binds the heart of God to prove His love for us by granting us any and all of our desires, from health to wealth to everything in between. But this notion is nothing more than the gospel according to man, not the Gospel of God.

The truth is that when our hearts are beating for nothing smaller than Jesus, we are delighting in the Lord. This delight becomes the deepest desire of the heart, and that is the desire that God will deliver to us every time. Because we were made by God to live for the glory of God, we will never find true happiness or satisfaction apart from God. We will not find it in in our professions, our prosperity, or our possessions. These are all good gifts from God, but only when we are delighting in the Giver of these gifts. As Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). We will only find true, lasting happiness when we seek it in Jesus.

How is it with you? Has God been delivering the desires of your heart lately? It may help to keep these words of the psalmist in view:

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25-26).

Remember, the desires that God will always deliver will always be in direct proportion to the delight you are experiencing in the Lord at any given time in your life. Every pleasure in life will have its proper place only when it is rooted in your personal relationship with Jesus. C. S. Lewis summarized this truth beautifully and powerfully:

“God cannot give us a happiness apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

So delight yourself in the Lord! Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. When you do that sincerely and consistently, God will give you the desires of your heart. You have His Word on that.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25)

If you are not familiar with this passage of Scripture within the context of the gospel according to John, perhaps you recall hearing the words sung in John Newton’s famous 1779 hymn “Amazing Grace.”

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

In John’s gospel, we read of Jesus healing a man who had born blind. This took place on the Sabbath, the day of rest for the Jewish people. Throughout the ancient world in general, and within the Jewish culture in particular, it was believed that suffering was the result of sin; the greater the suffering, the greater the sin. This man had been born blind, so people believed that either his parents had committed some great sin, or perhaps the man himself sinned within the womb. Jesus dismissed this notion, saying, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).

After the blind man’s miraculous healing, both he and his parents were questioned by the religious leaders, not because there was insufficient evidence of this supernatural healing, but because they were jealous of both the power and popularity of Jesus and how it was diminishing their influence over the lives of the people. After the religious leaders had condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, they intimidated the man’s parents, and finally kicked the man out of the synagogue.

With that backdrop in mind, let’s take a brief look at what I call “Personal Testimony Power” as it relates to two things: audience and argument.

AUDIENCE – The audience that was questioning this blind man was comprised of the religious elite, the most educated and influential people in Israel. Because the Jewish religion and the synagogue were the center of life for the people of Israel, the religious leaders sat in the seat of power that could profoundly affect people’s lives. “Give glory to God,” they said sternly to the man Jesus had healed. “We know this man [Jesus] is a sinner” (John 9:24). In effect they were saying, “You’d better agree with us that Jesus is a blasphemer, or you will be excommunicated — evicted from the community of Israel.” Yet even in the face of the most powerful audience in Israel, this uneducated man, who had been blind since birth, stood boldly against the seat of power in his culture, without any fear of the consequences.

ARGUMENT – The man’s argument could not have been more straightforward. He was not intimidated by the religious leaders’ power, position, or prestige. He was not fearful of their education or intellect. He knew what he was before Jesus showed up — blind — and he knew what he was after his encounter with Jesus — able to see. This was his personal testimony, and it contained the power of the universe: “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see.”

Every Christian has this powerful personal testimony. Often we hear some of the dramatic stories of salvation in the lives of others, and we begin to believe that our own stories are nothing special, certainly not noteworthy enough to share with an audience. But this is simply not true! When Jesus entered your life, the greatest, most miraculous power in the universe appeared with Him: the power to give sight to the blind . . . the power to raise the dead to life . . . the power that saved you. You need no complex apologetic argument, no special story, no divine discourse to share with others. There is no more powerful story to share about the saving power of Jesus than this: “I was blind, but now I see.”

When was the last time you shared this glorious Good News with someone?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Do not imitate what is evil but what is good. (3 John 1:11)

We always invite “seekers” who visit our church to stop and say hello before leaving the campus. Some of them actually do, and it doesn’t take long to discern that most of them believe that Christianity is little more than a list of rules to follow. They have the notion that being a Christian means rejecting one way of living and adopting another way that is “better.” So the first thing we do in explaining Christianity is to make it clear that being a Christian it is all about a right relationship with Jesus, rather than following the rules and observing the regulations. It is only when we are right with God first that can we do what is right before God. Doing what is right is the fruit that flows from already being, by grace through faith, in that right relationship with Christ.

So once we have entered into that relationship, how then are we to live? Let’s take a brief look at the bookends of the believer’s behavior.

Abstain – When we read, “Do not imitate what is evil” in our verse for today, we must see it in context. John was writing about Diotrephes, who was doing all sorts of evil. Diotrephes loved to be first, and he drew attention to himself by speaking maliciously about other church leaders. He not only refused to welcome others in the faith, he kicked those who did out of the church. John was telling the church not to imitate such wicked practices. In addition to pointing out the evil of Diotrephes, John was telling the church to abstain from even giving the appearance of all kinds of evil, for the good of the church and the glory of God.

But John wasn’t done there; the Holy Spirit had given him more to teach us.

Advance – It is never enough to simply abstain from doing what is contrary to the Word of God. We must also advance toward becoming “people of the Book” — people who do what is good and pleasing in the sight of God and do it for His glory. If we are true disciples of Jesus, we will follow in the footsteps of the One who “went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). Everywhere Jesus went, He left that place better than how He found it. He ministered to the marginal; He served the social outcasts; He brought hope to the hopeless; He loved the unloved and the unloving. Through acts of compassion and kindness, He served others, and taught us all that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  

How are you doing at abstaining and advancing? In which area are you strongest? Remember, if Christianity is all about a right relationship with Jesus — and it is — we must not simply abstain from evil. We must advance in the direction of doing all the good we can. These two actions are the believer’s bookends that will cause the world to see what a right relationship with Jesus actually looks like. When they do see that, they will echo the Roman centurion at Calvary and say: “Surely He was the son of God!”

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

When you look back over your life, consider just how many people taught you in a variety of different ways to cause you to arrive at your current station in life. From parents and pastors, teachers and trusted friends, coaches and colleagues, it’s likely that many people have played a role in growing you into the person you are today. But when was the last time you considered how your pleasures have been preaching to you and teaching you?

Here is a profound statement I came across in John Piper’s book, The Pleasures of God:

The soul is measured by its flights,

Some low and others high,

The heart is known by its delights,

And pleasures never lie.

Piper was quoting Henry Scougal, a professor of divinity in 17th-century Scotland, who penned that sentence in a letter to a friend. Scougal’s statement was so profound that it began to be passed around and was finally published in 1677 as part of The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Scougal died of tuberculosis before he could celebrate his 28th birthday.

So if it is true that pleasures never lie (and it most certainly is), what have your pleasures been teaching you lately? Remember, treasure is pleasure, and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Let me clarify what the phrase “Pleasures never lie” is not saying; it is not implying that pleasures cannot be deceitful or sinful. We read that Moses “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25 ESV); Hebrews 3:13 warns not to become “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Clearly, our pleasures can be both deceitful and sinful if we allow them to be!

To say that pleasures never lie is to say our pleasures will always shine the searchlight of truth on what we treasure; and our treasures unfailingly reveal what our heart beats for. Does this mean that pleasure is something that the Christian should avoid? Are we to be stern, joyless law-keepers? Heaven forbid it! Scripture commands us to “Be joyful always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). One of God’s great gifts to us is the gift of pleasure. As image-bearers of God, we are to be like Him, filled with unimaginable joy and unspeakable pleasure, all of it rooted in our right relationship with Him.

When God is our ultimate pleasure, we have fixed our hearts on the true Treasure that we were created for. This, of course, is not the gift of pleasure, but rather, the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), the One True Treasure, who loves us unconditionally, and who, when we fail Him, forgives us completely.

So . . . what have your pleasures been preaching to you lately?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“To you, Lord, I call; You are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.” (Psalm 28:1)

When was the last time you wondered if God even hears your prayers? When was the last time you sensed the sound of silence as you were pleading at the gates of heaven? Notice I said “when,” not “if.” Like David in today’s verse, we all find ourselves in seasons where heaven seems to be unresponsive and unyielding, and we just want to know that God has not turned a deaf ear to our pleas.

Psalm 28 provides lovely insight into David’s prayer life as he cried out to God from the depths of his heavy heart, saying, “If you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.” We don’t know exactly what David was going through at the time the Spirit of God moved him to pen this psalm. Perhaps David was in a season of sickness or a time of deep and desperate despair. Regardless of the nature of the difficulty David was facing, he looked to his God, his Rock, for help.

Here is the question that you and I must consider: “Do we do the same thing in the same way – in utter dependence upon God?” David knew where to take his weakness and despair – to the only One who could help him rise above the waves of challenge that were battering him. David not only knew Who to go to, he also knew that the One he went to was able to act on his behalf, because he was crying out to the Rock of ages.

The 19^th century preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way:

The immutable Jehovah is our rock, the immovable foundation of all our hopes and our refuge in time of trouble; we are fixed in our determination to flee to him as our stronghold in every hour of danger.

What picture comes to mind when you read David calling God his Rock? God as our Rock is a picture of a foundation that simply cannot be moved. Many scholars have stated that God as Rock pictures His permanence and power, something David knew by way of personal experience. God the Rock was not only David’s source of strength, He was also his source of stability and security.

But that’s not all! There is one more very important picture of God as Rock given us in Paul’s writing about the wilderness wandering of Israel:

They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:3-4).

You see, David was looking forward to the Rock that was to come and this Rock was the “smitten rock” of Exodus 17:6, the Lord Jesus Christ, who provides water for the thirsty even in the most barren wilderness that we may be currently experiencing.

Are you experiencing “the sound of silence”? Are you worried that God is not listening to your heartfelt cries? Take your cue from David. Regardless of what you are facing, cry out to your Rock, knowing that He will never turn a deaf ear. He will always answer . . . but in His way and in His perfect timing. May that truth set us all free.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians 1:29)

It is only natural for human beings to do everything within our power to avoid pain. Only a crazy person seeks out painful experiences in life. But when we realize that God is in our pain, we begin to understand one of the deepest truths that the Bible presents to us: Pain is profitable.

Nothing illustrates this more powerfully than the cross of Christ. The six hours of pain that Jesus endured on the cross defies human description. The physical agony of crucifixion is insignificant compared to the horror of experiencing the wrath of God: “He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus endured the infinite wrath and judgment of God in our place as He hung on our cross. During the three hours of supernatural darkness that fell across the land, our Lord Jesus endured the unimaginable God-forsakenness of hell itself. And when Jesus knew that He had paid the penalty for our sins in full, satisfying completely the wrath and judgment of God and securing eternal life for us, He uttered His triumphant victory cry: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

We cannot comprehend the divine mystery of the pain Jesus endured on that cross on Good Friday a little more than 2,000 years ago, but we can comprehend this: Knowing that His pain paid the full penalty for the forgiveness of our sins — all our sins — means there is profit in pain. When we read Paul’s statement that those who believe in Jesus will suffer for Him, we can be assured that God has a perfect plan for us to profit from every painful providence we experience on this side of the grave.

Christian, every one of the painful providences you have experienced in your life was divinely designed and delivered for your good. You and I must understand this truth and live in the light of it each day. For far too many, painful experiences in life make them bitter, not better. They wallow in self-pity rather than shine with selfless love for their Savior. Others see the painful experiences in life as something to endure and get past as quickly as possible. But those who view life this way are missing the glorious, God-ordained truth that even this — our pain — is for our profit.

When Jesus said we will have trouble in this world (John 16:33), He was preparing us for those inevitable painful experiences that will come our way, but He was also teaching us to remember that, because He is always with us is in those experiences (Hebrews 13:5), there is good that will be gained from them . . . even though they certainly do not feel good at the time!

One final point: Jesus didn’t just promise us painful providences; He also promised His peace in them and through them. “Take heart!” He assures us. “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Nothing happens to us that doesn’t first pass through His nail-scarred hands, and because of this truth, we can be assured there is profit in our pain, conforming us more and more into the image and likeness of our Lord, who endured a pain we will never have to experience in both life and death, so that we can have eternal life with Him.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

If we read the Bible as a book of disconnected stories teaching moralistic and ethical messages on how to have our best life now, we tend to believe that the Scriptures are all about us. We will look at the great men and women of the Bible and believe it was their greatness that caused God to use them. But when we rightly understand that the Bible is a single story about God’s unfolding plan of redemption that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, we look at the great men and women of the Bible and recognize that what made them great was simply the fact that God graciously choose to use them for His purpose.

So, who is the person God chooses to use as an instrument of salvation and sanctification in His mighty right hand? He or she is a card-carrying member of “Triple-A” – that is, someone who is . . .

• AWED by the glory of God
• AVAILABLE to the Spirit of God
• ACTING on the Word of God

God is in the business of taking common people and making them uncommon; taking weak people and making them strong; taking foolish people and making them wise; and taking average people and making them extraordinary. In God’s economy, it is not those with great ability who are called into His service; rather, it is those who are awed by His incomparable glory, available to the promptings of His Spirit, and obediently acting on His Word, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

Does this “Triple A” mindset describe you and the confession of your life today? When we are awed by the glory of God, we know what Paul knew: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways” (Romans 11:33). When we are awed by the glory of God, we become available to the moving of the Spirit of God, and we are ready and willing to follow God wherever He leads us. This is living a life that is acting on the Word of God.   

When we rightly read the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, we realize that God did not call extraordinary men and women into His service to expand His Kingdom. Rather, those ordinary men and woman, people who were broken and marred by sin, were made great by God, simply because they were available to be used by Him and acted on the words He had spoken to them.

How is it with you? Are you ready to be used by God?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24)

“My life is not my own!” This was one of my mom’s favorite sayings when I was growing up, and it contained two distinct and different levels of truth that she was teaching us kids. On the surface, she was speaking of the incessant demands of running the household and raising five children. But Mom was also teaching us a far deeper message, because she loved Jesus and she understood that her life was not her own; no, her life belonged to Jesus to do what He wanted with it.

One of the best descriptions of this biblical truth is delivered in the Heidelberg Catechism, which was written in 1563. The Catechism was originally intended to be taught on each Sunday of the year, so the questions and answers are organized around 52 Lord’s Days. The very first question cuts right to the heart of the reality that my mother understood so well:

Lord’s Day 1

Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A: That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

My mom knew that there is no greater comfort in life and death than to know that her life was not her own. She knew that she had been purchased by Jesus at the cost of His precious blood, which He shed on the cross for the forgiveness of her sins – all of her sins. She also knew that her Lord and Savior was in complete control of everything in the universe, including everything in her life — every bit of it — and He was working all of it together for her ultimate good. Mom loved us best by loving Jesus most and living for His glory alone.

Do you and I live that way?

Regardless of where this message finds you today, let me encourage you to embrace my mom’s favorite saying: “My life is not my own.” When you do that, you will experience the freedom and joy of living wholeheartedly for the glory of God and the good of others. This is living in a way that truly testifies to the Good News of God’s grace — not just daily, but moment by moment.  

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!