There is a story in Matthew 8 of a centurion who comes to Jesus about his sick servant.

“When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
(Matthew 8:5-10 ESV)

I have been thinking about this story for several days now because of the faith the centurion has. He understood what authority Jesus carried. He had faith and trust in that authority.

We look at the world and we worry. The economy is close to a recession. People are losing their jobs. We are concerned with the new president ready to take office. We tend to look to our selves and our government to save us from our troubles.

Do we have that faith and trust in what God has promised us?

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Romans 8:31-39 ESV)

“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love”
John Bunyan

“Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.”
B. B. Warfield (from a story he was telling about D.L. Moody)

“I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can ever face.“
J. I. Packer

He loves thee too little, who loves anything together with thee, which he loves not for thy sake. – Augustine

How the Early Christians pray for Everything for Joy

The early Christains called on God:

•    To exalt his name in the world.
•    To extend his kingdom in the world.
•    For the fullness of Holy Spirit
•    To save unbelievers
•    For healing
•    For Strategic wisdom
•    For unity and harmony in the ranks
•    To help them know HIM better
•    Comprehend the love of Christ
•    For a deeper sense of assured hope
•    For strength and endurance
•    For their faith to be preserved
•    That they might not fall into temptation
•    To complete their resolves and enable them to do good works
•    For forgiveness for their sins
•    For protection from the evil one.

Jeff Mobley started doing quotes on his blog so I thought maybe I will do one on occasion. I came across this quote in some of the reading I am doing.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate… Let the Christian rest content with his worldliness . . . Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of grace—for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolations of his grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace… The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ… We… have gathered like eagles round the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison which has killed the life of following Christ.

I found a blog today off of the Between Two Worlds blog called Buzzard Blog. It is a blog by Justin Buzzard who is a pastor at Central Peninsula Church. He did a message on “Thinking Biblically about Facebook”. I think he does a nice job looking at Facebook in an even handed way. There are pros and cons to it as with everything.

For me one of the bigger reasons I check Facebook on a daily basis is to see how my friends are doing and to find specific reasons to pray for them. Some of the social interaction on Facebook may not be great, but I have found it a nice way to pray for my friends and keep in contact with people I normally wouldn’t

Whether you voted for Barack Obama or John McCain, whether you’re recovering from your all-night celebration or drying the tears from your pillow, today’s a good day to remember the words of the apostle Paul: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

And the new President will surely need our prayers because he and his administration face huge, serious challenges to the health of our nation and to peace in the world—challenges that, in my opinion, neither he nor any government on earth will have the power to overcome without divine aid.

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Technorati Tags: Politics

The election is over. The candidates that most Christians voted for lost. I think we need to be very careful on how we react. Our ultimate authority is NOT Barak Obama, but God. The world is not going to fall apart (unless God wills it) because of the election of these people. We need to be praying for our new leaders and asking God to be using them to glorify Him.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
(Romans 13:1-2 ESV)

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”
(1Peter 2:13-14 ESV)

People are watching our reaction, if we are bitter and complaining about this election, it may show that we are not putting our faith into our Lord. We need to stop worrying, start praying, and keep our hope focussed on our treasures in heaven.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hopethat the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
(Romans 8:18-25 ESV)

Matthew 6 has a lot to say on how our attitude is supposed to be, at all times, but I think especially on a day like today.

Maybe with this election this is a chance for us to become more dependent on God and not depend on institutions of this world to reach out to those we are supposed to.

Technorati Tags: Politics

The concept of substitution maybe said, then to lie at the heart of both sin and slavation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prergatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone.

John Stott “The Cross of Christ”

Technorati Tags: Learning

Do we dare love the way the bible tells us to? Think 1Corintians 13. Are we able to love knowing full well we are going to get hurt or do we love only when we are sure of the outcome?

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering.”

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities.…

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. (From The Four Loves, as found in The Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis, 278-279.)

Technorati Tags: Life, Love

From the day that Solomon was conceived he was destined for great things. Despite the sins of his father and mother, he was set up for success.

The Lord loved him (2 Samuel 12:24-25).

• Solomon had a front row seat to watch the consequences of his father’s sins. He learned first hand the consequences of David’s sin. For instance when Adonijah tried to set himself up as king (1 Kings 1:5-10). Why is this a good thing you ask? He found out quite quickly who his friends and enemies were. He also saw He had Nathan the Prophet, Zadok the priest and the Mighty Men of Israel behind him.

• Solomon asked for wisdom, discernment between good and evil. The Lord was pleased with Solomon. (1 Kings 3:9). The Lord gave solomon a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you On top of that the Lord gave Solomon riches, and honor and a promise of long life if he follows HIM(1 Kings 3:12-14).

• David did as much prep work as possible to help by forging relationships and gathering materials to help Solomon build the temple.

• The Lord once again appears to Solomon reminding him to walk before the Lord, that he will be blessed (1Kings 9:4-5)

For 20+ years Solomon was honoring God and then he stopped…

What is interesting to me is how Solomon’s had it all and then gave it up.

Technorati Tags: Bible, David, Sin