Conversion

This month (June) we are focusing on our understanding of Conversion and the role it plays in being a healthy church. So let's begin by considering what conversion is. 

Conversion is a U-turn in a person’s life. It is turning with one’s whole person away from sin and to Christ for salvation. From idol worship to God worship. From self-justification to Christ’s justification. From self-rule to God’s rule.

Conversion is what happens when God awakens those who are spiritually dead and enables them to repent of their sins and have faith in Christ.

• When Jesus calls us to repent and believe, he’s calling us to conversion. It’s a radical change in what we believe and do. (Mark 1:15)
• When Jesus calls us to take up our crosses and follow him, he’s calling us to conversion. (Luke 9:23)
• In order for us to repent, God must give us new life, new hearts, and faith (Ephesians 2:1, Romans 6:17, Colossians 2:13, Ezekiel 36:26, Ephesians 2:8, 2 Timothy 2:25).

*This material is taken from 9marks.org

Romans 8:32 - "He who did not spare His own Son..."

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32

This promise has been a favorite of mine for the past 13 years. It has carried me through many difficult seasons of life. I was recently reading Future Grace by John Piper who considers this verse "the most precious verse in the bible to me." He goes on to write, "There never has been and never will be a circumstance in my life where this promise is irrelevant."

So take a moment and consider your present circumstances....

What are you worried about?
What floods your heart with fear?
Where are you doubting God's goodness to give you the things that you need?

Now take a moment and consider that the same God who has already delivered up His son Jesus for you - which is as big as it gets - also promises to see you through life's dark days and bumpy roads. The question I ask myself as I consider this promise is, "Why isn't the gift of Jesus enough to convince me that God is working all things together for my good?" Ouch, it hurts me to even type that out!

Here is John Piper's take...

What a truth! Giving us all things is the easy thing! Think on that every time you fear being denied something that would be good for you. You think it is a hard thing. You see many obstacles. It looks impossible. At that discouraging moment think about this heavenly logic. Giving you what you need is the easy part. And the hard part is already done. Creating the world and running it for the good of his people is a relatively easy thing for God to do compared to handing over his Son to ridicule and torture. But he did it. And now all future grace is not only sure; it is easy.

Friends, God loves us and is working all things together for our good (8:28). The validation of that promise is the Cross where God did not spare His own Son so that He could spare you.

What Is the Gospel?

This month we (at Meadowview) have focused on the 3rd mark of a healthy church - The Gospel. Just last Sunday Jordan Chambers encouraged us to know the gospel so we can share this good news with others. So my question is, do you know the gospel? Are you equipped to share the good news with others?

We can summarize it in four words: God, Man, Christ, Response

God. God is the creator of all things. He is perfectly holy, worthy of all worship, and will punish sin.

Man. All people, though created good, have become sinful by nature. From birth, all people are alienated from God, hostile to God, and subject to the wrath of God.

Christ. Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross to bear God's wrath in the place of all who would believe in him, and rose from the grave in order to give his people eternal life.

Response. God calls everyone everywhere to turn from their sins and trust in Christ in order to be saved.

*taken from God's Good News: The Gospel by Bobby Jamieson

Amen?

Have you ever wondered why Christians conclude their prayers with an Amen? Is it just a convenient way of letting everyone know that you are done? Or what about when someone in the middle of a song or sermon boldly shouts, "AMEN!" What does it mean to say Amen?

This week I was reading in John Piper's book Future Grace and I really appreciated his closing paragraphs in a chapter that focused on prayer.

...Amen is a full and precious word in times of prayer. It doesn't mean primarily, "Yes, I have now said all this prayer." It means primarily, "Yes, God has made all these promises." Amen means, "Yes, Lord, you can do it." It means, "Yes, Lord, you are powerful. Yes, Lord, you are wise. Yes, Lord you are merciful. Yes, Lord, all future grace comes from you and has been confirmed in Christ." "Amen" is an exclamation point of hope after a prayer for help.
When we come to the end of our prayers and say the simple words, "In Jesus' name, Amen," we are really saying two Amen's. When we say, "In Jesus' name," that is God's Amen to us. All his promises are Amen in Jesus; Jesus Christ is God's Yes and Amen at the end of our prayers. Then when we say, "Amen," this is our Yes and Amen back to God for his. Which means that our Amen, and the prayer it supports, is our Yes to God's Yes to us. It is a commitment from our hearts that we will now live by faith in the Yes of God's guaranteed future grace. (pgs 107-108)

All I can say is AMEN!

Cleaning House

Recently we've heard politicians and pundits repeat the phrase "drain the swamp," which seems to be a figure of speech meant to communicate change or reform. I prefer the phrase "cleaning house." Maybe because I actually like to clean my house and I have never drained a swamp...so i don't really know what that entails.

Anyway back to my point...this morning I was reading in 2 Kings 22-23 about Josiah's rise to power as King of Judah, which wasn't much of a "rise to power" since he was eight years old when he became king. Yes you read that right - eight years old. I have a nine year old and I do not want to imagine what his kingdom would look like, but scripture says that Josiah "did what was right in the sight in the LORD and walked in all the ways of David his father..." (22:2)

Eighteen years into his 31 year reign Josiah decided to repair the temple and in doing so the law of God was discovered. Josiah read it and realized how far Judah had strayed from God's good commands so the "house cleaning/reformation" began. He tore down the altars to Baal and Asherah; he removed anything in his kingdom that was defiled by false worship; he re-instituted the Passover; and he did a bunch of other stuff too that you can read about in 2 Kings 23.

My thoughts: Do I need to clean my house? Are there idols that I need to tear down? Are there less than holy things in my life that are derailing my walk with Christ? Where am I veering to the left or to right that will lead me so far off course that in 30 years I won't even notice that God's Word is missing?




Am I more like Judah - content in my sin - or Josiah - cleaning house?

Spending Time in Another Context

So it's obviously been some time since I have posted a blog. Was it life? laziness? Probably a mixture of both. But today I'm back for at least one more post.

Sunday I announced that we (Meadowview) are participating in a missions trip this Summer to Guatemala. I was very excited to make the announcement and I imagined in my mind that after the closing prayer a mass of people would surround me anxious to know more about the trip and sign up that afternoon. But that didn't happen. And that's alright. We Pastor's tend to have wild imaginations!

I have no doubt that some of you are considering the possibility of joining in the trip this Summer and I recently re-read something that might encourage you as you are considering.

In his book Radical, David Platt challenges Christians to Spend Time In Another Context. Here is what he writes, "...give some of your time in the next year to making the gospel known in a context outside your own city. I suggest you plan on dedicating at least 2 percent of your time to this task. That 2 percent works out to be about one week in the next year that you will travel and take the gospel to another context in the world, either domestically or internationally." So basically he is challenging us to get out of Southwest Missouri and take the gospel somewhere else on this globe.

Some may respond, "Why? What difference will it make?" Well I really like what Platt writes next, "We have discovered that 2 percent of our time living out the gospel in other contexts has a radical effect on the other 98 percent of our time living out the gospel in our own context."

We call it perspective. Short-term mission trips help us to regain a right perspective of our lives and the world we live in.

So pray hard and consider the possibilities.

Alone and Unnoticed?

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place...What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4)

Stop and consider these verses.

Do you ever feel alone in your day? Do you ever feel like you are doing life all alone? Do you ever feel discouraged because "no one cares?" Do you ever think, "No one gets me?"

Commenting on these verses my ESV study Bible notes read, "It is astonishing that the God who is great enough to have made the heavens can take notice of mere man; but He goes beyond taking notice: He is mindful of man, He cares for him. God's greatness does not mean remoteness but rather and eye for detail, no matter how small."

God is mindful of you...will you be mindful of Him?