My New Book “Bless-ed” Is Now Out! Almost. Blessing #9!

Friends:

My new book, Bless-ed! Fifty-Two Weekly Blessings You Have as a Believer and How to Help Your Lost Friends Find Theirs will soon be available on Amazon here. I have advanced copies if you are interested. I will send you a copy for $10 (which includes shipping). Here’s Blessing #9 in Bless-ed:

Bless-ed! 52 Weekly Blessings You Have As A Believer — and How to Help Your Lost Friends Find Theirs

BLESSING #9: The Blessing of the Help of the Spirit

“You will find a certain type of preacher and evangelist who claims that he is entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit. It is a blasphemous thing to saddle the Holy Spirit with the blame for rambling, wearisome, and unprepared effusions.” (William Barclay).

My unsaved friend Mike is helping me become more aware of what I have as a believer and what he doesn’t yet have. This list is not given in any sense of gloating, for I grieve for what my friend doesn’t yet possess because he isn’t yet in God’s family.

The Bible is quite clear about the doctrine of the Trinity (even though the word “trinity” isn’t in the Bible). The God who exists is triune — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is described in Scripture as having various ministries. Let’s think about the third member of the Trinity, the One who is often neglected.

One of the greatest blessings for the believer is that –

9. WE HAVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD TO HELP US UNDERSTAND AND APPLY GOD’S WORD!

THE BLESSING: The third member of the Godhead is personal and divine and we can have a relationship with Him. His deity is made abundantly clear in Acts 5 and His personality (intellect, emotions, and will) is shown in numerous Scriptures (Romans 8, Acts 13, Ephesians 4, Galatians 5, etc.). Although His primary ministry is to direct our attention to Christ and to apply the Word of God to our lives, we can — and should — relate to Him. We are not to grieve Him or quench Him. And we can learn to please Him.

I’ve written a book (The Forgotten Third: Developing a Biblical Relationship with God the Holy Spirit) specifically challenging believers to grow in their connection with the Holy Spirit and to do so by recognizing His ministries in their lives. He is the One who brings conviction of sin (John 16:8-11), bestows spiritual gifts upon God’s people (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4), reminds us of our place in God’s family (Romans 12), and directs our primary attention to Christ.

One essential ministry of the Spirit of God is that of helping us understand and apply the Word of God to our daily lives.

THE BIBLE Believers should be dependent on God the Holy Spirit to lead them as they study God’s Word. But this is not a substitute for the serious study of the Word, and we are to bring our best hermeneutical skills to the task. The Spirit of God will work with us as we pour over God’s truth.

We learn of the Spirit in Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse. Jesus says in John 16 — “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (v. 13). We also learn in I Corinthians 2 that the Spirit of God helps us warmly embrace the truths of God. The unsaved person considers God’s Word foolishness and can’t understand it because it is discerned only through God’s Spirit. (vv. 14-15).

ACTION STEPS

1. If the Holy Spirit is divine (and He is), we should worship Him. And if He is personal (and He is), we should talk to Him. Prayer is talking to God. So, write out a prayer to God the Holy Spirit each day this week, asking for His help as you study a passage of Scripture.

2. Sometime this week read J.I. Packer’s article on the illumination of the Spirit entitled “THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING” available through the Monergism website.11 How is illumination to be understood? What should we say to someone who claims “This is what God told me this passage is teaching”?

3. Read my short book The Forgotten Third: Developing a Biblical Relationship with God the Holy Spirit. Discuss what you have learned with another believer.

4. PRAYER: Pray for your lost friend that his heart would be open to the Spirit’s work in his life, especially as he reads God’s Word. Pray that he would understand — and warmly embrace — the truths of God’s Word.

 

My New Book “Bless-ed” Is Now Out! Almost. Blessing #8!

Friends:

My new book, Bless-ed! Fifty-Two Weekly Blessings You Have as a Believer and How to Help Your Lost Friends Find Theirs will soon be available on Amazon here. I have advanced copies if you are interested. I will send you a copy for $10 (which includes shipping). Here’s Blessing #8 in Bless-ed:

Bless-ed! 52 Weekly Blessings You Have As A Believer — and How to Help Your Lost Friends Find Theirs

BLESSING #8: The Blessing of a Longing to Know God

“Whatever keeps me from the Bible is my enemy, however harmless it may appear to be. Whatever engages my attention when I should be meditating on God and things eternal does injury to my soul. Let the cares of life crowd out the Scriptures from my mind and I have suffered loss where I can least afford it. Let me accept anything else instead of the Scriptures and I have been cheated and robbed to my eternal confusion.” (A.W. Tozer)

My friend Mike is unsaved. That’s biblical language for his condition before God. In trying to reach my friend, I’m becoming more aware of what I have as a believer and what my friend Mike doesn’t yet have.

He believes that he is “fine” with the Lord. But the critical issue isn’t what he thinks, but what God declares. And there is so much more to the Christian life than simply being “fine” with God. The born again believer, by default, begins a quest of growing deeper in his or her relationship to the Lord.

Let’s consider an eighth benefit of the believer which we have and it is that –

8. WE HAVE A LONGING TO KNOW GOD THROUGH STUDYING HIS WORD!

I heard the story of a professor who was questioned by the police about a student who was being charged with a serious crime. The professor said, “Oh, yes. He did attend my class. But he was never my student.” Some Christians are just “in the class” and haven’t yet realized they are now lifelong students of the Word of God!

THE BLESSING: The believer in Christ has an incredible resource for life in the Word of God, the Bible. He or she can read and study and meditate on the 66 books in the Bible – and be changed in the process!

BIBLE: When I became a believer as a teenager, the elders of my church would share a verse with me from the King James Bible: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Their motive was pure. They wanted me to become a student of the Word. The word “study” in this verse is really a word that means “do your best” or “be diligent” or “make every effort.” This same Timothy is commended in 2 Timothy 3 verse 15 with the following words: “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (KJV). Yes, God’s Word can lead one to salvation. But it also inspires a lifelong quest to know the Lord, as the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3 verse 10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (KJV).

When I was in my first year of study at a Bible college, my attitude toward study was, shall we say, severely lacking. If it was a Monday, I’d flip a coin. If it landed heads, I’d play chess with my roommate. If it landed tails, I’d watch Monday night football ’till the wee hours. But if it landed on its edge, I’d study for my classes! The believer in Jesus may not realize it or not, but he or she has enrolled in an eternal class that will never end!

ACTION STEPS

1. Complete the following sentence: “I want to be a student of God’s Word because ___________________.

2. Have a conversation with another believer this week who clearly lives to know the Lord better. What are their habits? How do they interact with the Bible on a daily basis? What choices do they make on a daily basis that help them move on in their Christian lives?

3. Read Psalm 63 every day this week and take notes on what it means to long to know the Lord.

4. PRAYER: Pray for your unsaved friend that he would begin to long to know God. Pray for yourself that the two of you would be open to studying the Word together.

 

The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Study)

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The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Research)

 

The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Comprehension)

 

IF THE GOSPEL REALLY IS TRUE . . . We Have a FAMILY! (Part 5)

When he stepped into the pulpit for the first time, Karl Barth raised a profound question, didn’t he? But what conclusions should we reach IF the gospel indeed is true? We’ve seen in our study that if the gospel is TRUE, then we have a message for the world which is both good news and bad news. We are Christ’s aroma (2 Corinthians 2) — and some will think we are a fragrance and some an odor! We’ve also seen that we have every reason to challenge other worldviews and religions as to their response to the gospel. Thirdly, we drew the conclusion that if the gospel is true, then we have a complete justification to make the Bible our absolute guidebook for life. Let’s notice a fourth conclusion —

IF THE GOSPEL IS TRUE, THEN . . .

We desperately need the people of God, the church. For many the church is the great Evangelical option. “I’ll go if I have time.” “I’ll give if I can spare some loose change.” “I’ll serve if I must.” Because the good news of the gospel is true, God is creating a forgiven family — and each of us are members!

Not a one of us is perfect — but we’re growing. And we are to meet together to focus on Him and to practice the four priorities which marked the early church. We read in Acts 2 —

If we wish to be like the early Christians and to be blessed by God, we will devote ourselves to: doctrine, fellowship, worship, and prayer! Because we need somewhere to go on Sunday?! NO! Because Christ is building His Body, the Church, and we are members of it!

Today’s Challenge: Philip Yancey’s little book Church: Why Bother? raises some key questions. Why do you “bother” with church?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IF THE GOSPEL REALLY IS TRUE . . . We Have a FINAL AUTHORITY! (Part 4)

“IS IT TRUE? IS IT REALLY TRUE?” was the question Karl Barth anticipated as he was talking about the gospel. These posts are intended to give certain conclusions IF the gospel is true.

If the gospel of Jesus Christ is really TRUE, we’ve seen that we have a message for the world which is both good news and bad news. We are Christ’s aroma (2 Corinthians 2) — and some will think we are a fragrance and some an odor! We’ve also noticed that we have every reason to challenge other worldviews and religions as to their response to the gospel.

Let’s notice a third conclusion and that is —

IF THE GOSPEL IS TRUE, THEN . . .

We have a complete justification to make the Bible our absolute guidebook for life.

Many Christians actually hold to a number of inadequate pictures of the Bible. For some it’s like a kind of good luck charm, kind of like a rabbit’s foot (which was unlucky for the poor rabbit). For others, the idea of a holy horoscope comes to mind. They drop their finger on a random verse to give them happiness for a day. Others look at the Bible as a kind of fundamentalist fortune cookie that provides uplifting and totally innocuous sayings.

But the true nature of the Bible involves the following pictures (discussed in my book DocWALK):

So much could be said about God’s Word, the Bible. IF the gospel is true — and it is — the Jesus-follower must realize that he or she has a final authority that should not be picked up haphazardly! The Bible should be our daily source for guidance, the light we need for living wisely, the cup of cold water thrown in our face when we are stuck in sin, . . . You get the picture.

Today’s Challenge: My friend, what is the Bible for you? Meditate on the verses given above for the true nature of the Bible. And take specific steps to grow in your love of and obedience to God’s Word!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Educational Apathy)

Calvin is apathetic toward any formal study subject, like math! Do we Christians sometimes over-analyze God’s Word, instead of simply enjoying it? I’m all for in-depth, strategic, systematic study of the Scriptures, but we must not lose our JOY in the process!

 

Getting Some Work Done!

As some of you know, I’ve been retired from teaching full-time for two years. The Lord has been so gracious to me to keep me busy and, hopefully, useful to Him! I’ve enjoyed teaching overseas (Korea, Myanmar) and right now am working hard on two manuscript projects. I appreciate the believers in New Jersey who invite me to speak every few months. And I’m thankful for you, my friend, for reading my posts. If you feel so inclined, a comment below would be an encouragement to me. Have a great day!

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord: Psalm 145

Psalm 145

A psalm of praise. Of David.

¹ I will exalt you, my God the King;
    I will praise your name for ever and ever.
² Every day I will praise you
    and extol your name for ever and ever.

³ Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
⁴ One generation commends your works to another;
    they tell of your mighty acts.
⁵ They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
⁶ They tell of the power of your awesome works—
    and I will proclaim your great deeds.
⁷ They celebrate your abundant goodness
    and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.

⁹ The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.
¹⁰ All your works praise you, Lord;
    your faithful people extol you.
¹¹ They tell of the glory of your kingdom
    and speak of your might,
¹² so that all people may know of your mighty acts
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.
¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food at the proper time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
    and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
    Let every creature praise his holy name
    for ever and ever.