Burning Hearts

The Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom

2010-02-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

Pastor of Constantinople (~400 AD)
The ancient "prince of preachers"

Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.

For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.

Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!

You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.

He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
"You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below."

Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hades, where is thy victory?

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

Christmas Sermon - Chrysostom

2009-12-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 349-407):

I behold a new and wondrous mystery. My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory.

All join to praise this holy feast, beholding God on earth and man in heaven. He who is above now for our salvation, dwells here below; and we who were lowly are exalted by divine mercy.

Bethlehem today resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices; and in the place of the sun, enfolds within it on every side, the Sun of Justice. Ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed, He had the power, He descended, He redeemed; all things move in obedience to God. Today He-Who-Is, is born; and He-Who-Is becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man-while not relinquishing the Godhead that is His.

And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him angels, nor archangels, nor thrones, nor dominions, nor powers, nor principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb.

Yet He has not forsaken His angels, nor left them deprived of His care, nor because of His incarnation has He ceased being God.

And behold kings have come, that they might serve the Leader of the Hosts of Heaven;

Women, that they might adore Him Who was born of a woman so that He might change the pains of childbirth into joy;

Virgins, to the Son of the Virgin...

Infants, that they may adore Him who became a little child, so that out of the mouths of infants He might perfect praise;

Children, to the Child who raised up martyrs through the rage of Herod;

Men, to Him who became man that He might heal the miseries of His servants;

Shepherds, to the Good Shepherd who was laid down His life for His sheep;

Priests, to Him who has become a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek;

Servants, to Him who took upon Himself the form of a servant, that He might bless our stewardship with the reward of freedom;

Fishermen, to the Fisher of humanity;

Publicans, to Him who from among them named a chosen evangelist;

Sinful women, to Him who exposed His feet to the tears of the repentant woman;

And that I may embrace them all together, all sinners have come, that they may look upon the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! Since, therefore, all rejoice, I too desire to rejoice! I too wish to share the choral dance, to celebrate the festival! But I take my part, not plucking the harp nor with the music of the pipes nor holding a torch, but holding in my arms the cradle of Christ!

For this is all my hope!
This is my life!
This is my salvation!
This is my pipe, my harp!

And bearing it I come, and having from its power received the gift of speech, I too, with the angels and shepherds, sing:

"Glory to God in the Highest! and on earth peace to men of good will!

follow me..

2009-11-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Matthew 4:19

God has spared my life, given me a family, and every good thing I have. Recently we found out that a year long discussion on the possibility of serving with a particular group in a particular place will not work out. We certainly were excited to have some sense of where the immediate future was moving towards, as I am about to finish college. So this news has been sad for us.

But, I am stirred on by the reality that Jesus has called us first and foremost to follow him. Where he takes us is really secondary. We are called to become like Jesus, make disciples as we move about this world, and seek to glorify God in the opportunities He has given us. We are longing to follow Jesus, and be pleasing to God in west kensington, and in philadelphia.

Kristy and I feel the loud drum beat for overseas missions, we believe we can make the kind of sacrifices required, even enjoy it, we believe He made us to spread his message to the poor and the lost. As we look out at the opportunities there may be, we invite you to pray for us as we seek to follow Jesus, and encourage you to follow Him as well.

Spirit of the Liturgy

2009-07-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

The fact that we find Christ in the symbol of the rising sun is the indication of a Christology defined eschatology. Praying toward the east means going to meet the coming Christ. The liturgy turned toward the east, effects entry, so to speak, into the procession of history towards the future, the New Heaven and the New Earth, which we encounter in Christ. It is a prayer of hope, the prayer of the pilgrim as he walks in the direction shown us by the life, Passion, and Ressurection of Christ. Thus very early on, in parts of Christendom, the eastward direction for prayer was given added emphasis by a reference to the Cross. This may have come from linking Rev. 1:7 with Matt 24:30. In the first of these, the Revelation of St. John, it says: "Behold, he is comming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, ever one who pierced him, and all the trives will wail on account of him, even so Amen." Here the seer of the Apocalypse depends on John 19:37, where, at the end of the account of the Crucifixion, the mysterious text of the prophet Zechariah (12:10) is quoated, a text that suddenly acquires a wholly new meaning: "They shall look on him who they have pierced." Finally, in Matthew 24:30 we are given these words of the Lord; "Then on the Last day will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man comming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The sign of the Son of Man, of the Pierced One, is the Cross, which has now become the sign of victory of the Risen One.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Pope Benedict XVI

The Faith of Abraham

2009-07-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

I want to compile and share previous thoughts of faith of Abraham. They will be in five post's to come.

The faith that hears, the faith that receives, the faith that trusts, the faith that knows, and the faith that acts.

You can read about Abraham from Genesis 11:10-25:11. An incredible amount of space given in scripture, you can also find helpful illumination from the NT writer's in Hebrews 11:8-12, Romans 4:1-4, James 2:20-24 as well as other places.

If you have any insight/resources you want to share with me before I start posting these reflections, hit me up.

MLJ

2009-05-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

May 27

The world is but a broken toy, Its pleasure hollow - false its joy, Unreal its loveliest hue (W. S. Gilbert)

Our Lord is saying (Matthew 6:19) that worldly treasures do not last; that they are transitory, passing, ephemeral. 'Change and decay in all around I see...... where moth and rust doth corrupt'.

How true it is. There is an element of decay in all these things, whether we like it or not ... These things never fully satisfy. There is always something wrong with them; they always lack something. There is no person on earth who is fully satisfied; and though in a sense some may appear to have everything that they desire, still they want something else ...

There is another way of looking at the effect of moth and rust spiritually. Not only is there an element of decay in these things; it is also true that we always tend to tire of them ... That is why we are always talking about new things and seeking them. Fashions change; and though we are very enthusiastic about certain things for a while, soon they no longer interest us as they did ... The last fact, therefore, about these things is that they inevitably perish. Your most beautiful flower is beginning to die immediately you pluck it. You will soon have to throw it away. That is true of everything in this life and world ... Things develop holes and become useless ... the most perfect physique will eventually give way and break down and die ... However wonderful and beautiful and glorious things may be, they all perish. That is why, perhaps, the saddest of all failures in life is the failure of the philosopher who believes in worshipping goodness, beauty and truth; because there is no such thing as perfect goodness, there is no such thing as unalloyed beauty; there is an element of wrong and of sin and a lie in the highest truths. 'Moth and rust doth corrupt.'

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 88-9

Friend or Foe?

2009-05-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Been thinking a little about the "world." How are we called to relate to it. Friend or foe? Dying to it or dying for it? How can the two go together.

John 3, God so loves the world / 1 john 2 Anyone who loves the world, God's love is not in him

James 4 friendship with the world is enmity with God / Philippians 2 shine like light's in the world

Perhaps God's love, and our sympathy with God (holiness) looks like loving the world sacrificially with the eye to redeem it, not to make it our ultimate home as it is. The eye of faith looks with love, and see the glory its lost, and the glory that could be returned, even as at the same time, the eyes of faith are not infatuated with the world, but crucified to it, as the world as it is now, is rotting, and passing.

As John says

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

It's like we live now under a long eclipse, but the moonlit darkness that casts its shadow on us all will pass? Will where we love now correlate to where we will live forever?

The real question I ask is, how does dying to the world, become the greatest 'love of all' for the world? (doesn't that seem odd?) What does the Resurrection have to do with it? And how do we enter ourselves into that sacrifice? I welcome your feedback.

CT Image Blog

2009-05-24T10:31:00.001-07:00

A planetary nebula designated NGC 2818, photographed by the Hubble Telescope. By NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning the first day.

Genesis 1:1 - 5

(One of my Favorite Blogs..)

Turning to the Father's

2009-05-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've enjoyed this podcast for awhile (till I washed my mp3 player in the wash a few months ago :(.. )

This comes from the Greek orthodox church, they introduce you to some of the early desert monks of Egypt and others doctors of the church from Asia minor. While the western church (catholic tradition) has traditionally placed an importance on organization, and administration (which is important), the eastern church (orthodox) has an incredible heritage of worship and devotion.

Want to be a missionary?

2009-05-05T10:23:00.001-07:00

My Top Ten ways to prepare

10. Get on your knees and pray for the nations. Learn what the world map looks like.

9. Linger in the places your world that is cross cultural, relocate and immerse yourself if possible.

8. Share your life and faith every week. Think about others, interests, fears, humor, language, culture, and how to explain the gospel to others more clearly and winsomely.

7. Fight your corruptions with the gospel of grace, and wrestle with God as if sin could completely derail your life, marriage and ministry.

6. Go camping, as rough as you can. Incrementally start learning to conserving water. food and power at home.

5. Live in community, not just your best friends exactly like you, just to help with rent, but see if you can handle a cross cultural living in your own home, have certain times you eat meals together and worship together.

4. Cultivate a lifestyle of generosity, don't worry so much about how you'll 'treat' yourself on the weekends, but take some of "your" extra time and money and give it away. Imagine you're going to heaven one day and that it will be unimaginably worth it to live life for others now.

3. Cultivate a lifestyle of risk, pray for the courage to take heat for Christ from others walk into situations with people cross culturally that make you look foolish out of love, Ask God what is it that He would want you to risk each day. Be willing to have others problems totally screw up your day. Take the Jericho road, robber's are there, but also people made in the image of God.

2. Cultivate a lifestyle of service, be ready to say yes to Jesus, to love and serve others, especially those in the Church. Especially if you're young going to the East, work on how you relate to those who are older, find ways to serve them.

1. Spend time with others that share the dream of missionary service and spur each other on.

These are written in no order, just as they came to mind, its a culmination of advice I've heard in the past, things we've done and found really helpful, and thing's we are looking to keep working on. Me and my wife have both served in hispanic kensington,phila. , Kristy has been to Mexico 10 times, and I have been to Kenya twice, once for almost a year. We are hoping to go to help a pastoral / church planting coaching team that works with the east african presbyterian church, as I work for my master's in divinity. (4-5 years?)

Job

2009-04-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Tozer Devotion

2009-04-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is what I look at every morning before work at 1am. Here is the daily devotional from Tozer from the Alliance website. My mind is half working, and don't wake up too early to do much more.

The Size of the Soul

Chapter #35

Christian--Or Only a Student of Christianity?

Living Out Faith

. . . the snare Epictetus warned against is the very one into which multitudes of professed Christians are falling, viz., mistaking the word for the deed and falsely assuming that if they know the teaching of the Christian faith they are therefore in that faith.

The One who said, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways, and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6), would hardly be displeased if we were to humble ourselves to learn an important lesson from an old Greek philosopher.

It will help us to locate ourselves spiritually if we face up to the rather ungracious question: “Are you a Christian in fact or merely a student of Christianity?” A lot will depend upon the answer, and if ever we should be frank, it is when we examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith. Multitudes tread a hazy path to death because they will not bring themselves under the searching eye of God. They prefer to assume everything is all right, though so to assume is always dangerous and may be deadly.

Prayer

O God, may I increasingly live my faith in You by trusting You for Your power in daily living.

Scripture

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
—James 2:17

Thought

Are we living out our faith? If not, is ours genuine faith? In Christ there is enablement but it has to be appropriated and exercised.

He is Risen!

2009-04-12T07:41:00.001-07:00

The Resurrection (Matthew 28 ESV)

28 m Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and n the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for o an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 p His appearance was like lightning, and q his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and r became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, s as he said. Come, see the place where he [1] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, t he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb u with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus v met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and w took hold of his feet and x worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; y go and tell z my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The Report of the Guard

11 While they were going, behold, some of a the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, b ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to c the governor's ears, we will d satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews e to this day.

The Great Commission

16 Now the eleven disciples f went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they g worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, h “All authority i in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 j Go therefore and k make disciples of l all nations, j baptizing them m in [2] n the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them o to observe all that p I have commanded you. And behold, q I am with you always, to r the end of the age.”

2009-04-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Let Your Sins Be Strong:
A Letter From Luther to Melanchthon

If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the
victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new
heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.

THE FIFTH WORD

2009-04-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

OUR most tender Lord was so worn out and parched by the extreme bitterness of His pain and suffering, and by the great loss of blood, that He cried, "I thirst." A little word, but full of mysteries.

In the first place it may be understood literally. For it is natural for those who are at the point of death to feel thirst, and to desire to drink. But how great was the drouth felt by Him who is the fountain of living water, but who was now worn out and parched by the heat of His ardent love, when he could truly say, "I am poured out like water," and "My strength is dried up like a potsherd." For not only did He shed all His own blood, and pour out moisture by tears, but the very marrow of His bones, and all His heart's blood, were consumed for our sakes by the heat and flame of love. Therefore He said rightly, "I thirst."

But, secondly, the word may be understood spiritually, as if Christ said to all men, "I thirst for your salvation." Hence St Bernard says: "Jesus cried, I thirst, not, I grieve. O Lord, what dost Thou thirst for? For your faith, your joy. I thirst because of the torments of your souls, far more than for My own bodily sufferings. Have pity on yourselves, if not on Me." And again, "O good Jesus, Thou wearest the crown of thorns; Thou art silent about Thy Cross and wounds, yet Thou criest out, I thirst. For what, then, dost Thou thirst? Truly, for the redemption of mankind only, and for the felicity of the human race." This thirst of Christ was a hundred times more keen and intense than His natural thirst. And, besides, He had another sort of thirst—that is to say, a thirst to suffer more, and to prove to us still more clearly His immeasurable love, as if He said to man, "See how I am worn out and exhausted for thy salvation. See how terrible are the pains and anguish which I endure. The fierce cruelty of man has almost brought Me to nothing; the sinners of earth have drunk out all My blood, and yet I thirst. Not yet is My heart satisfied, nor My desire accomplished, nor the fire of My love quenched. For if it were possible for Me, and according to My Father's will, that I should be crucified again a thousand times for your salvation and conversion, or that I should hang here, in all this pain and anguish, till the day of judgment, I would gladly do it, to prove to you the immeasurable love which I bear you in My heart, and to soften your stony hearts and rouse you to love Me in return. This is why I hang here so thirsty by the fountain of your hearts, that I may watch the pious souls who come hither to draw from the deep well of My Passion. Therefore, the maiden to whom I shall say, 'Give Me to drink a little water out of the pitcher of thy conscience'—the water of devotion, pity, tears, and mutual love—and who shall let down to Me her pitcher, and shall say, 'Drink, my Lord; and for Thy camels also—that is, Thy servants, who carry Thee about daily on their bodies, and who by night and day are held bound fast by Thy yoke, I will draw the water of brotherly love'—that is the maiden whom the Lord hath prepared for the Son of My Lord, even the bride of the Word of God, united to My humanity. And she shall be counted worthy to enter, like a bride with her bridegroom, into the chamber of eternal rest, when the Bridegroom invites her, saying, 'Come, My blessed bride, inherit the Kingdom of My Father. For I was thirsty, and thou gavest Me drink.'"

Thirdly, we may apply this word to the Father, as if Christ said to His Father: "Father, I have declared Thy name to mankind; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; and in Thy service I have spent My whole body as Thine instrument. Behold, I am all worn out and exhausted; and yet I still thirst to do and suffer more for Thine honour. This is why I hang here, extended to the furthest breadth of love, for I long to be an everlasting sacrifice, a sweet savour to Thee, and at the same time an eternal atonement and salvation to mankind." Thus, too, might this strong Samson have said: "O Lord, Thou hast put into the hand of Thy servant this very great salvation and victory, and yet behold, I die of thirst." As if He would say: Father, I have accomplished Thy gracious will; I have finished the work of man's salvation, as Thou didst demand; and yet I still thirst; for the sins by which Thou art offended are infinite. And so I desire that the love and merits of My Passion, by which Thou wilt be appeased, may be infinite too. And as I now offer myself as a peace-offering and a living sacrifice for the salvation of all men, so through Me may all men appease Thee, by offering Me to Thee as a peace-offering to Thine eternal glory, in memory of My Passion, and to make good all their shortcomings." O how acceptable to the Father must this desire of love have been! For what was this thirst but a sweet and pleasant refreshment to the Father, and at the same time the blessed renovation of mankind? Or what other language does this burning throat speak to us, save that of Christ's burning love, without measure and without limit, out of which He did all His works? This truly is the most noble sacrifice of our redemption, this is that peace-offering which will be offered even to the last day, by all good men, to the Holy Ghost, to the highest Father, in memory of the Son, to the eternal glory of the adorable Trinity, and to the fruit of salvation for mankind. Here, certainly, is the inexhaustible storehouse of our reconciliation, which never fails, for it is greater than all the debts of the world. This is that immeasurable love, which is higher than the heavens, for it has repaired the ruin of the angels; deeper than hell, for it has freed souls from hell; wider and broader than the earth, for it is without end and incomprehensible by any created understanding. O how keen and intense was this thirst of our Lord! For not only did He then say once, "I thirst," but even now He says in our hearts continually, "I thirst; woman, give me to drink." So great, so mighty, is that thirst, that He asks drink not only from the children of Israel, but from the Samaritans. To each one He complaineth of His thirst. But for what dost Thou thirst, O good Jesus? "My meat and drink," saith He, "is that men should do My Father's will. Now this is the will of My Father, even your sanctification and salvation, that you may sanctify your souls by walking in My precepts, by doing works of repentance, by adorning yourselves with all virtues, in order that, like a bride adorned for her husband, you may be worthy to be present at My supper in My Father's kingdom, and to sleep with Me as My elect bride, in the chamber of My Father's heart." O how Christ longs to bring all men thither! This is the meaning of His words: "Where I am there shall also My servant be"; and again: "Father, I will that they may be one even as We are one." O, how incomprehensible is this thirst of Christ! What toil and labour He endured for thirty and three years, for the sake of it! For this His very heart's blood was poured out. See what our tender Lord says to His Father: "The zeal of Thine house hath even eaten Me." Truly, He would have submitted to be crucified a thousand times, rather than allow one soul to perish through any fault of His. O how this inward thirst tormented Him, when He thought that He had done all that He could, and even a hundredfold more than He need have done, and yet that so few had turned to Him, and been won by Him. His whole body was now worn out; all His blood was shed; nothing remained for Him to do; and therefore He was constrained to confess, "It is finished"; and yet by all His labours, afflictions, and sufferings, He had brought no richer harvest to the Father than this. Truly, this was the most bitter of all His sorrows, that after so hard a battle His victory had not been more glorious, and that He returned a conqueror to His Father with so few spoils. Therefore, all those who do not refresh Him by performing His will, and doing all that is pleasing and honourable to Him, and withstanding all that reason tells them to be displeasing to Him, will one day hear Him say, "I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink. Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."

Fourthly, there is yet another inward meaning of this word—namely, that Christ spoke it out of the love which inwardly draws Him towards all men, thus making known to us His ardent love, and opening His own heart, as a delightful couch, on which we may feed pleasantly, and inviting us to it, saying, "I thirst for you." For as the liquid which we drink is sent down pleasantly through the throat into the body, and so passes into the substance and nature of our body, so Christ out of the ardent thirst of His love, takes spiritual pleasure in drinking in all men into Himself, swallowing them, as it were, and incorporating them into Himself, and bringing them into the secret chamber of His loving heart. Therefore He says: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me"—all men, that is, who allow themselves to be drawn by Me, and submit to Me as obedient instruments, suffering Me to do with them according to My gracious will. But those who resist Him quench not His thirst, but give Him a bitter draught instead, even the deeds of their own self-will. These, when our Lord tasteth them, He straightway rejects.

2009-04-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Where a man’s heart is, there is his treasure also. God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one. Since he is good, and especially to those who are faithful to him, let us hold fast to him with all our soul, our heart, our strength, and so enjoy his light and see his glory
and possess the grace of supernatural joy. Let us reach out with our hearts to possess that good, let us exist in it and live in it, let us hold fast to it, that good which is beyond all we can know or see and is marked by perpetual peace and tranquillity, a peace which is beyond all we can know or understand.

This is the good that permeates creation. In it we all live, on it we all depend. It has nothing above it; it is divine. No one is good but God alone. What is good is therefore divine, what is divine is therefore good. Scripture says: When you open your hand all things will be filled with goodness. It is through God’s goodness that all that is truly good is given us, and in it there is no
admixture of evil. These good things are promised by Scripture to those who are faithful: The good things of the land will be your food.

We have died with Christ. We carry about in our bodies the sign of his death, so that the living Christ may also be revealed in us. The life we live is not now our ordinary life but the life of Christ: a life of sinlessness, of chastity, of simplicity and every other virtue. We have risen with Christ. Let us live in Christ, let us ascend in Christ, so that the serpent may not have the power here below to wound us in the heel.

Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept
here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord.

Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him.

He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.

Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquility.

Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For the fountain is God

St Ambrose Bishop of Milan, who baptized the great doctor of the Church St Augustine.

Seven Word's of Jesus - First Word

2009-04-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

Meditations of the passion of Jesus from an unknown German of the 14th Century (source ccel.org)

THE FIRST WORD

NOW, O my soul, and all ye who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, come, and let us go with inward compassion and fervent devotion to the blessed palm-tree of the Cross, which is laden with the fairest fruit. Let us pass like the bee from flower to flower, for all are full of honey. Let us consider and ponder with the greatest care the sacred words of Christ, which He spoke upon the Cross; for everything that comes From this blessed Tree is wholesome and good. In the Cross of our Lord and Saviour are centred all our salvation, all our health, all our life, all our glory; and, "if we suffer with Him," saith the Apostle, "we shall also reign with Him." That we may not be found ungrateful for these inestimable benefits, let us call upon heaven and earth, and all that in them is, to join us in praising and blessing and giving thanks to God. Let us invite them to come and look upon this wondrous sight, and say: "Magnify the Lord with me, for He hath done marvellous things. O praise and bless the Lord with me, for great is His mercy toward us." Come up with me, I pray you, ye angelic spirits, to Mount Calvary, and see your King Solomon on His throne, wearing the diadem wherewith His mother has crowned Him. Let us weep in the presence of the Lord who made us, the Lord our God. O all mankind, and all ye who are members of Christ, behold your Redeemer as He hangs on high; behold and weep. See if any sorrow is like unto His sorrow. Acknowledge the heinousness of your sins, which needed such satisfaction. Go to every part of His body; you will find only wounds and blood. Cry to Him with lamentations and say, "O Jesus, our redemption, our love, our desire, what mercy has overcome Thee, that Thou shouldest bear our sins, and endure a cruel death, to rescue us from everlasting death?" And Thou, O God, the almighty Father of heaven, look down from Thy sanctuary upon Thine innocent Son Joseph, sold and given over unjustly to the hands of bloody men, to suffer a shameful death. See whether this be Thy Son's coat or not. Of a truth an evil beast hath devoured Him. The blood of our sins is sprinkled over His garments, and all the coverings of His good name are defiled by it. See how Thy holy Child has been condemned with the wicked, how Thy royal Son has been crowned with thorns. Behold His innocent hands, which have known no sin, dripping with blood; behold His sacred feet, which have never turned aside from the path of justice, pierced through by a cruel nail; behold His defenceless side smitten with a sharp spear; behold His fair face, which the angels desire to look upon, marred and shorn of all its beauty; behold His blessed heart, which no impure thought ever stained, weighed down with inward sorrow. Behold, O loving Father, Thy sweet Son, stretched out upon the harp of the Cross, and harping blessings on Thee with all His members. Wherefore, O my God, I pray Thee to forgive me, for the sake of Thy Son's Passion, all the sins that I have committed in my members. O merciful Father, look on Thy only-begotten Son, that Thou mayst have compassion on Thy servant. Whenever that red blood of Thy Son speaks in Thy sight, do Thou wash me from every stain of sin. Whenever Thou beholdest the wounds of this Thy Son, open to me the bosom of Thy fatherly compassion. Behold, O tender Father, how Thy obedient Son does not cry, "Bind my hands and my feet, that I may not rebel against Thee," but how of His own will He extends His hands and feet, and gladly allows them to be pierced with nails. Look down, I pray Thee, not on the brazen serpent hanging on a pole for the salvation of Israel, but on Thine only Son hanging on the Cross for the salvation of all men. It is not Moses who now stretches out his hand to heaven, that the thunder and lightning and the other plagues may cease, but it is Thy beloved Son, who lovingly stretches out His bleeding arms to Thee, that Thy wrath may depart from the human race. Aaron and Hur are not now holding up the hands of Moses that he may pray more unweariedly for Israel; but hard and cruel nails have fastened the hands of Thy only Son to the Cross, that He may wait with long-suffering for our repentance, and receive us back into His grace, and that He may not turn away in wrath from our prayers. This is that faithful David, who now strings tight the harp-strings of His body, and makes sweet melody before Thee, singing to Thee the sweetest song that has been ever sung to Thee: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." This is that High Priest, who by His own blood has entered into the Holy of Holies, to offer Himself as a peace-offering for the sins of the whole world. This is that innocent Lamb, who has washed us in His own precious blood, who, Himself without spot of sin, has taken away the sins of the world. Therefore from the storehouse of His Passion I borrow the price of my debt, and I count out before Thee all its merits, to pay what I owe Thee. For He has done all in my nature, and for my sake. O merciful Father, if Thou weighest all my sins on one side of the balance, and in the other scale the Passion of Thy Son, the last will outweigh the first. For what sin can be so great, that the innocent blood of Thy Son has not washed it out? What pride, or disobedience, or lust, is so unchecked or so rebellious, that such lowliness, obedience, and poverty cannot abolish it? O merciful Father, accept the deeds of Thy beloved Son, and forgive the errors of Thy wicked servant. For the innocent blood of our brother Abel crieth to Thee from the Cross, not for vengeance, but for grace and mercy, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Holy Week Plan

2009-04-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

I will post starting tomorrow seven meditations as well as scripture references, and images to help you focus your worship this holy week. This is what this blog is all about, forcing me to dig and search and than share what will warm the heart, and enlighten your mind.

May we see somehow through the eyes of the three apostles who stood with you on the mount of transfiguration, Oh Lord, may we hear the Father's voice "this is my son, LISTEN TO HIM' , may you visit us, like never before this week. May we be filled with your Holy Spirit! We believe Lord, help our unbelief!

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

2009-04-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

"So we make this big loan most of it comes back to the United States, the country is left with the debt plus lots of interest, and they basically become our servants, our slaves. It's an empire. There's no two ways about it. It's a huge empire. It's been extremely successful."

Amazon.com Review
John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story. Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin

I remember this book from a couple years ago, if you haven't heard of it, might be some good eye opening summer reading. A little dated now, I wonder how these relationships are changing now with the worldwide recession and the accession of Obama.

Johannes Tauler

2009-04-04T05:02:00.000-07:00

"In the kingdom of heaven it is His work that will be crowned, not yours. Anything in you that He has not wrought Himself will count for nothing."

Tauler 14th Century German Mystic

An older quote on my blog from my boy Johny T as he is known in the academic world.

Medieval Bestiary

2009-03-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

My good friend Joel turned me on to the bestiary from this blog post about the beaver.
To me, there just is something honest, and interesting to me that I can not put my finger on coming from these medieval monks speaking of all manner of animals they never seen in their lives, and did not know about. Perhaps it is the reality that God's creation does point to a greater reality, and that the truth can often be stranger than fiction, I love watching my oldest son's interest grow in dinosaurs.

Below is an example from this resource.

Ants are said to have these characteristics: they walk in order like soldiers; they carry grains in their mouths, and an ant with no grain will not try to take the grain from one which has it; they break each grain in half to keep it from germinating when it rains, because if it does the ants will starve in the winter; when it is time to harvest the grain, they go into the fields and climb up to the grain, where they distinguish wheat from barley by its smell and reject the barley because it is food for cattle.

Some Physiologus versions and other texts tell of the gold-digging ants of Ethiopia, which are the size of dogs. These ants dig up gold from sand with their feet and guard it, chasing down and killing any who try to steal it. It is said that people safely steal the ant's gold by separating mares from their foals, with a river between them. The mares, carrying packs, are driven to the side of the river inhabited by the ants; the ants, seeing the packs as a good place to hide their gold, fill them with the golden sand. When the mares swim back to their foals on the other side of the river, the ants cannot follow.

Herodotus tells a similar story, but places the gold-digging ants in India (see below).

Allegory/Moral

The ants working together for the common good is to be taken as a lesson to men, who should work in unity.

The splitting of the grain represents the separation that must be made in the interpretation of the Bible, distinguishing the literal from the spiritual meaning, "lest the law interpreted literally should kill you". Some sources compare the ants to the Jews, who have taken the law literally and have "died of hunger".

The barley the ants reject signifies the heresy that Christians are to cast away.

Get to Know the Lollards

2009-03-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

The name of Wycliffe's boys, depicted in the current title of the blog. What were they about? The voice of God to be heard in the language men of the land knew, (English Bible/old school reformission) , itinerant preacher's who took a vow of poverty and wandered the land proclaiming the reign of God (transcending the will of ecclesiastic and secular powers).

Here is wiki's article on lollardy.

EAT THIS BOOK

2009-03-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification
Rev. Walter Marshall

"You are more sinful than you can imagine! The doctrine of Original Sin is true! You cannot reform your flesh! You cannot become a better person by your own strength no matter how hard you try! But cheer up! If you are a Christian, you have come into union with Christ. Through faith in Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Through faith in Jesus Christ you are sanctified and made holy. Through Christ, you are a new creation! (2 Cor. 5:17) The Holy Spirit lives in you! Therefore, pursue the life of faith in Christ with all diligence."

More Kensington

2009-03-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

"I became more and more Christian, and he became more and more Kensington you know?"

-from a conversation i recently had with a sweet older lady up at a bible college that exited to the burbs in the 70's, I recently talked to about her and her brother who passed away some time ago, who stayed in the neighborhood, became a drunk, while she moved further and further out of the city.

I will refrain for the moment from saying to much about this quote which reveals much lest i sin, but that it breaks my heart, that evangelical faith has whole heartily, and with abandon embraced and went into her side lover, the suburban middle class ethos.

May you Lord raise up a generation of very 'kensington' people who are very, very 'christian'!

ST PATTY

2009-03-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, so much I could mention, coming from a Irish catholic background, being an evangelical and a Presbyterian which can tend to idealize Celtic Christianity. This is what I wanted to share instantly when I thought about it yesterday, and today as three guys from work went home for throwing up hung over.

From the Confession of St. Patrick

vs 50 "What is more, when I baptized so many thousands of people..."

This makes me think of Isaac Shaw in Northern India. I must admit, part of me wants to be very fruitful for the Lord, or just die. Yet I have worked so little and done so little for Him. God help us, may the spark turn to flame, and may we see the glory of the Lord rise upon us.

CT Image Blog

2009-03-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Check out Christianity today's image blog, I really like it.

Video Example of Work's of Mercy

2009-03-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Check out this great Church's website. There is a video here that really work's out what I mean practically, by means of grace in the works of mercy. A young man is rescued from spiritually shallow life of christian scenestering through mentoring, and another young man's life is radically transformed by a stable relationship through being mentored.

Baptism of St. Augustine

2009-03-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

I was a relatively new believer, reading St. Augustine's Confession's which was just so brutally real and honest, and amazing to me. And I heard the legend that St Ambrose had the song Te Deum song at Augustine's baptism, a song which I loved to sing in Church and thinking.. As messed up as she is, I love the bride of Christ, the Church, and I still do, thank God, I was once cut off, without hope in the world.

CONSIDER WESLEY

2009-03-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

Earlier essays dealt with salvation and grace, two elements that more than any other constituted the distinctive doctrine of Wesley’s movement. Now we turn to the coordinate term “discipline,” by which the early Methodists designated a pattern of spiritual practices to which they were accountable. Today we would get at the same idea with terms like “spiritual disciplines” or "Christian formation.”

Sometimes Wesley’s “scriptural holiness,” with its insistence that God seeks not only our growth in sanctification but perfection in love for God and neighbor in this life, is dismissed as unrealistic if not absurd. There is much that could be said in response, including a robust affirmation of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. But, at a minimum, the promise of sanctification and Christian perfection should never be evaluated apart from the spiritual practices and communal context that was the environment for growth in holiness of heart and life.

The early Methodists adhered to a threefold discipline called “The Rules of the United Societies” (The Works of John Wesley [vol. 9; Abingdon, 1989] 69-73). Methodists were to “continue to evidence their desire of salvation, first, by doing no harm, by avoiding evil in every kind….” This was a turning away from all that would take us away from God and our neighbor. Then, second, by doing good “to our neighbor, “to their bodies” and “to their souls….” This involves works of mercy, a turning to the neighbor in love. Then, third, by attending upon all the ordinances of God. Such are: “The public worship of God; The ministry of the word, either read or expounded; the Supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scriptures; and fasting, or abstinence.” These are the works of piety, a turning toward God, offering God thanks and praise and being open to receive grace.

An unusual feature of Wesley’s discipline was his insistence that works of mercy were as much means of grace as works of piety. Both works of mercy and works of piety are means by which we manifest love for our neighbor and God, and both are means through which God enables our hearts to become more loving. Works of mercy include not only what we give but what we say and do. Among works of mercy is assisting those who were in need. It is notable that Wesley insisted on direct relationship with the poor as well as providing assistance to those further away. Our actual relationship with the poor not only counters stereotypes but enables us to receive from them (and thereby from God) as well as give.

I find most presentations on the means of grace, to be institutional, (word & sacrament), or individualistic (journal, contemplate, icons, ect..)

Methodists were held accountable to this discipline in weekly class meetings. There they would not only report on how they had done in keeping to the discipline during the past week, but would receive advice and encouragement for the week to come. It was this pattern of discipline and community that enabled Methodists to remain open to God’s grace, not only for ongoing gradual growth in the Christian life but also the instantaneous transformations of conversion and Christian perfection.

these early classes seemed to have deeper goals than filling the void of the socially isolated, but saw the high order of holiness as something that demanded a military convoy type comradeship in this dark world where the darkness is also in our own hearts.

From the perspective of many in Wesley’s Church of England, the Methodist discipline was unnecessarily demanding. Wesley however was drawn early on to those Anglicans like Jeremy Taylor and William Law whose vision of the Christian life was governed by the goal of holiness of heart and life, and to the discipline that requires.

Within the eighteenth century awakening in England and Wales, only the Moravian Brethren had something approaching the disciplined accountability and small group structure of the Methodists. Although the Moravians contributed the robust understanding of justification that would mark Wesley’s proclamation of the gospel beginning in 1738, they lacked his vision of perfect love as the goal of salvation. Wesley would combine their insistence on salvation by faith with the goal of sanctification and perfection in love.

Wesley’s discipline and small groups were in service to both justification and sanctification, culminating in perfect love. It is this pattern of practices and community that gave early Methodism its distinctive way of life.

There is a lost of vision for the goal of personal piety, it either dismissed for a the goal of an over-realized eschatology, such as emergent / liberals do, or we create simon's, who are addicted to spiritual power as puritan porn, but remain deply unsatisfied and unusefull to the world, or we create christians who have no real interest other than politics, because they make no effort to see and have compassion for the people in darkness (but a new spiritual 'high' to attain or a social system to overcome.) But 'preventative grace, sanctifying grace, and justifying grace' hasn't it come through the means of feeding the homeless, fixing up homes, tutoring inner city kids, as well as communion, fellowship, and prayer? I've seen unbeliever's who are called to do mercy, and weak believer's called to do mercy grow in faith in Jesus through these means as well.

By Dr. Henry H. Knight III, Donald and Pearl Wright Professor of Wesleyan Studies, Saint Paul School of Theology.

Jacob wrestles,

2009-02-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (ESV Genesis 32:26-28)

This is one of those landmark events, a manifestation of God in scripture that we could dig a deep well, like the transfiguration of the Lord in the gospels. What I had not noticed before, or in fact in my recent reading of this, was the fact that the man who Jacob wrestled with asked him "What is your name?" till today listening to a remark about it by Ravi Zacharias.

This is of course the question we must hear, and must answer ourselves. What is your name? Who are you? We have to own up to our character and our past if we can be blessed. But what God does is just insane, because when Jacob owns his past, and his future, God breaks in and completely redefines him, renames him, and remakes him.

I am continually doing this very thing, every day, going to God, owning up to who I am, and how its been informed by my past. I am an unclean man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips. I cry out search me O God, see if there is any offensive way in me, I wonder if it would ever take all night to find yourself, and the exact ways your screwed up, and have fallen short of the glory that He made you. I wonder if I can say as I long for the light of God on his word's in scripture "i will not let you go, until you bless me."

It's easy to judge men like Jacob and evil he did, and wonder how God used him so powerfully that even today, people on the other side of the world in a language not yet conceived of yet like ours may worship 'the God of Israel"

May we walk walk with a limp Lord God, may we be the broken and contrite that you can not refuse, may we wrestle with you, search your word, cry for blessing, and may we have the humility to admit who we ultimately are without you, and the grace to see ourselves in the light of the gospel, and live up to our new names in this world.

Puritan Paradise!

2009-01-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

Here we go, from fourth to fifth geek gear!

check this site out,

If your interested in puritan lit.,

It has pdfs and document scans of entire books that i could never find before in print or online.

It promises to include more and more, especially interesting is the British reformers, scans of old prints in the original middle English. kinda like.. my educated description of it is like germanfrenchgaeliclatenglish.. but it is readable with work.

God's Peace

Who said it? - Justification by faith

2009-01-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

to the three people who read my blog, including my wife.. :)

can you guess who said it? (hint, its five different guys/ i added two)

Quote #1 Pope Benedict 16th

"It is precisely because of this personal experience of relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul henceforth places at the centre of his Gospel an irreducible opposition between the two alternative paths to justice: one built on the works of the Law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ."

Quote #2 N.T. Wright

One is not justified by faith by believing in justification by faith. One is justified by faith by believing in Jesus.

Quote #3 Martin Luther

“There is no justification without sanctification, no forgiveness without renewal of life, no real faith from which the fruits of new obedience do not grow.”

Quote #4 Walter Marshall

"So the words are a declaration of the gospel way of justification by the righteousness of God; and that so dearly and fully, and the benefit spoken of, so great and glorious, being the first benefit that we receive by union with Christ, and the foundation of all other benefits, that my text is accounted to be evangelium evangelii, a principal part of the written gospel"

Quote #5 Richard Baxter

"Faith causeth not justification at all but only is the condition of it but faith causeth the acts of other graces by a proper efficiency."

The Pilgrims Progress

2009-01-20T13:10:00.001-08:00

A generation ago, required reading in public schools. The second most translated book in the world, second only to the Bible. From a 17th century uneducated baptist in Bedfordshire prison.

How did this happen? I don't know. But my firstborn sons namesake the great puritan mind John Owen, chaplian to the king, when asked why he would go hear the poor tinker preach from the King, he responded that he'd give up all his learning for the power of that tinker's preaching.I have recently been revisiting the Pilgrims Progress, with some mp3's from CCEL. Today I heard this picture which moved me by its simplicity and truth, which Bunyan gives us hundreds of, for our help in this life in this great story.

***

Then he took him by the hand, and led him into a very large parlor that was full of dust, because never swept; the which after he had reviewed it a little while, the Interpreter called for a man to sweep. Now, when he began to sweep, the dust began so abundantly to fly about, that Christian had almost therewith been choked. Then said the Interpreter to a damsel that stood by, “Bring hither water, and sprinkle the room;” the which when she had done, it was swept and cleansed with pleasure.

CHRISTIAN: Then said Christian, What means this?

INTERPRETER: The Interpreter answered, This parlor is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet grace of the Gospel. The dust is his original sin, and inward corruptions, that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the law; but she that brought water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now whereas thou sawest, that so soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choked therewith; this is to show thee, that the law, instead of cleansing the heart (by its working) from sin, doth revive, Rom. 7:9, put strength into, 1 Cor. 15:56, and increase it in the soul, Rom. 5:20, even as it doth discover and forbid it; for it doth not give power to subdue. Again, as thou sawest the damsel sprinkle the room with water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure, this is to show thee, that when the Gospel comes in the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, then, I say, even as thou sawest the damsel lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with water, so is sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through the faith of it, and consequently fit for the King of glory to inhabit. John 15:3; Eph. 5:26; Acts 15:9; Rom. 16:25,26.

Abraham J Heschel

2009-01-18T06:31:00.000-08:00

If you don't know this jewish scholar, and early civil rights and anti-war leader, get to know Abraham J Heschel.

"Instead of showing us a way through the elegant mansions of the mind, the prophets take us to the slums. They make much ado about paltry things, lavishing excessive language upon trifling subjects. What if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? So what if some old women found pleasure and edification in worshiping "the Queen of Heaven"? Why such immoderate excitement? Why such intense indignation?

The things that horrified the prophets are eve now daily occurrences all over the world...

We ourselves witness continually acts of injustice, manifestations of hypocrisy, falsehood, outrage, misery, but we rarely grow indignant or overly excited. To the prophets even a minor injustice assumes cosmic proportions ...

Others may suffer from the terror of cosmic aloneness; the prophet is overwhelmed by the grandeur of divine presence. He is incapable of isolating the world. There is an interaction between man and God which to disregard is an act of insolence. Isolation is a fairy tale.
....

Prophetic sympathy is a response to the transcendent sensibility. It is not, like love, an attraction to the diving being, but the assimilation of the prophet's emotional life to the divine, an assimilation of the function, not of being. The emotional experience of the prophet becomes the focal point of the prophet's understanding of God."

Selections from "The Prophet"

Oh Lord, would you rise up your daughters and your son's to dream dreams and see visions, to have a sympathy with your thoughts, to live lives that are a protest to this world, and speak out against the injustice that we see as no big deal. Thank you that you speak through the voice of many. May we be cut to the heart, and see our need for justice, our need for restoration, our eternal need for you!

Martin Luther King "To Serve"

2009-01-17T13:39:00.001-08:00

["They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." - Mark 9:33-35]

Let's praise God for what will happen this week (MLK Day and the inauguration of the first black president) even in this fading and passing city, let's learn serve harder those who are made in the image of God, and not cover our eyes to the pain of our own flesh and blood, and though we may disagree with each other on the methods and policies, let us not forget or deny the cry of the heart that still sings even from the shattered broken pieces that is mankind's fallen heart

"But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. " - Amos 5:24

And let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the forerunner, and completer.. The one who was made servant of all, and who is the greatest one of all, He hung on a criminals cross for the cosmic treason of the world and at whose inauguration the whole universe will echo.. the old things have passed away, and behold the new comes! He has done it praise the Lord, the great change, the great hope, the great consolation of the new city has come and now we see him face to face!

Those who trust in the Lord will not be put to shame.

Written Word

2009-01-15T06:56:00.001-08:00

The foundation of Christianity, is Christ, the living word, but I believe the clearest and best way/means to know Him is through the written word, which is the Bible. Read and mediate on what "is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2nd Tim 3:16-17)

If you care about God, and you want to be useful to your fellow brother's and sisters in good works, take and eat..

BiblePlan.org has 13 different plans (from reading gospels every month to reading the whole bible a couple times a year), in 35 different languages, and several different translations in English.

They e-mail you daily the scriptures for the day, that is very helpful to me, because if I don't read it, it remains 'unread' in a special folder till I catch up. This has been really helpful for both me and my wife, who both sometimes struggle to keep this discipline.

We have no excuse. Come to the feast of life.

2009-01-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

Rembrant - three crosses - 1653

Go, Labor On: Spend, and Be Spent

2009-01-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

Go, Labor On: Spend, and Be Spent -Horatius Bonar

Go, labor on while it is day:
The world’s dark night is hastening on;
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away;
It is not thus that souls are won.

Men die in darkness at thy side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch and wave it wide,
The torch that lights time’s thickest gloom.

Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray,
Be wise the erring soul to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Compel the wanderer to come in.

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice!
For toil comes rest, for exile home;
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight peal, “Behold, I come!”

Doing Missions When Dying is Gain

2009-01-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

This sermon is why I thank God for John Piper.

I have no zeal, no strength to love even those closest to me, to move past my addiction to my comforts, nor the courage to speak into the lives around me whom I fear the opinion of. How can I weep any time I hear this sermon as I did this morning at work, and than act as if all is okay with those around me, who are living a Christless existence.

Than I remember Peter, who fell time and time again, and than I remember the Holy Spirit who is willing, and powerful and lives in me as a christian.

Father, I believe, help my unbelief.. I know more now than ever that though my heart is untamed and wild and utterly evil, you have crucified the power and reign of sin in my life, I am only enslaved in my own willful disobedience, forgive this double-minded, unyielding, unrepentant sinner. Help me to not weep for my sin, weep for the lost, and than treat myself with good and evil things that I don't need, that steal my usefulness to others and my joy in you, and than stand closed mouthed, before those who are enslaved to sin, and do not know where their life is heading. Oh God, I will worship you, I will come to you as a son, who can never loose that name, I will come to you, before the throne that is of grace, not of judgment, I will I not stop to seek your way, for you have always been with me, and always treated me better than I deserve. Make me a man of your word, a man of action, a man of love, and a man that dares never to let go of the hand of the only guide, or leave the only one who has the word's of life.

Edmund Clowney - 1964

2009-01-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

(from Called to the Ministry, page 10) The Deepest secret of your idenity is in that name. Only God knows your real name, but that is the name by which he calls you. The Horror of lost idenitity - namelessness - haunts modern liturature. Madison Avenue knows about it, too. A bank recently invited customers from the subway crowds with billboards asserting that at Marine Midland they call account number 9557446, "Harry." How appealing: a city bank with huge resources, but a place where they know me!

Still, there is pathos in that appeal. A man may flee the computers of metropolis to Centerville where everyone will call him, "Harry" - at least everyone who stays on speaking terms with him. Will he then find himself? No, the metropolitan millions serve only to confuse the issue. The tragedy of alienation is not that so many people do not know me; it is that no one knows me, for I do not know myself. The terror of modern thought does not spring from the addition of millions in mass population. It springs from the substration of one - the Lord my God.

Proverbs 4:18-19

2009-01-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

I use to share this bit of scripture every time I was tell of the story of what God did in me, and for me back when I first became a christian. The passage was Proverbs 4:18-19 (esv)

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

I have come to appreciate this simple proverb more and more. I have tasted true darkness, but you know what I still taste it. It's like driving in a bad part of the city without working street lights, and crater sized potholes, you're afraid, the guys on the corner are looking for you. Life outside the light of the gospel, is full of danger and fear. When you have lied, to yourself, to others, and to God nothing you do can keep you from this anxiety and frustration, unless you are completely blind, and dead and God's mercy to this point has passed over you.

I don't speak from theory, I have tasted the dark side of life, the depression, the darkness, the hopelessness, once I was cut off from the people of God, without Him, and with out hope, alone in this world. But I thank God that I have been brought into this light, which starts only as the dawn, but grows more and more to noonday.

I appreciate the analogy of Pastor Doug, He speaks of getting converted as not simply 'getting out' which is the way we sometimes frame the whole thing. You get out of your sense of guilt, and the penalty of sin, you did your five years, here is 20 bucks, and a bus ride. Let's see how you do on your own.. Why do so many go right back to the way they were before?

We get saved 'into' something, into a community, a family. John Piper once said, sanctification is a community project. I say right on to that. Together we see the way to the land of the living.

Bishop Ryle - Dead Mentors

2008-12-30T10:23:00.000-08:00

"Few can have any idea how much wear and tear and anxiety of mind and body I had to go through for at lest five years before my wife died. I very rarely ever slept out of our own house, in order that I might be in the way if my wife wanted anything. I have frequently in the depth of winter driven distances of twelve, fifteen, twenty or even thirty miles in an open carriage to speak or preach, and then returned home the same distance immediately afterwards, rather than sleep away from my own house. As to holidays, rest and recreation in the year, I have never had any at all; while the whole business of entertaining and amusing the three boys in an evening devolved entirely upon me. In fact the whole state of things was a heavy strain upon me, both in body and mind, and I often wonder how I lived through it." A quote from this bio-sketch of J.C. Ryle.

It may not mean much to most, but this man wrote the first book I ever that could be considered anything near christian theology outside the bible, it was Holiness, I was sixteen with Pantera and Marylin Manson posters on my wall, full of uncertainty to who I was, and full of morbid thoughts and depression, and I had just met the Lord, and was completely undone by Ryle. What is so striking to me in this little quote above is the reality in which a man like Ryle lived for six years with a sick wife, and how crushing it is, to my very immature and chauvinistic views of life and marriage. This has been a small part in deepening my need for greater reality, and responsibility in my life. If I could some up my life lesson for 2008, it would be that my biggest problem isn't my circumstances, it never has been (even though I pray to my loving Father for them to change), it is that I am a hugely selfish sinner. If you know anything about the christian faith at all, you know that there is a river where mercy flows for that problem man, that is the most gracious gift to see, to have eyes to see your sins and shortcomings, and eyes to see the one who dying love changes you from the inside out..

Here is a quote from the first book that started me down an awesome journey on the path of walking with God, in community, even with those who have already gone to glory.

"Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ. You will do just nothing at all, and make no progress till you feel your sin and weakness, and flee to Him. He is the root and beginning of all holiness, and the way to be holy is to come to Him by faith and be joined to Him. Christ is not wisdom and righteousness only to His people, but sanctification also. Men sometimes try to make themselves holy first of all, and sad work they make of it. They toil and labour, and turn over new leaves, and make many changes; and yet, like the woman with the issue of blood, before she came to Christ, they feel “nothing bettered, but rather worse” (Mark 5:26). They run in vain, and labour in vain; and little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end. They are building up a wall of sand; their work runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are baling water out of a leaky vessel; the leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of “holiness” can no man lay than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus...

Holiness comes from Christ. It is the result of vital union with Him. It is the fruit of being a living branch of the True Vine. Go then to Christ and say, “Lord, not only save me from the guilt of sin, but send the Spirit, whom Thou didst promise, and save me from its power. Make me holy. Teach me to do Thy will.”

The man's man on fatherhood..

2008-12-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

"Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? 0 you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful. carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.”

What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “0 God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers. or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? 0 how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight.”

...

Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.

St. Cyprian, that great and admirable man and holy martyr, wrote that one should kiss the new-born infant, even before it is baptised, in honour of the hands of God here engaged in a brand new deed. What do you suppose he would have said about a baptised infant? There was a true Christian, who correctly recognised and regarded God’s work and creature. Therefore, I say that all nuns and monks who lack faith, and who trust in their own chastity and in their order, are not worthy of rocking a baptised child or preparing its pap, even if it were the child of a harlot." (Martin Luther Quote from Anesthetic Smoke Blog)

My pastor a few months ago talked about how Luther had been a single for decades, and you can always sense of certain coarseness in all his language that partly comes from it, but he echoes what I have had to learn and appreciate myself. The the school of marriage and fatherhood (and probably more so in motherhood but I'm not one) is one of the greatest schools of character. It is an radical challenge to real selflessness and like I tell a lot of folks its one of those things, that are as hard as they are worth it.

Make way for the King

2008-12-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

The beheading of John the Baptist by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1869)

What the world did to John the Baptist, and to many who prepare the way for the world's rightful Lord.

During Christmastime you hear sermons about John the Baptist, who was the one to pave the way for the great King who was born in Bethlehem. It reminds me of my time in Kenya (in east Africa) where I spent almost a year after high school. Whenever the big man, the president would visit any part of the country, all of a sudden the money that was set aside to fix lights, straighten roads, and build new structures were shaken out of the hands of the corrupt. Now mind you, the working lights, the bulldozed squatter settlements, and every other means of whitewashing, only would occur exactly on the path the president would go, this of course is not a new thing at all in history.

Then my minds soars to a different place, how different it will be the next time our King (the true Lord of the earth, that we are blind to) comes. God does not give out his itinerary, which place he will visit first, or when he will come, but when He does, He will see every abuse, every bit of neglect, every crooked path.

When He comes He will come everywhere..

No whitewash will fool him, not even on ourselves, He will make judgment, and he will make changes, as he completely sets in order His kingdom reign.

The first time He came quietly, walked among us, spent time with the self-righteous, the hedonists who saw no life beyond the grave, the corrupt and powerful, and the sick and oppressed, all that matters in this life is that you recognize that the King came to this out of control, treasonous ghetto, the world, that you put your hope in Him, and his victory in this life and over death to become Lord again over your own soul. Nothing else matters, because when He comes again it will not be quietly and he will not walk by your whitewashed life and overlook the death and foulness that lurks in your heart.

Something Beautiful

2008-12-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

When Christoph Römhild, a Lutheran pastor in Hamburg, Germany, sent Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Chris Harrison a list of 63,779 cross-references between the Bible's 1,189 chapters, the two became enthralled with elegantly showing the interconnected nature of Scripture. Each bar along the horizontal axis represents a chapter, with the length determined by the number of verses. (Books alternate in color between white and light gray.) Colors represent the distance between references. Graphic by Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon University

From Christianity Today

Johannes Tauler

2008-12-28T06:26:00.001-08:00

Johannes Tauler 1300-1361

CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL

FROM the time when the first man gave a ready ear to the words of the enemy, mankind have been deaf, so that none of us can hear or understand the loving utterances of the eternal Word. Something has happened to the ears of man, which has stopped up his ears, so that he cannot hear the loving Word; and he has also been so blinded, that he has become stupid, and does not know himself. If he wished to speak of his own inner life, he could not do it; he knows not where he is, nor what is his state. (91)

How can it be that the noble reason, the inner eye, is so blinded that it cannot see the true light? This great shame has come about, because a thick coarse skin and a thick fur has been drawn over him, even the love and the opinion of the creatures, whether it be the man himself or something that belongs to him; hence man has become blind and deaf, in whatever position he may be, worldly or spiritual. Yes, that is his guilt, that many a thick skin is drawn over him, as thick as an ox's forehead, and it has so covered up his inner man, that neither God nor himself can get inside; it has grown into him.

mine forever

2008-12-27T09:58:00.001-08:00

let's mine here forever, this zenith of evangelicalism
no need no more to be literate, of our scriptures
trickle down economics, spiritualized
give me the distilled version, in five chapters so I
can be not bothered by my own pilgrimage
my own prayers, my own years
my own character, my own faith,
my own sweat and my own tears
let's just mine here forever,
for the echoes are louder
and the nostalgia so
much easier..

implications

2008-12-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

seeking the full life,
kingdom living
implicitly sinning

apply this
dynamic
don't wait for it to shift
ignorant of hell

dynamics..
implications..
applications..
time to create a whip

missional, missiological, political
implications

apply this
dynamic
don't wait for it to shift
ignorant of hell

dross for gold
tares for wheat
implicit realities
that only speak
to this cultural moment
we easily forget
the full life everlasting
and the emptiness of death

got to speak the language
who will understand?
incarnate the message
we don't understand

Alexander Whyte - Dead Mentors

2008-12-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

My hope is that about once a week I can post a quotation from one of my dead mentors, and I have no problem with the first being this man.

Alexander Whyte

Get to know him if if you don't. You need to simply read him yourself.

They are dead yet mentors to me, because they say things I can not hear often from the living..

"So absolutely eaten up was Paul of Jesus Christ that he but spake the simple truth about himself when he said such things as these - I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' 'What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.' 'To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.' O, greatest of men! O, best of men! O, happiest of men! O, most blessed of men! Well mayest thou appeal and say to all such cold-hearted creatures as we are - 'Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ!'

Now who here will accept Paul's lofty challenge? Who here is fired tonight with that magnificent emulation and ambition? Are you? Well, the thing is in your own hand. The torch to kindle your own heart to that heavenly heat is in your own hand. And that torch is this - Think about Christ. Just think about Christ, and that will do it. Thinking about one another; meditating on one another; imagining one another, - that makes your hearts hot towards one another. And so is it with your soul and Christ. Thinking about Him will do it. Meditating on Him will do it. Imagining you see Him will do it. 'My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned,' says David. And as often as we muse on Christ the fire burns with us also. And the longer we muse on Him, and the deeper our musing goes, the more the fire burns. And this fire never sinks low, far less ever dies out, as long as we so muse. Think enough, meditating enough, musing enough on Christ, will do it. Thinking that always ends in prayer, and in praise, and in repentance unto life, and in ever new obedience, that will do it. Think you see Christ all through the Four Gospels. Think you see Him die at the end of the Four Gospels. Think you see Him rise again. Think you see Him ascend up into heaven. Think that it is the day of judgment. And think you see the books opened, - till you cry to Him continually day and night, Rock of Ages, cleft for me! You have it in your own hand to melt your heart of ice into one pool of holy love. Yes; if you like you can read, and think and pray yourselves into the possession of a heart as hot as Paul's heart. Ay, into a heart as eaten up of your Father's house on earth and in heaven as Christ's own heart was. For the same Holy Ghost who gave Christ His hot heart, and Paul his hot heart, is given to you also. The time is long till you come to that, but the thing is true. For, behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. Be zealous, therefore, and repent."

- "How His Zeal Ate Him Up"

A New Blog

2008-12-27T06:44:00.000-08:00

Couldn't resist, I've always kept some kind of website, even back before AOL, which has always sparked some good conversation and honed in my own witting. Well i'm back in the middle of college, I feel like its a good time to formulate some things I've been thinking about, maybe get some feedback, and pass along what I've been thinking about and reading.

Like many I could just keep a diary, and wait till I have something worth editing to put out, but like many it seems like there may be more motivation to jot things down, if there is even the smallest chance that someone else might read it.

This Blog won't have much in the way of family and ministry updates, if your interested in that, just email me and I will include you in my monthly e-mail updates.