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Weekend Recap – Abel’s Faith

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Our weekend at Crestview was filled with excitement, as always. In the AM, we took the Lord’s Supper together and looked to Abel’s Faith from Hebrews 11:4.  Abel’s example helps us see how faith is tied to worship, our righteousness and our witness.

In the evening, we met in Small Groups.  My small group discussed the respectable sins of immorality and idolatry.

Hope you had a great day.

The Dead Speak?

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Seems like a strange thing to suggest, but that is precisely what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 11:4 (our text for 3/25/12) regarding Abel.  The text says: “…And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”  What does this mean?

Well, we know from the Genesis 4:3-5 passage that after Cain murdered Abel his blood cried out from the ground.  This was reflected in this painting by William Blake entitled The Murder of Abel:

In the Genesis passage, what seems to speak through Abel’s death is his blood.  His blood is kind of crying out from the ground condemning Cain.  So, in Blake’s painting, Cain is running away with his ears covered.

But, in Hebrews 11:4, something else is speaking: Abel’s faith.  It was “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.  And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”  The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still (said Luther).  Even though Abel was slain, his faith stood firm and continued to speak.

What does your faith speak?  Does your faith reflect a heart of worship to God?  Is God commending your faith because of how you relate to Him?  These are some of the themes we will look at this coming Lord’s Day.  Join us.

Father Hunger?

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Our Men’s Ministry Collision Course met this past Sunday, March 18, 2012.  We discussed this video from Desiring God entitled, What is Father Hunger?

Here’s a transcript of the interview:

Scott Anderson: So Doug, tell me about this phrase I’ve heard you write about on your blog and talk about before, Father Hunger.  What do you mean by that and what are you trying to get at using that phrase?
Doug Wilson: What I mean is that when, when fathers abdicate, when fathers are not fathers, when fathers don’t exhibit the kind of backbone their wives and their children need them to exhibit, there’s a natural and built-in creational need that his wife and his children need him to exhibit but he’s not exhibiting.  They need him to give them something that he’s not giving to them.  And when he—famished nature will be avenged—when you withhold from your children the praise that children ought to receive from their father, when you withhold from them a love that they ought to get from their father, when you withhold from them provision they ought to get from their father, they have a deep awareness that something’s missing. 
Now, oftentimes, because of how they’ve grown up they don’t know what it is exactly.  They can’t pinpoint what the problem is but they are highly susceptible to political demagogues, they are susceptible to counterfeit forms of masculinity, screaming at rock stars, people who exhibit some sort of machismo, some sort of strength, people gravitate to that not knowing why they do.  They’ll fall for the promises of a paternalistic state: “I’ll take care of you; I’ll provide everything you need.”  And that’s all driven by father hunger.  Feminism is driven by father hunger.  Many people think feminism is the desire to have men go away.  I think fundamentally feminism is the deep angst over men not showing up.   
After showing this video to the men, we discussed the examples of Abraham (Genesis 22:5), Job (Job 1:5) and Paul’s commands to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).  We asked men two questions:
1) What do the examples of Abraham and Job teach us?
2) In what area(s) do you need to “act like a man”?
We closed in prayer with men praying at tables with one another over these things. 

Weekend Review – Faith Understands

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My AM sermon from 3/18/12 entitled Faith Understands from Hebrews 11:3 is now online.  The sermon sought to unpack some aspects of faith, but specifically helped us see that what we believe about the creation of the world is a matter of faith.  Whether we accept the Bible’s teaching on it or deny it, we are exhibiting faith in something.  For the believer, it is by faith that they understand the origin of the world, taking God at His Word.

Hope you have a great week.  I’ll have a post tomorrow summarizing our men’s ministry Collision Course.

Time…

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I get the privilege to give a eulogy on my grandfather’s life tomorrow.  I love constructing eulogies around Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  What does that say?  Well, it begins by saying there’s a season for everything, a time for every matter under heaven.  I have to chuckle when it comes to my Gpa and time, because being on time wasn’t just a priority, it was a lifestyle.  Being on time meant that you left 5 minutes early.  There have been all kinds of stories from the family about this.

My grandpa’s schedule as a pastor is a great testimony for His love for God, people and helps us understand how he took God’s Word seriously when it said there was a TIME for everything under heaven.  On a typical day…
8-10:00AM – In the office studying for Sunday’s sermon
10:00-10:30AM – Home for coffee with Grandma
10:30AM – Noon – Visiting hospitals, nursing homes and shut ins
Noon – 1PM – Lunch
1 – 4:30PM – More visitation off the list he had compiled of people who needed attention.
(All of these visits were then transferred into a pastoral journal that kept track of all these “appointments”.)

I still marvel at God’s kindness to provide me with such a heritage and long to not only be faithful to that, but ultimately to my Father in heaven.  How might you employ your time in faithfulness to God’s plan for you?

Faith Is…

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Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the people of old received their commendation (Hebrews 11:1-2).  This was my text for my sermon yesterday, 3/11/12.  The sermon was entitled Faith Is.  Many misrepresent Christianity by claiming that it is just a leap into the dark unknown, but the Bible itself doesn’t allow for such a construct.  The Bible sees faith as stepping with full confidence and assurance, dare I say proof, into all that God’s promises, which is unseen to the natural eye.  This is the time-tested path for those who relate to God.  For more info, give my sermon a listen.  Hope you have a good week.

Take Heart

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Our praise team is singing this song today.  Here’s the lyric:

[Verse 1:]
There is a light
It burns brighter than the sun
He steals the night
And casts no shadow
There is hope
Should oceans rise and mountains fall
He never fails

[Chorus:]
So take heart
Let His love lead us through the night
Hold on to hope
And take courage again

[Verse 2:]
In death by love
The fallen world was overcome
He wears the scars of our freedom
In His Name
All our fears are swept away
He never fails

[Bridge:]
All our troubles And all our tears
God our hope He has overcome

All our failure And all our fear
God our love He has overcome

All our heartache And all our pain
God our healer He has overcome

All our burdens And all our shame
God our freedom He has overcome

My Grandpa’s Passed On…

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Just got a call that my Grandpa has finished his fight here on earth…

About the same time he was passing, I was reading Winslow’s Morning Thoughts for March 11, which said this:

Dry, then, your tears, and cease to mourn, you saints of God. They are “not lost, but gone before.” Their spirits live with Jesus. And when He comes, He will bring them with Him, and you shall see and know them with a cloudless sight and a perfect knowledge. The very eyes which once smiled upon you so kindly- the very tongue which spoke to you so comfortingly- the very hands which administered to you so skillfully- the very feet which traveled by your side so faithfully- the very bosom which pillowed you so tenderly- you shall meet again. “The coming of the Lord draws near,” and those who “sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” Let us “comfort one another with these words.” 

Please pray these sweet words of comfort over my family today.  We’ve lost an oak…