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What Up G?

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I stumbled across the 4 Gs this week, again, (truths that set you free)…Here’s a listing of them:

1. God is great – so we don’t have to be in control

2. God is glorious – so we don’t have to fear others

3. God is good – so we don’t have to look elsewhere

4. God is gracious – so we don’t have to prove ourselves

The deal is, we have our eyes on so many other things (than God Himself) that we are discouraged, frustrated, feeling weak and powerless and not very much changed by the Gospel. However, if we can look to God and turn from our way (that whole repentance piece), we can find that the Gospel is, indeed, the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes (that’s peeps like you and me). So, today, if you’re not feeling quite changed by these things, lift up your eyes to where your help comes: the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Paul Tripp on Marriage

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I’ve used Paul Tripp’s What Did You Expect? to walk with people in pre-marital, marriage enrichment, or marriage class about 5 times since it came out and continue to commend it.

As he begins in session 1 of this, he says “A marriage of unity, understanding, and love is not rooted in romance; it is rooted in worship.”  As you think about your relationship, how is worship affecting you?  We must put our identity over our activity (to quote Tripp again).  We won’t honor God in our marriages until we honor God in our marriages.  He must be supreme.

Today, look at what your heart is revealing as the true source of worship and see if this isn’t just part of what God is seeking to change in you.

Weekend Preview – Walk Through The Tabernacle…

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This coming Sunday, we will be examining Hebrews 9:1-10 in the AM service.  The writer of the book of Hebrews wants his readers to be exhorted to keep on keeping on when it comes to their faith.  To give them the kind of foundation he needs to, he presses on them the superiority of Jesus in every realm of religious life they’ve known.  And in Hebrews 9:1-10, he walks them through the tabernacle and the ministry that took place there so that when they get down to Hebrews 9:11-14, Jesus will shine bright and beautiful.  God has crafted the storyline of the Bible in particular colors so that they pop.  Join us this Sunday as we look deep to see Jesus lifted high.

Better Ministry – For Real!

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My sermon from 10/2/11AM is online.  The sermon was entitled Better Ministry and was out of Hebrews 8:6-13.  This section of Scripture, which included the longest quote of the OT in the NT, pointed us to the ways in which Jesus’ ministry was better than the old covenant way of relating to God, since it was built on relationship and offered forgiveness for sins.

I trust it will help you to rest in the final work of Jesus alone for your sanity, but deeper, for your relating to God.

Weekend Preview – Better Covenant…

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This coming Lord’s day, we plan to look at Hebrews 8:6-13.  It is an amazing picture of seeing just how beautiful our relationship with God through Christ looks.  Here’s a couple of gems from Pete O’Brien:

So Jesus’ role as mediator is not in a strict sense that of an arbiter or intermediary of a bilateral agreement. The terms of the covenant are not in dispute or up for discussion, so that Jesus has to act as a mediator by bringing the two parties together to hammer out an agreement. He is an agent, or delegate invested with divine authority in God’s settlement, which Jesus realizes and guarantees. (p.292)

One benefit of the new covenant is that we know God and again, O’Brien writes:

To know God is to recognize Him, to trust Him, and to obey Him. (p.300)

I hope to see you this coming Lord’s day as we relish in these and other glorious truths so that Christ is seen as the glorious Savior that He is.

Weekend Recap – Heaven Is For Real

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Yes, my sermon from 9/25/11AM entitled In Heaven from Hebrews 8:1-5 is now online and yes, it did talk about the reality of heaven.  It seems the writer of Hebrews is bent on encouraging our perseverance, so he urges us to consider our present in light of eternity, or, specifically, in light of the reality wherein Christ serves.  I hope the sermon was encouraging.

In the evening, my small group looked at the lack of gratitude we exhibit in the church and sought to fought that in the Gospel.  I need to update my Facebook status accordingly: “God, thank you for the gift of Facebook and how it allows me to stay in touch with so many friends.  Thank you also for the trials that come when they change things, knowing that you are working on my character through it.”  Something like this should be our heart in everything.

Your Marriage Needs the Gospel…

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Great post here on how the Gospel is what we need:

Only the gospel will usher us past the hatred and confusion to this truth. Only the cross will appear as the real solution to such deep confusion and sin. It tells the adulterer what’s truly wrong and the broken spouse how forgiveness is even possible. Every other wisdom stops short of it and fumbles around with symptoms lying around on the surface. Grace makes a family out of a disaster.

You see when you are tempted to be a selfish person in marriage, the Gospel speaks something loud and different and, in the midst of that, gives hope. Hoping you’ll run there for all your marital needs…

Links Related to Parentingology

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I was helped by each of these links recently when JT linked to them:

  1. Technology no longer has boundaries
  2. Know when to cut it off
  3. The difference between preference and addiction
  4. Focus on technology that truly connects us to our kids
  5. Model the balance
Reb Bradley, Homeschool Blindspots
  1. Having Self-Centered Dreams
  2. Raising Family as an Idol
  3. Emphasizing Outward Form
  4. Tending to Judge
  5. Depending on Formulas
  6. Over-Dependence on Authority and Control
  7. Over-Reliance Upon Sheltering
  8. Not Passing On a Pure Faith
  9. Not Cultivating a Loving Relationship With Our Children
Quoting Bryan Caplan: “Secondhand stress is one of kids’ leading grievances.”