What Moves You?

from Jeremiah’s Turning Point

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24  The great gift of humankind is the ability to be moved, to be inspired—by art, music, people, architecture, nature, poetry, acting, and more. But we are also inspired by fear. Godly motivations move us to dream big; unwise motivations inspire us to retreat.

The apostle Paul said something profound in today’s Scripture reading: “But none of these things move me.” He was talking about the fear of persecution from those who opposed his ministry in Jerusalem. But he wasn’t “moved” by their threats—or, more generally, anything that might befall him in the future. Why? Because he didn’t count his life dear to himself. That is, he viewed his life as belonging to God, not to himself (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Paul was moved primarily by one thing: “the ministry which [he] received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” The greater our God-given dream—our vision, our ministry—the less we will be moved by the things of this world. Whatever moves the heart wags the tongue.  C. T. Studd

Judgement day for believers

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 ¹⁰ Through God’s grace to me, I laid the stones on which the building was to be built. I did it like one who knew what he was doing. Now another person is building on it. Each person who builds must be careful how he builds on it. ¹¹ Jesus Christ is the Stone on which other stones for the building must be laid. It can be only Christ. ¹² Now if a man builds on the Stone with gold or silver or beautiful stones, or if he builds with wood or grass or straw, ¹³ each man’s work will become known. There will be a day when it will be tested by fire. The fire will show what kind of work it is. ¹⁴ If a man builds on work that lasts, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵ If his work is burned up, he will lose it. Yet he himself will be saved as if he were going through a fire.

Followers of Jesus need not fear judgment day; in fact, Christians can look forward to receiving rewards according to their deeds. But all people would be wise to understand what the Bible says about our approaching time of evaluation.

How will judgment differ for believers and nonbelievers? Everyone who has chosen not to have a relationship with Jesus will suffer eternal separation from God. But believers’ works will be rewarded.

On what basis will Jesus distribute His rewards? Jesus looks at the opportunities God gave us to serve Him (For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Eph. 2:10), along with the abilities and gifts He provided. He doesn’t expect the same level of achievement or work from everybody—He’ll consider how we responded when God opened a door of service for us and reward accordingly.

What about things we’ve done that weren’t in line with God’s will? Such works are regarded as worthless, so we will miss out on rewards we could have had (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Jesus is righteous, so we can trust that His judgments will be accurate and fair. How do you think He’ll respond to you? I pray you have the courage to follow God’s will and one day receive His rewards with open arms.

The Christian’s Most Crippling Disability And Enemy

Most of the time, we are right to separate sufferings from sins. What you do is different from what happens to you. Your sins are bad things about you as a moral agent. Your sufferings are bad things that happen to you. Agent and victim are opposite in principle. As a new creation in Christ, you live in an essentially different relationship to your sufferings.

But it is worth noting that you, as a new creation in Christ, also live in an essentially different relationship to your own sinfulness. Your sin now afflicts you. The dross of your blind spots and besetting sins no longer defines or delights you. The sin that indwells becomes a form of significant suffering. What you once instinctively loved now torments you.

What sins do you still wrestle with? Forgetting God and proceeding as if life centers on you? Obsessive religious scrupulosity that starves your humanity? Defensive and self-assertive pride? Laziness or drivenness, or an oscillation between both? Irritability, judgmentalism, and complaining? Immoral impulses and fantasies? Obsessive concern with money, food, or entertainment? Fear of what others think about you? Envy of good things that someone else enjoys? Shading truth into half-truths to manufacture your image? Speaking empty or even destructive words, rather than nourishing, constructive, and graceful wisdom?

These sins are endemic to everyday life. Perhaps you recognize the “seven deadly sins” (and a few extras) within that list of the mundane madness of our hearts! I can identify with each one, and I suspect you can too. Our Father loves us with mercies new every morning and more numerous than the hairs on our heads. He is good and he does good. He has chosen to love us. And we really do love him—as street children he has rescued and adopted. But our love is far from perfected. C. S. Lewis vividly captured our ongoing, widening, deepening struggle with all that needs God’s redeeming mercies:

Man’s love for God, from the very nature of the case, must always be very largely, and must often be entirely, a Need-love. This is obvious when we implore forgiveness for our sins or support in our tribulations. But in the long run it is perhaps even more apparent in our growing—for it ought to be growing—awareness that our whole being by its very nature is one vast need; incomplete, preparatory, empty yet cluttered, crying out for Him who can untie things that are now knotted together and tie up things that are still dangling loose.[1]

Whether we find ourselves tied in knots or dangling at loose ends, God hears our cry. He says, “You are mine. So take heart. I will complete what I have begun.”

There is more: https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/the-one-thing-every-sufferer-needs-to-hear/

There Is More To Prayer Than The Answer

I sit and wait for God to let me in on His, up until now, secret plot for my life. I have heard it a thousand times or maybe only one hundred times, as a matter of fact I don’t know how many times I have heard it and I don’t know how many times I have preached it but I do know that yes, no or wait are the only possible answers to my requests. So I sit and wait with nothing to do but wait until wait becomes a yes or no or maybe a no not now becomes a wait a little longer or a yes for nowbecomes a no for later or a wait becomes a…

Living for an answer makes prayer no more than a quest for directions.

Over time we have made our interactions with God about seeking His will. I would be teaching questionable theology if I said prayer had nothing to do with seeking God’s will. I also would most likely end up ducking holy lightening bolts (the holy lightening bolts may also be questionable theology). Prayer is the very act of seeking God’s direction, His provision and His blessing as we seek to understand His will and live it out in our lives but there is so much more to it than this.

The act of prayer begins a process.

The act of prayer is not the beginning of the process of God taking action in your situation as many would have you believe. The act of prayer is the beginning of the process of you trusting God with your situation. It would not be bad theology to say that God often waits for us to pray before He acts but it is bad theology to say that God requires us to pray before He acts. Prayer works because God has chosen to make prayer a part of the Christ follower’s journey of faith. Each prayer is a step in our journey to trust God completely.

 

Continue at: https://live4him.ca/2020/10/22/there-is-more-to-prayer-than-the-answer-2/

Hymns for Seasoned Citizens

The Old Rugged Face

Precious Lord, Take My Hand, And Help Me Up

It is Well With My Soul, But My Knees Hurt

Nobody Knows the Trouble I Have Seeing

Amazing Grace, Considering My Age

Just a Slower Walk With Thee

Count Your Many Birthdays, Name Them One by One

Go Tell It On The Mountain, But Speak Up

Give Me That Old Timers’ Religion

Blessed Insurance

Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, I’ve Forgotten Where I Parked

The Mirror

A Broadcast with R.C. Sproul

One reason why many people shy away from studying God’s law is because it requires us to examine our hearts before God. Today, R.C. Sproul reveals how the law alerts us to our desperate need for the gospel.

LISTEN NOW

Reassurance About Judgment

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 ⁶ We are sure of this. We know that while we are at home in this body we are not with the Lord. ⁷ Our life is lived by faith. We do not live by what we see in front of us. ⁸ We are sure we will be glad to be free of these bodies. It will be good to be at home with the Lord. ⁹ So if we stay here on earth or go home to Him, we always want to please Him. ¹⁰ For all of us must stand before Christ when He says who is guilty or not guilty. Each one will receive pay for what he has done. He will be paid for the good or the bad done while he lived in this body.

The Bible describes two kinds of judgments—one for those who don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ and one for those who do. For believers, judgment is an evaluation of the person’s life. While that may sound alarming, we can find comfort in these truths about our judge:

Identity. According to John 5:22 (For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,), our judge will be Jesus. We can trust the One who laid down His life for our sake, brought us into God’s family, speaks to the Father on our behalf, and intercedes for us faithfully.

Character. Christ’s holy nature ensures that He will be fair. His omniscience means He can’t make decisions based on inadequate or faulty information. And His character is perfect, so He won’t make mistakes or treat certain people more favorably than others.

Purpose. Jesus will evaluate our life according to what we’ve done on earth (For all of us must stand before Christ when He says who is guilty or not guilty. Each one will receive pay for what he has done. He will be paid for the good or the bad done while he lived in this body. 2 Corinthians 5:10). But because He already bore the punishment for our sin at the cross, our judgment has to do with rewards, not chastisement (He carried our sins in His own body when He died on a cross. In doing this, we may be dead to sin and alive to all that is right and good. His wounds have healed you! 1 Peter 2:24).

Christians can look forward to a new body that will never experience pain or death. What’s more, we will enjoy Jesus’ presence forever (You will show me the way of life. Being with You is to be full of joy. In Your right hand there is happiness forever. Psalm 16:11; If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3). We do not have to fear judgment, because we can trust our Judge and His intentions.

10 Characteristics of Pastors Who Finished Well

Some goals for all of us.

 

https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/313477-10-characteristics-pastors-finished-well-chuck-lawless.html

It Seems Hard to Love One Another These Days!

John 14:15 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

It seems hard to love one another these days. For example – I tried to cheer on the Washington Nationals as they were in the playoffs and eventually won Major League Baseball’s World Championship in 2019. Yet – pushback came from National’s fans calling me a pretend fan who was jumping on the bandwagon late. I also took pushback from others – calling me out for rooting for the Nationals – since I’m a diehard Orioles fan – as if I couldn’t root for another local team – simply because my team wasn’t in the playoffs (or even being over .500). I could better understand if the Orioles and Nationals were in the same league or division and competing for the same league championship. But the Nationals are my National League team – since I was a young child – I’ve rooted for the local Washington team – back in the day it was the Senators (my dad was a big fan). When I was 12 – I began to root for the Orioles and have stayed with them ever since.

There is more at: https://raymcdonald.wordpress.com/2020/10/19/it-seems-hard-to-love-one-another-these-days/

No Lone Rangers

Ephesians 4:11-16

¹¹ Christ gave gifts to men. He gave to some the gift to be missionaries, some to be preachers, others to be preachers who go from town to town. He gave others the gift to be church leaders and teachers. ¹² These gifts help His people work well for Him. And then the church which is the body of Christ will be made strong. ¹³ All of us are to be as one in the faith and in knowing the Son of God. We are to be full-grown Christians standing as high and complete as Christ is Himself. ¹⁴ Then we will not be as children any longer. Children are like boats thrown up and down on big waves. They are blown with the wind. False teaching is like the wind. False teachers try everything possible to make people believe a lie, ¹⁵ but we are to hold to the truth with love in our hearts. We are to grow up and be more like Christ. He is the leader of the church. ¹⁶ Christ has put each part of the church in its right place. Each part helps other parts. This is what is needed to keep the whole body together. In this way, the whole body grows strong in love.

Perhaps you can recall the fictitious cowboy known as the Lone Ranger. He was a self-appointed guardian of the law who brought many outlaws to justice. Although he was actively fighting against evil, his independence is not a good example for Christians.

When we trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we became members of His body, the church. We weren’t saved to be independent agents; rather, God’s intention is that we be subject to Christ, bound together with fellow believers, and submitted to the elders who keep watch over our souls (Obey your leaders and do what they say. They keep watch over your souls. They have to tell God what they have done. They should have joy in this and not be sad. If they are sad, it is no help to you. Heb. 13:17).

The trouble is that many of us want Jesus and the benefits of salvation without having to answer to anyone. Yet God has placed certain individuals in leadership positions at the local church for our benefit. The proud, who go it alone, will become targets for our adversary—like a roaring lion, Satan sees lone rangers as easy prey (Keep awake! Watch at all times. The devil is working against you. He is walking around like a hungry lion with his mouth open. He is looking for someone to eat. 1 Peter 5:8).

Don’t forsake the protection of the church. If you do, you’ll become vulnerable to false teaching, the trickery and craftiness of men, and the deceitful schemes of the devil.