2202020

Proverbs 8-12

Wisdom calls, and folly calls. Who do we listen to? Wisdom looks like death but leads to life. Life in Christ, life from His righteousness. Folly looks like great fun ut leads to death. Slowly, surely, death. Help me Lord to root my heart deep in your Word.

2192020

Psalm 51-59

These psalms look up, not just around. We start in 51, with David casting himself on the grace of God. What better place to be!? But how did the Lord Jesus sing this song? was it a maskil for Him as well? Did He simply enjoy the grace of God presented in it as we all must? A mystery! But the rest of this section show David surrounded by enemies and forsaken by friends. Who experienced that better or more deeply than the Lord? And yet the Psalmist keeps looking up. God is rescuer, savior, strength and treasure. God is better than riches and power, therefore our lips should praise Him. 

2182020

1 Samuel 11-20

Two kings, two cities, two Kings, two ways to live. It was ever thus. Saul is impatient and desires to run ahead of the Lord. Simple faithfulness wasn't enough for him. David was humble, cautious and faithful. He fought the giant, he only ran when he had no other choice. So Saul stands for fleshly, worldly, orientation and motivation. He looked good, but he was God-less. He only served in his own strength. Better rather to look at David, and David's greater Son. Ge is the true King of the greater Kingdom.

2172020

Exodus 1-8

A new king arose who didn't know Joseph and therefore didn't respect his people. So how does he treat God's people? With suspicion and oppression. But as they were oppressed they grew stong, both in number, and you hope, spirit. They had to work harder, they had their rights denied them. BUt they were still God's people.

God heard their cry and He knew. God heard. God remembered. And we worship a God who breaks in. It was the LORD,not pharaoh, who would not let His people go! He speaks suddenly into the darkness, and all is different. Not fixed. Not easier. Not better, but different. See the great speaking, hearing, saving, knowing, merciful, acting int he darkness grace of our God, and don't lose hope.

2162020

1 Corinthians 13-16

I don't want to be a noisy gong or clanging symbol today. I don't want to empty the cross of it's resurrection power today.I want the church, each church, the local church, the global church, my church ot rise up as a spiritual hothouse today, to spread the Gospel in RVA and beyond. The Lord Jesus is alive, pouring His love into us, pouring His Spirit into us, there is always more from Him. He is all i need today, alive and at work in His church.

2152020

Mark 5-8

Slowly through the Gospels on a Saturday. Always more to read, more to study, more to consume, but it's ok to go slowly. Each word in the Gospels seems weightier, more meaningful somehow. It's not of course, either print all the words in red or none of them, but that's how if feels. This whole book is lousy with meaning. 

We're left at the end of chapter 8 asking how not to be ashamed of Jesus. perhaps the same question as Hebrews 10 gives us, how to live in such a way that the Lord Jesus is not ashamed of us. Carry your cross, live by faith in His Word, wean your heart off lesser gods. Remember, if you approach in humility and faith, if you bare your cross all the way to the Lord, you'll always get more than you were banking on. The woman with the issue of blood wanted a heal and run and got a relationship with Jesus. Jairus wanted a healing and got a resurrection. Lord show your resurrecting, healing, demon binding power in this day.

2142020

Proverbs 4-7

So dull this morning, (though better at 11am when writing this, thank God for His enlivening grace!). Not discouraged. Not stressed, just dull. Body feels heavy. When will i give the Lord 1% of my ehart, 1% of what He is due. I'll settle for 1%! I'm 35 next week, if i don't gain mastery over my body now, then when? 

And yet the Lord is good, His Word speaks, His wisdom feeds. As Samuel saw with His ears so i must labor to see with my ears! The way to spiritual prosperity is clear, just listen! Listen to wisdom, get wisdom. Hope in what the Lord has promised you, has given you, and what He has promised. This is wisdom, this is life. get wisdom, avoid sin. The dull days don't last, but His wisdom does.

2130202

Jeremiah 1-11

Wow! And oh dear! The tragedy of the history of the nation of Israel is that they wanted a king like the nations and in the end they got one. God save us from plastic religion! If the Lord, as revealed in His Word is not enough for us, there is only the abyss. id there is no sin killing joy found in our relationship with the Lord revealed in His Word, then He promises terrible things to us. If we refuse to live by faith, to take His Word into our hearts and mkae a show of our outward religion, then what should we expect but judgement?

So, Lord, please give me evangelical faith deep in my heart, please never let me preach in a way that suggests outward forms are enough, please change us all from the inside out.

2122020

Psalm 45-50

The start of Book Two of the Psalms is so full of praises and optimism. These are the songs of the Sons of Korah, so there's no wonder they are full of joy. hear the music of the resurrection hope in these Psalms! 

In the Lord's reign we find not just power but truth, not just truth but beauty. What could be better than that? No wonder the call to leave all behind and come to Him seems so reasonable. It is worth it. He is worthy. 

Get to know Jerusalem and number her ramparts, so that you can tell others of her glories. I always love that, it feels like a personal invitation. The Lord is good to the real me, the half-hearted me, the distracted me. Lord, draw me in.

2112020

1 Samuel 1-10

The problem in Judges is that there is no king, and dveryone is doing what is right in their own eyes. The problem in 1 Samuel is that Israel moves to solve that problem by doing what is right in their own eyes. They want a king, not so that they can be reminded of God's kingship over them, but so that they can look like the nations.

So God gives them a King like the nations. Powerful, tall, Saul. Unlike David he was an obvious choice, but also unlike David he hi from his responsibilities instead of seeking opportunities to fight for the glory of the Lord. We need to look, not for Saul moments but for Samuel moments. Born to a barren women, in a time where either drunk women frequented the Temple or the High Priest apparently couldn't tell the difference between prayer and drunkenness. We should look for those moments not where we engineer what God should do in our opinion, but where what the Lord does catches us by surprise. In this way He magnifies His grace, let us look out for that.

2102020

Genesis 40-50

Did any of these men see the promise of God fulfilled? No, not fully. Did they trust and obey God? yes, though not perfectly. That's why i enjoy these men so much i think. I want to follow the Lord in the ups and downs of life as faithfully as they did. The patriarchs are real men, real, heroes, not flannel-graphed, but with dirt under their finger nails, regret in their pasts and hope in their hearts. The all possessed the Promised Land, but only thru death. And only thru death will God's promises to me be fulfilled. The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, and my own death to sin. So die to sin today. Live for that other country, look at the starts and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

292020

1 Corinthians 7-12

'Do all for the glory of God,' and for Paul that really meant all. These chapters are often viewed as tough or controversial chapters about re-marriage and Christian liberty. But things are clearer when you ask the right question. the Pauline question. will this action glorify Gd. If so, do it with thanksgiving. If not, don't do it and still give thanks. Should you be bound by another mans conscience? Yes, if it comes to the same thing as being bound to the glory of God! Paul gave up his rights for the glory of God and exercised his rights for th gory of God. The reason so many of his letters don't make sense is because we so seldom ask that question!

282020

Mark 1-4

Who then is this? Who cane compare with Jesus? Surely those who say He is comparable with heroes, myths and legends of the past have never spent any time with Him. 

Who is He? The Son of a well-pleased Father. The One who calls. The One who commands. The One who heals. The One who gives growth. The One who confounds His enemies. The One, finally, wonderfully, gloriously, summatively, who has authority on Earth to forgive sins. How we need this Jesus. Give me this Jesus, above and beyond political Jesus, human rights Jesus, social action Jesus. We need the Jesus who forgives sins, the only One there is.

272020

Isaiah 56-66

How will revival come?How will my languishing heart and the languishing church be revided? By an act of sovereign grace. Not by desert, but by mercy. The Lord has come. The Lord will come. Isaiah's plaintiff cry should be ours. Hw long will you leave us like this, how longwill you let our hearts be hardened. Note, even in the time of national apostasy, Isaiah knows it is the Lord alone who rules the human heart..

The answer? As long as it takes. Until it's time. Then the Lord will come and deliver total victory on planet earth, even to us, His half-hearted and distracted people. But to us His people nonetheless.

262020

Proverbs 1-3

God loves to give. He is rich in grace, in kindness, in goodness, in provision. Very rich and very generous. Very rich and loves to write big cheques! Good news for the poor, the weak, the needy. Good news for people like me. So often i come half-hearted and distracted to the Lord in the morning. I bring the need, He overwhelms with supply. Solomon tells us the difference between wisdom and folly, life and destruction. Wisdom cries aloud, we need only listen and hear and do. Wisdom protects, saves and changes every area of our lives. And God loves to give, what a Gospel!

252020

Psalm 36-44

The Lord is my exceeding joy! He will remove every obstacle that stands in my way of Him because He loves His glory. He will not withhold His mercy from me. His faithfulness and steadfast love will sustain me. So why be downcast? The Lord outbids all His rivals and book one ends with David trusting in the Lord while He is surrounded by His enemies. Where else can we turn after all? Even when the Psalm is dark and the people are being judged, there is only God. 

Following God has never been easy, but has always been worth it. Go to God, your exceeding joy.

242020

Judges 17-21, Ruth 1-4

Thank God for the Gospel of free grace! The light of that free grace in Ruth looks even better compared to the darkness at the end of Judges. When religion becomes plastic and personal and secular, it's women that suffer. When men don't have God as their King, it's women that suffer. Isn't that the author's point, there was no king in Israel, not even God? When we all make our own minds up about religion, there is no end to the sin the sickness and the darkness.

Except there is an end. In Ruth 1 we meet another man who is going on a journey. Moab was no worse than Bethlehem perhaps, but it was still a move away from the promises of God. But what mercy God pours out through Boaz. here is a man with God as his king. he covers the woman instead of cutting, redeems instead of sacrificing. What a picture of the Lord Jesus, who gave all He had to redeem the helpless. 

God is always at work, even in the darkest of seasons. God save us from personal, plastic religion.

232020

Genesis 32-39

What do we make of the Patriarchs? Well, for one, we should rejoice that the Lord draws straight lines with crooked sticks. Of course He does, we're all crooked sticks! But through Jacob, isaac, and the twelve sons the promises are kept. Even Judah, who is almost singled out in chapter 38. But men struggling with the vanities and difficulties of life spend each night looking at the starts. remembering the promises, and each of them recieving the promise themselves again. 

Faced with my own sin, weaknesses and in capabilities, i can't help but be encouraged, not so much by the men themselves, but by the faithful God who used them.

222020

1 Corinthians 1-6

Christ is wisdom, righteousness, salvation, rescue, and sanctification from God. He is all we need. Our only boast. Our only wisdom. Our only foundation. Our master-builder and expert farmer. So boast in Christ alone. What an assignment that is. What a joy! What a priveledge. What a hope to set before people this morning. That's what i have a tongue for!

And as i boast in Christ, the cross, the foolish-wise cross, the weak-powerful cross is not emptied of it's power. God forbid that i do that.

212020

Matthew 23-28

If the resurrection is true, how can anything else be important? But if the resurrection is ture, then it fills all of life with importance. The Lord as dead and buried and now He lives! And He promises this experience for us all. Today, the thief on the cross is told, you'll be with Me in paradise! I am Barrabus, seeing the Lord die in my place, i am that thief, trusting in the Lord's promise of a future with Him. 

See how He meets the women? Their ears had heard, but now their eyes see, oh for that meeting! How can we live in immanent boxes when the angel split the grave open and one day the Messiah will split the sky open! Jesus is truly a servant, truly the greatest among us. If i have Him, i have all i need.