In Light of today's Dow Jones fall.

Psalm 2

1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3"Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us."

4He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6"As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill."

7I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel."

10Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Purpose Drinven Life...well maybe.

A Responce to Pyromaniacs blog on "Gifts"

(This is a response to Pyromaniacs blog which can be found here. The topic is "signs and wonders". This was posted as in the response part of their blog)

DJP

Mark Driscoll considers himself to be a charismatic with a seat belt, I would consider my self a continualist in a straight Jacket.

I can't see in the scriptures were the gifts have been done away with.

Does God still heal? Yes.
Does He still Speak? Yes. (I say yes because the bible still speaks) as far as the usual charismatic usage of prophesy I have serious doubts.

Does God still do wonders. Yes.
What's more wonderful then an unregenerate becoming regenerated? which is harder?

I like the word continualist mainly
because it distances one from Charismatics.

One thing is very clear, and that is that signs and wonders mean nothing in and of themselves. Paul tells us in II Thes. 2:9 that the Man of Lawlessness does SaW, but Paul mentions in II Cor. 12:12 that he did SaW. SaW don't necessarily validate the messenger, but it can.
Jesus himself didn't put any trust in them (John 2:24-24). People don't get saved because of signs and wonders. Its by His calling and electing in love.

Hence I usual sound more like a 'Christian' as Frank turk said in jest.

But in times like these I side with John Piper. (thats called name dropping.) And see no reason for the ceasing of the gifts today.

(35.minute mark for the above DG sermon)

John Piper

An excerpt from J.P's Desiring God's blog.

"My view of God was too small and my view of myself was too big. I misinterpreted, 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."...What Paul means is not that I will know exhaustively the way God knows me, but rather I will know accurately the way God knows me. The point is not that I won't have limits to what I know, but rather I won't have mistakes in what I know."

I remember studying through 1 Corinthians in school and coming up to 13:12 and not knowing what to do with it. John Piper here i believe hits the nail on the head. When I die, and stand in the presence of God, I'll still have limits to my knowledge, but what I know of him will be right, flawless.

I wish it was so now...come Lord Jesus!

"But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

There are times when I think, "Wow, I've really missed something". I ask myself the question, "do you really believe you have a "better possession, and an abiding one"?

To often this world has a foothold in my heart. whether it's money, trinkets, health or whatever...
I look at the early Church, the people Hebrews talks about, and see that they JOYFULLY accepted the plundering of their property, and I ask myself would I? And if not what does that tell me about myself?

It's in times of trials that our faith is really tested. I can say that I believe in the sovereignty of God in the easy times, but what about the hard? difficult times? I pray that God would allow me to stand in the day of trials, and that he would continue to strengthen my faith in his sovereignty before i walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

May Christ instill in us the Joy of that "better possession" the one that abides even in the hard times.

"May God strengthen our brothers and sisters in Orissa, India. May he grant them Joy in the mist of their sufferings and persecution, for they have a better possession and an abiding one."

Paul Washer-God's Love Undeserved

In Christ

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing.

Theres a couple of thoughts that have been brewing in my head over the last couple of mouths. It has to do with Believers in Christ. That is, every part of who we are is in Him. As I read through the gospels i see this over and over again. And it's the little phrase; in Christ, in him...who we are as Christians is rooted and grounded in Christ and his work, not our own.

In the Gospel of John (the above quote) Jesus himself mentions "in me" and "apart from me".
"In me" refers to those who call on Christ, those who have placed there lives in his hands because they were made alive and responded to Christ. "Apart from me" = nothing. Those who haven't put there trust in Christ, regardless of what they can "do", in reality aren't doing anything.

The main concept I've been pondering over is that every aspect of our life is in Christ. Paul talks about "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..." (Eph 2)
combine this with what Jesus says in John 15 you get a great concept of spiritual regeneration.
The reason one can do nothing apart from Christ is that there "dead", and it's only in Christ that one is made "alive".

John 1:4
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Jesus is the only one who in and of himself has life. I as a created being have borrowed life from God, yet Christ didn't have to borrow life since he was life. Jesus life, is the light of men, or another way of saying it is 'the light of the world.'

That's why in the epistles you see the contrast of light and darkness, before Christ came we lived in darkness, but those of us who respond to his grace have been "transfered" into the kingdom of light. And that "light we know have is spiritual "life" because we are in Christ. Apart from Christ there is no life and no light, and you can do nothing...