Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption...

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
- 1 Corinthians 1:30



" In our union with Christ he becomes "wisdom" for us in overcoming the blinding and deadening ignorance that keeps us from seeing the glory of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:24). Then he becomes righteousness for us in overcoming our guilt and condemnation (Romans 8:1). Then he becomes sanctification for us in overcoming our corruption and pollution (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 2:10). Finally, he becomes redemption for us in overcoming, in the resurrection, all the miseries, pain, futility, and death of this age (Romans 8:23)."

- from "Counted Righteous in Christ" by John Piper

Hearing The Gospel Again and Again to be Overcome - by Jonathan Parnell

1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of those who trust him is old news. It is really old, really good news. So what are we aiming for in hearing again and again that which we've heard before?

The hope in hearing the old, good news is that it would perpetually break new ground in our lives. Our hearts are like a jungle. There is untamed wilderness and darkness that has not yet been brought, as it were, under the rule of the One who has laid claim to it all.

We need to hear the gospel again and again so that the old, good news of Jesus Christ would reach into these unchartered territoties of our lives and fly the flag of its dominion. This is how we are "being saved." This is what it means to be overcome by the gospel.


- the original posting of this article can be found at DesiringGod.org

Come to Christ

I preached this sermon today titled "Come to Christ". The text I preached from is Matthew 11:28-30. It is always a blessing to focus on the words of Christ and his invitation to sinners who are burdened and toiling under the weight of sin and the heaviness of God's standard. We must come to Him and we will be refreshed and rejuvenated, able to submit to His yoke and we will be strengthened to be able to live the Christian life. Here is the audio for the sermon:

Think Hard Stay Humble- Francis Chan

My wife and I sat and watched this sermon from the Desiring God National Conference two nights ago and we were blown away. Chan's message on having humility and love to go with in-depth thinking about scripture is simply wonderful. Enjoy this sermon!

Flee From the Wrath to Come by Don Currin

Flee from the Wrath of God from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Sermon: Hope in Christ

This was the sermon that I preached on yesterday, October 3,2010. The title of it is called Hope in Christ and it is taken from Lamentations 3:24. The previous post is me going over my notes on a video and sharing some thoughts on what it means to truly say "The Lord is my portion...therefore I will hope in Him. Below is the audio from the sermon.






If you cannot see the audio player, you can see the original post at AdjustMyThoughts.com

Hope in Christ....

Firstly, I recently purchased a new laptop...so this is mostly just me wanting to test out the webcam feature on it: successful! Anyways, I figured I would test the new webcam while going over some points for a sermon I will be preaching tomorrow. The video is called "Hope In Christ", but I haven't come up with a sermon title as of yet. Lamentations 3:24 will be the verse that I will be focusing on and it stands out to me so much because of two words that Jeremiah uses in the midst of God-sent suffering, portion and hope. Jeremiah ascribes both of these words to the Lord even after he declared in verse 1 of chapter 3 that he was under God's wrath and judgment. I was thinking about how the gospel applies to this statement that Jeremiah made in verse 24, in that God, because of Christ, has made Himself the portion of those who believe in Him. Because the death of Christ justifies those who believe in Him, the believer has an unshakable hope in God through any sufferings and afflictions and an assurance that Christ will save us from wrath on the day of judgment. This is all because of God's love for us. (Romans 5:1-10)