In Spirit and in Truth..

"Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or halffull)
of artificial admirers (like people who write generic anniversary cards for a
living). On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and
cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true
worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and
sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow
of biblical worship."



Yes, this might be my second Piper post today, but hey, I love this guy...well-worded sound theology that really brings out the truth of scripture.



This quote comes from Piper's book "Desiring God"...a classic...a must read for anyone who wants to see that the greatest pleasure,delight, and admiration anyone can experience is in God, and God's infinitely, eternal, and glorious pleasure rests in Him revealing and giving His children the only thing that is worthy of being delighted and satisfied in....Him and His glory.



I came across this quote in the book and I absolutely agree with Piper as he is refrencing John 4:23 -24 and talking about true worship. Both a proper knowledge and conception of God along with a deeply moving conviction within ,that produces the utmost joy and passion for Him is necessary for genuine worship. One without the other will ultimately result in dead worship that is vain in the eyes of God.
It is so easy to just come to church and sing the songs, Sunday after Sunday...many lift their hands, close their eyes, and repeat the lyrics as if their whole lives were wrapped up in the meaning of the song....only to return to carnal minds and fleshly lifestyles 40 minutes later after the service is over. People can easily jump, shout, and dance, all in the name of worship when their favorite song is on...but when those same Christians encounter the soothing sounds of their former favorite artist, they return to finding pleasure in the secularized lyrics that they ought to hate...this nullifies the "worship" that they thought they were previously in because their lives and actions testified that what comes from the world is just as worthy, if not more worthy, of worship as God. This is only one side of the square...
On the other hand, when worship lacks the foundation and four walls of sound doctrine, and when a proper conception of God is missing, then it will produce an emotional, hyped- up "empty" Christian who cannot tell you anything about the God they serve, yet they are confident that they know whom they are worshipping...and upon this foundation, many require, look for, and are ready to recieve signs and/or extra- biblical accounts to validate and verify as well as feed their shallowness; things such as powerful dreams, visions, and supernatural experiences - sightings of angels, fire from heaven, mighty signs and wonders and so forth fill the void that proper theology ought to fill. Don't get me wrong, these things are well and blessed(most of them), and they are mighty to experience and behold...but there will be many on the great day of Judgment who will hold fast to these things as a confirmation that they knew God, yet Jesus declares to them that He never knew them, which also means that they never really knew Him.
Worship in spirit and truth must be more than a passionate, emotional zeal that is only a mask for ignorance because there is no genuine theological foundation under it (Proverbs 19:2 ; Romans 10:2) Worship is passionate, it truly involves the emotions, and it is experiencing the awesomeness and fullness of a vastly incomprehensible, yet all consuming and filling God who desires that we seek and worship Him with all that we are; but our emotions and the outward displays of worship that are genuine are the fruit of a genuine knowledge of God and a proper theology. Both work hand in hand to glorify Him truly and worship Him in spirit.

Lastly, the other side to this is having a mighty theology , yet lacking a desire and a passion for God. Many, including myself hold to the great doctrines concerning God's Sovereignty in all things, and some, in pursuit of more knowledge about these doctrines lose their first love, become less loving themselves, and take on the role of critic rather than counselor. In my own personal experience, I have found theology not as a quest for more head knowledge, but a nest where the Gracious and Merciful Father has chosen to hide me under His wings when I never even deserved it, and because He has already done so much for me, I now forsake all to know Him more and more.... Theology has become a foundation for worship like I have never known it before...a worship that fills and overflows and not a worship that is leaking as if I were a glass with holes in it or a broken cistern. It has caused me to see and hold fast to the fact that God saves, God gives grace, God gives faith, and God keeps that faith working until the end. Theology has helped me to be able to sit in the most quitest of places without music, without stage lights, and without glorious guitar-riffs , and take in the beauty and magnificance of God by just observing something as small as a caterpillar on the ground...yet, when I do enter the worship that is found in venues with beautiful lighting, sound, awesome instruments, and many other worshippers, I still feel the same confidence in Him and in His presence as I did in the stillness...
Theology must produce worship, or its no theology at all....because men were made to worship and enjoy God and glorify Him forever.

A Few Thoughts on Free Will by John Piper

Before the fall of Adam sinless man was able to sin. For God said, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

As soon as Adam fell, sinful man was not able not to sin, since we were unbelieving,and “whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

When we are born again, by the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to not sin, for “sin will have no dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).

This means that what Paul calls “the natural man” or “the mind of the flesh” is not able not to sin. Paul says this in Romans 8:7-9

The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (See also 1Corinthians 2:14).

How then shall we think of free will?

It is not a saving power. In his freedom to will, fallen man cannot on his own do anything but sin. Such “free will” is a devastating reality. Without some power to overcome it’s bent, our free will only damns us.

We could stop here and turn with joy to the gospel truth that God overcomes our resistance, gives us life, wakens our dead inclination for Christ, and freely and irresistibly draws us to himself (John 6:44, 65; Acts 13:48; Ephesians 2:5; 2 Timothy 2:25-26).

But it sometimes helps to answer objections. One common objection is that, if we “cannot” do what is right, and “can only” do what is sin, then we are not acting voluntarily and cannot be praised or blamed.

Here is part of John Calvin’s answer to this objection:

The goodness of God is so connected with his Godhead that it is not more necessary to be God than to be good; whereas the devil, by his fall, was so estranged from goodness that he can do nothing but evil.

Should anyone give utterance to the profane jeer that little praise is due to God for a goodness to which he is forced, is it not obvious to every man to reply, “It is owing not to violent impulse, but to his boundless goodness, that he cannot do evil?”

Therefore, if the free will of God in doing good is not impeded, because he necessarily must do good; if the devil, who can do nothing but evil, nevertheless sins voluntarily; can it be said that man sins less voluntarily because he is under a necessity of sinning? (Institutes, II.3.5)

Ten Reasons Why Michael Jackson's Life and Death Matter...

The Gospel vs. The Common Good...

"You know as an evangelical pastor, my deepest faith is in Jesus Christ,” Warren stated. “But you also need to know that I am committed not just to what I call the good news, but I am committed to the common good.”

- Rick Warren addressing Muslims at the ISNA Convention (Islamic Society of North America)

My question is when did the good news of the Gospel become different from the common good?

Romans 5:8 :But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

James 1:27 :Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Matthew 25:31-46 :"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Matthew 5:13-16 :You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

I guess my main point is that there is no common good without God being glorified in it. All of our good works apart from a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ will not stand in the end. All those who are the beneficiaries of the "common good" and those who are the benefactors of the "common good" will perish eternally without the knowledge and salvation of the One who is Infinitely Gracious and Good - Jesus Christ

Therefore the greatest good we can do for all is to extend the good news of the Gospel to men, while displaying the light of the Gospel to them in our deeds.

Repentance is Necessary

Repentance is Necessary - Audio




This sermon is titled "Repentance is Necessary" because repentance is the only way ANYONE will ever see the kingdom of God....now, many dont believe repentance is too important because they believe that it is something they can cultivate of themselves, but repentance is a gift, and I focused on that point a little bit in my previous post (see below), but repentance is a grace given by God which causes a man to see his sins for what they really are, sorrow over them, and genuine repentance doesent just produce a worldly sorrow unto death...a kind of sorrow which only leaves you with a guilty feeling which temporarily lasts, but repentance produces a godly sorrow which leads the penitent unto faith and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ unto life everlasting. I pray that you will be blessed by this message, and that you would see what genuine repentance is and what genuine repentance is not.

Thoughts on Repentance

Today, I have the opportunity to preach at a church's spring revival. The message that the Lord has laid on my heart is concerning Repentance. I just wanted to list a few thoughts on the matter while I am in constant preparation for message.

Repentance is a gift from God. Many believe that repentance is something done by the free will alone, but repentance is a grace given by God, just for the simple fact that He would even allow us the opportunity to apologize for sins committed...that he would even give us the grace to see our sins and the wretchedness of them. Now, I'm not implying that this is what repentance is, for repentance is much more than just recognizing sin and apologizing for it - it ought to be man's duty to recognize sin and apologize for it as it is the duty of the criminal to feel partial about his crimes after serving so many years in confinement meditating on his actions. Repentance is a gift granted by God because all men do not repent...all men do not take it upon their "free will" to look to God and sorrow for their sins. In fact, even when mens consciences harass them to sleepless nights because of the heinousness of their sins, they only seek to be justified in their own eyes because of self- centeredness...they want to be right in their own eyes rather than God's.

Repentance is a gift because it has everything to do with God. Because all men are in sin, all men are in darkness, and because all men are in darkness, all of our deeds outside of Christ are evil (John 3:19-20) ...for whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23)(Proverbs 21:4) and therefore any repentance outside of seeing the wickedness of sin, sorrowing for it and BELIEVING ON CHRIST to forgive and cleanse is no repentance at all...repentance is a gift because faith is a gift and faith leads to repentance...and repentance leads to faith.....

Without faith ( believing on Jesus whom has been revealed to you by the Father), who would you be repenting to? Answer: you would be sorry for your sins and it wouldn't be long before your sorrow turned to self and other things for "healing " and appeasement....but when the true penitent feels sorrow for his sins and sees his wretchedness and wickedness, He turns to Christ...the one to Whom the brightness of His glory has knocked him off of his horse...the One whose love and Light is brighter than the midday sun...and the revelation of who He is leads you to repent, and repenting leads you to cleave to Him even more...

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? - Romans 10:14

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. - Mark 1:15

Ill stop for now with a quote from Thomas Watson

"I shall not dispute whether faith or repentance comes first into the soul. Doubtless repentance shows itself first in a Christian's life. Yet I am apt to think that the seeds of faith are first wrought in the heart. As when a burning candle is brought into a room—the light shows itself first—but the candle was before the light. Just so, we see the fruits of repentance first—but the beginnings of faith were there before. That which inclines me to think that faith is in the heart before repentance—is because repentance, being a grace, must be exercised by one who is living. Now, how does the soul live—but by faith? "The just shall live by his faith" (Heb. 10:38). Therefore there must be first, some seeds of faith in the heart of a penitent, otherwise it is a dead repentance and so of no value. Whether faith or repentance goes first—I am sure that repentance is of such importance, that there is no being saved without it. "

In response to a friend on " DMX's Gospel Album"...

I’m sorry to get back to your comment so late, but thank you for expressing yourself and clarifying yourself.
I will start by saying this, when Jesus speaks of good trees and bad trees in Matthew 7, the reality is that everyone is a bad tree, none of us start out righteous from birth, none of us start out blameless, although we may be regarded as "innocent". Psalm 51:5 says, " I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." Romans 3:10-12 says "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
When it comes to all the good things we do, all the morality and good works that men accomplish, here is what scripture says they are because all men are sinners. Isaiah 64:6 "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment."
So, none of us are good in God's eyes, we all are sinners and there is nothing we could do to be acceptable in God's sight. It doesn’t matter how many bad habits we drop, how many homeless people we feed, or how much money we put in the offering plate. All of our works outside of trusting in Jesus Christ are polluted and trash. DMX's "God-given gift" has not and is not being used to glorify God - and he is just like not only all other secular rappers, but all who are dead in sin - why? Because the fruit of his life is sinful...everyone’s is. Whether we curse in our music, or murder millions, get strung out on drugs, or just think up a small insignificant lie in our minds, all men are sinners and its not the magnitude of the sin or the duration of the sin that makes it so wrong, it is Who we are sinning against, and that is God.
I too know many who have had a hard life, troubling times, and difficult circumstances, and I have seen many come out of those circumstances by helping themselves to get better, but the point is, that if we do not trust in and know and obey Jesus Christ with all of who we are, everything we did in our lives will mean absolutely nothing. All of the years clean, all of the years making ourselves better, all of the time trying to be a good person means nothing if we are not saved by believing in Jesus Christ and His worth.
I guess the main point I was trying to make before is that we CANNOT redeem ourselves. Ephesians 2 says this "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
All men who do not know and obey Jesus Christ are DEAD in sin. Friend, If you or I approached a dead corpse and told it to lift its right arm, could the dead corpse perform this? No. Why? It’s dead. So therefore if we approached that same spiritually dead corpse and told it to make a better life for itself and be pleasing to God, what could it do? The answer remains the same, NOTHING.
So this is a great problem! What can we do to be right with God? How are we supposed to be acceptable in God's sight if we are dead in sin? Lets look more at Ephesians 2 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—"
God saves...God raises spiritually dead men, and the evidence of that, the proof that God has raised someone from the graveyard of the spiritually dead, is that they have a new heart and , and a new spirit, and they are a new creation...meaning they cannot love sin and love the things of the world anymore than a human could love digging their face into pig slop and cow dung....
Friend, if you have been saved, if DMX has been saved, it is not because you have redeemed yourself, but its only because of the grace and mercy and kindness and love of God towards you, and even while you were sinning against God , He still loved you and sent His son to die for you....not because of who you are, but in spite of who you are. The proof that you have been saved is not because you did a whole bunch of good things, but it is because you long to seek the face of Christ, you desire to obey Him, and you turn away and run from sin..
DMX is not saved because he prays at the end of his albums...In Matthew 7:21 there are people who say "Lord Lord!!" and they preach and cast out devils and more...but Jesus says they will not enter the kingdom of heaven because they did not KNOW HIM and obey Him...which means repenting and believing on Him for the rest of your life....
The only reason DMX or any other sinner...both you and I, are living today is because of the sheer grace of God....because He wills that all men be saved...but if X keeps deceiving himself...thinking that good works and "gospel albums" will save him...he will be lost and perish forever in hell....but if he relies and trusts in and loves the Lord Jesus and believes on Him....then he will be saved and God will have worked in his life….


To see the original post , click here
DMX's Gospel Album

The Few...

The Few from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Are you one of the few?...

Its been a while...

Yes, its been a while since I last posted...things have gotten very busy lately and I havent had the time to even think of something to post on here. I have had alot of time to think though. My wife and I just moved into another place last week and my internet service coverage is "limited" there, so Ive pretty much got to stand on top of my kitchen counter with the wireless modem in the air in order to peak at least one bar on my connection...The Lord has been merciful to us and our "Clearwire".....we finally have one solid bar in the corner of the back room....the office is on the whole other side of the apartment...this has been my struggle these last few days lol...

In other news, I have been invited to come back to a rual church in Charlottesville to minister for 6 months ...maybe more...so look for more sermons to come under the "My Sermons " section...I havent actually been immersed in books like I have wanted to be but the 2009 reading list is still on like Donkey Kong....I am currently reading A.W. Tozers "The Holy Spirit" in addition to finishing "Body of Divinity" by Thomas Watson....

Look for more posts soon....today perhaps....

The Resurgence series on Spiritual Gifts

Im not a huge Mark Driscoll fan, meaning that I do admire his theology and doctrines, but am a little skeptical on some of his methods-namely his "relevance" in preaching at times. On Driscoll's blog site, "The Resurgence", he is currently doing an awesome series on Spiritual Gifts: check out the link below to see;

http://theresurgence.com/series/spiritual_gifts

Tweeting to the Glory of God - John Piper

Why and How I Am Tweeting
By John Piper
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Wed, Jun. 03 2009 11:41 AM EDT



I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can.

Together with the team at Desiring God, I lean toward response #2. “Lean” is different from “leap.” We are aware that the medium tends to shape the message. This has been true, more or less, with every new medium that has come along-speech, drawing, handwriting, print, books, magazines, newspapers, tracts, 16mm home movies, flannel-graph, Cinerama, movies, Gospel Blimps, TV, radio, cassette tapes, 8-Tracks, blackboards, whiteboards, overhead projection, PowerPoint, skits, drama, banners, CDs, MP3s, sky-writing, video, texting, blogging, tweeting, Mina-Bird-training, etc.

Dangers, dangers everywhere. Yes. But it seems to us that aggressive efforts to saturate a media with the supremacy of God, the truth of Scripture, the glory of Christ, the joy of the gospel, the insanity of sin, and the radical nature of Christian living is a good choice for some Christians. Not all. Everyone should abstain from some of these media. For example, we don’t have a television.

That’s my general disposition toward media.

Now what about Twitter? I find Twitter to be a kind of taunt: “Okay, truth-lover, see what you can do with 140 characters! You say your mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things! Well, this is one of those ‘all things.’ Can you magnify Christ with this thimble-full of letters?”

To which I respond:

The sovereign Lord of the earth and sky
Puts camels through a needle’s eye.
And if his wisdom see it mete,
He will put worlds inside a tweet.

So I am not inclined to tweet that at 10AM the cat pulled the curtains down. But it might remind me that the Lion of Judah will roll up the heavens like a garment, and blow out the sun like a candle, because he just turned the light on. That tweet might distract someone from pornography and make them look up.

I’ve been tweeting anonymously for a month mainly to test its spiritual and family effects on me. In spite of all the dangers, it seems like a risk worth taking. “All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I Tweet.

By his grace and for his glory,

Pastor John




______________________________________

Copyright 2009 John Piper. Website: desiringGod.org





You can follow AdjustMyThoughts on Twitter at @AdjustMyThought

Exchanging the Glory...for frogs and rain gods?

Frogs Marry to Bring Rain - More free videos are here


18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:18-25 (ESV)

Nuff said...