There are very few people that I admire more then Blu and Darbi Tidwell. The life of a missionary is not a glamorous or famous, there's no great pomp and circumstance when you come back home. It is simply a calling, a calling to live out something greater then yourself. Now not everyone has the calling to go to Africa and start an orphanage from scratch, in fact I think that call is for very few people. But all of us as regenerate believers have a call on our lives to sell out to something bigger then ourselves.
For Blu and Darbi they are committed not to helping orphans or providing resources for the surrounding villages, that would simply be a "good" act, rather they are sold out to the Gospel, they are sold out to the God of all creation changing men and women, boys and girls, from the inside out. People that will go out from there and make a kingdom impact. They are sold out to living out the Gospel that will leave a legacy of Gospel change, and because Blu and Darbi have been overtaken by that Gospel themselves, they were able to be obedient to the call of Christ on their lives.
So the question for us today is our we sold out, are we completely captured by the Gospel that it has changed us so much that we are willing to go where He calls, and do what He asks us to do? That question can only be answered by you, but I believe that when we are honest with ourselves and open about this that God can use this piece of clay to spread His message to other pieces of clay.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
About Me
- Fellowship Church Lubbock
- We are not perfect, but we have been saved by the one who is. He did it by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, revealed infallibly by the Scripture alone.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
From Africa to America
Well here I am back in the states from another overseas adventure and in case you missed Sunday or have not had the time to listen to this week's podcast, I want to share some things that the Lord reminded me of as I was over there.
1. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 - The Gospel is priority #1. Getting the Gospel right matters, there is nothing more important in our lives then this. You cannot mess around with the Gospel, trying to make it fit into what we think or what we like. The Gospel of Jesus dying on the cross for the glory of our God and the good of His people, in accordance with the Scriptures, is the only thing that matters.
In Africa, as in America, if you mess around with this you risk men and women confusing the message of the Bible with something else, and therefore placing their trust not in the true God but something else.
2. Psalm 29 - Worship is a by-product of Gospel change. No one, man, women, boy, and girl can remain unchanged when they have a true and real, gospel encounter with God. The Scriptures tell us that we are a new creation, the old has passed away, behold all things are new.
That means our nature is changed, our mind is changed, our eyesight is change. We can no longer view things the same, we cannot see life the same way, sunrises change, the way we raise our kids, the way we read, everything becomes about worship. Not just Sunday mornings, but rather the entirety of our lives are about giving glory to the God of all creation.
Those are two things that the Lord gently reminded me of over the past two weeks. I hope that as you read these things you are reminded today and they encourage you in your walk with the Lord.
Come back tomorrow as I write on the third and final things that the Lord reminded me of as I was in Africa.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
1. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 - The Gospel is priority #1. Getting the Gospel right matters, there is nothing more important in our lives then this. You cannot mess around with the Gospel, trying to make it fit into what we think or what we like. The Gospel of Jesus dying on the cross for the glory of our God and the good of His people, in accordance with the Scriptures, is the only thing that matters.
In Africa, as in America, if you mess around with this you risk men and women confusing the message of the Bible with something else, and therefore placing their trust not in the true God but something else.
2. Psalm 29 - Worship is a by-product of Gospel change. No one, man, women, boy, and girl can remain unchanged when they have a true and real, gospel encounter with God. The Scriptures tell us that we are a new creation, the old has passed away, behold all things are new.
That means our nature is changed, our mind is changed, our eyesight is change. We can no longer view things the same, we cannot see life the same way, sunrises change, the way we raise our kids, the way we read, everything becomes about worship. Not just Sunday mornings, but rather the entirety of our lives are about giving glory to the God of all creation.
Those are two things that the Lord gently reminded me of over the past two weeks. I hope that as you read these things you are reminded today and they encourage you in your walk with the Lord.
Come back tomorrow as I write on the third and final things that the Lord reminded me of as I was in Africa.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
God is Truth
"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.' John 17:3
God's truthfulness can be defined like this, He is the only true God, and that all His knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.
God is truth, He does not merely speak it, but He is truth. He is infinitely perfect in all things, in power, in goodness, in spirit, in lordship over all time, from eternity past, into eternity future. He is the standard by which all things are deemed true. The only reason that we say something is true is because God, the source of all truth, has said it is true. 2 + 2 = 4 because God says it would equal that. God is therefore reliable and faithful in His words, and we can put our complete trust in the simple fact that if HE says it, He will accomplish it. He never makes promises that HE will not, or cannot keep, while we may say things we don't really mean, God cannot do that, He is the final standard by which all is judged.
Therefore we can know, that as we discover more and more about science, or the world, or the way things work, we are not discovering anything that God does not and has not already known about. All truth is God's truth, and we can rejoice in Him and glorify His name whenever we find anything that is true, as we grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and as we seek to glorify God in those areas, we are pleasing to Him.
So today may we strive to live lives that are a reflection of this truth, may we strive to be people who's yes is yes and no is no. Not because of consequences that may result from not, but because as we walk in truth and seek after knowledge we are reflecting our God to the world around us, and that is pleasing in His sight.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
God's truthfulness can be defined like this, He is the only true God, and that all His knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.
God is truth, He does not merely speak it, but He is truth. He is infinitely perfect in all things, in power, in goodness, in spirit, in lordship over all time, from eternity past, into eternity future. He is the standard by which all things are deemed true. The only reason that we say something is true is because God, the source of all truth, has said it is true. 2 + 2 = 4 because God says it would equal that. God is therefore reliable and faithful in His words, and we can put our complete trust in the simple fact that if HE says it, He will accomplish it. He never makes promises that HE will not, or cannot keep, while we may say things we don't really mean, God cannot do that, He is the final standard by which all is judged.
Therefore we can know, that as we discover more and more about science, or the world, or the way things work, we are not discovering anything that God does not and has not already known about. All truth is God's truth, and we can rejoice in Him and glorify His name whenever we find anything that is true, as we grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and as we seek to glorify God in those areas, we are pleasing to Him.
So today may we strive to live lives that are a reflection of this truth, may we strive to be people who's yes is yes and no is no. Not because of consequences that may result from not, but because as we walk in truth and seek after knowledge we are reflecting our God to the world around us, and that is pleasing in His sight.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
God's Knowledge
So what does God really know? I heard a quote from a well-know author, "In an attempt to secure the sovereignty of God, theologians have overstated their case, and left us with a chest-player God playing both sides of the board, making all His moves and all ours too. But clearly (clearly?) this is not so. God is a person (really) who takes immense risks. No doubt the biggest risk of all was when He gave angels and men free will, including the freedom to reject Him..."
Now there are so many things that I would like to say about God based on that quote, but we will have time for that later on in this series. The one thing that I want to focus on today is "God is a person who takes immense risks."
Does God really take risks, because for that to happen He would have to not know the future, He would have to be limited in His ability, and would be lying when the Bible, says, "all things work out for the good of those who love HIm..." How could HE know that, if He is a risk taker He is just as much in the dark as we are.
That line of thinking leaves us with a deist version of God, a clockmaker, who yes made everything, is a supreme, higher being, but who is not involved our moments, who cannot comfort us with real comfort.
So what does the knowledge of God really mean? Grudem states it like this, "God fully knows Himself (1 Cor. 2:10-11) and all things actual (Hebrews 4:13) and possible (1 Sam. 11-13; Matt. 11:21) in one simple and eternal act.
God is always and forever fully aware of anything that has happened, and will happen, He knows the grains of sand on a seashore, the stars in the sky, the hairs on your head, and He know them all at once. His knowledge is eternal it does not change or grow, nor can it. He does not see new inventions and say, "I never thought of that." He is and for always completely and full aware of what is happening and will happen.
Of course it will be hard to reconcile God's knowledge of everything and the degree of freedom we have in our choices, we will discuss this in more detail in a few weeks. But I will leave you with something that Augustine said, God has given us "reasonable self-determination." We need to not focus on what is beyond our control or knowledge and understand that right now we can trust in an all-knowing God, and that we should in each choice we make, think, choose and act.
I hope that helps to a degree define the knowledge of God, for more information and for a deeper study, please refer to J.I. Packer's classic, Knowing God.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Now there are so many things that I would like to say about God based on that quote, but we will have time for that later on in this series. The one thing that I want to focus on today is "God is a person who takes immense risks."
Does God really take risks, because for that to happen He would have to not know the future, He would have to be limited in His ability, and would be lying when the Bible, says, "all things work out for the good of those who love HIm..." How could HE know that, if He is a risk taker He is just as much in the dark as we are.
That line of thinking leaves us with a deist version of God, a clockmaker, who yes made everything, is a supreme, higher being, but who is not involved our moments, who cannot comfort us with real comfort.
So what does the knowledge of God really mean? Grudem states it like this, "God fully knows Himself (1 Cor. 2:10-11) and all things actual (Hebrews 4:13) and possible (1 Sam. 11-13; Matt. 11:21) in one simple and eternal act.
God is always and forever fully aware of anything that has happened, and will happen, He knows the grains of sand on a seashore, the stars in the sky, the hairs on your head, and He know them all at once. His knowledge is eternal it does not change or grow, nor can it. He does not see new inventions and say, "I never thought of that." He is and for always completely and full aware of what is happening and will happen.
Of course it will be hard to reconcile God's knowledge of everything and the degree of freedom we have in our choices, we will discuss this in more detail in a few weeks. But I will leave you with something that Augustine said, God has given us "reasonable self-determination." We need to not focus on what is beyond our control or knowledge and understand that right now we can trust in an all-knowing God, and that we should in each choice we make, think, choose and act.
I hope that helps to a degree define the knowledge of God, for more information and for a deeper study, please refer to J.I. Packer's classic, Knowing God.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
How Do We Respond to Osama's Death
Well, if you are like me, you have had a few days to process the events of Sunday afternoon, and Monday morning, and maybe you are asking yourself the same questions, how should I, as a Christian, respond to the death of Osama Bin Laden. I turned on the T.V. Monday morning, to the cheers of a massive crowd in time square, and for those first few moments, I was joining in the cheers that an adversary of America, a man that wanted to do harm to my country, my family, and my faith was now dead, but then the more I watched, the more news reports that came out, the more my thoughts were, how should I, as a Christian, be responding to this news.
I was reminded in the Proverbs,"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them." Proverbs 24:17 What does that mean for me, because David would say also say, "as for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their overwhelm them, let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire."
It seems that David is crying out from the depths of his heart, for God to be just. And so from that my conclusion, is this, we rejoice in the fact that God is just, that HE will be victorious. So are we happy that Osama is dead, that he cannot harm anyone anymore, yes. Should we we thankful to the men and women that put their lives on the line to defend our freedom, yes. Should we jump up and down and cheer as if our hope and rejoicing is in a country, and not in the Lord, by no means.
Our hope and our rejoicing is in the fact that we serve a righteous, just God, who put His wrath on Christ at the cross. I hope that our response will be sober, that we will rejoice in God, that we will remember the only difference between myself and Osama, as far as eternity is concerned, is that Christ's righteousness as been imparted to me, because of the work at the cross and faith in Him.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
I was reminded in the Proverbs,"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them." Proverbs 24:17 What does that mean for me, because David would say also say, "as for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their overwhelm them, let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire."
It seems that David is crying out from the depths of his heart, for God to be just. And so from that my conclusion, is this, we rejoice in the fact that God is just, that HE will be victorious. So are we happy that Osama is dead, that he cannot harm anyone anymore, yes. Should we we thankful to the men and women that put their lives on the line to defend our freedom, yes. Should we jump up and down and cheer as if our hope and rejoicing is in a country, and not in the Lord, by no means.
Our hope and our rejoicing is in the fact that we serve a righteous, just God, who put His wrath on Christ at the cross. I hope that our response will be sober, that we will rejoice in God, that we will remember the only difference between myself and Osama, as far as eternity is concerned, is that Christ's righteousness as been imparted to me, because of the work at the cross and faith in Him.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The Nature of the Atonement Part 1
Today we want to start to look at the nature of the atonement, and there are two aspects to examine, the first and the one we will look at today: Christ's obedience and the second, what we will look at on Good Friday: Christ suffering.
The Scriptures tell us in Hebrews 4:15- "For we do not have a high priest that is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect was tempted as we are yet without sin.
I Corinthians 1:30 - "And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption..."
Philippians 3:9 - the goal of Paul, "and be found in HIm, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, byt that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
Christ had to live a perfect life, He had to live in the perfect will of God, if He did not there is no life, there is no prefect obedience, there is no redemption, nothing to be imparted to me. Christ's obedience and fulfillment of all righteousness is what will be imparted to me, this is not simply being morally good, or just not doing those small acts of "sin," it is the miracle that I am made righteous because of Christ, because He did what I could never be able to do.
So the question today as we look at this aspect of the atonement is, are you still trying to earn it, are you still trying with all your might, by yourself, to be good enough to earn the approval of the King. The truth is that we will never be able to, it is why the atonement is such a great truth, Christ earns it for us, because HE was spotless.
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The Scriptures tell us in Hebrews 4:15- "For we do not have a high priest that is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect was tempted as we are yet without sin.
I Corinthians 1:30 - "And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption..."
Philippians 3:9 - the goal of Paul, "and be found in HIm, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, byt that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
Christ had to live a perfect life, He had to live in the perfect will of God, if He did not there is no life, there is no prefect obedience, there is no redemption, nothing to be imparted to me. Christ's obedience and fulfillment of all righteousness is what will be imparted to me, this is not simply being morally good, or just not doing those small acts of "sin," it is the miracle that I am made righteous because of Christ, because He did what I could never be able to do.
So the question today as we look at this aspect of the atonement is, are you still trying to earn it, are you still trying with all your might, by yourself, to be good enough to earn the approval of the King. The truth is that we will never be able to, it is why the atonement is such a great truth, Christ earns it for us, because HE was spotless.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Necessity of the Atonement
Wayne Grudem, poses a great question in his systematic theology book, was there any other way for God to save human beings than by sending His Son to die in our place?
I think to answer that question, we have to first realize that God did not have to save anyone, He could have chosen in His perfect justice to send each and every one of us to the rightful judgement awaiting us, just as He did with the angels that rebelled along with Lucifer. But here is the great news and the news that will cause us to rejoice, once God decided in His great mercy to save sinners, the atonement was absolutely necessary, and we will look at several Scriptures that will point us to this great truth. The atonement was not absolutely necessary, but once God chose to save people, the atonement and death of Christ were the only way.
The Scriptures are going to show us that this is the only way: Like we saw yesterday, Romans 2:26- "IT was to show that His righteousness at the present time, so that HE might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Hebrews 9:22-23 - "Indeed, under the Law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood their is no forgiveness of sin. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with rites, but the heavenly things with better sacrifices than these."
Hebrews 9:25-26 - "Not was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy place every year with blood not his own, for then HE would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, HE has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
Hebrews 10:4-6 - "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, 'Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have your prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"
Christ was the only way, there is no other way, it was absolutely what had to be done. And there is no other way to heaven, but through His blood, and faith in Him.
Tomorrow we will look at Christ's obedience for us in His life and in His death.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
I think to answer that question, we have to first realize that God did not have to save anyone, He could have chosen in His perfect justice to send each and every one of us to the rightful judgement awaiting us, just as He did with the angels that rebelled along with Lucifer. But here is the great news and the news that will cause us to rejoice, once God decided in His great mercy to save sinners, the atonement was absolutely necessary, and we will look at several Scriptures that will point us to this great truth. The atonement was not absolutely necessary, but once God chose to save people, the atonement and death of Christ were the only way.
The Scriptures are going to show us that this is the only way: Like we saw yesterday, Romans 2:26- "IT was to show that His righteousness at the present time, so that HE might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Hebrews 9:22-23 - "Indeed, under the Law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood their is no forgiveness of sin. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with rites, but the heavenly things with better sacrifices than these."
Hebrews 9:25-26 - "Not was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy place every year with blood not his own, for then HE would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, HE has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
Hebrews 10:4-6 - "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, 'Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have your prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"
Christ was the only way, there is no other way, it was absolutely what had to be done. And there is no other way to heaven, but through His blood, and faith in Him.
Tomorrow we will look at Christ's obedience for us in His life and in His death.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
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