A Message from the Prince of Preachers

The Forbearance of God
Charles Spurgeon The Prince of Preachers


Romans 2:4—"Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

It is an instance of divine condescension that the Lord reasons with men, and asks this question, and others like it (Isa. 1:5, 55:2; Jer. 3:4, Ezek. 33:11).
God not only acts kindly to sinners, but when they misuse his kindness he labors to set them right (Isa. 1:18, Hosea 11:8).
It is a sad thing that any who have seen God's judgments on others, and have escaped themselves, should draw from this special mercy a reason for adding sin to sin (Jer. 3:8).

Honor God's Goodness and Mercy
A reverent sense of it will be a sure safeguard against taking it for granted.
It is manifested to us in a threefold form:
1. Goodness which has put up with past sin (Ps. 78:38)
2. Forbearance which bears with us in the present (Ps. 103:10).
3. Long-suffering which, in the future as in the past and the present, is prepared to bear with the guilty (Luke 13:7-9)

It is manifested in great abundance: "riches of his goodness."
Riches of mercies bestowed, temporal and spiritual (Ps. 68:19)
Riches of kindness seen in gracious deliverance, measured by evils averted which might have befallen us, such as sickness, poverty, insanity, death, and hell (Ps. 86:13)
Riches of grace promised and provided for all needs.

It is manifested in its excellence by four considerations:
The person who shows it. It is "the goodness of God" who is omniscient to see sin, just to hate it, powerful to punish it, yet patient towards the sinner (Ps. 145:8).
The being who receives it. It is dealt out to man, a guilty, insignificant, base, provoking, ungrateful being. (Gen. 6:6)
The conduct to which it is a reply. It is love's response to sin. Often God forbears, though sins are many, wanton, aggravated, daring, repeated (Mal 3:6).
The blessings which it brings. Life, daily bread, health, gospel, Holy Spirit, new birth, hope of heaven (Ps. 68:19).

It has been in a measure manifested to you. "Do you presume?"

Walking in Community

There are very few things sweeter or more rewarding then walking in true, gospel-centered community. Knowing and being known, having men and women that surround you with encouragement and push you to be all that the Lord has for you. However, there is also nothing more painful or messy then walking in true community, because it is here that our pride and self-dependency is challenged and meant head on. I believe that this is why so many of us shy away from true, real, gospel-centered friendships, we all want to be view perfect, despite the fact that we know that we are not, we would rather walk the way that we want to and abstain from being challenged, because then we don't have to confront the real issues in our lives.

I believe in community, I believe that it is more then Bible study, it is doing life together, sharing in the joy and hurts of authentic relationships. I believe this is what the church needs, to be effective ministers of the Gospel in culture today, we need each other, and not just casual relationships, but grace-driven friendships and that move us closer to Christ and deeper in sanctification.

We see this worked out in Acts 2, as they were together and as they didn't pretend that everything was always good, as they dove into the work together, as they shared good food together, as they fellowshipped around the table, and as they shared their lives with each other, the Gospel began to be seen and heard by the world around them and Acts 2: 47 says, "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
PEOPLE GOT SAVED!!!! That is the point of the whole thing, that through our lives, through authenticity, we make the gospel of God known and God saves men and women, for His glory, and our excitement.

So today ask yourself this question, and I BEG you be honest, if you are not involved in community, why not? What is hindering you, and what steps can you take to begin to cultivate gospel-centered relationships?

And if you are involved, take time to take stock, how is it going, how has my life been different over the last six months, how has the Lord used community to grow me and how can I duplicate this to others in need of authentic relationships.

LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE

Missional Community

There are certain things at FCL that we want to be apart of our DNA, things like the Word of God, in the Scriptures, community, prayer, fasting, and missional living. These are things that by no means we do perfect but by the grace of God we are moving deeper into and becoming better at.
Recently Jonathan Dodson, pastor of Austin City Life and author of FIght Clubs, came to Redeemer Church here in Lubbock and did a conference on Missional Living. The message was both inspirational and practical in helping you define effective ways to reach our community with the Gospel of Christ. I pray that you would take the time to listen to the message below, by simply clicking the link. Even if you only listen to 10 min a day until you are done, I believe it will benefit for you to take the principles and advice and experiment on how you can apply it to your life and context.

http://www.redeemerlubbock.org/#sermon:420

I pray that you are encouraged and have a renewed vision of how to reach those in the church that need community and those outside our body of believers.

LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE