God’s Favorite Place On Earth

God's Favorite Place On Earth [web]“God doesn’t have favorites. Everyone and everyplace is His favorite.” Do you think that’s true? If God had a favorite place on earth, where do you think that would be? What about the favorite place for Jesus during His earthly ministry? Was it maybe the nation of Israel? The city of Jerusalem?

Jesus did have a favorite place while He was on earth, and what He did there has major implications for all of us today!

The title of this series is taken from a book Frank Viola wrote (you can read my review of this book by clicking here). In an email correspondence, Frank told me that this book was the most critical of all his works to date, and I must agree! So we’re going to use this book as our guide to visit God’s favorite place on earth and let the pages of Scripture speak to us in a new and exciting way.

I am so excited to get started! Will you please join me this Sunday at 10:30am.

Just One Question

Grace's trophyPaul makes it quite clear in Ephesians 2 what we are apart from Jesus Christ:

  • Dead in our transgressions and sins (v. 1)
  • Following the ways of the world and selling out to satan’s dominion (v. 2a)
  • In obstinate opposition to God (v. 2b)
  • Living only for our own wicked cravings (v. 3a)
  • The objects of God’s righteous wrath (v. 3b)

The penalty is a death sentence. Yet God made Jesus—the perfect, sinless One—to be sin in our place so that God’s judgment would fall on Jesus Christ instead of us. That is what Paul describes as God’s great love and rich mercy (v. 4).

Mercy means not getting the punishment we should have received.

It would have been enough if God stopped there by showing mercy, but He didn’t! God brought us back to life, saved us from eternal damnation, and raised us up with Christ to a position of honor (vv. 5, 8-9). What did this? God’s amazing grace! 

Grace means getting blessings that we never should have received. 

God did this in order that we might be trophies of the incomparable riches of His grace and His kindness… (v. 7).

Gordon MacDonald said, “The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.”

So just one question…

What does the world learn about God’s grace by watching you and me?

Links & Quotes

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These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting this weekend.

[VIDEO] This is dead-on right! The problems with ObamaCare run much deeper.

Now President Obama is using ObamaCare to hide illegal aliens from the law!

[VIDEO] John Maxwell says, “this isn’t a sexy word,” but it is imperative: Endurance.

“This poor Bible is become an almost obsolete book, even with some Christians. There are so many magazines, periodicals, and such like ephemeral productions, that we are in danger of neglecting to search the Scriptures.” —Charles Spurgeon

4 Reasons Why Friends With Benefits Is A Really Bad Idea

A great reminder about the blessing of being able to relax in God.

Soon scientists will be able to create a ‘mug shot’ from your DNA.

The pro-abortion crowd likes to say legalized abortion makes life safer for women. But these facts show they are dead wrong!

“You may wonder how many times the Lord will forgive you for indulging the same sin again and again. Rest assured, His incredible forgiveness is unlimited. Every time you sin, you can go to Jesus and find deliverance. Yet the Lord’s forgiveness is not unwise or blind. To be sure, our heavenly Father forgives us, but at a certain point He punishes us to keep us from continuing in sin. … What, exactly, does it mean to fear the Lord? It means being able to say, ‘I know my Father loves me. I am safely, forever His, and I know He will never abandon me. He feels my pain whenever I struggle and He is patient with me as I war against sin. He is always ready to forgive me whenever I call on Him, but I also know He is not going to allow me to keep disobeying His Word. My heavenly Father will not spare me—because He loves me deeply.’” —David Wilkerson

Poetry Saturday—Work For The Day Is Coming

Annie Coghill
Work, for the Day is coming,
Day in the Word foretold,
When, ‘mid the scenes triumphant,
Longed for by saints of old,
He, who on earth a stranger
Traversed its paths of pain,
Jesus, the Prince, the Savior,
Comes evermore to reign.

Work, for the Day is coming,
Darkness will soon be gone;
Then o’er the night of weeping
Day without end shall dawn.
What now we sow in sadness
Then we shall reap in joy;
Hope will be changed to gladness,
Praise be our blest employ.

Work, for the Day is coming,
Made for the saints of light;
Off with the garments dreary,
On with the armor bright:
Soon will the strife be ended,
Soon all our toils below;
Not to the dark we’re tending,
But to the Day we go.

Work, then, the Day is coming,
No time for sighing now;
Prize for the race awaits thee,
Wreaths for the victor’s brow.
Now morning Light is breaking,
Soon will the Day appear;
Night shades appall no longer,
Jesus, our Lord, is near. —Annie Coghill

7 Quotes From “The Greatest Words Ever Spoken”

The Grestest Words Ever SpokenObviously the best quotes from The Greatest Words Ever Spoken are from Jesus Himself. But Steven K. Scott, who complied the words of Christ into this unique format (you may read my book review by clicking here) had some good things to say too.

“No occurrence in history or physical science has been verified with a higher degree of statistical certainty than the fact that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be—the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 

“We cannot worship the Father in spirit or in truth unless we see Him for who He really is and understand His relationship with the Son.”

“Agnostics hold the position that they simply do not know if God exists. Atheists, on the other hand, claim intellectual superiority over all others, saying they know there is no God.”

“If you want to know what God thinks and feels, how He acts and works, what grieves Him and what pleases Him, all you have to do is read the words and observe the behavior of Jesus Christ.”

“Several years ago a string of four letters took the Christian community by storm. It seemed like WWJD, which stands for ‘What would Jesus do?’ was everywhere—and why not? When a choice has to be made, is any other question more important to ask? The answer is ‘Yes, one question is more important. One question Christians should ask before choosing any course of action, making any spiritual decision, or adopting any value or belief.’ That question is ‘WDJS: what did Jesus say?’ This is the question Christians need to ask because in many situations we simply can’t know for sure what Jesus would do, so we are left to figure it out for ourselves. And figuring it out may require more wisdom, revelation, insight, and spiritual maturity than we possess at the time. … Jesus made more statements about how His followers should live and what they should believe than about any other group of topics.”

“By nature, we evaluate nearly every situation according to its immediate impact on our desires, and we make our choices accordingly. Consequently, we often sacrifice that which would bring infinite eternal benefit in exchange for temporary gratification.”

“Jesus shows us that blaming others for our failures is not only offensive to God; it is detrimental to our relationships. While we all want healthier relationships, most of us have a hard time breaking free from our natural inclinations. The words of Christ… can bring about extraordinary change in every relationship in your life, for the rest of your life. … We can have better relationships with anyone who crosses our path, but it doesn’t happen naturally. Jesus provides both the revelation and the power that frees us from our human nature.”

Links & Quotes

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These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting today.

[INFOGRAPHIC] How Long Is The Bible?

This is a part of a lengthy quote from Richard Baxter about a husband’s responsibility to maintain marital love: “Take more notice of the good, that is in your wives, than of the evil. Let not the observation of their faults make you forget or overlook their virtues. Love is kindled by the sight of love or goodness.” Check out the full quote.

[VIDEO] A pregnant mom finds out her son has Down Syndrome, and she’s scared. Watch how children with Down Syndrome respond to her.

John Piper on Lesbian Sex, HIV, Esau and Christ.

“You ask ‘for what’ God wants you. Isn’t the primary answer that He wants you. We’re not told that the lost sheep was sought out for anything except itself [Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:3-7]. Of course, He may have a special job for you: and the certain job is that of becoming more and more His.” —C.S. Lewis

The Greatest Words Ever Spoken (book review)

The Grestest Words Ever SpokenThe greatest Man to ever walk the earth had His words recorded for us. The Bible contains the words of Jesus, intermingled with the descriptions of the things He was doing and the reactions of those who heard and saw Him. In The Greatest Words Ever Spoken, Steven K. Scott has given us the words of Jesus gathered together in easy-to-search categories.

Many Bibles print the words of Christ in red to distinguish them from the rest of the text. In The Greatest Words Ever Spoken almost all you will read are red letter words. With only minimal chapter and category headings, and a few brief introductions to each chapter, Steven Scott steps aside and lets Jesus speak for Himself for over 500 pages.

I don’t think I’ve said this about another book before, but one of the most helpful things in this book is the table of contents. Seriously! It is so cool to be able to find a topic on which I want to absorb the perfect wisdom of Jesus Christ, and turn to that collection of His words on a specific topic. And with so many red letters greeting me on each page, I can let my guard down and drink it all in.

I quickly scanned through this entire book to be able to give you my thoughts, but now I am right back into it, reading slowly and hungrily. It’s so good! The full Bible cannot be beat for giving you the context and setting for Christ’s remarks, but when you want to get right down to the bare essence of what the Master said, you can’t beat The Greatest Words Ever Spoken.

I am a Waterbrook Multnomah book reviewer.

Links & Quotes

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These are links to articles and quotes I found interesting this weekend.

Read this one prayerfully: Why Christian Supporters Of Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Are Wrong.

Some on-the-go missionaries explain How Technology Helps Our Marriage.

Continue to let your voice be heard to save Pastor Saaed from his wrongful imprisonment in Iran.

Amen! “The minister must experience what he would teach or he will find himself in the impossible position of trying to drive sheep. For this reason he should seek to cultivate his own heart before he attempts to preach to the hearts of others.” —A.W. Tozer

[VIDEO] John Maxwell explains why failure is not fatal.

[VIDEO] HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius proves why so many people don’t trust Washington, D.C.

Scientists show that the 5-Second Rule for food on the floor is legit!

“It is a mistake to think we must feel good before we pray; we need to pray most of all when we feel poor, and empty, and weak.” —Hannah Whitall Smith

Loving The Pastor’s Wife

A Pastor Can Love His WifeDave Bruskas has a wonderful post on the Resurgence website (please read the full article by clicking here) called 4 Ways A Pastor Can Love His Wife Well.

Here’s one of the best quotes—

“A pastor’s first flock is his home, and his favorite first flock member is his wife.”

Think of it this way: Marriage is a picture of the relationship Christ wants to have with the Church. So He is described as loving her unconditionally, giving everything up for her, making her His sole focus. So the way you can love your wife best is to love her like Jesus loves His bride.

So, my dear pastor:

  • Don’t expend all your energy on others so that you don’t have any energy left when you get home.
  • Don’t use your most creative forms of communication for your Sunday sermons, and give your wife your leftovers.
  • Don’t get all “talked out” with parishioners so that you’re too tired to talk when you get home.

Your ministry to your wife pleases God. Only when that relationship is working can God bless your other ministry efforts. 

Thursdays With Oswald—Too Focused On Numbers?

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Oswald Chambers

Too Focused On Numbers? 

     We don’t go in for making disciples today, it takes too long; we are all for passionate evangelism—taken up with adding to the statistics of saved souls, adding to denominational membership, taken up with the things which show splendid success. Jesus Christ took the long, long trail—“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself”—take time to make up your mind. Men were not to be swept into the Kingdom on tidal waves of evangelism, not to have their wits paralyzed by supernatural means; they were to come deliberately, knowing what they were doing. One life straight through to God on the ground of discipleship is more satisfactory in His sight than numbers who are saved but go no further.

From Conformed To His Image

When Jesus first called His disciples He simply said, “Follow Me.” They followed Him for nearly four years, learning from Him exactly what it meant to be disciples. There was not one “Aha!” moment of complete surrender to Jesus, but a long, gradual, sometimes stumbling and painful process to discipleship.

Jesus was focused on true disciples, not multitudes of fickle fans.

Why have we gotten this backwards in our churches? When someone asks, “How’s your church doing,” they are really asking, “How many people show up on Sundays?” Perhaps a better gauge of God-honoring success would be: How many disciples?

What do you think?