Meditations in Ephesians on the Spirit of God

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

1) In the book of Ephesians, we see Paul praying for the church, that they may be "strengthened with power through the Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith." They need this strengthing for the dwelling of Christ more richly in their hearts!

2) The Spirit is God's Spirit. Desiring the Spirit is not just a hunger for spiritual experiences. Rather, it is a hungar for God himself!

3) This indwelling Spirit gives them strength to comprehend the dimensions of Jesus love, a knowledge of the love that surpasses knowledge. Help me have a massive view of the magnetude of your love!

4) The indwelling of the Spirit brings power and strength, but also relationship and intimacy with God and Jesus. Oh, Lord, this is what I crave. Relationship and closeness to you my Father, and strength to fulfil all that you have given me to do. I need your Spirit more than I have at the moment!

For this reason because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit (The Spirit-Holy Spirit) of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe...

Ephesians 1:15-19

5) The spirit referred to here is the Spirit of God, the Spirit who gives us wisdom about God and revelation of who he is. Lord, I want to know you more. As Paul prayed for the church, so I pray for myself. Give me the fullness of your Spirit more so that I may understand and know you more!

6) Paul also makes the point that the Spirit not only enables us to know God himself more, but that he also enables us to know the hope to which we are called. Oh, how we need to know the hope to which we are called. Hope deferred makes the heart sick! I want to know the hope which I have. This is a work of the Spirit of God in our souls.

7) Not only do we know the hope to which we are called, but we know that tidal wave of power that is for us who believe. Knowledge of this power is a massive boost of confidence for the mission. There is "immeasurable greatness" saving us and surging us forward!


Lord, my desire is know know you, love you, delight in you. I see scripture teaching that these longings are created and fulfilled by God the Spirit in our hearts. Father, you say that none of your children who ask for a gift will be given a curse (Luke 11:11-13). Your greatest gift is yourself. Pour out your Spirit!

Baptism in the Spirit, signs and wonders-Piper’s passionate defence

You Will Be Baptized with the Holy Spirit

How Signs and Wonders Helped Add Multitudes to the Lord

Another example of the bible’s teaching not fitting into the stereotyped reformed/charismatic boxes. I was really stirred by these sermons-not for the debate points but rather for the mission potential. The church was designed to operate through this power-we need more of His Spirit! Its well worth downloading the audio (from www.desiringgod.org) to get the sermon preached-can’t compare it to the reading.

TRUST, WRESTLE, THINK, FIGHT, BELIEVE!

How do we overcome sin? will-power? discipline? "just say No". Romans, especially chapter 6, gives us a battle plan. Here are 5 strategies:

1) Trust the truth of Romans 1-5!

Romans 1-5 teaches us that we are JUSTIFIED! We stand without guilt before God, despite our regular mess-ups. Knowing that you wear a righteousness not of your own, the perfect righteousness of Jesus, means you know you are no longer in God's bad books. On the cross, Jesus exchanged his perfection for your sin. He was punished for that sin, and you were accepted for his perfection. You are now viewed as guiltless before God. With the crippling power of guilt broken, you can know that you are, and will be (on judgement day), accepted by God!


2) Wrestle with the complexity of Romans 6!

We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

Romans 6:1-10

Easy? No! Quick fix? Seems tough! Meaty? You bet! Solid? Like a Rock! The reality is that not all things in the bible are simple to understand. Many of the greatest, most powerful truths require thought, meditation, prayer and effort. This passage is one of them. It requires wrestling!

If you want to be a shrub, then glaze over Romans 6, leave it to the theologians and stop reading this article right now! If you want to be a baobab however, then wrestle with the truths of this passage.

This is what I see:

You died to sin!
When? When Jesus died on Golgotha!
Who died? Who you where in Adam. Basically, the old you that was a servant of slavemaster Sin!
Why? To be free from slavemaster Sin
Strange? Yes!
True? Yes!

You were resurrected!
When? When Christ was resurrected!
Who rose? The new you, created in Christ to do good works prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10)
Why? To to share in Christ's life which he lives to the glory of God
Strange? Yes!
True? Yes!

How did you die and rise? God viewed you as UNITED with Christ! Your "old man", to his death; your "new man", to his resurrection.

Why does Paul mention baptism? It is a physical demonstration of the reality of your death, burial and resurrection. In essence, a drama of your spiritual reality!

3) Think in sync with the truth!

In the same way, count (also: reckon or consider) yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:11

Because you are united to Christ, you need to think in a certain way if you want to fight sin. Count yourself, consider yourself, reckon yourself...dead to Sin. This is what happened. Your "old man" was crucified with Jesus so that you are free from Sin! Therefore don't think like you're not free! So many Christians refer to themselves as nothing but filthy rotten sinners. RUBBISH! If you think like that you're whacked and not in line with truth. Sure, you sin, but that's not your fundamental identity. Don't think like it is. Don't use the "I'm nothing but a sinner" excuse to carry on serving your old slave master, Sin. You no longer belong to him because that old self, which did belong to him, died! That's not you any more. Your new identity is now free to say NO to Sin and follow your new Master, God.

4) Fight the rebels!

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Romans 6:12-13

Slavemaster Sin won't give up his old throne (your body) without a fight! He knows that ultimately you follow your deepest desires. Therefore, he takes desires (which are neutral), twists them to be wicked, and uses them to control your body in a way that mocks God and is self destructive! DO NOT LET HIM REIGN!!!! He doesn't belong on the throne, God does. Let God, who has taken you from death to life, take your desires and direct them to what is truly most desirable: Himself. Then, those God-targeted desires will control your mortal body so that you glorify God and build yourself.

Don't fight your desire for pleasure with will-power; you'll lose! Don't fight it with self denial of pleasure; you'll give in! Rather, fight pleasure with pleasure; desire with desire. The pleasures of all that God has to offer (solid, healthy, eternally satisfying!) with the pleasures Sin has to offer (empty, destructive, fleeting).

Trust, wrestle, think...and on the basis of those, FIGHT! Say NO! pleasure vs pleasure. Don't believe the lie that sin is better. Prefer the pleasures/desires/passions of God!

5) Finally, Believe the promise!

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Romans 6:14

This verse is not a command...it's a promise. It's a promise that if you are UNITED to Jesus, you are under his favour and Sin shall not, no matter how hard he tries, be your master. God makes sure of that. Ultimately, that's where our confidence for winning the fight lies-the promise of God!

TRUST, WRESTLE, THINK, FIGHT, BELIEVE! Not for wimps...

I need your opinion/help!

We are currently in the process of designing a website for the new church plant from Jubilee into Port Elizabeth. The name of the church is New Nation. Below are two possible options for the front page (often called the splash page) of the website.

This is where I need your help. Could you let me know which of the two designs you feel is better. By better, I mean more attractive to new comers to the "digital front door" of the church. If you came accross these two "doors", which one would you feel more compelled to knock (actually, click) on?


Let me know and add some reasons if you have time. (Do this by posting a comment at the bottom of this post)

Thanks!
Jon

A heat and light vision for student/20's

As young people we have, God willing, many years ahead of us! This is awesome! Our joy as students and 20's is to spend ourselves for what satisfies most. We want God! We echo the words of
David in psalm 27:

One thing I ask of the Lord
This will I seek
That I may dwell in the courts of the Lord all the days of my life
To gaze upon His beauty
And seek Him In his temple!

As people that have experienced the unmatched pleasure of knowing God, we are grateful. We don't deserve to know the one true God in this way. All of us have broken pasts that have dishonoured God. Yet, God's passion for his Being to be worshipped in our souls is greater than the corruption of our sin!

We believe that God became man, the man Jesus. He broke into human history and, through a life of humility, love, compassion and truth, satisfied God's righteous requirements. Then, in the greatest event thus far in creation history, God revealed the fullness of his Glory in Jesus. The God-man Jesus, though he was innocent and knew no sin, became sin on behalf of those who hated him. He substituted himself for evil doers, past, present and future. He absorbed the fury of the Almighty God against their sin. A fury that would have consumed man eternally, Jesus bore in his body and soul. On the cross he died in the place of his people. He was punished for our peace. Yet death could not chain down his indestructible life. Jesus drank the cup of damnation dry. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead. He now reigns with God and as God over all creation.

As his people, rescued by his mission of the cross, we place our hope and aspirations in Jesus and all that is in store for him. We believe that one day he will return and all creation will acknowledge him for who he really is-God himself. He will be be glorified and we, his people, will share in that glory!

Until then, we live our lives to know him and make him known throughout our world. We do this in word and deed. We follow his example of humility, love, compassion and truth. We rely on him to deal with our sins and give us power, through his Spirit whom he sent, to overcome those sins. In the same way he loved the scriptures, we aim to love the scriptures. In the same way he was filled with God's Spirit, we aim to be filled with God's Spirit. Ultimately, in the same way he was on a mission, a mission to make God's plan of salvation known, we too are on a mission. The very same mission. To make God's salvation, namely Jesus, known to all peoples.

This is where we come full circle! As students and twenties we have, God willing, much time to do this! It's time to do what we were designed and created for...to glorify God through joyful hearts and sacrificial lives! Lets not waste them on on trivial fads. Rather, let us spend ourselves for the cause of Christ.

great quote from Piper

"The soul is measured by its flights,
Some low and others high,
The heart is known by its delights,
And pleasures never lie."

John Piper, Pleasures of God

Highlander

“The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.”

Spurgeon

What pastors should learn from Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards was a pastor/theologian. Piper argues that this is an essential combination that our church needs today and for the future! These are the main points he feels pastors should digest from Edwards' life.

1) Be radically single-minded in you commitment to know God

2) Labour earnestly to know the Scriptures (Get your vision of God primarily from the bible, not theologians, blogs, God-TV or Desiringgod.com)

3) Redeem the time and do what our hands find to do with all our might (be disciplined)

4) Study for the sake of heart felt worship and practical obedience (Cultivate a passion AND knowledge of God)

5) In all your study and in all your pastoral labour, seek to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.

Download the audio which is worth listening to again and again.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1458_The_Pastor_as_Theologian/

Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause and to enable you to dispute with others, seek it for the benefit of your souls and in order to practice with what knowledge you have!

Why I trust the bible: part 1

In our world we are faced with many claims to truth, both religious and secular. Being a Christian in this world has forced me to think about why I believe that the bible reveals absolute truth. In this series of posts, I aim to share some of my journey to believing that the scriptures in the bible are in fact the truth. This series will have various parts that form my argument for why I trust the bible as divine and authoritative. I hope that as you see the path that I have travelled in coming to trust the bible, you too will be deepened in your confidence that it is the very word of God. Please feel free to ask questions if you have.

Part 1: the cornerstone of my confidence

Before coming to any sort of confidence in the inspiration and reliability of scripture, I met a person, Jesus. I didn't have a physical encounter. No angels, bright light or epiphany. Rather, I was told about him. People at various times and places told me different things about the man called Jesus (things that were admittedly from the bible). As the personality of Jesus became more formed in my mind, I began to think that he may not just be a mythical or legendary figure, as I had previously suspected. The things he had reportedly said were too real, too inappropriate, too loving, too harsh, too insightful, too novel, too timeless. In essence, too truth-like.

Then there was the testimony of history (both biblical and secular). His existence could not be denied. He was real and the notion of him as merely as a legend began to fade. The person of Jesus started to become real, and as I looked at what he said and did, he became increasingly credible and compelling. His teaching pierced to the heart of issues that we still face today. His humility, love and compassion drew me to him. His harshness showed me that he was not trying to curry the favour of men, but rather he stood for truth, and the glory of another. His effect on the world, considering that he was a simple carpenter that had no social status or rank, is totally unmatched (yet obvious for everyone to see if human history is studied). All these aspects of the person of Jesus led me to begin to place my confidence in him for an explanation of our world and for reality.

More than anything, however, his mission to die in the place of sinners as their substitute addressed one of the greatest needs and questions I had. How can I be justly reconciled to a God that must, by the constrains of his own just character, punish offenders (I had come to acknowledge that I was one of them). Jesus answered that question for me with an answer that didn't just teach me facts but revealed to me the holiness and love of God. That answer was the cross, and this was the ultimate aspect of Jesus that won my confidence. A God who is dies a humiliating, brutal death at the hands of men whom he prays for. This is what Jesus said he would do. On the cross he followed through.

I have come to trust him. I trust his words and claims, even his claims to divinity. Jesus to me is such an incredibly credible combination of qualities, teachings and deeds, that he must be divine. If he is merely the product of someone's imagination, then that someone must be divine. So, before I came to trust the scriptures, I came to trust a person whom I met through my personal reading of the biblical accounts, teaching of other people I trusted and my understanding of the world in which I live.

Before relying on the evidence of archaeology, history or textual analysis (helpful means to determining reliability of documents), I encountered a person portrayed in the gospel writings. This person stood out to me as real and glorious and he is the cornerstone of why I trust the bible.

Next: Why I trust the Old Testament writings with all their weird events and claims
Future topics:

• What about the New testament?
• Isn't this all a circular argument?
• What does history tell us about the assembly of the cannon (books in the bible)? how was each book chosen?
  
• Aren't there loads of errors in the bible?
• How believing in the sovereignty of God helps?
  
• What can I read to learn more about this?
  

HEAT AND LIGHT

Our people don't so much need to have their heads stored as to have their hearts touched and they stand in the greatest need of that sort of preaching that has the greatest tendency to do this.

Jonathan Edwards

great quote!

The God of Love and Justice

"Learn, my Friends, to look upon God as being as severe in His justice as if He were not loving—and yet as loving as if He were not severe."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Power for our mission

This is my last sermon from Grace Church on how we get the mission done according to Jesus in Acts 1. Hope you are stirred and made thirsty!



you can download it by clicking "download this mp3" button once the player has opened

Does any of this look familiar?

As a lover of both coffee and the Church, I thought that this was great!
Enjoy!

Man, this is inspiring!

Watched this and was amped to have it on my blog for those who may miss it elsewhere. Most probably won't be there but I encourage you to download the podcasts-it's gonna be good, i'm sure!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v32UvLWH1pg&feature=player_embedded

Resurgence of the Local Church!

Lloyd Jones' opinion on the Spirit baptism

This is a summary of a sermon preached Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the baptism of the Spirit. If you don't believe that this is what the old "pope" of reformed theology actually said, then check it out for yourself. In the up coming weeks I will be writing about why I believe this is not a peripheral, side-line, "open-handed", doesn't-really-matter issue for the church today (and throughout all generations). I think that it is particularly relevant to a generation of missional new Calvinists who desire to see the God of the Word (the one One and Only!) made known throughout the world. Also want to pay tribute to the contributors of the "Word from Ern" blog for summarizing this sermon. Hope you are challenged to think and thirst!

Sermon: The Baptism of the Spirit and Regeneration.

Text: John 1: 26, 33

Introductory Comments:

"Perhaps the greatest danger of all for Christian people is the danger of understanding Scripture in the light of their own experiences. We should not examine Scripture in light of our own experiences but we should examine our experiences in the light of Scripture".

"The ... danger then is that of being satisfied with something very much less than what is offered in Scripture, and the danger of interpreting Scritpure by our experiences and reducing its teaching to the level of what we know and experience. And I would say that this ... is the greater danger ... at the present time".

"Look at the New Testament Christian, look at the New Testament church and you see it vibrant with a spiritual life and of course it is always life that tends to lead to excess. There is no problem of discipline in a graveyard; there is no problem very much in a formal church. The problems arise when there is life".

"We discover the following things: there are obviously steps and stages in the Christian life".

1. Principle of Sermon:

"Here is the first principle: It is possible for us to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ without having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit".

"I am suggesting that this is something which is therefore obviously distinct from and seperate from becoming a Christian, being regenerate, having the Holy Spirit dwelling within you".

2. First Proof: The Old Testament Saints.

"They were as much children of God as you and I are".

"If you think that the Old Testament saints were not children of God you are denying the whole of the Scripture. They were. But they had not been baptised with the Holy Spirit".

"But what about John the Baptist himself? ... John the Baptist is a son of God, he is a child of God and yet John was not baptised with the Holy Spirit".

3. Second Proof: The Apostles Themselves.

"Surely it is quite obvious that the apostles were regenerate and were children of God before the Day of Pentecost".

"These men are not only believers, they are regenerate men, the Holy Spirit has been breathed upon them (John 20) yet they have not been baptised with the Holy Spirit".

4. Third Proof: The Apostle Paul.

"It is so vital that we should start with Scripture, not with our prejudices, not with what we think, not what we are afraid of. "Ah" you may say, "Now you have said that tongues are alright". I am sure many are thinking that. You wait a minute; I shall deal with the question of gifts when it comes to the right place. You do not start with that". - I love that quote! I can just imagine the Doctor saying it! But his point is particularly vital for all of a Third Wave persuasion. You don't start with the gifts. We must be primarily concerned with receiving the Spirit in His Person.

Re: Ananias: "He does not instruct him (Paul) on the way of salvation. He is sent to heal him and to fill him with the Holy Spirit, to give him the baptism of the Holy Spirit ... You can, you see receive the Holy Spirit before you are baptised (in water) or the other way round - it does not matter at all".

5. Fourth Proof: Apollos and Cornelius.

"It seems to me this is the only adequate explanation of the story about him. This was the thing that Priscilla and Aquila recognised as lacking in Apollos and about which they told him and it made all the difference to him".

"It is possible for a man to be baptised with the Holy Spirit virtually simultaneously with his belief. Take the case of Cornelius and his household. You remember we are told in Acts 10 that as Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. There it seems that the baptism with the Holy Spirit happened 'as they were believing'".

"Now there is an absolute proof that you can be a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and still not be baptised with the Holy Spirit; that incident proves it. The question at the beginning and what actually happened subsequently. The important point is that there is a difference, there is a distinction between believing and being baptised with the Holy Spirit".

6. Final Proof: Ephesians 1:13

"It is only the believer who is baptised with the Spirit or receives the seal of the Spirit. It is the same order again. The believing is the first thing but being baptised is something that does not of necessity happen at the same time. It may - it may not. But it is distinct and seperatem so the Apostle does seperate them".

"All I am trying to establish is this: that you can be regenerate without being baptised with the Holy Spirit".

7. Conclusion:

"The Scriptures that I have adduced to you show quite clearly that to say, as so many have said and are still saying, that every man at regeneration is of necessity baptised with the Holy Spirit, is simply to fly in the face of this plain, explicit teaching of the Holy Scriptures".

How my understanding of salvation has changed over the years

The sovereignty of God in our salvation

I am writing this for several reasons. Firstly, I want to help order my thoughts on this issue. I have often struggled with different aspects of it but feel that, over the past two years my understanding has increased and my sense of unsettledness has decreased. At different stages, I have felt revelation from God on the issue. I am so appreciative of that and want to write what I have leant and felt down so that it is not lost.

Secondly, I know that this issue is one that is unclear in the minds of many people, including myself. Even though I am no expert, I feel that I have revelation to share. What I feel God has given me is not meant to be contained. I really believe that it is good news. What I have heard and learnt is humbling but empowering. Love kindling and intellectually satisfying (although not water tight and clear cut by any means-what you would expect of an infinitely complex God). More than anything, I really believe it is true to God's revealed expression, the bible. At the end of the day, that’s what’s important.

Lord, You’ve given us the revelation of truth in the bible and your Holy Spirit to enable us to see that truth. Have mercy on me if any of the conclusions I have drawn do not bring you the glory due your name. I am young and hardly know that weight of the glory I am speaking of. Still, I feel that you can speak to the young so I write this in faith that you have revealed to me truth, or at least a dim reflection of it, and that I should share that truth. Guard me from any arrogance or pretense or conceit. I have already had to fight this off. May this be for your glory alone.

Lastly, I am writing this because it is my joy to delight in the truth of the word which ultimately reveals God. Thus, it is my joy to delight in God! This is not dead doctrine. These are realities which, when seen with the eyes of the heart, reveal more than just spiritual laws and facts. Ah...these truths speak of his great love for us! They show me the depth of my need and the total dependence that I have on him! They show me how he care for me and the lengths that he went to to bring me into his family!

Lord, your steadfast love is better than life, and so the more I see it the better life is. Writing these feelings down leaves me more convicted of the truth and more besotted and enthralled by you. Lord, come and take your truth deep into my heart so I can see you and your works for what they really are. Then my soul will feast!


What is man’s attitude toward God apart from salvation?


1) Dead in our sins: Ephesians 2:1-3

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.

2) Lost, going our own way

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:25

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6

3) All enemies of God

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, a doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him

Colossians 1:21-22

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:10
4) Haters of God

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1:18-32
5) Lovers of the darkness

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

John 3:19

6) We despised Him

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.


Isaiah 53: 3

What did our will want?

These descriptions of our hearts, desires and natures prior to salvation are really quite amazing. Modern man (and much of modern christianity) often depicts itself as those who, realizing their predicament, choose to cry out to a God for help. That, at least, was my understanding for many years, even after becoming a christian. Sometimes we humans are compared to those who are drowning in sin (a cliche, I know), yet crying out for a saviour.

But is this really the case? Is this what man truly wills? Is it true that humans are all searching for God because they really want to know him and glorify him? Does man sincerely want to be saved from his situation prior to salvation? At the heart of the question is this: Does any man's (or women's) will stir him or her to seek God? The answer from these texts is a shockingly clear. As the psalmist says,

God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Psalm 53:2-3

Well, it seems that these texts give the bible's answer to that question. What does man really will or want or desire? Words such as "hate", "despise" and "hostile" describe the human race's attitude toward God. It seems that if there is something that man really does ultimately desire or will, it's definitely not God or any sort of relationship with him. What becomes clear is that our our will drove us away from God, not towards him.

Now the reason I say this is shocking is that if you look at the world of religion, it seems that man, since the beginning of civilization, has been seeking God. Count the number of religions that exist. Are they not all attempts at finding God? Well, it seems that the answer from the bible is that they are not. It appears that these passages of scripture teach that man, with all his religions, is not seeking God. He may be seeking god, a god of his own psychology that makes sense of his culture and experiences. But what about God. Not the subjective notion of God that people create in their minds, but the objective reality of God.

In essence, it seems that the scriptures teach that mans will is in no way inclined to the loving or desiring or honor of God. Rather, it repeatedly makes plain that man rejects God and this is something that involves his will. It's not only a matter of ignorance of the Objective reality of God. It's a matter of rebellion and enmity!


How could God bring salvation to us?

Now, if salvation requires that we be beings that delight and cherish and enjoy and seek God, then how can any be saved? As we have seen, the scripture teaches that no man on earth, no matter what religion or culture, seeks the true and living God. Beings will according to their natures and the biblical description of our nature is own that will in favor of God.


Now here is the aspect of the biblical description of salvation that is most offensive to man and his pride. If God wanted to save he would have to act in a way that changed our will and our wishes (which were clearly not desiring God). He would have to infringe on our "free will" to save us because we did not want him to save us. We delighted in sin and encouraged others to do the same. Yet God had a will-He willed, before the creation of the world, that I be saved and, because of His great love for me, God did not hold in ultimate regard my free will. He broke into my life with an act of power. He made all things new. He didn't force me against my will but rather worked at a deeper level. He powerfully, against the will of my nature, changed my will by giving me a new nature! This is what the bible calls being born again. Spiritually we become new creations when God speaks his transforming word. He gave a new spirit. One totally different to the old nature. One that delights in the Creator. A nature with new eyes, eyes that have the capacity to see his glory and respond to it with love and joy unspeakable!

This realization changed my understanding of salvation completely. Previously I viewed salvation primarily as a choice. I thought I had chosen life and God had graciously granted my request to be saved. What I have seen since then is that grace is much more radical than that. Yes, salvation involves a choice but in it's essence, salvation is something that happened to me. The primary will behind what happened to me was not mine but God's. Autonomy is ultimately a realty, but it's not our autonomy, its Gods autonomy.

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases!

God didn't love and choose me because I first loved him. Grace chose me, despite my hostility, before I ever conceived of choosing Him!
In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

I thank God for this!

What about our “free will”?

If God had not vetoed our “free will” we would be for eternity where we wanted to be, according to the bibles description of our nature and desires. We would be away from God. We would be in Hell. It is because God loved us and bore in love our resistances that we will find ourselves in heaven, seated at the throne of God. Therefore, let us not entertain that we, out of our own free will chose God. “For you did not choose me, I chose you” said Jesus. No, We love God because he first loved us. He took divine initiative in our lives and gave us a new spirit that cries, “Abba, Father!” not because it chose to before salvation (an hence we would deserve at least some credit), but because through salvation it was created to! He created in us a new spirit that can now respond to God with love. When we were saved he placed his Spirit in us. And this is why through the centuries, there have been those that have maintained that we are saved by grace and grace alone. For it was sheer grace that we received this new heart. not because we earned it or even desired it. Luther said that we make no contribution to our salvation but the sin which nailed Jesus to the cross. I thank God that he didn't give me over to my own will prior to salvation!

What then are our human decisions to follow God?

I believe that these are indispensable and inevitable expressions of our salvation. Without them we show that a new creation has not happened. When we choose Christ (initially and everyday), we are expressing what God has already done for us and in us. Obedience and joy in God are now expressions of our new nature. Our decisions are meaningful because they come from our will. Yet our will has only God to thank for it's orientation. He chose us before the creation of the world for salvation. Our salvation is not based on upon our decision but on God’s will, his purpose in election. Let this kindle your heart with love toward Almighty God. Before the creation of the world, He had already decided that he would, though the sacrifice of Christ, rescue you from the inevitable consequences of your own nature and will. From eternity past, he had his eyes set on you, to the praise of his glorious grace. And this he did with the terrible pain of the cross in mind. He made you alive through His death and resurrection. All we can do is stand humbled and in awe! This is how he sets love ablaze in our hearts. When we really see the greatness and sacrifice of the gospel. Praise his holy Name forever and ever and ever!

Give youth more than 'popcorn and peanuts"

Recently I stumbled across this Time Magazine article on youth ministry in the States. As someone who has come through youth ministry and now involved in it, I whole heartedly agree with the main message of this article: That young people are yearning for truth, not flashing lights and silly games. I had the privilege of having a youth leader that emphasized the reality that we don't have to choose between God and satisfaction in life. As we come to know Jesus in the word (which needs to be taught regularly), we see that God is satisfaction. If you are youth leader, don't feel that you are inflicting doctrine on your young people (as if it needed some sort of apology). Rather, realise that what they really need (and actually want) is not a Christianized version on house parties (which are usually lame!) but the truth about the universe, themselves and the Lord of it all, Jesus.

Check it out on: www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1552027,00.html

Charismatically reformed reading

If you like reading the dudes that believe in the absolute sovereignty of God but also in the need for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, here's a great book. The "Doctor's" passion for the fullness of the Spirit is seriously contagious (as well as solidly justified by the scriptures). It's not a short read, but one that is definitely worth it!

Time magazine on the new calvinism

Here's a Time Magazine article about what they call "Neo-calvinism". According to Time, it is one of the top 10 ideas shaping our world today.

If you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900s you might have heard "The Old Rugged Cross," a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of "Shine, Jesus, Shine." And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are...well, hark the David Crowder Band: "I am full of earth/ You are heaven's worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity."

Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision.

Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation's other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by "glorifying" him. In the 1700s, Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards invested Calvinism with a rapturous near mysticism. Yet it was soon overtaken in the U.S. by movements like Methodism that were more impressed with human will. Calvinist-descended liberal bodies like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discovered other emphases, while Evangelicalism's loss of appetite for rigid doctrine — and the triumph of that friendly, fuzzy Jesus — seemed to relegate hard-core Reformed preaching (Reformed operates as a loose synonym for Calvinist) to a few crotchety Southern churches.

No more. Neo-Calvinist ministers and authors don't operate quite on a Rick Warren scale. But, notes Ted Olsen, a managing editor at Christianity Today, "everyone knows where the energy and the passion are in the Evangelical world" — with the pioneering new-Calvinist John Piper of Minneapolis, Seattle's pugnacious Mark Driscoll and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the huge Southern Baptist Convention. The Calvinist-flavored ESV Study Bible sold out its first printing, and Reformed blogs like Between Two Worlds are among cyber-Christendom's hottest links.

Like the Calvinists, more moderate Evangelicals are exploring cures for the movement's doctrinal drift, but can't offer the same blanket assurance. "A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation," says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. "They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God." Mohler says, "The moment someone begins to define God's [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist." Of course, that presumption of inevitability has drawn accusations of arrogance and divisiveness since Calvin's time. Indeed, some of today's enthusiasts imply that non-Calvinists may actually not be Christians. Skirmishes among the Southern Baptists (who have a competing non-Calvinist camp) and online "flame wars" bode badly.

Calvin's 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin's latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country's infancy.

Written by David van Biema f0r Time Magazine

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html

18th century wrestling and it's difference to WWE

Ever Struggled with what the bible teaches about God being in control...of everything?! This is a scary thought, and certainly one that doesn't sit too sweetly with our "you're the master of your own destiny" culture. Well, if you wrestle with these truths, that's a good thing! Just the fact that they are thoughts that cross your mind is an act of God. The world in general couldn't give a rip as to who actually determines the course of human history and the fate of men's (and women's) souls. So, if doctrines like "election", "predestination", and "absolute sovereignty" disturb you, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows...maybe these things which are now "bitter in the mouth" will become "sweet in the stomach" (as an old theologian whose name I have forgotten once said)

Here's the account of a guy called Jonathan Edwards (American theologian/philosopher 1703-1758) and how he wrestled with the truth that God indeed determines all things according to his plan.

"From my childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God's sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased; leaving them eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to this sovereignty of God, and his justice in thus eternally disposing of men, according to his sovereign pleasure. But never could give an account, how, or by what means, I was thus convinced, not in the least imagining at the time, nor a long time after, that there was any extraordinary influence of God's Spirit in it; but only that now I saw further, and my reason apprehended the justice and reasonableness of it. However, my mind rested in it; and it put an end to all those cavils and objections. And there has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, in respect to the doctrine of God's sovereignty, from that day to this; so that I scarce ever have found so much as the rising of an objection against it, in the most absolute sense, in God's strewing mercy to whom he will shew mercy, and hardening whom he will. God's absolute sovereignty and justice, with respect to salvation and damnation, is what my mind seems to rest assured of, as much as of any thing that I see with my eyes; at least it is so at times. But I have often, since that first conviction, had quite another kind of sense of God's sovereignty than I had then. I have often since had not only a conviction, but a delightful conviction. The doctrine has very often appeared exceeding pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God. But my first conviction was not so."

The Fetter Lane Society

They began with the purpose of meeting once a week for prayer and fellowship. Most of their members consisted of Anglicans, most prominently John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield. John Wesley records in his journal for 1 January 1739:

"Mr. Hall, Hinching, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutching, and my brother Charles were present at our love feast in Fetter Lane with about 60 of our brethren. About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of His majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.'"

Being led by the Spirit and the sufficiency of scripture

Ever felt God lead you to do something? "Speak to that person", "Don't go to that place", "Give him some encouragement".

Now if the bible is all the guidance we need from God (sufficient), then should we write off these "promptings" as merely good human thoughts? Could it be that God is speaking to us-and not directly from the bible? Doesn't this go against the sufficiency of scripture?

I found a sermon by Piper (who refers to Lloyd-Jones) interesting on this topic. Here's an excerpt that I found helpful on the reality of "promptings" and the sufficiency of scripture.

Lloyd-Jones' Warning Not to Quench the Spirit

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the strong, Bible-based expository preacher of Westminster Chapel in London for almost 30 years between 1939 and 1968 used the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch to illustrate just this point. He cautioned against misuse, but he said,

Here again is a most extraordinary subject, and indeed a very fascinating one, and, from many angles, a most glorious one. There is no question but that God's people can look for and expect "leadings," "guidance," "indications of what they are meant to do." There are many examples of this in the Scriptures and I take one at random. You remember the story in Acts 8:26ff of how Philip the Evangelist was told by the angel of the Lord, "Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert". . .

Now there are leadings such as that . . . If you read the history of the saints, God's people throughout the centuries and especially the history of revivals, you will find that this is something which is perfectly clear and definite—men have been told by the Holy Spirit to do something; they knew it was the Holy Spirit speaking to them, and it transpired that it obviously was his leading. It seems clear to me that if we deny such a possibility we are again guilty of quenching the Spirit. (The Sovereign Spirit, pp. 89-90)

The reason I cite Martyn Lloyd-Jones is because he is one who believed in the unique authority and infallibility and sufficiency of the Scriptures. And one of the concerns expressed by people who love the Bible is that being open to supernatural guidance like Philip was might compromise the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Now obviously Martyn Lloyd-Jones did not think that it did. Why is that?

What the Sufficiency of Scripture Means

It's because what the sufficiency of Scripture means biblically is that Scripture gives us all we need for two things:

1. it gives all the authoritative truth we need in order to be saved and grow spiritually, and
2. it gives all the authoritative truth we need in order to make good judgments about what is right and wrong.

But the sufficiency of Scripture does not mean that God cannot speak through nature (Psalm 19:1) or that he cannot speak through the human conscience (Romans 2:15) or that he cannot speak through gifts of prophecy and wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8-10). It means that these are not sufficient to save us or nurture us or guide us. But the Scriptures are sufficient, in the sense that they give the only authoritative rule for completing and assessing those other kinds of revelations.

To read the full sermon check out:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1991/759_The_Leading_of_the_Lord_in_Personal_Evangelism/

He's got me...but does He really care?

As we live through the rough of life; when everything seems to be against our good, joy and happiness, we so often wonder "Is God really committed to my good?"

I was listening to a great old hymn called, "Here is love", when the Spirit gave me revelation of the amazing dimensions of God's goodness and love for His people through the life and death of Christ.

Stop and think about this: Did God value, cherish and seek the good of His Son, Jesus? What was the degree of His love for His Son? Well, at Jesus' baptism, this is what the Father says:

"This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased" .

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. The degree to which God is committed to the glory of His own good, is the degree to which He is committed to His Son, Jesus. God is not an idolater; He is first in His own affections-hence, so is His Son.

Now, how does this relate to the title of this post? Sure, God is committed to His own glory and good. Sure, He is committed to the good of Jesus. But what about His people, his Church, us? How much does he care?

Well, here is the connection and the verse that blew me away.

"He who did not spare his own (beloved, precious, cherished) Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things"

Romans 8:32

God, passionate for His own name, has connected the display of His glory with our good by not sparing his Son. Without the offering of His Son for us, we are stuffed and He is not the glorious God of love and justice. With His Son, we are saved and the glory of His grace is revealed! Christ died for the glory of the Father by displaying the great love of the Father, a love for us!It's not our value that we stand in awe of, but rather, the great love of God!

Where is our hope in life's storms, where even God seems to have turned his back on us? How can we be sure that in the end, He will give us what is truly good? It's in this truth: That He who has everything did not withhold the one thing that was most precious to Him-His Son. If He went as far, for His glory and our good, to give us His Son, will He not give us all other (far less precious) things. If God is for us, who can be against us.

"One point Calvinism" by Scott Thomas and JI Packer

I thought this was really good and that if you didn't see it on the acts29 site, you could catch it here.

One point Calvinism

By Pastor Scott Thomas, Acts 29 Director

As a church planter, I received more arguments over our position of Reformed Theology than I did everything else combined. It angered the most faithful of Christians and confused others. Only a handful, I believed, truly understood the doctrine of salvation as described in the Bible. It was a point of contention that got people off mission--even though it was not presented in a polarizing manner.

Packer

Recently I read The Five Points of Calvinism co-authored by David Steele, Curtis Thomas and Lance Quinn (P&R Publishing). I felt it was a shepherdly treatise on the doctrines of grace that can help the layman to understanding the centrality of God in the salvation of man. The book quotes JI Packer, whom I had the pleasure of spending the day with recently. I think his explanation of Calvinism as "one point" is brilliant.

Packer said, "The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine of salvation] in the form of five distinct points (a number due, as we saw, merely to the fact that there were five Arminian points for the Synod of Dort to answer) tends to obscure the organic character of Calvinistic thought on this subject. For the five points, though separately stated, are inseparable. They hang together; you cannot reject one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which the Synod meant them. For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners.

"God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing.

"Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.

"Sinners – men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners – and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedalling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen."

J.I. Packer, “Introductory Essage,” in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen (London: Banner of Truth, 1959) 4-5.

Church Planting: Modern fad or eternal purpose?

As someone who has had a glimpse of whats really really beautiful, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (as Paul puts it), I'm amped-very amped to see this more and more. Now, one of the ways this Glory is seen and appreciated and loved is in its refraction through the Church.

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

The apostle Paul writing to the Ephesian Church

So, is the current passion for church planting amongst young believers merely a substcription to the latest christian fad started by the likes of Driscoll and Keller? I dont think so! It's part of Gods eternal plan. At its root it's a desire to "bring to light for everyone" the glory of Jesus.

This is the heartbeat of true church planting-to make known the manifold wisdom of God! This deep theological truth works itself out in everyday life through local churches that faithfully and understandably make known the Gospel and lives lives that reflect its saving and changing power. Are you passionate for the expression of Gods greatness in our world? Then see from the scriptures that He has chosen to reveal it through Christ and His Church!

The Treasure In The Vessel

"Do you know, my friends, that the Spirit within you is very God? Oh that our eyes were opened to see the greatness of God’s gift! Oh that we might realize the vastness of the resources secreted in our own hearts! I could shout with joy as I think, ‘The Spirit who dwells within me is no mere influence, but a living Person; He is very God. The infinite God is within my heart!’ I am at a loss to convey to you the blessedness of this discovery, that the Holy Spirit dwelling within my heart is a Person. I can only repeat: ‘He is a Person!’ and repeat it again: ‘He is a Person!’ and repeat it yet again: ‘He is a Person!’ Oh, my friends, I would fain repeat it to you a hundred times—The Spirit of God within me is a Person! I am only an earthen vessel, but in that earthen vessel I carry a treasure of unspeakable worth, even the Lord of glory.

All the worry and fret of God’s children would end if their eyes were opened to see the greatness of the treasure hid in their hearts. Do you know, there are resources enough in your own heart to meet the demand of every circumstance in which you will ever find yourself? Do you know there is power enough there to move the city in which you live? Do you know there is power enough to shake the universe? Let me tell you once more—I say it with the utmost reverence: You who have been born again of the Spirit of God—you carry God in your heart!"

Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life

Some good reasons...for those who think we don't have reasons

Here are some good reasons from the pope of reformed theology, John Piper, on why we should believe in and seek an authentic experience which scripture calls the baptism in the Spirit. Hope this challenges you and encourages you!

"Now the positive thing I want to say about the moderate Pentecostal teaching (represented by the Bennets) is that it is right to stress the experiential reality of receiving the Spirit. When you read the New Testament honestly you can't help but get the impression of a big difference from a lot of contemporary Christian experience. For them the Holy Spirit was a fact of experience. For many Christians today it is a fact of doctrine. Surely the Charismatic renewal has something to teach us here. In sacramental churches the gift of the Holy Spirit is virtually equated with the event of water baptism. In Protestant evangelicalism it is equated with a subconscious work of God in regeneration which you only know you have because the Bible says you do if you believe. It is easy to imagine a spiritual counselor saying to a new convert today, "Don't expect to notice any difference: just believe you have received the Spirit." But that is far from what we see in the New Testament. The Pentecostals are right to stress the experience of being baptized in the Spirit.

Here are four reasons from Acts. 1) The very term "baptized in the Holy Spirit" (1:5; 11:16) implies an immersion in the life of the Spirit. "John immersed in water; you will be immersed in the Spirit." If the Spirit overwhelms you like a baptism you can't imagine him merely sneaking in quietly while you are asleep and taking up inconspicuous residence. That may be the way it starts (Paul may have this early movement in mind in 1 Cor. 12:13), but if it ends there Jesus and Luke would not call it a baptism in the Spirit.

2) Jesus says in Acts 1:5 and 8 that baptism in the Spirit means, "You shall receive power � and you shall be my witnesses." This is an experience of boldness and confidence and victory over sin. A Christian without power is a Christian who needs a baptism in the Holy Spirit. I am aware that in 1 Cor. 12:13 Paul says that baptism in the Spirit is an act of God by which we become a part of the body of Christ at conversion, so that in his terminology all genuine converts have been baptized in the Spirit. But we have done wrong in limiting Paul's understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit to this initial subconscious, divine act in conversion and then forcing all of Luke's theology in Acts into that little mold. There is no reason to think that even for Paul the baptism in the Holy Spirit was limited to the initial moment of conversion. And for sure in the book of Acts the baptism in the Holy Spirit is more than a subconscious divine act of regeneration�it is a conscious experience of power (Acts 1:8).

3) In fact the third reason I think this is that when you take your concordance and look up every text in Acts where the Holy Spirit works in believers it is never subconscious. In Acts the Holy Spirit is not a silent influence but an experienced power. Believers experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They didn't just believe it happened because an apostle said so.

4) The fourth reason we should stress the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit is that in Acts the apostles teach that it is a consequence of faith not a subconscious cause of faith. As a convinced Calvinist I believe with all my heart that the grace of God precedes and enables saving faith. We do not initiate our salvation by believing. God initiates it by enabling us to believe (Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 2:25; John 1:13). But this regenerating work of God's Spirit is not the limit of what Peter means by baptism in the Spirit. In Acts 11:15-17 Peter reports how the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius just as on the disciples at Pentecost. "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized in water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I should withstand God?" Notice that the gift of the Spirit, or baptism in the Spirit, is preceded by faith. The NASB correctly says in v. 17 that God gave the Holy Spirit after they believed. So the baptism of the Spirit (v. 16) or the receiving of the gift of the Spirit (v. 17) cannot be the same as the work of God before faith which enables faith (which Luke speaks of in 2:39; 5:31; 16:14; 11:18; 15:10; 14:27). The baptism in the Spirit is an experience of the Spirit given after faith to faith.

This is why Paul can say in Acts 19:2 when he meets the confused disciples of John the Baptist, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" What would a contemporary Protestant evangelical say in response to that question? I think we would say something like, "I thought we automatically received the Holy Spirit when we believed. I don't understand how you can even ask the question." How could Paul ask that question? He could ask it, I think, because receiving the Holy Spirit is a real experience. There are marks of it in your life. And the best way to test the faith of these so-called disciples is to ask them about their experience of the Spirit. This is no different than what Paul said in Romans 8:14, "All who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God" (see 2 Cor. 13:5 and 1 John 3:24; 4:12-13). I sometimes fear that we have so redefined conversion in terms of human decisions and have so removed any necessity of the experience of God's Spirit, that many people think they are saved when in fact they only have Christian ideas in their head not spiritual power in their heart.

So you see, the real issue the Charismatics raise for us is not the issue of tongues. In itself that is relatively unimportant. The really valuable contribution of the Charismatic renewal is their relentless emphasis on the truth that receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is a real, life-changing experience. Christianity is not merely an array of glorious ideas. It is not merely the performance of rituals and sacraments. It is the life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord of the universe.

We could talk for hours about what that experience is. In fact, most of my messages are just that -descriptions of the experience of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. But I'll mention two things from the book of Acts�things that mark the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit or of receiving the gift of the Spirit. One is a heart of praise. In Acts 10:46 the disciples knew the Holy Spirit had fallen because "they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling (or magnifying) God." Speaking in tongues is one particular way of releasing the heart of praise. It may be present or may not. But one thing is sure: the heart in which the Holy Spirit has been poured out will stop magnifying self and start magnifying God. Heartfelt praise and worship is the mark of a real experience of the Holy Spirit.

The other mark I'll mention is obedience. In Acts 5:29 Peter and the apostles say to the Sadducees who had arrested them, "We must obey God rather than men." Then in verse 32 he says, "We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God gave to those who are obeying him." ("Gave" is past tense; "obey" is present ongoing tense.) It is inevitable that when the object of your heart's worship changes your obedience changes. When Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, and infuses you with a new sense of the glory of God, you have a new desire and a new power (1:8) to obey. Whether or not you speak in tongues these two things will be your experience if you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, a new desire to magnify God in worship and a powerful disposition to obey God in everyday life."

John Piper, 1984

saw this on www.adrianwarnock.com, check it out!

Rick Warren's prayer for the USA-an act of obedience

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”

Almighty God, our Father:

Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.

It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

History is your story.

The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one." And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama,

the wisdom to lead us with humility,

the courage to lead us with integrity,

the compassion to lead us with generosity.

Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans--united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you--forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone--forgive us.

When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve--forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

And may we never forget that one day, all nations--and all people--will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, 'Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.