Prayer of Praise -12-10-14

From Titus 2 v 11-15

Lord, in the giving of your Son, your grace has appeared to all people. During this time of year Lord, while the world’s mind is on shopping. While they are focused on acquiring more things that will eventually fill the landfills, storage sheds, and garbage heaps. While the world looks for grace in those fading things, your eternal grace has already appeared and they miss it. There is no comparison between the fleeting things of this world and the glorious advent of the Savior.

You came in the flesh. You came born of a virgin. You came being born under the law. You came in love to a sin filled world to rescue sinners. We are those undeserving , unlovely, unholy, and profane sinners.

You came in grace to the weak, to the helpless, to the hopeless. Your grace, your amazing and surprising kindness could not be more perfect than in the coming of Jesus. We praise you our gracious God.

We know your saving grace because Jesus is our substitution, the one who obeyed in our place, the one who died in our place, the one who was raised in our place and now we are seated with Him.

Jesus is the greatest grace of God given to sinners. There is no greater love or kindness. He is grace to all who would ever repent and believe. We praise you that amazing grace has appeared.

In Jesus we are given new affections. We now see how foolish it is to live for this world. We see how pathetic and sad it is to be consumed with materialism and shallow things that are full of vanity. These things are your grace.

In Christ, we have the power to say no to ungodliness. The Gospel teaches us to continue in repentance and faith in Christ as we esteem Him more than the pleasures of this age. We praise you for this new life you have given by grace.

In Jesus we have the grace to say no to the world because we live for the age to come. We live in the “already and not yet.” Already we are experiencing eternal life in Christ, and yet we have not come face to face with the glorious appearing and remaking of all things new. While we wait, we praise you!

Until that great day, Lord we praise you for your grace. For you have given yourself to redeem us from wickedness and to purify for yourself a people that are your very own. A people eager to do what is good by your grace.

O God, we praise you that you liberated us not to selfishness and sin, but you saved us to bring glory to yourself. It is not because of our good works or because of our value that have you saved us; but for the glory of your name you have saved us. We praise you for these things and so much more.

To Christ be the glory and honor. In His mighty, Holy name we praise you. Amen.

Comments

Repackaging the gospel? It's more like obscuring the gospel!

Preface : I recognize this post may make me unpopular with some, but I think it is an important issue to blog about here. I’ve had time to reflect on this video and in my opinion, I think what is in this video raises some questions. This gentleman featured below is slotted to speak at the SBC's 2020 Pastors' Conference and it prompted me to think more about this illustration. I want to note that I don't know him and I have no personal issue with him. I assume he is a brother in the LORD. Having said that, I see some significant issues here that relate to this type of preaching being clear on the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, it appears to be obscuring it in my observation. Concern: Should the SBC or churches, in general, be in the habit of holding this up as a good and healthy example? Let's think about it some together. (Watch this clip below here first.) Context: The clip was posted to stand on its own as if it were wise and sound on it

Smith: "Many people believe God opens the door of salvation and then stands back...".

Jonah 2:9 “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” God’s dramatic intervention in the life of Jonah is full of hope—not only for those who seek God, but also for those who, like Jonah, have determined to shut him out. Many people believe God opens the door of salvation and then stands back, leaving it up to us to decide if we want to come in. But if God made salvation possible and then stepped back, refusing to interfere with our choice, then the entire life of believers would be about us—our believing, our serving, our following, and our choices to live a good life. In the case of Jonah, imprisoned in the whale’s belly, God was claiming someone who was quite incapable of performing any redeeming work to compensate for his sin. God was not relying on Jonah to save Jonah. The message remains the same for each of us today: if you have trusted God for salvation, he has done more than simply make salvation possible; he has actually saved you. Colin Smith, “Jonah,” in Gospel Transformation B

Men stirred, boys exhorted, and Jesus exalted!

Neh 8 v 13 (CSB) 13 On the second day, the family heads of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before the scribe Ezra to study the words of the law. Notice the feel of the scene. After that long day in the Word, it appears that the women and children were, understandably, exhausted and urged to stay home on this occasion. And, among the men, there is a growing interest of “What else are we missing right now as it pertains to obeying God's Word?”. So clear is the fact that the family heads, the men, came back to get more. The real sense of enthusiasm starts with the men here. If you were an able-bodied man here, you stayed behind to get instructions so that you might be a good instructor at home. The text says these men came together to study the words of the law . That means to give attention to and ponder. This is the process of thinking through complex things, resulting in wise dealing and the use of good practical common sense. Here in

Search This Blog