Mr. Tall

Spurgeon was a prophet

I love this quote!! Amazing that Spurgeon has such foresight or maybe insight into how God works through His unique and individualistic children as culture and traditions change.

"Do not let us think of limiting the Holy One of Israel to any special mode of action. When we hear of men being led to break out into new ways of going to work (ministering), do not let us feel, 'This must be wrong'; rather let us hope that it is very probably right, for we need to escape from these horrid ruts, and wretched conventionalisms, which are rather hindrances than helps. Some very stereotyped brethren judge it to be a crime for an evangelist to sing the Gospel; and as to that American organ - dreadful! One of these days another set of conservative souls will hardly endure a service without such things, for the horror of one age is the idol of the next. Every man in his own order, and God using them all; and if there happens to be some peculiarity, some idiosyncrasy, so much the better. God does not make His servants by the score as men run iron into molds; He has a separate work for each man, and let each man do his own work in his own way, and may God bless him."

Spurgeon, Bright Days, Dark Nights, 90.

Gospel vs. Religion

The distinction between Gospel and Religion is actually quite simple...

RELIGION - Obey/do therefore I'm accepted.

GOSPEL - I'm accepted therefore I obey.

Seriously! Every religion in the world has it's rules/laws that must be obeyed in order to, hopefully, be accepted by god.
The Gospel is so powerful in that we are accepted. Period. We don't have to DO anything. We are accepted therefore we obey out of a desire to worship.

A huge example of this is the 10 Commandments. God doesn't give this list of commandments to the people for them to simply obey them to earn His pleasure. Read Exodus 20 - God says "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." and then goes on to give the 10 Commandments. He's saying: "because I accepted you and freed you from the Egyptians, here's how you can obey me and show me your love."

Wanting

All thy lovingkindness is in thy Son,
I bring Him to thee in the arms of faith,
I urge His saving Name as the One who died for me.
I plead His blood to pay my debts of wrong.
Accept His worthiness for my unworthiness,
His sinlessness for my transgressions,
His purity for my uncleanness,
His sincerity for my guile,
His truth for my deceits,
His meekness for my pride,
His constancy for my backslidings,
His love for my enmity,
His faithfulness for my treachery,
His obedience for my lawlessness,
His glory for my shame,
His devotedness for my waywardness,
His holy life for my unchaste ways,
His righteousness for my dead works,
His death for my life.

Valley of Vision, p. 283

If you were to... My Answer

If you were to write a gospel for the people in your culture...
Where would you start? How would you explain sin? How would you explain Jesus? What about Jesus’ life and teaching would they most resonate with and struggle with?

Jesus. Gospel means good news about Jesus.

The question then begs: Who is Jesus? Or who WAS Jesus (some people may ask)? And what is this good news? Why do I need good news?

I’m going to start from the last question and work my way back to Jesus. Good news is needed because if any person is truly honest with themselves they are not good. Therefore there is lack of good, implying that good/righteousness is needed.
What is the good news? There is hope for change from the bad (sin) that exists in everybody. What is sin? First of all, it is not an anti-social behaviors or things that go against an established cultural conduct. Sin is missing the mark or target. God is perfect and has a standard of perfection; sin is simply being unable to reach that standard.
Alright then, who is Jesus? And why is He the good news? Jesus first of all IS, because He is God and is eternal.
Now let’s start from some basics:
1. Jesus is not a myth, He did exist, many contemporary secular writers and authors talked about or mentioned Jesus (Roman and Jewish historians, Roman and Greek philosophers, etc…).
2. He was a man, but a man that claimed to be one with God. He was either telling the truth, or lying, or was crazy. His disciples and friends reveal that He was neither crazy nor a liar (1 Pet. 2:22). They even died because they wouldn’t say different about Jesus being God. Who does that?
3. He died on a cross and then rose from the dead. Over 500 people ate, talked, and touched Jesus after He was rose from the dead. And again, His disciples and friends died because they affirmed this.
Jesus is God, and He came and died and rose again. Is He just showing off? Why is this good news? The reason Jesus did that is the good news. The reason is to offer forgiveness to repentant sinners because He promised. We miss the mark, but Jesus came to forgive us and help us hit the target of perfection. Why do I need forgiveness? Everybody misses the mark and receives the punishment of going to hell. Jesus died to offers free forgiveness to save us from that punishment. All we have to do is believe with all our hearts, proclaim His truth, and we will receive that good news that changes our lives.

If you were to write a gospel for the people in your culture...

Where would you start? How would you explain sin? How would you explain Jesus? What about Jesus’ life and teaching would they most resonate with and struggle with?

"God inspired the writing of four gospels, each designed to present the gospel in the most effective manner to four different cultural groups. This was done without changing the gospel message of Jesus as God, who lived a sinless life, died as a substitute for his people, was buried, and rose from death to forgive repentant sinners according to the promises of Scripture." Mark Driscoll - The Radical Reformission

I will post my answers to the above questions in the following days. Feel free to comment your answers, or at least take a moment to think through them.

Persecution

Today is a national day of prayer for the persecuted church. Please pray!

Hebrews 13:1 & 3 "Let brotherly love continue... Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body."

Did you know that 100 million Christians have been martyred for their faith in the 20th century? We are so sheltered and priviledged in our country. A friend of mine took a trip to Afghanistan a couple of months ago to meet with our brothers and sisters in that country. He was told that there are about 30,000 (or was it 3,000) Christians in a country of 23 million. And the Christians that are there all meet in home churches, with pastor that travel around from house church to house church.
He shared this story of a man he met there - This man got burdened to go to the local mosque and walked around the mosque just praying and praying. After a couple day of doing this a man approached and struck up a conversation. Christ and Christianity came up in the conversation and after a long conversation, this other man received Christ!!
This in a country where it is death to proclaim that you are a Christian.

Reformission 1

CAUTION: This is author is very blunt and funny! He's also very gunhoe about being a manly man...

I've started reading reading "Radical Reformission" by Mark Driscoll. It is hilarious, but very very good (so far). I read the intro and chapter 1 today and I just had to share the following (again, caution - he's blunt) starting paragraphs of chapter 1. Mark is reminding us of how the "beautifully scandalous life and grace of Jesus Christ" started:

"The story begins with God making all things, then creating a man named Adam. Though Adam is technically perfect, it is still not good for him to be alone. The Bible never tells us why, exactly. Perhaps he would have forgotten to pick up the trash around the Garden of Eden, and the place eventually would have looked like an eternal fraternity without a hint of an annual spring cleaning.
Whatever the case, God creates a perfect woman who is beautiful, sinless, and naked - the same kind of woman every guy ever since has been searching for. Adam meets her and, recognizing that his life has just taken a turn for the better, he sings her a song, after which their marriage is consummated. The Bible could end right there, after only two chapters, with the man and woman naked, eating fruit, and trying to fill the earth all by their happy, horny, holy selves.
But every since the dreadful day of the Thud in Eden, we have all been walking around scratching our thick skulls, trying to figure out how to get back to that glorious time. Why? Because our happy, naked first parents sinned against God and brought a curse upon themselves and all creation. They sinned because they believed the lies of a talking serpent who had been an angel until he got kicked out of heaven for his pride."

That's just a glimpse of chapter 1, now go buy the book and read it - it's better than Blue like Jazz.
"Reformation is the continual reforming of the mission of the church to enhance God’s command to reach out to others in a way that acknowledges the unique times and locations of daily life."

Church

God is good. I LOVE my church. It is so cool to be a part of a body of believers that loves God and each other as we seek to glorify God and make disciples.

Tonight we saw God work through church discipline. This is church discipline as it should be. The ultimate goal is for God to receive the glory for a restored life. About two years ago we had a man leave our church and his wife to pursue a selfish life in the world. After being approached by several people, he was not repentant of what he was doing. He was taken before our board of elders and still was not repentant. Our elders then had a "family chat" where this man was given over to the world. The elders made it clear that we were to love him, pray for him, but treat him as an unbeliever. The intent is not to shun him, but don't treat him like everything is just fine and you are ok with his life-style.
Two months ago, God started working on his heart convicting him of his sin and unrepentance. The Lord led him to start talking to a couple men in our church who had staying in close contact with him. A few days ago he asked his wife for forgiveness and they were reunited. Then last night after a couple of months of counseling he came before the church in a repentant spirit asking for forgiveness. God is SO good! A life restored, a family put together again, wounds starting to mend, and God glorified for His awesome deeds!!!

Reformission

We are going to be reading "Radical Reformission" by Mark Driscoll for our Shepherding Group study book. Our S.G. leader (Matt) has highly recommended this book because the book's nature is relational. I've never heard of Mark before, but Matt highly recommended it and it sounds awesome! I really look forward to diving into this. I'll keep you posted once I start reading it. Here is an excerpt of the back of the book:

"Reformation is the continual reforming of the mission of the church to enhance God’s command to reach out to others in a way that acknowledges the unique times and locations of daily life."

November 2. Today is Daniel Boone's B-day. I chose this random fact, because my brother in-law is distantly related to the "King of the Wild Frontier." Here's to you Mr. Raccoon-skin-hat-clad-frontiersman.

Worried?

Do you worry or get anxious about stuff? (And by the way, anxiety has a negative or bad connotation)

Jesus tells us: "...do not be anxious about ______" in Matthew 6:25-34. Basically, don't be anxious or worry about anything. And you're probably thinking: "rriiiiggght... like that is even possible."
If your thinking that, based off of those words alone, you're thinking correctly. But like most things in the Bible, the context is of utmost importance. Once the context is taken into consideration, then Jesus' words make a lot more sense.

What is the context and what can you do about worry/anxiety?
Matthew 6-6:24 - It comes down to one thing - In what do you put your confidence? Stuff/People or God.
1. Do you GIVE to the needy to be seen of people or for God? (6:1-4)
2. Do you PRAY to be seen of people or for God? (6:5-15)
3. Do you FAST to be seen of people or for God? (6:16-18)

If you are putting your confidence in earthly stuff and people, there is plenty of reason to be anxious. You have to work hard for that kind of reward. And when it comes down to it, that reward is external and a bunch of crap in light of eternity. Yeah, if you do those things for people, you'll get your reward - but what good does it do?

So, with having the location of our confidence in mind, when you look at Jesus' words again: ""...do not be anxious about ______." This makes perfect sense; it is totally possible, because we've put our confidence in God. Why worry about anything? This doesn't mean kick back and don't do anything. We're still going to have situations that cause concern, but in everything that we're doing follow this principle: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6

The choices that precede or prevent anxiety (6:19-24)
1. a map - Where are you seeking? heaven or earth (19-20)
2. a mindset - How are you seeking? light or darkness (22-23)
3. a master - Who are you seeking? God or mammon (24)

Do not worry because it...
1. Distorts reality - "Is life not more than...?" (25b-26)
2. Doesn't help - "Which of you by worrying can..." (27)
3. Denies God - "Now if God..., oh yea of little faith" (28-30)
4. Distracts Christians - "But seek first the kingdom of God..." (31-33)
5. Doubles Trouble - "...tomorrow will worry about itself." (34)

My summary of Peter's messages so far on Matthew 6:19-34.

What to wear to worship

Great read from Bob Kauflin, I believe he's dead on biblically regarding this subject:

Q&A Fridays - What Do We Wear to Worship God?
Saturday, July 29, 2006, 6:20:09 PM | Bob Kauflin

A leader sent this question to me:
Recently there have been some people offended by some of the appearance of the worship team. We are seeking to glorify God in our response. We do not want to go beyond what the Scripture says. What are some of the standards that you would hold for your worship team?

I'm assuming that “appearance” refers to what someone is wearing. I appreciate this person’s desire to follow God’s Word when it comes to the attire of those who lead congregational worship. Unfortunately, God isn’t as clear as we might want Him to be, which is a good thing. Can you imagine if God told us exactly what a godly person should wear? What do you think He'd say? L.L. Bean? Gap? Brooks Brothers? Coat and tie for the men and dresses for the ladies? Jeans, t-shirts, and sandals for everyone? Your answer reveals something about how you view God, but not too much about how God views us.

While we may lack specifics, God has certainly given us guidelines both for what we wear on our bodies, and more importantly, what we wear in our hearts as we gather to worship Him.

There are at least two groups of people to address in this situation. First, the members of the team. We seek to make sure that our musicians know their role is to draw attention to the surpassing greatness of God’s glory in Jesus Christ. That means clothing that would draw attention to them is inappropriate. Categories include clothes that are immodest, tight, “loud,” dirty, or sloppy. Of course, those standards are variable in different cultures and to different people, but usually every church has a fairly defined idea as to what qualifies. Regarding modesty, we want to avoid anything that accentuates or reveals what could be sexually alluring.

At times, we have to follow up with musicians who wear something inappropriate. When we do, we expect them to respond humbly, as their role is to serve the congregation, not prove that they’re “free in Christ.” By the way, our pastors, who stand on the side of the stage as we sing, are dressed in a variety of styles. We purposefully want to communicate that we don’t believe a certain kind of dress equates to godliness. While we appreciate and respect the conviction some have that dressing up is a way of showing honor to God as we meet together, we’re convinced that God places the greater emphasis on the heart attitude behind what we wear, and that the church will always have a wide range of clothing (James 2:1-5).

The second group to address is those who are offended. I’d want to find out why they’ve taken an offense. Are they truly offended, or concerned or grieved? There’s a difference. Offense could imply that the music team member has sinned against them in some way. Unless they know the person involved, they could be judging the team member uncharitably. If there’s a genuine concern for dishonoring the Savior, then I’d thank them for having the courage and taking the time to share their perspective. However, if they simply didn’t like a style of dress, or wanted the musicians to adhere to some specific standard that isn’t in Scripture, I’d try to help them see beyond the clothes to a person’s heart.

None of this is to say that what we wear doesn’t matter. It does. Our clothes communicate volumes about what’s in our heart. The problem is, we don’t always know what that is. So, to sum up:

Make the heart the priority.
Challenge and help those who either abuse their freedom or judge other’s motives.
Encourage everyone to wear clothes modestly, the character of Christ loudly.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive (Col. 3:12-13).

Easter

The most important part of the message of the cross is that Jesus after He accomplished our justification by His death rose to life to ever intercede for us!

Alleluia, Christ is risen, Alleluia. Jesus Christ is risen today!

Note from Peter Hubbard

Easter is a big deal! Why? Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ so central and so significant? Here are a few reasons:

The resurrection of Jesus is…
• the sign for unbelievers (Matthew 12:38-40)
• the comfort for believers (Luke 24:36-39)
• the core of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
• the subject of early preaching (Acts 4:2)
• the catalyst for evangelism (Luke 24:45-48)
• the daily fuel for victorious living (Romans 8:1-11)
• the basis of fruitful service (1 Corinthians 15:58)
• the confidence of future resurrection (1 John 3:2)
• the hope of eternal inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Without the resurrection of Jesus, “we are of all men most pitiable.” So it is virtually impossible to over-emphasize our Lord’s resurrection. He is alive! Join us this Sunday as we celebrate His victory over fear, doubt and death!

the cross

What does the cross mean to you? How often do you think of what Jesus did there? Is the cross the main thing in your life? Do you think of the cross as a one time thing that God used to save us and now you've moved on from there? What happens to worldly stuff when you stand close to the cross?

Paul says: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures..." 1 Cor. 15:1-11

"The gospel," writes Jerry Bridges, "is not only the most important message in all of history, it is the only essential message in all of history."

"We should live every day as if the cross has happened yesterday." C.J.

The cross.
It should be our single-most passion in this life. Everyday we are dependant on what happened on that tree. Because Jesus was raised up on one of Rome's forms of death penalty, we are justified. The Son was crushed and then separated from the Father. Death and fear were defeated. Hell was conquered.

Jesus, thank you
The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend
The agonies of Calvary
You the perfect holy One crushed Your Son
Drank the bitter cup reserved for me

Your blood has washed away my sin
Jesus, thank You
The Father’s wrath completely satisfied
Jesus, thank You
Once Your enemy now seated at Your table
Jesus, thank You

By Your perfect sacrifice I’ve been brought near
Your enemy You’ve made Your friend
Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace
Your mercy and Your kindness know no end

Lover of my soul, I want to live for You

Excerpts from "Living the Cross Centered Life" by C.J. Mahaney
Jesus, thank you - Pat Sczebel (Sovereign Grace Worship)

PodCast!

NHCC online has started podcasting our services! Listen to this past Sunday's sermon - it was awesome!!

Podcast Instructions

or if you know what you're doing:

http://www.nhcconline.com/Sermons/RSS/sermons.xml

On Worship and Music

When there is another revival, bringing another large group of people into the church, the music of that generation will also be brought in, once again offending older generations. These cycles of change and reaction have occurred throughout history, but they do seem to have occurred more often in recent times. To younger generations, it represents an increase in intelligibility, but to older generations, it may represent a loss. Some complaints of the older generations may be petty, creating unnecessary conflict over matters of musical taste, but generally their complaints are more serious than that. One's hymnody is his language of worship; it is the language of his heart's conversation with God. To lose the hymns one has grown up singing is, therefore, no small thing. The younger generation should learn to sympathize with this sense of loss and to accommodate their desires to the spiritual needs of their fathers and mothers in Christ. But the opposite is also true ...if the older do not bend somewhat, the younger will be deprived of their own language of worship - those forms of God's Word intelligible to them, by which they can best grow in Christ. In this respect, both sides should defer to one another in love, in the Spirit of Christ (Matthew 20:20-26). It is interesting that the music of younger generations always tends to be criticized by older generations as irreverent, while the music of the older generations tends to be criticized by younger generations as lacking joy and vitality." Quote by Frame

Psalm 145:4

Curious? Listen to our recent sermons.

Prayer

"The secret of praying is praying in secret."

"A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning."

"We are beggard and bankrupt, but not broken, nor even bent."

"Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound."

"Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try, and yet so
sublime that it outranges all speech and exhausts man's vocabulary."

"A Niagra of burning words does not mean that God is either impressed or moved."

"One of the most profound of Old Testament intercessors had no
language-"Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard."

Satisfy me

We studied Psalm 90 this past Sunday (new years day). Peter's challenge was to take verse 14 and apply it every morning.

"Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." Ps. 90:14

George Muller once said:
"The first and great and primary business I sought to attend to everyday was to have my soul happy in the Lord."

This is not a ritualistic thing that you do every morning. And it's not the absolutely first thing that has to be done in the morning, it means early (now rather than later). It's connecting with God, talking to Him, and letting him speak to you. That's why it's called a relationship.

redemptive artwork

God has put within our hearts a gallery of redemptive artwork. A display of what He gave us to deal with the problem of sin. This is Christ - "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ." Col. 2:2

The question is are we taking advantage of the gallery or are the lights out? Do we just peak in from time to time?

The artwork Col. 2:1-15

- Wisdom
- Power
- Cancelled Debt
- Freedom

Wisdom for the foolishness of sin
Wisdom is a gift from God. If God could possibly be foolish, the most foolish He could be would be wiser than the wisest that man could ever reach. Wisdom only comes from God. He gives it freely if we ask for it.
"But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living." Job 28:12-13

Power to deal with the inability of sin
Awesome. That is God. Sin is like quicksand, the more we struggle to get free the further we sink. God is the only one who can defeat the inability that we face in sin.
"Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?" Job 26:14

Cancelled Debt to forgive and pay for sin
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 6:23
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." Col. 2:13-14

Freedom from the slavery of sin
"When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." Rom. 6:20
"He disarmed the rulers and authorities[b] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." Col. 2:15

Conclusion
Sin has been defeated, but it's prescence still remains. The redemptive artwork above was the means by which sin was defeated (aka justification). Now...
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." Col. 2:6-7
...despite the prescence of sin, we need to continue to look on this gallery as we walk, grow, and abound (sanctification).

Excerpts from Paul David Tripp - Sunday 11/6 @ NHCC
And my two cents...

are you a joy to lead?

That's a tough question.
I've recently been asking myself that and my knee jerk reaction is "of course!"
haha...
Then I have to ask who are my leaders and how am I following them. I have to examine myself and point out that I'm just as sinful, prideful, selfish, and stubborn as anyone else. You can always just go to one of your leaders and ask bluntly, but expect to hear the blunt truth.

The Bible gives us the keys to being good followers - Imitation, humility, and obedience.

ARE YOU A JOY TO LEAD?

"Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." - Heb. 13:7

"Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you." - Heb. 13:17

"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble." - 1 Peter 5:1-7

Reality really sinks in when you think over the fact that you are a leader. Want to or not, whether you know that you are one or not. You are a leader... Yikes! You must watch over, be a good example and give an account for your followers.

be humble

Here

For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Heb. 13:14

What is your city? What is your here and now?
Your "here" can be your family, job, school, career, house, car, etc...
These are not necessarily bad things, as long as they are seen with the perspective that they will not last, that heaven is the end of the story. We can't put our confidence in these things.

"Here is a place where people are always creating subsets of people—division because of neighborhood or last name or skin color. Acceptance or rejection based on looks or athletic ability or name brand clothes.

We grow up learning to calculate our words and relationships in an attempt to be accepted. We worry about what people think about us. We want to fit in and we learn early on that fitting in is a very hard game to play and no matter how hard we try, we can never completely escape the sting of rejection.

God wants us to keep in mind that there is more than the here and now! This is not our final destination. Here we have no lasting city . . ."
Ross Robinson - 10/23

Destroy Cloy!

"He shall be the end of our desires who shall be seen without end, loved without cloy, praised without weariness." Augustine

What is Cloy?
CD Cloy - Have you ever bought a CD that is so awesome, uplifting and full of God's truth that you play it over and over again to the point were: "If I hear that song one more time..."?

Family Cloy - Have you ever spent so much time with your extended or immediate family that you get into each other's hair and can't wait to get away?

Brownie Cloy - Have you ever heard of someone (or done it yourself) eating a whole pan of yummy brownies by themselves and then throwing up or becoming sick of brownies?

Toy Cloy - Growing up, did you ever look forward to Christmas for that one toy that would end the need of toys? But then a week later it was in the toy box and you were desiring the next big thing.

CLOY - "to surfeit (overdo) with an excess usually of something orig. pleasing"

Have you ever had God cloy?
You know what I mean. How do you defeat it? How do we destroy cloy?

"Faith chooses the ultimate over the immediate, permanent joy over passing pleasure and thereby minimizes the magnetic pull toward cloy!"

Hebrews 11:23-28 - Moses
- Refused to please men
- Refused position/prominence
- Refused pleasure (temporary)
- Refused posessions
...for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 16:11

Imagine spending eternity in perpetual worship. Never tiring of singing and praising Him. It's almost impossible to understand that because we are wired to get tired or sick of good things (even pleasurable things) that we do in excess.

Peter Hubbard - Notes: 28th AM service.

Human Worship

Do you ever wonder how God can put up with our feeble worship and fickle hearts?
Annie Dillard raises this question with her description of the humanness of our worship services.

“A high school stage play is more polished than this service we have been rehearsing since the year 1. In 2000 years, we have not worked out the kinks. We positively glorify them. Week after week we witness the same miracle: that God is so mighty He can stifle His own laughter. Week after week, we witness the same miracle: that God, for reasons unfathomable, refrains from blowing our dancing bear act to smithereens. Week after week, Christ washes the disciples’ dirty feet, handles their very toes, and repeats, ‘It is alright—believe it or not—to be people.’”

Yes, to be people, His people. People who are washed in the blood of Christ and focused on the promises of God! Man-centered worship will never impress God. Man-centered living will never keep us to the end. This message comes through not so loud, but quite clear in Hebrews 11:20-22. Three generations of patriarchs are described in these three short verses. Fallible, weak men who lived and died “by faith.” They are a real encouragement to keep at it!

Peter Hubbard

build a blurp

"It's going to gleep so build a blurp to save your family"

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Hebrews 11:7

Imagine what it would have been like for God to come to Noah and ask him to build an ark because there was going to be a world wide flood. What in the world was an ark? What is rain and what is a flood? And he had to do this to save his family?

What would you do? - "It's going to gleep so build a blurp!" umm... sure...

This is where Faith steps in; it fills the gap between God's promise and His provision. The gap can be any amount of time and in Noah's case it was 120 years. For 120 years he built this blurp in his backyard and preached to friends and family about this gleep that was coming. Despite certain ridicule and incredulity, Noah was moved with godly fear.

What does godly fear look like today? It's actually easiest to look at the opposites first to better understand godly fear:

- skepticism - "we've never seen that before"
- hedonism - "we're having too much fun"
- optimism - "things will be different tomorrow"

What were the results of Noah's actions?

He and his family were saved from the gleep and "he condemned the world." How does that work? John 3:16-19 - Make sure that you read that passage and notice this important fact: Judgment and Salvation occur simultaneously! If there is a group of people playing in the sewers with all the lights off they don't know they are filthy, when someone turn on a flashlight they are condemned and their first reaction is to turn the flashlight off. Noah showed everyone that they were sinful and were going to die. He showed them that they were condemned.

So when God's Word has been spoken...

- Will I take it seriously?
- Will I work persistenly?
- Will I live different?

Summary of Peter Hubbard's - 7/31 Sunday AM sermon.

VBS

It's that time of year! It's VBS! Pray for the children that will be touch by God's Word, pray for the workers as they give of themselves, and pray for unsaved parents that they will see God working.

This Sunday, my church starts - Kingdom of the Son: A Prayer Safari through the Lord's Prayer. We have five consecutive Sunday nights packed with lessons, missionary stories, crafts, snacks, and of course game time. And I’m in charge of all of the 1st graders! Yikes! It really won’t be that bad… just call me the kid herder (we herd the kids around to the different station). I’m not sure how many 1st graders I’m going to have, but my guesstimate is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or 60 (taking into consideration last year’s k-5 class).

Simultaneously my church holds what’s called Wisdom Fest. This is a focused study on a pertinent subject to our community. Two years ago Wisdom Fest was a study on Anger, last year it was a study on Relativism, and this year’s title is:
Family CPR – Breathing life into the American Family. The future of the American family is in a life and death struggle for survival. Join us for five consecutive Sundays at 5:30pm as we explore cultural and personal trends from a biblical perspective.

________________________________

Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]

Surgery

Not long ago I went to hear a very famous Evangelist and he gave a very intense sermon on Matthew 5:27-30. Because it was more or less a "fire and brimstone" sermon, he included several gruesome stories. One in particular was about a hiker that had his arm trapped by a huge boulder and there was no way for the hiker to get free. After 5 days, this hiker realized that he had to take drastic measures and he cut his own arm off. The point of his stories was that we should be so afraid of going to hell that we would sacrifice/amputate/self-mutilate to stay out of hell.

I’m not going to go off on "fire-and-brimstone" sermons but… I think that the sermon was only a mild/surface observation of this passage. I think there is a lot more truth to this passage.

It is preferable to amputate/self-mutilate than to go to hell, but the only problem is that amputation/self-mutilation does nothing in regards to sin or in restraining sin. And while we're at it, abstaining from sin does nothing in regards to sin. We need to dig deeper...
What is causing us to stumble? What needs to be cut-off? What brings us to sin? The last word in verse 28 give us the answer = OUR HEARTS.

Basically - Regeneration... We need a new heart or we will die. Time for open heart surgery!

What is Regeneration? New heart, Repentance, and Belief.
Be sure that you get this right! We don't get a new heart because we repent and believe. We repent and believe because God has given us a new heart. If our current stone sinful heart was capable of repentance and belief, would we need a new heart?

I love Ezekiel's words in 36:26-27.

God is the only one capable of giving us new hearts. When we sin, having the new heart gives us the ability to look to our high priest for all our righteousness.

the main point

Now the main point in what has been said is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man. Hebrews 8:1-2

That's the main point? All of Hebrews and that's the main point? That's it...?

High priest
Sanctuary
Tabernacle
Throne
Blood sacrifices

Yea, I use those words every day in my conversations!

…yes, I said that very tongue-in-cheek. Isn’t it easy to see Christ priesthood as being somewhat peripheral? Sort of like Emergency lighting and Exit signs that you see in every building. They are there and we don’t really think about it unless the lights go out, THEN we’re grateful for them.

The author of Hebrews just told us the main point. Imagine him with his arms open wide, and with a face that shows that he’s told us the key to everything… and our response is: “…yea, and?”

So WHY do we see His priesthood as peripheral?

1. Our language is different
2. Our view of salvation is limited
3. Our sense of need is minimal

Our language is different, but those terms mentioned are a representation of what Christ does for us all the time. If you’ve grow up in church all your life you’ve heard the words and have a vague idea what they are referring to. Just try to explain that to someone you randomly meet on the street… Language or not, this is vital!

Our view of salvation is limited, but thankfully Christ sees the whole picture. He knows everything from before time into eternity. We just see this very very short time that we’re on earth and even then we tend to focus on our day to day occurrences.

Our sense of need is minimal. Here is one of our greatest mistakes! Many times we think that we’ve been saved and we’re all set. Now we just go through the sanctification process and go to heaven. Do you realize that if Christ stopped being our High Priest for one second, we would be condemned instantly?

Hebrews 7:24-25
"but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever (uttermost) those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. "

My sermon notes and commentary on this morning's service at North Hills Community Church.

Apathy

Hebrews
4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
5:11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.

As we continue to study through Hebrews at NHCC and learn about Sanctification, I've been convicted especially about apathy. So many times we approach Scripture with US as the discerners. We read the word and just pick and choose what we want to apply. Leaving aside what God is most likely trying to teach us. This activity only creates in us what is described as disobedience, slowness, sluggishness, dullness of hearing... aka apathy.
Heb 4:12 clearly states that the Word of God is the discerner. We can't hide anything from the Word. It's living and working in our lives.
I have to confess that I am apathetic to His Word. I don't read the Bible and rejoice at His promises, cry at His warning, fear the destruction that is immanent if I drift, or praise and love Him for His might works. He's working on me...
Pray for me, but also pray for yourself and friends and family that are saved, that His Word would cut through our hardened hearts and make them soft and receptive to His living and active Word.

Blood

"For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? " Hebrews 9:13-14

I'm reading through Hebrews today, and these verses just really jump out at me. The last phrase, that I bolded, is very convicting and encouraging at the same time.

Doubting Thomas

D.A. Carson spoke in church this past Sunday on ME! ...well my name anyway. I'm going to give you a brief of the sermon, because it was really good!

The point of the sermon was not doubt, this passage John 20:24-31 is many times mistakenly used to assuage people's doubts. The Bible's answers for doubts are dependant on the cause.

The cause of Thomas' doubt was that he was a skeptic.

1. Cry of the Disappointed Skeptic - vs. 25
Everything else that we know about Thomas from the Bible shows that he was a devout 1st Century Jew that believed that the Old Testament was the word of God. He was just disappointed by the fact that he believed that Christ was dead. He was struggling because he didn't want to confuse FAITH with GUILIBILITY. For example: He felt like he had fallen for a "faith healer" shyster and didn't want to fall for that again. He didn't want to be known as one that would believe anything.

2. Adoration of an Astonished Skeptic - vs. 26-28
"My Lord, and my God!" What an answer! He didn't say: "Oops, you ARE alive" or "Bummer, I made a mistake." Instead he gave a confession of Christ's Deity. Why did Thomas do this? If you think about it, he did have a week between the time that the Disciples told him of Christ's Resurrection and when he finally saw Him. He had a week to think that maybe the other Disciples were right, maybe Christ WAS alive. A week to mull over all he had seen Jesus Christ do and teach. And when he finally saw Jesus Christ in the flesh... "My Lord, and my God!" came forth. His faith was sealed!

3. Example and Role of a Converted Skeptic - vs. 29-31
Faith is what it comes down to. Not to be confused with today's definition of a private belief not connected to truth. Our Faith is connected to something tangible, it is based on evidence. Vs. 29 can sometimes be taken as: "Those that believe without seeing are MORE blessed that those that have to see." All are blessed who believe. We are the ones that have to believe without seeing. We won't be able to put our hands in His side or feel the nail prints. Our faith has to be based on the truth told to us by the witnesses to the truth.

Nutshell: The Bible doesn't ask us to believe an untruth. And in believing, we will have life!

My Kids

These are my kids!!
I teach the Bible lesson for the K 4-5 Kids Choir. They are really cute!

Laura, the girl that I'm holding in my lap, the first day of Kids choir cried for her mother so I held and comforted her until she stopped. Since then, she always has to sit in my lap or stand at my side leaning against me. Last night she said, "Mr. Tom, you're my favorite boy." I also teach Laura's sisters, Jillian (2nd grader), and Julie (upfront in the purple). So anytime I see them, I play with them and give them hugs. Anyway, last night Jillian, Julie and Laura's mom told me that she hopes the Lord blesses me with daughters. It was really sweet! I hope so, some day...

Sheparding Group

I love this group! That's me up at the top to the left of the duck.

I love kids

I teach 2nd grade children's church and the bible lesson for K4-5 children's choir. They are the cutest!!
I teach the 2nd grade children's church every other week. A couple of months ago, on my off week, I had one of my little girls run up to me and give me a big hug and say: "I miss you Mr. Tom, when are you coming back?" It was so sweet!
For our children's choir, the teacher has a little time where she asks how their week went. We get some of the funniest stories... Keaton, the pastor's kid, told us all about the World Series and how the Red Sox won. Another little boy always wants us to learn John 3:16, because that's the one verse that he knows.
During verse time, it's awesome to hear a kid stand up and recite Psalm 100 straight through without help.
Last night we had a fellowship because it was anniversary Sunday. There is a family that have 4 young girls and I teach 3 of them. I was keeping the kids entertained while the parents were talking. We did piggy-back rides, we talked about veggie-tales, spanish, drinking water, singing, and bunch of other young kid talk. It was a blast!
Lord willing I will have a few of my own some day. I can hardly wait!!

Singing!

Psalm 100

I love to sing praise and worship to our King. I like CCM, not all of it... as in all things (hymns also) we need to be discerning and pick out the bad apples. (I'm using these terms, hymns and CCM, just as general categories for conservative and contemporary).
I also love hymns, they have become even more special to me as I sing more and more CCM. CCM is in the emotional and easily understood spectrum whereas hymns have heritage and very rich verbage. I also believe that CCM is better tool to reach contemporary people that come from such a worldly emotional high.

Story...
My sister sings in the Lyrics choir at BJ. I had the privelege of going to their concert last night and hearing my sister sing her soloists parts (She was an angel... I know... I'm biased). But what I wanted to communicate, was that despite the fact that I couldn't understand all the words in the Latin mass, I couldn't help but worship God. Not only for Sanctus, Benidictus, and Gloria in Excelsis. I worshiped Him for the wonder of His creation and for giving us the ability to sing and create music to glorify him.

Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

What do you think?

Contentment

This past Sunday, in our study through 1 Timothy, Pastor spoke on contenment from this passage:

1 Tim. 6:6-12

"But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

Phillipians 4:10-13

"But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

In our Sheparding Group (small groups) yesterday, we focused especially on the aspect of contentment in our finances. Our leader asked us to raise our hands if we were content with our financial situation. I have to admit that I couldn't raise my hand...

The Lord is working.