Stopping to Think

"Is the work of the Holy Spirit Important? Important! Why, were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel, no faith, no church, no Christianity in the world at all."  J.I. Packer, Knowing God , pg 69 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Jesus, John 3:8

This is from Tim Chester's book, Enjoying God , on page 119: Imagine you've been driving a small car with a beat-up engine which struggles to go much over 30 mph. Then one day someone gives you a powerful new car with a large turbo-charged engine. A week later you shock them by saying, "I haven't really noticed much difference." But then they discover that you've never driven it over 30 mph. You've got this car that can accelerate to 70 mph in three seconds. But you don't notice the difference because you've never hit the accelerator. Some of us don't "feel" the power of the Spirit because we've never hit the accelerator. Don't make your life so safe that you never have cause to notice the Spirit's work. Are you making your life too safe? Do you ever take actions or initiate conversations where God will obviously have to show up, or do you always play it safe? Do I always play it safe? 

1 Peter 1:10-12 LBC ABF, 10/16/2016 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Intro: What salvation? 10a Our passage this morning begins by referring back to “this salvation.” What is the salvation of which Peter speaks? Of course, the same one we have spent the last three weeks looking at. A salvation planned in eternity past by God the Father, purchased by the precious blood of Christ and secured by His resurrection, and applied to us by the working of His Holy Spirit within us.  This salvation is in ef...

This is the outline to a lesson I taught a while back. Numbers of these thoughts are not very well developed, so if you have questions or comments, feel free to take advantage of the comment section below. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you . Preface: A Trinitarian Greeting. I think it is important to note here, before we dive into the nitty gritty of looking at 1 Peter, that the actions of God in salvation are laid out in Trinitarian terms. Why is this important? Because the doctrine of the Trinity, our understanding of God's Threeness and Oneness, is the most distinctive doctrine of orthodox Christianity. It is not the mono-personal understanding of other monotheisti...

Prayer. Bible reading. Meditation. Fasting. These, along with a number of other things, are what we refer to collectively as "the spiritual disciplines." What an obtuse term. Who really wants to practice spiritual discipline? The idea of discipline seems so boring, restrictive, and terribly un-modern. Patience, discipline, toil- these things have become somewhat akin to curse words. Shouldn't religion or spirituality be more free flowing than this? More free flowing, perhaps, than any part of life? And more gratifying, too. Right? I don't have any data on this, but it is my assumption that most Christians would like to know God better. I have a simple question. Why do we think that it would be easy? Don't get me wrong, God isn't grading us on a "he tried harder than she did" scale. The only basis for a right relationship with and forgiveness by God is the finished work of Christ on the cross. Nor is a relationship with God difficult in the same way...

Mark 3:22-30 ESV And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons." And he called them to him and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" — for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."  Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV For if we go on sinning ...