The Eternal Glory of Christ

In Revelation 22:16, Jesus says, "I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."  This is an amazing statement-- He is both the root (which comes first and from which everything else springs) and the descendent (who comes later).  He is both the source and goal.

In light of that, other statements by or about Jesus become more profound:

And as Jesus taught in the temple, He said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?  David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.'  David himself calls him Lord.  So how is he his son?"  ~Mark 12:35-37  Jesus is here calling attention to the fact that the scribes and Phariseees had too small a vision of the Messiah-- Jesus wasn't just the descendent of David; He was also the root of David, the One who brought David into existence.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." ~Revelation 22:13

John bore witness about Him and cried out, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.'"  ~John 1:15

Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."  ~John 8:58

"And now, Father, glorify me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed."  ~John 17:5

Profit

Today in my Through-the-Bible reading, I read Malachi, thus finishing the reading plan for this year.  On January 1st, I'll start over with Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, and Acts.

But today, God has me in Malachi, and it's been a stirring read.  The one place that really hit me the most was the end of chapter 3.  Throughout Malachi, God makes accusations against the people, who then insist on their innocence.  God then gives evidence of their wrongdoing.  At the end of chapter 3, the exchange goes like this:

Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD.  But you say, 'How have we spoken against you?'  Y0u have said, 'It is vain to serve God.  What is the profit of our keeping His charge?'

The people question how it profits them to keep walking with God.  The wicked prosper, and they put God to the test and escape, and the arrogant seem to be blessed.  So what good is it to follow God?  Their complain is just like Asaph's complaint in Psalm 73-- "Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.  All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence!"

Here is God's answer to Malachi and Asaph:

Malachi3:16-17,4:1-2  The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name.  "They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares His son who serves them... For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble... But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

Psalm 73:25-28 Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to You.  But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

God's answer to the people in Malachi is the same answer that He gave to Asaph-- a reality-check of the coming end of the wicked, and a reminder that the greatest riches of the righteous lie not in things but in God Himself, and that the most important question is not, "What do you own?" but rather, "Who are you owned by?"

Christ the Lord is Born Today

These are some of the words from the Sovereign Grace Ministries song, "Christ the Lord is Born Today."  It does a great job summing up what Christmas is all about:

God has sent His greatest treasure

Shown His love in greatest measure

Sending Christ to bleed and suffer

Purchasing our joy forever

Merry Christmas!

Another quote about sovereignty and suffering

C.S. Lewis from The Problem With Pain:

"My own experience is something like this.  I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends... or a bit of work that tickles my vanity... when suddenly a... headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down.  At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys.  Then, slowly and reluctantly... I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times.  I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that... my only real treasure is Christ."

Amen.

Such As I

This is a poem I wrote early this last summer, after reading Charles Spurgeon's Evening devotion for May 27th.  The devotion is based on 2 Samuel 9:8- "What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?"  Spurgeon writes, "If Mephibosheth was humbled by David's kindness, what shall we be in the presence of our gracious Lord?  The more grace we have, the less we shall think of ourselves, for grace, like light, reveals our impurity... At best, we are but clay, animated dust, but viewed as sinners, we are monsters indeed.  Let it be proclaimed in heaven as a wonder that the Lord Jesus should set His heart's love upon such as we are.  Dust and ashes though we be, we must and will 'magnify the exceeding greatness of His grace.'"  Pondering on that astounding and humbling truth, I wrote this poem called "Such As I."

Such as I, filthy unclean

One who cov'nants with the grave

Such as I, can You call me

Even I, condemned depraved

As one who cov'nants with the grave?

A worm and nothing more am I

And less, for I a sinner be

A rebel transgressed a thousand times

And all the curses fall on me

For I a cursed sinner be

How then can One so holy, pure

And set apart from mortal's death

Bear my curse and own my blame

Taking punishment from wrath,

Who stands apart from mortal's death?

Such as You, O Son of God

And gracious, incarnate Son of Man

Could e'er unite such great divide

And rescue me from Satan's hand

O gracious, incarnate Son of Man

Such as I, once stained with shame

Now spotless, blameless, faultless stand

Robed in white and washed in red

Before the holy Great I AM

I spotless, blameless, faultless stand

Some More Spectacular Calvin Quotes

Gosh, I love The Institutes.  No, I take that back.  I love the power and wisdom and beauty of God so clearly celebrated and expounded in The Institutes.  I spent 6 1/2 hours today reading all of Book II, which focuses on the work of Christ as our Redeemer, and covers topics like sin, depravity, free will, Law, grace, the Incarnation (which I recommend as a great Christmastime devotion!), the person of Christ, the atonement, etc.  By now my copy of The Institutes is all covered in highlighter, but below are a couple particular quotes which are so awesome in provoking worship that they deserve to be reproduced and pondered and celebrated.

"Our acquittal is in this-- that the guilt which made us liable to punishment was transferred to the head of the Son of God."  (Yes, we know this, but oh how sweet it is to hear it again and again, especially with such eloquence!)

"Christ crushed, broke, and scattered the whole force of death."

"For the good and safety of His people, God overrules all the creatures, even the devil himself, who, we see, dared not attempt anything against Job without His permission and command.  This knowledge is necessarily followed by gratitude in prosperity, patience in adversity, and incredible security for the time to come."

And perhaps my favorite, from the chapter on the Incarnation:

"It was His to swallow up death: who but Life could do so?  It was His to conquer sin: who could do so save Righteousness itself?  It was His to put to flight the powers of the devil and the world: who could do so but the mighty power superior to both?  But who possesses life and righteousness, and the dominion and government of heaven, but God alone?  Therefore God, in His infinite mercy, having determined to redeem us, became Himself our Redeemer in the person of His only begotten Son."

Praise, praise, praise the Redeemer!  Praise His infinite mercy!  Praise the One who "crushed, broke, and scattered" the whole force of death and rules all the universe for the benefit of His chosen people.  What a God we serve!

Calvin on the Sovereignty of God

I've been reading John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion this week in preparation for my Luther and Calvin exam (although honestly, the exam is really just an excuse for me to set aside time to go deep with God in some really weighty theology-- getting a good grade on the final is just sort of a bonus).  It has been an amazing, exhilarating read.  Theology should always lead to doxology, and Calvin's theology has definitely been doing that.  I sat around for about 5 hours today reading most of Book I, and chapters 16-18 especially had me practically shouting for joy at the indescribable grandeur of God.  Chapters 16-18 are about God's sovereignty and providence and His control over all events and times and creatures and people.  Below is an excerpt from Chapter 16 which rocked my socks off.  Expect more quotes tomorrow.

"God is deemed omnipotent, not because He can act though He may cease or be idle, or because by a general instinct He continues the order of nature previously appointed; but because, governing heaven and earth by His providence, He so overrules all things that nothing happens without His counsel... This is the solace of the faithful in their adversity, that everything which they endure is by the ordination and command of God, that they are under His hand... They can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority Satan with all his furies and engines is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends."

What is the result of this doctrine for our lives?  How does this change things?

"Once the light of divine providence has illumined the believer's soul, he is released and set free, not only from the extreme fear and anxiety which formerly oppressed him, but from all care.  This, I say, is his comfort, that his heavenly Father so embraces all things under His power, so governs them at will by His nod, so regulates them by His wisdom, that nothing takes place save according to His appointment; that received into His favor and entrusted to the care of His angels, neither fire nor water nor sword can do him harm, except insofar as God their master is pleased to permit."

What sweet, sweet Gospel truth this is!  I pray that you and I will more fully grasp this precious Biblical doctrine, and more fully live lives of God-glorifying assurance and peace in the light of the comfort it brings.

The Sovereignty of God and the Stock Market

In my moments of cynicism as a soon-to-be-graduated-and-married college senior, I often grimly marvel at my "luck" to be graduating into what economists are calling "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."  Oh goody.  So how does that affect my chances of landing a job next year?

I have to confess, my avid following of the economic news has been becoming something of a stumbling block to my faith.  When every day's headlines bring triple-digit stock declines, job losses in the hundreds of thousands, and toppling financial and corporate giants, it is easy for the recession to seem bigger than God in my mind.  I've been feeding my mind a steady diet of doubts, and I'm beginning to reap some of the fruit of that.  Not good.

So I'm directing my attention back to the solid rock of Christ and His Word and His promises.  Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, and so if I want more faith I need to fill my heart with visions of the omnipotent, sovereign, unchangeable, gracious, faithful God of the Bible as revealed in His Word.  Verses like Isaiah 45:7, a timely reminder of God's sovereignty in the midst of economic meltdown:

"I form the light and create darkness,

     I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the LORD, do all these things."

God creates housing bubbles and economic booms and Great Depressions.  The stock market rises and falls as He wants it to rise and fall.  He decrees job losses and job gains.  God is sovereign over the economy.  Repeat that truth.  God is sovereign over the economy.  And by "sovereign," I don't just mean He has the power to control all events, but that He DOES.

Do you see that as good news?  I do.  Romans 8:28 is good news, and true, because God has the sovereign muscle to back it up.  "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good."  But the promise is deeper than that.  Verse 32 makes it clear that God doesn't just use every circumstance for good; He gives every circumstance for good.  "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"  Connect the "all things" in verse 28 to verse 32, and suddenly you have a very, very deep promise.  God gives all things, all circumstances to you for your good.  

Now that's a promise you can take to the bank.

The Holy Spirit

I came across this quote by Spurgeon today.  It makes me wonder why I even bother to post my own thoughts here... I should just post quotes like this, from men who have gone much deeper with God than I have even imagined.  There is so much wisdom and power here.  This quote is a great example of that.

"Let us ever remember that Christ on the cross is of no value to us, apart from the Holy Spirit in us.  In vain that blood is flowing, unless the finger of the Spirit applies the blood to our conscience; in vain is that garment of righteousness wrought out, unless the Holy Spirit wraps it around us and arrays us in its costly folds.  The river of life cannot quench our thirst, till the Spirit presents the goblet and lifts it to our lips.  All the things which are in the paradise of God could never be blissful to us, so long as we are dead souls-- and dead we are, until that heavenly wind comes and breathes upon us, that we may live.  We do not hesitate to say that we owe as much to God the Holy Spirit as we do to God the Son."

The Trinity

In my Through-the-Bible reading plan, I'm in the upper room discourse of John 13-17.  It's been about eight months since I was here last, and as always I'm blown away by how Scripture keeps coming alive no matter how many times you read it.  Sometimes it's the Gospel that really stands out; sometimes it's a specific promise; sometimes it's a certain command; sometimes it's glory; sometimes it's judgment.  This time, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me about the Trinity.

Yesterday I was at McDonald's reading John 14 (who says you can't read the Bible anywhere?) and verse 20 exploded with a megaton of relevance.  "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."  

At first glance, it's grammatically confusing.  But think about that statement for a minute.  The Father and the Son are so united that Jesus can literally say, "I am in my Father" and (a couple verses earlier) "The Father is in me."  That in itself is an indescribably glorious mystery, but Jesus extends that mystery to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.  "You in me, and I in you."  Jesus here is inviting us into the life of the Trinity.  The eternal fellowship, love, glory, and joy between the Father and the Son and the Spirit has now been opened to us as well.  

That's why Darrel Johnson, in his great book "Experiencing The Trinity," writes, "I was brought into being by the Trinity to be a co-lover within the Trinity!  I was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ to become a co-lover with Him and His Father and His Spirit!"

We are co-heirs and co-lovers.  Amazing!

The Date

Since I proposed to Sarah in August, we've been trying to figure out when to get married.  We're both graduating in May, but there were a lot of extraneous things to figure out.  It was really hard for me to try to walk through that process without stressing about it and with the eternal perspective of 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.  But God has been very good to us.

The long and short of it is: we have a date.  July 25, 2009!  Which is, like, 8 months from now.  That's really exciting.

Please pray for us for the next 8 months, that both the way we plan our wedding and the way we conduct our relationship will be carried out in a way that shows that Christ is infinitely more valuable than any other relationship, even a life-long one.

Making it to the Cross

I came across an excellent blog post today entitled "Making It To The Cross," about how important it is to get a glimpse of the cross every time you open your Bible.

Here's the opening paragraph, to get you hooked:

"Today, whether you read a few chapters in Leviticus or Luke, Ezekiel or Ephesians, Proverbs or Philippians, you must make it to the cross.  If you don't make it to the cross, if you don't see the connection between a chapter in Proverbs and what Jesus accomplished on the cross, you'll miss the whole point of your regular Bible reading.  The whole point of reading through your Bible on a regular basis is to begin to see and celebrate that the whole Bible is about the cross-- about the gospel, about the good news of what Jesus has done for you."

Read the whole article here, and remember to make it to the cross.

The Good Shepherd

I was incredibly blessed last night in my daily Through-the-Bible reading to get a new glimpse of Jesus and His glory.  I was reading from Ezekiel 34 and John 10, and I don't know if the people who designed the reading plan intended this, but both passages overlap marvelously.

In Ezekiel 34, we get a stunning picture of the grace of God and His plan of future redemption in Christ.  This is especially amazing, coming after 33 straight chapters of judgment.  At the beginning of chapter 34, God condemns the shepherds of Israel (their spiritual leaders), saying "The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought."  But then a few verses later, the tone shifts dramatically:

"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will see them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered... I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak... And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them.  I am the LORD; I have spoken."

What a prophecy!  We see its fulfillment in John 10: 

So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me where thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

Praise God for that!  He Himself will be the shepherd, and lay down His life for His sheep that He will seek out and bring in and bind up and heal.

A Faithless Seeking

In my Through-The-Bible reading plan, I'm in John 8, and I was bowled over by Jesus' words that I read this morning. In 8:21, He says, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins."  I was shocked.  Do you mean that a person can seek after God and still die in their sins?  That certainly was a shock to my self-assured Calvinist sensibilities.  But then after the Jews objected, Jesus continued in 8:24.  "I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."

So now he says that people who don't believe Him will die in their sins.  But He just said that seekers will die in their sins.  I always thought that seeking Jesus was a sign of faith.  But apparently not.

There is such a thing as faithless seeking.  You can seek Jesus earnestly and diligently without one drop of true faith.  The people who followed after Jesus in John 6 when He fed the 5,000 were not seeking Him with faith.  "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.'" (John 6:26-27)  The people were seeking Jesus because He gave them food; they weren't actually interested in Him.

How well this describes so many "seekers" today!  So many people are only interested in seeking Jesus because of what He might be able to give them: a job, money, a spouse, friends, security, a personal sense of spiritual fulfillment or enlightenment.  Jesus is clear in John 6:35- believing Him means coming to Him as thirst-quencher and satisfier, believing that HE is the bread of life.  In other words, seeking Him in order to get something is no faith at all.  True faith means seeking Jesus because you want HIM, and all the glorious fullness of everlasting joy that He is.

Are you seeking Him with faith today?

How Christians Should Respond to the Election

So how should Christians respond to the election of Barack Obama, the most extreme pro-abortion member of the Senate (and now the President-Elect), the liberal Democrat, and the first African-American President in history?  Here are 8 responses from Scripture that should be expected of God's people:

1) Pray for our President.  Pray for our new President-Elect.  Pray for our country and its new leaders.  Pray for the cessation of injustice, the freedom of the Church, and the advance of the Gospel.  "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."(2 Chron. 7:14)  And do not think that, because you do not support President Obama or his policies, that you should not pray for him.  "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matt. 5:44)  Pray especially that God will change his heart to save the lives of the millions of defenseless unborn who will otherwise die during his term.

2) Do not fear.  If the prospect of an Obama presidency scares you, you should take a good hard look at where you are placing your security.  We as Christians will almost certainly face more opposition in the next four years, and we will almost certainly face setbacks in the cause of justice.  But God is our security, heaven is our home, and we are not citizens of this world.  "He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'  So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me?'" (Heb. 13:5-6).

3) Respect our President.  Regardless of how you voted, you are commanded by the Word of God to respect your new President.  "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." (Rom. 13:1)  If Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, could write these words concerning the anti-Christian pagan emperor, how much more should Republicans submit to their Democratic leader!  Do not be like so many partisans who will drag the name of Christ through the mud tomorrow morning by the vindictive bitterness of their words.  Honor Christ in how you honor the President.

4) Rejoice at the demise of racism.  The election of the first African-American President, regardless of his political views, is a thrilling moment in American history, a decisive blow in the ages-long battle against bigotry, racism, and hatred.  Christians everywhere should rejoice in this triumph of justice-- justice that for centuries was denied to people created in the image of God for His glory.  Pray that God will use Barack Obama's presidency to further heal the divides of racism that still exist in this country.

5) Defend the defenseless.  With pro-choice Democrats now in control of the White House and Congress, the people of God must speak out with one voice against the horrific evil of abortion.  Pray earnestly, desperately, and faithfully that God will deliver us from this judgment and will renew this country's love for the sanctity of life.  "Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.  If you say, 'Behold, we did not know this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?  Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay each man according to his work?" (Prov. 24:11-12)

6) Trust in God's sovereignty.  We must never let election outcomes cloud our view of God's sovereignty as revealed in Scripture.  "He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings." (Daniel 2:20-21)  "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'" (Daniel 4:34-35)  God is sovereign, and the outcome of this election was always in His hands.  If He has chosen to lose the restraints on evil and "give us over" to the fruition of abortion and homosexuality, His judgment is just.  Continue to pray for mercy for our nation and boldness for His people, but never cease to trust His unswerving allegiance to His Church and to His glory.

7) Thank God for His mercy.  Though God has "given us over" to a liberal, pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality President, in His great mercy He has not given us the leaders we deserve.  In our sin, we deserve anarchy and dictatorship and violent oppression, yet God in His goodness has seen it fit to preserve our political freedom.  This is the fruit of the Gospel; God continues to defend His church and extend incredible patience to rebels.

8) Remember our freedom.  Many Republicans will say that a liberal President means the end of liberty.  I disagree.  It may be true that Constitutional protections will be rolled back or ignored; it may be true that Big Government may take away economic and social and educational and familial choices that once were ours.  But President Obama cannot take away our freedom, for our freedom is found in Christ.  "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)Do not put too much stock in political freedom; after all, this world and everything in it is quickly passing away.  Christians in North Korea today are just as free before God as Christians in the USA.  Remember the benefits of the Gospel bought and applied to you by the Holy Spirit: you are free, forgiven, reconciled, a citizen of heaven, and no human government can take that away.

Thoughts on the Election

I have been enormously helped towards thinking biblically about today's election by John Piper's and Justin Taylor's blogs on this subject.

In his interview, Piper reminds us that we need "a healthy dose of the sovereignty of God" when thinking about the election.  He says:

"God governs this election, and He's gonna get elected the one He wants elected, and if it's the person we think will be hurtful, then we need to be hurt.  Sometimes people say, 'God's gonna judge us if do abortion or if we have gay marriage, or if we elect a pro-choice president or something.  Well, He's not going to judge us because of that; that IS the judgment!  Abortion IS the judgment.  The spread of radical gay activism IS the judgment."

What Piper is saying is Romans 1-- God's judgment against humanity is, three times from verses 24-28, that He "gave them up" to impurity, to dishonorable passions, to a debased mind.  God is sovereign over sin; the extent of evil in the world is God's judgment against that evil.  In other words, God says, "You want abortion?  Very well, reap the consequences of your slaughter.  You want gay marriage?  Very well, reap the consequences of your perversion."  Abortion is the judgment.  Gay marriage is the judgment.

So today, on this historic election, as we go to the polls to exercise our right to vote and to exercise our duty to pursue God's prescriptive will for leaders, we need a big dose of the sovereignty of God.  God is in charge of this election, and He will govern the result-- whether towards restraint of evil or judgment on evil-- to the praise of His glory.

Something More Sure

On Sunday morning as I was having devotions and coming to God to prepare my heart to preach, I was reading in my Through the Bible reading plan in 2 Peter 1.  I was given a great encouragement by how Peter describes his faith.

"For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven."

In other words, Peter said, "We didn't make this stuff up; we saw Jesus on the mount of transfiguration; we saw His glory and we heard the voice from heaven."  But that makes what he says next so astounding:

"And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, which you will do well to pay attention to."

He says, "We saw the glory with our own eyes, we heard the voice from heaven with our own ears, but the Word of God is even more sure than that!"

Wow.  That was such an encouragement to me on Sunday, as I was preparing to preach a pretty heavy-duty sermon about sin.  I needed to hear that the Word of God is more sure than even a voice from heaven.  And it was also a huge encouragement to me and Sarah, as we have been struggling with a lot of post-college plans and trying to figure out when to get married and how we're going to make money, etc etc.  So often when you're waiting on God's timing, you wish He would just write His answer in the sky.  But 2 Peter reminds us that He doesn't need to; He has given us His Word, which is even more sure than a voice from heaven.

Fountains, Faith, and Fullness

This morning I was given the grace and responsibility to preach at Center Presbyterian Church in New Castle, PA.  My text was Jeremiah 2:11-13 and my sermon was entitled "Fountains, Faith, and Fullness: Pursuing the Glory that Profits."  Below is a (very) brief outline/summary, as well as the link to the audio file on the DVO website.

1) Historical context: The book of Jeremiah describes God coming in judgment against His people because they have "exchanged the glory of God for that which does not profit;" they have forsaken Him and turned to idols.

2) "Be appalled, O heavens... be shocked."  God says we should be shocked and appalled by this idolatry.  I have three reasons why we should be appalled:

A) The glory of God is at stake: God's glory is the most ultimate, most valuable reality in the universe, because the glory of God is most valuable to God.

B) We were created to exhibit and enjoy the glory of God: We exist to display the worth of Jesus Christ to a watching world, and we do this by enjoying "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus."

C) God's glory profits: The obvious implication of Jeremiah's accusation, "They have changed their glory for that which does not profit," is that we should be pursuing the glory that does profit.  We are commanded to consider knowing and enjoying God that we view all else as worthless by comparison.  Therefore, the proper response to the glory of God is to pursue it joyfully and drink of it deeply, and come to Jesus who says "I am the bread of life."

3) What does it mean when Jesus says, "Come to me"?  Jesus' statement in John 6 ("Whoever comes to me shall not hunger; whoever believes in me shall never thirst") is a parallel statement, in which the first phrase means the same thing as the second phrase.  Therefore, what Jesus is saying is that coming means believing.  Believing in Jesus means coming to Him as thirst-quencher and satisfier-- this is the essence of true faith.

You can listen to and download the entire message at http://www.dailyverseonline.org/sermons

A Sobering Thought

As I have been thinking and preparing for my sermon, I've been hit with a very sobering thought.  I take preaching very seriously, because the more I read the Bible the more I see the gravity of preaching and the great responsibility that I have in that moment a minister of the Word.

I was reading in Acts 12 about the death of King Herod, and was completely bowled over by how it is described: "On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.  And the people were shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"  Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and was eaten by worms and breathed his last."

God killed Herod because Herod did not give God the glory for his words.  That is a really scary thought.  God is that zealous for His glory.  And I know that in my heart, no matter how much I pray to the contrary and ask the Holy Spirit to do His work in me, that when I stand there on Sunday morning, part of me is going to be hoping they are impressed by what I have to say.  The only reason I don't end up like Herod is that Jesus was struck down in my place.  That's my only hope, and so I've got to go to the pulpit with the cross front and center in my heart.

My sermon is about big, weighty things-- the glory of God, the definition of faith.  Jesus said in John 7:18, "The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory."  Well, I've learned from Herod that seeking my own glory is a really, really bad idea.  So I must be tethered tightly to the Word and derive all my authority from its eternal truth.  If I veer away from what the Word of God says into the murky territory of my opinion and suggestion and authority, I seek my own glory.  Lord, protect me from pride!

Prepared For Joy

I was reading in "The Valley of Vision" last night and came across this incredible line: "Thou art preparing joy for me and me for joy."

What a thought!  At this very moment, Christ is in heaven preparing joy for me.  "In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (John 14:2)  And what characterizes this place He prepares?  "In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11)  Jesus is preparing joy for me.

And He is also preparing me for joy.  His Spirit is working to keep me from falling away, and the end result of that persevering power is joy.  "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen." (Jude 24-25)  He is empowering my servanthood, and the end result of that empowered love is joy.  "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.'" (Matthew 25:21)  He is sustaining me through sovereignly ordained sorrow, which is designed to enlarge my joy.  "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith... may be found to result in  praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:6-9)  All these verses point towards the glory of God as the highest goal, but the glory of God seems to be inexorably linked to my joy.  So in every moment of every day, God is glorifying Himself as He prepares me for joy.  Good news!

Preaching, Update

For the last week or so, I've been working on my sermon for this Sunday.  I've decided to go with the text of Jeremiah 2:11-13.

Has a nation changed its gods,

even though they are no gods?

But my people have changed their glory

for that which does not profit.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the LORD,

for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

What really jumped out at me from this passage is verse 11- "My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit."  Isaiah 60 tells us that their glory is God Himself.  So just like in Romans 1, when humanity "exchanges the glory of the immortal God for images," here the people of Israel exchange the glory of God for that which does not profit-- the fountain of living water in exchange for broken cisterns.  Do you see what the implications of verse 11 are?  If the charge is that they exchanged their glory for what does not profit, the obvious implication is: "Pursue the glory that profits!"  It's Christian hedonism, and its everywhere you look.  So my sermon on Sunday is going to be all about this glory that profits.  The title of the sermon is, "Fountains, Faith, and Fullness: Pursuing the Glory that Profits."

Preaching

One of the greatest privileges I have is the opportunity to preach on occasion at Center Presbyterian Church in New Castle, PA where I am currently serving an internship as Assistant to the Pastor.  "Preach the Word," Paul solemnly charges Timothy in 2 Timothy 4.  It is a charge whose gravity and glory I do not take lightly.  For half an hour, I stand as God's representative with the responsibility to faithfully, powerfully, and passionately present the Word of God in its fullness.  How can I even begin to rise to do that?

The obvious answer is, of course, that I can't.  My words are a feeble and failing breath, with no power to build up unless inhabited and empowered by the Spirit.  But God's words are living and active, and when they go out from Him, they never return void.  I think Isaiah 40:6-9 captures the high calling of a preacher well:

A voice says, "Cry!"

And I said, "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

when the breath of the LORD blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get up on a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good news;

Lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

"Behold your God!"

"Behold your God" should be the central cry of all preaching.  With that highest and most glorious calling in mind, I'm preparing my next sermon.  I have been given the great grace to preach on Sunday, November 2nd.  I haven't settled on a text yet.  Please pray for me as I prepare over these next two weeks, that I would be given a spirit of humility and power to preach the Word in such a way that the Gospel is seen as powerful, Christ is seen as precious, and God receives all the glory that is rightly His.

The Throne

"The Valley of Vision" is a collection of Puritan prayers that I've been reading daily for the last couple months, and it is, simply put, incredible.  These people knew their Bible, knew their hearts, knew their God so much better than we do.  It's really humbling; I want to pray like this.  So today I want to share one of the prayers I read this morning, entitled, "The Throne."

O God of my delight,

Thy throne of grace

is the pleasure ground of my soul.

Here I obtain mercy in time of need,

here see the smile of thy reconciled face,

 here joy pleads the name of Jesus,

here I sharpen the sword of the Spirit

anoint the shield of faith,

put on the helmet of salvation

gather manna from thy Word,

  am strengthened for each conflict,

  nerved for the upward race,

  empowered to conquer every foe;

Help me to come to Christ

as the fountain head of descending blessings,

as a wide open flood-gate of mercy.

I marvel at my insensate folly, that

with such enriching favours within my reach

I am slow to extend the hand to take them.

Have mercy upon my deadness for thy Name's sake.

Quicken me, stir me, fill me with holy zeal.

Strengthen me that I may cling to thee

and not let thee go.

May thy Spirit within me draw all blessings

from thy hand.

When I advance not, I backslide.

Let me walk humbly because of good omitted

and evil done.

Impress on my mind the shortness of time,

the work to be engaged in,

the account to be rendered,

the nearness of eternity,

the fearful sin of despising thy Spirit.

May I never forget that

thy eye always sees

thy ear always hears,

thy recording hand always writes.

May I never give thee rest until Christ is

the pulse of my heart,

the spokesman of my lips,

the lamp of my feet.

Admiring, Exploring, Expositing, Extolling

Sinclair Ferguson once insightfully said, "The evangelical orientation is inward and subjective.  We are far better at looking inward than we are looking outward.  We need to expend our energies admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ."

He's absolutely right.  So much of American culture, so much of the American church, so much of my time, is spent on inward examination, on taking my emotional temperature every five minutes, on thinking about how things relate to me rather than on how things relate to Christ.  We read the Bible this way, always looking for "how this relates to me," "how this is relevant," etc.

But Scripture calls us to end our suicidal love affair with self, and to find real life, real purpose, real fulfillment, real joy, real glory, real passion, in "admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ."  The Bible is not about me; life is not about me.  Both the Bible and life are all about pointing me away from myself and towards the greatest, most glorious all-satisfying Reality in the universe, namely, Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that I, and all of you, will be ever more captivated with the glorious Christ revealed in the pages of His Word.

Eternal Power, Strong To Save

Here's another poem, one that I wrote a couple weeks ago in the midst of listening to John Piper's sermon series, "Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ" (which, by the way, I highly recommend for a worldview-reorienting study)

Eternal power, strong to save

Which once raised Christ up from the grave

Justifying godless men

And cleansing sinners from their sin

Oh the power of the Gospel!

Quickens deadened hearts to life

All the glory to the Giver

Of our sight, to see His light

Brilliant wisdom from the first

Saw and ordered evil's birth

To bring the cross, first Adam fell

Yet God still has done all things well

Oh the wisdom in the Gospel!

Plans above the minds of men

Bringing wickedness and trouble

To naught and glory in the end

Christ the wisdom and the might

Using darkness, bringing light

Great the strength He now displays

When hardened rebels full He saves

Oh the glory of our Savior!

Who took our place our praise to win

To buy us back so we could know

And love the God who cancels sin

As The Deer For Streams Of Water

One thing I do occasionally is write poetry.  More often than not, the "poetry" turns into a song, but sometimes it stays the way it is, without musical accompaniment.  For the music, you can visit http://brendanbeale.dailyverseonline.org (songs eventually find their way over there).  For the poems, I figure that I'll post them here every once in a while.  The point is not to show off a skill at crafting words; my hope is that you will be encouraged and pointed toward the glory of the Savior in new ways.

Here's a poem I wrote tonight, based on Psalm 42:1-3, Jeremiah 2:13, and John 4:14, called "As The Deer For Streams of Water."

As the deer for streams of water

Pants my heart, O Lord, for Thee

For the ever-flowing river

Living water come to me

Thirsty for a satisfaction

Which evades these cisterns poor

Worldly comforts dry and broken

Drive me to Thy fountain, Lord

Tears have been my only portion

Salty streams from barren heart

Grief and bondage, dust and ashes

Will such idols e'er impart

Yet in Thy river grace abundant

For this chief of sinners gives

Pardon for my earthly lusting;

All my cisterns You forgive

So bring my longing to the Source,

The fountainhead of life divine:

The cross, where multitudinous mercy

Makes Thy glory ever mine

Your words were found, and I ate them

Today's Through-The-Bible reading brought me to Jeremiah 15:16-

Your words were found, and I ate them

     and your words became to me a joy

     and the delight of my heart,

for I am called by your name,

     O LORD, God of hosts.

What an amazing verse, especially when you look at it in context.  After delivering all his prophecies of disaster and destruction, Jeremiah is deeply discouraged and pleads to God for help.  But in the midst of his discouragement, Jeremiah remembers how precious God's Word still is to him.  It's sort of like David, praying out of his discouragement in Psalm 42, "Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."  Though the God's Word to Jeremiah is alienating him from his family and his people, yet they are still a joy to his heart.

May this verse be true of me every day.  I want God's Word to be my joy and delight; I want to hunger and thirst after God and His righteous Word.  But my heart doesn't naturally love what is most lovely, and my fallen tongue doesn't naturally "taste and see the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8, 1 Peter 2:3).  I need the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, to do this work in me every day.  I must pray with the Psalmist, "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!"  "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."  I need God to sovereignly, omnipotently bend my stubborn heart to His testimonies, and I need His Spirit to say "Let there be light" to my darkened eyes every morning so that I can see the wondrous things in the Bible.  And I have His promise that He will do this: Jeremiah delighted in the Word of God because he was called by God's name.  So am I!  And so I have the same Spirit and calling that Jeremiah did that enabled him to enjoy God.

Complete In Thee

This is a hymn I heard for the first time today, which blew me away with the depth of its celebration and exaltation of Christ's work.  It captures so well the glory of the atonement and the glory of Christ as the all-satisfying treasures that they are.  Praise Him for His wondrous grace!  

A modern rendition of this song can be found on iTunes by the band "Driven To One."

Complete in Thee! No work of mine

May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me

And I shall stand complete in Thee

Yea, justified! O blessed thought!

And sanctified, salvation wrought!

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me

And glorified, I too, shall be!

Complete in Thee, no more shall sin

Thy grace hath conquered; reign within!

Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee

And I shall stand complete in Thee

Yea justified! O blessed thought!

And sanctified, salvation wrought!

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me

And glorified, I too, shall be!

Complete in Thee, each want supplied

And no good thing to me denied

Since Thou my portion, Lord, will be

I ask no more, complete in Thee

Yea, justified! O blessed thought!

And sanctified, salvation wrought!

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me

And glorified, I too, shall be!

Dear Savior, when before Thy bar

All tribes and tongues assembled are

Among Thy chosen I shall be

At Thy right hand, complete in Thee

Yea, justified! O blessed thought!

And sanctified, salvation wrought!

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me

And glorified, I too, shall be!

This Morning's Scripture

For my Through-the-Bible-in-a-Year plan, I was reading this morning from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, John, and James.  Something in each one hit me really hard as I was reading (praise God for the Holy Spirit who delights to do that sort of thing).  Here are my thoughts:

Behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;

they take no pleasure in it.

Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD

~Jeremiah 6:10-11

Wow.  I pray that this will never, ever be said of me.  "The word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it."  If that's what the people of Israel were doing wrong, here's what is right: TAKE PLEASURE in the word of the Lord.  To not take pleasure in it, to not delight in it, is scorn.  It is treating it as less precious than it is.  And look at the consequences: the wrath of the LORD-- God takes our affections for the Bible very seriously.  Lord, forgive me for all the times I have not taken pleasure in Your word, and by Your Spirit implant Your holy joy in me.

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness... Apart from [God] who can have any enjoyment?  For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy.  ~Ecclesiastes 2:13,26

Praise God for this one!  There is more gain in wisdom than in folly, and there is more gain in light than in dark!  Not to quote John Piper or anything, but this is classic "Christian hedonism."  You want gain, right?  Then seek wisdom, and walk in the light!  And to those who please God, He gives this great gain in abundance.  Oh the goodness of God, that He works in us what is pleasing to Him (Heb. 13:21-22) and then fills His people with immeasurable good things!

For this purpose I cam baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. ~John 1:31

When you stop to look at it, you quickly realize that the whole Bible is intensely, radically Christ-centered, and the testimony of John the Baptist is no exception.  The whole point of his baptism, the whole point of his entire ministry, the whole point of his life and his message of repentance and all the years of locusts and honey, was this: that Jesus would be revealed.  May that be the purpose of my life and ministry as well.

Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ~James 1:21

This sort of reminded me of the passage from Jeremiah, in how seriously it takes the Bible.  Specifically, I thought of this in terms of my youth group's Bible study that I help to lead, and I was burdened anew for their hearts to be opened to the Word of God.  I want them to see that this study we are doing is so much more than a self-help lesson, or something to do Sunday afternoons-- it is life and death.  Eternal life and eternal death hang in the balance of how they will respond to God's Word.  Will they take pleasure in it, delight in it, receive it with meekness... or will they not?  Oh Lord, open their hearts and mine to Your Word, that we may receive it with meekness and joy!

Isaiah 53:10

"Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief."

Staggering.  Who killed Jesus?  Was it Pilate?  The Roman guards?  The Jews?  They had a role, but the Bible's simplest answer is: "His Father killed him."

Acts 2:23- "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God"

Romans 3:25- "Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood."

Why?  How could this be?  Why would the Father do such a thing?  Why isn't this, as some arrogant people like to say, "divine child abuse?"

Romans 8:32- "He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all."

2 Corinthians 5:21- "[God] made Him who knew to no sin to be sin on our behalf."

God did not spare His own Son, because it was the only way He could spare us.  The perfect Son, blameless of any wrongdoing and wholly worthy of my worship, took my place and received my punishment for my sins.  The book I was reading today captured the staggering thought this way: "Just as Abraham lifted the knife over the chest of his own son Isaac, but then spared his son because there was a ram in the thicket, so God the Father lifted the knife over the chest of his own Son Jesus-- but did not spare him, because he was the ram; he was the substitute." 

I almost cried when I read that.  This is love incomprehensible.  It's like the hymn "Hallelujah What A Savior" says:

Man of sorrows! what a name

For the Son of God who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude

In my place condemned He stood

Sealed my pardon with His blood

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

Amen!  May I never cease to survey and savor the wondrous cross!

Through the Bible in a Year

I don't know about you, but I've tried several different times to do one of those "read through the Bible in a year" plans, but I've never been able to stick with it.  For a while, one of those plans was actually included in each day's Daily Verse.  But let's be honest... when you have to read 7 chapters of Numbers in one day, it gets rough.

I've started a new plan, though, that I think is actually going to help me do this once and for all.  It's one of the reading plans from Discipleship Journal, and it's got a lot of things going for it that make it better than any other plan I've come across.  For starters, instead of reading all from one place (which is okay in Psalms but, as I said, gets really hard in places like Numbers and Chronicles), it divides the readings into 4 sections- one from the Old Testament law and prophets, one from the Old Testament wisdom literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, etc), one from the Gospels, and one from the Epistles.  The reading from the OT law and prophets is usually 2-3 chapters (that includes the Numbers stuff), but the other three sections are relatively short-- usually one Psalm, about ten verses from one of the Gospels, and about ten verses from one of the Epistles.  I'm really enjoying that balanced approach, because I get to see the unity of the Scriptures more clearly, and it's keeping me from getting bogged down in one spot.

Another nice thing is that, to prevent you from falling behind, it only has 25 days of reading a month, which gives me days to catch up on when I oversleep my alarm, or days to go back and meditate more on certain passages.  And also, it gives you four different bookmarks to print out, put in your Bible, and check off each day, which helps keep me accountable.

All of that said, the bigger question is, why?  Why am I reading through the whole Bible?  Who wants to read Numbers anyway?  Well, 2 Timothy 3:16 says that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable."  Profitable.  As in, there's great gain to be had here-- even in Numbers.  So I want to pursue my joy in the Word of God.  Also, although I've read almost all of the Bible at one point or another, I'm so much more familiar with the Epistles than the rest of God's Word.  I've recently been very humbled listening to various sermons and hearing pastors drawing on their deep knowledge and love of the whole Bible, quoting "obscure" verses that still carry the transforming, joy-producing power of the Spirit.  I want to preach like that.  I want to know God like that.  So I'm reading all the way through the Bible.

If you want to join me (I think I'll start including this in the Daily Verse come January) and many others who are also on this plan, go to www.hopeingod.org/biblereadingplan.aspx to find out more.

reading "Future Grace"

I'm in the process of reading "Future Grace" by John Piper, and it is blowing away my worldview.  I'm only about a third of the way through (it's a sizeable 397 pages) but I've already been staggered by the biblical truths he's been laying out.  I've also been surprised by how easy it has been to read; often reading Piper can be slow and heavy going, but this book is very accessible and readable.  

The message of the book can be summarized thus: we've gotten the motivation for our Christian life backwards.  We say we are saved by faith alone (rightly) and that our good works are works of gratitude.  But you will look in vain for any Biblical texts that explicitly tie gratitude to obedience.  Rather than trying to empower obedience by gratitude for past grace, we should look to faith in future grace for that power.  In other words, we need to bank on the promises of God.

For example: anxiety.  How are we supposed to defeat the sin of anxiety in our hearts?  The popular Christian response is that we should look back on all the times God has been faithful to us, and therefore not worry.  Now, that seems like great advice.  Of course, looking back on God's faithfulness and especially back to the cross is helpful and necessary, but only so far as it strengthens our faith for looking forward.  And more importantly, it's not how the Bible talks about dealing with anxiety.  The Bible says things like, "Don't be anxious...for my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)"  "Don't be anxious... because all these things will be added to you as well. (Matt 6:33)"  "Don't be anxious... for no eye has seen a God beside you, who works for those who wait for Him. (Isaiah 64:4)"  "Don't be anxious... for all things work together for good for those who love God. (Rom 8:28)"  Take hold of the promises-- that's where the power to fight sin is found.

The back cover of the book puts it well: "No one sins out of duty.  We sin because we want to.  Sin promises happiness, and we buy the lie.  So how can the root of sin be severed in our lives?  The penalty of sin must be paid by the righteous blood of Christ.  And the power of sin must be broken by banking on the promises of God."

Good stuff.  I've always struggled (and I suspect I'm not alone here) in figuring out how the "good works" of the Christian life tie into the truth that we are saved "by faith alone."  Luther's thing on gratitude seemed to make sense in my head, but not in Scripture.  This book is helping me put them together, and it's revolutionizing everything in the process.  I highly recommend it.

New Blog

I've been thinking for a while about blogging, but it seems that either I can never work up the motivation, or something else gets in the way.  But it's something that God has been laying on my heart for the last couple weeks, and so I think it's time to get started.

I don't yet have a clear vision of what will happen here- right now I'm thinking general musings on Scripture, books I'm reading, life events, and so on.  I'm going to try to hook this more directly into the main Daily Verse Online site as a more personal side to the ministry.  Whatever I do, I'll have to be in prayer about it.  I don't want this to be yet another self-absorbed "rambling about my life" site-- the internet has quite enough of those, thank you very much.  What I would like to see this become is a place where people can be edified by encountering the greatness of God as I share how I have encountered Him in His Word.  Yeah... that sounds like a plan.