A corrupted link

A number of my students complained last week about an assignment in a class I am teaching online. One of the links provided in the workshop doesn’t work. In fact when they click it it doesn’t take them to the materials it is supposed to- in fact, it doesn’t take them anywhere!

The ! [POINT]

WE MUST RISE ABOVE THE RUIN OF OUR CORRUPTION 

… BY SEEING THE WORLD AS IT REALLY IS

the problem with our look at the world– for all of our hatred toward religion and anything smacking of the spiritual, the world’s view is either fatalistic or fansical. 

The visual

  
FIRST…

FLAWED REASONING WILL ALWAYS FAIL US

Things are just not as they seem. And yet, 

1. It looked good to her
2. It was certainly able to give them nourishment 
3. It seemed to be consistent with the wisdom she was looking for

In short it the narrative of her life that she was slowly building in her mind

FOOLISH DECISIONS WILL ALWAYS HURT US

A series of them came quickly

• We can fix this: no fixing: The body and soul connection they had once enjoyed with God in a purely natural state was now the abode of fleshly desire which they sought to cover before God.
• We can hide from God: no hiding
• We can smooze God: no manipulating 
• We can blame: no blaming

No amount of fixing, hiding, snoozing, or blaming can mitigate for the bad decisions we make when we disobey God.

FUTURE CONSEQUENCES WILL ALWAYS CATCH US

Sin always leaves its mark, as some kind of record in our lives much like the tree rings records every stress upon its life.

1. For Eve,getting a family will come at the end of a long night of pain. ( interesting that we compare much if our pain to childburth)
2. For the marriage, staying together will become confrontational and contentious: Your desire shall be for your husband. A desire to control (Genesis 4:7): But he shall rule over thee! The beginning of the battle of the sexes.
3. For the man, working will lose its ease and be laced with struggle, travaility and death. 

But does it have to be this way? A  way out of the morass

Apps:

1. The perfect law of God will never fail us. Ignore the talking heads and experts and hear God, read his Word, seek His face and follow hard.
2. Real relationship will always help us. When our relationship with God is compromised, we open our soul space for the flesh to come crashing in.  It’s God who came looking for Adam/ Eve. As someone once said, power abhors a vacuum.
3. God’s plan is always best for us. Who told you, you were naked? Why have you surrendered the person who created you, for someone whose promises are unreliable?

James Boice writes,

The blessings of salvation come, not by fighting against God’s ways, or by hating Him for what we consider to be an injustice, but rather by accepting his verdict on our true nature as fallen beings and turning to Christ in faith for the salvation that God alone can provide.

Close!

When my students were unable to connect with their assignment because of the bad link, I sent them a fix- a good link that took them to the material they needed.

When your bad link put you in peril of losing your contact with God forever, God sent you a fix, a link to the guarantee of eternal life, and the promise of new life today, because of the perfection in the work of his Son. That link will never become corrupted and never fail to take you to God! 

It’s left for you to “click” on this link!

MJC 

The great protector

  
We find ourselves more vulnerable and unprotected than other. We fear guns but are buying them in record numbers, if only to feel more safe!

But what do I make of the commitment that Jesus Christ had made to me. As the great shepherd, he lays himself across the gate that is the sheepfold, so that He might protect me from the cunning and violence of any who seek our demise. 

And that is the basis of our Wednesday talk from John 10.

Cafe Bethel: 04.06.2016

Text: John 10:7-9

(My resources included the work of Jim Boice and others ( Zuck, Barclay, etc), but the words and the thinking out loud are mine) 🙂

The imagery revisited

If the two types of pens described earlier, are remembered, this is the second, more rural setting with mere rocks marking out the pen and the shepherd himself as the gate! In fact then, the images unfold

JESUS IS THE ONLY TRUE GATE

John 14:6

He is the gate by which sinful people can approach God the Father: Heb.10:20; Eph.2:18

THERE ARE THOSE WHO STEAL

2 types of thieves

1.  Kleptes: the one who steals with cunning/ stealth: This would be the devil of Genesis 3; the kind who pray upon others: 2 Tim.3:4-5
2. Listes: no real English comparison: a violent guns a blazing type of theft. Rev.2:15

THE GATE IS NARROW, BUT…

The opening can be large:

No contradiction with John 6:44

From God’s perspective, no one can enter without the drawing power of God at work, but from man’s perspective, he is attracted to an offer that reaches out to him personally with no restrictions other than believe!

THE GATE IS NO MERE IMAGE BUT A REAL PERSON WHO SAVES EASILY AND INSTANTLY

WHAT’S WAITING ON THE INSIDE

SALVATION: Past, present, and future

Knowing the difference between justification, sanctification, reconciliation, and glorification.

SAFETY: In and out: Deut. 28:6; I Kings 3:7; Ps. 121:8

Finding safety in and out/ all through the country. Not under siege !

SATISFACTION: 

Finding pasture: Ps.23:2-3; Phil.4:19

THAT THE THE PLEA OF MOSES MIGHT BE REALIZED!: Numbers 27:15-17

MJC 

Let’s Make marriage magnificent again

  
Genesis 2:18-25Intro: I don’t know if you noticed but Nancy Reagan passed away last week, dimming the long shadow that the Their life and presidency  had cast upon the country.

Their marriage was not a perfect one but a magnificent one and by all accounts, a real one… it lends itself to Images of royalty and dignity, that saw them endure assassination attempts, national tragedy and bitter confrontation with the Soviets.

Peggy Noonan was Ronald Reagan’s speech writer , a friend, and now a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Reagan was not a president without flaws, but in our current age, we would welcome a president with such burdens for life, prayer and a national commitment to the Bible- all of which found expression in his administration. Noonan writes, 

There was no him without her. He couldn’t have launched or sustained his great project if she hadn’t made him her project… If you served him well, you were in, if not, don’t let the door hit you. She was protective, or as she would put it, she was looking after her man. Her protectiveness was a patriotic act.”

And notice that the subject of marriage is no less a priority in Jesus’ mind: Matthew 19
God no less protective of marriage either, so if we want to see our marriages stronger, why not start here.

BI: Let’s make marriage MAGNIFICENT again. 

To do so, we must discover what God did to make it valuable as a model

1. GOD’S UNION FOSTERED A TRUSTING SUBMISSION 

The environment: (put him) (vs. 8,15) one of safety, and rest. Everything about the garden said I’m in charge, and I want your life to be perfect.

The task: likely involved more than labor. Alternative reading suggests worship and obey. Which fits better with verse 16 than working it in God’s mind!

The order: it matters, the roles that God provide and the strength of relationship prospers when we retain that in our lives (I Cor. 11; I Tim. 2:13; Eph. 5). Some of the strongest marriages I know are made up of two dynamic personalities committed to an understanding of how God wants their relationship to function. (Gary/ Jennifer; Pastor and Donna; Chuck and Nancy).

2. GOD’S UNION FOSTERED A WARM AND DEEPENING FRIENDSHIP.

They entered into a relationship that was untested and uncharted. He would love her as himself and she would respect him, and look to him for her security and support.

She had a shorter past and would need to know all that God had told Adam… He on the other hand would benefit from the compliment that she brought to the relationship. Everything that the animals could not provide (Boice?)

Mutual fulfillment: both of these people were individuals, free to develop their gifts and talents for the betterment of their family, for each other, and God’s kingdom. Both of them, each in their own realm was charged with the stewardship of the creation they called “Home”

3. GOD’S UNION BROUGHT PRISTINE INTIMACY 

They were alone in a paradise with the one person they could enjoy sexual intimacy with and with almost no limitations. They were not ashamed because their nakedness was a result of design not disgust.

Christian marriage ought to be the most sexually satisfying experience that the world could ever hope to attain. It’s designed to be exclusive, long suffering, and mutually satisfying– everything that living together isn’t, it’s just fornication… It’s not marriage and it can’t yield the benefits that marriage can.. _[ the chart]

4. GOD’S UNION FOSTERED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR LEGACY

The opportunity to build a life that matters, in the present. Listen, I have no such notion that 20 years from now, any of you will listen to my sermons, or read the book I yet hope to publish. (Dobson: Dare to Discipline). But it’s the legacy of Godliness that’s what I want to leave behind. 

What shall be my legacy? Your legacy? Im not good at many of the things most men are supposed to be successful at– I don’t hunt, don’t fish, don’t like to play cards, am abysmal at dodgeball…

But my real opportunity lies with my personal family and the few church families that I have been privileged to serve. Ministry and family: where legacy lie!

Pastor Williams: 6 kids… All love each other, all considered their dad a winner! All went to see him in hospice, some wrote tributes, others just loved on him. All of them have kids, who love God, and want to be like grandpa! Listen, that man lying in the bed have left his meager possessions to rot and break but he has left a legacy that most of us would long to have.

CLOSE

1. Someone asked my parents once about their devotion to one another.. My mom said,

 “you have to understand, we’ve been watching each other’s back for 65 years! 

 And so, when my mother checked into heaven for an extended stay, my father concluded at 94 years of age he had gone long enough on the road, and quit thriving. 

2. The upside for you? Bluntly, Jesus has “had” your back before you were born? … “Your substance was known to him, David says…” And 20 centuries ago, He declared himself your bride by giving himself up for you, that you might know just how much He loves you! 

3. And how do you respond? By loving Him back and loving that spouse/ family that he has given you!

MJC 

No harm, no foul

From my weekly, Between the Ends, publication…

A subtle little lie has invaded our Spiritual ranks, and I fear that organized sports is to blame. Now, before you land on me with both feet, I enjoy sports myself, and believe that sports and athletic competition can contribute much to our well being. In fact, the Apostle Paul draws heavily upon his knowledge of sports as he describes both the motivation and effort to run the spiritual race and to box, as, He says,

not as one who beats the air.”  Running the race, should be done, he says to win the prize. In his mind.

I am quite sure, was the anticipation of our future life with Christ and the goal of leaving a spiritual legacy for the culture to follow.

No, I’m speaking of the little phrase, I hear all the time, “no harm, no foul.” In the pickup game, it is translated, ” If you can walk away upright, no real damage has occurred.”  Where this goes awry is in our lives. If no noticeable damage is visible currently, my behavior is, in the final analysis, acceptable.  I mean, come on Mark, you may say, what real damage is done in that extramarital affair, or that pornography, or that crude remark?” The real problem here I believe, lies in the “foulness” we have become to our God.

We see not the Author and Finisher of our faith as holy- we see no need to set our sights on the highest of virtues, and we refuse, quietly or otherwise, to pursue the God who bought us, with vigor and an unquenchable holy desire. Maybe that’s why a piece from Wm Law seems to strike the right chord for the NCAA tournament, and the tournament called life, that we all participate in… Law writes,

So that the fault lies not here, that we desire to be good and perfect, but through the weakness of our nature, fall short of it; but it is because we have no piety (Holy desire, My term), enough to intend to be as good as we can, or to please God in all the actions of our life.” 

I rest my case with a axiom that has always served me well.  ” We will always do the things that are most important to us- always! MJC

Why Baptize if it only gets us wet?

  

Intro: Biblical association between water and judgement: certainly enough images of death and judgement, for Paul to grab the image of death, from his discussion of dying to sin.

Romans 6:1

Why Baptism? Why the fuss? Why the interest in mode and merit? 

We need!

Our relationship with Christ needs a transformation that equals the depth of our redemption.

So what makes up my transformation in Christ?

MY GOAL:

My goal is to manifest a life in Christ that is radically different than the life I left. I have died to the sin that once enslaved me. To be dead to it means I am separated from it. It no longer commands me

MY GOSPEL

The simplest explanation for what has happened to me. Paul’s illustration involves the culmination of his interest in my life.

• Best summed up in I Cor. 15:1-4

MY GUARANTEE 

What Jesus does with his death becomes the template for ours! 

• Romans 8:1-4

And the resurrection of Jesus is my guarantee that I can live differently today and live eternally in the presence of my SAVIOUR!

… And this is my chance to explain it to you.

In 1739, Jonathan Edwards delivered his famous sermon, Sinners… In which he vividly dangled his audience over the flames of hell! What’s missing from most people’s understanding of that sermon is the presence of mercy so needed and undeserved.

As pastors, we’ve been bullied out of any discussion of hell as a real place, with real and eternal consequences. Look at the world around us, and recognize that a world so self destructive and self consumed will only implode if not for the presence of God and a judgement.

These little pictures [ please stand]  (little people) in front of you are staking their future and their lives on the reality of a real God, a real judgement, and real salvation that makes all the difference in life and death! If they’re not right… They’ve merely wasted your time and little more… If they’re right, then you who have not confessed Christ stand to lose everything?

Just days after Edwards preached “Sinners”, he penned advice to a young person who had asked him some questions about living a powerful Christian life, He wrote,

In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ, as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold if Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the Mark of the wounds on his hand and side, whence comes the blood that cleanses you from sin…

MJC 

Who’s really the blinded ones in John 9?

  

Review: the basis of Jesus’ activity in This part of John’s gospel.

What are the differences between the message in chapter 8 and 9?

• In chapter 8: Light exposes darkness
  
• In chapter 9: Light informs darkness

Among other thoughts…, in chapter 8, Jesus is called Demoniac (36), in chapter 9, He is called Lord!

A Theme: Man cannot frustrate the plan of God nor his power.  On the contrary, all of the miracles illustrate the fact that we are helpless. 

What the disciples think about suffering. The ancient (and not so ancient), view of suffering.

What God does in suffering?

1. A corrective we need in our lives! The spanking that makes us better
2. The constructive work of cutting away the warts
3. That Grace may be revealed! Clearly evident in Job’s life and Lazarus. 

The work of God is time sensitive. We must do the work while it is light! Richard Baxter, wrote, 

I preach as though I ne’er might preach again, and as a dying to dying men.”

What we discover !

The blind man did not beg for his sight. His condition was was hopeless, but he was in the right place in the right time.

The man’s path toward stronger beliefs-

1. When first asked, he (Jesus) is a man…
2. Then later a prophet…
3. Later a teacher (27),
4. Lastly a man from God (38).

Just some thoughts… We’ll fill in some of blanks later this evening!

MJC 

The “How” in how we know Jesus

  
The “How” in how we know Jesus  

So, if we would have met last Wednesday I would have asked you about your Jesus, more specifically “how” you know him? …

So now we proceed!

In between are some rough notes…

—

The Great caper to kill Jesus

• + Arrest Him… Failed
• + Invalidate Him… Failed
• + Humiliated Him…Failed
• + Deny Him

THE PROBLEM WITH THE LEADERS’ VIEW OF JESUS

Cannot see beyond their own pride.., Abraham as the end and not the means!

My comments: BTE: Luke 9:57-62

— Foxes have houses but I don’t! Put a price on your possessions- Is the cost too high?

— Let me bury my father! What priority will people, even important people have in my life?

— I’m really thinking about following God! What goals in my life will I consider non-negotiable?

WHAT MAKES A FAITH LIKE ABRAHAM SO VALUABLE?

1. His calling above and beyond earthly honors

2. Believed God in spite of circumstances (Rom.4:19,21)…all the difficulties and lack of the one thing that really mattered in life.

3. The connection of Abraham with Jesus. He rejoiced at Jesus’ presence.

To know God like Jesus is to know Him by experience.
—–

… I would have concluded by sharing some truth from John 8, and pointing out that Jesus not so subtly, confronted the leaders with the fact that the way He knows the Father is categorically different from the way they “know” Him.

It’s the difference between knowing someone “intellectually” and knowing someone by “experience.” SO I’LL ASK THAT NOW!
Which one describes you?

MJC

What every culture needs to survive

  

Let’s begin by asking you, 

What did you do that you would consider important this week?

THE BIG DEAL! I’ll suggest that every culture owes it’s survival to 3 factors:

WE NEED WORK THAT GLORIFIES THE CREATOR

Check out the Text, Genesis 2:1-3.

God works. It’s part of who He is.

For too much of the churches history, we have failed to make the connection between the God we worship on Sunday and the God we worship in the workplace. 

Too bad because God works! In a great book, Your work matters to God, Sherman writes,

What the researchers found most startling was that there was no significant difference between the churched and the unchurched in their ethics and values on the job. In other words, despite the fact that more and more people attend churches, churches seem to be having less and less of an impact on the moral fiber of their people, at least in the workplace. (Doug Sherman, Your work matters to God.)

And yet Adam given a design modeled by God himself. 

• Col.1:16: For by Him, all things created
• Ps.104:10-30: You make springs gush forth…You cause the grass to grow…He made the moon to mark the seasons
• Deut.11:1-7: after reminding the Israelites all the things that he has done for them guaranteeing their safety, God says, For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lird that He did.
• Ps. 111: Great are the works of the Lord
• John 4:34: Jesus: my food is to do the will of him who sent me and accomplish his work

Genesis 2: 5,15

Adam is to act as a co-regent for the work of advancing the culture.

What happens when we work?

1. We serve people
2. Meet our own needs
3. Provide for our families
4. Become benevolent
5. Ultimately we demonstrate that we live God.

WE NEED REST THAT RECONNECTS US WITH THE CREATOR

A rest that draws us closer to the purpose statement of our lives- a soul rest that takes us from a life of restlessness and chaos and brings us into soul rest with God’s family

Hebrews 3-4

Disobedience denies us the real rest God intended us to have and to enjoy.

Augustine was right…

Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until we find rest in thee

WE NEED WORSHIP THAT EXALTS THE CREATOR

The day that God set aside, as rest becomes ground zero for worship.

God blessed and sanctified a day where the soul rest we enjoy becomes basis for the worship we offer. We’re Led from the plains of work and travail into the foothills of intentional worship. (Camelback mountain… Up from tge city) 

How does one worship, when he lacks the time, the energy, or the focus to cast his eyes upon the God whose focus whose work has set the creation in place just for man?

The rational work of creation requires a rational response from man. John Stott writes

We must therefore beware of all forms of emotional, aesthetic, or ecstatic worship in which the mind is not fully engaged, and especially of those which even claim that they are superior forms of worship. The only worship pleasing to God is heart worship, and heart worship is rational worship. It is the worship of a rational God who has made us rational beings and given us a rational revelation so that we may worship him rationally, even with all our minds.

Take-always-

1. If our work is blessed by God, we must pursue it with vigor, consistency, and truthfulness.
2. If our rest is more than just leisure, it will press us closer to the person of Christ
3. If our worship is worthy of God, it will celebrate the perfections of his plan for us.

Close, so what have you done, that important to your world?

A culture needs work, rest, and biblical worship if it is to thrive, even survive!

MJC 

Living out our Love life with Christ- and His Church

  

The Happy churches of Dayton

I’ve been wondering- What is the antidote for a “Happy Church” infection?

My daughter now faces in the Dayton area what many others face, either because of military transfer or career relocation– establishing a new residence and the circle of acquaintances and connections that are essential to adapting to the “new place.”

But if my daughter’s most recent experiences with finding a new church are at all representative of the brave new world around us, we have reasons for concern and a greater understanding of our purpose as a NT church.

Consider her most recent visits to mega-churches in the Dayton area; large, burgeoning congregations with coffee shops and athletic facilities, but no motivation or need to help her connect to a small group or interest in her as a person. Maybe that’s because, in some churches, its the choreography that matters. In “Happy Churches” as I shall call them, services are created, driven, and enjoyed for their lack of substance– even at times the Bible itself. 
Can it be, as my daughter discovered, that we’ve grown so weary of Jesus’ tedious instruction at the final supper on earth before His crucifixion, that because of time and logistics, we must streamline the communion service so as to include only one of the elements of the celebration of His death? Have the bland generalities of Grace swallowed up the specifics of Biblical truth? Do Muslims know more of their Allah than we know of Jesus- The author and finisher of our faith? 

So I’m wondering– what the church really for?

1. Gathering place to fellowship with your friends
2. Social agency, charged with meeting the needs of the community
3. I place, where your name as “member“will insure your obituary record that you belonged to a church
4. A place to get fixed, fixed up, or find that prosperity you knew was yours all along. A self-help station!
5. A place to network- build connections, develop your business…

But a quick check of my Bible reveals

• Paul found the church to be the pillar and foundation of the truth: 1 Tim. 3:15
• The churches his overwhelming concern: 2 Corinthians
• And Jesus, said, Try as you might to dismantle it, disregard it, or dismiss it– it will survive

Trans: what began in Acts as the pre-eminent invitation of a lifetime, gets relegated to a mere afterthought in many people’s minds– (Barna: UK: 29% believe that he is real). Equally, disturbing mainstream believers see little use for the church beyond a gathering place.  Ah, come on, pastor Mark, isn’t it all about relationship with Jesus?

In the midst of this discussion sits Valentine’s Day. 

Valentine’s Day is struggling with its need to exist. We search desperately for a reason to love that outlasts the sexual one night stand; All the while, failing  to learn from the relationship Jesus has with His church. The fact is, that Jesus has carried on 2000 year love affair with his church.  And his Valentine to His church might best be exemplified in Ephesians 5. Now, since my interests this morning are more ecclesiastical than marital, or personal, I’ll avoid the specific behaviors that couples should lend their ear to…

In favor of, identifying, say, 7 strands of Christ’s love affair with his church.

1. CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF HIS CHURCH: Ephesuans 1; Colossians 1:18
2. CHRIST IS THE SAVIOUR OF HIS CHURCH: I lay down my life for my sheep!
3. CHRIST IS THE PERFECT BRIDEGROOM OF HIS CHURCH: The Bridegroom who has never defrauded his love, or cheated his bride through impurity. church (cf. 5:2; John 10:11, 15, 17–18; Gal. 1:4; Eph. 5:25; Heb. 9:14.
4. CHRIST IS THE MASTER OF HIS CHURCH: if “head” speaks to His authority, Master speaks to his overwhelming wisdom and knowledge when it comes to our needs. Disciples: (John 6; Where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life).
5. CHRIST US AT WORK SANCTIFYING HIS CHURCH: Making the church more holy, more interested in pursuing His glory rather than our own.  Heb.2:11; 10:10, 14; 13:12
6. CHRIST IS AT WORK FEEDING HIS CHURCH: Giving the church its nourishment so that it would grow strong. (So why do so many miss so many meals in favor of the junk food the world offers?)
7. CHRIST IS AT WORK PURIFYING AND PREPARING HIS CHURCH.( Hebrews 11: so that we would be ready)

AND NOW, FOR YOU,

If you’re looking for a guaranteed fix for your own marriage or a perfect model to build your future marriage, consider these hints!

1. If we want our marriage Christlike we have to settle the issue of authority. Who has it? How is it exercised, and why it matters?
2. IF we want our marriage to be Christlike,we have to settle the issue of purity. One woman one man, giving themselves to one another within the boundaries of marriage, no cheating, no fornicating, no experimenting… Because God never did that with us!
3. If we want our marriages to be Christlike, we have to see beyond our own needs, period!  That means, emotional, Phyical, and spiritual…

Close

Picture of Pastor/ Mrs Williams

This picture is both precious to me but difficult to see. [Describe the background for the pic]. 

What Jesus did:

He stepped out of heaven, into an earthly body and cuddled up next to you and me who were dying and said, I’m with you… I’m yours, and I will be with you till the end and beyond… And I will never let you Go. That’s how much God loves His church. How can you love His church any less? Jesus stepped forward and committed himself to His church.. The church is worth it– worth your time, your attention, and your name being firmly attached to it.

MJC 

When the family confesses

You have been selected...a free trip, free money, free services- or even special truth.
The man who came to see me this week, had a deal for me. Sent from God to me, with instructions from God to give me what I need —prophecy. Unfortunately God never seems to tell him that he needs a local assembly where he can rub elbows with the people of God and a place where he can/ should confess His sins before the throne of God. It’s likely, then, that we need more of God’s presence, and not more prophecy… Assuming we value the Scriptures!

So, I’m wondering…how much do we wish to dwell in Gods presence… Where the practice of Holy confession thrives? Maybe as my friend would suggest, I’m out of step with the Holy Spirit, but, just maybe, we’re out of step with God wants us to be.

THE POINT!
LIVING WELL MEANS CONFESSING WHAT AILS US. ITS THE DECISION WE MAKE TO DEFY OURSELVES AND DEPEND UPON THE PROMISES OF GOD!
James the just knew it well. Writing to the church in Jerusalem, he said,
“Confess your sins, one to another, that you may be healed.”
Certainly a man with knees hardened like camels’ has something to say to us about prayer and confession.
“The Christian life seen through James’ eyes was solidified in the trenches of confession and taken for a long walk on the highlands of praise.”
But is he alone?

AUGUSTINE had his favorite psalm (32) inscribed on the wall beside his bed so that as death neared he could meditate upon it. “He liked it”, he said, “because the beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner.”
But is he alone?

David learned from it as well!
You all know the sordid narrative of David and Bathsheba- the adultery, the murder and the endless night of sin’s retribution last lasted most of a year. And then the rejoicing that found its way into his life- Ps.51:13
The reflection that followed is a maskil found in Psalm 32:
The depth of our sin-
– transgression
– falling short (1)
– iniquity(2)
Matched against the depth of the forgiveness
– He forgives
– he covers
– he does not impute

Delivered by a God who desires to forgive!
+ before and after verse 5: Selah
+ But in verse 5, no hesitation- the willingness of God to forgive and restore, if we would only confess..
FOR THAT IS WHAT THE CHURCH IS CALLED TO DO, AND WHY OUR FOCUS IN PRAYER FOR FEBRUARY IS CONFESSION, In the presence of communion and beyond!
(6) That God may be found!
And so, Jesus, lover of my soul says,
Jesus, lover of my soul
Let me to Thy bosom fly
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, Obmy Savior hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into thy haven guide,
O,receive my soul at last…

COMMUNION
MJC

Pastor Mark Congrove
Serving with:
Bethel Church
Cornerstone University
Grace Bible College