Here’s where we stand after a great fundraiser by way of a yard sale. Thanks to all who gave and participated!
https://catalystmissions.gomethod.app/!/34012/cuba-january-2024/participants/365694/donate
Monthly Archives: October 2023
The Lord’s Day Sermon Manuscript for October 29, 2023
Here’s the link to download the manuscript if you are interested:
Daily Encouragement
“O my great High Priest,
pour down upon me streams of needful grace,
bless me in all my undertaking,
in every thought of my mind,
every word of my lips,
every step of my feet,
every deed of my hands.”
Valley of Vision, After Prayer [277]
Christ is with us and ministering to us as our great high priest. Pray this for yourself and each other! He will pour down grace upon us.
Daily Encouragement
Lament is a necessary action among God’s people. In a day that we forbid anything that’s not positive we wrongly cut off the means to praise and thanksgiving. Until we have grieved over our sin that has offended the Holy God of the universe we will likely not be moved to repentance and faith.
As I read the book of Lamentations, I’m thinking the glorious verses of chapter 3…
Lamentations 3:22-23 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
…do not come to mind without a thorough lament. And the book does not begin with the sentiments of 3:22-23, it begins with observing what merely has happened.
Lamentations 1:1-2 How lonely sits the city That was full of people! She has become like a widow Who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces Has become a forced laborer! She weeps bitterly in the night And her tears are on her cheeks; She has none to comfort her Among all her lovers. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.
There’s no repentance in the beginning chapters BUT it was necessary to weep in the selfish reality of the consequences first. It’s not until verse 8 of chapter one that any mention of sin comes up. And a telling phrase pops up in that acknowledgment in verse 9–She did not consider her future.
When you live merely for the present you cannot live in light of the future. To trade living it up in this short and temporary life for eternal life just doesn’t make sense when you actually think about it. But that’s the problem, we find it hard to consider when sin is so much fun.
I mean the one lamenting doesn’t even mention God’s name until verse 9. And when the writer brings it up they are still not in the right place of repentance—See, O LORD, my affliction.
My question is how does one get from that statement which leads to chapter two’s rightful claim that God is their enemy in 2:5 and then to this posture of chapter 3–Let him give his cheek to the smiter.
The one in exile is now willingly receiving God’s just judgment against them in hope of redemption…in hope of God’s vengeance on the enemy he used to punish them by the end of chapter 3.
My conclusion? Do not bypass lamenting, even selfish lamenting because it is often the process we go through to bring our hearts into glad submission to the Lord and the hope of forgiveness through repentance and faith.
Giving your cheek to the smiter is a clear expression of faith in the Lord. It says I deserve this and more but I will wait upon my Savior because I’m banking my life on the Lord’s steadfast love and mercy.
This language of giving your cheek to the smiter shows up again in Isaiah 50:4-9 which I believe is describing the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. Jesus is the only one who continued to offer his face like a flint in perfect obedience to the Father. He obeyed to the point of death even death on a cross. Therefore this is what that obedience accomplished:
Hebrews 5:9-10 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
You can be made right with God through repentance and faith in Christ alone. Will you have him?
Daily Exhortation
Be careful how you suffer. The reality is suffering will come to all people in some form or fashion throughout our lives. In part because we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people. God created this world and it functions a particular way and when we do not follow his way or someone else doesn’t follow his way then suffering occurs.
In 1 Peter 4, some of that suffering that happens to Christians is a test for us. Fiery trials are meant to reveal where we are and if we are in fact trusting the Lord. Indeed, each test either matures our faith or reveals a lack of faith.
How we understand suffering in our lives matters. Peter describes it as sharing in the sufferings of Christ in 4:13. He goes on to encourage us to rejoice in them because if you are rejoicing in your sufferings now you will rejoice with exultation when Christ returns. Peter even calls those who suffer for the name of Christ blessed. Why? Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on us.
However, we can suffer wrongly. There are consequences for evil even in this world…even for troublesome meddlers. But if we suffer as a Christian, we are not to be ashamed. If we suffer due to consequences of sin then we ought to be ashamed. May our suffering be for the name and may it glorify the Lord.
How do you do this? Is there a “How to” YouTube video to learn this? Well here’s how it ends:
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
Trust the Lord and do what it right according to him. Let us pray for each other to know God’s ways and trust and gladly obey him.
Lord’s Day Sermon Manuscript for October 22, 2023
Here’s the link to download the manuscript if you are interested:
Daily Encouragement
I am encouraged as I read through Jeremiah to see the obedience of some to accept hard things God pronounced against them that will essentially last for 70 years. In chapters 26-29 this morning, their obedience to give themselves over to Babylon which came from the Lord through Jeremiah was displaying their TRUST in the Lord.
This has been a good reminder of how obedience works with faith. They heard His word prophesied and it was a hard word but they trusted the Lord to do what He promised. Like this one:
Jeremiah 24:6-7
[6] I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. [7] I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah sent the exiles a letter that said, “Settle in. It’s going to be a while.” Build houses. Plant gardens. Get married. Pray for the city to prosper and you will prosper too. But remember that the Lord will keep his eye on you and you will return to the promised land someday.
There’s a nice connection in my reading from James this morning too concerning endurance.
James 5:7-8
[7] Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. [8] You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
We too are waiting for that heavenly city, the lasting one. There we will be under the perfect reign of our perfect King who will also be our Shepherd/Pastor forever as our great High Priest. He will protect us forever and lead us in worship and service of our great God—forever.
Daily Exhortation
James 5:1-6 is a sad reality that exposes the lure of pleasure in this present life by way of unrighteousness. Take a look.
James 5:1-6
[1] Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. [2] Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. [3] Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. [4] Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. [5] You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. [6] You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
A few observations: Misery is coming. Therefore they ought to be very troubled by that coming reality. It seems they have so much that it’s just lying around getting rusty and moth eaten but much is never enough.
They’ve either gotten this excess by withholding due payment for services they had hired others to do or they already have excess and continue to pile up their riches by withholding the rightful payment of services rendered. Either way, both are wrong in the eyes of God.
Look, it’s not that we cannot enjoy pleasures now in this life. The problem is that we would do evil to pursue pleasure. It would be like us wanting to go to the Vols football game this weekend but robbing a bank on the way to Knoxville to pay for the tickets or let’s say we had the money but it would take away from our family’s needs. Do not pursue pleasure by doing evil.
But don’t miss the last verse. It seems the righteous live in light of future pleasures that will have no end. They do not resist the rich who do them evil. They expect to be taken advantage of in this world. But one day, that will be over forever. Disadvantaged now but only advantage on that glorious day.
Do not fret in the day of trouble. The Lord is with you and the sufferings of this world cannot compare with that glorious day for those who long for Christ’s return.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
[17] For this light *momentary affliction is preparing for us an *eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, [18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are *transient, but the things that are unseen are *eternal.
Daily Encouragement
“Thou hast given me to read my pardon in the wounds of Jesus.”
That’s it. That’s the encouragement for the day.
—Divine Promises, “Valley of Vision” p. 240
The Word Is Not Imprisoned 