The (Lost) Art of Street Preaching

From Geoffrey Kirkland:

You may have a particular view on street-preaching (for purposes here, street preaching and open air preaching are synonymous). This could be from a street preacher that you heard or from a YouTube video that you watched, or just the seemingly “weird” people that do it. I want to propose today that this art of public open-air preaching is an important way the gospel of Jesus Christ can effectively be proclaimed to the lost in our culture.

I propose nine reasons why street-preaching should be considered as a valid way to present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. It presents the gospel to people who may not otherwise step foot into a church.
Many people in our day and age refuse to step foot in a church. This may result from a myriad of reasons. But one undeniable benefit of open-air preaching is that instead of waiting for the people to come into the church, the preacher goes out to the lost. Thus, those people who may not enter into a church building can hear the gospel proclaimed to them in an area or setting in which they gather. Rightly did Spurgeon remark regarding preachers of the gospel: “traders go to the markets, they follow their customers and go out after business if it will not come to them; and so must we.”

2. It allows the preacher to obey the most frequent command regarding the manner in which the gospel is presented.
One only needs to read through the Scriptures (both OT and NT) to find the clear emphasis on the bold, public, and even at times “in-the-moment” proclamation of God’s truth. A concept that very frequently arises is the command given and pattern exemplified in the act of preaching the Gospel and proclaiming the truth of salvation (cf. Acts 26; 2 Tim 4:2; Luke 14:23; cp. Neh 8).

3. It follows the historical pattern of pastors open air preaching.
Beginning with Noah who was a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5), to Ezra (Neh 8:1-4), to Jeremiah (Jer 7:2; 19:2), Ezekiel (Ezek 11:off), other prophets (cf. Jonah 3:2-4), John the Baptist (Matt 3:1-2), our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 5-7, et al.), Paul (Acts 26), Peter (Acts 5:17ff), and hundreds through Church history, an unbroken pattern of open-air preaching can be observed. For instance, in the 18th century, Gideon Ouseley, heralded God’s truth in the open-air in the country of Ireland. Ouseley first preached in a church-yard, at a funeral, and after this point, he preached in the streets and church-yards, at fairs and markets, at wakes and funerals, wherever in fact he could find a congregation assembled. He would ride on his horse from county to county preaching and exhorting wherever and whenever he could.

Even Spurgeon provided a list of eleven qualifications for open-air preachers: (1) a good voice, (2) naturalness of manner, (3) self-possession, (4) a good knowledge of Scripture and of common things, (5) ability to adapt himself to any congregation, (6) good illustrative powers, (7) zeal, prudence, and common sense, (8) a large, loving heart, (9) sincere belief in all he says, (10) entire dependence on the Holy Spirit for success, (11) a close walk with God by prayer, and (12) a consistent walk before men by a holy life.

4. It plainly understands the command of our Lord to “go into the highways and the country roads” and compel sinners to come.
In Luke 14:23, Jesus commanded His disciples to go out into the highways and the country roads (or, hedges) and compel sinners to come in so that His house may be full. Open-air preachers take this verse and read it at face value and have no need to spiritualize or take this text figuratively. O how important it is to go out to where the sinners are, gather, commune, party, and live so that the biblical gospel is presented to them in a winsome and compelling way so that they may repent of their sin and believe in Christ.

5. It trusts wholly that God’s Word will never return void.
Every time the preacher heralds God’s truth, he recognizes that God’s truth never returns void. It especially is the case when the open-air preacher takes God’s Word and delivers it to the passers-by that an unshakable trust in God’s promise that His Word will never return empty but it will always accomplish what God sovereignly ordains.

6. It encourages believers to go out together as a team and it mutually stirs others to more fervent and urgent evangelism.
Open-air preaching can provide a great opportunity to take other believers from a local church to gather and hand out tracts and to approach people who have listened to the preaching of the Gospel and engage in further conversation. It can be an effective way of openly proclaiming the Word and deliberately engaging people in personal conversation about their own heart and soul before a sovereign Judge.

7. It convicts Christian passers-by who are not sharing their faith to consider evangelizing with greater zeal.
Oftentimes, the open-air preacher will hear from Christians who walk by and say something along the lines of: “I wish I could do what you’re doing,” or “I could never do that!” but this allows the preacher a great opportunity to challenge those passers-by to be diligent, vigilant, and urgent in their own gospel-proclamation in the life-setting in which God has placed them. By the preacher’s urgency and intensity, he reproves other Christians who wonder if God may ever put them up to such a daunting task of evangelizing in public! The open air preacher must, from beginning to end, be an intense man and preach with urgency, intensity, and bulldog tenacity. And, it could be argued, he could shepherd other Christians to do the same in their evangelism.

8. It always glorifies God because His Word is being proclaimed.
When a man of God proclaims the Word of God that salvation is found in the one true God, Jesus Christ, and in His righteousness received by faith alone, God is always glorified. He can be glorified in the drawing of sinners to repentance or He can be glorified in the hardening of sinners further toward judgment. God’s Word that is faithfully proclaimed always glorifies God even if the outward results are nonexistent.

9. It depends wholly on the sovereign Work of the Holy Spirit to quicken dead hearts to new life as sinners hear the word preached.
Preaching by definition takes the divine message and preaches that message of new life to dead sinners who cannot, in and of themselves, listen to, hear, and respond to new life. They simply can’t believe by their own freewill. The open-air preacher heralds God’s truth anywhere and everywhere depending wholly on the sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit to awaken spiritually dead souls and impart spiritually new life into the sinner’s soul. This is the divine act of regeneration. God can do it from the pulpit in a church. And God can perform this sovereign act on a streetcorner in a public square.

A concluding thought comes poignantly from Spurgeon:

“No sort of defence [sic] is needed for preaching out of doors; but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meeting-house.”

What are your thoughts?

Live As If Christ Will Appear Today

Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time. Do everything, as if you did it for the last time. Say everything, as if you said it for the last time. Read every chapter in the Bible, as if you did not know whether you would be allowed to read it again. Pray every prayer, as if you felt it might be your last opportunity. Hear every sermon, as if you were hearing once and forever. This is the way to be found ready. This is the way to turn Christ’s second appearing to good account. This is the way to put on the armor of light.

~ J.C. Ryle

Visual Theology Part 2

From Tim Challies:

Today I have the second infographic in the series, one that focuses in on the attributes of God.

When we talk about God’s attributes we do so to answer questions like Who is God? and What is God like? It is the way we seek to wrap our minds around just little fragments of who this God is.

We have sought to represent some of that in this graphic (which, incidentally, would probably make quite a nice desktop background).

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Monday Morning Humor

Visual Theology

From Tim Challies:

Today I’ve got an infographic for you, and one that I is going to kick off a series called “Visual Theology”—an attempt to display theology using a combination of words and pictures. I have asked one designer to take a shot at displaying the ordo salutis, which is to say, the order of salvation, which refers to the sequence of conceptual steps involved in the salvation of the Christian. I will let the graphic explain it from here.

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Six Ways to Pray for the Pastor

Prayer is a significant aspect of your involvement in your local church’s worship every Lord’s Day. As you spend time today, preparing for tomorrow’s assembly, remember to pray for your pastor’s preaching. Take some time to look up the following Scriptures and let them influence how you pray. Your pastor will appreciate it more than you know.

1. Pray for the Lord to open the hearts of the hearers just as He did for Lydia (Acts 16:14).
2. Pray for the Lord’s victory over Satan’s opposition (Lk 8:12; 2 Cor 4:4)
3. Pray for boldness and guidance in his choice of words (Eph 6:18-19)
4. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s work of conviction & illumination in the hearts of listeners (Jn 16:8-11; 1 Cor 2:14)
5. Pray for the power of the gospel to be unleashed (Rom 1:16; 2 Thess 3:1)
6. Pray for the drawing power of the Father (Jn 6:44)

What is God Sovereign Over?

The Bible verses below are far from exhaustive, and each should be interpreted according to its genre and context. But I am convinced that these verses—rightly interpreted—definitively establish God’s absolute sovereignty over all things. And since compatiblism is true, none of this contradicts the equally biblical teaching that Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) and that human choices are genuine and significant.

God Is Sovereign Over . . .

Seemingly random things:

The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD.
(Proverbs 16:33)

The heart of the most powerful person in the land:

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;
he turns it wherever he will.
(Proverbs 21:1)

Our daily lives and plans:

A man’s steps are from the LORD;
how then can man understand his way?
(Proverbs 20:24)

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
(Proverbs 19:21)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. . . . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
(James 4:13-15)

Salvation:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
(Romans 9:15-16)

As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
(Acts 13:48)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(Romans 8:29-30)

Life and death:

See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
(Deuteronomy 32:39)

The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
(1 Samuel 12:6)

Disabilities:

Then the LORD said to [Moses], “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
(Exodus 4:11)

The death of God’s Son:

Jesus, [who was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
(Acts 2:23)

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
(Acts 4:27-28)

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief. . . .
(Isaiah 53:10)

Evil things:

Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the LORD has done it?
(Amos 3:6)

I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
(Isaiah 45:7)

“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. . . . “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
(Job 1:21-22; 2:10)

[God] sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
(Psalm 105:17; Genesis 50:21)

All things:

[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will.
(Ephesians 1:11)

Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
(Psalm 115:3)

I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
(Job 42:2)

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 4:35)

My Jesus, My Righteousness

Father, you know the utter self-centeredness of my nature inherited from Adam. You know that even when I have examined my heart for hidden motives, which bend me toward self-exaltation, my innate blindness may also prevent me from seeing truth, reality—things as they really are—unless Your Spirit who resides within me comes to my aid with His enlightening power.

Having been conceived and born in sin it takes no conscious effort on my part to stray from You. It is the easiest thing in the world to do. It is like breathing.

Yet you love me. Yet you have mercy upon me. Yet your compassion is not content to stand by and watch—ignoring me—but deliberately moves toward me, not casting me away from your strong arms, but drawing me close, accepting me, as if I was righteous.

Oh, but I am. I am righteous. Yes, you have said so. Not of my own doing. No, but by Your doing.

Having no righteousness of my own by which to approach You—but only sin that separates and hides me from your holy presence— You have undertaken to save my wretched soul.

How? Through Jesus, your righteous Son, who, though in exceeding anguish, willingly endured on His cross the penalty for my unrighteousness in order that He might present to me His perfect righteousness as a gift—in exchange for my sin—in order that He might present me to You as blameless.

Oh, what love is this? Oh, what grace is this that delights to pardon sinners like me? Not only to pardon me for all I have done, thought, or said, but to adopt me—to hold none of my guilt against me—and to count me as a righteous son.

For today I am righteous…by faith in Jesus.

Therefore, I embark upon a new day, not wallowing in my own too-numerous-to-count failures, or ease with which I rebel, but rather delighting in my righteous standing before You—by embracing my Jesus.

My Jesus, my righteousness.

The Pharisee's Problem

“The Pharisees’ problem was not that they were too concerned with orthodox teaching, but that they had invented their own orthodoxy. Jesus condemned them for replacing and modifying the clear truth of Scripture with their own traditions (Matthew 15:1-9). They were the chief theological miscreants of their day.

So how did Jesus treat them? Did He show them love—i.e., did He obey the Second Great Commandment in His dealings with them? Of course.

What did that love entail? First and foremost, Jesus declared the truth to them. He also frequently delivered public rebukes for the errors that threatened to damn them. He castigated them. He occasionally held them up to public ridicule. He obviously valued their souls more than their feelings. That is what authentic love looks like. In other words, Christ, not Rodney King, is the paragon of perfect love.

The vast majority of Pharisees didn’t heed Jesus’ warnings, of course. The smug or snide ones might have even claimed it was because He didn’t “have a relationship based upon love.” It was nonetheless the right thing for Him to correct their false teaching and warn others of the danger posed by their error.”

- Phil Johnson

Quote of the Day

“But why is faith the means of justification? Simply because it is the action of union with Jesus Christ. Faith is our coming to Him, our trusting Him, our resting in Him. The moment we are united to Him, we are immediately endowed with all that He has secured for us. We are immediately justified before we have done a single good deed, because we are His and He is God’s. Just as a very poor woman is a very poor woman until the very moment that she marries a wealthy man. But at the moment that she becomes his wife, she becomes a wealthy woman. It is by means of her acceptance that she becomes a wealthy woman, but her acceptance does not make her a wealthy woman; it is her husband’s wealth that makes her so. So faith does not justify; Christ justifies. But faith is the act of union with Christ.”

- John H. Gerstner

Christians in Name Only

The first charge of general defilement Christ brings against the church in Sardis was that they had a vast deal of open profession, and but little of sincere religion. "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead" (Revelation 3:1).

That is the crying sin of the present age. I am not inclined to be morbid in my temperament, or to take a melancholy view of the church of God. I would wish at all times to exhibit a liberality of spirit, and to speak as well as I can of the church at large; but God forbid that any minister should shrink from declaring what he believes to be the truth.

In going up and down this land, I am obliged to come to this conclusion, that throughout the churches there are multitudes who have "a name to live and are dead." Religion has become fashionable. The shopkeeper could scarcely succeed in a respectable business if he were not united with a church. It is reckoned to be reputable and honorable to attend a place of worship, and hence men are made religious in shoals. And especially now that parliament itself doth in some measure sanction religion, we may expect that hypocrisy will abound yet more and more, and formality everywhere take the place of true religion.

You can scarcely meet with a man who does not call himself a Christian, and yet it is equally hard to meet with one who is in the very marrow of his bones thoroughly sanctified to the good work of the kingdom of heaven. We meet with professors by hundreds; but we must expect still to meet with possessors by units. The whole nation appears to have been Christianized in an hour. But is this real? Is this sincere? Ah! we fear not.

How is it that professors can live like other men? How is it that there is so little distinction between the church and the world? Or, that if there is any difference, you are frequently safer in dealing with an ungodly man than with one who is professedly righteous? How is it that men who make high professions can live in worldly conformity, indulge in the same pleasures, live in the same style, act from the same motives, deal in the same manner as other people do? Are not these days when the sons of God have made affinity with the sons of men? And may we not fear that something terrible may yet occur unless God shall send a voice, which shall say, "Come out of them, my people, lest ye be partakers of their plagues?"

Take our churches at large—there is no lack of names, but there is a lack of life. Else, how is it that our prayer-meetings are so badly attended? Where is the zeal or the energy shown by the apostles? Where is the Spirit of the living God? Is he not departed? Might not "Ichabod" be written on the walls of many a sanctuary? They have a name to live, but are dead. They have their societies, their organisms; but where is the life of godliness? Where is inward piety? Where is sincere religion? Where is practical godliness? Where is firm, decisive, puritanical piety?

Thank God, there are a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, but charity itself will not allow us to say that the church generally possesses the Spirit of God.

Quote of the Day

“The idea of a hell that involves some kind of eternal punishment at the hands of a just and holy God is so profoundly difficult for us to handle emotionally, that the only person who would have enough authority to convince us of the reality of such a place would be Jesus Himself.”

– John Gerstner

Lot's Wife

This is an actual sign that points you in the direction of a 200 foot rock formation dubbed "Lot's wife".

The pillar can be reached by driving southbound on Road 90, few kilometers before Dead Sea industrial area so-called Dead Sea Factories. There's a brown road sign "Lot's Wife" showing the direction on the way. Also, many tourist maps point this place as "Lot's Cave", that can be found just beneath the pillar.

Quote of the Day

“While the Law defines righteousness, only grace delivers it. The Law was never intended to be a means of obtaining grace; it was given to demonstrate to men that grace was desperately needed.”

– Bob Deffinbaugh

What if...

What if life really evolved over millions and billions of years? If it did, then the Word of God is not actually infallible and inerrant. If it did, then God Himself is proclaimed to be a liar, and further, a god who is a liar would be a non-existent entity.

What if humans are merely another species of animal that has evolved? If we are, again, God’s Word could no longer be trusted. If we are, then we should have no reason to fear death and “the great circle of life.” If we are, then Charles Darwin should be feted with great honor and even worshipped for revealing the truth of who we are to a poor world who for millennium had the audacity to believe God’s Word was true.

What if the Great Flood was actually only something copied from the myths and fables already found in other ancient cultures? If it was, then again, God’s Word is with error for it could not have come from the Holy Spirit. If it was, then mankind need have no fear of the judgment of a God who cannot keep His promise to destroy the wicked. If it was, then the rainbow is merely a quirk of nature, not something given by God as a promise.

What if the children of Israel really are not a people sovereignly protected by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? If they are not, they have to be some of the luckiest people in the world. If they are not, their should not be any real outcry if a more highly evolved society determines that a lower society in the chain should be exterminated. After all, isn’t the reality of life that is should be based on the survival of the fittest? If they are not, then the promises and covenants established by an everlasting God hold no value, and if they hold no value, then NO promise and NO covenant is to be held in reverence.

What if the Ten Commandments are merely suggestions dreamed up as society has evolved? If they are, the Ten Commandments would have no true value because they define a morality that did not come from a just and holy God. Killing, stealing, and adultery merely become defined by what each society considers them to be for their people. If they are, then there are no absolutes to control the world in which we live.

What if the Word of God really is just a book compiled by men through the ages instead of a book divinely inspired by a holy and righteous God? If it is, then centuries have been wasted studying a book that should hold no more value than the works of Plato, Homer, or Shakespeare. If it is, then it is full of lies that drive men to worship what they cannot see, to believe what they can never truly know, and to trust in a God that is untrustable.

What if Jesus Christ was merely a good man as taught by many religions?

What if Jesus Christ was merely a good teacher and prophet as taught by the Muslims?

What if Jesus Christ did not provide full atonement on the Cross as taught by the Mormons?

What if Jesus Christ was not the Saviour of mankind?

What if Jesus Christ is not coming again one day in the clouds of glory?

What if Jesus Christ is not the eternal, only begotten Son of God as taught by the JW’s?

What if Jesus Christ must be sacrificed over and over again as taught by the Catholics?

What if Jesus Christ is not the ONLY Way, the ONLY Truth, and the ONLY Life?

What if Jesus Christ never really died and rose again on the third day?

If He did not do these things, if He was not all these things, if He will not perform what the Word of God promises He will, if He is not the ONLY Way to heaven, if He really did not die and rise again the third day, if we truly can have no hope in Christ….

Then…

“WE ARE OF ALL MEN MOST MISERABLE!” – 1 Cor. 15:19


1 Cor. 1:18, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

Quote of the Day

“The Christian who has stopped repenting has stopped growing.”

– A.W. Pink

"Abortion is as American as Apple Pie"

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States, with a 7-2 majority vote, deemed abortion a fundamental right protected by the Constitution. Since that time, it is estimated that over 50 million children have been killed. The rhetoric for and against abortion has grown even more heated over time but a new attitude toward abortion is emerging.

Dr. Albert Mohler, from his blog, on abortion in America:

Abortion is now America’s most common surgical procedure performed on adults. As many as one out of three women will have at least one abortion. In some American neighborhoods, the number of abortions far exceeds the number of live births.

Most Americans will pay little attention to the 38th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to arrange the killing of the unborn life within her. Since that decision was handed down, more than 50 million babies have been aborted, at a rate of over 3,000 each day.

One of the most chilling aspects of all this is the sense of normalcy in American life. Abortion statistics pile up from year to year, and each report gets filed. Moral sentiment on the issue of abortion has shifted discernibly in recent years, as ultrasound images and other technologies deliver unquestionable proof that the unborn child is just that — a child. Nevertheless, the larger picture of abortion in America is basically unchanged.

Keep reading...

The Gospel in an Abortion Culture

Dr. Russell Moore, of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

“As the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision approaches, most Christians recognize, and rightly so, the loss of millions of unborn human lives. What we often forget is the second casualty of an abortion culture: the consciences of countless men and women.”

Keep reading...

Quote of the Day

“No one can sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded, adjusted, and obedient to Him.”

– D.L. Moody

The Grace of God

From Dane Ortlund:

The Grace of God in the Bible

There is always a danger of squeezing the Bible into a mold we bring to it rather than letting the Bible mold us. And, there could hardly be more diversity within the Protestant canon--diverse genres, historical settings, authors, literary levels, ages of history.

But while the Bible is not uniform, it is unified. The many books of the one Bible are not like the many pennies in the one jar. The pennies in the jar look the same, yet are disconnected; the books of the Bible (like the organs of a body) look different, yet are interconnected. As the past two generations' recovery of biblical theology has shown time and again, certain motifs course through the Scripture from start to end, tying the whole thing together into a coherent tapestry--kingdom, temple, people of God, creation/new creation, and so on.

Yet underneath and undergirding all of these, it seems to me, is the motif of God's grace, his favor and love to the undeserving. Don't we see the grace of God in every book of the Bible? (NT books include the single verse that best crystallizes the point.)

Genesis shows God’s grace to a universally wicked world as he enters into relationship with a sinful family line (Abraham) and promises to bless the world through him.

Exodus shows God’s grace to his enslaved people in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage.

Leviticus shows God’s grace in providing his people with a sacrificial system to atone for their sins.

Numbers shows God’s grace in patiently sustaining his grumbling people in the wilderness and bringing them to the border of the promised land not because of them but in spite of them.

Deuteronomy shows God’s grace in giving the people the new land 'not because of your righteousness' (ch. 9).

Joshua shows God’s grace in giving Israel victory after victory in their conquest of the land with neither superior numbers nor superior obedience on Israel’s part.

Judges shows God’s grace in taking sinful, weak Israelites as leaders and using them to purge the land, time and again, of foreign incursion and idolatry.

Ruth shows God’s grace in incorporating a poverty-stricken, desolate, foreign woman into the line of Christ.

1 and 2 Samuel show God’s grace in establishing the throne (forever—2 Sam 7) of an adulterous murderer.

1 and 2 Kings show God’s grace in repeatedly prolonging the exacting of justice and judgment for kingly sin 'for the sake of' David. (And remember: by the ancient hermeneutical presupposition of corporate solidarity, by which the one stands for the many and the many for the one, the king represented the people; the people were in their king; as the king went, so went they.)

1 and 2 Chronicles show God’s grace by continually reassuring the returning exiles of God’s self-initiated promises to David and his sons.

Ezra shows God’s grace to Israel in working through the most powerful pagan ruler of the time (Cyrus) to bring his people back home to a rebuilt temple.

Nehemiah shows God’s grace in providing for the rebuilding of the walls of the city that represented the heart of God’s promises to his people.

Esther shows God’s grace in protecting his people from a Persian plot to eradicate them through a string of 'fortuitous' events.

Job shows God’s grace in vindicating the sufferer’s cry that his redeemer lives (19:25), who will put all things right in this world or the next.

Psalms shows God’s grace by reminding us of, and leading us in expressing, the hesed (relentless covenant love) God has for his people and the refuge that he is for them.

Proverbs shows us God’s grace by opening up to us a world of wisdom in leading a life of happy godliness.

Ecclesiastes shows God’s grace in its earthy reminder that the good things of life can never be pursued as the ultimate things of life and that it is God who in his mercy satisfies sinners (note 7:20; 8:11).

Song of Songs shows God’s grace and love for his bride by giving us a faint echo of it in the pleasures of faithful human sexuality.

Isaiah shows God’s grace by reassuring us of his presence with and restoration of contrite sinners.

Jeremiah shows God’s grace in promising a new and better covenant, one in which knowledge of God will be universally internalized.

Lamentations shows God’s grace in his unfailing faithfulness in the midst of sadness.

Ezekiel shows God’s grace in the divine heart surgery that cleansingly replaces stony hearts with fleshy ones.

Daniel shows God’s grace in its repeated miraculous preservation of his servants.

Hosea shows God’s grace in a real-live depiction of God’s unstoppable love toward his whoring wife.

Joel shows God’s grace in the promise to pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

Amos shows God’s grace in the Lord's climactic promise of restoration in spite of rampant corruption.

Obadiah shows God’s grace by promising judgment on Edom, Israel’s oppressor, and restoration of Israel to the land in spite of current Babylonian captivity.

Jonah shows God’s grace toward both immoral Nineveh and moral Jonah, irreligious pagans and a religious prophet, both of whom need and both of whom receive the grace of God.

Micah shows God’s grace in the prophecy’s repeated wonder at God’s strange insistence on 'pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression' (7:18).

Nahum shows God’s grace in assuring Israel of good news' and 'peace,' promising that the Assyrians have tormented them for the last time.

Habakkuk shows God’s grace that requires nothing but trusting faith amid insurmountable opposition, freeing us to rejoice in God even in desolation.

Zephaniah shows God’s grace in the Lord's exultant singing over his recalcitrant yet beloved people.

Haggai shows God’s grace in promising a wayward people that the latter glory of God’s (temple-ing) presence with them will far surpass its former glory.

Zechariah shows God’s grace in the divine pledge to open up a fountain for God’s people to 'cleanse them from sin and uncleanness' (13:1).

Malachi shows God’s grace by declaring the Lord’s no-strings-attached love for his people.

Matthew shows God’s grace in fulfilling the Old Testament promises of a coming king. (5:17)

Mark shows God’s grace as this coming king suffers the fate of a common criminal to buy back sinners. (10:45)

Luke shows that God’s grace extends to all the people one would not expect: hookers, the poor, tax collectors, sinners, Gentiles ('younger sons'). (19:10)

John shows God’s grace in becoming one of us, flesh and blood (1:14), and dying and rising again so that by believing we might have life in his name. (20:31)

Acts shows God’s grace flooding out to all the world--starting in Jerusalem, ending in Rome; starting with Peter, apostle to the Jews, ending with Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. (1:8)

Romans shows God’s grace in Christ to the ungodly (4:5) while they were still sinners (5:8) that washes over both Jew and Gentile.

1 Corinthians shows God’s grace in favoring what is lowly and foolish in the world. (1:27)

2 Corinthians shows God’s grace in channeling his power through weakness rather than strength. (12:9)

Galatians shows God’s grace in justifying both Jew and Gentile by Christ-directed faith rather than self-directed performance. (2:16)

Ephesians shows God’s grace in the divine resolution to unite us to his Son before time began. (1:4)

Philippians shows God’s grace in Christ’s humiliating death on an instrument of torture—for us. (2:8)

Colossians shows God’s grace in nailing to the cross the record of debt that stood against us. (2:14)

1 Thessalonians shows God’s grace in providing the hope-igniting guarantee that Christ will return again. (4:13)

2 Thessalonians shows God’s grace in choosing us before time, that we might withstand Christ’s greatest enemy. (2:13)

1 Timothy shows God’s grace in the radical mercy shown to 'the chief of sinners.' (1:15)

2 Timothy shows God’s grace to be that which began (1:9) and that which fuels (2:1) the Christian life.

Titus shows God’s grace in saving us by his own cleansing mercy when we were most mired in sinful passions. (3:5)

Philemon shows God’s grace in transcending socially hierarchical structures with the deeper bond of Christ-won Christian brotherhood. (v. 16)

Hebrews shows God’s grace in giving his Son to be both our sacrifice to atone for us once and for all as well as our high priest to intercede for us forever. (9:12)

James shows us God’s grace by giving to those who have been born again 'of his own will' (1:18) 'wisdom from above' for meaningful godly living. (3:17)

1 Peter shows God’s grace in securing for us an unfading, imperishable inheritance no matter what we suffer in this life. (1:4)

2 Peter shows God’s grace in guaranteeing the inevitability that one day all will be put right as the evil that has masqueraded as good will be unmasked at the coming Day of the Lord. (3:10)

1 John shows God’s grace in adopting us as his children. (3:1)

2 and 3 John show God’s grace in reminding specific individuals of 'the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.' (2 Jn 2)

Jude shows God’s grace in the Christ who presents us blameless before God in a world rife with moral chaos. (v. 24)

Revelation shows God’s grace in preserving his people through cataclysmic suffering, a preservation founded on the shed blood of the lamb. (12:11)

Quote of the Day

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!”

– Abraham Kuyper

Eat Your Veggies - Three Ways to Grow Up Spiritually

In his peculiar short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, F. Scott Fitzgerald supplies a disturbingly fresh look at maturity and social development. What is so curious about Benjamin, is that he is born old, and with the passing of time, becomes young. The novella is a fascinating take on how people mature, love, and grow up, and the ironic infantile state of the infirm elderly.

Sometimes in the church we encounter the curious case of the well-churched immature believer. Often we find that when a person is a baby believer, freshly saved from their sins, their formerly lackluster life suddenly morphs into an Incredible Hulk of untamed enthusiasm. They evangelize zealously, pray constantly, read their Bible devotedly, and enjoy serving in church.

But sadly, it is not uncommon to witness that this verve is but a fleeting sugar rush of novelty. The preciousness of salvation begins to grow commonplace, church becomes a routine, Bible reading a chore, prayer incidental. Sermons they used to relish are now a bland plate of brussel sprouts. As the years grind on, they dutifully trudge through the motions of spirituality, but the light flickered out years ago.

I have met folks in the church who would say they have been saved for decades, but are petty, grumbling, selfish, and pessimistic. They are spiritually grumpy old men.

How about you? Have you grown immature with age? Have you let the furnace of passion from your conversion grow cold? Or have you steadily grown in your knowledge, wisdom, and most importantly application of God’s word? If not, here are three actions to take this year to pursue spiritual growth…

1. Swallow Your Food:

A toddler submissively being spoon fed his peas by a diligent mom will grow to be healthy. But if the kid stores those peas in his bulging cheeks instead of swallowing, or surreptitiously hands the mush to his canine accomplice under the table, the nutrition can’t take effect. In the same way people sitting attentively in pews may look like they are being fed a healthy mouthful of expository spinach and beans, but if there is no application to their lives, they will lose vibrancy in their walk with the Lord, and slowly waste away into a chronic spiritual anorexia.

How often have you heard a person boast, “I read my Bible every day,” but have obviously neglected to apply any of the verses on boasting about it? This is how pastors fall into the sin the preach against. It is how parents devolve into what Synge called plaster saints, hollow and fake. And it is why children who were cherubs in church become ogres in college. They are all hearers of the word, but not doers (James 1:22). They are like disheveled brides who looked in the mirror before walking up the aisle, but then forgot what they looked like, and did nothing about the crooked veil ans smudged mascarra.

If you want to grow spiritually apply what you hear. Take notes from the sermon, take one point and write it in your day planner on each day’s page. Make an appointment with godliness. And resolve to pray, put off wrong behavior and put on right behavior by God’s grace.

2. Avoid Junk Food

It doesn’t matter how much wheat grass you consume, or how much you juice, if you keep stuffing your face with Cinnabon, you will never slim down.

Don’t just avail yourself of good content through sermons, Bible reading, and study; you need to make a concerted drive at ingesting avoiding spiritual lard. Heb 12: let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run.

For you this may be abstaining from your steady diet of soap operas which make you think it’s normal to live a life of gossip, drama, revenge, and comas. Perhaps for you it’s an obsession with sports which keeps you away from family time. Maybe it’s social media, overeating, smoking, or toxic relationships. You know what you the cancer is which you need to cut out. Get amputative, a la Matthew 5:29.

3. Exercise Your Soul

Malcome Gladwell writes about the 10,000 hour rule to become an expert. Bill Gates and his programming, the Beatles and their German jam sessions, Yo-Yo Ma his cello, even Gladwell himself and his writing; no one expects to get good at anything without time, effort, and persistence. And lot’s of it. Why do some Christians feel like they will attain steady growth in Christlikeness if they just “let go and let God”?

It is the goal of every Christian to become an expert in glorifying God. We ought to expect to lose some sweat in the process. I’m not talking about hardcore synergistic sanctification, I just mean let’s apply Phil 2:12 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Employ the spiritual disciplines. Donald Whitney defines disciplines as that which places you in the path of grace. I.e. it’s not your Bible reading plan that will sanctify you, it’s the Holy Spirit who does that. But your discipline places you in the path of direct blessing just like the sycamore tree put Zacchaeus in the way of his Savior.

Remember 1 Tim 4:7 “Train yourself for godliness”? You’ve heard enough preachers wax eloquent about gymnadzō to know this was a sweaty word. Godliness takes time, effort, and persistence. How’s that going for you? Or are you a Keswick lay-z-boy recliner type Christian?

These are by no means the only three tools in God’s extensive tool belt of sanctification, but they are three which you can be intentional about. [Footnote: The obvious and most effective of implements are trials, but are best used by a Professional. Self-inflicted trials can be counterproductive; as the monastic movement demonstrates.] But applying the word, avoiding encumbrances, and employing the spiritual disciplines, never hurt anyone’s maturity.