Chandler Update

Some good words from Mrs. Chandler as well...

My Sin For My Good?

I was writing to a friend last night and said something to this effect...I am so thankful that when our sin interferes with God's plan for our lives that He is able to adapt to our failure, bring us into a new plan and purpose and renew our hope. Basically saying, that no matter what we do, God can and will still use us for the advancement of His Kingdom.

But upon further reflection, I think that was really bad theology on my part, although the last part is certainly true in and of itself. God isn't taken by surprise by our sin and than has to scramble to adjust His plans for us. I think that we can certainly get in the way of God's blessings for us by living outside His will but he has already predetermined that. This is where it gets tough. We have free will but God has already ordained everything that is going to happen. There are a few verses in the Bible that speak to this mystery which rocks our finite brains but the one that comes to mind first is Proverbs 16:9 - "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

To take it a step further...God not only knows our sin ahead of time but uses it to accomplish His purposes. In his book "Spectacular Sins", Piper recalls the story of Samson and his desire for a Philistine woman (Judges 14:13). She clearly has no faith in God and so taking her as wife was a sin. The next verse immediately shows that God is using Samson's lust and illicit desire to seek an opportunity against the Philistines.

Of course, the most dramatic example of God using our sin for His good (which means ultimately for OUR good) is the culmination of the sins of Pilate and the Romans and the mob and the soldiers surrounding the crucifixion of our Savior. God had predetermined their sins and used their corrupt hearts to bring about the most tragic chapter in human history...the death of God. However, it was also the greatest love story in human history. God chose to save us from sin by using our sin.

Let none of this serve to cause us to take our sin more lightly or think that it has some inherent redeeming value. Rather, let it cause us to marvel at the sovereignty of our God.

My Refrain

When the day is closing in
Like the stars in the night I am falling
Into the pull of the earth and it's affection
In me, oh Lord, can you create
A pure heart cause I'm afraid
That I just might run back to the things I hate

Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Yeah, I'm begging You, to help me see
You're all I want, You're all I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord

A Picture is Worth...

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. - Romans 8:22-25

Today's Interesting Fact

Hiroo Onoda holds the honor of the last Japanese soldier to surrender. In 1944, Lt. Onoda was sent by the Japanese army to the remote Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to conduct guerrilla warfare during World War II. Unfortunately, he was never officially told the war had ended; so for 29 years, Onoda continued to live in the jungle, ready for when his country would again need his services and information. Eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading searching parties he believed were enemy scouts, Onoda hid in the jungle until he finally emerged from the dark recesses of the island on March 19, 1972.

Why is My Prayer Not Being Answered?

From Piper...

There is more than one reason why we may pray for things and yet not receive them. Reasons may include 1) because we don’t trust God (James 1:6); 2) because the answer would not glorify Christ and sanctify us as much as something else (2 Corinthians 12:8-10); 3) because the answer is coming later than we think (Joseph waited 13 years before he saw the reason for his afflictions, Genesis 37-50).

But here is a reason we may not think of very often. God may intend to give us the blessing we long for not directly in answer to prayer, but indirectly in answer to prayer—through the spiritual gifting of another believer. And the reason we don’t receive the blessing is that we don’t avail ourselves of the power God intends to channel through the gifts of his people.

For example, the gifts Paul mentions include wisdom and healings and miracles. This implies that God intends that sometimes wisdom and healing and other sorts of miracles come into our lives through other believers ministering to us. If this were not true, there would be no point in spiritual gifts. They are one way God brings about the “common good” of the church.

If we pray and pray for some change we want to see, but we never consider seeking the ministry of a fellow believer, we are like the eye that says to the hand, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21).

So in your small groups (which is the most natural place for such ministry to happen), seek the fullness of God’s “good” (1 Corinthians 12:7), and minister to each other—and seek to be ministered to—in this way.

Altar Call

I have been thinking a lot about this since I wrote the blog about Mars Hill's Easter service and the hundreds that were baptized there on that day. What a sad comment it was that I have never witnessed anything like that in the churches I have attended. I'm not talking about hundreds of conversions...I am talking about just one.

Why don't churches offer an altar call every single Sunday or at least one a month? I think if you asked a pastor that the response might be, "Well, what if no one came up, week after week, how would that look?"...or "That's not the way we bring people into the church. They have a talk with the pastor, they learn what it means to be a Christian, than we plan out a day of baptism and accountability."

The first objection is simply one of pride. I would look bad if no one ever came up. The second seems to subject God's ability to transform hearts to a more pragmatic, man-made method of "conversion". Yes, God is working in this person's heart but we really need to make sure they are sincere before putting our stamp of approval on them. I can understand a hesitation of performing adult baptisms and watching people walk out the door and never coming back. But what is the harm? Do everything you can to disciple them from that day forward but don't neglect baptism on the spot because you are unsure of their authenticity. Unless the Spirit is really speaking to you that something isn't right.

I recalled a passage from "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" that talked about Dwight L. Moody, the 19th century evangelist. He was haunted all his life by an occasion when he felt he got too clever in presenting the gospel. Six years before he died he recounted what had happened back in Chicago in the fall of 1871:

"I intended to devote six nights to Christ's life. I had spent four Sunday nights on the subject and had followed him from the manger along through his life to his arrest and trial, and on the fifth Sunday night, October 8th, I was preaching to the largest congregation I had ever had in Chicago, quite elated with my success. My text was "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called the Christ?" That night I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. After preaching...with all the power that God had given me, urging Christ upon the people, I closed the sermon and said, "I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sunday we will come to Calvary and the cross, and we will decide what we will do with Jesus of Nazareth."

Just at that moment, a fire bell rang nearby. Moody quickly dismissed the meeting and sent the people out of the building. It was the beginning of the Great Chicago Fire, which over the next 27 hours left 300 dead, 90,000 homeless, and a great city in ashes. Obviously, Moody never got to finish his sermon series. He continued:

"I have never seen that congregation since. I have hard work to keep back the tears today...22 years have passed away...and I will never meet those people again until I meet them in another world. But I want to tell you one lesson I learned that night, which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach to press Christ upon the people then and there, I try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have my right hand cut off than give an audience a week to decide what to do with Jesus."

Words worth thinking about.