practice these things

I recently came across a 20-year-old photo of Phil and me when we were dating. I started thinking about how very little I knew about relationships, men, and marriage then.

Formulating a list of what I would tell myself back then, my advice began with a stern warning to stay away from any man with a mullet … but then again, it was the ’90s—every man had a mullet!
On a more serious note, these are eight principles that would have taken much confusion and heartbreak out of those tumultuous dating years. I hope they help you:
1. REPEAT AFTER ME: “YOU ARE LOVED.” 
I am not kidding. Repeat. After. Me. Out loud, often, with conviction. These are such simple words to say, but they have the most deep and resounding impact on our souls if we would just believe.
God says to his daughters in Jeremiah: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Until you have tasted God’s eternal, steadfast, redeeming love, hold off on looking for a man. You may just end up settling for a quick love that cannot fill your core heart’s longing. Even if you are not currently being pursued by a man, you are constantly being pursued by Jesus.
2. YOU ARE LESS BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU THINK AND MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU BELIEVE.
Our sin makes us ugly. No amount of makeup, clothing, or confident, flirtatious façade can change that fact. It takes a humble, redeemed woman changed by God to admit the ugliness of her sin and rest in her beauty in Christ. We must repent of our pride, our shame, our obsession with our looks. We must believe and embrace who God made us to be: beautiful in his image.
“
True beauty emanates from a woman who boldly and unabashedly knows who she is in Christ.
”
3. CONSIDER WHAT CONTROLS YOU.
Is it fear, loneliness, demand for a man, seeking approval, career, money?
Let the love of Christ control you. Pay attention to what is controlling your heart as you wait for a date, are in a dating relationship, or even into marriage. We settle for lesser gods than the one who died for us and love us unconditionally.
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who might live no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” 2 Corinthians 5:14–15
4. ADDRESS YOUR DADDY ISSUES.
Most of us have them—wounds on our hearts from our earthly fathers and their shortcomings. Whether yours was absent and uninvolved or abusive and abandoning, don’t let him define who you believe your heavenly Father to be. Even if you have a godly and protective father, he is not God.
You are not looking for a dad-duplicate or a dad-replacement in a man. You have a perfect heavenly Father.
“
Let Scripture reveal to you who God is as Dad and what kind of care he gives his daughters.
”
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13
5. CHARM AND BEAUTY ARE NOT A GOOD DATING PLAN.
“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30
Often, our grand scheme for how to snag a date goes only skin-deep. We put massive pressure on ourselves to pour on the charm and look cute wherever we go, not realizing that a godly man will also be concerned about inner beauty. God certainly is.
“But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1 Peter 3:4
A woman who fears the Lord is one who, despite her desire for a date, fears being far away from God more than she does missing out on a man who is easily fooled by her exterior.
6. REALIZE YOU ARE ALREADY SUBMITTING—OR ARE YOU?
Submission is not only for wives. God asks for a submitted heart now, one that trusts in his provision and plan for your life, including dating. Ultimately, dating, and all of life, is about submission—waiting and trusting God and saying as Jesus does, “Not my will but yours be done.”
This does not, however, leave you helpless, hopeless, and hamstrung in the relationship department. A godly woman can express friendly interest in a brother in Christ. 
It is OK to mingle—but don’t manipulate.
Peruse—but don’t pursue. Let him initiate.
Take notice of the godly men serving Jesus around you—but never stalk. It’s creepy.
Cross paths with a man who interests you—but don’t tackle him.
7. DRESS TO KILL …
… your evil desires and his. We all know what it’s like to be noticed for what we wear. Your desire to draw attention to yourself is vanity. Do not falsely advertise what is not available to anyone but your future husband. Don’t open the door for men to make assumptions about you by what you wear. Help your brothers in Christ by dressing modestly and appropriately (and by all means, neatly, cleanly, and fashionably!) Check your heart for your motives when you dress.
8. GUARD YOUR HEART.
Guarding one’s heart is still an issue even if no one is overtly vying for it.  Watch out for the “might be” snare, as in, “He ‘might be’ flirting with me and so I’m going to get carried away thinking about every possible place [read: marriage] that could lead.”
It is entirely possible to honor God, yourself, and a brother in Christ on a date. Don’t elevate him or the relationship to the place that God alone should hold in your heart. Enjoy, don’t idolize … and for goodness sake, relax! A cup of coffee does not necessarily mean a diamond ring is soon to follow.
“
As a single woman, give your heart fully, wholly, unabashedly, and devotedly to Christ alone.
”
Be active, vigilant, and careful about how much of your heart you give to a man. Be able to walk away from a dating relationship with your whole heart intact so that your future husband is not robbed of part of it down the road. Prayerfully consider what, when, how much to give away.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
 
 

« NEWER OLDER »

A thing has to be tried. Nothing is good until it is tried….you have to have more than simple growth (nutrition, diet). You have to have trials to bring you to perfection. (perfect in Christ)- A.W Tozer

Session #2: “Why Jesus Creates Sex”
As Christians we worship a guy who died as a virgin in his thirties. It’s one of his miracles.

People are waiting longer than ever to marry.

In Jesus’ time, his parents were probably teenagers.

Even a couple decades ago, it wasn’t uncommon for people in their late teens and early twenties to be married.

90% of people will marry at least once.

For the first time in US history, there are more singles than married folks.

People are waiting longer to get married. Men are waiting till their ’30s. Women are waiting till their late ’20s.

The next life cycle for most after college is co-habitation.

25 percent of all women are currently co-habitating.

At least 50 percent of women will co-habitate.

Co-habitations is not practice for marriage but for divorce and danger. Statistically, co-habitation results in a higher risk of abuse and divorce.

Today, we’ve created another indefinite life stage called adolescence. These guys love anything on Spike TV, Cartoon Network, have a nice car, they’re really good at video games (because every woman wants to marry a guild leader), and they don’t submit to authority. They’re all about consumption, not production.

Women want to be married and make babies, but all they can find is men who are babies.

Women try to baby a man and hope he becomes a man, but he doesn’t and it leads to broken hearts.

You are a byproduct of a sociological experiment that hasn’t gone well.

In the 1900s the word dating entered the nomenclature of the culture, which meant finding a prostitute.

At that time, dating was not common, courtship was. If a young man wanted to see a young women, he would have to make an appointment with the family, have conversation with the whole family, and then leave at an appointed time.

The father would lovingly protect his daughter and help her examine all suiters.

Around the 1930s, you had wide distribution of the automobile, which created more freedom for young people. This removed young girls from the protection of their father and made it easier to fool around.

In the 1940s, guys figured out that getting a car and going on a date was a big expense. So, the term “putting out” became popular, meaning that if you pay for a big date, a girl would give a sexual favor (which is a form of prostitution).

The girls who put out became popular, and the ones who didn’t were shunned.

At the same time, women’s magazines became very popular and helped propagate this.

You see this today. I can’t even take my daughter to the store for a lollipop without her being exposed to what would have been considered pornography two decades ago.

Now women were getting tips on men and dating, not from their dad or mother, but from marketers who were simply trying to sell them products.

Headlines from current magazines from the Barnes and Noble next door: Cosmo “50 Kinky Sex Moves,” “Sexiest Body Ever,” “The Touch that Locks Down His Love,” “Men’s Worst Sex Fear,” “Jessica Says I Dated Guys and Girls,” “One Night Stand Confessions”…and the Kardashians. This is a magazine for single women.

These magazines are all about idolatry. Look the way a man wants you to look, act the way a man wants you to act. You can’t be alone, so you need to give your whole life and body to a guy. 

Sex outside of marriage is an act of idolatry.

When a young women and a young man come together outside of marriage for sex, it is not just a good time. It’s religious idolatry. That’s why most false religions include sexual sin, because it’s a worship act.

Ladies, I have good news. Jesus is a good man, and he’s the first man you need in your life.

Today, what you wear and how you present yourself is all created by an industry intending to sell you products and take your money. That’s why fashion changes. This is all about slavery. Satan will tell you it’s about freedom, but it’s slavery.

Somewhere there are four dirty old men writing all the articles for women’s magazines.

Out of that comes men’s magazines, Playboy and Hustler. Porn has become more crass and debased ever since.

In the old days, you had to go down to the local store with the clerk that knew you and your family, and the magazines were under the counter. Now, they’re out in the open for anyone to grab.

Now young men are so hard-wired to view women as objects they are unable to view them as image-bearers of God.

Average age to lose virginity is 16.4.

In addition to porn came the sexual revolution. And the feminist movement, which was on some level necessary. The critique was right. Women needed to be treated better, but without the Gospel the answer was wrong: Let’s make women like men.

What really kicked it in high gear was the rise of birth control. Now young people could have sex without fear of getting pregnant.

In conjunction, there was the rise of abortion. If you do get pregnant, you can murder your child.

Out of this came a selfish generation in the 1980s, which gave birth to our college-aged kids today, who were born into a world filled with porn and focused on the self.

You think it’s normal, but it’s not. It’s just all you’ve ever seen.

I did the same thing. I grew up south of here (Seattle) near the airport. Prostitution was open and brazen, and we had multiple strip clubs down the block from my house.

I wasn’t a Christian, but I was a religious guy. I had a girlfriend that I slept with. That relationship fell apart, and at the age of 17 I met a really cute blonde girl who was a pastor’s daughter. She wasn’t walking with the Lord, and I wasn’t a Christian.

I really loved her, and we started sleeping together—me and the pastor’s daughter.

I thought this was OK because we loved each other.

Then I went to college and God saved me. I started reading the Bible and read about fornicators, a totally new “F-word” for me.

I called my pastor and asked him about fornicators not being able to see the kingdom of heaven. I discovered Grace and I were fornicating.

I called Grace up and said we had to stop. I thought we’d stop, get married, and pick up where we left off.

But that wasn’t the case. It was really hard because the guilt and the shame and mistrust had damaged the relationship.

We handn’t built the relationship on the deepest foundation—spiritual intimacy and friendship.

Many years of the marriage were really hard. By God’s grace, today, we love each other and this year we’ll celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

I share the story for two reasons. Those of you who are dirty, come clean. Those who are clean, stay clean. There’s something to be said about a boring testimony. I want my daughters to have a very boring testimony.

For me, it’s the biggest regret of my life that I didn’t honor Jesus and treat Grace the way that honored God in the early years of our relationship. It’s taken many years to find healing.

Instead of believing culture and what is timely, let’s look at what is timeless in the Bible regarding sex.
The Bible starts, “In the beginning God…” So it all starts with God.

Then God made man and said it was not good that man was alone.

So God made woman to be a helper for man.

They were equal and complemented one another.

God brought the woman to the man. The first friendship was between a husband and a wife.

Adam saw Eve and sang a poem, which is why guys with a guitar always have an advantage.

God brings them together in covenant and there is consummation and the two become one flesh.
 

Couple things about this first marriage:
Their standard of beauty was their spouse. That is your standard of beauty too. You don’t have a type, you have a spouse.

If your standard of beauty is your spouse, you’re into them, and you’re into them as they age.

Adam and Eve had sex, and God was not shocked.

I’m not going to pull out a Ken and Barbie and illustrate this for you, but God built the male and female body so that they work together.

That’s God’s original intent.

Then sin enters the world and everything gets broken.

But we have an opportunity to go back to the Bible and discover how a relationship can honor God.

God is not out to kill your fun but to maximize it. The culture is not working and you won’t be an exception.

Six principles for dating:
 

1. Be the right person.

We’re told to make a list of what we’re looking for in a spouse. You don’t know what you’re looking for. The list becomes everything you like. You’re saying, “I’m awesome. If we could find another of me, we’d be double awesome.”

Single guys, you don’t know what you need. Single guys think about a good time and not about a good legacy.

You don’t have a list for you. What does your list say about who you should be for your spouse someday?

Make a list of how you need to grow, what you need to change, what you need to learn so that you can find a good spouse.

2. Marry the right person.

First, once you’re married…that’s the right person.

Secondly, the right person should be someone who agrees with you.

Those who are both Bible-believing Christians, are in theological agreement, pray regularly and attend church together have the highest rate of marital satisfaction, the lowest divorce rate, and have the most sex.

3. In the right way.

1 Timothy 5:1-2, young men should treat young women like sisters.

We don’t have this category in our culture. We have friends with benefits, live-in roommate, co-habitator.

We don’t have a category for healthy male and female relationships. You only find that in the Bible.

That allows a friendship to develop, and I think that friendship is the basis of marriage.

Song of Solomon 5:16, he is my friend and my lover. Friends with benefits is a corruption of this Christian truth.

4. At the right time.

If you’re in college and don’t have any money, not the right time.

If you’re still getting over addiction, not the right time.

If you have a career track that is unadjustable for marriage, now is not the time.

If he just cheated on you, it’s not time.

If your family, friends, and church say no, it’s not time.

5. In the right community.

What does your church and family say?

The worst marriages are those that rip someone away from community.

If other people are not involved, you’re in great danger.

This is why in Song of Solomon, her friends keep speaking in.

6. For the right reasons

Some of you have an idol of independence and avoid commitment. Others have an idol of dependance and have to always be in a relationship.

Check your heart. Are you doing this for the right reasons?

When you do get married you get to have sex.

Six reasons why God created sex for marriage:
1. It’s fun.

It’s OK to have fun with sex in a marriage.

The Song of Solomon is not an allegory. It’s about a relationship between a husband and a wife.

The women speaks first and speaks frankly.

Children are never mentioned in that book. It’s just about fun, free sex between a husband and a wife.

Pleasure is a gift from God.

2. For children.

In Genesis, God says be fruitful and multiply. How are they going to do that? Sex.

Some of you were told that sex is only for making babies. Not true. It’s for both pleasure and babies.

3. For oneness.

In the act of sex, a man and a women become one flesh.

Biophysics has caught up with the Bible. When a man and a woman are together in a sex act, a chemical reaction happens in a human brain that has the same effect as heroin—which is very addictive. This means a man and a women, when together become connected on a deep level.

This is why you can’t have casual sex. It doesn’t exist.

This is why you get addicted to porn.

Even men who frequent prostitutes frequent the same one over and over and over. They are physically connected to them.

If you’re into your spouse and into you spouse by the grace of God, you will become into them and physically connected to them, desiring them. You will become one flesh, one family, one bed to glorify the one God.

God built our bodies to connect with our spouse.

When we connect with anything else, it leads to death. But we can repent and be made clean and connect with our spouse.

4. For knowing.

Sex creates intimacy and knowing someone.

When you are married and Christians you are able to know each other more than anyone else. It’s intimacy.

5. For protection.

Sex within marriage should be free and frequent. Doing so helps to protect both partners from sexual sin.

Bible-believing, Christian, married couples have the most sex.

There’s no excuse for adultery, but I know couples and pastors who haven’t had sex in decades. When you’re together regularly it helps to safeguard your marriage by having sex regularly.

6. For comfort.

You don’t see this in porn.

Resurgence College Conference: Session 1 Notes
by: Pastor Mark Driscoll on Dec 30, 2011 in Sermons
 

Tonight kicks off the first annual Resurgence College Conference. The topic of the conference is “Why Jesus Creates: Sex, Art, Money, Music, Gender, Business, and Culture,” and we’re bringing together a very exciting group of speakers that includes Eric Mason, Tim Chaddick, Jani Ortlund, and Matt Jensen, the lead pastor at Mars Hill U-District, to speak on these topics. Leading the music is also Mars Hill bands, Ghost Ship and King’s Kaleidoscope.

I have the privilege of kicking off this first night by giving two sessions, and we decided to post up the live blog notes. Here are the notes from the first session. Enjoy.

Session #1: “Why Jesus Died”
Jesus death is the key for your life.

Some of you are Christians. Some of you aren’t, that’s why your parents paid to send you here.

Some of you claim Christianity, but are living a life of hypocrisy.

Whoever you are, Jesus death is the key for your life.

The cross of Jesus becomes obscure for us because we’ve never seen a crucifixion.

One of the reasons the Bible doesn’t give us details of the crucifixion is because the original audience would have already been familiar with the details, having seen it regularly in their culture.

You have heard about the crucifixion many times but this can mean little to you if you haven’t really understood what it means.

Crucifixion originally began with impaling, running a spike through someone and putting them in the ground to die.

Over time, it was perfected, especially by the Persians and then the Roman empire.

In the time of the Roman empire, it was common. There was even a mass Jewish uprising and many were crucified during the time of Jesus. Jesus may have seen this.

On the day Spartacus lost in battle, 6,000 people were crucified.

Crucifixion was done regularly and publicly, in places like our malls today. It was a form of state-sponsored terror. The goal being to tell people, “Don’t believe what this person was teaching or saying.”

The worst kinds of people showed up to watch a crucifixion, sometimes gambling to see how long people would live.

Sometimes people who were crucified would live for up to nine days, naked, in their own feces, and hung at eye level so that people could look you in the eye as you were dying, bleeding, sweating, and incontinent.

They occasionally crucified women, though very rarely, and when they did, they did so backwards so that they couldn’t see the look on the women’s faces.

Those crucified, painfully died of asphyxiation. Some people tried to commit suicided by giving up and trying to expedite their death by slumping on the cross.

It was the most miserable way to die. We invented a word for it, “excruciating.” It means, from the cross.

Roman citizens could not even be crucified, and Cicero said that decent Roman citizens shouldn’t even speak of it. And Josephus, a noted historian in Jesus’ time, called it the most wretched of deaths.

I tell you this so that you can have an understanding of how the worst thing was done to the best man.

I grew up in youth group and heard a lot that Jesus died for me, but that didn’t mean anything.

The talk was always about what you should do and not what Jesus has done for you.

Jesus’ death is the key to your life.

Of all the possible symbols, early Christians chose the cross as the symbol of Christianity. It could have been the dove that descended on Jesus at his baptism. It could have been the rainbow at Noah’s coming out of the ark. It could have been loaves and fishes. But it was the cross they chose.

The cross was an emblem of suffering and shame.

Some of you have heard of Jesus but only in the category of Gandhi or Martin Luther King because you’re at some university that puts in the category of just another good man.

Jesus is God, not just a good man.

And we murdered God.

Some of you are liberal and think little about the death of Jesus and instead focus on how he loved children, served the poor, and healed the sick.

None of those things are the reason he was put to death. He was not put to death for feeding the poor and loving children.

He was put to death for continually, emphatically, saying, “I am God.”

I want you to contend with that. I want you to wrestle with that. I want you to decide if that is true.

Don’t do what so many do, serving a Jesus who offends no one and dies for no reason.

Jesus sweated blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, a condition that only happens under extreme stress.

Jesus’ friends failed him. And one betrayed him. Have you been betrayed? Your God has.

His arrest was not a trial. It was a lynching.

He was blindfolded and then was beat incessantly. Have you ever had a beating? We did that to God, mercilessly.

Then they mocked him and had him scourged.

Here’s what we’re doing right now. We’re not talking about you. Everyone talks about you. You’re the most selfish, childish generation in US history. My generation was before yours. So, thank you. You know what everyone puts on Facebook? Pictures of themselves. You know what everyone talks about on Facebook? Themselves. The center of the universe is not you.

I want to talk to you about Jesus because some of you come from churches and families that are always talking about you and not Jesus.

I want to talk to you about Jesus, the real Jesus. Not the Jesus you are trying to fit in with your co-major.

Jesus was then scourged, which would cause many men to simply die. They would strip him naked, strap his wrists to a pole, and then two men would take turns whipping, one on each side.

There was a handle, out of which came leather strips with stone and metal balls to tenderize the flesh. At the end of the balls were hooks that would then tear at the man’s flesh.

Many men died from scourging alone because it would scar all the way down to the deep tissue. Occasionally a man’s rib would literally come flying off his body.

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be marred beyond recognition. You wouldn’t have recognized Jesus.

Be careful when you say to friends, “Jesus died for your sins,” and then move on with a smile.

Then he was forced to carry his cross to the place where he’d be crucified, and though Jesus was young and healthy, he collapsed under the weight of the cross bar of the cross. It was the equivalent of blunt force trauma to his chest.

He then had the equivalent of railroad ties driven into the most sensitive parts of his body, his wrists and feet.

Jesus is raised up on the cross and people are mocking him, his enemies are there, and who does he see? His own mother, Mary.

Many would mock the crowd from the cross, but Jesus didn’t. He was like a lamb led to slaughter.

There were two men by Jesus being crucified. One was bossy (some things never change). The other said, “Do you know who you’re talking to? We’ve sinned and deserve death. This man has committed no sin.” He looked to Jesus and in his own way apologized and asked Jesus to save him. And Jesus does, saying, “Today, you’ll be with me in paradise.”

We don’t save ourselves. Jesus saves.

Jesus looks down at John, his dear friend, and says, “Look after my mom.”

Jesus, while bleeding, hanging, and dying, says things like, “Father forgive them!” What gracious words.

The Bible says the soldiers took a sponge filled with sour wine and then pressed it to his lips.

God saved me at the age of nineteen in college because for the first time in my life I started thinking about Jesus instead of me. I started reading my Bible as a freshman in college.

Events like this conference are important because one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make is who your God is.

I started reading the Bible in college and got to the place where they gave Jesus the sponge with sour wine and I thought that was nice. I thought it showed that there was a little kindness.

Then I went to Greece and Turkey, and I was in the city of Ephesus with an archeologist. They have excavated the city, and they took us to an interesting area. There were all these seats in a rectangle and they were all facing each other. The archeologist said it was an ancient bathroom.

In front of the series of toilets was an opening with water and that was how they would clean themselves. Those who would afford it would hire a slave, and the slave would come with a long sponge with wine vinegar to wipe them.

I just started crying, and I’m not a crier, because I remember Jesus on the cross saying these kind things and to shut him up they stuck that sponge in his mouth. There was no goodness. There was no kindness. There was no affection for Jesus.

And Jesus cries from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me.” In that moment, the first person of the Trinity turned his back on Jesus. In that moment, Jesus substituted himself for us and became our sin.

In the garden of Eden we substituted ourselves for God. We want to be God.

We don’t want Jesus to be God. We want to be God and have Jesus do what we tell him to, like give us a girlfriend, a job, a car. When it doesn’t happen, we get frustrated.

God humbles himself and comes to us and reverses that substitution.

The first substitution brought death; the second brings life.

The first substitution brought shame; the second brings hope.

1 Corinthians 5:21 says, reflecting back on the moment when Jesus said, “My God, why have you forsaken me,” “God made him who knew no sin to become sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Martin Luther called this the great exchange.

What happened to Jesus should happen to you and me. He substituted himself.

This was not poor, meek, weak Jesus. This was triumphant Jesus. He said, “No one takes my life from me. I will lay it down and I will pick it up.” Jesus knew his death was going to be for our life. He laid his life down willingly.

Then Jesus said, “It is finished.” He shouted it out in a loud victory. This could indicate that Jesus didn’t die through asphyxiation. He had sufficient air to shout a victory cry. I believe that Jesus possibly suffered a deep chest contusion when the cross fell on him. It’s possible that as he shouted that he was dying of a heart attack and knew it was last minute.

It’s possible that Jesus not only died literally but also figuratively of a broken heart.

They ran a spear into his side and blood and water poured out. That is not supposed to happen unless you have a chest contusion and a heart attack.

Many of you come from religious homes. I apologize because there are two enemies of Jesus: sin and religion.

Jesus Christ was without sin and wasn’t religious.

When we sin, we’re not just breaking God’s laws. We’re breaking God’s heart.

Some of you don’t see Jesus as a person. You just see him as a lawmaker and a giver of rules and regulations and an absentee father.

Some of you will say to hell with him for his rules. Others will try to be the good kid and make it all about following the rules.

God is father who loves his children, and Jesus is a big brother who takes care of you through the cross.

When we sin, we’re not just breaking the laws of an absent father but the heart of Jesus. He’s a personal, loving, relational God.

Jesus was then buried and on the third day he rose from the dead.

In your classes you’re told this couldn’t happen. We know it’s unusual. That’s why we call it a miracle.

Some of you don’t believe. For you, there was a guy named Thomas. He said, “I won’t believe it until I see myself.” Jesus showed up, and Thomas fell down and worshiped.

Jesus’ enemies started worshiping him as God, such as Saul, who killed Christians and eventually became an apostle of the church.

James wrote a book of the Bible worshiping Jesus, his brother, as God. Any of you have brothers? Would you worship them as God?

Jesus own mother worshiped him as God. If you had sinned, who would know? Your mother. I double-dog dare you to text your mom and say you believe you lived a sinless life. She will remind you of your worst moments and that you were basically a very short demon.

Yet, Jesus’ mom agreed he lived a sinless life.

Crowds up to 500 people saw Jesus alive after his death at the same time. Some say it was an illusion, but 500 people don’t see the same illusion at the same time.

Today, billions are Christians.

Men who were previously cowards became courageous Christians. Peter is a prime example having denied Jesus three times to a young girl. He say Jesus raised from death and becomes a bold, courageous man. He worships his friend as God, and when it comes time for him to be put to death, they say if you do not deny Jesus, we will crucify you. And Peter boldly, simply states, “Feel free to crucify me, but I’m not worthy to die like Jesus. Hang me upside down.” Why? He saw Jesus conquer death and no longer feared death.

In closing, Jesus death is the source of your life, and your life is to glorify him.
All of this is accessed through faith. You have to believe and keep believing. It’s not a decision you make. It’s a decision you continually make. It is believing that connects you to Christ. Don’t rely on the faith of your parents. Make your own decision.

In Jesus alone, you can be forgiven. Your problem is not low self-esteem. It is sin and guilt. You don’t need to feel better. You need to be forgiven. Jesus alone forgives. Some of you aren’t depressed; you’re guilty. Some of you don’t have a bad self image. You instead see yourself clearly. Culture says you’re a good person and that you need to nurture your inner self. Lies. You’re a sinner in need of forgiveness from Jesus.

The good news is that Jesus makes you clean. The first thing we need to do before pointing out what’s wrong with the world is to recognize what is wrong with us and repent. We are the problem, not the solution. Jesus is the solution. That starts with humility and brokenness that compels us to Jesus for forgiveness and righteousness. We don’t have to pay God back, try harder, and do better. We have to trust Jesus who makes us acceptable in the sight of God. We don’t work for our righteousness. We work from it in Jesus. Some of you feel dirty because of what you’ve done and because of what has been done to you. Jesus makes you clean.

Listening to audiobook THINK by John Piper.  What evidence of the sovereignty of GOD.  not meant to go to Haunted Hunt Club…meant to listen to this.   i repent by Your Grace, O Lord. THANK YOU JESUS.

hope all who went (my dear family and friends) have fun, though!:) cant wait to hear all about it!

I need to be reminded of what the gospel really is. Too many days I confuse it with religion. They are not the same thing. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, wrote down a few definitions of both, and I want to share them with you. It’s a great reminder that religion and the gospel are diametrically opposed. I pray we would understand the gospel deeper and better and live in the freedom given to us by Christ.

RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.
THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.
THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.
THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’
THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

Happy for my friends’ “God/life is good” posts, I really am. Most of them are in a state of complete bliss, surrounded by food, on vacation, etc. I’ve done it, too. Everyone loves a post to rejoice over. But, for Christians, shouldn’t He/it ALWAYS be “good” for the plain fact that we understand we have been given grace and mercy thru Jesus despite our mess?! Is life good only when everything goes our way?
How about a post, “the roof is leaking, my AC is out, we’re out of milk, my kids are fighting, and I skinned my knee. Life is good. God is good.”? Minus the sarcasm, of course. Let’s see more of those. Why should life STILL be good? Because we deserve death, thats why.

Jus sayin’.

First she must be Receiver, not Achiever

If I am only looking at verses 3-5 through the religious lens of, “I’ve got to do these things,” I will fail every time. It is an impossible list of tasks that cannot be accomplished.

A to-do list of this magnitude leaves even the best-intentioned of us feeling ashamed of our shortcomings. For every hour read through these verses, spend an hour basking in the identity that verses 11-14 lavishes upon you.

The list of already accomplished truths from these verses puts the focus squarely where it belongs: on Christ. It labels me a recipient of God’s grace and not an achiever of it.

• He is the Grace of God - I am given grace
• He brings salvation - I am saved
• He trains us - I am being trained
• He is Hope and Glory worth waiting for - I must wait
• He gave Himself - I will receive
• He redeems us - I am redeemed
• He purifies us - I am purified

Then, She Can Do

Because of Jesus’ love for me, I am excited to live out the actions of verses 3-5. I can be reverent, teach, train younger women, show self-control, kindness and love to my family. I have joy when working hard at home and submitting to my husband because I am humbled and amazed at the kindness and grace Christ showed me.

When read in its entirety, Titus 2 releases us from the treadmill of accomplishing as godly women and welcomes us into accessing the riches of Christ’s godliness to be all that a devoted female disciple is called to be.