From Richard Roberts:

We are worshippers.  What do you think of when you read that?  What do you think of when you think of people worshipping?  Is it singing in the congregation, or a crowd of people bowing toward Mecca, or Buddhists meditating or laying out candles on the river?

We tend to think of worship as those formal rituals or dedicated times and activities which are different than the normal activities of our lives.  But, the Scripture speaks of worship differently than that.  We do not simply worship, we are worshippers.  And God is less interested in the acts between 10:30 and noon on Sunday morning than He is in the heart and activities during the rest of the week, because those are more revelatory of what we are actually worshipping.
What is worship?  Worship is the highest form of love.  We worship what we love the most, what we want the most, what we delight in the most.  That is why everything that we do is an act of worship.  It is what we live for and why we do what we do, say what we say, and choose what we choose.  As worshippers, we always do this, whether we call it “worship” or not.  We are always choosing what we want the most, depending upon what we believe in the most, and pursuing what we value the most.  Those are all acts of worship.

So, the question is never, “Are you a worshipper?”, but rather, “What are you worshipping?”  The only difference between a religious person and an irreligious person is what or whom they worship, the object of their desire, their trust, their hope. 

Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria, “The Father is seeking those who worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  There is no “proper place” for worship.  The only propriety is the proper heart and the proper object: the one true God, i.e. ‘in truth’.

And our worship always begins with the revelation of God.  We have to know Him, to know something of Him, in order to value Him rightly, to see Him in truth, and so we must hear what He says about Himself.  This is why our daily reading of His Word is necessary.  It is here where God reveals Himself most clearly and fully, in the face of His Son through His Word.  So, our Bible reading is not merely duty, an act of “religiosity” to get our day started off right, but it is looking at the Lord so that we might know the one for whom and to whom we live today, whom we worship. 

Worship, then, is a response to this revelation.  We respond in worship to the revelation of who God is and what God has done.  How are we to respond?  “He is worthy of our time.”  Worship, i.e. “worth+ship”.  He has the quality of being worthy of our words, our works, our delight, our joy, our hope, our honor, our love.  Since worship is the highest form of worship, then we will live for what we love the most, and if we are to worship in spirit and in truth, then our greatest love should be reserved for the object most worthy of that love.  And the only one worthy of the highest love of all creation is the Creator.  The only one worthy of the highest love of a sinner forgiven and redeemed is the one whom showed him mercy and redeemed him at His own cost.  The only one worthy of our lives is the One who gave His life for us, out of sheer grace and kindness.

So, let us worship the Lord today, in all that we do.  We work at our jobs for His sake, because He is worthy of our work.  We speak to others today for His sake, because He is worthy of our praise and of our obedience, worthy to be trusted.  Remember that our worship is everything that we do throughout the week, and when we gather on Sunday we simply do so together, but not as something new or original, but as a continuance of what we have been doing all week.

Here is an article by Nancy Guthrie from Crossway.org 

https://www.crossway.org/articles/gods-plan-for-your-discontentment/ 

From Karl Felten:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
~Hebrews 10:24-25
 
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
your blessing be on your people!
~Psalm 3:8

​For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
~Romans 15:4

From Richard Roberts:

I am finding it increasingly difficult to keep my eyes upon the sovereignty of the Lord, upon His goodness and promises to His people, and upon the real chaos underneath the visible chaos.  Underneath every hateful word and hateful act, and under every abuse of power and seizing of control by force, there is an Enemy who seeks to destroy God's image-bearers, to kill them, and to steal the joy and peace from them.

John received a vision on the island of Patmos which he wrote down for our benefit in the book called "The Revelation of Jesus Christ."  In the 12th and 13th chapters, John sees a Great Dragon who seeks to kill the Son of God and His people in his rage (12:17).  But he also sees that the Dragon raises up a puppet government made up of all kingdoms of the earth (13:1-2) whose was "allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them" (13:7).  Thus, the governing systems of our evil present age are not as independent as they believe.  In 13:11 a second puppet arise, a spirit of false religion which denies Jesus and seeks to gain power over all men.  So, beneath the dominant power structures of this world, militarily, politically, philosophically, there lies a greater threat, which is not new, but ancient.  

So, what shall we do?  The angel in John's vision tells us, "this is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints." (13:10)  We hang on to Christ Jesus.  We keep our lamps lit for the Master's return.  We do not take vengeance into our own hands, because it belongs to God.  We do not fret or fear to the point of giving upon Him, but we take our fears and anxieties to him and read chapter 14, "Then I looked, and 'BEHOLD!', the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand, who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads."

My friends, the whole of God's people, 12 by 12 by 10 by 10 by 10, the fullness of the saints, are marked out by God as HIS OWN, as belonging to Him!!  This world is not our home and this age is not our age, for we belong to the Lamb's Father and are protected by the Lamb Himself.  Where are these saints standing?  "With Him!"  We are "with Him"!  The endurance and faith of the saints places us in the company of the greatest One who will one day destroy that Dragon underneath all the evil and chaos and fruitlessness of this world.  

We must learn to see what is underneath and what God has said about it.  The Lamb has triumphed!  And He will triumph!  In the meantime, He has given us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us remember His words and promises, His commands of how we are to live in this present evil age, how to testify to His grace to the lost and to those who treat us as enemies, and to strengthen us to endure through faith until His return.  This promise of the Holy Spirit was given by Him to give us peace, as He told His disciples, "I have told you these things [concerning the Helper] so that you might have peace.  In the world you will have much oppression.  But, cheer up!  I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Let us look to the eternal things today, and remember the Dragon's Demise is coming quickly and the Wedding of the Lamb is near.

​

From Rich Carroll:

The Garden of Gethsemane was an olive grove whose olives were picked each season (still today) and turned into the finished product of oil that served so many purposes.  In order for the pure virgin oil to be squeezed out of the olives they had to be crushed by a stone called a gethsemane, thus the name of the garden.  
 
After taking part in that last supper and the washing of His disciple's feet,  Jesus led them out to this garden where He was overcome with grief and sadness.  In the midst of this darkness the King of the Universe fell down to the ground and cried out to His Father to take this cup away from Him.  The cup of His Father's wrath and judgement upon the whole world was on Jesus' shoulders.  In asking that it be taken from Him, Jesus, as both fully divine and fully human, casts His heart before His 'Abba' that this suffering might pass from Him.  What a gut wrenching struggle!  Suffering beyond comparison.  And in the midst of this inward turmoil and fight Jesus repeats these words at 3 different times of prayer:   "Yet not what I will, but what you will."   
 
He is crushed and the oil of our salvation and redemption comes pouring out of His heart in Jesus' words of submission.  "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.  Although He was a son, he learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him..."   Hebrews 5:7-9   
 
Our freedom that was secured at the cross was won at Gethsemane.  There was no other way.  "Not my will but yours be done."   Yes, you and I are loved this much.   
 
            
 
          
 
 

Desiring God ministries has a wonderful video series called "Look at the Book" (LAB) with John Piper.  He walks us through interpreting the Scriptures all the way through its purpose: to worship the Lord.  Consider subscribing to their YouTube channel, which you can reach through the video below.

​

From Richard Roberts:

I am never surprised at the capacity of my heart to complain and become embittered.  It is so common to see the evils of others and to avert my gaze from the good.  This is especially true when we have been personally wounded by someone, whether justly or unjustly.  We can stew in our resentment, continually reflecting on the wounds and those who have caused them.  In this process we sometimes cherry pick their behavior and words, unconsciously choosing to believe only the evils and none of the good.  This, of course, is simply pride at its root, rearing its ugly double-head of self-pity and self-righteousness.  I imagine that this is what was happening in Philippi, seething bitterness that resulted in silent despondency of joyless anxiety and prayerless resistance to honor one another. 

When we find ourselves in this place of bitterness, we are told how to correct it.  We are to change what we value.  We are to consider, which is an accounting term, meaning to "reckon" or "evaluate something as worthy", the virtues of Christ and to evaluate our own thoughts and reckonings according to those virtues before we act and speak towards others.  In Philippians 4:8 there is a list of these virtues that can help correct us in our thinking and our speaking by asking some pertinent questions in these trying and evil times today.
 
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, reckon these things.”
 
Before we speak, and before we react, we need to stop and “reckon” what is worthy.  I think that we need to be asking better questions regarding how we use our words and what we believe to be worth saying.  Rather than claiming that I am free to speak, which is true, God has called us to something greater than mere freedom of speech.  He has called us to gracious speech (Colossians 4:6).  Maybe these questions are helpful to that end.  Before we speak, let us ask:

1. Is it true?
2. Is it respectable?
3. Is it just?
4. Is it clean, or pure?
5. Is it winsome?
6. Is it commendable by God?
7. Is it morally excellent?
8. Is it helpful?

 
These are the things which Paul says should be “accounted”, or “worthy of saying”.  And there is a great promise attached to such behavior, in verse 9, “and the peace of God will be with you.”
 
We must guard our hearts from harboring bitterness and anger due to self-righteous defensiveness, rather than harboring the things of Christ in the anchorages of our hearts.  How do we create peace?  We weigh, we reckon, we value, the things of Jesus Christ as the most significant things in our relationships with one another.  You see, Jesus is True.  He is Noble.  He is Just.  He is pure.  He is winsome.  He is commended by God.  He is morally excellent.  He is helpful.
 
We create peace when we value Jesus Christ as worthy of our attention, our love, our affections, our hopes, and our delight.  We need to fix our eyes upon Jesus and not upon the chaos of the world, the injustices against us, those who are clamoring for us to reckon them as worthy.  We must see the goodness of Jesus so that we do applaud what is good, both in the world around us and in the Church, decrying all injustice while also constantly praising the good.
 
And above all, the power to “do these things” comes from the power of God’s own Holy Spirit working within us “to will and to work according to His good pleasure” (Phil 2:12-13).  Therefore, let us spend our thoughts on the greatest of good, the highest of the praiseworthy, the most laudable of all that is excellent:  Jesus, the Christ, the hope of the nations and the Redeemer of all that is broken.  Let us imbibe on His person, this just and Almighty God who came down to redeem sinners by laying down His own life in our place.
 
Let us consider His grace towards us, so that we might be gracious in our speech and actions towards others, even when we must say “stop” and call out injustice.  What kind of God is this that dies for His enemies?  Who is this that mercifully provides for His ungrateful image-bearers?  That is the one true God!  Fill your minds with the virtues of Jesus and the God of peace will be with us, among us, to secure unity in the knowledge of Him, and bring us into the fullness of what we are supposed to be as humans:  like Christ Jesus.






​

From Richard Roberts:

I read this verse while studying for this week's sermon.  What struck me was the idea of "cleanness."  

Today we are making so many efforts to avoid touch, because of the possibility of contamination, of uncleanness.  You touch somebody with a virus, you become unclean, you get the virus.  

However, what Jesus is telling his disciples here is that His touch works in the opposite.  Rather than our uncleanness making him unclean, His touch is so potent, so pure, so holy, that it purifies us!  His touch cleans us.  It is His touch which cures us of any cause of our shame, whether we feel unclean because of what we have done, or because of what has been done to us by someone else.  The touch of Jesus cleans us, so that there is no need for further cleansing, no more fear of being made unclean, and no stain of shame which is not lifted by His gentle hand.

This is such a freeing thought for those of us who struggle with feelings of being unclean and the assumption that God must be disgusted with us because of what we've touched.  But we must remember that those who have been touched by Jesus are wholly and perfectly clean.  So, you can rest, o weary soul, from your fears and anxieties, your doubts and your shame, because "you are clean" by the touch of the perfectly Pure One.





​

From Rich Carroll:

Jack Miller's devotional from the June 3rd entry of a collection called Saving Grace was helpful to me.  Here it is:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

Jesus didn’t say, “Blessed are those who are righteous, for they shall be satisfied.”  His whole Sermon on the Mount is about how obedience to the law is not only about behavior, but also about heart orientation.  What God calls us to is not a pharisaic self-righteousness.  The Pharisees were nice, decent people, but they missed the inward and upward and outward relationship of Jesus’s teaching.

If you are a true believer, your response to Jesus’s words should be “Help!”  Those who know their inability to be righteous, and ask for help, will be blessed.  The very idea of eating and drinking is that what you need comes from outside yourself.  You don’t have the righteousness God requires, and, therefore, this is what you long for.  Jesus wants us to have an appetite for, to long for, what we do not have – the righteousness that comes from him.  It is blessed to long for what Jesus wants to give you.  It is blessed to be dissatisfied.  It is blessed to aim for perfection.  You are not going to be perfect in this life, but you aim for it because that’s what Jesus commands.  You work for it, you long for it, and you put off your sins.  That’s what it means to have an appetite for God.





​

A Liturgy by Douglas McKelvey and Ned Bustard:

Christ Our King, 
Our world is overtaken by unexpected 
calamity, and by a host of attending fears, 
worries, and insecurities. 
We witness suffering, confusion, and 
hardship multiplied around us, and we find
ourselves swept up in these same anxieties and 
troubles, dismayed by so many uncertainties. 
Now we turn to you, O God, 
in this season of our common distress.
Be merciful, O Christ, to those who suffer, 
to those who worry, to those who grieve, to
those who are threatened or harmed in any 
way by this upheaval. Let your holy compassions 
be active throughout the world even now--
tending the afflicted, comforting the 
brokenhearted, and bringing hope to 
many who are hopeless. 
Use even these hardships to woo our hearts 
nearer to you, O God.
Indeed, O Father, may these days 
of disquiet become a catalyst 
for conviction and repentance,
for the tendering of our affections, 
for the stirring of our sympathies,
for the refining of our love.
We are your people, who are called by you,
We need not be troubled or alarmed.
Indeed, O Lord, let us love now more fearlessly,
remembering that you created us, 
and appointed us 
to live in these very places, 
in the midst of these unsettled times. 
It is no surprise to you that we are here now,
sharing in this turmoil along with the rest of 
our society, for you have called your children 
to live as salt and light among the nations, 
praying and laboring for the flourishing of the 
communities where we dwell, acting as agents of 
your forgiveness, salvation, healing, reconciliation, 
and hope, in the very midst of an often-troubled world.
And in these holy vocations 
you have not left us helpless, O Lord, 
because you have not left us at all. 
Your Spirit remains among us.
Inhabit now your church, O Spirit of the Risen Christ.
Unite and equip your people for the work before them.
Father, empower your children to live as your children. 
In times of distress let us respond, not as those 
who would instinctively entrench for our own 
self-preservation, but rather as those who—in imitation 
of their Lord—would move in humble obedience toward 
the needs and hurts of their neighborhoods and communities.
You were not ashamed to share in our sufferings, Jesus. 
Let us now be willing to share in yours, serving 
as your visible witnesses in this broken world.
Hear now these words, you children of God, 
and be greatly encouraged:
The Lord’s throne in heaven is yet occupied, 
his rule is eternal, and his good purposes 
on earth will be forever accomplished.
So we need never be swayed by the brief and 
passing panics of this age.
You are the King of the Ages, O Christ, 
and history is held in your Father’s hands. 
We, your people, know the good and glorious 
end of this story. Our heavenly hope is secure. 
In this time of widespread suffering then, 
let us rest afresh in the surpassing peace of that 
vision, that your whole church on earth might be 
liberated to love more generously and sacrificially.
Now labor in and through us, O Lord, extending and 
multiplying the many expressions of your mercy.
Amen.





​

From Richard Roberts:

I read a tweet by Herschel York this week, whom I do not know, but it was a tweet to which I immediately related as a pastor and public preacher.  He said,

     “Every time I feel led to tweet, post, or preach anything about racism, I have to mentally and spiritually prepare myself for the pushback, “yeah, buts,” and smug replies I get.  Folks, this shouldn’t even be controversial among the people of God.”

In like fashion Mark Dever also posted,

     “Something I’ve noticed about my posts – some of you seem to appreciate them, except when you seem surprised or offended when I post something about racism.  But racism is blasphemy against the Creator, violating the commands both to love neighbor, and to love God!”

I, too, feel the conflict and trepidation that York notes, knowing that when I post a clear Scriptural principle about the evils of excluding and distinguishing persons based upon the color of their skin, I know that I will get some, “yeah, buts” along with some kind of red herring justification of why such a principle shouldn’t apply in every situation.

But, here’s the thing: any assumption which puts a person into a different category than I place myself, and that category somehow makes them more worthy of suffering or less worthy of dignity than myself, I am not merely being sinful, I am being anti-Christ.

I say this because of what the Spirit teaches us in Ephesians 2:11-16, that it is only the grace of God which brings us near to God as accepted and as friends.  Nothing else.  Not my ability to obey any laws, not my ability to succeed in this world, and surely not any inherent nature in me or any experience within my history.

     Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Eph. 2:11-16)

The apostle is very clear that Christ came to abolish the distinctions of value that we have placed upon our own moral success and our own genetic profiles.  Literally, He “made one new humanity” out of those who were distinguished by race and by law by being the only means of our reconciliation with God morally and spiritually.  Nothing else gives us any superiority.

In fact, the gospel of the Cross, that Jesus had to die for Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female, rich and poor, all equally and by the same manner, shows us that any sense of superiority or inferiority is essentially dismissive of Him, and therefore of God.  

That’s not a little thing!  It is not a little thing to dismiss Jesus and His Cross!  It’s not a little thing to work against His purposes, and that is exactly what such superiority and inferiority do.

Therefore, all racism and classism must be abolished from the Church.  It must be silenced by the Cross and not justified or excused because of some broken law or some sin on the “other side.”  Such things simply do not excuse such dismissing of the Gospel of grace.

All disdain.  All stereotypical comments, i.e. “those people”.  All feelings of superiority and inferiority are to be expelled, condemned, and judged as anti-Christ.  We cannot allow distinctions of worth to be set upon individuals or families based upon anything other than Jesus’ shed blood and righteousness: not money, now law-abiding, not possessions, not history, not language, NOTHING.

Look at the text.  The issue is law-keeping, isn’t it?  What are the implications of this?  We who know the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the grace of God appearing, of His mercy towards sinners who were, by nature, children of wrath, separated from God, know the implications.  People are not worthwhile because they observe the law.  They are worthwhile because they are made in the image of God and He loves them.  The Son of God was sent for sinners, to seek them, and to save them.  We do not, therefore, make separations between “them” and “us” on the basis of any law, but only on the basis of Christ.

Does this mean there is no place for corrective discipline?  Of course not!  Does it mean that we are silent when we see sin?  NO!  But we speak correction because we know that sin harms the sinner and diminishes Christ.  In the church, we discipline according to the standard of the law of Christ Jesus.  It is for​ the sake of the sinner that we speak, not simply to judge him as though he were inferior to us.

So, let us look upon the “other” through the person and work of Jesus!  He reconciles both to God!  And this is through the cross. 

The Church, the New Humanity, is completely a creative act of God!  In fact, Paul uses the word “create” here (v15) in evoke the creative act of God (Genesis 14:19) who made Heaven and Earth.  This is HIS work.  John Murry says, “While our death is our fate, his death is his deed.” 

And one doing of His death is the ‘killing of the hostility’ between races.  The cross creates a new community by eliminating the causes of contentions between otherwise distinct enemies, because the only basis that we have for our standing before God and before each other is the blood of Jesus Christ for us all equally.  The Church is the foremost act of God “bringing all things together under Him.”  We ought to be exemplifying reconciliation and sympathetic understanding of our desperation and need, not our distinctions and delinquencies.

Note that Paul tells us that both, the law-keepers and the law-breakers, the religious and the irreligious, every race and culture, needed the preaching of peace.  Regardless of our knowledge or ignorance, our experience or inexperience, our honor or shame, we were all enemies of God who needed peace to be proclaimed from God to us. 

And this is the Good News, right?  That we can approach the Father through the Spirit of Christ alone, on the basis of Christ alone, with equal access and impartial access to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace in our time of need, whatever our peril may be.

Thus, if you can categorize yourself like the Scripture does:  sinners in need of grace, period, then this gospel is good news.  It is good news for failures, for law-breakers, for the law-keepers, for the religious and the irreligious, for the African, the European, the Asian, the American, the man, the woman, the child, the beautiful, the deformed, the poor, the rich…but always to the humble. 

REMEMBER who you were!  You were once separated from God and without hope in the world.  RELATE to others as one who is saved by grace and brought near to God only through the blood of Jesus and nothing else!  REJOICE in Jesus for that grace at His own expense!  RETURN your worship and your joy to the Lord for His wonderful and amazing gift of grace towards sinners like you!






​

From Richard Roberts

Here is a little summary of the fruit of the Spirit, from Galatians 5, and their counterfeits.
​









​
Agape – love
Definition –      A settled disposition of delight in a person and a resolve to serve them for their honor and their thriving life, not for what the person brings you.
Opposite –      Fear, self-protection, and use of people as objects to serve oneself; narcissism
Counterfeit –   Selfish affection. Helping someone but really serving self. Drawn not to the person, but to how this person’s love or affection makes you feel about yourself.  Co-Dependence
 
Chara – joy
Definition –      Delight in God and his salvation for sheer beauty and worth of who he is.
Opposite –      Hopelessness, despair, boredom
Counterfeit –   Elation that comes with blessings not the Blesser! Mood swings based on circumstances.
 
Irene – peace
Definition –      Confidence and rest in the wisdom and sovereignty of God more than your own
Opposite –      Anxiety and worry
Counterfeit –   Indifference, apathy, not caring about something. “It doesn't matter.”
 
Makrothumia – patience
Definition –      Ability to endure suffering without falling apart. To suffer joyfully, slow to anger
Opposite –      Bitterness and irritation toward God and others.
Counterfeit –   Cynicism. Self-righteousness, "I am better than this."; Carelessness, "This is beneath me."
 
Chrestotes – kindness
Definition –      Seeking to benefit others without the need for recognition or appreciation
Opposite –      Envy. Self-seeking.  Unable to rejoice in other’s joy.  Make things all about yourself.
Counterfeit –   Manipulative good deeds. “Right hand knowing what left hand is doing.”  Self-congratulation and self-righteousness.  Humble-brags.
 
Agathosune – goodness (generosity)
Definition –      Willingness to give to others for their good; self-sacrificial; useful; generosity.
Opposite –      Carelessness; self-glory; greedy.
Counterfeit –   Giving so that others recognize your giving. The act of giving supersedes the value of receiver of the gift. 
 
Pistis – faithfulness
Definition –      Trustworthiness.  Loyalty. Integrity. To be principle-driven, committed, utterly reliable. True to one’s word.
Opposite –      Opportunist. Fair-weather friend. Liar.  Manipulator.
Counterfeit –   Love without truth.  Co-dependent.  Flatterer. Being loyal when you should be willing to confront or challenge.
 
Prautas – gentleness (humility)
Definition –      Self-forgetfulness.  Counting oneself has holding a lower rank or position, but with a deep inner security.
Opposite –      Superiority: self-absorbed self-aggrandizement.  Looking down on others as less important.
Counterfeit –   Inferiority: self-absorbed, self-consciousness, self-pitying.
 
Egkrateia – self-control
Definition –      Ability to choose the important or right thing over the urgent or immediate thing.
Opposite –      An, impulsive, uncontrolled person.
Counterfeit –   Willpower through pride or slow-played manipulation;  perfectionism

​

Listen and Learn Together

Crossway has created a new podcast for families called The Big Picture Bible Story Bible by David R. Helm.
The aim of the podcast is to present the story of the Bible and its Hero, Jesus.  You can subscribe to it via one of the links below.
​
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

From Rich Carroll:

​"...a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head."          - Mark 14:3b

 
In this passage, while Jesus was the dinner guest of Simon the Leper and reclining at the table Mary, the sister of Lazarus, came and without announcement poured a very expensive perfume (a year's wages worth on Jesus' head. There were others there who scolded her harshly for 'wasting' the perfume and not selling it to provide for the poor. 
 
The Lord rebuked them and explained what her gift was actually about- preparing His body for burial. In fact, Jesus explained, her gift was so significant that "wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."  This was the same Mary who at the end of Luke 10 was found at the feet of Jesus listening and being attentive instead of doing good service deeds with her sister Martha.  She couldn't get enough of Jesus' words and presence. 
 
This Mary, here in both accounts, has a deep love and appreciation for her Lord and simply shows it in 'doing what she could', Jesus declared.  Grace had come to Mary and in her gratefulness she gave what she could. This was an extravagant gift.  She didn't announce it. She wasn't trying to proudly catch the attention from others towards her good deed. She was a forgiven woman who longed to see and listen to her Master and do what naturally came out of her gratefulness for His love for her.  
 
May our Master give us the grace to respond as well, out of our simple gratefulness,  for His extravagant gift to us.   

From Richard Roberts:

1 Peter 2:9-10
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
 
What is it that defines the Church?  What does it mean to be the church of God?  Is it to provide a place and a family to which one may belong and be accepted?  Is it to be powerful and confident?  Emotional and passionate?  Studious?  Moral?  Transparent?  Serving others?  I imagine that there are some good descriptions of faithful saints in there (and some questionable ones!).  However, Peter tells us that the fundamental nature of the Church is simply this:  it is God’s own possession.  What defines the Church is that it belongs to God.  It is not its own to be pandered or pampered in our self-interest and stale religiosity.  The Church exists for God and He lives and moves among us as a disturbing, soul-shaking, barrier-breaking, and transforming Triunity. 

This is the fundamental nature of the Church.  He has stamped upon her the choice word: “Mine!”  In the words of Jack Miller, those of the Church are “God-possessed.”  And being God-possessed they are also called a “holy nation” who have been called out of the world as a “different” people because God possesses them. 

The Church, by nature of belonging to the holy God, is involved in His holiness as well.  Johannes Blauw says that by the means of being God-possessed those belonging to God “have separated themselves from the others, the disobedient, and now stand in a positive relationship to God.”  So, says Miller, “the God-possessed are the God-separated, consecrated to Him and distinguished from the world.”  The nature of the Church is not to serve itself, or even primarily to serve the world, but rather to serve the One to whom it belongs:  our reason for existence is to know and serve God.  All of our desires and purpose must never lose this identity!  May we not confuse our purpose with our traditions or our expectations.  And certainly not with the expectations of the world.  God is our owner.  It is for Him that we are made and live and have our being.
    
But what is the reason for all of this?  For sure, one could say God’s love or His kindness, but there is a far deeper purpose which Peter directly states for becoming the God-possessed.  We exist to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  This is our purpose as the God-possessed and God-separated and God-accepted!  We have been called to directly confront the darkness of the world with the good news of the marvelous light of God in the gospel! 

In other words, our changed identity and its ensuing changed affections, values, and behaviors should be the aroma of God’s mercy and reveal our holy God to a world whose deeds instead reek of “debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.” 

Our deeds, done by faith in the work of Christ and in His powerful transformation of the heart, exalt His holy work of redemption!  Our obedience to Christ and our humble proclamation of His kindness towards us and for us by His grace shines into the world as a light which exposes the beauty of God.  This is our purpose.
 
Do we really believe that the gospel can transform anybody?  Is there any personal brokenness that the gospel cannot reach, where experts must instead intervene?  Is there any shame which cannot be mended by the honor of being owned by God?  Is there any fear which is not comforted in this?  Any deep desire which does not find its satisfaction?

You see, our calling as the God-possessed is not to make life easier or better for the world, but rather to disclose to them the One True God who possesses us.  Our passion to proclaim Him is based upon His worthiness, His beauty, and His glory.  This is what spurs the hearts of the redeemed, not merely a love for the lost. 
 
Am I saying that we don't love the lost?  No!!  However, when our "love" for the lost functionally supersedes our desire for God's praise then we tend to bow to the fear of man’s approval.  We end up watering down the gospel in order to make it palatable to people, rather than revealing God in Truth.  In reality, the Cross is foolishness (1 Cor 1:17-21), death (2 Cor 2:15-16), and a stumbling block (1 Pet 2:6-10) to some.  But to the one who believes it is the power of salvation, life, joy, and hope. 
 
The key to obedient proclamation of God's glory is in seeing God as big as He really is.  Where a small view of God exists, praise of God doesn't.  Do we really believe that God is that beautiful?  That God is that big?  That is that caring?  That God is that kind?  As Dan Flynn says, “God can and God cares.”  I like that.
 
Remember, you who are owned by God, who are united to Jesus by faith in Him.  He possesses you because He wants to.  There is nothing that can take you away from Him.  No suffering.  No threat.  No loss.  Not even death. 

​You are His, and He can.  You are His, and He cares.