Posted in commentary on January 2, 2013| 2 Comments »
I’m not going to be posting for the next several weeks. I keep running into things on this site that aren’t quite right: broken links, resources not getting added, the ‘old’ blog needs to be retired (I’m tired of the spam comments), etc.
So, I’m going to spend some time on that.
Lord willing, we’ll be back at it in a few weeks.
Posted in commentary, Scripture on December 31, 2012| 2 Comments »
I don’t have a top ten list of anything. There were too many instances of God’s help and kindness – Paul’s seizures coming under control, my dad’s heart issue being dealt with, Mike Beates’ book, the vote on Pastor Jason, the long-anticipated vacation in Colorado, the Desiring God disability conference, etc., etc.
But there was a special moment or, more accurately, 10 minutes, when I felt the presence and pleasure of the Holy Spirit as his word was spoken back to him by a young women who has lived her entire life with disabilities.
As Krista spoke her opening sentences, I knew the many prayers offered for the conference and for her talk were about to be answered:
People ask me how I live with disability.
How do I live with disability?
How do I live with Apert Syndrome?. . .My parents and my pastor told me to keep looking in the Bible.
That’s where I would find answers.
And they helped me to see things that I was missing.
They helped me see that God tells the truth.
So I keep listening to him.
He opens the eyes of my heart and I believe.
I trust him and his words.
God says beautiful things to me.
Listen.
It would be an easy mistake to say Krista did a great job (though she did) and leave the emphasis there. That would not honor Krista at all because that wasn’t the point of her talk. She was helping us see God more clearly. The power was in the God-given faith that God’s promises are true and have relevance to every moment of every day.
I also had a great vantage point:
Watching her intently are Mary and Bob Horning (her mother and father), Pastor John, and Greg Lucas.
So, that is my top moment of 2012. God was kind to give it:
Posted in commentary, Scripture on December 28, 2012| 1 Comment »
The God who creates some to live with disability:
Then the LORD said to him, “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 ESV)
Is the same God who intends for those living with disability to do the work God has given them to do:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)
So, Christ’s church should be actively preparing everyone, disabled and non-disabled, to serve using the gifts God has given them!
Posted in commentary, Scripture on December 27, 2012| 1 Comment »
Along with a Bible reading plan, I also highly recommend a good study Bible. For example, this was from my reading on December 3 from Habakkuk 3:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)
The meaning is plain from the text. But there is more, and my ESV Study Bible helped me see it:
Anticipating great destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, Habakkuk has radically changed-he began by informing God how to run his world, and ended by trusting that God knows best and will bring about justice. Though the fig tree should not blossom. Verse 17 contains a frequently quoted list of material disasters in which all crops and livestock are lost, and as a result it is unclear there will be food to eat. Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself: yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Yahweh has become Habakkuk’s strength (see Ps. 18:32, 39).
ESV Study Bible, Crossway Bibles, p. 1727.
“Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself.” Of course it is in the text, but I missed it! I’m grateful for good tools that help me see and think on and enjoy more of what God’s word has for us.
Posted in commentary on December 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:14 ESV)
Maybe my favorite contemporary Christmas Carol.
And just so we don’t get too sentimental about a little baby – this reminder that HE IS GOD!
Posted in commentary on December 24, 2012| 1 Comment »
In his blog post from Friday, Jon Bloom considers Joseph’s desperation as his wife is about to give birth to the King of all kings. It is a lesson it is for us today:
There are times, while seeking to follow God faithfully, we find ourselves in a desperate moment, forced to a place we would not choose to go. It’s then we must remember: we are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Our lives and circumstances are not ultimately about us. They are about Jesus Christ. The Father has purposes for us and our hardships that extend far beyond us. And often what appears like a misfortune or a lack of provision in the moment later proves to be a means of great mercy.
So maybe what we need most this Christmas is not less turmoil, but more trust. For God chooses stables of desperation as the birthplaces of his overwhelming grace.
Jon Bloom, A Stable of Desperation
Posted in commentary, Sermons on December 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Because in the story God is telling, evil does not have the last word. Good Friday is not the end (which is why it’s so good). He burst from the spiced tomb on Resurrection Sunday, commissioned his disciples, and ascended to his throne, where now he sits until all of his enemies are subdued under his feet, including and especially Evil.
This then is the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Christian answer to the problem(s) of evil. It is the confession of Jesus Christ, the Divine Author who never himself does evil, but instead conquers all evil by enduring the greatest evil, and thereby delivers all those enslaved and oppressed by evil who put their hope in him.
O Come, O Come Immanuel.
Joe Rigney, Confronting the Problem(s) of Evil
Joe also gave one of the most helpful sermons on prayer and God’s sovereignty I have ever heard: If God Knows Everything and Planned Everything, Why Pray?
Posted in commentary on December 20, 2012| 1 Comment »
I want to meet this family! Thank you to Larry Agnew for sending this video to me.
Of course we don’t get to see all the hard work and all the tears and all the failures in seven minutes. But this is still a pretty neat picture of a family God put together.
Russell Moore wrote a highly regarded book on adoption, Adopted for Life, in which he calls the church to care for orphans around the world, just as God through Christ adopted us into his family.
The song the young man without hands was playing on the piano is How He Loves Us by David Crowder Band.
Posted in commentary, Scripture, Sermons on December 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »
I came across this quote on the purposes of Christ’s suffering in A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life:
Ambrose also warned that faith in Christ is more than just an emotional response to the history of His sufferings. Natural human compassion can be stirred by the story of anyone suffering, but this is not faith in Christ. Faith looks to the “meaning, intent, and design of Christ in his sufferings,” Ambrose said, namely to “redeem us from the slavery of death and hell,” and “to free us from sin…destroy it, kill it, crucify it.” (Emphasis in bold is mine)
Beeke, Joel R.; Jones, Mark (2012-10-14). A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Kindle Locations 14133-14136). Kindle Edition.
And that reminded me of Pastor John’s sermon, Why Was This Child Born Blind:
They say in verse 2 (of John 9), “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” In other words, what is the cause of this blindness? The man’s sin? Or the parents’ sin? Is this blindness a punishment for the parents’ sin or a punishment for his own sin—some kind of inherited sinfulness already in the womb?
Jesus says, in effect, specific sins in the past don’t always correlate with specific suffering in the present. The decisive explanation for this blindness is not found by looking for its cause but by looking for its purpose. Verse 3: Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (Emphasis in bold is mine)
Jesus fulfilled his purpose through his suffering. God has purpose in disability. And the end result isn’t just relief, it is gladness!
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13 ESV)
The Works of God 
“Is anything too hard for me?” – God
Posted in commentary on February 11, 2013| 6 Comments »
Last night Pastor John, Pastor Tom Steller and Pastor David Michael recalled their history in facing the horror of abortion. One of the advantages of being around one church for so long, I remembered a lot of that history.
Pastor Jason joined them for a time of questions, and I asked my question about how to help the church see that the children with disabilities should be allowed to live.
Pastor John went right to a theology of suffering and God’s sovereignty. I am very grateful for that persistent, helpful, biblical guidance. If you’re curious about what that means, there are hundreds of resources on suffering at Desiring God.
Pastor Jason added that we parents need to tell our stories. He is so right; we must testify to God’s goodness in the gift of our children with disabilities being the means God has used to help us see and experience more of Him.
And then Pastor Jason put his finger on a rising danger for children like ours – genetic manipulation and the temptation for parents to believe they are sovereign over their children’s existence. He couldn’t know it, but my heart rejoiced at his observation.
Forty years of abortion being the law of the land is discouraging. Even the various state restrictions that have passed are only encouraging to a point; they do not address the incredible cultural bias against unborn children with disabilities. But Pastor Jason’s brief and simple statement reminded me that we do not do this in our own strength and God will provide wisdom. I clearly see God’s hand in guiding my brand-new Pastor for Preaching and Vision, with all the challenges that come with leading a big church, to genetics as a key issue in the pro-life movement going forward.
And after he said it I immediately thought of this verse:
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27 ESV)
He is the God of all flesh, including the unborn babies with disabilities. And there is nothing too hard for him.
Abortion will end someday. Until that day, let us do all we can in the strength God supplies to encourage people to let all the babies live.
Share this:
Read Full Post »