Sunday 27 May 2012
Genesis
Genesis, earth and heaven in a cosmic kiss
Evolution must have been like this
Oh, I believe in Genesis
DNA, shaping creatures from the dust and clay
Double helix in the Milky Way
Oh, Genesis means DNA
How He made it all 40 billion(?) years ago
Wisdom, truth and love
For He spoke and it was so
Genesis, Eve and Adam in a land of bliss
In a paradise we all now miss
Oh, I believe in Genesis
In a trice, didn't listen to divine advice
Einstein wondered whether God played dice
We're trapped within a world of vice
Why they had to fall - I don't know, it doesn't say
They did something wrong
And we've longed for God's new day
Genesis, royal priesthood in a holy bliss
New Jerusalem will be like this
Oh, I believe in Genesis
Saturday 26 May 2012
Friday 25 May 2012
Monday 21 May 2012
Paul Tripp on Marriage (Part 3)
Principle 3: Marriage, this side of heaven, is always a war between two kingdoms.
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21 (NIV)
1. Everyone lives for some kind of treasure.
2. The thing that is your treasure will control your heart.
3. What controls your heart will control your words and behaviour.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
4. Do not seek horizontally what you can only get vertically. Do not attempt to solve horizontally what you can only solve vertically.
5. Good things never happen when you turn a blessing into a demand. Husbands do not *need* wives who respect them before they are able to love their wives. Wives do not *need* husbands who love them before they are able to respect their husbands. Christ is all we have, and Christ is all we need.
6. Jesus did not come to make our little kingdoms better. Jesus came to bring us out of our little kingdoms into His kingdom.
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." - 1 John 4:7-11 (NIV)
7. Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not demand reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving. Love loves to love.
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21 (NIV)
1. Everyone lives for some kind of treasure.
2. The thing that is your treasure will control your heart.
3. What controls your heart will control your words and behaviour.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
4. Do not seek horizontally what you can only get vertically. Do not attempt to solve horizontally what you can only solve vertically.
5. Good things never happen when you turn a blessing into a demand. Husbands do not *need* wives who respect them before they are able to love their wives. Wives do not *need* husbands who love them before they are able to respect their husbands. Christ is all we have, and Christ is all we need.
6. Jesus did not come to make our little kingdoms better. Jesus came to bring us out of our little kingdoms into His kingdom.
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." - 1 John 4:7-11 (NIV)
7. Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not demand reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving. Love loves to love.
Sunday 20 May 2012
Paul Tripp on Marriage (Part 2)
Principle 2: Sin causes us to shrink our lives to the size of our lives.
1. The DNA of sin is selfishness.
2. Sin, in its fundamental form, is anti-social - it causes us to dehumanise others, treating others as either vehicles or obstacles in our lives. Sin destroys relationships.
3. God will not sacrifice His throne to place us on it.
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)
1. The DNA of sin is selfishness.
2. Sin, in its fundamental form, is anti-social - it causes us to dehumanise others, treating others as either vehicles or obstacles in our lives. Sin destroys relationships.
3. God will not sacrifice His throne to place us on it.
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)
Saturday 19 May 2012
Paul Tripp on Marriage (Part 1)
Principle 1: A marriage of unity, understanding, and love is not rooted in romance, but in worship.
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." - Luke 6:43-45 (NIV)
The heart is the causal core of our personhood. Our words and behaviour are more formed by what's inside of us than what's outside of us.
Implications
1. All marriage problems are heart problems. Issues like finances are the occasion, not the cause of marriage problems.
2. Lasting change in marriage always travels through the pathway of the heart. Romance is a result, not a cause.
3. The cause of marriage problems is not others but ourselves. We do not have the power to change someone else - only Jesus does.
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." - Luke 6:43-45 (NIV)
The heart is the causal core of our personhood. Our words and behaviour are more formed by what's inside of us than what's outside of us.
Implications
1. All marriage problems are heart problems. Issues like finances are the occasion, not the cause of marriage problems.
2. Lasting change in marriage always travels through the pathway of the heart. Romance is a result, not a cause.
3. The cause of marriage problems is not others but ourselves. We do not have the power to change someone else - only Jesus does.
Friday 18 May 2012
Paul Tripp's Daily Prayer
Lord, I'm a person in desperate need of help today.
I pray that in Your grace You would send Your help into my life.
And Lord, I pray for the humility to receive Your help when it comes.
I pray that in Your grace You would send Your help into my life.
And Lord, I pray for the humility to receive Your help when it comes.
Thursday 17 May 2012
Awe of God
*Notes of Paul Tripp's talk on Ministry: Dangerous Calling at ARPC*
1. The Danger of Familiarity
Ministry is a glory war. It is our calling, not our identity. It is centred on our awe of God.
5 Evidences of Awe of God - Humility, Tenderness, Passion, Discipline and Courage
We are called to pass our awe of God to the next generation.
We can quickly lose our awe of God and replace it with awe of ourselves.
2. The Danger of Arrival
We can subtly redefine maturity.
We can be theologically knowledgeable and spiritually immature.
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." - Hebrews 3:12-14 (NIV)
*****
George gave insight as to why Colson went on to do such transformative work in his lifetime, saying, "He never got over the wonder and surprise of encountering Jesus Christ as a real person."
Source: Chuck Colson Memorial Celebrates Life 'Well-Lived'
1. The Danger of Familiarity
Ministry is a glory war. It is our calling, not our identity. It is centred on our awe of God.
5 Evidences of Awe of God - Humility, Tenderness, Passion, Discipline and Courage
We are called to pass our awe of God to the next generation.
We can quickly lose our awe of God and replace it with awe of ourselves.
2. The Danger of Arrival
We can subtly redefine maturity.
We can be theologically knowledgeable and spiritually immature.
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." - Hebrews 3:12-14 (NIV)
*****
George gave insight as to why Colson went on to do such transformative work in his lifetime, saying, "He never got over the wonder and surprise of encountering Jesus Christ as a real person."
Source: Chuck Colson Memorial Celebrates Life 'Well-Lived'
Monday 7 May 2012
Verse of the Day
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Tuesday 1 May 2012
Abraham's Story
Consider what Romans 4 says of Abraham. He was chosen by God to receive His covenant promises. He was told that his offspring would be like the sand on the seashore. Yet his wife was a very old woman, way beyond child-bearing age, and he had not yet given birth to the son who would carry on his line.
Romans 4 tells us something significant about Abraham's heart. When you and I are called by God to wait for an extended period as Abraham was, our story is often a chronicle of ever-weakening faith. The longer we think about what we are waiting for, the longer we consider how we have no ability to deliver it. The longer we have to let ourselves wonder why we have been selected to wait, the more our faith weakens.
Not so with Abraham. We're told in this passage that during this time of protracted waiting his faith actually grew stronger. Rather than meditating on the impossibility of his situation, Abraham meditated on the power and character of the One who made the promise. The more Abraham let his heart bask in the glory of God, he grew convinced he was in good hands. Rather than a cycle of discouragement and hopelessness, Abraham's story was one of encouragement and hope.
- Paul Tripp, The Man Behind the Ministry
Romans 4 tells us something significant about Abraham's heart. When you and I are called by God to wait for an extended period as Abraham was, our story is often a chronicle of ever-weakening faith. The longer we think about what we are waiting for, the longer we consider how we have no ability to deliver it. The longer we have to let ourselves wonder why we have been selected to wait, the more our faith weakens.
Not so with Abraham. We're told in this passage that during this time of protracted waiting his faith actually grew stronger. Rather than meditating on the impossibility of his situation, Abraham meditated on the power and character of the One who made the promise. The more Abraham let his heart bask in the glory of God, he grew convinced he was in good hands. Rather than a cycle of discouragement and hopelessness, Abraham's story was one of encouragement and hope.
- Paul Tripp, The Man Behind the Ministry
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