This weekend, we have a special gathering planned to celebrate the truth that all humans were created by God as sacred bearers of his image — this is also known as the Sanctity of Human Life. Larry Gadbaugh from the Portland PRC, a local missions work we support, will be our guest speaker for the afternoon. Read Luke 10:25-37 this week, pray about the upcoming service and also about bringing a friend with you. If you have some extra time to read a few blogs on the topic of the week, I would encourage you to read R.C. Sproul’s post “The Sanctity of Human Life” and Russell Moore’s reflection  on the past 40 years in “Is the Pro-Life Cause Winning?”

Songs we plan to sing together when we meet on Sunday include:

• Enough. Listen to Chris Tomlin here.
• Arise, My Soul, Arise. Listen here.
• Glorious Day. Listen to Michael Bleecker here.
• The Father’s Love. Listen here.

Blessings on the remainder of your week!
See you there.

I thought afterwards that it might be helpful to repost the prayer here to allow more time to read/meditate on its truths in personal or family worship. May it keep drawing our attention to God’s redeeming grace found through Christ!

The Broken Heart

O Lord,
No day of my life has passed that has not
proved me guilty in thy sight.
Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart;
Praise has been often praiseless sound;
My best services are filthy rags.
Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds.

Though my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.

All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in thee plead my acceptance.
I appeal from the throne of perfect justice
to thy throne of boundless grace.

Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me:
that by thy stripes I am healed,
that thou wast bruised for my iniquities,
that thou hast been made sin for me
that I might be righteous in thee,
that my grievous sins, my manifold sins,
are all forgiven,
buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.

I am guilty, but pardoned,
lost, but saved,
wandering, but found,
sinning, but cleansed.

Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,
Keep me always clinging to thy cross,
Flood me every moment with descending grace,
Open to me the springs of divine knowledge,
sparkling like crystal,
flowing clear and unsullied
through my wilderness of life.

Please let me know in the comments if you found this helpful or challenging or encouraging or ________…

Here, I excerpt several passages from this book for your encouragement. This first section describes the real impact of godly, humble, grace-filled testimonies:

37. But upon a day, the good providence of God did cast me to Bedford, to work on my calling; and in one of the streets of that town, I came where there were three or four poor women sitting at a door in the sun, and talking about the things of God; and being now willing to hear them discourse, I drew near to hear what they said, for I was now a brisk talker also myself in the matters of religion, but now I may say, I heard, but I understood not; for they were far above, out of my reach; for their talk was about a new birth, the work of God on their hearts, also how they were convinced of their miserable state by nature; they talked how God had visited their souls with his love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against the temptations of the devil. Moreover, they reasoned of the suggestions and temptations of Satan in particular; and told to each other by which they had been afflicted, and how they were borne up under his assaults. They also discoursed of their own wretchedness of heart, of their unbelief; and did contemn, slight, and abhor their own righteousness, as filthy and insufficient to do them any good.

38. And methought they spake as if joy did make them speak; they spake with such pleasantness of Scripture language, and with such appearance of grace in all they said, that they were to me, as if they had found a new world, as if they were people that dwelt alone, and were not to be reckoned among their neighbours (Num 23:9).

39. At this I felt my own heart began to shake, as mistrusting my condition to be nought; for I saw that in all my thoughts about religion and salvation, the new birth did never enter into my mind, neither knew I the comfort of the Word and promise, nor the deceitfulness and treachery of my own wicked heart. As for secret thoughts, I took no notice of them; neither did I understand what Satan’s temptations were, nor how they were to be withstood and resisted.

40. Thus, therefore, when I had heard and considered what they said, I left them, and went about my employment again, but their talk and discourse went with me; also my heart would tarry with them, for I was greatly affected with their words, both because by them I was convinced that I wanted the true tokens of a truly godly man, and also because by them I was convinced of the happy and blessed condition of him that was such a one.

41. Therefore I should often make it my business to be going again and again into the company of these poor people, for I could not stay away; and the more I went amongst them, the more did question my condition; and as I still do remember, presently I found two things within me, at which I did sometimes marvel, especially considering what a blind, ignorant, sordid, and ungodly wretch but just before I was; the one was a very great softness and tenderness of heart, which caused me to fall under the conviction of what by Scripture they asserted; and the other was a great bending in my mind to a continual meditating on it, and on all other good things which at any time I heard or read of.

As I continued reading, I found these words that I need to be reminded of regularly for building my faith and encouraging my soul in Christ:

113. I had, also, once a sweet glance from that in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” I remember, also, that one day as I was sitting in a neighbour’s house, and there very sad at the consideration of my many blasphemies, and as I was saying in my mind, What ground have I to think that I, who have been so vile and abominable, should ever inherit eternal life? that word came suddenly upon me, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). That, also, was an help unto me, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). But these were but hints, touches, and short visits, though very sweet when present…

114. But afterwards the Lord did more fully and graciously discover himself unto me; and, indeed, did quite, not only deliver me from the guilt that, by these things, was laid upon my conscience, but also from the very filth thereof; for the temptation was removed, and I was put into my right mind again, as other Christians were.

115. I remember that one day, as I was traveling into the country and musing on the wickedness and blasphemy of my heart, and considering of the enmity that was in me to God, that scripture came in my mind, He hath “made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col 1:20). By which I was made to see, both again, and again, and again, that day, that God and my soul were friends by this blood; yea, I saw that the justice of God and my sinful soul could embrace and kiss each other through this blood. This was a good day to me; I hope I shall not forget it.

116. At another time, as I sat by the fire in my house, and musing on my wretchedness, the Lord made that also a precious word unto me, “Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb 2:14,15). I thought that the glory of these words was then so weighty on me that I was, both once and twice, ready to swoon as I sat; yet not with grief and trouble, but with solid joy and peace.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (ESV)

Not only did Tim do a good job covering the nature of false dichotomies, but also demonstrated the weight & validity of the true dichotomies that Christ uses to close his Sermon on the Mount. These are notably heavy truths which we must all come to terms with, and we’re not surprised that Jesus’ initial audience was shocked at his teaching authority.

In light of the message, today I came across a good article from Al Mohler’s blog last week titled, “Christian Values Cannot Save Anyone” which I recommend to the readers of this blog (if you haven’t already read it). It reiterates our grace-requiring role as Christian parents, but has impacts that extend to every person, parent or not.

Here’s a brief and arresting passage:

Parents who raise their children with nothing more than Christian values should not be surprised when their children abandon those values. If the child or young person does not have a firm commitment to Christ and to the truth of the Christian faith, values will have no binding authority, and we should not expect that they would. Most of our neighbors have some commitment to Christian values, but what they desperately need is salvation from their sins. This does not come by Christian values, no matter how fervently held. Salvation comes only by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray for each other to commend to our children and other non-Christians around us much more than “Christian values” but the true Christ himself. Our only hope is in him.

If you’re able to make it Sunday, I’m sure you’ll be blessed. We love any opportunity to boast in the Gospel of Christ that is transforming us! See you there!

More details can be found on The City.

• Believe In Jesus And Drink Fermented Cod Liver Oil And You Will Have Eternal Life;  The title was too good to modify.  In this day of special diets, lifestyles and nutritional choices, this is a good word of warning on some consequences of becoming fixated on this part of our lives.
  “Finding out which foods are “good” and which foods are “bad” can take a tremendous amount of time and energy. We need to be careful that the search for optimal health doesn’t consume so much of our time that we neglect the weightier matters of life”
• Don’t Sacrifice Family on the Altar of Ministry; Don’t Idolize Family to the Neglect of Ministry
  “What if, instead of bristling at the inherent tensions between our ministries in our families and ministries in the church, we embraced the fact that this is a healthy tension? Indeed, there are many situations when doing God’s will involves tension.”
• Fashion Advice for Pastors  Not a parody site.  Really.  Sometimes, evangelicals like us can focus on the wrong things. It’s good to mock ourselves about the homogeneity of appearance and packaging.   The Gospel Coalition weighs in on this site, too.
  Note:  This link not at all intended to ridicule the fashionable elders that I serve with at GTBC.  I am thankful that I can feel comfortable dressing like a middle-aged engineer as you guys buy your cool stuff at the Buckle. I realize that I bought my jeans when you guys were entering college.  Now where'd I leave my reading glasses...
• Marriage is to be between One Man and One Woman
  The same Bible that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, the same Bible that states clearly (in both the Old and New Testaments) that homosexual practice is sin, also states that for me to hold “antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, or irrational fear” toward another person created in the image of God is sin. (Emphasis added)
• Take that, tea drinkers!  (now, quickly run to the Google machine and search on “why tea is better than coffee” and you’ll no doubt find scientific studies to support your position.)

Title: What Love Is

Text: Matthew 5:43-48

Overview: Jesus calls His disciples to a distinctive, supernatural, liberally-extended love (even to enemies), rather than an ordinary, natural, selfishly-limited love (to people who love us). This love He both wonderfully demonstrates and powerfully enables in the Gospel!

1 critical error: unbiblical love

2 oxymoronic commands: Christian love

3 massive truths: the Father’s love

4 rhetorical questions: distinctive love

11 grace-filled words: supernatural love

•  Background and Purpose of Classical Education The title of this article is a bit more slanted than I’d prefer.  Full disclosure; we believe in Classical education but wouldn’t say that it’s “Education, the way God intended it to be (and all the rest of you are sinning)”.
• Church Membership as Submission:  Discussing the unfamiliar and perhaps unpopular terminology of “submission” in the setting of church membership
• Christ-Centered Motherhood:  “So for all the warnings NOT to become child-centered, or to have child-centered homes, we end up advising parents in ways that in actuality produce a certain child-centeredness….Make your lives revolve around Christ, not your children.”
• The Story of Ian and Larissa:  I’m enough of a curmudgeon that I avoid viral videos.  After all, if everyone likes a video, then I probably won’t like it because I’m not like everyone else (See: Pride, haughtiness, big fall coming)  But I finally watched this video this week  and it was very moving.  It’s not about loving God because He has spared me from the trial of Ian and Larissa.  But it is a beautiful picture and reminder that God is good.  And sometimes that good is different than my idea of good.  So I highly recommend that you watch this video from Desiring God. And I’ll try to keep up better with the cutting edge of the interwebs.
• Don’t overpersonalize disobedience. “A parent who takes her child’s disobedience personally risks reinforcing not only her child’s emotional immaturity, but her own as well.”

This is a wonderful story of a couple who get it. They love Christ and they seek contentment in knowing him and not comforts and ease. Watch this story thanking God for people like this who rebuke us and point us not to be like them, but who show us a beautiful Savior. As Ian states, “God is awesome!”

The book they reference “this momentary marriage” by John Piper is available free in a PDF format here.

(ps I will say you might need some tissues close by or think of a better excuse than a dusty room:)