How to Get a Richly Supplied Soul

January 9, 2010 By revheff in Spiritual Life, Sunday Morning Tags: means of grace, prayer, sanctification, spiritual reformation Leave a comment

Proverbs contrasts the sluggard who craves and gets nothing with the diligent whose soul is richly supplied, or literally, made fat (13:4).

No matter how much the sluggard craves something, his inherent laziness precludes him from acquiring anything. He is a victim of his own sins of sloth.

There is only one road to a richly supplied, spiritually fat soul. It’s called diligence. If you and I want a richly supplied soul by God’s grace, we must work at it. Hard.

J. C. Ryle, in his book, Holiness, said true Christianity will cost a man his love of ease.

He must take pains and trouble if he means to run a successful race toward heaven. He must daily watch and stand on his guard, like a soldier on enemy’s ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every company and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace. In attending to these things, he may come far short of perfection; but there is none of those who he can safely neglect. “The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Prov. 13:4) (emphasis mine).

Two emphases tomorrow at OGC will converge towards the end of promoting richly supplied souls for those who participate. In the 9:30 hour (meeting in the sanctuary this week) we will continue our study in Carson’s book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation. We have resupplied our resource table with copies that will be available tomorrow. Few books can help us more with how to grow in diligence in our prayers for a richly supplied soul. In the worship service I will preach another New Year’s sermon, this one from Colossians 3:1-4, entitled How to Stop the Sinful Self-Indulgence of the Flesh. Paul uses a diligence verb in his command in verse one – seek the things above where Christ is. Praying is one important way we do seeking that our souls may be richly supplied.

Diet all you will in the New Year that the body may return to fitness after the indulgence of the holidays. But take pains, eschew your love of ease, be diligent, seek the things above, that your soul may be made fat, richly supplied indeed.

Get a good night’s sleep and, Lord willing, I will see you tomorrow.

Lessons from the School of Prayer

January 7, 2010 By revheff in Spiritual Life, Sunday Morning Tags: prayer, spiritual reformation 4 Comments

That’s the title for chapter one in Carson’s book A Call to Spiritual Reformation, our text for the 9:30 equipping hour during the first quarter of 2010.

Apart from my bleeding mouth (so sorry about that for those who saw it – near as we can figure I bit myself in an area numbed by my cancer surgery – I had no idea it happened until Nancy pointed it out to me), we got off to a smashing start in our study on prayer.

At the end of the class on Sunday I challenged us to four action steps for the quarter:

Read the book.
Attend the class.
Enlist a prayer partner.
Pray through the church directory.

As I made my way yet another time through chapter one in preparation for this week’s study, I was struck by something when I came to the third lesson Carson lists: At various points in your life, develop, if possible, a prayer-partner relationship (p. 22). He talks about several variations on that theme including meeting with a handful of people weekly, perhaps in the early morning, for an hour or more of intercessory prayer.

God has given me just such a group in our staff, interns, and others on Mondays from 6:30-7:30 AM.

The participants change from time to time. This picture was taken on our last day with several of the guys who recently took positions elsewhere around the country. But we continue to meet and it remains a highlight of my week to join with these men in pouring out our hearts to God. We never fail to pray for Monday’s group of folks in the directory!

My hope for what we do in those prayer meetings is well summed up by Dr. Carson on p. 25:

Such clusters of prayer partners have been used by God again and again to spearhead powerful ministry and extravagant blessing. They may continue unnoticed for years, except in the courts of heaven. Some little groups grow and become large prayer meetings; others multiply and divide, maintaining the same principles. But whatever the precise pattern, there is a great deal to be said for developing godly prayer-partnership relationships.

How about you? With whom do you have a prayer-partner relationship? I for one am so grateful for the men God has given me on Monday mornings!

A Call to Spiritual Reformation

January 2, 2010 By revheff in prayer, Sunday Morning Tags: prayer, spiritual reformation 6 Comments

It’s Saturday evening. I have just finished my final preparations for tomorrow’s first session of our 9:30 hour 2010 equipping class on prayer.

I’m wondering how much anyone else in our fellowship thinks with me how terribly important this effort is to the vitality and viability of our church in 2010? Oh how I pray many do.

After all, we say intercessory prayer is one of our core values, one of our ten priorities. Here is how we unpack it in our new member’s class:

We value Christ-connected prayer over the ministry. Apart from the power of Jesus Christ working in and through us we can accomplish nothing of lasting spiritual value that magnifies God’s glorious grace (John 15:5). Therefore we will relentlessly saturate every dimension of our ministry with prayer, petition, supplication, and intercession, along with thanksgiving, in order that we might continually abide in Christ, the true vine, and thus bear much fruit (John 15:7-8).

Looks good on paper or in a blog, but oh how much I/we struggle to make it a reality.

Hence the reason for our church-wide emphasis beginning tomorrow morning in the SDA fellowship hall. We want to grow in our experience of vital, intercessory prayer!

D. A. Carson writes in his introduction to the book we will use toward this end:

Just as God’s Word must reform our theology, our ethics, and our practices, so also must it reform our praying. The purpose of this book, then is to think through some of Paul’s prayers, so that we may align our prayer habits with his. We want to learn what to pray for, what arguments to use, what priorities we should adopt, what beliefs should shape our prayers, and much more (pp. 17-18).

Church, my praying needs reforming. What about yours?

A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Your Study Guide for 01/03/10

December 23, 2009 By revheff in Books, Sunday Morning Tags: prayer, study guides Leave a comment

Carson Anyone who has hung around our Oxford Club for Men group knows I believe in study guides big time for working our way through books in a way that facilitates critical thinking.

For our equipping hour emphasis in the New Year I plan to do this for D. A. Carson’s book which we will focus on in a church-wide effort to transfrom our knowledge of God in prayer.

Here is the guide for the preface and introduction. I am now working on my second read of this great tool. I trust you will get into it soon and use these questions as an aid to your learning and transformation process.

What are some of the reasons for which you find it difficult to pray?
How do you react to the author’s allegation regarding “the sheer prayerlessness that characterizes so much of the Western church?” What are some passages of Scripture that you can think of or find that paint a picture of prayerfulness among God’s people? List two or three insights you gain from these passages.
What is Carson’s aim in this book (pp. 9-10)? How do you react to his purpose and approach?
What do you believe is the most urgent need in the church of the Western world today? What things does Carson hypothesize for answers and what thoughts and feelings does your reading generate?
Where does Carson finally land on the question of most urgent need in the church and why?
How does prayer fit into addressing this need according to the author?
How do you react to the quote by R. M. M’Cheyene, “What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more” and/or the quote by J. I. Packer, “I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can ever face”?
How would you evaluate the “delight quotient” of your own praying and why?
What are you prepared to do in light of this introduction and your understanding of Carson’s aim in writing this book (see pp. 17-18)?

Take Care Then How You Hear

December 19, 2009 By revheff in Sunday Morning, Uncategorized Tags: listening, preaching, worship Leave a comment

The Bible has a lot to say about how preachers are to preach (2 Tim. 3:16-4:4). It also has some things to say to those who listen. In Luke 18:8 Jesus bids His hearers to take care then how you hear.

Tim Challies has grappled with how to take care in listening to preaching in a blog post entitled Being a Diligent Listener. He writes:

We set high expectations for our pastors, and rightly so, I think. Ministers of the Word have a high calling before God to be his mouthpiece, to bring his Word to his people. We expect that every Sunday we will sit under the pastor’s teaching and learn sacred truths from his mouth. We expect that he will spend his week studying Scripture and digging deeply into God’s Word so that he can teach us something on Sunday that will change our lives. We expect him to be true to Scripture, to make a good presentation of it and to keep us engaged all the while. It is a difficult and often thankless task.

What we consider less often, I think, is that while a pastor bears great responsibility in preparing for and delivering the Word of God each Sunday, the listener shares in the responsibility. The church has no place for an audience. We are all to be involved in the preaching, even as listeners. We may drive home on Sunday muttering about the pastor’s lack of preparation after a less-than-engaging sermon, but how often do we drive away reflecting on our own lack of preparation? How often should we trace our lack of learning or our lack of engagement right back to our own lack of preparation?

You can read the rest of the post here.

As I give myself to preparation for tomorrow’s message in John 7:37-52, may you as well give yourself to the kind of preparation Challies commends. I will meet you somewhere in the middle tomorrow morning, Lord willing.

What Is a Silent Communion?

December 16, 2009 By revheff in Church Year, prayer, Sunday Morning Tags: Advent, communion, means of grace, silence, worship Leave a comment

This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent, will see us engage in a silent communion during the 9:30 hour in the SDA sanctuary. Some of you may never have participated in such an experience. A silent communion is a self-directed exercise in reflection, devotion, and worship centering on the Lord’s Table conducted in silence (only background instrumental music will be heard). Upon arriving in the sanctuary (please do all you can to be prompt as we make use of every minute of the hour) you will receive a guide describing the four movements of the communion.

The first movement from 9:30 to 9:45 AM concentrates on adoration and praise. Using Psalm 145 as our guide we will worship the Lord in the silence of our hearts for His various attributes and acts.

The second movement from 9:45 to 10:00 AM calls us to a focused time of confession of sin and repentance before God. We will utilize the Puritan prayer entitled Purification for this purpose. Here is how that prayer begins:

Lord Jesus, I sin. Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never be content with myself, never think I can reach a point of perfection. Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self. Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for Thee and not for self, to copy Thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into Thy likeness, to be consecrated wholly to Thee, to live entirely to Thy glory.

The third movement from 10:00 to 10:15 AM brings us to the actual supper. After reflecting on three paragraphs of our confession of faith, we will approach the table and serve ourselves the bread and cup. Here are those paragraphs if you wish to do extra preparation in advance:

Paragraph One: The Lord’s supper was instituted by the Lord on the same night in which He was betrayed. It is to be observed in His churches to the world’s end, for a perpetual remembrance of Him and to show forth the sacrifice of Himself in His death. It was instituted also to confirm saints in the belief that all the benefits stemming from Christ’s sacrifice belong to them. Furthermore, it is meant to promote their spiritual nourishment and growth in Christ, and to strengthen the ties that bind them to all the duties they owe to Him. The Lord’s supper is also a bond and pledge of the fellowship which believers have with Christ and with one another. See 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17, 21; 1 Corinthians 11:23-36.

Paragraph Seven: Those who, as worthy participants, outwardly eat and drink the visible bread and wine in this ordinance, at the same time receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and receive all the benefits accruing from His death. This they do really and indeed, not as if feeding upon the actual flesh and blood of a person’s body, but inwardly and by faith. In the supper the body and blood of Christ are present to the faith of believers, not in any actual physical way, but in a way of spiritual apprehension, just as the bread and wine themselves are present to their outward physical senses. See 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

Paragraph Eight: All persons who participate at the Lord’s table unworthily sin against the body and blood of the Lord, and their eating and drinking brings them under divine judgment. It follows,therefore, that all ignorant and ungodly persons, being unfit to enjoy fellowship with Christ, are similarly unworthy to be communicants at the Lord’s table; and while they remain as they are they cannot rightly be admitted to partake of Christ’s holy ordinance, for thereby great sin against Christ would be committed. See Matthew 7:6; 1 Corinthians 11:29; 2 Corinthians 6:14-15.

The fourth movement from 10:15 to 10:30 AM puts the church directory before us and calls us to a time of petition and intercession for one another’s needs as God brings them to mind.

I urge all of us to make this additional observance of Communion in the month of December as a means of grace that brings even more blessing into our lives during this Advent season.

More Fuel on the Carson Prayer Book Fire

December 15, 2009 By revheff in Books, prayer, Sunday Morning Tags: prayer, reformation, spirituality Leave a comment

Carson

I really do hope that as many of our adults as possible take advantage of our church-wide 9:30 hour equipping emphasis on prayer starting January 3, 2010.

To throw more fuel on the fire of your motivation I offer an online review by Chris Bruce. Here is how he begins:

Take yourself back almost 2000 years and imagine that you are Luke, Barnabas, or another of Paul’s companions. Imagine spending days and nights in lent homes or on the road, sharing Paul’s concern for the churches, and his joy in hearing of new life and growth among his spiritual children. Now imagine again that you were there when Paul took all of these things to God in prayer. How much would you know about how Paul prayed, and how would that knowledge affect your prayer life?

You might know more than Don Carson, Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and you might even be able to communicate it more effectively. But that would be some feat. Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation,a study of Paul’s prayers, is a book worthy of reading and re-reading on an annual basis. Carson’s goal is “to work through several of Paul’s prayers in such a way that we hear God speak to us today, and to find strength and direction to improve our praying, both for God’s glory and for our good.” The need is dire, he says, noting “the sheer prayerlessness that characterizes so much of the Western church.”

You can read the entire article here.

Copies of Dr. Carson’s book are available at our resource table on Sundays for $13 or whatever you can afford. Pick up your copy soon and begin reading.

What a way to start the new year! Let us set our sights high for spiritual reformation in our personal lives and in the life our church.

Can We Trust This Jesus of Christmas?

December 10, 2009 By revheff in Sunday Morning Tags: Advent, hypocrisy, incarnation, pride, typology Leave a comment

So far in our Advent messages we have studied John 7:1-24. Here are some thoughts in review.

In John 7:1-13, the apostle seeks to answer an important question. Who is this Jesus of Christmas?

In vv. 14-24, with Jesus engaging the pilgrim crowd in Jerusalem at the Feast of Booths, John seeks to answer a related but different question. Can we trust this Jesus of Christmas?

We can, indeed, when we consider statements He made like these in vv. 16-18:

16 “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

You will never ask more important questions than these. Who is this Jesus of Christmas? Can I trust this Jesus of Christmas? John’s answers are unequivocal. He is the Messiah, God’s Son and yes, you can trust Him as wholly true. His teaching is not His own, but the Father’s who sent Him. He seeks not His own glory but that of His Father. He is the fulfillment of circumcision, the Sabbath, and every other Old Testament type and shadow God gave to Israel. So believe. Don’t give way to intellectual snobbery born of moral depravity or legalistic hypocrisy born of superficial spirituality. Judge with right judgment with respect to this Jesus of Christmas.

Advent Preparation with Handel's "Messiah"

November 28, 2009 By revheff in Sunday Morning Tags: Advent, Christmas, Handel, incarnation, Messiah, worship Leave a comment

handel7 Tomorrow marks the first Sunday of Advent, 2009. The Advent season in the church year covers the four Sundays before Christmas, as well as Christmas Eve. Throughout the season we prepare our hearts for the worship of Christ for the gift of His incarnation.

We begin this journey of faith tomorrow morning at 9:30 with what I am calling a partial journey through Handel’s Messiah. Our families are invited to gather in the SDA sanctuary at 9:30 AM (please be prompt; we will begin on time) for a worship event including the telling of the story of the writing of Handel’s masterpiece, music from selected portions of the score, media, prayer, and congregational sharing.

There will be two opportunities to share in groups. First, we will talk about ways we have seen Jesus this year be our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. This will follow a time of singing along with For Unto Us a Child Is Born.

Then we will have an opportunity to hear from some about how they came to know Christ as their Savior. This will follow a media presentation of the piece Glory to God.

Don’t worry, we won’t leave the beloved Hallelujah Chorus out of the mix. Some of your other favorites might be missing, but I trust that this different initiation to the Advent season might prove to prepare all our hearts in such a way that our worship of Christ this Christmas will be in spirit and in truth.

See you tomorrow at 9:30!

How Shall We Give Thanks This Sunday?

November 17, 2009 By revheff in Sunday Morning Tags: Paul's epistles, thanksgiving, worship Leave a comment

This coming Sunday brings us to our annual Thanksgiving service. I will not preach. Rather we will give the sermon time to congregational sharing. We will give thanks for God’s goodness and kindness to us in manifold ways.

The Psalmist expressed his determination to do that very thing in the temple in places like Psalm 111:1. Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

The question remains. Give thanks for what? Some things come quickly to mind. Health, provision, relationships, family, etc. These are all gifts of God and worthy of His praise.

But when we examine the disciplines of thanksgiving modeled by the apostle Paul we find other reasons for thanks on his agenda.

Consider Romans 1:8. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

Or how about 1 Cor. 1:4-7? I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given in Christ Jesus . . . so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

Then there is 2 Cor. 1:3-4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Hmmm. No thanksgiving at the beginning of Galatians. He was too hopping mad over their defection from the gospel into legalism.

Oh, good, back on track in Eph. 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (see vv. 4-14).

He gives yet more thanks in Phil. 1:3-5. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Pouring it on in Col. 1:3-5. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Overflowing in 1 Thess. 1:2-3. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seeing a pattern developing with 2 Thess. 1:3-4. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

For a specific individual, Timothy, in 1 Tim. 1:3-5. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Finally, another particular person in view, Philemon, in Philemon 4. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints.

My, the sheer volume of thanks coming from Paul’s lips in the New Testament takes the breath away! Surely he would echo the resolve of the Psalmist to let his praise and thanksgiving be heard amidst the congregation of the upright.

Along with the normal things we thank God for, let’s take our cue from the apostle and reflect more broadly in scope for causes of thanksgiving – Christian faith around the globe, spiritual gifts working in the church, comfort in affliction from Christ and toward others, unspeakable mercies in every spiritual blessing from above, partners in the gospel, faith in Christ, love among the saints, hope of eternal life, steadfastness in suffering, tears of joyful remembering, and faith transmitted by godly parents.

In light of this survey, prayerfully consider what God might have you share with a whole heart in the company of the upright this Sunday morning. And may our praise redound to His glory and add to the overflow of our joy!