The DNA of Godly Men

June 19, 2011 By revheff in Exposition Tags: daring, Davidic covenant, devotion, fathers, loyalty, masculinity, mighty men, promises of God, service Leave a comment

Today’s message from 2 Samuel 23:8-17 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Here’s how I closed the message:

Brothers, only Jesus makes us mighty men – as we depend on His strength, devote ourselves to His service, daringly act for His pleasure, and ultimately delight in His sacrifice as David’s greater Son. May we more thoroughly than ever orient our lives around Him for the praise of His name and the joy of those we serve.

Praise God for every man who stood for prayer to grow in gospel might!

Faith’s Ultimate Display (Part Two)

February 27, 2011 By revheff in Exposition Tags: belief, deity of Christ, devotion, fear of man, giving, humility, spiritual insight Leave a comment

Today’s message from John 12:1-11 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Here’s how I closed the sermon:

So, do we get it? Compared to Mary we have so much more to go on this side of the cross! If we do get it, if we understand the truth of what Jesus has done and it grips us such that we believe in Him as the Messiah, our Savior, it will lead to commitment marked like hers with even extravagant devotion – intensely personal, financially sacrificial, extremely deferential, publically unconventional, and spiritually insightful attachment.

Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost for His Highest, said this:

There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purpose, and yours may be that life.

Let everything else go, but maintain your personal relationship to Jesus at all costs.

Faith's Ultimate Display (Part One)

February 20, 2011 By revheff in Exposition Tags: decision, devotion, faith, money, sacrifice, signs, worship Leave a comment

Today’s message from John 12:1-11 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Here’s how I closed:

Because of Mary’s one-of-a-kind act of extravagant devotion, we should believe in Jesus as the Messiah and follow Him with similar commitment.

Make no mistake about it. The choice to believe or not is an intensely personal one and ultimately a sacrificial one, even financially, if money tends to be your idol. Believe in Jesus if you are yet to do so.

And take care in case you are tempted to take comfort in the illusion as a non-believer that at least you have never sold out Jesus like Judas. John MacArthur has an answer for such:

You say, “I never sell Christ. I never betrayed Christ.” Oh yeah, for anybody who doesn’t receive Jesus Christ as Savior, you’re selling Him. Whatever it is that keeps you from inviting Christ into your life is the price that you’re selling Christ for. Some people are selling Christ for money, they want to play around with money, they want to become a financial success and they don’t want Christ horning in on it. Some people are selling Christ for sex, they want to live the kind of immoral life they want to live and so that’s the price they’re selling Christ out for. Some people want to sell Christ out for ambition, others for all kinds of other things, self-glory. Whatever it is that keeps you from receiving Jesus Christ is the price for which you sold Him. It would have been bad enough if Jesus had only been kissed by one Judas, He’s been kissed a thousand-thousand times the same way.

With what kind of kisses are we kissing the cheek of the Lord Jesus?

Day Off Good Word

December 17, 2010 By revheff in Personal Reflection Tags: devotion, justification, outreach, service 2 Comments

Today’s good word on PC’s day off comes from Octavius Winslow and his devotional entitled Morning Thoughts.

God never appears so like Himself as when He sits in judgment upon the person of a sinner, and determines his standing before Him upon the ground of that satisfaction to His law rendered by the Son of God in the room and stead of the guilty. Then does He appear infinitely holy, yet infinitely gracious; infinitely just, yet infinitely merciful. Love, as if it had long been panting for an outlet, now leaps forth and embraces the sinner; while justice, holiness, and truth gaze upon the wondrous spectacle with infinite complacence and delight. And shall we not pause and bestow a thought of admiration and gratitude upon Him, who was constrained to stand in our place of degradation and woe, that we might stand in His place of righteousness and glory? What wondrous love! what stupendous grace! that He should have been willing to have taken upon Him our sin, and curse, and woe! The exchange to Him how humiliating! He could only raise us by Himself stooping. He could only emancipate us by wearing our chain. He could only deliver us from death by Himself dying. He could only invest us with the spotless robe of His pure righteousness by wrapping around Himself the leprous mantle of our sin and curse. Oh, how precious ought He to be to every believing heart! What affection, what service, what sacrifice, what devotion, He deserves at our hands! Lord, incline my heart to yield itself supremely to You!

Tomorrow we build bridges into our community through the gift wrap outreach.

For some reason I am all the more motivated to get out there with the good news in word and deed.

Will you pray for our favor with the community?

When Deity Dissolved Over Dying

December 12, 2010 By revheff in Exposition Tags: anger, belief, death, devotion, Gospel of John, grief, incarnation, worship 2 Comments

Today’s message from John 11:28-37 is now on the web. You can listen to the audio here.

Here is the quote by B. B. Warfield characterizing the depth of emotion displayed by Jesus as fundamentally rage.

It is death that is the object of his wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death, and whom he has come into the world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage: and he advances to the tomb, in Calvin’s words again, “as a champion who prepares for conflict.” The raising of Lazarus thus becomes, not an isolated marvel, but — as indeed it is presented throughout the whole narrative (compare especially, verses 24-26) — a decisive instance and open symbol of Jesus’ conquest of death and hell. What John does for us in this particular statement is to uncover to us the heart of Jesus, as he wins for us our salvation. Not in cold unconcern, but in flaming wrath against the foe, Jesus smites in our behalf. He has not only saved us from the evils which oppress us; he has felt for and with us in our oppression, and under the impulse of these feelings has wrought out our redemption.