What if you saw Jesus in the womb?

In an intriguing STORY, a woman in Ohio believes she saw Jesus in her recent ultrasound.  The image is unusual, but what is more telling are the comments of the woman.  She says, “People say maybe my baby is gonna be blessed and maybe it is a good sign.  I don’t know, I’ve done wrong in my life, maybe he’s forgiven me early.”

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. – Psalm 139:13-14

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  - Romans 1:19-20

In a very real sense, having a baby is always a “good” sign, in that it is another clear indication of the work of our almighty, creator God.  It is in this general revelation of God’s creative work that can point us to His special revelation in scripture…

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. – Colossians 1:15-20

So, remember this… in a very real sense you do see Jesus in the womb!  May we treasure His creation because of the cross.  May we be careful to guard against “signs” and realize that the Word of God has revealed to us ALL that we would ever need to know about Christ and the real blessing, which is only known through the ransoming of sinners on the cross by our blessed Christ, for the glory of God.

For Youth and Parents…a trip worth taking!

Here is a single day conference that would bless you and your family.  If you are anywhere near these cities during your summer vacations, you may want to plan this.  The first video is a promo of the conference itself.  The second video is of John Piper speaking of the theme of the conference.

 

Report from Last Night’s Church Conference…

It was an important night last night for our church.  We approved and affirmed several important items that I believe will serve UBC for many years to come.  Here is a brief summary:

1. The church unanimously approved amending the church constitution to require the Discovery Class for membership.  As well, this amendment helps clarify our process of stewardship with member candidates.  In short, those desiring to join the church will do the following:  1) Complete the Discovery Class; 2) Present themselves publicly to the body of UBC; and 3) Be voted on at a quarterly church conference (in keeping with this, we approved the membership of 50+ people last night).
2. The church affirmed a change in J.D. Dudley’s ministry position.  J.D. will be moving into the position of Director of Family Ministries to give oversight to our family integrated focus as a church.  He will work alongside Bev Worley with older children; give oversight to our youth ministry; continue to run the LTP (collegiate internship); supervise the men’s and women’s ministries; as well, JD will help coordinate church-wide, family supportive events and programs.  This is a good move and JD will do a great job!
3. We announced that in keeping with our ministry plan (Discover, Equip, Reach, Renew) we have formally included “Reach” to John Mueller’s title and responsibilities and “Discover” to Garey Baxter’s title and responsibilities.  Staffing to our ministry plan will help strengthen our faithful pursuit of our church’s passion:  GLORIFYING GOD BY TREASURING CHRIST ABOVE ALL THINGS AND REACHING OTHERS THAT THEY MAY FIND LASTING JOY IN HIM!

If you should have any questions on these things, please contact the church office and we can give you further details to aid in your understanding.

Church Conference, Wednesday, April 23rd @ 6pm

This Wednesday we’ll have a quarterly church conference.  This is an important meeting / gathering of the membership of UBC.  Too often people just think of “business” related to these meetings.  I see them more as ministry reporting and updating.  This conference is very important because the church body will have the opportunity to vote to amend our constitution to require the Discovery Class for membership for all candidates from this time forth.  We’ve discussed this and hopefully you have seen the great benefit of raising expectations and being faithful stewards of the gospel with everyone who entrusts themselves to our care and fellowship.

Also, we have some important affirmations and announcements to make concerning staff and leadership.  I’m tempted to leave that hanging just to get more of you there, but in reality these are all very good, positive moves and nothing too terribly drastic.  I’m excited about this.

We will still have our regular class schedule beginning at 6:30 PM, so please be in the Sanctuary right at 6:00 so we can begin promptly.  I have to say this, one of my greatest ambitions is to get at least 50% of our church body in our church conferences.  We are a congregational church, where the final rule and authority of the decisions lies in the hands of the congregation (with leadership given by pastor/elders, service by deacons, and administration through committees / teams).  So, it’s imperative that the church body take responsibility and enjoy being together to help set the course for being a faithful, local body of believers who are striving to be good stewards of the gospel.  Remember our passion…

GLORIFYING God by TREASURING Christ above all things and REACHING others that they may find lasting joy in Him!

 

Great Insight from T4G…

This is a great clip to help many understand the heart of a preacher / pastor; the interaction of men who have influenced your pastor; and perhaps some insight in to how to pray for me both before and after a sermon.

Updates…

Together for the Gospel (T4G)…

What a great and tiring time!  Imagine sitting under the preaching of John MacArthur, Mark Dever, RC Sproul and Al Mohler…well, that was just in ONE DAY!  Then the next morning to hear John Piper (at his God-glorifying best).  CJ Mahaney concluded the conference, and you need to know him and his writings.  He is great at speaking / writing in a common way about extraordinary things.  These guys all followed two men you may not know about: Ligon Duncan and Thabiti Anyabwile.  Here is a link to the messages FOR FREE!

I’ll write more in the coming week on some things that were particularly impactful to me during this conference.  I will say one thing at this point.  As Richey Miller and I were on the airplane returning to XNA, I told him that I almost felt the need to apologize that he (and Stephen Martin) had to listen to me on Sunday.  He rightly said (and rebuked me) that he does not come to hear me!  Well said.  It reminded me that the confidence I have on the early Sunday mornings is found solely in Christ and the authority of the Word, but I need to be more consistent in finding my confidence there at other times throughout the week (like on airplanes).

ESV Study Bible…

Many of you have asked about a study bible version of the ESV.  Well, HERE it comes!  I have referenced some of you to the Reformation Study Bible (ESV), but this new one may be a better fit for many of you.

Pray for me…

I have been praying and thinking for some time now about what I will be preaching next (Lord willing).  I know that’s a long ways off (no emails on that, please!), but I believe the Spirit of God to be at work right now in what our body needs from the Word in these first 7-10 years of our ministry together as we wait for the coming of our Bridegroom, Jesus.

I have been leaning toward Hebrews for some time, but wanted to be faithful to rotate every other series with the Old Testament.  Well, during the conference, John Piper made an aside comment about preaching Leviticus prior to Hebrews, and how he wished he had done this.  While I’m not prepared to commit to this, I believe this to be the strongest consideration for our future preaching schedule.  Due to the nature of Leviticus, we would look at it in larger sections / themes.  However, once we approach Hebrews, we could conceivably be there for several years because of the rich text showing the satisfaction that Christ is for the sacrifice of sin and the sacrifice we are to make in living out a Christ-centered life.

So, pray for me and pray that God would give us wisdom in this, as well as prepare the body to better understand the law and the fulfillment / satisfaction of Jesus Christ.

One Experience…

One very interesting experience I had this week was on the flight back yesterday.  I sat next to a reformed Jew, who is very active in his congregation (synogogue).  In short, the reformed Jew would be considered “liberal” by traditional Jews.  They do not necessarily look for a messiah to come or a national restoration to Israel.  It’s more a “spirit of Israel” kind of thing.  None the less, they observe the feasts and I asked him a few questions about it.

I asked this gentleman about their present day administration of the sacrificial system.  Again, there is not real replacement of these things, they simply remember them from time past, yet clearly no satisfaction of the sacrifice for sin.  I encouraged him to read Hebrews to understand where I was coming from regarding Christ satisfying what his forefathers performed once and for always.

In the course of our conversation I asked about the outer expressions for converts and he affirmed that there is a ceremonial “bath” for those who convert to Judaism.  While I was confident in the background study while we studied John 1, it was interesting to know that the present-day Jew still understood that “baptism” was an outer sign of inner association.  So, I told him about John’s interaction with the Jewish leaders on this point.  Then he added a point that I was not aware of (and still need to corroborate).  He said that the women (historically) would have the ceremonial “bath” on a monthly basis to show cleansing from their time of menstruation.  Immediately, my thoughts (and conversation) turned to scriptures’ charge that our “righteousness is as filthy rags” (Isa.64:6).  It would make sense, then, that the “one baptism” mentioned in Ephesians 4 would represent the single sacrifice made by Christ once and for all for sin.  What a great picture!  No more unclean till evening!  No more sin to atone for!  While it mustn’t produce a laziness in us, we should be free to know that when Christ laid down His life for His sheep (John 10) He did so in their place, as their substitute, and fully satisfied the righteous requirements and wrath of God poured out on sin to His glory!  Hallelujah, What a Savior!

Together for the Gospel

I thought you might want to know who / what influences your pastor.  I attended the Together for the Gospel Conference in 2006 and will be leaving this week for it once more.  Pray for myself, Richey Miller and Stephen Martin as we head to Louisville, KY on Tuesday.

What Would Ms. Jacoby Do?

Summary of the Council of Nicea

HERE is a very good summary of the Council of Nicea from the ministry of Sam Storms.

As you know, today there are several who discount, or plainly refute, that Christ is God. Others do so by elevating mankind to god-like status, and radically mis-interpret John 10:34-35. The following proves again why the “prosperity movement” is grounded in such heresy that is much more foundational than merely “getting all you want” by faith. There is language here that denies Christ, exalts man and finds no real need for the atonement on the cross except to receive “blessing”… Oh yeah, some of it is just wacky!

And then there’s just blatant blasphemy, but it’s worth watching because it can give some insight into the deception that can come upon men and the twisted lies of Satan (like “I don’t exist”, “there is no sin”, “you’ve misinterpreted 666 and anti-Christ”…). If you haven’t heard of this guy, hopefully you never will again.

Psalm 36:1-9

1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4 He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.

5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.

Lookin’ out my window…

That title kind of sounds like the beginning of a sappy song or the opening of a cheesy music video with images of a forlorn dude pining for a lost love as rain pitter-pats on the window sill.  Okay, enough of that.

I REALLY am looking out my window at Old Main on the U of A’s campus.  I’m wondering what it takes to reach college students?  We hear much of being relevant, and there is awareness we must have.  We hear that they don’t like institutionalized religion, and depending how that’s represented / perceived I understand.  We hear that they don’t like that we have paid parking (not even going to comment on that right now, but I can see that it would affect some).

Even with all of these more cultural barriers, I still don’t think they are big enough to overcome what we have to offer.  My concern is that we’re just not making that offering.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. – Romans 1:16

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. – 2 Timothy 3:2-5

The gospel is the power of God.  People have a tendency to be hypocrites (I’m no stranger to this) and prefer the appearance of godliness rather than the actual power of the gospel.

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” – John 3:19-21

Either a person is a believer in sin and will repent under godly sorrow and conviction, or one is not a true believer.  It’s not confusing in God’s view, only man’s because we claw and scratch for self-righteousness and live in a fallen world.

I say this in relation to reaching college students because the power of God, the gospel, is best given to students through gospel-driven, truly converted people.  The institutionalized religion then gives way to the church being a dwelling place for God to inhabit (Eph.2:19-22).

Let us renew our passion to reach college students and be laborers in that ripe harvest, where God is already at work!  Even if our church was named something else we must do this to glorify God with good stewardship of the gospel in our own backyard!  However, it IS our name and that name should not evoke so much thoughts of heritage as it should accountability and responsibility, and to partner with those who have gone before us to passionately reach college students with an authentic, biblical, gospel through the lives of men and women who have been overcome by its power!

One practical beginning to recapture this would be to participate in our Prayer Walk this Saturday, April 5th, from 1:00-2:00 PM.  Meet here at the church and we’ll proceed to the BCM (on Maple) and begin there.