Marveling at the Majesty of God - Matt Chandler

Simply outstanding...What a blessing...

Great Expectations - John 14:12-14

     “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
    (John 14:12-14 ESV)

Pastor Mark Scholten

 We welcomed to our pulpit this week at Redeemer Church Pastor Mark Scholten of Faith Presbyterian Church in Akron. Pastor Scholten graduated from Hope College (Holland, MI) in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in Religion. He also studied at the Oregon Extension and at L’abri in Switzerland. He received an M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, MS) in 1992. Mark is married to Kathy, and they have been blessed with five children.

One Request - Psalm 27:4

 

The Sadducees

    And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
    Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong. (Mark 12:18-27 ESV)

Made Alive in Christ

    And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
    (Colossians 2:13-15 ESV)

When should we suffer, when should we disobey?

When should we suffer, when should we disobey at the hands of our civil leaders? These are questions we need to consider as the day is coming soon and perhaps for many of us it is already here, when we'll have to decide. This fascinating discussion fleshes out some of the distinctions and considerations we need to make.

Owen on the Love of the Father

Ignorance of our mercies and our privileges is our sin as well as the cause of our troubles. We do not listen to the voice of the Spirit, 'that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God'. This makes Christians sad when they might be rejoicing. It makes then weak when they could be strong. How few Christians are actually acquainted with this great privilege of having a loving fellowship with the Father.

...This free choice of the Father as to whom he would love, and that he would love them, gives life and being to his love. It also gives reason why he loves and gives value to his love (Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:3,4; Tit. 3:5; James 1:18).

Therefore

You need to believe that God loves you, that his heart is filled with love to you and accept his word for it. You will never experience the sweetness of his love until you receive it. You must, then, continually remind yourself that God loves you and embraces you with his free eternal love. When the Lord is, by his Word, presented as a Father who loves you, then think about it and accept it. Then embrace him by faith and let your heart be filled with his love. Set your whole heart to receive his love and let your heart be bound with the cords of this love. (From Communion with God by John Owen, Abridged and Made Easy to Read by R.J.K. Law, Banner of Truth Trust, pages 27-30.)

Feeling Distant from God?

Love his honesty in this clip...

Do You Feel Distant from God? from Desiring God on Vimeo.

On Loving God

Admit that God deserves to be loved very much, yea, boundlessly, because He loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, loved us, miserable sinners, with a love so great and so free. This is why I said at the beginning that the measure of our love to God is to love immeasurably. For since our love is toward God, who is infinite and immeasurable, how can we bound or limit the love we owe Him? ... ‘I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust’ (Ps. 18.1f). He is all that I need, all that I long for. My God and my help, I will love Thee for Thy great goodness; not so much as I might, surely, but as much as I can. I cannot love Thee as Thou deservest to be loved, for I cannot love Thee more than my own feebleness permits. I will love Thee more when Thou deemest me worthy to receive greater capacity for loving; yet never so perfectly as Thou hast deserved of me. ‘Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written’ (PS. 139.16). Yet Thou recordest in that book all who do what they can, even though they cannot do what they ought. Surely I have said enough to show how God should be loved and why. But who has felt, who can know, who express, how much we should love him. (Taken from On Loving God by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.)