In His Grip

Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD, And whom You teach out of Your law;  (Psalm 94:12 NASB) My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.  (Proverbs 3:11-12 NASB; see also Hebrews 12:5-6) Blessed by God Who of us does not want to be blessed of the Lord, and to fully experience His love?  Yet, who of us would be as excited about all of the means that God chooses to bring it to us? There is so much that God provides for us by His mercy and grace, such as comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3), strength (Isaiah 41:10), encouragement (Philippians 2:1), peace (Isaiah 26:3),… the list can go on and on.  He has lavished His grace upon us (Ephesians 1:7-8) and in Christ we have received 'His fullness...and grace upon grace…' (John 1:16).  We are right to cling to and rejoice in these things! Children of God But the most precious gift He intends...

Search me, O God, and know my heart;  Try me and know my anxious thoughts;  And see if there be any hurtful way in me,  And lead me in the everlasting way.   (Psalms 139:23-24 NASB) Create in me a clean heart, O God,  And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence  And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation  And sustain me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,  And sinners will be converted to You.   (Psalms 51:10-13 NASB) Examine me, O LORD, and try me;  Test my mind and my heart.  (Psalms 26:2 NASB) Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?  (2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB) (This is the first installment in the series 'Spiritual Tests' .)      For as long as I c...

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged." (Jesus, Matthew 7:1 NASB) Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?  (2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1 NASB) But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.  (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 NASB) For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?   (1 Peter 4:17 NASB) "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  (Jesus, John 7:24 NASB) To judge or not to judge? To test or not to test? Which is it?      'Judge not'...

(this is the conclusion of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' .) 'I will build my church…' - Jesus, from Matthew 16:18 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NASB) ...but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16 NASB) ...and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. (Colossians 2:19 NASB) In this series on shepherding and discipleship, we have covered the following:   - ...

(this is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' .) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16 NASB) So f...

(this is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' ) So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Jesus, Luke 14:33 ESV) We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. (The Apostle Paul, Colossians 1:28-29 NASB) But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:10 NASB) You may have noticed that there are many varied definitions of spiritual and church growth floating around these days, but which are truly biblical, that is, growth as God has defined it?  Certainly we would say that we would want to grow 'with a growth that is from God' (Colossians 2:19) and reject ...

(this is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' ) "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart,  who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:15 NASB) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13 NASB) In the previous blog, 'Disciples: Born, or Made?' we recognized that a Christian is one who is born of God (John 1:12-13) and grows by means of the word of God (1 Peter 2:2) and the discipling of other believers (Matthew 28:19-20).  In that sense, a disciple is both born (initially) and made (continually), both a work of God, but using human agency. We also ...