Notes of Faith August 6, 2024

Notes of Faith August 6, 2024

Let the Church Be the Church!

I recently viewed a podcast on YouTube hosted by a man who announced he was going to point out and highlight a significant number of the worst pastors and churches in America. I kind of cringed at the prospect of his bold assessment, but curiosity compelled me to view his presentation. I’ll not mention his name or the name of his podcast. I don’t know him, and though I’ve now watched about three of his podcasts, I don’t have enough context to recommend or discourage viewing.

I do know this however; I found myself in agreement with his opinions on the worst pastors/churches in America. He didn’t build his case on his own prejudices and opinions. He simply showed clip after clip of well known pastors in their well known mega churches saying and proposing statements and ideas that were completely contrary to sound biblical exegesis (interpretation).

In other words, he basically let them “hang themselves” by their own words.

Even as I share this I can imagine there may be some who might think I should not bring up this kind of controversy. We all know the saying, “If you can’t say anything good about anybody, don’t say anything at all.” But that’s precisely the point! The church it seems, in many corners, has taken a vow of silence.

Issues, about which scripture is crystal clear, now have pastors and leaders of major denominations walking on egg shells at their national councils and conventions. Discussions and debates ensue regarding what the church’s position should be on any number of dilemmas that are eroding our culture and attacking our doctrinal foundations.

We seem to be living in “upside down world” in case you haven’t noticed. And far too often and in far too great a degree, the church huddles in the perceived safety of its ecclesiastical norms, and sings more loudly, “Victory in Jesus!” while the culture as well as the church suffers significant defeats.

(I use the word church, lower case c, in the general sense, herein referring to the organized, denominationalized entity which may function within the realm of the true Church, or body of Christ, but at times and in ways, often does not.)

It is said that in Nazi Germany, some churches sang more loudly as trains filled with the cries of Jews, passed closely by on their way to the death camps.

Unthinkable? America is guilty of the same. In Eric Metaxas’ book, “Letter to the American Church”, he addresses this very issue.

“Because the German church had for too long adopted a wrong interpretation of Romans 13, i.e. ‘Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities…’ in Germany, the German church largely fell in line, as though standing against the wicked tyranny of Hitler was obviously and unavoidably wrong. When God looked to His church to stand against the great evil that had come upon Germany and that would devastate much of the world and murder millions, they balked, using as their chief excuse an outdated application of Paul’s words from two millennia before. They felt religiously justified in doing nothing, and the unprecedented evil results of their pious inaction would make the world gasp. Indeed, the world gasps to this day, as it struggles to take in how it is possible that a nation ostensibly Christian could have in any way allowed such things to take place. But what about us? Haven’t we in America swallowed these same lies, and haven’t we similarly silenced from speaking and acting boldly against what we see happening in our own time…?” (Eric Metaxas)

In Chapter 11 of his book (Chapter title- “Be Ye Not Political”) Metaxas goes on to explain how our fear of being deemed “political” within the church setting, pressures us into being silent about things that are clearly moral, ethical, and spiritual.

But how can so many of our churches be failing in areas that are so biblically obvious? “Biblically obvious” is the operative term here. I have been asked many many times throughout the years, by many pastors who wanted me to weigh in on the question, “What’s the greatest need in the church today?”

My response was always the same: “The greatest need in the church today is sound biblical preaching and teaching, and dependence on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.”

You might say, “But you didn’t mention Jesus! ”Proper exposition of God’s Word will always lead you to the foot of the cross and the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Christ! (Romans 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11)

Proportionate to shallow or errant exposition of God’s Word, and a failure or hesitancy to embrace the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our churches, is the encroachment of the world into our ecclesiology and the ineffectiveness of our churches in influencing the culture.

Are you part of a sound Bible preaching/teaching, Spirit-led church community? Do you pray for your pastor and church leaders? Do you come prepared to worship on the Lord’s Day? Do you serve your local body in some capacity, if you are able?

All these things and more matter if we hope to make a difference in our culture, and in our time! Remember when we were little kids in church singing, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!”

Every Christian and every church should subscribe to this verse: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

We as Christians (the true Church) are to be living examples of a risen Christ, indwelt by the same power which raised Him from the grave!

Every local church should be a viable representation of the kingdom of God on earth! Let the church be the Church!

In Christ,

Dallas Holm

Many of you may not know this man. I have used his writings before in these daily devotional thoughts. Those of you that do not know him well should look him up, listen to his music, find his thoughts and teachings on the word of God and enjoy getting to know him.

I agree wholeheartedly that the Church must “be” the Church. She must stand firm in the truth and speak truth to a dark, deceived and damned world! Let us pray to grow stronger in faith and devotion to Christ each day. We ARE the Church. Let us make sure that we ACT like it.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 5, 2024

Notes of Faith August 5, 2024

God’s Inheritances

[I pray] that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Ephesians 1:18

In his latter years, a grandfather tells his grandson that in his will he is leaving the young man a piece of property. But then he says something unexpected: “This property is your inheritance, my gift to you. But I also want you to know that you have been my inheritance; you have been God’s gift to me.”

The apostle Paul uses both senses of inheritance in Ephesians 1. In verses 13-14, he says the Holy Spirit is the “guarantee of our inheritance”—our eternal life with God which is His gift to us. But then in verse 18, Paul speaks of “His inheritance in the saints.” In some mysterious way, God sees us, His saints, as His eternal inheritance. Just as the grandfather found pleasure and joy in the life of his beloved grandson, so God “takes pleasure in His people” (Psalm 149:4).

On days when you find it hard to take pleasure in your behavior or potential, know this: You are God’s inheritance, a source of pleasure and joy forevermore

(Psalm 16:11).

An inheritance is not only kept for us, but we are kept for it.

Richard Sibbes

Col 1:9-12

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

NASU

Some have said that when you die you take nothing with you…but the one who passes on his faith to the generations behind him will be blessed with the inheritance of God’s grace in his children and grandchildren for all eternity. There is no greater gift than to know that your those in your family have been chosen by God, given faith to believe, and will be with you and our Savior Jesus Christ forever!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 4, 2024

Notes of Faith August 4, 2024

Does God Delight in Me?

His Pleasure in (Imperfect) Holiness

Article by Scott Hubbard

Managing Editor, desiringGod.org

If we could distill God’s will for his people into a simple prayer, we may do no better than an often-repeated plea from Robert Murray M’Cheyne: “Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made” (Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, 159).

How often does such a prayer find its place upon your lips? How deeply does such a desire shape your hopes and plans? If the longings of your heart could speak, would any of them cry out, “Make me as holy as I can be”?

God’s desire for our holiness burns through the Scriptures like a purifying fire. Paul would have us think so: “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Peter would have us think so: “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15–16). Hebrews would have us think so: “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

And in a hundred other ways, God would have us think so. Our holiness delights him (Psalm 40:6–8), pleases him (1 Thessalonians 4:1), rises before him like a fragrant offering (Philippians 4:18), elicits his approval and praise (Romans 2:29; 12:1). If you want to please a holy God, be as holy as you can be.

Holiness and Its Hoaxes

Before we consider why holiness makes God happy, ponder for a moment what we even mean by holiness. Like many familiar Bible words, holiness can get lost in a haze of abstraction. And over time, if we’re not careful, we may come to associate the word with images or ideas at odds with the real thing.

Some, for example, may hear holiness and (perhaps subconsciously) think bland or boring. Holiness belongs in a museum or antique shop, hushed and stuffy. True holiness, however, knows nothing of blandness and cannot abide boredom. Scripture speaks of “the splendor of holiness,” of holiness as “glory and beauty” (1 Chronicles 16:29; Exodus 28:2). As Sinclair Ferguson writes, holy people shine with something of God’s own brilliance:

“To sanctify” means that God repossesses persons and things that have been devoted to other uses, and have been possessed for purposes other than his glory, and takes them into his own possession in order that they may reflect his own glory. (The Holy Spirit, 140)

True holiness is breathtakingly beautiful. It participates in God’s own glory — a glory bursting with life and majesty.

Others may hear holiness and think mainly of religious ritual: food laws and temple sacrifices, perhaps, or a devotion to churchly routines. But such was the mistake of many Pharisees — those punctual, precise, “worshiping” bundles of corruption (Matthew 23:25–28). True holiness pierces to the deepest parts of a person; it touches and transforms “spirit and soul and body” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Holiness is a hand that plucks the heart’s hidden strings, filling all of life with heavenly melody. It is not smoke arising from the altar, but faith and love arising from the soul (Psalm 40:6–8).

Then, finally, some may hear holiness and wonder what relevance it holds to daily life. Maybe holiness seems like a cloud: miles above the ground and impossible to grasp. But true holiness has everything to do with everyday life. When Jesus and his apostles call us to holiness, they address our thinking and speaking, our eating and drinking, our spending and saving, our working and resting. Even on the most ordinary day, there never comes a moment when “be holy” doesn’t mean something practical. Holiness embraces and dignifies our daily doings.

And such holiness — beautiful, deep, broad — makes God happy.

God’s Complex Pleasure

Depending on your personality and theological background, the thought of our holiness pleasing God may raise some questions. Some, especially lovers of the doctrine of justification, may wonder, Doesn’t God already delight in me? And others, especially the sensitive and scrupulous, may ask, How could God ever delight in me?

Doesn’t God already delight in me?

For some, the idea that our holiness delights God seems to undermine (or at least sit in tension with) justification by faith alone. Doesn’t God’s delight rest on Christ’s perfect holiness now reckoned to me through faith? Doesn’t he call me “holy and beloved” before I obey (Colossians 3:12) and even after I sin (1 Corinthians 6:11)?

These questions press us toward a helpful distinction. At one level, God has an unshakeable delight in his people because we are united to “his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13), our holy Savior who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We are in Christ — wrapped in his righteousness, sanctified by his purity — and therefore fully approved in God’s sight. And yet, above this foundation of God’s unchanging favor, we really can please him more or less, depending on how we live. We can grieve the Spirit or gladden him (Ephesians 4:30); we can delight God Almighty or displease him (Ephesians 5:9–10).

The image of fatherly discipline in Hebrews 12 brings these two kinds of pleasure together. All discipline implies some degree of displeasure or disapproval. At the same time, all good discipline springs from deep love. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Hebrews 12:6). Beneath the displeasure of God’s discipline is his deep and unchanging fatherly affection.

Because he loves us, he responds to our displeasing sins with discipline — and by discipline, he makes us more pleasing. He gives us the security of his everlasting approval in Christ — and amazingly, he also gives us the dignity of becoming the kind of people who will hear his “well done.”

How could God ever delight in me?

Others ask a different question about God’s delight. They understand why holiness pleases God, and they would love to know themselves pleasing before him. But they can’t seem to imagine their holiness — their small, stumbling holiness — ever being pure enough to please him. Maybe in heaven they’ll delight God, but how could they do so now?

I feel the force of the question. Our sins are still many, our present imperfections run deep, and mixed motives taint even our best deeds. This side of heaven, God can always disapprove of something inside us. So it can feel safer to simply take refuge in the righteousness of Christ and wait till we’re perfect to believe ourselves pleasing. But that would be a great mistake.

“God is happy with our holiness because the heart of true holiness is happiness in God.”

If we, though trusting in Jesus and seeking to follow him, doubt that God could delight in our holiness, we need to reckon with how often God uses the language of pleasure to describe his posture toward his partly sanctified people. He says brotherly love pleases him (Romans 14:18), sharing with others pleases him (Hebrews 13:16), praying for kings pleases him (1 Timothy 2:3–4), a child’s obedience pleases him (Colossians 3:20), even that we can be “fully pleasing” to him (Colossians 1:10). And in each of these examples (and many more), he is not lying. The holy, holy, holy God is astoundingly, wonderfully pleasable.

Roots of His Approval

If we ask why such imperfect holiness pleases God, we might give several answers. We might remember that our present holiness is nothing less than the emerging character of Christ in us (2 Corinthians 3:18), his image rescued and renewed (Romans 8:29) — and God loves the glory of his Son. We might also remember that our holiness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) — and just as in the beginning, God regards the creative work of his Spirit as “good,” indeed “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Or we might remember, as Richard Sibbes writes, that God is able to take a long view of our holiness, seeing today’s small step as part of a much bigger and more beautiful picture:

Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto. We call a little plant a tree, because it is growing up to be so. “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). Christ would not have us despise little things. (The Bruised Reed, 17)

Today’s edifying speech, purity of thought, self-denying service, prayerful yearning toward heaven — these are acorns becoming oaks, buds about to bloom, mustard seeds destined to outgrow and outlast the thorns and thistles of our sin. And so they please him.

Yet we can dig still deeper.

Happiness at the Heart

At bottom, we might say that God is happy with our holiness because the heart of true holiness is happiness in God. God made the world so that people like us would find our greatest joy in him and so glorify him as the Greatest Joy in the world— the treasure in the field, the pearl of infinite price, the fairest among ten thousand (and far more). And if we could peel back the layers of a truly holy life, we would find a heart that pulses with such pleasure in God.

People growing in holiness have felt, with Paul, something of “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,” a worth that makes us more ready to suffer than to sin (Philippians 3:8–10). With Jeremiah, we have left sin’s broken cisterns, drunk deeply from the fountain, and now refuse to leave (Jeremiah 2:13–14). With John, we have taken up the commandments of God and said, with a cry of joy, “Not burdensome!” (1 John 5:3). And with David, we have tasted and seen that God is good (Psalm 34:8) — his presence the height of joy, his right hand the province of pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

Such holiness is beautiful, a flicker of the love between Father and Son, the aroma of heaven’s atmosphere. Such holiness is heart deep, filling our innermost parts with rivers of living water. Such holiness is broad, spreading over life as comprehensively as the waters cover the sea. And such holiness makes God happy.

So, if we want to distill God’s will for his people into a simple prayer, we may do no better than M’Cheyne’s striking line: “Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made.” And as we pray, we’ll know what we mean deep down: “Lord, make me as happy in you as a pardoned sinner can be made.”

Seeking to be that for which we were originally made just makes sense. We were made to be holy and walk with God! We will be made holy and walk with God! Not striving against our sinful desires, not seeking the holiness that God desires makes no sense at all. Let us love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength for the life that He us gives belongs to Him.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 3, 2024

Notes of Faith August 3, 2024

Go for the Gold: God’s Word

Ps 19:7-11

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;

In keeping them there is great reward.

NASU

An Olympic gold medal is mostly silver. It’s only gold-plated. That’s not true for the Word of God. Every single word is pure gold. In other words, every word has total integrity. Every verse shines. Every chapter is of utmost value.

Psalm 119 says, “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold…. Therefore I love Your commandments more than gold” (verses 72, 127).

As of this writing, a single ounce of gold is worth more than $2,000. If you consider every verse in the Bible an ounce of gold, the Bible in your hands is worth more than 70 million dollars. Anything so priceless should be greatly treasured, deeply appreciated, and constantly handled. Take time to read it, to study it, to learn it, to obey it, and to share it. Whenever you grip your Bible, you hold a treasure in your hands.

The Bible our guide, far more precious than gold, the half of its glories have never been told; its wonderful words for the old and the young, the grandest e’er spoken by poor mortal tongue.

Franklin D. Barnes

The actions of the International Olympic Committee and the country of France have been despicable toward man and blasphemous toward God. But the hard work of righteous athletes should not go unrewarded, including our attention and applause. Our Bibles are more precious than any earthly reward because they are the very words of God and speak to us truth and life. The world speaks lies and death from the mouth and heart of Satan, who many appear to be turning to and following today. The Bible proclaims that this world will get worse in its deception and lies and attempt to live without God, worshipping the same desire as Satan. They will be judged and destroyed eternally. Let us pray that they might be awakened to truth and turn from darkness to light, turn from the God of this world, Satan, repent of their wicked ways, and follow the God of light, Jesus the Savior of the world! Read your Bible! Listen to it on your phone or other devices! Know the truth! Be obedient to the truth and you will live eternally with God in all His glory! May I be blessed to see you there and walk with you and Jesus, forever!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 2, 2024

Notes of Faith August 2, 2024

Acceptance

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you.

Romans 15:7, NIV

A website recently told of a young man from a rough background who joined a gang, got into trouble, and landed in prison. He’s doing better now, but he said about his younger years: “I didn’t feel accepted at school because I was disruptive…. Why would I stay in a place where I don’t feel accepted?”1

Every person worries about acceptance. People often fret about being accepted by others, whether at school, at work, in sports, or in personal relationships. Jacob worried about this regarding his brother Esau. “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me,” Jacob said in Genesis 32:20.

When it comes to our Heavenly Father, there is no “perhaps.” Ephesians 1:6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” The question becomes—will we accept His acceptance? Will we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord?

Answer: “Yes!” You are accepted in the Beloved!

You may be wondering how you can accept yourself since you know how much you blow it and sin. The answer is this: if God accepts you, who are you to reject yourself?

Mark Maulding

Rom 15:1-7

15 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU FELL ON ME." 4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

We need to accept people and let them be where they are in life, while we strive to bring them to the feet of Jesus, that they might be saved. Jesus loves sinners. If He did not, none would be saved. Praise God for the offer of Jesus as the full and complete sacrifice that paid the debt we owe God for our sin. Love ALL people, even if they will not turn to Jesus. Our call, our duty, is to love and share with those around us the God of love, so that they do not perish, but repent of their sin, and believe in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and receive eternal life.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 1, 2024

Notes of Faith August 1, 2024

Chosen for His Reasons

Just as [God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Ephesians 1:4

When we make choices in life, whether large or small, we have our reasons. And we are not always obliged to share those reasons with others. The same is true with God. He makes choices for reasons often known only to Himself

(Deuteronomy 29:29).

Israel began with God’s choice of one man—Abram of Ur—for reasons unknown to us. And because of His love for Abraham, He chose his descendants (Deuteronomy 4:37). But God made it clear that His choice of them was based on His love alone (Deuteronomy 7:7), which resulted in blessedness for the chosen (Psalm 65:4). The apostle Paul continues this theme in Ephesians 1:3-4 where he tells Christians they have been chosen “in love” before the world was created. The focus with our choosing, as it was with Israel, is the kind of people we are to be—how to reflect God’s loving choice in the world: “holy and without blame.”

If you are in Christ today, it is because you were chosen in Him. Give humble praise to God for His choice.

We are not chosen because we are good; we are chosen that we may be good.

Benjamin B. Warfield

2 Thess 2:13-15

13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chosen by God for relationship with God…what greater blessing could there be?

John 17:3

3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 31, 2024

Notes of Faith July 31, 2024

The Abiding Presence

Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

1 Peter 1:8

In His Upper Room sermon in John 13–17, Jesus prepared His disciples for His departure. They had enjoyed His physical, visual presence for three years, but now He was leaving them—by His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. He explained He was leaving in order to send His Spirit who would be with them and in them (John 14:17).

Recommended Reading:

1 Peter 1:3-8

Years later, Peter told his readers that we can still love, trust, and rejoice in Christ even if we don’t presently see Him. We have His Spirit, making Him real to us, and the Holy Spirit can be with every believer across the world at once.

That’s why we must abide in Christ. We can enjoy His abiding presence by the indwelling Holy Spirit until that day when we see our Lord face to face. Today, ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit, and rejoice in His presence.

The branch of the vine does not worry, toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine.

J. Hudson Taylor

Heb 13:5-6

For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we may boldly say:

"The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear.

NKJV

God is always with us, dwelling in us. There is no place that we could go that He is not there, for we are His temple and carry Him everywhere.

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls.

NKJV

He is here now, saving your eternal soul!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 30, 2024

Notes of Faith July 30, 2024

8,000 Dead Branches

I am the true vine…. I am the vine, you are the branches.

John 15:1, 5

The so-called “Tree of Life” is as dead as a rock, but it’s still impressive to see. In the middle of Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, it towers upward 145 feet, and more than 300 animals are carved into its trunk. It’s patterned after a baobab tree, with more than 8,000 branches and approximately 102,000 artificial leaves. Yet no roots pull nutrients from the soil, and no fruit grows on its limbs.

John 15:1-9

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

NASU

Jesus Christ is alive, and in His John 15 metaphor, we are living branches connected to Him. The “sap” of the Holy Spirit flows from His life into ours, and as we abide with Him in unbroken fellowship, we will bear fruit—the qualities and attitudes of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the source of life. Some people may be like impressive trees towering over the rest of us. They may even seem to do all the right things, but in reality they are not connected to Him. They are as dead as Disney’s famous tree. Abide in Him daily through consistent fellowship in His Word, and you’ll find Him as the center and source of life today.

We need Jesus like we need oxygen. Like we need water. Like the branch needs the vine.

John Eldredge

The truth of life is that all things will die except that which belongs to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Believers in Jesus are the only eternal beings that will live with Him forever, blessed beyond our current understanding and imagination, loved more than we love back, even now receiving grace upon grace and forgiveness for our sin, redeemed into perfect relationship with the God of life! Live in and with the truth of life, not the false deceit of this world.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 29, 2024

Notes of Faith July 29, 2024

The True Vine

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

Isaiah 5:7

Jesus used images from the Old Testament to demonstrate how He fulfilled God’s expectations for Israel. In Isaiah 5, Israel is pictured as a vineyard which God planted in expectation of bearing the fruit of “justice” and “righteousness”: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.” Sadly, the vineyard bore the fruit of “oppression” and “a cry for help” (verse 7). So God allowed His vineyard, Israel, to be uprooted and destroyed (verses 5-6).

But when Jesus came, He said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). Jesus came to bear good fruit, by being the True Vine of God, that Israel failed to bear. And not just good fruit in Himself but for all who would believe in Him—the branches of the True Vine (John 15:1-8). Jesus intends to bear His good fruit in and through us as we remain “attached” to Him. If we remain (abide) in Him and His words remain in us, we will bear the fruit that Jesus bore in His life and ministry (John 15:7).

Abide in Jesus and His Word every day. By His Spirit, His life-giving fruit will manifest in your life (Galatians 5:22-23).

Fruit is evidence of the root.

John Blanchard

The oracles of God (the Scriptures) were given to the Jews, including most of the New Testament.

John 4:22

22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

NKJV

Rom 11:1-12

God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 "Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE." 4 But what is the divine response to him? "I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL." 5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written,

"GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR,

EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT,

DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY."

9 And David says,

"LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP,

AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM.

10 "LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT,

AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER."

11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. 12 Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!

NASU

Rom 1:16-17

16 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 (everyone else).

ESV

The Jewish people were created by God, chosen by God, and will always be the apple of His eye. He has not forgotten them because of their sin and turning away from Him. If so, no human being would be saved. But God, in His grace and mercy sent His Son to die for the sin of the WORLD, that those who believe in Him might be saved. All who believe in Him might be saved! Let us pray for all who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, remembering our Jewish brothers, that they would understand the Scriptures given to them, and truly see their Messiah, their eternal Savior Jesus, who is Jewish!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 28, 2024

Notes of Faith July 28, 2024

Heaven Remembered

Learning to Long for Home

Article by Clinton Manley

Editor, desiringGod.org

Have you ever wondered why we don’t think about heaven more? In fact, if heaven is all that Scripture says, how do we manage to think about anything else?

Observing this tension, C.S. Lewis wrote, “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven; but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else” (The Problem of Pain, 149). In other words, all our longings find their true home in heaven. And yet, if we are honest, we spend far more time thinking about almost anything else. Why?

I suspect we don’t think much about heaven because we don’t think well about heaven. Until we learn to think well about heaven, we won’t think more about it. But if we learn to think well — ah, then it will be impossible to avoid thinking more. We must learn to rightly imagine heaven.

The Heaven Satan Loves

One of the main reasons we do not think well is because Satan hates heaven and wants us to do the same. Randy Alcorn explains, “Some of Satan’s favorite lies are about Heaven. . . . Our enemy slanders three things: God’s person, God’s people, and God’s place — namely, Heaven” (Heaven, 10–11). Satan is the father of lies, and some of his most damning lies involve the life to come.

Satan promotes the floaty no-place of Far Side cartoons, where ghostly figures sit on clouds strumming harps. This image, built on gnostic (anti-body) assumptions, induces utter boredom, and so Satan loves it. Saints may enjoy a bodiless heaven now, but it will not always be so. Satan knows no body-soul creature could be fully content to spend endless ages like that. And there’s the point. If Satan can get us to buy into a heaven unearthly, ghostly, or (God forbid) boring, we won’t think about heaven. And if we don’t think about it, why would we tell others or orient our lives toward it?

That final vision of heaven is an illusion, a dark enchantment cast by an envious Satan to extinguish our excitement about heaven. We don’t long because we don’t look, and we don’t look because we have believed lies. So, we must learn to banish this hellish hoax by thinking biblically about God’s place.

More Real, Not Less

Paul was a man who thought well about God’s place, and so it dominated his thoughts. In Philippians alone, Paul says, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23) — a Christ-centered way of saying, “I long for heaven.” Later, he says we are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). And he describes his whole life as a sprint toward a finish line: “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).

That “upward call” is the heavenward call — the summons to come higher and higher. Like the saints in Hebrews, Paul desired to reach “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). The hope of heaven consumed Paul. Why? Because he thought well about heaven.

When our thoughts run in biblical tracks, we begin to understand that the joys of heaven will be full and deep and exuberant — pleasures enormous! We will not float as disembodied spirits strumming harps for eternity (however that works). Heaven will brook no boredom. It will be more solid, not less — more physical, more tangible, more diamond-hard, more real than anything we experience now. And yet, everything we experience now helps us imagine what is coming.

This, but Better

Paul himself teaches us how to think about heaven when he says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). From these verses, we may infer that paradise will be better than the best things we experience now, better even than the wildest joys we can imagine.

“I suspect we don’t think much about heaven because we don’t think well about heaven.”

Now, I take Paul’s statement as a challenge because it means I can look at every good thing now and every good I can envision, and I can say of it, “Heaven will be this, but better.” You can learn to think well about heaven by enjoying all the good things in this life now, lifting them as high as your imagination can go, and saying, this, but better. After all, the best things now serve as a mere taste test, as echoes of the music or bright shadows of the far better country to come.

Let me apply this way of thinking well about heaven to three of the best gifts God gives now.

1. This Body, but Better

In heaven, we will enjoy new bodies. Christ “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Secular propaganda leads us astray on this point and tries to make us more “spiritual” than God. But he made our bodies. As a master artist, he judged them very good (Genesis 1:31). He took a body for himself — and by taking, forever hallowed. When God became man, he definitively declared the permanent goodness of the body. No approval could be more final than the incarnation.

And so we will enjoy both souls and bodies for eternity — new bodies, better bodies, bodies like Jesus’s right now, bodies with glorified senses, bodies without disease or pain, bodies that can run with joy, work without exhaustion, see without glasses, live without aging — or better! And so when you enjoy your body at its best now in holy eating and sleeping and sex and running and sports and singing and hugs and work and laughter, think to yourself, this body, but better.

2. This Earth, but Better

Biblically speaking, when we talk about our eternal heaven, we mean the new heavens and the new earth. In the end, heaven is not the opposite of earth; heaven is earth redeemed and remade and married to the new heavens. As Alcorn says, “Heaven isn’t an extrapolation of earthly thinking; Earth is an extension of Heaven, made by the Creator King” (Heaven, 13).

Oh, what good news for those homesick for Eden! God created us to enjoy God’s presence with God’s people in God’s place. An earthly place with glorified trees and garden mountains, with unfallen culture and undiminished art, the taste of chocolate and the smell of bacon, with majestic thunderstorms and soul-stirring apricity — the warmth of the sun in winter. One day, paradise lost will become paradise regained and remade into a garden-city.

The new earth will be just that — new. Like our new bodies, we will recognize it. It will be free from the bondage of corruption and the ravishes of sin, but it will not be utterly different. When God renews this earth, no good will be finally lost, no beauty obscured, no truth forgotten. And so, every time you glimpse the gigantic glory of God here, think to yourself, this earth, but better.

But of course, the place is nothing without the person.

3. This Joy in Jesus, but Better

As Christians, we enjoy Jesus now. That’s what it means to be a Christian. We seek to enjoy Jesus in everything and everything in Jesus. But in heaven, our joy in Jesus will increase. It will grow deeper and sweeter. It will bloom and blossom. Our happiness will expand forever in every conceivable way. Why? Because we will see Jesus face to face. Our King will dwell with us bodily. We shall behold the Word made flesh.

This was the hope Job harbored amid his suffering:

I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25–27)

Job fainted for the beatific vision, which will undoubtedly be more than physical but not less. If this hope of heaven is yours in Christ, then one day you, with the saints of all ages, will bask in the smile of Jesus himself. Our new knees will bow on a new earth, and we will join in the cosmic praise of Christ with new tongues. Can you imagine that?

Fullness of Joy

If you can, you are beginning to think well about heaven. You are learning to anticipate the place where God will satisfy all our longings with the pleasures at his right hand. When we finally set foot in the far green country, everything good we ever wanted — the longings we have cherished since childhood, the desires we downplay as adults, the yearnings that visit us in the silent moments and echo endlessly in our hearts, that sweet something we have searched for, reached for, listened for, hunted after — God will satisfy all. My whole being — body and soul — will cry out, “This is what I was made for. Here at last, I am home!”

Friend, we cannot hope for what we do not desire, and we cannot desire what we have not imagined. Therefore, let’s exercise our imaginations — our Bible-saturated, Spirit-empowered, Trinity-treasuring imaginations — to think well about heaven.

Heaven will be like this, but far better.

God and man were meant to dwell together and that day is coming soon as God planned before the foundation of the world. After God finished His six days of creation, He said that it was good. Everything was good. There was nothing that was not good. And mankind walked with and in the presence of God. Until man sinned, rebelled, disobeyed God, leading to separation from God and causing death and decay of all that God created. But God! Perhaps two of the best words in Scripture. God had a plan to redeem man and restore the relationship that once was, and with that a new heaven and earth in which man (sinless) and God would live together forever! Who would not want to be in this glory, in the very presence of God? May we live a life pleasing to God the Father, because of the salvation we have in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us!

Pastor Dale