The Wonders of Calvary

Posted on February 15, 2015 by ccpastormike

This is a prayer of thanksgiving penned by Charles H. Spurgeon. In it he demonstrates a wonder and awe of God who stoops down to save mankind. This provides a good reminder of the depth and the riches of the love of God for us.

Great God, there was a time when we dreaded the thought of coming near to You, for we were guilty and You were angry with us, but now we will praise You because Your anger is turned away and You comfort us. Yes, and the very throne which once was a place of dread has now become the place of shelter. I flee to You to hide me.

We long now to get away from the world, even from the remembrance of it and have fellowship with the world to come by speaking with Him that was, and is, and is to come, the Almighty. Lord we have been worried and wearied oftentimes with care, but with You care comes to an end, all things are with You, and when we live in You, we live in wealth, in sure repose, in constant joy.

We have to battle with the sons of men against a thousand errors and unrighteousnesses, but when we flee to You, there is all truth and purity and holiness, and our heart finds peace. Above all, we have to battle with ourselves, and we are very much ashamed of ourselves. After many years of great mercy, after tasting of the powers of the world to come, we still are so weak, so foolish; but oh! when we get away from self to God, there all is truth and purity and holiness, and our heart finds peace, wisdom, completeness, delight, joy, victory.

Oh! bring us, then, we pray You, now near to Yourself. Let us bathe ourselves in communion with our God. Blessed be the love which chose us before the world began. We can never sufficiently adore You for Your sovereignty, the sovereignty of love which saw us in the ruins of the Fall, yet loved us anyway.

We praise the God of the Eternal Council Chamber and of the Everlasting Covenant, but where shall we find sufficiently fit words with which to praise Him who gave us grace in Christ His Son, before He spread the starry sky.

We also bless You, O God, as the God of our redemption, for You have so loved us as to give even Your dear Son for us. He gave Himself, His very life for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and separate us unto Himself to be His peculiar people, zealous for good works.

Never can we sufficiently adore free grace and undying love. The wonders of Calvary never cease to be wonders, they are growing more marvelous in our esteem as we think of Him who washed us from our sins in His own blood. Nor can we cease to praise the God of our regeneration who found us dead and made us live, found us at enmity and reconciled us, found us loving the things of this world and lifted us out of the muck and mire of selfishness and worldliness in the love of divine everlasting things.

O Spirit of God, we love You this day, especially for dwelling in us. How can You abide in so rude a habitation, How can You make these bodies to be Your temples, and yet You do so, for which let Your name be held in reverence so long as we live.

O Lord, we would delight ourselves in You this day. Give us faith and love and hope that with these three graces we may draw very near to the Triune God. You will keep us, You will preserve us, You will feed us, You will lead us, and You will bring us to the mind of God, and there will You show us Your love, and in the glory everlasting and boundless, there will You make us know and taste and feel the joys that cannot be expressed.

But a little longer waiting and we shall come to the golden shore; but a little longer fighting and we shall receive the crown of life that does not fade away.

Lord, get us up above the world. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, and mount and bear us on Your wings, far from these inferior sorrows and inferior joys, up where eternal ages roll. May we ascend in joyful contemplation, and may our spirit come back again, strong for all its service, armed for all its battles, armored for all its dangers, and made ready to live heaven on earth until soon we shall live heaven in heaven. Great Father, be with Your waiting people, any in great trouble please greatly help; any that are despondent sweetly comfort and cheer; any that have erred and are smarting under their own sin, bring them back and heal their wounds; any that are panting after holiness give them the desire of their hearts; any that are longing for usefulness lead them in ways of usefulness.

Lord, we want to live while we live. We do pray that we may not merely groan out an existence here below, nor live as earthworms crawling back in our holes and dragging now and then a withered leaf with us; but Oh! give us to live as we ought to live, with a new life that You have put in us, with the divine quickening which has lifted us as much above common men as men are lifted above the beasts that perish.

Do not let us always be hampered like poor half-hatched birds within the egg; may we chip the shell today and get out in the glorious liberty of the children of God. Grant us this, we pray You.

Lord, visit our church. We have heard Your message to the churches at Ephesus; it is a message to us also. Oh! do not let any of us lose our first love. Let not our church grow cold and dead. We are not, we fear, what once we were. Lord revive us!

All our help must come from You. Give back to the church its love, its confidence, its holy daring, its consecration, its generousness, its holiness. Give back all it ever had and give it much more. Take every member and wash his feet, sweet Lord, most tenderly, and set us with clean feet in a clean road, with a clean heart to guide them, and bless us as You will in a divine fashion.

Bless us, our Father, and let all the churches of Jesus Christ partake of care and tenderness. Walking among the golden candlesticks trim every lamp and make every light, even though it burns feebly now, to shine out gloriously through Your care.

Now bless the sinners. Lord convert them. O God, save men, save this great city, this wicked city, this slumbering dead city. Lord, arouse it, arouse it by any means, that it may turn to its God. Lord save sinners all the world over, and let Your precious Word be fulfilled. “Behold He comes with clouds.” Why do You delay? Delay no longer, O, our Lord. And now to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Available at http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=460

Be Offensive In Love (Part 2)

Posted on February 14, 2015 by ccpastormike

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord. “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace”’; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ Jeremiah 23:16-17

In part one of this series I introduced the idea that the definition of tolerance has been hijacked by cultural elitists and redefined. This new definition is part of a larger strategy with a clear endgame. Let me explain.

Tolerance used to mean defending the right of everyone to state their opinion in the public square of debate. Today tolerance has been redefined to mean that only opinions that are consistent with those ideals espoused by cultural elitists are permitted. Attempts are made to silence all contradictory viewpoints and some are silenced through the weapon of choice for these elitists – government activism. Here are some examples.

Army Lt. Colonel Christopher Downey is likely to be discharged after being administratively convicted of violating the military’s open policy concerning gays. What was Colonel Downey’s crime? He attempted to stop two lesbian Army officers from filming their erotic behavior that included kissing, groping, and disrobing each other while on the dance floor at an official Army officers dance and dinner event.

In another case in point, although certainly not surprising, California officials have once again passed irrational and convoluted legislation. The California legislature along with Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law a bill that permits all public school children to self-identify their gender and based on that self-identification choose which restroom facilities they will use. This self-identification even allows boys to participate on girls sports teams and vice versa.

Perhaps the single issue that more than any other provides proof of the redefinition of tolerance is the culture war surrounding same-sex marriage. This is the most hotly contested issue of our day. But if cultural elitists have their way, all viewpoints that fall short of affirming and celebrating same-sex marriage will not only be silenced but criminalized.

Some may smirk at such an assertion but I would ask the doubters to consider that the Supreme Court is by all appearances poised to make same-sex marriage the law of the land. What remains to be seen is what price Christians who stand on the teaching of Scripture will pay to oppose this. I will share more specifically on this subject in the next installment. Stay tuned.

God bless you today friends.

Matthew 3:1-12

Posted on February 2, 2015 by ccpastormike

If we were to go into downtown Lima and conduct one of our now famous hypothetical “man-on-the-street interviews,” asking the question, “What makes a person great?” What do you suppose would be the most common responses?

What makes a person great in the world’s eyes is the question. I think we would hear something along the lines of these responses:

Having famous parents or being born into a famous family (Kennedy, Rockefeller, Forbes, etc).

Having wealth – Gates, Warren Buffett, Sam Walton’s heirs, Oprah

Academic degrees, Nobel Peace Prizes

Your profession – politician, doctor, lawyer

Outstanding athletic ability

Artistic ability – music, art, poetry

I think it is obvious that the world does judge greatness for the most part by these types of standards.

Continue reading →

Be Offensive In Love (Part 1)

Posted on January 31, 2015 by ccpastormike

Are you a watcher? I mean do you pay attention to the times we live in? Are you aware of the shift in what is considered to be polite and impolite conversation culturally speaking? Let me zero in specifically on evangelism. Have you noticed the huge shift in the methods of presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

I believe that many of the new approaches to evangelism are not well thought out and lack clear biblical support. The reason so many of these new emergent and hipster strategies are gaining a foothold in churches is because too many Christians have succumbed to new definitions of old words. Our society has determined that new definitions are needed in order to rationalize ungodly behavior. A case in point is the word tolerance.

In America tolerance once meant that everyone had a right to express their viewpoint and everyone had a right to disagree with a viewpoint. Today tolerance means that everyone has a right to express a viewpoint as long as it is a socially acceptable viewpoint. In other words, if you hold a viewpoint that is contrary to what the society at large believes, you are not free to express yourself. If you are brave enough to try then you will be met with a very hostile “shout down” by the more enlightened people in our midst.

This has clear implications for telling other people about Jesus Christ. It has become increasingly impolite and in fact culturally incorrect to speak about anyone “needing” Jesus. The Christian faith is being systematically muted by self-appointed “elites” and apparently many Christians are ok with this development.

I will be addressing this development in a five-part series of thoughts entitled, “Be Offensive In Love.” Stay tuned for Part 2.

God bless you today friends.

Gourmet Meal or Crumbs?

Posted on January 25, 2015 by ccpastormike

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Ephesians 5:22, 25

“Love makes the world go round” is a cute adage that is simple in its message but deficient in explaining exactly how that works. Love is as the poet says a “mysterious thing” and something that is both fleeting and enduring. Love has the capacity to satisfy the soul like a gourmet meal or it can starve the one who receives only crumbs.

Let me cut to the chase here folks. How would you describe your relationship with your spouse? Would you give it a thumb up or a thumb down? I don’t mean is everything going great right now because truth is, almost every marriage has a few pot holes every now and then. What I am asking is this – is your marriage on solid footing? Is the foundation of your spousal relationship solid?

If you cannot say “yes it is,” then let me encourage you today to begin the process of evaluating why. The decision to begin to build a solid foundation for your marriage may be an individual one, but to make it happen takes team work.

Taking the necessary steps to construct, restore, or repair a damaged marriage must begin with determining to love your spouse even though they may be behaving in an unloving way. Let me issue a caveat here – I am not suggesting that you should accept abusive behavior in the name of love, and that includes physical, verbal, or emotional abuse. But I am suggesting that you live the truth that love is not primarily an emotion. It is a decision in the biblical sense. So determine to honor your covenant vows to love your spouse through the thick and thin of life.

Next, determine to be honest and transparent with your spouse. This will require a generous amount of trust. Some information will be hard to share and the fear of being judged can be a tremendous weight. Press on anyway. If not initially, your spouse will in time see that your love for him/her outweighs the hurt, because the goal in being honest with one another is to begin to build accountability, which ultimately leads to trust.

When trust is an integral part of the marriage relationship then you are able to overcome those things that previously were stumbling blocks. In effect you are being equipped to demonstrate love in the biblical sense. Friends, your spouse deserves the best you can give not the left over crumbs.

That is a transforming truth.