Isaiah 30:18-26

Isaiah 30:18-26 records an encouraging report about our Lord waiting to give us His best gifts. It proved to be very applicable for a Christmas Day message. The preaching portion included not only what God will do, but also how His people will respond. It is this future look that contains information on how genuine Christians respond to God now. In Isaiah, this type of response guarantees that God's people will escape destruction and be completely delivered in the Day of the Lord. Verses 20-21, for instance, describe a new capacity to see and hear. Spirit-controlled Christians have this capacity now. That leads to an inevitable change of lifestyle (v. 22) as genuine Christians do away with their idolatry. Contrast this response of the godly with Revelation 9:20-21 where we read of those who "did not...give up worshiping...idols..." The ethical sections of prophetic material instruct the Church by showing how genuine Believers live life now while they wait for their Lord's return.

HT: Preaching With Greater Accuracy

John Piper - Ultimate Self Denial Is Not Biblical

A Place For Healing

"Someone might ask, “Have you always had such contentment, Joni?” And I would have to answer no. I well remember the first Christmas I got out of the hospital, my first visit home since the accident. Depressed and frightened, I remember going to church with my family on Christmas Eve. One particular carol stands out in my mind. I remember singing, with tears falling from my eyes:

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.

When we got to that third verse of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” I thought, Im sure this Christmas season I’ll get up out of my wheelchair-risen with healing in His wings!

Little did I know (and I don’t know if I would have understood even if you had explained it to me) that in due time, God would heal me-but on a level I would have never dreamed.

Just two years later, on another Christmas, I found the very peace and contentment that had eluded me. I also found joy, simply because I had embraced His will for my life.

And what is His will?

That you and I be in the best position, the best place, the timeliest circumstance in which God can be glorified the most.

For me, that place just happens to be a wheelchair.

That happens to be my place of healing."

Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, Kindle Location 469-77.

(HT The Works of God)

"Chance"

"Nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer, without God’s ordering and permission. There is no such thing as “chance,” “luck” or “accident” in the Christian’s journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God. And all things are “working together” for the believer’s good."

J.C. Ryle

Is It Important To You That a Sermon Contain One Major Theme or Idea?

From Preaching With Greater Accuracy:

What it takes to be the "remnant of His people"

From Preaching With Greater Accuracy:

Isaiah 28 is possibly the clearest presentation of God's people being made up of two groups: counterfeit believers and true believers. The intention of chapter 28 is to move true believers towards trusting God's invitation to rest in Him. Verses 12 states why Ephraim and its leadership were to be judged: "to whom [the Lord] said, 'This is rest...'; yet they would not hear." In contrast to Ephraim, true believers do listen to God's Word, they trust in God's "precious cornerstone" (v. 16), and they experience the results: "Whoever believes will not be in haste." Chapter 28 forces us to look at all the stressors in life that cause us to worry and be anxious. It forces us to look at the times when we're tempted to believe that God cannot deliver us. It forces us to look at all those other sources of rest we might be tempted to trust. The example of Ephraim and the leadership teaches us to "go and do otherwise." By exposing their unbelief, Isaiah urges true believers to believe in Christ and to live out that faith in the form of righteousness.

Preaching With Greater Accuracy

Dear Pastors and Scholars,

I want to direct you to a blog called “Preaching With Greater Accuracy” by Pastor Randy Pelton.

This blog attempts to show how hermeneutics affects the development of sermons. Preaching portions have ways of displaying theology which, in turn, creates relevant messages for the Church. The entries may provide direction for preaching a particular Text and also equip you to handle other Texts that present theology in similar ways. Those interested in Christ-centered preaching will observe numerous ways in which the Gospel fleshes out the interpretation and application of Scripture.

I would encourage you to visit this blog and take advantage of Pastor Pelton’s offer to answer any questions you may have.

The Incarnation Of The Lord Jesus

"The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ marks the zenith of history. His life not only divides the calender, but also human destiny. As Jesus Himself warned those who rejected Him, "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:23), and on another occasion, "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division" (Luke 12:51; cf. Luke 2:34). Like no one else, Jesus Christ evokes the antithetical extremes of love and hate, devotion and rejection, worship and blasphemy, and faith and unbelief. How people respond to Him divides the sheep from the goats; the wheat from the tares; believers from unbelievers; the saved from the lost."

John MacArthur - Commentary John 12-21