Guys, I’m excited for small group next year.

We’ll be going through some amazing stuff.
I’m really looking forward to preparing the materials and praying for the Lord to tremendously impact you through them. May you reach for Heaven’s joys, and most of all for Heaven’s Joy.

Make your chest tighten or something.

Dang, dude. Quotes like this are true, but in the most intense way.

I have never heard anyone say, “The deepest and rarest and most satisfying joys of my life have come in times of extended ease and earthly comfort.” Nobody says that. It isn’t true. What’s true is what Samuel Rutherford said when he was put in the cellars of affliction: “The Great King keeps his wine there”—not in the courtyard where the sun shines. What’s true is what Charles Spurgeon said: “They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.”

-John Piper

Anyone who’s walked with the Lord for long enough will find this above quote to be true. Painfully true, yet also gloriously true. Nice. Sometimes you stumble across things that just stop you in your tracks. That quote is one of them.

Isaiah 6 and Northrop Grumman

Steve, it’s pep talk time.

Tomorrow you start your second summer at NGST.

The eyes of your heart have seen the King of all Kings, enthroned on high, with the train of His robe filling the temple, right? Yes you have. It’s the happiest times of your life when you are captivated by such Divine Majesty. It is indeed a beautiful thing to be ruined and to know that you are nothing but a hell-deserving worm before the One who is Holy, Holy, Holy. You have been cleansed and your sin has been atoned for with more than just a coal, but the Cross, which you will sing about for all eternity, right? Yes you have. Such a truth often brings you to tears when you realize the mercy shown to you in the crushing of the Son of God.

Do you know what happens next in that passage? Yeah, you do. But do you live it? Is your heart’s cry “Here am I, send me?” You’re going to be plunked in the midst of many unbelievers this summer. I know you want others to have the joy of beholding Jesus Christ in all His glory and call Him Savior and Lord. You know what to do, how to pray, and what to say. You know, you know. So do it, buddy. Get off your butt, kick your fear of man in the face, and preach the Gospel! And don’t give me any excuses, because you well know that there are none. In fact, Isaiah had to go to do it in the face of the guarantee that there’d be no fruit (Isa 6:9ff). You, however, get a promise more like what Jesus said to Paul when he was ministering in Corinth to reassure him of the power of the doctrine of election and effective calling: “I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:10c). How’s that for some help, huh?

Go get ‘em for His great name’s sake. I’m praying for you.

Love,
Steve

Argh!

When those right under your nose slip past your notice and go by uncared for, uncorrected, and unministered (or mis-ministered) to, it hurts. A lot. Lord, help me pray differently, act differently, and speak much more purposefully. Let me not be like Cain in Genesis 4:9. I am my brother’s keeper.

How very true.

From today’s Desiring God blog:

I didn’t ask how affliction helps us understand God’s word and keep it. There are innumerable answers, as there are innumerable experiences. But here are five:

1. Affliction takes the glibness of life away and makes us more serious so that our mindset is more in tune with the seriousness of God’s word.

2. Affliction knocks worldly props from under us and forces us to rely more on God which brings us more in tune with the aim of the word.

3. Affliction makes us search the scriptures with greater desperation for help rather than treating it as marginal to life.

4. Affliction brings us into the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings so that we fellowship more closely with him and see the world more readily through his eyes.

5. Affliction mortifies deceitful and distracting fleshly desires, and so brings us into a more spiritual frame which fits God’s word more.

Eschatology, clearly applicable.

” … having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places … “
(Eph 1:18b-20, emphasis added)

Oh dude, Ephesians 1 was crazy this morning. Praise the Lord for deep, satisfying, rich times in the Word. Had some trouble with the third one in that list (immeasurable greatness of his power), but after staring it in the face for a bit, looking at the surrounding context, and looking at the explanation that followed, it seemed quite clear that it was referring to the believer’s resurrection.

There’s a very distinct eschatological flavor in Ephesians 1. Niiiiiice. Here’s to a grace-filled day of studying while dwelling on the hope of Glory, longing for my eternal reward, and groaning for my glorified body . Yeeaaah. Happy finals week indeed.

Seriously now, Steve.

Dear Steve,

It took another Gracer playing volleyball with one of your classmates to invite him to church. That should’ve been you reaching out to him, directing the flow of your conversation, and talking about the Gospel two quarters ago. C’mon, Steve, is preaching the Gospel to lost sinners in hopes that they will glorify God for His mercy important to you or not?

I’m only hard on you because I love you, dude. I want to see you grow in your worship of Christ through all avenues, evangelism being one of the key ones. C’mon!

Love,
Steve

Birds, flowers, and grass

I just did the math. My summer earnings will just barely get me through Fall Quarter 2008, because my parents are not financially supporting me (which is fine, they are right in helping me become more financially independent).

My heart is tempted to be worried. What if I have unexpected expenses? What if an emergency comes up? What if, what if, what if? But c’mon heart, the Lord Himself spoke of birds, lilies, and grass in Matthew 6:25-34. Chill out, heart. He’s got you taken care of. Our God is a God who provides. It’s all good. Keep the Kingdom as your numero uno priority, and all is well.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
(Mat 6:33-34)