Bruce Ware on the Trinity

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Ware's book about the Three Persons of the Trinity which I thought was amazing to think about (it may take more than one reading):

"He is by very nature both a unity of Being while also existing as a society of Persons...He is a socially related being within himself. In this tri-Personal relationship the three Persons love one another, support one another, assist one another, team with one another, honor one another, communicate with one another, and in everything respect and enjoy one another. They are in need of nothing but each other throughout all eternity."

Hosanna

This is a great new song on the recent Passion album:

I see the King of glory coming down the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes
I see His love and mercy washing over all our sin
The people sing, the people sing

Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith
I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees, we're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

Justification

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” –Romans 8:33

Justification is a pronouncement of innocence that only God can give. Only He can declare us forgiven and perfect in His eyes. This is something He delights to do, but make no mistake- He will not share this glory with us. He alone has silenced and overcome the Law. We can’t make its accusations stop. In fact, the more we come into contact with the Law, the stronger the case against us becomes, and the more obvious it becomes that we should be destroyed. Fresh crimes of treason, murder, idolatry, and adultery flow daily, and insurmountable evidence grows. The Law has silenced us. We have given our best efforts and done our best deeds, and the Law of God has easily won. It has declared us guilty. There is no dismissing the crimes- they are too clear. Yet, the accusations of the Law can no longer be introduced. As strong and right as they were, for the Christian their day has passed. They were demolished when Jesus Christ went to the cross two thousand years ago. He overpowered them by dying. You see, He had a trial, but no one could accuse Him of anything wrong. He stood before them perfectly innocent on that day. Still, He stood. He stood there in place of the accused and the accursed, for my crimes and for your crimes. Yes, God’s just Law has condemned us, but His gracious Son has saved us from that same condemnation (Romans 3:26). The blood for which the Law cried out has been spilled. The courtroom is now silent, all charges have been settled. No one any longer is left to accuse us. No- because Jesus has spoken from the cross, “It is finished.”- and His physical resurrection was the not-guilty verdict from God for all the world to see. The Law is now on the side of the criminal. This is the power and beauty of the Gospel. This is justification.

Wisdom on How We View Daily Life

"Life's value is not its duration but its donation- not how long we live but how fully and how well...Time cannot be hoarded, only spent well." -J. Oswald Sanders

Amazing Grace

John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, used to be one of the meanest men at sea. He ran a slave transport ship before he was saved. The Gospel changed him and saved him, but he never was completely free in this life from the guilt that he bore for the lives of the men who died or who were transported to slavery. He was always haunted by his past actions. In the same way, a man who was a chief torturer in Cambodia during a time when well over one million people were killed was converted when he heard the Gospel. He recently went back to the "killing fields" and wept over the former sin in his life. He too, may never be free from the guilt of his sin in this life. The Gospel can break even the hardest hearts, like these men and like mine. At the same time, one day the tears of guilt and shame will be wiped away by the nail-pierced hand. Because of Jesus, our sins will be remembered no more. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Be thou faithful unto death

Currently, we are working our way through the book of Acts in the New Testament. In chapter seven, one reads the story of Stephen's stoning. What got him stoned was his sermon. It is one of the best sermons you will ever read. However, by our standards today, it was a miserable failure. As far as we know, no one was converted. In fact, it seems to have just made people mad at Christians, mad enough to kill Stephen. Is that success today? Probably not. The interesting thing is that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit when he delivered his message. Compare this to Peter's Spirit-filled sermon at Pentecost several chapters earlier that was a huge "success" in that 3,000 people were converted. Both sermons were bold and clearly proclaimed Christ, and both were directed completely by the Spirit. Yet, they have two very different results. So, what should we learn from this? People's response is not the standard for success. Faithfulness to proclaiming Christ under the direction of the Holy Spirit is success. Think about it. Is it not a huge victory for people who are self-absorbed and fearful by nature to actually overcome those sins for the sake of Christ and others? That is success, no matter the result. May God grant us true success- faithfulness unto death.

Kenya and Abortion

Much has been made of the violence and suffering during this time of ethnic cleansing in Kenya, and rightfully so. Many of the stories I have read during this time have burdened my heart. I was in some of those exact same locations this summer. Watching people hatchet others with machetes and burning them alive is something no one should get used to. We should pray with earnest for this to end and for Jesus to bring peace to this land through the message and demonstration of His grace. At the same time, God reminded me to not get used to the silent genocide that still happens around me every day. The babies aborted in the last thirty years now numbers in the tens of millions, maybe more. These babies are hatched and sucked out of their mother's wombs or burned alive in salt-water. The same thing that is happening in Kenya is happening here in America- except what happens in Kenya is public. What is worse is that in America this is legal. We should seek God to bring peace in Kenya and for an end of abortion in America.