Monday, December 26, 2005

The Christ

Who crucified Jesus? God did.

Despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ...
we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORDhas laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth....
He was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people. ...
There was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORDto crush him;
he has put him to grief.
Posted by Jeremy Turner :: 12:18 AM :: 5 comments

Post a Comment

-------------------------------------

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The Attitude of Christ

Phil. 2:5-11
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Even though Jesus was literally GOD in the flesh, He did not come down to earth in great power, and take a high position. With all of the power He had, he could have taken any position he desired, and lived absolutely any kind of lifestyle he wanted. But, what did he do? He emptied Himself. What did he empty himself of? He chose to put off His exalted position. Christ went from one extreme to the other. He went from powerful Creator, to servant of the poor. He chose to take on our human form, so that there was nothing in Him that would appeal to the world.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. Is. 53:2

To the eyes of the world Christ was a nobody, he had nothing that the people of the world would be envious of. It says he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death on the cross. Christ could not have been brought any lower than dying the death of a criminal. Because of this humility, God raised Him up above everyone and everything.

This is the attitude Paul tells us to have.

Posted by Jeremy Turner :: 7:01 AM :: 5 comments

Post a Comment

-------------------------------------

Monday, December 12, 2005

Thoughts and a Quote

1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

There is something in a man that yearns for accomplishment. When he is effective, and he realizes that hard work is paying off, he gets a sense of worth, confidence, and fulfillment. A man who doesn't put much effort into what he does, meanders about with little or no purpose for living. If he ever does have purpose, it quickly fades as he wonders into something new. May I, with Paul, feel as if I am working hard. And when that happens may I see it as the grace of God. Lord, help me to be purposeful!

God has appointed, I believe, that good things be hard work. Work is appointed for us. Prayer is not a replacement for work. It is the atmosphere of work. It is what gives to work it's supernatural effectiveness. -John Piper

Posted by Jeremy Turner :: 8:33 AM :: 5 comments

Post a Comment

-------------------------------------

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Country Music Christianity

When it comes to talkin' bout "Sunday Morning Christianity", Country Music artist, Craig Morgan says it best!

Raymond's in his Sunday best,
He's usually up to his chest in oil an' grease.
There's the Martin's walkin' in,
With that mean little freckle-faced kid,
Who broke a window last week.
Sweet Miss Betty likes to sing off key in the pew behind me.

That's what I love about Sunday:
Sing along as the choir sways;
Every verse of Amazin' Grace,
An' then we shake the Preacher's hand.
Go home, into your blue jeans;
Have some chicken an' some baked beans.
Pick a back yard football team,
Nothin' much of anything:
That's what I love about Sunday.

There are a lot of people in our community who do not know God, but have a "moral goodness" of sorts. Some of these folks may be saved by the Gospel according to CMT, but do not know the God of the bible from George W. Bush. I find the town in which I live to be full of "saved" lost people. The bible says that the heart set on the flesh is hostile toward God, and cannot submit to His law. How do you convince one of these "God friendly" people that they are actually lost, let alone hostile toward God? One might argue, "you don't have to convince anyone of anything, that's God's job". Though that's true, I believe we are called to plead with people, and do our best to convince them of the truth (Acts 28:23-24). Last Sunday, people who reject God were warned in the message. This caused me to think back to the countless times I was warned when I was lost. Knowing these warnings had once went right over my head, I asked myself these questions: "What does Romans 8 Hostility look like in the hearts and lives of the "moral"? How can we confront "good" people with the truth? What can be said to someone who thinks they love God, but obviously lives for themselves? I think these are important questions, because this is what we are dealing with for the most part. Also, check out my dad's latest post, "The Great Controversy" and Josh's latest post, "Results of Preaching the Gospel"

Posted by Jeremy Turner :: 8:37 AM :: 8 comments

Post a Comment

-------------------------------------

Friday, December 02, 2005

The Disciplined Minded Disciple (Intentionality)

Phi 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus...

In the Word, there are all sorts of ways we are told to alter our state of mind. In this chapter, I believe Paul is telling the Philippians to be intentional (or to have intentionality, Heather). Making an effort to renew their minds was something they could do immediately upon reading Paul’s instruction. In fact, change would have to take place in their minds, before their actions would be affected. In this chapter, “Have this mind”, to me is kind of like saying, “take all that I’ve said, and actually do something with it!”

Sometimes I ask the Lord if he will help me to stay on track and stay focused on Him throughout a particular day. Sometimes I even beg Him, but somewhere along the line a distraction, usually pretty small changes my state of mind. To do all that Paul is teaching here takes some heavy discipline, and it’s pretty obvious that a disciplined mind must precede disciplined behavior. A man who cannot exercise self control over his mind, should not be expected to in his actions. I think at times, we expect God to, “for his glory”, miraculously change the way we do things (sometimes I think my prayers are more effective if I use phrases such as “for your glory”, or a host of other things. It’s kind of silly if you think about it. Lord, please give me this new house...uh... for your glory!!). Anyway, God does mold us, but he has chosen to do it through our discipline. I could say, “God must put the desire in me to read his word”, and that would be a true statement, but if I expect him to make me want his word like a kid wants an ice cream cone, I will never read it! If I do, however, read the bible no matter how I “feel”, it was God all along giving me the desire to do so. Every biblical mindset is already ours in Christ Jesus. The battle is believing it. --All in light of the Cross.

Posted by Jeremy Turner :: 7:07 AM :: 6 comments

Post a Comment

-------------------------------------