The Bible is clear about man’s ability to seek after God. Without the leading of the Holy Spirit, no man will seek after God. There is no wiggle room in the Apostle Paul’s use of this Psalm in his letter to the Romans. He quotes Psalm 14:1–3 to drive home his point that things have always been this way. Abraham did not seek after God. He was wandering in the land of Ur and God sought him out. Paul himself was not seeking after the living God. He was murdering Christians and then Jesus sought him out and changed him. You were not seeking after God, yet Jesus has sought you out. He is seeking you out today. As you meditate on this passage today, think about this:

Quiet Your Heart

Sit in silence for a moment and listen to the echo of your heart screaming out, “I’m not helpless. I just need more time and I can figure it out.” Or, “I’m smart and spiritual. I do seek for God. He will help me once I help myself.” Look again at the passage and put your name in for “no one.” You don’t understand! You don’t seek for God!

Humble Yourself

While this passage yells at our pride, it speaks quietly to our heart, whispering the name of Christ. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he might exalt you at the proper time. Christ came to heal the sick, not the healthy. He came to give sight to the blind, and for those poor in Spirit, he will give the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus Christ knows your weakness and ineptitude, and he has sought you out and died on the cross in your place for your sins. Paul says later in Romans 5, “that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ has compassion on you even now. If you have yet to come to him today, fall on your knees and cry out to God for mercy. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved by Christ’s power. All of your striving
and searching has led you to this place where you see that “Jesus paid it all, all to him you owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.”

Steven Mulkey is the lead pastor at Mars Hill Olympia

 Posted by James Emery White

This is a blog with a very specific audience. I know it may exclude some of you, but it may be healthy for you to eavesdrop.

Fantastic article published by City of God Church on their site…please read!

http://www.cogchurch.org/pastor-erics-blog/post/the-difference-between-religion-and-the-gospel

I’ve found that for some it is far too easy to simply handle the Bible as scientists handle radioactive material.

Scripture gets examined like it’s behind glass and you need to be covered in sterile clothing with gloves to approach it. The Word gets treated as something solely to be studied and examined for its contents and data to be reported, rather than something to be encountered which actually reads you better than you read it.

THINKING THE CHARACTERS’ THOUGHTS

This doesn’t mean that we hijack faithful biblical interpretation or exegesis. Authors, locations, genres, audiences and so on are critical! Historian R.G. Collingwood said it right: “Any worthwhile history must involve thinking the characters’ thoughts after them.” Thus, running off in any direction desired by the reader is just foolish and selfish. Reading like that betrays a basic respect for the Author and authors of the Bible.

“The Bible contains the very words of God.

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I believe the prophet Isaiah offers us more than a clue to encountering the living God. He provides the exact prescription, “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).

MOVED WITH AWE

This means literally to shake or quake and be moved with awe before God’s Word. What was the last experience that caused you to tremble? Standing before Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon? Staring out into the sea or up into the cosmos? Seeing your baby born? Visiting a cathedral? Attending a funeral?

What if that experience of trembling was to actually precede our interpretation and exegesis of the Word? We simply need to recognize what we are reading matters. The Bible contains the very words of God.

YAWNING OR TREMBLING?

I find that my walk with God is most stagnate when I’m no longer trembling before God’s Word, but rather yawning as I stare at the words on the pages because I’ve grown self-absorbed, bored with God as I’m too familiar with him and focused on “my kingdom come” instead of “Thy Kingdom come.”

“The Bible is like a lion.

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When was the last time you trembled at the Word of God? If you’ll notice, Isaiah doesn’t say, “This is the one to whom I will look…”

• “the one who has a PhD in Theology.”
• “the one who has perfect church attendance.”
• “the one who has all their t’s crossed and i’s dotted.”
• “the one who has the most followers on Twitter.”

God looks for the trembling, the humble, the broken, and the one who shudders before the Creator’s Word. This isn’t trying to scare you out of Bible study. This is simply giving the Bible it’s proper place. The Bible is like a lion; if you really know what you’re looking at, you, by nature, will tremble because of its power.

“At these words Peter trembled, Plato did not; so let the fisherman keep what the great and famous philosopher ignored!” (Augustine Sermon 68.7).

NOTE: This article originally appeared on the website www.theresurgence.com by author Alex Early.

Have you ever stopped to think about prayer? Is it merely words? Is it merely thoughts expressed through silence? Could it be that there is so much more to prayer than even we recognize? As humans we have a limited view of what prayer is and what it seems to look like. We take part in it for meals, and perhaps for people and we constantly use the phrase “I’ll be praying for you.” However, have you stopped to think that maybe it actually is an encounter with the Triune God? Being in fellowship with the Holy Spirit while experiencing the fullness of His presence can never be merely words or a list of needs, but an opportunity to stand humbled before the Holy God and speaking to the Creator!

Come join us for a night of intentional prayer called ONE PRAYER at Grace Point Church (Creekwood School 800 W. Eldorado Parkway #106-Little Elm, TX) THIS Wednesday night, February 1st from 7:15-8:30 as we seek to be one body, with one purpose, in the presence of the ONE God! 

The term “disciple” means so many things…really. There are disciples of sports teams, there are disciples of the late Steve Jobs, there are disciples of Kim Kardashian, and Paris Hilton, and there are disciples of President Obama.  Now, more than ever, the word disciple meaning “follower” has a whole new connotation in the social media world of Twitter and Facebook.

When you read the term “disciple” in Scripture, there can be a lot of different thoughts as well. The calling of Andrew and Simon (who is called Peter), and said to them “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” (Matthew 4:19). There could be when he calls the others including James, John, or the twelve that would become his closest friends. There could also be thoughts of Stephen who was stoned to death, or the appearance to Saul on the road to Damascus.

However, the term “disciple” meant something completely different in Scripture than it means in mainstream culture in 2011. These guys literally gave up their lives to become “disciples” of Jesus. It didn’t simply mean to know what was going on in Jesus’ world, there were many who were witness to who Jesus was and what He was doing. No, being a disciple meant something so much more. It meant losing everything without any assurance of ever getting anything in return except maybe hardship, and probable torture.

Now though, we have taken the dangerous step of re-defining what disciple means. We have taken the words of Jesus when he said “follow me” and given our own qualifications to them. We have taken the seriousness of the title disciple and made it something that is an occasional thought, if that. The issue is not that we don’t know what it is, Jesus clearly outlines it in Scripture. The issue is that we don’t like what it means, and therefore have basically given it a meaning that works for US. 

The problem with this is that it was never what God intended and is actually blatantly sinful to do so. We have taken the seriousness of Jesus and made it common. You see, the fact that we don’t like the idea of giving up everything to follow Jesus then allows us, in our own mind of course, the opportunity to define for ourselves what a disciple is. We tend to lend ourselves to the thought that being a disciple comes down to learning what it means to be a “good” Christian. If we are faithful in attendance at church, if we have an occasional quiet time, if we literally do actually pray when we tell someone we will, or if we give over and above the 10% for our tithe, we put ourselves in the “good Christian” category and go on living our lives in our own self-approval thinking we are doing good.

Think for a second with me…is that really what Jesus meant when he proclaimed the words of the Great Commission “Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them everything I have taught you?” Was that it? Was what he was speaking of all along to get involved in a church somewhere that has all I want, have an occasional quiet time (a regular quiet time if I want to be seen as a good Christian…), sing with my hands in the air, and make sure I at least give close to 10%…I doubt it.

Here’s the deal, Jesus wanted people that were not dependent on saying a prayer for salvation, but truly believed Him by faith given through Him to be the Son of God. He wanted those who were willing to risk their lives, not in suburban America enjoying the lavishness of a fairly affluent culture, those who were ready and willing to follow Him at the risk of losing family, losing comfort, and ultimately potentially losing their life. You see, Jesus wasn’t looking merely for converts, He wanted disciples, those who stood toe-to-toe with Him and are willing to continue to do so now to make His name famous because salvation is found only in His name.

Whether we like it or not, Jesus clearly defines for us what it looks like to be a disciple in the words, “If anyone is to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Sound fun? No. Sound comfortable? No. Sound like performances or church attendance? Absolutely Not. Jesus was saying that He is worth it, and that if we truly desire to follow Him as His disciple, we will be hated, and we may lose everything and probably will. We follow with all that we are because He is everything He said that He was. We sell out to Him because He is worth it. We give all we are to Him because He is better than everything else as the only One who is the Son of God, the only One who holds our faith in His hands, the only One who forgives our sins, and most importantly, the only One who is worthy of all of our affection.

Why do we share the name of Jesus? Because He is worthy of all our affection. Why do we send missionaries? Because they believe in gods that are not worthy of all of our affection. Why do we go and make disciples? Because Jesus knew who He was and what He accomplished, and why we grow in becoming a disciple, and go out and make others is because there is One God who is worthy, and others need to know about Him.

So, have you lost the thought of disciple-making? Let us pursue Jesus and pursue others with Jesus.

Grace and Peace.