If There’s Anything The World Desperately Needs It’s Men To Accept The Work Of The Cross In Their Lives

We don’t like to loose. We’re taught to stand our ground and defend our rights.

The Christian life though is a “lost life” if we want to walk in the fullness of God’s plan.

Jesus said he is the way the truth and the life. His life is not just a story, it’s a message, and a pattern for us. His purpose was to do the will of the Father and this came at a price.

The price was his own will. The will of God led him to lay down His rights and position… even His life for us even though we don’t deserve it.

We can expect to be led, like He was, “to the cross” if we want God’s will above our own.

family beach holiday

An example …a husband is called to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. See where it’s going..? Even though a husband has a God given authority in his home, we are called to be ready to loose our rights for the sake of our wife. If I want to carry the heart of God for her there’s a price to pay – it’s being ready to “loose my life.”

Being ready to accept the work of the cross did not diminish Jesus’ authority. On the contrary, it established his spiritual authority.

If there’s anything the world desperately needs it’s men to accept the work of the cross in their lives. Being ready to loose for the sake of carrying the life of Christ, to be examples of God’s own heart in their homes.

Here’s the thing – this isn’t works. It’s too hard to sustain if it’s my works. It’s only possible by His grace which he makes available to anyone who truly desires it.

The message of the cross doesn’t make sense to our natural reasoning but truly it’s the power and wisdom of God!

Philippians 2:5
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

  • Mark Saunders

Faith Truly Is A Gift That Comes From God

Stock markets have fallen. Investments have been shaken. The world is not the same place it was just weeks ago.

man reading newspaper while sitting near table

But the Lord never changes. We can bank on that! The unwavering faithfulness of God is the basis of our own faith.

Bible open on chapter Job

Faith is not something we ourselves can generate. The Bible tells us that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith is imparted into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Faith leaps over barriers that reasoning can’t get past. Faith always accomplishes God’s will.

Faith isn’t positive confession, although faith does speak and act. But sometimes it’s silent faith that perseveres through hardship, sickness or persecution. Faith is not a way to avoid troubles, but a way to go through troubles.

Faith truly is a gift that comes from God.

Jesus himself asked that when He returns will he find faith on the earth? Or will he find us positively confessing our own desires and expecting God to act because we have spoken?

Lord, increase our faith!

Romans 10:17
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1 Corinthians 12:9
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by [a]the same Spirit

Luke 18:8
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Hebrews Ch11

  • Mark Saunders

Coronavirus and Christ

We have adapted the blog post below by John Piper from his post on https://www.desiringgod.org/coronavirus where you can find helpful resources pertaining to Coronavirus.

‘Behold The Kindness And Severity Of God’

silhouette of mountain range during nighttime

It matters little what we think about the coronavirus. But it matters forever what God thinks. He is not silent about what he thinks. Scarcely a page in the Bible is irrelevant for this crisis.

Our voice is grass. His is granite. “The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:24–25). His words in Scripture “cannot be broken” (John 10:35). What he says is “true, and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:9). Listening to God, and believing him, is like building your house on a rock, not sand (Matthew 7:24).

His voice is not only true; it is perfectly wise for every situation. “He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom” (Isaiah 28:29). “His understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5). When he gives counsel about the coronavirus, it is firm, unshakable, lasting. “The counsel of the Lord stands forever” (Psalm 33:11). “His way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:31).

God’s words in these times are not only true and wise; they are also precious and sweet. “More to be desired are they than gold . . . sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). They are the sweetness of life: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). And with indestructible life come words of unshakable peace and joy: “Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

And the sweetness is not lost in this moment of bitter providence — not if we have learned the secret of “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). The secret is this: Knowing that the same sovereignty that could stop the coronavirus and doesn’t, is the very sovereignty that sustains the soul in it. Indeed, more than sustains — sweetens with hope that, for those who trust him, his purposes are kind, even in death.

“Behold the kindness and severity of God” (Romans 11:22). His providence is sweet and bitter. Naomi did not sin when she said, “The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20). That was true. And it was spoken at the very moment when all her fortunes were about to change.

This is not a season for sentimental views of God. It is a bitter season. And God sent it. We know this, because he “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). All things. Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from our heavenly Father (Matthew 10:29).

Nature is not sovereign. Satan is not sovereign. Sinful man is not sovereign. God rules them all (Luke 8:25; Job 1:12; 2:6; Acts 4:27–28). So, we say with Job, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

Therefore, God not only comprehends the coronavirus; he has purposes for it. God does nothing, and permits nothing, without wise purposes. Nothing just happens. Everything flows from the eternal counsels of God (Ephesians 1:11). All of it is wisdom. All of it is purposeful. For those who trust Jesus Christ, all of it is kindness. For others, it is a merciful wake-up call: “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17).

This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:21–24)

  • John Piper

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