Thoughts from Piper's book... Demand #1

Demand 1: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Jesus answered . . . “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” – John 3:5, 7

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3

Jesus tells Nicodemus (a prominent Pharisee) that one must be born of water and spirit. Yet he does not understand. One clue is found in Ezekiel 36:25-27:

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

Piper says, “Jesus sees all of humanity divided into two parts: those who are merely born once – ‘born of the flesh,’ ‘the (spiritually) dead’ – and those who are ‘born again’ by the Spirit of God – those who are alive to God and see his kingdom as true and supremely desirable.” (p. 39)

Piper tells us that we do not need a moral improvement from the old. New life is what the WHOLE world needs. The dead cannot help themselves. WE cannot help ourselves. And until we remove the log of pride from our unbelieving eyes this truth will never penetrate our hearts. The gospel will never penetrate our hearts. And it is when we let this truth overcome us that our hearts will turn from ourselves to God and to others.

We are living in a cemetery. And there is new life in Christ. We are His tools. God uses us to raise the dead!

"What Jesus Demands from the World," by John Piper

Los Angeles Townhouse?!

No, I don't have a townhose in L.A. :-D

But I did move into my townhouse in Louisville last weekend! I finally have a place I can call my own (along w/ 3 other guys) about 10 minutes from school. Over the weekend we got all four (yes, four) of our couches moved in, and I found a bed for myself from the school thrift store. Although not much is very organized or unpacked, we've been quick to watch lots of movies and play crazy games with the friends still around the area for winter. It's been such a blessing!

In other news - Katie and I arrived safely home in Los Angeles yesterday around 11am local time. Though California is a little bit colder than I would like, it is so good to be home! Mom was in the ER for a few days due to 2 liters (yes, 2) surrounding her lungs that they were finally able to drain right as we were flying in. She's home now and actually out shopping w/ dad at the moment. After cleaning the house, us kiddos are taking it easy by watching heroes and cleaning the entire house haha.

Last Christmas I was given a book by my worship pastor... "What Jesus
Demands from the World," by John Piper. The chapters are reltively short and I hope to summarize my thoughts chapter by chapter in a journal, and on here for encouragement. After reading the introduction of this book it is hard to explain my excitement for the pages to come. I pray to be challenged far more than I have been in a long time. And I pray for a ready heart, to hear what I have needed to hear for even longer.

I pray for you all as school is winding down and family is coming soon, you'll enjoy the blessings God has given us in one another, and from Himself. I pray you will not so easily lose focus of the spiritual blessings and eternal joys as we are bombarded with secularism, physical gifts, great meals to prepare, people to make happy, and the stress of waiting for the world to kick back to normal come January. As Jesus blessed us by giving himself, likewise bless others by giving them yourself.

Christmas - U2

Take this video for what it is... a music video. I hope you simply enjoy it. I did. (make sure you click it...it's a link)


U2

Falling in Prayer

"We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity. We should pray when we are not in the proper mood, for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition."
- Charles H. Spurgeon

Once again, I have a few fairly important things to figure out fairly quickly. One being the apartment situation. Unfortunately two of my (hopefully) future roomies make too much money for the complex we were aiming for right next to school so that is now out of the question (after about 2 weeks of inquiry). So... we look for a new complex asap! The first will be tomorrow afternoon.

The apartment and other issues can only be resolved by God so I am seeking Him in earnest prayer. It seems I may have been caught off guard and welcomed back to the real world this time. Perhaps it was foolish of me to think things were going alright. Yet here I am, living proof of the steps I've taken to get here by God's grace. And still He will lead, through sun or storm.

One specific blessing in my life is the opportunity to sing w/ some of the music students here at Boyce for some pastors of the KBC next week. We will be doing some Christmas carols as well as some worship pieces!