10 THINGS YOUNG SINGLES IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS OUGHT TO KNOW by Jared C. Wilson

1. It’s not bad to want to have sex with your significant other. It’d be another sort of worry if youdidn’t. The key is to want to glorify Christ more than you want to have sex with each other.

2. The key to glorifying Christ more than you want to have sex with each other is that it is a decision to be made over and over again.

3. Persons in a dating or courting relationship are on their best behavior. So however they are now, you can expect, over time, for them to get “worse.” As familiarity grows, people let their guards down, become more their true selves. In this way, marriage does not fix bad behavior; if anything, it often gives it freer reign. Ladies, this means that if your boyfriend is controlling, suspicious, verbally condescending or manipulative, he will become more so the longer your relationship goes on. Whatever you are making excuses for or overlooking now will get harder to ignore and more prominent the longer your relationship goes on. By God’s grace, people pursuing Christ canchange, but you can’t fix him and marriage itself won’t straighten him out. If he’s rough around the edges now, it’s going to get rougher.

4. Nearly every Christian I know who is married to an unbeliever loves their spouse and does not necessarily regret marrying them, but they have nevertheless experienced deep pain and discontent in their marriage because of this unequal yoking and would now never advise a believer to marry an unbeliever.

5. Assuming you’re special and you’re different and their experiences won’t reflect yours is shortsighted, unwise, and arrogant. The people who love you and are warning/advising you against your relationship might be ignorant fools. Ignorant fools do exist. But odds are better that your parents, your pastor, and your older married friends are wiser than you think.

6. Living together before marriage is a marriage killer.

7. Premarital sex de-incentivizes a young man to grow up, take responsibility, and lead his home and family.

8. Pre-marital sex wounds a young woman’s heart, perhaps imperceptibly at first but undeniably over time, as she trades in covenant benefits without covenant security. This is not the way God designed sex to fulfill us. Never give your body to a man who has not pledged to God his faithfulness to you in covenant marriage, which presupposes an accountability to a local church. In short, don’t give your heart to a man who is not accountable to anybody who provides godly discipline.

9. All of your relationships, including your romantic relationship, are meant to make Jesus look big more than they are meant to provide you personal fulfillment. When we make personal fulfillment our ultimate priority in our relationships, ironically enough, we find ourselves frustratingly unfulfilled.

10. You are loved by God with abundant grace in Christ’s atoning work, and an embrace of this love by faith in Jesus provides Holy Spiritual power and satisfaction to pursue relationships that honor God and thereby maximize your joy.

Alistair Begg "Why Join a Local Church?"

I have enjoyed hearing Alistair Begg through the years and have heard him in person on several occassions.  He recently did this teaching "Why Join a Local Church?"

We are living in an era when church membership is less important than in years go by.  I am addressed this issue in my preaching on several occassions through the years, but I thought a "different" voice would serve us well.

Enjoy.

MAKING THE MOST OF SUNDAY by Joe Thorn

Corporate worship on the Lord’s day is precious to the people of God. We are invited to gather together for fellowship with God and one another through both word and sacrament, prayer and song. This gathering is perhaps the most beautiful, earthly picture we have of the church as we, of differing backgrounds and interests, unite together in Jesus Christ. Edmund Clowney put it so well when he wrote:

“Above all, we must prize the blessing of corporate worship. The church of the Lord, gathered for worship, marks the pinnacle of our fellowship with the Lord and with one another. The church is the people of God, the new humanity, the beginning of the new creation, a colony of heaven… In corporate worship we experience the meaning of union with Christ.”1

Yet, Sundays can be trying. We are busy and tired from a week of labor and activities. For those families with children just getting out the door on time can be a challenge--if not a battle! And when we finally sit down in church we are assaulted with distractions emerging from our own hearts and minds.

I want to encourage you to make the most of corporate worship, not just this weekend, but every weekend. As we look forward to what God will do among us as we gather let’s remember that there are three ways to get the most out of your Sundays with the church: prepare, participate, and reflect.

Prepare

The significance of corporate worship must not be missed. We are not gathered to observe a show, or attending a lecture. We gather to worship the living God, drawing near to him through Jesus Christ, feasting on his word, repenting of sin, and rejoicing in his salvation. Getting the most out of worship is greatly helped by preparing our hearts to meet with God the night before.

Prayer is the primary means by which we prepare our hearts for worship. We should be in prayer for those who will lead as well as all who attend, asking God to draw men to the Son, to revive the lukewarm by his Spirit, and to penetrate hearts with the word.

And of course you must pray for your own soul; confessing your sin, trusting in the pardon only the Father gives in Jesus. We ought to be asking God to show us any hurtful ways in our hearts, and to speak to our fears and needs when we gather in the assembly. In his outstanding little book, The Christian's Daily Walk, Henry Scudder explained the place of prayer in preparation for worship when he wrote:

“Then pray for yourself, and for the minister, that God would give him a mouth to speak, and you a heart to hear, as you both ought to do. All this, before you shall assemble for public worship.”2

It is also helpful to read and meditate on the passage that your pastor will preaching from on Sunday. Early on in my first church plant a man named Mark called my cell phone, which at the time was also the church’s official phone line. He told me he was in town with his son and would be joining us for worship the next day. He wanted to know what passage I was preaching from so he and his son could read it and pray through it together that night. The next day Mark and his son showed up to our little church plant prepared to worship our risen Savior. I had no idea the night before I was speaking on the phone with Pastor Mark Dever of Capital Hill Baptist Church! His example is one we would all do well to follow.

Another means of preparation is rest. The hectic (and often times unnecessary) pace of our lives can make transitioning to worship on the Lord’s Day difficult. Be sure to get enough sleep the night before. Fatigue can be a great hindrance to worship, so let’s not give it any room to distract us. On Sunday morning be sure to get up early enough to not be rushed. And when you arrive be ready to respond to what the Lord will do.

Participate

Getting the most out of corporate worship requires you to do more than show up. You must participate in the act of worship in all of its forms. You are not an observer, but a worshipper. The only Observers the Lord himself who receives our offering with delight through his Son Jesus Christ.

Get there early. Sometimes, in God’s providence, we arrive late, but our habit should be to arrive early. Getting there before worship begins allows us to not only be part of the whole gathering, but also gives opportunity to see and serve others. The Call to Worship that formally begins the assembly is not a bell that merely announces the beginning of an event, and is an invitation to draw our hearts upward toward our triune God. The first verses of Scripture that are read are put in place through careful planning and God’s providence. Arriving late means you are missing something good God has for you to hear.

Hear the word with eagerness. The reading of Scripture in worship is the voice of God, and we must be ready to hear him. Here the Lord speaks to his people collectively, and to you individually. Distractions will abound, so we must consciously lay them aside to give God our full attention. Whenever the word of God is read it is an “audible conference of the Almighty with your soul. A distraction lets him talk unto the walls.”3

Sing with your heart to the Lord and to those present. Scripture commands us to address “one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Eph 5:19) It is painfully obvious that in many churches today much of the congregation lip-syncs along with the band on stage. Even if the entire body was to sing aloud it is often impossible to hear them over the vocalists and musicians. But the Lord calls us to sing to him and to one another. This is a form of worship God has specifically prescribed for us. Yes, we sing with our hearts, but such songs are to be amplified by faith and run through our mouths. Here is where the real volume should come in. We should be turned up as far as we can go.

There may be songs you are not fond of. If the melody isn’t to your liking focus on the words, assuming they are reflect the truth of God and the gospel. Do not allow your preferences to short-circuit worship. This gathering is not set to meet your tastes but the taste of almighty God.

Pray with those who lead in prayer. It is easy to tune out when someone else is leading in prayer. So keep in mind this is not the time for one person to pray, but for all God’s people to pray. Push distractions out of your mind to give attention to what is being offered up by the one, and echo those prayers in your own heart, adding to them as you and the rest of the church entreat the Lord together. “Prayer is a pouring out the heart unto the Lord; by a distraction you pour it aside."4

Follow the preacher. When the preacher stands to deliver the sermon work hard to follow him closely, bible in hand, ready to receive the message not as man’s word, but God’s word (1 Thess 1:6; 2:13) If you have a hard time following the preacher, keep your Bible open and prayerfully search it. When you read the word of God it is read it is a “perusing of God's heart in black and white, where you may believe every letter to be written in blood.”5

Let the various parts of corporate worship draw you to our triune God. In our weakness, or sometimes in the weakness of a particular element in worship, we may not experience much grace in the moment. But If the songs do not enflame your heart, perhaps the sermon will. Or if the sermon is difficult for you to digest, perhaps the prayers will lift your head in adoration. God is at work in each element of worship, so each component has the ability to challenge and change you, including the call to worship, the songs, the prayers, the preaching, the Lord’s Supper, the offering, and the benediction.

Go as one who is sent. As worship concludes and you return home, remember that you are not simply leaving, but are sent by God to believe his word, walk in the Spirit, and testify to the reality of Jesus Christ in all of life.

Reflect

Finally, when the assembly has been sent out, and you are alone or with family or friends, reflect on what was heralded and heard. Return to the word that was preached, discuss it with others, and ask God to continue working in you what he said that day.

There is much to be gained in corporate worship, but I find that  we easily miss out when we are not prepared for it, participating in it, or reflecting on it. Again Scudder noted:

Do all this the rather, because there is not a clearer sign to distinguish you from one that is pro fane, than this, of conscientiously keeping holy the Lord's day. Neither is there any ordinary means of gaining strength and growth of grace in the in ward man like this, of due observing the sabbath. For this is God's great mart or fair-day for the soul, on which you may buy of Christ wine, milk, bread, marrow and fatness, gold, white raiment, eye salve, — even all things which are necessary, and which will satisfy, and cause the soul to live. It is the special day of proclaiming and sealing of pardons to penitent sinners. It is God's special day of publishing and sealing your patent of eternal life. It is a blessed day, sanctified for all these blessed purposes.6

1. Edmund Clowney, The Church

2. Henry Scudder, The Christian’s Daily Walk

3. Richard Steele, A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in Worship

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Henry Scudder, The Christian’s Daily Walk

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Go and Proclaim the Gospel by Witness Lee

Go and Proclaim the Gospel (2) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark 16:15  And He said to them, Go into all the world and 

proclaim the gospel to all the creation.

Matt 28:19  Go therefore and disciple all the nations, 

baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and 

of the Holy Spirit,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Part 2 of 2]

It is very strange that most Christians are not balanced 

persons. The Lord calls us to come to Him, but after we come, 

He tells us to go to the nations. However, some Christians 

learn how to come to the Lord all the time, but they forget to 

go. Of course, other Christians today are going Christians, 

but I am afraid that they do not come enough to the Lord. 

Therefore, we must be balanced. The coming and going 

Christians are sound, normal Christians. On the one hand, we 

need to learn how to come to the Lord all the time, day by 

day; then on the other hand, we need to learn how to go. If we 

have the intention and sincere desire to practice the church 

life, we must be brothers and sisters who come to the Lord day 

by day and go to others all the time. 

When I was young, I was helped by a short but interesting 

writing. The writer said that in order to be a sound 

Christian, every day we must spend at least ten minutes to 

speak to the Lord, ten minutes for the Lord to speak to us, 

ten minutes to speak to sinners, and ten minutes to speak with 

the saints [other believers]. Day by day we must have these 

four times of at least ten minutes each. This is not a small 

matter. Try to put it into practice. If we do this, we will be 

healthy in spiritual matters and in the spirit. However, we 

should not do too much; at the outset we should just do a 

little. 

We need to be balanced. We must include gospel preaching as an 

item to balance our Christian life. If we have not preached 

the gospel in several days, we are not balanced. In the four 

Gospels, whoever came to the Lord, the Lord sent him to others 

to preach. Matthew 28:19 tells us to go to the nations, but 

Mark 16:15 says that we must go even to all creation. 

Christians have much to do to preach the gospel not only to 

the nations but also to every creature. We must do it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(c) Living Stream Ministry. Bible verses are taken from the 

Recovery Version of the Bible, and Words of Ministry from 

Witness Lee, Basic Principles for the Service in the Church 

Life, Chapter 5, Section 1. All are published by Living Stream 

Ministry, Anaheim, CA

Please visit us at www.emanna.com 

Comments to: comment@emanna.com. 

God is Out To Destroy Us? by Tullian Tchividjian

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’  Judges 7:2 (NIV)

All too often, though we admit that God is in the business of destroying our idols, we forget, that that includes our biggest idol—our own self-sufficiency.

Before Gideon faces the Midianites, God takes his army from thirty-two thousand well-armed fighting men to three hundred who lap like dogs, armed with trumpets and jars of fire. He does this for an explicit reason: He doesn’t want any confusion. He wants Gideon and the nation of Israel to know just who it is who has delivered them.

God makes Israel weak so that He might be shown to be strong. God shows Israel their need for a Savior by sending almost the entire army home (v. 3) before answering that need, saying, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands” (v. 7).

God uses His law to show us our need, to strip us down to our bare bones. This hurts. Gideon goes from a well-outfitted army of thirty-two thousand to a group of three hundred dog lappers with trumpets and empty jars. Just when we think we have it all together, the brakes go out on the car, a credit card bounces in public, or your kid pees on your couch.

But our God is the God of resurrections. That’s His second job. His first job, announced with His first word, the law, is to destroy us. Or at least, to destroy our idea of an “us” that is not already destroyed. This is God’s first work, destroying our idol of self-sufficiency.

There is, though, good news. We’re sitting in the middle of the rubble of our lives, wondering how we ended up like this. We’re looking at the walls of the Midianites, and all we’ve got are some trumpets and some jars with a little fire. We’re dead. But our God is a God of resurrection, and He has promised to make all things new, and that includes you and me. Today! Right now! We are made new! Death has been defeated and life eternal has been won, and it’s all been announced before we ever had to do a thing. Jesus did everything so that we need do nothing. It is finished—right now, today, and forever.


from Tullian Tchividjian - It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News.

It’s a New Day: The Choice is Yours by Max Lucado

It’s quiet. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming. In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose. I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves. I choose joy. I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical... the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God. I choose peace. I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live. I choose patience. I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite Him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage. I choose kindness. I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me. I choose goodness. I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness. I choose faithfulness. Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home. I choose gentleness. Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself. I choose self-control. I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek His grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest. ~ When God Whispers Your Name Excerpted with permission from the Let the Journey Begin by Max Lucado, copyright Thomas Nelson 2015.