We Are Not Saved From Trouble; We Are Saved In Trouble!

Photo Credit: Jackdawson.com

"We are not saved from trouble; we are saved in trouble."  This is not only the testimony of this pastor-blogger, it's the confession of every believer that is seeking to build Christ's church, God's way!

As Miller notes, "As long as a Christian is in the world he will be pressed as through by a great mob; he will be crushed in spirit as through great crushing weights were lying on his chest; he will know spiritual anguish like that of a mother in labor.  This, Jesus has told us.  When he speaks, therefore of peace, it is not the peace of unruffled days but the inner confidence of the warrior who is weary, thirsty, outnumbered, and wounded, but who fights bravely on, confident of the outcome, assured of victory.  We are saved not from trouble; we are saved in trouble."   John 16:16-33 

Feed My Sheep



Photo Credit: samcen.org

 My chief task as your lead pastor is to be like a mother bird during the week- and your faithful giving frees me up to gather spiritual food that I might feed you the best biblical diet possible when we come together on the
Lord's Day.

(John 21:27, Titus 1:9-10; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 2 Timothy 4:1-5)!

Peace and Courage in Christ

Photo credit: todayschristianwomen.com

"If, therefore, we desire to be Christians, we must not seek exemptions from the cross, but must be satisfied with this single consideration, that, fighting under the banner of Christ, we are beyond all danger, even in the midst of the combat."

John Calvin commenting on John 16:33.

Jesus said to them, "Take courage, I have overcome the world!"

Live in Light of Eternity

photo credit: hvchurch.com

And Jesus was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself.  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26)

"The sands of time are sinking" and "the dawn of heaven breaks." 

Therefore, "I have born scorn and hatred, I have born wrong and shame,
Earth's proud ones have reproach'd me, for Christ's thrice-blessed name.
Dark, dark dark hath been the midnight, but dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land." (Anne Ross Cousin, 1857).

 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them,  and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.  And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." (Rev. 21:3-5)

 

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

Photo Credit: www.hymnscript.com

"Might not the angels wish to weep in sympathy with Jesus?  Who can forebear to sorrow when Jesus stands insulted by menials, reviled by abjects, forsaken by His friends, blasphemed by His foes?  It was enough to make a man's heart break to see the Lamb of God so roughly handled." Charles Spurgeon (MTP, 24:617).

While commenting on John 16:20 Jim Boice writes, "The world, so far from sorrowing at the loss of Jesus, actually rejoiced that He was out of their way and would no longer be a bother to them." 

"So it remains today that people are glad for Jesus not to be in the world, preferring his crucifixion to His righteous reign" (Richard Phillips, John Commentary, volume II, p. 356).

The State of the American Church Today

photo credit: orlandograce.org

John Calvin's description of the disciples pre-Pentecost sounds an awful lot like the (childish) contemporary Church (see Eph. 4:11-16).

"They were so slow that the slightest difficulty of any kind made them hesitate; for as children who are learning the alphabet cannot read a single verse without pausing frequently, so almost every word of Christ gave them some sort of offence, and this hindered their (spiritual) progress."

Don't Be a Fair Weather Christian

"It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord's faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father's countenance is hidden. A faith which can say, in the direst trouble, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,' is heaven-born faith."   Charles Spurgeon