Treasure

The Kingdom of the Heavens is buried Treasure; would you sell yourself to buy the One you've found?

Matthew 13:44—"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

I love this verse, and talking about it in college group tonight brought it to the forefront of my mind again. It's a beautiful verse, but (because?) it's also incredibly convicting…

Do I treasure Christ as I should? As long as I'm immersing myself in the world, the answer is no. As long as my thoughts, actions, and desires are based on temporal things, the answer is no (1 John 2:15-17). As long as I'm running to a broken cistern instead of to fountains of Living Water, the answer is no (Jeremiah 2:12-13).

God, I want to treasure YOU above everything else, and IN everything else! I want to keep seeking eternal things, the things that are above, where Christ is seated… I want to continually dwell on—and have my heart breaking and rejoicing all at the same time—the sacrificial act of love that you did by sending Your perfect Son to die on the cross for my sins, to bear the punishment and wrath that should have been mine! Jesus, please grasp my heart and make YOU my TREASURE. I want to be the one who gives up everything, out of pure JOY, just to have You.

Thanks for listening as I preach to myself and struggle to put to death the sinful desires in my heart.

Some cool verses that also came up in conversation and such tonight—

• 2 Corinthians 6:10
  
• Colossians 3:1-3
  
• Habakkuk 3:17-19
  
• Genesis 4:6-7
  

Real Christianity

Check out this picture John Piper posted on his blog... It certainly is a stunning example of what real Christianity is, especially compared to the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.

When My Heart Turns Away from God

"Why"
Why would I ever choose a broken cistern over Living Water? (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

Where did you go?
For so long you've seemed so lost, so distant—
Though you try to hide your face
Your eyes betray the emptiness of your soul.

Won't you please come back?
Turn around, before it's too late, time is running…
Approaching dusk is never scary
Until the darkness swallows up all the light.

Don't you see what you'll become?
That twisting, winding, deceivingly wide road
You've never taken. But you know the destruction
That lies on that horrid path.

Remember what it was like before?
You loved the light, you frolicked in it—
The warmth of the sun brightened your eyes, colored your cheeks.
Come again to feel the warmth, what you once loved.

Do you miss the sweetness of satisfaction?
Get out of the mudpit and taste of the cool fountain;
I know you never thirsted when you drank of Living Water.
Quench your restless desires with eternity.

Why did you ever want to leave?
How could you forget the Lover of your soul?

I Am Too Easily Satisfied…

CS Lewis once wrote,

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and immorality and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Why is this quote so real, so poignant? Because it's true. Jeremiah 2:10-13 says the same thing… look especially hard at verse 13—

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

So often I turn to the bland pleasures of the world to satisfy my weak desires, rather than going to the one true source of all joy, God Himself. So often I drink dirty, filthy mud water, when all I have to do is turn my back on my own work and drink from the purest, coolest, most delicious source of water there is—the Fountain of LIVING Waters (see also John 4:13-14, and notice how Jesus uses this as a claim of His equality with God).

When I read this quote from Spectacular Sins, it just reaffirmed what my college pastor has been saying over and over again… I'm not QUITE sure, but I think God is trying to tell me something here! (sarcasm…)

This [Colossians 1:14-20] is worth memorizing. If your heart ever wavers and grows cold, come here. Memorize this litany of glories, and ask God to give you affections that correspond to the measure of this greatness—infinite in beauty, immeasurable. If any person or any power or any wisdom or any love awakens any admiration or any amazement or any joy, let it be the greatest person and the greatest power and the greatest wisdom and the greatest love that exists—Jesus Christ.

Why would I turn to ANYTHING except Jesus Christ for joy or satisfaction, when HE is the ultimate beauty to behold, when walking in His will is the ultimate adventure, and knowing Him intimately is the ultimate experience?

Valley Girls Unite!

Okay, so this is so applicable to many diverse groups of people, not JUST valley girls, haha.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on the Sovereign Grace Ministries big February Sale!!! It starts February 1^st; that's in three days… (I thought valley girls might be appropriate, because everyone knows how valley girls love to shop, and find the perfect item at the perfectly reduced price!) I found out about it on the Worship Matters blog… You can check out that site's blog post to see the specifics of the sale…

If there are specific books I could recommend for you to purchase it would be Cross Centered Life, for sure, as well as Living the Cross Centered Life and Humility: True Greatness. I have not read the book Worldliness, but I did read bits and pieces of it that CJ Mahaney has posted online for free, and I know someday, hopefully soon, I'd like to read that book as well. Something else that caught my eye is one of the studies in the Pursuit of Godliness series—it's called Disciplines for Life: Steps to Spiritual Strength… However, the whole book is available online in pdf form for FREE… The Worship Matters blog says that 23 books (I'll post an update blog when I find out exactly which books) will be available for $7, while everything from the Pursuit of Godliness series will be $4… So I guess I'd better start saving up!

Also, all the music albums are $6! I don't have much from music from Sovereign Grace Ministries, but all of what I do have has incredible lyrics, all solidly based on Scripture; many times it will even be Scripture itself put into song. For some free downloads to sample their music, check out "I Have A Shelter" from the Come Weary Saints album, "Praise the Lord" from the Psalms album, "Glory Be To God" from the Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man, "You Are Good" from the album You and You Alone, and the orthodoxy "What A Savior" from the album Looked Upon.

By the way, the sale only lasts until February 29^th, so hurry over to the site and make your choices quickly! Did I mention that they always give FREE standard shipping for all orders in the continental US?

Oldschool...

Colossians 3:2 says that we should be seeking the things that are above, and what better way to do that than through music that is glorifying to God and filled with the Truth! Not only that, but hiding God's Word in our hearts is going to help us in our spiritual battles, because we'll already have the ammunition and weapons we need ready, and we'll have been training in how to use them (Psalm 119:9-16, Ephesians 6:13-17)...

Check out this album, it has a bunch of the great hymns of Christianity. I know for a long time I resented hymns, because in my immaturity I thought they were boring and and slow and basically useless to my life. But, through having some great worship leaders throughout the years, I have been so blessed to have these songs reintroduced into my life, along with some new hymns like "In Christ Alone" and "Power of the Cross". Even if you don't happen to like the particular sound of these songs, it would benefit your soul so much to look up the lyrics online and think through what the songs are saying-- I just can't get over how full of TRUTH hymns are!

Preparing Our Hearts

In the church that I am a member of, our youth group has been going through John, week by week, month by month, slowly looking at each passage and slowly making progress through the book. Now, with only four chapters to go, we are nearing the cross. In his message, "The Suffering Servant," CJ Mahaney states: "Spurgeon said that this topic is worthy of an angel's tongue, that it needs Christ Himself to expound it… and this morning we are left with my tongue." When I realized that this is what we were going to be going through for a number of weeks, I felt the same way. How can I communicate to the junior high girls in my cell group, and to the rest of the world, how weighty, how important, how holy this topic is? Jesus Christ, fully man, fully God, DIED on a cross, crucified by His own creation, in order to pay the debt for MY sins? So in order to prepare my heart, I have been listening to "The Suffering Servant" over and over and over again, and I invite you to do the same. [Side note— see instructions at bottom of post on how to download sermons from the Resolved website]

Whenever I read through the gospels, especially when I get to the end and I read them all together in chronological order, I find it increasingly difficult to get through from the Lord's Supper to His resurrection without having to take an emotional break. The more I read the gospels, the more it brings a tumultuous mix of both sorrow and joy. I am sorrowful because every blow, every painful breath, every derision that Jesus endured was because of my sin. I am sorrowful that because of my sin, the Son of God had the wrath of God the Father poured out on Him, the wrath that I deserved to endure for all of eternity! And yet, those very same points bring me everlasting JOY! I pray that I would never be able to get through the gospels without being amazed at the love of Christ and the grace of God; I never want to read this account half-heartedly; I never want to read through this account, or even think about it, without shedding tears. If you have never read through the crucifixion of Christ, including all the events leading up to it, and all the events that occurred after it, I would encourage you to do so! This webpage gives a list of all the passages of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (as well as some from Acts and other New Testament books when pertinent) in chronological order. You can print it out, or just write down the passages that you want to look at this week, and come back for the rest next week.

Here are some passages (besides those in the gospels) and other resources to help us all set our minds and hearts on the cross. I am praying for these next few weeks, that God would break my heart and your hearts, that the Holy Spirit would show us what we need to understand and apply in these passages, and that through these next couple weeks we would fall more in love with our precious Savior Jesus Christ.

Just a handful of passages about the cross:

• Isaiah 53:1-12
  
• Psalm 22:1-31
  
• Romans 8:1-39
  
• Ephesians 2:1-10
  
• 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
  
• Romans 5:6-8
  
• Romans 9:25-26
  
• Galatians 2:20-21
  
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
  

Some more sermons about the cross:

• Resolved 2007. Yes, all of the messages! Come on now, there's only ten! Hahaha. In all reality though, you absolutely should download each of these sermons. The theme of Resolved 2007 was the cross! Each of these sermons discusses the cross, and/or what the cross means for us once we have been saved; in other words, how does the cross change our lives and shape our thinking?
  
• Resolved 2008. Again, all of the messages were fantastic. The theme for 2008 was heaven and hell; it is only because of the cross that we are saved from hell and brought into God's own kingdom. Sessions 1, 4, 8, 11, and 12 deal with the cross heavily. The rest of the messages will be beneficial to your soul as well, as it is essential to remember who we were before Christ, what Christ has saved us from in order to glorify Him and praise and thank Him in the way that He deserves. And as Colossians 3:1-4 states, thinking about heaven, where Christ is, is the very thing we should be doing since we have been raised with Christ!
  
• The Cry From the Cross, by CJ Mahaney. This is another link to message 11 of Resolved 2008, in case you want just a small sample before you commit to downloading them all!
  
• The Present Power of Christ Crucified, by John Piper
  
• Christ Died for Our Sins that We Might Die to Sin, John Piper
  
• Christ Crucified, Our Boast, John Piper
  
• The Pleasure of God in Bruising the Son, John Piper
  
• Condemned and Crucified, sermon series by John MacArthur (I suggest downloading the high-quality version of all the sermons on the Grace to You website)
  
• The Crucifixion and Resurrection, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• The Precious Blood, John MacArthur
  
• Jesus on Trial, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• The Murder of Jesus, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• Mystery of the Resurrection, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• Our Great Salvation, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, sermon series by John MacArthur
  

Other links:

• The Sufficiency of Christ's Obedience in His Life and Death, article by John Piper
  
• Did Christ Die for Us or For God?, article by John Piper
  
• The Cross of Christ—all of the blog posts that come up for the topic "The Cross of Christ" on SovereignGraceMinistries.org
  

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How to download sermons ("The Suffering Servant" in particular) from Resolved.org:

1. In order to download old sermons off the Resolved website, you have to create a free login. The login page is the pate that I have hyperlinked you to. It's fast, easy, and free!
   
2. Once you get into the Media Vault, click on "Resolved" in the leftmost column.
   
3. Click "Resolved 2007" in the second column.
   
4. Finally, find "The Suffering Servant" in the list below.
   
5. Click "Add to Cart" (don't worry, as you can see in the "Cost" column, it's completely free!)
   
6. Click here to download your media, or find the link at the top of the page in red that will direct you to your media you have chosen to download.
   
7. The sermon should show up on that page, just click "Download", and you're good to go!
   

I know this might look like a lot of work, but it's really very simple. I was just trying to be as precise and helpful as possible in the directions, so they are very detailed. Let me know if you have any further questions… As I said, it looks like a lot of work, but I believe that it's well worth it! By the way, since all the messages from Resolved 2007 and Resolved 2008 are free, why not download ALL the messages and just listen to them a little at a time? Just a thought!

Free Audiobook of the Month

Every month, ChristianAudio.com makes one of their audio books available for download for FREE. This month they have made available a book called Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. It is a daily, short devotional book; one for the morning and one for the evening, for each day of the year. (Well, sort of—the book itself is for each day of the year, but this download includes 90 days… That's 3 free months though!) It's a quick read, and I know E-sword has Morning and Evening available for download for free… HOWEVER, it could be even easier to just listen to 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night! (Not in place of reading the Bible, of course, but in addition to it, as a way to get in more truth from the Bible!) I am thinking of cheating and looking ahead to see what Spurgeon has to say about Christmas Day… hmm…

Also, just a side note, the other free downloads I don't know much about. I do know John Piper is a great preacher, and I've heard good things about Dallas Willard, but (with my immense store of knowledge… NOT… lol) I haven't heard of the other author. But, as with anything and everything, as long as we search the Scriptures to see if what the world, our schools, and even our pastors are saying is TRUTH, we will not be led astray by believing lies! Let's be Bereans! (Acts 17:11)

New Resources!

As of today, John MacArthur has made all his sermons free for download from his website, Grace To You. For those of you familiar with John MacArthur's teaching, you know that he is unswervingly dedicated to preaching the Truth. In a world of ambiguity, tolerance, and relativity, we should feel blessed by God that He has chosen to put MacArthur here on earth as a resource for us to learn more about the One true God, the God of the Bible. And for those of you who are not familiar with Macarthur's teaching, now you have no excuse! All his sermons are free now, not to mention the countless other resources that have been free. Check it out!

Here are some of the sermons I'm downloading first!

• A Tale of Two Sons, Parts 1-3. (Luke 15:11-32)
  
• The Believer's Armor, Parts 1-7 (Ephesians 6:14-6:17)
  
• Possibly Colossians (Volume 1 and Volume 2), because that's what we're going through in my college group!
  

That's over 30 sermons… So I think that will be good for now… lol! Maybe when Christmas rolls around I'll start collecting some Christmas sermons by MacArthur, Piper, and Mahaney. And of course, I can't wait until my pastors give their Christmas sermons!

What Spiritual Warfare Looks Like

Well, this is one example at least.

A few moments ago I came across this blog post John Piper had written many years ago; providentially, my college pastor just read us this quote from Piper's devotional book Pierced by the Word not more than a few weeks ago. The blog is about combating sexual sins of the mind before they come to any sort of fruition—but it is really applicable to any and all sins—with the image of Jesus on the cross. It is not for the faint of heart (which explains why I come nearer and nearer to tears the more intensely I read it), but I know if I can bring myself to practice this, to practice taking EVERY thought captive to the subjection of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-6), the joy that I will have knowing that the Holy Spirit has sustained me through yet another trial, and the joy knowing that God has granted me the power through the Holy Spirit to be victorious, will be literally everlasting, and truly sweet. As Paul says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not WORTHY to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us!" (Romans 8:18, NASB)