Strike! - motivation to persevere

Charles Spurgeon in Morning and Evening for July 17th wrote about battling sin. The week I read this, it resonated as life to my soul, and it still does.

Our darling sin must die. Spare it not for its much crying. Strike, though it be as dear as an Isaac. Strike, for God struck at sin when it was laid upon his own Son. With stern unflinching purpose must you condemn to death that sin which was once the idol of your heart. Do you ask how you are to accomplish this? Jesus will be your power. You have grace to overcome sin given you in the covenant of grace; you have strength to win the victory in the crusade against inward lusts, because Christ Jesus has promised to be with you even unto the end. If you would triumph over darkness, set yourself in the presence of the Sun of Righteousness. There is no place so well adapted for the discovery of sin, and the recovery from its power and guilt, as the immediate presence of God.  

The connections he makes are so powerful. Strong absolute truths of God, all connected. So centered on the cross and glory of God. So hope filled. Grace will triumph over sin. Good versus evil will prevail. The presence of God is both the goal and the way. Our fight against sin is not hopeless, not with Christ on our side. It is a worthy battle. I should not shirk it off. Why strike at sin? Because "God struck at sin when it was laid upon his own Son." How can I, a feeble wretched sinner, strike at my sin that so easily entangles me? Only by the power of Christ, which is mine because the Father "struck at sin when it was laid upon his own Son." Where do I go when I go to battle my sin? Under the shelter of His wing, in the presence of the most Holy One.

I want to know more of my God, and I want to kill more of my sin. I want others to help me. I want to help others. We are instruments in our Redeemer's hands for each others' sanctification, and we are in this together. But the only one worth having on our side is our God - and he is absolutely, irrevocably, eternally, comprehensively "for us!" His glory is at the center of his passion, and he will not be mocked. He has bought us and tied us permanently to himself. He is for us, and he has the victory.

If I have my eyes set on the goal, set on Christ, then I am equipped to strike sin.

John Piper, at New Attitude 2008:

Jesus himself, and all that God is for us in him, is our great reward, nothing less. Salvation is not mainly the forgiveness of sins, but mainly the fellowship with Jesus. Forgiveness just gets everything out of the way so this can happen.

There is purpose in this life. Depression speaks a dark and gloomy lie contrary to the brilliance of the light of truth. My purpose, my vision, is Christ. I am made for him. And I am called to spend this life preparing for eternity with him. That means putting to death sin and growing in my love for my Savior, all to the glory of God by his power and might. God will receive all the credit for every good thing. And he will be glorified in the suffering and perseverance of his saints. We are in this together, and he is "for us."

"I believe; help my unbelief!" - Mark 9:24

photo: July 7, 2007 - Hamburg, Germany (Vinson's hand)

NEXT 2011

So, NEXT 2011 was this past weekend. I may try to go through some notes and put them up here, or I may not. But for now, here is one.

R.C. Sproul:

When we have the Truth on our side, we have reason on our side, and we ought to be proclaiming it with all our lives.

Sproul also spoke for the first time ever without a tie, in honor of CJ. How accommodating.
But seriously, Josh Harris was right when he said one day you will tell your grandchildren that you heard Sproul speak live. His message was excellent, and you can find all the conference main session messages here.

And if you're interested, you can check out a few quicky-like snap shot photos of our time here.

Below is a silent video of the session opening for Next.

NEXT Highlights

I just came home from the NEXT conference in Baltimore, MD. The past few hours were spent "debriefing" with my family, eating dinner, enduring a fairly severe thunderstorm (wow, it feels like summer here, hot, humid, and stormy), and checking my work inbox, which is flooded with 40 new messages (I'm happy to report that they are mostly notifications). Despite feeling an oncoming cold, most likely my body's response to not getting it's fill of rest this weekend, I am very refreshed and thankful to God for his faithfulness and kindness to me in so many ways over the past few days.

I want to pour over my notes and the scripture passages from this weekend in the upcoming days, weeks, months, etc. (I love how I can often come back to NEXT messages throughout the year). Please follow-up with me on this; good intentions are not enough. But before I go dig back into the specifics, I want to recount the highlights, so I can remember how the Spirit ministered to me. He did meet me - very deeply, graciously, lovingly, and oh so clearly did he meet me where I was and reminded me of his love and gospel mission in my own particular circumstances.

So, the highlights for me were CJ's message on Sanctification, Kevin DeYoung's message on the Church, and the fellowship of my family group. I'm so thankful for CJ. I feel his pastor's heart when he preaches, and I'm so glad to be under his care in Sovereign Grace. He's such a spiritual father type figure - I love how I've benefitted directly or indirectly from his ministry for my entire life. In this weekend, I was served immensely in how he fleshed out Sanctification. I've been needing this so much, to see broken down before me how man's responsibility and God's sovereignty play out in my life. To leave behind discouragement and be encouraged that God is constantly at work - his part and my part are not equal. God fed my soul through CJ's message, and I thought for sure that it would be my highlight sermon to take home. It was, but God was not finished. Kevin DeYoung spoke on the Church. And the Holy Spirit melted my heart. He cut me open and placed a direct IV line to my soul, that is how specifically his message ministered to me. I do believe that it, at least by the end of his message, affected my soul in the same way as a specific prophetic word, and the tears flowed. "Do not despise the little things." "Be plodding visionaries." "Get on the right road and keep going." "You can be just part of the crowd because God knows your name." I was reminded that the mundane is glorious; the little things are not insignificant, no matter how much they seem to be so. I am not alone, but Christ's church is filled with servants, plodding visionaries.

God did much in my heart through these sermons, but I am also so thankful for CJ's exhortation to not give more credit to speakers like these at a conference than to our own pastors at our home churches. They have faithfully been planting the seeds. Those who get to reap the harvest did not play a bigger role than those who planted and built.

I am also very thankful for how God used my family group. By halfway through NEXT, our group had dropped in numbers significantly to be only 5 people. I like small groups best. :-) We were able to genuinely spur one another on, and I developed new friendships that span across the US. Even if these cannot be continually built upon here on earth (although modern technology may assist with that), they certainly remind me of one of the joys that await in heaven in the fellowhship of the saints.

oh, another highlight was that we only needed to drive 1 1/2 hours to get there and the same to get home! I soaked that in, especially on the way back, knowing that next year's conference is in Orlando, FL.

The kitchen is calling me, dishes in a household of 7 do not pause. And interestingly our dog is currently giving birth to her first litter of puppies. There is much activity in this home. I hope mine will be the same someday.

photo: NEXT 2008

(sorry, I did not bring a camera this year)