Living the Crucified Life

If we have been united with him like this in his death, 

we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

[Rm 6:5]

Ken Durham, from Lipscomb University, was our guest speaker at church on Sunday. I don't believe I've ever heard a better sermon preached on the Resurrection. It sparked some of my own thoughts to jump-start my week.

I came to the conclusion that only when I am crucified with Christ can I receive the resurrection of Christ.

It all starts with the cross.

I must first die to my will and sinful nature before I can be raised a new creature with the hope of a resurrected body.

Crucified and buried in Him, my soul is reborn to eternal life. That's a one time act at baptism.

But this stubborn will and habitual sin, doesn't it need to be crucified daily? In order to live the resurrected life don't I need come to the cross to lay down those attitudes that counter the work of the Holy Spirit?

My pride, my independence, my emotions, opinions, presumed rights-to-self, doubts and desires -- these must be put to death so that the "life I now live I live by faith."

I have been crucified with Christ. 

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith 

in the Son of God,who loved me and gave himself for me.

[Gal 2:20 ESV emph mine]

And - most importantly - sin must be slayed. Have you identified what that sin is? Have you decided to give it over to Jesus to be nailed to the cross (however often it raises its ugly head)?

Death to self means resurrected to Christ.

"I can have the resurrected life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness," wrote Oswald Chambers.

The crucified and resurrected life I can live now so that faith in Christ, holiness in Christ, and the love of Christ is all that remains.


Lord Jesus; I come to the cross that my sinful nature might be crucified, that I might die to self and have You raised in me. I choose to fully live the resurrected life - gloriously hidden in You.

A God of Restoration

Pulled from the 2008 archives to compliment yesterday's thoughts.

“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.” [GULP] I get a lump in my throat and an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach at the sound of those words.

Don’t you think the teller may have made up some fictitious good news in order to soften the blow?

The prophet Jeremiah had a lot of bad news but he also had wonderfully good news.

The prophetic and historical book of Jeremiah marks the most tumultuous period in Judah’s history. It is a book that reveals both the wrath of God and the love of God.

He preached repentance and warned of impending doom and destruction (much to the chagrin of the audience).

Jeremiah 31 is part of what is known as the Book of Comfort [Chapters 30-33]. He announces the nation’s restoration by coming back to God and tells of a new covenant to come.

These chapters are filled with significant spiritual points on this side of history but imagine the hope it brought to the suffering nation.

I’ve singled out just a couple verses here that have been uplifting for me and it is my prayer that in their reading God will do the same for you.

“This is what the Lord says”

• “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” God’s love for mankind is everlasting and unchangeable. He draws us to him with loving-kindness [vs 3]
• The Lord is stronger than any might that has overtaken them and He offers redemption. [vs 11]

“I will turn their mourning into gladness,

I will give them comfort and
joy instead of sorrow.”

• Verses 31-37 are referred to as the Salvation Oracle. Even though Israel and Judah broke covenant with God, He never abandoned them and promised a covenant of grace. [vs 31-32]
• God’s Spirit will be in the hearts of mankind, written on their hearts as opposed to tablets of stone. If God can carve His law into stone, He can certainly carve it in a heart of any hardness. [vs 33]
• His people will receive guidance and instruction from the Holy Spirit within rather than a priest. They will be able to experience Him firsthand. And this will be for all people. [vs 34]
• The God in control of all creation – the Lord Almighty – declares these things. He has guaranteed it by the natural order of all the universe. [vs 35-37]
• God desires to be with us. The nation had sinned grievously and in every conceivable way yet they were not beyond His grace. He would not cast them away. He will not do so today, for He is the same unchanging God. [vs 36]

"Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."

• The captives would return to the Lord and the nation be rebuilt – FOR THE LORD. [vs 38-40]

I urge you to take the time to read these chapters [31-33] straight through and meditate on His spoken and written Word. Allow Him to write them upon your heart and draw you ever closer.

May His Good News for you be the hope He intends it to be in your life.


Almighty God of Grace; Give us wisdom to learn from Judah’s history and let the word spoken through Your prophet Jeremiah be a warning to us. May Your Word change our nation. The Good News of the New Covenant in Christ is power to transform our hearts and restore us back to You – work in us that desire. In Jesus name, Amen.

Comforting Words for Renewal

In need of an uplifting word today?

God is merciful. He had already provided for that need.

Comfort flows in abundance from the sacred source of His Word.

There’s no shortage of streaming negatives that bash hope like pounding waves upon the shore.

I highly recommend countering that assault daily.

I found my good news for today in Jeremiah 31.

For I will satisfy the weary soul,

and every languishing soul I will replenish.

[Jer 31:25 ESV]

How sweet the tender words of our Lord!

And what did hearing this do for Jeremiah? Read the next verse; “At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.”

Much comfort is provided in this chapter that speaks of restoration.

God made a promise of a new covenant through Jeremiah and provided a way for a relationship with God to be restored.

The strength He extended to them through these encouraging words can also bring us renewal. Words like:

·        "For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him."

·       " Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work"

·        "There is hope for your future, declares the LORD."

Anticipating the fulfillment of promise carried the children of God through their years of exile. Their hope in a certain rest-to-come was sufficient to propel the weary. And there remains a promised rest-to-come for God’s people (Heb 4:9).

Comfort flows from His written Word—the Bible. Comfort for those that tarried to keep the law under oppression.

Comfort flows from His Living Word—Jesus. Comfort for those that tarry here in cultural conflict. 

May renewal come to you today in remembering what God has done for you and what God says He will do. 

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

[Rm 8:22-23]

Lord, Chase the weariness of the burdened away by Your comforting Word.

Divine Association

“I work for such-and-such company.”

            “I go to this school.”

                        “I played for that team.”

                                    “I use that service.”

                                                “I know so-and-so.”

Associations.

We brag on them. Boast about them. Feel secure in them.

If value is determined by association, then what does this verse say about your value?

“…you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”

[1 Cor 3:23 ESV]

Pretty special, huh? Why, that’s royalty!

But don’t get too carried away in boasting . . .

It is all about Christ. (Now He’s something to boast about!) And we know what the Father thinks of the Son!

For [Jesus] received honor and glory from God the Father

when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying,

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

[2Pt 1:17]

How the Father looks upon His Beloved Son with such adoration. And He does the same with you, child.

We are Christ’s. That is ultimate association! Would you really rather belong to any other?

We are Christ’s. That makes Him for us! And “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rm8:31)

Let the realization that you are Christ’s chase the gray clouds away . . . chase the enemy away. Remember the very truth that the Holy Spirit, the Power of God for living in Christ, dwells within (Jn 14:17b). He is the Seal, guaranteeing ownership (2 Cor 1:22).

Be of good courage – in Christ, your association is sure.

Blessing upon richest heavenly blessing is mine in Christ! I am His! When You look upon me, Father, I hope You see a family resemblance.

Sounds Interrupted

Immersed in the warmth of the sun, a symphony of birds’ songs caressed my soul, when the ugly suddenly jolted me rudely from my lovely cocoon. It was a clashing of sounds. Heavenly sounds were interrupted by a cacophony.

I then remembered the first concerts of both of my children—before skill allowed them to play real music. After a couple years instruction behind them, the band could play beautiful music. Still, their warm-up was a contradiction of sounds that created a dreadful noise. As each player practiced their own scales out of sync the beauty of each instrument was drowned out in the collective noise.

Discordant brass, raucous woodwinds, noisome percussions. The noise blared to the point of physical pain.

As I write, I sit on the sidelines in this gorgeous Autumn day. The sounds of worship of our congregation in song this morning still rings in my head. And while I am bathed in the melody of distant birds, the roar of a plane engine pollutes the chorus. An ugly drone mingles with the praise of creation and soon the world drowns out the holy.

Oh, for a time to come when noise pollution no longer drifts heavenward. For God, I long for the day when He will hear nothing but pure praise.

Discordant doubt, raucous ridicule, noisome mockery. All eradicated.

How old it must all get!

I ache for the day when propaganda and God-hate no longer fills His ears. No more worship mixed with anti-God rhetoric. When there’ll be no more lies contradicting His truth. When praise and thanksgiving will be diluted no more with cursing and blasphemy. When nothing but pure praise fills the air . . . the cosmos . . . the hearts of the created.

From where I sit, I see a cross reaching heavenward from a distant steeple. And I think of strains reaching heavenward, past conflicting noise. Rising beyond blends of antagonistic and hurtful bedlam. The lovely wafting to ears of Love.

A time of redemption is coming. Jesus will redeem all things – even sound – turning noise into harmony. A time is coming when mixed voices of contradictions are a thing of the past and a church in unison resounds, “Holy!”

Yes, a day is coming . . . now that is music to my ears!

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; 

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 

[Ps 95:1]

Heavenly Father; I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing the praises of Your Name all the more loudly, to drown out the noise.

No Quenching Allowed

The children ran wild across the room. The mother tried to contain their energy, to restrain their excitement. But elderly wisdom knew not to stop a child at play, for that would be to extinguish the fire that passes all too quickly.

“Do not quench the Spirit.”

            Short.

                        Sweet.

                                    Succint.

                                                  PROFOUND!

Living fully surrendered to the Spirit, Paul wrote this emphatic command to the Thessalonians from first-hand experience. He knew what it meant to live led by the passion and zeal of the Spirit.

In his final instructions in this letter I get a sense he was longing for the Church to live the abundant life Christ rose for them to have. And how very well he knew that the vitality of the Church was dependent upon unleashing the power of the Spirit.

Suppressing the passion of the Holy Spirit is to the soul what slowing the heart or constricting the lungs is to the body.

To douse that flame or slake the desires He has for those in Christ is to allay His mission and live less than He intends for us.

This same word for quench, sbennumi in Greek, is also used in Ephesians 6:16 in reference to satan’s fiery darts, which means literally “to extinguish.” (Now that we do want to put out!)

A faith abandoned to the Spirit and ablaze in Christ is one sure to please God. And it is the life of a thriving, growing church.

What can harness the Wind or quell the Fire? We could quickly come up with a whole list of things. The first and greatest that pops in my head though is busyness—distractions of this world. Oh, there are issues far bigger, to be sure. But this seems more common . . . and easier to guise.

I am guilty of snuffing out the gusto of the Holy Spirit. And in reading this verse He convicted me of my culpability in this area.

Just imagine what living for Christ would look like if we were to fan that Flame full throttle! The intensity . . . the energy . . . the passion! The exclamation points behind each ministry!

Paul included this exhortation among the most basic. He ranked it right up there with showing respect, being peaceable, encouraging the fainthearted, and prayer, to name a few. That’s just how vital it is to the success of a church.

How I need to instill a discipline where I am mindful that there is no quenching going on, that will hang a sign on my heart that reads: No Quenching Allowed!

Holy Spirit; I dare not . . . but how I do . . . suffocate You in my faith, my ministry, my life! You have given us power to be sons of God and yet I often live like a pauper. Let the wind blow and the flame blaze as Pentecost through Your Church.

Eternally Doing Over the Deep

Turn your Bible back to the beginning with me.

Back to Genesis 1.

What comes to your mind when you think of God prior to creation?

His Name – I Am – tells us He Is. And we know—being eternal—that He always was.

Always has been, always will be.

But is that it?

Do you just think that I Am merely was? That He existed only?

But He not only was . . . He was doing! He was active!

I tried to talk this out with my dear friend, as we lapped the church grounds.

Do we often think that since there was nothing but God there was nothing for Him to do? That before anything was, there was no need for verbs?

Wrong! How limited my thinking! Carefully look closely at Genesis 1:2 . . .

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” [Gn 1:1-2 ESV, emph added]

Note that verb that resonates volumes. God was active . . . involved . . . from the beginning. For God was “hovering.” Over and above the surging abyss, He moved.

God was active in the vast, black void. He was hovering over the face of the deep.

He Is, yes! But even more so, He is active. He was involved then. And, He is now.

Are you in troubled waters where you question God’s working and activity in your life?

Do you feel lost in the vast, black void – distant from any interaction with the God of creation?

Are you in over your head in a senseless surging abyss? Afraid the churning deep is impassable by the God of the universe?

Know this:  He is hovering nearby. He is present. He is doing.

He is the I Am . . . eternally involved with all He has made.

After the resurrection, the disciples in Jerusalem did not see Jesus as He communed with those that walked the Emmaus road. And we don’t see Jesus now, or have evidence of His activity, but faith confirms He is indeed busy.

The Spirit hovering over the deep at creation is the same Spirit that inhabits every baptized believer in Christ. If you have received Him, there is no empty, formless void within you.

God will always be. And He will always be doing, don’t you think?

Elohim; You are infinitely greater than all You have created. Though hovering unseen, You are. Just as you created beauty and order from a formless, watery deep, You are able to do the same with my life. I trust You to eternally be doing what is good and best.

Heavenly Rain

Rain down Your Glory . . .

. . . to saturate souls with a Divine soaking.

Send a spiritual rain to whet every need.

Proclaim gospel glory ‘cross dry remote fields;

Good news that brings life to the parched and thirsty.

Funnel raindrops of promises into hopeless hearts;

Pour down justice upon those oppressed;

Cascade cleansing rain over darkened souls;

Infuse merciful rain to the battle weary.

These, the rains of faith,

For You are all the Umbrella we need.

He will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
[Ps 72:6]

Edited from the archives

Prayers of the Saints

May [you] be filled with the knowledge of his will

in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

fully pleasing to him, 

bearing fruit in every good work

and increasing in the knowledge of God. 

May you be strengthened with all power,

according to his glorious might,

for all endurance and patience 

with joy, giving thanks to the Father,

who has qualified you to share in the

inheritance of the saints in light.

[May you] continue in the faith, 

stable and steadfast,

not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard,

which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven,

[May you] stand mature and fully assured

in all the will of God.

The Apostle Paul

62 AD

Col 1:9-12, 23; 4:12 [adapted]

Treasured Letters

It’s buried in storage in the garage beneath boxes stacked upon boxes. Rusty, dented, and dirty—it holds treasures from my youth.

It was already used when I found it at a yard sale at the age of 15. And it’s been dragged along by my every move since.

This old metal case has character. And it hold memories.

The most special? A letter from my mother, written to me when I was a teenager. She passed just a couple short years later.

Gone more than half my life now, memories of her have faded. But when I want to remember her love for me, I pull out that old metal case and read that letter.

Letters. Who writes them anymore? Who gets them anymore? But when you do . . . if you do . . . doesn’t it make you feel special?

“The God of our fathers

has chosen you to know his will

and to see the Righteous One

and to hear words from his mouth.”

[Ac 22:14 abbr.]

God has written the most poignant words of love for you. Words that express His heart. Words to reveal Himself, His plan, and His purpose for your life. Words to declare His wealth of promises. Wonderful words—that we may know His will and see Jesus, the Righteous One.

God has spoken. He has left us the historical truth of salvation in 66 books. A truth to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and to equip us for good works. (Ref 2 Tm 3:15)

The Bible has one Divine Author . . . God. It is the eyewitness testimony of The God That Sees All. And He longs to share His journal with you.

God has spoken. And if you have read the Bible, He has spoken to you.

Oh, but He didn’t stop there! God is much more personal than that.

God not only wrote to you, but chose you.

How special is that? And that's not all. There is a whole list of blessings He has bestowed upon you! Simply plunge the depths of His Word to discover them for yourself.

These words, quoted of Ananias by Paul and recorded in the Book of Acts, are beautiful words of assurance. But don’t just stop reading there. He goes on to say; “You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.”

We are to do the same. When we learn of God’s will through His Written Word, we are to witness to others what we have heard—with the blessed knowledge, beloved, that you are the chosen of God.

There is no more profound letter written than that spoken by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of all mankind. Treasure it. Take it everywhere you go. And know you are loved with each read.


Embolden the chosen of God to speak what we “hear” from Your heart, through Your Word.

His Hands: Big Enough to Hold ALL

In case you ever wonder if things are spinning out of control, take this to heart . . .

"He who comes from above is above all.

He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. 

He who comes from heaven is above all.

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand."

[Jn 3:31, 35 ESV]

God “has placed all in His hand.” Everything. In very capable hands. The very hands of Jesus.

            The unborn child.

                        The struggling teen.

                                    The concerned parent.

                        The suffering elderly.                

            All are in His hand.

God has given Him all of creation to sustain and uphold.

All of time – time past and yet to come.

All global events—from world wars to household squabbles. Each victory and seeming defeat.

Nothing is beyond His grasp . . .

                                                   or sovereignty . . .

                                                                                   or authority.

He’s got you, child.

The fallen have not fallen from His grasp.

The lost are not lost from His reach.

The broken is not beyond His redeeming touch.

From Above, the Most High Omniscient God, has—with confidence—assigned all things an infallible Caretaker.

The earthly has been lovingly placed in the heavenly Cleft of the Rock.

We may not know the course set for us, but we can know it is guided. It is held. Tight.

We are in the hands of Christ.

He is before all things,

and in him all things hold together.

[Col 1:17]

Our All-Knowing God has placed all in Your Hands, Sovereign Lord. We entrust You with our cares, assured of Your righteousness, power, and compassion.

Random Sunday Thought

A random thought of the not-so-random churned in my head Sunday as I watched my church family fill the sanctuary . . .

God’s Son is God’s glory.

The Church, the glory of the Son;

God’s glory fills Christ’s church when

His people gather together.

God looks upon the saved in Christ

as the glory of Jesus,

And He has called us to gather together each Lord’s Day

to assemble in the name of His Glory.

As God’s glory

once filled His holy temple,

Christ’s glory

fills His Church.

We are the glory of God filling His Church.

The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.

[Ez 43:4]

May Your glory fill the church, God, whenever the Church of Christ gathers together.

The 10th Day of Tishri

“because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you.

Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.”

[Lv 16:30]

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood,

and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

[Heb 9:22]

From sunset to sunset, Yom Kippur

From sunset today until sunset tomorrow, the God-ordained Day of Atonement was to be observed by the ancient Jewish nation. On that day atonement was made for the people of God . . . year after year.

God had graciously allowed for the purification of sins between man and God with a rite to be held the 10^th day of Tishri—today on the secular calendar.  

There were to be two goats. One sacrificed, which represents propitiation of our sins through the blood of Christ. The other was sent away, representing the removal of sins from God’s people and away from the presence of a holy God.

The blood of the sacrificed, offered in the innermost point—behind the veil of the tabernacle and upon the mercy seat—purified the community of their committed sins until the next sacrifice was required.   

From age to age, Jesus

The atoning blood of Christ is purification for our sins…once for all.

Both goats were a type for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He took the place of both goats. He bore our sins and removed them from us. And He was the sacrifice that met God’s required justice and wrath toward our sins. 

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). 

Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.”
He sets aside the first to establish the second.
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of  the body of Jesus Christ once for all….

…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. [Heb 10:8-10, 14]

His death paid the penalty for our sins. Jesus fully satisfied the immense debt of our sin, that we might be reconciled to a holy God. There is no longer need to offer goats as a sacrifice for atonement.

Solemn and sincere confession of our sins transfers those sins upon Jesus, just as once the priest made confession and placed a hand upon the goat. Jesus now takes those sins away.

Today I recognize the old rite established by God to make a way to commune with His people.

Today, I look to the Christ, the High Priest of God. He has atoned for our sins and made us right with God.

Atonement, in my simplified explanation, is to unite two separate things in order to make them one. Jesus has made us one with God.

This holy day was a day assigned by God to make allowance for the atonement for sins between man and God. (Of which, too numerous to count.)

Such grace, that He would make such a provision! Do we fully appreciate His desire to be with us?

In my thoughts on the significance of this day, I’d like to note a few of my own personal observations.

The atonement from one goat covered "yesterday's" sin.  Another sacrifice would have to be made for the next sin. Again and again. If I were to make pilgrimage to the temple to offer a sacrifice for my sins, I would likely sin trekking away from said temple! Falling yet again into a state of guilt and judgeability.

Second observation:  There must be reconciliation where there are sins against another person beforehand – wrongs committed against someone must be righted first – before Yom Kippur. For the Christian, this should sound familiar. We are to make sins right with other people before we come to the Table of Christ for communion.

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. [Mt 5:23-24]

And my last point for today is: this was to especially be a confession of sins of the community. This was a day to recognize the sins of “we”. (One major area currently lacking in our country!) 

We can now live in the expanse of our forgiveness as God delights over His children in the Lord. Now we see that Jesus was made sin for us (as opposed to a goat).

Jesus removed the sin that kept us from communion with our Father and Creator, we are now to live holy lives, growing in the grace and fellowship Jesus bought for us.

Yom Kippur - from sunset to sunset  . . . from one point in time to another. God-instituted, by grace, to temporarily atone for sin that had to be practiced again and again, until the Christ would come.

Jesus - from age to age . . . for all time. His perfect sacrifice transporting the sinner from the sunset of this age to eternity.

To Jesus be eternal praise! May our gratitude and love progressively abound for the cleansing blood that atoned the sin of man once for all. Give us the eyes to see and the heart to confess the sins of our community against a holy and righteous God.