May 26, 2008 at 11:47 pm (Life, Quotes, Worship)
John Piper is one of my favorite preachers. I’ve watched some of his sermons (ones that he has posted up on his website) and there’s a real passion for God that I see in him when he speaks. Of course, preachers like Paul Washer and John MacArthur have passion in their preaching as well but Piper’s passion seems to be a unique one.
Anyways, I just watched an interview with John Piper and he brought up a phrase (which I’ve heard from him before in sermons and such). The phrase was: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
Can we glorify God if we are not satisfied in Him? Can we bring glory to God if we are not passionate about Him? Can we honor God if we are more concerned about things other than God? I doubt it.
If we’re more concerned about football than God, we glorify football, not God. If we’re more concerned about money than God, we glorify money, not God. If we’re more concerned about ourselves than God, we glorify ourselves, not God.
I strongly believe that unless we are satisfied in God and God alone, we do not honor or glorify Him to the extent that He has enabled us to. Unless He is our only priority, we steal glory from Him and waste it elsewhere.
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May 24, 2008 at 1:23 am (Prayer, Sermons)
Back in December or January (during my winter break), I was appointed as a youth leader for my church. It’s a small church, consisting of 4 families with a 17-, 19- and 21-year-old in the youth group, 2 of whom are the sons of the pastor. The main service is in Korean, which we (the youth) can’t understand well, and since the church is so small, there was no other option than to have a youth service led by one of its own.
During my Spring semester, I came back home from college every 2-4 weeks and gave a sermon on the Sunday of that weekend. I’ll admit that I cheated a little: I actually preached the sermons of my favorite preachers, not my own sermons. Paul Washer, John Piper, John MacArthur, Jeff Noblit… any of their sermons that I felt God wanted me to preach, I preached it.
I’m saying this because I think it’s time that I rise up to the occasion and truly seek God in this ministry. It’s a small ministry but I believe that it’s an important one. My past preparations for Sunday service was to listen to a sermon and write down key points and verses. Sometimes I would even copy huge chunks (70+%) of the sermon verbatim.
I think it’s time for me to mature a little bit more as a Christian and begin to find truths in Scripture on my own through the Holy Spirit rather than relying on the sermons of weak preachers who have been empowered by God.
Father God, I ask that You would speak Your great words through a small worm like me, that Your glory would shine upon us all and Your majesty would be seen and Your might proven. Let it all be for Your glory, Lord.
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May 23, 2008 at 9:57 am (Blog)
If you’re reading this, you know that Wayward Now Home has moved from the Blogspot to the WordPress blogging engine. There wasn’t really any reason other than the fact that WordPress is much more flexible in what it allows in terms of changes and customizations.
This will be the final blog move for a long time. I think the only reason I’d move blogs again is if I started paying for my own hosting so that I could host WordPress on my own rather than using the free WordPress hosting service (which is flexible but still limited).
Thanks for staying around!
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May 21, 2008 at 2:33 am (Life, Quotes)
God has blessed me beyond description with Charles Leiter’s book, Justification and Regeneration. I’ve read a chapter (sometimes less) every weeknight since I got it in the mail a week ago and it has blessed me in ways that I didn’t think possible.
I’ve been struggling greatly with sin and it has caused lots of doubt in my life. Paul writes in his second epistle to the Corinthians that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed, the new things have come. I hear this so often that I started asking myself, “If you really are a new creature, why are you still committing these horrible acts of sin?” I began doubting my regeneration and salvation, which is a very dangerous thing to do. Doing that will only lead you to wallow in sorrow and despair, which distracts you from looking towards Christ and glorifying Him with your life.
I just read a chapter in Justification and Regeneration that dealt with these issues I have and it brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart.
Beloved Christian, sin’s days are numbered in your life! The ax has already been laid to the root of your sin. Like a tree that has been cut off at ground level, its leaves may still appear green for a while, but the fact is that its life is over. It is only a matter of time until every leaf withers and falls to the ground!
Charles Leiter, Justification and Regeneration
These sins that I struggle with are just remnants of my old self. Though my flesh will still sin, it is not a representation of who I really am in Christ. Sin will attempt to reign over my body but if I walk with the Spirit, sin has no power over me. If you’re reading this and struggle with the same problems, I pray that God would enlighten you with the truth and bring peace to your soul. Seek His face and walk in His ways and His grace will shine upon you!
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May 20, 2008 at 5:05 am (Songwriting)
Today was filled with the same, old activities and routines. However, there was one new thing that I did today: I recorded myself covering a couple worship songs with my sister’s digital camera and I uploaded them to my YouTube account. As of now, I’ve covered Aaron Shust’s My Savior, My God and Matt Redman’s and Chris Tomlin’s Wonderful Maker. Check them out if you want!
I think I’ll cover a lot more songs throughout the rest of the summer. Maybe I’ll even play a few of my original songs (none of which are complete) and put them up as well!
It was actually fun to see myself playing the guitar. There’s just something about hearing and seeing myself on video that makes me laugh and feel slightly embarrassed. I’ll keep recording videos of myself, though! Maybe someone will be blessed by one. Praise God!
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