On the Verge

If politics is a sensitive subject, then this is an extremely sensitive subject.

I think it is funny with the renewed interest in the "kingdom of God is at hand", and the social justice gospel being revived by some of the emergent crew, how there is still an absolute silence concerning abortion. If there isn't silence, then even worse, there is a deflection of the issue to arguments about the death penalty.

The cry of the day is that people are divided on this issue so what's the point. Let's at least make progress on something we can agree upon. And nothing changes...and 1.3 million more children will be killed this year alone.

I am appalled by the injustice in Darfur, but I turn a blind eye to the injustice in our own country.

I am tempted to post this and this on my site, but they are so incredibly graphic, that I am hesitant to do so. Instead, I'll offer you a chance to turn a blind eye to the issue - because dealing with it will cost you a lot more.

Labels: abortion, politics, social justice

Posted by k jamison at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

So, can someone tell me why this is a bad idea?


It seems to make sense. I for one do not like big government, but I also think health care costs are out of this world. Someone smarter than me tell me the dangers and flaws in this plan so I can save myself the time researching it.

Labels: politics

Posted by k jamison at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." -ephesians 2:1-3

Truths about our lives without Christ
1. We were dead
2. We walked in trespasses and sins
3. We followed the course of this world
4. We were obedient to the prince of the air (satan)
5. We lived in the passions of our flesh
6. We carried out whatever desires our mind and hormones directed us to
7. We stood under the wrath of God, with the rest of mankind.


"but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." - ephesians 2:4-10

Truths about God found in this text
1. God is rich in mercy
2. God has loved us with a great love
3. God loved us even when we were dead in our sins
4. God makes us alive with Christ
5. God saved us by grace
6. God has raised us up with Jesus
7. God is going to show us the immeasurable riches of His grace
8. We were saved by the grace of God through faith
9. Faith is a gift of God
10. We are God's workmanship


We were dead. God saved us. We followed the desires of our flesh which lead to death and He made us alive with Christ through His grace, and now we are seated next to Christ in the Heavenly places.

but God...

the gospel is a beautiful thing.

Labels: Calvinism, ephesians, gospel, grace

Posted by k jamison at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

At times I feel that it would be better for you to hear words from someone else. This is one of those times...





What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ...

...nothing, in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.




"Ride forth in me, thou King of kings
and Lord of lords,
that I may live victoriously,
and in victory attain my end"
-a puritan

Labels: puritans, romans, valley of vision

Posted by k jamison at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

I find it funny (read: sad) in life that the people who should be most acquainted with transformed lives are the least likely to believe that people can change.

If you look to a lot of the great heros of the Christian faith, many of them were rescued out of the darkest pit of sin and destruction when they were transformed by the power of the Gospel. Take Paul for example, when he writes, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Paul was a legalist, a persecutor, a blasphemer and a murderer before God reached down and saved him.

Or take Augustine of Hippo for example. Here was a man who was absolutely enslaved to sexual sin and who lived totally and completely for his own pleasure. In his sin, he once uttered a famous prayer, "God grant me chastity and continence (self-control), but not yet." Here was a man totally devoted to his own desires and pleasures who completely rejected any notion of morality or of the truth of the cross.

But then something happened. He encountered the transforming power of the Gospel and his life (and the history of the world) was tranformed forever. He abandoned his immoral relationships, he confessed his sins to the Lord and actually documented his confessions in one of the most influential books ever written. He developed as a leading theologian whose thoughts and work continue to challenge and influence even the greatest theologians of our day.

If you are a follower of Christ, then you have to believe that the Spirit that worked in the life of Paul and Augustine is still moving and working today. And indeed if you believe that, then you should strive to put your hope and trust completely in the transforming power of the Gospel. I think ultimately our unwillingness to believe that people can change comes from our lack of faith in the gospel and in the power of Christ. It shows the weakness of our own faith and the remnant of sin that is still rotting in our hearts.

Who in your life are you unwilling to let be transformed by the gospel?

Labels: augustine, gospel, grace, substitutionary atonement

Posted by k jamison at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

"In Christian repentance we do not 'take our sins' to Mt. Sinai, but to Mt. Calvary. Sinai represents only the law of God, and makes us fear God will reject us. But Calvary represents both the law of God and his commitment to save us no matter what--even if his Son has to fulfill and pay our debt to the law. 'Going to Sinai' with our sins means we use the painful fear of rejection to motivate us to change. 'Going to Calvary' with our sins means we use gratitude for his love to motivate us to change. The free love of Christ means that in disobedience, you have not just broken the rules, but spurned the One who lost his Father rather than lose you." --Tim Keller

How much better would all of our lives be with a little keller every day?

Labels: gospel, humility, Jesus, keller, repentance

Posted by k jamison at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

15 minutes is a long time to spend watching a video...but this is pretty interesting. I wish the quality was a little better.


Unbelievable Sights Of Google Earth - video powered by Metacafe

Labels: video

Posted by k jamison at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

"I am never tired of saying that what the Church needs to do is not to organize evangelistic campaigns to attract outside people, but to begin herself to live the Christian life. If she did that, men and women would be crowding into our buildings. They would say, 'What is the secret of this? ...The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first. That is how revival comes." - d. martyn-lloyd jones

I wonder if at times we spend so much time on "outreach" because it is easier than spending time on the process of our own sanctification. (being made holy) Where do you place your emphasis in life? What percentage of your time and energy do you spend on "reaching out" and what percentage of your time do you spend "reaching in" and pursuing holiness? Maybe the best thing you could do right now is reconfigure your priorities in life.

I'm not proposing a larger emphasis on morality but holiness. And I think there is a world of difference between the two.

Posted by k jamison at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

In the life of the Christian I think it is essential for one to prioritize their beliefs. I want to always strive to put Jesus and His cross at the center of all I believe and do, and to see that while any other doctrinal issue might be important, it must not take the primary position that belongs to the cross. Now you could make a good argument that those secondary issues help us truly understand the cross, but for now, I'll just stick with what I said.

All of this to say that I really appreciated the following quote - even if it is aimed at a secondary issue. (which I'm still not sure if it really is a secondary issue...)

"What the Arminian wants to do is to arouse man's activity: what we want to do is to kill it once for all---to show him that he is lost and ruined, and that his activities are not now at all equal to the work of conversion; that he must look upward. They seek to make the man stand up: we seek to bring him down, and make him feel that there he lies in the hand of God, and that his business is to submit himself to God, and cry aloud, 'Lord, save, or we perish.' We hold that man is never so near grace as when he begins to feel he can do nothing at all. When he says, 'I can pray, I can believe, I can do this, and I can do the other,' marks of self-sufficiency and arrogance are on his brow." - C. H. Spurgeon






spurgeon is a gangster.

Labels: Calvinism, spurgeon

Posted by k jamison at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

3 years ago today, God blessed me with the second (second only to Jesus Himself) greatest gift in my life - my wife Stephanie. She is a woman of grace, compassion and faithfulness.

She was (and is) way out of my league; which is proof enough that Jesus still does miracles today.



"and from His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace." - John 1:16

Labels: grace, love, stephanie

Posted by k jamison at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

"thy mercy my God is the theme of my song,
the joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue.
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy, I could not live here.
Sin would reduce me to utter despair,
But through Thy free goodness, my spirit's revived
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart.
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground
And weep for the praise of the mercy I've found.

Hallelujah

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own
In the covenant love of Thy crucified Son.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine."

- john stocker, 1776 (recorded by Caedmon's Call or check out the better version by Sandra McCraken)

I do not know if there is a better song that describes the state of my heart right now. I wish I had time to break the song down. For example, to explain the depths of the meaning behind the line-

"Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own, in the covenant love of Thy crucified Son."

Our great Father in His infinite wisdom has bestowed upon us grace after grace. He has granted to us a righteousness that we could never possess on our own, but through Jesus was can possess this righteousness eternally. Without this atonement (lit. at + one + ment) we would be reduced to utter despair - completely hopeless and helpless. Now we can rest and live in the fact that Jesus has sealed for us mercy and pardon (no more guilt or condemnation) and not only that, but He has declared us righteous.

This is the gospel - no more or no less.

Labels: derek webb, gospel, grace, old hymn, righteousness, substitutionary atonement

Posted by k jamison at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: Calvinism, church history, John Calvin

Posted by k jamison at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

From Letters from a Birmingham Jail,

"In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society."

You can read the whole letter here.

http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Labels: church, history

Posted by k jamison at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

O Lord,

My every sense, member, faculty, affection, is a snare to me,
I can scarce open my eyes but I envy those above me,
or despise those below me.
I covet honour and riches of the mighty,
and am proud and unmerciful to the rags of others;
If I behold beauty it is a bait to lust,
or see deformity, it stirs up loathing and disdain;
How soon do slanders, vain jests, and wanton speeches creep into my heart!
Am I comely? what fuel for pride!
Am I deformed? what an occasion for repining!
Am I gifted? I lust after applause!
Am I unlearned? how I despise what I have not!
am I in authority? how prone to abuse my trust, make will my law, exclude other's enjoyments, serve my own interests and policy!
Am I inferior? how much I grudge others' preeminence!
Am I rich? how exalted I become!
Thou knowest that all these are snares by my corruptions, and that my greatest snare is myself.
I bewail that my apprehensions are dull,
my thoughts mean,
my affections stupid,
my expressions low,
my life unbeseeming;
Yet what canst thou expect of dust but levity, or corruption but defilement?
Keep me ever mindful of my natural state,
but let me not forget my heavenly title,
or the grace that can deal with every sin.

- a puritan.

amen.

Labels: prayer, puritans, valley of vision

Posted by k jamison at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments