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Found this sermon from John Piper on Desiringgod.org, and thought it was a good reminder for those of us who tend to worry about tomorrow and struggle with anxiety. The passage he is referring to comes from Matthew 6:25-34.

1. Life Is More Than Food; The Body Is More Than Clothing (v. 25)

Verse 25. I am passing over the reason found in the word “therefore” at the beginning of the verse and going straight to the reason found in the last part of the verse: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. [Here comes the reason] Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

I take this to mean, since life can’t be sustained without food and the body will freeze, or be shamed into oblivion without clothes, Jesus must mean: life and body (literally “soul” and body) are more than the physical life that is sustained by food and adorned by clothing. In other words, don’t be anxious about your soul and your body because those who might take your food and your clothing, and even cause your death, cannot take your real life or rob you of your resurrection body. The bottom line defense against anxiety is: in Christ you are immortal, and to die is gain. That’s why Jesus says in Luke 12:4, “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.” In other words, there is something far worse than death, and it can never happen to you in Christ. So don’t be anxious.

2. You Are More Valuable Than the Birds That God Feeds (v. 26)

Verse 26: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Here the argument not to be anxious has two massive premises leading to the conclusion. Premise one: God is so completely in control of the natural universe that he may be said to feed the birds of the air. Every berry eaten or insect snatched form the air or worm pulled from the ground is provided by God. He does that for birds. Premise two: you are of more value to God than they. God values more and is more committed to his people who glorify him with their minds and wills than he is to animals who have no ability to consciously glorify God. As Peter says in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Vastly more than for the birds whom he feeds. So don’t be anxious.

3. Anxiety Accomplishes Nothing (v. 27)

Verse 27: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

Here is a simple, practical argument: anxiety does no good. It accomplishes nothing. It doesn’t help. Preach this to yourself: I am accomplishing nothing helpful by this anxiety. It is only making a hard situation harder. I will listen to Jesus and say no to this useless emotion. I refuse to be mastered by a useless emotion!

4. The Grass and the Lilies That God Clothes Last for a Day, But You Are Eternal (vv. 28-30)

Verse 28-30: “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

This is almost the same as the argument from the birds of the air. But not quite. The point there was that you are more valuable than the birds that God feeds. The point here is that you are eternal, and the grass and the lilies last for a day. Yet God clothes them more beautifully than Solomon. Again the most amazing truth for us is the truth that Jesus virtually takes for granted: God’s sovereign rule over the world of nature extends to the seemingly insignificant color of a lily and the white puff-ball of a clover patch. These are not mere natural laws that God put in motion and set loose to do good or bad things with no control over them. These are his doing.

And the inference for our souls is: if God is so intimately and lavishly involved with grass and flowers which are like a vapor, then how shall he not care for his children who are eternal? So trust him! Trust him! “O you of little faith.” The issue is trust. Anxiety is a trust issue (verse 30). Trust your Father. Come what may, he will take care of you.

5. Anxiety Is Worldly (v. 31)

Verse 31: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things.”

Here the argument is: if you are anxious, you are like the world. This is what people do who don’t know God. Anxiety is worldly.

Be careful that you not become cynical at this point and say, “Piper you are naive. You think you can dispel this monster so easily. Just remind us that the world is anxious. That will help?”

To which I say: These are not my words. These are the words of the Son of God. These are his prescription, not mine. Be careful lest you speak ill of Christ. He is not naive. He knows the monster of anxiety better than you do. And he knows best how to fight it. And it is a fight. That is why he is multiplying weapons for you. Sometimes one will work and sometimes another. Don’t blow these off. Put them in your armory. The very one you mock might someday save your life. Don’t be anxious about things. The Gentiles do that.

6. Your Heavenly Father Knows What You Need (v. 32b)

Verse 32b: “And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

The argument is: Don’t be anxious because you have Father; he is “heavenly” not earthly; and he knows exactly what you need. “Father” means he loves you and you are on his heart as a child. “Heavenly” means he is sovereign over all the earth and nothing can stop him from doing good to you. “He knows that you need them” means that he is never at a loss to know what is good for you and he has all the wisdom it takes to meet your need. So rest in this: Your heavenly Father knows what you need.

7. God Will Supply Everything You Need to Do His Will and His Righteousness (v. 33)

Verse 33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The argument is God will supply everything you need to do his will and his righteousness. Yes he promises that some of us will be imprisoned and that some of us will be beaten and some of us will be killed. Paul says in Romans 8 that famine and nakedness will come for some, but will not separate us from the love of Christ. In all these things we will be more than conquerors through him who loved us. We will have all the clothing and food and drink that we need to do the will of God, including his time when his will is for us to die. There is no guaranteed physical comfort in this world, no guaranteed life on earth. But no trial will befall you for which he will not give you all you need to endure to the end and be saved.

8. God Does Not Overload Any Day with Trouble (v. 34)

Verse 34: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

The argument is that God does not overload any day with trouble. Each day has its appointed amount. So don’t reach into tomorrow and bring its troubles into today. The comforting point is unsaid, but obvious: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Each day has its own appointed troubles, and there are new mercies appointed for us every day so that you can bear the troubles. Trust him they will be there.

These eight arguments are a gift to you from the Lord Jesus to free you from anxiety and to make you a generous giver. If you will receive him as Savior and Lord and Treasure of your life, you will have his promises with him. Receive them. Believe them. Make them the means by which you fight the good fight of faith every day. We are walking into grave days. One group of people more than all others should be free from anxiety: the people of Christ.

Found a link today that’s worth reading for anyone wondering if the Bible is actually the word of God, and therefore, without error. It also explains why the Bible is proclaimed as the word of God, and how important this doctrine is to the health of the church.

It was written by Williams Evans, who writes for the Online Magazine for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, which is found at http://www.reformation21.org.

The article is titled A Layman’s Historical Guide to the Inerrancy Debate. Would love to hear your thoughts on it…

I just found out that a parent of one of my students at Warner Elementary was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wanted to send her some encouragement. I was searching for a post on Facebook that I had written awhile back, but for the life of me, could not find! So, I decided to look in the Drafts, just to see if maybe I had written it, but just never posted it to Facebook. And sure enough, there it was… So anyways, this post explains what God’s purpose is in the difficult experiences we must face in life, as explained by God in His Word, which is truth. Even though God doesn’t always give us the answer to our “Why?!” questions, He does tell us His purpose in causing or allowing these difficult times to happen in our lives.

I think you might be a completely insane, lunatic if you said that you actually enjoy affliction, trials, and hardship. None of it is pleasant. And yet, God commands (yes, that’s right… commands!) us to rejoice in the midst of it because He is behind it, and using it for His glory (James 1:2-4). And He is not a God that “willingly afflicts or grieves the children of men.” (Lamentations 3:33)

So what is God’s purpose in all of these things?

God’s Purpose in Affliction

When things are difficult in life, and you’re left with nothing but questions, God does have a purpose in your affliction. He may not give you the exact answers to why it’s in your life (He usually never does), but nonetheless, it is ordained by the sovereign plan and wisdom of God for His purposes and glory. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, God gives us a reason for the affliction He brings into our lives.

Read this verse…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Why does God allow us to be afflicted?

“…who comforts us in all our affliction, SO THAT we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

God causes or allows affliction in our lives so that He will be magnified in being both the comforter of our affliction, and so that through His comfort experienced in the midst of our affliction, we may be able to comfort others who are in any affliction.

So, it’s twofold… 1. His purpose is to glorify His name in proving Himself to be the Father of mercies and God of all comfort in the midst of our affliction. And 2. His purpose in comforting you in your affliction is so that you will then comfort others who are in any affliction with the comfort that you’ve received from God in your own affliction.

The truth is that everyone’s experience of affliction via circumstance, pain, or suffering may be different from someone else’s. But one’s ability to comfort another person in their affliction does not depend on that person having gone through the same experience, but rather from experiencing God’s comfort in affliction.

When you go through difficult times, it often feels like you’re the only one going through it, but God assures us in His word that it’s for His glory, our comfort, and for the comfort of others who are afflicted.

God also commands us to rejoice in our affliction. Knowing that God is purposeful in the affliction we experience helps us to continue to walk by faith, and to keep rejoicing in Him who works all things together for His perfect and pleasing will.

God’s Purpose in Trials

“Uhh, what?!” you may be asking. “How in the world am I supposed to rejoice in the midst of my hardship and affliction?”

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

Why does God command us to rejoice in the midst of trials?

Because just like God’s purpose in our affliction is to reveal His comfort and grace so that we might be able to comfort others with God’s comfort, God’s purpose in trials is to test our faith, which produces steadfastness or endurance. Again, here’s another reason that God gives us on why we experience trials, hardship, and affliction. His trials will make our faith more durable so that His light will shine brighter in the midst of affliction and hardships, as the world witnesses our response to those trials in faith and trust. As we grow to learn that God’s trials are purposeful for the steadfastness of our faith, He will be glorified in our rejoicing in those trials. God is more glorified in our rejoicing of trials that He brings, rather than our complaining of the hardship we experience as a result of God’s trials.

God’s Purpose in Hardship

God is purposeful in the hardship that He brings into our lives.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:3-11

So, Paul reminds us that we are to consider hardship as the discipline of God. If God did not discipline us, then we would be illegitimate children and not sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.

So, hardship should first remind us of God’s love for us as His children, not wanting us to stray into disobedience and a life of sin.

What is the purpose of God’s discipline?

“but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

At first glance, we may not understand what “sharing his holiness” means. But if we look a little further in the text, God gives us the answer in v.14 – “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

So God’s purpose in hardship to remind us that we are His children, and as a loving Father disciplines His children to keep them from going astray from what is right and good and true, God discplines for our good so that we may share his holiness, or so that we may see Him more clearly. It also yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. It yields righteousness when we are trained by it, and understand that it comes from God for His purpose and good in our lives, but if we do not understand, the devil can try to convince us to despise His discipline in our lives, which would not yield the fruit of righteousness, but instead an attitude of bitterness towards our loving Father, instead of loving submission and trust in the sovereign will of God.

All of these things–affliction, trials, hardship–God purposefully uses in our lives so that we might glorify Him more. None of them are too pleasant, but when we realize that God is using them for His glory and for our good, by His grace working within us, we will learn to submit to them with a joyful, patient and trusting heart, rather than despising God for bringing it into our lives.

Many people in the world today believe that truth is whatever you make it to be. It’s called relativism, or post-modernism. And actually, it’s what the world esteems as “true”. It’s nothing new though. This way of thinking was popular thousands of years ago, and God specifically warned his people against “doing what was right in their own eyes,” as if whatever their hearts led them to do was always right to follow (see Numbers 15:39; Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25). But since God is the moral authority of the universe, and we come to know what is true through what he tells us is true, He has also told us that our “hearts are deceitful” (Jeremiah 17:9).

So what is the prevailing thought of relativists? They say that as long as you are sincere about what you believe, then it’s true. Or you’ve probably heard someone say, “Well, that’s true for you, but that’s not true for me.” Sounds pretty wise and intelligent, but it’s not, and you’ll see why in a sec.

So, how do we know what’s true? And are there truths that are universally true for all peoples, in all places, for all time?

Well, here are some truths about truth. Many of these self-evident, logical truths are used from the great book by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek called “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist.” This book addresses many of the illogical beliefs that most atheists suscribe to, and explains in depth as to why you really have to have a lot of faith to be an atheist, in light of what’s true.

1. Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independent of anyone’s knowledge of it. (Gravity existed prior to Newton.)

2. Truth is transcultural. If something is true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times (2+2=4 for everyone, everywhere, at every time).

3. Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change. (When we began to believe the earth was round instead of flat, the truth about the earth didn’t change, only our belief about the earth changed).

4. Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. (Someone can sincerely believe the world is flat, but that only makes that person sincerely mistaken).

5. Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one professing it. (An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true.)

6. ALL truths are absolute truths. Even truths that appear to be relative are really absolute. (For example, “I, Frank Turek, feel warm on November 20, 2003″ may appear to be a relative truth, but it is actually absolutely true for everyone, everywhere that Frank Turek had the sensation of warmth on that day).

He then goes on to say…

In short, contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary truths are not possible. We can believe everything is true, but we cannot make everything true.

Thanks for reading.

I found this video excerpt of John Piper speaking at the 2008 Don’t Waste Your Life Conference held by Desiring God Ministries. Watch it, and let me know what you think…

My good friend Ben Jordan, who is one of the founders of Big Bad Collab, recently posted an article to their blog titled, “Gmail: Integrating Your Social Media.” I liked it so much that I asked him for permission to post it here online, as I think it could be a real time saver for people who use Gmail, and juggle back and forth between posting on Twitter and Facebook.

Before I copy and paste his blog post here, I’d like to tell you how I currently post to Twitter and Facebook. There are literally a gillion different ways of posting to Twitter, as many developers have created their own Twitter clients that allow you to post to Twitter from your desktop, and from many other sources. Here’s the proof.

I currently use Twhirl when I’m on the PC, and Tweetie when I’m on the Mac. If I want to post an update only to Twitter, I use one of those to do it. In my opinion, posting to Twitter via a desktop client beats the heck out of having to login to the Twitter website every time you want to post something. By posting to Twitter via a desktop client, you save time by not having to login everytime. Instead, the Twitter client logs you in automatically after you’ve fill out your login information within the Settings.

To post to Facebook, most people go to facebook.com, and then login with their username and password, and type in their status update. This can be a tedious process, especially if you are someone that likes to update your Facebook status often. And if you are someone that wants to post the same status update on both Twitter and Facebook, then the logging into both sites can be really tedious.

So, to kill two birds with one stone, I installed a Facebook application called Selective Twitter, which allows you to post your status update to Facebook via a Twitter client by simply ending your tweet with #fb. By doing this, you can simultaneously post to Facebook the same status update that you’re posting to Twitter. Saving time…

So, when I received Big Bad Collab’s latest blog post, I was glad to see yet another way to save time in posting to these 2 social networks, and this time from Gmail! Score! Here’s what they posted…

————————————————————————

We do a lot of work with social media. Everything we do we try to make it as efficient as we can, keeping it simple but effective. We think “innovation” is often seeing the complex as simply as possible. In the spirit of gathering up our most used tools, this post should help you with some of our favorite tools. One of the best ways to form an opinion is simply to experience it for yourself, but we love this functionality. If you use Gmail, and we think you should, then this integration of Twitter and Facebook will rock your world.

These directions should work for you if you are interested in trying it out. If you do try it out, feel free to drop a comment below and let us all hear what you think–has it helped you? Is Google going the right direction providing all these integrated choices? We’d love to hear your opinions.

1. Activate “Add any gadget by URL” in Gmail Labs — Login into your gmail. Go to the “Settings” menu at the top right. Click on the “Labs” menu choice within Settings. You will find it near the bottom of the list.

2. Now go to Settings –> Gadgets. Here you’ll find a place to add Gadget URLs.

3. Add the TwitterGadget App. Any iGoogle gadget will do actually, but I like TwitterGadget, a fully-functional Twitter service for iGoogle and Gmail. This lets tweet from the sidebar or open up your Twitter with all of your tabs intact. It even supports multiple accounts (cool!)

To add it, copy and paste this URL into Gmail’s Gadget settings: “https://twittergadget.appspot.com/gadget-gmail.xml”

4. Add the Facebook Gadget. In the same way you added TwitterGadget, you can add Facebook to your Gmail. While Google has an official Facebook gadget, it doesn’t play nicely with Gmail, so try out the app Ari Milner uses: Facebook Gadget by iBruno. It will expand into the rest of your Gmail for easy Facebook management (just click the ‘expand’ on the Facebook widget and it will expand into your Gmail pane).

To add it, copy and paste this URL into Gmail’s Gadget settings: “http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/104971404861070329537/facebook.xml”

5. Voila! Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail are now all wrapped up into one for your convenience. Simple and doable.

6. Final Step. Add us on Twitter @BigBadCollab, @marksnewton and @benjordan. We would love to connect!

So how do you post your status updates to Twitter and Facebook?

Help Haiti February 27th – HelpHaitiLive.com from Compassion International on Vimeo.

Compassion International is holding a benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Much of the news from Haiti has somewhat fallen off from the radar, but there is still so much of a need there. Compassion International has been there for 40 years, helping to provide children with their basic needs, such as food, water, education, and Bible classes. To find out more about this event, and/or to send a donation, go to http://helphaitilive.com.

If you live in the Houston area, PLEASE join us as we storm the gates of heaven for Layla. Pastor Michael Meissner will be holding a prayer vigil on Friday, February 12th from 7pm-8pm. We will gather at St. John Lutheran Church at 15235 Spring Cypress Rd. in Cypress TX. The first hour will be spent praying, sharing Scripture and crying out to God. The “official” part will last for about an hour, but all are welcome to stay and pray individually or in a small group for as long as they want. We have the church til 9, 10, midnight . . . whatever. Pastor Michael will stay and pray until the last person leaves.

Ryan and I will arrive with Layla at 7pm and stay until she needs to go home. She is having surgery in the morning (a new PICC line put in), so she may be very worn out. I am very eager to meet Layla’s amazing prayer warriors!!

If you have any questions, please contact Pastor Michael Meissner — LifeBridge Church @ 832-628-0072 (cell).

If you don’t live in the Houston area, please pray wherever you may be at 7pm Friday night.

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” – Matthew 18:20

For more updates from Layla’s parents, visit laylagrace.org.