Job Chapter 37

1 At this also my heart trembles
and leaps out of its place.
2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
4 After it his voice roars;
he thunders with his majestic voice,
and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
7 He seals up the hand of every man,
that all men whom he made may know it.
8 Then the beasts go into their lairs,
and remain in their dens.
9 From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
10 By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.
12 They turn around and around by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.
13 Whether for correction or for his land
or for love, he causes it to happen.

Kimberly and I took a walk today. Kimberly made the comment that there is a huge contrast in our neighborhood between winter and spring. She's right. When spring comes there's a huge transformation that takes place. Bradford pears produce beautiful white pedals and dogwoods produce their various leaves of red, white and yellow. It's a beautiful picture of death and new life. It also reminded me of the the hymn I Sing the Mighty Power of God by Isaac Watts. May these lyrics serve to raise your affections of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God’s command, and all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord, who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word, and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky.

There’s not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God art present there.

From the ESV Study Bible commentary on Romans chapter 1:

In every instance the giving up to sin is a result of idolatry, the refusal to make God the center and circumference of all existence, so that in practice the creature is exalted over the Creator. Hence, all individual sins are a consequence of the failure to prize and praise God as the giver of every good thing.

I enjoyed watching this. I thought Driscoll handled D.L.'s question of hypocrisy in the church well, ultimately pointing him and those watching to Jesus.

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

This video is part of a sermon that John Piper preached on January 25th, 2009. The title of the sermon is "The Baby in My Womb Leaped for Joy." This section of the video is where he responds to a statement President Obama made on the 36th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. The entire sermon can be found here.

I'm thankful to be apart of the Body of Christ. Not just the universal Body, but the local Body that I'm apart of. We call it a missional community. It, though, is people, the church. The last two sermons at New City have been on the church being 'One People' and the church as the body of Christ and Jesus is the Head. The dividing wall of race and culture is torn down as we come to Jesus as guilty sinners and are brought near to a holy God by the blood of Jesus, who took our sin on the cross and rose from the dead, defeating sin, Satan and death. We then are joined by His Spirit to Jesus and one another in order to be Jesus to one another and the world. As we (the body) grow in our knowledge of and faith in Jesus we grow in our love for Him and His body. We then in love speak truth to one another and serve one another so that we are all mended from our brokenness and grow up in our likeness to Jesus.

This week I was humbled to see us function as a body. It is humbling to be apart of the body of Christ. That it is Christ who does His work through us. It is Christ who through His people ministered to a brother and sister who this week have had to watch their two month old daughter hang in the balance of life and death. It is Christ who used us to speak the truth in love to one another as our MC met this past week. It is Christ who uses us to weep with each other. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21