The Excellencies of Christ

Men- this coming week we will look at the diverse excellencies of Jesus.  By this I mean we will look at the extremes of His character and work that reveal His glory.  Things like the way He is completely conquering and powerful and authoritative but yet He is humble, submissive, and obedient.

Consider reading one of the gospels this week if you have time because we will look at the life and ministry and death of Jesus as part of our study.  Post questions from your reading of the chapters or the gospels as a comment to this and I can come better prepared to the meeting...

Soli Deo Gloria!

Work of a Perfect Savior

Good morning good men-

This coming week we will study the perfect work of our king, the God-man Jesus Christ.  We have looked at how salvation is from, through, and to God so now we will consider that He freely chose to subject Himself to the limitations of humanity, in order that He could suffer and die for us.

Our great God was not satisfied in glorifying His name by destroying all of us for our treasonous hostility and decision to doubt His goodness and to deny Him in preference of self-exaltation.  However, it is critical that we understand and believe that this wrath against us would have been good and right and completely just for God to have exercised.

But to the praise of His glorious grace, He instead made a way that He could not only be our righteous God, but also our Savior.  This would be accomplished in the work of His only begotten Son, who would take on flesh for our sake.

“21 ...And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.” (Isaiah 45:21b, ESV)

“5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5–8, ESV)

“5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5–6, ESV)

The chapters we look at this week are below-

Chapter 2: To Please His Heavenly Father

Chapter 3: To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

Chapter 4: To Achieve His Own Resurrection From the Dead

Chapter 43: To Unleash the Power of God in The Gospel

Prayer for one another-

Almighty God and redeemer of our souls,

Teach us this week of the excellencies of Jesus that are revealed in His work of obedience and righteousness.  Help us to be lifted up in our affections and to see His beauty.  Unleash your gospel power in us and though us that we can be lights and that we can be joyful and satisfied in you O Lord.  We ask this for the sake of your name, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Meeting Tomorrow (5/2)!

Good morning men-

Tomorrow we will meet again at 8pm and I look forward to our lesson.  By tomorrow morning I will post the final lesson to the left column of the blog (click the link below if you are reading this in an email) and I am hoping that you will download the lesson to bring on your device or print it and bring it with.

Morning prayer
Heavenly Father- Please do a work in our minds and in our hearts so that by the power of your Holy Spirit we may understand the scriptures and that we might see your glory and that we might be caught up in your majesty and in your love.  Give us the strength to comprehend the love of your Son and open our eyes to His beauty.  Bring us together tomorrow for this purpose Lord and let us honor you in our discussion and in our meditation on your Word.  For the sake of your name I pray, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Morning Prayer- 4/28/13

Good morning men,

Great God and king of our souls-
Help us this week to consider the truth of our own hearts that are bent on being your enemy and teach us the be in awe and wonder that you have brought us to reconciliation and you have removed the separation by canceling the sin.

Help us to consider the truth of the cross and how you have not wiped away your wrath, but you have diverted it to your Son.  Let us see His beauty and your amazing grace and let us be transformed and motivated.

Help us to see the truth of the access that we have to you in Jesus.  Teach us to trust only in Him as our means of access to you in prayer and may we come joyfully into your presence as the returned prodigal son whom you are eager to dress in a fine robe and to throw a party for.  For the sake of your name and the joy of our hearts I pray- Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(If you are reading on email- click the link below to go to the blog for other content)

The Great Discovery

This Thursday we will be looking at salvation and particularly at the fact that, by birth, we are separated from God by our sin nature and that we need to be reconciled to God.  We will examine the Old Testament concept of atonement and relate it to what Christ accomplished for us in His life and death.

A Puritan Prayer for us as we ponder the great salvation that comes From God, is accomplished Through God, and is purposed primarily To the glory of God.

Glorious God, 

I bless thee and I know thee.
I once lived in the world, but was ignorant
of its Creator,
was a partaker of thy providences, but knew not
  the Provider,
was blind while enjoying the sunlight,
was deaf to all things spiritual, with voices
  all around me,
understood many things, but had no knowledge
  of thy ways,
saw the world, but did not see Jesus only.
O happy day, when in thy love's sovereignty
  thou didst look upon me, and call me by grace.
Then did the dead heart begin to beat,
  the darkened eye glimmer with light,
  the dull ear catch they echo,
  and I turned to thee and found thee,
  a God ready to hear, willing to save.
The did I find my heart at enmity to thee,
  vexing thy Spirit;
Then did I fall at thy feet and hear thee thunder,
  "The soul that sinneth, it must die!",
But when grace made me to know thee,
  and admire a God who hated sin,
  thy terrible justice held my will submissive.
My thoughts were then as knives cutting my head.
Then didst thou come to me in silken robes of love,
  and I saw thy Son dying that I might live,
  and in that death I found my all.
My soul doth sing at the remembrance of
  that peace;
The gospel cornet brought a sound unknown
  to me before that reached my heart - and I lived -
  never to lose my hold on Christ or his hold on me.
Grant that I may always weep to the praise of
  mercy found,
  and tell to others as long as I live,
  that thou art a sin-pardoning God,
  taking up the blasphemer and the ungodly,
  and washing them from their deepest stain.

"The Great Discovery"- Retyped From The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions (p.112-113)

Soli Deo Gloria!

Draft Lessons

Men-

I will be putting draft lessons up on the left side where you can preview the summary, key quotes, and the objectives for the lesson as you read and consider the chapters.

I will then post the final lesson with the Doctrine and Use sections complete the evening before the meeting so you can print it and bring it with you (saves me lots of ink).

If you come up with thoughts or questions you can shoot a comment to one of these posts and we can have dialogue.  You can also post prayer requests at the Prayer Request tab on the top of the screen.

I have put up some blogs that I enjoy to the right...

Soli Deo Gloria

Off and Running!

Good morning men-

We had a great start on our study last night and I am excited about the next 13 weeks together.  As time goes on I may add some features to this blog that may be of use to you but the main point is an easy way for me to communicate with you and for us to drop comments in order to have discussion and reflect on what we are discussing in the meetings.

You should see to the left that the overview and the lesson are available to view or download in pdf.  Each week I will add the lesson there hopefully a day or so prior to the meeting.

On the right you will see other blog content and various links I will provide to excellent resources.

At the top you will see a bar with any different pages that I add- prayer requests are up there.

Morning Prayer:

Lord God in heaven- I thank you for loving us so much and for caring so deeply about the display of your glory that you stopped at nothing to catch us up in your wonderful story.  I pray that today you would guide our hearts and cause us to think on the love of Jesus and that you would change us.  Change our thinking that we might not be stuck on what we see and touch, but let us meditate on you and let us slow down to look at Jesus.  Show us how to do this today God and fill us with your Spirit.  For your glory and our joy I ask in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

First Meeting Tonight!

Howdy men.   

Tonight is the first in a 14-week series we are doing on John Piper's 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die. 

This is just a test post and what we would expect to find here from now on would be thoughts or reflections or updates or messages from me for the group.

The lessons can be downloaded from the links on the right.

Prayer requests can be submitted for view by all.