Giving and Taking Daughters

Pastor John spoke this past Sunday from Nehemiah 10. One of the topics that came up in his sermon was that of protecting our children in terms of looking out for who they date, court, and marry. Here's a resource along those lines: What He Must Be: . . . If He Wants to Marry My Daughter by Voddie Baucham. You can read some sample excerpts here.

Removing Snares

On Sunday Pastor John spoke of “removing snares” as the third point of his message from Nehemiah 9. Jesus also spoke of removing snares: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30 ESV).
As an illustration of this kind of radical snare-removing sacrifice, John Piper recounts the story of a man who had to make an incredible, yet necessary, sacrifice.

On July 20, 1993, Donald Wyman was clearing land near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, as part of his work for a mining company. In the process, a tree rolled onto his shin causing a severe break and pinning Wyman to the ground. He cried for help for an hour, but no one came. He concluded that the only way to save his life would be to cut off his leg. So he made a tourniquet out of his shoe string and tightened it with a wrench. Then he took his pocket knife and cut through the skin, muscle, and bone just below the knee and freed himself from the tree. he crawled thirty yards to a bulldozer, drove a quarter-mile to his truck, then maneuvered the standard transmission with his good leg and a hand until he reached a farmer’s house one-and-a-half miles away, with his leg bleeding profusely. Farmer John Huber Jr. helped him get to a hospital where his life was spared.***

Wyman had a life-or-death decision, and he chose life at the cost of his leg. Jesus’ point was similar: when it comes to sin, you have a life-or-death decision to make. Keep on living a lifestyle of sin, and you will die - eternally! Or, by God’s grace and the power of His Sprit (Rom 8:13) you can make the necessary radical decision(s) to remove sources of sin and temptation from your life so that you can live.
Our High School Ministry spoke on this very topic this last week. What radical decisions need to be made so as to remove snares from your life? Maybe you need to breakup with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Maybe you need to cancel the cable/internet subscription, or remove the TV/computer from private places. Maybe you need to not hang out with certain people. These kinds of decisions may save your life, NOT because by making them you earn your salvation or favor in God’s eyes but rather because by them you can “make your election and calling sure” (2 Pet 1:10), that is, prove that faith you claim to possess is indeed saving faith.

***John Piper, Future Grace (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 1995), 329.

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength . . . Against Sin!

Joy is among the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), that is to say, joy comes as a result of living by the power of and in obedience to the Holy Spirit. This Spirit-produced joy is a weapon against sin. How so? Paul says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do" (Galatians 5:16-17 ESV). You can't walk "in the flesh" and "by the Spirit" simultaneously; it's either/or, not both/and. There is no "best of both worlds" in this case. If you are experiencing the joy of the Lord, then you will not be experiencing the fleeting pleasures of sin. The reverse is likewise true. For this reason the joy of the Lord is your strength against sin.