Abundantly Satisfied With the Fullness of Your House

“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.” – Psa. 36:7-8

Some verses just sing.

How precious is God’s kindness. When we put our trust in Him, God exceeds our wildest expectations – not with earthly health and wealth, but – with the fullness of His house.

That’s verses 7-8. The icing on the cake is verse 9: “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.”

He is the source, not us or our circumstances or our feelings. Because of Him we see the world as it truly is.

Like I said: Sings.

We Cannot Deny It

“What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” – Acts 4:16

Don’t overlook that NO ONE EVER denied the miracles of Jesus or (like here) His followers.

They cured blindness, muteness, lameness, and rose people from the dead – and absolutely no one ever contested that they were frauds or that it was trickery or that Jesus was not doing exactly what it appeared that He was doing.

That’s because it was completely obvious that Jesus was literally performing miracles. This is undisputable proof of His deity.

God Is Our Very Present Help In Trouble

“God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah” – Psa. 46:1-3

WE cannot supply our own shelter under our own strength.

God is our shelter and our might.

God is our help in trouble. IN trouble, not from trouble: trouble will come and when it does – in the middle of it and through it God is there.

He is our HELP.

He is our PRESENT help (meaning you can find Him).

He is our VERY present help (His help is in abundance and never lacking).

Sickness Can Be An Opportunity For Worship

“God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.” – Psa. 47:8

Sickness can be an opportunity for worship. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out.

Sickness, ailments, and infirmities reveal our frailty. They expose our human-ness. All too often we think we are invincible. We think we are the ones in control. We place ourselves on the throne of our own little kingdom.

God never gets sick. God never has an ailment. God never has an infirmity. He is God. He is sovereign over all things.

When we are on our backs, it forces us to look up to The One really on the throne. It corrects our perspective. It propels our worship.

Exiled at Home: COVID-19 Quarantine

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.” – 1 Pet. 1:1-2

Look, I know this is weird. We are all feeling it. The last place we want to be on Sunday is at home. We love Christ’s bride. We love our church. But the church is more than a building; it’s the people.

Right now we are “exiled,” as it were. During this time, I stand with Peter and pray grace to you and peace be multiplied!

Yours in Christ,

– Pastor Patrick

Soli Deo Gloria!

Do Your Part: STAY INSIDE

Come, my people, enter your chambers,
And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past.” – Isa. 26:20

The Coronavirus is nothing compared to the Angel of Death appointed by God at the Passover, but the mandate is similar: stay inside for a time.

I am praying for you. I know these are unprecedented times and we are all in unknown territory.

Make the safest decision for your family.
Do not panic. Place your trust firmly in God for He is, was, and will always be in absolute and total control.

Please do your part: STAY INSIDE.

God, Alone Wise

“to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” Rom. 16:27

Why is it that Man flips this natural divine order: Man, alone is wise. Man, alone gets the glory?

No.

God, alone is wise.

God, alone gets the glory.

It is all God, from start to finish, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Enriched In Everything By Him

“that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,” – 1 Cor. 1:5
Everything is enriched by Jesus.

Everything is improved, enhanced, upgraded, sweetened, and adorned by the Son of Man.

Without Him, everything is dulled, decreased, reduced, and lessened.

Do you know Him?

Should a Christian Exercise and Workout?

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” – 1 Tim. 4:8

I love to workout and stay healthy. I am a lifelong gym-rat. It’s a big part of who I am.

However, the Word of Christ says that this kind of exercise profiteth LITTLE (KJV). The real exercise (that profiteth much) is the spiritual workout towards godliness.

True gains are gotten through (what the Puritans called) “Holy sweat.”

The true workout is in God’s gym, lifting His weights, and exercising your spiritual muscles.

Like all things, even a healthy lifestyle can become an idol. Keep it in check. Don’t let it get out of balance. If your treadmill time exceeds your prayer time, it’s out of wack.

By all means, don’t skip the gym. And by all means, don’t skip your Bible intake.

Don’t neglect either one, but always give preference to working out spiritually.

One is temporal and one is eternal.

No matter how healthy you are, your outward man is dying. Working out your spirit has the promise of true life.

Insights from Proverbs 10

Reeses-Minis

Insights from Proverbs 10 for the 10th:

Proverbs 10 is a rapid-fire string of moral contrasts. It’s like reading a bunch of fortune cookies all at once.

Solomon presents these pearls of wisdom in an A-B pattern:

  • A is the righteous way to do something.
  • B is the unrighteous way to do that thing.
  • A results in an easier, better life.
  • B results in a harder, worse life.

For example (paraphrased, of course):

  • A wise son makes a parent happy. A foolish son is a pain in the neck (v.1).
  • The memory of the righteous is perfume. The name of the unrighteous will rot (v. 7).
  • The words of the righteous are a spring of life. The words of the wicked are violence (v. 11).

These sayings are designed to be pithy and therefore – easy to remember. They have this tendency to worm into your brain and lodge themselves there. Then they show up in your thoughts & conversation. Its a brilliant technique, really – and one that the advertising world has exploited quite well.

The point is, Solomon is trying to impart profound, life-changing advice as efficiently and effectively as possible… to a teenager. What better way then by catchy one-liners? Rather than overloading the kid with heavy & dull lectures on Ethics, Solomon succeeds by creating these fun nuggets of wisdom in handy bite-size chunks.

Do you know them?