By Lea Lockhart
When we walked into the Oncologists Office building, I was hit with a heavy sense of hopelessness and fear that filled the place. There were 3 guys, a lady and us in a waiting hallway to the side just before you go in to see the doctor. It reminded me of waiting outside the principal’s office. What’s going to happen?
Continue reading Hopelessness and Fear – God is Faithful
Interesting, isn’t it? Just a few months ago if you asked someone how they are doing they likely responded with, “busy, I am crazy busy!” However, we are living in a lockdown where many have gained some unexpected spare time. Why not use the time wisely by studying the attributes of God?
Continue reading The Attributes Of God While On Lockdown
Yesterday, Aron Osborne and I were able to snag a brief bit of time together to record a joint Grace Partnership sermon from Psalm 62. I hope that if you take 30 minutes to watch the video your soul will be encouraged by this great Psalm.
Continue reading Psalm 62 Video
To the tired believer in Jesus Christ
You are worn out, ragged and weary. You feel tired and at times you think; “I am at the end of my rope.” You find yourself wondering… where is the hope?
Continue reading To the weary believer in Christ
Into His Arms! by Lea Lockhart
Have you ever watched those videos of soldiers coming home and surprising
their families? I love and hate those at the same time. The kids will open a very large wrapped box and out pops Dad. Or, Dad comes around the corner into his child’s classroom to surprise his little girl. She looks up in absolute shock and disbelief. Her hands cover her eyes to catch the tears as it sinks in. Then, without hesitation, like a bolt of lightning, she takes off 
running right into the arms of her father, who was waiting for her with outstretched arms. She buries her head in his neck pouring out a bucket of tears; tears of joy and love. It gets me over and over again. I’m always a bit envious of those children, having never had that with my earthly father.
Let’s consider our busyness with an eye on our theology. We begin our quest with God. How does knowing the attributes of God affect our busyness? How do we, in our busyness, try to be God?
Propitiation. Now there’s a word we don’t hear often enough.
Have you considered the stunning news of Genesis 1:27? “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Bono, U2
All of life teaches us to earn. We earn a paycheck, a grade, or even a reward… all are based on our performance. Performance, Performance, Performance. When it comes down to it, our culture says, “This is what matters.” Parents, marriages, workplace, churches, and all the rest wraps itself in rewards. Society shouts performance. Evaluations by peers and evaluation of ourselves is all blanketed in performance.
And so, when we come to an understanding of grace, it is not surprising that we hiccup!
Love is amazing!
What moves a man and a woman to make a “til death do us part” vow to each other?
Or a mother to risk her life, without hesitation, to save her child from harm?
And, what moves the Creator of the universe to leave the comforts of heaven and take on the frailties of human flesh, live a perfect life, and die on that cross – for me… for you?
I am a sinner!
I need a Savior!
When I say, “I am a sinner”, I do not mean I have some flaws or I make some mistakes. I mean… I am a sinner. And as a sinner, whose sins are against a Holy God, who has given me life, I deserve not love. Rather…. judgement.
I say it again, I need Savior! Love is Amazing. His love is beyond amazing!
Sometimes, I am too familiar with the truth of God’s love. I lean toward being over familiar with the love of Christ on that cross. Familiarity can be the death of worship or the stifling of service. It turns joy into duty and passion into formalism.
I say to myself today:
Tim, listen up – because you are dull, Tim – you need to hear this TODAY:
Christ came to die for my sins, taking the punishment my sins deserved, on the cross! And this is LOVE, Tim! You did not earn this love. Be freshly reminded – this is the amazing grace of the Almighty God!
“The love of God is the spring from which the atonement flows”
John Murray
“Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.”
Tullian Tchividjian“The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands”
“We obey God’s Law, not to be loved but because we are loved in Christ.”
Jerry Bridges
God did not HAVE to redeem sinners. He freely chose, out of His love, to shed his blood for my / our sins.
His Death / My Life
The cross is the love of God on display. This cross, this death is my life. Amazing! Worship Him with your life, Tim.
Where would I be without this love? The cross of Christ shows us just how great is our need and how deep is the Father’s love to meet that need. If Jesus could redeem us any other way, it would most certainly be a lesser display of His love.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
(Romans 5:6-11 ESV)
Grab your coffee and consider today the glory of the Trinity!
We have had 12 posts on the Trinity. We have gone out into the “deep end”. You might be thinking: “ok, ok, the Trinity matters, but does it REALLY matter that much?”
Good question!
Here is an attempt to give a short Answer:
5 quick reasons why the Trinity REALLY does matter:
1.) Atonement Implications
“If Jesus is merely a created being, and not fully God, then it is hard to see how he, a creature, could bear the full wrath of God against all our sins. Could any creature, no matter how great, really save us?”
Wayne Grudem
Take the Son out of the Trinity….. and you and I are not and CAN NOT be saved!
Good news…. Jesus IS God!
2.) Trust Implications
The Trinity gives me reason to trust in God for salvation.
Good news….. you can trust in the 3 in 1 for salvation!
3.) Worship and Prayer Implications
If the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not equal God…. why worship Him or pray to Him? Every prayer ever uttered “in Jesus name” is meaningless. The reason the words, “in Jesus name” carry meaning is because the Son is our mediator before the Father. We don’t come before the Father in prayer, in the name of our self or in the name of a priest. We come in the name of THEE great high priest – Jesus Christ. He is your mediator! If Jesus is not God, then Christians are the worst of idolaters!
Good news….you can come to the Father!
4.) Bible Implications
If the Trinity is not God, then the Bible and all of its teachings are meaningless and should NOT be followed.
Good news…. Father, Son, Holy Spirit = God!
5.) Gospel Implications
The Gospel IS Trinity
Meaning we experience our salvation by all of the Godhead.
“We are saved by the eternal purpose of the Father, by the atoning work of the Son, through the power and wisdom of the Spirit. We grow in our understanding of God’s grace as we see how each person of the Trinity interacts with the others to bring us out of darkness, into the light.”
John Frame Systematic Theology
Good news… the gospel IS good news because of the Trinity!
For Further Study:
The Father: Sends His Son into the world
1 John 4:14
The Son: Obeys the Father fully by living a perfect life and dying on the cross for to forgive us of our sins.
Phil 3:9
I Corinthians 15:3
The Spirit: Is sent by the Father and the Son to apply salvation to us.
John 15:26
Galatians 4:6
5 quick reasons to once again stand in awe of who our God is.
Praise the Father,
Praise the Son,
Praise the Spirit, three in one!
He Laughs…. When God told Abraham and Sarah to name their baby, He told them to call him…. He laughs. That is what the name Isaac means. Isaac = He laughs. Keep that in mind, we will come back to it later.
