Tag: Bible study

Redeemed

James HoganLeave a comment

Just thought I’d share some of my notes from my recently completed study on 1 Peter 1:17-21. Some gorgeous verses…and I’m obviously not doing them justice. But…God has encouraged my soul this afternoon and I can’t help but share. Be blessed, dear friends.

So to wrap up – anything that can sum all this up? Namely – the gospel is glorious. We have a Father who loves us, who planned before the foundation of the world this grand redemptive work – the death of Christ and His resurrection from the dead – which is the price by which our lives are bought. So no longer are our lives meaningless – no longer are we lost, sheep that have gone astray. We now worship God, acting with awe and respect towards our Father, worshiping His name, full of faith in this present life and full of hope for the life to come. If you can think of anything this week to dwell on – think on the fact that we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.

One more thing I’d like to bring up. This redemptive work that Christ did – is not something He was forced into. He did it for us, out of love and care and deepest passion. For us. In John 18:4, we see some glorious words which I’ll just read briefly. Right before this verse, the mob comes to arrest Jesus. And in verse 4, “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” Do you see that? Jesus knew all that was coming. He knew of His impending suffering, of the wrath that was about to be poured upon Him. He knew He was about to fulfill the prophecy of John the Baptist – “The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”. He knew He was about to be forsaken by His Father. He knew He was about to be smitten of God, afflicted, pierced through, crushed. He knew the iniquities of us all were about to fall on Him. He knew all these things. And what did He do? Did He shy away or decide it wasn’t quite worth it. That we weren’t quite worth it? No. “So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him…went forth.” He did this – for us. The precious blood of Christ – the Lamb that was slain. Our only response should be to fall on our faces before God and worship. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! Amen. Amen. Amen.

A White Horse on Field of Green

James HoganLeave a comment

Well, it is a Monday morning and it is beautiful. You ever have one of those mornings where you feel supremely encouraged and oh so aware of the love of God? That is today for me and oh is it wonderful!! Firstly, I resolve to go to bed earlier from now on…as a full night’s sleep is just fantastic. Right!? I was in bed before 9 last night(albeit…reading for a while after that, but still!) So when my alarm went off this morning at 3:45…I somehow was almost instantly awake and alert, which is most abnormal. I did the decent thing and didn’t actually rise until about 4…but that set the tone for my whole morning. I had loads of time to do all my normal morning tasks…and then almost 45 minutes for a leisurely reading and coffee time. Oh bliss. And so I read Psalms 97 & 98 and Proverbs 6 and Jeremiah 38-41 and Acts 6-7…and I had time to meditate and pray on these words of Scripture. I was particularly struck by the end of Acts 7 – on Stephen’s powerful testimony and subsequent vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Oh might I be full of the Holy Spirit to such an extent as Stephen was – oh that I might behold a glimpse of the glory of God! And so pondering these words, I finally left for work…where I was able to listen to my favorite Lord of the Rings Symphony, enjoying the gorgeous music contained therein. And as I stopped by Starbucks for my Monday peppermint mocha…for some reason their machine wasn’t working, so I received my drink complimentary. And I just thought to myself, “Lord – why have you granted me so many little blessings this morn?” And so I thank my God this day for how He has granted me these gifts. Now of course – I set course for a day full of work and likely stresses and annoyances. But I shall not fret nor complain. It is well with my soul.

For A Little While

James HoganLeave a comment

Been studying 1 Peter 1:3-9 today…can’t help but share my concluding notes I just now wrote. A bit overwrought perhaps? I care not – thus is my heart.

I think it’s important to recognize the existence and necessity and beneficial nature of trials in our lives. But should our lives be characterized by sadness or depression because of these trials? No it should not!! Because we should understand the truth of the glorious gospel and the work of God in our lives, through the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead – this is the foundation of our faith! And this foundation leads us to have a sure and firm belief in our inheritance and future hope – knowing that God has protected and made sure our salvation and consequent rewards and benefits thereof. And so we rejoice and even though we have never seen the Lord Christ with our own eyes, we believe in Him(through the faith granted by God!) and we love Him(through the love of God poured out in our hearts through the workings of the Holy Spirit!) and we understand that our souls are saved – we have been born again to a hope eternal and to a life ne’er ending. These trials and sufferings we experience are for our good and make clear to us the genuine faith we possess. And so understanding all this, why should we not rejoice!? Our joy should be such that we can’t even express it and almost dare not try. But we cannot help it and simply must offer praise and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, offering Him the offering of our souls and the highest song of our lips. God has made us His children. We share in the inheritance of the Eternal God Almighty with our Lord Jesus Christ. We, as God’s children, are much beloved by Him. How should our hearts burn within us, in awe and wonder and love everlasting. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. And such we are.

A Most Extraordinary Grace

James HoganLeave a comment

Happy Saturday, friends!!! I’m in Starbucks(please don’t act surprised) and have been getting various online boring tasks(like paying bills) done over the last few hours. I’ve also been spending an alarming amount of time on iTunes trying to sort out this most troublesome playlist for my next mix CD. I now think I finally have the right songs and almost in the right order. Except I’m 17 minutes over. Which means I need to figure out either four long songs or five short songs to cut. Most aggravating. I’ve got to the point where I’ve spent too long on it though and it’s starting to annoy me and seeing as it’s almost 2PM here, I think it’s high time I made my way home to get other chores taken care of!

Hm, what else? Well, I still do want to write a proper entry about my Scotland adventure at some point, but truly – it’s one of those times I don’t feel as I can do it justice via the written word, hence I’ve still not even tried yet. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe. I have had such a nice morning so far…woke up not too early and went over to help Earnie move. A relatively painless process(aided by consumption of kolaches, coffee and doughnuts!) and now I’ve been sipping my iced coffee for a few hours(yes, it is somewhat less iced at the moment). This past week has been full of work and stress and sadness(see my previous entry for more on that, which I won’t dwell on further here). I did get a nice midweek early morning coffee chat with Julie(she had just gotten back from her Idaho vacation the night before and we somehow thought that a 5:45AM coffee meetup was a good idea? Well, it was well worth it despite my initial sleepiness!!) and Tuesday night was a most glorious community group time. It was one of those times where even though I had done some prep on my text(Ecclesiastes 3:1-15), I still wasn’t quite sure how the group discussion time was going to go. Well, it was beautiful and God-glorifying and I felt most blessed by the Spirit in my words and felt so encouraged afterwards!! I really hope some of the people that were there were as encouraged as I was by discussing the enlivening truths of God’s sovereignty and His love. So so precious when God fills your heart with understanding of such wonderful truths. Blessed be God, forever and ever, amen!

Also…thought I’d just discuss(briefly) some most glorious and most sobering words I’ve been reading these past couple days in 2 Chronicles. I always forget about these chapters for some reason, then when I discover them anew, I’m blown away. Anyway – 2 Chronicles chapters 20 and 21. 2 Chronicles 20 – a beautiful story of man’s trust in God and God’s ultimate salvation. So – Judah gets invaded by a ton of enemies(“a great multitude”) and it says “Jehoshaphat was afraid.” As we all are at times, true? And we don’t even have to contend with kingdom crushing invasions! Anyway, what does Jehoshaphat do? He doesn’t make an unholy alliance or trust in his armies or his riches or even his own intelligence. He “turned his attention to seek the LORD.” And that, my friends, is what our first instinct in sign of trouble and fear should be as well. And so he proclaimed a fast throughout the land and the people flocked to Jerusalem to seek help from the LORD. They came from all the cities(!! Imagine that today!) and Jehoshaphat led them in public prayer in the court of the temple and cried out to the Lord in prayer. I’m not going to detail the full prayer here(go read the chapter for yourself!), but it is magnificent. He acknowledges his own powerlessness and God’s great sovereignty and appeals to the covenant God had made with His people. And as he prays, it mentions that “All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives and their children.” No one was left out, not even the tiniest baby! The people understood the gravity of the situation and that they had no hope of salvation in themselves. And so they sought and cried out before God Most High. And God heard them. The Spirit of the Lord came down on one of the Levites and he proclaims to the assembly that they need not fear. He tells them that God will fight for them. The people need not even fight! They are told simply to go down to where the enemy will be and watch the “salvation of the LORD.” And the response of the people? They fall down. And worship God Most High. And so the next morning as they march out to the site of the “battle”, Jehoshaphat again encourages the people, telling them to put their trust in God – in that will they be established. And then as they proceed through the wilderness, how do they array their forces? They don’t put the soldiers or strongest men in the front. No, their trust is so great that they put the singers in front where they praise the name of God – “Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” And it says that even while they were singing and praising, “The LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mout Seir, who had come up against Judah; so they were routed.” The victory was the Lord’s. And the people praised His name. Such a glorious story and you should really read it for yourself…but I just am overwhelmed by the power and majesty of God. How should we respond to this? Well hopefully in whatever trouble we find ourselves, we remember that our God is sovereign and our God is faithful. And so should we cry out to Him, seek His face, trust in Him and rejoice in anticipation of seeing the works of the Lord in our lives. And He will work – of that let there be no doubt.

And I really almost want to end this entry here, but a quick few words on 2 Chronicles 21. One of the most sobering chapters in the Bible. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, and a witness to the deeds of the Lord, succeeds his father as king. And is he a good king in the image of his father? Sadly and most tragically he is not. His first act as king is to murder all of his brothers and assorted others to consolidate his rule. And it is said, “he did evil in the sight of the LORD.” Oh horror. And yet! It is said God was not willing to destroy the house of David because of His covenant. What extraordinary grace. Yet Jehoram is not spared the consequence of his sins and bold-faced mockery of God Most High. It is said that Elijah the prophet sent him a letter(Elijah didn’t even do him the honor of speaking to him in person!) strongly condemning him for his sins(as the leader of his people, he had led them astray, and for that great crime he is judged) and detailing the consequences of his sins. He is told that “behold, the LORD is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity; and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.” Well then. Again. Horror. God does not suffer lightly those who set their faces against him in rebellion and disobedience. And so it all came to pass. And it is said, in some of the saddest words in Scripture…”…and he died in great pain….and he departed with no one’s regret.” So is the judgment of God. Read the chapter yourself to see in starkest detail the sins of Jehoram and the consequences he suffered and the disdain that was afforded him by his people because of his utter failure as king. So, consider Jehoram. Consider Jehoshaphat. Which should we be? One so self-righteous and confident in ourselves that we lay waste to all around us and live for our own pleasure and pride? Or one who unceasingly – day and night – cries out to the Lord and falls down before Him in prayer and worship? One who may be afraid and terrified of what surrounds us, yet we trust in God? May that be said of us, that we trust in God. And Him alone.

Now – that is far too many words and I should most likely edit it down a bit(or remove it entirely!!), but I’ll leave it for now. Read the chapters for yourselves, because the words of Scripture are far better than any of mine. And whatever you are going through in your own life right now, whatever trials and tribulations you’re suffering…fall on your face before God and cry out to Him and seek His face. Trust in God. And rejoice as you see the works of the Lord in your life!

Too many words. Far too many. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far? Peace and love. Always.

Tears of Grace

James HoganLeave a comment

Hello friends!! I write this from Starbucks this happy Saturday afternoon and while I shall not write long, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to put a few words to page. Today has been a somewhat productive day so far(got my car’s oil changed, some errands, etc!) and it will continue once I get back home – need to do some cleaning of my apartment! Fun times eh? Now though, just been reading a bit in preparation for Tuesday night’s study(“Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord.” How often do I fail at that. How much do I need to be reminded!) and also sending a few emails out. Also a very nice benefit to having internet access here…downloaded a bunch of Dominic’s sermons from SermonAudio and I shall later on burn these to CDs for commute listening. I am very pleased with my many new sermons and the much encouragement and conviction I’m sure they will provide. Again from Colossians – may the Word of Christ richly dwell within us.

Now, I’m off, mostly because I want to get home and start my chores. Also need to start dinner at some point – tonight’s a chicken parm night…just been craving that this morning, so suppose I shall make it(complete with tomato salad *of course*). I have far more I could write about, but for now, just grateful for a day of rest that my God has granted me. May I spend it pondering the goodness and glories of my God and meditating on the beauties and wonders of knowing Christ. I do not want to waste this day or this life thinking about that which does not matter. Peace and love, my friends – hope you have a beautiful day and are as encouraged as I am!