God’s works displayed

God’s works displayed

Penn View Bible Institute’s Praise Singers presented a concert of gospel music this morning before our message.  What a wonderful group of guys who love the Lord and CAN SING.  Our folks were all blessed by their music and their testimony in word and deed.  Thanks guys, you were a witness of Christ to CHCC. Our message this morning, began a 3 part message of John 9 verses 1 through 17, the blind beggar man and the work of God being displayed in his suffering.  There is no more important message preached by myself than this one.  We Christ followers must have a sound theology of human suffering and God’s sovereignty to make sense of our lives.  The Bible does not let it up to each of us to guess or make up ‘wise human advice’ to explain pain and suffering, it gives clear explanation to the deepest of our pains.  It is so that the works of God might be displayed in our suffering. No blog or short message series can rightly explain all of God’s purposes as we walk through the individual trials of this life.  It is safe to say however, no essential to believe, that we worship a great God who is in control of every aspect of our lives.  And that this great God is loving and good and purposes that his mighty works be on display through my suffering.  My suffering can only be understood in relation to God.  When I try to explain it simply in terms of happenstance or fate or chance, I not only diminish God but find myself at a complete lose to see hope in my pain. We worship a majestic and powerful God, who knits together the disabled child in the womb (psalm 139) and makes the mouth of man mute (exodus 4).  In all things including each of these sufferings, God is putting His works on display.  His purposes are sure and His ways good.  We might not understand those purposes but when we don’t see the hand of God revealed we must trust His promises. Join us for the next couple of weeks as we expand our intimacy of Jesus and come to a proper understanding of the pain and suffering of life.   soli deo gloria        

Making much of God in marriage

Making much of God in marriage

I came across this video which is partially promoting a wonderful book, This Momentary Marriage, by John Piper but the true value of the video is found in the message of commitment to God’s glory in marriage.  I know very little about this couple but what I have been able to read about them speaks volumes of their making much of God in their relationship together.  Take time to watch it and then click the link to her blog.  You will find, as I did, the need to pray for Ian and Larissa.  Pray for their commitment to each other and mostly for their commitment to Christ.  Pray for your own marriages and your own commitment to making much of God in your life. I am convinced once again that, in general, we understand very little of suffering, of frailty of life and relationships, and lifting Him high as I watched this.  May this encourage each of us to consider this in all we do beginning with our marriages.         soli deo gloria

Suffering for His glory!

Suffering for His glory!

Take time to watch the following video. God has burdened me recently as Pastor at Center Hill to preach on and prepare our folks for the inevitable suffering that each of us face. I have become more and more convinced that we live our lives in peaks and valleys and the older I get I believe that we spend most of our time on the down hill side of those hills. Life is filled with suffering, not to the degree sometimes of others and never to the degree of our Lord on the cruel cross of Calvary, but life is marked by suffering. At Center Hill, we have preached through several scriptural sections of suffering and even had our Easter series on our Lord’s preparation of His disciples for their coming suffering. I have recently followed the journey of Pastor Matt Chandler through his video blogs and church updates while he battles brain cancer. A young Pastor full of zeal for the Gospel, a love for Christ and great potential for the kingdom, stricken with a brain tumor. A loving father and devoted husband, seemingly kept from the joys of those duties. It’s easy to ask why and focus on the suffering but that’s not God’s intention. ‘He has set apart the godly for Himself’ (Psalm 4) and wants to receive glory, even in the midst of our suffering. What a testimony Matt has been to the glory of God. May the Lord allow each of us the same grace, both to display and to personally experience as Matt, when we find ourselves in the midst of suffering. T4G 2010 — Special Session — Matt Chandler from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo. soli deo gloria