Rev. Reid Hensarling

Easter Season

  Abide in me, and I in you.    

      As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself,        

unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,   

unless you abide in me.

John 15:4  

KEY SCRIPTURES for the Season of Easter/Ascension Day:

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.  While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50-51). 

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt wit all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.  To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:1-3). 

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:4-5). 

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12). 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for is own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (I Peter 2:9-10).  

SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

The following are favorite quotations that highlight the Christian faith and hopefully lead us to reflection and contemplation and perhaps change and transformation.  Enjoy!

Living the Life You Were Meant to Live  by Tom Paterson:

Very rarely do I encounter people who have been encouraged from birth to explore their unique talents and abilities and to pursue them to the highest and utmost of their energy. 

Most people aren't living the life they were meant to live because they don't know who they are or what gifts God has given to them.

The Lord has a plan for your life before your conception.  He created you in a specific way - with a set of gifts, desires, and a certain "bent" - so that you might fulfill His plan for your life. 

The greatest tragedy of all is for a person to be managed by circumstances and live a half-dead life.

We were not created at random or without meaning. 

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis:

Lord, teach me to do Your will; teach me to live worthily and humbly in Your presence.  You, Lord, are my wisdom; You truly know me as I am, and have known me before the world came to be and before I came into being. 

Walk before Me in truth and always seek Me with sincerity of heart.  Whoever walks before Me in truth shall be protected from the assaults of the evil one, and the truth shall deliver him from all deceivers and from the lies of wicked men. 

If the truth sets you free, then you are truly free, then you are truly free and you need not concern yourself about other men's empty words. 

He who has My words and casts them aside has a judge to judge him on the last day.

The desires of men often end in disappointment but My promises never deceive anyone.  The man who trusts in Me I never send away empty.  When I make a promise I keep it, and I fulfill whatever I have pledged - if only you remain faithful to My love unto the end. 

Write my words in your heart and seriously reflect upon them for you will need them when temptation comes.

Lord, teach me to do Your will; teach me to live worthily and humbly in Your presence.  You, Lord, are my wisdom; You truly know me as I am, and have known me before the world came to be and before I came into being. 

Selections from C.S. Lewis:

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word "darkness" on the walls of his cell. 

God wills our good, and our good is to love Him and to love Him we must know Him: and if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. 

Whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.  Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little. 

The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas.  Nor is it a command to do the impossible.  He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. 

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self.  Lose your life and you will save it.  Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.  But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.  The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding: the Son is eternally begotten of the Father: the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.   The Confession of Faith of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1646

None but a theology that came out of eternity can carry you and me safely to and through eternity.   Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

If God promises something, then faith must fight a long and bitter fight, for reason or the flesh judges that God's promises are impossible.  Therefore faith must battle against reason and its doubts.   Martin Luther

I clearly recognize that all good is in God alone, and that in me, without Divine Grace, there is nothing but deficiency.  The one sole thing in myself in which I glory, is that I see in myself nothing in which I can glory.  Catherine of Genoa 

BOOK OF THE MONTH - Devotional Classics

Nothing is more central to the spiritual life than prayer, for prayer ushers us into perpetual communion with the heart of God. 

No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience.  It is important when we have a need to go to God in prayer. 

Prayer involves stating what is in our hearts. 

There is no Christian who does not have time to pray without ceasing. 

Prayer is a special exercise of faith.  Faith makes the prayer acceptable because it believes that either the prayer will be answered, or that something better will be given instead. 

Therefore you should confidently expect from God one of two things: either that your prayer will be granted, or, that if it is not granted, the granting of it would not be good for you. 

Wednesday Night Teaching 7:00 - 8:30 pm - Parlor:  May 7th - July 2nd

SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST

May 7 - Introduction and Overview

Scriptures:  Matthew 4:23; 24:14; Mark 1:1, 15; Acts 14:7; 20:20-21, 24, 27; Romans 1:15-16; 10:14-17; I Corinthians 1:17; 9:16; Ephesians 1:3, 13; Colossians 1:5-6, 23.

         What does the Lord want to do with us over the next nine Wednesday nights? Words like spiritual transformation, spiritual growth, and spiritual renewal come to mind.   How is that going to happen to us?  Francis Schaeffer believed that “the essence of true spirituality must be linked to the ongoing appropriation of the work of Christ to the Christian.”   Tim Keller, a Presbyterian minister in New York, writes: 

Spiritual renewal can be likened to combustion.  If there is fuel (e.g. wood) and   heat (e.g. a match), there will be fire.  In spiritual renewal, the fuel is the truth of the Gospel, while the match is the Holy Spirit, applying the truth to the heart.  There is a real encounter with the living God to which the truth points.   

 A critical question to answer right off the bat is, “What is the Gospel?”  “The reality of present-day Christendom is that most professing Christians actually know very little of the gospel, let alone understand its implications for their day-to-day lives.  My perception is that most of them know just enough gospel to get inside the door of the kingdom.  They know nothing of the unsearchable riches of Christ.”  The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ and the power of the gospel is Jesus Christ.   Stephen Charnock writes, “The gospel is nothing else but the revelation of Christ.” The gospel is about Jesus and is richer and greater than anything anyone can possibly imagine.  The whole gospel and not part of it must be faithfully lived and proclaimed to the ends of the earth by Christian believers (see Acts 20:20-21, 27).  The gospel has the power to changes our hearts and ultimately our lives.  God desires our hearts and wants us for himself.  He wants us to experience and know him deeply in our minds and souls.  We were made to worship, love, and desire him above all others; therefore, it crucial to have the Lord as the right objects of our affections and the highest priority for our lives. 

  True Christian spirituality involves the whole gospel for the whole person.   The Lord wants to form and shape our lives for his purposes and plans and for his glory.  The gospel brings us renewed fellowship with God, eternal life, transforming power through Christ, and union with Christ.  The highest blessing of salvation is union with Christ.  The gospel is more than a gate to enter eternal life; it is more like a pathway upon which we live our entire lives.  The gospel is also about the reign of God and his rule over all things, particularly our lives.  Our little story becomes part of God’s great story.  This is fantastic news – the kingdom story is great and can encompass and encapsulate all of me!

            The gospel is not static, but has great power in the life of the believer, bears fruit and grows, and is organic, and transformational.  The gospel is also the greatest need for BOTH believers and unbelievers.  The gospel has the power to set us free from our sins and give us a new status and new nature; however, in order to appreciate this good news, one must know the bad news.  The gospel is a message about our sin, but also the solution to this enormous and potentially deadly problem.  Sadly, man perverts his desires and follows other gods which cannot save him, which lead him only to despair and further separation from the Lord.  Our hearts are idol factories; consequently, man will worship something or someone.  If we don’t worship God and instead worship idols, then the world, the flesh, and the devil stand waiting to take us down a dark and dangerous path of destruction. The gospel calls us to turn from these idols to the living God who alone has the power to save us from ourselves and God’s impending wrath.  The gospel is not two gospels – one for the regenerate and one for the unregenerate, but one gospel for everyone, for any time, for anything, and for all time.  The gospel must be our daily focus and never abandoned for the sake of anything else.  It is the greatest of treasures and beyond comprehension and comparison. 

The following are eight doctrines or pillars upon which the foundation of our lives can be laid: Election, Propitiation, Justification, Adoption, Regeneration, Redemption, Sanctification, and Glorification.   The finished work of Christ needs to be fully appropriated and incorporated into the believers’ spiritual life.  We will look at these one by one over the next eight weeks.  Richard Lovelace writes:

Authentic spiritual growth requires a very strong awareness of the richness of your spiritual inheritance in Jesus Christ.  But just like a child born into a Royal family, it takes time for you to realize the full extent of the riches of your birthright.  Growing in grace is not so much a matter of you doing things for God as it is learning to appreciate what God has done for you. 

Repent, believe, and obey the gospel, and have faith in the rich and lasting promises of the gospel.  They are yours and mine in Christ Jesus for all time.     

            Reflection Questions: What do you long for?  What fills your heart with joy?  What makes you feel alive?  Has the gospel changed your life?  If so, how?  How has the gospel set you free?  What are the idols in your life?  What do you like to worship and spend time with?  How are your idols manifested?  What are you going to do about them?  Do you know and believe in the promises God has for you in Christ Jesus? 

May 14 - Spiritual Blessings in Christ - Election

Scriptures:  Deuteronomy 7:6-7; I Samuel 16:1-13; I Kings 3:8; Isaiah 44:1-2; Jeremiah 1:4-5; Matthew 11:27; Luke 1:30; John 15:16; Acts 9:15; Romans 8:29-30; 9:8-13; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11; II Thessalonians 2:13.

May 21      Propitiation
May 28      Justification
June 4       Adoption
June 11      Regeneration
June 18      Redemption
June 25      Sanctification
July 2         Glorification

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