What an Awesome GodWritten by Terry Dashner
Faith Fellowship Church…PO Box 1586…Broken Arrow, OK 74013…Pastor Terry Dashner“Awesome God” “The heavens are telling of glory of God; and their expanse is declaring work of His hands” (Psalms 19:1) (NAS). I read John Piper’s book, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, (Crossway Books, revised 2004) and I think I shall never be same. Allow me to share some of his comments regarding glory of God. Enjoy. The heavens declare God’s glory. It’s all about glory. The Hubble Space Telescope sends back infrared images of faint galaxies perhaps twelve billion light-years away (twelve billion times six trillion miles). Even within our Milky Way there are stars so great as to defy description, like Eta Carinae, which is five million times brighter than our sun. Sometimes people stumble over this vastness in relation to apparent insignificance of man. And it does seem to make us infinitesimally small. But meaning of this magnitude is not mainly about us. It’s about God. Think about this. The reason for “wasting” so much space on a universe to house a speck of humanity is to make a point about our Maker, not us. “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these [stars]? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Isaiah 40: 26). We are all starved for glory of God, not self. No one goes to Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is gospel of modern world.
| | Occupying ForcesWritten by James Stevens
Far too many Christians today, like first century disciples, have a faulty view of future. They focus on Christ's future kingdom rather than on their responsibility to occupy enemy territory and represent His kingdom until He returns. The church's responsibility to occupy world can be allegorically compared to what’s happening today in country of Iraq. Due to rise of evil forces at hand of Saddam Hussein, our U.S. President, Commander in Chief, George W. Bush ordered troops into Iraq. In just a matter of days, battle was over. However, many of insurgents will not accept defeat. Rather than surrender, they snipe and shoot at our troops from behind cars, buildings, and trees using suicide truck bombs and RPG’s. So our troops must remain there until victory is secured and a new government is installed and established. By death, burial and resurrection
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