Matt Delves

This is where my holiday begins. (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:43:02 +1100

This is where my holiday begins. (Taken with instagram)

I never get sick or tired of this infographic.

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:51:21 +1100

I never get sick or tired of this infographic.

The girliest cake I’ve ever received. (Taken with...

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:16:14 +1100

The girliest cake I’ve ever received. (Taken with instagram)

Looking forward to using this in tonight’s dinner (Taken...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:43:09 +1100

Looking forward to using this in tonight’s dinner (Taken with instagram)

Oxygen session 8

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:05:16 +1000

(rough notes)

Show Christ

My enjoyment of Him is the means in which I most glorify Him.

God has given us a mind to find the right views of Him through a book.

There isn’t anything better than fullness of Joy forever.

A worker with you for your Joy.

Who cares about the world? That is a horrible inference from the talks given.

How does embracing the truth not produce indifference with the world but rather an evangelistic zeal?

2 Corinthians 8:1-4, 8

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity. 3 I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, 4 they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, 8 I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.

Thesis: you can’t pursue your maximum pleasure unless you share the gospel.

Be motivated to go in the direction of earnest and cheerful giving because it is an expression of your love.

This is an amazing picture of how love occurs in the Church. It is such an astounding and compelling love.

Grace came down and people got saved in Philipi. Jailor, slave girl,

Affliction came about. Through their affliction, their joy became abundant. Their joy wasn’t in circumstances.

Joy abounding. Rooted in grace. Rooted in God.

Christians must be happy regardless of circumstances.

Living in a prosperous land such as Australia or America is dangerous as our joy can be closely tied to our prosperity.

Their extreme poverty has overflowed in an abundance of generosity. The poor people under affliction pleaded that they be able to provide for the saints.

Two definitions of love from the text 1. Love is the overflow of the joy in God that meets the needs of others.

The word overflow can sound a little too automatic and a little too passive. When a glass gets full it spills. Love involves more than passive spilling. It requires effort and can end up killing.

love is the effort of joy to expand by including others in it flowing from joy in God.

If grace is missing then what comes out isn’t love.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

If you are teaching your people to be indifferent in their giving you are teaching them to sin.

God wants one kind of giver. That is a cheerful giver.

Romans 12:8

if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

The bible is indiscriminate in its use of happiness language.

Get Bible meaning into the words used.

Joy is not superficial or incompatible with pain.

Romans 12:15

Romans 9:2

that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart.

2 Corinthians 1:6

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.

2 Corinthians 1:8

2 Corinthians 11:8

Acts 20:35-38

In every way I’ve shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ 36 After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. 37 There was a great deal of weeping by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.

Do not burden others.

How is it love if by taking a meal to a sick person so that you may get joy? Because we desire to include the other people in our happiness. We want to see them in heaven with us.

God loves a cheerful pastoral visit. We can’t love people if we aren’t happy in God.

Hebrews 10,11,12,13 Four chapters that show that you love people and it is powered by your persuit of God in Jesus.

Hebrews 10:32-34

Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions, and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way. 34 For you sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.

We have a better and abiding possession, which is Jesus, than those possessions than we have now.

Psalm 16:11

You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.

All that they lost, they counted as gain because they chose to pursue Jesus.

Hebrews 11:24-26

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the short-lived pleasure of sin. 26 For he considered the reproach because of the Messiah to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since his attention was on the reward.

Jesus is a greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. He was looking to the greater reward to come.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses a surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

Jesus himself had his eyes on the reward.

Love flows over from joy in all that God has done for us in Jesus!

Hebrews 13:12-14

Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that He might sanctify the people by His own blood. 13 Let us then go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace. 14 For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come.

Oxygen session 6

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:38:11 +1000

(rough notes)

Preaching Christ

Colossians 1:15-20

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Preaching Christ means regularly making clear that all things exist to display the glory of Jesus Christ.

These things mean within the trinity that whether intrinsically His or The Fathers.?? (check that from audio)

Everything exists to display Christ.

There is the trinity to come to terms with.

It isn’t wrong to say that the universe exists for the glory of God or to say the glory of God the Father.

2 Peter 3:18

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

2 Theselonians 1:12

so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 13:21

21 equip a you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever. Amen.

Passages that show Jesus reflecting the Fathers glory Jude 25

to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

Philippians 1:11

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Romans 16:27

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to Him be the glory forever! Amen.

Philippians 2:11

and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Third group of texts that show these two glories are one glory because we have a trinity.

Titus 2:13

while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 4:11

If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Preach Christ in a profoundly theocentric way.

Romans 11:36

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

God accomplished the display of His glory in creation and redemption through Jesus.

3 effects of preaching Christ theocentric ally

It protects your preaching and your gospel from man-centeredness.
Makes sin intelligible.
The cross won’t make sense.

at the heart of preaching Christ is love.

The love of Christ for sinners should be really big.

You can’t know love apart from the love of Christ for sinners.

John 11:1-6

Now a man was sick, Lazarus, from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Him: “Lord, the one You love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after that, He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

Don’t miss the ’so’ in the passage. Why did Jesus let Lazarus die? Look back at verse 4 which answers the question. It was done for the glory of God. So that we can see as much of Gods glory as possible.

The ultimate end of love is not me, but God.

Why does God, whom loves me so much and makes much of me, do so for His glory?

It is a greater love displayed by God to make Himself your glory rather than yourself.

The human heart is made for God and He loves His children infinitely.

You are precious to God and the greatest gift He has for you is for Him to be your treasure, your God.

We are designed to enjoy God forever.

preach the cross from its eternal foundation past to its eternal consummation future.

The cross was planned from eternity 1 Corinthians 15 Revelation 13:8
The cross is an event in History Jesus Christ died under Pilate.
The cross was in the event an achievement. It happened at one time It was accomplished and applied (John Murrey) The wrath if God was absorbed by Jesus for His elect - Romans 8:3

What the law could not do h since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering

Galatians 3:13

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.

Sins were covered. Colossians 2:14

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.

He completed a perfect righteousness for us.

Christ became obedient unto death. Therefor Christ had highly exulted Him.

Philippians 2:8 is the setup for 3:8

2:8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

3:8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ

a free offer that all of that can be yours through faith alone

Believe is part of the Gospel, even though you say believe the gospel.

There is no good news if it is by works.

The offer to faith alone apart from works is essential

applied by the Holy Spirit to all believers
Reconciliation.
Forgiveness becomes mine
Justification becomes mine
Eternal life becomes mine
the gospel is not good news until we realize it takes us somewhere

2 Peter 3:18

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the spiritual realm.

Christ must become for us redeemer and reward. Sacrifice offered and satisfaction enjoyed.

Jesus purchased for us fellowship with God.

Preaching Christ means preaching the gospel.

God himself is our reward.

preaching Christ involves preaching conversion in opening blind eyes to see the glory in the Gospel.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. 6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

They can’t see Jesus as ultimately beautiful.

God opened your heart to see the glory of Christ.

Some people are arminian to the core. They have no idea how they got saved.

Preaching Christ is preaching what is conversion.

preaching sanctification as the effect of seeing the glory of Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18

We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

How do your people get changed?

How do they fall out of love of money?

Be holding the glory of the Lord we are being transformed.

The reason it works that way: When we see Him we are more satisfied with Him. When we admire Him we tend to be like what we admire.

John Piper on the big screen. (Taken with Instagram at Oxygen...

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:45:23 +1000

John Piper on the big screen. (Taken with Instagram at Oxygen Conference (John Piper))

Afternoon coffee with @yojabbajabba (Taken with Instagram at...

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:32:35 +1000

Afternoon coffee with @yojabbajabba (Taken with Instagram at Workshop Espresso)

Oxygen 2011 - Session 5

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:15:43 +1000

(rough notes)

There is a vast importance in using our minds in the service of God. Not failing to serve God with all our mind, heart, soul and strength.

Acts 1:4-11

4 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Ascension 9 After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. 10 While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”

At the start of the book of luke and acts, Luke takes lengths to explain the supernatural events that occurred at the time.

The first supernatural account is that of an angel talking to Zacheria.

The second supernatural account is that of Jesus ascension.

Luke knows what the prime objection is. He knows that people have and always will object to supernatural events. Even those who believe in God don’t believe supernatural events.

zacheria’s heart shows his disbelief.

The first attacks on the Christians were by the sadducees who denied any resurrection. They were the religious people.

If you believe in prayer yet don’t believe in a supernatural God, you have nothing to say.

It’s not just atheists that reject the supernatural.

Why the ascension? Since Jesus was appearing and disappearing for 40 days why did he rise up?

Luke points out that Jesus was taken up. Lifted up. He went up and the cloud received Him out of their sight.

When Jesus ascended, he took over authority. It is symbolic. He went up to sit at the right hand of the authority on high.

Jesus ascension was observed.

Jesus ascension was attested to.

Luke is getting across what the supernaturalist denies. The ascension was visible. Jesus was taken up and will come in the same we that you saw Him go.

In the same way Jesus ascended, He will return.

There is the future goal. Jesus is going to return. It will be visible.

The return if Christ is integral to the Gospel.

We are called to turn from sin to God. We are called to wait for His return.

Jesus coming has massive consequences for believers as we will all stand before God and be judged for the works that we have done.

The context of the ascension is the matter of the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel.

The orthodox Jews believe that Jesus never saved anyone.

Because of the resurrection, the disciples recognize that Jesus use of death, the ultimate weapon of the enemy, and breaking it shows His power.

The disciples don’t ask “are you going to restore the Kingdom?” But instead “are you going to restore the Kingdom to Israel ’now’?”

The question of why doesn’t end all pain and suffering is what is given at the start of the book of acts.

What is meant by the word Kingdom? Why does there appear to be this space between the first and second coming of our Lord Jesus?

To the Pharisees Jesus said, look the Kingdom of God is among you.

To His disciples, Jesus said don’t believe those that say the kingdom of God is here or the kingdom of God is there. For no one knows when the kingdom of God will come.

The disciples and the Pharisees didn’t see that the King was standing in front of them. Jesus was identifying Himself as the King.

The seeing and identifying that Jesus is the King is a spiritually identified truth.

There is a spiritual component to the Kingdom.

The Jews were looking for an outward, political Kingdom to bring freedom from the Romans.

Since sin came by a lack of trust in God, so must there be an element in restoration and forgiveness come through a trusting in God.

When Jesus brings His Kingdom, it will come with complete visibility.

Jesus kingdom is not of this world. This is what Jesus told Pilate.

The disciples ask, are you going to do it now? Jesus responds by saying it is all organized, it will happen, but it is not for us to know. We are to be witnesses to the ends of the Earth.

Where do we stand in History?

Miracles and healing show Gods restoration of things. Though why isn’t everything restored? Because the time for all things to be restored has been promised though has not yet come?

The day of Pentecost came and the Holy Spirit was poured out. This reminds us that there is a Jewish calendar.

Those feasts point forward to Christ. Christ is our Passover lamb. There has been fulfillment in Christ.

Any farmer will tell you how good a harvest is going to be. Look at the first fruits. Jesus is the first fruit of the resurrection. Look to Jesus to see what life to come will be like.

Passover, first fruits, Pentecost. All happened. So what about the three other feasts?

Tabernacles? Isaiah 25 - God promises to make a feast in the mountains.

The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast for all the peoples on this mountain — a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine. 7 On this mountain He will destroy the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations; 8 He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. 9 On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

It is no mistake that the book of revelation ends with almost these exact words.

There is a space between the incarnation and the return. The existence of this space will raise many questions. This is why the book of acts goes to such length to address these questions.

The biggest reason to trust God is the cross.

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood.

God has not remained distant but has become part of it.

God is sensitive enough to your heart that He will be the one to wipe away the tears from your eyes.

Oxygen session 4

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:03:01 +1000

(rough notes)

Think Christ

Matthew 24:34-40 - 34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: 36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Feelings are important in pursuing God.

The neglect in being obedient to God by pursuing Joy is ripe within the Church today. We must be obedient to God as he commands us that we pursue Joy.

Delight in God. Treasure God. This is what is means by following God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength.

If you love God, there will be a result. You will obey God. Loving God yields obedience.

2 Corinthians 1:24

We are workers for their joy.

Right thinking about God exists for the right feeling about God - thesis of the talk.

Logic for the sake of love Doctrine for the sake of delight Heads exist for hearts Knowing the truth for admiring the truth

Thinking exists for the sake of affection. They are both true though they aren’t equal.

Knowing doesn’t hold the ultimate place. It is treasuring, admiring, trusting, longing for, et cetera that are how we correctly relate to God.

If your affections aren’t based upon right thinking, then you aren’t honoring God.

Affections must be based upon our thinking.

God is not honored by affections which aren’t grounded by right thinking about God.

Ten biblical proofs.

Romans 10:1-2 “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation! 2 I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”

They have a zeal for God that doesn’t accord to knowledge and that ends up with the going to Hell. You can have a passion for God yet be lost.

2 Timothy 2:7 “7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

You have to think. Consider it. For the Lord will give you understanding.

Since God gives the illumination you need to think over it.

God gives you understanding as you think over the texts.

Think and pray.

Acts 17:2-3 2 As usual, Paul went to the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”

Reason, demonstrate, prove things. All from the scripture.

Paul knows that the mind of the flesh doesn’t receive the things of the spirit.

Paul knows that the Jewish people in the synagogue are dead. They have no spiritual life.

Paul reasons with them and argues with them.

God changes peoples lives through preaching that is filled with reason, logic, proofs.

We can’t short circuit this by abandoning the word of God.

Spirit and truth.

Spirit and word.

The Holy Spirit opens peoples hearts to give head to the word of God.

Luke 12:54-57 54 He also said to the crowds: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, right away you say, ‘A storm is coming,’ and so it does. 55 And when the south wind is blowing, you say, ‘It’s going to be a scorcher!’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don’t you know how to interpret this time? 57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

Jesus himself expects people to use reason and logic to look at the time. Jesus is asking them why they don’t recognize Jesus as the messiah through logic.

The heavens are telling the glory of God.

Matthew 21:23-27 > 23 When He entered the temple complex, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for Me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Where did John’s baptism come from? From heaven or from men?” > They began to argue among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” > And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

When it comes to thinking and talking. Jesus admires clarity and forthrightness.

Don’t evade questions and avoid telling the truth.

2 Corinthians 4:2

2 Instead, we have renounced shameful secret things, not walking in deceit or distorting God’s message, but commending ourselves to every person’s conscience in God’s sight by an open display of the truth.

13 times Paul asked the question “Do you not know”

If you knew you would have different actions and affections.

We need to know things, lots of glorious things.

It is filled with glorious truth.

Ephesians 4:11-12 > And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

We must be equipped to teach. That is a qualification for an elder.

God is into hierarchy.

Teachers are responsible for opening up the word.

Acts 20:27 > 27 for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God.

When you say the whole council, you imply that there is something of unity and coherence in the whole.

It is our job to find and discern and explain the whole council. It is our responsibility. It is hard work. It is thinking work.

2 Timothy 2:15

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth

The workman should not be ashamed.

The bible is a book.

God came in the flesh, Jesus was not a book.

When Jesus left, he left behind apostles and prophets who are the foundation of the Church and what they left behind was a book.

What we are given as special revelation is a book.

We must learn how to read. It is an intellectual exercise.

To read well is a grueling intellectual exercise.

The bible is a chain not a string of pearls.

We must get to what each for is for.

Ephesians 3:4

By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah.

Everywhere the Church has gone, schools and hospitals go as well. We think (teach poeple) and serve (help people)

Teaching ministers affection for the glory of God

Matthew 7:7-12

7 “Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door n will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus is using reason and logic. There is thinking required to understand. It is a logical argument.

conclusion

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

The only way we may glorify God is by knowing Him rightly and rejoicing in Him rightly.

Oxygen session 3 - John Piper

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:29:35 +1000

(rough notes)

God’s passion for Our Joy in Christ

Our joy rises as His glory is lifted up. In the same way, His glory rises in our delight in Him.

God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.

If this is true, the consequences are staggering for you and for your people.

To spread something, that something is the word of God. Joy is complete in that it is outward focused. There is a passion or zeal as we proclaim and draw others in.

Passion.

Let the nations be glad. A joyful people. Sing to the Lord and bless His name.

Bring gladness to the nations. Let them be passionate for the glory of God. Spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things

In all things. There isn’t a job in which people have that doesn’t have God as supreme.

For all peoples. Global. Mission isn’t over.

Exist for the nations. For the globe.

Through Jesus Christ. Nothing happens unless through the dyeing of Jesus on the Christ.

intro comments and clarifications

A definition of feeling, emotion, affections. Spiritual not worldly.

Spiritual affections, not bodily reactions. Awakened and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

Joy. Fear. Gratitude. Desire. Hate. Anger. Loneliness. Hope. Shame. Sorrow - these are what is meant by what the world has as affections.

Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. God makes it. God creates it.

Spiritual over and against worldly.

Why emphasize joy and other affections over and against right doctrine.

Right doctrine serves right affections.

Theology serves doxology.

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

What is truth for? Freedom.

Freedom from what? Slavery to sin. Sin.

What is sin? Coveting, wanting. The heart produces the desire that then becomes an action.

Truth serves heart change. Heart change is about those feelings that we have.

Right theology serves right affections.

Why do you emphasize affections over behavior?

I don’t and I do. There is a saying yes and no.

Make the tree good and the fruit will be good.

Behavior seems to be more ultimate.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

The outcome is the fruit that comes from a changes heart.

God is going to do a public evidence in judgement by works. There will be a showing that by works people will know God.

This people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me.

There is a weariness of making behavior the goal.

If you have not love you are nothing - 1 cori thins 13

Everyone must give cheerfully.

How does God feel about an unchearful giver?

How do the affections relate to the glory of God?

They relate in that God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him.

Philippians 1:20-21 - “20 My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.”

Hope in that Christ will be magnified in my body in death.

Why is to die gain? Because he will be with Christ. That is gain.

In death you lose everything you have yet you gain that which is most valuable to you. You gain Jesus. Jesus is what satisfies you most to the extent that nothing in this world is of comparison to Christ.

the implications

More Joy in Him is what magnifies Him.

implications for the people

The pursuit of maximum joy and the pursuit of God are never at odds.

When you live for the glory of God you will be seeking maximum joy.

Psalm 16:11 - “11 You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”

The world asks us to pursue maximum joy in all the wrong places.

Where does God have the highest peaks of Joy for you?

This will cost you your life. To pursue your maximum joy in God will cost you your life.

The lifestyle is costly.

The bible commands your people to be happy - Philippians 4:4, psalm 32:11, psalm 100 - it is simply not an option to be unhappy.

Depression will happen to pastors.

We must love the cross.

The nature of faith means we should pursue our happiness all the time

John 6:35 -

believing in Him for salvation is a coming to Jesus for our hope and longing and aching in our life.

Come to Christ. You need a savior. You need a God. You need a Lord.

Embrace Christ.

To be born again is to have our values turned on their end.

Hebrews 11:6 - “6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.”

The reward is Christ and everything we have in Him.

Jeremiah 2:12-13 - “12 Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. This is the Lord’s declaration. 13 For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.”

What are you digging in the ground for? Look! Look to Jesus. Come and live!

Why would you spend your money on things that are no gain?

Stop getting your pleasure in what cant be found. Get your pleasure in God.

What about you? What about your soul? How do you stay alive?

Hebrews 13:17-19 - “17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 18 Pray for us; for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything. 19 And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.”

No advantage for those under your care comes from when you groan in your ministry.

If you aren’t happy in your job, then your people’s health will reflect it.

Take Joy in your job.

When you advertise through your actions that following Jesus is tiresome, weary, depressing then you won’t be able to lead people. You will fail to minister to them.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that will be of no advantage to you.

We pastors must fight for joy as though our people’s lives depend upon it.

Our preaching

2 Corinthians 1:24 - “24 I do not mean that we have control of your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand by faith.”

Their joy must be able to weather the cancer and dead babies that abound in the world.

Preach meaty sermons.

There is always pain. Everybody dies. Our joy must be sufficient to deal with it.

The only way for them to be happy is to give them rock solid theology under their feet so that they may face their day of trial.

The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

We are workers with our people for our Joy

Are there issues and stresses in the evangelical church that would be made less bad by embracing the truth of pursuing God’s glory through our Joy.

An error that is seen.

If right thinking is drifting away from this truth, what does happen is there is a move towards dead orthodoxy.

A reaction to that in our churches is yuck and anti-intellectualism.

Both extremes are terrible and one place they come from is a neglect of this truth.

That God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

Right doing. There is a lot of stress on doing churches.

What happens when a passion for good dead gets disconnected from the truth?

This produces legalism.

The first type of legalism is moral performance.

The second type of legalism is pragmatism.

The reaction is antinomianism and the emergent church.

The heart must permeate our works. There needs to be a deep love for Jesus.

Emptiness is lighting candles and drawing with crayons on the wall.

The emergent church won’t last.

This truth could protect the evangelical church from the extreme pendulum swings that occur.

Oxygen 2011 - session 2 - John Lennox - The Church in the 21st century world

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:09:41 +1000

The Church in the 21st Century world

(rough notes needing to be cleared up)

The church is under attack, not only from the outside but also from the inside.

There is always a real side to ministry. Often there is a mask. It is discouraging. This is a vast problem, there is an undermining of faith in the Christian message such that people get weary and tired and are tempted to give up.

The book of acts is how Christianity exploded onto the world stage at the beginning. If we were to explore the beginnings of that book we might discover the oxygen that the early apostles breathed.

Acts 1:1-5 - I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day He was taken up, after He had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. 3 After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. c The Holy Spirit Promised 4 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The apostles wondered if Jesus would there and then restore the kingdom to Israel. Though Jesus tells them that it isn’t for them or us to know when He will return.

It is important to know how the book of acts is structured.

In the ancient world, as done by Luke, they marked the sections of the book with points of reflection

6:7 - the number of disciples multiplied greatly.

9:31 - the church had peace and was being built up. There was growth and multiplication.

12:24 - the word of God increased and multiplied.

16:5 - the churches were strengthened and multiplied daily

19:30 - so the word of God continued to increase and multiply

28:30 - Paul preached with boldness and without hindrance

F.F. Bruce - the spreading flame - shows and highlights the sections in the book of acts.

Who is this Jesus Christ and what right have you to be doing what you are doing? - a question throughout the book of acts.

Christianity spreads through persecution.

Luke is telling us in the first few sections what Christianity is in defining itself against its opposition.

Christianity insists it is different from the whole lot of other beliefs as set out in the book of Acts. We are shown what Christianity is against the background of other religions.

The world has come round in a circle such that the modern world is little different from the pluralistic world of ancient Rome.

Christian ethics clashed with the ethics of society. Why did the apostles continue to insist that there is only one way to God. Why couldn’t they just leave people alone.

What we’re the issues upon which the apostles took such a clear stand such that they were even happy to defend the message in the midst of threats to their life. They even died for their beliefs.

The message hasn’t changed and the world into which it is spoken hasn’t changed.

The word grew, the church grew. Did you notice that they alternate as they go through?

You will not get the church growing unless you get the word growing.

The primary focus is on the word spoken by the apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And God said, and God said, and God said. So the universe came to be. Then things changed and God said to them. He made a creature in His own image to whom he could talk. God spoke to them.

Did you realize that the miracle that brought Christianity to the world, it was a miracle of language? The very vehicle of the mighty works of God was itself a mighty work of God.

Has the word grown?

Luke writes so that the faith of Christians may have a secure base. That is in the word of God.

We need to be getting our evidence out into society. The world needs to hear that there is evidence.

To reject the scriptures as history is absurdity.

Are we explaining the Christian scriptures with the same level of intellectual growth?

We need to teach people to think biblically.

The beginning of Acts focuses our minds on one thing. The coming of the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to teach the things of Christ. To preach the gospel. Every one of them is under attack today.

Jesus presented Himself alive to his disciples by many truths. The evidence for this is the rise of the Christian church. The secular historian must provide an answer for why the Christian church rose as quickly and as wide spread as it did.

The message and event of the resurrection is one that confronts people who don’t believe as it provides and asks so many unanswered questions.

The resurrection is only petty and trivial if it didn’t happen.

Death is universally feared. The resurrection shows that death isn’t the end. Death has been conquered.

Jesus presented Himself alive. This isn’t the same as discussing the resurrection. They had experiential evidence of Jesus standing among them after his resurrection.

The very thing that should be number one in our attention ends up becoming a collection of notes that we can pull out when we need to give a talk. We must study scripture so that we can get to know God. In scripture we find the resurrected Jesus, His word, His glory.

Tell them to soak their minds and hearts in the word of God till they hear God speak.

For seven weeks Jesus, the living word, taught His disciples after His resurrection. 40 days. Just lend that time soaking yourself in the word of God. Renee what must be in the end a fact. If God doesn’t speak through His word, nothing else will. If God doesn’t authenticate Himself through his word there is a problem.

Our confidence in the world should be such that we are prepared to go and engage such that we wont allow our enemies, inside and outside the Church to shut us up.

Oxygen 2011 session 1 - John Piper - Gods passion for His Glory in Christ

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:17:22 +1000

Gods passion for His Glory in Christ

(rough notes, needing to be cleared up)

Orienting thoughts

Peril - approach the word of God with humility as those who teach are in peril if they go wrong Privilege - Pleasure - there is great love in talking about these issues. There is no hesitation in preaching the topics that are being preached on. The importance is for all people, not just localities Plan - the same content, just a different progression and added stuff. Show Christ

Gods passion for His Glory in Christ

Thesis - God is infinitely passionate for His Glory

Eric Reece - writer in residence in university of Kentucky - he quotes Matthew 10:37 and was questioned on that. Who is this egomaniac quoting these words? The interviewer is unclear about how Jesus would say you should love Him more than mother and father.

If any of us got up and made the claims that Jesus did we would be called names such as egomaniac.

C.S. Lewis - the psalms are filled with divine summons to praise. They sounded to Him like God was craving for our worship like a vain women.

Worship is an aspect of religion I always found difficult to understand. Why should we worship Him? Surely a morally perfect god would have no character defects then why would so many people worship Him on a Sunday - (check quote, not exact and can’t remember the author) - Michael Prouse??

Exodus 34:13 and deut 4:24 - God determines to have all your affections.

There are people who stumble over the thesis as the above descriptions show.

If we don’t get our hatred for His centrality and His passion for His centrality, then we won’t get to the cross.

Do it all to the glory of God, though God does everything for Hie glory and that is the design of God. We are to join Him in this purpose and design. Gods sovereignty is all about His glory and His centrality.

Along comes God who says that He is totally about His own Glory. If that doesn’t sit well with you then it might be that your are failing the test. The test is are you totally God centered.

Is your God centeredness only a cloak for your own self-centeredness?

Is God calling us to be involved in His God-centeredness.

Predestination to consummation, everything God does is to make much of His glory. To uphold, make. iChat of and to vindicate his name.

Predestination - Ephesians 1:5:6 - “5 He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.” - God wants to be praised forever and He does that through predestining people to Grace.

Creation - Isaiah 43:6-7 - 6 I will say to the north: Give them up! and to the south: Do not hold them back! Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from the ends of the earth — 7 everyone called by My name and created for My glory. I have formed him; indeed, I have made him.”

Oh God make my life a telescope because you look tiny to them. Make me an instrument for magnification to show them what You look like to them.

God wants people to recognize Him in you.

Incarnation - Romans 15:8-9 - “8 For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, 9 and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and I will sing psalms to Your name.”

Mercy, the best news to all of the world.

The Gentiles will glorify God because of His mercy to Israel.

Propitiation - Romans 3:25-26 - “25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.“

The only way this makes sense is that sin is a falling short of the glory of God. We exchange His glory (worth and value) for something that is far less valuable. We have all sinned and trampled on Gods glory by accepting those things which are less glorious. Gods apparent neglect for His glory is shown to be incorrect in that God has dealt with and passed over sin in Jesus. Our sin deserves death. Gods righteousness is demonstrated and His glory vindicated in the loud proclamation of His glory in the cross.

Sanctification - Philippians 1:9-11 - “9 And I pray this: that your love r will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, 10 so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”

1 Peter 4:11 - “11 If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

God purifying us to be a beautiful display of his glory

Consummation - 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10 - “9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His glorious strength 10 in that day when He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be admired by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed.”

There is nothing more valuable than displaying the glory of God in your life.

A few words about Israel

Jeremiah 13:11 - “11 Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me” — this is the Lord’s declaration—“so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.”

Psalm 106:7:8 - “7 Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp the significance of Your wonderful works or remember Your many acts of faithful love; instead, they rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. 8 Yet He saved them because of His name, to make His power known.”

Isaiah 48:9-11 - “9 I will delay My anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and for My praise, so that you will not be destroyed. 10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11 I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I m be defiled? I will not give My glory to another.”

drawing things to a close

C.S. Lewis went back and wrote about the psalms after he found Jesus. We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not only expresses but completes the joy. It is the consummation.

Gods summoning us to see Him, know Him and praise Him is so that we will not be glad until we praise Him. For God self-consummation is appropriate. We are satisfied in Him. He provides for us the one thing that will make us happy for ever.

John 17:24 - “24 Father, I desire those You have given Me to be with Me where I am. Then they will see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.”

It is love! Nothing short of Him can satisfy my soul. It is not self-exultation but rather love.

Dancing the night away (Isaac and Nicole) (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:17:33 +1000

Dancing the night away (Isaac and Nicole) (Taken with instagram)

Thanks @stemcd (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:57:51 +1000

Thanks @stemcd (Taken with instagram)

Thank you Matthias Media (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:35:10 +1000

Thank you Matthias Media (Taken with instagram)

The world view project

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:55:46 +1000

A lot of my time in the past couple of weeks has been spent going through a book by James Sire entitled “The universe next door”. It raises a lot of questions, and particularly in the context of Swinburne University, within a lecture and even a tutorial or lab, there are bound to be many different world views that people hold to.

“The world view project” is an analysis of the different world views and how they relate to the context of Swinburne University and particularly the Hawthorn campus. The aim is to take what is a philosophical notion and lay it bare for people to see. Though I love exotic language and philosophical jargon, I shall refrain from such.

At Christian Union, we will be studying this book as part of MULCH. The material that appears in these posts will only be supplementary to the material covered in the book. You still need to read the book if you are taking part in MULCH.

The structure of each post will be an analysis of 8 questions that frame each world view. These questions are:

What is prime reality?
What is the nature of external reality, that is the world around us?
What is a human being?
What happens to a person at death?
Why is it possible to know anything at all?
How do we know what is right and wrong?
What is the meaning of human history?
What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consisten with this worldview?

Having shown these eight points about each world view, I’ll then construct a persona which will give some body to the world view. By using a persona, I endeavour to provide a relatable aspect to the world view. Any resemblance to people I know will be completely accidental and unintentional.

The final piece of each post will be a way of cultural engagement and analysis from a Reformed Christian perspective. We will be echoing the Apostle Paul who confronted the world view of the greeks when he spoke at the Areopagus.

Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed:

TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it —He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 ⌊He did this⌋ so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Being God’s offspring then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. 30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.” 32 When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”

The Holy Bible : Holman Christian standard version. 2009 (Ac 17:22–32). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

The first post I’ll make will be one on Christianity. This will appear some time during the week and then weekly posts there after.

God bless,

Matt.

A great piece of creative culture showing of a piece of...

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:12:15 +1000

A great piece of creative culture showing of a piece of Australian culture, the Sydney Opera House.

This evenings entertainment (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:14:22 +1000

This evenings entertainment (Taken with instagram)

The record (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:07:35 +1000

The record (Taken with instagram)