1. Place the entire nib in the ink bottle.

2. Fill the converter.

3. Expel the ink.

4. Fill the converter a second time.

5. Let the entire nib sit in the ink for an additional 5 seconds.

6. Withdraw the nib unit from the ink bottle, expel 3-4 drops of ink by turning the converter knob counter-clockwise.

7. Turn converter knob clockwise until it stops. **This is critical as it allows an air space between the ink and converter and assists in the even flow of the displacement of ink by air as you write.

8. Wipe off the nib assembly, assemble pen and you are ready to write.

A crowd gathers at a country club that U.S. Soldiers are using as a forward operating base in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 16, 2010. About 200 Soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne’s 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, are setting up security to help provide humanitarian aid to those left devastated by the earthquake. A survivor camp of thousands of displaced Haitians is near the base.

[2.] A submission for the way; that we may submit to those unpleasing means and circumstances of his providence, that God will take up and make use of, for the glorifying of his holy name. Many times we must be content, not only to be active instruments, but passive objects of God’s glory. And therefore if God will glorify himself by our poverty, or our disgrace, our pain and sickness, we must be content. Therefore we need to deal with God seriously about this matter, that we may submit to the Lord’s will, as Jesus Christ did: John x11. 27,28 ‘Save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour : Father, glorify thy name. And there was a voice from heaven that Said, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ Put me to shame, suffering, to endure the cross, the curse, so thou mayest be glorified. This was the humble submission of Christ Jesus, and such a submission should be in us. The martyrs were contented to be bound to the stake, if that way God will use them to his glory. Phil. i. 20, saith Paul, ‘ So Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death :’ if my body be taken to heaven in glory, or whether it be exercised or worn out with ministerial labour. We need to deal with God that we may have the end, and leave the means to his own choosing; that God may be glorified in our condition, whatever it be. If he will have us rich and full, that he might be glorified in our bounty; if he will have us poor and low, that he may be glorified in our patience; if he will have us healthy, that he may be glorified in our labour; if he will have us sick, that he may be glorified in our pain; if he will have us live, that he may be glorified in our lives; if he will have us die, that he may be glorified in our deaths: and therefore, ‘ Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s:’ Rom. xiv. 9.

–Thomas Manton, Works, 1:77

The doctor says, “I have some good news and some bad news.”

Twitter addict, “OK, give me the good news first.”

The doctor says, “The good news is, you’ve got only 24 more hours to live.”

Twitter addict, “Oh no! If that’s the good news, then what’s the bad news?”

The doctor says, “The bad news is, Twitter is down!“

Now consider who the Holy Spirit is: he is the blessed God himself - one person of the glorious Trinity in unity, and he is therefore the possessor of infinite power. In the world of mind he can work according to his own will, and can convince men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He can soften the most obdurate, he can turn to kindness the most cruel, and lead into light the most darkened….

This is the church’s power; let her seek more of it, and, possessing it, let her rest assured that the purpose for which she has been raised up will be accomplished…

From C.H. Spurgeon’s sermon entitled “Good News For Loyal Subjects,” delivered April 19, 1868.

Ok, maybe you don’t have that eschatological passage in mind when you get into a situation like this.  Maybe you simply (mis)use the passage for the sake of proof-texting for your “random” act of “kindness,” leaving out the point about judgment that Jesus was making. Whatever the case, out of kindness you don’t give him spare change, but instead go inside the coffee shop / burger joint / gas station to buy him some food and a drink.  However, because you’re in a tight schedule to get back to your pointless, eschatologically meaningless activities, you care for the homeless beggar and do what you think Jesus would have done — you feed him.

Give him change vs. give him food. And since in all likelihood the guy might buy drugs or booze if you gave him some money, you think the wisest thing, the kindest thing you could do is give him some food.

You refrain from having a genuine conversation with the (wo)man in need, seeking to get to know them on a more personal level so that you could better pray for him/her.   You neglect to tell them that in spite their dire physical need, they also have a greater spiritual need — one that if not provided for would lead them into an eternity in punishment for their sins. You don’t share with them the hope of the gospel — the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crushed for their iniquities — and it is only through trusting in his atoning sacrifice that we can be forgiven of our sins, made right with God and be reconciled to our Heavenly Father.   You do not call the beggar to come to faith in the One who truly sustains.

At the end of the day, if we only do these things I just mentioned, I am convinced that we have not performed a random “act of kindness.”  In and of itself, giving a neighbor a free burger or cup of coffee may be a kind act. But anybody could do that — even many unbelieving people I know. But there is nothing “kind” about only giving our neighbors a free burger or coffee if we also neglect this opportunity to give them everlasting hope (Matthew 28:18-20; cf.Acts 3:17ff).   It would be the complete opposite of “Your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”   The choice for those who have been born-again by the Spirit is not remedy physical need OR remedy spiritual need. No; the gospel compels us to do both.  For if we fail to proclaim the gospel at such Divinely-appointed opportunities, we may have helped our unregenerate neighbors survive for a few hours but we will have damned them for an eternity.

And that, brothers and sisters, would be the most unkind thing we could ever do to our neighbors.  This is not a random “act of kindness” at all.

*Edit: This Thanksgiving, let us not only do so-called random acts of kindness; let us purposefully share the gospel of grace.

Piper spends two whole chapters addressing men (ch.6 and 7).  He explains the biblical foundations in ch.6,  practical implications in ch.7, and contends that biblical manhood first entails leadership in spiritual provision.  However, I’d like to highlight a couple things that we might overlook:

2. Leadership in Physical Provision

The husband bears the primary responsibility to put bread on the table.  Again the word primary is important.  Both husbands and wives work.  In all of history this has been the case — both the man and the woman work.  But their normal spheres of work are man: breadwinner; wife: domestic manager, designer, nurturer.

That never has meant there are not seasons in life when a wife cannot work outside the home or that the husband cannot share the domestic burdens.  But it does mean that a man compromises his own soul and sends the wrong message to his wife and children when he does not position himself as the one who lays down his life to put bread on the table.  He may be disabled and unable to do what his heart longs to do.  He may be temporarily in school while she supports the family.  But in any case his heart — and, if possible, his body — is moving toward the use of his mind and his hands to provide physically for his wife and children. (89-90)

Piper goes on to assert leadership in spiritual protection in his third point.  But in the fourth point, he continues:

4. Leadership in Physical Protection

This is too obvious to need illustration — I wish.  If there is a sound downstairs during the night and it might be a burglar, you don’t say to her, “This is an egalitarian marriage, so it’s your turn to go check it out.  I went last time.”  And I mean that — even if your wife has a black belt in karate.  After you’ve tried to deter him, she may finish off the burglar with one good kick to the solar plexus.  But you’d better be unconscious on the floor, or you’re no man.  That’s written on your soul, brother, by God Almighty.  Big or little, strong or weak, night or day, you go up against the enemy first.  Woe to the husbands — and woe to the nation — that send their women to fight their battles. (91-92)

This Momentary Marriage is probably the best book on courtship/marriage/singleness I have ever read.  I highly recommend it: for men and women, married and those not.

As we trust we have been brought by divine grace to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the influence of His Spirit to give ourselves up to Him, so we do most solemnly covenant with each other, that God enabling us, We will walk together in brotherly love:

That we will exercise a Christian care and watchfulness over each other, and faithfully warn, rebuke and admonish one another as the case shall require; and in all things we will seek and guard the honor and the true function of the church;

That we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor omit the great duty of prayer, both for ourselves together, and for others; and for the enterprises of the Kingdom of God;

That we will share in each other’s joys, and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy, to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows;

That we will seek divine aid to enable us to walk circumspectly and watchfully in the world, denying ungodliness and every worldly lust;

That we will endeavor by example and effort to win souls to Christ, and through life, amidst evil report and good report seek to live to the glory of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

–The Immanuel Baptist Church Covenant

Back in 2005, I was not yet fully Reformed in my soteriology, I was not Baptist in my ecclesiology, I was not yet charismatic in my pneumatology, nor was I complimentarian in my understanding of gender roles.  I knew little about what genuine church growth looked like, nor how true discipleship was done.  And in that time between my junior and senior year of college (a.k.a. “3rd and 4th year of university” for you Canadians reading this), I had my first real dating relationship.  I was 21 going on 22, and I knew little about how or what I should be doing in such a thing.  Nor did my local church teach me much about biblical betrothal or what Christian courtship looked like.  In short, I was ignorant, stupid, and young.

Yes, I was young and stupid; and ignorance is no excuse.  I should have known better.  For the sake of the relationship, I had no mentor couple, nor did I have pastors who would encourage me to pursue biblical manhood, nor did I have church elders (same thing, imho, as “pastor”) who exhorted me to take the initiative, step up, take the lead, and pursue a girl (who was pursuing biblical womanhood).  I soon found myself to be 22 years old, with no godly influence in my life to tell me to stop messing around, and just grow up, and get married.  I certainly knew I was a born-again Christian, but you might as well call me one of those former “carnal” Christians who was trying to discern the post-breakup crisis moment in my life.   I was just waiting for a Divine epiphany to wake me up from my slomber, fill me with spiritual power and an ability to maintain purity of heart.  For the most part, this could all be attributed to my spiritual upbringing.

During that relationship, I largely neglected my friends, and even my family somewhat. Ask my sister; she can probably testify to how un-nice I was to her at that time.  In those days, I knew little about the importance and necessity of having mentors in my life for mutual discipleship, not just guidance in all things relationship-wise.  I had not bought into any of Joshua Harris‘ relational theology of kissing dating goodbye and on courtship; nor had I set up concrete, tangible, typed-out on paper, give-it-to-my-mentor couple boundaries on dating. What that essentially meant was that I had not worked out the gospel implications, the Christ-and-the-Church implications to the way I did relationships.  I had not learned that all relationships — especially all dating/courtship/etc — is a community project, and an area of life for mutual discipleship.

I have seen it even in many of the relationships around me today: when a guy gets into this relationship with a cute godly girl from church (or seminary), he no longer hangs out much with his guy friends; he doesn’t seek out an older guy to get advice from, nor do the two of them develop an accountability friendship with a mentor couple.  Mutual discipleship is neglected; the relationship is just about the two of them.

What results is that courtship only becomes an individual+individual project. And if the guy goes on to get engaged to the girl, this “it’s all about us” individualism lasts from the time he gets into the relationship, until the end of the first year of marriage.  (Of course, this is a large generalization, but I’m sure you get my point.)

The purpose of this post is mainly to remind me to never neglect the single friends around me, but to include them in my relationship(s); and to encourage me to proactively seek out friendships with older, wiser, Christian couples–married or not-yet-married, with children and those who not yet have any.  The Christian life is meant to be lived together with other born-again disciples.  We were saved by Jesus’ blood, that we would be Christ’s disciples, following whole-heartedly after him and to give ourselves unreservedly to building each other up.  This means we must be mutually discipling each other: older learning from the younger, younger learning from the more elderly, married befriending the singles, and non-married/singles seeking the wisdom of the experienced/married.  That is what the church looked like, and what it should look like until Christ returns: the body of Christ that does not live segregated lives of individualism, but a life of community through mutual discipleship.

Last edited: Nov.02, 2009.

U.S. Army Soldiers conduct a dismounted patrol in a village near Forward Operating Base Blessing, Afghanistan, Oct. 19, 2009. The Soldiers are assigned to the 4th Infantry Division’s Company A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jennifer Cohen

She looks away from the troubles and miseries and obstacles of life that seem to make the future bleak, and she focuses her attention on the sovereign power and love of God who rules in heaven and does on earth whatever he pleases (Ps. 115:3). She knows her Bible, and she knows her theology of the sovereignty of God, and she knows his promise that he will be with her and will help her and strengthen her no matter what. This is the deep, unshakable root of Christian womanhood. And Peter makes it explicit in 1 Peter 3:5. He is not talking about just any woman. He is talking about women with unshakable biblical roots in the sovereign goodness of God—holy women who hope in God.

–John Piper, This Momentary Marriage, pg.97

U.S. Army Soldiers tell a sheik at Karmat Ali, Iraq, Sept. 10, 2009, that the Al-Hajrat Grammar School in his town has been chosen to be refurbished. The Soldiers are assigned to the 1314th Civil Affairs Company, 17th Fires Brigade. The Al-Hajrat Grammar School has 13 teachers and 600 students.

U.S. Army photo by Spc. Samantha R. Ciaramitaro

*The Presidential, perhaps the simplest, is folded at right angles to fit in the pocket.
*The TV Fold looks similar but is folded diagonally with the point inside the pocket.
*The One-point Fold is folded diagonally with the point showing.
*The Two-point Fold is folded off-center so the two points don’t completely overlap.
*The Three-point Fold is first folded into a triangle, then the corners are folded up and across to make three points.
*The Four-point Fold is an off-center version of the Three-point Fold.
*The Cagney is basically a backwards version of the Four-point Fold.
*The Puff or the Cooper is simply shaped into a round puff.
*The Reverse Puff is like the Puff, except with the puff inside and the points out, like petals.
*The Astaire is a puff with a point on either side.
*The Straight Shell is pleated and then folded over to give the appearance of nested shells.
*The Diagonal Shell is pleated diagonally and then folded.

Is it really true for all things in life? That because you have done it in the past, you will definitely remember how to do it today?… And you can just resume that activity, as if you never forgot how to, like you never even had that long hiatus?

I am a personal testimony to the fact that it is not always possible to just get back on the bike and start riding. After four years, I still have trouble getting back on the bicycle. It’s been so long of not cycling that I have a tremendous fear of falling, of slipping and sliding, of crashing and burning.

The fear is because of my last experience with cycling, where despite my supposed skill and intentions of biking successfully, I lost my balance and fell, flipped out and rolled over, breaking my leg. I was in a cast and on crushes for six months, the doctors having to put a steel rod into my leg. After my leg healed, I was able to walk again; the rod was removed, but still there were scars left from the accident and the surgery that was necessary for my healing.

In the past couple years, I have wanted to start cycling again. I even bought new shoes and cycling gloves, and have been training in the Rec center with the stationary bikes. I really wanted to get back to cycling. So intent and desirous of cycling again, I consulted cycling trainers and other cyclist who have been on the bike circuit for a long time. I read books on the methods and techniques of successful bicycling, how-to’s and also how-not-to’s. Furthermore, I have even gone so far as going to various bike stores to check out what is available today in terms of bikes — new ones and old/used ones.

I have on occasion found a bike that I wanted. Some looked really nice on the outside, but the parts and mechanics of the gear system did not fit my preferences. One looked good, but was an 18-speed while I wanted at least a 21-speed. Other times, I found a bike that had all the specs that I wanted, but the paint job did not look the way I wanted. There was another one that had the perfect gears, brakes and suspension, and even looked amazing, but it was just too expensive and out of my price range! Or, there was a similar one where the price just seemed way too good and cheap to be true. All in all, I have not ridden a bike in all these years.

As I have mentioned, I have recently started training in the gym again, working out on the stationary bike and elliptical machine, getting ready to start cycling again. It has been a tiring experience so far, because I have not ridden in so long and am so out of shape. I wish there was another way to rid myself of the fear of getting back on the real bike, to build my strength and endurance, but such a training regiment pales in its effectiveness compared to just getting back on a bike and really cycling.

And thus, I am seriously considering cycling again. I have found one bike that I’d like to try right now, and would like to commit to cycling with it. However, I still don’t feel like I know how to cycle; I am trying to rid myself of the fears of falling and getting hurt. Even so, I have been reminded on many occasions that the benefits outweigh the negatives.

I just pray that I am ready for this, and hope that my heart can take it.

(Originally published Aug.29, 2007; republished March 27, 2009)

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:1-5, NLT

On Saturday, September 26th and Sunday, September 27th Pastor Charles Leiter will speak to the difficult issues we all face in the Christian life at Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. If you are just exploring Christianity we hope these messages will give you an accurate picture of the Christian life. And if you are a believer we hope that these meetings will restore your joy, and give you practical help for difficult days.

1. Saturday Sept.26 evening @ 7:00pm – Nursery will be provided
2. Sunday Sept.27 morning @ 9 & 11am – Nursery will be provided
3. Sunday Sept.27 evening @ 6:00pm – Nursery will be provided

Charles Leiter is the Pastor of Lakeroad Chapel in Kirksville, Missouri, a frequent conference speaker, and the author of the book Justification and Regeneration. He is married to Mona and together they have five children.

Immanuel Baptist Church is located at 1121 S. Clay St. Louisville, KY 40203.

2. Take pride in your work.

3. Always finish what you start.

4. Do what has to be done.

5. Be tough, but fair.

6. When you make a promise, keep it.

7. Ride for the brand.

8. Talk less and say more.

9. Remember that some things aren’t for sale.

10. Know where to draw the line.

Like all living things, love, too, struggles against hardship, and in the process sheds its fatuous skin to expose one composed of more than just a storm of emotion–one of loyalty and divine friendship.  Agape.  And though it may be temporarily blinded by adversity, it never gives in or up, holding tight to lofty ideals that transcend this earth and time–while its counterfeit simply concludes it was mistaken and quickly runs off to find the next real thing

–Richard Paul Evans, The Letter.

Greetings in Ma’dain

Originally uploaded by Army.mil.

Staff Sgt. Richard Grimsley, of Charleston, S.C., greets a young Iraqi girl during a checkpoint patrol, Aug. 19, 2009, in the Ma’dain region, located outside eastern Baghdad. Grimsley is a squad leader assigned to Troop A, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. Prior to moving to the outskirts of eastern Baghdad, Troop A operated in the heart of Baghdad’s Rusafa District.

Photo by Pvt. Jared N. Gehmann

This over-emphasis on self-trying and self-power is in fact an over-estimation of our own abilities to control our lives and an under-estimation of God’s sovereign authority to rule it: everything we have is from God, and there is nothing we have in this life that we did not first receive from him.

What this leaves me with is the continual search for a balance between self “trying” and God “trusting”: the fine line between not working too hard for God’s will & waiting patiently, expectantly, in trust of God who will ultimately (now and in the end) work out all things for the good of us who love Him.

Psalm 37 is a simple tell-tale reminder of what I need to do when life throws me a lemon.  I prayed through this Psalm back on March 7, 2008. I have been working at God’s commands in verses 1-7 since at least that day, almost a year and a half-ago. May this blogpost thus serve as a mile marker for how far I have come, how far we have yet to go, and how God desires us to live.

1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 37:1-7

“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” –The Apostle Paul

Audio:

(Sorry no Video available for this sermon)

Notes:

Coming soon…

Audio:

Video:

Glued Together by One Gospel: Maintaining a House that Needs Renovation (Eph 4:1-6) from Alex Leung on Vimeo.

Notes

Coming soon…

The melancholic tone is expressed throughout the poem. He begins with the use of apostrophe, by addressing the star. “Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art”. His desire is to be the impossible, unchanging like a star. Although he understands that a star is “sleepless”, he acknowledges this as a positive trait being “patient”. He also recognizes that the star is alone, but refers to this as “splendour”, giving the impression of the bittersweet existence of the star. The imagery of the next few lines involves the observation of life’s great spirituality as he refers to “the moving waters at their priestlike task” and the snow on the mountains. Keats seems to feel that watching life changing from afar would be better than living in it and having to change with it. He ends the poem by saying that he would like to live as a star “or else swoon to death”. It is apparent that Keats understands the sacrifices of living as a star, but acknowledges its benefits as well.

The theme of the poem is the desire to live in an unchanging state. This is achieved by Keats metaphorical analysis of the star. The entire poem personifies the star as a human creature that watches patiently from above. Keats also relays his message through the use of oxymoronic ideas such as “sweet unrest” and patient sleepless”. This concludes that Keats knows the impossibility of his desire to live in an unchanging state. The descriptions of the “earth’s” gifts represent what is changing and the star represents what is “steadfast” and what he desires to be. He finds comfort “pillw’d” in this locale which helps express the theme.

In the poem “Bright Star” by John Keats the desire to experience a life that never moves forward is expressed. The impossibility of this desire leads to its melancholic feeling. (Source)

Here is the original poem:

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

Here is the trailer to the upcoming film by Jane Campion featuring Ben Wishaw as the 19th century poet John Keats and Abbie Cornish as his ">the trailer to the upcoming film by Jane Campion featuring Ben Wishaw as the 19th century poet John Keats and Abbie Cornish as his " />#8220;bright star” Fanny Brawne. (Movie opens September 18, 2009)

Written last month [Sept 2006], this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. His honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics. Perhaps inevitably, the “Letter from Iraq” moved quickly beyond the small group of acquantainaces and hit the inboxes of retired generals, officers in the Pentagon, and staffers on Capitol Hill. TIME’s Sally B. Donnelly first received a copy three weeks ago but only this week was able to track down the author and verify the document’s authenticity. The author wishes to remain anonymous but has allowed us to publish it here — with a few judicious omissions.

All: I haven’t written very much from Iraq. There’s really not much to write about. More exactly, there’s not much I can write about because practically everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or is depressing to the point that I’d rather just forget about it, never mind write about it. The gaps in between all of that are filled with the pure tedium of daily life in an armed camp. So it’s a bit of a struggle to think of anything to put into a letter that’s worth reading. Worse, this place just consumes you. I work 18-20-hour days, every day. The quest to draw a clear picture of what the insurgents are up to never ends. Problems and frictions crop up faster than solutions. Every challenge demands a response. It’s like this every day. Before I know it, I can’t see straight, because it’s 0400 and I’ve been at work for 20 hours straight, somehow missing dinner again in the process. And once again I haven’t written to anyone. It starts all over again four hours later. It’s not really like Ground Hog Day, it’s more like a level from Dante’s Inferno.

Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I’d just hit the record-setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I’ll remember best.

Worst Case of Deja Vu — I thought I was familiar with the feeling of deja vu until I arrived back here in Fallujah in February. The moment I stepped off of the helicopter, just as dawn broke, and saw the camp just as I had left it ten months before — that was deja vu. Kind of unnerving. It was as if I had never left. Same work area, same busted desk, same chair, same computer, same room, same creaky rack, same… everything. Same everything for the next year. It was like entering a parallel universe. Home wasn’t 10,000 miles away, it was a different lifetime.

Most Surreal Moment — Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.

Most Profound Man in Iraq — an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied “Yes, you.”

Worst City in al-Anbar Province — Ramadi, hands down. The provincial capital of 400,000 people. Lots and lots of insurgents killed in there since we arrived in February. Every day is a nasty gun battle. They blast us with giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs), and every weapon that an infantryman can carry. Every day. Incredibly, I rarely see Ramadi in the news. We have as many attacks out here in the west as Baghdad. Yet, Baghdad has 7 million people, we have just 1.2 million. Per capita, al-Anbar province is the most violent place in Iraq by several orders of magnitude. I suppose it was no accident that the Marines were assigned this area in 2003.

Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD Tech). How’d you like a job that required you to defuse bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely are booby-trapped or connected by wire to a bad guy who’s just waiting for you to get close to the bomb before he clicks the detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment.

Second Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — It’s a 20,000-way tie among all these Marines and Soldiers who venture out on the highways and through the towns of al-Anbar every day, not knowing if it will be their last — and for a couple of them, it will be.

Worst E-Mail Message — “The Walking Blood Bank is Activated. We need blood type A+ stat.” I always head down to the surgical unit as soon as I get these messages, but I never give blood — there’s always about 80 Marines in line, night or day.

Biggest Surprise — Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we’d get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won’t give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that the police are far better at finding them than we are — and they are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating prisoners to a pulp… Greatest Vindication — Stocking up on outrageous quantities of Diet Coke from the chow hall in spite of the derision from my men on such hoarding, then having a 122mm rocket blast apart the giant shipping container that held all of the soda for the chow hall. Yep, you can’t buy experience.

Biggest Mystery — How some people can gain weight out here. I’m down to 165 lbs. Who has time to eat?

Second Biggest Mystery — if there’s no atheists in foxholes, then why aren’t there more people at Mass every Sunday?

Favorite Iraqi TV Show — Oprah. I have no idea. They all have satellite TV.

Coolest Insurgent Act — Stealing almost $7 million from the main bank in Ramadi in broad daylight, then, upon exiting, waving to the Marines in the combat outpost right next to the bank, who had no clue of what was going on. The Marines waved back. Too cool.

Most Memorable Scene — In the middle of the night, on a dusty airfield, watching the better part of a battalion of Marines packed up and ready to go home after over six months in al-Anbar, the relief etched in their young faces even in the moonlight. Then watching these same Marines exchange glances with a similar number of grunts loaded down with gear file past — their replacements. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said.

Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate — Any outfit that has been in Iraq recently. All the danger, all the hardship, all the time away from home, all the horror, all the frustrations with the fight here — all are outweighed by the desire for young men to be part of a band of brothers who will die for one another. They found what they were looking for when they enlisted out of high school. Man for man, they now have more combat experience than any Marines in the history of our Corps.

Most Surprising Thing I Don’t Miss — Beer. Perhaps being half-stunned by lack of sleep makes up for it.

Worst Smell — Porta-johns in 120-degree heat — and that’s 120 degrees outside of the porta-john.

Highest Temperature — I don’t know exactly, but it was in the porta-johns. Needed to re-hydrate after each trip to the loo.

Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and “battlefield” tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what’s going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they’ve been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here. Biggest Outrage — Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O’Reilly.

Best Intel Work — Finding Jill Carroll’s kidnappers — all of them. I was mighty proud of my guys that day. I figured we’d all get the Christian Science Monitor for free after this, but none have showed up yet. [CLARIFICATION FROM THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: "Regarding the writer's comments about his unit's "Best Intel Work", the Monitor is very grateful for all of the efforts the US government made to secure Jill Carroll's freedom after she was held against her will for 82 days. Monitor Editor Richard Bergenheim expressed his gratitude in a press conference he conducted on the day that the capture of Jill's kidnappers was announced, and Jill directly thanked the men who participated in the operation. Also, the Monitor has offered to send the marine who wrote this letter and his unit 25 gift subscriptions to its weekly international edition."]

Saddest Moment — Having an infantry battalion commander hand me the dog tags of one of my Marines who had just been killed while on a mission with his unit. Hit by a 60mm mortar. He was a great Marine. I felt crushed for a long time afterward. His picture now hangs at the entrance to our section area. We’ll carry it home with us when we leave in February.

Best Chuck Norris Moment — 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the government center in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they have a problem with any form of government that does not include regular beheadings and women wearing burqahs. There were seven of them. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad Guys put down his machine gun so that he could tie the mayor’s hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the dead Bad Guys was on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you can’t fight City Hall.

Worst Sound — That crack-boom off in the distance that means an IED or mine just went off. You just wonder who got it, hoping that it was a near miss rather than a direct hit. Hear it practically every day.

Second Worst Sound — Our artillery firing without warning. The howitzers are pretty close to where I work. Believe me, outgoing sounds a lot like incoming when our guns are firing right over our heads. They’d about knock the fillings out of your teeth.

Only Thing Better in Iraq Than in the U.S. — Sunsets. Spectacular. It’s from all the dust in the air.

Proudest Moment — It’s a tie every day, watching our Marines produce phenomenal intelligence products that go pretty far in teasing apart Bad Guy operations in al-Anbar. Every night Marines and Soldiers are kicking in doors and grabbing Bad Guys based on intelligence developed by our guys. We rarely lose a Marine during these raids, they are so well-informed of the objective. A bunch of kids right out of high school shouldn’t be able to work so well, but they do.

Happiest Moment — Well, it wasn’t in Iraq. There are no truly happy moments here. It was back in California when I was able to hold my family again while home on leave during July.

Most Common Thought — Home. Always thinking of home, of my great wife and the kids. Wondering how everyone else is getting along. Regretting that I don’t write more. Yep, always thinking of home.

I hope you all are doing well. If you want to do something for me, kiss a cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer. I’ll try to write again before too long — I promise.

U.S. Army Spc. Joe Belton from Mesquite, Texas, of Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, takes pictures of Iraqi boys in the village of Ka bashe in Kirkuk, Iraq, May 31. U.S. coalition forces partner with Iraqi police to inspect irrigation systems and meet with local farmers that have agriculture concerns in and around the Kirkuk province of Iraq.

A U.S. Soldier from Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, tosses a soccer ball to a group of Iraqi boys in the village of Ka bashe in Kirkuk, Iraq, May 31. U.S. coalition forces partner with Iraqi police to inspect irrigation systems and meet with local farmers that have agriculture concerns in and around the Kirkuk province of Iraq.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryon Clark listens to an Iraqi farmer voicing his concerns in the village of Ka bashe in Kirkuk, Iraq, May 31, 2009. U.S. coalition forces partner with Iraqi police to inspect irrigation systems and meet with local farmers who have agriculture concerns. Clark is assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division’s Company E, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Bobby Allen

Staff Sgt. Kristen Poe, an Intelligence Analyst assigned to the 4th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division ‘Long Knives, delivers a school bag to an Iraqi girl at the UR Primary School, located in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah Jan. 13. Poe, along with fellow Soldiers assigned to the battalion’s personal security detachment, handed out more than 200 school bags and supplies during the visit. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Damian Steptore)

A group of Iraqi children look on as a U.S. Soldier from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 6th Infantry , assigned to Task Force Regulars practices balancing a plate of bread on his head in the Jameela market area of the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, May 31, 2008. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

U.S. Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Military Policeman Sgt. Thomas Dwyer of Ft. River, N.J., laughs and claps with Iraqi children while on a patrol in the Muhalla 513 neighborhood just outside Mudafra Square in the Sadr City district of Baghdad on July 28, 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Cohen A. Young/Released)

A young Iraqi boy strikes a muscle pose while standing next to a passing U.S. Soldier from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment as he provides security outside a recreation center during a patrol in the in the Thawra 1 neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, June 6, 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Cohen A. Young/Released)

U.S. Army 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion Capt Jeovanny Rodriguez is followed by neighborhood Iraqi children while conducting a joint patrol with Task Force Regulars 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, Renegade Company and Iraqi soldiers from the 11th Iraqi Army Division, 42nd Brigade through Thawra 2 and Jameela Market areas in the Sadr City district of Baghdad on Aug. 13, 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young/Released)

I thought it’d also be helpful for readers to read Joel Osteen’s words themselves in context.

Larry King Live interview with "Pastor" Joel Osteen on June 20, 2005:

KING: Is it hard to lead a Christian life?

OSTEEN: I don’t think it’s that hard. To me it’s fun. We have joy and happiness. Our family — I don’t feel like that at all. I’m not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I’m just living my life.

KING: But you have rules, don’t you?

OSTEEN: We do have rules. But the main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To life a life of integrity. Not be selfish. You know, help others. But that’s really the essence of the Christian faith.

KING: That we live in deeds?

OSTEEN: I don’t know. What do you mean by that?

KING: Because we’ve had ministers on who said, your record don’t count. You either believe in Christ or you don’t. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don’t no matter what you’ve done in your life, you ain’t.

OSTEEN: Yeah, I don’t know. There’s probably a balance between. I believe you have to know Christ. But I think that if you know Christ, if you’re a believer in God, you’re going to have some good works. I think it’s a cop-out to say I’m a Christian but I don’t ever do anything …

KING: What if you’re Jewish or Muslim, you don’t accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know …

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They’re wrong, aren’t they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don’t know if I believe they’re wrong. I believe here’s what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God with judge a person’s heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don’t know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seen their sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

[...]

KING: How about issues that the church has feelings about? Abortion? Same-sex marriages?

OSTEEN: Yeah. You know what, Larry? I don’t go there. I just …

KING: You have thoughts, though.

OSTEEN: I have thoughts. I just, you know, I don’t think that a same-sex marriage is the way God intended it to be. I don’t think abortion is the best. I think there are other, you know, a better way to live your life. But I’m not going to condemn those people. I tell them all the time our church is open for everybody.

KING: You don’t call them sinners?

OSTEEN: I don’t.

KING: Is that a word you don’t use?

OSTEEN: I don’t use it. I never thought about it. But I probably don’t. But most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change. There can be a difference in your life. So I don’t go down the road of condemning.

[...]

CALLER: Hello, Larry. You’re the best, and thank you, Joe — Joel — for your positive messages and your book. I’m wondering, though, why you side-stepped Larry’s earlier question about how we get to heaven? The bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to the father is through him. That’s not really a message of condemnation but of truth.

OSTEEN: Yes, I would agree with her. I believe that…

KING: So then a Jew is not going to heaven?

OSTEEN: No. Here’s my thing, Larry, is I can’t judge somebody’s heart. You know? Only god can look at somebody’s heart, and so — I don’t know. To me, it’s not my business to say, you know, this one is or this one isn’t. I just say, here’s what the bible teaches and I’m going to put my faith in Christ. And I just I think it’s wrong when you go around saying, you’re saying you’re not going, you’re not going, you’re not going, because it’s not exactly my way. I’m just…

KING: But you believe your way.

OSTEEN: I believe my way. I believe my way with all my heart.

KING: But for someone who doesn’t share it is wrong, isn’t he?

OSTEEN: Well, yes. Well, I don’t know if I look at it like that. I would present my way, but I’m just going to let god be the judge of that. I don’t know. I don’t know.

KING: So you make no judgment on anyone?

OSTEEN: No. But I…

KING: What about atheists?

OSTEEN: You know what, I’m going to let someone — I’m going to let god be the judge of who goes to heaven and hell. I just — again, I present the truth, and I say it every week. You know, I believe it’s a relationship with Jesus. But you know what? I’m not going to go around telling everybody else if they don’t want to believe that that’s going to be their choice. God’s got to look at your own heart. God’s got to look at your heart, and only god knows that.

Audio:

Video:

(Note: Due to technical difficulties, the video only shows half of the sermon & the audio within intermittently cuts out)

Loved in the Gospel: Pushing for More instead of Cruising (Eph 3:14-21) from Alex Leung on Vimeo.

Notes:

1) Notice first WHO Paul prays to.
Eph 3:14-15

For what reason does Paul pray? Well, “For this reason” brings us back to what I talked about in my last sermon on chapter 2 verses 11 to 22: that the Jews and Gentiles are united together as one new person; the wall that separated them (the Mosaic Law & all the commandments) has been torn down by Jesus and thus are now in the same family!
And in the beginning of chapter 3, Paul sidetracks a bit & reminds the Ephesians that the mystery—of Christ hidden for ages past but is now revealed in the gospel—is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ, and fellow partakers of the same gospel. What does that mean? It means that non-Jews can have all the same spiritual benefits as Jews ☺ This is why Paul “bow[s] his knees” in prayer, and why he Paul worships God for all this and reverently submits to God’s plan of salvation. –It’s because God the Father is creator: He names every family in heaven and on earth… you, you, you, YOU ARE MINE! YOU CAN BE A FAMILY THAT BEARS MY NAME, and BE A PART OF MY HEAVENLY FAMILY of the REDEEMED! Every family on earth who is part of God’s heavenly family, because God the Father redeemed us all!

2) Notice secondly, WHAT Paul Prays For.
Eph 3:16-19

a) What is main petition of Paul’s prayer, his primary request to God? Look at verse 16: that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being… Paul prays that the Ephesians would be strengthened in the inner person!

Remember those times when you planned a big trip or vacation or church event? You make all the plans: book all the tickets, make all the reservations, and plan out everything you are going to do, making sure everybody is happy and gets what they want… And when everything is planned out, just before you leave, somebody in your group steps up & says” How about we pray before we leave?” What that looks like and sounds like sometimes is that you are just trying to God’s stamp of approval; you’ve made all the plans without God, without him directing what you’re going to do, with little dependence on God… and just before you leave, you just want God to SIGN OFF on all the plans you’ve made… you just want His signature of approval and acceptance of all that YOU have planned out. God forbid, maybe you even forget to put in your plan “attend Sunday service”.
Paul’s prayer and my prayer for us is that we would be strengthened in our innermost being with power thru the Holy Spirit—and not with power from ourselves!

I can’t reiterate how important this is for us—we must be desperately dependent in every aspect of our lives on the Holy Spirit! There needs to be a helplessness in our attitude and behavior—we ought to be helpless without God’s strength working in us, guiding and enabling every step of all that we do in life. We must obey God’s command in 1 Corinthians 1:13-14: “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. “ *Because what the Devil wants to do is distract us: he wants us to give up our faith in God and only depend on our own strength & ability to live & work & study. And when that happens, its’ a highway towards wordliness, where you are not dependent on anybody but yourself and your own strength.

b) So WHEN you desperately depend on the Spirit’s strength and power in you, what results is that Christ dwells in your heart more and more through faith. Verse 17. It’s a very logical result of being strengthened by the Spirit: Jesus becomes deeply rooted in our lives; he finds a permanent home in our souls! What we must do is by faith, trust him with our work / our schooling / our recreation… so that he would become the controlling factor in our attitudes and behavior.

We must make sure Christ is continually dwelling in our hearts. Colossians 1:19 “For in him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 2:9 “For in him (Jesus) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” So just as God dwelled in Christ bodily, so also Paul prays that Christ may dwell in the hearts of the Ephesians through faith!

c) The purpose of Christ dwelling in us is that we would comprehend Christ’s love for us. Look at the last half of verse 17:
—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth

Compare that to Colossians 2:6-7: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” In order for us to mentally grasp how high and how wide, how deep and how long is Christ’s love, we must be rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ himself—who is God, and who is God’s greatest display and our ultimate example of love.

1 John 4:7-10: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The word translated “Love” here is agape–the other focused, outward looking love that seeks the highest good in the one loved. Even the believers’ love for each other finds its source in God, who is love—and in God’s love for His Son, and the Son’s love for us…. The sacrificial love that extends to the undeserving and unloving (cf.1:4). –> How much do you really comprehend and understand about God’s love? What is there stopping you from knowing God and his love more and more?

Like a tree with long roots that goes deep into the ground, it is rooted in God who has chosen us, predestined us, redeemed us, bestowed us in the beloved and made us a heritage.  And like a house with a firm foundation that dug deep into the bedrock, it is grounded in God who has sealed us with the Holy Spirit, who has made us alive, and raised us, and seated us with Christ, and placed us equally into one new person in the church!

On the other hand, what I’ve seen in some Christians is simply shallowness. They know God “this” much and they understand the gospel “this” much and they comprehend the love of Christ “this much”—and all they do is coast. You know, you’ve seen them: the Cruise Control Christian. They’re cold, they’re not growing; they’re not excited about going to fellowship; they’re not looking forward to Bible Study; they don’t talk much about Jesus with other believers outside of Sunday Service / Prayer Meeting & Fellowship times.

So I wonder, what is stopping us from knowing God more, what is hindering us from loving Jesus more?? Because what I see in the Scriptures, is that we have been invited to come, and to know God.  “And there is nobody — nobody, not your husband, not your wife, not your kids, not your boss, not your pastor, not your neighbor, not the person in your past that did whatever, not the worries about the future. There is nobody, no one in your life that can stop you from going as far into God as you want to go. NOBODY!   There is no circumstance that can stop you. Not sickness nor health, not joy or sorrow, trial or tribulation. There is no job situation, no family situation, there’s no work situation. There is no circumstance that can stop you from receiving the invitation of God and going as far as you want to go into the knowledge of God. The invitation is on the table; God has said, “you can come, and know me!”

The only thing that can stop me, and the only thing that can stop you from going as far into God as He has invited us to come is ourselves — our own satisfaction with ourselves, our laziness of being satisfied with what we’ve seen of God, or what we’ve already known of God, or what we’ve experienced of God in the past, or some external experience of God, or the sin in our lives that we won’t let go. The only thing that can stop us is us, but the invitation is on the table!”

Just as Paul said in Romans chapter 8: there is no height or depth, or anything in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!! Because of God’s kindness towards us, and because of the fullness of God in us, God’s love should move us, compel us to love others more and more.

d) In Ephesians 3, Paul is saying that individually we each need to be strengthened with God’s power, that we each individually need to know Christ’s love for us more and more… but this personal spiritual growth does NOT happen in a vacuum! Paul prays that those individual Christians in Ephesus would have the ability to understand the immeasurable dimensions of God’s love “with all the saints” (verse 18). →Personal spiritual growth should happen in the context of other Christians; we must pursue fellowship and mutual discipleship, mentorship & accountability with others in our church.

This is what genuine Christian community looks like:
• Where a senior member of the congregation seeks out the fresh Christian perspectives of a young adult in the church…
• Where a new university graduate seeks out the advice and wisdom of an older and more experienced member of the church…
• Where the youth are open and willing to seek out the guidance & support of an uncle or auntie, and that uncle or auntie is yearning to share the life lessons they have learned over the years…
• Where the fatherless are welcomed into the home of an older couple who are willing to be a father-figure and mother-figure, and adopted parents to the fatherless!

So the question for us becomes, “Are you so full of God that you don’t just know about him, or know him merely as an idea or religious opinion, but do you know him experientially?—do you experience yourself and demonstrate to others this Christ-centered love?” Because if you know God personally and have experienced him powerfully in your life through the Scriptures, and have been filled up to God’s fullness in His Spirit… you would grow in giving your life for others, and grow in pouring your heart into the lives of brothers and sisters!

What’s the naturally result when we grow in our knowledge of God and Christ’s love for us? When we grow in experiencing Christ’s love for us and for one another?… well, we praise him! The logical end to Paul’s prayer and this first half of his letter to the Ephesians is praise!

3) So let us notice lastly, HOW Paul’s Prayer Ends.
Eph 3:20-21.

Paul’s prayer ends like how it began: he praises God! We praise God because HE is the one who works with us to love him & to love others! He is the only one able to give us strength to do all that we are asking of him—and EXCEEDINGLY more than our wildest imaginations! Let us praise him for all that he has done for us in the past (especially in Christ Jesus), but also for his powerful work in our hearts right here right now in our lives today.
• God is to be glorified in the church because it is in the body of believers that his power and greatness is displayed…
• And he is glorified in Christ, because Christ’s work on the cross is what made the church exist in the first place.—God purchased the church with the precious blood of Jesus our Savior.

Brothers and sisters, this is how the world would know that you and I are disciples—if we have love for one another. Just as John wrote: when we love each other, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us…and people can see the love of God through our lives.

I felt I was spinning my wheels
Before too long the road was calling
I packed everything I own
So sure that I was leaving this small town life behind for good
And not a single tear was falling
It took leaving for me to understand
Sometimes your dreams just aren’t what life has planned

Mama said home is where the heart is, when I left that town
I made it all the way to West Virginia, and that’s where my heart found
Exactly where I’m supposed to be–it didn’t take much time
It’s just south of the Mason Dixon line

I worked third shift at an all night diner
Only stayed to save a little money for
Enough gas to make it to the east coast
That’s when I saw the brightest pair of
Deep blue eyes walking straight into my life
And every night we talked till it became so clear
And I could feel those dreams inside shifting gears
Cause love brought me here

And I’m standing in my veil about to say I do
As mama smiles with tear drops in her eyes
And then I realize there’s something mama always knew
Love is what I really left to find

Audio:

Video:

United through the Gospel: Once Separated, Now United (Eph 2:11-22) from Alex Leung on Vimeo.

Notes:

Introduction: Do you remember? Do you remember that you were before living apart from Christ; do you remember how you once did not know God–maybe you knew of him, but you did not know Him personally? How at one time you were without hope, and without God in the world?

I want you to remember 2 things this morning:

1) First,
Remember how you were separated.

I don’t see any Jews in here, so it seems that this passage is very applicable to us. Because we are Gentiles too, like the Ephesians Paul was writing to: they were not Jewish. It wasn’t just because they were living in sinful lives per se (we already talked about that in the first part of chapter 2). Race was the reason why the Gentile Christians in Ephesus were (verse 12) separated from Christ,  why they were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenant promises God made to Israel.

And so without these things: without citizenship in Israel and the benefits of being an Israelite, the Gentiles were as a result without hope and without God!

The problem was racism. The Jews thought they were better, and far superior to everybody else, to those Gentile “non-Jews”! And the main difference the Jews picked on was circumcision, verse 11. This was the outward covenant sign that the Jews were God’s own people. And the Gentiles didn’t have it, and so they were considered inferior to the Jews, who thus treated them with hostility!

[...] But my point is that like it was almost 2000years ago, racism is prevalent today as it was back then. The Gentile Christians in Ephesus were experiencing discrimination from Jewish Christians. These Jews looked down on the Gentiles and considered them uncircumcised heathens, who should not be considered part of God’s people.  We all know that it is wrong, to judge somebody by their skin color, nationality, ethnicity or language. Judging people by their bodies and not their hearts, is a superficial thing to say the least, and quite frankly, it is unbiblical and unchristian. It creates hostility in people, causing us to do stupid things, to do hurtful things against other people who are not like us.

And it’s not just racism that is an issue today: It’s…

-I’m better than you because you’re old, and I’m young; because I have this iPod/iPhone, and you don’t;
-I’m superior than you because I live here, and you live there; because I wear this brand of clothes, and you don’t;
-I’m cooler than you because I hang out with this group of people, and go to these places for fun, and you don’t.  OR…
-You’re inferior to me because you’re one of those pagans who eat this kind of food, who doesn’t obey the Sabbath and who isn’t circumcised.

This could come from a sense of wrongful superiority over others, or from a sense of fear or insecurity.  And when this happens between Christians,  between those who have been born again in Christ,  it divides the church and causes separation between Christians who are otherwise brothers and sisters in Christ.  Verse 14 tells us of the dividing wall that separated the Jews and Gentiles was the Mosaic Law with all its commandments and regulations—like circumcision.

So today, in our society, in our church, what is that dividing wall that separates you from those others? from those you don’t normally hangout with or talk to?  Do you have an underlying sense of superiority or hostility towards them?

2) Secondly, I want you to
Remember how you were united.

Here, let us focus our attention on verse 13 and verse 19.

Verse 13 says “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” In other words, once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through Jesus death on the cross.  Don’t you see the huge contrast this is from verse 11 and 12!? The Gentiles Christians were in the past so far away from God…but now, since Jesus had died for them, and they trust in Him, they are now like the Jews—near to God like never before.

Illustration: Have you ever been far away from home for a long period of time? Maybe a few days, a week or two, or even a year? Like the time when you were on vacation, on a mission trip. If you haven’t experienced, I’m sure you will once you go away for school, or get married and move out of your parents roof!

What happens after you’ve been away from home for awhile, is that you feel homesick; you miss your parents, your brother and sister, your friends from home. You miss your parents home cooked free meals; you miss your bed; you miss free laundry machines; and the clean washroom. You miss the people and the benefits of being at home, with your family.

And this was the situation the Ephesians found themselves in, if it wasn’t for the precious blood of Christ that united them to God and with Jewish Christians, and brought them “home”.  Verse 19 makes this even clearer: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”

So before, you were a stranger and an alien.  [...] We like the Gentiles were, in a sense, also foreigners/strangers to the land of Israel. The Gentiles were aliens too; they were temporarily living in a land that is not theirs—spiritually speaking. In the land of the Jews, in the land original allowed only for God’s chosen people.

How does God resolve this problem of alienation, of separation?  How does God unite us to Him and to other Christians?

Verse 14 tells us how:  When Jesus was nailed to the cross, he actually broke down the wall of hostility and division that separated the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians—and Christ accomplished this by making the old system of law (the Mosaic Law) inoperable (verse 15)—he made it legally null and void.  Christ fulfilled the Law, so making it inoperative. So that we are not under Law, but under grace!

Because on the cross, Jesus himself is our peace, he has made peace, and by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles Jesus is preaching peace.—It’s the complete opposite of hostility, of alienation, of separation…peaceful fellowship with God himself and with fellow Christians. Unity in diversity!

That’s why Paul can say that You are no longer foreigners or aliens–but you’re citizens along with all the fellow believers.

And more than that just citizens… You are members of God’s household, God’s family. God is not only a King who just watches the citizens of his country from his high and lofty throne; He is our Heavenly Father who has adopted us as his children and is kneeling down to embrace us as members of His family, so that we can have direct access to Him—face to face, heart to heart! Through Jesus Christ, we can talk to him directly and have intimate fellowship with him.

Even though–by your race, by your nationality, by your skin color– you are not Jewish—it doesn’t matter!  What matters is your heart—if you’ve put your faith in Jesus saving death on the cross for your sins, you can be reconciled first to GOD, and as a result, reconciled to other believers!  The cross removes the superiority complex, it changes our hearts, and reminds us that we all were alienated and separated, and that through nothing of our own doing—we were brought near to God!

Application: I must say that his has a lot of application for us today. Verse 20 to 22 is all about how God is building for himself a church—a body of called out believers, who are growing into his holy temple. Like in the Temple of the Old Testament where God’s holy presence and glory dwelled—God is making for himself ONE new people from the TWO groups: a dwelling place that is raceless. A church who’s only biological lineage is from Adam but who’s spiritual lineage is in Christ Jesus.   I want to give you a few practical points of applications, a few things I want to challenge you to do in response to God’s message:

1. Welcome newcomers every week.
   Make a weekly effort to talk to someone you don’t know, or somebody you don’t normally hang out with. The loneliest place in the world can sometimes be a church that doesn’t welcome new people.
2. Invite people to go to church with you.
   During the week, you’re probably talking with your friends about all kinds of things, and in one way or another you’re soon going to get to the topic of spirituality. So tell them about your hope in Christ, how He is given you hope and peace in life… and how you want your friend to have that same kind of joy in life. And then just invite them to church. It is amazing what a simple invitation can do—it’s non-confrontational, it’s open-ended, it’s a free offer!
3. Grow into a holy temple.
   I want to encourage you to make the best use of your time at church, during the worship service, in Sunday School, at fellowship. You are here already, so why don’t you just get the most bang for your buck, spiritually-speaking! Learn as much as you can, and be sharing and challenging each other about spiritual things!
4. Ponder the cross of our Lord Jesus and what it means for racial harmony. Pray for more wisdom and sensitivity towards those who are unlike you, that we would learn to appreciate our similarities instead of hating our differences.

So that when you do these things– When you welcome newcomers every week; When you invite people to go to church with you; When you grow into a holy temple and ponder what the cross means for racial harmony–you will remember how you were separated… But unlike Katy Perry today–you will remember and know to the very core of your being, how you were united—how GOD has reconciled you to Himself and to each other!

Let us pray.

You can find more of my sermons here.

Christianity differs from liberalism, then, in the first place, in its conception of God.  But it also differs in its conception of man.

Modern liberalism has lost all sense of the gulf that separates the creature from the Creator; its doctrine of man follows naturally from its doctrine of God.  But it is not only the creature limitations of mankind which are denied.  Even more important are is another difference.  According to the Bible, man is a sinner under the just condemnation of God; according to modern liberalism, there is really no such thing as sin.  At the very root of the modern liberal movement is the loss of the consciousness of sin.

The consciousness of sin was formerly the startingpoint of all preaching; but today it is gone. Characteristic of the modern age, above all else, is a supreme confidence in human goodness; the religious literature of the day is redolent of that confidence.  Get beneath the rough exterior of men, we are told, we shall discover enough self-sacrifice to found upon it the hope of society; the world’s evil, it is said, can be overcome with the world’s good; no help is needed from outside the world.

Some 86 years later, it still seems that there is nothing new under the sun: liberalism is still prevalent outside the church as it is inside so-called churches.  Some Christians today still refuse to call sin “sin”, but maybe just an “inadvertent mistake” or “unfortunate happening”.  Let the words above remind us all–Christians and unbelievers alike–to come to Jesus and run after him by faith and repentance.  Every person without the Spirit to convict us of sin and convince us of Grace is hopeless: without hope, without God, without Jesus Christ and His atoning blood to forgive us of our sin and to enable us to walk circumspectly according to His Word.

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism
 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1923), 63-64 (emphasis mine).