In the previous post I did a recap of the event.

I went to the Death To Performance event because when I first saw it, I thought, “yes, I see that struggle in myself”. That is, the struggle to perform and be accepted and thinking through what that breeds in me. I do not want to live and die on, or for, my performance and abilities. BUT, I do want to live and die on, or for, God’s ability and performance. That is what living a Gospel centered life is about. So that is why I went.

The overarching takeaway for me was sanctification. I am going through a class at church that is dealing with sanctification, as well as reading books on it, and the Lord is continually working it in my heart.

One of the things that bothers me is that we trust God to justify us, that is, we call on Jesus to save us, and He truly does… and He truly begins a good work… and He will truly continue that work. But so many times we do not trust God to set us apart. That is, there is no evidence of our faith for sanctification. Faith without works is dead.

So on the one hand, people feel the need to perform and they become steeped in legalism and “do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” or on the other hand, people say God will change me in time, I trust Him to do it… and yet there is no evidence of that trust.

The Bible is very clear that “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.“ – Romans 8:13. So, just as in salvation, we must be saved, but we cannot do it, so in being set apart, we must be set apart, but we cannot do it. We must “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Therefore we come to be set apart the same way we are saved. We pray for it… we believe and receive… by faith… and there is evidence of that faith.

So then we can see why Jesus gave us the example to pray in John 17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” If God is already doing the work in the disciples why would Jesus pray for the work to be done… because that is our trust, that is our faith… we are partnered in it. Paul continually prayed for the sanctification or the set apartness or the enlightening or the understanding of all the churches that he ministered to. David prayed for his own set apartness:
“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” – Psalm 119: 36
“Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” – Psalm 19:13

Just as we pray, “Lord save me”, so we must pray “Lord set me apart, sanctify me”. I am afraid that too many times, myself included, we are comfortable at the pace of our sanctification… or the pace being slow… we are ok with the level of sin… and do not realize that having less sin in our life is so much better than having more. We are not often enough staggered by sin’s oppositeness to all that is good and all that is from God.

Wisdom is needed from God on being set apart and dwelling with others at all different levels in their own walk with Jesus and not being self righteous, or legalistic… but the fear of merely appearing that way, should not hinder one from yielding to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in one’s own life. That is what I love about Jesus. He hung out with fishermen and tax collectors and was perfectly holy and set apart… and in that, sometimes the consciences of others cannot help but be pricked.

In the end, the performance is all of God. So we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God working in us both to will, and to do for His good pleasure. Then when we are given any crowns we are going to cast them right back at the feet of Jesus because it was Him doing the work all along… He graciously asks us to join in.

“For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.” – Colossians 1:29

Welp. At the conference, I received a copy of John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin. So, I shall soon see what he had to say on the subject.

So. Yesterday I went to a conference called Death To Performance, and I am going to hereto set forth some of that which I received. The one day conference had four speakers and I had heard of it through Ray Ortlund Jr.’s blog. Also speaking were Jamie George, Ed Stetzer, and Scott Thomas.

The first session was by Ed Stetzer. Ed speaks so fast that you must really use your energy to keep up with him… and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, I hear very quickly and my mind has plenty of time to think other thoughts (or use it to digest what is being said)… but in the case of Ed, there is no extra time, as one must focus because his connected thoughts are coming quickly. Very quickly. He spoke on the difference between moralism and the Gospel and how moralism is a universal problem that we deal with in differing degrees in different areas. Example, everyone in the South thinks they are saved or Christian… so, as Ed put it, they need to get saved from their idea of salvation and they need to get saved from their idea of Christian. His text was Philippians 1:3-6, focusing on verse 6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” He expounded on God beginning the work in the believer, God continuing the work (in “the middle”), and God completing the work.

Next.

Session two was by Jamie George. Jaime is a storyteller. I appreciated his way to speak the truth through his own experience and be authentic. I can see myself, and my walk with the Lord, when I hear him speak of the faith and trust and growth and tests that the Lord has brought into his life. His text was John 12:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” He spoke of how God brings death about in our life through the process of sanctification by the power of His Spirit. One thing he said really stood out to me: Don’t be a terrible receiver. We have to receive grace. He gave examples of pastors or childrens workers who serve and serve and serve, but who do not receive. He spoke of how we become performance oriented but never receive truth.

Next.

The third session was led by Ray Ortlund Jr. His text was Luke 18:9-14, verse 9: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:”. He spoke on the deceitfulness of sin and pride… and how “those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous” didn’t believe that they were trusting in themselves… they were thanking God for their righteousness. One of the most profound things that he said, for me anyway, was that we read this passage and we see how the pharisee was self righteous and thanking God that he is not like the tax collector. Then we think to ourselves “I don’t do that, I am not like that pharisee” and BOOM, we are undone. Pride is so subtle. Humility in the believer is so stunned at one’s own guilt and sin, that one is not comparing themselves to others anymore. God gives grace to the humble. God opposes the proud… we do not want God as our opponent.

Next.

Session four was by Scott Thomas. I took a lot of notes in this session and I thought Scott did an excellent job of summing up the day and purpose of the conference. He gave visual representation of a performance based lifestyle and mission versus a gospel centered lifestyle and mission. Being performance centered has its goal as success (which has goals), it is based in abilities in order to achieve productivity and predictable outcomes. The difference is that being gospel centered has its goal in exaltation of Christ, it is based on the incarnation (and incarnational living), which causes risk and generosity. The picture was more involved than that, and he expounded it better than that, but that is the basic framework. A couple bits of wisdom: 1) measures of success in your life feed your ego and the desire to be performance centered and it is a fight to reject that model. 2) Our culture is saturated with us only accepting others if we feel they are successful and thereby feeling that we must be successful in order to be accepted, which causes us to be performance based and produce for our own recognition and acceptance and pride. We can accomplish nothing and God get glorified… that is, we can go out to fight a battle, God fights it, and He gets all the glory and we did squat. Point: how many elder boards can a pastor say to them “we didn’t do anything but God was glorified” and it be ok? Slim.

That was my recap. The next post has some of my thoughts and thinkings and whys I wents.

I recommend you go and check out www.comeandlive.com

They have some really good music for you… for FREE. Yes, I said free. It is all free.

An album that I highly recommend you getting is the Ascend the Hill album. There are certain parts to songs on that album that I listen to over and over again. I even made a clip to listen to over and over again. Here it is for your enjoyment. It is only a minute long:

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You Blow Me Away
You’re beautiful, so wonderful, You’re glorious You are.
So marvelous, so majestic, so powerful, You are Jesus.
You’re beautiful, You’re wonderful, You’re glorious, You are.
So marvelous, so majestic, so powerful, You are.
You’re beautiful, You’re wonderful, You’re glorious You are.

I love to relish in this truth about Jesus.

I just heard these quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and I wanted to help myself remember them and so, you get to read them too. Enjoy.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.”

I know that Dr. King gave the same speech more than once and I read the following quote and was not sure if it was at a different time or had been changed. Either way, I like it as well.

“A man of conscience can never be a consensus leader. He doesn’t take a stand for consensus. He is ultimately a molder of consensus. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in moments of great challenge and controversy.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Genesis 49:33 “When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.”

I read that verse and thought “I would like to die like that”. Jacob had just finished his last words to his sons and then had the ability to draw his feet up into the bed and boom, he’s out. Immediately my thoughts ran to the time Jesus told Peter about someone else leading him where he would not want to go “signifying by what death he would glorify God” (John 21:18-19). So, in truth, I just want to die however God would grant that I die. “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment”.

What I find fascinating is that death is a gift. Not always, and not originally (as mankind has known it)… but such is the power of Christ’s redemption. God judges the first man with death (using what Satan had wrought) and yet the last Man destroyed him who had the power of death (as any power that Satan has must be delivered to him from God) (Heb 2:14 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”).

So now, in Christ, even death is gain! A person being in Christ, being the key for receiving, knowing, and experiencing all that is good and perfect, and a person being out of Christ being the key for receiving, knowing, and experiencing wrath, condemnation, and the destruction that death brings.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” Rom 8:1
“…he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36
“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Thess, 5:9

Ah, Jacob… what a way to go. I am think I am just fascinated at how this plays out… that is, at the confidence, and inspiration that it brings… and as Heb, 2:14 said, it destroys the fear of death as well. That is just more good news. I am not consumed with death by any means, in fact, I am enjoying eternal life right now. What is eternal life? John 17:3 tells us: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Hellooo.

Through all of the wrestlings and wranglings of our soul it is nice to have a steadfastness upon which to lean. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10).

So many days I feel weak. I feel really, really weak inside. On those days I think “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. Really? With all of my heart? “Lean not on your own understanding”. Really? Do not lean on my own understanding? “In all your ways acknowledge Him”. Really? Acknowledge God in all of my ways? Well. Ok. Then I hold on tightly to the “and He shall direct your paths” part.

Feelings can be swayed so easily. So easily. In realizing that right thinking leads to right feeling, and that what we feed our minds is what our minds are given over to, it has become quite clear to me over the past couple of years that I have to preach to myself. I have to speak the truth to myself or else I am moved too easily. I love it when David says in Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

Sometimes I get so numb to the word “faith” that I need to switch it out with the word “confidence”, in order to really get it. When I read God tell Jeremiah “I am the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?” (32:17), it leaves me thinking “No, of course there isn’t and yes I can have confidence in You”. I think I associate certainty and a firm trust with the word “confidence” more so than the word “faith”.

As I go through different seasons of life, it is nice to have confidence that God has ordained my seasons just as surely as He has ordained “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night”. Though it feels cold and rainy, sometimes amidst the gray, the light mist feels good against your face.

I woke up thinking about Haiti this morning. It has been almost twelve years since I went there for a mission trip. I remember vividly the night sky and staring up at the stars from the roof of the mission I was staying at. I remember the sound of the voodoo drums resonating across the mountains and valleys as we traveled to a “mountain church”. I remember the signs of spirituality everywhere… spirituality with great darkness.

I have seen several posts or comments related to the tragedy in Haiti, as well as other tragedies, typically they are from atheists, that say things like, “a single penny to help the cause is better than all the prayers in the world”. I hate that saying. It is a lie.

I am well aware that there are people who hide behind words and “saying a prayer” so that they do not actually have to give or move. I am well aware that the heart that is truly moved by the love of God will manifest itself with deeds of love. I am well aware that faith without works is dead.

Don’t think for a second that money given to relief is worth more than your prayers. James 5:17 says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.” God ordained and used Elijah’s prayer to shut up rain on the land of Israel for 3 1/2 years. God can ordain and use your prayer to awaken the hearts of Haitians to the light of the glorious good news of Jesus Christ.

I keep going back to read in Luke 18:1 when it says the reason Jesus spoke the parable to them was to teach them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. It’s easy to lose heart. Pray.

If you cannot give abundantly physically, you can give abundantly through prayer. Not through a flippant prayer, but through earnest and fervent prayers. The “effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. God honors fervent praying. Praying that shows a broken and contrite spirit.

There are times that you may be moved to pray and that prayer comes easily. There also may be times that you have to labor and wrestle not only in prayer but just to start praying. Regardless of how easy or hard it is we must continue earnestly in prayer, pray without ceasing, and pray always and not lose heart. God hears our prayers, God uses our prayers, God ordains our prayers as the means to carry out His will in the world, and who knows what other great things are happening which we cannot see?

God is good.

I have been meaning to read Jonathan Edwards on Religious Affections and was looking over some quotes from it and found this one:

“Spiritual good is of a satisfying nature; and for that very reason, the soul that tastes, and knows its nature, will thirst after it, and a fullness of it, that it may be satisfied. And the more he experiences, and the more he knows this excellent, unparalleled, exquisite, and satisfying sweetness, the more earnestly will he hunger and thirst for more, until he comes to perfection. And therefore this is the nature of spiritual affections, that the greater they be, the greater the appetite and longing is, after grace and holiness.” – Jonathan Edwards from A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections

I am in awe how this works… how it plays out in my own life and the lives of those I know. I’m thirsty.

Now I really want to read it. It is moving up the docket.

For my quiet time I am reading in Corinthians. I just finished 1 Corinthians and have started 2 Corinthians. Like always, there are so many things that hit me and prick my heart, but I want to share one of them from 2 Corinthians 5:1-8.

In verse two it talks about groaning with earnest desire to be clothed with our heavenly habitation (dwelling). It is speaking of being in this current ‘tent of the body’ and longing to be further clothed. Just like 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 talks about how corruption will put on incorruption so here in 2 Cor 5:4 Paul says, “…that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

Then it blows me away that in verse 5 when it talks about God preparing us for this very thing (being clothed with our heavenly body and habitation) it says that He has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. A deposit. A down payment. Like earnest money.

How great is it that God who is supreme and cannot lie and cannot be moved puts a down payment on us? He secures us with Himself so that nothing can annul it. He prepares us to receive that for which He has prepared for us.

Now. What REALLY hit me was the next 3 verses. Verse 6 starts like this “So we are always confident”. Love that. Always confident huh. About what? Sorry, let me finish the verse, “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

The point is that we know, by faith, that when we are in the current ‘tent of this body’ that we are absent from the Lord and when we are absent from the body that we will be present with the Lord. I like how then Paul says, “well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord”.

It seems like a lot of people do not groan for their heavenly habitation. It seems like a lot of people would not be well pleased to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. We are consumed far too much with our desires (which are weak desires) so that we think if only we had this or that before we die or if only we accomplished such and such. Everything good and perfect comes from God so to go to His presence is far better than anything we could ever think or imagine. We should be well pleased to say “To live is Christ and to die is gain”.

There is confidence in living that way. For who or what can separate you from the love of Christ which passes knowledge?

Verse 9 starts with “therefore”. So because of everything we just said, “we make it our aim whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

Can I get an amen. Sure. Amen.

I got a new Bible for Christmas. I asked for a new Bible for Christmas. BUT… I have such a hard time switching to a new Bible from my old Bible.

I have tried to make the switch before but I failed miserably. I have been using my current Bible for about 19 years. I remember it was hard making the switch to it. It is a New King James Version, which I like. I had tried going back to King James Version which did not happen. I have a beautiful Cambridge King James Version Bible that just sits there looking beautiful.

My current Bible has duct tape on it. Yeah, it has some wear. So I am glad that I got a new Bible for Christmas and I like the ESV (English Standard Version) so I think that will make the transition easier. It is just that I can picture the pages in my old Bible and I remember where passages are by how the page looks. I will most likely feel somewhat lost in the new Bible.

I haven’t decided how I should start working it in. I know I need to start using it in my quiet time, but it feels weird underlining in a new Bible… you know? It is all clean and fresh and new. Maybe I will just finish my current reading schedule and then start my next reading schedule with the new Bible. I don’t know… I just don’t know.