When My Heart Is Overwhelmed

This is a sermon, by a pastor discussing how he is dealing with the fact that his daughter now has cancer. I greatly encourage everyone to watch it. The things he says are things we all need to hear.



When My Heart Is Overwhelmed from Reality on Vimeo.

Balaam's Donkey

Something a professor once told rich mullins:

"God spoke to Balaam through his ass and He's been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to speak through you, you need not think too highly of yourself. And if on meeting someone, you recognize right away what they are, listen to them anyway, because God spoke to Balaam through his ass and He's been speaking through asses ever since."

Suffer for them

"I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." - Philippians 1:12-14

Are we willing to suffer, that others might be more confident in the LORD?

Quiet! Be still!

"He got up, rebuked the wind and said to thewaves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. " Mark 4:39

Remember Jesus' authority this week. When He speaks, His will is done.

In the days of your youth

"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come." Ecclesiastes 12:1

Don't hold off on following Jesus until tomorrow, tomorrow never comes. Follow Him whole heartily now. Pray whole heartily now. Seek God, study His word, now. The sooner the better, don't put it off or you will never get to it.

Free Audio Books!

Every month ChristianAudio.com offers a free audio book for download, this month is one of my favorite books, and something I would encourage everyone to read:

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What is Jesus' will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.'"

They are also offering "Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die" by John Piper, which I have only read some of, but it's by John Piper so it's probably good. This is the first time they have offered two books at once (as far as I know) and this month they were both ones I already owned... oh well.

Enjoy.

What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.

^{Matthew 10:26-33}
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. ²⁸And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³²So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, ³³but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."

We are called to proclaim the Gospel, fearlessly. Are you ashamed of Christ? Ask your self this daily. Look at your actions and motives. How many lost and dying people did you proclaim the hope of Christ to today?

I'm not saying you should act on your own will, without being led by the Spirit, but perhaps if you step out in boldness, as God so often commands, the Spirit will go with you, He will guide you, and He will talk through you.

Remember:

^"1And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5