Living Waters Fellowship

This video gives some perspective about who is this God we worship.  The cross can only be seen in its full significance when we consider how absolutely indescribable our God is.

“The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness.  Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological.  At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.  And each of these rare and precious moments in life—beside the Canyon, before the Alps, under the stars—is an echo of a far greater excellence, namely, the glory of God.  That is why the Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

Sometimes people say that they cannot believe that, if there is a God, he would take interest in such a tiny speck of reality called humanity on Planet Earth.  The universe, they say, is so vast, it makes man utterly insignificant.  Why would God have bothered to create such a microscopic speck called the earth and humanity and then get involved with us?

Beneath this question is a fundamental failure to see what the universe is about.  It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man.  God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.  And he says it for us to learn and enjoy—namely, that he is infinitely great and powerful and wise and beautiful.  The more the Hubble Telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God.  The disporportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God.  And it is an understatement.  But the point is not to nullify us but to glorify him.”

Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper

Click the image to view the video:

“For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.  You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance”
- Psalm 66:10-12

These are some verses that I’ve been camping on for the last few days in my personal time with God that I would like to share with you.  As God often-times takes us through tests and trials, we wonder if there will ever be an end to our discouragement and depression.  These verses point to the fact that God often takes us through very difficult things to bring us to a place of abundance…the end for which God takes us through trials is always for the glory of Jesus and our joy.  Don’t miss that this week in your life!  God has joy and abundance at the end of your current trial.  He means to grow you through the dark times in order to bring you out on the other side rejoicing in Him!

And in fact, if we were to look at these verses through gospel glasses…we would also see that God brought us through many trials and hardships in order to bring us to faith in Jesus.  Often times, God will bring sinners to the lowest of lows, in order that they might be humble and trust in the saving work of Jesus on the cross for their sins.  I know that happened to me for sure, it was in the darkest days of my life that God rescued me and saved me from my sins.  What a joyful day!  What an abundance I found in trusting Christ as my Savior!  These verses also speak to the fact that the trials we now face as Christians are ultimately meant to lead us back to the Cross of Jesus where our focus belongs.  We often drift from Jesus and the Cross, but Living Waters, let us come back to the Cross this week!

- Pastor Josh

We had an great time at the Saylorville Baptist Church Men’s Retreat with people from Saylorville, Lakeside Fellowship, and Living Waters Fellowship. Randy Gaumer was there and his messages were excellent. They are now online. Click to listen:
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3

Here is a great article from Desiring God on leadership. In the article John Piper opens up the Biblical marks of a spiritual leader. Do these marks describe you?

-Pastor Josh

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MostPopular/1575_The_Marks_of_a_Spiritual_Leader/

This message really encouraged me this morning. It is one of the most unique I’ve ever heard because the whole message is a prayer. It is the concluding message in John Piper’s eight year series in Romans. Click the image to listen.