God’s Spirit is not at odds with God’s Word. God’s Spirit never contradicts the Word, and God’s Word never hinders the Spirit. If you want One, then you have to take the other. They’re a package deal. So stop trying to separate friends!

I’ve heard that there are people who are trying to cause a rift between two of my friends. People have been saying that these two just can’t work together. They’ve been saying that you have to choose between one of them, but you can’t have both. They’ve also been saying that they’re actually just too different to be in the same place at the same time. I’ve just got to clear this up, all of these things are untrue!
Oh wait, did I forget to mention who these friends were? I’m talking about the Spirit of God and the Word of God.
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You are not perfect. Own it. See your deep weakness….We acknowledge our sin, and then we press on. We don’t roll over and give up. We don’t hide our faces. Instead we draw nearer to Christ through the cross. We pick up our Bibles and show up to the gathering of the saints. We press on.

As I hung up the phone, I realized how impatient I had sounded. Yes, this was the third phone call about the same thing. Yes, they were unwilling to process paperwork that had been previously submitted. Yes, it was going to take more time out of my day to do a frustratingly simple task. And in the middle of it, instead of having my mind set on things above, I decided to get frustrated. Just one example of how I’m not like Christ. I hate it, but it’s true: I’m not perfect.
And to be fair, neither are you. You might say, “You don’t know me!” I don’t have to. God has let me into an open secret: “None is righteous, no, not one…No one does good, not even one” (Rom 3:10, 12). You and I belong to the category of “none” in that sentence. And we belong in the “all” of the next group: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Each of us have sinned against a holy God, and none of us are where we would like to be. We have not been perfect.
“But,” you protest, “Jesus saved me.” And by God’s grace, I pray that’s true. And yes, God’s grace to Christians is that we are a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), “dead to sin” (Rom 6:11), and now “slaves of righteousness” (Rom 6:17). Real sanctification is happening for every true Christian. The Christian’s relationship with sin is different now. But even still, until heaven Christians have to deal with a flesh that wars against the Spirit (Gal 5:17). And though we are being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), we are not completely like Christ yet. Even still it is right to say, “I am not perfect.”
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 I think we need to consider how good it is to read the Bible to the kids for our own benefit. Kids see things with a wonder that adults sometimes lack. Yes, reading to kids can be hard work sometimes, but let me encourage you, your kids are listening. And sometimes, their childlike approach to God’s word can encourage and edify you as well.

A few months ago, we started reading the book of 1 Kings with our kids during family worship. It starts off with a bang. You get the death of David, the beef with Adonijah and Solomon, the beginning of Solomon’s reign and wisdom, and then, starting in chapter five, we hit the building of the temple. Now, my oldest son is 8, and I’ll just say I was a little skeptical of how this information would be received. We’re not fancy at my house; we read the passage and discuss. And I’ll be honest, sometimes I zone out when I read through these descriptions of the temple, so I was afraid the same thing was gonna happen with them. Boy was I wrong.
These kids were all in. I’m reading about dimensions and windows and pomegranates, and they were eating it up. They were begging to look at our study Bible that had all of the pictures. Every night they were enthusiastically waiting for the next passage about the temple. They marveled at rooms completely overlaid with gold. They loved trying to envision the lions engraved on the walls, the giant cherubim with touching wings, and the oxen holding up 12,000 gallons of water. Not to mention all of the basins and pitchers and lamps and the altar. They were able to hear God’s word with joyful anticipation. They were willing to see wonderful things from God’s law.
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God has gifted you with faith in the Captain of your salvation, Jesus Christ (Heb 2:10). His sinless life, His death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection are the only things that can uphold you on that day of dread and gladness. A faith in anything else has no backbone and is empty. Only Christ can save. Only faith in Him has a backbone.

As a kid who grew up in the 90s, certain songs get stuck in my head. One of those (especially after the movie Space Jam) was the song I Believe I Can Fly. (I apologize to all of you who now have that song stuck in your head). This songs acts as a cheesy metaphor for the “I can do anything” attitude of our culture. It’s catchy, it’s well produced, but let me ask an annoyingly literal question for a minute: Does believing you can fly, yes, even believing you can touch the sky, make you able to actually fly? (Bear with me). Of course not! And even if you who sing that song loud enough and with enough sincerity, even then, a loud thud will be heard outside your window when you try to fly off the roof of your house. You know why? Because as much as faith matters, faith without a backbone is useless.
Useless Faith
There are many people who will scoff at my silly example of “believing you can fly,” but how many people are basically doing the same thing, except with a religious flair. This faith without a backbone is all too common. “God knows my heart. He wouldn’t send someone like me to hell,” or “God has promised to give me health, wealth, and prosperity,” or “Jesus isn’t the only way. He is just one way among many.” Where do you get that information? How are you coming to these conclusions? Your reasoning? Your moral standards? I’ll tell you one place you aren’t getting those thoughts: The Bible.
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All goodness that has ever existed among angels and men has all come from the same source. And the whole is so much greater than the sum. Add all of the goodness together from all time, from all men, from the whole globe, and what you get is just a drop from the ocean that is God. 

Have you ever seen a good dad? Maybe you had one. Hopefully, dads, you are one. Have you ever seen those godly characteristics of a good dad really shine? Maybe some extreme compassion for a little one, or a wise word spoken to strengthen and encourage. Maybe you’ve seen godly discipline and correction. When we see this, we are encouraged and marvel at God’s work.
Have you ever seen a good husband? A man who lives in an understanding way with his wife and truly loves his bride. Maybe you’ve heard him speak highly of his wife and really value his wife. He doesn’t follow the world and think of her as a “ball and chain,” but rather he rises up and calls her blessed. The wife feels safe and treasured. When you see this, you marvel at God’s work.
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As Christians, we work with a gospel-fueled, Spirit wrought gumption. This is a move-forward attitude that trusts in the grace of God alone. This is a diligent working that is prayerful and trusting in the Spirit of God for the accomplishing of all things. I’m convinced that this mindset in our labor will produce the greatest fruit and the most restful souls. With the gospel as our fuel, we dodge the trappings of works righteousness. With the Spirit’s power, our labor will actually be profitable.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
1 Corinthians 15:10
As Christians, we are rightly concerned with living in such a way that magnifies the grace of God. We don’t want to be those who fall into works righteousness or Pharisaism, but rather we are those who trust in the grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But sometimes I’m afraid that we overcorrect. In an effort to be gospel-centered, we forget that we are supposed to put our hand to the plow (Luke 9:62). So I want to commend good old fashioned, gospel-fueled, Spirit-wrought gumption.
God’s Means
We are absolutely not saved by our works, and God works in every Christian to be more like His Son. But did you know that God uses certain means to conform us into His image? Sometimes we act as though God is going to sanctify us while we laze about in our newfound salvation. This mindset goes something like this: “Well I’m haven’t really beat that sin yet. God just has to work it in me.” But this mindset essentially makes your sinful behavior God’s fault. Is that really how we want to approach God? Or what about a lack of knowledge in God’s word? Do we expect that God will unscrew the top of our heads and pour knowledge into it? No. God has no plans to marionette-puppet us around in our sanctification. He calls us to attend to the means of grace.
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To forsake God for other things is wicked. We must always remember, “it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (John 6:63). We must be aware that apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). He alone is the fountain of living waters, and anything else is a counterfeit.

A few years ago, my wife and I installed a filtered water spout for our kitchen sink. It produces delicious, perfectly filtered water. It’s amazing. Anytime we want to fill our cups we can turn on the faucet and drink to our hearts desire. My children love to take an old plastic Tic-Tac box and use it as a water source. This thing holds about a thimble’s worth of water, yet they will actually fight over who gets to drink out of the Tic-Tac box. Let me make a confession: I can sometimes be like that.
Anyone reading that last paragraph would say, “Aren’t children so silly? They have access to an endless stream of pure water, but choose instead to quarrel over a plastic box.” And yes, it is silly, but can’t you see yourself at all? God through the prophet Jeremiah rebukes the people of Israel for something very similar; “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). Oh yes. Turning away from God to something else is just as foolish. No. It is exceedingly more foolish.
You might say, “Well I don’t worship idols. I’m a Christian!”
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When a man and a wife try to outdo one another in showing honor, the amazing thing is that both end up honored. And this is what the gospel does. The gospel transforms us. It causes us to think less of ourselves and more of others. Jesus says, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” (Matt 20:28). Even so, those who have come to know and love the Lord also seek to serve.

My wife and I have a competition. We are not normally competitive people, but we’ve been trying to outdo one another ever since we’ve been married. I’ll be honest; sometimes I win, and sometimes she wins. We find ourselves competing in the morning, in the evening, and even at night. I’m trying to outdo her while I’m at work, and she’s trying to outdo me when I’m at home. Honestly, we are always trying to win this competition. Even on holidays you can find my wife and I steadily trying to outdo one another. Now, before you tell me to cool my jets, let me tell you about the competition.
We got into this competition by reading the book of Romans, and when we got married, this became our marriage verse. Right after Paul spent 11 chapters really digging into the glorious gospel, he begins to unpack how we can live in light of that good news. God through Paul begins to show His people what it is to be a living sacrifice in light of the mercies of God. And in this list of instructions we are given a holy competition to participate in. He tells his people to, “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom 12:10).
That’s right.
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To be jealous for God is to be burdened when other nations praise and worship false gods. To be jealous for God is to see men exalted and to be filled with holy zeal. To be jealous for God is to want to bring in the atheist nations so that they can give God the glory due His name. Jealousy for God drives us to reach out to a lost world to bring them back to reality.

I magine Jesus for a moment: Standing. Breathing hard. Whip in hand. Tables and money turned and spilt on the floor. The temple quiet. The Pharisees seething. The heart of Christ burning with zeal for His Father’s house. Jesus begins to explain Himself: “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17). Can you see it? Do you also hear what is on His mind? He has missions on His mind: “for all the nations.” And it is fueled by a deep jealousy.
The Jealous One
Jealousy? Yes. Jesus is showing us another example of how He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature (Heb 1:3). Jesus is displaying God’s righteous jealousy for His glory. “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut 4:24). He warns His people multiple times not to worship other gods, “for I the LORD your God am a jealous God” (Deut 5:9). God is the only One worthy of worship. He is the only One who truly deserves praise. God’s perfect, sinless jealousy is appropriate. He alone is worthy of glory, and He will share it with no other (Isa 42:8). Jesus knows that. Jesus feels that. Jesus is jealous for the glory of God.
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Sometimes, people refuse the thing that will heal them because they fear the pain of treatment. Let us not be that way. Let us love the hand that strikes us for our good. And let us be willing to be that means of grace for others. Let us be willing to cause the pain that brings restoration.

A common question I get in the hospital: “Is this going to hurt?” My response: “Probably.” That might be a weird thing to read. To be clear, I’m a registered nurse. Nursing is about serving those who are sick and vulnerable. “So what do you mean that you hurt people for a living? Don’t you mean you help people for a living?” And here is the question that I want to ask: Why can’t it be both? And yes, it is very often both.
As I’m working to bring people back to better health, pain is often involved. I can’t count the number of needles I’ve used, catheters placed, wounds packed, bandages wrapped, shots given, etc… All of these things bring incredible discomfort, and yes, pain. But this is not pointless pain. This is purposeful pain with the goal of bringing healing. That shot is painful, but the sickness it is treating is deadly. The process of cleaning and treating a wound is painful, but without the poking and prodding the wound could get infected and spread to the whole body. I hurt people for a living, but the pain is not the goal. The goal is restoration.
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