We continue to be both encouraged by your prayers and recognize our dependence on your prayers. We are increasingly aware of some very desperate, painful, and needy situations at Exploring Christianity. We need you to pray that God would bring forgiveness, and reconciliation, and healing, and hope into these situations. We are very grateful for your partnership in the gospel.Last Wednesday
Last Wednesday was week three and we had 80 people seated at tables for the talk and over 51 children in Explorer Kids. I spoke on “What’s The Big Deal With Sin” and very clearly and unapologetically spoke about our sin against God. Thus far we have talked about how no one can earn their way to heaven, how God is sovereign, and holy, and just, and loving, and how we are all sinners in need of a Savior.
This Wednesday
This Wednesday we are looking at Jesus under the title “Jesus: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?” We are going to look at what Jesus thought about Himself and ask the question in our title. We are going to look at how Jesus’ teaching centered on Himself, his indirect claims to be God based on his claim to forgive sins, judge the world, and give eternal life, and his direct claims to be God. We are then going to look at the evidence to support his self-understanding: the evidence of his work, his character, his fulfillment of prophecy, and his resurrection.
Besides our on-going prayers for God to bring non-Christians back every Wednesday and for us to clearly communicating the gospel while demonstrating the love of Jesus, we have two basic prayer requests this week.
Pray for the New Birth
First, pray for the new birth. At the recent Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors, John Piper presented a biographical sketch of George Whitefield. In it, Piper spoke about how Whitefield’s experience of the new birth affected his preaching.
The new birth completely changed Whitefield’s perspective. It gave him eyes to see things he would not otherwise see, and ears to see things he would not otherwise see, and a mind to understand things he would not otherwise understand. Please pray that God would grant the new birth to many non-Christians this Wednesday night, or next Wednesday, or the Wednesday after – anytime, just pray that God would grant them the new birth.This means that Whitefield’s acting—his passionate, energetic, whole-souled reaching—was the fruit his new birth, because his new birth gave him eyes to see “life and light and power from above.” He saw the glorious facts of the gospel as real. Wonderfully, terrifyingly, magnificently real. This is why he cries out, “I will not be a velvet-mouthed preacher.”
The new birth had opened his eyes to what was real, and to the magnitude of what was real: God, creation, humanity, sin, Satan, divine justice and wrath, heaven, hell, incarnation, the perfections of Christ, his death, atonement, redemption, propitiation, resurrection, the Holy Spirit, saving grace, forgiveness, justification, reconciliation with God, peace, sanctification, love, the second coming of Christ, the new heavens and the new earth, everlasting joy. These were real. Overwhelmingly real to him. He had been born again. He had eyes to see.
Pray for Explorer Kids
Second, pray for Explorer Kids. Last week we had 39 guest and worker children attend Explorer Kids and 12 teen helpers. Pray that we would enough workers to care for all of the children, especially the younger children that require more attention. Pray that the workers will be filled with joy, patience, gratitude, care, and energy to demonstrate the love of Jesus to those children. Pray that the CrossWay kids would be a positive influence on our guest’s children. Pray that God would provide everything we need to care for these children, that the workers would serve joyfully, and that God would be glorified in all things.
