Favorite Gospel Primer entry

If you have a copy of the Gospel Primer, you may know that Part 1 of the book is divided into 31 parts.  So you can read an entry each day of the week.

My favorite entry is #18.  When I give this book as a gift, I highlight or mark this entry.

Here is my favorite line in Perspective in Trials.
For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me.

Here is the entire entry.

More than anything else could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. 69 The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ. 70  

Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God’s good work in me.

Vincent, Milton. A Gospel Primer for Christians (Kindle Locations 334-342). Focus Publishing. Kindle Edition.


The scripture passages in this entry are
69.  Romans 5:1-5
70.  Romans 8:28-29; James 1:2-4; 1 Corinthians 12:7-10

Hills and Valleys

A song that has been an encouragement to me during this transitional time.




Hills Remix - www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-92POxzuz4
Valley Remix - www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QJIt6spYqM

Tauren Wells - Hills and Valleys LyricsFrom the album Undefeated (EP)

I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to heaven from my lowest place
And I have held Your blessings
God You give and take away
No matter what I have, Your grace is enough
No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love

(chorus)
On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there
In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

I've watched my dreams get broken
In You I hope again
No matter what 
I know I'm safe inside Your hands

(chorus)
On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there
In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

Father You give and take away
Every joy and every pain
Through it all You will remain over it all

On the mountains I will bow my life 
In the valley I will lift my eyes

(chorus)
On the mountains I will bow my life to the One who set me there
In the valley I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys, hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

And I will choose to say
Blessed be Your name
And I am not alone

Publishing:© 2016 Be Essential Songs/Crucial Music Entertainment/Jord A Lil Music (BMI)/So Essential Tunes/Not Just Another Song Publishing (SESAC) All rights admin. at www.EssentialMusicPublishing.com

Writer(s): Tauren Wells, Chuck Butler, Jonathan Smith

More Glories than You Can Grasp

Here is the devotional from yesterday's (May 13) in New Morning Mercies.

that was especially helpful for us in thinking about our future.

You have not been left to secure your own future because God in grace has secured an end to your story more glorious than you can grasp. 

You and I absolutely need our lives to be shaped and reshaped by these words: 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Pet. 1:3–5)

One of the most common human fears is fear of the future. We all ask, “What will happen if . . . ?” or “What will happen next?” or “What is down the road?” Embedded in all of this is the hope that we will be secure and things will be all right in the future. It is not insane to wonder about the future. It is not a sin to be concerned about what is to come. It is not wrong to plan for the future. In fact, you and I should live with the future in view every day of our lives. In some ways, everything that we think, desire, decide, do, and say should be shaped by what is to come. But there is a huge difference between worrying about what you have no power over and resting in what God has revealed about his future plans for you. 

Peace and hope are never to be found in your efforts to figure out the future. God’s secret will is called his secret will precisely because it is secret! No, real hope is found in living inside the implications of what it means that God holds your future in his wise, powerful, and gracious hands. Peter says, “Don’t ever let yourself forget that Jesus has purchased a future for you that is better than anything you could have dreamed of or planned for yourself.” If you remember that you have this wonderful future ahead of you, you won’t live as if this moment is all you have and you will be free of the anxiety of fearing that somehow this moment will pass you by. I love the qualifying words that Peter uses to describe our inheritance as the children of God: “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” Together they mean that this inheritance is protected and untouchable; nothing will be allowed to happen that would damage it in any way. It is absolutely secure. 

But Peter says more. He says that not only is God keeping your inheritance, he’s keeping you. He’s not only protecting what is to come, he’s protecting you so that when what is to come has come, you will be there to receive it and enjoy it forever and ever. So remember today that no matter how hard your story is right here, right now, it is guaranteed for you as God’s child that it will end better than anything you can now imagine, and that glory will never end!

For further study and encouragement: 

1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11