Reflecting

This afternoon I've felt much in line with Paul in Romans 7

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:21-25

I don't like things to dominate my thoughts that aren't God honoring, they can quickly become idolatry. I would like to keep my thoughts fixated on the things that are above, with Christ who is seated in the heavenly places. So I've been in a kindly odd mood this evening. So I decided to go for a walk and listen to a sermon by Alistar Begg, I just downloaded today's broadcast of Truth for Life. Begg was preaching on well; preaching, preaching grace specifically to a group of pastors.

Begg said the following during the sermon, "If we do not take refuge in the gospel we will take refuge somewhere else." God forbid we take refuge in anything other than the gospel. I began to think of my own calling to preach the gospel through the word of God. I thought back to the very first time I preached, the only thing I knew to do, the only thing I thought really made sense as a 15 year old was to go to the bible. So that's what I did, I went to a text of scripture and did my best to expose what I thought the text was telling. I didn't know what it was called at the time, and I probably could have done a lot better job at it, but for what its worth it was an attempt at exposition. Preaching the word of God ought to have the word of God at the center of its preaching. It isn't mean to be just a base to shoot off our own ideas, rather the Scriptures are God's words that instruct us. We preach Christ, and him crucified, and it He is preached boldly, without wavering, and it is this preaching that is built on the authority of the word of God. I believe the word of God is the foundation of the Christian faith, without it we wouldn't know what the Christian faith is, or how it should be lived out.

So I stand on the tweet I posted earlier: "When I was 15 I felt the call to preach, I went to the bible. God forbid I ever leave it."

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 2 Corinthians 4:5