The Fellowship of Ailbe Read Moore

Living and Powerfully

The Word of God, the writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us, is living and powerful. It is chock-full of spiritual power to change hearts, lives, and more. Today’s reading from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on pages 20 and 21: “The final fruit of hearing the Word of God is a counter-cultural thrust and movement that strives irrepressibly to take every thought captive and make it obedient to the cause of Jesus Christ, and turns the world of unbelief and sin rightside-up for our Savior and King. “Repentant hearts lead to renewed lives and rejoicing lips. And these, in turn, nurture a rededicated mind, one devoted to the task of individual revival, renewed churches, and a culture and society gloriously awakened to the Gospel of the Kingdom.  “The first Christians realized this, as we see in the book of Acts, and over the course of the next three centuries of Church history. In ages past, Christians have been instrumental in overturning wickedness and introducing new and more beneficial institutions and inventions to bless the peoples of the world. Societal and cultural renewal and awakening have been hallmarks of Christian experience wherever, in the past, the Word of God has been truly preached and heard, and redeemed believers have set their minds to the task of joining with the Savior in making all things new. “But where do we stand today? Mark Noll has written that today, ‘there is not much of an evangelical mind’ available or interested in such Kingdom projects (The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind). We have neither the will to engage our unbelieving age with the truth of the Gospel, nor the insight and vision to offer anything different in the way of a comprehensive worldview.” For reflection or discussion 1. Do we really believe that the Word of God, truly heard and obeyed, can lead to great changes? Have you experienced this? 2. How do you expect to see the power of God’s Word at work in and through you today? If we truly hear what the Word of God is saying we will walk in obedient faith and work to make all things new in our lives. That is, the Holy Spirit, working with the Word, will make us daily more like Jesus so that we bring the character and power of Jesus into all we do. And that’s a formula for newness. Share today’s podcast with some friends. Encourage them to join you in subscribing to Read Moore and make a point, from time to time, of asking how they respond to the podcast. Your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart awaits you in The Ailbe Bookstore. T. M. Moore The post Living and Powerfully [https://www.ailbe.org/columns/read-moore/living-and-powerfully/] appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe [https://www.ailbe.org].

Ready Witness

We’ve seen three signs or “fruit” of a true hearing of the Word of God: conviction of sin and repentance, the pursuit of holiness, and a life of good works. And there’s more. Today’s reading from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on pages 16 and 17: “Christians today are presently struggling through what the prophet Amos referred to as a famine of hearing, and many of them don’t even seem to notice. But if we were really hearing the Word as God intends, we would observe more of the fruit we’ve mentioned thus far. “A fourth fruit of the hearing of God’s Word is ready witness for Him. They in whom the Word is alive and powerful, transforming them into the image of Jesus Christ, cannot help but talk about Him with the people in their lives. “God instructed the prophet Habakkuk to write His Word on tablets of stone, so that all who read it could run to proclaim it joyfully and urgently to the people of the land. When the apostles and believers in Jerusalem finally heard the message of the Gospel in the Word of God, they spilled into the streets and, ultimately, spread out to every nation proclaiming the Good News to everyone they met. Persecution could not stop them, nor could cultural differences, geographic distance, lack of resources, or the duties and distractions of daily life. “In one generation, they turned their world upside-down for Jesus Christ. In little more than two centuries they established the banner of the Gospel as supreme over the civilized world. What they heard, they lived, and declared to others with such compelling power that multiplied thousands streamed into the churches to give thanks and praise to God.  “And what of our day?” For reflection or discussion 1. How do churches today try to reach their community with the Gospel? What does your church do? 2. Does it seem to you that the Christians you know need some help in being witnesses for the Lord? What about yourself? Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in us and empowers us to hear the Word, would exert His power in and through us to make us witnesses for Christ. Not just to go witnessing, as some church event, but to be witnesses, every area and aspect of our lives devoted to serving and glorifying Christ. Wow! Can you imagine what that must be like? Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. Or share it with many of your friends and urge them to join you in subscribing. Your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart awaits you in The Ailbe Bookstore.  T. M. Moore The post Ready Witness [https://www.ailbe.org/columns/read-moore/ready-witness/] appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe [https://www.ailbe.org].

Unto Good Works

We’re considering the fruit which is borne in our lives as we truly hear the Word of God. Hear it so that it lodges not just in our mind but in our heart, and we act on it accordingly. Today’s excerpt from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on pages 14 and 15: “A third fruit that blossoms as we hear the Word of God is the proliferation of good works of ministry to touch the weary, searching lives of others with the grace of God.“God’s Word is given so that men and women of God might be perfected in divine grace, ‘complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ We are created anew in Christ Jesus to be, as it were, sponges of grace and truth. In the tight spots and hard squeezes of life, amid the misery and grime of sin, those who hear the Word of Christ emit not a squeal of fear nor a wail of complaint, but the warmth of grace to heal and bless, renew and revive, encourage and edify those around us. Having drunk our fill at the fountain of grace and truth, we go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, rivers of living water flowing out from us to bathe the unclean, refresh the thirsty, and buoy the sinking with the message of forgiveness and eternal hope. “The Apostle Paul is adamant about this. We are not saved by good works, he would say, but we’re not truly saved without them. To Titus he wrote that God wants His people to be ‘ready for every good work’ (3.1) and to be ‘careful to maintain good works,’ ‘to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful’ (3.8, 14). “James wrote that you cannot claim to have true faith in the Lord, or to be a true hearer of His Word, unless there is evidence of abounding good works in your life. And the writer of Hebrews explained that we can only be sure of having heard the Word of God in a saving and sanctifying way when good works of service and love are proliferating in our lives.  “Where the Word of God is preached and heard, repentance, sanctification, and good works bloom to life.” For reflection or discussion 1. We’re not saved by good works, but unto them. We’re not saved by good works, but we’re not saved without them. Explain. 2. Why does it make sense that God’s good and true Word would bring forth good works in those who truly hear it? Jesus aims to fill the world with His goodness, the goodness He everywhere demonstrates and testifies to in His Word. And He intends to do that through His people, as they daily hear Him speaking to them in His Word and commit themselves to carrying out His will in everything they do. What a great way to live our lives! Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. Order your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart by going to The Ailbe Bookstore today. T. M. Moore The post Unto Good Works [https://www.ailbe.org/columns/read-moore/unto-good-works-2/] appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe [https://www.ailbe.org].

Transforming Power

Ever wish you were more like Jesus? If so, well, that’s a good sign, because a good many people who claim to believe in Jesus aren’t really all that interested in becoming more like Him. They like themselves as Christians pretty much the way they are. But let them begin truly to hear the Word of God, and, well, all that might begin to change. Today’s excerpt from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on page 12: “The first fruit of hearing the Word of God is repentance, a deep and transforming sense of the awfulness of our own sin, and a desire to turn from it and be done with it…[such repentance] is hardly in evidence today. “A second fruit that Scripture identifies as following from the hearing of God’s Word is freedom from sinful practices. ‘And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’  Here Jesus promises a life of sanctification, which He prayed that God’s Word might bring about in us. Sanctification and the increasing virtues which accompany it are the second fruit of hearing the Word of God. “Sanctification is the life of increasing holiness, without which no one can expect to see the Lord. As we read and meditate on Scripture, the Spirit of God draws back the veil of eternity, allowing the glory of the uncreated God to shine with transforming power upon our sinful hearts, minds, and ways. Where that glory penetrates to the heart – where, that is, the Word is truly heard – it illuminates the darkness of lingering sin, burns away the dross of wickedness, cauterizes the wounds of guilt with searing grace, and sets in place a healing power that obliterates the past and progressively makes all things new. “By its transforming power, the Word of God calls into existence a new people, ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,’ who walk no longer in the darkness of unbelief but in the newness of life in Christ.” For reflection or discussion 1. Of late, how have you been experiencing that transforming power of the Word of God? 2. Hearing the Word leads to repentance leads to sanctification. Why does that make sense? When we truly hear the Word of God, when the Scriptures are firmly implanted in us, things start to happen. And all that happens is designed, by the Word of God, to make us more like Jesus. What an amazing prospect! Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. Your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is waiting for you at The Ailbe Bookstore. T. M. Moore The post Transforming Power [https://www.ailbe.org/columns/read-moore/transforming-power-2/] appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe [https://www.ailbe.org].

Proof of Hearing

If we are reading the Word of God without actually hearing it—that is, hearing with obedience—then we aren’t really hearing the Word at all. And we’re starving ourselves of the only truth that can set us free from the grip of sin. Today’s excerpt from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on page 11: “We evangelicals have established a place of prominence for ourselves in this society by our penchant for declaiming loudly against the sins of others. We have denounced the secular humanists, chastised the evolutionists, decried the postmodernists, and raged against the immoral practices of the people of our day.  “Yet we hear little such passion in the acknowledgment of our own sins before the God of judgment and mercy – sins of complacency, failure in mission, poor stewardship, ecclesiastical in-fighting, and a host of others.  “This absence of repentance suggests to me that we in the Christian community are starving for truth. We have descended into a famine of hearing God’s Word. For all our reading and study, the clean, pure, true, and uncompromising Word of God is not breaking through to our sinful hearts. Some of the most profound and moving words of repentance in the history of Biblical religion are from the mouths and pens of the great saints of God: David’s plea in Psalm 51; Augustine’s Confessions; the meditations of Christian mystics; the great liturgies of the high church tradition; the writings of the Puritan fathers, the tears of multitudes, awakened in times of revival. “Here is heartfelt repentance in response to the clear teaching of God’s Word concerning our wretchedness, God’s holiness, and our infinite need of renewing grace. It is just such repentance that is lacking within the evangelical church in our day, and that shows just how in danger we are of spiritual starvation.” For reflection or discussion 1. Do you agree that repentance—ongoing and sincere—is proof that we are actually hearing the Word God? Why or why not? 2. What can we do to help one another be more consistent in practicing repentance? If we are really hearing the Word of God, then we will respond according to what Scripture promises or commands. Scripture promises that we are all sinners, and it commands us all to practice ongoing and sincere repentance. Are we listening? Share today’s podcast with a friend, then meet to discuss the practice of repentance as an ongoing discipline in your life. Your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is waiting for you in The Ailbe Bookstore.  T. M. Moore The post Proof of Hearing [https://www.ailbe.org/columns/read-moore/proof-of-hearing/] appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe [https://www.ailbe.org].