Articles by Anna Erinle

Part of the bridge from Chris Tomlin’s song “Made to Worship” has been ringing in my head for the past few days. The bridge goes: “Even the rocks cry out/ Even the heavens shout/ At the sound of His Holy name.” This verse was probably in part based on Luke 19:40. The disciples were shouting praise to the Lord and the Pharisees wanted Jesus to rebuke his disciples. Yet Jesus says: “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

I live in a scientific world. Biology is my major and biology is almost all I learn. Theories and lab procedures and exciting new advances in research, etc. get filtered through my brain everyday. I’m definitely not your average science student who is über passionate about science, but more than ever I am amazed at God’s creation through science. You just read that Jesus said that even if there was no one to praise God’s holy name the stones will cry out. That’s how I feel lately; creation is yelling, screaming, hollering to those who are silent, especially to my peers who don’t believe and are sitting there studying their advanced cell biology books.

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Where do you run when you are under trial? To sleep and video games or to Jesus Christ? Trials are never anything that we want to go experience. Yet, our experience with them are a sweet and precious time to learn to lean on God only and to sanctified through the Son. Where we run to bring us comfort tells us what is dear to us. As C.H. Spurgeon put it: how deep the affliction we experience because of Christ’s “absence” in our lives, depends on how much we love him.

Please read or listen to this Spurgeon message entitled; “Night and Jesus Not There!” It is amazing and highly quotable. He extracts a lot from just one short line in John 6:17. The man who is reading the sermon is also very engaging and you forget that he is not the original speaker. Enjoy!

C.H. Spurgeon: Audio and PDF: Night and Jesus Not There!

Without a doubt, all the messages I heard at Anthem were great. I heard a great message on sin, the most important message ever (the gospel) and the most important question ever (Am I a Christian?). The newest message to me, though, was the message on the holiness of God by Tony Carter. By the grace of God, he gave us a glimpse into the vastness and holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. Now what I am about to say will in no way match Tony Carter’s eloquence of speech, but I just want to review some major points about the message.

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For some reason a few days ago, this thought came to my mind: Does God have favorites? I have asked a couple of people and I have gotten mixed answers. To my own question I would say no.  We are to reflect God’s nature. So if we are called to do or not do something, it is an exact result of God’s holy nature and His opposition to sin. James 2:8-9 says: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” Since we know God does not sin, then God does not show partiality. If we also know that we are called to love each other and not show partiality, that means God loves us all and is not characterized by partiality. Deuteronomy 10:17 also says: “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.” Since God is not partial to us then “[we] shall not show partiality, and [we] shall not accept a bribe” (Deuteronomy 16:19).

We are called to follow justice (Deut 10:18, 16:20), and God delivers justice for those who have sinned against Him. We have all sinned against God and, therefore, God righteously gives sinners justice by punishing us all for eternity. Yet God bestows grace on us through Christ, who became sin and absorbed wrath we should receive.  Grace is not the same as favoritism because grace is undeserved, while favoritism is unfair. Although we do not deserve God’s grace, it is not unfair for those in Christ to  receive it because justice has been met completely by Christ’s sacrifice. Therefore, any good thing we receive is because our God has punished our Perfect Sacrifice for our sin. I do not wish to take away the mystery of salvation and Biblical examples of the numerous times where God raises some people above others. (i.e. Abraham, Moses), but I feel the overwhelming grace in their lives and my own that only comes from God above.