Will we keep turning a blind eye?

This piece was written by my brother, Drew Murphy, in regard to prostitution in South East Asia.

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There she is over there! Look at her, the filthy rubbish. Her and the others like her, bringing shame to our streets and to our city. It wasn’t always like this you know? Oh no! One could walk the streets at night, listening to the rustle of the leaves, watching the stars flicker in the blanket sky, but not now, oh no! Things have changed. Look at them! They’re all over the place, there seems to be one on every street corner these days. They infect our society with their vile and filth. They’re a disgrace, a stain on society. Unfortunately there seems to be more and more of them as time goes on. What kind of worthless being engages in such activity? How can you have absolutely no sense of moral guiding?! How could you choose to sell yourself, your body, your soul? You degrade yourself to that of a commodity, a tool to be used and consumed. These people have no morals! They have no shame. Prostitutes, whores, vermin! That’s what they are, vermin of the underworld – crawling out of their shabby little holes under the cover of darkness. They’re probably all drug addicts as well. They truly are the stain of society. What a horror. What a disgrace!

She stands on the sidewalk, the wind abrasive against her fragile face. Her arms are folded, wrapped tightly around her broken body, her broken soul. Anxiously she waits. How long will tonight be? Her blonde hair and blue eyes, the traits so often envied by many, have helped her stand out amongst her colleagues. ‘Helped’ – what a deceptive word! Why did beauty have to be such a curse? She paints her face and shapes her hair, her eyes are heavy, her heart, bare. Headlights in the distance, approaching. Here we go again! Her heart drops – or what’s left of it at least. The car slows as it approaches, its the usual routine. Whose it this time? She wonders. A wealthy doctor, tired of the routine? Or an upstanding politician, who dare not be seen? Perhaps it’s a loving husband, a father of three. She’s had a few of those before! Which monster is it tonight?
Men. Pigs. Monsters. Beasts. She makes no distinction, she’s known nothing else. From her drunken father, making love to his Whisky and Coke and beating her for sport to the hundreds of nameless faces that come to her for her body, all men are the same. She catches a glimpse of her reflection in the shop window to her right. All the makeup, the high heels and flashy clothes, the hair done up and the perfume, its just a thin fa=E7ade – barely covering her broken soul and crushed spirit. She is able to offer what the clients want – her physical self, but she can’t offer anything more. No emotions, no love, no soul or life. She’s an empty shell, only her body lives. On the inside, death has taken residence.

A gust of the icy November wind sends a chill throughout her body. The car has already driven off. No deal this time. She’s torn between relief and the reality that valuable income has driven off. Soon she will have to go back upstairs to shoot up again, the pain is increasing again. Across the street beneath the orange street lamps a mother hurriedly walks with her young daughter. She looks at the pair with some surprise – not a usual sight in these parts, at this sort of time of night. The little girl looks over towards her, but the mother quickly pulls her along, softly but sternly discouraging her daughter to look that way.

This scene spurs memories in her own mind about her childhood, her mother. It seems like an eternity since she was wearing the coloured dresses, playing with friends and dreaming about the prince who would one day choose her to be his princess. But those are all forgotten and distant dreams – life is quite the opposite for her now. All she has are slutty outfits, a group of acquaintances and a continuous stream of filthy perverts who seek to pleasure themselves at her expense. There will be no white dress as she walks down the aisle to the man of
her dreams waiting for her. No loving man who takes pleasure in delighting her and making her his queen.

She knows how society perceives her. She knows what people think. The judging glares and condemning stares are a part of her life. She and the others like her are the ‘stains’ on society. She knows that is what people see her as – an inevitable evil. If only they would get off their high horses and perhaps try and find out who she is and not only look at what she does. Never before has an occupation been the defining point of a person as much as it is with prostitution. She didn’t ‘choose’ this work. She didn’t lie on the lawn outside as a young girl dreaming of the day she could parade the streets at night and degrade herself to the point of worthlessness. She doesn’t wake up each day loving life and looking forward to another night’s work. She hates every one of her ‘customers’ who legally rape her. She hates the pimp who takes his share of her earnings. She hates the cops her throw in jail for illegal activity, but leave the clients to return home to their unsuspecting wives untouched. They are the real perpetrators of
this trade. She hates her father for beating her, destroying their family, forcing her to turn to the most instinctive form of survival. She hates the people who glare at her, curse and then walk on. They’re so quick to dismiss – generalising and stereotyping. She hates the ones who beat her with the book and act as though they were always blameless and pure. She hates the spiral she can’t escape from. Drugs to ease the pain, sex to pay for the drugs. It’s a chain around her ankles, holding her under as she gasps for breath. She hates herself for what she is. She hates herself for what she’s not.

When will we stop and think without making assumptions. When will we stretch out a helping hand instead of dishing out judging glares? Walking on by has never been easier; extending a hand never more needed.

drew murphy 2009

 

The President, the Passengers, and the Patience of God – John Piper

I was sent this ‘parable’ by John Piper and I find it incredible! You can find the original posting here Hope you enjoy it.

Sometimes we are so overwhelmed at being treated better than we deserve that we must exult in the all-sovereign God—the God of birds’ flight and Obama’s rise. When King David pondered how many were God’s “wondrous deeds,” he said, “I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told” (Psalm 40:5). That’s the way I feel watching God’s public mercies in the last few days.
Have you considered how unlikely was the crash of USAir flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 15—not just the rescue but the crash itself? Picture this: The Airbus A320 is taking off at an angle—maybe 30 degrees. It’s not flying horizontal with the earth. Not only that, it is flying fast—not full speed yet, but perhaps four times as fast as your car would go at top highway speeds.
The geese are flying horizontally with the ground, more or less. They are not flying in a cloud like a swarm of bees. They fly level with the ground, often shaped like a V. In view of all that, what are the odds that, traveling at this speed and at this angle, this airplane would intersect with the flight of those geese at that very millisecond which would put a bird not just in one of those engines, but both of them?
Two laser-guided missiles would not have been as amazingly effective as were those geese. It is incredible, statistically speaking. If God governs nature down to the fall (and the flight) of every bird, as Jesus says (Matthew 10:29), then the crash of flight 1549 was designed by God.
Which leads to the landing in the Hudson River—which is just as unlikely. The airbus now has no thrust in either engine. The flight attendants said it was as quiet as a library in the plane without the sound of engines. The plane is now a 77-ton glider with its belly full of fuel. Captain Sullenberger decides to land in the river. Anywhere else would mean one big fireball.
He banks and misses the George Washington Bridge by 900 feet and glides the plane into a perfect belly landing. A few degrees tilt to the front or back or the right or left and the plane would have done cartwheels down the river and broken up. On the water, the flight attendant does not let passengers open the rear door. That would have flooded the cabin too fast. The emergency doors and front doors provide exits for everyone and the plane floats long enough for all of them to climb out. Ferry boats are there almost instantly. The captain walks the aisle twice to make sure everyone is off. Then he leaves. Later the plane sinks.
If God guides geese so precisely, he also guides the captain’s hands. God knew that when he took the plane down, he would also give a spectacular deliverance. So why would he do that? If he means for all to live, why not just skip the crash?
Because he meant to give our nation a parable of his power and mercy the week before a new President takes office. God can take down a plane any time he pleases—and if he does, he wrongs no one. Apart from Christ, none of us deserves anything from God but judgment. We have belittled him so consistently that he would be perfectly just to take any of us any time in any way he chooses.
But God is longsuffering. He is slow to anger. He withholds wrath every day. This is what we saw in the parable. The crash of Flight 1549 illustrates God’s right and power to judge. The landing of the plane represents God’s mercy. It was God’s call to all the passengers and all their families and all who heard the story to repent and turn to God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and receive forgiveness for sin.
I am writing these thoughts on the evening after the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States. I cried twice today. There were two points when I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all. Once was when I prayed with some brothers after Obama’s speech and was overcome with the sinfulness of my own racist background. The other was in trying to express my emotion to an African-American brother about what this must mean for him.
As much as I reject Obama’s stance on abortion, I am thankful to the bottom of my soul that an African-American can be President of United States. The enormousness of it all is unspeakable. This is God’s doing. The geese were God’s doing. The landing of Flight 1549 was God’s doing. And the Obama presidency is God’s doing. “He removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21).
And I pray that President Obama has eyes to see. The “miracle on the Hudson” and the “miracle in the White House” are not unrelated. God has been merciful to us as a nation. Our racial sins deserved judgment a thousand times over. God does not owe America anything. We owe him everything. And instead of destruction, he has given us another soft landing. We are not dead at the bottom of the Hudson.
O that Barack Obama would see the mercies of God and look to the One whose blood bought everlasting life for all who trust him. The parables of God’s mercy are everywhere. The point of them is this: God is a just and patient Ruler, and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. Turn. Turn. Turn, O President of the United States and passengers of this planet.
Full of thanks for all God’s mercies,

Pastor John Piper

 

What it may cost, from challies.com

My friend Casper put me onto this post by Tim Challies this morning, and in the light of our prayer for Dave and Kascha Reed in Cambodia who moved to Cambodia to plant a church there a few years ago, thought we should bear this in mind as we pray for them:

“This is a remarkable letter sent from Adoniram Judson to John Hasseltine, the father of Ann, the woman he wished to marry. In this letter he asks John for Ann’s hand, but, as he intends to head to Burma to serve as a missionary, he is forthright in his request. It is a remarkable letter. Here is an excerpt:

… I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to see her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?

John consented even to this and Adoniram and Ann were soon married and lived out their days in Burma. Six years passed before they saw their first convert; by the time Adoniram died, there were 8,000 believers gathered in sixty-three churches”.

Let’s keep praying for Dave and Kascha who are sowing the seeds of the gospel in a nation so desperate for it.

 

Redemption Hill Church – 6 weeks down!

We kicked off Redemption Hill Church with about 5 people who were almost certain to come at the end of last year, not knowing who else would join us. This Sunday, the 11th January was our sixth service, and God’s hand has been clearly evident in a number of ways, but particularly in the fact that we had over 45 people this week! We were told that the room could hold 50, and we managed to get 55 chairs in at the last minute as more and more kept coming. Fortunately we can open the doors at the back which doubles up the space so we can grow into that room. Here is a picture of Sunday..

It has been a wonderful start for which Tarryn and I are so grateful to God. We know that there are lots of challenges ahead, and are sure we will make mistakes, but are trusting God to lead us as we embark on His mission to this great city and beyond.

After the meeting about 30 of us went down to the Botanical Gardens for a picnic lunch together, where we all just chatted the afternoon away. This is a photo from the afternoon.

We really appreciate all your prayers for us, and ask that if you know of anyone who in Singapore that does not have a church, that you send them to us. They can check us out first at www.redemptionhill.sg!

 

Great Post at New York Church International Blog

I’ve recently ‘met’ Deryck Barson who leads New York Church International in, you guessed it, New York. He put up a good post at their church blog in the last few days which you can find here. I like some of the points he makes, and think that the practical tips he gives are very good, practical and helpful! Enjoy!

 

Seize Your Commute!

I have just stumbled upon http://faithbyhearing.wordpress.com/ which is a blog dedicated to great audio which you can use on your commute. I have been telling people for years to use their commuting as time to study, learn and listen to great preaching. This site seems dedicated to that end, and so I fully recommend it! They seem to have a lot of solid stuff on the site too.

 

Think on these things – Ravi Zacharias

This article is by Ravi Zacharias and taken from his ‘Slice’ newsletter that recently went out. I loved it and think you will too..

One of the tragic casualties of our age has been that of the  contemplative life–a life that thinks, a life thinks things through, and more  particularly, thinks God’s thoughts after Him.   A person sitting at his or her desk staring out the window would never  be assumed to be working.  No!  Thinking is not equated with work.  Yet, had Newton  under his tree, or Archimedes in his bathtub, bought into that prejudice, some  natural laws would still be up in the air or buried under an immovable rock.  Pascal’s Pensees,  or “Thoughts,” a work that has inspired millions, would have never been penned.What is even more destructive is the assumption that silence  is inimical to life.  The radio in the  car, Muzak in the elevator, and the symphony entertaining callers “on  hold” all add up as grave impediments to personal reflection.  In effect, the mind is denied  the privilege of  living with itself even briefly and is crowded with outside impulses to cope  with aloneness.  Aldous Huxley’s indictment,  “Most of one’s life… is one prolonged effort to prevent thinking,” seems  frightfully true.  Moreover, the price  paid for this scenario has been devastating.  As T.S. Eliot questioned:Where is the life we have lost in the living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? The cycles of heaven in twenty centuries bring us farther from God and nearer to dust.Is there a remedy?  May  I make some suggestions for personal and corporate benefit?  Nothing ranks higher for mental discipline  than a planned and systematic study of God’s Word, from whence life’s  parameters and values are planted in the mind.  Paul, who loved his books and parchments,  affirmed the priority of Scripture: “Do not go beyond what is  written” (1  Corinthians 4:6).  And Psalm 119  promises that God’s statutes keep us from being double-minded.The church as a whole and the pulpit in particular must challenge  the mind of this generation.  The average  young person today actually surrenders the intellect to the world, presuming  Christianity to be bereft of intelligence.  Many a pulpit has succumbed to the lie that  anything intellectual cannot be spiritual or exciting.  Thankfully there are exceptions.  When living in England, our family attended a  church where preaching was taken quite seriously and one-hour sermons to packed  auditoriums were the norm.  Cambridge, being rife with  skepticism, demanded a meticulous defense of each sermon text.  I mention this to say one thing.  When we were leaving Cambridge, our youngest child, who was nine  years old, declared the  preaching of this church to be one of his fondest  memories.  Even as a little boy he had  learned that when the mind is rightly approached, it filters down to the heart.   The matter I share here has far-reaching  implications.  We do a disservice to our  youth by not crediting them with the capacity to think.  We cannot leave this uncorrected.The Bible places supreme value on the thought-life as that which  shapes all of life.  “As a man thinks in  his heart, so is he,” Solomon wrote.  Jesus  asserted that sin’s gravity lay at the level of the idea itself, not just the act.   Paul admonished the church at Philippi to have the mind of Christ, and to the same people he wrote: “[W]hatever is  true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is  pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is  anything worthy of praise, think on these things” (Philippians  4:8).  The  follower of Christ must demonstrate to the world what it means not just to  think, but to think justly.  That is, in  the words of aging David to his son Solomon, to “acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with  wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every  heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.  If you seek him,  he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever”  (1 Chronicles 28:9). Let us serve the God of creation with both hearts and minds.  After all, it is not that I think, therefore,  I am, but rather, the great I Am has  asked us to think, and therefore, we must.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

 

The Gospel in 1000 words for those who haven’t heard

The word gospel literally means ‘good news’. We should ask ourselves what is this news and why is it good?
Firstly it is news meaning that it concerns definite events that happened. The fact that it is news means that we have no power to alter or change the news! We can simply believe it or choose to deny it. When we believe the news something mysterious happens in that this news becomes the very power of God to us, transforming us in our hearts and we become alive to God. We find that the separation we have experienced from knowing God is removed and we are brought near to Him, to know Him, love Him and serve Him.
So then what was this event that happened and which we are asked to believe? It is this: In the first century AD, God sent His Son from Heaven to earth to live among us. God’s eternal Son, Jesus was born in Israel to a virgin named Mary. This Son of God lived a perfect and blameless life on earth and then died a bloody and murderous death at the hands of wicked man. Though he was innocent, he was killed. Even the presiding judge Pilate said ‘I find no fault in this man’. However, the prophet Isaiah had foretold these events 900 years earlier. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified between two thieves, and died upon a wooden cross after enduring such a beating that he was no longer recognizable.
After He had been dead for three days, God raised Him up. Death couldn’t hold Him, and he appeared to more than 500 people over the next 40 days that He was on earth. During this time he spoke about the Kingdom of God, and showed his disciples how all the events of His life had been predicted and promised in the Jewish scriptures (the Old Testament).
Now what makes this news so amazing, is that Christians are told to cherish, honor, remember and be grateful for this horrific death that their God suffered and died! How can this be?! How could the Son of God’s brutal death at the hands of wicked men be something that people celebrate?!
This is the where the ‘good’ of the good news comes in. This death is good for Christians because Christ’s death was not unexpected or random. Rather the scriptures tell us that Jesus was delivered according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God! This life, death and resurrection was God’s plan for Christ. Which means that this suffering and death was for a specific purpose! And Isaiah, one of many prophets who foretold of Christ’s life and death years before the time, gives us a clear reason what this suffering was for. “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all”.
So this Jesus died and was murdered on our behalf! He died the death we should have died, and took our place. The wrath of God was upon Him, when it should have come to us.
The reason God’s wrath should have come to us is because we have all rejected God. In the words of Isaiah ‘we all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – every one – to his own way’. And God is life. So when we turn our backs on life, we inadvertently walk towards death. Our rejection of God, our decision to follow our own way, our failure to love Him with all our hearts, our willful disobedience of all His commands has left us alienated from God, but not just alienated. We are spiritually dead, and awaiting our physical death as the final outworking of our alienation from the Author of life.
But Jesus died the death we should have died! He suffered and was alienated from God on the cross in our place, for our sins! And not only that, but when we trust in Him and believe this news, His perfect righteous life get’s ‘given’ to us, ‘credited’ into our account, just as our sin got ‘given’ to Him on the cross, and ‘credited’ into his account.
This means that a divine exchange has taken place. Jesus dies the death we should have died, and we get to live in the benefit of the perfect life He lived! The benefits of that life are that we get to know God! And as we know Him we find we love Him, treasure Him, revolve our lives around Him and want to serve Him all our days.
The gospel is good news because in it we hear that the greatest need any of us ever has had, to be reconciled to our Creator, God and loving Father has been made possible because of something which happened in which we were not involved. All we have to do is respond by believing this news, and then watch as God mysteriously transforms us, makes us alive to Himself, and we begin to see our entire lives being turned upside down.
I welcome your comments on the clarity of this post!
Simon

 

Old Wisdom for Preachers Today

I have posted some  notes that I took mainly from the abridged version of Richard Baxters book ‘The Reformed Pastor’ which is republished under the title ‘The Ministry We Need’. I make it a habit to read these notes regularly to remind me of the seriousness of the task and the dangers of treating my task as a career. Other great writings of a similar nature are John Piper’s book ‘Brothers we are not professionals’ and the chapter entitled ‘The ministers self watch’ by Charles Spurgeon from his book ‘Lectures to my students’.

Here are the notes I regularly read over:
In ministry, strategy and techniques, plans and changes can all be clutching at straws. What people need are shepherds whose own hearts have been warmed by the gospel, blazing for Christ. ‘Churches are dead because preachers are dead to the person of Christ’.

The Oversight of Ourselves

1.    Be diligent to keep myself in a spiritually fit and healthy condition.
Preach your sermons to yourself first. Your people will notice if you have spent much time with God and they will benefit. Brethren, watch your hearts. Keep them free from lusts and passions and worldliness. Maintain your faith, love and zeal. Spend time with God. I think a minister should be especially careful of his heart before public ministry. Read some spiritually stimulating book, or consider the great importance of your message, or think of your people’s great spiritual needs.

2.    Make sure your life agrees with your teaching.
One proud word, one flash of temper, one selfish action can soon destroy all your labours. How strange that some preach so carefully yet live so carelessly. Your lives should condemn sin and inspire godliness in every way. I urge you to be generous and compassionate. Use your material resources to meet the needs of others. Buy spiritual edifying books for your people. He is no true Christian who has anything he is not ready to give away, if Christ asks for it.

3.    Make sure you have what it takes to be a good minister of Jesus Christ.
We have duties that are too difficult for many to do We have to warn people about many subtle temptations so that they escape them. We have much prejudice and obstinacy to overcome. Great skill is needed to make the truth plain to everyone’s conscience! Much ability is required to answer all the devious arguments against the truth.

The Motives for Watching Over Ourselves

You can preach about Christ and yet neglect him, about the Spirit and resist him, about faith and yet remain unbelieving, about conversion and stay unconverted, about heaven while remaining worldly. If you are not careful your treacherous heart will soon find an opportunity to deceive you. You will not even see the hook or line, much less the subtle angler, while he is tempting you with his bait.

Application: Section 1 – The Need for humiliation.

1.    Pride
It afflicts even the best of us. Our speech, the company we keep and even our appearance. It follows us into our studies, God wants our message to be clear and simple for everyone to understand, but pride prompts us to be witty and clever. Pride makes us aim at impressing people rather than edifying them. In this way pride gains control over our ministry. The truth may be preached, but it’s manner may do more to advance Satan’s cause than God’s.
After pride has affected our preparation it then follows us into the pulpit. It affects our preaching style and prevents us from saying anything offensive no matter how necessary. Pride makes us please our audience, seeking our own glory rather than the glory of God. Pride then follows us down from the pulpit, making us eager to know what people thought of us. If they were pleased we are overjoyed, but if they are unimpressed we are dismayed. We hardly bother to know whether anyone was converted.
True godliness cannot exist unless pride is hated, mourned over and fought against. Pride is Satan’s main characteristic. No one lives more for self and less for God than a proud man. Therefore watch yourself and in all your studies – make sure you do not forget humility.

2.    We do not give the Lord’s work all the energy it requires.
Speak as though people’s lives depended on it. We must reason from the scriptures so clearly that sinners must either accept the truth or deliberately reject it.

3.    The worldliness amongst us.
Our excessive involvements in the ways of this life.
Our lack of generosity and failure to use all we have for Christ.

The management of personal work:

1.    It is vital people are convinced of their pastors ability and love for them. If his ability is suspect they will not value his teaching. If the sincerity of his love is questionable they will not trust him. If ministers tried harder to win people’s affection their ministry would be more effective.

 

What do we preach?

In every bible story, in every biblical book there are many aspects to the story that God is telling. In God’s modus operandi of giving us stories and accounts, there are elements of the stories that pastors and leaders can pick up on to illustrate points to our people, with hundreds of nuances and caveats. Take for example the story of David and Goliath. How many sermons get preached on this text, and on what aspects of the story? ‘Being in the right place at the right time’, ‘Not adorning the worlds ways’ (Saul’s armor) ‘overcoming sibling frustrations’, ‘battles in valleys result in victories in nations’, ‘David’s generation: men of courage’ etc. Let’s be honest, this list could reach 25 without any creative thinking! If this text was preached a 1000 times around the world, there were probably 1000 different sermons on it.

However, is there not a greater message in this text? Surely above the little deviations and caveats there is a superior theme, a higher tune? No doubt God wove those caveats into the story for us, but is this the main point of the text?
What is this higher tune, what is the primary meaning? Surely it is the salvation of God for his people which is to the praise of His glory. In the story of David and Goliath we see a story not dissimilar from our own. There is a nation, a people living in fear and trepidation. They are facing defeat resulting in slavery and captivity. Death and destruction await. The taunts of the enemy only heighten their fear. There seems to be no way out.
But hold on, who is this? A young boy arrives, sent from his father to serve his brothers. He willingly offers to go into the valley to take on the giant. He takes his own life in his hands (1 Samuel 19.5) to fight a battle on behalf of his people and brothers. He does not fight with the weapons of his time but in quite remarkable circumstances defeats the giant. Not only that, but the victory he wins in the valley get’s imputed to his people! His victory becomes their victory. Though they did not lift a finger, his victory becomes their victory! When Goliath falls the Philistines tremble and run for their lives. One mans victory imputed to his people.
This is not a full exposition of the text, but can you see how the gospel is woven into every portion of the bible?

I have been really challenged lately about how my job as a servant of God’s people is to show them God’s action in Christ before we show them anything else. When we understand that we are on the receiving end of God’s goodness, we are freed to apply the secondary caveats of the story to our own lives.  We can face the giants in our own lives but only because Jesus has already defeated The Giant.
The bible is full of these situations! Jesus fulfills every part! He is the true and better Isaac who willingly laid down his life, and just as God said to Abraham ‘now I know you love me, because you have not withheld your son, whom you love, from me’, so now we can say to God ‘now we know that you love us, because you have not withheld your son, whom you love, from me’. Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and who’s righteousness is imputed to us! He is the true and better Joseph who though sold into slavery ends up forgiving and saving his brothers, and delivering the nation. This list is endless!
I know that the temptation for myself is to get hung up on the details, to get caught down the rabbit holes of secondary themes in the text and spend my life avoiding the majors. May God continually remind me to take his word, apply it to my own heart, and preach the major themes!