God Works for Us

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalm 121:1–3)

Do you need help? I do. Where do you look for help?

When the psalmist lifted up his eyes to the hills and asked, “From where does my help come?” he answered, “My help comes from the Lord” — not from the hills, but from the God who made the hills. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

So, he reminded himself of two great truths: One is that God is a mighty Creator over all the problems of life; the other is that God never sleeps. “He who keeps you will not slumber.”

God is a tireless worker. He never wearies. Think of God as a worker in your life. Yes, it is amazing. We are prone to think of ourselves as workers in God’s life. But the Bible wants us first to be amazed that God is a worker in our lives: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

God is working for us around the clock. He does not take days off and he does not sleep. In fact he is so eager to work for us that he goes around looking for more work to do for people who will trust him: “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

God loves to show his tireless power and wisdom and goodness by working for people who trust him. The sending of his Son, Jesus, was the main way the Father showed this: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). Jesus works for his followers. He serves them. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. It is a “help available” sign.

This is what we must believe — really believe — in order to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) and “[give] thanks always and for everything” (Ephesians 5:20) and have “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), and “not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6), and hate our lives “in this world” (John 12:25), and “love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]” (Matthew 22:39).
What a truth! What a reality! God is up all night and all day to work for those who wait for him.

– John Piper

Ministry Update

Beloved,

I know you have not heard much from us lately. And if you are concerned that RTM is going out of business for the Lord, well, don’t be worried. To come to that conclusion would be a judgment based on appearance, or in this case apparent silence, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Lord’s business has led us through a very massive transition in the last 16 months.

During that time, we have moved from full-time pastoral ministry to full-time evangelism, missions, and revival ministry. But that is not all the moving we have done. RTM has relocated to the great state of Texas. It is one thing to relocate personally, but to move a ministry is just as demanding. But we are here and enjoying the favor of a very good and faithful Father.

In the days to come, we will be resuming our weekly blogs and very soon launching a new and improved website. We are incredibly excited about the new site and its features. Also, new sermons will appear on both website and app.

The lack of sermons posted was not because of a lack of preaching in 2017. I preached almost 100 times in churches and conferences. Our failure to deliver to you those messages was due to lack of mobile equipment that I could carry with me. We are working on acquiring the necessary tools that will allow us to provide you both video and audio.

Speaking of preaching, today I leave on an international trip that will take me to a place that is best left unnamed. But I solicit your prayers for my ministry companion, one of the elders of Providence Chapel, Lee Dodd, and me as we speak to pastors and church leaders on the foundational elements of the Gospel. Lee will be addressing the doctrine of the fall and sin, while I will be teaching on the nature and essential elements of the Gospel according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 1-3. We will return next week.

Once home, I then leave for the Memorial Day weekend to Parkway Baptist Church in Carthage, TX, pastored by Barney Bryant. This church is dear to us, and it will be wonderful to see all our dear friends, the saints of Parkway Baptist. Pray that our great God will move in on us as we seek Him through His word.

We are not a large ministry but we serve a big God. Through your prayers and financial support, you and I are yoked in service unto Him who is worthy of our devotion. Christian service is not our ministry, but devotion to Christ is our work. Thank you for your loyalty to Him by your prayers for us.

Heartily,

Michael Durham