AK Pastor

Mission

2012-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

A kind of explosion of joy

“There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command. It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’ This way of putting the matter is certainly not without justification, and yet it seems to me that it misses the point. It tends to make mission a burden rather than a joy, to make it part of the law rather than part of the gospel. If one looks at the New Testament evidence one gets another impression. Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.”
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids, 1989), page 116.
The mission of the church is inseparable from the renewal of the church.

Seeing Christ in the Old Testament

2012-02-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Nancy Guthrie on seeing Christ in the Old Testament:

I grew up in church, worked in Christian publishing for over 20 years, and have been in Bible studies for as long as I can remember. But I began to grasp the big picture story of the Bible only a few years ago, when I became gripped by a scene described in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24:27). It caused me to reconsider how I have understood the Old Testament for most of my life. I spent a year working through the Old Testament, which developed in me a passion to create materials for Bible study groups to understand how Jesus is pictured in its people and patterns, how he is anticipated in its celebrations and songs, and how he is the answer to all of its unanswered questions and unmet needs.

How Christians Should View the Law of God

2012-02-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

Tim Keller, reflecting on 1 Corinthians 9:21—along with Romans 6:15 and Galatians 3:10-11—writes that though the Christian “is not ‘under’ the law (as a way to earn salvation) he now is freed to see the beauties of God’s law as fulfilled in Christ, and submits to it as way of loving his Savior.”

I would want to tweak the first part of this just a bit. I think “under the law” should be glossed as “under the old age of redemptive history where the Mosaic law covenant was in effect.” However, those who want to “turn back the clock on redemptive history” do subjectively end up depending on the law for salvation, so I think Keller’s reading here is ultimately legitimate.
In the article Keller goes on to outline six ways that Christians relate to the law:

We embrace the law of God in order to learn more about who our God really is.
We embrace the law of God in order to discover our true selves.
We understand the law of God as fulfilled in Christ.
We realize that the law’s painful, convicting work is ultimately a gracious thing.
We turn to the law of God in order to get a true definition of what it means to love others in our relationships and in society as a whole.
We turn to the law of God because sometimes we need to do things just because God says so.

You can read the whole thing here.

Chan on Discipleship

2012-02-08T23:52:00.000-08:00

Francis Chan - Making Disciples from Verge Network on Vimeo.

PRivate Funding Dropped for Planned Parenthood!

2012-02-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

From Joe Carter, an editor for The Gospel Coalition and the co-author of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator.

Susan G. Komen Drops Funding for Planned Parenthood

The Story: The Associated Press reports that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation's leading breast-cancer charity, will cut off its partnership through which it provided cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics. According to Planned Parenthood, Komen grants totaled roughly $680,000 last year and $580,000 the year before, funding at least 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates. Komen told the AP that it ended its partnership with Planned Parenthood because of a congressional investigation into the organization.

The Background: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating Planned Parenthood because of allegations of abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.

As Christianity Today notes, "activists on both sides of the abortion fight are speculating on the involvement of Karen Handel, Komen's senior vice president of public policy, in the decision." When Handel, the former secretary of state of Georgia, ran for governor in 2010, part of her platform was to eliminate state grants to Planned Parenthood.

What It Means: Planned Parenthood contends that the Komen foundation is yielding to longstanding pressure from anti-abortion groups, which Komen denies, says the New York Times.

As the NYT notes, "Anti-abortion advocates and Web sites have criticized the Komen foundation's financing of Planned Parenthood for years. And in December, LifeWay Christian Resources, which is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, said it was recalling a pink Bible it was selling at Walmart and other stores because a dollar per copy was going to the Komen foundation and the foundation supported Planned Parenthood."

[Note: If you find a story our community should know about, please send the link to joe.carter *at* thegospelcoalition.org.]

2012-02-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Piper, Carson, and Keller on Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Why Christians Should not Marry an Unbeliever

2012-02-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

Don't Take It from Me: Reasons You Should Not Marry an Unbeliever

Over the course of our ministry, the most common pastoral issue that Tim and I have confronted is probably marriages---either actual or proposed---between Christians and non-Christians. I have often thought how much simpler it would be if I could remove myself from the conversation and invite those already married to unbelievers do the talking to singles who are desperately trying to find a loophole that would allow them to marry someone who does not share their faith.
That way, I could skip all the Bible passages that urge singles only to "marry in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 7:39) and not "be unequally yoked" (2 Corinthians 6:14) and the Old Testament proscriptions against marrying the foreigner, a worshiper of a god other than the God of Israel (see Numbers 12 where Moses marries a woman of another race but the same faith). You can find those passages in abundance, but when someone has already allowed his or her heart to become engaged with a person outside the faith, I find that the Bible has already been devalued as the non-negotiable rule of faith and practice.
Instead, variants of the serpent's question to Eve---"Did God really say?" are floated, as if somehow this case might be eligible for an exemption, considering how much they love each other, how the unbeliever supports and understands the Christian's faith, how they are soul-mates despite the absence of a shared soul-faith.
Having grown weary and impatient, I want to snap and say, "It won't work, not in the long run. Marriage is hard enough when you have two believers who are completely in harmony spiritually. Just spare yourself the heartache and get over it." Yet such harshness is neither in line with the gentleness of Christ, nor convincing.

Sadder and Wiser

If only I could pair those sadder and wiser women---and men---who have found themselves in unequal marriages (either by their own foolishness or due to one person finding Christ after the marriage had already occurred) with the blithely optimistic singles who are convinced that their passion and commitment will overcome all obstacles. Even the obstacle of bald disobedience need not apply to them. Only ten minutes of conversation---one minute if the person is really succinct--would be necessary. In the words of one woman who was married to a perfectly nice man who did not share her faith: "If you think you are lonely before you get married, it's nothing compared to how lonely you can be AFTER you are married!"
Really, this might be the only effective pastoral approach: to find a man or woman who is willing to talk honestly about the difficulties of the situation and invite them into a counseling ministry with the about-to-make-a-big-mistake unequal couple. As an alternative, perhaps some creative filmmaker would be willing to run around the country, filming individuals who are living with the pain of being married to an unbeliever, and create a montage of 40 or 50 short (< 5 minutes) first-hand accounts. The collective weight of their stories would be powerful in a way that no second-hand lecture ever would be.

Three True Outcomes

For the moment, though, here goes: There are only three ways an unequal marriage can turn out, (and by unequal I am willing to stretch a point and include genuine, warm Christians who want to marry an in-name-only Christian, or someone very, very far behind them in Christian experience and growth):

In order to be more in sync with your spouse, the Christian will have to push Christ to the margins of his or her life. This may not involve actually repudiating the faith, but in matters such as devotional life, hospitality to believers (small group meetings, emergency hosting of people in need), missionary support, tithing, raising children in the faith, fellowship with other believers---those things will have to be minimized or avoided in order to preserve peace in the home.
Alternatively, if the believer in the marriage holds on to a robust Christian life and practice, the non-believing PARTNER will have to be marginalized. If he or she can't understand the point of Bible study and prayer, or missions trips, or hospitality, then he or she can't or won't participate alongside the believing spouse in those activities. The deep unity and oneness of a marriage cannot flourish when one partner cannot fully participate in the other person's most important commitments.
So either the marriage experiences stress and breaks up; or it experiences stress and stays together, achieving some kind of truce that involves one spouse or the other capitulating in some areas, but which leaves both parties feeling lonely and unhappy.

Does this sound like the kind of marriage you want? One that strangles your growth in Christ or strangles your growth as a couple, or does both? Think back to that off-cited passage in 2 Corinthians 6:14 about being "unequally yoked." Most of us no longer live in an agrarian culture, but try to visualize what would happen if a farmer yoked together, say, an ox and a donkey. The heavy wooden yoke, designed to harness the strength of the team, would be askew, as the animals are of different heights, weights, walk at different speeds and with different gaits. The yoke, instead of harnessing the power of the team to complete the task, would rub and chafe BOTH animals, since the load would be distributed unequally. An unequal marriage is not just unwise for the Christian, it is also unfair to the non-Christian, and will end up being a trial for them both.

Our Experience

Full disclosure: One of our sons began spending time a few years back with a secular woman from a Jewish background. He heard us talk about the sorrows (and disobedience) of being married to a non-Christian for years, so he knew it wasn't an option (something we reminded him of quite forcefully). Nevertheless, their friendship grew and developed into something more. To his credit, our son told her: "I can't marry you unless you are a Christian, and you can't become a Christian just to marry me. I'll sit with you in church, but if you are serious about exploring Christianity you will have to do it on your own---find your own small group, read books, talk to people other than me."
Fortunately, she is a woman of great integrity and grit, and she set herself to looking into the truth claims of the Bible. As she grew closer to saving faith, to our surprise our son began growing in his faith in order to keep up with her! She said to me one day, "You know, your son should never have been seeing me!"
She did come to faith, and he held the water when she was baptized. The next week he proposed, and they have been married for two and a half years, both growing, both struggling, both repenting. We love them both and are so grateful that she is both in our family and also in the body of Christ.
I only mention the above personal history because so many of our friends in the ministry have seen different outcomes---children who marry outside the faith. The takeaway lesson for me is that even in pastoral homes, where the things of God are taught and discussed, and where children have a pretty good window on seeing their parents counsel broken marriages, believing children toy with relationships that grow deeper than they expect, ending in marriages that don't always have happy endings. If this is true in the families of Christian leaders, what of the flock?
We need to hear the voices of men and women who are in unequal marriages and know to their sorrow why it is not merely a disobedient choice, but an unwise one.

Kathy Keller serves as assistant director of communications for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. She is co-author with her husband, Tim, of The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God.

Great Leaders Call Out Greatness

2012-01-31T08:58:00.000-08:00

I read this on Sermon Central today -
Leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.
The impetus for it came from my observation that some leaders are afraid or embarrassed to expect excellence as a normal product from the people they lead. Usually it’s because they don’t want to appear to be demanding or demeaning. Apparently it’s an affront to expect a lot out of a person.
But it’s actually just the opposite. It honors them.
The highest compliment you can give to those you lead is to demand the best from them. Low standards do not communicate appreciation. They communicate contempt for someone’s ability and potential. Once you have stopped challenging someone to do more, you have stopped believing in them. And you have effectively stunted their ability to grow in their God-given gifts and calling.
It’s the responsibility of the leader not only to cast vision, but also to make sure that those serving under the vision are maximizing their gifts in support of it. An indispensable tool that every leader must learn to develop, then, is the ability to speak life into potential. Call it out. And the best way to call it out is by maintaining a high standard. People don’t grow by being allowed to live in mediocrity.
So, leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.
You’re not being demeaning by holding your people to a high standard. The real affront would be to allow someone to work at a level that doesn’t correspond to the potential for greatness that God has put in them.

Are Christians Totally Depraved

2012-01-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

If you are part of our chruch you have ehard me teach on this but, Tullian Tchividjian says it well . . .

Are Christians Totally Depraved?

Believe it or not, this is an important question. It’s not simply a theological question. It’s a theological question that has profound practical implications. Our answer will inevitably reveal our understanding of the gospel and reflect our understanding of sin and grace.
First things first: what total depravity isn’t.
Total depravity does not mean “utter depravity.” Utter depravity means that someone is as bad as he/she can possibly be. Thankfully, God’s restraining grace keeps even the worst of us from being utterly depraved. The worst people who have ever lived could’ve been worse. So, don’t read “utter depravity” into “total depravity.”
Well, if total depravity isn’t utter depravity, then what is it? As understood and articulated by theologians for centuries, the idea of “total depravity” means more than one thing.
On the one hand, total depravity affirms that we are all born “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 2:13), with no spiritual capacity to incline ourselves Godward. We do not come into this world spiritually neutral; we come into this world spiritually dead. Therefore, we need much more than to reach out from our spiritual hospital bed and take medicine that God offers. We need to be raised from death to life. In this sense, total depravity means we are “totally unable” to go to God. We will not because we cannot, and we cannot because we’re dead.

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12)
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)

Salvation only happens when God comes to us.

When the Resurrection and the Life says “Lazarus, come forth”, the rest of the story does not depend on Lazarus. He can drag his feet all the way–admittedly, a hell of a thing to do–but he rises, no matter what. He just plain does… Jesus came to raise the dead. The only qualification for the gift of the Gospel is to be dead. You don’t have to be smart. You don’t have to be good. You don’t have to be wise. You don’t have to be wonderful. You just have to be dead. That’s it. (Robert Capon)

So, in the sense above, Christians are obviously not totally depraved. We who were dead have been made alive.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…(Ephesians 2:4-6)

But once God regenerates us by his Spirit, draws us to himself, unites us to Christ, raises us from the dead, and grants us status as adopted sons and daughters, is there any sense in which we can speak of Christian’s being totally depraved?
Yes.
Theologians speak of total depravity, not only in terms of “total inability” to come to God on our own because we’re spiritually dead, but also in terms of sin’s effect: sin corrupts us in the “totality” of our being. Our minds are affected by sin. Our hearts are affected by sin. Our wills are affected by sin. Our bodies are affected by sin. This is at the heart of Paul’s internal struggle that he articulates in Romans 7:

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

The painful struggle that Paul gives voice to arises from his condition as simul justus et peccator (simultaneously justified and sinful). He has been raised from the dead and is now alive to Christ, but remaining sin continues to plague him at every level and in every way.
Paul’s testimony demonstrates that even after God saves us, there is no part of us that becomes sin free–we remain sinful and imperfect in all of our capacities, in the “totality” of our being. Even after God saves us, our thoughts, words, motives, deeds, and affections need the constant cleansing of Christ’s blood and the forgiveness that comes our way for free. This is what J.C. Ryle was getting at when he wrote, “Even the best things we do have something in them to be pardoned.”
While it is gloriously true for the Christian that there is nowhere Christ has not arrived by his Spirit, it is equally true that there is no part of any Christian in this life that is free of sin. Because of the totality of sins effect, therefore, we never outgrow our need for Christ’s finished work on our behalf–we never graduate beyond our desperate need for Christ’s righteousness and his strong and perfect blood-soaked plea “before the throne of God above.”
The reason this is so important is because we will always be suspicious of grace (“yes grace, but…”) until we realize our desperate need for it. Our dire need for God’s grace doesn’t get smaller after God saves us–in one sense, it actually gets bigger. Christian growth, says the Apostle Peter, is always “growth into grace”, not away from it. Many Christians think that becoming sanctified means that we become stronger and stronger, more and more competent. And although we would never say it this way, we Christian’s sometimes give the impression that sanctification is growth beyond our need for Jesus and his finished work for us: we needed Jesus a lot for justification; we need him less for sanctification.
The truth is, however, that Christian growth and progress involves coming to the realization of just how weak and incompetent we continue to be and how strong and competent Jesus continues to be for us. Spiritual maturity is not marked by our growing, independent fitness. Rather, it’s marked by our growing dependence on Christ’s fitness for us. Because we are daily sinners, we need God’s daily distributions of free grace that come our way as a result of Christ’s finished work. Christian growth involves believing and embracing the fact that, even as a Christian, you’re worse than you think you are but that God’s grace toward you in Christ is much bigger than you could ever imagine.
Because of total depravity, you and I were desperate for God’s grace before we were saved. Because of total depravity, you and I remain desperate for God’s grace even after we’re saved.
Thankfully, though our sin reaches far, God’s grace reaches infinitely farther.

What is grace?

2012-01-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

from Tullian Tchividjian . . .

What Is Grace?

Paul Zahl:

What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable. The cliché definition of grace is “unconditional love.” It is a true cliché, for it is a good description of the thing…Let’s go a little further, though.
Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. It has everything and only to do with the lover. Grace is irrational in the sense that it has nothing to do with weights and measures. It has nothing to do with my intrinsic qualities or so-called “gifts” (whatever they may be). It reflects a decision on the part of the giver (the one who loves) in relation to the receiver (the one who is loved) that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold…Grace is one-way love.
The one-way love of grace is the essence of any lasting transformation that takes place in human experience. You can find this out for yourself by taking a simple inventory of your own happiness, or the moments of happiness you have had. They have almost always had to do with some incident of love or belovedness that has come to you from someone outside yourself when you were down. You felt ugly or sinking in confidence and somebody complimented you, or helped you, or spoke a kind word to you. You were at the end of your rope and someone showed a little sympathy.

Some fear that grace-delivered, blood-bought, radical freedom will result in loveless license. But grace alone–redeeming, unconditional, one-way love–(not fear, not guilt, not shame) carries the power to compel heart-felt loyalty to the One who bought us (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Gospel + Safety + Time

2012-01-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

A great post on the gospel oriented community. Just think if all our churches were so . . .

It’s what everyone needs. Everyone. Gospel + safety + time. A lot of gospel + a lot of safety + a lot of time.
Gospel: good news for bad people through the finished work of Christ on the cross and the present power of the Holy Spirit. Multiple exposures. Constant immersion. Wave upon wave of grace and truth, according to the Bible.
Safety: a non-accusing environment. No finger-pointing. No embarrassing anyone. No manipulation. No oppression. No condescension. But respect and sympathy and understanding, where sinners can confess and unburden their souls.
Time: no pressure. Not even self-imposed pressure. No deadlines on growth. No rush. No hurry. But a lot of space for complicated people to rethink their lives at a deep level. If we relax, trusting in God’s patience, we actually get going.
This is what our churches must be: gentle environments of gospel + safety + time. It’s the only way anyone can ever change.
Who doesn’t need that?

Studying the Trinity Is an Exercise in Love

2012-01-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

A short article on the importance of studying the trinity by Trevin Wax.

“Why does a doctrine like the Trinity matter?” some ask. After all, the idea of one God existing eternally as three Persons is complex. A brief survey of Christian theology will show you that most heresies are heresy precisely because they get the Trinity wrong.
Even more… is it possible to completely understand the Trinity anyway? If finite human beings are unable to fully exhaust the teaching of the Trinity and full explanations are impossible, then why is it important to get the Trinity right?
Gregory of Nazianzus said in the 4th century:

“It is difficult to conceive God, but to define him in words is an impossibility.”

So words may help us along in our effort, but God will not be bound by them.
Why Bother?
When face to face with such complexity, some may wonder, Why even bother? If the Trinity is so difficult to understand, why spend so much time on it?
The answer is love. Those who love God desire to know Him personally and to know more about Him.
My wife is a complex person. I readily admit that I do not know everything there is to know about her. There are times when I simply cannot figure her out. But my love for her causes me to want to know her better.
If a husband sometimes has a hard time figuring out his wife, surely the human attempt to understand God will be even more difficult. But consider this: if I find great reward in growing in my knowledge of my wife, how much bigger will the reward be for us to grow in our knowledge of the Almighty God!
An Exercise in Love
Understanding the Trinity is not a pointless theological exercise. It is an exercise in love. We are plumbing the depths of the One who loved us enough to create us and then save us. Where our explanations and definitions fail, we go back to our knees.
Isaac Watts ended his Trinitarian hymn “We Give Immortal Praise” with these words:

“Almighty God, to thee be endless honors done,
the undivided three, and the mysterious one.
Where reason fails with all her powers,
there faith prevails, and love adores.”

Bernard of Clairvaux once said:

“It is rashness to search too far into [the mystery of the Trinity]. It is piety to believe it. It is life eternal to know it. And we can never have a full comprehension of it, till we come to enjoy it.”

Indeed. All theological reflection on the Trinity should have as its ultimate end the purposeful enjoyment of the Triune God.

You want to meet, but “What do you Really Want?”

2012-01-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

I found this great article on meeting with people, by Brad Lomenick:

January 18th, 2012 by bradlomenick in Misc. 3 Comments

Over the last 15 years, I’ve heard this alot. From key leaders, CEO’s, authors, celebrities, politicians, actors, producers, pastors, and lots of other folks.
I would figure out a way to make a connection with someone, and then arrange a meeting, phone call, breakfast, lunch, or coffee. Inevitably, this question would eventually come out in the conversation. I loved hearing it. It was the honest question.
Now I ask it. Not because I’m someone who deserves to ask it, but more because time is precious. When you are a leader and have a team and an organization to run, besides family and friends and all kinds of other things that require your attention, and there are people who want to spend time with you, you have to make choices. I understand now why all these folks were always asking me that question.
So next time you have a meeting or phone call or a lunch with someone who you respect and want to learn from and consider to be a key influencer, here are a few pointers on how to make sure they’ll want to talk to you the next time you call or want to meet:
1. Honor that person’s time. Find out how much time they have, and then stick to that. And actually wrap up sooner than what is expected.
2. Ask way more questions than you give answers. You’re not the expert, they are. So leverage the time and soak up their wisdom. Don’t use the time to share your story, unless the person truly wants to know.
3. Pay for it. If you are at breakfast or lunch or dinner, pay for the meal. I don’t care if you are meeting with Bill Gates, pay for it. It is a sign of respect. Even if you are a non-profit and trying to raise money, pay for the meal. Seriously.
4. Tell the person what the agenda is. If you are planning to ask them for money, tell them that. If you want a favor, tell them that. If you have a certain need you want to get their advice on, tell them that. If you have specific questions you want to ask and get their answers on, tell them those questions. Be upfront. Be honest. Be real and authentic.
5. Be prepared. Know everything you can about the person you are meeting with. Have 8-10 questions prepared for the conversation (more on this in a later post), plus several items of interest you will want to cover. Do your homework. The more you know about someone and have a good understanding of who they are and what their interests are, proves that you value and respect their time.
6. Write it down and follow up. Bring something to write with, and write down the good stuff. Also, based on questions you ask, figure out ways you can serve that person. If that person likes a certain coffee, send them a gift card. If that person likes a certain college team, make a connection about that team a month later. If you can make a connection for that person that will serve them, do it. If you want to create a long term value add friendship, you’ll need to be intentional around their likes and interests.

When is it Ok to Be Angry?

2012-01-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

^“Beangry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger . . .Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be putaway from you, along with all malice." (Eph4:26; 31, ESV)

Paulsays in Ephesians 4:26 to be angry but do not sin yet in verse 31 hesays to put away anger! What gives here? He seems to endorse angerthen moments later prohibit it. Are there circumstances in whichanger righteous and holy (v. 24) and circumstances in which it issinful? Apparently. Then how do we determine when it is ok and evengood and when it is not ok and sinful? This is where we let thewhole counsel of God, all of Scripture, speak to a particularScripture. If we look at the Old Testament for examples of righteousanger we see Moses coming of his mountain top experience with Godonly to find the people of Israel reveling in idolatry. While he wasup the mountaintop receiving the ten commandments, the people ofIsrael, under the leadership, or lack of leadership of Aaron, hadcreated their own god (Ex. 32). That was righteous indignation, holyand righteous anger displayed by Moses. Yet later when Israel wasangry with Moses because of the discomforts of freedom, God tellsMoses to speak to the rock to bring forth water for Israel and theircattle to drink from. Yet Moses in his anger disobeys God'sinstruction and is prevented from entering the promised land (Num20:1-13). Moses let his righteous anger get the best of him anddisobeyed God.

Movingto the New Testament, we find Jesus angry with the Jewish leaders formaking the temple a place for profit at the expense of the theworshipping community (Mat 21:12-17). He overturns the tables andlectures them for hindering the worship of Gods people. An exampleof holy and righteous anger with appropriate actions. Lastly, inMark three the Jewish leaders, looking for an opportunity to accuseJesus, see if he will heal on the Sabbath. Work in their mind butnot really as Jesus only spoke and the healing was the work of God. When he asks them if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, they ignorehim. He becomes angry and grieved at their hardness of heart thenturns and heals the man with the withered hand. Again, his anger isrighteous and holy.

SoI believe the anger Paul is endorsing in verse 26 is righteousindignation - anger toward the things God gets angry about is goodand holy as long as it does not get the best of us and we sin in themoment of anger. That is why he says to be angry but sin not. Thisverse is not a license to be angry as long as we do not sin in thisanger, which is the way I hear some Christians understand this verse.

Hope for Change

2012-01-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

"Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Eph 4:21-24 ESV)

I have been in Ephesians for quite some time in my personal bible reading. It has been an enriching and encouraging time. In this passage Paul contrasts the hopeless spiritual condition of those outside of Christ (v. 17-19) with believers. We are not to walk as those outside of Christ, we are to put off the old manner of life (literally the old man) and to put on the new self or new man. There are three distinct characteristics between the two:

The old man vs. the new man (ethical categories)
corrupt vs. created (positional categories)
deceitful desires vs. righteousness and holiness (positional/functional categories)

The old man, with an old nature, is irredeemable, so corrupt by deceitful desires that God has to re-start with something recreated new. This is done through the miracle of new birth (John 3:1-4). Living the Christian life is the result of a supernatural miracle accomplished by God alone. He created us anew by his Spirit (John 3:5-8). He uses the imagery from Genesis 1:26-28, created in the likeness of God. Our old nature is so corrupt that God gives us a new one (2 Cor 5:17), created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness.
Then he goes on to tell us to put off that old man. The only reason we can put off the old way of living is that he has created us with a new nature, in God's righteousness. The hope of change in my life, is because he has given me a new nature, which is righteous and holy! I have been given a new nature and given new resources to live the Christian life. The daily struggle to live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit is supernatural and possible because of a miracle accomplished by God and God alone!

The Negative Effects of Technology - A MUST READ!

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a great post on the negative affects of technology. It is well worth the read. I identify with many of the thoughts and conclusions of this blog and have been thinking about the changes I need to make in how I use technology.

January 14, 2012 by mikewittmer

Over the last week I read some provocative books on digital technology, including Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains; William Powers, Hamlet’s Blackberry; Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody; Michael Lewis, Next; and Tim Challies, The Next Story. Challies does an excellent job summarizing the insights of the others, and he adds his own Christian perspective. It is easily the best place to begin.
Here are five things I’ve learned:
1. Texting has a proud and distinguished history. It began in Finland, when frightened boys figured out how to use the keypads on their Nokia phones to ask girls out. They passed their skill on to their parents, who decided they liked the control and concealment that came with texting.
This week I heard of a young woman who was talking with a friend on her phone. The conversation became too emotional, so they decided to hang up and text each other. When asked why she would do such a thing, the woman replied that she didn’t want the other person to hear her cry. Maybe our technology is not connecting us as much as we think?
2. The Internet is giving us Attention Deficit Disorder. The neurons in our brains are constantly reconnecting and creating new pathways, and so our brains adapt to whatever thinking style we are currently using. The Internet encourages rapid, shallow thoughts that skim along the surface of pictures and text (mostly pictures). The more we surf the web the more difficult it is for our brains to slow down and think deeply in a single direction.
Don’t believe it? How long has it been since you’ve read an entire book? Why don’t you sit down and read one now? It’s harder than it used to be, isn’t it? We are becoming skimmers rather than readers.
3. Google encourages distraction rather than reflection. This company makes money every time we click on one of their ads, so they have a vested interested in keeping our mouses moving. The last thing they want is for you to bog down and immerse yourself in a single story.
Stand up to their manipulation by reading the rest of this blog post, slowly and with deep thought (he said, manipulatively).
4. The Internet is destroying our memories. The first step to memory formation is attentiveness. We focus on a certain event, which then enables that experience to transition from our short-term to long-term memory. So what happens to people who lose their ability to focus? They lose the ability to develop long-term memories. There is a third thing too, but I can’t remember what it is. Oops.
5. The Internet never forgets. Every click you’ve ever made is stored somewhere, so either be careful what sites you visit or make sure you never become famous—because your dirty laundry could be dredged for all to see. Of course, we’re all going to stand before God someday, so we already have the best reason to be careful, whether or not we’re planning on becoming famous.
6. I learned lots of other things, but if these books are right, then few of you have read this far anyway, and if you have, you’re itching for a break. So I’ll save the rest for another short post.

2012-01-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

What should you do if you know someone who seems to be more excited about movies than Jesus?
Many professing Christians give little evidence of valuing Jesus more than the latest movie they have seen. Or the latest clothing they bought. Or the latest app they downloaded. Or the latest game they watched. Something is amiss.
We are not God and cannot judge with certainty and precision what’s wrong. There is a glitch somewhere. Perhaps a blindness going in, a spiritual deadness at heart, or a blockage coming out. Or some combination. Christ doesn’t appear supremely valuable. Or isn’t felt as supremely valuable. Or can’t be spoken of as supremely valuable. Or some combination.
Here’s my suggestion. Instead of dampening their enthusiasm for movies, clothing, apps, and events, let that go as an expression of God-given personality. Instead, model expressive joy in Jesus. Over time, if there is no resonance from their heart with your joy, query them humbly:

I love your enthusiasm for the things you get excited about. You’re so free and expressive about good movies and nice clothes and cool apps. It seems odd to me that you don’t seem to be as expressive about the way you feel about Jesus and what he’s done for us. Have you thought about why that might be?

The point of this query is to help them see that the problem is not joyfully loving good created things. The problem is the apparent absence of similar affections for Christ.
If similar affections for Jesus are not possible, then the specter of idolatry becomes serious. But they may sense this themselves without your having to start with that indictment, if you draw their attention not to the excitement that’s there, but to what’s missing.
We don’t want them to lose their exuberance about anything good. We want Christ to be supreme in their hearts so that all their exuberance comes under him and for his sake. When Jesus is felt as supremely valuable in our hearts, all other values gradually become properly ordered and purified.
May the Lord give you great courage and wisdom as you help people awaken to the supreme value of Jesus.

The Grace of God in Every Book of the Bible

2012-01-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Found this on Justin Taylors blog today:

Dane Ortlund:

While the Bible is not uniform, it is unified. The many books of the one Bible are not like the many pennies in the one jar. The pennies in the jar look the same, yet are disconnected; the books of the Bible (like the organs of a body) look different, yet are interconnected. As the past two generations’ recovery of biblical theology has shown time and again, certain motifs course through the Scripture from start to end, tying the whole thing together into a coherent tapestry–kingdom, temple, people of God, creation/new creation, and so on.
Yet underneath and undergirding all of these, it seems to me, is the motif of God’s grace, his favor and love to the undeserving. Don’t we see the grace of God in every book of the Bible?

Here is his OT list:
Genesis shows God’s grace to a universally wicked world as he enters into relationship with a sinful family line (Abraham) and promises to bless the world through him.
Exodus shows God’s grace to his enslaved people in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage.
Leviticus shows God’s grace in providing his people with a sacrificial system to atone for their sins.
Numbers shows God’s grace in patiently sustaining his grumbling people in the wilderness and bringing them to the border of the promised land not because of them but in spite of them.
Deuteronomy shows God’s grace in giving the people the new land ‘not because of your righteousness’ (ch. 9).
Joshua shows God’s grace in giving Israel victory after victory in their conquest of the land with neither superior numbers nor superior obedience on Israel’s part.
Judges shows God’s grace in taking sinful, weak Israelites as leaders and using them to purge the land, time and again, of foreign incursion and idolatry.
Ruth shows God’s grace in incorporating a poverty-stricken, desolate, foreign woman into the line of Christ.
1 and 2 Samuel show God’s grace in establishing the throne (forever—2 Sam 7) of an adulterous murderer.
1 and 2 Kings show God’s grace in repeatedly prolonging the exacting of justice and judgment for kingly sin ‘for the sake of’ David. (And remember: by the ancient hermeneutical presupposition of corporate solidarity, by which the one stands for the many and the many for the one, the king represented the people; the people were in their king; as the king went, so went they.)
1 and 2 Chronicles show God’s grace by continually reassuring the returning exiles of God’s self-initiated promises to David and his sons.
Ezra shows God’s grace to Israel in working through the most powerful pagan ruler of the time (Cyrus) to bring his people back home to a rebuilt temple.
Nehemiah shows God’s grace in providing for the rebuilding of the walls of the city that represented the heart of God’s promises to his people.
Esther shows God’s grace in protecting his people from a Persian plot to eradicate them through a string of ‘fortuitous’ events.
Job shows God’s grace in vindicating the sufferer’s cry that his redeemer lives (19:25), who will put all things right in this world or the next.
Psalms shows God’s grace by reminding us of, and leading us in expressing, the hesed (relentless covenant love) God has for his people and the refuge that he is for them.
Proverbs shows us God’s grace by opening up to us a world of wisdom in leading a life of happy godliness.
Ecclesiastes shows God’s grace in its earthy reminder that the good things of life can never be pursued as the ultimate things of life and that it is God who in his mercy satisfies sinners (note 7:20; 8:11).
Song of Songs shows God’s grace and love for his bride by giving us a faint echo of it in the pleasures of faithful human sexuality.
Isaiah shows God’s grace by reassuring us of his presence with and restoration of contrite sinners.
Jeremiah shows God’s grace in promising a new and better covenant, one in which knowledge of God will be universally internalized.
Lamentations shows God’s grace in his unfailing faithfulness in the midst of sadness.
Ezekiel shows God’s grace in the divine heart surgery that cleansingly replaces stony hearts with fleshy ones.
Daniel shows God’s grace in its repeated miraculous preservation of his servants.
Hosea shows God’s grace in a real-live depiction of God’s unstoppable love toward his whoring wife.
Joel shows God’s grace in the promise to pour out his Spirit on all flesh.
Amos shows God’s grace in the Lord’s climactic promise of restoration in spite of rampant corruption.
Obadiah shows God’s grace by promising judgment on Edom, Israel’s oppressor, and restoration of Israel to the land in spite of current Babylonian captivity.
Jonah shows God’s grace toward both immoral Nineveh and moral Jonah, irreligious pagans and a religious prophet, both of whom need and both of whom receive the grace of God.
Micah shows God’s grace in the prophecy’s repeated wonder at God’s strange insistence on ‘pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression’ (7:18).
Nahum shows God’s grace in assuring Israel of good news’ and ‘peace,’ promising that the Assyrians have tormented them for the last time.
Habakkuk shows God’s grace that requires nothing but trusting faith amid insurmountable opposition, freeing us to rejoice in God even in desolation.
Zephaniah shows God’s grace in the Lord’s exultant singing over his recalcitrant yet beloved people.
Haggai shows God’s grace in promising a wayward people that the latter glory of God’s (temple-ing) presence with them will far surpass its former glory.
Zechariah shows God’s grace in the divine pledge to open up a fountain for God’s people to ‘cleanse them from sin and uncleanness’ (13:1).
Malachi shows God’s grace by declaring the Lord’s no-strings-attached love for his people.
To read the NT list, too, click here.

7 Tips For Talking with your Neighbors about Jesus

2012-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

from the Resurgence blog . . .

Tim Gaydos » God Mission Evangelism Culture

We met in the elevator of our condo building. Instead of the classic stare down at the ground and avoid eye contact bit, I said hello and introduced myself. I asked him a few non-awkward, basic questions. How long have you lived here? Do you like it? Have you met any cool people?

The following week, I saw him in the lobby, and we picked up the conversation with a longer discussion revolving around the Seattle Mariners and their dim prospects for the year. I checked again to see if he was up for talking more, “If you want to watch a game at Sport, [the appropriately-named Seattle sports pub,] let me know.” He accepted, we figured out a good date and time and within a few weeks, we were grabbing a bite and watching a game together.

Breaking the Stereotype of Judgmental Jerk

It wasnʼt long before he found out I was a Christian, went to church, and loved Jesus. He said to me, “Wow, my stereotype of Christians has been blown away. Youʼre normal. You like good food and drink, you love your city and donʼt come off as a judgmental jerk.” I soon invited him to church, where he heard the gospel preached powerfully. He became a Christian and got involved in Community Groups, praise God.
For whatever reason, it’s easy for Christians to clam up and get weird when talking about their faith in the day-to-day. Here are a few tips to make bridge those inhibitions and get the conversation going:

1. Find a road that leads to Jesus.

In the course of conversation, be thinking of how Jesus intersects with the discussion, because Jesus intersects and touches everything in our culture: sports, music, art, politics. Look for bridges to introduce Jesus into the conversation. It should be just as casually or passionately as you talk about everything else.

2. Donʼt be weird and awkward.

“So...now, Iʼd like to talk with you about Jesus.” If all of a sudden you put on your "Jesus" hat and you are talking to them like a project and not a friend, then you're entering awkward territory. Now, there will be times it becomes awkward because talking about Jesus and sin can be that way, but don't let it be because you are socially weird.

3. Be winsome.

Included in that word is the word “win.” Be “winning” friends and the conversation by being engaging, friendly, and kind. For more on being winsome, check out Soul Winner by Charles Spurgeon.

4. Counter stereotypes and caricatures of Christians.

Many urban, secular folks have a particular caricature of a Christian, which is not very flattering (judgmental, harsh, the “morality police”), although many don’t personally have any Christian friends. Be gracious and talk with them, serve them, and love them.

5. Host an open house.

When my wife and I moved into a new apartment building we hosted an open house for the whole building and went over the top with really good food and wine. Dozens of our neighbors came out and it was the foundation for future gospel-centered conversations.

6. Be honest about your struggles and failings.

We all fall short. We all struggle and fail. The credit has to be given to Jesus in your life. Many non-Christians donʼt want to talk with Christians as they will feel guilty regarding their own problems.

7. Actions also communicate.

Serve your neighbors. Serve your neighborhood. Look for opportunities without being an attention-getter. Your neighbors are watching you and just as James said, faith without works is dead.

2011-12-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more!" And what happened then ... in Who-ville they say [is] that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day! -- Dr. Suess

You Asked: Does an Unbelieving Child Disqualify an Elder? – The Gospel Coalition Blog

2011-12-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

A thoughtful article on a difficult topic!
You Asked: Does an Unbelieving Child Disqualify an Elder? – The Gospel Coalition Blog

Does an Unbelieving Child Disqualify an Elder? – Justin Taylor

2011-12-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

A thoughtful article on a difficult topic!
Does an Unbelieving Child Disqualify an Elder? – Justin Taylor

5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church

2011-12-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

1. Make sure your faith is only something you live out in public
Go to church... at least most of the time. Make sure you agree with what you hear the preacher say, and affirm on the way home what was said especially when it has to do with your kids obeying, but let it stop there. Don’t read your Bible at home. The pastor will say everything you need to hear on Sundays. Don’t engage your children in questions they have concerning Jesus and God. Live like you want to live during the week so that your kids can see that duplicity is ok.

2. Pray only in front of people
The only times you need to pray are when your family is over, holiday meals, when someone is sick, and when you want something. Besides that, don’t bother. Your kids will see you pray when other people are watching, no need to do it with them in private.

3. Focus on your morals
Make sure you insist your kids be honest with you. Let them know it is the right thing for them to do, but then feel free to lie in your own life and disregard the need to tell them and others the truth. Get very angry with your children when they say words that are “naughty” and “bad,” but post, read, watch, and say whatever you want on TV, Facebook, and Twitter. Make sure you focus on being a good person. Be ambiguous about what this means.

4. Give financially as long as it doesn’t impede your needs
Make a big deal out of giving at church. Stress to your children the value of tithing, while not giving sacrificially yourself. Allow them to see you spend a ton of money on what you want, while negating your command from Scripture to give sacrificially.

5. Make church community a priority... as long as there is nothing else you want to do
Hey, you are a church-going family, right? I mean, that’s what you tell your friends and family anyways. Make sure you attend on Sundays. As long as you didn’t stay up too late Saturday night. Or your family isn’t having a big barbeque. Or the big game isn’t on. Or this week you just don’t feel like it. Or... I mean, you’re a church-going family, so what’s the big deal? - Thomas Weaver, http://theresurgence.com/2011/03/26/5-ways-to-make-your-kids-hate-church

Moralistic Preaching is Deadly

2011-12-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

Moralistic preaching is stimulated by a fear of the scandalous freedom that gospel grace promotes and promises. The perceived fear is this: if we think too much and talk to much about grace and the radical freedom it brings, we’ll go off the deep end with it. We’ll abuse it. So to balance things out, we need to throw some law in there, to help make sure Christian people walk the straight and narrow. (p. 50)Preachers these days are expected to major in “Christian moral renovation.” They are expected to provide a practical to-do list, rather than announce, “It is finished.” They are expected to do something other than, more than, placarding before their congregation’s eyes Christ’s finished work, preaching a full absolution soley on the basis of the complete righteousness of Another. The irony is, of course, that when preachers cave in to this pressure, moral renovation does not happen. To focus on how I’m doing, more than on what Christ has done, is Christian narcissism (an oxymoron if I ever heard one)– the poison of self-absorption which undermines the power of the gospel in our lives.(p.117) - from Jesus + Nothing = Everything, by Tullian Tchividjian

The Importance of Reiterating Vision for Christian Leaders

2011-11-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a short two minute video on the importance of vision from someone who normally does not communicate on this stuff, John Piper. Nothing profound but simple and worth the listen. Piper is one of my theological 'mentors from afar.'

The Work of a Christian Leader from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Intentional Disciple Making

2011-11-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

Principles to apply to be on mission:1. If we love Jesus, we must love the church despite our messiness. Too often we have unrealistic expectations. Leaders are people too. We need to create space for people to ask questions.2. We need to listen more than we talk. So much damage has been done in the name of Christianity that we need to regain credibility by listening and serving before we do anything else. Are we asking the young people in our churches if we are communicating in which they can connect? If the church would biblically judge the judgmental Christians then the church wouldn’t be known as judgmental.3. We can hold the church’s historical view of the Scriptures and not be a fundamentalist or hateful. Do the people we serve understand how to interpret and apply the Scriptures (rather than quoting verses out of context)? We should be teaching about difficult issues proactively.4. We need to rethink our roles and move from leading a church to leading a community of missionaries. We need to make decisions based on the people not yet connected to our community rather than for what we want.5. Church leaders need to avoid getting sucked into the Christian sub-culture. When is the last time you spent time with someone who did not believe the same things that you do? - Dan Kimbal

Corporate Body of Christ

2011-11-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

The call of Jesus is personal but not purely individual; Jesus summons his followers not only to an individual calling but also to a corporate calling...But we are not summoned to be a bunch of individual believers, rather to be a community of faith. In the New Testament, it is not so much that there are different churches in different places as that there is one church in many places. Os Guiness, The Call, p. 98, 101.

forgive me « Don't Stop Believing

2011-11-11T17:53:00.001-08:00

forgive me « Don't Stop Believing

How can I forgive myself? « A Brick in the Valley

2011-11-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

How can I forgive myself? « A Brick in the Valley

Life is a Journey

2011-11-08T10:41:00.001-08:00

I learned that life is not just a destination but a journey. While the expedition can be long and arduous, it can be full of beauty and pleasure as well. -- Wayne Holmes

Prayer and the Spirit

2011-11-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

Where there is much prayer, there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of the Spirit, there will be ever-increasing prayer. -- Andrew Murray

Incarnational Living

2011-11-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

God might want you to extend his love by offering to baby-sit for the single parent down the street. He might want you to prepare a hearty meal for that lonely old man who lost his wife -- and to sit and visit with him while he eats. Who knows, he might even want you to reach out and touch the life of a total stranger in some way you can't imagine right now. Are you willing to set aside your own comfort to touch someone else with God's love? -- Amy Nappa

Barack H. Obama Quote, March, 2006

2011-11-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America 's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

Review of Radical Together

2011-11-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

I want to thank both Mission Frontiers Journal and MultnomahBooks for providing a free copy of “Radical Together” by David Platt toread. I read and enjoyed “Radical” bythe same author, so I was looking forward to reading this book as well. I must start out with a disclaimer - I lovereading books that challenge the status quo and my comfortable WesternChristian worldview. I have also enjoyedreading David Platt because he does not speak as one who ‘has arrived’ but is alsoon the journey.

Platt lays out his purpose in the introduction, “whathappens - or can happen – when we apple the revolutionary claims and commandsof Christ to our communities of Faith (p. 2). In his disarming way, Platt starts out in chapter one challenging thestatus quo of the Western Church, to take steps toward radical living, denyingourselves the good life for the greater good. We have become distractedby the good at the cost of the greater good, in this case making disciples(Matthew 28:18-20). Platt tells thestory of a pastor who had been so busy running the church organization that he neverreally directly made disciples! Theauthor challenges the reader to look at what church leaders are doing, how weare spending money, what programs we are running, and ask ourselves if we cando something differently that will better align with the purposes of God - leadpeople to Christ, disciple people, and meet the gospel needs in ourneighborhoods, cities, and the world.

In chapter two, the Platt seeks to define the gospel andexplain how it applies to sanctification. Seeking to avoid the twoextremes - those who do not see how works relates to the gospel at all andthose who see works as the gospel – the author understands the gospel to saveus from work yet saves us to work. It ishere that he asks a great question, ‘are we driven by grace and the gospel orby guilt?’ Living in a world of constant and overwhelming needs it isnecessary that our desire to meet those needs be birthed by grace rather than byguilt. He gives an example from his ownchurch concerning adoption (pgs. 31-37). Where many Christians would object to taking in a child, especially aspecial needs child, for the sake of their own children (as my wife and I havediscussed), Platt challenges us to consider adoption, even special needschildren, as opportunities for grace to shine!

In chapter three, Platt addresses the power of the word todo the work of God. He believes, I thinkrightly so, that we have substituted the transforming power of the word withpithy principles. Too often Western pastors depend on principles,stories, and motivational speaking, because we do not believe that the wordreally does have the power to convert and transform the body of Christ into theimage of Christ (pgs. 48-49)! The sameis true for how we do church. The bible is intended not only to dictateour theology but also to determine our methodology. Do the methods we use attract audiences ormake disciples?

In chapter four the author critiques the attractional church. Is it biblical for everything to revolve around the gifted staff,especially the preacher or is the purpose of gifted staff to equip the peopleof God to do the work of God, discipling the nations? Often the attractional church leans towardpragmatic approaches rather than thinking through a biblical approach of doingministry. When we rely on anattractional church model, we eliminate the people of God from the church -performance at a place filled with programs run by professionals. Platt closes this chapter out with a greatquote on church leadership, “leaders do not exist to provide services; they existto serve people. (p. 71).”

Yet Platt does not limit his critique to the Western Church. In chapter five he points to one of the most unevangelized islands onthe earth, with 45 million Muslims, also home to a tribe of one millionChristians. Yet that Christian tribe hasturned tribal, only thinking of its own preservation. There are many social and cultural reasonsfor this, but in the end it boils down to self centered excuses. What could happen if it was the norm forChristians to sacrifice the god of personal comfort for the sake of those whoface a Christless eternity?

In chapter six Platt contrasts the man centered gospel andthe God centered gospel. Taking his cuesfrom John Piper, the author claims that God is most concerned about himself andhis glory above all others things. If God is so glorious and merciful,the One who seeks us rather than us seeking Him, the only proper response is togive our all to Him and His purposes. Ifthe gospel is infinitely valuable, then what will we do to spread that value tothose who do not know him? The author believesthat this gospel brings about the power to transform our orientation fromserving self to serving others.

In his conclusion, Platt gives a personal story of his ownstruggle and journey. As I already said, one of the qualities I reallylike about David Platt I thinnedout my closet after reading Crazy Love and gave away copies of the book to asmany who would read it. Some have maderadical changes in their lives; others have not. But in the end, all of us have made somechanges in our journey and are still asking the question, so what? “Radical Together” has that same kind of propheticpower to it. What can a church look likeif it will take the radical claims of Jesus seriously? The books I just mentioned, along with “RealLife Discipleship,” by Jim Putman have given me both hope and a means to moveour body toward intentional Disciple making and hopefully, radical ones.

Motivation

2011-10-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Life is precarious, and life is precious. Don’t presume you will have it tomorrow, and don’t waste it today.

John Piper

Intentional Leadership

2011-10-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

I was at the annual LifeLinks International Leadership conference last week. The theme this year was discipleship and story telling. The were several break out sessions that addressed the ins and outs of leadership development that were also helpful. What was extremely refreshing was to hear the pastors in the break out session not come across as experts who have it all together. Too often I have been at conferences and the speaker comes across as being the expert who 'has arrived.' Here are my take aways from the conference.

Move slowly; choose wisely
It is much easier to lay hands on people than lay offhands of people
DNA matters
1% churches growing by conversion
An introvert will influence 10,000 people in their lifetime (quoted form John Maxwell)
Trying to disciple from the pulpit is like trying to feedbabies by going to the nursery and spraying them with milk.

The last one was my personal favorite. It is a great word picture!

Characteristics of an Effective Coach, Mentor, or Intentional Disciple Maker

2011-10-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last several months reading and thinking about discipleship in the local church and have come to see the similarities between an intentional disciple maker and a coach or mentor more clearly than ever before. I found this list of characteristics of an effective coach from the book, Effect Coaching by Marshall Cook. It is a list I am going to put in my office and refer to as I seek to influence people! I hope you find it helpful also. I may comment upon them in the days to come!

AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS POSITIVE.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS ENTHUSIASTIC.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS SUPPORTIVE.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS TRUSTING.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS FOCUSED.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS GOAL-ORIENTED.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS KNOWLEDGEABLE.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS OBSERVANT.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS RESPECTFUL.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS PATIENT.
AN EFFECTIVE COACH IS CLEAR.

Adapted from Effective Coaching by Marshall J. Cook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Saints

2011-10-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Grace is indeed needed to turn a man into a saint, and he who doubts it does not know what a saint or a man is. -- Blaise Pascal

Mission

2011-10-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

When a house is burning in the dead of night, the first and great concern is not for the house, but for the sleeping dwellers therein. Similarly the missionary's first and great concern is for the soul, to save it from impending wrath. In due time when men and women are truly reconciled to God, a social renovation will be sure to follow. Such an approach to missionary activity remains the good old way, marked with the footsteps of the apostles that brings peace with God and peace with one another.
-American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Theory of Missions to the Heathen, 1812

What Kind of Legacy are you Leaving?

2011-10-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

Many people spend their lives trying to create a lasting legacy on earth. They want to be remembered when they're gone. Yet, what ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life but what GOD says. What people fail to realize is that all achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, reputations fade, and tributes are forgotten. -- Rick Warren

Battling for the Freedom We Have

2011-10-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a thoughtful article from the July 2, 2011 issue of World magazine. I found the magazine opened to this article today as I was cleaning off a cluttered area of my desk! I take it as providence; it encouraged me and thought it would encourage you also!

Within reach

Christ has given us the means to take back our minds and gain freedom in Him | Andrée Seu

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Jesus called us to be free: "For freedom Christ has set us free." From Paul's writing in Romans 7 I see that the freedom Jesus means is freedom in the mind—where the real battle is. Francis Schaeffer wrote, "This is where true spirituality in the Christian life rests: in the realm of my thought life" (True Spirituality).
What a favor we can render a brother in Christ when we know this freedom firsthand, and exactly how to walk in it! The knitted brows in the pews are not generally over globalization or polar ice melt. Someone around you is quietly sinking in addiction or despair. If there is a way to fight the demons in his head (James 3:15; Galatians 5:17; 1 Peter 5:9; 1 John 2:14), he needs equipping. He needs to bridge the gap between theology and reality.
Most of us are "good" on the positional gifts in Christ: imputed righteousness, forgiveness, adoption by His perfect Atonement. Is there any concrete help for the time between conversion and rapture? Our conversion was an important date but now it's over. "Let us . . . go on to maturity" (Hebrews 6:1). What is that "fullness" of which the Word says we have all received, the "grace upon grace" (John 1:16)?
Is it not the potential to be free in our minds? Potential, because not all Christians are free. As Schaeffer put it: "A man may lack in sanctification all that God means him to have in the present life because even though Christ has purchased it for him upon the cross he fails to believe God at this place and raise the empty hands of faith moment by moment."
My friend Leslie, extremely devout, said she wanted to hear from God, and refused to budge from her sundeck all day (except to go to the bathroom) until she got a message: "You don't believe me." Leslie later told me: "It was the Lord, so I had to receive it." The Spirit instructed her to start reading at Matthew chapter 1, and to stop when she got to a verse she didn't believe. She was distressed by how soon she had to stop.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and it is a progressive dismantling that begins now. In heaven we will not have the chance to put Satan to rout by faith; all that will be finished. Christ gave us the means of conquest in Ephesians 6 and elsewhere, so that we could take back our minds.
Once we believe, the sky is the limit. The confidence that we can get out of the darkest pit, and the vise grip of emotional bondage, is key. The means are there (prayer, the Word, the Spirit). All that's needed is a shift in our spirits to believe that overcomings are possible—that ours is not only the hope of heaven but the riches of His glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe (Ephesians 1:18-19).
I was in the attic sorting clothes, and suddenly letters beckoned to me from a box I was storing for someone. I got the idea that I would like to read those letters; no one would be the wiser. It didn't feel right, but an oily, unctuous voice said it was of no consequence, and that the Lord would forgive me because He knows I'm just a sinner. (The 19th-century poet Heinrich Heine said, "Dieu me pardonnera; c'est son métier": God will forgive me; it's His job.)
It seemed like a mild desire until I decided to put up slight resistance. Even with the weapons of prayer and stern reasoning with myself from the Word, it was all I could do to get out of the attic intact.
But you are never the same person after you say no to the devil. It is hard to describe, but you are stronger. And you have something else too—a testimony. Some person you know who has normally rolled over to every suggestion dropped into his brain from the Enemy will be encouraged. People want to be free. They just need to hear it can be done.

Why Should I give 10% of my PFD to The Gond Project?

2011-10-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

As followers of Christ, God calls each of us to commit ourselves to His mission, making disciples, whether that is across the street or across the world. We are currently making disciples in Homer, around Alaska, in Brazil, the Philippines, Peru, and India. For the last few years we have used the PFD drive to raise money for furthering God’s mission across town and across the world.

This year we are raising money for one particular missionary, Paul Wiig, who has been making disciples in India since 1985 by working with orphans, in bible training, and planting churches across India. One people group he has been unable to penetrate is the 220,000 Gond people of the Adilabad District in the state of Andhra Pradesh in south central India. The Gonds are classified as an Unreached People Group (UPG) with less than 200 Christians. Having established a fund for an UPG of $40,000 we asked Paul to give us a proposal for reaching an UPG in India. He came back to us with the Gond Project, a three phase project to establish reproducing churches among the Gond people.

Phase One, with a budget of $32,000, founded adult literacy programs, established sewing centers in villages in order to equip women with skills to help them support their families, and shared the gospel with three thousand children through evangelistic sports programs. This phase has been fully funded by us.

Phase Two is currently in process and has a budget of $15,500. Paul has produced an evangelistic movie, Hope Giver, in the Gond language to present the gospel through media programs and Vacation Bible Schools. His goal is to expose five thousand Gonds to the gospel with this film. We have contributed $7500 for this phase to date. Our goal is to raise the $8000 still needed through the 2011 PFD drive.

Phase Three will focus on church planting and has a budget of $16,500. From those who have come to Christ, Paul’s team will identify and train leaders to be church planters among the Gond people. This will include both residential training and supervised field work through 2012. Paul expects to train fifty church planters and plant over twenty churches among the Gond people. We also hope to begin funding phase three through additional fund raising in the next several months. By giving 10% or more of your PFD, you will be helping to establish both a gospel presence and reproducing churches among a group of people who face a Christless eternity. Prayerfully remember the Gond Project when you receive your PFD this month.

For the sake of the Mission,

Pastor David

2011-10-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might, let not the rich glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord" (Jer 9:23,24). A spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every human creature.

The foundation of all true knowledge of God must be a clear mental apprehension of His perfections as revealed in Holy Scripture. An unknown God can neither be trusted, served, nor worshipped. In this booklet an effort has been made to set forth some of the principal perfections of the Divine character. If the reader is to truly profit from his perusal of the pages that follow, he needs to definitely and earnestly beseech God to bless them to him, to apply His Truth to the conscience and heart, so that his life will be transformed thereby.

Something more than a theoretical knowledge of God is needed by us. God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments. "Then shall we know, if we follow on (in the path of obedience) to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3). "If any man will do His will, he shall know" (John 7:17). "The people that do know their God shall be strong" (Dan. 11:32). - from The Attributes of God by AW Pink.

Purpose

2011-10-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope. The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose. -- Rick Warren

Perseverance

2011-10-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

Do not think that as you grow in grace your path will become smoother and the sky calmer and clearer. Quite the contrary. As God gives you greater skill as a solider of the cross, He will send you on more difficult missions. As He more fully equips your ship to sail in storms, He will send you on longer voyages to more boisterous seas, so that you may honor Him and increase in holy confidence. - Charles Spurgeon

Our New And Exalted Identity

2011-10-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

This article displays the freedom that comes from finding our identity in Christ rather than in our performance from Tullian Tchividjian. The link is here, Our New And Exalted Identity – Tullian Tchividjian

Our New And Exalted Identity

When most of us stop long enough to consider what establishes our identity, what really makes us who we are, many of us act as if the answer to this consideration is “our performance.” In Who Will Deliver Us, Paul Zahl expands on this:

If I can do enough of the right things, I will have established my worth. Identity is the sum of my achievements. Hence, if I can satisfy the boss, meet the needs of my spouse and children, and still do justice to my inner aspirations, then I will have proven my worth. There are infinite ways to prove our worth along these lines. The basic equation is this: I am what I do. It is a religious position in life because it tries to answer in practical terms the question, Who am I and what is my niche in the universe? On this reading, my niche is in proportion to my deeds. In Christian theology, such a position is called justification by works. It assumes that my worth is measured by my performance. Conversely, it conceals, thinly, a dark and ghastly fear: If I do not perform, I will be judged unworthy. To myself I will cease to exist.

The gospel frees us from this obsessive pressure to perform, this slavish demand to “become.” The gospel liberatingly declares that in Christ “we already are.” While the world, the flesh, and the Devil constantly tempt us to locate our identity in something or someone smaller than Jesus, the gospel liberates us by revealing that our true identity is locked in Christ. Our connection in and with Christ is the truest definition of who we are.

If you’re a Christian, here’s the good news: Who you really are has nothing to do with you—how much you can accomplish, who you can become, your behavior (good or bad), your strengths, your weaknesses, your sordid past, your family background, your education, your looks, and so on. Your identity is firmly anchored in Christ’s accomplishment, not yours; his strength, not yours; his performance, not yours; his victory, not yours. Your identity is steadfastly established in his substitution, not your sin. As my friend Justin Buzzard recently wrote, “The gospel doesn’t just free you from what other people think about you, it frees you from what you think about yourself.”

You’re free!

As I said in my previous post, now you can spend your life giving up your place for others instead of guarding it from others—because your identity is in Christ, not your place.

Now you can spend your life going to the back instead of getting to the front—because your identity is in Christ, not your position.

Now you can spend your life giving, not taking—because your identity is in Christ, not your possessions.

Paul speaks of our “having been buried with him [with Christ] in baptism,” in which we “were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col. 2:12). Our old identity—the things that previously “made us”—has been put to death. Our new identity is “in Christ.” We’ve been raised with Christ to walk “in newness of life”—no longer needing to depend on the “old things” to make us who we are.

All this is our new identity—all because of Christ’s finished work declared to us in the gospel.

When we truly see and understand all these aspects of what we’ve become in Jesus Christ, what more could we possibly ever want or need when it comes to our self-identity? Here in Christ we have worth and purpose and security and significance that makes utterly laughable all the transient things of this world that we’re so frequently tempted to identify ourselves by.

Excerpted from my forthcoming book Jesus + Nothing = Everything

Christianity Is The End Of Religion – Tullian Tchividjian

2011-10-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

Another helpful article that shows the difference between the gospel and religion from Tullian Tchvidjian. His blog is almost always about this issue. The link is here, Christianity Is The End Of Religion – Tullian Tchividjian

Christianity Is The End Of Religion

From the time God saved me at 21 years old, I’ve always been fascinated by the parables of Jesus. Three of the very first books I bought as a brand new Christian were Simon Kistemaker’s book The Parables: Understanding the Stories Jesus Told, James Boice’s book The Parables of Jesus, and Interpreting the Parables by Craig Blomberg. Not knowing anything about Reformed theology at that point in my life, these three books are what God used to develop my initial Reformed theological sensitivities. I highly recommend them all.

But a couple years ago when I was considering preaching through the parables (which I never ended up doing, by the way) one of my former professors suggested that I pick up Robert Farrar Capon’s thick book Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus. He warned me that I would not agree with some of what Capon wrote but insisted that it would nevertheless benefit my study of the parables greatly. It sat on my shelf for a while until my friend Mark Miller asked me if I owned the book. I didn’t think I did and so I ordered it. After I ordered it and went to stock it on my bookshelf, I realized I already had it (You ever done that? That’s the downside of having a large library).

Well, I picked it up and started reading. And while there were some sections that left me scratching my head (just as my prof told me), I discovered some deeply insightful nuggets of gospel truth. My friends over at Mockingbird (if you don’t read that blog, you’re probably not a Christian) posted one of my favorite sections from Capon’s book a couple days ago. This is good stuff.

Enjoy…

What role have I left for religion? None. And I have left none because the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ leaves none. Christianity is not a religion; it is the announcement of the end of religion.

Religion consists of all the things (believing, behaving, worshiping, sacrificing) the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God. About those things, Christianity has only two comments to make. The first is that none of them ever had the least chance of doing the trick: the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (see the Epistle to the Hebrews) and no effort of ours to keep the law of God can ever finally succeed (see the Epistle to the Romans). The second is that everything religion tried (and failed) to do has been perfectly done, once and for all, by Jesus in his death and resurrection. For Christians, therefore, the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up, and forgotten. The church is not in the religion business. It never has been and it never will be, in spite of all the ecclesiastical turkeys through two thousand years who have acted as if religion was their stock in trade. The church, instead, is in the Gospel-proclaiming business. It is not here to bring the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical and ethical wickets; it is here to bring the world the Good News that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” It is here, in short, for no religious purpose at all, only to announce the Gospel of free grace.

Pg. 252-253

The End Of Control Is The Beginning Of Freedom

2011-10-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

Another thoughtful article that dilineates between the gospel and religion. The link is here, The End Of Control Is The Beginning Of Freedom – Tullian Tchividjian

The End Of Control Is The Beginning Of Freedom

There’s nothing more difficult for us to get our minds around than the unconditional grace of God; it offends our deepest sensibilities. Conditionality is much safer than unconditionality because conditionality keeps us in control, it’s formulaic-do certain things and certain things are guaranteed to happen (this is why parents and preachers have such a hard time with grace–trust me, I know. I’m both a parent and a preacher). We understand conditions. Conditionality makes sense. Unconditionality on the other hand is incomprehensible to us. We are so conditioned against unconditionality because we are told in a thousand different ways that accomplishment precedes acceptance; that achievement precedes approval.

Everything in our world demands two way love. Everything’s conditional: if you achieve only then will you receive meaning, security, respect, love and so on. But grace is otherworldly because it’s unconditional–it is one way love: “Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable” (Paul Zahl).

Like Job’s friends, we naturally conclude that good people get good stuff and bad people get bad stuff (we preach and parent this way). The idea that bad people get good stuff is thickly counter-intuitive. It seems terribly unfair. It offends our sense of justice (we so quickly forget that the Bible is not a record of good people earning God’s blessings, but a record of bad people receiving God’s blessings because Jesus earned them for us).

Even those of us who have tasted the radical saving grace of God find it intuitively difficult not to put conditions on grace- “don’t take it too far; keep it balanced.” The truth is, however, that a “yes grace but” posture is the kind of posture that perpetuates slavery in our lives and in the church. Grace is radically unbalanced. It has no “but”: it’s unconditional, uncontrollable, unpredictable, and undomesticated. As Doug Wilson put it recently, “Grace is wild. Grace unsettles everything. Grace overflows the banks. Grace messes up your hair. Grace is not tame. In fact, unless we are making the devout nervous, we are not preaching grace as we ought.” Grace scares us to death because in every way it wrestles control out of our hands. However much we hate law, we are more afraid of grace.

I’ve posted these explosive words from Gerhard Forde before, but they’re worth posting again because he so aptly puts his finger on why we so naturally react the way we do when the gospel of God’s unconditional grace is considered:

The gospel of justification by faith is such a shocker, such an explosion, because it is an absolutely unconditional promise. It is not an “if-then” kind of statement, but a “because-therefore” pronouncement: because Jesus died and rose, your sins are forgiven and you are righteous in the sight of God! It bursts in upon our little world all shut up and barricaded behind our accustomed conditional thinking as some strange comet from goodness-knows-where, something we can’t really seem to wrap our minds around, the logic of which appears closed to us. How can it be entirely unconditional? Isn’t it terribly dangerous? How can anyone say flat out, “You are righteous for Jesus’ sake? Is there not some price to be paid, some-thing (however minuscule) to be done? After all, there can’t be such thing as a free lunch, can there?”

You see, we really are sealed up in the prison of our conditional thinking. It is terribly difficult for us to get out, and even if someone batters down the door and shatters the bars, chances are we will stay in the prison anyway! We seem always to want to hold out for something somehow, that little bit of something, and we do it with a passion and an anxiety that betrays its true source-the Old Adam that just does not want to lose control (Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life, pg. 24).

Contrary to what we conclude naturally, the gospel is not too good to be true. It is true! No strings attached. No but’s. No conditions. No need for balance. If you’re a Christian, you are right now under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ. Your pardon is full and final. In Christ, you’re forgiven. You’re clean. It is finished.

As scary as it it may be, giving up on the facade of control is the beginning of freedom for you.

How the Gospel Does What Religion Cannot

2011-10-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about the gospel versus works or religion as I have been preaching through Galatians. This is a helpful article on the subject from the Resurgence site.

How the Gospel Does What Religion Cannot | The Resurgence

How the Gospel Does What Religion Cannot

JD Greear » God Church Gospel Sanctification Justification

For many years Christianity was wearisome to me.

That’s a confession you won’t often hear from the pastor of a growing, evangelical church, but for many years it was true of me.

The List Goes On

It seems that the list of what "good Christians" should be doing never ended. Evangelism. Missions. Adoption. Radical generosity. Bold prayers. Audacious faith. Every time I turned around someone else was telling me something I should be doing that I wasn’t. So I’d get busy with whatever new program made you a “good Christian.”

“
My service for God was fervent, but my passions for Him were cold.
”

But things were not right in my heart. My marriage kept revealing how selfish and petty I was. Seeing others more successful than me in ministry made me jealous to the point that I delighted in the thought of them falling into sin and being disqualified from ministry. I still seemed captive to the lusts of my flesh. My service for God was fervent, but my passions for Him were cold. I certainly didn’t desire to know Him more.

Like Honey

While I would never admit it, I was starting to resent God. Instead of a merciful father, He was the merciless taskmaster, always standing over me yelling, “Not enough! I want more!” Recently I discovered something, or should I say, “rediscovered something,” that has changed everything. The gospel.

I don’t mean that I didn’t really know it before. I did. I have a Ph.D. in systematic theology from a reputable, conservative seminary. I could have explained in great detail how Jesus paid for our sin, and I could preach for hours about the worthiness of Christ. But if my head knew the truth of those things, my heart didn’t feel them.

“
The gospel is able to do produce in our hearts what religion never could: a desire for God.
”

The Puritan Jonathan Edwards likened his re-awakening to the Gospel to a man who had known, in his head, that honey was sweet, but for the first time had that sweetness burst alive in his mouth. Over the last few years, that is what has happened to me with the gospel.

Begin Again

“Rediscovering” the Gospel has given me a joy in God I never experienced in all my years of fervent religion. Now I sense, almost daily, a love for God replacing my love for myself. The jealously that once consumed my heart is being replaced by a desire to see others prosper. I feel selfishness giving way to tenderness and generosity. My cravings for the lusts of the flesh are being replaced by a craving for righteousness, and my self-centered dreams are being replaced by God-glorifying ambitions. A power is surging in me that is changing me and pushing me out into the world to leverage my life for the Kingdom of God.

Growth in Christ is the process of going deeper into the gospel, not in going beyond the gospel. As Martin Luther loved to say, “To progress is always to begin again.” The gospel is able to do produce in our hearts what religion never could: a desire for God. Those who crave righteousness will act righteously; those who love God will keep his commandments. This is the revolutionary power of the gospel: we do what we ought for God as we are captivated by the news of what he has done for us.

J.D. Greear is the pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC. This article is adapted from his newly released book, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary. Find out more info on the book here.

No Christianity without the Trinity

2011-10-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here a good article on the necessity of the trinity by Kevin Deyoung. The link is here, The Doctrine of the Trinity: No Christianity Without It – Kevin DeYoung

The Doctrine of the Trinity: No Christianity Without It

If any doctrine makes Christianity Christian, then surely it is the doctrine of the Trinity. The three great ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—are all structured around our three in one God, underlying the essential importance of Trinitarian theology. Augustine once commented about the Trinity that “in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.” More recently, Sinclair Ferguson has reflected on “the rather obvious thought that when his disciples were about to have the world collapse in on them, our Lord spent so much time in the Upper Room speaking to them about the mystery of the Trinity. If anything could underline the necessity of Trinitarianism for practical Christianity, that must surely be it!”
Yet, when it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, most Christians are poor in their understanding, poorer in their articulation, and poorest of all in seeing any way in which the doctrine matters in real life. One theologian said, tongue in cheek, “The trinity is a matter of five notions or properties, four relations, three persons, two processions, one substance or nature, and no understanding.” All the talk of essence and persons and co-this and co-that seem like theological gobbledy-gook reserved for philosophers and scholars-maybe for thinky bookish types, but certainly not for moms and mechanics and middle-class college students.
So in a few hundred words let me try to explain what the doctrine of the Trinity means, where it is found in the Bible, and why it matters.
First, what does the doctrine mean? The doctrine of the Trinity can be summarized in seven statements. (1) There is only one God. (2) The Father is God. (3) The Son is God. (4) The Holy Spirit is God. (5) The Father is not the Son. (6) The Son is the not the Holy Spirit. (7) The Holy Spirit is not the Father. All of the creedal formulations and theological jargon and philosophical apologetics have to do with safeguarding each one of these statements and doing so without denying any of the other six. When the ancient creeds employ extra-biblical terminology and demand careful theological nuance they do so not to clear up what the Bible leaves cloudy, but to defend, define, and delimit essential biblical propositions. The Athanasian Creed puts it this way: “Now this is the catholic faith: That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons, nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit, still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.”
The two key words here are essence and persons. When you read “essence”, think “Godness.” All three Persons of the Trinity share the same “Godness.” One is not more God than another. None is more essentially divine than the rest. When you read “persons”, think “a particular individual distinct from the others.” Theologians use these terms because they are trying to find a way to express the relationship of three beings that are equally and uniquely God, but not three Gods. That’s why we get the tricky (but learnable) language of essence and persons. We want to be true to the biblical witness that there is an indivisibility and unity of God, even though Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can all be rightly called God. The Persons are not three gods; rather, they dwell in communion with each other as they subsist in the divine nature without being compounded or confused.
Sometimes it’s easier to understand what we believe by stating what we don’t believe.

Orthodox Trinitarianism rejects monarchianism which believes in only one person (mono) and maintains that the Son and the Spirit subsists in the divine essence as impersonal attributes not distinct and divine Persons.
Orthodox Trinitarianism rejects modalism which believes that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are different names for the same God acting in different roles or manifestations (like the well-intentioned but misguided “water, vapor, ice” analogy).
Orthodox Trinitarianism rejects Arianism which denies the full deity of Christ.
And finally, orthodox Trinitarianism rejects all forms of tri-theism, which teach that the three members of the Godhead are, to quote a leading Mormon apologist, “three distinct Beings, three separate Gods.”

Second, where is the doctrine of the Trinity found in the Bible? Although the word “Trinity” is famously absent from Scripture, the theology behind the word can be found in a surprising number of verses. For starters there are verses that speak of God’s oneness (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; 1 Tim. 1:17). Then there are the myriad of passages which demonstrate that God is Father (e.g., John 6:27, Titus 1:4). Next, we have the scores of texts which prove the deity of Jesus Christ, the Son—passages like John 1 (“the word was God”), John 8:58 (“before Abraham was born, I am”), Col. 2:9 (“in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form”), Heb. 1:3 (“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his being”), Tit. 2:13 (“our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”)-not to mention the explicit worship Christ willingly received from his disciples (Luke 24:52; John 20:28) and the charges of blasphemy leveled against him for making himself equal with God (Mark 2:7). Then we have similar texts which assume the deity of the Holy Spirit, calling Him an “eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14) and using “God” interchangeably with the “Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 3:16 and 1 Cor. 6:19; Acts 5:3-4) without a second thought.
The shape of Trinitarian orthodoxy is finally rounded off by texts that hint at the plurality of persons in the Godhead (Gen. 1:1-3, 26; Psalm 2:7; Dan. 7), texts like 1 Cor. 8:6 which place Jesus Christ as Lord right in the middle of Jewish Shema, and dozens of texts that speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the same breath, equating the three in rank, while assuming distinction of personhood (Matt. 28:19; Gal. 4:6; 1 Cor.12:4-6; 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2 Cor. 2:21-22; 13:14; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:18, 20-22; 3:14-17; 4:4-6; 5:18-20; 6:10-18).
The doctrine of the Trinity, as summarized in the seven statements earlier, is not a philosophical concoction by some over-zealous and over-intelligent early theologians, but one of the central planks of orthodoxy which can shown, explicitly or implicitly, from a multitude of biblical texts.
Third, why does any of this matter? There are lots of reasons, but borrowing from Robert Letham’s work, and in Trinitarian fashion, let me mention just three.
One, the Trinity matters for creation. God, unlike the gods in other ancient creation stories, did not need to go outside himself to create the universe. Instead, the Word and the Spirit were like his own two hands (to use Irenaeus’ famous phrase) in fashioning the cosmos. God created by speaking (the Word) as the Spirit hovered over the chaos. Creation, like regeneration, is a Trinitarian act, with God working by the agency of the Word spoken and the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit.
Two, the Trinity matters for evangelism and cultural engagement. I’ve heard it said that the two main rivals to a Christian worldview at present are Islam and Postmodernism. Islam emphasizes unity—unity of language, culture, and expression—without allowing much variance for diversity. Postmodernism, on the other hand, emphasizes diversity—diversity of opinion, belief, and background—without attempting to see things in any kind of meta-unity. Christianity, with its understanding of God as three in one, allows for diversity and unity. If God exists in three distinct Persons who all share the same essence, then it is possible to hope that God’s creation may exhibit stunning variety and individuality while still holding together in a genuine oneness.
Three, the Trinity matters for relationships. We worship a God who is in constant and eternal relationship with himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Community is a buzz word in American culture, but it is only in a Christian framework that communion and interpersonal community are seen as expressions of the eternal nature of God. Likewise, it is only with a Trinitarian God that love can be an eternal attribute of God. Without a plurality of persons in the Godhead, we would be forced to think that God created humans so that he might show love and know love, thereby making love a created thing (and God a needy deity). But with a biblical understanding of the Trinity we can say that God did not create in order to be loved, but rather, created out of the overflow of the perfect love that had always existed among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who ever live in perfect and mutual relationship and delight.

Discipleship is a Process not a Program

2011-09-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at our first monthly discipleship training. Several of you commented that it was helpful and that you are excited to see the emphasis on discipleship. Lenore asked about the big picture of the program. My response is that Real Life Discipleship is not a new program but rather a refining of our process for discipleship, specifically doing a better job of creating relational environments (Life Groups) where life transformation can take place. Our goal is to focus on discipleship with new eyes. This is just a refining of our vision –

Win, Train, and Send.

Thanks for partnering in the mission Jesus gave us to intentionally see the lost saved, discipled and multiplying!

Pastor David

Six Reasons Young Christians Leave the Church - Barna Research Group

2011-09-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

While I do not that the Barna group speaks on behalf of the church nor necessarily always give biblical solutions to the problems they identify, I think this article is insightful. - David

Many parents and church leaders wonder how to most effectively cultivate durable faith in the lives of young people. A five-year project headed by Barna Group president David Kinnaman explores the opportunities and challenges of faith development among teens and young adults within a rapidly shifting culture. The findings of the research are included in a new book by Kinnaman titled You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Church.
The research project was comprised of eight national studies, including interviews with teenagers, young adults, parents, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The study of young adults focused on those who were regular churchgoers Christian church during their teen years and explored their reasons for disconnection from church life after age 15.
No single reason dominated the break-up between church and young adults. Instead, a variety of reasons emerged. Overall, the research uncovered six significant themes why nearly three out of every five young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15.
Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective.
A few of the defining characteristics of today's teens and young adults are their unprecedented access to ideas and worldviews as well as their prodigious consumption of popular culture. As Christians, they express the desire for their faith in Christ to connect to the world they live in. However, much of their experience of Christianity feels stifling, fear-based and risk-averse. One-quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church” (23% indicated this “completely” or “mostly” describes their experience). Other perceptions in this category include “church ignoring the problems of the real world” (22%) and “my church is too concerned that movies, music, and video games are harmful” (18%).
Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.
A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%).
Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.
One of the reasons young adults feel disconnected from church or from faith is the tension they feel between Christianity and science. The most common of the perceptions in this arena is “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” (35%). Three out of ten young adults with a Christian background feel that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in” (29%). Another one-quarter embrace the perception that “Christianity is anti-science” (25%). And nearly the same proportion (23%) said they have “been turned off by the creation-versus-evolution debate.” Furthermore, the research shows that many science-minded young Christians are struggling to find ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling in science-related industries.
Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.
With unfettered access to digital pornography and immersed in a culture that values hyper-sexuality over wholeness, teen and twentysometing Christians are struggling with how to live meaningful lives in terms of sex and sexuality. One of the significant tensions for many young believers is how to live up to the church's expectations of chastity and sexual purity in this culture, especially as the age of first marriage is now commonly delayed to the late twenties. Research indicates that most young Christians are as sexually active as their non-Christian peers, even though they are more conservative in their attitudes about sexuality. One-sixth of young Christians (17%) said they “have made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” The issue of sexuality is particularly salient among 18- to 29-year-old Catholics, among whom two out of five (40%) said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.”
Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.
Younger Americans have been shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance. Today’s youth and young adults also are the most eclectic generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, technological tools and sources of authority. Most young adults want to find areas of common ground with each other, sometimes even if that means glossing over real differences. Three out of ten young Christians (29%) said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and an identical proportion felt they are “forced to choose between my faith and my friends.” One-fifth of young adults with a Christian background said “church is like a country club, only for insiders” (22%).
Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.
Young adults with Christian experience say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts. They do not feel safe admitting that sometimes Christianity does not make sense. In addition, many feel that the church’s response to doubt is trivial. Some of the perceptions in this regard include not being able “to ask my most pressing life questions in church” (36%) and having “significant intellectual doubts about my faith” (23%). In a related theme of how churches struggle to help young adults who feel marginalized, about one out of every six young adults with a Christian background said their faith “does not help with depression or other emotional problems” they experience (18%).
Turning Toward Connection
David Kinnaman, who is the coauthor of the book unChristian, explained that “the problem of young adults dropping out of church life is particularly urgent because most churches work best for ‘traditional’ young adults – those whose life journeys and life questions are normal and conventional. But most young adults no longer follow the typical path of leaving home, getting an education, finding a job, getting married and having kids—all before the age of 30. These life events are being delayed, reordered, and sometimes pushed completely off the radar among today’s young adults.
“Consequently, churches are not prepared to handle the ‘new normal.’ Instead, church leaders are most comfortable working with young, married adults, especially those with children. However, the world for young adults is changing in significant ways, such as their remarkable access to the world and worldviews via technology, their alienation from various institutions, and their skepticism toward external sources of authority, including Christianity and the Bible.”
The research points to two opposite, but equally dangerous responses by faith leaders and parents: either catering to or minimizing the concerns of the next generation. The study suggests some leaders ignore the concerns and issues of teens and twentysomethings because they feel that the disconnection will end when young adults are older and have their own children. Yet, this response misses the dramatic technological, social and spiritual changes that have occurred over the last 25 years and ignores the significant present-day challenges these young adults are facing.
Other churches seem to be taking the opposite corrective action by using all means possible to make their congregation appeal to teens and young adults. However, putting the focus squarely on youth and young adults causes the church to exclude older believers and “builds the church on the preferences of young people and not on the pursuit of God,” Kinnaman said.
Between these extremes, the just-released book You Lost Me points to ways in which the various concerns being raised by young Christians (including church dropouts) could lead to revitalized ministry and deeper connections in families. Kinnaman observed that many churches approach generations in a hierarchical, top-down manner, rather than deploying a true team of believers of all ages. “Cultivating intergenerational relationships is one of the most important ways in which effective faith communities are developing flourishing faith in both young and old. In many churches, this means changing the metaphor from simply passing the baton to the next generation to a more functional, biblical picture of a body – that is, the entire community of faith, across the entire lifespan, working together to fulfill God’s purposes.”

You Lost Me
Buy: the book
Download: free excerpt

About the Research
This Barna Update is based on research conducted for the Faith That Lasts Project, which took place between 2007 and 2011. The research included a series of national public opinion surveys conducted by Barna Group.
In addition to extensive quantitative interviewing with adults and faith leaders nationwide, the main research examination for the study was conducted with 18- to 29-year-olds who had been active in a Christian church at some point in their teen years. The quantitative study among 18- to 29-year-olds was conducted online with 1,296 current and former churchgoers. The Faith That Lasts research also included parallel testing on key measures using telephone surveys, including interviews conducted among respondents using cell phones, to help ensure the representativeness of the online sample. The sampling error associated with 1,296 interviews is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, at the 95% confidence level.
The online study relied upon a research panel called KnowledgePanel®, created by Knowledge Networks. It is a probability-based online non-volunteer access panel. Panel members are recruited using a statistically valid sampling method with a published sample frame of residential addresses that covers approximately 97% of U.S. households. Sampled non-Internet households, when recruited, are provided a netbook computer and free Internet service so they may also participate as online panel members. KnowledgePanel consists of about 50,000 adult members (ages 18 and older) and includes persons living in cell phone only households.
About Barna Group
Barna Group (which includes its research division, the Barna Research Group) is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization under the umbrella of the Issachar Companies. It conducts primary research, produces media resources pertaining to spiritual development, and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries.
Located in Ventura, California, Barna Group has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984. If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release of each update on the latest research findings from Barna Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna website (www.barna.org). Additional research-based resources are also available through this website.
© Barna Group, 2011.

Disciples are Gospel People

2011-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

As disciples of Jesus, we are gospel people. The core of our identity is our passion for the biblical good news of the saving work of God through Jesus Christ. We are united by our experience of the grace of God in the gospel and by our motivation to make that gospel of grace known to the ends of the earth by every possible means.

Cape Town Commitment, p. 23

The Art of Life

2011-09-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message. -- Malcom Muggeridge

Christian Hipster

2011-09-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

A Plan for Discipleship

2011-09-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends ofCCC:

I want to tell you about thespiritual journey the elders have taken this year and what we believe God hasfor us as a body. This journey grew outof our need for effective discipleship in our church. We have seen evidence of God’s grace in our church–individuals coming to faith and lives being transformed but we have also seen individualswho were spiritually stagnant and falling away from the Lord and from our body. As we considered the reasons, it pointed backto this lack of discipleship.

We began searching for churchesthat were actually multiplying disciples and had processes for evaluating spiritualgrowth. During this time, one of mymagazine subscriptions, Missions Frontiers, dedicated an entire issue to the topic! It compared the way missionaries build thechurch by discipling others with the way American churches build the church byrunning programs. One article inparticular by a retired missionary, Avery Willis, caught my attention. He helped a Church in Idaho develop a process for relationaldiscipleship through small groups.

We read the book together andwere excited about its simple and practical approach to discipleship and how wellit aligned with our mission of transforming lives by winning people to JesusChrist, training them to be followers of Christ, and sending them out for localand global impact. Here is our plan forimplementing this model in our body:

Training

A number of individuals aregoing to the Real Life Ministries’ training course; Immersion One this fall andImmersion Two sometime next year. Karen andI are going this Saturday to Immersion One; another group is going in November. Please pray for us!

I am also inviting everyone to a monthly potluckand training to equip as many as possible with the practical skills that Iglean from Immersion One and my years of discipling others. Thistraining starts September 25^thafter church and is open to anyone, but especially those involved inand leading life groups. Theregistration deadline is Wednesday, September 21^st. Please bring a dish to pass.

Teaching

I want everyone tounderstand and embrace this process for life transformation so beginning October 2, I will be doing asermon series on discipleship called , Win. Train. Send. I will be using the Real Life Ministry TrainingManual as a guide for this series. The manuals will be for sale ($13) as a handbookto the series. Each weeklychapter is divided into five daily segments that will take about thirty minutesfor reflection and application. It is a greatresource for practically applying the principles to your life.

Life Groups

To reinforce the truths fromthe series, we are asking each LifeGroup to follow the series in your group, using the Real Life Ministry TrainingManual for your group discussion. Discussion questions are provided. I believe that a community wide focus willhelp us embrace this discipleship model as a community. Makeit a priority to get involved with a Life Group for this twelve week series. You will never be the same! If you are interested in leading a Life Groupcall me, 235.8291.

I am inviting you to joinus in this journey as a church family.

Be Excited. Expect a Change. Make a Difference.

Pastor David

2011-09-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not suggesting that we have the power to heal physical conditions with our human fingers. But I do believe there's a healing of the spirit that takes place when we touch others. There's a comfort that can't be found anywhere else but in a touch or a hug. Somehow, God's love and power is shared with others through the simplicity of our physical touch. -- Amy Nappa

The Unseen Importance of Prayer

2011-09-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

We all have to wait until the astonishing discoveries will one day be made, and find out whose faithful prayer in hospitals, prisons, jungles, wheelchairs, crowded city apartments, cabins in the woods, farms, factories, or concentration camps has been a part of a specific victory in snatching someone from a circle of death, or in breaking chains so that there seems to be an ease for that one in stepping into new life. I feel sure that we’ll be surprised beyond measure to discover who or how many will receive the rewards for their part in taking literally and with simple faith and trust the responsibility to intercede, to pray, to make requests day in and day out.
- Edith Schaeffer

How God Sees His Children

2011-09-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

You are not an accident. Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. ... Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you!

-- Rick Warren

Making Disciples

2011-09-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

Biblical mission demands that those who claim Christ’s name should be like him, by taking up their cross, denying themselves, and following him in the paths of humility, love, integrity, generosity, and servanthood. To fail in discipleship and disciple-making, is to fail at the most basic level of our mission. The call of Christ to his church comes to us a fresh from the pages of the gospel: ‘come and follow me’; ‘go and make disciples.’

Cape Town Commitment, p. 71

The Sovereignty of God

2011-09-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

The circumstance that had seemed a disaster was being recognized as among the "all things" that work together for good to them that love God... learning to think of God as "The One Great Circumstance of Life" and of all lesser, eternal circumstances as the kindest, ... wisest and best, because they were either ordered or permitted by him.

H&G Taylor
Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret

Why Youth Stay in Church When They Grow Up – The Gospel Coalition Blog

2011-09-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

Why Youth Stay in Church When They Grow Up

Here is a great article by Jon Nielson, the senior high pastor at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois. He blogs at Something More Sure.

“What do we do about our kids?” The group of parents sat together in my office, wiping their eyes. I’m a high school pastor, but for once, they weren’t talking about 16-year-olds drinking and partying. Each had a story to tell about a “good Christian” child, raised in their home and in our church, who had walked away from the faith during the college years. These children had come through our church’s youth program, gone on short-term mission trips, and served in several different ministries during their teenage years. Now they didn’t want anything to do with it anymore. And, somehow, these mothers’ ideas for our church to send college students “care packages” during their freshman year to help them feel connected to the church didn’t strike me as a solution with quite enough depth.

The daunting statistics about church going youth keep rolling in. Panic ensues. What are we doing wrong in our churches? In our youth ministries?
It’s hard to sort through the various reports and find the real story. And there is no one easy solution for bringing all of those “lost” kids back into the church, other than continuing to pray for them and speaking the gospel into their lives. However, we can all look at the 20-somethings in our churches who are engaged and involved in ministry. What is it that sets apart the kids who stay in the church? Here are just a few observations I have made about such kids, with a few applications for those of us serving in youth ministry.

1. They are converted.

The apostle Paul, interestingly enough, doesn’t use phrases like “nominal Christian” or “pretty good kid.” The Bible doesn’t seem to mess around with platitudes like: “Yeah, it’s a shame he did that, but he’s got a good heart.” When we listen to the witness of Scripture, particularly on the topic of conversion, we find that there is very little wiggle room. Listen to these words: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). We youth pastors need to get back to understanding salvation as what it really is: a miracle that comes from the glorious power of God through the working of the Holy Spirit.
We need to stop talking about “good kids.” We need to stop being pleased with attendance at youth group and fun retreats. We need to start getting on our knees and praying that the Holy Spirit will do miraculous saving work in the hearts of our students as the Word of God speaks to them. In short, we need to get back to a focus on conversion. How many of us are preaching to “unconverted evangelicals”? Youth pastors, we need to preach, teach, and talk—all the while praying fervently for the miraculous work of regeneration to occur in the hearts and souls of our students by the power of the Holy Spirit! When that happens—when the “old goes” and the “new comes”—it will not be iffy. We will not be dealing with a group of “nominal Christians.” We will be ready to teach, disciple, and equip a generation of future church leaders—“new creations”!—who are hungry to know and speak God’s Word. It is converted students who go on to love Jesus and serve the church.

2. They have been equipped, not entertained.

Recently we had “man day” with some of the guys in our youth group. We began with an hour of basketball at the local park, moved to an intense game of 16” (“Chicago Style”) softball, and finished the afternoon by gorging ourselves on meaty pizzas and 2-liters of soda. I am not against fun (or gross, depending on your opinion of the afternoon I just described) things in youth ministry. But youth pastors especially need to keep repeating the words of Ephesians 4:11-12 to themselves: “[Christ] gave . . . the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Christ gives us—teachers—to the church, not for entertainment, encouragement, examples, or even friendship primarily. He gives us to the church to “equip” the saints to do gospel ministry, in order that the church of Christ may be built up.
If I have not equipped the students in my ministry to share the gospel, disciple a younger believer, and lead a Bible study, then I have not fulfilled my calling to them, no matter how good my sermons have been. We pray for conversion; that is all we can do, for it is entirely a gracious gift of God. But after conversion, it is our Christ-given duty to help fan into flame a faith that serves, leads, teaches, and grows. If our students leave high school without Bible-reading habits, Bible-study skills, and strong examples of discipleship and prayer, we have lost them. We have entertained, not equipped them . . . and it may indeed be time to panic!
Forget your youth programs for a second. Are we sending out from our ministries the kind of students who will show up to college in a different state, join a church, and begin doing the work of gospel ministry there without ever being asked? Are we equipping them to that end, or are we merely giving them a good time while they’re with us? We don’t need youth group junkies; we need to be growing churchmen and churchwomen who are equipped to teach, lead, and serve. Put your youth ministry strategies aside as you look at that 16-year-old young man and ask: “How can I spend four years with this kid, helping him become the best church deacon and sixth-grade Sunday school class teacher he can be, ten years down the road?”

3. Their parents preached the gospel to them.

As a youth pastor, I can’t do all this. All this equipping that I’m talking about is utterly beyond my limited capabilities. It is impossible for me to bring conversion, of course, but it is also impossible for me to have an equipping ministry that sends out vibrant churchmen and churchwomen if my ministry is not being reinforced tenfold in the students’ homes. The common thread that binds together almost every ministry-minded 20-something that I know is abundantly clear: a home where the gospel was not peripheral but absolutely central. The 20-somethings who are serving, leading, and driving the ministries at our church were kids whose parents made them go to church. They are kids whose parents punished them and held them accountable when they were rebellious. They are kids whose parents read the Bible around the dinner table every night. And they are kids whose parents were tough, but who ultimately operated from a framework of grace that held up the cross of Jesus as the basis for peace with God and forgiveness toward one another.
This is not a formula! Kids from wonderful gospel-centered homes leave the church; people from messed-up family backgrounds find eternal life in Jesus and have beautiful marriages and families. But it’s also not a crap-shoot. In general, children who are led in their faith during their growing-up years by parents who love Jesus vibrantly, serve their church actively, and saturate their home with the gospel completely, grow up to love Jesus and the church. The words of Proverbs 22:6 do not constitute a formula that is true 100 percent of the time, but they do provide us with a principle that comes from the gracious plan of God, the God who delights to see his gracious Word passed from generation to generation: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Youth pastors, pray with all your might for true conversion; that is God’s work. Equip the saints for the work of the ministry; that is your work. Parents, preach the gospel and live the gospel for your children; our work depends on you.

What Does the Gospel Mean Right Now? | The Resurgence

2011-08-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

What Does the Gospel Mean Right Now? | The Resurgence

Sucees and Failure in Ministry

2011-08-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

A 30-Year-Old Dream I Have Outlived By One Year

Sinner and Saint

2011-07-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

I have been reflecting on being a sinner and a saint at the same time. In doing some surfing on this topic, I came across an interesting quote from Cornelius PlantingaJr., Beyond Doubt (p. 89) on Justin Taylor's blog:

People tend to make two mistakes when they think about the redeemed life.

The first is to underestimate the sin that remains in us; it’s still there andit can still hurt us.

The second is to underestimate the strength of God’s grace; God is determinedto make us new.

As a result, all Christians need to say two things.

We admit that we are redeemed sinners.

But we also say boldly and joyously that we are redeemed sinners.

Church and Mission

2011-07-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

The New Testament knows little of an individualized faith separated from Christian community. If we speak of evangelism, we must also speak of the church. In the book of Acts, we see God himself "adding" new believers to the church (Acts 2:41, 47; 5:14). One cannot read Acts without noting that nearly everywhere the gospel was preached, communities of believers are formed. Evangelism led to the establishment of churches under a local spiritual leadership and interrelated with other churches. To belong to Christ is also to belong to Christ's people (I Cor 12:13).

Craig Ott, Professor Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Encountering Theology of Mission, p. 118

Francis Chan on What is Normal Christianity

2011-07-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

What we say is radical; Scriptures says is normal! Read and laugh and cry.

An Uncertain Economic Future

2011-07-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, alike a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man (Prov 6:5-11 ESV).

I received my weekly 'Cabot Wealth Advisory' today that looked at the end of quantitative easing, the likelihood of higher interest rates, and an uncertain future. I am not a fear monger but I am surprised we are not in a worse economic situation than we currently find ourselves in and I do not see things getting better any time soon. This newsletter reinforces some of my concerns. Here is a summary.

According to the U.S. Debt Clock (http://www.usdebtclock.org), one of the most widely cited tools to measure our nation's ballooning debt load, the U.S. government owes $14.3 trillion to our creditors. That's nearly $130,000 per taxpayer. In addition, according to the Federal Budget released by President Obama in mid-February, we're currently on pace to add $1.65 trillion to our national debt this year alone!

The Federal Reserve's ginormous quantitative easing program (QE) ended a couple of weeks ago. This has effectively taken away major support from the Treasury market. Not only that, the financial problems in Europe are coming to a head and there is still a sluggish economic outlook. What will happen? Many, if not most are predicting higher interest rates. There is one other country in recent history that has attempted to bolster their economy with QE. Japan introduced QE in 2001 and ended the program in March of 2006. The country was able to flood the markets with liquidity and thereby keeping interest rates low, just as the Federal Reserve has done here. But that was only as the program was in place. When the cash flow stopped their stock market took a steep correction. See the chart below:

Notice that it turned sharply lower, then rebounded in the short term only to fall again and has not since recovered and five years later is 40% lower! I am not predicting that what happened in Japan will happen here. I am no economist but it does make me nervous. Consider the ant . . .

The Difference between Justification and Sanctification

2011-07-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

I found this helpful post on the distinction between justification and sanctification today from Justin Taylors blog dated June 20, 2007:

Tony Lane:

The Reformation doctrine makes a deliberate and systematic distinction between justification on the one hand and sanctification or regeneration on the other hand.
Justification refers to my status; sanctification to my state.
Justification is about God’s attitude to me changing; sanctification is about God changing me.
Justification is about how God looks on me; sanctification is about what he does in me.
Justification is about Christ dying for my sins on the cross; sanctification is about Christ at work in me by the Holy Spirit changing my life.
The Reformers were careful to distinguish these two–but not to separate them. One cannot have one without the other–as with the heat and light of the sun. The sun gives out heat and light. These two cannot be separated. When the sun shines there is both heat and light; yet they are distinct and not to be confused. We are not warmed by the sun’s light nor illumined by its heat. To use a modern illustration, justification and sanctification are like the two legs of a pair of trousers, not like two socks which may well become separated and, in the author’s experience, too often do become separated.

Anthony N.S. Lane, Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue: An Evangelical Assessment, p. 18.

Differences between our Jusification and our Sanctification

2011-07-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, preaching through Galatians 3:1-5, I made the distinction between justification and sanctification. I wanted to draw this out more fully here. Much of my thought on this is dependent upon WayneGrudem.

Justification isan instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins asforgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us tobe righteous in his sight.

§ Justification includes a legal declaration byGod (Rom 4:5; 8:1; 3:21-22). Godforgives our past, present, and future sins and gives us Christ’s perfect record.

§ God declares us to be just in his sight. He declares that we have been made positivelyrighteous (Isa 61:10); Rom 3:21-22). Godcan declare us to be just because he imputes Christ's righteousness to us (Rom5:19; 1 Cor 1:30; Phil 3:9).

§ Justification comes to us completely by God’sgrace, not on account of any merit on our part (Rom 3:23-24). Grace means it is the opposite of doingsomething for ourselves.

§ God justifies us through our faith in Christ.

Sanctification isa progressive work of both God and man that makes us more and more free fromsin and like Christ in our actual lives." Outlines are some differences between Justificationsand sanctification:

Justification	Sanctification
Legal standing	Internal condition
Once for all time	Continuous throughout life
Entirely Gods work	We cooperate with God
Perfect in this life	Not perfect in this life
Same in all Christians	Greater in some than others

There are three stages of sanctification:

§ Sanctification has a definite beginning atregeneration (Titus 3:5; 1 Cor 6:11). Atthe moment of conversion, we are set apart unto God. He gives us a new heartwith new desires and appetites to please Him.

§ Sanctification increases throughout life (Phil3:13-14; Heb 12:14). The older we get,the more we should be walking with Jesus.

§ Sanctification is completed at death (for oursouls) and when the Lord returns (for our bodies) (Heb 12:23).

Sanctification is never completed in this life (Mat 6:11-12; 1 John 1:8; 1 Tim 4:12-15).

God and man cooperate in sanctification (Phil 2:13). Both God and the redeemed sinner have a role in sanctification. God changes us, gives us the ability to obey. And then we need to be active – we strive and work out our sanctification the strength which He supplies.

Sanctification affects the whole person.

The best Part about Knowing God.

2011-07-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

The bible teaches that the best and final gift of God’s loveis the enjoyment of God’s beauty. “Onething have I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in thehouse of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lordand to inquire in his temple (Ps. 27:4).” The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Chris. “I counteverything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus myLord. For his sake I have suffered theloss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ(Phil 3:8).” God is the Gospel, p. 11; italicized mine.

Some More Reflections on Grace

2011-06-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:2).

Grace flows like an endless and eternal fountain from God our Father toward us as his children. It is like the air we breath and an eternal fountain flowing from an endless ocean of grace in which we swim. It is sovereign and endless and free. As recipients, we do not deserve it and cannot do a single thing to earn it. God gives it freely to whom he chooses. It begins in His electing love and finds its culmination in our eternal glorification. We will never be able to plummet the depths of His grace even in eternity and that it is so endless that we will never exhaust it in eternity (Eph 2:7). Yet it is available to all who will receive him, who will trust in the work of his crucified Son!
What is so amazing is that I have experienced this grace. It overwhelms me with praise and thanksgiving that I am a recipient of this priceless grace, that I breathe and swim in it, that this fountain of grace is always at my disposal, and that I will never be able to exhaust it. It secures for me the promise of every spiritual blessing in Christ. There has never been and will never be a blessing that is good for me that He will withhold from me.

Being Overwhelmed by Grace!

2011-06-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Whenever I prepare to preach a passage there are always great ideas I must cut out for the sake of time and focus. Last week I made the difficult decision to cut out a significant idea from Galatians 4:1-11, being known by God. Most of who are Christ followers describe our relationship to God in terms of us at the center and move toward God so we use terms like my walk with God. Paul does the same thing but he catches himself in mid sentence to clarify and make a clearer, more accurate statement, "now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God (4:9)." He points to a more important and fundamental truth to our experience of knowing God's saving love as a Father and that is His prior knowledge of us in setting His affection on us. This knowing of us by God points to his choosing of us as an act of free grace. It is almost synonomous to his choosing us. That is why translators translate the word known as choosing in some instances. For example,

"For I have chosen , that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him." (Gen 18:19 ESV)
"You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. (Amo 3:2 ESV)
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jer 1:5 ESV)

It overwhelms me to know that before I existed, before I did anything good or bad, He set his saving love and affection on me then at just the right time called me to himself, caused me to be born again so that faith was a wakened and I said yes to Jesus! Such grace leaves me speechless.

2011-05-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Involvement in the global enterprise of following Christ always requires death in various shapes and sizes. Some will literally be asked to die (Jn 12:24), while others will be asked to die to selfishness, materialism, consumerism and all the other enemies of the Jesus-exalting gospel. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's most famous statement - "When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die" - urges us to take courage for the sake of Christ's kingdom. - Paul Borthwick

Being the Salt in the Earth

2011-05-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us.

-- Sadhu Sundar Singh

Is God Glad Osama Bin Laden's Dead? - Desiring God

2011-05-03T09:44:00.001-07:00

Is God Glad Osama Bin Laden's Dead? - Desiring God

Bin Laden's Death: How Should We Feel? - Desiring God

2011-05-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Bin Laden's Death: How Should We Feel? - Desiring God

God’s Final Word – Tullian Tchividjian

2011-04-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

God’s Final Word – Tullian Tchividjian

Getting the most out of our Galatains Sermon Series

2011-04-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Read through the book of Galatians daily; it takes about twenty five minutes.

If you don’t have time to get through it in one sitting, start where you left off the next day.

Another option is to read the chapter that corresponds with the passage I am going to preach through that week. I will be in chapter one for the next four weeks.

As you read, look for and highlight repeated words and ideas.

Read a commentary on the book alongside my preaching. We have three copies a very good commentary by John Stott in the book store.

Have your Life Group discuss my sermons. If you want to do this, let me know and IU will come up with discussion questions.

Decisions That Define Us . . .

2011-04-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

These are not goals, as in a destination … but goals as in the direction ofour journey … they are declaration of intentions … borrowed from Graham Cooke.

Decisions that define us
We’ve decided that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the gospel innot enough. Good preaching, good doctrine, being good people is notenough.
We’ve decided that having a good church club is not enough. Good fellowshipis not enough. And just being a member of that club is not enough.
We’ve decided that having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough.That just making it to heaven is not our goal, and that knowing about Godwithout truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless.
We’ve decided that having good programs is not enough; that change withouttransformation is intolerable. And that staying the same is not an option.
We’ve decided that gifting without character is futile.
We’ve decided that singing songs without worshiping is hollow and havingmeetings without God showing up is pointless.
We’ve decided that having faith without works is not enough and having workswithout love is not acceptable – that our function comes out of ourrelationship first with the Father and second with each other.
We’ve decided that reading about the book of Acts without living the book ofActs is unthinkable.
We’ve decided that confident faith is good…..bold faith is better.
We’ve decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him…..is silly. That believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signsand wonders……is hypocrisy. That believing in healing without seeing peoplehealed……is absurd. And that believing in deliverance without people beingdelivered………is absolutely ridiculous.
We’ve decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spiritempowered – anything less doesn’t work for us.
We’ve decided to be the ones telling the stories of God’s power – not theones hearing about them.
We’ve decided that living saved, but not supernatural is living below ourprivilege and short of what Christ died for.
We’ve decided we’re a battleship not a cruise-ship! An Army not an audience!Special Forces not spectators! Missionaries not club members!
We’ve decided to value both pioneers and settlers – pioneers to expand ourterritory and settlers to build on those territories – but we are not peoplewho take up space others have fought for without improving it … we are notsquatters.
We’ve decided to be infectious instead of innocuous. Contagious instead ofquarantined! Deadly instead of benign!
We’ve decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.
We’ve decided that we are a mission station not a museum.

Therefore:
We honor the past but we don’t live in it.
We live in the present with our eyes on the future.
We see past events – the successes and failures – as stepping stones notstop signs.
We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order toknow.
We are people of engagement not observation.
We focus on what could be – not on what is or has been.

5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church | The Resurgence

2011-04-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church | The Resurgence

The Importance of Prayer

2011-04-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

This crucial place of prayer reaffirms that great goal of God to uphold and display his glory for the enjoyment of the redeemed from all the nations…. The missionary purpose of God is as invincible as the fact that he is God. He will achieve his purpose by creating white-hot worshippers from every people, tongue, tribe and nation (Rev. 5:9; 7:9). And he will be engaged to do it through prayer. Therefore, it is almost impossible to overemphasize the awesome place of prayer in the purposes of God for the world. John Piper, The Mission of God's People, p. 254

Worship is Inescapable

2011-03-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Found this quote on Ray Ortlands blog. “No human being escapes the necessity of conceiving some good outside himself towards which his thought turns in a movement of desire, supplication, and hope. Consequently, the only choice is between worshiping the true God or an idol.” Simone Weil, First and Last Notebooks (Oxford, 1970), page 308.

Missional Mothering | The Resurgence

2011-03-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Missional Mothering | The Resurgence

Glancing or Gazing?

2011-03-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

“I don’t gaze at men and glance at Jesus. I gaze at Jesus and glance at men.” ~ E. Stanley Jones

The Power and Importance of Prayer

2011-03-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

The power of prayer has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of the divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure, and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Hudson Taylor

Wednesday Reflections about Sunday

2011-03-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday was surely one of the highlights of my ministry herein Homer. As I have reflected on whatGod has miraculously done in the last year or so to make this happen, I am inawe that we are known, loved, and blessed by such an awesome God!

I am thankful to God that some many of you who have given ofyour time, talents, and treasures to make this a reality. You have labored hard and long and financiallycontributed to make this dream a reality.

I am thankful to God that many of the older generation havelived to see and worship in the new sanctuary!

I am thankful to God doing more than we could ask or imaginein his financial provision. Every time Itell the story, my faith is encouraged.

I am thankful to God for the teams that I was blessed toparticipate with during this process - the Building Committee, the Advisory Board,the Trustees, and the Elders. It was an excitingand hard and grace filled year! God hasblessed us with many faithful and gifted leaders.

I am thankful to God for the team of ministry minded individualswe worked with from Church Solutions Group. Their wisdom and insight into building design, sound, lighting as wellas their ability to get great pricing on materials and equipment was worthevery penny we spent for their help. Itis not only us that are blessed by this relationship, but the next generation isas well.

I am thankful to God that we have an awesome facility in whichto minister more effectively and be a blessing to our community.

Lastly, I am thankful to God that in the end, the church isthe people, and I love the people of CCC whom God has called me to pastor. Thank you for allowing me to serve you and extendedthe grace to grow as your pastor and leader for the last seven years!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor David

Kathy's Corner: First Sunday in our New Sanctuary!

2011-03-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Kathy's Corner: First Sunday in our New Sanctuary!

FRANCIS CHAN IS BACK! (Jan. 2011) latest message to the Cornerstone church

2011-03-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a passionate appeal to stop playing and really follow Jesus! Set aside one hour and really absorb what Francis Chan has to say.

Walking with God

2011-03-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

I would rather walk with God in the dark than go alone in the light. -- Mary Gardiner Brainard

God's Work in our Salvation

2011-03-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

Normally I read through the whole bible yearly and last year I read through the New Testament five times but this year I am saturating myself in one book of the bibleat a time until I have a grasp of that book. Depending on the size of the book, I expect to spend one to four monthsreading through each book of the bible. I started in Matthew and have read it through several times since Istarted February first (I was one month behind reading through the NewTestament five times last year). Todayas I read through chapter thirteen I was struck again with how sovereign God isin my salvation. For instance, Matthewtells us that Jesus said to his disciples, "to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,but to them it has not been given (11). Spiritual knowledge of the kingdom is a giftGod gives only to those whom he chooses to give such knowledge. I saw this stated similarly in chapter sixteen,“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven (17).

Peteris blessed because God the Father has revealed this truth to him not because heis morally, spiritually, or intellectually superior. The key of this knowledge (see Luke 11:52) isGod revealing his son through the proclamation of Christ. This key to the kingdom that comes throughthe proclamation of the gospel both draws and includes men as well as hardensand excludes men (see Mat 13:10-17). Wesee this inclusion in Acts 2:14-39; 3:11-26 and this exclusion in Acts 4:11-12;8:20-23 so that by this means the Lord added to his church those beingsaved. What God has done in heaven isplayed out in the preaching of the gospel - inclusion and exclusion based upon Godswork in the heart of man!

Family and Mission

2011-02-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

God is not calling us to win the world and, in the process, lose our families. But I have known those who so enshrined family life and were so protective of “quality time” that the children never saw in their parents the kind of consuming love that made their parent’s faith attractive to them. Some have lost their children, not because they weren’t at their soccer games or didn’t take family vacations, but because they never transmitted a loyalty to Jesus that went deep enough to interrupt personal preferences. - -- David Shibley in The Missions Addiction

Peru Trip 2011, first update

2011-02-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

Our team hit the ground in Peru Thursday night and started with street ministry on Friday afternoon. We split up into three groups and moved among the crowds in the market place in downtown Lima. We saw many people healed and others gets saved. Here is one example . . . we saw and older gentleman and two women sitting on a bench. We asked if we could pray for them and they described ailments they wanted us to pray for. As we began to pray one lady started breaching heavily and sobbing. I felt the presence of Jesus strongly. After we prayed, I asked her about her crying. She told us that they had just been talking about their ailments and that God sent us to them! At that, we led them to Jesus!
We also prayed for another group of women, two of which were deaf. They both heard popping noises when we prayed and they could partially hear after praying for them. We also led them to Jesus.
Saturday we went into the hills outside of Lima, Comos to feed the poor. We work with a wonderful woman, Wilma, who has a feeding center and reaches out to the children an families. After our feeding, Wilma showed me her modest building. They have bible studies there and in March are going to start a church service on Sundays. I spent some time with Hector, who will be leading the ministry there. We talked about him, his sense of calling, gifts, and I helped him with strategy and structure in the the work there.
We prayed for a woman, Erica, who has AIDS and TB. As we were praying for her, a beautiful young teenage girl came in and stood by us. After praying we talked to the woman I found out that the young girl, Grace was her daughter. I asked if we could pray for her also. As we did I started to cry knowing that this young girl may already be infected with either condition and what will happen to her when her mother dies - she will be abused by men in the community. She currently lives with her mother in a shack less than 10x10, with one bed. I found out that she has been caring for her mother and sleeps in the same bed with her. I talked to Wilma about getting her tested for AIDS and TB, educating her on normal medical precautions, getting her a mattress to sleep on, and what we can do to protect her.
Then last night we ministered at the youth service at Wilma's church. The youth from our team sang a couple of songs and I taught on the Spirit of adoption as it relates to God as our Father. Most of these young adults do not have stable families or good father figures, if they know their father at all. Afterward we prayed for many. It was awesome to see the youth - my son Daniel, Leah Flory, and Anna Marie Motis pray for these young people!

What are you tolerating in your life?

2011-02-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

John Wesley said: “What onegeneration tolerates, the next generation will embrace.”

I am reading a challenging little book called "Radical" by David Platt. In it he addresses many of Jesus' hard and even harsh statements and shows how the American church has a tendency to water down or even ignore these teachings. He attempts to show how we have water down the gospel itself and even accept, tolerate and even embrace unbiblical

lifestyles in our churches. Then this morning I ran across this quote by John Welsey. How true it is! Our Peru team is reading and discussing it together. I see a hunger in all of us to walk closer to Jesus and wrestle with his demands! These are evidences of God's Spirit working among us. Get the book. Read it with an open mind and heart.

Five images for our union with Christ

2011-02-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

by Thomas Watson

1. Vine and Branches (John 15:1-5) & Roots of an Olive Tree Connected with its Limbs (Romans 11:16-18). Jesus described the relationship by the union of a vine with its branches
2. Union of Christ with the Father (John 17:20-21). Jesus compares this union to that between Himself and His Father.
3. Stones United to the Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:21-22). Relationship is illustrated by the union of the stones in the temple to their foundation cornerstone.
4. Union between Head and Body (1 Corinthians). Paul compares union to that between the head and the members of the body.
5. Union between Husband and Wife (Ephesians 5:31-32). Union compared to that relationship between husband and wife; whereby the indissoluble and sacred bond, they are considered one legal person.

Union with Christ: A Crash Course – Justin Taylor

2011-02-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

Union with Christ: A Crash Course – Justin Taylor

Perspective on Difficulties

2011-02-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something. -- Clarence W. Jones

It is amazing what we can and will do when we have the right perspective on reality. This week I have been meditating on 2 Thesselonians 1:3-12. In this passage Paul points to the rewards at the return of Christ given to those who faithfully persevere through the trials of this life perseverance. If we keep the end in view, then we are given God's strength to persevere through the difficulties of life. It is the same truth that every athlete has when he runs a race. He goes to great lengths training and preparing, many times at great personal cost so that when he races he will win the race and receive the prize. Sounds like something the apostle Paul wrote! Here is an amazing video that illustrates this point.

James Gray on Mastering the Bible | The Scriptorium Daily: Middlebrow

2011-02-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

I have been reading through the bible in one year for several years but this last year I read through the New Testament five times. This year I have been convinced to change my reading habits to read though one book of the bible until I 'master it.' I commend you all to consider this method of bible reading!

James Gray on Mastering the Bible | The Scriptorium Daily: Middlebrow

Responsibility

2011-02-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Responsibility

Going starts where we live, but it doesn't stop there . . . . If there are a billion people who have never heard the gospel and billions of others who still have not received the gospel, then we have an obligation to go to them. This is not an option. This is a command, not a calling. What is the matter of calling is where we will go and how long we will stay. We will not all go to the same places, and we will not all stay the same length of time. But it is clearly the will of God for us to take the gospel to the nations. -- David Platt from Radical

An interview with John Piper about the 25th anniversary of his book Desiring God

2011-02-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

Multnomah recently published a 25th anniversary edition of John Piper’s classic, Desiring God, Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (the only edition I do not own!). Piper answered a few questions that Justin Taylor asked him.
As anyone who knows me and and the influences in my life, you will know that I have great admiration for Piper. He, as well as Dan Fuller (who Piper mentions) and Jonathan Edwards rescued me. Let me explain. "Desiring God" rescued me from legalism and obedience as duty rather than a delight; Dan Fuller rescued me from theological snobbery, showing me the unity and consistency of the whole bible in his excellent book, Unity of the Bible; and Jonathan Edwards clear and deep thinking that added theological depth and clarity (any lack of that is not attributed to him!) to my faith.

Justin:
In the Preface you explain the convergence of a number of things that turned you into a “Christian Hedonist” (Pascal, Lewis, the Psalms, etc.). Did you invent the term, or did you learn it from Daniel Fuller?
I don’t remember. I certainly saw the word “hedonism” used positively in several authors roughly in the way I use it. I don’t recall seeing the exact phrase “Christian Hedonism.”
The key living person in shaping the vision was Daniel Fuller. His unpublished Hermeneutics Syllabus that I read in his class in the Fall of 1968 had a section entitled “We are far too easily pleased.” This section developed the argument of C. S. Lewis from his sermon “The Weight of Glory.” The first page of that sermon, and it’s unpacking by Dan Fuller, was the flashpoint where things exploded in my head and heart.
Justin:
Was there a moment you remember when the thesis crystallized in your mind: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him”?
As I recall one of the most influential early evidences for that truth in my experience was the coming together of two passages on prayer in John’s Gospel: John 14:13 and 16:24, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. . . . Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Prayer assumes the pursuit of God’s glory and our joy. Only later did I see the way Paul argued in Phil. 1:20–21—that Christ is magnified most in our dying when we count dying gain; that is, when we are more satisfied in him than anything this life offers.
I had read in seminary Edwards’s End for Which God Created the World, but did not see till years later how he came within a hair of saying God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him: “God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it.”
The way things work for me is that each time I speak on this subject, I ask the Lord for fresh power and fresh words. It is amazing to me how many fresh insights come in trying to say old things in ever new ways. One day, I don’t recall when, that particular rhyming wording came to me. I am thankful for it. It does come close to summing up my life’s work.
To read the whole interview, click here.