Great Expectations

Free Hymns!

2011-01-05T13:13:00.001-06:00

From this blog, and you can buy albums here.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-12-13T20:34:00.003-06:00

Averil and I saw our first 3D movie tonight, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and it was great. The 3D was cool I guess but I think I could take it or leave it...certainly cool though. And I thought the movie was great: great story and adaptation and interesting and enjoyable. I don't really like all those movie critics who say it wasn't good...lol...some people are too critical...I'm only critical of the critics...haha...the movie was excellent and highly recommended! I hope lots of people see it and enjoy it and that it does well with the box office numbers and all that!

Getting the most of out of it...

2010-11-03T14:18:00.003-05:00

I am sure enjoying studying Galatians in order to prepare for my Sunday School class. What a joy to get to take time to carefully read through and understand each verse. It seems that sometimes when I read the Bible each day, that I sort of skim over the verses that are slightly confusing and not worry about them but that is not a good practice and I'm glad that needing to study well and explain to others is helping me to get out of that bad habit and to take time to think about and look up help in order to understand each and every verse and get the most out of God's Word.

Make Sin Visible

2010-10-20T14:35:00.004-05:00

I do a lot of reading to prepare for my Sunday School class with my primary sources, outside of simply reading the passage over and making sense of it myself, are the notes in my Study Bible, my Bible College notes on Galatians, Precept-Austin and the commentaries it leads me to on Galatians, and John Piper's sermons on Galatians.

This conclusion to a Piper sermon really struck me this afternoon. After explaining one primary purpose of the law throughout the Bible was to expose sin and make it visible he says:

Finally, if God thought it wise and helpful not to let the sediment of pride and rebellion and distrust lie quietly at the bottom of the human heart, but instead, stirred it up and made it visible by demanding the obedience which comes from faith, then that's what my preaching should aim to do. More than ever I see the need for pastors to preach and Sunday School teachers to teach and members to admonish each other in such a way that the sediment of sin in the lives of so-called "carnal Christians" be stirred up and come to a crisis. Could it be that one of the reasons we see raindrops of blessing at Bethlehem instead of showers is that week after week several dozen people sit in these services with a layer of sinful muck at the bottom of their lives with no intention of doing anything about it? If so, let's pray that God use the Word to stir it up, so it can be seen for what it is, so there can be repentance and forgiveness and cleansing and renewal.

Jesus Heals Lots

2010-10-18T17:51:00.002-05:00

I loved scanning through the Gospel of Mark and reading about Jesus healing people while at the prayer time on Sunday Night. Much like when we scanned through Matthew reading of Jesus healing it amazed us all again at how Jesus, while going around doing his big teaching circuit, was healing tons of people "left, right, and center" everywhere he went. My favourite little passage that stuck out to me was Mark 6:53-56

53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

I can just imagine people hearing that Jesus was near by and then taking off running all over the place finding all their sick family and friends and strangers and quickly getting them on to beds and hauling them down to where Jesus was. I bet people ran the fasted they had ever run in their lives!

What I Thought of Rick Warren's Message

2010-10-05T14:46:00.003-05:00

I watched Rick Warren's message from the Desiring God National Conference on Sunday and thought it was really good. I was interested to watch it both because I wanted to learn from him and because I was curious what his message would be like in the light of the criticism John Piper took for inviting him to be a speaker. I thought the primary teaching content of the message was really good, especially his very first point which was "Don't believe everything you think" which he expanded on with some Scriptures about how we can deceive ourselves and some other points such as the fact that we all have blind spots.

I thought the sidebars to his message were interesting too when he sort of defended himself a little bit to some of the critical people watching him by pointing out Jesus talking about "felt needs" and mentioning how his church is not just about being huge but is about sending out lots of missionaries.

How To Pray For Half-An-Hour

2010-09-30T13:47:00.001-05:00

..............Some have wondered: How do you spend a half-an-hour in prayer, not to mention two or three hours? Here is my three-fold answer:

1. Resolve to do it. Don’t purpose to pray until you run dry. Purpose to pray the full half-hour. Prayer is work. It is not always a “sweet hour.” Jesus did many works with ease, but he prayed with “loud crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7).

2. Think about what you want to see change in your heart and life and family and neighborhood and church and world. Make a list if necessary. Then pray through it, giving God reasons from Scripture why this is something that he would surely do.

3. Put the Bible in front of you and simply read a line and turn it into a prayer. Paraphrase it, expand on it, apply it to yourself and others. This works best with the ethical portions of Scripture like Matthew 5-7; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5, 6; Ephesians 4-6; Colossians 3, 4; 1 Thessalonians 5; 1 John, etc. You can pray all day once you catch on. And you will be surprised how many insights come as you really take Scripture seriously and try to pray it into your life. If you run into theological or interpretational problems, tell the Lord you will work on that later and move on. If we seek hard to obey what we do understand, more light will come on the hard parts.

I am praying for your praying. What depth and power we will have as a church if hundreds of us learn to pray over the Word of the Almighty God!

By John Piper

Make This a Day of Turning

2010-09-24T11:48:00.002-05:00

This is simply copied and pasted from the Desiring God Blog but I thought I'd put it here too since prayer is certainly on my mind all the time....

Here’s the challenge John Piper issues as he closes his chapter on prayer (chapter 6) in Desiring God:

[O]ne of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned.

But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it.

Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need midcourse corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer—for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy. (Desiring God, 2003 edition, pages 182–183)

Meaning of Obey and Submit

2010-09-15T08:31:00.003-05:00

A while back the elders here at Lansing had planned a sermon series on the local church, with the first particularly tricky/sensitive message dealing with submission in verses like Hebrews 13:17. That sermon has led to a number of questions about just what it means to submit and obey. If one example is given, it naturally leads to thinking of another example and wondering about this, that, or the other possible situation. And it becomes a little tricky.

John Piper is the best. I listened to a couple sermons by him on Monday that were preached on Hebrews 13:17, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you." They were very good and in the second one when he talks about what obey and submit actually means, he takes a while to develop biblically and practically that leaders/elders can be very fallible and there needs to be safeguards in place.

Then at the end he asks:

What then does "Obey your leaders and submit to them" mean? The word for "obey" (peith) is a very broad word and means "be persuaded by" (Hebrews 6:9), "trust" (Hebrews 2:13), "rely on" (Luke 11:22), and comes to mean "obey" because that is what you do when you trust somebody. So you might say it is a "soft" word for obey. It encourages a good relationship of trust, but still calls for the people to be swayed by leaders.

The word for "submit" (hupeik) occurs only here in the New Testament. It's the more narrow word, and means "make room for by retiring from a seat," or "yield to" or "submit to."

So with all this background, what I would try to distill as the meaning would be something like this: Hebrews 13:17 means that a church should have a bent toward trusting its leaders; you should have a disposition to be supportive in your attitudes and actions toward their goals and directions; you should want to imitate their faith; and you should have a happy inclination to comply with their instructions.

Keith and Kristyn Getty

2010-09-10T15:02:00.003-05:00

I love listening to Keith and Kristyn Getty. Besides knowing of them from "In Christ Alone" I also happened across a CD of theirs at the public library one time. Lately I've enjoyed listening to them on youtube.

Shout Unto God

2010-09-07T15:23:00.002-05:00

This is such a great song that has been running through my head since seeing it on Rebecca's blog.

The Cure is Expensive...

2010-08-06T08:52:00.004-05:00

Why is generosity the mark of being a Christian? Imagine a person who is deathly ill. The doctor announces to him that there is a medicine which can certainly cure him. Without it, he has no hope. "However," says the doctor, "it is extremely expensive. You will have to sell your cars, even your home to buy it. You may not wish to spend so much." The man turns to his doctor and says, "What do my cars mean to me now? What good will my house be? I must have that medicine; it is precious to me. These other things that used to be so important to me now look pale by comparison of the medicine. They are expendable now. Give me the medicine." The apostle Peter says, "to you who believe...[he] is precious (1 Peter 2:7). The grace of God makes Christ precious to us, so that our possessions, our money, our time have all become eternally and utterly expendable. They used to be crucial to our happiness. They are not so now.

-From Timothy Keller, "Gospel in Life" and "Ministries of Mercy"

Love Is Not All You Need

2010-06-11T09:55:00.001-05:00

In Counterfeit Gods (The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters) by Timothy Keller, one of his chapters is called “Love Is Not All You Need” and it begins like this:

The human longing for love has always been celebrated in song and story, but in our contemporary culture it has been magnified to an astonishing degree. Musical theatre is filled with many sunny love songs, but some reveal the dark side of this modern quest. In “Being Alive” from the musical Company, a man falls in love with a woman and sings that she will “need me too much...know me too well...pull me up short, and put me through hell.” He insists, nonetheless, that only romance will “give me support for being alive, make me alive.” He must go from one draining relationship to the next, because it is the only way he can feel alive. In the song “Bewitched” a woman admits that the man she’s fallen for is a fool, and will let her down, but, she says, “I’m wild again, a simpering, whimpering child again.” The singers are over-dependent on being in love. Without a romantic relationship of some kind, even the wrong kind, their lives are meaningless.

In the early days of my pastoral ministry, I met a woman named Sally, who’d had the misfortune of being born beautiful. Even in childhood she saw the power she could wield with her physical attractiveness. At first she used her beauty to manipulate others, but eventually others used it to manipulate her. She came to feel that she was powerless and invisible unless some man was in love with her. She could not bear to be alone. As a result, she was willing to remain in relationships with men who were abusive.

Why did she endure such treatment? She had come to look to men for the kind of deep affirmation and acceptance that only god can provide. As a result, she became a slave to love. Nowadays we may hear someone say, “Oh, my boss is a slave master,” but that is only a loose metaphor. Some bosses can make things hard on you, but real slave masters know no boundaries. They can literally do anything they want to you – beat you, rape you, or even kill you. In the same way, we know a good thing has become a counterfeit god when its demands on you exceed proper boundaries. Making an idol out of work may mean that you work until you ruin your health, or you break laws in order to get ahead. Making an idol out of love may mean allowing the lover to exploit and abuse you, or it may cause terrible blindness to the pathologies in the relationship. An idolatrous attachment can lead you to break any promise, rationalize any indiscretion, or betray any other allegiance, in order to hold on to it. It may drive you to violate all good and proper boundaries. To practice idolatry is to be a slave.

Then at the end of the chapter, Timothy Keller writes:

One day Sally told me how she got her life back. She went to a counsellor who rightly pointed out that she had been looking to men for her identity, for her “salvation.” Instead, the counsellor proposed, she should get a career and become financially independent as a way of building up her self-esteem. The woman agreed wholeheartedly that she needed to stand on her own two feet economically, but she resisted the advice about finding self-esteem. “I was being advised to give up a common female idolatry and take on a common male idolatry,” she said. “But I didn’t want to have my self-worth dependent on career success any more than on men. I wanted to be free.”

How did she do it? She came across Colossians 3, where Saint Paul writes: “You life is hidden with Christ in God...and when Christ who is your life appears, you will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). She came to realize that neither men nor career nor anything else should be “her life” or identity. What mattered was not what men thought of her, or career success, but what Christ had done for her and how he loved her. So when she saw a man was interested in her, she would silently say in her heart toward him, “You may turn out to be a great guy, and maybe even my husband, but you cannot ever by my life. Only Christ is my life.” When she began to do this, she got her life back. This spiritual discipline gave her the ability to set boundaries and make good choices, and eventually to love a man for himself, and not simply to use men to bolster her self-image.

She answered the question that we all must address in order to live our lives the way we should: Who can I turn to who is so beautiful that he will enable me to escape all counterfeit gods? There is only one answer to this question. As the poet George Herbert wrote, looking at Jesus on the Cross, “Thou art my loveliness, my life, my light, Beauty alone to me.”

Fear of Being An Outsider

2010-06-04T14:31:00.003-05:00

One of the main motivations behind the drive for success is the hope of entering the "Inner Ring." C.S. Lewis wrote insightfully about this subject in one of his most famous essays.

"I don't believe the economic motive and the erotic motive account for everything that goes on in the world. It's a lust...a longing to be inside, [which] takes many forms.... You want...the delicious knowledge that just we four or five - we are the people who (really) know.... As long as you are governed by that desire you will never be satisfied. Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain...."

(From Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller)

Blind to Slavery

2010-06-02T10:38:00.001-05:00

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. – Luke 16:13-15

I’m reading a great book by Timothy Keller right now called Counterfeit Gods (The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power and The Only Hope That Matters) and I read a part the other night where he talks about serving money is actually being a slave to money.

He goes on to say:

Nowhere is this slavery more evident than in the blindness of greedy people to their own materialism. Notice that in Luke 12 Jesus says, “What out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” That’s a remarkable statement. Think of another traditional sin that the Bible warns against – adultery. Jesus doesn’t say, “Be careful you aren’t committing adultery!” He doesn’t have to. When you are in bed with someone else’s spouse – you know it. Halfway through you don’t say, “Oh, wait a minute! I think this is adultery!” You know it is. Yet, even though it is clear that the world is filled with greed and materialism, almost no one thinks it is true of them. They are in denial.

A Rose by Any Other Name

2010-04-09T15:00:00.001-05:00

Envision for a moment that you are not reading my words but listening to me speak in an auditorium. Suddenly I pull from beneath the podium a rose of incomparable beauty. I hold it high for all to see. One can hear gasps of amazement coming from the audience.

This is a rose of almost indescribable brilliance. Its colour is bright and radiant and almost blinding. No less impressive is its fragrance. The aroma fills the auditorium (I know it’s only one rose, but it’s only an illustration!). My desire is that you experience this rose up close and personal, so I invite you to the platform to take a closer look, a closer smell.

To display it for all to see and smell, I glue the rose to the platform on which I’m standing. Perhaps a little duct tape is also employed to secure it firmly to the floor. Then, one by one, each of you passes by. Some will only look stunned by the radiant colour of this unusual flower. Others bend over and experience its enchanting aroma. A few even dare to touch it and speak of its soft and pliable petals.

I then announce that the rose will remain where it is overnight and that all may return tomorrow to experience its beauty yet again. The next day all return and once more make their way to the front of the auditorium. But something is different. The colour isn’t quite what it was the day before. The rose has slightly wilted and leans to one side. I then announce that the rose will be available yet again tomorrow and encourage all to return.

By the third day, something horrible has happened. The formerly brilliant colour has turned a dull and dreary brown. The formerly soft petals have become brittle and fall to the floor when touched. The smell has turned putrid, far from its former fragrance. It doesn’t take much to account for the changes. The rose was glued to a lifeless wooden platform. Without the nutrients derived from good soil, apart from the light of the sun, absent from the water and care of a meticulous gardener, the rose is doomed to wither and fade.

Hear me well. Just as certain as that rose will turn brown and brittle and lose its allure, so too will our souls if they are not deeply and securely rooted in the soil of Holy Scripture. We may flourish for a season, perhaps even impress people with the colour of our spirituality and the fragrance of our good deeds and the tenderness of our love for others. But in the absence of a continual supply of truth and knowledge and devotion to cultivating a mind aflame with the revelation of who God is in Christ, we will become like a wilted rose.

Affections such as joy and love and hope and peace are essential to true Christian living, the sort of living that honours and glorifies and exalts Jesus. But they cannot long survive if severed from the rich soil of truth and doctrine and ever-expanding understanding in the mind of the splendour and majesty of God.

- From Convergence by Sam Storms, page 234-235

Great Paragraph

2010-04-06T15:20:00.001-05:00

The truth is that nothing in this earth can finally satisfy us. Much can make us content for a time but nothing can fill us to the brim. The reason is that our final joy lies “beyond the walls of this world,” as J.R.R Tolkien put it. Ultimate beauty comes not from a lover or a landscape or a home, but only through them. These earthly things are solid goods, and we naturally relish them. But they are not our final good. They point to what is higher up and further back…Even if we fall deeply in love and marry another human being, we discover that our spiritual and sexual oneness isn’t final. It’s wonderful, but not final. It might even be as good as human oneness can be, but something in us keeps saying “not this” or “still beyond”…What Augustine knew is that human beings want God…God has made us for himself. Our sense of God runs in us like a stream, even though, because of sin, we divert it toward other objects. We human beings want God even when we think that what we really want is a green valley, or a good time from our past, or a loved one. Of course we do want these things and persons, but we also want what’s behind them. Our inconsolable secret, says C.S. Lewis, is that we are full of yearnings, sometimes shy and sometimes passionate, that point us beyond the things of earth to the ultimate reality of God.

From Cornelius Plantinga from Tullian Tchividjian from The Gospel Coalition

Sixpence None The Richer

2010-03-09T09:40:00.001-06:00

Today I learned where the band Sixpence None The Richer got their name!

“Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already. So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what it is really like. It is like a small child going to its father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’ Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

No You Are Not The Centre Of The Universe

2010-02-10T09:19:00.002-06:00

In our Tuesday Night lesson last night Matt Chandler was telling us to find out what things stir our affections for Christ (besides the obvious things like good preaching and good music and stuff like that) and to focus on them. One of the things I thought of right away was the massive size of the universe. I love watching little video clips and whatnot that show how HUGE everything out there is and having those thoughts stir my affections for Jesus who created it all.

Here is one little video....

Atheist Ads Featuring Christians

2009-12-16T10:24:00.002-06:00

I read this the other day too but then just noticed it again on Ken Ham's blog while doing some Old Testament Survey Research.

In some ways a very amusing, but at the same time very sad, item out of England appeared on websites yesterday. Well-known atheist/anti-Christian Richard Dawkins (author of the blasphemous God Delusion book) has an ad campaign to promote indoctrinating children in atheism. The article concerning this campaign from the Times online news source from England states:

Children who front Richard Dawkins’ atheist ads are evangelicals

The two children chosen to front Richard Dawkins’s latest assault on God could not look more free of the misery he associates with religious baggage. With the slogan “Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself”, the youngsters with broad grins seem to be the perfect advertisement for the new atheism being promoted by Professor Dawkins and the British Humanist Association.

Except that they are about as far from atheism as it is possible to be. The Times can reveal that Charlotte, 8, and Ollie, 7, are from one of the country’s most devout Christian families.

You can read the rest of this article here.

Matthew's Begats

2009-12-09T09:53:00.002-06:00

Over at The Gospel Coalition I've noticed Kevin DeYoung and Justin Taylor pointing out Andrew Peterson to me again this Christmas season and though I'd share this song with those who read this:

All The Earth - Paul Baloche

2009-11-26T14:25:00.001-06:00

Napoleon Quote

2009-11-20T10:53:00.004-06:00

I love when I get to hear and think about the difference Jesus has made on history - on things like the value of children, the value or human life and equality, economics, science, education, work, charity etc, etc.

I heard part of this quote in the Driscoll lesson on this topic of the difference Jesus has made in history:

"I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires, and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of infinity...

"I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him. . . . I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man; none else is like Him: Jesus Christ was more than a man. . . . I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me . . . but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lightened up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. . . . Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ."

- Napoleon Bonaparte

Sweet Saves "Not in this carnival!" lol

2009-11-13T12:12:00.000-06:00

Tim Thomas.

Rick and Kay Warren's Crazy Bad Marriage Start

2009-11-12T10:42:00.003-06:00

This is a very interesting excerpt from Rick Warren's biography: Rick and Kay Warren's Painful, Gradual Love Story.

I think it's great when famous pastors like Rick Warren and John Piper are honest about their marital struggles and stuff because then the many people in their churches or who hear about them online can hopefully be freed to get help themselves in similar ways.

Josh Harris

2009-11-05T11:35:00.001-06:00

I've been really appreciating Josh Harris video clips the last couple days as I've eaten lunch. Check them all out here.

And here is one of them:

Why Is Relevance?

2009-10-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

I read this in Finally Alive on the weekend,

What Is Relevance?

As a preacher, I think a lot about relevance. Why should anyone
listen to what I have to say? Why should anybody care? Relevance
is an ambiguous word. It might mean that a sermon is relevant if it
feels to the listeners that it will make a significant difference in their
lives. Or it might mean that a sermon is relevant if it will make a
significant difference in their lives whether they feel it or not.

That second kind of relevance is what guides my sermons and
my writing. In other words, I want to say things that are really
significant for your life whether you know they are or not. My
way of doing that is to stay as close as I can to what God says
is important in his word, not what we think is important apart
from God’s word.

Why Are We Here

2009-10-14T10:49:00.002-05:00

I was looking on the Saddleback Resources website for some possible promotional video clips to show as we kick off The Purpose Driven Life this Sunday. One that they recommended was this clip from Everybody Loves Raymond....

Strange and Interesting

2009-10-07T15:51:00.002-05:00

Justin Taylor entitled his blog post on this topic How to Train Your People to Laugh at Anything. It's a strange story, if you read it and listen to the 5 minute clip.

Tim Keller is so smart!!

2009-10-01T15:38:00.001-05:00

Tim Keller on how he sees the strengths and weaknesses of the Reformed, the emerging, and the Willow-Creekers:

John Frame’s ‘tri-perspectivalism’ helps me understand Willow. The Willow Creek style churches have a ‘kingly’ emphasis on leadership, strategic thinking, and wise administration. The danger there is that the mechanical obscures how organic and spontaneous church life can be. The Reformed churches have a ‘prophetic’ emphasis on preaching, teaching, and doctrine. The danger there is that we can have a naïve and unBiblical view that, if we just expound the Word faithfully, everything else in the church — leader development, community building, stewardship of resources, unified vision — will just happen by themselves. The emerging churches have a ‘priestly’ emphasis on community, liturgy and sacraments, service and justice. The danger there is to view ‘community’ as the magic bullet in the same way Reformed people view preaching.

From Justin Taylor

Funny Phone Calls

2009-09-14T16:26:00.001-05:00

Stirring Affections

2009-09-11T14:31:00.003-05:00

Matt Chandler often says that an important question to ask is, "What stirs my affections for Christ? And what weakens my affections for Christ?" And then to obviously avoid the latter while involving yourself in the former.

I know a few things that really stir my affections for Christ. I think I could list a bunch of things. But a couple I'm thinking of right now are great preaching from guys like Chandler and great music with great words by people like Lecrae!

Social Revolution

2009-09-10T15:57:00.002-05:00

I found this interesting video over on The Resurgence.

Matt Chandler

2009-08-31T14:39:00.002-05:00

Matt Chandler is such a good preacher/teacher. Averil and I have been enjoying listening to him for a while now. The sermons we've listened to most recently called Games People Play (which has 3 parts) are so good and such good teaching. Today as he talked about the widow that gave all she had and how the point is not really about giving at all but is much more profound I really felt enlightened! Check out his sermons here.

What an amazing gift it is to be able to listen to the best teachers in the world over the internet.

Josh Harris Louie Giglio Twitter

2009-08-28T13:14:00.001-05:00

Good teaching hear from Josh Harris. And while I watched it I noticed him mentioning that Louie Giglio joined Twitter - check out his funny press conference here.

Make Love, Make War (Brian Doerksen)

2009-08-28T11:17:00.001-05:00

"When we worship, we do what Satan abandoned long ago - and the Enemy does everything he can to stop us from worshipping, because when we worship, he remembers. He spends more than a little energy convincing us that there really is no war going on, and that the sum total of our life's calling is to be nice."

- Worship Leader / Songwriter Brian Doerksen from his new book, Make Love, Make War.

Story

2009-08-25T08:06:00.001-05:00

In classic Randy Alcorn style, here is a little story to get you thinking about how silly we are to store up treasures on earth:

When you're on a long airplane flight, you naturally talk to people, socialize, eat, read, pray, sleep, or mayble talk about where you're going. But what would you think if a passenger by the window seat started hanging curtains over the window, taped photographs to the seat in front of him, painted murals, and put up wall hangings? You'd think, Hey it's not that long of a trip. Once we get to the destination, none of this will matter. Even a long plane flight is short compared to the span of your entire life. (pg 102)

(Thanks to David Heska for the quotes from his book!)

Supertones ROCK(ed)!

2009-08-19T11:46:00.002-05:00

I've been watching some old Supertones songs on youtube today at lunch. So good!! I love their music and lyrics passion and references to Jonathan Edwards and everything else!

See wisdom and knowledge is one thing that we lack
You’ve been a christian how long and you’re still on similac
So I call on martin luther and all the reformation back
Then the common people couldn’t read god’s revelation
You had to be a monk or a priest or read latin
That was all before the revolution happened
But the fire cooled down ever since that generation
We put down the Bible and pick up the play station
And we can’t defend our faith ’cause we don’t even know it
We say we love his word but pick a funny way to show it.

So what about you
Will you join us
Will you admit that the waters around us have grown
You better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone
Do you stand with us or do we stand alone
It’s time that we stand up, enlist for the war
I’ve tasted battle and now I want more
I’ve known the truth and been cut to the core
But I’m back in the game to even the score
And I mean to go out with both my guns blazing
Amazed at a God who’s so truly amazing
To triumph in battle as the spirit enables
Can’t turn back the clock but we can turn the tables

Michael Scott Paper Company

2009-08-18T15:27:00.001-05:00

This is Michael Scott's best idea yet!

HT: JT

C.S. Lewis and Pride

2009-08-18T15:23:00.001-05:00

I read this on the Desiring God Blog:

As a new Christian in 1930, C. S. Lewis was learning terrible things about his heart—the unfathomable layers of pride. It is astonishing how similar his description of his own heart was to the description Jonathan Edwards gave of our inscrutable strata of self-admiration.

Here is Lewis writing to his friend Arthur, amazingly within a year after his conversion:

During my afternoon “meditations,”—which I at least attempt quite regularly now—I have found out ludicrous and terrible things about my own character. Sitting by, watching the rising thoughts to break their necks as they pop up, one learns to know the sort of thoughts that do come.

And, will you believe it, one out of every three is the thought of self-admiration: when everything else fails, having had its neck broken, up comes the thought “what an admirable fellow I am to have broken their necks!” I catch myself posturing before the mirror, so to speak, all day long. I pretend I am carefully thinking out what to say to the next pupil (for his good, of course) and then suddenly realize I am really thinking how frightfully clever I'm going to be and how he will admire me...

And then when you force yourself to stop it, you admire yourself for doing that. It is like fighting the hydra... There seems to be no end to it. Depth under depths of self-love and self-admiration. (quoted in The Narnian by Alan Jacobs, 133)

Not-Small Tactical Error

2009-08-12T12:22:00.001-05:00

Then I make a not-small tactical error by asking Colson where he goes to church.

"I've always resented the phrase, 'Where do you go to church?' I don't go to a church; I'm a member of a church. You don't ask where somebody 'goes' to a country club. I'm not talking about where you're going, I'm talking about where you plant your flag and say, 'The is where I'm a Christian.'"

- from Why We Love The Church, page 146

And another

2009-08-05T10:13:00.001-05:00

This is so easy - you just take 30 seconds to change the song and then a little while later they send you a new video!

Another Remix (new song)

2009-08-05T09:29:00.001-05:00

First Remix

2009-08-05T09:17:00.003-05:00

I think I like this remix more:

Animoto

2009-08-04T15:43:00.001-05:00

It turned out great:

Holidays

2009-08-04T15:30:00.002-05:00

It was good to be on holidays, and it's also good to be home. Averil and I had a great time with family at my Grandparents Camp. Lots of board games, relaxing, swimming, campfires, reading, etc. I finished a good novel I'd recently started called A Voice in the Wind and I also read my newest book called Why We Love The Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. I guess that's not really holiday reading but what can I say...I love the Church! And the book was excellent. Now I'm excited to see how my animoto video of the Church Campout turns out when it is done being rendered.

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

2009-07-22T12:25:00.002-05:00

The other day I felt like a kid in a candy store and the reason for that is simply that I was in a candy store and I love candy! (Whenever I go to Top Notch Toys I also slip into the Bulk Barn for minute.)

But then I had that same feeling of excitement today at lunch when I got home and found that three of my newly ordered books had arrived! I'm not sure whether I love board games, candy, or books more...they all give me that "kid in a candy store" or Christmas morning sort of feeling!

--

Breakout Churches (Discover How to Make the Leap) by Thom S. Rainer
Comeback Churches (How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too) by Ed Stetzer
Finally Alive by John Piper

Love Constraining to Obedience

2009-07-21T08:57:00.001-05:00

This is a great hymn from William Cowper that Timothy Keller mentioned in one of his messages. I wish I could learn it on guitar but so far can't quite get it.

Chorus:
To see the Law by Christ fulfilled,
To hear His pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child
And duty into choice.

1. No strength of nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright
And what she has, she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.

2. How long beneath the Law I lay
In bondage and distress
I toiled the precept to obey,
But toiled without success.

3. Then to abstain from outward sin
Was more than I could do
Now if I feel its power within
I feel I hate it too.

4. Then all my servile works were done,
A righteousness to raise
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose His ways.

Has it ever occured to you that you might be wrong?

2009-07-17T14:42:00.002-05:00

Link

Suprising Fact about Christian Tolerance

2009-07-15T12:40:00.002-05:00

According to Maclean's, 72% of Canadians said they have generally favorable view of Christianity. That surprised me. I thought it was going to be much lower than that.

"McNair struggled to fill void after football"

2009-07-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

Interesting article here about McNair and other athletes trying to fill a void in their lives after their careers are over. If only they could realize the void needs to be filled by Christ!

Funny...

2009-07-07T15:54:00.002-05:00

I was reading about pride and humility today in preparing for my sermon and came across this little story that may or may not make it in but is certainly funny!

A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?"

The pastor replied, "Mary, that's not a sin, why that's just a mistake!"

Mad-Libbing Church Angst

2009-07-07T13:11:00.001-05:00

I'm really looking forward to when this book arrives in the mail.

I found the introduction on Kevin DeYoung's blog today:

If decapitation, from the Latin word caput, means to cut off the head, then it stands to reason that decorpulation, from the Latin word corpus, should refer to cutting off the body. It’s the perfect word to describe the content of this book. If our editors had been asleep at the wheel, we could have called it Recent Trends in Decorpulation. There is a growing movement among self-proclaimed evangelicals and in the broader culture to get spirituality without religion, to find a relationship without rules, and have God without the church. More and more, people are looking for a decorpulated Christianity.

Judging by the popularity of recent books like George Barna’s Revolution and William P. Young’s The Shack and the example of prominent Christians like John Eldredge, there are a lot of Christians who feel like current versions of church just don’t cut it. More than a few have already left their churches, and the number of the disaffected seems to be growing. At the very least the “we want God, not an institution” mantra has struck a chord with many formal, informal, and former churchgoers. So we have books like Life After Church, Divine Nobodies, Dear Church, Quitting Church, and So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore, not to mention Frank Viola’s church-as-we-know-it-is-all-wrong book Pagan Christianity and volumes like UnChristian and They Like Jesus but Not the Church, which explore why outsiders are turned off by the church.

The narrative is becoming so commonplace, you could Mad Lib it:

The institutional church is so (pejorative adjective). When I go to church I feel completely (negative emotion). The leadership is totally (adjective you would use to describe Richard Nixon) and the people are (noun that starts with un-). The services are (adjective you might use to describe going to the dentist), the music is (adjective you would use to describe the singing on Barney), and the whole congregation is (choose among: “passive,” “comatose,” “hypocritical,” or “Rush Limbaugh Republicans”). The whole thing makes me (medical term).

I had no choice but to leave the church. My relationship with (spiritual noun) is better than ever. Now I meet regularly with my (relational noun, pl.) and talk about (noun that could be the focus of a liberal arts degree) and Jesus. We really care for each other. Sometimes we even (choose among: “pray for each other,” “feed the homeless together,” or “share power tools”). This is church like it was meant to be. After all, (insert: “Where two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of you,” or “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life,” or “we don’t have to go to church, we are the church”). I’m not saying everyone needs to do what I’ve done, but if you are tired of (compound phrase that begins with “institutional” or ends with “as-we-know-it”), I invite you to join the (noun with political overtones) and experience (spiritual noun) like you never will by sitting in a (choose among the following architectural put-downs: “wooden pew,” “steepled graveyard,” “stained-glassed mausoleum,” or “glorified concert hall”) week after week. When will the (biblical noun) starting being the (same biblical noun)?

Love It, Don't Leave It

2009-07-07T12:58:00.002-05:00

I like this little article here by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck.

Here's the intro:

Here's what Bono, Oprah, and the guru speakers on PBS won't tell you: Jesus believed in organized religion and he founded an institution. Of course, Jesus had no patience for religious hacks and self-righteous wannabes, but he was still Jewish. And as Jew, he read the Holy Book, worshiped in the synagogue, and kept Torah. He did not start a movement of latte-drinking disciples who excelled in spiritual conversations. He founded the church (Matt. 16:18) and commissioned the apostles to proclaim the good news that Israel's Messiah had come and the sins of the world could be forgiven through his death on the cross (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:14-36).

And here's the outro:

Perhaps Christians are leaving the church because it isn't tolerant and open-minded. But perhaps the church-leavers have their own intolerance too--intolerant of tradition, intolerant of authority, intolerant of imperfection except their own. Are you open-minded enough to give the church a chance--a chance for the church to be the church, not a coffee shop, not a mall, not a variety show, not Chuck E. Cheese, not a U2 concert, not a nature walk, but a wonderfully ordinary, blood-bought, Spirit-driven church with pastors, sermons, budgets, hymns, bad carpet and worse coffee?

The Church, because it is Christ's church, will outlive American Idol, the NFL, and all of our grandkids. We won't last, but the Church will. So when it comes to church, be like Jesus: love it, don't leave it. As Saint Calloway once prophesied to the Brothers of Blues, "Jake, you get wise, you get to church."

There's a bit more in the middle if you want to check it out for yourself.

Don't Fit In?

2009-06-26T12:22:00.001-05:00

Apparently some people feel that they wouldn't fit in at church, so this video should help.

Kurt Warner

2009-06-25T13:08:00.002-05:00

This is a really awesome to a question asked to Kurt Warner: (I noticed this from Tim Challies.)

Today, at the Marketplace One Leadership Institute, our class had the interesting opportunity to do about 40 minutes of Q&A with Kurt Warner, quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.

The story of Kurt's life is fascinating (get the real scoop here). His career highlights are well-known. His foundation, First Things First, does lots of good.

Oh, and today was his birthday (he turned 38).

Kurt seems like the real-deal. Gracious, humble, articulate--a super nice guy. I enjoyed the privilege of hearing him answer questions. The questions ranged from the generic, "How do you define Leadership?", to the specific, "As a believer, how do you deal with salary negotiation?"

Then, it was my turn to ask him a question:

"Kurt, as a professional football player, what aspect of your vocational calling gives you the most joy in life? What is it about the 'job of football' that you love the most?"

His answered came instantly and unequivocally:

"Without question, the greatest joy about my calling as a professional football player is seeing the barriers it breaks-down in giving me the opportunity to talk about Jesus."

He elaborated on this by noting how all the privilege and all the status and all the fame simply serves to give him access to people and places to talk about the Lord that he otherwise would not have had. In essence he made it clear that, to him, the job is an amazing platform from which he gets to steward his main joy in life--telling people about the Jesus.

How very encouraging and refreshing to hear that that is what Kurt Warner likes best about being a professional football player.

1000 Awesome Things

2009-06-24T15:16:00.002-05:00

Averil pointed this blog out to me last week. It is counting down 1000 Awesome Things, and is currently on #737. Check it out!

So far a random selection of things that have made the list are:

De-Churched

2009-06-18T12:17:00.001-05:00

Check out the full message here.

Jaw Droppingly Marvelous

2009-06-11T10:43:00.000-05:00

Petra

2009-06-09T13:43:00.002-05:00

Godpleaser

That's Power Evangelism!

2009-06-09T10:36:00.003-05:00

After giving birth, Hasita suddenly lost feeling throughout her body, but she could still tell she was shaking uncontrollably. Her family members took her to sorcerers and doctors, but no one could give her the healing she needed and desired.

Hasita suffered like this for 11 long years, and she became very discouraged as time dragged on.

Then her family took her to Paran, a native missionary, for prayer. Paran gladly prayed for Hasita, and the Lord completely healed her. When they saw this miracle, Hasita's whole family chose to follow Christ as their Saviour.

(from the latest Gospel for Asia Send Magazine)

New Birth

2009-06-04T14:40:00.002-05:00

I'm interested in the doctrine of regeneration. Paul Washer says it is something we have to recover and I think he is correct.

Here's some good teaching on Regeneration.....

8. Regeneration Changes Our Basic Nature.

When we are regenerated, we do not become angels. We remain humans. But our nature as humans changes. Sin still dwells in us, but now so does grace. The point is that we now have spiritual life. We become a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). It is a spiritual resurrection. It is a radical transformation. Sin affected us totally in every part; now grace affects and changes us in every part. Our new nature is basically regenerate, good, Christlike, spiritual. We have remnants of the old, like a swimmer has seaweed clinging to him as he emerges from the sea. It is not a sinner with some good attached, nor equally good and bad, but primarily regenerate and new with remnants of sin in us till we die.

9. Regeneration is an Instantaneous Miracle.

It is a miracle of God, not an act of self-reformation or resolution by Man. God prepares the heart for it by conviction and other things, but regeneration itself occurs in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. It is not gradual or progressive, but instantaneous and sudden. Nobody is half-regenerate, nor more regenerate than someone else. If one dies before regeneration, he goes to Hell; if after, Heaven. In physical birth, there is a gestation period of 9 months following conception. This might be paralleled in the spiritual realm by the process by which God gradually prepares one for regeneration in a moment.

10. Only Born-Again People are Real Christians.

All Christians are born-again and all born-again people are Christians. There are no born-again Moslems. Nor are there any Christians who are not born again. "Born-again Christian" could be a misnomer, if it is taken to mean that some Christians are not born-again. One becomes a Christian by being born again; there is no other way. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). But, of course, not everyone who says he is a Christian really is a Christian. This is sad and tragic. Most Americans say they are Christians, but it is highly unlikely that more than 1 or 2% really are. Saying that you are doesn't make it so. It is not whether we say it, but whether we are in fact. And likewise, not everyone who says he is born again really is regenerate (Catholics and other heretics claim to be). It is vital to discern if we really are.

"It's the Church, stupid"

2009-05-29T10:26:00.004-05:00

I don't like everything Paul Washer says but I sure like lots of it. Powerful stuff. In his message called 10 Indictments, he says some great stuff. You can check it out here.

I particularly appreciate indictment #5 and #6.

Fifth indictment: An ignorance regarding the doctrine of Regeneration.

Sixth indictment: Ignorance regarding the nature of the Church.

Here is some of what he says under indictment #6:

God has only one religious institution. It is the Church. It is the Church. And our ultimate goal and the ultimate product of revival will be the planting of biblical churches....

Several years ago Bill Clinton had a slogan during the election. “It is the economy, stupid.”

My pastor, Jeff Noblett, one of the elders in our church, the primary teaching, preaching pastor, he said to me one day, he goes, “You know, I’d like to have a bunch of shirts made up.”

“What would they say, brother Jeff?”

“It’s the Church, stupid.”

Jesus gave his life for the Church, a beautiful virgin, pristine Church. If you want to give your life for something in the ministry, give it to the Church, to a church, a body of believers, a local congregation. It is the Church.

Now let me say this about the Church. I want you to listen well. There is not a remnant of believers in the Church. We all know about the remnant theology, you know, that throughout all the course of Israel there was Israel the people of God and a remnant of true believers. That is not true about the Church. There is not a remnant of believers or a small group of believers inside a larger group called the Church. The Church is the remnant.

And I want to say this. If pastors have ever come to close to blaspheming it is with regard to this. I hear theologians, itinerant teachers, pastors, this and that saying these sorts of things. “There is just as much sin in the Church as out of the Church. There is just as much divorce in the Church as out of the Church. There is just as much immorality and pornography in the Church as out of the Church.” And then preachers say, “Yes, the Church is acting like a whore.” I want you to know this. You ought to be very careful calling the bride of Jesus Christ a whore. I will tell you what the problem is. Pastors and preachers don’t know what the Church is. I want you to know that the Church of Jesus Christ in America is beautiful. She is frail at times. She is weak. She is buffeted. She is not perfect, but I want you to know she is broken. She is humbly walking with her God. The problem with you is you don’t know what the Church is.

Today because of the lack of biblical preaching the so called Church is filled up with carnal, wicked people identified with Christianity. And then because of all the goats in the midst of the lambs, the lambs are blamed for all the things the goats are doing and then the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of us.

I'm Caller 7

2009-05-22T14:57:00.002-05:00

I started as caller 10 and now I'm caller 7 so while on hold for the last 10 minutes I've been doing some blog reading. I'm liking Paul Tripp. At the Desiring God blog they asked him this:

What is the greatest hindrance to cultivating community in the American church?

The first thing that comes to mind is frenetic western-culture busyness.

I read a book on stress a few years back, and the author made a side comment that I thought was so insightful. He said that the highest value of materialistic western culture is not possessing. It's actually acquiring.

If you're a go-getter you never stop. And so the guy who is lavishly successful doesn't quit, because there are greater levels of success. "My house could be bigger, I could drive better cars, I could have more power, I could have more money."

And so we've bought an unbiblical definition of the good life of success. Our kids have to be skilled at three sports and play four musical instruments, and our house has to be lavish by whatever standard. And all of that stuff is eating time, eating energy, eating money. And it doesn't promote community.

I think often that even the programs of a local church are too sectored and too busy. As if we're trying to program godliness. And so the family is actually never together because they're all in demographic groupings. Where do we have time where we are pursuing relationships with one another, living with one another, praying with one another, talking with one another?

I've talked to a lot of families who literally think it's a victory to have 3 or 4 meals all together with one another in a week, because they're so busy. Well, if in that family unit they're not experiencing community, there's no hope of them experiencing it outside of that family unit.

We have families that will show up at our church on Sunday morning with the boys dressed in their little league outfits, and I know what's going to happen. They're going to leave the service early. Now what a value message to that little boy! Do I think little league is bad? I don't think it's bad at all. I think it's great. But they're telling him what's important as they do that.

You can't fit God's dream (if I can use that language) for his church inside of the American dream and have it work. It's a radically different lifestyle. It just won't squeeze into the available spaces of the time and energy that's left over.

And I'm as much seduced by that as anybody. We have sold our four-bedroom house because our kids are gone, and we've bought a loft in Chinatown, Philadelphia. And we're amazed at how simple our life has become. We're grieving over how we let our life get so complicated.

Last year, for example, I put almost $2,500 worth of gas in my car. This year, I've put $159 in the first quarter. It's because we're walking places, and that slows our life down, and we're near the people in our church because we're within walking distance of the church. And we've had so many natural encounters with people because of that.

We're living in a much smaller place. We got rid of most of our stuff. As we went through it, we laughed about how we just collected stuff. All that stuff has to be maintained. It grabs your heart, it grabs your schedule, it grabs your time. It becomes a source of worry and concern and need to pay.

So we've just been confronted with how all of those things that aren't evil in themselves become the complications of life that keep us away from the kind of community that we need in order to hold on to our identity.

Jams!

2009-05-19T14:42:00.002-05:00

Sermon Jams are awesome! Check out these couple of John Piper sermon jams.

Make War!

Treasuring Him

(Sermon jams are short clips of preaching put to sweet jams and beats.)

viva la vida and love story

2009-05-14T15:02:00.001-05:00

My sister-in-law, Ashley, brought my attention to this sweet piece of music. Enjoy!

It's Just the Truth

2009-05-13T15:55:00.001-05:00

Augustine Battles Lust and Fights for Joy

2009-05-13T14:59:00.001-05:00

Different Standards

2009-05-08T14:34:00.000-05:00

"How different our standard is from Christ's. We ask how much a man gives. Christ asks how much he keeps." - Andrew Murray

Family and Strangers

2009-05-01T13:31:00.001-05:00

I liked this email that Kari sent me. I didn't take time to read it at first but I'm glad I did this afternoon. (I just took off the silly part at the end about forwarding it to seven people to be blessed haha)

F A M I L Y

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
'Oh excuse me please' was my reply.

He said, 'Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you.'

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,

'While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.'

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
'Wake up, little one, wake up,' I said.

'Are these the flowers you picked for me?'
He smiled, 'I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue.'

I said, 'Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way.'
He said, 'Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway.'

I said, 'Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.'

FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?
So what is behind the story?

Thankful

2009-04-30T12:39:00.002-05:00

You hear a lot of complaining all the time when talking to people or skimming the facebook homepage and seeing everyone's status. We really should try to express more thankfulness. Averil and I were talking about so many things we have to be thankful for and I told her I've been thinking lately of simple things I'm thankful for, more complex things I'm thankful for, and the ultimate thing I'm thankful for. Here are a few of each:

Simple things:
The NHL Playoffs
The Hockey Pool
Board Games
Sports

More Complex things:
Friends
Family (especially Averil!)
Church
Our Home

Ultimate thing:
The Gospel - that someone like me can actually be a saint!

Lecrae

2009-04-28T14:41:00.001-05:00

Awesome Song!!!

Spurgeon Quote

2009-04-24T11:16:00.002-05:00

The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, "Give thyself unto reading." The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.

- Spurgeon (from a sermon on 2 Timothy 4:13)

ht JT

Other High Places

2009-04-23T15:50:00.002-05:00

I'm back in town and just remembered to check in at DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed to see the other high places. Here is the full list of "High Places" identified by Kevin DeYoung

1. The lack of of Psalm singing in our churches.
2. Worldliness in entertainment.
3. The idolatry of youth.
4. Our lack of church discipline.
5. Prayerlessness.

Luther

2009-04-16T12:37:00.000-05:00

“Necessary is it to preach the Gospel, and necessary is it that we beat it into their heads continually.” - Martin Luther

High Places from DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed

2009-04-15T14:29:00.003-05:00

I sometimes check out Kevin DeYoung's blog and it's quite interesting right now. Based on 1 Kings 22:43 ([Jehoshaphat] walked in all the ways of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.) he is saying:

I have often wondered what are our high places? Of course, it is hard to see our own blind spots. If we could, they wouldn’t be blind spots. But even though we may not be able to notice every error, it’s still worth thinking and praying about what mistakes we are making without realizing it. And I’m not talking about current theological controversies. These are critically important, but we see the issues at stake, at least many of us do. Moreover, in asking what are our high places I’m not asking what are our biggest sins or the most important issues of our day. What I’m asking is this: what are the issues we aren’t even talking about or the unhelpful patterns and pressures most of us don’t even recognize?

In other words, what will future generations be surprised to see that we missed? It’s easy for us to see how previous generations of Christians were blind to the sin of racism or how it was a bad idea to kill each other over theological differences (even if some of the differences had eternal consequences). But if good Christians in the past—even heroic, admirable Christians—could miss something so obvious (to us), it begs the question: what obvious sins are we blindly committing and what obvious areas of obedience are we neglecting?

Check out his whole blog here.

So far he has mentioned 2 High Places:

1. The lack of Psalm singing in our churches.
2. Worldliness in entertainment.

Wish I Could Go!

2009-04-10T11:03:00.002-05:00

not Just this weekend

2009-04-08T14:25:00.004-05:00

Easter Weekend is coming and it's great because we have this weekend set aside for everyone to celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection in a special way. But we don't just celebrate this weekend - everyday is a celebration of Christ's death on the cross and resurrection! I'm so thankful for C.J. Mahaney and some others for teaching me about the Cross Centered Life (which is made up of cross-centered days).

The Rose

2009-04-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

Conversation between Men

2009-04-01T10:27:00.002-05:00

It is very difficult for men to have very deep relationships with other men. There are several reasons.... Number 1, the monumental issue of pride that is honed into men from the day they are born. Like, have you ever listened to dudes talk? “What did you do last weekend, Bill?” “Went duck hunting. Got a couple. What did you do?” “I killed a pterodactyl. Yeah, man. I mean, he just flew and my gun jammed. So I jumped up and grabbed him and bit a hole in his throat, choked the life out of him and mounted him on my wall. But hey man, ducks are cool. I mean, I used to hunt ducks when I was 7, but that's great for you, man. Did you take your boy with you or something?” I mean, this is it, this is the trump game. It's like every conversation involving a group of males is like a game of spades, where everybody just has the ace of spades. “I spade that...I spade that...well, I spade that...” and around the circle it goes.

- From a Matt Chandler Sermon Averil and I listened to on the way back from Toronto on Monday.

Raised from the Dead (physically)

2009-03-26T09:48:00.002-05:00

...Then Ratnekar's last cow died. He would have no way to till his land or provide for his family.

In his distress, Ratnekar remembered the stories in the New Testament about Jesus bringing dead people back to life. And in a recent church service, Ratnekar has also heard testimonies from believers of how God had healed them of their sicknesses.

"Suddenly it came to my mind that if Jesus can heal sickness and raise the dead to life, why can He not make my cow alive?" Ratnekar recalls. "I decided that if God could raise my cow from the dead, I would follow Him."

The cow had been dead for half an hour when Ratnekar cried out to God. Immediately, the animal began breathing again and stood up, completely well.

In that instant of joy and surprise, Ratnekar realized that Jesus was the one true God who really cared for his needs.

"When I saw this, I wept," Ratnekar shares. "And whenever I remember that moment in my life - when God brought my cow back - I always cry. There is a God who can do big miracles in my life."

Click here to read the whole story of how Ratnekar then led a cave man to Christ.

Word

2009-03-25T15:43:00.000-05:00

"By the time the average Christian gets his temperature up to normal, everybody thinks he has a FEVER!" - Watchman Nee

"Shocking Message"

2009-03-25T14:54:00.002-05:00

Matt told me about this video by Paul Washer and I found it and want you to watch this clip and then maybe even the whole thing.

The Prodigal God

2009-03-24T09:17:00.002-05:00

I bought The Prodigal God for my Dad at Christmastime and read it before wrapping it. Great little book! I read on Between Two Worlds this morning that Bill Hybels is having Tim Keller come and speak at their leadership conference and that the book, "wrecked him afresh" - if you haven't heard of the book, check this out to hear it in brief because we all need to understand this message and get it out.

Don't Go To Church

2009-03-18T09:06:00.003-05:00

Like most people, I forget most of what I hear in a sermon. But if the little bit that I remember is powerful then it's worth listening to an hour long sermon to hear it. Something that Matt Chandler said that I think will stick with me the rest of my life is this:

"The Bible says very little about going to church, but the Bible says a lot about belonging to a church."

There it is. One little sentence. But so powerful. Don't go to church people - belong to a church!

John Piper says of sentences:

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this. It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don't begrudge the 99%. And that life-changing insight usually comes in a moment, a moment whose value is all out of proportion to its little size. That's why I call it an "immeasurable moment."

Time Magazine: The New Calvinism Is Changing the World

2009-03-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

Check out this post from Between Two Worlds.

Unexpected Free Book!

2009-03-10T14:36:00.002-05:00

Averil and I got our mail from our old address the other day and there was a package in it and I said to Dean, "It's nice to get something big in the mail and not even remember what you ordered!" When I got home I opened it up and was amazed to see a copy of Randy Alcorn's book, Money, Possessions, and Eternity because I never ordered it and there was no bill! It was totally free. I don't know if Randy Alcorn sent it to me (he did send me the books Heaven and Deception for free after I met him but those were signed and I knew they were coming, this book wasn't signed and I did not know it was coming), or if someone friend bought it and had it shipped to me or what?! But I've been telling Averil lately how I'm not sure what to read next but now I know what I'll be reading! Randy Alcorn is a great author and knows a ton about this topic and this is a topic close to my heart so I'm sure glad to recieve the book in the mail.

By the way, here is a good blog post from Randy: Stephen King, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, and Giving.

Billboard

2009-03-06T10:25:00.004-06:00

I'm not the biggest Ray Comfort fan in the world but I do like him. And I like this billboard.

"The atheist who wrote the foreword backslid," Comfort said. "I sent him a copy, and a week later he wrote to me and said that he was no longer an atheist."

Billy Graham's Prayer

2009-03-05T10:29:00.002-06:00

I got this in an email from Kari today and thought it was a great prayer. I do know that it's not actually from Billy Graham...but still it is real good!

Billy Graham's Prayer - This man sure has a good view of what's happening in our country!

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!"

True Story!

2009-03-04T10:28:00.004-06:00

My sister, Rebecca, shared this in her Newsletter:

I had the privilege of visiting with a young OM Missionary visiting Carlisle and he told me this amazing story:

A young believer in a strict Muslim country is told he will be married via an arranged marriage in 3 months. He decides he must bring this news to his few and only brothers in the Lord as he does not know how he will be able to marry a Muslim girl when he believes in Jesus. The guys begin praying together and lifting this up to the Lord. As the wedding approaches, the prayers continue, and he knows that once he is married he must tell his wife about Jesus, even though she could have him arrested.

Once they are married he boldly tells his wife that he is a follower of Jesus. With tears streaming down her face she looks up at him and says, "I've been reading the Bible for 2 years, and now I have found another believer."

This is what God is doing around the world!

This is what YOU are a part of!

Cardboard Testimonies

2009-03-03T09:37:00.001-06:00

Joao emailed me the link to this excellent video:

Listening and Playing

2009-02-25T11:49:00.002-06:00

I can hardly believe how much I have been hearing about church commitment and church membership this past several months. I notice it all the time in the Scriptures, it comes up all the time in conversation, I read about it all over the Internet, and then today at lunch I picked a random sermon to listen to while I played Tetris on Facebook and the sermon ended up being about church commitment and church membership. (The sermon was called 39 Weeks and was by Matt Chandler from The Village Church.)

Matt Chandler - Irreverent, Silly Myths

2009-02-24T10:45:00.000-06:00

Ovechkin

2009-02-20T14:21:00.001-06:00

What a goal!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6EJ5Iwnv9w

2009-02-20T13:41:00.001-06:00

If this isn't a good promo video I don't know what is! Watch is even though I doubt anyone I know will be able to go to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic6O8ilTCQY

(ht JT)

Freakishness in the arts masquerading as originality

2009-02-13T11:10:00.002-06:00

I heard that line: Freakishness in the arts masquerading as originality, in relation to various steps towards the Social Disorder, Decline, and Fall of the Roman Empire. It reminded me of some art nowadays. I (like Brian Regan) appreciate art where you can look at it and say, "I know that is good art because it looks just like a real bowl of fruit!" I don't appreciate freakishness in the arts masquerading as originality.

Instructions in Singing

2009-02-05T13:08:00.001-06:00

John Wesley wrote the following interesting "Instructions in Singing"...

1. SING ALL - See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find a blessing.

2. SING LUSTILY AND WITH A GOOD COURAGE - Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being, heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan.

3. SING MODESTLY - Do not bawl, so as to be heard above, or distinct from, the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.

4. SING IN TIME - Whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it. Do not run before, nor stay behind it; but attend closely to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can. And take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

5. ABOVE ALL, SING SPIRITUALLY - Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to this, attend strictly to the sense of what you sing; and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve of here, and reward when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

George Bush is a Total Incompetent.

2009-01-30T12:44:00.003-06:00

The other day, that is what one of my friends said: "George Bush is a total incompetent." I don't really know much about him so I didn't really say much. But I was thinking about it later on. I can see why people think that. After all, George Bush has said things like:

"I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

And when I read those things I laugh out loud! It's funny! But, anyone who is in front of a camera so much and under so much scrutiny will make lots funny mistakes. That doesn't mean he is incompetent.

People also say he is incompetent for bigger reasons than the funny things he has said. But it may just be that Condoleezza Rice is actually correct.... Whatever the case may be, I'm sure he is a lot smarter than most people give him credit for. Which I think this article about his love of reading helps to support too. In 2006, he read 95 books! In the last couple years, he has read about a book a week. (He also reads the Bible cover to cover each year and a daily devotional.)

Unsnobby Coffee

2009-01-30T08:04:00.002-06:00

I thought this video was pretty funny! I found it on the new blog, DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed.

NT Reliability

2009-01-28T10:33:00.003-06:00

Last Night we watched the History Tour of The Truth Project. One of the coolest things in it was the piece showing that the New Testament Scriptures are the most historically reliable ancient writing that we have. A quick Google search will bring up lots of papers showing this in detail.

Here is part of how one site put it:

The New Testament is by far the most reliable ancient writing in existence today. There exist today over 24,000 copies (5,000 of them in the original Greek language) of the New Testament (either in whole or in part).¹ This should be compared with the fact that only 7 copies presently exist of Plato's Tetralogies.² Homer's Iliad is in second place behind the New Testament among ancient writings with just 643 copies.³

The earliest copy of Plato's Tetralogies is dated about 1,200 years after Plato supposedly wrote the original.⁴ Compare this with the earliest extant copy of the New Testament: the John Ryland's Papyri. It contains a portion of John 18. This fragment is dated at about 125AD, only 25 years after the original is thought to have been written.⁵....Again, Homer's Iliad takes second place among ancient writings, second only to the New Testament. The earliest copy of any portion of Homer's Iliad is dated about 500 years after the original writing.⁷