i am but one small instrument

New post will be to Tumblr

2010-04-29T10:41:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, as of right now, I'm going to make the big switch to Tumblr. So, if you're just dyin' to know what I'm doing, what thoughts I have that make it out of my head to something even less concrete, then visit my tumblr blog.

I'm going to be featuring some of my favorite past blogs on that blog as I also continue to update it every now and then.

You can add my tumblr page to your rss feed by clicking here. Or just go to the page and click subscribe.

See you there.

Why I was disappointed at church Easter morning:

2010-04-07T12:58:00.000-04:00

During the preaching of the Word and sacrement of Baptism my theological radar was set too high. I found it hard to put away my reformed six-shooter and rejoice in the gospel. I was looking too hard through my scope to find an enemy to see how the Holy Spirit was moving.

Said theological underpinnings became useless because the foundation that the Scriptures lay out are meant to support joy, not squash it.

I think there's a helpful medium. I pray, by God's grace, that I get there soon.

Sweet spot? The Bible by Chapter 3, Verse 16

2010-03-02T11:47:00.001-05:00

Your favorite album, your second favorite album, and that album that you really hate for the most part has a sweet spot in it. If you haven't already noticed, it's track 8. Track 8, 94% of the time, is the sweet spot. I was noticing that the Scriptures have an interesting - not too serious similarity. Of course I hold to 2 Tim 3:16, but the third chapter, 16th verse of each book (where possible) seems to be quite the sweet spot. In other words, verses that we hold quite dear.

Hopfully this post will have you dig further into those passages. For a verse alone is only part of a whole idea being communicated. So, dig in, drink deep and be satisfied. Enjoy!
====================

Genesis
To the woman he said,

"I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you."

Exodus
Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt,

Leviticus
And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a(A) food offering with a pleasing aroma.(B) All fat is the LORD’s.

Numbers
So Moses listed them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded.

Deutoronomy
and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the river Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites;

Joshua
the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.

Judges
1And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.

Ruth
And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, "How did you fare, my daughter?" Then she told her all that the man had done for her,

1 Samuel
But Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." And he said, "Here I am."

2 Samuel
But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go, return." And he returned.

1 Kings
Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

2 Kings
And he said, "Thus says the LORD, 'I will make this dry streambed full of pools.'

1 Chronicles
The descendants of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son;

2 Chronicles
He made chains like a necklace and put them on the tops of the pillars, and he made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.

Ezra (3.13)
...so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Nehemiah
After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men.

Esther (3:15)
The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Job
Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child,

as infants who never see the light?

Psalm (3:8)
Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people!
Selah

Proverbs
Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor.

Eccelesiates
Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.

Song of Solomon
Go out, O daughters of Zion,

and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.

Isaiah
The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet,

Jeremiah
And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.

Lamentations
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;

Ezekiel
And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:

Daniel
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

Hosea (3:5)
Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

Joel
The LORD roars from Zion,

and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth quake.
But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.

Amos
I will strike the winter house along with the summer house,

and the houses of ivory shall perish,
and the great houses shall come to an end,"
declares the LORD.

Obadiah (1:16)
For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,

so all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and swallow,
and shall be as though they had never been.

Jonah (3:10)
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Micah (3:12)
Therefore because of you

Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Nahum
You increased your merchants

more than the stars of the heavens.
The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

Habakkuk
I hear, and my body trembles;

my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.

Zephaniah
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:"Fear not, O Zion;

let not your hands grow weak.

Haggai (2:16)
How did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.

Zechariah
In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree."

Malachi
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.

Matthew
1And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold,(A) the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

Mark
He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter);

Luke
John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

John
"For God so loved(B) the world,[a](C) that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not(D) perish but have eternal life.

Acts
And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Romans
in their paths are ruin and misery,

1 Corinthians
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

2 Corinthians
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

Galations
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ.

Ephesians
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Phillipians
Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Colossians
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1 Thessalonians (3:13)
so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

2 Thessalonians
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

1 Timothy
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

2 Timothy
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Titus (3:15)
All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Phelemon (1:16)
no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

Hebrews
For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

James
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

1 Peter
having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

2 Peter
as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

1 John
By this we know love, that(A) he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

2 John (1:13)
The children of your elect sister greet you.

3 John (1:15)
Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, every one of them.

Jude
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Revelation
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
====================

Ladies and Gents, Tommy Emmanuel

2010-02-04T11:06:00.002-05:00

This morning's Scripture: Proverbs 1

2010-02-01T12:01:00.001-05:00

The Beginning of Knowledge
1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Enticement of Sinners
8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
9 for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
11 If they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
N let us ambush the innocent without reason;
12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse"—
15 my son, do not walk in the way with them;
R hold back your foot from their paths,
16 for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
17 For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird,
18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.

The Call of Wisdom
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22 "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25 because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
27 when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
30 would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster."

Fighting the Accuser

2010-01-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

From Ray Ortlund's blog:

“When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ‘No,’ says the devil, ‘you will be damned.’ And I reply, ‘No, for I fly to Christ, who gave himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hated, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. . . . As often as you object that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably.’”

Martin Luther, commenting on Galatians 1:4, “. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.”

Thoughts while mopping from 1 Cor 7:17

2010-01-25T11:13:00.002-05:00

1 Cor 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.

My permaresolution, if I may make up words, this year and those to come is to strive to live in this: to live in the kaleō, or calling, or vocation that God has merizō, or apportioned, or dealt to me.

Now, I think I find this an easier task than some because He has apportioned to me a beautiful wife and two mighty sons. Ok, well, they aren't yet mighty in the way I'd most like, but that's the process isn't it?

I resolve to not try to be something that the Lord as not called me to be. I'm not a famous man. Not a virtuoso guitarist. Not a multimillionaire. Not some revolutionary theologian.

I am a husband and father, a redeemed sinner, a working man, a small-time musician, a theologian in desperate need of grace.

There you have it. My first post for the year. I'm getting a bit slow to post on this blog, but I'm sure it ramp up eventually. I've got to have some time, sometimes. Right? We'll see...

Lloyd-Jones (and more) on Fighting Spiritual Depression:

2009-12-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, p. 35:

Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression?

The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past.
Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ.
Never look back at your sins again.
Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the Blood of Christ’.
That is your first step.
Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you.
What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying.
No! You just begin to say:

I rest my faith on Him alone
Who died for my transgressions to atone.

(HT: David Mathis)

Here’s the “one thing” Paul wanted to do: “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).

Also remember this rule from Robert Murray M’Cheyne:

For one look at yourself,
take ten looks at Christ!

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Did Christmas Happen, what does it mean? The Scriptures vs culture:

2009-12-22T08:15:00.000-05:00

Check out this short film by St. Helen's Bishopgate in London. It has cliips from NT Scholar Paul Barnett describing the solid foundation laid by the gospels. And it contrasts the gospel account against street interviews about the meaning of Christmas.

That's Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor

Scriptures: God's Self-disclosure >

2009-11-30T10:32:00.001-05:00

Great article from the Resurgence.com:

Interpretation Matters

John Calvin was not only concerned about the authority of Scripture, but also with true interpretation of Scripture and its proper use in the church. To be sure, one must begin with the authority and inspiration of Scripture: “Hence the Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard” (Institutes). However, according to Calvin, asserting the authority and inspiration of Scripture is not enough unless interpreters of Scripture, according to their ability, supply weapons to fight against false teachings.

Doctrine and Biblical Languages

Calvin dedicated his life to the restoration of the teaching of Scripture to the church and to the training of future interpreters of Scripture, so that all Christians might be brought to the true knowledge of God and Christ. Therefore, in his pastoral training he insisted that pastors be well grounded in both doctrine and biblical languages. In parallel with the training of pastors, he saw the two key responsibilities of pastors as teaching doctrine through the catechisms and preaching through books of the bible.

Accessibility to the Uneducated

In all of this, Calvin’s aim was to help make the Scriptures accessible to all people. He combined his conviction regarding the divine authority of Scripture with the claim that God’s teaching in Scripture is accommodated to the capacity of the most unlearned of people. He wrote, “All I have had in mind with this is to facilitate the reading of holy Scripture for those who are humble and uneducated” (Preface to Chrysostom’s Homiletics).

The Illumination of the Spirit

However, one cannot accept the Scripture’s author nor interpret it correctly without the illumination of the Holy Spirit: “For as God alone can properly bear witness to his own words, so these words will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men, until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who spoke by the mouth of the prophets, must penetrate our hearts, in order to convince us that they faithfully delivered the message with which they were divinely entrusted” (Institutes).
Calvin argues that humans can have knowledge of God only because God first condescends and accommodates to human capacity to reveal to humans the truth about God. God takes on human nature and reveals through human words. According to Calvin, the self-disclosure of God is founded in the self-manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ and Scripture.

Scriptures Testify to Christ

According to Calvin, once Scripture sets forth the self-disclosure of the Creator, in the works God does in the universe, it passes on to the knowledge of God the Redeemer revealed in the Mediator, Jesus Christ. Christ is visible in both the symbols and shadows in the Law and the clear manifestation of the gospel. While one must avoid the dangers of over-spiritualizing the Old Testament and overemphasizing the differences between Israel and the church, when rightly understood, all the Scriptures testify to the one God and his Mediator, Christ Jesus.

It is well...

2009-11-23T08:14:00.001-05:00

Horatio Spafford penned the hymn, It Is Well with My Soul, after his four daughters were killed in a boating accident. Here's the penmanship of a broken man with a profound sense of hope in Jesus:

The purpose of parables

2009-11-12T08:47:00.002-05:00

D. A. Carson preached on “The Purpose of the Parables” from Matthew 13:10-17, 34-35 in chapel at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on October 29, 2009. Here are some notes:

Why did Jesus tell stories and use parables? Three answers are common.

1. Jesus told stories because he used them as illustrations. But that doesn’t make a lot of sense of Matthew 13:11–12.

2. Jesus told stories because he favored the enigmatic, thought-provoking, and open-ended rather than truths, propositions, and narrow-minded, modernist, foundationalist stuff like that. But it doesn’t take much reading of the Gospels to realize how many different genres Jesus actually preached in. For example, he preached using wisdom literature, apocalyptic, laments, exposition of OT texts, extended discourses, proverbs, beatitudes, one-liners, non-narratival extended metaphors, dialogue, and provocative questions. Further, Matthew 13:34–35 suggests that Jesus is trying to disclose something to them.

3. Jesus used parables in order to hide things from the non-elect, to mask the truth. Yes, there is an element of that, but Matthew 13:34–35 suggests that Jesus is trying to disclose something to them.

So why did Jesus use parables? The text suggests two reasons.

1. Jesus tells parables because in line with Scripture his message blinds, deafens, and hardens (Matthew 13:11–15). Matthew 13:14–15 quotes Isaiah 6:9–10 because Isaiah’s commission points forward and finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus himself. There are some audiences to whom you preach where the preaching of the word guarantees that they will not hear. Cf. John 8:45: “Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” Sometimes the truth itself elicits unbelief because people are so corrupt that the truth is repulsive. Cf. Acts 5:41. When people insult you, don’t get defensive. Don’t get angry. Don’t get even. Rejoice! You’re in! You’re in this long line, this trajectory, that culminates in Jesus himself. There are some people who will not believe, and if you speak the truth, you will cause them not to believe.

2. Jesus tells parables because in line with Scripture his message reveals things hidden in Scripture (Matthew 13:34–35). Matthew 13:35 quotes Psalm 78:2. The Jews of Jesus’ day did not have a category for a crucified Messiah, but those categories are in the OT. Jesus refers to “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11). A “mystery” in the NT does not refer to a “Whodunit?” It occurs 27 or 28 times in the NT and almost always is bound up with things hidden in the past in Scripture but now disclosed in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “They’re there, but I’m going to reveal to you what has been hidden. The pieces are already there.” Hence, Matthew 13:16–17, 52.

Three Pastoral Reflections
1. We should gain wonder in worship where there is a fresh grasp of how God has put the Bible together. The Bible is not a collection of arbitrary proof-texts. The more you dig into it, the more you unpack its simplicity and profundity.

2. We should gain gratitude and humility for the gift of seeing the truth about Jesus and his gospel. We are just as perverse as others. We should never tire of being overwhelmed by the sheer privilege of grace in our lives.

3. We should gain discretion in witness where there is a hostile environment.

HT:Andy Naselli

Tomorrow's Less celebrated Holiday

2009-10-30T08:41:00.002-04:00

Reformation Day

A day where we should remember a time when the church power of the time was shaken by the proclaimed Word of God against it's doctrines of justification. Dr. Martin Luther (left) set off this reformation of the church by nailing his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg.

Dr. Luther proclaimed a gospel of grace to the broken-hearted sinners: "God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. He does not give saintliness to any but sinners, nor wisdom to any but fools. In short: He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace. Therefore no arrogant saint, or just or wise man can be material for God, neither can he do the work of God, but he remains confined within his own work and makes of himself a fictitious, ostensible, false, and deceitful saint, that is, a hypocrite" (Luther W.A. 1.183ff).

I'll be taking some time in my prayers to thank God for His gospel of grace, one that cause Dr. Luther to say, “The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God” (Thesis 62).

If you'd like to read all 95 Theses, you can here.

Thanks to Resurgence for a great article.

He works, we respond, He blesses

2009-10-27T09:09:00.002-04:00

From DG's Blog, written by Piper:

Sometimes readers of the Bible see the conditions that God lays down for his blessing and they conclude from these conditions that our action is first and decisive, then God responds to bless us.

That is not right.

There are indeed real conditions that God often commands. We must meet them for the promised blessing to come. But that does not mean that we are left to ourselves to meet the conditions or that our action is first and decisive.

Here is one example to show what I mean.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God says to the exiles in Babylon, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” So there is a condition: When you seek me with all your heart, then you will find me. So we must seek the Lord. That is the condition of finding him.

True.

But does that mean that we are left to ourselves to seek the Lord? Does it mean that our action of seeking him is first and decisive? Does it mean that God only acts after our seeking?

No.

Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 24:7 to those same exiles in Babylon: “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”

So the people will meet the condition of returning to God with their whole heart. God will respond by being their God in the fullest blessing. But the reason they returned with their whole heart is that God gave them a heart to know him. His action was first and decisive.

So now connect that with Jeremiah 29:13. The condition there was that they seek the Lord with their whole heart. Then God will be found by them. But now we see that the promise in Jeremiah 24:7 is that God himself will give them such a heart so that they will return to him with their whole heart.

This is one of the most basic things people need to see about the Bible. It is full of conditions we must meet for God’s blessings. But God does not leave us to meet them on our own. The first and decisive work before and in our willing is God’s prior grace. Without this insight, hundreds of conditional statements in the Bible will lead us astray.

Let this be the key to all Biblical conditions and commands: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13). Yes, we work. But our work is not first or decisive. God’s is. “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

The Gospel and Biblical Storyline

2009-10-21T10:09:00.002-04:00

As said by Don Carson, edit by Justin Taylor:

God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers.

Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath.

But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects. In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them—an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell.

What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).

This story-line, and its connection with the gospel, could be fleshed out in a number of ways. But the point is simply this: the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ makes sense in the context of this story-line and in no other.

If, instead of this world-view, this storyline, some other is adopted, the good news of Jesus Christ no longer makes sense or is so badly distorted it is no longer the same thing.

For instance, if one adopts a pantheistic world-view, then ‘sin’ takes on an entirely different configuration and there is no transcendent God to whom to be reconciled. In that case, the ‘good news’ cannot be the announcement of God’s reconciling act in the death and resurrection of his Son, by which he bore his people’s penalty.

If one adopts some naturalistic world-view, something similar could be said.

If one holds that history is going nowhere or in circles determined by impersonal fate, then the notion of final judgement and ultimate division between bliss and the abyss is incoherent—and so too the good news that Christ reconciles rebels to their Maker, prepares them for glory, enabling them even now to enjoy foretastes of the kingdom still to be consummated.

source: Evangel

God Equips and Effects

2009-10-12T09:20:00.002-04:00

From DG's blog:

What does the blood of the eternal covenant secure for us? It secures both God’s equipping of us and the successful use of that equipment to make our lives pleasing to God.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

- equip you with everything good that you may do his will,
- working in us that which is pleasing in his sight,

through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)

Christ shed the blood of the eternal covenant. By this successful redemption, he obtained the blessing of resurrection from the dead. He is now our living Lord and Shepherd.

And because of all that, God does two things:

1. He equips us with everything good that we may do his will.
2. He works in us that which is pleasing in his sight.

The “eternal covenant,” secured by the blood of Christ, is the new covenant. And the new covenant promise is this: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33-34).

Therefore, the blood of this covenant not only secures God’s equipping us to do his will, but also secures God working in us to make that equipment successful. The will of God is not just written on stone or paper as a means of grace. It is worked in us. And the effect is: We feel and think and act in ways more pleasing to God.

We are still commanded to use the equipment he gives: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” But more importantly we are told why: “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

If we are able to please God—if we do his good pleasure—it is because the blood-bought grace of God has moved from mere equipping, to omnipotent transforming.

The Beauty of Harpagmos

2009-10-05T14:36:00.003-04:00

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (or harpagmos in Greek), but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Phillipians 2. 4-7

I've sometimes had trouble with this passage since I didn't understand exactly what was meant by the translated word "grasped". It almost sounds like Christ didn't consider being God as something that he should or could do or be.

Upon reviewing the Greek word "harpagmos", I found that this grasping was not a reaching toward divinity with the hopes that it might be grasped. On the contrary, it conveys that Christ considered his eternal divinity (already possessed) not something to be hoarded for his own good, but was willing, for a time, to humble himself that he might redeem us. In doing this, Jesus magnifies his name among his creation while at the same time sanctifying them.

Who knew such an ugly word could convey such a beautiful meaning.

The Best, The Best, The Best

2009-10-02T11:48:00.002-04:00

One of the best blues guitar solos I've ever heard - and I've heard a lot of them. Listen right around 2 minutes 45 seconds.

Do enjoy, peoples:

Providence Doesn't Excuse Our Wickedness

2009-09-29T13:00:00.006-04:00

And whence, I ask you, comes the stench of a corpse, which is both putrefied and laid open by the heat of the sun? All men see that it is stirred up by the sun's rays; yet no one for this reason says that rays stink. Thus, since the matter and guilt of evil lie inherent in a wicked man, what reason is there to think that God contracts any defilement, if he uses the wicked man's service for His own purpose? Away, therefore, with this doglike impudence, which can indeed bark at God's justice afar off but cannot touch it.

- John Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Book 1, Chapter 17, Section 5

27, meet 20. You guys got a lot to talk about..

2009-09-24T17:49:00.001-04:00

I wish Niles-age-20 could meet Niles-age-27. 27 would have a lot to say to 20.

That's it. Just sayin'.

It Might Get Loud

2009-09-21T12:08:00.003-04:00

A docu-movie featuring the Edge, Jack White, and Jimmy Page... I've gotta see this.

2009-09-16T13:06:00.002-04:00

From ChuckNorrisFacts.com, the top facts pick by Chuck himself:

· When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
· Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
· There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
· Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.
· Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
· Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
· Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
· Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
· There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.
· When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
· Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
· Chuck Norris’ hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.
· Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.
· Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.
· Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
· Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost
· Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a DeltaForce marathon on Satellite TV.
· Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.

If none of these make you crack a smile, Chuck will crack you. Ok, ok I got nothing.

Battling for the Unborn and Unborn-again

2009-09-15T08:33:00.003-04:00

An eye opening post from John Piper's blog at DesiringGod:

In the most recent Christianity Today (“Sex, Lies, and Abortion,” Sept. 2009, p. 78) Dinesh D’Souza explains why pro-life arguments for the humanity of the unborn don’t carry the day:

Why then, in the face of its bad arguments, does the pro-choice movement continue to prevail legally and politically?

I think it's because abortion is the debris of the sexual revolution. . . .

In order to have a sexual revolution, women must have the same sexual autonomy as man. But the laws of biology contradict this ideology, so feminists who have championed the sexual revolution . . . have found it necessary to denounce pregnancy as an invasion of the female body. . .

No one in the pro-choice camp, of course, wants to admit any of this. It's not only politically embarrassing, it's also painful to one's self-image to acknowledge a willingness to sustain permissive sexual values by killing the unborn.

If I'm on the right track, pro-life arguments are not likely to succeed by simply continuing to stress the humanity of the fetus. The opposition already knows this, as probably do most women who have an abortion. Rather, the pro-life movement must take into account the larger cultural context of the sexual revolution that invisibly but surely sustains the triumphant advocates of abortion.

It won't be easy but somehow the case against abortion must include a case against sexual libertinism.

Two further observations.

Somebody with my view would call the abortion position “fornication management”—like “damage control.” Jesus (Matthew 15:19) and Paul (1 Corinthians 6:18) forbid fornication. But from the other side it’s called “justice.” If a man can have free sex with no pregnancy consequences, then justice demands that the woman have the same “right.” So as long as sexual intercourse is perceived as a given—a kind of visceral “right” (part of what it means to be a sexual being)—then abortion will be a demanded “right” to give parity to male and female.

The other observation is that the upshot of D’Souza’s article is that a “case against sexual libertinism” is good, but by itself powerless. “Cases” don’t affect hormones and passions very much. But there is a power to “put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). His name is the Holy Spirit. And he moves through faith by making Jesus Christ the supreme treasure of life—including sexual life.

So, at bottom, the battle for the life of the unborn is the same as the battle for the life of the un-born-again.

To really own a book:

2009-09-14T09:51:00.004-04:00

I read this quotation from Challies.com this morning. It's from Moritmer Adler's How To Read a Book. I think I fit into book owner #2, but I'm working on it.

-----------

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher’s icebox to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books, too, must be absorbed in your blood stream to do you any good.

Confusion about what it means to “own” a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type — a respect for the physical thing — the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contains, without staking his claim by pasting his bookplate inside the cover. Having a fine library doesn’t prove that its owner has a mind enriched by books; it proves nothing more than that he, his father, or his wife, was rich enough to buy them.

There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets and best sellers — unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books — a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many — every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.) …

But the soul of a book “can” be separate from its body. A book is more like the score of a piece of music than it is like a painting. No great musician confuses a symphony with the printed sheets of music. Arturo Toscanini reveres Brahms, but Toscanini’s score of the G minor Symphony is so thoroughly marked up that no one but the maestro himself can read it. The reason why a great conductor makes notations on his musical scores — marks them up again and again each time he returns to study them—is the reason why you should mark your books. If your respect for magnificent binding or typography gets in the way, buy yourself a cheap edition and pay your respects to the author.

Auto-tune Isn't All Bad

2009-09-11T09:08:00.002-04:00

Well, while I won't divulge if any kind of auto-tune was used on Eternal Worship's upcoming release, I think we can safely assume it is all over this hilariousness:

Theodicy and Optimism

2009-09-09T12:07:00.007-04:00

To defend the theological perspective of this blog which has been recently, colloquially reproached, I'd like to blog about Gottfried Leibniz's (1646-1716) view on theodicy and optimism.

Honestly, these are new terms to me, but I found Leibniz's ideas on these topics to be interesting. His view could be succinctly put as:

Theodicy tries to justify the apparent imperfections of the world by claiming that it is optimal among all possible worlds. It must be the best possible and most balanced world because it was created by a perfect God.

{I would insert God's observation from Genesis 1, it was "towb" or good, right or appropriate}

While his views on a perfect and good God were ridiculed by what surely would have been a convincing 18th century blogger, Voltaire, Leibniz's optimism lead to certain scientific principles that two centuries later would be thoroughly established: the principle of least action, the conservation of mass, and the conservation of energy.

So, theodicy and optimism. There you go.

I don't care who you are...

2009-09-08T13:11:00.010-04:00

This thing is scary...

It's from a WSJ article on a new discovery of a new drug that prohibits bacteria from communicating with each other. Apparently this angler fish uses bacteria to shine. A colony of bacteria glow on the tip of an appendage on the fish's head, enabling the fish to lure prey in the deep ocean darkness.

See the article and description here.

Remind me to stay away from deep ocean darkness.

Update, cause I know you want to see more. Found another picture of an angler fish.

Pic by charminbayurr from Flickr

Live free or die, or not.

2009-09-08T08:19:00.003-04:00

So, I read a Wall Street Journal article this morning about a girl in New Hampshire, age 10, who was home-schooled. There was a court order issued to make her attend public school, saying that her faith could use some shaking-up. Here's a bit of the article:

"Amanda's mother has had primary custody over her daughter since she and Amanda's father divorced 10 years ago. The father has had long-standing complaints about the effect of home-schooling on his daughter's "socialization," even though Amanda has already taken classes at the school and participated in extracurricular activities. But the order appears to be based on the guardian ad litem's worry about Amanda's "rigidity on faith." The order also accepts the same guardian's conclusion that Amanda belongs in a public school because she "would be best served by exposure to different points of view at a time in her life when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief and behavior and cooperation in order to select, as a young adult, which of those systems will best suit her own needs.'"

New Hampshire's state motto: "Live free or die."

Ironic, no?

Jesus wuz here:

2009-09-02T12:06:00.004-04:00

Here's a quick video from Mars Hill Church's trip to Israel where Mark is telling a bit about Peter's home. It would be pretty awesome to experience, in person, a place were Jesus actually walked while he was still with us on Earth. For now, this will have to do.

Peters House in Capernaum from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

No frets? No problem.

2009-09-01T12:15:00.001-04:00

You can just build your own guitar, but you might want to practice your slide technique first.

A Biblical view of Free Will

2009-08-28T08:32:00.003-04:00

Andy Naselli helped his church understand a bit clearer the nature of free will and what the Bible has to say about it. It really helped me get a grasp on some terms I wasn't familar with and think through some issues regarding this topic. If you're looking for a Biblical response on this subject, and not just a philosophical one, Andy's talk with help.

Here's the mp3 of the talk.
Here's the 7-page handout. (it helps)
Finally, a condensed essay. (4-page pdf)

A basic outline goes like this:
1.What is "free will"?
2.What have noteworthy theologians thought about "free will"?
3.What are biblical and theological reasons for compatibilisim and against incompatibilism?
4.How does "free will" relate to the origin of sin and conversion?
5.Concluding applications on the Free-Will debate.
6.Recommended Reading.

Just a bit about Andy, if you're interested in who it is that is speaking:
* Andy is currently working on a Ph.D. in Theological Studies with a concentration in New Test am ent Exegesis and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he serves as research assistant to D. A. Carson and administrator of Themelios.

*He earned a Ph.D. in theology from BJU (2006), an M.A. in Bible from BJU (2003), and a B.A. in Bible from BCM (2002).

Ever get tired...

2009-08-28T08:27:00.003-04:00

...of Christ-centered preaching? Check this guy out. The ultimate youth "pastor", Ignatius.

...and no, this guy is not for real. You're welcome, kids.

New Lungs. New Records. And Keith Richards.

2009-08-25T08:16:00.004-04:00

I ran today. My lungs were on fire, but the good kind. The kind that don't take nicely to sinus infections.

Used iTunes money to buy the new Needtobreathe record, The Outsiders. Don't think there's a track I don't like. Needtolistentoitmore.

For Jimmy and Lauren, John Mayer's latest album's coming out Nov. 17th. Single's to come soon. You're welcome.

Oh, and here's Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones showing his guitar chops to a clearly overeager fan:

Textual Confidence

2009-08-19T08:54:00.003-04:00

Just read a 12 page pdf entitled, How Did We Get Our Bible and Has It Been Changed? by Dr. Matthew S. Harmon.

While the report is brief, it is very informative and persuasive. Here's his conclusion that the paper fleshes out in more detail:

"In closing I want to leave you with two bottom-line conclusions to walk away with today.

First, the Bible that we holding our hands contains the books that God intends for us to recognize as authoritative for faith and practice. You have no need to fear that some vast conspiracy has managed to prevent us from having documents that are inspired by God for the benefit of his people the church. The reason books like the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Judas are not included in the Bible is because there was widespread recognition in the church from a very early period that documents such as these did not conform to the rule of faith, were not apostolic in origin and were not widely accepted by Christians through the world.

Second, you can be confident that what we read in the New Testament is exactly what God inspired the human authors to write. They are the most carefully transmitted and preserved documents from the ancient world. Even in those rare places where we cannot be 100% sure what the original said, we are always able to determine what it is likely to have said. And there are no places where a central doctrine or belief of the Christian faith is at stake.

So when you open your Bible to read about the good news of who Jesus Christ is and what he was done for us, you can rest your eternal destiny on what you read there. "

If you've thought about how looking into how we arrived at our New Testament cannon of Scripture, this should help.

HT:B2W

The Pride of Humility

2009-08-18T10:52:00.003-04:00

From CS Lewis less than a year after his conversion, circa 1928:
-
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)

From Jonathan Edwards in Religious Affections, circa 1740's:
-
If on the proposal of the question [Are you humble?], you answer, “No, it seems to me, none are so bad as I.” Don't let the matter pass off so; but examine again, whether or no you don't think yourself better than others on this very account, because you imagine you think so meanly of yourself. Haven't you a high opinion of this humility? And if you answer again, “No; I have not a high opinion of my humility; it seems to me I am as proud as the devil”; yet examine again, whether self-conceit don't rise up under this cover; whether on this very account, that you think yourself as proud as the devil, you don't think yourself to be very humble. (quoted from the online works of Jonathan Edwards)

HT:DG Blog

For Whom did Christ taste death?

2009-08-17T15:40:00.005-04:00

If you've ever struggled with this question - in essense, dealing with how the Scriptures talk about the Atonement - then this sermon will help.

I've had to listen to it multiple times. Still praying, reading and working through it, but this really helped me.

For Whom Did Christ Taste Death?

Read it here.

Listen to it here.

Mr. Les Paul (1915-2009)

2009-08-13T15:01:00.005-04:00

Mr. Les Paul died today at age 94. As far as men that were important to music, especially guitar playing, this man was it. He basically invented the electric guitar and multi-track recording. He was an accomplish jazz, country and blues player even with severe arthritis. I hope he put his trust in the Lord, because I'd love to meet him some day.

You can read more than you ever wanted to about him here.

If you're rolling with Chet, you got to bring the chops. This man had it. Brilliant.

Dutch Maritime Paintings

2009-08-12T13:33:00.008-04:00

Just wanted to share a couple of brilliant Dutch paintings I ran across while reading a WSJ article. Its hard to see the minute details of the ships in Velde's piece, so click the title of the piece's name for higher resolution. What grabbed my attention in these paintings is the realism of the lighting on the clouds, waves, and ships.

Here they are:

The first is a piece by Ludolf Bakhuizen entitled The Merchant Shipping Anchorage in the Texel with Texel Island and Oude Schild to the North West. From 1665, an oil on canvas.

The second is a piece by Willem van de Velde the Younger titled, Ships on the Roadstead. 1658.

Cleaving to Christ rather than them

2009-08-11T12:48:00.005-04:00

Here's a quotation from Parker's Portrait of Calvin [see earlier blog post for link] that rang loudly with me - I hope that if I draw a line in the sand theologically, that doing so would put me closer to Him than to any branch of thinking. In Calvin's case below, he's writing to the Holy Roman Emperor with regard to Reformation doctrines.

THL Parker writes,

"The glory of Christ is the theme that runs through the treatise on [Calvin's]
The Necessity for Reforming the Church which Calvin addressed to the Emperor
Charles V: 'Let our opponents, then, first of all draw near to Christ and
afterwards let them accuse us of schism in daring to dissent from them in
doctrine. But, since I have made it plain that Christ is banished from their
society and the teaching of His gospel exterminated, their charge against
us simply amounts to this, that we cleave to Christ rather than to them.'"

CliffsNotes biography of Calvin

2009-08-10T09:30:00.004-04:00

I posted about this on John Calvin's birthday in July, but here's the complete 9-part [severely abridged, yet helpful] biography of John Calvin. It's written by David Mathis of DesiringGod. He draws, in some part, from a book I'm currently reading: Portrait of Calvin, by T.H.L. Parker (written in 1954). I'm almost done with Parker's book, which is also quite abreviated (only 120 pages), but would be an insightful next step in exploring the life of a man used by God to bring Glory to Himself all over the world.

Part 1: Born to Gerard (1509-1523)
Part 2: Off to Paris (1523-1532)
Part 3: De Clementia, Conversion, and Cop (1532-33)
Part 4: Institutes (1535-1536)
Part 5: A Night’s Stay in Geneva (1536-1538)
Part 6: The Golden Years (1538-1541)
Part 7: Return to Geneva (1541-1553)
Part 8: The Fateful Years (1553-1554)
Part 9: An Unmarked Grave (1554-1564)

Irrefutably, irrefragably, irreducibly...

2009-08-04T09:27:00.002-04:00

... are just some of the words D.A. Carson uses in this video from the Gospel Coalition to speak about biblical inerrancy. Ok well, he was describing how Christ is bound-up with salvation.

But, if you've wondered what "inerrancy" is, you'll benefit from this video. I thought I knew all of what it meant, and again I've found that I'm not half as smart as I think I am.

What does inerrancy mean? Is it essential to Christian belief?

The Innkeeper

2009-07-30T08:27:00.004-04:00

Just read this Advent poem Piper wrote for his congregation.

Here's the official description: In this poem, John Piper imagines Jesus, two weeks before his death, returning to Bethlehem and visiting the inn where he was born. He meets Jacob, the old innkeeper, who years before had made a place for Joseph and Mary to stay. As they converse, Jesus hears what it cost Jacob to house the Son of God.

The Innkeeper is a moving story that has us look into the face of tragedy, as experienced in Herod's brutal slaughter of little boys. Then it turns us toward the shining face of hope. If we have the eyes of faith to see it, the sting of futility will be forever removed from death.

You can read the Pdf here.

Or listen to Pastor John read it here.

I hope it moves your heart as it did mine.

Prayer and Predestination

2009-07-27T08:51:00.004-04:00

Ok, put on your thinking-caps. I'll be reading through this a couple more times this morning: A conversation between the Prayerful and the Prayerless by John Piper from Feb 1996:

Prayerless: I understand that you believe in the providence of God. Is that right?
Prayerful: Yes.
Prayerless: Does that mean you believe, like the Heidelberg Catechism says, that nothing comes about by chance but only by God's design and plan?
Prayerful: Yes, I believe that's what the Bible teaches.
Prayerless: Then why do you pray?
Prayerful: I don't see the problem. Why shouldn't we pray?
Prayerless: Well, if God ordains and controls everything, then what he plans from of old will come to pass, right?
Prayerful: Yes.
Prayerless: So it's going to come to pass whether you pray or not, right.
Prayerful: That depends on whether God ordained for it to come to pass in answer to prayer. If God predestined that something happen in answer to prayer, it won't happen without prayer.
Prayerless: Wait a minute, this is confusing. Are you saying that every answer to prayer is predestined or not?
Prayerful: Yes, it is. It's predestined as an answer to prayer.
Prayerless: So if the prayer doesn't happen, the answer doesn't happen?
Prayerful: That's right.
Prayerless: So the event is contingent on our praying for it to happen?
Prayerful: Yes. I take it that by contingent you mean prayer is a real reason that the event happens, and without the prayer the event would not happen.
Prayerless: Yes that's what I mean. But how can an event be contingent on my prayer and still be eternally fixed and predestined by God?
Prayerful: Because your prayer is as fixed as the predestined answer.
Prayerless: Explain.
Prayerful: It's not complicated. God providentially ordains all events. God never ordains an event without a cause. The cause is also an event. Therefore, the cause is also foreordained. So you cannot say that the event will happen if the cause doesn't because God has ordained otherwise. The event will happen if the cause happens.
Prayerless: So what you are saying is that answers to prayer are always ordained as effects of prayer which is one of the causes, and that God predestined the answer only as an effect of the cause.
Prayerful: That's right. And since both the cause and the effect are ordained together you can't say that the effect will happen even if the cause doesn't because God doesn't ordain effects without causes.
Prayerless: Can you give some illustrations?
Prayerful: Sure. If God predestines that I die of a bullet wound, then I will not die if no bullet is fired. If God predestines that I be healed by surgery, then if there is no surgery, I will not be healed. If God predestines heat to fill my home by fire in the furnace, then if there is no fire, there will be no heat. Would you say, "Since God predestines that the sun be bright, it will be bright whether there is fire in the sun or not"?
Prayerless: No.
Prayerful: I agree. Why not?
Prayerless: Because the brightness of the sun comes from the fire.
Prayerful: Right. That's the way I think about the answers to prayer. They are the brightness, and prayer is the fire. God has established the universe so that in larger measure it runs by prayer, the same way he has established brightness so that in larger measure it happens by fire. Doesn't that make sense?
Prayerless: I think it does.
Prayerful: Then let's stop thinking up problems and go with what the Scriptures say. Ask and you will receive. You have not because you ask not.

-------------------------
Again gleaned from B2W

Anitpsalm 23

2009-07-27T08:16:00.002-04:00

David Powlson wrote this in his article regarding a life void of the redeeming reality of the Lord Jesus. But after reading the antipsalm below, scroll back up and read the true Psalm 23 for a picture of a life redeemed from sin and loneliness.

Antipsalm 23

I'm on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing's quite right.
I'm always restless. I'm easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It's a jungle — I feel overwhelmed. It's a desert — I'm thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can't fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life's confusing. Why don't things ever really work out?
I'm haunted by emptiness and futility — shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
but I'd rather not think about that.
I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
I find no lasting comfort.
I'm alone ... facing everything that could hurt me.
Are my friends really friends?
Other people use me for their own ends.
I can't really trust anyone. No one has my back.
No one is really for me — except me.
And I'm so much all about ME, sometimes it's sickening.
I belong to no one except myself.
My cup is never quite full enough. I'm left empty.
Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
Sartre said, "Hell is other people."
I have to add, "Hell is also myself."
It's a living death,
and then I die.

--------------------------
Thanks to JT for the link.

Why I Thank God for John Calvin

2009-07-10T11:40:00.007-04:00

Today, 500 years ago in Noyon, Frace, Jean Cauvin was born. I'd like to share why I thank God for John Calvin.

It is kind of strange to be writing this post. The Niles of 2005 would be quite taken aback, frankly. He would posit several philosophical arguments to discount Calvin altogether. He would lean on various conversational dynamics, sarcasm and strawmen to seemingly win so-called debates regarding predestination. I was pretty decent with whipping out CS Lewis quotes and witty retorts of Scripture without a whole lot of thought as to how those verse fit the rest of the Scriptures, or how they make God look.

It has been humbling to know that it was indeed Calvin, whom God used to clearly display His glory in my life.

First, John Calvin's pursuit of the truth in the Scriptures built in me a deep respect and love for studying the Word of God. As I heard about and read about his life I was struck by his profound view of the Scriptures coupled with a passionate work-ethic.

Calvin said, "Whoever, therefore, would desire to persevere in uprightness and in integrity of life, let them learn to exercise themselves daily in the study of the word of God; for, whenever a man despises or neglects instruction, he easily falls into carelessness and stupidity, and all fear of God vanishes from his mind" (Commentary on the Psalms, on Ps. 18:22)

Secondly, my view of God was exploded into a majestic understanding of His ultimate sovereignty. This encompassed blessing, suffering, redemption, damnation; it changed the way I saw everything - it still does.

Calvin said in one of his commentaries on the Psalms, "We renounce the guidance of our own affections, and submit ourselves entirely to God, leaving him to govern us, and to dispose our life according to his will, so that the afflictions which are the bitterest and most severe to our nature, become sweet to us, because they proceed from him." This was said by a man who suffered from terrible headaches, fevers and kidney stones among other illnesses.

I'll save the rest of your time to perhaps peruse the following link to learn more about John Calvin.

John Calvin on Faith by the Resurgence.com

John Calvin, Founding Father from the Washington Post by constitutional attorney, Doug Phillips. This explores Calvin's affect on free-market economy/capitalism and our founding fathers' choice for form of government. Thanks Steven for the link.

Calvin: Why He Still Matters by Dr. W. Robert Godfrey of Westminster Seminary California. This piece is long, but very informative. This is where I pulled the above quotes.

DesiringGod Blog There will be various posts about Calvin from the Desiring God blog over the next couple of days.

If we are bound to sin, are we acting freely?

2009-07-09T11:13:00.005-04:00

Here's a great, albeit mind-boggling, post from Piper regarding the title's question. The thought is based on, among others, this passage:

Romans 8:7-9
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. (See also 1Corinthians 2:14).

Read the conclusion below or the full post here:

But it sometimes helps to answer objections. One common objection is that, if we “cannot” do what is right, and “can only” do what is sin, then we are not acting voluntarily and cannot be praised or blamed.

Here is part of John Calvin’s answer to this objection:

The goodness of God is so connected with his Godhead that it is not more necessary to be God than to be good; whereas the devil, by his fall, was so estranged from goodness that he can do nothing but evil.

Should anyone give utterance to the profane jeer that little praise is due to God for a goodness to which he is forced, is it not obvious to every man to reply, “It is owing not to violent impulse, but to his boundless goodness, that he cannot do evil?”

Therefore, if the free will of God in doing good is not impeded, because he necessarily must do good; if the devil, who can do nothing but evil, nevertheless sins voluntarily; can it be said that man sins less voluntarily because he is under a necessity of sinning? (Institutes, II.3.5)

Judgment sustantiates the Gospel

2009-07-07T12:18:00.006-04:00

Some thoughts from a recent discussion board conversation with one of my best friends, a fellow brother in Christ. We have these conversations to hammer out issues. His post is in bold, my response is not. If this is helpful, I'm glad - it's long. If not, feel free to skip over to the updated Born Without Bones post.

Why would God make judgments? We are the ones that choose...God remains the same, therefore there is no judgment only existence.

To set the groundwork, we must accept that God indeed does make judgments. One only needs to read Exodus or any of the Gospels to see that God pronounces judgments, temporally and eternally. If we can agree on that then the why becomes even more important. It should be noted that so-called temporal judgments for Christians and Non would be different and for different purposes.

The fact of the matter is twofold: 1-We do choose. 2-God does hold us accountable for these choices, thus judgment is due and just. The connection is difficult, admittedly so, especially for me - as I would affirm God's sovereignty. However, it is exactly because we are the ones that choose that bears us the responsibility of consequence. I don't understand it fully, but I accept it because it is what is clearly taught in the Scriptures. (I'm still working on it.) It would be quite foolish to discard an idea as not true simply because I don't fully understand it.

I'll leave it at that for brevity's sake.

Main idea: Because there is a standard set (that God has in place for our good and his glory) there is the possibility of judgment. These standards are what bring God the most glory and us the most joy. When we break the covenant or ignore it, there is righteous judgment. For the Christian, Jesus absorbed it; for those who reject Christ they must take it on themselves. Hence the gospel is indeed good news for the sinner.

I suppose I was speaking of a peculiar transcendence...perhaps a bit of enlightenment that necessarily flows from the teachings of Christ; that in the end, the babble of our moralistic reasoning is inconsequential. Christ taught of love as if it had nothing to do with our judgments. It seems when we give up thinking about what is right or wrong, which in the end is perhaps impossible to know; and, begin to look at love as the expression of the will of God, we find ourselves always looking beyond.

Our moralistic reasoning should be, but not always is, based on the commanded will of God that has been explicitly revealed to us in the Scriptures. It doesn't include wearing ties and not having Mohawks and being a republican, but it does include loving God and loving people.

I would argue that this love that Christ speaks about is only possible because of the presence of judgment. The gospel throughout the entire Bible is that God wants to be our God and us to be his people. This is amazing because he also tells us that we're a sinful bunch. But even while we were still such, Christ died for us. Even though we deserve wrath (righteous judgment) we can still be adopted as His sons. Thus, this love for God and People is only possible with a correct view of the Gospel.

[Quick aside] Christ's so-called enlightened teachings are only a fraction of his ministry. The Muslims and Buddhists speak of Christ's teachings as enlightened, because they don't believe or understand the full picture. That doesn't make me any better than them morally. We're on the same field in that category, but I boast in the Cross above their teachings as salvation based on the reality of sin and redemption.

Do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, love thy neighbor as yourself, love your enemies, give to all that ask. All these things are nonsense or require vast amounts of human reasoning to justify. I suppose the key piece to this enlightenment is to give up all holds on a world stuck in the division between God and man. Let our judgments fade and our living begin.

Well, it's not as bad as you think. Love your neighbor as yourself, love your enemies, and give to all that ask, etc. have a pretty basic rationale. While I wouldn't consider this an exhaustive list of whys, I would submit:

We love because God first loved us. With such perspective we can, by his grace, love him back. In so doing we love people for many reasons: God tells us to, they bear the image of God, they are fellow sinners who need compassion, etc. When we love in this way, we make God look great and deserving of our life and love.

The reality is that we live in a world where we MUST distinguish between God and Man. But that distinction is not the problem. People are already pretty good at making themselves god. There's no need to philosophically "let go of" anything. We must hold fast to the whole truth that Jesus taught if we're going to do anything that counts.

Lastly - sorry about the long post - let's acknowledge that ultimately God is on the only being with the right to judge us. It is commanded that we not let our hearts be judgmental towards other sinners - in other words, suffering from plank/spec syndrome. This heart puts the "sinner" below you in pride. In contrast, it is commanded of us by Jesus to love others by spreading the Gospel message. If we do not, I would submit to you that we are not loving, but rather are being selfish and/or have a diluted view of the reality that Christ paints.

Les Paul struck by lightning

2009-07-01T16:05:00.005-04:00

No, Mr. Paul is in relatively good health for 94.

But this Les Paul Guitar was literally struck by lightning.

Read the story for yourself here. Or bid for it on ebay here.

1958 Fender Stratocaster

2009-07-01T12:02:00.006-04:00

Real or Replica? Any guesses? Either way, me likey.

There is one thing that would give away the answer here, but I'll keep that to myself.

Since He's faithful, so can we be.

2009-06-30T10:50:00.003-04:00

A post from Matt Rogers, my friend and pastor of Renewal Church (please pray for Matt and the families of Renewal as they begin the work that God has for them in the upstate of SC):

Jeremiah’s task was a bit daunting. Writing just before the destruction of Judah, Jeremiah warns the people that unless they repent and turn to God they will be destroyed. And to make matters worse, he knew the outcome of his message. People would not respond, the nation would be destroyed, and God’s people would remain in their desolation.

And yet Jeremiah speaks, and speaks passionately, challenging the people to turn to God. As I picked up the book again this week, I was intrigued by what would motivate a prophet of God to be faithful to God even when he knew the outcome would not be favorable.

You don’t have to look hard to find out the answer. In the first chapter of the book, I found God telling Jeremiah the following things:

...I consecrated you
...I send you
...I command you
...I deliver you
...I have put my word in your mouth
...I am watching over my word to perform it
...I am with you
...I deliver you

I am not brilliant with pronouns, but when I read this text it seems clear that the basis of Jeremiah’s faithfulness is not in Jeremiah. Instead, it is all based on the character of God.

In life, the pronouns make all the difference. Truly believing that life is about Him – His character, His faithfulness, His love, His grace – changes everything.

Since He is faithful, we can be faithful.

Even when the outcome is unsure.

Even when the road seems challenging.

I am encouraged in the midst of a season of life that seems overwhelming that the ground for God’s work in the world is not in my ability, creativity, or leadership ability, but rather in the overwhelming faithfulness of God.

I pray that today God’s overwhelming faithfulness to you would motivate your faithfulness to Him.

America's Debt to John Calvin

2009-06-26T16:25:00.004-04:00

A post from Pastor John's blog:

In this year of John Calvin’s 500th birthday, I don’t know of a better place to read about his impact on America than Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism given at Princeton Seminary in October 1898. Kuyper was a pastor, a journalist, the founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

John Calvin and Martin Luther were the twin pillars of the Protestant Reformation. Why do fewer people speak of Luther’s culture-shaping impact on America, but for centuries Calvin has been seen in this light? Kuyper argues,

Luther’s starting-point was the . . . principle of justifying faith; while Calvin’s . . . lay in the general cosmological principle of the sovereignty of God. . . . [Hence] Lutheranism restricted itself to an exclusively ecclesiastical and theological character, while Calvinism put its impress in and outside the Church upon every department of human life.

It is the personal pervasiveness of God’s sovereignty that makes all the difference. This means that “the whole of a man’s life is to be lived as in the Divine Presence.” This “fundamental thought of Calvinism” shaped all of life. “It is from this mother-thought that the all-embracing life system of Calvinism sprang.”

For example, Calvin’s doctrine of “vocation” follows from the fact that every person, great and small, lives “in the Divine Presence.” God’s sovereign purposes govern the simplest occupation. He attends to everyone’s work. This yielded the Protestant work ethic. Huge benefits flow from a cultural shift in which all work is done earnestly and honestly with an eye to God.
Or consider how Calvinism breathed an impulse of freedom into modern history. The decisive principle was:

the sovereignty of the Triune God over the whole Cosmos, in all its spheres and kingdoms, visible and invisible. A primordial Sovereignty which eradicates in mankind . . . a threefold . . . supremacy, viz., (1) the sovereignty of the State; (2) the sovereignty in Society; and (3) the sovereignty in the Church.

God’s sovereign claim on every person and every sphere of society relativized all other claims. It began with the churches.

The sovereignty of Christ remains absolutely monarchical, but the government of the Church on earth becomes democratic to its bones and marrow. . . No church may exercise any dominion over another, but . . . all local churches are of equal rank.

This impulse of freedom spread to the political sphere. Calvin and his heirs had a strong predilection for republican government—and an aversion to monarchy. A benevolent dictatorship would be ideal in a sinless world. But in a sinful world, it brings the horrors of tyranny. “Call to mind . . . that Calvinism has captured and guaranteed to us our constitutional civil rights.”

We ask: Why then did Calvin endorse the death of Servetus for heresy? How was this part of his liberating impulse? Kuyper’s answer is helpful.

I not only deplore that . . . I unconditionally disapprove of it; yet not as if it were the expression of a special characteristic of Calvinism, but on the contrary as the fatal after-effect of a system, grey with age, which Calvinism found in existence, under which it had grown up, and from which it had not yet been able entirely to liberate itself.

A thousand years of abuses are not thrown off overnight. But the impulses of liberty, flowing from the decisive principle of the all-embracing sovereignty of God, proved to be unstoppable. “Calvinism has liberated Switzerland, the Netherlands, and England, and in the Pilgrim Fathers has provided the impulse to the prosperity of the United States.”

Kuyper closed his lectures with a claim that for many today sounds preposterous. Do not write him off. Get the book Lectures on Calvinism, and test these words, spoken to Americans in 1898.
In the rise of your university education . . .; in the decentralized . . . character of your local governments; . . . in your championship of free speech, and in your unlimited regard for freedom of conscience; in all this . . . it is demonstrable that you owe this to Calvinism and to Calvinism alone. (Originally published in World Magazine)

Thriller and the Truth

2009-06-26T08:33:00.003-04:00

Oddly enough, when I was young I used to listen to Thriller over and over while waiting to get my hair cut at the barber. It was a first come, first served deal; used to take like an hour to two to get a seat. Six songs and then flip the tape. And repeat. I won't lie; I also gave a go at his dance moves. I was pretty awesome - by awesome I mean a good laugh. Anyway, God used MJ to grow my love for music. Now being a fairly proficient musician, I appreciate MJ's genius. In some part, I'm the musician I am today because of him.

I mourn his loss and shudder to think that he is meeting Jesus with an unregenerate soul. The Enemy used the Jehovah Witnesses to distort his family's view of Jesus (from what I understand) and now he'll know the truth. That is the most painful part for me. I pray that the Lord would give his family new hearts to love the real Jesus. I hope you guys might pray the same.

I was born without bones.

2009-06-25T08:20:00.005-04:00

Can you carry me?

With guitar...(if I only had that kinda time)

Born Without Bones Remix

Newest addition to the Bw/oB family.

The Confusing Language of "Calling"

2009-06-24T13:30:00.002-04:00

a helpful post from the Resurgence.com

It is common Christian parlance to say, "I feel called to do so and so." What we're usually trying to communicate is that we feel God has given us a specific "missional" assignment in his kingdom. I wonder, however, if that language is misleading and harmful.

Our Call Has Already Been Issued

Christians don't need to be specially "called" to live missionally; it is inherent in being a disciple. To become a disciple of Jesus means that you evaluate your passions and talents in terms of how they can best be used to spread God's kingdom. The call has already been issued: "Glorify me in all that you do. Love and serve your neighbor. Go into the world and preach the gospel to every person." That's it.

Each person must evaluate how they have best been suited to fulfill that call, but the call is clear. If you are a businessman, you are to do excellent work to the glory of God, to the benefit of humanity, and to the testimony of Christ in your community. You don't have to wait on a special call to begin to do so—you've already received that call as a Christian. We talk about finding God's will; it's not lost.

Specific Directions in Active Participation

I know that sometimes God gives specific directions. God tells Paul in Acts 16:8 to go specifically to Macedonia, but those "course corrections" were given in the context of Paul's active participation in God's mission. The Holy Spirit tells the church at Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Saul for a church planting mission (Acts 13), but both Barnabas and Saul were already active in preaching and serving.

I say this because we have so many people sitting around waiting on a warm, fuzzy, and goose-bump-inducing vision from God before they embark on some ministry. Maybe we've invented the whole language of calling to mask the fact that most Christians don't want to live missionally.

To be continued.

I knew I liked vests...

2009-06-24T10:41:00.003-04:00

See below, on the left, my Great-Great Grandfather, George Ferguson.

Apparently a man who could swing a hammer in style.

Tozer Quote

2009-06-03T13:20:00.001-04:00

I ran across this AW Tozer quote from Josh Harris's blog and found it both convicting and encouraging:

"The kingdom of God, has suffered a great deal of harm from fighters--men who would rather fight than pray; but the kingdom of God has also been done great harm by men who would rather be nice than right."

to put ground under your feet

2009-06-02T09:21:00.004-04:00

"Praise the Lord that he micromanages your life. Not just big picture details - micromanages. He knows the smallest sparrow, the greyest hair, none of them fall to the ground apart from him willing it. "

- Kevin DeYoung

from his message from the NEXT Conference entitled Just Do Something.

Our Nature and Frame

2009-05-29T11:51:00.003-04:00

A very helpful post from Dr. Piper:

In the Religious Affections Jonathan Edwards ventures this explanation of why there is song and poetry.

"And the duty of singing praises to God, seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections."

For this to have the weight it does for Edwards we need to remember that 1) “true religion consists very much in the affections,” and 2) there is no true Christian faith without the affections being awakened, and 3) God is most glorified when he is affecting us and not just known by us.

A giant leap for mankind

2009-05-27T11:30:00.003-04:00

On the Resurrection, a thought from Dr. Sinclair Ferguson:

In that he mentioned that he is old enough to remember the famous words, he had another thought on their application. Dr. Ferguson was referring to what is implicated by the resurrection from our justification to the hope of our own resurrection bodies.

"That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind. I don't think [Neil Armstrong] was the first one ever to say these words. I think Jesus probably thought them as he stepped out of the tomb and said, 'That's one small step for the King and a giant step for all the citizens of his Kingdom."

Listen to the whole message here: Christ's Resurrection.

Thanks again to Stephen for the great link.

Ralph D. Winter [1925-2009]

2009-05-22T08:36:00.004-04:00

I had read of the change in the missional perspective in the 70's from unreached "fields" to unreached "peoples", but I didn't know about the man whom the Lord used to bring it about. I also didn't know the impact he, Dr. Winter, had on one of my heroes in the faith, John Piper. Jesus called him home on May 20th. Here's what Pastor John had to say on his blog about this man of God:

At 9:05 PM, May 20, 2009 Ralph Winter, the founder of the U. S. Center for World Missions died.

Nobody in the area of missions had a greater impact on me. Others had a greater impact on me in the area of missions, like Jonathan Edwards, but no one actually in missions affected me more than Ralph Winter.

First, he was a professor of mine at Fuller Seminary and introduced me to the stunning works of God in missions in the last two hundred years. His vision of the advance of the gospel was breathtaking.

He wore a bow tie in those days, iconoclast that he was, and was fined by the seminary for not returning our papers on time. None of us begrudged him his scattered approach to life. It was thrilling in those days.

Second, in 1974 at the Lausanne Missions Congress Winter reached up and pulled the unseen rope called “unreached peoples” that rang a bell that reverberates to this day.

This concept, and the subsequent emphasis on unreached peoples (as opposed to unreached “fields”) has been globally seismic in the transformation of missions. It gripped me and shaped all we have done in missions at Bethlehem ever since the mid 1980s.

Third, in the 1980s he bought a 15 million dollar college campus with virtually nothing in his hand to start the U. S. Center for World Missions; and he paid for it by persuading enough of us (thousands) to give “the last thousand.” Brilliant! I think I sent $2,000. Couldn’t resist the vision.

The point of the U. S. Center was to trumpet the vision that there are unreached peoples in the world, and then equip the church to reach them.

Fourth, Ralph Winter was probably the most creative thinker I have ever known. I mean, on any topic that you brought up, he would come at it in a way you have never dreamed of. He saw all things in relationship to other things that you would never think of relating them to.

This meant that stalemates often became fresh starting points. If you were struggling with a tension in your church, he might say: “Well, think about the Navy.” Or if you were having a marriage problem, he might say, “Did you notice how that bridge was built?”

Fifth, Ralph Winter befriended me. He encouraged me. In my most restless early days, he would tell me to stay at Bethlehem because I could do more by sending than by going.

Finally, he did not waste his life, not even the last hours of it. He was busy dictating into the last days. He taught me long ago that the concept of “retirement” was not in the Bible.

What a gift he was to the church. To the world. Thank you, Father, for the legacy of this visionary, risk-taking, creative, encouraging lover of unreached peoples who lived unstoppably for the glory of God.
-----------------------

Here's a great word from Dr. Winter that would be vital for all my friends going to Guatemala in the coming weeks.

why is new birth so necessary?

2009-05-20T14:28:00.002-04:00

From Tim Challies' blog as he's blogging the reFocus Conference:

[John] Piper offered ten biblical descriptions of man apart from the new birth, ten reasons we need to be born again. As bad as the news is, it’s glorious to get it right because there is a glorious remedy. When we properly understand our own badness, we see Christ more gloriously.

Apart from the new birth we are dead
Apart from the new birth we are by nature children of wrath
Apart from the new birth we love darkness and hate light
Apart from the new birth we have hearts that are hard like stone
Apart from the new birth we are unable to submit to God
Apart from the new birth we are unable to except the gospel
Apart from the new birth we are unable to come to Christ or embrace him as Lord
Apart from the new birth we are slaves to sin
Apart from the new birth we are slaves of Satan
Apart from the new birth no good thing dwells in me

A Word from Dr. Ferguson

2009-05-14T13:23:00.002-04:00

Sinclair Ferguson on acceptable speach.

You're welcome.

Thanks to Stephen for the link.

Copy of a Copy

2009-05-14T13:08:00.003-04:00

No, this post is not about the NIV.

Its about guitars, which in the grand scheme of things are fairly unimportant. But sometimes, it's the little things:

The bottom guitar is a Fender Custom Shop One-off for John Mayer. It's become his #1 go-to guitar. The above is the production line reproduction of his reproduction.

Pretty cool.

This is why I have 3.234 people read my blog per year, huh?

The sacrifices I make...

Bad Hair, Good Theology

2009-05-11T09:57:00.003-04:00

Dr. Sproul explaining imputed righteousness:

I've never really thought about it this way before. Innocence and righteousness bifurcated and correlated for God's glory.

Old Love and Badge in Hyde Park

2009-05-08T16:39:00.001-04:00

Just so I know you know what's up.

Tech-Yes

2009-05-05T16:44:00.003-04:00

And people say I have too many pedals...

If you can do this, please contact Jesse Schlicher @ jesse@eternalchurch.net. There is currently an opening for DJ in the band.

The Reforming

2009-04-23T11:06:00.001-04:00

From a discussion board to my blog:

The Reformers (e.g. Luther, Calvin, etc) looked to the Scriptures and saw that the way the church was practicing, living, worshiping was bent not to the Scriptures, but to culture and tradition. And sometimes even contrary to the Scriptures. They revolutionized, by the power of the Word, the Church in Europe. They reformed the Christian life in view of sacred Scriptures instead of accepted tradition and philosophy. The interesting part is that God has been doing this throughout the history of the world. No less in our day.

We must see what the Scriptures say about wealth and consumption. It is almost universally guaranteed that it will be in conflict with where the world stands. The end goal of Corporate American, wealth, prosperity. The end goal of the American Dream, self improvement through material things, unlimited consumption. What are we willing to give up to gain these things? Our family, born and unborn. Our spouses, if they somehow disrupt our personal self-actualization. Our souls, if it means wealth and prosperity. This is no different from the Enemy's schemes throughout history. Its just on a wider scale. No longer are only the kings of the society rich, these snares are available to everyone.

Here's the deal. Christ's life and death was for the Glory of the God of creation. Our lives are for the same. This is important: Our joy is tied directly to God's glory. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with him. When Christ is our highest love and source of satifaction we are no longer consumers, but servants. Because he is. When we find our wealth in his grace, we're no longer proud. Because He is our righteousness. We have to, hear this, have to lift up Jesus as the most satisfying source of joy because that's how we're made. Sin will work its way into our lives by lying to us. It says things like: If you just had this, worked this job, made a bigger impact, drove this car, then finally you'll be happier. You deserve to be happy.

The truth is that we deserve hell, the tomb is empty and by the grace that is the gospel we get Jesus. Love, generosity, servanthood, satisfaction, deep joy is found nowhere else. This is worship.

Its why we're here.

A note from Owen

2009-04-20T15:03:00.004-04:00

From the Mortification of Sin in Believers:

Of Romans 8.12-13: So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

John Owen ~
"The certainty of the coherence and connection that is between the things spoken of; as we say to a sick man, 'If you will take such a potion, or use such a remedy, you will be well.' The thing we solely intend to express is the certainty of the connection that is between the potion or remedy and health. And this is the use of it here. The certain connection that is between the mortifying of the deeds of the body and living is intimated in this conditional particle."

Reminds me of the words of our Savior:

Matthew 18.9: And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Sermons for Today

2009-04-20T13:32:00.002-04:00

In a series on worship based on the book of Revelation:

Revelation 2-3, The Revelation of Jesus' Church - Driscoll

Revelation 4, Jesus' Throne - Driscoll

Revelation 5:1-14, The Revelation of Jesus as Lion & Lamb - Driscoll

Ten Servants

2009-04-20T13:25:00.003-04:00

Thought this post was great from Between Two Worlds blog:

From philosophy professor James Spiegel:

1. Augustine (5th century): Remember that you are a citizen of another kingdom.
2. Martin Luther (16th century): Expect politicians to be corrupt.
3. Thomas Aquinas (13th century): God has made himself known in nature.
4. John Calvin (16th century): God is sovereign over all, including our suffering.
5. Jonathan Edwards (18th century): God is beautiful, and all beauty is divine.
6. Thomas a’Kempis (15th century): Practice self-denial with a passion.
7. John Wesley (18th century): Be disciplined and make the best use of your time.
8. Fyodor Dostoevsky (19th century): God’s grace can reach anyone.
9. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (20th century): Beware of cheap grace.
10. Alvin Plantinga (21st century): Moral virtue is crucial for intellectual health.

Read the whole post for his explanation of each point.

If God knows, why pray?

2009-04-15T09:56:00.004-04:00

From the previously mentioned site de jour, Dr. Don Carson:

This was helpful for me this morning; hope it is for both of you readers as well.

Redeem that cold, grey cube of yours

2009-04-15T09:43:00.002-04:00

Here's some ammo: Devotional Christian

While the name may not be the pinnacle of creativity, it is a site that gathers together daily devotionals from Spurgeon, Tozer, Graham among many others. It also has a daily verse from the ESV, so we know they've at least got something right. Lastly, what I've been watching for the past 20 minutes are youtube vids that pop on the site itself (you don't get linked to youtube.com), which is nice. The vids are from Desiring God, Billy Graham and the Gospel Coalition's ministries.

You're welcome.

To strangle three poisonous serpents

2009-04-14T15:37:00.004-04:00

Just doing some reading about a man I've been wanting to read for some time.

John Owens:

Owen was by common consent the weightiest Puritan theologian, and many would bracket him with Jonathan Edwards as one of the greatest Reformed theologians of all time. Born in 1616, he entered Queen's College, Oxford, at the age of twelve and secured his M.A. in 1635, when he was nineteen. In his early twenties, conviction of sin threw him into such turmoil that for three months he could scarcely utter a coherent word on anything; but slowly he learned to trust Christ, and so found peace. In 1637 he became a pastor; in the 1640s he was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and in 1651 he was made Dean of Christ Church, Oxford's largest college. In 1652 he was given the additional post of Vice-Chancellor of the University, which he then reorganized with conspicuous success. After 1660 he led the Independents through the bitter years of persecution till his death in 1683. (by J.I. Packer)

On Owen's grave, he had written in Latin amongst other points:

"In polemical theology, with more than herculean strength, he strangled three poisonous serpents, the Arminian, the Socinian, and the Roman.

In practical theology, he laid out before others the whole of the activity of the Holy Spirit, which he had first experienced in his own heart, according to the rule of the Word. And, leaving other things aside, he cultivated, and realised in practice, the blissful communion with God of which he wrote; a traveller on earth who grasped God like one in heaven.

In casuistry, he was valued as an oracle to be consulted on every complex matter."

-----------------------------------------------

In polemics, meaning controversial theology, he battled three poisonous serpents, one of which was the Arminian. It reminds me of something Sinclair Ferguson said about Owen's works knocking the head of the Armenian. Sounds interesting enough. Guess I'll start with Mortification of Sin.

Don't need no Bunny.

2009-04-13T13:59:00.005-04:00

Believe it or not, I woke up Easter morning and found that my Lord has given me in addition to ,and even by way of, his Son and the following:

Maria and Turner*

*Not pictured: Baby #2

Two Solemn Days

2009-04-09T10:34:00.002-04:00

Maundy Thursday:
He Made Purification of Sins. Hebrews 1:1-4
a message from Piper 1996

Good Friday:
The Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16
a message from Driscoll 2008

Bent, Broken and Perfect

2009-04-08T14:28:00.005-04:00

If you have four minutes, it will be more than worth it to hear from Matt Chandler of The Village Church. Indeed it is true, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Scripture I read this morning reminded me of the title: Hebrews 10:14 - For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Mandolin Aspirations

2009-04-07T15:58:00.004-04:00

They're percusive.
They're meolodic.
And they're tiny.

Every now and then I get aspirations to try and wrangle a mandolin. One day I may even have the time to do it.

But until then, I'll just sit back and watch this guy who has a slight lead.

mandolin pic by MandolinCafe via Flickr

Look at all those guitar straps...

2009-04-06T15:33:00.003-04:00

Niles + unlimited source of cash + a soft conscience for excess =

Think Grand Jury of Joy

2009-04-06T13:35:00.007-04:00

If I were summoned to give evidence of God's grace, lovingkindness, justice, patience, one in a long list of exhibits surely would be Beulah.

Atheists Miss the Joy

2009-04-03T09:16:00.006-04:00

If you look at sunsets and sunrises without knowing that God is painting them then and there, you will miss the point. Sunsets and sunrises do not just happen. God does them.

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. (Psalms 65:8)

What are they so happy about?

Psalm 19 gives the answer. They are happy because they are showing the glory of God. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (v. 1).

How happy is the rising sun to display the glory of God? Answer: “In them [the heavens] God has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy” (Psalm 19:4-5).

A bridegroom beaming, and an Eric Liddell feeling God’s pleasure when he runs. Sunrises and sunsets are like that. [Liddell has been quoted, "I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run it is in His pleasure."]

They bid us join their joy in putting God on display in the world.

HT: Desiring God Blog entry by John Piper
Picture from Flikr: Eric Wylie

In the Church, you're not the Burger King

2009-04-02T08:43:00.008-04:00

"In a business the customer is always...(waiting for congregation to answer, they say "right") right. In the church the customer is always...(waiting again, the congregations says "wrong" as he finishes)... evil, sinful. The customer doesn't always get what they want. You don't get what you want, right? You come to church, you get what you need."

Driscoll in a sermon on 1 Timothy.

And I would add that what we need is a little sacrifice, rebuking, repentance, humility.

Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve. What makes us better than him?

Snipers and A-Bombs

2009-04-01T08:47:00.008-04:00

So, I'm on the "Diversity Advancement Commitee" at work.

I haven't quite made up my mind yet a proper response and reaction to the worldview that this particular workplace philosophy promotes. But maybe I can use this post to think through some of it tenents. The following is from Diversity, Inc's website, one of the leading organizations for promoting Diversity in the workplace. They have the ear of some of the biggest companies in the US, and here's what they have to say about diversity:

We believe that all people are created equally, and therefore, talent is distributed equally as well.

We are a people obsessed with race, and it potentially skews our perception of people.

Equal rights should be afforded to all people regardless of race, sexual orientation, age, culture, etc.

The political issues at stake get a bit complex. These include Affirmative action, equal rights for GLBT individuals, and relgious contensions.

I can make a case for equality of all humans, for we're all made in the image of the living God(Gen 1.26); that those in the employ of the another should be treated fairly and justly, for we have a master that treats us so (Col 4.1); that our experience is important and unique to us and should be used to benefit others (2 Cor 1.3-4).

I suppose my current stance is to be a sniper instead of an atom bomb. There are too many B-52 flying around ready to drop bombs that the sight of "liberals" or the like. And normally Diversity gets lumped in with "the liberal agenda".

My problem with the bomb droppers is an extreme lack of grace. And the willingness and pleasure thats taken in the explosion. Should not grace flow from one that understands the gospel? Instead of a massive explosion that isn't very discriminating, we are called to be a sniper with discearnment as to who we chose to shoot if we need to shoot at all (figuratively speaking, of course). To the extent that we don't, we portray a God that drops bombs instead of a shepherd that guards his flock with a sling and some rocks.

It's true that the Enemy is prowling around in this world, and believe it or not, in the workplace. To the extent that the Diversity worldview matches that of the Scriptures, I'll praise God's grace; to the extent that God's truth comes under attack I'll not drop the religious bomb, but rather I'll gracefully engage people and mercilessly snipe the real Enemy.

And I stand corrected...

2009-03-31T10:10:00.004-04:00

I've been thinking through this for a while and then came across the following. I was doing too much musing an not enough meditation on passages outside of the use of casting lots.

Its funny how encouraging a knock in the head by the truth of scripture can be.

J.I. Packer

2009-03-30T10:37:00.003-04:00

Nabbed this from Between Two Worlds (see links)

I always enjoy hearing from JI Packer. Here he is speaking to new Christians. But even those long in the faith will need to hear this afresh.

JI Packer Speaks To New Christians from Mike Anderson on Vimeo.

15 Delcarations of the Glory of Jesus

2009-03-24T15:38:00.003-04:00

Page 32, Spectacular Sins

From Colossians chapter 1:

• In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (v. 14).
• He is the image of the invisible God (v. 15a).
• He is the firstborn of all creation—that is, the specially honored, first and only Son over all creation (v. 15b).
• By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities (v. 16a).
• All things were created through him (v. 16b).
• All things were created for him (v. 16c).
• He is before all things (v. 17a).
• In him all things hold together (v. 17b).
• He is the head of the body, the church (v. 18a).
• He is the beginning (v. 18b).
• He is the firstborn from the dead (v. 18c).
• In everything he is preeminent (v. 18d).
• In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (v. 19).
• He reconciles all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven (v. 20a).
• He makes peace by the blood of his cross (v. 20b).

Can't help but be reminded of Jesse's song: There is None.

Spectacular Sins

2009-03-24T13:29:00.003-04:00

I'm starting yet another book that I will finish someday.

You can read it as a pdf for free or buy it paperback for cheaper than Amazon here.

Already got a quotation that resounds with me:
"The Great Commission is not child’s play. It is costly. Very costly.
The coddled Western world will sooner or later give way to great affliction. And when it does, whose vision of God will hold? Where are Christians being prepared for great global sorrows? Where is the Christian mind and soul being prepared for the horrors to come? Christians in the West are weakened by wimpy worldviews. And wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. God is weightless in our lives. He is not terrifyingly magnificent. His sovereignty is secondary (at best) to his sensitivity." p.13

Even if I can't see a silver lining

2009-03-24T13:03:00.002-04:00

I watched the short bio-flick below about Fanny Crosby this morning. She was born on today's date in 1820. After being blinded by a botched eye cure, the Lord worked together the spheres of her life to craft a heart for the poor and an extreme talent for hymn writing. She wrote more than 8000 hymns including Blessed Assurance and To God be the Glory.

The bit I thought was beautiful was when a preacher asked her if she was upset that she was never able to see. Her answer was simply, "No." And when asked why, she replied, "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior."

More full of grace than I of sin.

2009-03-17T15:16:00.004-04:00

I was listening to this interview by CJ Mahaney of Sinclair Ferguson this morning.
I posted it a bit ago.

Anyway, Sinclair referenced these lines of an old John Wesley hymn:

Weary of Wandering from My God

O Jesus, full of truth and grace,
More full of grace than I of sin
-------------------------------

How easy it is for me to think the flipside of this lyric.

Patrick.

2009-03-17T14:21:00.010-04:00

“I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Patrick

Technically, Saint Patrick is not even a saint, as he was never canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, Patrick was not even Irish. Rather, he was an Englishman who was a Roman citizen that spoke Latin and a bit of Welsh.

Patrick was born around 390 A.D. When he was roughly 16 years of age he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland on a ship where he was sold into slavery. He spent the next six years alone in the wilderness as a shepherd for his masters’ cattle and sheep.

Isolation
Patrick was a rebellious non-Christian teenager who had come from a Christian family. His grandfather was a pastor, and his father was a deacon. However, during his extended periods of isolation without any human contact, Patrick began praying and was eventually born again into a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Patrick endured the years of isolation in rain and snow by praying up to 100 prayers each day and another 100 each night.
In his early twenties God spoke to Patrick in a dream, telling him to flee from his master for a ship that was waiting for him. Amazingly, Patrick made the 200-mile walk without being caught or harmed to find a ship setting sail for his home, just as God had promised. The sailors were out of food for the journey, and after Patrick prayed a herd of pigs miraculously ran toward the ship, providing a bountiful feast for the long voyage home.

God Speaks to Patrick
Upon returning home, Patrick enrolled in seminary and was eventually commissioned as a pastor. Some years later God spoke to Patrick in a dream, commanding him to return to Ireland to preach the gospel and plant churches for the pagans who lived there.
The Roman Catholic Church had given up on converting such “barbarians” deemed beyond hope. The Celtic peoples, of which the Irish were part, were an illiterate bunch of drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who basically had sex with anyone and worshipped anything. They were such a violent and lawless people, numbering anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000, that they had no city centers or national government and were spread out among some 150 warring clans. Their enemies were terrified of them because they were known to show up for battles and partake in wild orgies before running into battle naked and drunk while screaming as if they were demon-possessed. One clan was so debased that it was customary for each of their new kings to copulate with a white mare as part of his inauguration.

Unique Missionary Strategy
In faith, the forty-something year-old Patrick sold all of his possessions, including the land he had inherited from his father, to fund his missionary journey to Ireland. He worked as an itinerant preacher and paid large sums of money to various tribal chiefs to ensure he could travel safely through their lands and preach the gospel. His strategy was completely unique, and he functioned like a missionary trying to relate to the Irish people and communicate the gospel in their culture by using such things as three-leaf clovers to explain the gospel. Upon entering a pagan clan, Patrick would seek to first convert the tribal leaders and other people of influence. He would then pray for the sick, cast demons out of the possessed, preach the Bible, and use both musical and visual arts to compel people to put their faith in Jesus. If enough converts were present he would build a simple church that did not resemble ornate Roman architecture, baptize the converts, and hand over the church to a convert he had trained to be the pastor so that he could move on to repeat the process with another clan.
Patrick gave his life to the people who had enslaved him until he died at 77 years of age. He had seen untold thousands of people convert as between 30-40 of the 150 tribes had become substantially Christian. He had trained 1000 pastors, planted 700 churches, and was the first noted person in history to take a strong public stand against slavery.

Roman Opposition
Curiously, Patrick’s unorthodox ministry methods, which had brought so much fruit among the Irish, also brought much opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. Because Patrick was so far removed from Roman civilization and church polity he was seen by some as an instigator of unwelcome changes. This lead to great conflicts between the Roman and Celtic Christians. The Celtic Christians had their own calendar and celebrated Easter a week earlier than their Roman counterparts. Additionally, the Roman monks shaved only the hair on the top of their head, whereas the Celtic monks shaved all of their hair except their long locks which began around the bottom of their head as a funky monk mullet. The Romans considered these and other variations by the Celtic Christian leaders to be acts of insubordination.
In the end, the Roman Church should have learned from Patrick, who is one of the greatest missionaries who has ever lived. Though Patrick’s pastors and churches looked different in method, they were very orthodox in their theology and radically committed to such things as Scripture and the Trinity. Additionally, they were some of the most gifted Christian artists the world has ever known, and their prayers and songs endure to this day around the world, including the hymns“Prayer of Saint Patrick” and the Celtic hymn “Be Thou My Vision.”

For Further Study:
At http://www.ccel.org/ there is a free copy available of Patrick’s book Confessions.

Steve Rabey’s book In the House of Memory is a good introduction to Patrick and Celtic Christianity.

Thomas Cahill’s book How the Irish Saved Civilization is a fascinating historical look at Patrick and the implications of Celtic Christianity on western history.

www.ChristianityToday.com/history is the site for Christian History and Biography magazine, which is a wonderful resource that includes an entire issue on Patrick and Celtic Christianity.

- shared from The Resurgence. Yet again.

New vs. Old Calvinism

2009-03-17T09:11:00.002-04:00

per The Resurgence:

According to Time Magazine 'New Calvinism' is the third biggest idea that is changing the world right now.

Here are some thoughts on new versus old Calvinism.

Four Ways 'New Calvinism' is So Powerful

1. Old Calvinism was fundamental or liberal and separated from or syncretized with culture. New Calvinism is missional and seeks to create and redeem culture.

2. Old Calvinism fled from the cities. New Calvinism is flooding into cities.

3. Old Calvinism was cessationistic and fearful of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. New Calvinism is continuationist and joyful in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

4. Old Calvinism was fearful and suspicious of other Christians and burned bridges. New Calvinism loves all Christians and builds bridges between them.

The Gospel and the Poor

2009-03-16T14:48:00.003-04:00

Here's a great article by Tim Keller, senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NY and an adjunct professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

The intro reads:
The original question I was asked to address was "How does our commitment to the primacy of the gospel tie into our obligation to do good to all, especially those of the household of faith, to serve as salt and light in the world, to do good to the city?" I will divide this question into two parts: (1) If we are committed to the primacy of the gospel, does the gospel itself serve as the basis and motivation for ministry to the poor? (2) If so, how then does that ministry relate to the proclamation of the gospel?

Click the intro for the rest, but brace yourself for an in-depth, gospel drenched read.

Two Original Poems from reading Narnia

2009-03-12T09:36:00.004-04:00

I dug up a couple of my poems I wrote while reading through a couple of Lewis's Narnia books. Thought I'd bring them back for a bit. Holding Fire was from end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Untamed came from the beginning of Silver Chair. They're best paired with the particular sections of the books referenced, but could stand alone. They're a mixture of a couple of themes, and I suppose I'm still trying to figure them out.
----------------------------------------

Holding Fire Like the Night
......................................................................
mine assembly follows closely
my blood even closer
thy wood strangely familiar
bright tree of steel intrigued her
holding fire like the night

thy stag white as powder
leaps and strides ever faster
mine assembly falls asunder
whilst my sisters rise above them
holding fire like the night

thy wish that would be ours
finds ourn eyes wooded deeply
caught beyond this world and thine
and the heart that would be mine
holding fire like the night
........................................................................
........................................................................

Untamed
........................................................................
opaque his lens his own shape
it seems is trapped in cube
as you feel compressed
as a diamond is beautiful

he can see her art
and marvel he may
while keeping those demons
as the Lion's mane
draws warmth from their Love

buttons and zippers
and catalog flippers
and all the lines of the cliche
lip service burn from anxious
tongues of fire

sky of blue under Aslan's
mountain lies life of good and
evil too preoccupied with themselves
to see it pass

so time will come unknown
to most the vex will resound
while father pride will wither
to be destroyed for
He is not a tame Lion.
........................................................................

Fettered and Freed

2009-03-12T08:56:00.003-04:00

Here's a link to a blog entry from Piper that was a big help for me this morning:

2 Stages of God’s Care for Us: Fettered and Freed

In this age, God rescues his people from some harm. Not all harm. That’s comforting to know, because otherwise we might conclude from our harm that he has forgotten us or rejected us.

So be encouraged by the simple reminder that in Acts 16:19-24 Paul and Silas were not delivered, but in verses 25-26 they were.

First, no deliverance:

“They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace.” (v. 19)
“The magistrates tore the garments off them.” (v. 22)
They “inflicted many blows upon them.” (v. 23)
The jailer “fastened their feet in the stocks.” (v. 24)
But then deliverance:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God...and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (v. 25-26)

God could have stepped in sooner. He didn’t. He has his reasons. He loves Paul and Silas.

Question for you: If you plot your life along this continuum, where are you? Are you in the stripped and beaten stage, or the unshackled, door-flung-open stage?

Both are God’s stages of care for you.

If you are in the fettered stage, don’t despair. Sing. Freedom is on the way. It is only a matter of time. Even if it comes through death.

Every Theologian has a Catchphrase

2009-03-10T15:44:00.003-04:00

As the Lord uses these men to build my faith, I've noticed a good bit of them have a notable catchphrase. Here's a few:

You're welcome...
- Mark Driscoll

Are you trackin' with that?
- Matt Chandler

Namely,
- John Piper

Presently,
- C.S. Lewis

You guys...
- Skip MacMillan

Do you see?
- Don Carson

American Nonsense and the Scandalous Suffering of Christ

2009-03-09T16:04:00.004-04:00

"May God rescue us all from this self-consumed, victorious-living American nonsense. That God is like a pagan god that gives us everything we want and gets us around everything we don't. May God rescue us from this false, silly, pagan christian american ideology that when we suffer, we have a right to do evil. May God allow us not to waste any of our suffering. May he allow us in his grace to use all of it as Jesus did, to not waste a breath, to not waste a word, to not waste a moment, to not waste an opportunity, to do good, to love, to serve, so that others may come to meet this amazing God who suffered the worse injustice and does so in love. And even while having a heart attack and dying is crying out for forgiveness and love and mercy on his murderers.

There's no one like Jesus."

From Mark Driscoll's latest sermon on the book of Peter. This week dealing with Submission to Ungodly Authority.

Enjoy the beautiful letdown.

Superman Needs Slimfast

2009-03-06T12:24:00.005-05:00

I learned on my lunch break that Superman's weight on Krypton was 3,300 pounds. Its a proven fact by a very comically-inclined physicist from the University of Minnesota in his book, The Physics of Superheroes. Here's the excerpt from his book I read.

$1 Trillion in Cash, Please...

2009-03-05T11:57:00.002-05:00

Ever wonder what $1 Trillion in cash looks like? With all the talk about the stimulus bill, this guy uses Google Sketchup to give a bit of perspective. Thanks to J.Taylor for a nifty link.

Calvin's Kin

2009-03-04T12:12:00.002-05:00

This morning's listening were three lectures/discussions by Collin Hanson entitled Calvin's Kin. If you've never heard of the guy, he wrote Young, Restless and Reformed.

The conference is the Magnifiying God Conference highlighting the 500th birthday of Calvin. Spoiler alert: Lots of Jonathan Edwards content as well. Its an interesting perspective on the emergence and resonance of the Reformed tradition with young adults.

You can listen to the three talks here:

Calvin's Kin: Why They're Multiplying

Calvin's Kin: What They're Facing

Calvin's Kin: Where They're Headed

Son of Fergus

2009-03-03T14:18:00.006-05:00

I'd like to commend to both of you reading this an interview of Sinclair Ferguson by CJ Mahaney that I come back to every now and again.

To me Dr. Ferguson is a booming Scottish voice of wisdom and knowledge that always puts the beauty of Christ that much further in my heart by God's grace. It's a sweeping interview that covers many different topics. Each equally edifying.

Enjoy.

The problem is wanting to be rich

2009-03-03T10:48:00.004-05:00

Thoughts and highlights from desiringGod's Ask Pastor John

To the rich I say, do not trust in your riches, but be rich in good deeds.
1 Timothy 6:18

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
1 Timothy 6:9

----------------------------

I was going to write more about this, but what I'm taking away is: Don't desire to be rich. The goal of success is not the same as desire to be rich. It will come down to how I deal with such success. What is my treasure? Make it Jesus and avoid the snare that comes with a prestigious logo on it.

Give the above a listen, it's worth it.