Piper praises God for fundamentalists

Read Piper’s response to the fundamentalist resolution.  This was a rebuke and refreshment to my soul.  (For the fundamentalist-evangelical article, see my earlier post)

Al Mohler on Halloween and Christian Thinking

How should we as Christians think about Halloween?  Mohler helps with this blog post on Halloween.  He lays out planks to guide thinking without making the final decision for the reader.

An Important Difference Between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists

This is why, in regard to these definitions in this short article, I’m an evangelical and not a fundamentalist even though I got saved and believed the gospel in a church in the fundamentalist heritage.

Read Your Bible

“…advanced theological degrees do not guarantee biblical knowledge. Indeed, we have known seminary graduates who have never once read the Bible through! At best, theological education can acquaint us with the language, the nuances of theology, the general arguments of the books, and pastoral methodology. But it cannot insure that we actually know our Bible. Knowledge of the Bible begins with and is fed by reading God’s Word daily.”

Kent Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, (Tyndale House: 1987), 38-39.

Two recommended resources for reading your whole Bible:

1. Gerard Chrispin, The Bible Panorama, (Day One: 2005).
2. D. A. Carson, For the Love of God, volume one and volume two, (Crossway: 1998 and 1999 respectively).
3. You can also check out my post on Bible Reading Plans

Nick Vujicic and the goodness of God’s Wisdom

Frances, Brian, and I went to see Nick Vujicic and hear his testimony about the goodness of God in his life. He is the man who has no limbs. I was very blessed and encouraged by his life and testimony and perspective and joy and love. I watched his video last night with Brian and then found out that he was going to be in Corona. So we went over there and I was challenged to choose suffering for the sake of God’s glory and the good of others. Nick said that if he had to do it all over again, he would choose to live his life the same way (without limbs) because of the way God has used it to minister to at least one person’s soul and that is more valuable than living his life with limbs. I was rebuked. I was reminded of John Piper’s message at Shepherds’ Conference in 2001 where he preached on Colossians 1:24 and commanded us to choose suffering as a lifestyle for the sake of presenting Christ’s suffering to others who would be blessed by the suffering of Christ seen in our lives. I could hear Piper say, “He chose it!” It referring to suffering. And when I looked at Nick, I was amazed that he’d choose it and rebuked that I don’t love souls as much as I ought by being willing to give an arm or a leg. But I was also encouraged because Christ died and purchased that grace for Nick and for me to grow along that same passion to love and care for others and keep my mind on God’s glory and eternity.

I gave Nick the book, Desiring God by John Piper to encourage him in his ministry and to refresh his soul. I pray that he reads it, grows in enjoying God, and then bears even more fruit in an already fruitful ministry for God’s glory as he speaks, loves, and encourages people all around the world.

You can see more of Nick at his website or on youtube.

Free Tim Keller audio on evangelism and Jonah

I just downloaded Keller’s 3 sermons on Jonah with the series titled, “Smashing False Idols” from the Evangelists’ Conference 2007.

Session 1 – Gospel Realization – Jonah 1-2

Session 2 – Gospel Communication – Jonah 3

Session 3 – Gospel Incarnation – Jonah 4

Go to this page to download them.

9Marks Workshop: Building Healthy Churches

The 6 sessions can be downloaded here.

• Session 1 – What We Want: For the Church to Display the Gospel
• Session 2 – What We Do Not Want: To Think We Are Wiser Than God
• Session 3 – How to Build: Preaching and Biblical Theology
• Session 4 – How to Build: Conversion and Evangelism
• Session 5 – How to Enjoy Life Together: Membership and Discipline
• Session 6 – How to Enjoy Life Together: Leadership

(HT:JT)

I Need Spiritual Eyes to See

The main thought that hits me this morning is having eyes to see God, see what he is doing, and to know him from that sight. It is possible to have eyes and not see as Jesus warns in Matthew 13:13. I read 1 Timothy 3 which has a confession of the mystery of godliness which is unclear to me as to its meaning (v. 16):

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.

I don’t get that yet. I prayed this morning that I’d be an elder/overseer/pastor who is qualified according to 1 Timothy 3. I prayed that I’d be gentle, hospitable, and not quarrelsome. I also prayed that I’d teach/preach well and have a knowledge of God and his Word to pastor and preach well. There it is again, a prayer for knowledge and sight. I need God’s help for this.

I moved on to read 2 Kings 6, in which Elisha prays for his servants eyes to be opened to see that although the Syrian army has surrounded them, there is an army of the Lord with chariots of fire surrounding Elisha and his servant. Elisha prayed for his servant to have eyes to see what is really going on. How many times have I looked at a situation in life and not used God’s revelation to give me eyes to see the situation for what it really is.

In Psalm 119:18, I read today, “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” How many times have I read Scripture and my eyes were not opened to see? I pray God gives me eyes to see today.

Lastly, I read in Daniel 10 today that Daniel set his heart to know, see, and understand God and what he was doing. The angel said to Daniel, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.” I pray that I would set my heart to understand. I pray that I’ll humble myself before my God and be heard by God. Enough writing, it’s time to pray for eyes to see God and understand his Word and the world around me!

Quotes by Mark Driscoll that Help Me Think and Live part 3

1. On service length and elements: “Because of this, our worship service takes up to two hours and is an event that people simply make time for, not unlike a big concert or movie. We made the sermon the hinge for the service, with time for repentance, giving, communion, and most of the congregational singing following the sermon to provide people an opportunity to process God’s Word and respond to his initiation in their lives” (117).
2. His men talk (see #3 for the result at his church):In one day I had around ten hours of back-to-back meetings with young single men in the church, which pushed me over the edge. Every one of them was older than me, a chronic masturbator, a porn addict…, not tithing, and wanting me to hang out with them a lot to keep them accountable… Things were starting to get out of hand with the men, so I called a meeting and demanded that all of the men in our church attend. I preached for more than two hours about manhood and basically gave the dad talk to my men for looking at porno, sleeping with young women, not serving Christ, not working hard at their jobs, and so on. I demanded that the men who were with me on our mission to change the city stay and that the rest leave the church and stop getting in the way because you can’t charge hell with your pants around your ankles, a bottle of lotion in one hand, and a Kleenex in the other” (128-129). I realize he is talking to single men, but we could sure use a talk like this with men in many churches today, including mine.
3. The result of the men’s talk: “The next week the offering doubled and the men caught fire.  It was a surreal time, since I was basically fathering guys my own age and treating them more like a military unit than a church.  The life change was unreal.  We had guys getting saved en masse.  We had gay guys going straight.  We had guys tossing out porn, getting jobs, tithing, taking wives, buying homes, making babies, and repenting of the sins of their fathers.  We had guys who had divorced their wives remarrying them.  We had men adopting children so they would have a Christian father” (129-30).
4. On dropping key leaders at certain points of church growth: “There are people who neither rise nor attach to anyone who is rising, and they cannot keep up with the growing demands of the organization.  These people fall behind, and the organization can either allow their inability to slow down the whole team or release them and move forward without them.  This is difficult to do because they are often good people who have been partly responsible for the success of the organization.  But the needs of the organizational mission, not an individual in the organization, must continually remain the priority if there is to be continued success” (135).

Culture’s subtle effect on the human soul

I just read these two blog posts of an interview with Kevin Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  Culture is not always to be condemned.   It is not always to be condoned either.  This takes discernment and grace from Christ.  Read this and get a little help.  We need it.

Part 1

Part 2