Matthew Hoffman

Closing This Blog...Opening Another

2011-03-22T19:02:00.000-06:00

Hey there folks,

I am closing this one because of not being able to change my primary email address on it - SO, my new blog where you will be able to find updates on the hoffman family, etc...is at www.happyhoffman.blogspot.com
Thanks!

Matthew

Searching for True Love - part 5 of 5

2010-09-08T11:37:00.002-06:00

Part 5 of 5...

Searching for True Love - part 4 of 5

2010-09-08T11:36:00.002-06:00

Part 4 of 5...

Searching for True Love - part 3 of 5

2010-09-08T11:35:00.002-06:00

Part 3 of 5...

Searching for True Love - part 2 of 5

2010-09-08T11:34:00.002-06:00

Part 2 of 5...

Searching for True Love - part 1 of 5

2010-09-08T11:33:00.000-06:00

Part 1 of the first video of Joshua Harris' teaching series "I Kissed Dating Goodbye"

"God Is Our Treasure" Sermon Series

2010-08-08T18:14:00.000-06:00

For the last several weeks we have been going through a series on how to view money and possessions in light of eternity. This has been such a wonderfully challenging series as we have begun to view these these through the lens of Scripture...follow this link if you would like to listen to any of these messages. The first message touches on the topic of contentment, the calling to live a modest life and the cultivation of a lifestyle of generosity. The second message is on God's ownership. And then the 3rd message being on the issue of tithing, answering the question if this is something that we as New Testament believers ought to do. http://www.providencecommunitychurch.net/providence/god_is_our_treasure

John Piper On The Practice Of Tithing For The New Testament Believer

2010-08-07T14:36:00.000-06:00

Hey folks,

Here is a link of a great sermon by John Piper on the practice of tithing for the New Testament believer, great sermon:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1995/923_Toward_the_Tithe_and_Beyond/

Don Carson's 14 part series on "The God Who Is There" for free from Monergism!

2010-08-06T08:42:00.000-06:00

With the generous permission of The Gospel Coalition, Monergism Books is giving away for free this incredible seminar by Don Carson.

From The Gospel Coalition blog: On February 20-21 and 27-28, 2009, Don Carson presented a 14-part seminar entitled "The God Who Is There" at Bethlehem Baptist Church's North Campus in Minneapolis. This series will serve the church well because it simultaneously evangelizes non-Christians and edifies Christians by explaining the Bible's storyline in a non-reductionistic way.

The series is geared toward "seekers" and articulates Christianity in a way that causes hearers either to reject or embrace the gospel. It's one thing to know the Bible's storyline, but it's another to know one's role in God's ongoing story of redemption. "The God Who Is There" engages people at the worldview-level.

Click here to download! http://www.monergismbooks.com/The-God-Who-Is-There-Seminar-MP3-CD-p-19219.html

Randy Alcorn on "Earning Rewards"

2010-07-29T11:46:00.004-06:00

Hey folks,

Here is a very helpful article I ran across from Randy Alcorn's ministry "Eternal Perspectives Ministries" on the question, "Can we really earn eternal rewards?" I have to confess, studying the topic of "rewards" is a new one for me, as it might be for many of you. Very clearly laid out, while also very challenging as well. Enjoy! http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Mar/5/can-we-really-earn-eternal-rewards/

Revolutionaries and Plodding Visionaries

2010-07-09T13:58:00.000-06:00

Today I had the privilege of talking with two godly men who are church planters in this city - one, an inner city pastor and the other a Hispanic pastor. What I respect about them even at their beginnings is that they are not seeking to be "the next biggest thing" in Kansas City - - instead, they are seeking to be faithful preachers of the gospel calling the lost to Christ. They are not seeking to be hip, trendy or revolutionary - they are "simple men" (I say that as a fellow simple man, with the deepest of respect) seeking to open their Bibles and to call people to love Jesus with their whole hearts! In a day where so much is written on how to be a pastor and what someone is suppose to do in order to be relevant and "transformational" in our culture, it is so refreshing to see men committed to being visionaries to labor for the gospel! Read this link by C.J. Mahaney on this topic http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Plodding-Visionaries.aspx- it is very encouraging! (It was sent to me by my loving wife who is "plodding" along with me, to encourage my heart! Thank you sweetie!) Jason and Mario, you guys are my heroes! Thank you for loving the gospel and loving His people!

Fear Not! Death & The Afterlife From A Christian Perspective

2010-05-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

I just finished reading this book by Ligon Duncan, and I have to say that I believe this is THE book to give to someone who is in the process of dying or to give to their loved one. It is so clear and concise as he brings you to the hope in the resurrection, while answering some very fundamental questions about dying and what happens to us when we die. Very, very good! It is a small book and a very easy read, while it helps the reader plumb the depths of this issue.

"My God Is True!" A Journey Down Cancer's Dark Road

2010-05-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

In the last couple of years I have been reading a steady diet of books on the topic of suffering. There are a lot of books on the topic, but not all of them are very helpful. Here is a book that I would say is THE book to give to a fellow believer who is walking through the dark news of cancer. It is written by a pastor who went through cancer a couple of years ago - it is part memoir and part theological instruction addressing the spiritual issues and concerns one goes through during this time. It is a very, very helpful book, and there is much in the way of teaching that could be applied to many issues of suffering in one's life.

Family Helps In Movie Watching

2010-05-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

I personally love a good movie, however it can be so hard to find good ones! Here are a couple of links I have come across that I have found so helpful as a parent:

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

http://www.pluggedin.com/

Lot & His Daughters...

2010-05-02T16:19:00.000-06:00

The story of Lot and his daughters is not normally a passage of Scripture we spend a lot of time studying, nor is it one that we find ourselves searching for messages on it. Last week, as we were preaching through the book of Genesis we found ourselves coming upon this very uncomfortable text. Many I have talked to said they were a bit nervous coming up to this Sunday, wondering how I would be handling this text. However, since that time I have heard from many that they have found it to be very helpful and practical sermon to help us evaluate our hearts as there are many times we find ourselves in "strange places" in our thinking and how to recognize the subtle drift of the human heart. The title of the message is "From False Treasures To False Saviors." I trust you will find it as help as I did when going through it. It is posted on our church's website at www.providencecommunitychurch.net or the direct link: http://i.b5z.net/i/u/1229416/m/FalseTreasureToFalseSaviors042510.mp3

Family Reading "The Hedge Of Thorns"

2010-04-30T08:49:00.002-06:00

Last night we just got finished reading a book that we have read several times as a family, the book, "The Hedge of Thorns" published by Lamplighter Publishing based on the true story of John Carroll written back in 1611. It is an absolute must read, re-read and re-read for the entire family! It is a small book that can be read in a couple of settings, it is handsomely bound and is a great addition to the family library. It teaches on the Providence of God in the midst of suffering, sickness & affliction and how we are to trust in God's care and kindness over our lives as He does put "hedges" in our lives for our own ultimate good. Below is the publisher's description:

"Based on a true story, here is a gripping account of a young boy who learns the hard way that the choices we make can harm those we love the most. Because he desperately wants to know what is on the other side of a hedge of thorns, he puts his little sister in great danger. From his experience, we learn that God places boundaries in our lives because He loves us. "

Haiti Relief Fund Through Sovereign Grace Ministries

2010-01-15T13:31:00.004-06:00

Dear Friends,

I wanted to pass on to you this link through our family of churches as they have set up a relief fund to channel resources through some of our contacts already in Haiti and in the Dominican Republic. Here is a clip from their website:

"In response to the devastating earthquake that occurred in Haiti on Tuesday, Sovereign Grace Ministries has activated our Disaster Relief fund to help deliver food, medicine, and other needed aid there. We will distribute the funds we raise primarily through existing ministry contacts we have on the island—both in Haiti and the Dominican Republic—who are already involved in relief efforts."

Please pray for the people of Haiti and the ministry relief workers there. If you are able to help financially you can click here: http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/About/FinancialSupport/DisasterRelief.aspx

Thank you so very much!

Why Plant Churches - Part 2 by Dave Harvey

2010-01-13T12:18:00.001-06:00

Here is part 2 from Dr. Dave Harvey who over sees Sovereign Grace Ministries' church planting...great stuff...Posted at the Sovereign Grace Ministries' blog... http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/sovereign-grace-ministries-church-planting-dave-harvey.aspx

If you could buy stock in church planting, this would be a bull market. I’m serious. Church planting is white-hot right now. I think that’s terrific. But to keep it from simply becoming trendy, we must anchor it in something eternal. That’s where the Great Commission comes in.
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)What makes the Great Commission so great? Is it the great sacrifices it calls for…or the great places we’re called to go? How about the great people it calls into action? I don’t think so. Our commission is great because it ignites church planting. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. The Great Commission is not great simply because it results in the church. It’s great, first and foremost, because it originates from the finished work of Christ.The Gospel: The Point and Power behind Church PlantingRead it again. The Great Commission starts with the gospel. It fixes us on what the cross secured for Christ —“all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (v. 18). Right out of the gate, God invites us to look at the fields of our community, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, and Asia with a new sense of confidence. Why? Because…and get ready for this…the contract is inked, the rights reserved, the deal sealed. The authority to put the gospel into circulation is secured by the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Think about it. The reality of that authority now forms the foundation for all local evangelism, church planting, and missions. Authorized for action, Christians can now serve God’s warrant to the world. We get to tell lost souls they are loved…and wanted by the Savior. That’s a jaw-dropper. That’s why we can’t get all hyped up on the latest way to do missions, the latest research, the latest means and methods of doing ministry. Because nothing we can concoct will ever prepackage the power of the gospel. Church planting shouldn’t start with techniques, technology or talking to territorial spirits, often the launching point for church planting in certain parts of the world. It must begin with our confidence in the explosive message embodied in Christ and entrusted to us in Matthew 28. It’s the one message that makes all the difference. And we’re the megaphone. But we have to remember that it’s not a static message that we just share when we have time. It’s not content we load into our cutting-edge curriculum. The gospel is a dynamic, unstoppable force that God has unleashed in creation through the cross. Dwight Moody once likened the gospel to a lion. Just pop open the cage and stand clear!The apostle Paul was supremely confident in the power of the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).Guaranteed SuccessAre you starting to see it? Our commission is great because the founder guarantees the fruit (Ephesians 2:10). Yep, the Great Commission is stamped with “results guaranteed!” How cool is that? And we know that a king’s edict, closed countries, recessions, wars, natural disasters, cultural opposition or indifference, even the failures of the workers, won’t stall the commission. Going forth with the message of God in the power of God means we are entrusted with a message that never stops. It is an unstoppable commission.If you’re like me, just thinking about this stuff gets the blood pumping. To think that we have a job to do and success is guaranteed because of the finished work of Christ is thrilling. We serve a great Savior who has established our call upon his great work—it must be a Great Commission!Tune in next time, when we’ll discover how the church and church planting are embedded in the Great Commission.

Brit Hume: Proclaiming The Need For Accepting Jesus Christ As One's Savior On Fox News

2010-01-08T11:19:00.004-06:00

Folks this is simply outstanding! Never have I heard a news reporter of such standing as Brit Hume proclaim Christ with such clarity. Here is a link to WORLD Magazine... http://online.worldmag.com/2010/01/05/proclaiming-christ-on-fox-news/ and there you can read not only their commentary on the events but also watch Brit's unashamed, yet compassionate call for men like Tiger Woods to find their hope in Christ. The article also tells briefly of how Brit came from being "a nominal Christian" (his words) to true saving faith in Jesus Christ. In these segments, Hume clearly states that Buddhism, which would be Tiger's professed religion, does not offer the forgiveness and reconciliation that Tiger Woods needs. Here you can see the original video as well as his commentary with Bill O'Reilly on those comments as well. MUST SEE! OUTSTANDING!!!

How to ruin a good confession... "If...if....if"

2010-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is from our friends at Peacemaker Ministries...very helpful reminders for what makes and can ruin a good confession...

****
If, If, If…

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other...Ephesians 4:32
The best way to ruin a confession is to use words that shift the blame to others or that appear to minimize or excuse your guilt. The most common way to do this is to say, "I'm sorry if I've done something to upset you." The word if ruins this confession, because it implies that you do not know whether or not you did wrong. The message you are communicating is this: "Obviously you're upset about something. I don't know that I have done anything wrong, but just to get you off my back I'll give you a token apology."

Here's some "Food for Thought"
How often does if show up in your confessions? A great way to ruin your engine on your car? Never, ever change the oil. A sure-fire way to ruin your credit rating? Never, ever pay your bills on time. What about ruining your reputation at work? Never, ever keep your appointments. And the best way to ruin a confession? Each and every time, use the word "if."
Ken Sande in his book "Peacemakers," reminds us of the power of this little two-letter word. Too many times, it leads to an empty confession. All the words may be right and proper (I'm sorry), but the heart is missing. And anything without a heart is usually dead, good for nothing. The word "confess" means "to agree with" -- you're agreeing that you've done something wrong. If you're not ready to agree, then don't confess. Because that ruins everything.

Why We Love The Church - by DeYoung & Kluck

2010-01-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

Barnabas - Son of Encouragement - 1

2010-01-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Everyone would seem to be small standing next to the greatness of the Apostle Paul - however through the years there has been one man who has always gotten my attention - Joseph who was also called by the apostles, "Barnabas." Not much - in comparison - is written about him - yet the testimony of his life is one that catches my attention. Why? I am not sure of all the reasons, but as I read the New Testament account of him - there is something that strikes me that says, "I want to be like him." Many men seek for the advancement of their own name, comfort, pleasure and reputation - not so with Barnabas. Instead, his testimony was one lived out to advance the good, care and reputation of others. Admittedly - maybe one of the reasons I am so attracted to study him is because I am by nature, so NOT LIKE Barnabas! Too often I can find my own heart so preoccupied with my desires, my wants, my preferences, etc. and I see my need to be mentored by his example.

So with this said - this begins a series of blog entries I am starting on "Barnabas - Son of Encouragement." I do hope you find it beneficial for your own soul, as I am also praying that the testimony of this great man's story will have a greater impact on my own life and character.

With this said, we begin. The very first time we hear of Barnabas is in Acts 4:

"34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were
owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to
each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles
Barnabas (which means son of encouragement) a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet." (ESV)

The very first characteristic we can see coming from Barnabas' life was this was a man who was concerned for the poor and to those who had need. He was so concerned that he took what he had and sold it and gave it to the apostles for them to distribute as there was need among the people of God. Barnabas was a man whose orientation was not towards himself nor his worldly goods, but instead towards those who are without. In a word - Barnabas was a man of "mercy." He had compassion in his heart towards his fellowman desiring that they be cared for.

Far too often, we make excuses for not walking in an active orientation towards the practical needs of others. We see how Christ walked in this way as well as there were times when he saw the crowds and the multitudes and being moved with compassion, he healed them and fed them.

There is much more from this first passage that we will address in later posts - but let's use this as a point of encouragement to begin today to look upon others in mercy. May it begin with our family members - may they see us dying to ourselves and giving ourselves up in love, care and mercy for them. May it begin with fellow members of your church, your small group. Begin thinking and praying, "Lord how would you want to work your mercy through me today to one of these precious folks?" May it happen through our ministry to the women and children of Forest Avenue, asking and praying, "Lord how would you want to be glorified through our ministry to them this month?" May we all grow in a Christ-centered, God-glorifying, mercy-drenched, love-motivated care for those around us!

Do you hear what I hear? Tim Hawkins

2009-12-16T15:25:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas folks! Enjoy!

"Man Cold"

2009-12-11T06:00:00.001-06:00

For all my fellow dudes who are struggling with "Man cold" and your wife might not understand how bad it really is...this might help. Have fun.

World Magazine

2009-12-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

Hey friends - if you don't have a subscription to WORLD Magazine - I would highly recommend it! I have been getting this for close to 10 years now and it is absolutely outstanding! It is a bi-weekly Christian news reporting magazine written by theologically and politcally conservative believers. They are fair and balanced in their reporting. Great stuff to get a theologically sound perspective on daily events! Highly recommend it! You can order by loggin on to http://www.worldmag.org/

John MacArthur on Preaching...

2009-12-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

As a pastor oftentimes one can struggle when one only hears the "success stories" from well known pastors...thinking, "what is wrong with me? why do I struggle in formulating sermons week after week, when others seem to do it so well?!?" On that note, I sure appreciate Dr. John MacArthur's humility in sharing his own weekly saga..

“I mean, I don’t just sit at my office and say, “Lord, I want to preach a great sermon Sunday. Please, I ask you, give me a great sermon.” No, what I do is I ask the Lord all week for that, and then I seek that by going through the Word of God and reading and reading. And then I begin banging on the Lord, in a sense, by saying, “Lord, I’m struggling with this thing and I want to understand it,” and this one this morning, which isn’t so hot, anyway, I rewrote three times. And on and on you go, struggling with it. But the point is, I realize that God is the only one who can produce through me, but at the same time, I’ve got to be involved in that.”

(from the sermon: “Loving people”; Matthew 7, 7-12)

The key phrase being, "I realize that God is the only one who can produce..." Thank you Lord that you are the One who builds Your church! He does all the work through His word!

John - His Story - A Greenleaf Production

2009-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Hey folks,

We want to welcome all of you out for a great time to see the play, "John - His Story" - a 4 person play based on the 7 great signs performed by Jesus Christ that the Apostle John records in his gospel. This will be at Providence at 6pm, Sunday, December 6th. This will be performed by the great folks of "Greenleaf Music & Arts Academy" featuring Savannah Hoit, Elise Veach, Jimmy Trendel and Tommy Trendel.

This play will be acted out through the eyes of the everyday people that John records "Jesus' disciples, the beggars, wedding guests, the wealthy and the ordinary."

Come out for a great time with the family. Bring a plate of cookies/goodies to share and we will have some Starbucks brewing. Likewise, I want to encourage you as we have been talking more and more about evangelism in our Care Groups, I want to encourage you to step out and invite your neighbors to this event. You can download a flyer from Greenleaf by clicking here: http://www.greenleafstudio.org/flyers/John_HisStory.pdf

Lastly, I have to say as a personal plug for the folks at Greenleaf - this is an outstanding group of godly artists. If you have ever been to a Greenleaf production you know what I am talking about when I say that these folks take their mission to glorify God through the arts seriously. I have enjoyed watching Edna and Carolyn, and the rest of the Greenleaf gang seek to put on productions that have a distinctly clear "God-centered" message that my daughter can be part of. You can tell they have purposefully stayed away from "fluffy" pieces, and stayed on target with plays such as "Cross and The Switchblade," "Pocahontas" (the non-Disney, but real version), likewise other productions focusing on the lives of famous missionaries and the like. Also, I have to say from day one I have been so impressed with the demeanor and passion for godliness that so many of the children have. I can't say enough of how impressed I have been by the humble, godly example and environment that the folks of Greenleaf have set!

Come on out it is sure to be a great time to kick off the Christmas season as we celebrate the glorious truth of when "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." See you then!

Happy Birthday To My Beautiful Bride!!!

2009-11-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

Today is my beautiful bride's 40th birthday! What a blessing this woman is to me! I created a blog for her birthday that many of her friends and family have posted their birthday wishes to her. Feel free to log on and wish her a happy birthday as well! http://www.annas40thbirthday.blogspot.com/

Wow! I sure married "up"! Thank you Lord for my wonderful bride! Happy birthday sweetie!

Cravings and Conflict - Message from CJ Mahaney

2009-11-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

"Cravings & Conflict" by CJ Mahaney:

Cravings and Conflict from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

The BBQ Song

2009-11-13T09:23:00.001-06:00

Hey folks...we all have to have our passions...as BBQ and all food is one of mine...enjoy!

The Gospel & Social Action - A Message By D.A. Carson

2009-11-12T10:25:00.001-06:00

Last year a group of students asked Dr. Carson if he would speak on the topic of "The Gospel & Social Action," as many seem to talk about issues of social action (ministry to the poor, working for issues of justice in society at large) and the gospel as though they might be one in the same. Listening to this very informative lecture, that Justin Taylor has posted on the Gospel Coalition website, will not only help inform someone of the calling to care for the poor, but also to help sharpen and tighten one's grasp on what "the gospel" actually is (to help keep "the main thing" the "main thing"). Enjoy. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2009/08/06/carson-on-gospel-and-social-action/

The Gospel & Ministry To The Poor

2009-11-11T06:36:00.001-06:00

In light of our monthly work through our Care Group ministry to the women and children at Forest Avenue Women's & Children's Shelter...read and be fed:

"Like nothing else could ever do, the gospel instills in me a heart for the downcast, the poverty-stricken, and those in need of physical mercies, especially when such persons are of the household of faith.

When I see persons who are materially poor, I instantly feel a kinship with them, for they are physically what I was spiritually when my heart was closed to Christ. Perhaps some of them are in their condition because of sin, but so was I. Perhaps they are unkind when I try to help them; but I, too, have been spiteful to God when He has sought to help me. Perhaps they are thankless and even abuse the kindness I show them, but how many times have I been thankless and used what God has given me to serve selfish ends?

Perhaps a poverty-stricken person will be blessed and changed as a result of some kindness I show him. If so, God be praised for His grace through me. But if the person walks away unchanged by my kindness, then I still rejoice over the opportunity to love as God loves. Perhaps the person will repent in time; but for now, my heart is chastened and made wiser by the tangible depiction of what I myself have done to God on numerous occasions.

The gospel reminds me daily of the spiritual poverty into which I was born and also of the staggering generosity of Christ towards me. Such reminders instill in me both a felt connection to the poor and a desire to show them the same generosity that has been lavished on me. When ministering to the poor with these motivations, I not only preach the gospel to them through word and deed, but I reenact the gospel to my own benefit as well."
- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer

Doonesbury, Facebook & Parenting

2009-11-10T08:56:00.006-06:00

Hey folks, here is something for the very random department. I personally love comic strips, yet I normally don't care for this particular one (because of its political slant, etc.) but I had to say this one was absolutely true to life! I had to pass this one along... www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2009/11/08/

International Day of Prayer For the Persecuted Church

2009-11-08T14:00:00.001-06:00

Hey folks, I trust that the Lord ministered to you through this morning's service and our time spent with one another in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the globe. As you think about our time I wanted to forward on to you some links of some helpful organizations that have both some prayer resources as well as helpful bible studies about persecution as well that you could go through with your family this week.Voice of the Martyrs http://www.vom.org/ International Day Of Prayer For The Persecuted Church http://www.idop.org/ It was a great time this morning! Take care and have a wonderful week praying for our brothers and sisters.

Why Church Planting? By Dave Harvey

2009-11-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Hey folks...again as I have said on other posts...many folks shouldn't be blogging...I think I am in that group...so one of my tasks is going to point you to guys you should be reading. Here is one such man, Dr. Dave Harvey. He serves our family of churches in the area of church care and church planting. He has his doctorate from Westminster in the area of church planting and has overseen the planting of many churches. He brings much to the table for us all to learn from. Here is the a link to the first of several posts he is giving on answering the question... "Why Church Planting?" Enjoy! http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Dave-Harvey-Why-Plant-Churches-(1).aspx

Theologically Sound - Christian Rap/Hip Hop...

2009-11-06T06:40:00.000-06:00

Hey folks...here is one for the really random department. Rap is not necessarily my thing as far as musical genres go...but sound theology is and when it is sung to and in all cultures it is a gloriously beautiful thing. Here is a link to one of CJ's latest posts on Christian Hip Hop... http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Christian-Hip-Hop-interview.aspx

Seminary, The Local Church, The Pastor's College and a Good Friend

2009-11-05T11:43:00.000-06:00

(How's that for a title to a blog post?) This last week I received an article published by "BulletinInserts.org" by a good and recent friend that have come to know over the last couple of years, Steve Burchett. His article entitled "Seminary Is Dangerous," just reminded me of God's grace at work in my own life in the past 10+ years. In his article Steve talks about the need for and the centrality of the local church in the life, training and development of a pastor, as well as some very real pit falls "seminary life" can provide. I wanted to forward this article on because I felt was it helpful in identifying some aspects to consider as some contemplate "seminary life."

I went to seminary - however, if it were not for my precious local church - Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena, where I had godly, humble men who provided an example for me as to what it actually looked like to not just sit around in a coffee shop and pontificate about theology and "great" ideas, but to actually apply it in their own lives of the "gloriously mundane" everyday life of being a husband and father first. I thank God for pastors such as Mark Mullery, Ron Boomsma and Lynn Baird! They provided an example for me as a young seminarian to apply what one wise (and right) Systematic Theology Professor told us on our first day of classes, "You won't learn theology here...we can tell you about it, and teach you about it...but you won't know it, until you apply it...and you can't apply it here as it is intended and put forth for us in Holy Scripture. We see in Holy Scripture the place to apply it is in the context of the local church, not a seminary. We will only teach you some things...but you won't know it until you walk it out in the grit of everyday life in a community called "the local church." I thank God for that professor for doing his job - he pointed me back not to the loftiness of the "greatness" of my own ideas (what a joke), but instead to the importance of the local church. As a young seminarian, I encountered men that I wanted to be like, because they were pursuing Christ. Men who were not famous, nor flashy, but faithful where they lived. Sinless? No. Humble? Yes, although they were quick to confess their own pride and shortcomings. To these great pastors - Mark, Ron, Lynn and many others like them - thanks for being great husbands and fathers first! You have been and continue to be great examples for me - I only hope I might be able to follow Christ, as you have!

With this I wanted to also share how thankful I am for Sovereign Grace Ministries' Pastor's College. I went there after seminary, and I have to say - what I experienced there dwarfed the 3+ years of seminary life. "Seminary life" by itself is a lonely life. Yet, the Pastor's College was different, it was theological training that I was prepared for because of the local church, it was rooted in a local church and focused to send me out to pastor a local church. It was different also in that, for many of the reasons Steve mentions, it focused on the importance of one living one's theology in the home, in a local church - this is the starting point of an elder - how he is at home, with his wife, kids and other brothers. I could go on and on (which I am afraid I have). But Steve, thanks bro for a great article! Thanks for provoking us all (not just seminary folks) to love Christ, to love the local church and to pursue biblical application in humility! Thanks bro!

Luther: The Movie

2009-11-04T07:33:00.000-06:00

I know this movie has been out for some time, but this movie is simply outstanding! And if you are looking for a great movie to sit down with the family to watch during this autumn season, I would highly recommend "Luther" the movie. It stars Jospeh Fiennes and is directed by Eric Till. It is beautifully done. Take some time and just use it not only as a tool to remind our children (and ourselves) of the rich history we have in the Reformation. Use it specifically to bring up and teach the truths of the inerrancy of Scripture and error of man; the meaningless of attempting to be declared justified by our works, and to rejoice in justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone for God's glory alone. Pop some popcorn and have a great time as a family!

Never Recant - Always Reforming

2009-11-01T07:22:00.006-06:00

A great hero of the faith (who is still living - Mark Kettler) wrote me this week in the comment section of this blog concerning the great privilege we have of celebrating the time of the Reformation. Below are the comments from his post - read them and may we be forever finding ourselves "reforming" our lives over and over again in accordance with the Holy Scriptures - may we never "recant" from rejoicing, standing in, preaching, loving and living God's precious word!

"October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church. He later faced a tribunal, excommunication and potential execution for his stance in favor of God's Word and against the Roman Catholic Church. Here are his now famous closing words spoken before his accusers:"Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted [convinced] of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves) by manifest reasoning, I stand convicted [convinced] by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God's word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us. On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."

Discerning Reader - Highly Recommend

2009-10-29T07:11:00.007-06:00

Hey folks, I know it has been a while since I have posted last. But here you go... Looking for a great book to for a reading group or something just to read throughout the Fall? I would highly recommend you checking out "Discerning Reader" by Tim Challies at http://www.discerningreader.com/ There are thousands of books put out each year...and if you are slow reader like me, you would like to spend those valuable times carved out for reading on a book that is actually good, edifying, theologically sound and helpful. Check out "Discerning Reader" they have outstanding reviews and book lists! Happy reading!

Godly Fathers - A Sermon By Doug Luffman from Deuteronomy 6

2009-07-01T09:13:00.005-06:00

Hey folks,

I wanted to draw your attention to an outstanding message by Doug Luffman, an elder of our church. It is not only challenging and provoking to draw our families to a God glorifying vision for their lives, but in his tone and demeanor is an example of pastoral graciousness to us as fathers. In this message Doug has given us 4 very clear points of what a godly home looks like from Deut. 6:4-7. Very helpful...very encouraging...very practical.

Family Mission Trip Is Coming Soon!

2009-06-14T07:25:00.002-06:00

Hey folks,

For this post I just wanted to direct you to World Servants website - the group we will be going with this Summer for our Family Missions Trip. Here you will find some links to their "Family Friendly" Short Term Missions Trips...as well as a brief interview with Michael Farris from HSLDA talking about short term mission trips as a great discipleship tool in the hand of a parent to both get our children out of their "comfort zones" into another culture, but also the opportunity it provides in a concentrated way (a week or longer) to engage your child with the gospel as you share the gospel with others.

Rachel's Story - Death Is Not Dying

2009-05-24T06:54:00.005-06:00

Dear friends I would highly recommend you stop what you are doing, gather the family around and listen to this precious woman's story - Rachel - she is a Christian, she is a wife and a mother of young children and she is dying of cancer. Gather the family around to listen to her compelling message, "Death is not dying: A Faith That Saves." Take some time with this to discuss with your entire family. Click here to watch the video...of an Unchanging, Loving God Who saves by grace.

Our Knowledge of God's Sovereignty Linked To Our Thanksgiving, Worship and Prayer To Christ - John Calvin

2009-04-23T16:21:00.006-06:00

Wow - this guy was smart! (Pregnant pause). I know that was a dumb statement to post on a blog...but consider the source. As I read chapter 2 of his Book I of his "Institutes" one cannot help but be both blown away and sent into a place of worship as Calvin speaks to the knowledge of God's sovereignty over all things...and its promotion of prayer, thanksgiving and worship!

"We must be persuaded not only that as he once formed the world, so he sustains it by his boundless power, governs it by his wisdom, preserves it by his goodness, in particular, rules the human race with justice and judgment, bears with them in mercy, shields them by his protection; but also that not a particle of light, or wisdom, or justice, or power, or rectitude, or genuine truth, will any where be found, which does not flow from him, and of which he is not the cause; in this way we must learn to expect and ask all things from him, and thankfully ascribe to him whatever we receive...For until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; no unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity."

Oh Lord may our entire happiness be in you Jesus!

The Question Of Getting To Know Ourselves & John Calvin

2009-04-21T15:05:00.003-06:00

I first began reading John Calvin while I was in seminary - mostly reading excerpts from his "Institutes of Christian Religion." Today, while in my study - I pulled it off the shelf again and began to read Chapter 1 of the first book of his Institutes. There I found a great answer to a very common contemporary question, "How am I to get know who I am?" His first "Book" in the Institutes is all about our knowledge of God. The first chapter is entitled, "The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected. Nature of the Connection." (Great title!) There Calvin does not lead us to subjective answers to this question but instead calls us to meditate on the "face of God." (Now, if you haven't read it...the whole nature of this post will be for you to spend sometime reading him and meditating on the truths of just his first chapter).

Calvin calls us to meditate on God and when we do so - we find much about ourselves. Not that as we look into the "face of God" through the lens of Scripture that we somehow see ourselves as though looking into a mirror. No - but through looking upon His greatness, His majesty, His power, His holiness, His beauty, etc. we then are enabled to be humbled to begin on the pathway of "getting to know ourselves." He writes:

"For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure: just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white...So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods."

This is why I love John Calvin, because he loves the "Greatness of God." Oh friend - in all our searching - may our hearts ache for the knowledge of God! May I ache for the knowledge of the Holy beyond knowledge of myself! And when we learn of the holy - I am driven to look for a Substitute and there at the Cross is mine! The One Who "got to know us" - by being made one of us - the Perfect Man - Jesus Christ! May we spend our days as we "know ourselves" finding ourselves running to the Cross - and there by the work of the Spirit, we are made to know ourselves changing into His likeness! Too often - I have a high view of myself and a low view of God. Oh what a day that will be when we see "true white" - - and rejoice in His purity, unlike anything we could ever imagine! For now, we only see particular "hues" - but all by grace we will see Him - we will then know Him.

I will end this post with this quote: "Though the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves are bound together by a mutual tie, due arrangement requires that we treat the former in the first place and then descend to the latter." May we treat "the former" - God in the first place and then - and only then descend to the latter!

Books For Shepherds

2009-04-15T10:02:00.004-06:00

Hey folks I know it has been a while since I have posted. We just got back from the Pastor's Conference with Sovereign Grace Ministries this last week - which was an outstanding time. I have gone to many Leadership Conferences in the past with SGM, but I have to say this was just such an outstanding time. The care we received from CJ and others was so very helpful and enriching. There was a special emphasis this year on growing as shepherds - specifically to those who are suffering. It was both sobering, helpful and refreshing to go back to our churches, seeking to follow The Chief Shepherd - Jesus as we seek to care for the flock the Lord has entrusted with us to led. It was a great time and I just want to say thank you so very much for all your prayers for Dave and I as we went.

On this front - I have been reading - somewhat devotionally - Alexander Strauch's book, "Biblical Eldership" for several months now. It has been such a helpful and sharpening tool for my thinking and practice as an "under shepherd" of God's people. Likewise, a new one from the New Studies in Biblical Theology entitled, "Shepherds After My Own Heart: Pastoral Traditions And Leadership in the Bible." by Timothy Laniak. I have only begun to study certain chapters but the one on Mark's gospel - which is simply outstanding! Enjoy!

12 year old girl's speech on the topic of abortion.

2009-02-26T17:27:00.004-06:00

Wow folks, 400,000 hits and counting! Watch this compelling speech given by a 12 year old girl at a public school debate on the topic of abortion. Outstanding!

"Old Earth" vs. "Young Earth" and suggestions on how to disagree

2009-02-25T16:10:00.004-06:00

As I have studied the book of Genesis and many of the issues that surround it there have been some conflicts on how many faithful godly Christians view how old the earth is. Questions are often asked, "Is this 6 literal days of creation? Is this 6 epochs? Is this a literary device Moses is using to display God's creative power in creation?" As I have studied I have come across young earth folks who believe they can state (almost to the year) the creation of the earth as being almost just at 4,004 B.C. by looking at the genealogies and counting the years and so forth (not taking into account the purposes of the genealogies and how there are specific and purposeful gaps in them to communicate not only relation to people, but a theological message as well.) I have also found Christians who are "old earth" folks who believe the earth is about 4.5 billion years old, but who do not affirm evolution and see it as a biblically incompatible worldview with Biblical Christianity...of which men like Dr. R.C. Sproul (of whom we love and highly respect) believed for many years, prior to about 3-4 years ago. In my study, I also came across other believers who, like Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church and the Acts 29 Network who believe in an "old earth" while affirming a literal 6 days (24 hour day) approach to Genesis.

SO WHAT ARE WE TO THINK OF THIS? Although I do find myself in the younger earth camp, who believes Moses is speaking about a literal 6 days of creation - where I do part ways is with what would seem to be the demeanor of some folks (who share my position) in how they look might view men like a "pre-4 years ago" Sproul or a Mark Driscoll. Below are some links to help you not only go through the biblical text but also are instructive in the demenaor of how they do disagree and so forth. I trust this will be a great starting place to study these issues...

Top of the list - Dr. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology - the chapter on creation is absolutely outstanding! Grudem is a 6 literal day-er (don't you love labels?), but how he views those within biblical Christianity, who do have different interpretations is wonderful! I only wish I could disagree with folks as graciously, lovingly and caringly as he has done here.

Also top of the list - would be the lengthy discussion found in the ESV Study Bible introductory notes to the book of Genesis (specifically the sections on "Genesis and History" and "Genesis and Science."

Third Millennium's article entitled, "Young Earth vs. Old Earth" - it is short, but well laid out and again the tone and demeanor is one that should accompany such a discussion.

CARM (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry) has a great discussion between someone talking about evolution and Matt Slick's response - again on this one, it is not just what is said, but how it is said. And likewise Matt's explanation of how important it is to understand what "genre" of literature you are reading when you are attempting to interpret. (Ex: poetry can be taken "literally" as poetry and all the rules that govern poetry). Very helpful! This article is entitled, "The Bible Can't Be Taken Literally" (don't let the title throw you...)

When & How Did The Universe Begin?

2009-02-21T16:58:00.006-06:00

Hey folks, as we are going through our series in Genesis from time to time I will pass on to you some videos and links on apologetics. Here is a great video speaking to popular evolutionary theory, by Dr. William Lane Craig

"When Sinners Say I Do" by Dave Harvey

2009-02-19T09:31:00.004-06:00

On the subject of marriage and good books to read - here is a great one for couples to go through together. Our Care Group and Ministry Team leaders have been going through this book as a guideline for our discussions in the past year and it is such a great "tool" to drive us back into Scripture that drives us to the gospel, that is our only hope in salvation and transformation. Here is a book review on Challies' blog/website.

A Devotional Plan For Husbands Desiring To Grow Closer To Christ & Closer To Their Brides

2009-02-17T09:27:00.003-06:00

Hey guys,

On this theme of growing as men in our vocation (meaning, our calling from God) as husbands, I want to introduce to you (and for some reacquaint) to "The Exemplary Husband" by Stuart Scott. For our men's ministry, several years ago we went through this book together and it is both a great instruction in the biblical role of husband, but it also draws the reader to see, desire and need Christ more and more. In many ways, this is a "systematic theology" (you will see what I mean when you look to the table of contents) on a husband's role, goal and passion. From the outset one sees that Dr. Scott is not leading us to mere moralism. Instead, he is leading us to see, worship and follow "THE" Exemplary Husband - Christ Himself. I would encourage you that if you are looking for some devotional material that will draw you closer to Christ and closer to your bride - get this book and read it slowly, prayerfully with a focus on applying. Enjoy!

Time to apply...if you haven't already!

2009-02-14T08:29:00.006-06:00

Hey guys,

It's Valentine's Day...and if you haven't done so already, it is time to "apply" what we talked about in our last "Invest" Men's Discipleship Group from 1 Peter 3 where we encouraged one another to "walk with our wives in an understanding way." Just as a case in point...ignoring "Valentine's Day" - the one day that EVERYONE EVERYWHERE, Christian and non-Christian alike take time out to celebrate the importance of marital love...to ignore such a day...to let such a day pass without meaningful, purposeful encouragement...well...let me just say...this isn't walking with your wife in an understanding way. Go and apply my friend! If you haven't yet, and the schedules (for a multitude of reasons are full) take some time today to express your love, honor, and respect for your bride...and plan out some date nights this week! On those date nights, I would encourage you to get out your calendars and plan 1 - at least one - overnighter get away for the two of you in the next couple of months. It doesn't have to be expensive...the Chateau Avalon here in KC is very inexpensive for a great overnighter! Make your reservations and plans today! Likewise click on this resource on our church's website "101 Ways To Love Your Wife" Let's start applying! ((Oh...if a wife happens to be reading this post...it is completely acceptable and right to forward this on to your husband!))

The 200th Anniversary Of The Birthday Of Charles Darwin

2009-02-12T14:39:00.004-06:00

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin. In the link below is a treasure chest of articles by Dr. Albert Mohler and others on Darwinism and its affect on society at large. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3276

From "Na" to "NEXT"

2009-01-29T14:32:00.004-06:00

The Young Adult Ministry of Sovereign Grace Ministries has changed its name from "New Attitude" to "NEXT." Likewise they have launched a new website - and with this a monthly "Webzine" this issue figuring Dr. Sinclair Ferguson as well as articles ofor "Guys" and "Gals" as well as an article about listening to music for the glory of God. Click here for the website as well as to register for this year's conference. http://www.thisisnext.org/

What Makes Abortion Plausible? What Makes Abortion Unthinkable - Articles By Dr. Albert Mohler

2009-01-27T10:51:00.003-06:00

In the world of the Bible, reverence for life is natural, and automatic – the only reflex, and the only instinct. As Dr. Albert Mohler writes in these 3 blog entries, respect for life is not based upon the fact that we worship life, but is instead based on the fact that we know and worship the Creator of life, the Sovereign of life. Needless to say these are outstanding articles:

What Makes Abortion Plausible? Article One

What Makes Abortion Plausible? Article Two

What Makes Abortion Plausible? Article Three

The Sanctity Of Life - Scriptures To Both Pray & Act Upon

2009-01-17T11:51:00.003-06:00

As our nation begins a process of transition in leadership, one great concern on the hearts and minds of many Christians are the possible transitions that will take place in the issues of "abortion rights." As we seek to both pray and respond, I wanted to post here a list of passages to help and direct our hearts in both the will and the grace of God concerning the sanctity of human life. I pray this will serve to both inform your prayer life as you pray these passages, but also to help aid those who are recovering from the pains of abortion to know, find and experience the grace of God.

God is the Creator of Life
Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Job 33:4 - The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
God creates and fashions life within the womb
Job 31:15 - Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
The unborn are treated as persons in the Bible
Psalm 139:13-16 - For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's
womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in
the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my
unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of
them came to be.
Conception is a gift from God
Exodus 23:25-26 - Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and
water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in
your land. I will give you a full life-span.
Children are a gift from the Lord
Psalm 127:3-5 - Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like
arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose
quiver is full of them.
God forbids the taking of human life
Genesis 9:6 - Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the
image of God has God made man.
Exodus 20:13 - You shall not murder.
Exodus 21:22-25 - If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth
prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the
woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to
take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn,
wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
We are to defend and protect life
Psalm 10:17-18 - You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and
you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed in order that man, who is
of the earth, may terrify no more.
Psalm 41:1 - Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of
trouble.
Proverbs 31:8-9 - Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all
who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Rape, incest, and birth defects do not justify taking the life of the child
Deuteronomy 24:16 - Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put
to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
Isaiah 45:9-10 - Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd
among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, "What are you
making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands?" Woe to him who says to his father,
"What have you begotten?" or to his mother, "What have you brought to birth?"
1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you
are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
God forgives the sin of abortion – There is GRACE, HOPE & FORGIVENESS!
Roman 5:20-21 - The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin
increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace
might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness.

Our Calling As Men

2009-01-09T10:42:00.003-06:00

There is oftentimes much confusion as to what does it mean to be and walk as a man. We live in a day where many young men (as well as many older men) are confused as to what they are to be doing with their lives. We have a generation of young men who are stuck in what many sociologists would be called, a "delayed adolescence." I think this is directly tied to a foggy and unbiblical understand of what it means to be a man as Scripture defines this for us. In the attached link to Southern Seminary's magazine Dr. Albert Mohler take us to God's word to help focus our attention on God's purpose for our lives as men. God in His kindness as our Father has shown us what our roles are to be - may we not be confused, but instead rejoicing in our calling to walk as biblically faithful men of God. Take care & enjoy this issue! http://www.sbts.edu/pdf/tie/2005Winter.pdf

"For You" by Octavius Winslow

2009-01-08T14:12:00.003-06:00

Folks sorry so long for a post...let this wonderful quote stir your LOVE FOR CHRIST! -Take care, Matthew

***

FOR YOU! by Octavius Winslow

Is Jesus precious to your heart? Is He the object of your supreme admiration and delight? Does He have your warmest affection? Do you love Jesus? You must light your torch of affection for Christ, at the altar of Calvary. You must go there, and learn and believe what the love of Jesus is to you—the vastness of that love; the self sacrifice of that love; how that love of Christ labored and wept, bled, suffered, and died for you! Can you stand before this love; this love so precious, so great, so enduring, so self-consuming, so changeless; and know that for you was this offering—for you this cross—for you this agony—for you this scorn and insult—for you this death; and feel no sensibility, no emotion, no love to Jesus? Impossible!

Do not be cast down, then, in vain regrets that your love to Christ is so frigid, so fickle, so dubious. Go and muse upon the reality and the greatness of the Savior's love to you, and if love can inspire love, while you muse, the fire will burn, and your soul shall be all in flame with love to God!

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

In God We Trust - A Call To Both Honor & Prayer

2008-11-05T11:15:00.006-06:00

Dear friends, I found today's post by Dr. Albert Mohler, the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary very helpful in how to both think and respond biblically in light of yesterday's Presidential elections. No matter what side of the aisle you are on (or if you are voting on different aisles) - I think you will find Dr. Mohler's words both encouraging and beneficial. May we - as Dr. Mohler states both honor our new President as Our President and likewise both pray for him and our country. Take care...and as you read this encouraging article remember these great and assuring words from Psalm 118: 8-9 "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes." Our hope is not in a man - our Sufficient Hope is in Christ - in whom we trust. May the people of our country one day be able to truly say, "In God We Trust."

The direct link to Dr. Mohler's article is: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2715

Biblical Manhood & Biblical Womanhood And The 2008 Elections

2008-10-10T10:33:00.006-06:00

Dear friends,

Once again it is so very very helpful to know that Scripture addresses every area of our lives - and so it does concerning our calling to civic/political & social issues in the nation that God has sovereignly placed us in. As it is with any political season, issues get raised that call us to ask fundamental theological questions. During this present 2008 Presidential Election - issues of gender have once again come to the forefront with the nomination of Sarah Palin as McCain's choice of Vice President and running mate.

There is a question for some who might want to vote for the Republican ticket, how does the idea woman taking a place of political leadership square with a theological understanding of male headship in the home and in the church - which is called "Complementatrianism"? (Big word - I know). This is a view that says, "Though God has created male and female equal before Him - He has given them different functions and roles in the home and in the church that "complement" one another. And by seeing, identifying, walking in and celebrating those God given differences of roles and functions in the home and in the church this is something that brings glory to God, as He has defined these roles in the Creation story (prior to the Fall)."

But what about political and governmental roles? How does Scripture speak to this? On this issue, we are once again so very, very thankful for the faithful Biblical scholarship seen through "The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood" founded by Dr. John Piper and Dr. Wayne Grudem. Linked here are at least three different posts on how Christians who vote republican might view this issue.

Biblical Counseling - Some Clarifications

2008-09-26T09:03:00.003-06:00

Below are very helpful published responses to Dr. Powlison's articles "Sane Faith." This is published in its entirety from "Boundless.org." (And for more on this particular topic of how to view physiological factors our problems read Dr. Ed Welch's book, "Blame It On The Brain?" - here he gives a very helpful, charitable, humble and biblical look at how physiological factors are to be viewed when dealing with matters of our hearts.

**************

Biblical Counseling, a Clarification
by David Powlison

Dr. David Powlison — author of the “Sane Faith” series on Boundless (part 1, part 2 and part 3)
— appreciates the comments you’ve written on a blog post I wrote yesterday. This morning he sent me an e-mail responding to some of them. Among other things, he writes that “faith actually changes how you perceive [someone] and respond to [them].” Later he adds, “How you’re relating to God and how you’re relating to [others] are not controlled by your body, but by your heart.”

I find his clarifications helpful as I wrestle with the principles laid out in “Sane Faith.”

* * *
[now from Dr. Powlison...]

I so appreciate the honesty of blog responders. Life is not easy street, but a hard road. Contrary to the glib self-confidence and easy answers that define our culture’s style, the Bible respects that our lives are fundamentally fragile, vulnerable to coming unglued. The psalms are the voice of honest strugglers, which is why Psalm 23 (and the anti-psalm) play such a key role in the lead article I wrote.

I want to make sure that the purpose of those articles is not lost. Ted Slater’s blog comments
are right in saying that these articles are not about medications at all. They are about affirming our humanness. They seek to shine a light on our common bond in the human struggles. We’re all in this together, and God comes to take us in hand. I’d hate to have the main point obscured by the discussion getting swallowed up in the medication issue. That is an important issue in its own right. Here are some thoughts to put in the mix in thinking about medications. But I hope that readers will also go back and ponder my original articles further.

About 10 years ago I watched a PBS special on the state of psychiatry in America. The head
of the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH) was interviewed. He can fairly be called America’s “top psychiatrist.” He sits at the top of the pyramid that funds medication research, sets standards for care, and so forth. He knows his field. His comments were insightful and fascinating. He said that society has given psychiatrists an impossible job. They are charged with trying to help people solve all their woes and struggles. Then he said that psychiatric medications can sometimes take the edge off symptoms, but they can’t give people what they really need. People need meaning and relationships. Psychiatry can’t give that. Medication can’t give
that.

You might want to reread that last paragraph. It contains a philosophy of medication that is sane and realistic, as well as knowledgeable. It’s so different from what our culture tells us. This psychiatrist was also seeing something about people that I believe can only be truly addressed by Christian faith. People need to find personal meaning and meaningful relationships. My articles are about what people really need. I fully agree with the head of NIMH that medications can “sometimes take the edge off symptoms.” He credits medication with possibly doing some modest good, not all the time, but sometimes. Modest good does not mean no good, or all bad, or useless. Nor does it mean the best good. People most need meaning and relationships. And “sometimes” does not mean always, or without the possibility of negative side effects. It means what it says, sometimes.

Most people who’ve tried medications would say that their experience mirrors what the head
of the NIMH said. He knows the literature. He knows people. He knows that people might be helped a bit, but that they need more help and deeper help. In my 30 years of counseling, I’ve seen the same thing countless times. I’ve also seen that when people find more help and deeper help they often drop the meds and don’t go back. They don’t need the symptomatic relief, because they’ve found more significant change. (That’s not always, but in my counseling experience it’s more often than not.)

More help and deeper help is what my articles are about.

Here’s an analogy you might find helpful. Let’s say you go to visit your mother for lunch. The relationship can be a bit strained. She can be “difficult.” When you are with her, and things take a wrong turn, you get tense. You feel a bit edgy, anxious, and irritable. You can get sarcastic. Later you might vent to your friends, “She’s impossible!” Let’s say you’ve also learned that your relationship with God makes a huge difference. You love this promise and response: He himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6) When you remember that, live it, take it to heart, you’re calmer. You don’t take your mom so personally. You’re more constructive. You’re able to forgive her. You pray for her rather than vent negative gossip. You’re able to get on with the rest of your day in a positive frame of mind. You say to your friends, “I’ve got to say, it’s hard to relate to my mom. But I’m very thankful to God for helping me not to return evil for evil.” That passage of Scripture speaks sweet promises to you, in God’s own voice: He himself says it! It also portrays how your faith comes to life: I can confidently say. Your thinking changes. What you say changes. How you feel changes. It doesn’t mean your mom changes. But your faith actually changes how you perceive her and respond to her.

Now here’s where our little analogy get interesting. Let’s also say that when you drink three
cups of coffee on an empty stomach and don’t eat a good breakfast, you go into your day feeling tense. You get a bit edgy, anxious, and irritable. (Sound familiar?) Eating a good breakfast and laying off the caffeine makes you feel better. Similarly you find that healthy exercise and a good nights sleep also make you feel better, less prone to that tense frame of mind.

Here’s the million dollar question. Will eating a healthy breakfast, taking a brisk walk and being well rested make your relationship with your mother tension-free and happy? No, it won’t. It might help you go into that lunch visit a bit less keyed up. It might help you not cancel because you can’t face her. Maybe you won’t be quite so reactive. But your relationship with your mother is a matter of “meaning and relationships.” How you’re relating to God and how you’re relating to her are not controlled by your body, but by your heart. Jesus puts all this in His usual pithy way. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Bread means bodily sustenance: breakfast, exercise, sleep. But bread alone can’t bring energy and light, hope and love, to the meaning of your life and to your relationships. Whenever we make the connection, life makes much more sense. It’s a connection to make every day, like eating a healthy breakfast. The same sort of thing is true with medications. When they help, they tweak your body to feel and function better. But they can’t touch your need for the things that Hebrew 13:5-6 touches. Perhaps this paraphrase catches the right sense of proportion: “Man does not live by meds alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Our society attaches such inordinate hopes to medication. Pharmaceutical advertising makes such grandiose promises (not just about psychoactive drugs, but about many classes of meds). We want to say, things that help your body are good: healthy diet, exercise, and sleep, always; medications, sometimes. But they aren’t the best. See these things for what they are and aren’t, and you’ll keep your life struggles in proper perspective. The human touch that the articles seek to elicit and portray is always the most important. Those articles are about the YOU on the inside of who you are. They are about the YOU in your relationships.

I’d encourage readers to go back and read the lead articles again. As Ted Slater mentioned,
Boundless and I have been working on this project for a year. In a culture of online information, people are not used to reading something more than once. But anything worth thinking about carefully is worth reading a second time. Print it out. Take it slowly. Underline. Write in the margins. Ponder what it means. Take it to heart. I’d describe medication questions as a riff off from those articles — an important question in its own right, but a sidelight, even a distraction. You’ve probably seen how easily that happens in blogs. A riff carries the discussion far afield from the original topic. I hope that what really sticks in your mind is Psalm 23. Verse 4 brings a true perspective on all our woes, including a body that gets out of sync and mothers who can sometimes be difficult.
* * *
P.S. Here are some further thoughts, and something for further study for those so minded.
Joseph Glenmullen, a research psychiatrist at Harvard, summarized hundreds of studies on
the effects of psychiatric medications for anxiety and depression (Prozac Backlash, Simon &
Schuster, 2000). He takes a balanced view, similar to the director of NIMH. He simply gives
the research data. Research shows that most of the positive effect comes from placebo effect,
not psychoactive ingredients. Perhaps two-thirds of those who take medications feel better
because they expect the medication to make them feel better. In other words, even with a
pill, the issue of one’s faith plays a significant part. How can you know whether you’re getting a psychoactive bump in mood or a placebo bump? You can’t. That’s part of why paying primary attention to meaning and relationships puts medications in their proper place as second-tier items. A person getting a placebo bump will continue to feel better when off medications because the meaning and relationships in his or her life improve. Glenmullen also gives details on the negative side effects that frequently arise and the frequency of drug ineffectiveness. People in these categories need not despair. Fruitful dealing with meaning and relationship issues always makes a difference in a person’s life, even if they must live with lifelong tendencies towards depression and anxiety — which many wise and godly people in history have done. Even if there’s no medication to make the tense-and-anxious reaction in your body go away, if the tense-and-anxious reactions in your relationships improve, then your life improves.

A Christian View of the Economic Crisis by Dr. Mohler

2008-09-25T12:21:00.002-06:00

In light of much of the recent "economic crisis" I wanted to draw your attention to Dr. Albert Mohler's blog on how we as Christians ought to view this time. If you are anything like me, there is the looming question, "How am I to think Biblically about this?" Dr. Mohler adds some great insights and answers to that question...

http://albertmohler.com//blog_read.php?id=2550

Coming Home To Sanity - Seeing "Our Problem" Biblically

2008-09-25T08:49:00.002-06:00

Here is part 3 of Dr. Powlison's article "Sane Faith" - If you haven't read the first 2 posts, please do so...

***

Sane Faith, Part 3
by David Powlison

We’ve invited Dr. David Powlison to begin a discussion on counseling from a biblical perspective
by writing a series of articles for Boundless. This is a conversation starter: We believe that
thoughtful discussion of significant issues is crucial to the flourishing of the body of Christ.
Focus on the Family does not promote one particular model of Christian counseling, but earnestly
seeks that we all grow in wisdom together. As with any article on Boundless, publication is not
meant to be taken as an endorsement of its content. It is our hope that you are challenged to
consider the relevance of Scripture, the importance of balance in the counseling process, and to
better understand the Lord’s concern and power when it comes to understanding the real life
problems that we all struggle with.

This is the final article in a 3-part series. We encourage you to read part 1 and part 2 if you
haven’t done so already.

* * *
We’ve seen how the therapeutic worldview disconnects from reality. People with problems
are treated less seriously than they deserve. They are given Band-Aid therapies for questions
that call for an organ transplant. Let’s think carefully through a series of implications.

1. The facts are the facts — but what do they mean?
Notice that nobody disputes the facts. Mental health practitioners, friends and family, you,
me, and the God of the Bible agree that Garrett (see part 1 of this series) is narcissistic, has a
bad temper, drinks too much and uses porn. He tries to control his world because he thinks
it’s his world. All agree that Sarah starves herself, works out relentlessly, and puts in a lot of
mirror-time. She demands perfection on her own terms.

Nothing I’m saying questions any of these facts. These are facts that call for explanations and
call out for help.

The question is how to interpret the facts. What do these problems mean? Why do our four
friends live like this? Why are they ruining their lives?

• Does each of them “suffer from” a quasi-medical-sounding disorder that actually
explains his or her problems? Do they “have” diseases or conditions that the labels
correctly name?
• Or are they “doing” extremely disorderly things for extremely confusing reasons? Are
they living out lifestyles that God correctly names?

In other words, is the final explanation for our problems something bad happening to us? Or
is it something bad about us? God’s interpretation is the second one, and He gets last say. A
true interpretation sees the problem of sin concretely, right in the details of people’s lives
and problems.

It’s crucial, by the way, to understand sin accurately. Most people think that to identify
something as “sin” means saying that the person consciously chose to do some bad action.

The person also has the power to Just Say No.

But the Bible comes at sin from the opposite direction. We do many wrong, unloving things
without even knowing what we’re doing or why. Most sin is not a matter of conscious choice.
The “high-handed” sins are conscious. But much of what we do, think and feel expresses that
we are blind, self-deceived, metaphorically drunk or sleepwalking, calloused, acting like
brute beasts, walking in the dark. So we do not have the power to Just Say No.

That’s why we need a Savior from ourselves. Sin actually tends to make us more unconscious
(“blind”) and more compulsive (“enslaved”). I am what I am, and do what I do, even if it’s
self-destructive and destroys my relationships.

Furthermore, sin is an interpersonal offense and insult — to God first. He calls us to love
him utterly ... but we are self-preoccupied in a thousand ways. Most people view “sin” as an
item from a select list of heinous behaviors that hurt others. God sees much further. I can’t
accurately see myself until God makes me self-aware of what I look like to Him.

And, still further, grace targets sin. Jesus comes for sin. Mercy and compassion are given for
sin. Forgiveness buries sin.

Most people think that the word “sin” only implies judgment, condemnation, selfrighteousness
and moral exhortations to try harder. That’s the obvious thing to think. But God is not so obvious. He forgives people who are not righteous, and self-righteousness is a heinous sin. Christ does what none of us can do. Jesus’ blood and righteousness and resurrection set us free from sin’s guilt and punishment. Christ’s Spirit progressively frees us from sin’s power. The Lord’s return will free us from sin’s presence. God directly applies His mercy and power, changing us into the image of His glory.

We’re objecting to the misinterpretations placed on troubled and troublesome lifestyles. We
aren’t denying the trouble. Jesus came for the trouble.

2. Quasi-medical labels are mislabels
Think a bit more about those verbs “suffers from,” “has,” “is” and “has a case of.” We use
these passive verbs to describe our experience of a true medical problem. You suffer from
cancer or have a broken leg. You are a diabetic or have a case of hives. None of these true
medical conditions describes your behavior, your motives, your lifestyle. They describe
something bad that’s happening to you.

Of course, your lifestyle and choices can affect whether or not you develop a medical
problem. Smoking might cause lung cancer. Dirt-bike racing might cause a broken leg. But
smoking cigarettes and riding dirt bikes are things you do — just like drinking too much, or
worrying what people think, or obsessing in front of the mirror. I hope we’d never say, “He
has a bad case of dirt-bike syndrome, and suffers from a smoking disorder”!

Notice that the descriptions of our four troubled friends consistently portray what they do,
how they think, how they react emotionally, how they treat other people. Lise broods
relentlessly on her failings, and is so preoccupied that she’s inattentive to her daughter.
Chandra worries that she’ll be rejected, and hides from people. And each of them lives as if
God were a non-factor.

The truth is that they do their lives; they don’t suffer from their syndromes. By definition, a
human being is an “active verb,” not a passive verb. We want and fear, love and believe, do
and say, act and react. You don’t “have a case of” the way you do life.

3. What people do affects relationships.
Notice that in each of the four stories, what a person does affects other people. Our four
friends do not have private pathologies. They are not the only ones suffering; their closest
relationships suffer as well. Other people worry about them, or feel hurt by them, or get
angry at them.

This is because outbursts of anger, drunkenness, extreme dieting, relentless selfrecrimination,
escapism, instability, and social anxiety intrinsically threaten relationships. By definition, doing such things isolates you from God and people. You can’t live this way and at the same time trust God and love people. These are four different ways of being devoutly self-absorbed. It’s significant that friends and family sense this. They’re troubled by the distance and relationship breakdown caused by self-preoccupation. They have good reasons for their concern. Consider the contrast between this and a purely medical problem. Friends and family will be deeply concerned for you if you have a broken leg or suffer from cancer. But trauma or illness don’t automatically separate people and jeopardize relationships. In fact, usually sickness provides a context in which people come together and feel closer. Friends and family rally to support you. You appreciate the love and concern they show. Medical problems often draw people together in love and appreciation.

Your kith and kin will be concerned for you when you’re sick. They want your body to get
well. But they’ll be concerned about you when you’re devoutly self-absorbed. They want you
to become a different kind of person. That’s one more evidence that the deepest problem for
all four is some form of sin.

Again, remember some things we mentioned earlier. “Sin” doesn’t always mean consciously
chosen badness. Most sins express how what I love has become disordered and dictatorial.

When my core love turns away from God, I blindly attach myself to something else — anything else. I then live out the implications by making selfish choices. And to name your problem as “sin” does not mean that others should scold, moralize or condemn you, or that you should beat yourself up with self-recrimination and trying harder. Jesus Christ comes “so that we may receive mercy and grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Mercy and helpfulness specifically target sin. So identifying how sin operates opens a wide door to God’s mercy, patience and power. God’s mercy restores all the relationships that sin threatens, reconciling us to God and equipping us to reconcile with people.

4. Quasi-medical labels artificially separate people
As we’ve seen, lifestyle problems harm relationships. But harm can come from the other
direction, too. To put a diagnostic label on a person harms your relationship with that
person. It creates artificial distance. We should be able to identify with each other, but if I
think that you are sick and I am well, I artificially divide us. A true medical problem creates an objective experiential distance between people. Let’s say I get in a car accident and suffer a broken leg. My doctor and my friends do not have broken legs. I hurt a lot and need crutches. They feel perfectly fine and walk normally. Their experience and mine are fundamentally different. I am not well. They are well. I definitely need their help. They can help me precisely because they are not all laid up with broken legs! But if you use quasi-medical labels for what I do, think and feel, it creates artificial distance between us. If I struggle with anxiety or irritation or escapism ... well, so do you. So does everybody. But if you label my struggle as a “disorder,” then that means you are normal, but I am sick. That’s an artificial distance, because none of us gets anger, fear and pleasure-seeking exactly right. I might be having a much bigger problem than you. But our actual differences are matters of degree. I may be stuck and blind, while you’ve grown wise in an area of life. That matters for your ability to help me. But at the most basic level of human experience, you know that you and I have the same general tendencies and temptations. We come in very different flavors and intensities, but we are more alike than different. Our underlying commonality is fundamental. That’s why you see so much of yourself in Garrett and Lise and the others. You can help people precisely because you do have first-hand understanding of the basic human struggles: “There is no temptation that overtakes you that is not common to all” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You can help people precisely because you do know the grace of God at work in you, and that’s exactly what others need: “God comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:4). Because we are in it together we can help each other. Medical doctors don’t ever need to have the same problems as their patients. But brothers and sisters always have the same kinds of problems as their fellow strugglers. Therefore we share the same essential cure, which always involves some form of faith working through love, by the grace of God in Christ. There’s no artificial distance, because we have a real commonality.

5. How do we weigh the various contributory “factors”?
I’ve focused on the heart, the gospel and our identification with each other. But how should
we weigh all the other variables that affect us? No one disagrees that genetics might
contribute a “tendency,” and that the social environment abounds with “triggers.” Countless
factors “influence” us.

But what is the final cause of how you live? Of course, you are your final cause. That said,
let’s look briefly at the many contributing factors. What goes on in your body has an influence. When you experience allergies or sleepless nights, premenstrual hormones or chronic pain, Asperger’s or Alzheimer’s, your mood, thinking and actions are affected. You’re tempted in different ways than when you feel fine.

Similarly, it’s obvious that each of us comes wired from birth with a different temperament.
Some people are more prone to anger, others to anxiety, others to getting discouraged,
others to pleasure-addictions, and so forth. Our bodies affect us in many ways. It’s likely that
Lise’s post-partum hormones color her moods. But does the body give the decisive, underlying explanation for their personal problems? No; no more than it gives the decisive explanation for their good and loving choices. The body is a contributory factor, an influence. It’s not the final cause of either your faith or your idolatry, your kindness or your selfishness. What the people around you do also has an influence on you. Like “nature,” “nurture” plays a role. Every one of us lives in a world filled with competing values, a variety of hardships and many enticements. You implicitly absorb the categories of thought provided by your native language, and the values of your native culture.

For example, Sarah lives in a society that glamorizes unreally thin women. Garrett’s father
was a poor role-model for how to handle frustration, and his bad example “discipled” his son
into temper and drinking. We live in a world where betrayals of trust occur. Chandra lives
among a group of peers who might (and have) hurt her. But do those experiences provide the decisive explanation for their struggles? No. These are significant and impacting, but not determinative. Your surrounding environment influences you in countless ways, but it never determines whether your life orients in the direction of Christ or twists in on yourself.

In fact, countless factors “influence” you. Weather and seasons? You may feel gloomier
during three cloudy weeks in January than you do during three bright weeks in July. The
project due next week in school or on your job? The current state of your personal finances?
World politics before and after 9/11? Immediate traffic conditions and whether you’ll be
late? What’s on TV tonight? Whether your football team is winning or losing? Any of these can affect you. But does any one decisively determine how you will react? No. You are always in the mix.

In fact, the Bible teaches that God actually arranges the stage on which you live. He is the
Lord of history, including your local time and place, and your personal history. Your
particular matrix of influences provides the context in which your faith (or your self-will)
plays out, in which He meets you (or you shirk Him). This awareness frees you. You can seek to understand any contributory influence as just that, as a factor and not the cause. You won’t grant them too much credit, morphing them into root causes and excuses for your sins. But you also won’t dismiss them as irrelevant, ignoring the actual situations and difficulties in which you need practical wisdom and practical mercies.

How you live comes out of your heart. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow
the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is you, not something that happens to you.
Jesus says that when wrong actions appear, that wrong comes “from within, out of the heart
of man” (Mark 7:21). Something about who you are and what you live for sets your trajectory in life and shapes every choice. Deep down, everyone knows this is true. That’s why every sort of treatment or therapy involves taking some responsibility for your life. It’s odd, when you think about it. According to the therapeutic outlook, you have no real responsibility for causing your problems. Your syndrome, disorder or disease was caused by genetics, hormones or how people treated you. But you are given final responsibility for solving what’s wrong. You can get a grip; you can make better choices; you can choose to heal; you can change your self-talk.

Here’s the logic: “You are definitely NOT a sinner. But you definitely ARE your savior.”

God sees things the other way around. You definitely ARE a sinner, and you are definitely
NOT your Savior.

When this merciful Father gets a grip on you, you take hold of Him. As the patient Spirit
changes you, He enables you to make more loving choices. Because the good Shepherd
restores your soul, you flourish. This most personal God teaches you how to talk with Him,
so you stop talking to yourself so much. We’re tangled up, and we also live in tangled bodies amid a tangled world. C. S. Lewis vividly captured the profoundly humbling self-awareness this reality creates:

Man’s love for God must always be very largely, and must often be entirely, a Needlove.
This is obvious where we implore forgiveness for our sins or support in our tribulations. But in the long run it is perhaps even more apparent in our growing — for it ought to be growing — awareness that our whole being by its very nature is one vast need; incomplete, preparatory, empty yet cluttered, crying out for Him who can untie things that are now knotted together and tie up things that are still dangling loose. (The Four Loves, chapter 1)

Many things will influence you. The whole world is knotted up and dangling loose. But you
are still your biggest problem. You need what God alone can give. It’s no accident that Jesus
begins here: “The poor in spirit are blessed” (Matt. 5:3). It’s no accident that Paul heard
God address his fundamental human weakness: “My grace is sufficient for you, because
power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). It’s no accident that most of the psalms
cry for help. It’s no accident that Jesus is who He is, and does what he does. It’s no accident
that God freely gives what you most need — the mercy to change your relationship with
Him, and the power to change you.

Coming home to sanity
When we see how deeply the “madness in our hearts” (Ecclesiastes 9:3) infects us and our
friends, then we see how deeply the love of God in Christ applies to our deepest problems.
The real Psalm 23 and all the rest of God’s wisdom lead us home. Jesus Christ actually lived and died to rescue us. He now lives specifically to rewire our core insanity and to overcome our inevitable isolation. Best of all, His answer to self-absorption is not just a bunch of great ideas. The Lamb of God is a real person. The Shepherd calls you into a talking, listening, long-term, committed relationship. He’s good, and good for you.

Sane Faith - Part 2: Savior, Sin and "Syndrome" Language

2008-09-23T10:13:00.002-06:00

Here is part two of Dr. David Powilson's article entitled, "Sane Faith" reproduced here in its entirety from Boundless.org -MH

***
In the first article of this series, I introduced you to four people who struggle with typical
“problems.” If you haven’t read that article, do go back and start there. This article builds on
what was said earlier.

Each of the four lifestyles earned a label for a person: addictive personality, eating disorder,
OCD, and so forth. But we saw how each one of us can identify with the things they do,
think and feel. You and I might be different in degree from Garrett and Sarah, but we aren’t
different in kind. Lise and Chandra are fellow strugglers, not bizarre aliens. We noticed how
the Bible “normalizes” the seemingly abnormal, reinforcing awareness of our common
humanity.

And, finally, we took Psalm 23 and turned it upside down. The “antipsalm” mapped into the
four lifestyles – and captured the madness in each of us. But the real Psalm takes us by the
hand and walks with us into sanity.

The Awkward Problem of Evil
If you’ve followed me so far, you might feel a question nagging at the back of your mind.
Why don’t we hear more of this refreshing and realistic way to think about people? What’s
the purpose of tagging people with diagnostic labels, of piling on the heavy freight of
“disease” and “syndrome”?

Why doesn’t the therapeutic establishment use human and humane terms to describe
Garrett and the rest of our friends? Their stories describe things we can all understand and
identify with. Why does God explain behavior, emotion and the human heart in such a
different way from the labels? And why do the therapeutic answers never offer anything
remotely like the intimacy of Psalm 23?

The answer to these questions is complicated. But it boils down to two things.

First, if you face our problems for what they actually are, then you have to acknowledge the
problem of evil. What’s wrong is much more serious than a sickness or syndrome. Evil
operates on the inside – bad zeal and selfish ambition. And evils come at us from the outside:
betrayal, false values, poor role models, shallow relationships, a body going out of sync,
injury, aging, death. Both sin and suffering characterize the problem of evil.

But the diagnostic labels (and street wisdom, and even our four friends) never mention the
E-word: evil. What distorts our lives? Evil. What breaks our lives. Evils, both inside and out.
Something very dark and very complex is going on. Bad stuff comes at you, and bad stuff is
an operating system inside you.

No one can fail to see evidence of evil. You feel it. You participate. But people don’t want to
name it for what it is. We might admit the evil of a Hitler or a suicide bomber killing
innocent children. We fail to see the evils operating in normal problems.

Second, if you acknowledge the scope of the problem of evil, then you realize you need a
Savior. If evil infects us all, then someone not under the power of evil must bring light and
life from outside the system of darkness and death. That person is Jesus Christ.

Garrett’s consuming “I insist on my way” is a sin of the heart against God, who alone is King,
whose will is that we love Him utterly. Garrett needs what only Jesus can give,
comprehensive forgiveness and a complete turnaround. Sarah’s endless striving up the
ladder of idolatrous slenderness is a sin of the heart against God, who calls her to love Him
with all her heart. She needs powerful mercy. And so it is with Lise and Chandra, each
putting their own spin on our need for God.

Like all human beings, they are by nature lost in the antipsalm. We need Him to save us from
the inner logic of our hearts. We need Him to save us from suffering and death.

If Garrett manages his temper a little better, if Sarah eats a bit more healthily, they’ve barely
dented the surface of their problems and their need. They need mercies. They need a change
of heart, a different Savior, a different Lord. They need Psalm 23. We all do.

But if you don’t want to need Jesus Christ, then you must deny the depth and scope of the
problem of evil.

The Relevance of Christ
We sought to make sense of these four stories through God’s eyes. We approached people
with troubles in the light of God’s mercies and power in Christ. His love is candid, patient,
and effective. He intends that we each know our need, and find Him true. Then we, too,
grow more candid, patient and effective in our love for other strugglers.

The persuasive voices in modern culture look through different eyes. The diagnostic system
now in vogue makes problems seem smaller and solutions seem easier. It explains problems
as genetics plus the social environment, with a nod in the direction of how you talk to
yourself: “nature + nurture + self-talk.” It sounds so appealing. With just the right
medication, the right kind of friends and the right affirmations to boost your self-confidence,
you can fix your kind of syndrome. The Savior of the world plays no part in the solution,
because alienation from God plays no part in the problem.

There’s a wide gap between medical-sounding labels and the Bible’s straightforward
teaching. There’s a wide gap between therapeutic solutions and self-sacrificing love. Why the
gap?

It’s hard to face reality.

In T.S. Eliot’s words, “Human kind cannot bear very much reality.” Here’s a longer answer,
again in T. S. Eliot’s words. When the Church tells of Jesus, she tells people

... of Life and Death, and of all that they would forget.
She is tender where they would be hard, and hard where they like to be soft.
She tells them of Evil and Sin, and other unpleasant facts.
They constantly try to escape
From the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.
But the man that is will shadow
The man that pretends to be.
– “Choruses from ‘The Rock,’” part VI

The man that is shadows every pretense. Goodness is our greatest need. There is darkness
both outside and within. There is tender mercy where we least expect it. And there is the
hard reality that without such mercy, you die. Jesus calls for change of heart.

How much the perfect systems would like to forget all that.

Do you feel lost as to how to think and diagnose your problem?

2008-09-19T09:36:00.006-06:00

Sure you do...we all feel this way from time to time. We find our souls depressed in a downward spiral and we wonder is there any hope for me? Such times of hopelessness and feeling alone can really lead one to a place of wondering "am I going crazy? Is there any hope?! What is my problem?!" Can anyone identify with that?

Below is part 1 of a 4 part series entitled, "Sane Faith" by Dr. David Powlison it originally was posted on "Boundless.org" I have placed it here in its entirety with nothing taken out. I did this because at times hyper-links to articles can move and I wanted to have this series on print here for you come back to and refer to from time to time. I trust this will help serve you in knowing how to think about real hope in the midst of real trouble.

*****

Sane Faith, Part 1
by David Powlison

We’ve invited Dr. David Powlison to begin a discussion on counseling from a biblical perspective by writing a series of articles for Boundless. This is a conversation starter: We believe that thoughtful discussion of significant issues is crucial to the flourishing of the body of Christ. Focus on the Family does not promote one particular model of Christian counseling, but earnestly seeks that we all grow in wisdom together. As with any article on Boundless, publication is not meant to be taken as an endorsement of its content. It is our hope that you are challenged to consider the relevance of Scripture, the importance of balance in the counseling process, and to better understand the Lord’s concern and power when it comes to understanding the real life problems that we all struggle with.
* * *
Garrett, 23, is a recent college grad. When some little thing frustrates him or he doesn’t get
his way, he explodes in anger. It goes way over the top. In college he was an episodic binge
drinker, but he’s started to drink regularly and heavily over the past year. The effects of
alcohol in him are unpredictable. Sometimes booze mellows Garrett out, but most times it
lowers his threshold for volatile hostility. In addition to his growing drinking problem, he
routinely turns to online pornography for a “fix.” His friends don’t know about that, but they
fear for his future, wondering if he will self-destruct with his drinking and violent temper.

Official diagnosis and current street wisdom? “Garrett suffers from intermittent explosive
disorder (IED) and is an addictive personality — and Garrett is all about Garrett, and
has control issues, big-time.”

Sarah, a 29-year-old single woman, has become increasingly preoccupied with her looks, her
calorie intake, and her exercise regime. She often “feels fat,” at 5’9” tall and weighing only
103 pounds, She’s relentless in her activities and self-care, competitive, always trying to
prove herself. Her roommates and family have become more and more concerned. Sarah
seems joyless, and has been detaching herself from normal social interactions. She seems
nervously self-preoccupied most of the time, so she has little time, energy, or attention for
anything or anyone besides herself.

Diagnosis and current wisdom? “Sarah has anorexia — and she’s a perfectionist with low
self-esteem.”

Lise, 32 and married, with a toddler, has felt down ever since she had the baby. Lise has had a
tendency to wallow in self-reproach ever since childhood, but lately it’s gotten worse. She’s
mired in loops of self-condemning thoughts, endlessly rehearsing and bemoaning her faults,
both real and imaginary. She has developed elaborate “quiet time” rituals that help her feel
some sense that her life is OK. She never feels like God loves her. Her husband worries that
Lise’s ritualistic habits and “sticky thoughts” about personal failings interfere with her ability
to raise their child. Her brooding casts a pall over their relationship, too. The simplest
question — “How was your day?” — often turns into a dark spiral of complaint and despair.
He walks on eggshells: “What can I do? What can I say?”

Diagnosis and current wisdom? “Lise has a case of clinical depression and obsessivecompulsive
disorder (OCD) — and she sets impossible standards for herself.”

Chandra, 21, a senior in college, has battled intense anxiety feelings ever since adolescence.
She gets tongue-tied if she’s put on the spot in a social interaction. She increasingly avoids
social situations, and only goes to gatherings or events if she has a friend with her to run
interference and carry the ball conversationally. She hasn’t been out on a date since a couple
of ill-fated attempts in high school when she “almost had a panic attack” trying to figure out
what to talk about. Chandra medicates her anxiety with daytime TV, Netflix and chocolate
ice cream.

Diagnosis and current wisdom? “Chandra suffers from social anxiety disorder — and
she’s shy, gets glued to the tube, and needs her chocolate fix.”

Do you recognize any of your friends in these people? I do. Do you recognize something of
yourself in any of their problems? I do, too.

And do you also notice how each diagnostic label simply takes what we already know and
then restates it in quasi-medical-sounding language? The actual experiences of life-lived get
turned into a depersonalized “condition.” Problems get viewed exclusively as something a
person “has,” rather than the array of things a person feels, thinks and does.
It’s curious. The labels don’t actually add any information to what we already know. Yet they
somehow alter the entire way we perceive a person. They even alter how people perceive
themselves. The story and the struggle get lost in translation.

Hold onto that thought, and we’ll come back to it later. First we’re going to climb into the
story and the struggle.

We’re all in these stories

Let’s start with the common ground we feel with other people’s stories. These problems are
garden-variety human struggles ... amped up to very destructive levels. They beset each one
of us to a greater or lesser degree. Of course, for the four people described, these tendencies
have taken on life-dominating power.

Perhaps you can’t identify with just how badly another person flounders. But can you
identify with worry? Getting angry? Overindulging in food or drink? Immoral thoughts?
Self-preoccupation? Feeling guilty and despondent? Breeding unrealistic hopes? Escape into
TV or music or web surfing? Bickering and gossip? Feeling anxious around people? Blanking
out on God? All the different ways of being loveless, and joyless, and restless? We can each
identify with aspects of what these people do.

Each of these four stories describes a person who needs help in order to face up, to deal, to
change. But these people aren’t in a completely different category from the rest of us. They
aren’t weird, as if the rest of us were normal. Think about it this way. They dial up the
volume, but we all play the same kinds of music. These are our friends ... and ourselves.
It’s no surprise, then, that the Bible engages the varieties of chaos, confusion and trouble that
mere humans experience. Our stories interweave with God’s story at every point. God
intends that we understand what exactly goes wrong — and how exactly he goes about
making it right.

In his letter to people who know Jesus, James alerted us to something about personal and
interpersonal chaos. Wherever you find “confusion and bad stuff” (James 3:16 paraphrase),
you’ll find two underlying problems. First, “bad zeal” wants the wrong things too much.

Second, “selfish ambition” organizes life around all-about-Me.

James is unblinking about what’s wrong, but he never gives the mess last say: “God gives
more grace” (4:6). More than what? His goodness is more than all that goes wrong inside us.
Confusion and bad stuff is exactly what he goes to work on.

Of course, the particular details of our four friends’ stories have a 21st century flavor. But
once you scratch the surface, they simply give new spin to old problems. These struggles are
variants on the typical confusion and bad stuff of people everywhere. Almost 2000 years ago,
Paul said “the works of the flesh are obvious.” He gave fifteen examples: “sexual immorality,
impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries,
dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21).
Anyone can see that this is not the way life is meant to be. All forms of self-preoccupation are
the opposite of love, joy, and peace. Paul rounded off his list by pointing far beyond the
examples he chose to mention. “Things like these” include the 21st century problems of our
four friends and people like us.

So our friends’ chaotic ways of living fit the category “works of the flesh.” These lifestyles
show up on the MRI of Scripture. God sees them for what they are, and he teaches us how to
see through his eyes.

God also looks behind the externals into the inner reasons. Galatians 5:16-17 names the
motor for a destructive lifestyle: the “desires of the flesh.” That’s Paul’s phrase for bad zeal
and selfish ambition. The things people want seem so instinctive and plausible. But our
desires become monsters and dictators. We want the wrong things too much, and approach
life as if it’s all-about-Me.

Garrett’s way of life is “my way or the highway.” No wonder he gets so angry. Sarah worships
an ideal of thinness that even supermodels can’t attain. No wonder she’s so unhappy. Lise
lives by a principle of self-attained standards of performance, and goes snow-blind to the
mercies of God towards her. No surprise, she has no sense of peace. Chandra craves approval
(and panics about possible rejection). She’s so worried about how other people treat her
that she has no thoughtful kindness to give to them.

God sees what’s operating on the inside, as well as what’s oozing out for all to see. He sizes it
up for what it is, and then helps us to understand life the same way he does.

These patterns of inner motivation are what the Bible calls your “heart.” We generate
substitutes for God. The false masters are “little gods” that become I GOTTA HAVE
THAT! Our blind, misplaced devotion enslaves us. We express our submission to little gods
by destructive lifestyles, by our emotions, thoughts, words, and choices that the Bible calls
foolish. God wants us to see our hearts the way he sees us. Inside and out, this is exactly what
Jesus came to forgive and aims to transform.
• Jesus died to overthrow the dictatorship of the flesh
• Jesus died so that you won’t die clinging tight to your idols
• Jesus died so you won’t waste your life massaging and refining self-preoccupation
• Jesus lives to become your true Master

Here’s the whole message in a sound bite: “He died for all, that those who live might no
longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised” (2
Corinthians 5:15). Jesus can liberate Garrett from the stranglehold of self-will, so he actually
begins to care about other people. Jesus can bring Sarah to her senses, so that she comes to
love the beauty of Jesus rather than obsessing over an impossible and empty ideal. Lise can
rebuild her life on a new foundation. Chandra can find safe refuge and the courage to reach
out.

Christ overthrows dictatorial desires. The fruit of His Holy Spirit — Galatians 5:22-23 —
makes for a life worth living.

Of course, the freedom is never all-at-once, one-and-done. But Jesus creates new conditions
for life. In our lives now, He begins to make right all that goes so wrong. He sets about the
long, hard answering of the complex questions. He begins a lifelong freeing process.

Two ways of doing life
From Jesus’ point of view, there are two fundamentally different ways of doing life. One way,
you’re connected to a God who’s involved in your life. Psalm 23 is all about this: “The Lord
is my shepherd ... and his goodness and mercy surely follow me all the days of my life.” The
other way, you’re pretty much on your own and disconnected. Let’s call this the antipsalm
23: “I’m on my own ... and disappointment follows me all the days of my life.” We’ll look first
at the antipsalm way of doing life.

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.

The antipsalm tells what life feels like and looks like whenever God vanishes from sight. As
we hear about Garrett and the others, each story lives too much inside the antipsalm. The
“I’m-all-alone-in-the-universe” experience maps onto each one of them. The antipsalm
captures the driven-ness and pointlessness of life-purposes that are petty and self-defeating.
It expresses the fears and silent despair that cannot find a voice because there’s no one to
really talk to.

Our four friends are spinning out of control. They might implode. Something bad gets last
say when whatever you live for is not God.

And when you’re caught up in the antipsalm, it doesn’t help when you’re labeled a
“disorder,” a “syndrome” or a “case.” The problem is much more serious: The disorder is
“my life.” The syndrome is “I’m on my own.” The case is “Who am I and what am I living
for?” when too clearly I am the center of my story.

But the antipsalm doesn’t need to tell the final story. It only becomes your reality when you
construct your reality from a lie. In reality, someone else is the center of the story. Nobody
can make Jesus go away. The I AM was, is and will be, whether or not people acknowledge
that.

When you awaken, when you see who Jesus actually is, everything changes. You see the
Person whose care and ability you can trust. You experience His care. You see the Person
whose glory you are meant to worship. You love Him who loves you. The real Psalm 23
captures what life feels like and looks like when Jesus Christ puts his hand on your shoulder.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Can you taste the difference?

You might want to read both antipsalm and psalm again, slowly. Maybe even read out loud.
The psalm is sweet, not bitter. It’s full, not empty. You aren’t trying to grab the wind with
your bare hands. Someone else takes you in His hands. You are not alone.

Jesus Christ actually plays two roles in this most tender psalm. First, He walked this Himself.
He is a man who looked to the Lord. He said these very words, and means what He says. He
entered our predicament. He walked the valley of the shadow of death. He faced every evil.
He felt the threat of the antipsalm, of our soul’s need to be restored. He looked to his
Father’s care when He was cast down — for us — into the darkest shadow of death. And
God’s goodness and mercy followed Him and carried Him. Life won.

Second, Jesus is also this Lord to whom we look. He is the living shepherd to whom we call.
He restores your soul. He leads you in paths of righteousness. Why? Because of who He is:
“for His name’s sake.”

You, too, can walk Psalm 23. You can say these words and mean what you say. God’s
goodness and mercy is true, and all He promises will come true. The King is at home in his
universe.

Jesus puts it this way, “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke
12:32). He delights to walk with you.

****
Copyright 2008 David Powlison. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. This article
was published on Boundless.org on August 26, 2008.

Our Daily Bread - A Mother's Testimony To The God Who Provides

2008-09-18T10:21:00.003-06:00

The following blog journal is from "Alpha-Omega" publishers - my wife & I found much encouragement from this - and I trust you will as well.

"I felt like Old Mother Hubbard as I went to the kitchen cupboards that morning. I don't know why I even bothered to look. I knew there was nothing in them to make a meal for my four young children. The situation looked rather bleak for a cook who could make a meal out of just flour, eggs, and milk, but today I didn't even have those ingredients. I looked out the window at the winter snow that covered my garden-no vegetables to be found there. What was I going to do?My husband was on a short-term mission in Africa, and I was all alone, homeschooling our children in the middle of winter. I had no money, no food, and no way to even get out from the blizzard that had blocked our long driveway to our country home. I began to think about how we had prayed and asked the Lord for opportunities to serve Him in missions. God had assured us through His Word that He would keep His promises to take care of us-but now I had four pairs of hungry eyes wondering what their mother was going to do.I don't know what came over me that morning. I opened every cupboard door and the refrigerator. I sat the children down in the middle of the kitchen, and we began to pray. I almost shouted at God when I spoke and reminded Him that He had promised to take care of us. Right now we had nothing-nothing to eat, no one to help, and no escape. Just the night before I had read in Psalm 37:25, "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." I prayed that God would keep His promises, but things didn't look too good.

When we were done praying, my children and I got up and started our day. Not even thirty minutes had passed when I heard a pick-up truck coming up our driveway. Unbelievably, our pastor from a town 15 miles away walked up to the door and handed me an envelope. The pastor said someone at church had given the envelope to him on Sunday, but he didn't know what was in it. He just "happened to be going" to the town near our home and had decided to drop off the envelope. Then, just that quickly, he was gone.I stood there with the envelope in my hand and opened it. The hundred dollar bill inside may as well have been a thousand dollars to me. I knew the money was God's answer to our prayers. I quickly bundled all the children in their coats and drove to town, following the path our pastor's truck had made in our driveway. God was going to fill up all those empty cupboards!I never knew who our benefactor was, but I did learn a valuable lesson I have never forgotten. God is able to show Himself the mightiest when we are the weakest. "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9)."

"The Shack" - A Subversive Theology

2008-09-12T11:24:00.005-06:00

Dear friends,

I want to pass on to you a couple of great links concerning the best-selling "Christian" fiction, The Shack. Personally, I find it sad for how popular this book has become among Christian believers and how it is being received as something beyond fiction, but something that many have claimed "it has transformed their view of God." Again folks, we don't need a "new way" to look at God - we only need what is clearly shown to us in the Scriptures. And in The Shack, we have a journey of a man throwing off the shackles of orthodox biblical Christianity for a new way. Though this book is a fiction, it is making some very, very deliberate theological statements about God. For starters listen to Albert Mohler's radio broadcast on this book - and then check out Tim Challes' extensive, gracious but honest book review. -MH

Reformedbooks.net! Building Your Library!

2008-09-09T10:22:00.002-06:00

Hey folks,

I wanted to pass on to you a great new tool by our friends at Monergism.com here at www.reformedbooks.net they have compiled what they believe to be the best in Reformed theological works by both author and subject. This is a great resource in that today there are SO MANY books out there! Here they have done a lot of the "combing" through to compile their lists! Go through there and find a good book to read this Fall! Take care,

Matthew

Family Vacation!

2008-09-02T07:36:00.012-06:00

Wow folks, sorry...it has been a while since I have posted. We were away for a couple of weeks going on a family vacation and then for the last couple of weeks I have been "playing catch up." This year we were really blessed by Anna's grandmother to be able to go and spend a couple of weeks with her in Seattle and on Lopez Island in the Puget Sound. It was beautiful scenery and we were able to make a lot of family memories together.

Above is a picture from outside our backyard! Wow! Below is a picture of us along with Anna's brother's family, her mom, grandma and cousin Bridgette.
And yes we went SEA KAYAKING in the Puget Sound! We kayaked around a couple of smaller islands and had a great time! Once in a lifetime!

The bottom three pictures are a sampling of the wildlife that can be seen there!

Stand & Wonder At The Reality Of Being Called A Son!

2008-07-26T10:58:00.005-06:00

Mr. Kettler - a very, very dear brother and small group leader here in our church sent this to me and what a great encouragement it was to my soul! Thank you sir, for always directing me to "stand and wonder" at the Cross of Christ! There are too many times I "stand and wonder" at the wrong things where there is no hope! Thank you for directing me to see through the grace of God, how my Father sees me in The Son. You are a dear friend my brother and this piece really ministered to my heart! I will take this with me on vacation as a daily exhortation of how good our Savior is! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

**************
Oh stand and wonder!
(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity")

"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us—that we should be called the sons of God." 1 John 3:1

It is an infinite condescension in God, to honor us with the title of sons, and therefore we should never think of it, nor ever speak of it—but with much admiration. O sirs! what matter of admiration is this—that the great and glorious God, who has many millions of glorious angels attending Him—that He should . . .

look upon all holy people as His sons,
and love them as His sons,
and delight in them as His sons,
and clothe them as His sons,
and feed them as His sons,
and protect them as His sons,
and stand by them as His sons,
and lay up for them as His sons,
and lay out Himself for them as His sons; that those who have not deserved . . .
a smile from God,
a good word from God,
a bit of bread from God,
or a good look from God,
should be made the sons of God!

What manner of love is this—that those who have . . .

so highly provoked God,
walked so cross and contrary to God,
were so exceeding unlike God,
preferred every lust, and every toy and vanity before God,
fought many years under Satan's banner against God,
refused all the offers of mercy that have been made by God, —that those who have deserved to be reprobated by God, damned by God, and to be thrown to hell by God—that these should be made the sons of God!

Oh stand and wonder! Oh stand and admire the freeness of His grace, and at the riches of His grace!

Christ & Culture: D.A. Carson on "Redeeming The Culture"

2008-07-06T07:06:00.006-06:00

At this last year's "Together For The Gospel" they gave out D.A. Carson's book, "Christ & Culture Revisited." I must confess, it is still in the pile of my reading in my office that I am working my way through. Below is an interview of Dr. Carson by Derek Thomas from the "Reformation 21 Blog" of where he addresses this issue of "Redeeming the culture." To read the entire article click here.
*******
(Derek Thomas) DT: Why don't you like the terminology of "redeeming the culture"?

(Don Carson) DC: Redemption terminology in the NT is so bound up with Christ's work for and in the church that to extend it to whatever good we do in the broader world risks a shift in focus. Not for a moment do I want to deny that we are to serve as salt and light, that exiles may be called to do good in the pagan cities where Providence has appointed them to live (Jer 29), that every square foot of this world is under Christ's universal reign (even though that reign is still being contested), that the nations of the world will bring their "goods" into the Jerusalem that comes down from above. But many of those who speak easily and fluently of redeeming the culture soon focus all their energy shaping fiscal and political policies and the like, and merely assume the gospel. A gospel that is merely assumed, that does no more than perk away in the background while the focus of our attention is on the "redemption" of the culture in which we find ourselves, is lost within a generation or two. At the same time, I worry about Christians who focus their attention so narrowly on getting people "saved" that they care little about doing good to all people, even if especially to the household of God. Getting this right is not easy, and inevitably priorities will shift a little in various parts of the world, under various regimes. Part of the complexity of the discussion, I think, is bound up with what the church as church is responsible for, and what Christians as Christians are responsible for: I have argued that failure to make this distinction tends to lead toward sad conclusions.

DT: What are some key things for young pastors to keep in mind when they are urged to "engage the culture"?

DC: Know what the gospel is first, comprehensively, accurately, faithfully. Work out from there. Learn to preach to your own people, not to the aggregates set out in books by Barna and Wuthnow (though much can be learned from such books). Whether the "engagement" is part of how you engage people evangelistically, or part of how Christians in your church do good in your own community, keep thinking through what the Bible itself says -- and then try, like the men of Issachar, to understand your own times.

Christ and Culture: Mark Dever On "Redeeming The Culture"

2008-06-24T10:19:00.002-06:00

Dear friends, I wanted to post this video link interview with Dr. Mark Dever because in this he addresses a very popular concept in modern mission discussions over the concept of "redeeming the culture." His nuances and insights are very helpful and I believe very much so right on concerning this concept of how we as believers are to think about and engage culture. He like many others have found themselves uneasy about the very well intentioned and commendable brothers who have been seeking to "redeem the culture" - meaning seeking to see real transformation take place in our cities. We need to care for the poor, we need to be agents of change in social and political context - however, is this "the gospel"? Is it a reflection of the gospel? Most certainly. However tied to some of the "missional"/"redeeming the culture" talk would be ideas and language that seems to reflect more on the changing of "social structures" - and that being the "gospel." Listen to what Dr. Dever has to say. It is very insightful, especially in his concerns - and look for the nuances he gives, as they are very insightful and helpful in sharpening our thinking on this issue.

Vacationing For The Glory Of God

2008-06-10T11:24:00.003-06:00

Hey Dads,

Planning your next family vacation? Check out this link from CJ's blog on how we can grow in intentional vacation planning! Trust it will serve you as you seek to serve your family! Take care,

-MH

When Do I Bring An "Observation"?

2008-06-04T14:34:00.004-06:00

"I AM OFFENDED!!!" and so our hearts cry out! Someone has done something to you and whether they know it or not...you are now, "offended." And then a lingering question comes to us, "In a relationship when do I go to that person to let them know how I have been offended against them? When do I overlook? When do I go to them?" If you have ever found yourself in this situation, let me say to you, you are not alone! We have all experienced this. With this...I want to draw your attention to two outstanding messages on this topic, by Dr. Dave Harvey entitled, "The Surgeon, The Scalpel & The Saint In Sin." Dave helps us see other people's offenses against us both in light of the gospel - and likewise gives us very specific and helpful application of the gospel's message. Please listen to this message - you will be glad for the wisdom you will gain by doing so. Take care - MH

Peacemaker Seminar - Day 1 was a blast!

2008-06-03T13:09:00.004-06:00

Hey folks,

What a wonderful time last Sunday was! As Anna and I were driving home at the end of the day, we were just couldn't help but recount many of the expressions of God's grace that filled the day. The many conversations that were had, Ken Sande's first message on "Conflict Is An Opportunity," and then the wonderful time the kids had at the "Young Peacemaker" Vacation Bible School - all of it was incredible! I would encourage you, that if you weren't able to make it to the first session, please make every opportunity to come in the following weeks. On Sunday morning, I will be teaching more on some of the things that are brought out in the Peacemaker Seminar; then on Sunday evenings starting, promptly at 6pm - our children are going through the Young Peacemaker, while we go through the Peacemaker Videos as adults. For more information on Peacemaker Ministries log on to www.peacemaker.net

This next week we are going to be talking about "Living At Peace With One Another" - I would encourage you please come and benefit from Mr. Sande's great teaching. Take care,

-MH

Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)

2008-05-21T11:04:00.005-06:00

Dear friends, I was given this book as a gift at Together For The Gospel 2008 - and what a wonderful gift it is! If you have been wondering, "What is the Emergent Church?" I cannot more highly recommend this book to you. These two gentleman have given a detailed explanation of and concern for the emergent church movement. This is THE BOOK on the topic. I was planning on doing a series of blog entries on this book - however - there is NO way I could improve on a 5 part book review that Dr. Sam Storms has done. So I would say two things: 1) Read the book, 2) Read Dr. Storm's analysis of the book. Thank you Dr. Storms!

Worldliness & The Issue Of Modesty

2008-05-20T09:26:00.003-06:00

Hey folks, below is an insightful and very helpful discussion starter by Dennis Rainey from Family Life Today. Dennis does a great job in a couple of sentences graciously pointing us to the reality that we need to be on guard concerning the issue of modesty - while at the same time the issue is really a matter of the heart. Very encouraging.

****

Outer Wear or Inner Spirit?

Your adornment must not be merely external . . . but let it be the hidden
person of the heart.1 Peter 3:3-4, NIV

I'll never forget that spring Sunday when our church was honoring our graduating high-school seniors during the service. A couple of the students had been asked to speak to the congregation. The first was a young man, sharply dressed, who made an articulate statement about his faith and confidence in Christ. He was followed by a young lady who presented an equally strong message--but her dress was so skintight and seductive that I imagine it was hard for any of the male gender to pay attention.

I want to be quick to say that we men are fully responsible for where we allow our gaze and our thoughts to go. One hundred percent responsible. But I must ask today's Christian woman and teenage girl, what thought process goes into your clothing choices?

And dads, if your daughter dresses immodestly for church (or school, for that matter), are you willing to ask her to please go put on something more appropriate?

It's important to help our daughters understand how God hardwired a man. Barbara and I have four daughters, so you can be sure we had many conversations around this subject as they grew up. We know what it means to raise young women in a culture that's increasingly promoting immodest dress. We know what it's like to wander the stores, losing hope of ever finding anything suitable to wear.

We need to help our daughters (and sons) be more concerned with cultivating their inner spirit rather/more than their outer wear. Their appearance says a lot about who they really are. And it says a lot about the kind of man they are trying to attract. Do they really want their neckline or hemline to be what lures a guy?

Discuss: What are the dress codes in your family? What have you determined about how to address and enforce these?

Pray: Pray that you will have the courage to confront difficult issues like this. And pray that you will model what you preach to your children.

Burna Disaster Relief Fund

2008-05-14T10:58:00.004-06:00

As disaster-relief efforts continue in Burma, Sovereign Grace Ministries has the opportunity to provide assistance through ministry relationships we have in that country. SGM has established a Burma Disaster Relief fund and are contributing financially toward aid efforts in Burma.

Any who would like to join us in this effort can donate to the Burma Disaster Relief fund via Sovereign Grace Ministries Website.Most importantly, please join us in praying that amid the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis, victims of the storm would receive swift and effective help, and that many in Burma would hear and respond to the gospel.

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/About/FinancialSupport/Donations.aspx

Peacemaker & Young Peacemaker Seminar Is COMING!

2008-05-13T10:32:00.005-06:00

During the Sunday evenings of June & July we will be hosting Ken Sande's video seminar, "The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide To Resolving Conflict." Likewise, during that time we will also be hosting, "THE YOUNG PEACEMAKER" for the children to learn how we are to resolve conflict from a biblical persepective. This will be an outstanding time of both instruction and fellowship! Consider yourself invited - 6-730pm!

Below is an outstanding excerpt from Peacemaker Ministries - Read & grow! www.peacemaker.net

*****

"Eye Can See Clearly Now"
Jesus had much to say about resolving conflict. One of his most familiar commands is recorded in Matthew 7:3-5:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
This passage is sometimes interpreted as a warning against talking with others about their faults. If you read it carefully, however, you will see that it does not forbid loving correction. Rather, it forbids premature and improper correction. Before you talk to others about their faults, Jesus wants you to face up to yours. Once you have dealt with your contribution to a conflict, you may approach others about theirs.

Here is some "Food for Thought":
Every couple prays for a full-term delivery; however, premature births are not an uncommon reality. In these situations, everything will be accelerated and great care will have to be exercised on the part of the parents, nurses, and doctors. Premature babies usually spend time in the intensive care unit, where constant monitoring and attention can be given, many times with a one to one ratio of nurse to child. It's a fragile and often dangerous time. Most premature babies are fine, but some do not survive; everything took place before they were ready.
Ken's use of the word premature in connection with Jesus' words about conflict resolution is remarkable. Our efforts to "de-speck" our brothers or sisters before we "de-plank" ourselves create premature situations; something is happening before it should. It would be nice if there were roving spiritual-ICU teams who could help us in those moments to help carry the resolution to a healthy point, but that's rare. It's usually just two people, neither one seeing clearly, and both often too wounded to respond properly.
Conflict resolution always begins with the eye of the "I." So upon reflection, how many of your attempts at conflict resolution could be described as premature? Did you ever get around to examining yourself? Did you get help from others during these delicate situations? And did these conflicts end in reconciliation, or sadly, did your relationship die due to the unfortunate complications of premature confrontation?

When the church desires the world...

2008-05-02T11:29:00.003-06:00

In our present study of worldliness, I came across these three outstanding quotes...read and may we be affected...

Whatever commands our time, energy, and resources commands us. And if
we are honest, we will admit that our lives really aren’t that different from those of
our secular counterparts. I suspect that one of the reasons we are so ineffective in evangelism is that we are so much like the people around us that we have very little to which we can call them. We hang around church buildings a little more. We abstain from a few things. But we simply aren’t that different. We don’t even do hedonism as well as the folks around us … but we keep on trying. As a result of
this unfortunate accommodation, Christianity is reduced to little more than a spiritual crutch to help us through the minefields of the upwardly mobile life. God is there to help us get our promotions, our house in the suburbs, and our bills paid. Somehow God has become a coconspirator in our agendas instead of our becoming a coconspirator in His. Something is seriously amiss. -Tom Sine (Christianity
Today [3/17/89], p. 52)

John MacArthur, in his book “The Truth War,” states:

“We live in an age where church leaders are obsessed with style and methodology,
losing interest in the glory of God and becoming grossly apathetic about truth
and sound doctrine. Nothing in all the world is more important or more valuable
than the Truth. And the church is supposed to be ‘the pillar and ground of the
Truth’

Prayer by C. H. Spurgeon December 30, 1877:

"Lord, there are so many today who are running away from the truth. Oh,
that You would be pleased to speak by Your Spirit that Your word may be
known. Lord, hold us fast to the truth of Your word, bind us to it. May we
not be ashamed of the truth of Your word but proclaim it boldly without
compromise. May we not wish to be thought cultured, nor aim to keep in step
with the times. May we be side by side with You, O bleeding Savior; and be
content to be rejected, be willing to take up unpopular truth, and to hold
fast despised teachings of sacred Scripture to the end. Oh make us faithful
unto death."

The Godly Man's Picture by Thomas Watson

2008-04-23T10:32:00.004-06:00

I love Thomas Watson and here is a book of his that I have recently been going through devotionally - The Godly Man's Picture. The subtitle to this book is "with a Scripture pencil." Meaning, Watson takes us in very short readable sections through what he would see as the "Godly man's picture" as it is drawn for us with a "scripture pencil." He lists out some 30 plus characteristics of what a man who has been affected by the grace of God looks like. I have used these short sections off and on for the last month as a tool for family devotions. I have found this particularly insightful in helping us see through gospel centered glasses of what a man of God looks like - however don't be deceived by the title - this very well could be entitled, "Every Christian's" picture. Watson is one of the more readable puritan writers and he is one who makes the gospel and its affect on one's life so very, very appealing! Enjoy...here is a link to Westminster Books, that has books at discount prices and has some great deals on shipping as well. http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/645/nm/Godly_Man_s_Picture

Below are the comments from the publisher:

Few preachers in the Puritan era (or any other period of church history)
match Thomas Watson for his ability to combine rich spirituality, nourishing
doctrine and sane wisdom with fascinating illustrations and a pleasant style.
Watson is remembered chiefly for his posthumously published Body of Practical
Divinity (reprinted by the Trust in three volumes). But his extant sermons also
include this marvelous series on the character of the Christian. It is, as C. H.
Spurgeon said of his other work, 'a happy union of sound doctrine,
heart-searching experience and practical wisdom.'Watson is always the essence of
sanity and reliability. But in addition, this work shows how attractive the
grace of God is. Christians of all stages, reading it for the first time, will
feel as if they have entered the gallery of a great portrait painter. As his
sub-title suggests, Watson works with 'a Scripture pencil' in this priceless
sketch of the true believer.

Together For The Gospel - Days 3 & 4

2008-04-22T10:21:00.004-06:00

Hey folks, here are some reflections on the messages heard on those days, as well as some of the great interactions I had with other brothers during that time...I would encourage you just to set in your schedule some time to just listen to each one of these messages and then discuss them together. As it was last year, so it was even more so this year, a calling for pastors to trust and believe in the power of the gospel through clear gospel-centered preaching to bring about God's will in our churches. Several of these men, shared during the Q & A sessions (of which, I hope they post those) many of their own temptations towards discouragement in ministry, and so forth, which you don't oftentimes hear of the "down times," but instead only of the large numbers in attendance and how many books they have written and so forth.

As they shared their stories, I must say that there was an increased personal humility and vulnerability among the main speakers - that though was there last year - it was definitely much more noticeable this year. You could see how, these men have grown in godliness as they shared their struggles in light of the glory of Christ and His sufferings. I spoke to several men who said the exact same things and noticed that as well.

For many of us who happen to pastor much smaller congregations (as "tens" of people come from all over to hear my preaching) we all found our hearts encouraged in just being faithful to the message of the gospel, knowing that it is the gospel that changes people...and it is not by having all the programs, etc. And all who left there were encouraged by these "fathers in the faith" to just be faithful and to leave all the "results" up to God, knowing that others in church history as well as those from the biblical story (such as Isaiah - and of course, Christ Himself) did not have, quote, "successful" ministries according to the world's standards, but where successful, as they were faithful to the message.

Here is a recap, but once again, listen to the messages, maybe this will help you discern which one you want to listen to first....

Day 3:

John MacArthur's message on the sinner's complete inability to respond to the gospel apart from God's grace. This was outstanding! MacArthur went through several passages, especially in the book of John and just showed our complete inability to respond, and as he did so, he just opened up for us the absolute glory of the grace of Christ, and there wasn't a man left thinking anything other than "What a Savior!"

Mark Dever's message on trends to "improve the Gospel" - in this message he went through several trends found in the Emergent church movement that undermines the gospel as its message is expanded, and thus, through expanding the message of the Gospel, the message of substitutionary sacrifice is lost.

RC Sproul's message on the reality of "curse" in the atonement opening up for us more so the doctrines of propitiation and expiation. The more I hear of RC, the more I love this man. After he finished preaching everyone on the Q & A discussion panel was absolutely silent. He spoke of the necessity of understanding the doctrine of the "curse of God" to then understand the gospel more clearly and rightly. It was outstanding! Likewise what was most affective was RC's humility in the Q & A time as he shared about weaknesses that he saw in his own preaching, and what God is teaching him - as he is now a pastor - about the Cross of Christ, concerning the value of application.

Day 4

John Piper's message on radical Christian sacrifice was incredible as he opened up for us the message of the book of Hebrews and taught on "following Christ outside the camp" to a place of sacrifice. This was a message that was both convicting and yet, also grace filled. In the Q & A session, he really helped - pastorally fill in some gaps for us - to recognize that some men after hearing this message might be full of zeal to "go to Africa" while not full of zeal to be faithful in the seemingly "little" things that are anything but small things, like spending time with your wife and kids and discipling their hearts, etc. That being Christian sacrifice. (((OH, I hope they put the Q & A sessions out there to listen to...as that helped all the messages, and especially this one.)))

CJ Mahaney's message was the ending of the conference and as I left that auditorium I heard several, several men say, "That message alone, was worth the price of the conference." CJ spoke on the pastor's heart challenging pastors to evaluate and have others evaluate their hearts concerning the areas of gladness, joy and gratefulness in pastoral ministry. It was really all about applying many of the great teachings we had heard throughout the conference to our own hearts - and to keep a survey of our hearts that we might make sure that our hearts are kept "happy in the gospel" - not because of good things happening in our ministries...but because of the gospel's affect on our own hearts.

In light of all of that, I will cut this post short to say in between those times, there were also many other times of rich, rich fellowship with brothers from both SGM churches, and mostly with non-SGM churches. Coffee with a pastor and his wife from Switzerland, and another with an elder from a church in Germany. Lunch with a Godly man by the name of Jon Blomker, who is moving here to KC. Late night coffee with a man who has just come back from the mission field serving in Europe, who is looking to go to the Pastor's College next year. And many other wonderful conversations with brothers....as well as stacks and stacks of free books that I have been supplied with that will last me a long time to get through.

Thanks again, for jumping into this series of blogs and thanks as well for your comments, as they are always welcome. In the week's to come, I am going to be doing a series of blog entries on the Emergent church from a couple of books that were given to us at the conference itself. Take care.

Together (with my family) for the Gospel

2008-04-18T08:35:00.003-06:00

What an incredible time! There are many ways that I am presently aware of as to how the Lord specifically ministered to my heart. I am so very, very grateful for the time spent, the books I have been introduced to, the timely messages I heard, the perspective given on very important topics that the church is presently being faced with, the new friends I have made, and the old friends I was able to reunite with and I pray this will all bear good fruit in my life, first as a husband, then father, then pastor and theologian. It was a profound time, and I will be sharing many, many of those things with you in this format and in the pulpit next week and in the weeks to come....however...

As I was "Together (with many godly men) for the Gospel" I was also "Apart (from my family) For The Gospel." So, right now...I am going to be "Apart (From this blog) and Together (with my family) for the Gospel"....and so you will have to wait for some of those reports on how I was affected, informed and helped by John MacArthur's message on "Total Depravity" and R.C. Sproul's message on the glory of substitutionary atonement as seen through propitiation....and Molher's message confronting aspects of liberal theology's attacks on the substitutionary atonement of Christ, especially from voices from the Emergent church movement...Piper's message on the personal sacrifice of the Christian, and C.J.'s message on the pastor's heart in finding delight in the task of pastoral ministry. All of that will have to wait... in the meantime log on to the "Together For The Gospel" website and start listening to some great messages! http://www.t4g.org

Together For The Gospel - Day 2

2008-04-15T21:31:00.006-06:00

Wow what a great day! I can't believe several months ago, I was debating on whether or not I should come. It has already been a wonderfully refreshing time! To tell you everything would make way too long of an entry - so here are the highlights:

1. Last night CJ gave us a wonderfully, practical message on the Church's message, task and future from Acts 15 & 16. It was so very helpful as he just encouraged us in the gospel to continue to keep preaching the gospel, build with the gospel and to seek to set people in place to minister in accordance with the gospel. We are led so very, very well!

2. This morning we heard from Jeff Purswell about the Pastor's College and the new "PC Institute" that they are developing to help assist already existing SGM pastors in our on going training and development academically - very exciting stuff! Joshua Harris spoke about the strategic role of New Attitude in helping local churches to envision and equip the next generation of leaders for faithful service in the local church and in the world. Dave Harvey spoke to us about the on going development of SGM's process and procedures in Church Planting (recruiting church planters, how to identify them and the process for their training and release into the field).

3. The first session was by Ligeon Duncon on the importance of teaching Sound Doctrine for faithful pastoral ministry. As I was listening to this, I couldn't help but think of the men of Providence in how faithfully enthusiastic you are for our INVEST classes on the teaching of Systematic Theology. You men are a joy! I don't have to convince you of the importance for a growing in sound doctrine you are pursing it! Thank you men of Providence!

4. I was able to have dinner this evening with a pastor from Switzerland, Brad Beevers who wrote that great article years ago published by CCEF, "Watch Your Language!" an article concerning the importance of using Biblical Language to define our problems. We have had dinner together at several other Leadership Conferences in the past...and when he saw me this time he just gave me a big hug and insisted that I not pay for my dinner, but that he would. He is a real delight. Likewise, as many of you may remember a story about a young woman that I read to you several years ago whose name was "Claudia" and how she came to the Lord through the faithful witness of a dear believer who just kept taking her out for a cup of coffee. Well, I got to meet her husband - who is 6 months into pastoral ministry - today and we are going to be having dinner tomorrow - (they are all from Switzerland).

5. Tonight's session was wonderful as well getting to hear from Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor and author from Grand Cayman Islands (tough gig!) He spoke on issues of race and ethnicity in light of the Gospel. It was an outstanding message from Genesis chapter 10. Very, very good!

Well, it is about Midnight here...and Dr. John MacArthur will be speaking tomorrow morning at 8am so I had better go on to sleep. Take care my friends!

Together For The Gospel - Day 1

2008-04-14T10:29:00.005-06:00

Hey folks, as I can I will try to give some updates of my time here at T4G. The "official" conference will begin tomorrow, while the Sovereign Grace Ministries' pastors are here a day early to meet tonight and tomorrow morning. I had a great flight over with some time to fellowship with Steve Burchett who is the author of the article I have posted here below, he is a great brother. Likewise, when I got off the plane I was able to speak with C.J., Bob Kauflin, and Jeff Purswell as we were walking to the baggage claim. I am so very grateful for these men, as immediately when we saw one another, they began to ask about Anna, our kids, and the church here in KC. As I attempted to encourage them and thank them, they only encouraged me more. What a blessing it is to be part of this family of churches. I am looking forward to this evening, this should be a great time of fellowship, as I am really looking forward to playing "catch -up" with some of my other pastor friends from other SGM churches. Take care... -M

When Your Pastor Is Matthew...and not John Piper

2008-04-12T16:42:00.005-06:00

Hey folks, here is a great article that I found very helpful and encouraging to ordinary pastors such as myself who just happens to be "a guy with a Bible." Steve is a pastor at a home church congregation up in Parkville, he is a great brother, who serves with our friend Jim Elliff. You can find this article at http://www.bulletininserts.org/notpiper.html

*******

When Your Preacher is Not John Piper
Steve Burchett

Many who have had the privilege of hearing John Piper1 preach in person would testify that it felt like a monumental event. His preaching is a powerful combination of truth and passion, leading to convicted and exhilarated listeners. After the sermon, certain hearers might leave wondering if they were just in the presence of a figure who will be talked about in future centuries.

Then they go back to their home church, where several things are different, including the preaching! Thankfully, the gospel is still proclaimed. In fact, the sermons are thoroughly biblical, but the ability of their regular preacher simply does not measure up to the phenomenal preaching they recently heard.

Unless you regularly attend the church of one of the celebrated preachers of our day, you most likely have faced a similar situation. Either at a conference or on the internet, you have heard exceptional preaching, but each Sunday you're back in your simple little home church that hardly anybody beyond your town knows about, with its "nobody" of a pastor who will probably never preach to thousands.

What if your gospel-preaching pastor is not as good as one of the great orators of our day? Is it time to sell the house, pack up the family, and change churches? No, I don't think so. But what should you do?

First, rejoice that your preacher is a man who proclaims the gospel. In some towns, finding a man who preaches the true gospel is as difficult as locating that precious new golf ball you sliced 100 yards into the thick woods! I once endured a 40 minute sermon that consisted mainly of the preacher telling about his family's vacation. Though that might be an extreme example of non-gospel preaching, too many preachers fail to speak of the holy God, sinful humanity, and the redeeming work of Christ. But not your preacher. He speaks honestly about sin, boldly proclaims "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2), and then lovingly invites listeners to repent and believe. That is a reason to rejoice.

Second, recognize that certain men are uniquely gifted by the Lord to have an international ministry and appeal, but this is not the norm. The typical local church should be satisfied to appoint as pastors men who are "above reproach" in their lives, who believe the gospel and are able to teach God's Word, and who have an aspiration to serve as shepherds (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). Most preachers will not be strikingly smooth and polished. They may never be the keynote speaker at a big conference, but this is not a tragic shortcoming in your corner of God's kingdom. It is precisely His design.

Third, if your pastor is (honestly) dull, but he preaches the truth faithfully, a little statement I once heard might be helpful for you to remember: "The mature worshipper is easily edified." When hearing lackluster (even if biblical) preaching, immature worshippers will typically not listen to the message because they wish the messenger was more exciting. Conversely, mature worshippers eagerly receive the truth as it is proclaimed, even if it sounds like the preacher is reading a phone book.

Fourth, listen "outwardly" to the preaching. Here's what I mean: Sit with your Bible open and routinely make eye contact with the one preaching. An occasional nod of your head when he makes a point will encourage him and stir up his confidence. In my experiences of both preaching and listening to sermons, I can confirm that yawning listeners with glazed over eyes make mediocre preaching worse, while eager listeners inspire better preaching.

Fifth, verbally encourage the preacher(s) in your church. Every preacher who is not extraordinarily gifted has heard remarkable preaching and moaned, "After listening to that, why do I even try?!" This is a strange phenomenon, but great preaching from the renowned teachers of our day makes many "ordinary" pastors discouraged. Here's a simple way you can buoy your pastor: After a sermon, instead of just saying "Nice sermon!" as you head out the door, take a few moments to tell him what was especially helpful and/or convicting from the sermon. In the first church I served as a pastor, a particular young couple would stay after the service, about once a month, conversing with me about what they learned. These helpful conversations sometimes lasted for over an hour. Even today, I am heartened when I recall their zeal for what was taught.

We should praise the Lord for giving us outstanding, well-known preachers, but let us not forget Paul's command to Timothy, who was entrenched in a local church with pastors whose names none of us know: "The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching" (1 Tim. 5:17).

_________________________

1 John Piper is the main teaching pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a regular preacher at conferences all around the world.
Copyright © 2008 Steve Burchett
Permission granted for reproduction in exact form, including web address. All other uses require written permission
www.CCWonline.org

Tim Hawkins On Laziness & Side Effects Of Prescription Drugs

2008-04-12T16:35:00.003-06:00

Hey folks, here is another video from Tim Hawkins, sorry, but this guy is really funny! Enjoy! -MH

Tim Hawkins On The Church...

2008-04-08T11:57:00.002-06:00

Hey folks...here is one for the "random" category...enjoy a good laugh... -M

"Empty" Hoffman, The Question of Blogging & Great Leaders

2008-04-04T08:51:00.005-06:00

As it is with many new projects or tasks in our lives - like a blog, for instance - there comes those questions... "Should I continue this? Is this helpful? Etc." Take this blog for instance, which is built around some of my random thoughts, interests and musings. It doesn't represent all of my interests, but some of them. And there are times when I have thought...should I continue this?

I mean think about this for a moment...blogs in general - I mean the really great ones are written by really intelligent people who have a lot of original thoughts that might help propel us into thinking new ways about life in general, or certain specific aspects of life. You know those types of people who are really smart...the ones that help the rest of us out. And to be perfectly honest (and to state the obvious), I don't know that I have ever, ever, ever had an "original thought" in my life...meaning...something of where I am not - in some fashion - standing on someone else's shoulders. And the exact time that I think I have an original thought...I remember it was something my son or daughter probably said to me.

Think out loud with me for a moment...think of all the really "smart" guys...think of all the really great theologians and pastors of our time...As I have thought about them...I think I have found something that is really common among many of them...they all have initials either after their last name or their first name is made up of initials...think about this with me for a moment... "J.I. Packer," "B.B. Warfield," "R.C. Sproul," "C.J. Mahaney," just to name a few.

.......But....God in His infinite kindness, and He Himself knowing full well the depth of my arrogance and pride, that I feel that I am only seeing just the surface of most of the time...he gave me parents who would give me a name that if you used my first two initials and just said it out loud it sounds like the word "Empty." My first name is Matthew and my middle name is Todd. When you put the letters, "M" and "T" together what do you have? "Empty." Now, I don't know about you...but personally I think that is very funny and very true when it comes to what can happen between my ears most of the time as I can go about my day. There are times when my beautiful wife will come up to me and see me staring off into space and will ask, "What are you thinking?" And then in that moment as I wipe the drool off my chin and thinking about it, many times the response is, "well...nothing really..."

SSSoooo this leads me to my original question about this blog...do I continue this or no? As I tried to fill my head that is "empty" with original thoughts, I came across this article written by Abraham Piper, "6 Reasons Why Pastors Should Blog" And it was his 3rd reason that I thought, "Yes, that I can do!" His third reason for blogging was to be a tool to "recommend" to others great resources to aid in other's development and growth.

And so, in my hopes of one day being counted a "good leader" I want to point you in the direction of some "great ones"...ones that I rely on to help fill my "empty" head. So in this endeavor to be a "good leader" here are two very great ones...one you might have heard of and, another you more than likely have not...(and they are both great, even though they don't use initials for their name)...the first Dr. Dave Harvey, who serves on the Leadership Team of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The other - the one that you more than likely have never heard of, is Arie Mangrum.
Dr. Harvey - in the attached link tells a story of true biblical greatness concerning a man Arie Mangrum, who though his church now no longer exists, he exemplifies true "biblical success." So from one pastor who desires to be a "good one" listen and learn from these two "great ones." http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Reference/LessonsfromChurchPlant.pdf

Casting Our Cares Upon God - Taking Care Of Our Souls

2008-04-02T14:34:00.004-06:00

Dear folks, I wanted to forward this link to you from an interview with
Joshua Harris, C.J. Mahaney and Jeff Purswell. This particular interview is centered around the topic, "The Pastor and His Soul." Now, you might say, "But I am not a pastor...how is this to benefit me?" I would say that if you lead in any capacity...or if you ever find yourself "running thin"...you will find your own soul refreshed by their very practical encouragement through the gospel. Listen and then cast your soul upon God...and then don't forget to ask me, "How is it with your soul?" Thank you friends.
http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/page/Leadership-Interview-Series.aspx

Providence - MP3s Available

2008-03-26T07:10:00.003-06:00

Due to the faithful service of folks like Andre Darrigrand - we now have our sermons on-line on our church's web page. Just click on "Resources For Growth" and then click on "Audio Sermons - MP3s." Thank you so very much Mr. D...I think...wait a minute that means more people will hear my sorry attempts at preaching...on that note...I think you folks would be really blessed by a sermon given by Derek entitled "Speak Evil Of No One." Enjoy.

John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

2008-03-08T16:00:00.002-06:00

Dear Friends,

I wanted to send this outstanding link to you from John Piper on the "wealth, health, prosperity" gospel. This is done very well...

www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=faf0159744aecaf5c732&ref=sv

What Revenge Can Teach Us About Forgiveness

2008-03-06T10:47:00.003-06:00

Hey folks, in our recent series of looking at what "Gospel - Centered Fellowship" looks like, and last week's sermon on defining forgiveness, I came across this excerpt from Peacemaker Ministries, I trust it will serve you. Have a wonderful day! Take care -M
***
"Forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgetting is a passive process in which a matter fades from memory merely with the passing of time. Forgiving is an active process; it involves a conscious choice and a deliberate course of action. To put it another way, when God says that he "remembers your sins no more" (Isa. 43:25), he is not saying that he cannot remember our sins. Rather, he is promising that he will not remember them. When he forgives us, he chooses not to mention, recount, or think about our sins ever again. Similarly, when we forgive, we must draw on God's grace and consciously decide not to think or talk about what others have done to hurt us. This may require a lot of effort, especially when an offense is still fresh in mind. Fortunately, when we decide to forgive someone and stop dwelling on an offense, painful memories usually begin to fade."

Food for Thought from Peacemaker Ministries:
"Revenge," says the famous Sicilian proverb, "is a dish best served cold." In other words, "effective" revenge requires careful planning as well as emotional distance from the experience that prompted the desire for revenge in the first place.Interestingly, there's also a sense in which biblical forgiveness is best as a "chilled dish." It shouldn't be emotionally chilled, of course, but it should be carefully planned and originate in a place deeper than our emotions. As Christians, we don't wait to forgive so that we can let the memory of the offense fade or so the other person will suffer. Instead, we forgive deliberately. We carefully plan for the restoration of the relationship that has been wronged, and we submit our emotional hurt to Christ, who compels us to forgive as he has forgiven us. As you "plot" your own forgiveness of others, remember that God's plan for forgiveness was a profoundly deliberate effort that impacted literally every generation over literally centuries of time. If "cold revenge" is deeply satisfying, how infinitely much more so is deliberate, planned biblical forgiveness."

Taken from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflictby Ken Sande, Updated Edition (Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2003) p. 206

Outstanding MP3 Resources Through Sovereign Grace Ministries

2008-02-14T13:25:00.003-06:00

Hey folks,

Trust you all are having a great week! I have been spending this week in somewhat of an "in house" study retreat. We have a great opportunity this Sunday to hear from a Pastor's College Student - and so with this extra time, I have been immersing myself in study developing leadership training materials for our Care Group and Ministry Team leaders and as I have done so, I couldn't help but just remind you of the absolute wealth of material we have through the Sovereign Grace Ministries website! I want to encourage you that there are years and years of FREE MP3 messages on line at http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/ As I have been compiling resources by going through their database, I could not help but think of how blessed we are to have such rich gospel-centered teaching and preaching with its focus on applying God's word to our lives. Enjoy!

C.J., Discernment, Giving Correction & The Emergent Church

2008-02-13T07:42:00.006-06:00

As you will note at the top of my blog page here it says, "random musings & reflections," and the title of this blog entry might appear to be random, but there are many connections I want you to make with the above stated title. I wanted to direct you to a particular blog entry by C.J. Mahaney on these particular topics, and more than the content (of which is extremely valuable and I believe personally very necessary to address), I want you to see how C.J. communicates doctrinal discernment and the necessity of bringing correction to particular voices in our culture. Here in, is both a bold proclaimation of the truth of the gospel without wavering while a humble pursuit of the mortification of the sin of self-righteousness in his own heart accompanied with a loving desire for see those who walk in doctrinal error to come to the truth and be restored by it.

Again, I cannot say it enough, I am so very, very grateful to God for this man and his humble, bold, biblical discernment that he brings to pastors such as myself. His blog subtitle has the phrase, "from the cheapseats," well then, from mine it is from the "much cheaper seats" - out in the parking lot per say. Here are some specific connections I want you to see, (I am sure there are more, because I am not that discerning - but here is what my thick melon absorbed)...

1. The purposefulness of how C.J. leads. He is specific and very intentional. This speaks to me in how to lead, not only as a pastor, but as a husband and father in how I speak and spend my time with my family. That we are not just transfering information, but in how it is done communicates volumes and without being intentional this way - many opportunities are lost, or not used as well as they could be.

2. The need for doctrinal discernment and specifically how C.J. does this. He communicates clearly how such doctrinal error effects and breaks ranks with "gospel" preaching and doctrine.

3. He is humble in how he directs us to other men and their study and how God has used them. Many "bloggers" might spend much time pontificating ideas that came from other men's studies, but C.J. as a man who is in active pursuit of humility not only gives credit to whom credit is due, but introduces us to another friend, Mr. Greg Gilbert, (click here for his article on Rob Bell's Nooma material).

4. He is humble and gracious in his obversations of those who fall into doctrinal error, such as Rob Bell, while exhorting us to uphold this man lovingly in prayer that he might come to a place of truly embracing the gospel and supremacy.

5. He promotes a biblically healthy self-suspecion of our own motives while critiquing others. Look at this quote from his blog:

"Whenever it’s necessary to critique erroneous content, I find it helpful to
remind myself of the mercy of God. Any insight I have learned has been learned
from others, and ultimately, this discernment has been graciously revealed by
God. In no way does my critique indicate intellectual or moral superiority on my
part. We must critique erroneous content, but our critique must be humble and
not self-righteous.If we accurately perceive God’s mercy, this will become an
occasion of thanking God for his mercy in our lives rather than an opportunity
for self-righteous communication." -C.J. Mahaney

6. Note how he is specific in the training of pastors on how we are to think. While directing us in content on a particular error he is training us how to think about these things, not just what to think about it. This is equipping leadership.

7. His critque is informed by the gospel, thus it has not only the passion of protecting the gospel, but he reveals the hope that there is for us when we fall into error that only comes from the gospel.

From the much cheaper seats - read, enjoy, be informed, and may we be increasingly changed,

Matthew

Together For The Gospel Is Almost Here!

2008-02-08T17:14:00.000-06:00

Hey men, if any of you would like to come to this year's Together for the Gospel Conference, come on! Registration is ending soon! Likewise, if you are an area pastor and are going, as I have met several of you within the last couple of years and you are going, email me so we can hook up. This is going to be an outstanding time! Log on to

www.t4g.org to register!

Sanity Has Now Returned To The Asylum!

2008-02-01T16:36:00.000-06:00

Yes my friends, my bride is back from a long two week trip in Seattle Washington, saying good bye to her much loved Grandpa Glen. The kids no longer are ruled by the barbarian. Christian's hair is now combed, and we all have lost that blank look off of our faces. Color, beauty and life have come back to our home. Anna is such a wonderful wife, friend and mother. She does bring such joy into my life, and I am such a blessed man having her as my bride! I know people must look at us all the time and think, "How did he get to marry her?" I don't know...the only thing I can say is, "grace." We missed her greatly, but were very glad she was able to have this time with her family. We only wish we all could have been able to go with her. Thank you to all who have been praying for Anna and our family. You are a joy!

Help! The Inmates Have Taken Over The Asylum!

2008-01-30T15:30:00.000-06:00

Only 24 hours until Anna returns and brings life, color and joy back into the Hoffman house...I need to go...and I think give Christian a bath...or something...

5 Myths About Divorce by Ken Sande

2008-01-29T17:24:00.001-06:00

In the day and age we live in there are many "myths" that many Christians believe about this topic...yesterday I received this great article from Ken Sande author of the book, "Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide To Resolving Conflict."

***

Five Myths of Divorce
By Ken Sande, President of Peacemaker Ministries

I have noticed over the years that Christians who are in the process of seeking a divorce often use the same set of reasons to justify their decision to leave the marriage. I have heard the same excuses so often that I have wondered whether Satan has published a little booklet on how to justify divorce.

While Christians disagree about what constitutes legitimate grounds for divorce, it is clear that many Christians divorce for all the wrong reasons. We need people around us to speak truth to us and help us see our own blind spots so that we are not fooled by worldly wisdom or by the blindness in our own hearts. Perhaps you can play that role in the life of someone considering divorce. If you want to help them, you need to be prepared to respond to these excuses.

Myth #1
"When the love has gone out of a marriage, it's better to get divorced." Although this is the world talking, Christians buy into it. The basis of marriage is not feelings of love—in God's design, commitment is the basis of marriage, and love is the fruit. For more on God's design for marriage, see Paul Tripp's booklet Marriage: Whose Dream?

Myth #2
"It's better for the children to go through a divorce than to live with parents who fight all the time." Although parents in a truly unhappy marriage may sincerely believe this, it is usually a superficial rationalization. One way to test their sincerity is to ask them to read Judith Wallerstein's book, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, which clearly articulates the many detrimental effects of divorce. If they still decide to go through with a divorce after reading these facts, they usually have to admit that it's not the children they are looking out for, but their own selfish desires.

Myth #3
"God led me to this divorce." I repeatedly hear people say, "I know the Bible teaches that divorce usually isn't God's will, but in this case God has given me a real peace that this is right." This statement reveals an improper understanding of spiritual guidance, which elevates a sense of "inner peace" to such a level that it can overrule the clear teaching of Scripture itself. This view of guidance must be specifically exposed and refuted.

One way to do so is to help people see that a sense of inner peace is not a conclusive sign of God's approval. I usually ask people whether they think Jesus felt inner peace in the Garden of Gethsemane. If they try to say yes, I take them to the Gospels and help them see that in fact he was trembling with apprehension and agony. If he had walked out the other side of the garden, he might have had a great sense of relief at escaping from the crucifixion, but in doing so he would have been turning his back on God's will for his life. In a similar way, divorce may promise immediate relief, but in the long run, it too is usually contrary to the will of God.

Myth #4
"Surely a loving God would not want someone to stay in such an unhappy situation." This myth is based on a humanistic presupposition that God's purpose in life revolves around me and my happiness. It is crucial to help suffering people understand that God has something far more important in mind for his people than pleasant lives. His purpose is to conform us to the likeness of his Son (Rom. 8:28-29). The Bible teaches that this requires pruning, melting, and purifying to burn away the dross in our lives, and this is often done through the furnace of suffering. Take them to Hebrews 11 or 1 Peter. The Bible contains many passages about the value and purpose of suffering. We can use those Scriptures to encourage people in their painful situations. For a good perspective on suffering, see Paul Tripp's booklet Suffering: Eternity Makes a Difference.

Myth #5
"I know it's wrong, but God is forgiving." You have probably heard this sort of statement from many different people. Its antidote is Deuteronomy 29:19-21, where Moses warns the Israelites sternly (my paraphrase), "If you presume that you can sin deliberately and then just say magic words and God will forgive you, how great will his wrath be upon you!" It is a frightful thing to sin deliberately. Point people to the example of King David, who willfully sinned against God. God forgave David, but he left consequences that would grieve David for the rest of his life. "The sword will never depart from your house" (2 Sam. 12:10, NIV). David's baby died, and his sons continued to kill each other. David had to bear that on his conscience to his dying day.

And how do people know that God will actually give them a repentant heart after they persist in willful disobedience (see Heb. 3:7-13; 12:16-17; Eph. 4:30; Prov. 28:14)? How can they be sure that God will not turn his face against them and remove his blessings from their lives (Heb. 10:31; 1 Pet. 3:7, 11-12)? Those considering a sinful divorce should not look ahead to a cheap forgiveness, but should turn around and do everything possible to seek reconciliation and a restoration of the marriage.

If you are a Christian who wants to be "salt and light" for the Lord, God will give you opportunities to graciously speak his truth into other Christians' lives. Understanding these excuses used to justify divorce will help you deal directly, lovingly, and biblically with people who are struggling. By God's grace, when true motives are revealed, people will then turn back to the Lord and his church for help.

C.J. Mahaney has entered bloggerdom!

2008-01-29T14:34:00.000-06:00

Hey folks, just to let you know...CJ has finally succumbed to establishing his own blog spot, here is the link: Enjoy! http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/