Saturday, September 29, 2012
Another Trip Lee Sermon
IMO, he is as gifted by the Lord to preach the Word as anyone named Edwards, Spurgeon, or Piper.
He comes in a contemporary way, but he is great at reaching this generation.
Trip Lee Sermon
Awesome sermon from a gentleman who is one of the best Reformed Rappers out there. I love how he breaks the mold of what we expect when we see strong biblical preaching. No suit, no grey hair, no pink pigment here...but lots of truth!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Mumford and Sons
..in the broader landscape of pop music, I believe Mumford & Sons are a sign of life. Their hopeful affirmations distinguish them from the cynicism of many indie artists, and from the often shallow, hedonistic lyrics of many mainstream pop stars. Mumford's lyrics even display a quality rarely found in most contemporary Christian music, where the lyrics tend to speak of God's love, grace, and redemption only abstractly; Mumford's lyrics are tangible—brutally honest and poetically robust. This connects with listeners. Ears and hearts are engaged.
Mumford & Sons herald a message that is rare and profound. Their songs tell stories of guilt, personal and relational anguish, loss, and discontent. But these themes are coupled with images of love, forgiveness, restoration, fulfillment, and hope. Few popular artists tell stories of the fall and redemption so poignantly. In "Holland Road," on Babel, Mumford sings, "With my heart like a stone, I put up no fight to your callous mind, and from your corner you rose to cut me down." But he adds, "When I'm on my knees I'll still believe." And in the title track: "Though the walls of my town they came crumbling down" and "Our breath is weak and our body thin" are followed by "I know my weakness, know my voice, and I'll believe in grace and choice." And in "Not with Haste," Mumford declares, "I'll leave no time for a cynic's mind."
But many of us are cynics—about politics, the economy, romance, religion. We need a voice to remind us that all will be well, that there is life beyond pain, restoration after brokenness. Mumford & Sons give voice to that message, telling us that love is persistent, grace is stronger than guilt, hope trumps despair. They even tell us we were made to meet our Maker.
We are called to recognize truth when we see it. This requires us to be charitable and discerning—to resist uncritical acceptance, but also narrow-minded dismissiveness. We should approach Mumford & Sons' songs with discernment and sensitivity—appraising their lyrics fairly, while seeking to understand their emotions and circumstances. We will find points to criticize, others to dismiss. But in the end, we will find much to honor and celebrate.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Belief and the Believer
This Sunday there was an excellent "Table Talk" at our home church.
Table Talk is what we call the time just before we get up to go get communion. One of the staff or key volunteers from church will stand up on stage and give some relevant insight from Scripture that leads us into the Lord's Supper.
This week, one of our Campus Pastors gave Table Talk. He touched on the series that we are in, "Neighbor," and how we are called to be neighbors to all people...even our enemies.
He remarked on how it is far too easy for us to look at current events and see Muslims as our enemies. He encouraged us to look beyond the hype and recognize that most adherents to Islam are regular people with regular lives...they are our neighbors.
He spoke about this from personal experience, leading a mission trip in a country where Christianity is outlawed. He described the Muslims he met there and how much they are like us. He asked us to translate this idea into practical life by reaching out to establish a relationship with someone who is very much unlike us.
He concluded by saying that Jesus comes to make the neighborhood bigger...and, in my postscript, that the celebration of the body and the blood are for ANY who would trust him and move in this neighborhood called "grace."
I thought this was a great Table Talk for a few reasons:
1) It addressed current events. Too often the church fails to provide guidance on important contemporary issues. The flock gets a lot of information each day from the news and they need a gospel lens to help filter that. The local church tends to shy away from any such involvement. There are organizations like "The Gospel Coalition" that do a great job with things like this...but not enough out there.
2) It called us to die to our own misconceptions, prejudices, and fears. By challenging us to see Muslims as very much like ourselves AND by asking us to reach out to someone who we perceive as different, we are forced to rely on God and on the power of the cross for strength and wisdom.
3) It dispelled the idea that all Muslims are crazy people. This is the myth of the "belief and believer." Often, when we see a crazy Islamic fundamentalist we paint all Muslims as fanatics or Islam as a violent religion. The same is true with Mormoms. Don't deny that you make a polygamist joke everytime you hear the word. It has also been the case with Christians. On a far too frequent basis, a crazy "believer" will do something that isn't representative of Jesus at all...but all of Christianity will be labeled based upon the acts of a few.
While it is a dangerous thing to label and make assumptions, there are also some truths in this that are worth look at...particularly when it comes to Islam and Christianity.
When a Christian bombs an abortion clinic, that act is not in keeping with the life or teachings of Jesus. It is also not in keeping with the history of the early church.
When a Muslim blows himself up to kill infidels, that is in keeping with the life and teachings of Mohammed. It is also in keeping with the early history of Islam.
While Jesus taught and lived a life of non-violence in the face of persecution for faith and that we should love our enemies...Mohammed taught and exemplified a bellicose form of religious superiority over non-Muslims.
While the early church was so far pacifist that it may have been unhealthy...Islam spread across all of Northern Africa and the Middle East within 100 years by the force of the sword.
While there is no denying that some Chrsitians act out of chord with their faith, the majority of believers stay within the Christian ethos.
On the other hand, while there are some Muslims who act in accordance with the teachings of their prophet, most Muslims practice a watered-down version of their faith that rejects the core tenet of violence that Islam is rooted in.
...and I am very thankful that most Muslims are not our enemies. They are our neighbors. That makes it easy to pray for them and love them. It is praying for and loving the extremists who are sold out for Islam that is so challenging.
And yet, that is what Jesus says do. So, I ask this...did you pray on Sept 11th? Did you pray for the families who lost someone in the Towers? Did you pray for the numerous military personnel who have suffered in recent wars? Did you pray for God to exact justice on those responsible?...Did you pray for the eternal salvation of extreme, militant, remorseless Muslims who would just as soon kill you as say hello to you?
That is the bar that Jesus sets for us. Trust him to help you start making baby steps towards that bar today.
Listen carefully...
Christianity is not first and foremost about our behavior, our obedience, our response, and our daily victory over sin—as important as all these are. It is not first and foremost about us at all–it is first and foremost about Jesus! It is about His person; His substitutionary work; His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return. We are justified—and sanctified—by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone. Even now, the banner under which Christians live reads, “It is finished.” Everything we need, and everything we look for in things smaller than Jesus, is already ours in Christ.
From the Gospel Coalition today.
William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A Florida native, Tullian is also the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a contributing editor to Leadership Journal.
(Excerpted from Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free pg. 80-83)
Friday, September 21, 2012
The Most Important Prayer for Our Kids
"Mom, why don't you ever pray and ask God for nothing bad to happen to me?"
My youngest and I were snuggled in his bed. We had just finished our bedtimes prayers, and I was about to leave when he asked me this question. I paused, because how do I explain to my 4-year-old that I used to pray that very thing? How do I explain the transformation in my prayer life when I'm not sure I understand it myself? What words could I use that would help him understand there is something more important than his safety?
My first prayers for my children began the day I learned I was expecting. As they grew inside their snug cocoon, I prayed for their growth, health, and safety. I prayed for each of their tiny fingers and toes. Through each stage of pregnancy, I prayed for all their parts to form perfectly as God intended. As God did his knitting, I did my praying.
After each of my children were born, I prayed for them to sleep---a prayer I offered up quite often. As they grew, I sought God's wisdom for behavioral issues. I prayed for patience and strength to endure the tantrums of the twos and threes. I beseeched God when potty training was going nowhere fast. When they were sick, I asked for a quick recovery (and prayed the preschool teacher wouldn't notice their sniffles and send them home). When they drove me crazy, I prayed for sanity. And every day, I repented over my own temper tantrums.
In recent years, the Spirit has effected a complete overhaul in my prayer life. It was the apostle Paul's prayer for the Ephesians that opened my eyes to see that my prayers for my children were lacking. They were focused on all I wanted God to do in my children's life to make my life better. They were about me and my comfort. While praying for their health and behavior isn't wrong, I had lost sight of the most important prayer---for their heart.
Heart, Mind, Soul
In response to my son's question that night, I said, "The Bible says that the most important thing is that we love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. That is why I pray that for you each night. Because God loves you so much, you don't have to worry about anything bad happening. Jesus already took on for us the very worst thing that could happen. You can trust God to be with you no matter what happens."
Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:17-19 inspired this prayer of my heart:
Dear Heavenly Father,You are a gracious and merciful God, whose love is unending. You are always patient with me, forgiving me time and time again. I am so thankful for Christ's death, which opened the curtain into your presence, allowing me to call you Abba.I come before you today to pray for my children. I confess that I so often pray about their health and behavior more than anything else. I've prayed for their healing from illness and from surgeries. I've prayed for particular behavioral changes. I've asked for help and wisdom in dealing with tantrums and defiance and in weeding out discontent and selfishness.But increasingly, I've come to see that while those prayers are good, that you hear them and accept them, there is one prayer that stands above them all. While asking for healthy bodies and good behavior certainly makes my life easier, it doesn't address my children's most serious and deadly ailment: their heart.The most important prayer I can pray for them is that they would see their sin and need for you. I ask that you humble them before you. Pierce their heart so they would see their need for the gospel of grace. I pray that they would know there is nothing they can do to earn your love or to keep your love. Each time they stumble into sin, draw them back to the gospel and foot of the cross. I pray that they would be overcome and overwhelmed by your love for them, that their love in response would overflow beyond measure.I pray, along with Paul, that my children would know the hope that is theirs in Christ. I ask that your Spirit would enlighten them, grant them wisdom and understanding. Give them a desire to know you more deeply and intimately.You have been teaching my own heart that change happens from the inside out. Help me to parent them in this way. I ask that you would give me grace to speak to their heart and model the grace of the gospel in all my interactions with them. Please keep me from being a barrier between them and you.I thank you for the power of the gospel. May it be the motivation for my children's growth in you as well as my own. I thank you that because of Jesus, all is grace.In Jesus' name, Amen
* * * * *
For a printable version of this prayer, visit www.toshowthemjesus.com and click on the printables tab.
Osteen - False Teacher
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
2 Peter 2:1-3
Joel Osteen’s appearance on CNN Thursday revealed little that is new. It was Osteen as always — evasive and confused, but constantly smiling. This is now his calculated and well-practiced approach. He offered no word of the gospel, and no reference to Jesus Christ, but he was introduced as “one of the most recognizable faces of Christianity in America today.”
- Al Mohler
Monday, September 17, 2012
Our New LifeGroup
We just started leading a new LifeGroup for church. The first meeting was last night. It is already apparent that God has ordained this group of people to come together for a season. We are super-excited. This is the video for our study: The Gospel Project
Too Much Ado About Demons?
"All this emphasis on Satan and demons tends to distract us from another very real menace, our own sin. Yes, there is a Devil. There are real demons. But there is also the reality of sin. Satan may be our accomplice in our ongoing sin, but we cannot pass the blame and responsibility for our sin to a controlling demon. We do not have to be possessed by a demon to get drunk. There is enough abiding wickedness in us to do it all by ourselves. We can never say, “The Devil made me do it.” We can say that we are tempted, incited, or seduced by Satan, but not that we are controlled or coerced by him."
http://www.ligonier.org/blog/are-we-too-concerned-demons/
Friday, September 14, 2012
Knowledge
Something I struggle to remember with my doctrine-oriented mind:
"The difference between believers and unbelievers as to knowledge is not so much in the matter of their knowledge as in the manner of knowing. . . .
The excellency of a believer is, not that he hath a large apprehension of things, but that what he doth apprehend, which perhaps may be very little, he sees it in the light of the Spirit of God, in a saving, soul-transforming light; and this is that which gives us communion with God, and not prying thoughts or curious-raised notions."
-John Owen
On the Mortification of Sin in Believers
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Christian "Values"
Really?
Parents who raise their children with nothing more than Christian values should not be surprised when their children abandon those values. If the child or young person does not have a firm commitment to Christ and the truth of the Christian faith, the values will have no binding authority, nor should we expect that they would. Most of our neighbors have some commitment to Christian values, but what they desperately need is salvation from their sins. That does not come by Christian values, no matter how fervently held. Salvation comes only by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Human beings are natural-born moralists, and moralism is the most potent of all the false gospels. The language of “values” is the language of moralism and cultural Protestantism — what the Germans called Kulturprotestantismus. This is the religion that produces cultural Christians, and cultural Christianity soon dissipates into atheism, agnosticism, and other forms of non-belief. Cultural Christianity is the great denomination of moralism, and far too many church folk fail to recognize that their own religion is just Cultural Christianity — not the genuine Christian faith.
iPhone 5 and Newness
Bigger screen. Better camera. Faster processor.
We're fascinated with newness. We love improving our gadgets. There is much common grace in a new iPhone — an image-of-God creativity to appreciate. And a danger to beware.
"Sit loose to this world's joy," calls the voice of Robert Murray McCheyne, a Scottish pastor from two centuries ago, who died in 1843 at the age of 29. "The time is short."
In his 2011 biographical message on McCheyne, John Piper cautions us that the temptation today to be distracted may be more acute than ever. But McCheyne's aging counsel can help us gain perspective in the good and bad of our fascination with newness.
Big Words!
Repent and believe. Those are big words too. That’s why even now I’m praying for the day those two big words represent the reality of my kids’ little hearts."
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2012/09/12/big-words-for-small-kids-bible-teaching-that-challenges-preschoolers/
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