Christmas Party at the Hoangs'

Thursday Dec 18th from 5:30 - 9:30PM. Even if you can't be there at 5:30 or can't stay the whole time stop by and hang out for a bit.

We'll have a white elephant gift exchange.

The meal will be potluck. If you have signed up to bring something yet, leave a comment expressing your willingness to do so and we'll let you know what we still need, or come to Bible study Sunday morning to find out what we could still use.

Hope to see you all there.

"crummy" or convicted?

Here is an encouraging blog post from John Piper:

How I Approach God When Feeling Rotten

He suggests that vague feelings of crumminess or spiritual malaise don't help us to get right before God. Only coming face to face with our sin can move us towards repentance.

Here's a part of the blog post, but go read the whole thing!

So I began to call to mind the commands I frequently break. These are the ones that came to mind.

• Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Not 95%, 100%. (Matthew 22:37)
• Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Be as eager for things to go well for him as you are for things to go well for you. (Matthew 22:39)
• Do all things without grumbling. No grumbling—inside or outside. (Philippians 2:14)
• Cast all your anxieties on him—so you are not being weighed down by it anymore. (1 Peter 5:7)
• Only say things that give grace to others—especially those closest to you. (Ephesians 4:29)
• Redeem the time. Don’t fritter or dawdle. (Ephesians 5:16)
• Set your mind on things that are above. Connect all your thoughts to Christ. (Colossians 3:2)
• Do not return evil for evil—like when your wife or daughter says something you don’t like. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
• Rejoice always, and again I say rejoice. Always. If sorrowful, keep rejoicing. (Philippians 4:4; 2 Corinthians 6:10)
• Give thanks in all circumstances. All. All. All. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

So much for any pretensions to great holiness! I’m undone.

Thanksgiving Pot Luck

When: Sunday, November 9th at 1:00PM
Where: Thai and Danay's House

If there is a Thanksgiving dish that you love to make (or eat), bring it and we'll all enjoy it together. Leave a comment if you have any thoughts on what you might bring, we'll work out all the details and make sure we have a good meal.

I hope you can all come.

Unplanned Praise

Let praise be what you breathe and God will use you to bless, challenge, comfort, and grow the people around you (not to mention how good it is for you own soul when you verbalize your adoration of God).

I wanted to offer this simple encouragement to abound in praise because I got to experience the goodness of such unrestrained love to God this weekend.

Here's how:

Saturday night I was thinking about calling up an old friend. I realized I no longer had this friend's phone number, so I called another friend, Merea, who I was pretty sure had it and wouldn't mind sharing it with me. While she was flipping through the phone book in her phone, Merea sang "Come Thy fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace." My thoughts, which were on myself and leading toward discouragement, were directed toward God, toward his grace and led me to hope. My mind was immediately filled with images of God's gracious work in the life of a believer: a heart bound to God by His goodness, a heart sealed for heavenly courts where pure praise is unending, a mind fixed on and fascinated with God's redeeming love. I don't think Merea intended all that, I think she was simply enjoying God. I do, however, think God intended it; worship draws people to worship. As God captivates your heart and mind, don't restrain your lips from overflowing in praise to him, and see how God uses you to draw others to look to God the fountain of every blessing.

I hope this post encourages you to consider how the fruit of your lips will draw others to consider God's goodness (check out Hebrews 13:15). More than that I hope it encourages you to continued (or renewed) passion for knowing God. I don't think this kind of praise will happen without intimate knowledge of God. This kind of praise is what we breath out when we take in the beauty, goodness, majesty, splendor of God as seen in His word. Psalm 119:171 - "My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes."

God give us hearts humbled by your grace, filled with your love, captivated by your goodness so that we could say with David, "O Lord, open my mouth, and my lips will declare your praise." (Psalm 51:15)

faith-affirmation and spiritual malnutrition

It is hard to eat right.

It is hard to choose chopping up vegetables over picking up fast food. It is hard choose the apple over the Oreo, or the quick coffee pick-me-up over a metabolism overhaul. It is hard, and it takes planning.

But now, thanks to Fresh and Easy . . .

Just kidding.

During the last three weeks of juggling school and work again, I've been reminded how intentional I need to be about making wise eating choices. If I don't plan ahead, I usually take the easiest route, which is usually the wrong choice.

Oddly enough, at the same time that I was losing the battle with my nutrition choices, the same thing was happening with my spiritual nutrition choices. It takes planning to get back into Bible memorization, in-depth Bible study, and trading mind-numbing Internet surfing for books that push me towards God.

This week Danay mentioned a Christian speaker whose talks she called "faith-affirming." That phrase reminded me that we need to be encouraged and fed in our faith, just as with anything else in our lives. We live in the middle of spiritual battlefields at work, at school, in our thoughts, in our media consumption, and in our homes. God's Word is our sustenance and our ammunition in these battles. We need to read it, chew on it, and let it shape our way of thinking. And we need the affirmation of speaking with others who will repeat not man's wisdom but God's own words back to us.

Without intentionality in moving forward, we unintentionally slide back.

Have you noticed how changes in your spiritual "diet" affect your spiritual health?

What steps are you taking to avoid spiritual malnutrition?

since we are surrounded . . . let us run with endurance

On Monday afternoon I watched Amazing Grace for the second time.

For those who haven't seen it yet [You should. And if the only time you've seen it is at the C&C movie night last November, it deserves another watching.], it tells part of the story of William Wilberforce's fight to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain.

What hit me again and again throughout the movie is that we see William Wilberforce through the lens of his eventual victory. During much of his struggle, though, William Wilberforce saw himself as someone who was given a particular task, and who was failing miserably. His seemingly radical positions invited scorn from older, more-respected men in his profession, and for many years it seemed like there wasn't a way to change the status quo. His victory in the end was only the result of doing the right thing small choice by small choice, day in and day out.

Thinking about Wilberforce reminded me of 4th century church leader Athanasius, whom we remember for his victory over the Arian heresy. Athanasius had the unpleasant task of fighting other leaders of the early Christian church to defend the truths of the incarnation, the complete deity of Christ, and the Trinity. It sounds impressive to repeat "Athanasius contra mundum" (Athanasius against the world), but only because his side prevailed. Being banished, ostracized, and downright hated -- being, literally, "against the world" (even against people you respect and who used to respect you) -- would be an unpleasant day-to-day reality. His victory in the end was only the result of doing the right thing small choice by small choice, day in and day out.

What makes these men so great?

I'm sure that lots of characteristics could be listed, but two that stand out to me are faith and endurance.

Faith is believing that God is who He says He is, and that what He says is right is right and what He says is wrong is wrong. Both Athanasius and William Wilberforce staked their alls on truths from God's Word. For Athanasius, it was the truth that Jesus Christ was fully God, God come to earth as man. For William Wilberforce, it was the truth that man is created in God's image and a human soul cannot be human property. If what God said about those things was true, then popularity, comfort, and even good health were a small sacrifice in the battle for their defense. No fear of men or desire for their approval could detract from a true belief that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Endurance for these men was the strength to keep going toward the goal even when all odds were against them. It was the strength to choose God's best over the advice of well-meaning friends. It was the strength to wake up every morning, forget the seeming losses of the day before, and keep on going. It was the strength to stand up in front of a group of well-respected, well-supported, well-educated men -- many older and more experienced -- and once again make the argument that had drawn their anger and scorn time and time again.

Athanasius and Wilberforce are truly great men, but they are not members of some unattainable group of heroes.

Even in our C&C group, there are some big dreams. If your dream is born from an actual calling of God (John Piper calls this a "holy ambition"), it is not unattainable. That's not to say that there won't be some slip-ups and slumps between now and the finish line. And, even if you make a lot of progress towards that dream, it may be that your particular race is only one leg of a relay that someone else will finish later.

What are your goals, the needs that call out to you when you look at the world? What does God's Word tell us about those things? What kind of sacrifice is too big in fighting for them? Are we willing to do the right thing small choice by small choice, day in and day out, day after day after day after day after day?

Whose life story do you look to for encouragement in fulfilling your calling?

BBQ at Thai and Danay's

We'll have a pre-labor day bbq at Thai and Danay's house this Sunday night after the evening service. There will be food, games, swimming, . . . and food.
I hope to see you all there. If you have any questions, call Nate, email Nate (nate@mcbchurch.org), or leave a comment.

oh yeah, send me a note if you plan to be there so we can get the right amount of food.

Hope everyone is doing well. See you tomorrow night.

Love That Leads to Love

I enjoy hiking. I especially enjoy hiking when the trail follows a stream. There is a certain level of comfort in knowing that the water is consistently near. You'll not thirst. You'll not get too hot. You'll not lose your way. You may even make it to the source.

I found notes from a lesson I taught the youth earlier this year. The first line reads "God's love - the fountain of our love for Him." The basic idea is that God has communicated his love generally or widely through his care for and patience with man (Psalm 145:8-9; Luke 6:32-36; Acts 14:16-17), and specifically through His Son (Romans 5:8). We experience the reality of His love through the Spirit working in us (Romans 5:5, Ephesians 3:14-20). Having experienced the love of the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, we ought to be people filled with love. 1 John 4:7-11 says:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

I owe many of the thoughts in my notes to Packer's chapter on the love of God in Knowing God. At the end of that chapter Packer asks a series of questions the last of which is the inspiration for this point. I'll close this post with Packer's words and ask you to consider how the love of God working through you serves as a stream refreshing, restoring, and leading others to rejoice and glory in the source of your love for others - God's perfect love.

John wrote that "God is love" in order to make an ethical point, "Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 Jn 4:11). Could an observer learn from the quality and degree of love that I show to others - my wife? my husband? my family? my neighbors? people at church? people at work? - anything about the greatness of God's love to me?
Meditate on these things. Examine yourself.

Gospel Connections

Reading Justin Taylor's blog, I was led to an article posted on sub-text. Joe Thorn gives a good response to the question, "How can I take a natural conversation about common things and connect it to the gospel without it coming off like an abrupt topic change?"

He gives a good call to first know the Gospel well, then to look for natural ways to lead conversations to the cross of Christ. He has some good examples of how this might be done. Check it out here: Gospel Connections. Hope it's helpful.

let us consider

Hey all,

I know that there are people checking this blog, waiting for something new, and not finding anything. So, here's something new . . .

And it's interactive . . .

And exciting . . .

And YOU need to participate (yes, Y-O-U).

In the comments section, would everybody post one area where you have seen the blessing of God in your life so far this summer? It doesn't have to be long, but I know that it will be an encouragement to all of us to see testimony of the work that He is accomplishing among us.

Here's one passage that's driving my thoughts here:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:19-25

Looking forward to your replies . . .

more on giving

As a complement to our Sunday School study on giving, you may want to check out the book of Malachi.

In Malachi, God talks with His people about their unwillingness to give properly -- in the giving of worship and the surrendering of their lives, as well as in their financial giving.

Ever since I memorized Malachi 3:10 in Bible Drill, I'd known that this book talked about tithing. But reading it now I see the larger context, and that tithing is only one part of the challenge of a loving God to a disobedient and stubborn people.

It's a short book, and will help you to think through the bigger picture of why and how we give to God. Check it out!

Questions to Consider

On Sunday we'll be talking about the Christian as a giver. Here are some questions to consider in preparation for our group discussion. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there. Keep praying that God would use the truth of His word to conform us to the image of His Son and use us to shine as lights in the world (James 1:22-25; Philippians 2:14-16).

Why do we give to the church? Spiritually and practically?
What should our attitude about giving be and why?
What happens when we give begrudgingly?
What is in our heart when we don't give? What does that say about us?
Is it sin not to give?

See ya tomorrow night, and then on Sunday.

ebbs and winters

If you have ever walked (stumbled? crawled?) through a season of doubt, you will be encouraged by this sermon from Charles Spurgeon.

And if you haven't, bookmark the page, because it's almost certain you will.

Here's a short piece of the sermon (make sure you check out the link, though, to get to the part about the "divine medicine chest"; the quote here ends on a downer):

Am I now addressing one who is ready to exclaim, "I will give up all hope; I am sure I cannot be a child of God because I am so cast down"?

O thou simple soul, the most advanced saints suffer in just the same way!

Men who have been for forty, fifty, sixty years, followers of Christ, complain that, sometimes, it is a question with them whether they have ever known Christ at all. There are seasons with them when they would, if they could, creep into any mouse-hole, and hide their heads, rather than be seen among God’s people, because they fear that they are hypocrites, and that the root of the matter is not in them.

Why, I tell you, young Christians, that the most experienced believers, the men who have great doctrinal knowledge and much experimental wisdom, the men who have lived very near to God, and have had the most rapt and intimate fellowship with their Lord and Savior, are the very men who have their ebbs, and their winters, and their times when it is a moot point with them whether they do really love the Lord or no. Even the apostle Paul was not exempt from doubts and fears, for he wrote, "We were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears;" and, on another occasion, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

The man after God’s own heart, even David, a man of experience so deep that none of us can fully decipher, much less rival it, — a man of love so fervent that few of us can do more than aspire to catch the hallowed flame, — nevertheless, had to cry aloud, and that very often, "O my God, my soul is cast down within me!"

a model for us

This morning I was reading Hebrews 11, and had to stop and re-read verse 8 a few times:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

There are times when we will be called by God to follow Him in faith, not knowing where we are going. Abraham's experience, and the way that he is placed as a model for us, make it seem like these "called out . . . not knowing where he was going" moments are the rule and not the exception in the life of faith.

But, even though Abraham did not know where he was going, he did know what he was looking forward to:

By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (vv. 9-10)

There will be times in life where we are called to follow God, not knowing where we are going. Maybe more of these times than times where we do know where we are going.

But do we know what we're looking forward to? And Who we're going toward?

more on Myanmar

I just received an e-mail from Sovereign Grace Ministries about a Burma Disaster Relief Fund their ministry has started to collect money for cyclone relief:

Burma Disaster Relief Fund

And here is a note from the e-mail:

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.

I also found out yesterday about a Christian relief organization in China that is in one of the provinces most affected by yesterday's earthquake. They too are collecting money for disaster relief:

Caring for China

On Sunday I was reading in Ezekiel 34 and found a new passage about God's love for all peoples. I saw in this rebuke to the shepherds of Israel a challenge to the way that we use the wealth with which we've been blessed.

Here's a selection from the passage, but you really need to read the whole thing.

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

Pray for Myanmar

The headline 4,000 dead in Myanmar caught my eye this morning. I followed a link to an article from the New York Times reporting on the devastation caused by a Cyclone that hit the country over the weekend.

Pray for the people in Myanmar. Pray that help from outside countries would be mobilized and welcomed. Pray that in the midst of such pain and suffering, God would use his church to bless, to help, to restore and to point people to lasting hope in Jesus Christ.

For more on Myanmar:
BBC Country Profile
Joshua Project

Think About the Cross

One of the books I am working through right now is called In My Place Condemned He Stood (if you're looking for something to read, this would be a good choice). Last night I was reading and found a few quotes from Luther very helpful. Helpful because they served to focus my thoughts on the wonder of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. I've found that knowing and meditating on the cross of Christ is a very real help for life and a source of unparalleled joy and happiness. In the midst of dry worship, failing time in God's word, doubts of God's love, fear of falling away, bitterness, envy, longing for things I shouldn't want, selfishness, lack of love for others, worry, hopelessness, and desperation, knowing well and meditating on the cross of Christ is an effective remedy.

Commenting on Galatians 3:13 (a good verse to know) Luther says:

All the prophets did foresee in spirit, that Christ should become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, blasphemer, etc., that ever was . . . for he being made a sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world, is not now an innocent person and without sins. . . . Our most merciful Father . . . sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him the sins of all men, saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross; and, briefly, be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy them. Here now cometh the law and saith: I find him a sinner . . . therefore let him die upon the cross.

A few passages we should all know well:
Romans 3:21-31; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Galatians 2:17-21

May hearts be filled with wonder at such grace.

complainers anonymous

I like to complain.

I also like to oversleep, overeat, gossip, slander, lie (if it makes me look better), think I'm better than others, stew in my anger, covet, be jealous, bicker, and withhold forgiveness.

But for some reason complaining just doesn't seem as bad -- especially when we call it "venting," or, worse still, wrap it in a holy-sounding cloak of "sharing burdens" or "fellowship."

Is complaining an excusable sin, if it's a sin at all?

That's a dangerous question.

But I think I know where to look for answers. Check out these references:

NT keyword search for "complain"

NT keyword search for "grumble"

And then examine the history of a complaining people in the Old Testament:

OT keyword search for "complain"

Somehow all of that seems to be missing the rubber stamp for my hobby of holy Christian "venting."

If there's a place for Christian complaining, it may be in prayer -- the same way that David and Job poured out their complaints (but note the way that they were put in their place by God's answers; also note the warning from Ecclesiastes 5:2).

Here's a brief exposition of the place of complaining in prayer, from a sermon by Pastor John Piper:

you can complain to the Lord. “With my voice I cry out to the Lord. . . . I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him” (Psalm 142:1-2). Now here, again, language frustrates. So are you saying, Pastor John, that it is good to have a complaining heart toward God? No. Philippians 2:14: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning.” It’s not good to have a complaining heart. The heart should trust God in all his sweet and bitter providences. So why then do you say we should complain to the Lord? Because sometimes our hearts do complain about the circumstances God has given us, even though our hearts shouldn’t do this, and it is better to consciously direct it toward the Lord than to think he doesn’t see it. Acting like you are not complaining is hypocrisy and will make you a very phony, shallow, plastic person in the end.

In the words from William Cowper that Nate pointed out last week:

Have you no words! Ah, think again,
Words flow apace when you complain;
And fill your fellow-creature's ear
With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath thus vainly spent,
To heav'n in supplication sent;
Your cheerful song would oft'ner be,
"Hear what the LORD has done for me!"

May we strive together to not be a complaining, grumbling people, but a people characterized by a grateful joy and hope that take the world by surprise.

A Poem From William Cowper

Here's a great word from William Cowper. It's short, clear, and helpful. I pray we'll hear his call to prayer.

come see Expelled on Saturday!

This Saturday afternoon, all interested parties are invited to come see the movie Expelled with Thai and Danay (and Ben Stein).

The film deals with the suppression of intelligent design theory in academia. You can watch the trailer (actually, several trailers) here.

This is an opportunity to bring friends, if you know someone who may be interested in seeing the movie.

Here are the details . . .

DAY: this Saturday (i.e., the day after tomorrow), 4/19
PLACE: Westminster 10 (in the shopping center at the corner of Westminster and Goldenwest)
TIME: meet @ the theater by 4:15; the film starts at 4:30
WHAT ELSE: we will be going to out for food (and discussion, of course) afterward
QUESTIONS? post any questions here in the comments, and someone who knows the answer will answer

See you there!

tune my heart

Just now, as I was lamenting not having any ideas for today's blog, my eye caught hold of a choral anthem sitting on my desk, an arrangement of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."

It is a hymn I love and have sung many times, but as I started to review the words once again, something jumped out at me in a new way:

tune my heart to sing Thy praise

Tune my heart.

If you have ever tuned an instrument (or watched someone tune an instrument), it is a process that can take a while. Sometimes a new instrument, or an instrument with a new part, like new strings or a new reed, needs to be warmed up and adjusted several times before it is in tune.

And, unless the gift of perfect pitch has left you endowed with an internal tuner, an instrument must be tuned to match some outside, absolute pitch. You can't tune an instrument without something to tune it to.

Also, when you have that outside source of absolute pitch, you can tune a whole bunch of different instruments to match it and play all in tune with each other. If you are like me, and sometimes enjoy listening to an orchestra tune more than listening to an orchestra actually play, you may have wondered happily at the way that so many different voices can tune to the same pitch. An oboe's "A" comes out in a very different voice from a cello's "A," but they're still both playing "A."

Moreover, depending on outside influences, like humidity or extreme cold or heat, or -- for something complicated like a piano -- the simple act of being moved, an instrument is more or less likely to get out of tune.

This isn't a simple "tune" like "Tune in next week!" This is a careful, measured, purposeful tune that implies yielding to the absolute pitch of the tuner.

All this thought about tune, tuners, and tuning made me think about our Thursday night lessons in James 1:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

* * *
When I sing "tune my heart to sing Thy praise" (if I mean what I am singing), I am making an offer of surrender, surrendering those things that bring me out-of-tune and asking God to bring my heart back to match His pitch.

That may be a very painful surrender.

And it may be that, if even if I am "in tune" tonight, I may be in just as much need of being "tuned" again tomorrow morning. Which, I think, is part of what it means to live not by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. His Word is what gives us the absolute pitch -- the point of truth where each of us, with our different voices, can unite together. And the starting point for any hope we have of harmony.

Are we ready to be tuned?

things not seen

Today I was sitting in a college classroom pretending to be a Supreme Court justice while a group of students was pretending to be attorneys making appellate arguments.

This wasn't the first time that I've pretended to be a Supreme Court justice, but it was the first time that the pretend lawyers addressing me chewed gum while speaking, addressed the panel of justices as "you guys" and made statements like "you guys would see that this is right if you could connect the dots."

At the end of the arguments, the professor asked the "justices" for their comments on any aspect of the presentation. Especially since the most egregious offender on the talk-down-to-the-judges front had been voted best speaker by the class, I raised my hand and suggested that a lot of the terms that had been used to address the judges would be very inappropriate for a Supreme Court argument, or even for a debate round.

"That's right," said the professor, who then turned around to the white board and wrote "Kiss up to the judges." He went on to talk about how important it was to kiss up to the judges, even if you hated their guts.

This was a totally new approach for me. Not that I haven't heard of kissing up to judges, but I had somehow always thought that giving due respect and "kissing up to" were two distinct concepts.

Respect is to give another his or her rightful due, focusing on the merit or position of the person. Kissing up is a kind of egotistical bribery, focusing on the personal agenda of the kisser-upper.

Respecting you is about something I need to give to you. Kissing up is about something I want you to give to me.

It's no wonder that a generation whose mindset is "what do I get out of this?" has a hard time wrapping its collective head around a self-effacing understanding of respect.

This is why so many of our contemporaries don't understand honor. Or love. Or duty. Or purity. Or nobility. Faced "what do I get out of this?" these things do not provide simple answers. And, in truth, here under the sun the pursuit of honor, love, duty, purity or nobility could translate into years and decades and lifetimes of pain, disappointment, and monotonous hard work with sometimes little apparent benefit.

Where am I going with this?

Well, my frustration at school today sent me home thinking about a few things:

(1) What kind of respect do I owe to God, my Savior, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe? Do I give it to Him? Do I offer praise in a twisted form of "kissing up," or does my praise flow from sincere gratefulness and wonder at His greatness and His steadfast love?

(2) What is my motivation for the decisions that I make and the things that I do? Is it "what do I get out of this?" Am I saying I want to live for God's glory while my actions show that what I really want is my own way?

(3) The Word of God is our anchor in a world that has given up believing in real truth. We need it, need it, need it, to be equipped for each new day.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

-- Colossians 3:1-17

do not let go

Lately I've noticed in myself a daily internal debate between doing something wisely on the one hand, and, on the other hand, sacrificing that whole "wisely" deal in pursuit of instant [or close-to-instant] gratification.

Some days it takes shape in my ongoing conflict over packing lunch for school or spending waaaaaay too much to eat fast food on campus (it seems silly to say this, but I'm guessing other people can identify with the dilemma). Other days I catch myself wanting to run out to Barnes & Noble to buy a nice shiny new book that I know I could buy online for significantly less, if I were willing to wait a couple weeks for it to come in the mail.

Other days it's played out in the way I spend my time. Or the way I treat other people.

Sometimes knowing the right thing to do isn't hard. It's the mundane drudge of doing it that trips me up.

I was in the middle of one of these "I-know-what's-the-right-thing-to-do-but-I'd-just-as-soon-do-something-easier" debates the other night when I remembered that there was some helpful advice for decision-making in Proverbs 4.

So I opened to that chapter and found something that surprised me.

It's almost like wisdom and understanding are on the run -- likely to slip away if they aren't gripped tightly enough. The father in Proverbs 4 says things like

- hold fast my words (v. 4)
- keep my commandments (v. 4)
- keep hold of instruction (v. 13)
- do not let go (v. 13)
- guard her [instruction] (v. 13)
- let [my words] not escape from your sight (v. 21)
- keep your heart with all vigilance (v. 23)

Then, in closing, the passage that made me turn to Proverbs 4 in the first place:

Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

What does all this mean?

When I read it, a couple of things stood out to me. First is that the wise man here takes for granted that it's easy to let go of wisdom (even if you know -- head knowledge -- the right thing to do). Second is that the difficulty of the doing is no excuse. We don't have a Biblical free pass to say "I knew it was right to do ________________ but, given the time pressures and my own laziness, or given the strength of the temptation, or given my doubt that God will still work things out if I do Right Thing X, I chose to do ________________ instead."

It's a given that doing won't be easy, so we are equipped, encouraged, reminded and reminded again not to let go the instruction we've been given.

Here's the same lesson over again from James 1:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Effective Praying

Jonathan Edwards' resolutions are challenging and instructive, and are worth reading one at a time. Resolution #29 serves as a sifter separating empty words from real prayers: "Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession, which I cannot hope God will accept."

My thoughts and practice of prayer have been challenged by reading the life of George Muller, a man who saw God answer countless prayers with specific provision and delicate timing. What about Muller's prayers were so effective? How can it be that he would see so many prayers answered with such frequency and accuracy that it would embarrass one who called it coincidence?

I think Muller would first respond by saying something of the nature of God rather than of his prayers. Muller's prayers were firmly founded on the faithfulness of God to His Word. For Muller, doubting God's response to the prayer of faith was calling a God a liar. He was occasionally asked what his response would be if God failed to hear his prayers for provision, leaving him and the orphans with no food or clothing. Muller always responded, "Such a failure on God's part is inconceivable, and must therefore be put among the impossibilities."

Muller would also acknowledge, as Edwards does in resolution 29, that one should not assume that all words uttered as a prayer should be considered prayers God would answer. A.T. Pierson says that "five grand conditions of prevailing prayer were ever before [Muller's] mind." I hope that you will consider with me Muller's conditions of prevailing prayer, with the expectation that as we grow in our understanding and practice of prayer as it is taught in the Bible, we will experience the joy and confidence of biblical communion with the prayer hearing God.

Here are Muller's five grand conditions of prevailing prayer:

1. Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground of any claim for blessing. (John 14:13,14; 15:16ff.)

2. Separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin. (Psalm 66:18)

3. Faith in God’s word of promise as confirmed by His oath. Not to believe Him is to make Him both a liar and a perjurer. (Hebrews 11:6; 6:13-20)

4. Asking according with His will. Our motives must be godly: we must not seek any gift of God to consume it upon our own lusts. (I John 5:13; James 4:3)

5. Importunity in supplication. There must be waiting on God and waiting for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest. (James 5:7; Luke 18:1-10)

fed

Back in high school, I was at a conference where Ray Comfort was speaking. I don't remember what the topic of his talk was (although I can guess that it had a lot to do with evangelism), but during the course of it he said something that has stuck in my mind ever since.

He said that whenever he counsels people who are dealing with some kind of difficulty in their lives that they think is insurmountable -- that "nothing can be done to fix this" -- he asks them if they are reading the Bible every day. If the answer is "no," then Comfort's problem solving prescription is simple: Start reading it. Every day. Things will not stay the same.

I think that what stuck with me most about this was the faith that allowed Comfort to confidently say this to people, believing that their lives would be changed through the reading of the Word.

It shouldn't have surprised me.

Even further back than high school, I was in the choir at church unwittingly learning lesson after lesson about worship, corporate worship, working towards excellence, the day-to-day Christian walk, and how the body of Christ works together in between Sundays.

One tradition at choir was to close out with prayer requests. And pretty much every time that somebody had a prayer request about sharing the Gospel with someone, or if we were praying for Sunday services, in his prayer Dave would mention God's assurance from Isaiah 55:11: your Word will not return to you void.

Ten years of hearing a promise every Tuesday night has a way of fixing it in your mind. Sadly, the human mind also has a way of taking fixed things and translating them into taken-for-granted things.

We need God's Word like we need food.

And we can trust that as we "eat" His word, He will work through it -- both in our own lives and in the lives of the people we meet.

Let's not neglect to stay fed by the Word, and also to share that good sustenance with each other.

It Shall Not Return Void

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Living and Active

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Image is Important

Every so often an author will come to mind and I'll say to myself, "I need to read something from him." So, I'll (a) find a book and dive into it, (b) search online and read a few thoughts from a work that is published online, or (c) occupy myself with something else until the impulse to read fades. Option 'c' is a common occurrence, 'a' less frequent, 'b' an increasingly frequent approach.

This morning for some reason Tertullian came to mind. I searched ccel and found a chapter in his work on idolatry that piqued my interest: Concerning Festivals in Honour of Emperors, Victories, and the Like. I was intrigued to read how a 2nd century follower of Christ wrestled with participating in the societal celebrations of his day. It seems clear to us today that a follower of Christ would not celebrate festivals that deified an emperor. Tertullian, however, seems to be addressing Christians who justified their participation. I am sure a more thorough reading of Tertullian would prove helpful, not only in understanding the history of the church's interaction with and participation in the surrounding society, but also in considering our interaction with the culture of our day. My reading wasn't that thorough so I can't give you much from Tertullian, but I did want to share one comment that helped me today.

Commenting on Jesus' response to the Pharisees question about paying taxes to Caesar, Tertullian says:

Therefore, too, the Lord demanded that the money should be shown Him, and inquired about the image, whose it was; and when He had heard it was Cæsar’s, said, “Render to Cæsar what are Cæsar’s, and what are God’s to God;” that is, the image of Cæsar, which is on the coin, to Cæsar, and the image of God, which is on man, to God; so as to render to Cæsar indeed money, to God yourself.

I love the simplicity of Jesus' response. I love the immediacy of Tertullian's application. Man, imprinted with God's image, is wholly God's - every part, every thought, every emotion, every desire, every ability, every movement ought to be given to God as an act of recognition of (and delight in) his divine ownership. May we render our lives, our selves, wholly for our Author who has made us in His image, and sealed us with His Holy Spirit.

Pray for me that I grow in actually rendering to God that which is His - every aspect of my life and being - as I pray the same for you.

Slow Down and Fast

Tonight with the youth group I'll be talking about Jesus' response to those who inquired about the lack of fasting among his disciples (Mark 2:18-22). I thought I'd put up a couple thoughts and quotes I found on my notes from our study in spiritual disciplines last year. I know many of us are wrestling over decisions or carrying heavy burdens. Sometimes we can get so caught up seeking answers and solutions that we start worrying and working in our strength and on our terms. In times of great need, there is no better action than an expression of complete dependence on God. Fasting in faith is such an expression.

David Smith said the following of fasting: "All our fasting must be on this basis; we should use it as a scriptural means whereby we are melted into a more complete realization of the purpose of the Lord in our life, church, community, and nation."

"The case of a person's self, or family, or the church, or commonwealth, may be such that ordinary humiliation and prayer will not suffice. So it may be that some hardness of heart may be grown upon a person; or some sinful lusts may have gotten so much strength that they will not be subdued without fasting." (sorry no reference.)

Donald Whitney: "Fasting is one of the best friends we can introduce to our prayer life."

Whitney offers two quotations from David Brainerd's journals that give account of Brainerd's experience in dedicating a day for fasting. I'll include them both as a testimony of the great grace given in response to fasting in faith.

"I felt the power of intercession for precious, immortal souls; for the advancement of the kingdom of my dear Lord and Saviour in the world; and withal, a most sweet resignation and even consolation and joy in the thoughts of suffering hardships, distresses, and even death itself, in the promotion of it. . . . My soul was drawn out very much for the world, for multitudes of souls. I think I had more enlargement for sinners than for the children of God, though I felt as if I could spend my life in cries for both. I enjoyed great sweetness in communion with my dear Saviour. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world and so much resigned to God in everything."

"I set apart this day for secret fasting and prayer, to entreat God to direct and bless me with regard to the great work I have in view, of preaching the gospel. . . . God enabled me to wrestle ardently in intercession for absent friends. . . . The Lord visited me marvelously in prayer; I think my soul never was in such an agony before. I felt no restraint, for the treasure of divine grace was opened to me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering of souls, for multitudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were the children of God, personally, in many distant places."

I hope some of these words stir in your hearts as they do mine. I desire to experience that "sweet communion with my dear Saviour." I want my heart to be awakened to pray for the ingathering of souls. I want to be weaned from this world and resigned to God in everything.

Let's embrace God's promises and seek His sufficient grace. On the side of my notes from our lesson on fasting I wrote: "Fast in faith accepting a divine invitation to His special grace." Not sure where those words came from but I think we should.

Schaeffer on materialism

For anybody out there who wants to read Francis Schaeffer's "Ash Heap Lives," which was mentioned in the link from last week's post, and that Danay mentioned in her comment, I just found a version of it online:

Ash Heap Lives

are we countercultural?

[this is called nabbing stuff off of Justin Taylor's blog for the second day in a row]

The idea of being countercultural has come up a few times during our study of the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings.

Here is a list of questions to help us think through what being Biblically countercultural means, and what it looks like:

Counterculture?

liberating

This is a helpful reminder:

The Bondage of "Guidance"

Thoughts???

Designed for Delight

I came across the following quote in Through Gates of Splendor. Elizabeth Elliot quotes Pete Flemming who gave his life bringing the Gospel of God to the Waorani people of Ecuador. If you have seen The End of the Spear, you have heard the story Pete and his companions: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, and Ed McCully.

On the verge of his sailing from the States, Pete said to one of his college friends: "Remember the last few verses of 1 Corinthians 3: 'For all things are yours . . . and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.' Throughout all our personality we are God's, and since God has made our whole selves, there is great joy in realizing who is our Creator. This realization is to permeate every area and level of life. In appreciation of beauty, mountains, music, poetry, knowledge, people, science - even in the tang of an apple - God is there, to reflect the joy of His presence in the believer who will realize God's purpose in all things."

I was struck by the beautiful simplicity and joy with which Pete expresses such amazing truth: "Throughout all our personality we are God's." We have been designed by God to enjoy Him and celebrate the goodness of His creative and redemptive work.

I'm praying that your joy may be full.

bigger than yourself

This post from Ted at Boundless is a helpful reflection (even if you don't share the fascination with Lord of the Rings), especially as we go through the study on Christian community on Thursday nights:

The Power of Collaboration

Is there something the Lord would have us invest our lives in that simply can't be accomplished on our own?

baby blood sacrifices

Back in November we had a movie night to watch Amazing Grace, which told part of the story of the struggles and eventual triumph of British abolitionist William Wilberforce. While many people believed slavery was wrong in Wilberforce's world, only a relative few were willing to put their resources and reputations on the line to try to stop it.

Many have drawn a parallel between the fight of Christian abolitionists in the 19th century and Christian pro-life advocates today. I was reminded of this again last week while listening to a sermon called Abortion: The Innocent Blood of Our Sons and Daughters.

Like it or not, this is our problem.

Lots of good work has gone into the web site Abort73.com, which would be a great link to give away.

The folks at Abort73 have also proposed what seems like a pretty simple plan for students to get involved.

From Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter gives a compassionate challenge to seek and find the mercies of God which are new every morning. While reading his encouragement I was reminded of the happiness found by those who recognize their deep and constant need of God's grace in their lives. I hope his words challenge and encourage you to stretch out your hands in petition to God for new mercies moment by moment. I pray you find the happiness of being sustained and carried along by God's grace. Here's the quote from Baxter, you'll notice his English is old, and his words relevant:

“Every day offereth you more and more mercies; and will you despise and lose them? If you were heirs to land, or had an annuity, which amounted but to a hundred pounds a year, and you were every day to receive a proportionable part of it, or lose it; would you lose it through neglect, and say, I will begin to receive it when I am old? Poor labourers will work hard all the day, that at night they may have their wages: and will you contemptuously lose your every day's mercies, your safety, your communion with God, your daily blessings and his grace, which you should daily beg and may daily receive?”

Coffee Orders

If you'd like to place an order for the Sunday morning Starbuck's run, leave a comment. We'll check the blog in the morning before making the run.

See you all in the morning.

new things

You may have noticed that there are some new things in the sidebar. In addition to the daily passages for reading the Bible in a year, there are some links about missions, unreached people groups, and the persecuted church.

If anybody has any other ideas for helpful resources we could keep up here, I'd be glad to hear them.

hungry, thirsty people

[Because part of this week's Sunday school lesson was on fasting, I'm republishing an old post from Nov. 2006 on the same topic.]

Last Thursday night we studied 1 Thessalonians 5, which includes this passage:

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

Those who were there on Thursday will remember the story Nate shared about the conversation he'd had with the proprietor of a Middle Eastern restaurant. When Nate explained his job teaching young people about God, the man replied by describing how "drunk" people in the US seem when it comes to God and religion.

The Random House dictionary has a good definition of drunk: "being in a temporary state in which one's physical and mental faculties are impaired by an excess of alcoholic drink." But how does having one's "physical and mental faculties" impaired relate to the American perspective on God?

In the abstract, there are a couple of applications. People are made "drunk" by consumerism and a lifestyle of plenty. And made drunk by the constant drive for entertainment and things that occupy our minds without exercising them. And made drunk by a culture that insists that there are no consequences, that what John Lennon imagined is a good thing.

But I saw some concrete applications of this on Saturday when our FAITH team was doing some door-to-door visiting. We went from house to house passing out MCBC brochures and asking people if we could pray for them. Several people declined our offer with variations of "everything's good, thanks." One man told us that his family had a bad year last year, but that they didn't need prayer this year because things were much better. Another lady said that her family didn't need prayer because everyone was in good health. A couple people waved off Jim's or Nate's mention of Jesus with "I really don't want to get into that right now."

Part of me wants to assume that the people who waved us off were secretly hiding their true feelings of spiritual depravity and struggling desperately to silence the voice of the yawning God-shaped void that infuses all their waking and sleeping hours.

But I think that, truthfully, most were probably just drunk. They say "things are good" because they believe "things are good."

How can we get people to stop being drunk? How can we get them to see that there is a heaven, a hell, and a just God who vehemently hates their sin? How can we help them to know that there is a love, joy, and peace in living for Christ's glory that is greater and deeper and sweeter than anything the world has to offer?

I don't know.

But I know one thing that would help:

not being drunk ourselves.

In the psalms, David used vivid imagery to depict his hunger and thirst for God:

• As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.
  

• My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
  

• Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
  

• For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
  

• I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land.

In our post-agrarian culture it is hard to understand the picture of a "thirsty land," just as it is hard to understand what true hunger and thirst are. We are fed abundantly. Our needs -- and, beyond that, our wants -- rarely go unsatiated.

So, here's an idea. Maybe we should try practicing hunger once in a while. Yep, practicing hunger. In other words, fasting.

The most common type of fast is a fast from food for a pre-determined number of meals or days. Plan to spend a fast day in prayer, and let the growling stomach or the caffeine-deprivation headache remind you to be back on your knees before God.

There are other types of fasts, too. These kinds of fasts can help us realize how attached we are to things in our lives that may be dulling our hunger for God. Other types of fasts could be

• fasts from TV
• fasts from the Internet
• fasts from video games
• fasts from movies or going to the movies
• fasts from instant messaging or text messaging

If anything on this list makes you think, "fasting from that would be impossible!" think twice about whether that may be the fast for you.

Let's be hungry, thirsty people.

practical help for Scripture memory

If you were in study tonight and heard Nate's challenge to memorize Scripture, or if you just feel like you need some help getting started, I just stumbled across a good plan for learning one short passage a week -- over 50 short passages in a year.

Here is the home page for the Fighter Verse program at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. In addition to links to the verses, it has lots of helpful resources on Scripture memory and meditation.

And here are five different options to choose from for weekly passages. Apparently this church has a church-wide program where they plan to complete all five schedules over five years.

Set A
Set B
Set C
Set D
Set E

inventory

Since New Year's, I've been reading the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, maybe the first time I've ever read them in their entirety (yet another thing to look forward to with the read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan!).

The accounts of the nation of Israel returning home after captivity are both exciting and saddening.

It made me sad to read the story of the people rediscovering the law and re-instituting the feasts and holy days. Why did they have to forget? Why did they have to stray away? Why did they have to take the good covenant they had and break it?

Even then, though, the people's repentance for sin and their joy in returning to God is really worth celebrating. And it's an honest depiction of human history: we forget; we stray; we abuse and break good gifts. Yet, in God's heartbreakingly good grace, we are often allowed new beginnings.

If you find yourself at the threshold of a new beginning, or if you think you'd be helped by taking an inventory of where you've come in the past year and where you plan to go in the next, here's a list of questions to consider. I'm listing the first 10 here; the link will lead you to 21 more.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?
    

prayer in 2008

Here's a challenge from John Piper to be a praying people in 2008. This is part of the sermon that I mentioned in Sunday School.

malnourished?

Lately you've probably heard Nate talk about our deep need to be fed with the Word of God, because "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

Yesterday I ran into this passage in a book, which helped to drive the same point home in a new way:

We are familiar with the thought that our bodies are like machines, needing the right routine of food, rest and exercise if they are to run efficiently, and liable, if filled up with the wrong fuel -- alcohol, drugs, poison -- to lose their power of healthy functioning and ultimately to "seize up" entirely in physical death. What we are, perhaps, slower to grasp is that God wishes us to think of our souls in a similar way. As rational persons, we were made to bear God's moral image -- that is, our souls were made to "run" on the practice of worship, law-keeping, truthfulness, honesty, discipline, self-control, and service to God and our fellows. If we abandon these practices, not only do we incur guilt before God; we also progressively destroy our own souls. Conscience atrophies, the sense of shame dries up, one's capacity for truthfulness, loyalty and honesty is eaten away, one's character disintegrates. One not only becomes desperately miserable; one is steadily being dehumanized. This is one aspect of spiritual death. Richard Baxter was right to formulate the alternatives as "A Saint -- or a Brute": that, ultimately, is the only choice, and everyone, sooner or later, consciously or unconsciously opts for one or the other.

-- J.I. Packer, Knowing God

read the Bible in a year . . . starting today!

For all interested in committing to read through the Bible together this year, here from Nate is this week's reading schedule:

January 1 - Genesis 1-2, Psalm 1, Matthew 1-2
January 2 - Genesis 3-4, Psalm 2, Matthew 3-4
January 3 - Genesis 5-6, Psalm 3, Matthew 5
January 4 - Genesis 7-8, Psalm 4, Matthew 6
January 5 - Genesis 9-10, Psalm 5, Matthew 7
January 6 - Genesis 11-12, Psalm 6, Matthew 8