thanksgiving

One day a year millions confess to God their thankfulness for all things earthly. Food, family, friends, cars, houses. Some of them include spiritual blessings.

It is good to be thankful for these things, but it is dangerous to do it once a year. It is dangerous to do it without also pleading with God that you would not be more content with things than you should be. If your entire thanksgiving is based on physical gifts then likely you have forgotten that his "kindness is meant to lead us to repentance."

Physical things lead to spiritual blindness. I thank God for what I have and plead with Him not to let me be entombed by it. I cry out with Pastor Larry Stutzman "if God does not love me, there is nothng in the world to be thankful for because it all comes to nothing, and that right soon."

-joe

talk to yourself

Here's my sermon on Psalm 42. It is adapted from Lloyd-Jones book on Spiritual Depression. You can listen below or download it here.



-joe

the rest

So, after posting the quiz we learned yesterday which ones I think are false. (Now, to be a little more clear, the least dangerous is the idea that we can bring heaven to earth. And, for the post-millenialists, I don't think you think in exactly the same way Rob Bell does, but you have a similar problem in my mind.)

I don't know if you were able to figure this out, but out of the remaining statements only one is not found explicitely in Scripture. It is the following quote from Martin Luther in Bondage of the Will:

All things take place by necessity.

He grounds it in Isaiah 46:10-11 among other places. The point is that everything that happens in the world is there for a reason. It is not unnecessary. The bird falling from the next, the hairs on the head and the great tragedy and glory of the cross. All things are necessary and all things make God look glorious.

The rest of these are straight outta the Bible:
From Proverbs 26 come these to conflicting statements. You see, it takes wisdom to apply wisdom from others:

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.

Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

This one comes from John 1, you'll probably recognize the verse previous if you look it up:

We are born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

From Jude:

Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

First John 2:

This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

Exodus 4-12 this is repeated several times and quoted in Romans 9:

I will harden Pharaoh's hearts, so that he will not let the people go.

In the end, God is sovereign. He is merciful. He is good. And He is just.

-joe

the false ones

I believe with every ounce of my being that not only are the following statements from yesterday's quiz wrong, but they are dangerously wrong. I worry about the men who say these things and even more for the people who believe that these things are true. May God be merciful and save them.
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Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. - Rob Bell

The terms forgiven, justified, glorified, saved, born again and a host of others are so interchangeable in Scripture that I find it beyond difficult to think that there are forgiven people in hell. If you are forgiven of your sins, then you are saved and if saved you are resurrected to glory. (See the end of Romans 8)
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The stories of creation, Jonah and the whale, the sun standing still, Jesus virgin birth, walking on water, multiplying fish and loaves, and changing water into wine are to be understood as purely metaphorical. - Marcus Borg

I put it to you that if you begin down this path that nothing will remain believable in Scripture. Truly, if you toss the virgin birth out as metaphorical then you lose the whole essence of Christianity since you lose the divinity of Christ.
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The goal of Jesus isn't to get into heaven. The goal is to get heaven here. - Rob Bell

I would disagree with Bell and the post-millenlialists that we are ultimately responsible for bringing the Kingdom here. The Kingdom is present in heaven already and will be fully revealed at the end with the new heaven and earth. We are to act like Kingdom men and women, but not with the idea that we can accomplish heavenly unity here on this broken planet.
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I can't find one place in the teachings of Jesus, or the Bible for that matter, where we are to identify ourselves first and foremost as sinners. - Rob Bell

Seriously? One place? Ephesians 2? Psalm 51? Genesis 6? Romans 3? Really?
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It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts. - Brian Mclaren

I quote Acts 17, "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." To leave people in ignorance of the exclusivity of Christ is to leave them in ignorance of salvation.
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Beware of the dangers of folks who masquerade as sheep, but are wolves prowling amongst the flock.

-joe

11/23/09

You should go here and win some sweet JC Ryle commentaries.

Grow up and be a man

This is how the health bill is going to pass

The trinity

Have you signed the Manhattan Declaration yet? I have

I enjoyed this:
(HT: Sola Panel)

-joe

which ones belong?

I used the following set of quotes to teach my youth last night. Their job was to decide if these statements were found in Scripture, were true (but not found in the Bible), or if they were false. It led to some great discussion. How well can you do?
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1.Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.

2.Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

3.Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for.

4.All things take place by necessity.

5.The stories of creation, Jonah and the whale, the sun standing still, Jesus virgin birth, walking on water, multiplying fish and loaves, and changing water into wine are to be understood as purely metaphorical.

6.We are born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

7.The goal of Jesus isn't to get into heaven. The goal is to get heaven here.

8.I can't find one place in the teachings of Jesus, or the Bible for that matter, where we are to identify ourselves first and foremost as sinners.

9.It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts.

10.Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

11.This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

12.I will harden Pharaoh's hearts, so that he will not let the people go.

Well, what do you think? True, false or biblical? I'll post my thoughts throughout the week.

-joe

11/20/09

Free stuff here and here and here

Prison ministry more vibrant than my own

The Gospel in three words

The Manhattan Declaration

Pyro's got a series on gambling (insert betting joke here)

A little more Hebrews action

-joe

11/19/09

If you have a Facebook account you can find out how you know you're a member of my youth group

Win the book Overcoming Sin and Temptation

Jesus is the Christ

Something funny

A couple good posts on Hebrews here and here

Keeping Christ centered and the danger of not keeping Him in front

Be careful how you pray

A good list of books

Screwtape Letters brought to audio:
(HT: Thinklings)

-joe

in us

Have you ever pondered this phrase "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Earlier in the book of Colossians (where that sentence comes from) we read that there is a "hope laid up for you in heaven" and that this is where the strength to act according to the Gospel comes from. It is a future hope in the glories of heaven.

But it is also present now. We have the hope of glory presently in our bodies. Christ is in us. We contain in our flesh some sort of manifestation of the spirit of God so that we can "fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions," that is, to make Christ visibly seen in the flesh through our own bodies.

This is meant to encourage each other, by visibly seeing that Christ was human, and for our own selves when we see the hope of glory springing out of us. This should propel us forward to good works. This future hope of glory is here presently abiding so that we can taste of it and be assured of its culmination.

It also means that the future hope of heaven is Christ himself. Yes, it is a physical creation and yes we will have physical bodies with which to work and enjoy it, but the main hope is that of Christ himself who is the temple and the light. And when we come into that final place of rest we will bringing with us the glory of God that was present here on earth (Revelation 21:23-25).

Praise God that He has not left us alone to hope without knowing.

-joe

11/18/09

Why so late you ask? Well, if I had a good reason I'd probably never have asked the question.

Book giveaway from Terry Delaney

I'm going to this because it is awesome. You should send your pastor.

This series on the woes of bad missional churching is worth the read.

JC Ryle quotes are awesome.

Repentance

The first video has some odd graphics, but these are worth a listen (especially if you like Joel Osteen)

-joe

racial speciation?

Let me start by telling you that I'm not a scientist and make no claims about knowing how to "classify" species, but I take issue with the way it is apparently done.

I was point to an article this morning that stated a new species had been born in the famous Galapagos Islands, amongst the very finches that spawned Darwin's famous theory of evolution.

And, I have to tell you, I don't buy it. Now, scientifically it may very well be a separate species, but racially it is not. Right near the end of the article this statement is made "The birds might even return to the fold of their parent species, and merge with them through interbreeding." That means that they can still breed with their "former" species. Which, in my mind, means that it's no new species at all.

Think of it in human terms. For simplicity sake, let me compare the aboriginal African and myself.

They are very, very dark skinned. Nearly black. I am quite pale.
They have wide noses. Mine (although wider than some) is narrow.
They most likely have black eyes. I have blue.

And then, culturally, we are very different. Their idea of beauty is probably not my idea of beauty. Their ideas of ethics are probably different than mine. Their idea of what is good for a man to do is probably different than mine.

So, if I were to move to some remote country in Africa, the odds of me "singing their song," as it were, would be quite impossible. I'd probably not end up with a wife because of SOCIAL and VISIBLE differences (whether good or bad) would mean that I probably would not marry.

Let's say, though, that one of the ladies and I somehow end up married, and that 3 or 4 generations later all that is left of us is our great-great-great grandkids. And they marry. And they are much paler in skin, they have lighter eyes and skinny noses. Let's say I taught my children well the Biblical truth and that they are markedly different socially than the rest of the tribe because they are they only Christians.

Are they a new species?

Of course not. They are just as human as the original African and myself. They may be socially and visibly different than everything around them and still not be a separate species.

So, I don't buy it, Darwinists. No new species has been made. That is racial speciation and it will do nothing but harm our ideas of what defines humanity.

-joe

11/15/09

No time for a regular post today, you'll have to make do with only a list of links.

Quit it with the event=church growth

The Bible, you should read it

The title of this post is eerily similar to our current preaching series at church

If you've never seen "Who's on First?"

Rest...

This'll make you smile (HT: Sarah Costa)


(HT: RO)

-joe

11/14/09

The Psalms

Shout for joy

Clergy self-care, is it good?(HT: JM)

The slippery slope of allowing women to preach

Tim Keller on advancing from despair

Hip-hop with a Calvinist tint:
(HT: JT)

-joe

11/13/09

A chance to win some sweet commentaries from Challies and go sign up to win Unpacking Forgiveness or a Flip Camera

A book for singing the Psalms

If you can, you should go see this concert

The Gospel is for the broken

Secondhand porn

Making pastors good?

(HT: Thinklings)