On the blogs for Mon., November 30, 2009

Here are some good reads for today:

The Spirit's True Work by John MacArthur

Miunderstandings about the Trinity

Leadership in the Home (ladies, send this to your husbands)

Warning, part 2 from California State Convention President (this is good)

Fences make good neighbors (interesting post about fellowship)

Tim Keller (good article)

On the blogs for Saturday, November 28, 2009

Some good & thought provoking reads this morning:

Obama's Opening Speech (very interesting)

Marriage (this is good)

Biblical Parenting (I commend all of these to all parents, especially the "Pastor Dad" book)

Enjoy your Saturday afternoon reading...

Two Kinds of Popularity

The Church & Apostasy (this will be an interesting read)

Gospel Driven Life

Christmas Boycott (whether you agree or disagree, something to think about)

Mutual Submission (good answer to this question)

Address from the California Southern Baptist Convention president (this is only part 1, but it is excellent)

On the blogs for Friday, November 27, 2009 Morning Edition

A few to read this morning:

Infants & Salvation (good read & links to other articles)

Andre Agassi (for all the tennis fans, a review of his book)

Numb to the Voice of God (more than just sexual sin can make us numb to the voice of God)

Enjoy!

I pray everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Blessings to you all.

On the blogs for Nov. 25, Afternoon edition

Just a couple for today so far:

Do You Pray? (great reminder)

Quiet Time? (another good reminder)

Over-parenting

Wow--this is good--especially the quote by Paul Tripp

Silence & Solitude

I really needed this today over at Mars Hill Church

On the Blogs for Nov. 24, 2009 Morning Edition

Something good to read today:

Protecting your teens (a good reminder for all us parents)

Proclaim, teach, serve (doing ministry like Jesus did, wow! what a concept)

We will Never (a good reminder, especially for those in leadership ministry positions)

Gender Questions w/ Mrs. Patterson

Over-parenting (interesting)

Church Discipline

10 things I believe about your ministry (good one for ministry leaders)

Do we still need the local church (this is excellent)

Happy Reading!

Religion

The link is to a sermon transcript by Mark Driscoll. In it, he explains the difference between 4 popular worldviews & then the biblical worldview. His explanation of "theism" or "religion" is very good.

Take a look.

On the blogs for November 23, 2009 Morning Edition

Here are some good reads for today:

Origin of the Church (interesting perspective)

Worship and Our Fears (very good)

Working Women & Husbands (very interesting)

Foundational Biblical Doctrine (good stuff)

Vision for Ministry (some good points about having a healthy vision for ministry particularly about being gospel-centered--scroll down after you click on the link)

Meditative Prayer (a discipline I need to implement more often)

Lead Your Family Well (I really needed this exhortation)

Forgiveness (pretty good)

Jesus better than the Angels

Response to "A Common Word" (response by John Piper to a statement about the relationship between Muslims & Christians--might be helpful to read the statement entitled "A Common Word" first)

Worldliness & the Jealousy of God (interesting test for worldliness)

Happy Reading...

On the Blogs for November 20, Afternoon Edition

Here are some good reads:

Killing the Fuzzy Gospel, part 2

The Pastor's Teaching (mainly for preachers/teachers, but good nonetheless)

Gifting vs. Office (thought this was intriguing)

The Blur of Gender (always informed from Dr. Mohler's blogposts)

Praying Like a Champ for your Sexual Purity (if you are struggling or know someone who is)

Hebrews 1:5-14 (another follow up to our sermon series in Hebrews)

Happy reading everyone...

The Cult of Oprah

My sister, Abigail, posted a blurb wondering if Oprah was a cult leader on her Facebook. I commented in the affirmative, that "yes, she is."

As I have read somewhere before, "the church of Oprah is probably the largest in America." She might even be larger than Osteen.

I just heard on the radio this morning at the coffee shop a little while ago that Oprah's ratings had dropped 7% since last year--my prayers are being answered! She is possibly thinking about doing her last show in 2011. We can pray & hope!

Some people will think I dog Oprah too much--maybe. Of one thing I am certain, though I love Oprah as Jesus would have me to, I believe she is a wolf seeking to destroy the body of Christ & is indoctrinating the culture (and many Christians) with the "doctrine of demons." And, because of that, I would be a horrible shepherd if I did not shout "BEWARE" when the wolves are around.

Do I desire that Oprah be saved? Absolutely. Do I believe Christians should be listening to her and taking their advice from her? Absolutely not, but that is also true of others who grace (bad word) the airwaves of TV or radio (Dr. Phill, Osteen, etc.)

Michael, you shouldn't name them. Someone has to point them out. We've been walking on eggshells around their supporters for far too long.

May Jesus grant us the boldness & compassion that is necessary in a time when wolves are running around seeking sheep that they would devour.

On the Blogs Morning Edition - November 19, 2009

Here are some good reads for today:

Why Minimize Rules

Be Careful How you Pray

Hebrews 1:1-4 (a good follow up to our sermon series through Hebrews)

More on Idolatry

What is the Church? (this would be a huge mindset change for many people in our churches)

Missional Church

Here's a good post:

How Not to be Missional, part 2

To Those in Leadership or those looking for Leaders

Here is an excellent post by John Piper about Spiritual Leadership.

Marks of a Spiritual Leader (I know I have some room for growth)

I would also recommend Henry Blackaby's book entitled "Spiritual Leadership

Enjoy

The Shrinking Church?

I thought this was rather eye-opening and convicting for me.

Honey, I Shrunk the Church

On the Blogs for November 17, 2009 Morning Edition

Good reads this morning:

The Danger of a Superficial Ministry

Duties of a Christian Husband (short, but challenging from a Puritan named Richard Baxter)

Recommended Books on the Doctrine of God (any one of these books would be good for your soul & mind)

More to come later this afternoon...

Blogroll for November 16, 2009

Check out the following for some good & challenging reading:

Killing the Fuzzy Gospel

How Not to be Missional

How to Protect your Family (mainly for other pastors' wives)

Journal for Theological Studies (great articles for some deep reading & thinking)

Madeline Murray O'Hair (strange, but interesting)

Theological Triage

Hebrews 11 (sermon by Matt Chandler; worth listening to)

Worldliness

Here's a great quote from Ian Murray:

"Worldliness is departing from God. It is a man-centered way of thinking...It judges the importance of things by present and material results; it weighs success by numbers; it covets human esteem and wants no unpopularity; it knows no truth for which it is worth suffering...It adopts idols and is at war with God."

Quotes on Idolatry

These are from Tim Keller's book Counterfeit Gods:

"The idol of success cannot be just expelled, it must be replaced. The human heart's desire for a particular valuable object may be conquered, but its need to have some such object is unconquerable. How can we beat our heart's fixation on doing 'some great thing' in order to heal ourselves of our sense of inadequacy, in order to give our lives meaning? Only when we see what Jesus, our great Suffering Servant, has done for us will we finally understand why God's salvation does not require us to do 'some great thing.' We don't have to do it, because Jesus has."

"When we are completely immersed in a society of people who consider a particular idolatrous attachment normal, it becomes almost impossible to discern it for what it is."

"Is there any hope? Yes, if we begin to realize that idols cannot simply be removed. They must be replaced. If you only try to uproot them, they grow back; but they can be supplanted. By what? By God himself, of course. But by God we do not mean a general belief in His existence. Most people have that, yet their souls are riddled with idols. What we need is a living encounter with God."

"It is impossible to understand your heart or your culture if you do not discern the counterfeit gods that influence them."

"There is no way to challenge idols without doing cultural criticism, and there is no way to do cultural criticism without discerning and challenging idols."

Church Leader look alikes...

I thought these were funny...

Look Alikes

On the Blogs...

Found the following intriguing, challenging & encouraging:

5 Ways Sin is Serious

First Step to Effectiveness

Personal Application

Convert your Complaint

The Idols of my heart

I just read this prayer by Scotty Smith--something I need to pray everyday...

Heavenly Father, how I long for the Day when I will no longer be tempt-able, deceive-able, or even capable of worshipping any other "god" but you. I so look forward to an eternity of giving you the adoration, affection, attention and allegiance of which you alone are worthy. No one cares like you. No one understands like you. No one redeems like you. No one loves like you. No one restores like you. There is no God but you.

In Jesus, you have already given me a new heart and have placed your Spirit in me. In Jesus, you have already turned my heart of stone into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:25-27). In Jesus, you have already given me a heart to know and love you (Jeremiah 24:7). In Jesus you have already written your law upon my heart (Jeremiah 31:33). In Jesus, you have already given me a perfectly forgiven heart.

YET, it is not a fully perfected heart. The battle for my heart's daily worship continues, and will continue until the Day Jesus returns to finish making all things new. Thus, the warning to keep myself from idols has never had more meaning, Father. Help me discern which "idols of the heart" (Ezekiel 14:4) I am most susceptible to trusting in, rather than you. When I don't think you are "enough," where do I take the worship you deserve--where do I go for life, deliverance and salvation?

Sometimes the collaboration and conspiracy of the duplicity within me... the world around me... and the devil, invisible to me, is overwhelming... I need the gospel every minute of every hour.

I praise you for the assurance that I am already one of your "beloved children." You cannot love me more than you already do, and you will never love me less, for you love all of your children just as much as you love your beloved Son, Jesus. Surely the gospel, this gospel, will win the day, my heart and the entire cosmos. So very Amen, I pray, in Jesus' name.

Interesting about "murmuring"

Check out this by Russell Moore over at Moore to the Point about "Grumbling, Whining, and the Holy Spirit"

It would also be helpful to listen to the previous post by Dr. Moore on this subject...scroll down on his website for the conversation to listen to.

Enjoy.

The words we speak & how we say them

I found this humbling and challenging by Sinclair Ferguson. May it be our prayer...to have the "accent of Jesus"...

"My native land is Scotland. I have the privileged status of being a resident alien in the United States. I carry a green card. But people often remind me, “You have an accent.” (That said, it is one of the wonderful things about the presence and work of Christ’s Spirit in preaching that, fifteen minutes into the exposition, it is possible that others cease to notice the accent and hear only his accent.)

Being “afflicted,” therefore, with an “accent,” brief elevator rides—and the usual brief conversations that ensue there—often give me a certain mischievous pleasure. As the doors open at my floor and I step out, someone will occasionally call, “You have an accent. Where do you come from?” As I watch the doors begin to close, I say with a smile, “Columbia, South Carolina,” and watch the puzzled faces whose expression says, “Come on! You’re not from around here . . . are you?”

That is surely a parable of what it is possible for the people of God to become in the way we use our tongues, as by God’s grace we learn to speak with a Jesus-like accent.

At the end of the day, it may not be so much what people say to you when you are in a room that is the really telling thing about your speech as a Christian. Rather it may be the questions people ask when you leave the room. “Where does he come from?” “Do you know where she belongs?”

Do you speak like someone who “sounds” a little like Jesus because, born broken in your consciousness of your sinful tongue, you have found pardon and renewal in Christ, and now his Word dwells richly in you?

At the end of the day, that is what spiritual maturity looks like—or better, sounds like—because of the transformation of our use of the tongue.

May that be true of us more and more!"

Consistent Prayer

Here is a timely exhortation for battling against prayerlessness by Kevin DeYoung:

Prayer is essential for the Christian, as much for what it says about us as for what it can do through God. The simple act of getting on our knees (or faces or feet or whatever) for 5 or 50 minutes every day is the surest sign of our humility and dependence on Father in heaven. There may be many reasons for our prayerlessness—time management, busyness, lack of concentration—but most fundamentally, we ask not because we think we need not or we think God can give not. Deep down we feel secure when we have money in the bank, a healthy report from the doctor, and powerful people on our side. We do not trust in God alone. Prayerlessness is an expression of our meager confidence in God’s ability to provide and of our strong confidence in our ability to take care of ourselves without God’s help.

Too often when we struggle with prayer we focus on the wrong things. We focus on praying better instead of focusing on knowing better the one to whom we pray. We focus on our need for discipline rather than our need for God. Almost all of us want to pray more frequently, and yet our lives seem too disordered. But in God’s mind our messy, chaotic lives are an impetus to prayer instead of an obstacle to prayer.

You don’t need to work and work at discipline nearly as much as you need faith. You don’t need an ordered life to enable prayer, you need a messy life to drive you to prayer. You don’t need to have everything in order before you can pray. You need to know you’re disordered so you will pray. You don’t need your life to be fixed up. You need a broken heart. You need to think to yourself: “Tomorrow is another day that I need God. I need to know him. I need forgiveness. I need help. I need protection. I need deliverance. I need patience. I need courage. Therefore, I need prayer.”

If you know you are needy and believe that God helps the needy, you will pray. Conversely, if we seldom pray, the problem goes much deeper than a lack of organization and follow through. The heart that never talks to God is the heart that trusts in itself and not in the power of God. Prayerlessness is unbelief.

Prayerfulness, on the other hand is an evidence of humility and faith, which is why God loves it when we pray.

Children & Family Worship

I thought this was a thought-provoking article by Voddie Bauchum:

The response to our new monthly feature has been tremendous. We’ve received questions on subjects spanning the spectrum. Some of the questions have already been answered in past blogs, others were a bit off topic (especially those asking for responses to myths, lies and half truths from attack sites), and others were a bit too personal/specific (Note: I cannot use this blog to do pastoral counseling, and I only offer such counseling to members of my own church).

Question Of the Month:

What are practical ways to involve and teach your preschoolers during your family devotional times (ie: morning pray/read/sing)

A Word of Warning

First, let me say that I do not believe in ‘dumbing down’ family worship (or the worship of the church for that matter) for small children. We aim our family worship at Mom, Dad, and our older children (nineteen and sixteen), while recognizing the need to bring the younger children (five, two, one, and newborn) along. Our philosophy is simple; our younger children do not need to be entertained, they need to be taught. They need to see a picture of family worship that calls them upward.

This is a bit of a departure from the current child-centered philosophy dominating the burgeoning family worship movement. In that sense, there’s some good news, and some bad news. The good news is people are waking up to this crucial practice. The bad news is people are viewing this practice through the lens of the current watered-down worship environment of modern evangelicalism, and worse, the media-driven, high-energy, world-mimicking, “KidZone” experience of the modern Children’s Church. As a result, parents are trying to compete with the entertainment culture and capture the attention of their preschoolers on a daily basis. STOP! This is insane. You can’t compete with Barney and Sesame Street (or KidZone); nor should you try.

Worship is not about entertainment. Worship is a solemn encounter. Sure, there are times when we have powerful, emotional encounters with God. However, those are not the norm. And when we try to make that the norm, we miss a very important truth. Spiritual Disciplines are just that... Disciplines! We don’t pray because it’s fun; we do it because it’s necessary (1 Ths. 5:17; Lk 18:1). We don’t read Scripture because it’s enthralling (though it can be at times); we read Scripture because our souls need to feed on something more than bread (Matthew 4:4). We don’t believe every meal needs to be a grand feast, do we? Unfortunately, somebody told us that worship should be ‘exciting’ and ‘fun’ and we believed them. The fact is, sometimes worship is boring, and that’s alright. Dinner is boring sometimes too, but we still need to eat (by the way, catering all our meals to preschoolers’ likes and dislikes would be quite unhealthy as well).

We have created a generation of children who think everything is supposed to be ‘fun’ and the results are tragic. Don’t fall into that same trap with family worship. If our children think reading, singing, and praying is boring, the problem is not with those practices; the problem is with the appetites we’ve created in our children. Are they watching too much TV? Are they being over-stimulated by electronics and video games? Are they spending time during a typical day learning the discipline of sitting quietly for a while? Are they spending Sunday morning in something resembling a television studio shooting an episode of the latest kid’s show?

We will never have meaningful family worship if we don’t unplug. Christianity is in many ways a quiet, contemplative, meditative, religion. Listening to God’s word requires concentration and discipline. Singing biblical, theologically driven songs requires paying attention. Prevailing in prayer requires perseverance. How do we expect this from children whose entire religious foundation is built upon entertainment? Ironically, one of the most important things small children learn in family worship is the discipline of ‘sitting through’ something that is not necessarily entertaining.

Now that that’s out of the way... here are some helpful hints for those who, like me, have young children in the home and want family worship to be meaningful for them.


A Few Helpful Hints

1. Keep It Simple

Remember, family worship is not an attempt to reproduce at home what we get in church each week. In other words, Dad doesn’t need to prepare a “sermon” each morning, and you don’t have to sing five or six songs. Our goal is simply to honor God and transmit a faith-filled . As such, we simply need to read together, sing together, and pray together (some add catechism, however, other families do catechism as part of their ‘education’ each day). Remember, we’re not replacing what happens in church; we’re supplementing, and strengthening it. As Richard Baxter has aptly said:

We must have a special eye upon families, to see that they are well ordered, and the duties of each relation performed. The life of religion, and the welfare and glory of both the Church and the State, depend much on family government and duty. If we suffer the neglect of this, we shall undo all. What are we like to do ourselves to the reforming of a congregation, if all the work be cast on us alone; and masters of families neglect that necessary duty of their own, by which they are bound to help us? If any good be begun by the ministry in any soul, a careless, prayer-less, worldly family is likely to stifle it, or very much hinder it; whereas, if you could but get the rulers of families to do their duty, to take up the work where you left it, and help it on, what abundance of good might be done! I beseech you, therefore, if you desire the reformation and welfare of your people, do all you can to promote family religion. (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor)


1. More is Caught Than Taught

Small children usually learn to love what Mom and Dad love. Show me a ten year-old who loves the Texas Longhorns, and I’ll show you a parent who had him in front of the TV (or on the fifty yard line in Austin) when he was smaller. Moreover, show me a parent who views daily family worship as drudgery and I’ll show you a kid who probably thinks the same. This is not to say we have to be fake, or that we have to make our family worship artificially “exciting” in order to appease our kids. It is, however, to say that we must buy in to this. We need to have a passion for the God of the gospel and a desire to honor him in our homes. As Arthur Pink has written:

If we would enjoy the blessing of God upon our family, then let its members gather together daily for praise and prayer. 'Them that honour Me I will honour" is His promise. (Arthur Pink, “Family Worship”)
This goes far beyond emotion. Nor is this unique to family worship. We see this in the worship of the church as well. There is a difference between a family that is committed to the worship of almighty God and one that will let any and everything get in the way of gathering with God’s people on the Lord’s Day.

Thus, the place to start with family worship is our own motives. We must be motivated by a love for God, and a desire to express that love daily in our homes, and see our children do the same. Go before God in prayer and ask him to bend your heart toward his. Beg him for a passion for the gospel and a yearning to proclaim and celebrate it. Without this, we will have little hope of creating a winsome environment for our children.

1. Small Children Need Repetition

If you have small children, you know one of their favorite phrases is, “Do it again!” Children thrive on repetition. Family worship is no different. Our little boys love to do the same things over and over each day. It helps them feel like they are a real part of what’s going on. When we sing the Doxology EVERY MORNING, it helps my two year-old look forward to doing something he knows long before he can pronounce, let alone understand the words. When we keep our same “order of worship” (read a passage, make observations, make applications, sing a song, pray, sing the Doxology), it helps our young children jump in and participate. In fact, it creates a sense of uniformity for them. They say things like, “Dad

We also incorporate a few strategic things that help our smaller children. For example, we keep the format the same each day. Also, we sing one song for an entire month (and no, it is not a “children’s song;” we sing meaty hymns). Doing so helps our smaller children learn the words.

1. Don’t Neglect Discipline

Our children are sinners. As such, they are going to display their sin nature regardless of the setting. Engaging in family worship will not eliminate this reality. As such, we must discipline our children consistently, even during family worship. Some parents believe that correction is somehow incompatible with worship. They reason, “I don’t want to force my child to worship God,” or similarly, “I don’t want them to remember family worship as a time when they were spanked, since it may cause them to have a warped view of God.”

I understand where this is coming from. However, it is misguided. Our children need to know that all discipline is about God. They need to know that we correct them because God says so. They need to know that the worship of God is no less serious than their school time, or their meal time, or any other time. Do we avoid discipline at the dinner table, or the schoolroom because we don’t want our children to have bad experiences there? In fact, what place is there for correction if we take this position? Is there some place where you do want your children to have this supposed traumatic experience? It makes no sense. Much of the difficulty involved with doing family worship with preschoolers comes down to this very simple issue. Undisciplined children don’t do very well in situations that require discipline.

In short, we must treat family worship like an essential, normal, non-negotiable part of our lives. We cannot have the attitude that it is something we will do as long as the children “like it.” We must view it in the same way we view breakfast, or dinner. Dinner is not always easy with preschoolers. Nevertheless, we persevere because we know they cannot survive without it. The same is true of spiritual food. Have an unwavering attitude; not one that goes along grudgingly, but one that views nothing more highly than the God of the gospel. Have an attitude that pursues God relentlessly because you know nothing else will satisfy. Have an attitude that keeps the gospel before your children because you know it is their greatest need.

This attitude will eventually bear fruit both in your life and in theirs. Early on that fruit may be nothing more than seeing your children walk through the motions and learn things by rote. Moreover, there may be days when they are less than enthusiastic. Eventually, though, they will get the hang of it and their participation will improve. Then one day, out of the blue, you’ll look at them and realize they own it. Will it become their passion? Perhaps. However, that’s not your department. Your job is merely to give them the necessary tools and the disciplines, and model what you hope they will embrace.

By the way, if you have a problem with what I just described, answer one question... what would your attitude be if the previous paragraph was attached to a blog about teaching your child to read?

VB

For more tips on family worship, see my section on the subject in Family Driven Faith: Doing What it Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters who Walk with God.

Modesty--a different angle

I just read this article over at Time--interesting perspective.

Church in Trouble

Here are some signs from Perry Noble to see if one's church is in trouble. They are very thought-provoking...

#1 – When excuses are made about the way things are instead of embracing a willingness to roll up the sleeves and fix the problem.

#2 – When the church becomes content with merely receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!

#3 – The focus of the church is to build a great church (complete with the pastors picture…and his wife’s…on everything) and not the Kingdom of God.

#4 – The leadership begins to settle for the natural rather than rely on the supernatural.

#5 – The church begins to view success/failure in regards to how they are viewed in the church world rather than whether or not they are actually fulfilling the Great Commission!

#6 – The leaders within the church cease to be coachable.

#7 – There is a loss of a sense of urgency! (Hell is no longer hot, sin is no longer wrong and the cross is no longer important!)

#8 – Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!

#9 – The church is reactive rather than proactive.

#10 – The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.”

#11 – The goal of the church is to simply maintain the way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the big givers!

#12 – The church is no longer willing to take steps of faith because “there is just to must to lose.”

#13 – The church simply does not care about the obvious and immediate needs that exist in the community.

#14 – The people learn how to depend on one man to minister to everyone rather than everyone embracing their role in the body, thus allowing the body to care for itself.

#15 – When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.