Paul's Plans and God's Plans

Have you ever stopped to think how much of Paul's witness to Christ was given in circumstances he did not plan? I'm not debunking planning. It's essential. Paul had very clear evangelistic plans. That's obvious from Romans 15 and from the book of Acts. The point I'm making is that God is the master evangelistic planner. What he wants is people who wear the shoes of readiness to move with the gospel (Ephesians 6:15). And once we are moving with a heart for lost people, there will be many interruptions and surprises—but none of them without evangelistic purpose.

"They will deliver you up to prisons and take you before governors and kings. That will be a time for witness." In other words, always and in every circumstance—especially the unexpected ones, and the frustrating ones—be ready to bear witness to Christ.

HT: Desiring God

The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story

The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story from David C. Cook (Lifeway) publishing looks like a really neat Bible for young boys.  It's fully illustrated, comic book style, and includes over 200 Bible narratives in chronological order.  You can learn more about it at www.TheActionBible.com.  I think everyone might like taking a peek at this one, but especially young boys.  Pretty neat!

Journey to the Manger Day 2 // Isaiah 1:10-20

Eight hundred years before the Advent of the Messiah, the prophet Isaiah is called to live among God’s people, whom he describes as rebellious and stubborn. They are a sinful nation; a people weighed down by iniquity; they are an offspring of evildoers. The prophet even likens God’s people to Sodom and Gomorrah. These are dark days indeed–full of gloom and despair as the prophet exposes in painstaking detail the extent of Israel’s waywardness. Yet amidst this backdrop of darkness and faithlessness described so poignantly by Isaiah in the opening chapters, this same prophet a few chapters later speaks of a time when those who walk in darkness will see a great light. This light will shine forth in the darkness. Those who are in anguish will be filled with gladness and rejoicing. Hope for this glorious restoration is to be found most profoundly in a child who will be born. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The son to be born will reign on the throne of David. This king will establish righteousness and justice–precisely what is needed in a dark land. Let us rejoice this Advent season–for the child promised by Isaiah has been born. His light has come and shone into the darkness. This child born to us according to God’s plan of old is indeed our hope. He is the one who turns our gloom into rejoicing. Let us give thanks to God for the gift of his beloved Son.

Sign up to receive Advent devotions from the faculty at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary here.

Journey to the Manger: Day 1 // Psalm 146

The Christian life is summed up in this short psalm. 5 Praise, confession, conviction, comfort, exhortation – 6 all of these sprout up from the soil of Psalm 146. 7 The author begins in a posture of praise and worship, a 8 worship that includes creating melodies and spiritual songs 9 to the Lord. He then moves to the confession that God is, 10 as our Christian creeds echo, “Maker of heaven and earth.”

But the heart of Psalm 146 is what flows out of this prayerful confession. “Do not trust human leaders,” he says, “for there is no deliverance from them.” The shock we receive from this harsh exhortation is matched only by the fact that it applies to all human authorities. The psalmist does not have in mind only pagan rulers, but his own kin as well. The limitations of human authority are a result of their being finite, human, frail–they offer hope for a brief moment and then crumble. Even those rulers who shroud themselves in an aura of godliness are unable to bring deliverance, for their “breath” (ruah) will soon stop and the powerful will return to the dust of the earth.
Our hopes, our prayers, our longings for the Lord to fix this broken and sinful world must rest in the “one who keeps faith forever.”

Sign up to receive Advent devotions from the faculty at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary here.

Gospel Coach By Scott Thomas & Tom Wood

Just received my copy. Here's a quote that I can relate with, "Ministry leaders tend to be the most under-resourced members of the church, usually getting the least amount of support and attention."  Most pastors would probably say give me the support, but give Him the attention."  Unfortunately that's not how it usually works out.  The Church typically gives its leaders little support, much complaint, and all of their attention - not necessarily good attention.   Looking forward to digging in deeper and reviewing this here in a few weeks.

Time for Action on Behalf of the Persecuted Church

Sayed Mossa is a new believer in Afghanistan who is in jail in Afghanistan because he decided, of his own free choice, to follow Jesus. In this letter he managed to smuggle out through the hands of a Westerner, he describes daily beatings, torture, and sexual molestation. He stands to be executed for his decision to follow Jesus next week. He has a wife and 6 children, one of whom is disabled.

Read more.

HT: JD Greer

Giving Thanks for God's Crowning Mercies

All year long God blesses us by the grace extended to us through Jesus.  In his book Morning and Evening Charles H Spurgeon reminds us of the mind-bending reality of the graciousness of God's blessings upon our lives:

All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us; both when we sleep and when we wake His mercy waits upon us. The sun may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God never ceases to shine upon His children with beams of love. Like a river, His lovingkindness is always flowing, with a fulness inexhaustible as His own nature. Like the atmosphere which constantly surrounds the earth, and is always ready to support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all His creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and have their being.

Yet as the sun on summer days gladdens us with beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at certain seasons swollen by the rain, and as the atmosphere itself is sometimes fraught with more fresh, more bracing, or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours; its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifieth His grace before the sons of men.

Desiring God & Darrin Patrick Live Next Tuesday

Join Desiring God online next Tuesday, November 23rd, from 9-11AM (CST) as Darrin Patrick answers questions about all things church planting and pastoring. They will broadcast live that morning from Patrick's church in St. Louis, MO.

Desiring God writes:

Darrin is most recently known for his book, Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission (which you can now purchase in our online store). It hit shelves less than three months ago and was accompanied by a powerful trailer.

Darrin is a fitting person to talk about church planting: he pastors The Journey, a church he founded in St. Louis in 2002 which has seen remarkable growth, and he serves as Vice President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network.

We'd love to have some questions ready in advance for him. If there's one you'd like us to ask, please email it to dglive@desiringgod.org, or Tweet it using #dglive. And as always, we want to hear any more that come to you during the broadcast as well.

HT: Desiring God

The Jesus Juke

Ever been the recipient of a shame grenade from a Christian brother or sister? You know, when you're talking about something, even probably in a joking manner, and then someone turns the conversation in the opposite direction with a serious and holy comment. John Acuff, the funny and spot-on commentator and blogger (Stuff Christians Like) about Christian culture, calls this the "Jesus Juke." 

Why do we do that? Why do we Christians throw tiny, little shame grenades at each other?  Read John's post about the "Jesus Juke" and then don't do that.  As John points out, "I’ve never met someone who was “juked to Jesus.”

HT: SCL

Hit 'em With the Rock of Ages

“Rock of Ages” is a great hymn, one of the best.

Here is the bad news: It was written out of spite, by a bitter and narrow-minded young man who couldn’t keep his personal hatred from over-flowing into his prayers and songs.

Here is the good news: God rescued the hymn from the defects of its author and his worst intentions, and Rock of Ages is every bit as good as you think it is. If you skip the rest of this blog post, remember that.

Read more here.

HT: Bob Kauflin

Are We Amusing Ourselves to Death?

Click here for video: Albert Mohler, Mark Coppenger, Timothy Paul Jones, Bruce Keisling, and Owen Strachan talk about the classic Amusing Ourselves to Death

Albert Mohler, Mark Coppenger, Timothy Paul Jones, Bruce Keisling, and Owen Strachan talk about the classic Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman.

Download the audio here.

Five Ways to Get the Most Out of a Sermon

The Art of Listening might well be the most the important skill a Christian must develop, because Christianity is at its essence all about the Word of God. In fact, God himself is the Word (John 1:1) and the Word became flesh (John 1:2)—safe to say that if God is the Word then how we use our ears is pretty important. Furthermore, you can only come to faith through hearing (Rom. 10:14) and then you grow mature through hearing (Matt. 13:23).

The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord (1 Sam 3:21).

Do you get it? Seeing God happens through hearing. Our vision is through our ears. My friend, if you have either not yet come to Christ, or you have but are frustrated, confused, and not really growing, then I would bet big money that your problem revolves around not listening as you should. Here are some tips on listening well to a preacher, or to the Word of God in any context:

1. Get in range regularly

The reason Zacchaeus collided with Jesus was because he climbed the tree. If the soil is not in range of the sower then it isn't going to receive any seed. This first point isn't rocket science: you need to be regularly exposed to God's word. Try to do a few minutes of personal time each day with the Bible, and obviously ensure you are at church each Sunday. Get in range.

Read the rest here.

HT: The Resurgence

Male and Female He Created Them

"When Kevin Murphy entered as a freshman at Mount Holyoke, a Massachusetts women's college, in 2003, he was female. By the time he received his diploma, he was male."  That quote is from a recent CNN story, "Male, Female, or Neither?  Debating Gender-Identity at Same-Sex Colleges," covering the dilemma our culture increasingly finds itself in over issues of gender.

There's no question that we have made a mess of gender & sex in our culture, but no one can blame God for this one.  No one can say, "Why would God make me a man on the outside and a woman on the inside?" God doesn't do that, in fact He couldn't be any more clear.

Ed Young Wants You(r Bank Account Information)

Ed Young Goes After Access to Bank Accounts of Church Members from FBCJax Watchdog on Vimeo.

Too often, the church treats its members more like customers than co-laborers and the video above is a prime example.

HT: Timmy Brister

Five Ways the Early Church Practiced Discipleship

At the 2010 Verge Conference, George Patterson boldly announced that "discipleship is easy if we make disciples like the early church."  How? He said they did five things:

1. They presented the living, risen Christ, not just facts about Him.  Look at the Book of Acts for example;  over and over you hear the reality of the living, risen Christ proclaimed.  Patterson said that people today must experience the risen Christ and feel his presence in their lives.  How?  Through baptism, the Lord's Supper, loving, and prayer ... prayer for healing.

Christians "Exterminated" in Iraq

Chuck Colson writes an eye-opening article about the recent murder of at least 58 Christians at Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad at the hands of Muslim extremists. He also exposes the Western media's inattention to the persecution of Christians throughout the world, especially when that persecution comes at the hands of Muslims. Read Colson's article here.  To MSNBC's credit, they appear to have covered the killings in an honest and fair manner, saying "Islamic militants have systematically attacked Christians in Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime."

Piper's Confession of Having No Merit

This is my confession:

I was born into a believing family through no merit of my own at all.

I was given a mind to think and a heart to feel through no merit of my own at all.

I was brought into the hearing of the gospel through no merit of my own at all.

My rebellion was subdued, my hardness removed, my blindness overcome, and my deadness awakened through no merit of my own at all.

Thus I became a believer in Christ through no merit of my own at all.

And so I am an heir of God with Christ through no merit of my own at all.

Life Without Limits

Amazing life being lived to the glory of God!! Check his website & new book at http://bit.ly/bErvPw

What Makes the Great Commission Great

The Pastor's Mission from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Dave Harvey will be speaking at the upcoming Plant! Conference. If you are a church planter or on a pastoral team that is considering church planting, you should look into the Sovereign Grace Ministries Plant! Conference. It's being held on March 24-26 in Glen Mills, PA, and will feature Dave Harvey, Mark Dever, Darrin Patrick, Daniel Montgomery and C.J. Mahaney.

Preparing Students for College

College Ready is a good resource for pastors, parents and youth workers interested in helping prepare students for the worldly culture they will likely be immersed in on a college campus after they graduate from high school. Here's a description of the curriculum:

"College Ready can help you make the most of your college years. The six sessions of this high impact, DVD-guided series are designed to help you navigate the college maze, recognize the key areas where you'll need to succeed, and craft your own plan and personal vision. You'll be able to start right and finish well.

No one wants to stumble blindly through some of the biggest adventures and opportunities in front of them. You want to be clear. Confident. Prepared. And College Ready can help. It offers sound wisdom, eye-opening insight, and practical advice for what's ahead—and winning there.

College can, and should be, one of the best experiences of your life—a launch pad to your future. But for that to happen, be ready. College Ready!"


HT: College Ready

Rethinking the Mission of the Church

Kevin DeYoung's message from the fifth session of our 2010 Pastors Conference is now available for listening or download.

“Rethinking the Mission of the Church”

Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)

HT: Sovereign Grace