By Andy Farmer

I was talking recently to a pastor from another church about differences in the way our congregations are being led and built. We realized that we agreed on far more things than we were different. One difference we talked about was eschatology – the study of the final things. We differ in our understanding of how God is going to wrap up this glorious salvation project we call history. We affirm the same Gospel but we differ on the end times – so much so that we realize that we can do ministry together, but we probably couldn’t build a church together. What you believe about the end times will shape how you build the church in present times.

Historically there have been a number of different ways of understanding and applying the very challenging apocalyptic passages in the Bible. Sadly, many churches and believers have done great harm to themselves and others by taking their end times speculation well beyond what the scriptures actually teach. But within the Gospel-believing communion of faith, you can have some diversity in understanding the eschatology of the Bible. And since we are dealing with things that are to play out in the future, it is wise that we hold our own eschatology with humble hearts and minds.

As pastors, we want to avoid using eschatology as a calling card. In other words, we don’t want our church known for its views of the millennium, or what the mark of the beast really means, etc. – we want to be known for the Gospel. We also want to avoid using eschatology as a litmus test – whether we accept someone as a brother or sister in good standing based on whether they are getting ready for the Rapture or not. Eschatology should matter to us because Jesus is coming back and resolving everything that went wrong when sin entered the universe through man. That should stir our hearts to great hope and confidence. It should motivate us to reach out to the lost. And it should keep us serious and sober in a foolish world, as Peter called us.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. (2Peter 3:1-12a)

If you'd like to get a recent take on how we work in this area of eschatology, Jeff Purswell gives a great brief summary of what's important in our thinking in the following post:

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/The-Last-One-Jeff-Purswell-Eschatology.aspx

By Jonathan Doyle

This week we are celebrating God’s work in our teens. Today we’re sharing the testimony of one of our young men who was baptized on Sunday.


I was born in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and from about one month old I lived without parents in an orphanage in Cochabamba. I was very sick in the orphanage and spent a lot of time in the hospital alone following surgery on my right lung. I was in and out of the hospital many times until I was adopted by my parents at three and one half years old. In the world outside the orphanage, everything was new and scary: dogs, riding in cars, bumpy roads, hand dryers in bathrooms, even ice cream because I had never tasted anything cold before. But I loved my new family and their care and kindness to me.

My family loves the Lord and taught me about the Bible and God’s love for me through Jesus sacrifice on the cross. Every Sunday my family took me to church and I was involved in Children’s Ministry. When I was around eleven years old I had a conversation with my dad that changed my life. He showed me that I was walking in darkness by hiding my sin, but that when I confess my sins I step into the light and open my heart to God’s saving work. That same year while I was attending Youth Camp with my family (I wasn’t a camper yet!), God touched me during one of the messages and I responded during the ministry time. I was crying, and in seeing the depth of my sin I was beginning to understand the fullness of what God had done for me.

I don’t remember exactly when I became a Christian, but I know that Jesus took my place on the cross and died for me that I might live for him. When I was little I didn’t have a father. Now I have two fathers and two homes. I have an earthly father and home, and I have a heavenly father and an eternal home.

Now when I go to church I love to worship and pray and listen to God’s word preached. I am noticing an increased conviction about sin in my life and an increased love for God. I am more determined to meet with God each day. I still battle fear and doubt sometimes, but I use scripture to focus my heart and mind on the Truth. My relationship with my little sister is improving because I get convicted when I tease her or am mean to her and am able to ask for her forgiveness. I still have trouble with my lungs, but God is helping me to trust him for my life and future. I want to spread the Gospel and serve God every day of my life.

By Andy Farmer

Last week in our Acts series Jared spoke on the Gospel breaking out into the Gentile world as Peter came to speak to the household of Cornelius (Acts 10-11). You can catch the message at: http://www.covfel.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=120107

One of the main points of the passage is that the Gospel moving beyond its Jewish roots resulted in a transforming moment in human history. God was making salvation available to all mankind – regardless of race, ethnicity, or social standing. The Gospel invasion into the Cornelius household is the end of prejudice. Jared defined prejudice as when we give our own preferences and perspectives authority in how we accept or reject others. For a faithful Jew like Peter to fraternize with Gentiles was defiling – to potentially accept a Gentile as a brother was an abomination.

As I listened to Jared I was thinking, ‘who is the Gentile in my world?’ Since I’m a Gentile myself I have to go farther afield than Peter to answer the question. I think of someone of another race than me – but I live and fellowship in a multiracial church so that doesn’t seem to be a big challenge in my day to day experience. And then I thought – the Gentile in my world is gay.

It is clear from Scripture that Peter had a more than passing familiarity with the Gentile, yet to him they were patently unclean. I’ve had a variety of experiences with people in the homosexual community. I have had acquaintances and co-workers who were openly gay. I had homosexual professors who served as my academic mentors in college. Tragically, I have had childhood friends and even relatives who died of AIDS contracted in the homosexual lifestyle. There are brothers and sisters of mine in the Lord who struggle with homosexual temptation. I also have been the target of accusations that I’m a bigot and a fascist because my Christian faith defines homosexual behavior as sin.

In short, I’ve had plenty of reasons to have conflicting attitudes about gay people. And those reasons come not just from life experience but from a heart that recoils against people who seem different than me in ways that unsettle me. Like Peter, it can be hard for me to see my personal gentile as a real person whom God has created in his image. At best he or she is profoundly different – there is a gulf between us where no bridge is possible. At worst my mind conjures up the radical, anti-Christian activist who seems to delight to tear down the moral institutions that matter to me most.

So homosexuals make great modern day Gentiles. But if you’re perceptive you might object and say something like, ‘the gay person is not the same as Cornelius the centurion. Cornelius was born a Gentile; homosexuality is a choice.’ Even if that’s true (and you’ll get some pretty strong responses if you put that as your Facebook status), there’s a larger point here. In Acts 10:28 Peter made a radical confession; God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. When God declared the Gentiles ‘clean’, he wasn’t declaring them saved. He was declaring them eligible to receive the Gospel. In other words, there was no sin or state of being that set any person outside the call of grace. Whether a homosexual repents of his or her sins (rejection of Christ, not simply sexual preference and behavior) or not, we should see all men and women as worthy of our mercy and beyond the pale of our prejudice. We must never forget that somewhere, somehow, we are someone else’s Gentile.

Who is the Gentile to you? Who would you cross the street to avoid? Who would you instinctively dismiss from meaningful personal relationship? Who do you fear or reject simply because of what they are to you? Who in your mind is unclean and ineligible for the only hope for all mankind? There is a Cornelius experience out there for you – are you, like Peter, willing to go and meet it?

By Rob Flood

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just ask questions about what to do with our children, get the answers, and have everything work wonderfully?  Wouldn’t that make a great blog?  Well, it might make a popular blog, but not a great one.  A great parenting blog in the Christian world does not contain answers on what to do with your children.  It contains thoughts on how to think of your children.  It contains insights on how to understand and believe God for your children. 

This focus, how to think of your children and how to believe God for your children, is an important focus when it comes to entertainment choices.  While some things are clearly off limits and wrong, most forms of entertainment that draw our children are not as clear cut.  Coming to conclusions on these subjects is less like a fact-finding mission and more like unearthing an artifact.  It is not quick and to the point.  It is more like careful work, dusting and preserving what we’re after.

In a recent blog, C.J. Mahaney wrote on children’s use of video games.  I believe you will find it helpful as you seek to unearth and dust off the very personalized, nuanced path of parenting for each of your children.  Here is that blog. (click here.)

Also, let me recommend reading or rereading Chapter 6 from the Worldliness book.  In it, Jeff Purswell helps us see the world with biblical eyes: not as entirely good nor entirely wicked.  He challenges us with statements such as:

A biblical worldview sees every moment of life lived under the sovereign grace of God and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture’s story is emphatic: God’s rule extends to all of creation and therefore to all of our lives.  As Abraham Kuyper famously put it, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!” (p. 156)

This is a helpful approach to thinking about the world…those things that fall in the gray.  While there is no “one size fits all,” the principle of Christ’s lordship…therefore his ownership…is unwavering.

May God guide you as you discover his will for your family as it relates to video games…and the million other areas where we, as parents, must walk by faith.

By Andy Farmer

I spent a couple of days hiking in the mountains last week. Though as a pastor I love a life of community, there’s a part of me that really loves to get away into the open spaces. No emails or cell phones, no misunderstandings, no need to be careful what you say. No need to say anything at all. The only thing I’m listening to is the sound of the wind and crunch of rock and soil beneath my feet. My personal space expands to the horizon. Alone on the trail my mind clears and my thoughts are freed from the shackles of to dos and appointments and the buzzing noise of the hurried life. Who needs community when you have communion with nature?

But as I was walking I began to realize that the world of the great outdoors and the world of community are not as polar opposite as I might think. With the hike come the blisters – those festering irritations that threaten your progress and make each step an act of discipline. Life in community can have blisters as well. Folks can rub us the wrong way just by their very proximity to our lives – too close for comfort. And the small irritations left untended can rupture into offenses and confusion that stumble us in our tracks.

Whether you’re out on the trail or in cozy confines of community there are always pests as well. Outdoors they are the gnats and flies and other swarmy things that create a solar system around our heads. There is nothing like pausing to catch your breath only to have some flying bug go spelunking in your throat or windpipe. Life in community has enough pests to choke a rhinoceros. I’m not talking about pests in the form of people. I’m thinking of thought pests – worries about our appearance, cravings for attention or appreciation, anxiety over what people think about us. These pests aren’t content to buzz around our heads – they infest us from the inside.

Then there is the weather – winds coming out of nowhere, whipping up dust, pushing against your forward progress. Anybody who does any amount of hiking will tell you not to trust a cloudless sky. Storm clouds rumble up over the mountains changing a pleasant walk into a frigid and muddy ordeal. To spend time in nature is to welcome its challenges. And to spend time in community is to weather storms as well. In community there are oppositional winds, blowing us toward discouragement and fatigue. We can be caught up in storms of disagreement, or bogged down in the quagmire of relational conflict.

But whether we get away into the great outdoors or throw ourselves into the world of community, we do it for the beauty. We’re willing to put up with the inconveniences of our environment for the experience it brings us. For those of us who prefer our solitude in large doses, community is our place of reality and growth. For those who crave the support of community, solitude can remind us that being constantly in the crowd makes it hard to quiet our souls. The beauty of life comes in the God given rhythm of solitude and community, working together to keep us dependent on our Savior and not our environment. We hear his voice in the stillness and in the voices of those around us. We learn of him in private devotion and public worship. We see his expansiveness in creation and his intimacy in community.

As men let’s live the adventure wherever God chooses to make it happen.

By Ramona Doyle

Remember that poem that starts, “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth, I knew not where…”? I made a startling realization recently while reevaluating some of my priorities. Without intentional effort, I can easily live much of my life just like the archer in Longfellow’s poem, blindly shooting my energy and efforts in many directions, yet failing to hit any mark. To get to the point…when I aim at nothing, it’s easy to hit it.

But that is not how the Lord calls us to live our lives. He beckons a measure of intentionality when, in Ephesians 5:15-16, he cautions us, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The Lord kindly reminds us how important it is to focus our efforts in the various areas of our lives so that we can make wise choices and maximize our fruitfulness.

This point was driven home for me recently while taking the FPU course. We set some financial goals to guide our spending and saving. With measurable goals in mind for things like food and household items, I began to realize how much money I had previously been wasting for lack of a target. Meeting our goals required a greater measure of planning, which changed my haphazard spending habits and rekindled my excitement for cooking and serving creative meals to my family. My family is enjoying my cooking much more, and it seems we are eating better for less—much better for much less. We saw many dividends for an ounce of intentionality in the area of finances.

There are many areas of our lives where setting measurable goals and living with intentionality can pay abundant dividends: our devotional lives, our marriages, our parenting, our homemaking, our use of time, our service to the church, our care for our bodies. I find it helpful to seek the Lord, evaluate, talk with my husband, and set goals in these areas at least once a year. And the Lord, in his kindness, seems to multiply his grace so that the dividends from one area spill over into every area of my life.

Where are you aiming your energy and efforts? Perhaps it is time to target some measurable goals.

By Rob Flood

As creatures, we don’t get to determine the moments we face…just how we face them.  And so often, how we face them is not a decision we make in the moment but a response to how we’ve sown into our lives ahead of those moments.  These “divine appointments” become a stage for the training ground we’ve been on.

As men, we are called to face each moment that comes as godly men.  Some of us will be called to heroism: bravery in warfare, saving others from violence.  Some of us will be called to godliness in our manhood in far less spectacular ways: offering our umbrella during a storm or a coat in the cold weather.  Remember, we don’t get to determine the moments we face…just how we face them.

One member of our church, Adam Sacks, was presented with one of those moments recently in the airport.  While waiting on standby with many other passengers, he discovered a mother with two young children also waiting on standby.  It was quite late in the evening, yet her day began on the west coast at 6 a.m.  Needless to say, she was fatigued and those poor kids were wiped out.  Adam took some action.  The following is from an account written by his wife, Bethany:

After pleading her case with gate agents and pilots, Adam got the fuel of the Holy Spirit and thwarted the boarding process.  He boldly asked for the attention of every passenger in the area waiting to board.  He said with reckless abandon, "Norfolk passengers, may I please get your attention, this woman has been traveling since this morning and if she doesn't get on this flight she will spend the night with her children in the airport--will someone please join me and give up their seat so that she can go home and prove chivalry is not dead?!”  

Now, let’s keep some perspective.  Adam wasn’t going to change the world nor was he on some battlefield in warfare.  He wasn’t running the risk of being the main character in any Marvel comic books.  It was just a moment.  One that he decided to face with godly character.

While many men were inspired by his call to action…none stepped forward.  He was offering his seat but she needed two seats, not just one.  Making one more appeal, he proclaimed:

"Someone has to be more flexible then a woman with two small children.  Please help her!”

A voice came from the back of the crowd saying, “I will do it.”  It was a Christian woman.  Adam’s call for the men to prove chivalry was not dead was answered by a woman who had sown to her own character so she could face whatever moments Providence presented to her.

These two saints watched the other passengers board the plane while they stayed in the terminal.  But they also got to see the mother with her two children board the plane and enjoyed the sweetness of the Lord’s smile at their sacrificial, but ever so small, act of godliness.

Is there a moral to this story?  A couple.  First, no one is looking to put a cape around Adam’s neck.  What he did was admirable but what he did was small.  It was a passing moment that he decided to face with the love of Christ.  Second, and more importantly, whether we are called to the excitement of heroism or the dullness of the ordinary, we are called to face it like godly men.  Perhaps you get rear-ended in your neighborhood or you get overcharged at the mechanic.  Perhaps you get the wrong topping on your pizza or the Wawa deli counter put onions on your Italian hoagie.  Or maybe you find yourself in a devastatingly serious situation that requires real, abiding faith in Christ.  In any and all of these cases, we are called to be godly men.

We don’t get to determine the moments we face…just how we face them.  May we be men in this church that increasingly sow to our godly manhood.  Then, whatever Providence may present…we’ll be prepared to face it as men.  Men who love God.  And men who love others more than we love ourselves.  Then, for each of us, every moment can be a moment of godly masculinity.

by Andy Farmer

Watch out Blog-o-sphere – a new blog has been launched into the firmament!  Yours Truly has just started up his own blog.  Are you looking for the personal wit and wisdom of Andy Farmer unleashed from the editorial confines of the CFC blog?  Are you ready for penetrating cultural analysis?  Deep theological reflections in concise everyday language?  Sound biblical counsel for the challenges of daily life?  If that’s what you think is missing in the blogs you read….

You won’t find it on my blog. 

I’m calling it I See Dead People.  It is a blog devoted to one single purpose – to chronicle my quirky hobby of graveyard tourism.  What do I mean?  Well, I have a friend from high school whom I still keep up with and over time he developed a hobby of getting autographs and his picture taken with famous people.  He’s got a great collection.  I do kind of the same thing, except all my famous people are dead and therefore not available for autographs. 

So why this fascination with the dearly departed?  Here’s my explanation from the blog: 

Why this blog?  I like grave searching.  Why grave searching?  Maybe because I'm a history guy and this is tangible history.  Or maybe because pondering the inevitable earthly end of the great and the small helps me use my short time here to greater purpose.  You might call it odd; I call it tourism for the eternally minded.

Every month or so I'll put up a grave shot with some commentary so you can see dead people with me. 

I’m kicking off the posts with Jonathan Edwards.  But in future months you’ll have a chance to learn about: 

• The secret connection between A. W. Tozer and Lebron James.
• The well travelled head of Oliver Cromwell
• The Westminster Abbey of racehorses
• The common ground of Stonewall Jackson and a pioneer missionary to the Muslim world. 

And much, much more.  How can you resist?  And it’s only once a month – like a full moon. 

If you want to check it or subscribe just go to:  http://iseedeadpeople-andy.blogspot.com/.  Don’t try to Google to find me – I’m not that popular and you’ll run into some really weird stuff – comparatively speaking.  After all, I make a hobby of seeing dead people. 

By Andy Farmer

I came across an article in World Magazine that caused me to pause and rejoice.  Written by Anthony Bradley, the article is entitled “Mishandling Twenty-something’s”. 

(Read the entire article here:   http://online.worldmag.com/2010/06/02/mishandling-twentysomethings/)

It was a very insightful piece about the church’s challenge with men in their 20’s who really want to do something meaningful for Christ.  Bradley decries the tendency of churches to take their spiritually robust young men and send them away to seminaries in speculative pursuit of ‘ministry’.  Why can’t the church find a place for godly young men to make a difference right where the are planted?  Bradley writes,

This trend actually reveals the sad state of an American evangelical gynocentric church: Spiritually interested young men are the exception rather than the expectation.  These men tend to stand out because their twenty something men peers are generally absent in most churches and many of the others present are going through religious motions, attending because of parental legalism, or because of girlfriend or wife pressure.

On one level I can identify with this article – so many of the guys I met in seminary seemed to be there because they didn’t seem to know where to take their zeal besides full time ministry.  But on another, far more profound sense I couldn’t relate.  As I look around our church I see a legacy of young men who have chosen to press their passion into our church for over two decades.  I witnessed the impact of several of them last Friday night in the Reilly/Toe the Pacific concert – godly and gifted men using their gifts to edify the church.  I see it in the Fight guys – young college men studying and applying theology together and inviting high school guys to join in.  I see it in our two softball teams – young men competing for fun and bragging rights, but also reaching out to men of all ages through sports.  I see it in Grow, in Invest, in the Am I Called group, in the preaching lab.  All around us men are making a difference in service and example.  What’s more, our church is filled with men who are leaving their twenties’s, and even thirties, but who are no less serious or fruitful than they were in their younger years, even though now they are raising families and building careers. 

One of the things I’ve been most grateful for over the years is that this church has been a place where serious young men of God could find fellowship and opportunity to make a real difference.  That’s what was offered to me as a 26 year old man a quarter century ago, and that’s what a young brother can find today. 

Gynocentric church?  Not hardly!

By Al Everett

Editor’s Note:  This post by Al is longer than we usually blog, but in the way he unpacks the way God has dealt with him over the years I thought it would speak to a lot of guys.  For those of you who are confused in your present situation, let Al’s repeated discoveries of grace in God’s dealing encourage your faith!

I’ll never cease to be amazed at the countless ways my flesh finds to sidestep or overthrow the gospel in my life.  At least it tries to.  The Lord is faithful to regularly reveal these pockets of rebellion and has always given me grace to reorient my heart to the gospel.

I think I was probably saved when I was a child, maybe in middle school.  I’m still not actually sure; partly because since then, I’ve had several spiritual breakthroughs so life changing that they left me wondering if I was ever really a Christian before. 

One came as a young adult.  The young woman whom I was to marry suddenly called off the wedding and the relationship and gave no clear reason.  Turned out the reason married her himself just a few months later.  Devastated and bitterly angry, I spent three years in spiritual depression wondering who I was and how God could have allowed this.  It was a momentous struggle but God was faithful, not letting me go.  When the smoke had cleared the Lord had shaken me deeply, torn down strengths and assumptions and reoriented my life to serve him more single-mindedly.  Though I had been saved for ten years or so, for the first time, I began living my life to serve God alone.

Years later a less painful, yet no less reorienting revelation took control of my life.  By now I was married and raising three boys.  I was an active member and deacon of a local church and diligently serving God in as many activities as I could.  When two of my closest friends (and fellow leaders) took opposing sides of a doctrinal issue related to Christian obedience to the Old Testament law, my life would change again.  One felt it necessary to publically advocate his position in the church.  This led others, including my other friend, to publicly oppose him.  Coached by both of my more scholarly friends to adopt their position and oppose the other friend, I became confused and desperate to come down on the right side of this issue on my own.  I took to careful study of the Word and particularly, the purpose and place of the Law in the life a Christian.  Months later I emerged, convinced that everything I had been taught and believed about the Law and Gospel was upside down.  My study had revealed that my life was bound up, not in trusting Christ’s blood, but in keeping God’s Law, so much so that I found myself asking the question, “If I’m not meant to please God by keeping His law, than how am I to please God?”  The Lord answered me with Romans 7:6, “…we serve in the new way of the Spirit not in the old way of the written code.”  Though I had been saved for over twenty years, for the very first time, I came to understand the basic teachings of the Gospel and how the Holy Spirit of God worked on my behalf to produce obedience from the heart.

Recently I had another such reorientation.  It would bring many of my failures of faith into clear perspective.  After many months of very difficult trial, I found myself worn down and finding it difficult to maintain patience with people.  I was given a book, The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller.  The book is about the Prodigal Son’s elder brother, that brother’s rebellion against the grace his father extended to the Prodigal and, in more subtle ways, that elder brother’s rebellion against the father’s grace in his own life.  I read the book with little awareness of any need in my heart.  I actually got most of the way through it with no effect at all in my heart.  My wife picked up the book as well.  Not deceived in the least by my flesh, she immediately saw me throughout its pages.  She began to urge me to consider how much like this elder brother I have been.  I dismissed her.  After all, I had studied the Prodigal Son story.  I knew better than anyone this story was about the older son not the younger.  I knew it applied directly to the self-righteous Pharisees not the “sinners” they so despised.  I knew about Romans 7:6 and had studied the Gospel and how to apply it for years.  I had taught it to my family and friends and knew very well the trap of religiosity.  I knew how to preach the Gospel to myself and did so regularly, everyday.  No.  The “elder brother” was a religious person who depended on his religion, not the gospel, for his sense of right standing before God.  That was not me.

Wisely, my wife continued to pursue the issue.  As I said earlier, God does work in my life and since he often uses my wife, I decided drawing her out might be best.  However, another conversation brought no further conviction on the issue, but desiring to remain humble, I told my wife I would seek the Lord on the issue.

The Lord was quick to give many examples in my day-to-day life.  I was angry when people didn’t do what I wanted them to do, or when they didn’t seem to respond to my advice our counsel.  Angry outbursts and the quiet sins of impatience, intolerance, bitterness, rage, and gossip began to emerge in my life.  All of this against basically good people, people I loved yet people who failed to meet expectations – sometimes God’s but usually my own.  I realized this anger permeated my life.  It was the reason I woke up angry every morning, why I struggled to find joy in loving friends and family, and why I could always find the cloud in every silver lining.  

And worst, in spite of seeing all this, there remained a stubborn refusal to see myself as needing grace.  I was special after all, a chosen one, somehow seeing myself as being of a class set apart.  I had always found obedience to God’s laws and ways easy.  I did right because I loved doing right.  I lived by the rules.  I remained faithful to him.  “All these years I have slaved for you but did you ever have a party for me?”  

Suddenly it was clear.  I was the elder brother.  I was a rebel against grace.  But even when I sought to confess these things to my wife and friends, and to the Lord Himself, my flesh screamed in rebellion, “No, this is not you!”  And – as if I needed further evidence – when I grew disillusioned with myself and introspective and despondent because of these realizations, I could not bring myself to seek grace.  My inner Gollum screamed in defiance, “No grace hates us!  It wants to destroy us!”  I found a roadblock in my way.  Though I knew I desperately needed God, I returned again and again to seek evidence of my own faithfulness.

Finally, as I was listening to the worship song, The Prodigal, the Lord clearly revealed who I really am.  

"You held out your arms, I turned away.
Insolent, I spurned your face. 
Squandering the gifts you gave to me and holding close forbidden things. 
Destitute, a rebel still, a fool in all my pride. 
The world I once enjoyed is death to me, no joy, no hope, no life. 
Mercy’s robe, a ring of grace, such favor undeserved.  You sing over me and celebrate the rebel, now your child.”

I am no one special; just another sinner, recipient of His mercy, saved by His grace.  Though I had been saved for over thirty years, I suddenly knew deep inside that I too was a reckless rebel against God’s grace, just like all the prodigals around me.  And with that came the opportunity to begin to know what it really meant to receive undeserved mercy.  Praise God for it.  Praise him for his patience.  Praise God that once again he took me to the end of myself to show me the vastness of his love for me.

By Rob Flood

We can sometimes feel like we have the world standing against us.  Like we are the only ones who feel the way we feel, believe the way we believe, or follow God the way we follow God.  The rip current of the world can be so strong that we tire of standing our ground.  In our fatigue and discouragement, we reason why giving in is not so bad.  We deaden the convictions we once had and we surrender to the pull of the world.  Indeed, what can be accomplished with just one person standing strong?

Enter Martin Luther.

When standing before the Holy Roman Emperor and a council gathered to assure his silence…when standing against the whole world…one man took a stand. He was asked to retract all of his writings…writings that revealed the gospel to thousands for the first time.  His response was not complicated, but should have caused his death.

I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I cannot and I will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.  I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.

“Here I stand.”  Entrusting his next breath to the very God, Luther stood on the very gospel that saved him.  “Here I stand.”  No pressure from earthly powers…no threat of torture or hell…will move me from the God who saved me.  “I cannot do otherwise, here I stand.”  The courage of 1,000 men contained in the childlike devotion of a redeemed sinner.

What can be accomplished with just one person standing strong?  Covenant Fellowship Church stands in the confidence of the gospel because one man, compelled by faith, had the courage to pull the gospel out of the wreckage of tradition and shrouds of religion.  He put his life on the line to make the good news of Christ known.  One man, standing strong on the gospel, lit a fire that burns 500 years later.

Luther was just one man.  He was just one man in a chain of saints…each standing strong on the gospel…each compelled by their conscience before God to do no other than to stand.

There are stories of such men and women in this church.  At the threat of great cost and with nothing but the promises of God to stand on…still they stand.  Our church is stronger because of them.  Our faith is bolstered because others stood on the gospel.

Sometimes, we feel like we have the world against us.  Perhaps it’s at work, or at home, or in our extended families, or even in the shadows of our own hearts.  What can be accomplished with just one person standing strong?  A revolution.  A revival.  A reformation.

Where will you stand?

By Chris Radano

“God is over all things, under all things; outside all; within, but not enclosed; without but not excluded; above but not raised up; below but not depressed; wholly above, presiding; wholly beneath, sustaining; wholly within, filling.”  – Hildebert of Lavardin as quoted in A.W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy.

I don’t recall exactly when I first learned about God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence…the three omni’s as they’re referred to.  I’ve thought about them, casually talked about them, but am not often amazed by them.  This is perhaps most true of the omnipresence of God.  However, I recently became excited about God’s omnipresence in a way different than his omnipotence or omniscience.  I think generally we have little problem understanding the concept God’s omnipotence, insofar as we can easily imagine a person with bigger muscles than ourselves.  And likewise for us to contemplate omniscience as we know there could be someone out there with a bigger brain than say, Einstein, Aristotle, or even Solomon.  However, when I think of the omnipresence of God, my mind has a more difficult time grasping God’s presence everywhere, fully and not divided, at all times.  Instead, I too often think of God in one place, then quickly zipping around to another place in a microsecond, until he’s finished, brushing his hands until something worth going to comes up.  Or I think of his omnipresence as if he’s some sort of giant looking over the earth addressing multiple things at one time…like a cosmic multi-tasker.  And yet I know it’s more than that.

As I try to grasp an understanding of God’s omnipresence from the Bible, I can too easily get locked into thinking of God’s presence through chronological scriptural accounts, as if he is moving from one story to another, like an episodic television series.  I also underestimate the impact of God’s omnipresence even when it’s explicitly stated in scripture.  For me this awakening moment occurred recently while I was reading the story of Job and wondered of the relative timeline of Job in the Old Testament.  While little is known about the time of Job, speculation of it being as early as the time frame of Abraham or as late as the time of the Babylonian exile excited me.  I grew amazed about the possibility that while God was testing Job through affliction, he could have been making his promises or sealing his covenant with Abraham.  Or while God questioned Job with rapid fire-like intensity, he simultaneously may have been showing Ezekiel revelations of his departing glory from the temple.  Wow!  Now, whether or not these events did in fact overlap doesn’t really matter to me.  Initially, it revealed my unconscious tendency to limit God to doing one big thing at a time in a single location.  But as I meditated on this, I believe God provided a practical picture of his omnipresence, through scripture, to help understand what’s written about his character in scriptures like Psalm 139:7-10.  God is everywhere, fully.  These are the moments when I put down my pen and my book and worship the God that is infinitely greater than me and more glorious than any human being.  Without such a picture, God’s omnipresence looked no different to me than a busy politician going from one appointment to another.

I wonder if we experienced God in the way Job or Abraham experienced Him, that we might feel more blessed than others.  Yet to think that at the exact same time, someone else may be experiencing an equally deep and powerful personal relationship with the same God inspires confidence in the majesty of our God.  Omnipresence is still harder for me to grasp than his omnipotence or omniscience, however, by the Spirit’s continual illumination of scripture, it’s becoming easier to now imagine a God who can do all things and know all things for all people throughout the world…at the same time.

By Josh Wann

 

Having the opportunity to travel around and participate in panel discussions on music has given me the ability see that God's people have a lot in common.  It's encouraging to see believers wrestling with similar things in an attempt to honor the One that called them to be set apart.  The majority of my time, I find myself in front of young people who dwell in an urban context.  As a result, one of the hottest discussions always develops around the topic of secular music.

 

Let me unpack some of the implications of this discussion.  Those that find themselves tuning the radio to hear the "hottest hip-hop and R&B" are confronted with lewd depictions of godlessness in a very attention grabbing package.  It is music that speaks their language, but it also addresses issues that matter most to them, even if it uses crude and vulgar content in the process.  But this has been one of the reasons that Christian hip-hop can be such a powerful tool.  It uses the same packaging, but presents different content.  As an alternative, "hip-hop heads" (an endearing term for avid hip-hop/rap listeners), who are also believers, can now enjoy the music that is their preference, but without the guilt of knowing that they are not honoring their Savior.  Though there is well-crafted stuff out there, the challenge with non-Christian hip-hop music is that the majority is flagrantly foul and there doesn't seem to be much of a neutral middle ground.  With that in mind, we must see how we can wrestle with a wicked culture, but remain unblemished during the interaction.

 

The question that challenges believers of every generation is, "How do I wrestle through the command to live in the world, but to not be influenced by the world?”  The cultural expressions may change, but the overarching reality that we live in and interact with our cultures never fades.  As I sort through this, I find myself wrestling with 3 options.  1) I can choose to jump head first into the culture with no blinders on, which inevitably leads to being influenced by the culture.  2) I can choose a form of modern monasticism, which moves me so far out of the culture that I lose my influence.  3) I can learn how to be discerning and interact with my culture, but only to the point of remaining influential, not influenced.  My goal is to strive for the latter point.  How I do it is the hard part.

 

In answering these questions, I always face the temptation to run to point 1 or 2.  Admittedly, it would be much easier for me to float along with the current of the culture.  Amidst all of the current media outlets, all I have to do is to open my eyes and ears to encounter the world.  How much easier it would be to live life this way!  With no concerns of what I digest, I can mistakenly think that living an unrestrained life is actually freedom.  When those temptations arise, I must bring to mind the psalm of Asaph - Psalm 73.  Only with an eternal perspective can I battle my desires that want to be immersed in my culture.

 

On the other hand, running from the culture looks very attractive, too.  A common question I ask myself is, "If I could just live life in seclusion with no TV wouldn't I be much holier"?  As I ask this I'm reminded of the Pharisees.  They too looked to outward actions to produce their godliness.  I guess that doesn't work for me, either.  It was Paul, when writing to the church at Colossae, that reminded them that their tendency towards asceticism was "of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh".  In fact, Paul went on to tell them to turn their attention to Christ, where He is seated at the right hand of God.  In light of this, I now have some sort of framework with which to engage my culture.

 

If I am successful in setting my mind on things above, only then will I be able to navigate through my culture.  When I taste and see that the LORD is good, then how tasteless will the world be!  My affections will be fresh for the Savior and will allow me to be the salt of the earth.  As I am given grace in this area, I am now free to interact with my culture.  I don't have to worry about separating myself (physically) from my culture because I know that one day I will be separate from it.  I am not of it.  I do not belong to it.  I don't find my identity in the culture or buy into it’s prescriptions for life.  Rather the opposite is true.  I see the culture for what it is and pray that I can be the fragrant aroma of Jesus.

 

By Andy Farmer

 

I’m fascinated with myself.  What I mean is that I’m fascinated with people, of which I am one.  I’m fascinated by what makes us tick and why we don’t all tick alike.  The other day I was thinking about how I think – why some things seem easy to remember (like the lyrics to pop songs that I didn’t even like when they were popular) and other things seem totally unretainable (like how to work my point and click camera that is supposed to be so easy it doesn’t need directions.)  In doing this little thinking exercise I found myself stumbling into clarity that I didn’t’ expect.  I don’t know if this qualifies as insight, or even if it is valid, but it seems clear to me so I’m going with it.  So here goes.

 

There are two types of thinkers – Flow Thinkers and Stuff Thinkers. 

 

Flow Thinkers take in information and flood it with emotion and feelings.  This turns information into mental fluid which can slosh around our brains and fill in wherever there is space for it.  The great thing about Flow thinking is that we can blend things that wouldn’t seem natural to go together and come up with really creative stuff.  I think that’s what happens with artists.  Artists are Flow Thinkers (at least in my analysis).  They take in information, puree it on a sensory/emotional level, blend it with other fluid information they have sloshing around in their brains and then spray it out in some form that is totally particular to them.  When Flow Thinking works well it produces art and originality.  When it doesn’t it produces relational chaos and unemployment.

 

Stuff Thinkers take in information and distill out subjectivity so that what is left is easily quantifiable and manageable and objective stuff.  This stuff can be readily stored in pre-organized categories for future use.  As need arises, Stuff Thinkers can go to the Stuff Warehouse of the Brain and pull material that is appropriate for the task at hand.  Because it is pre-molded, stuff can be arranged or built into a complex of ideas or strategies that can then be converted into logical actions and decisions.  Whether they have the education or not, Stuff Thinkers are engineers at heart.  They will spend a great deal of time and energy making sure they’ve got the right stuff to work with and are putting it together in the most systematic way.  When Stuff Thinking works well you get order and progress.  When it doesn’t you get … relational chaos and unemployment.

 

Maybe I’m oversimplifying a bit here.  Maybe.  But I do believe that we have a way we like to organize the information of life that seems to work for us.  But we may be totally unaware of the benefits of thinking outside of our little Flow or Stuff mentalities.  We may have little appreciation of the way others think.  And all too often we may be oblivious to the downside of our thinking habits.  

 

Proverbs 28:26 tells us that “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”

 

Maybe when we’re thinking about our thinking we should remember that wisdom includes knowing how to keep that which should stay flow as flow, and that which should stay stuff as stuff.     

By Bill Patton

In Proverbs 1, wisdom calls to the simple and to the scoffer.  She persistently stretches out her hand, offering abundant and valuable reproofs and counsel.  But men refuse to hear wisdom.  They forsake wisdom.
 
So, the Proverbs say, Wisdom will laugh at their calamity.  When distress and terror and anguish come upon them, Wisdom will mock them and refuse to hear their cries.  Because they foolishly rejected the fear of the Lord, because they hated knowledge, because they despised wisdom, fools will reap the distress, terror and anguish their folly inevitably brings.
 
But Wisdom does not laugh at the wise.  Amazingly, the text says that whoever listens to wisdom will dwell securely.  Those who embrace wisdom will not dread disaster.  So Wisdom keeps the wise from anguish; wisdom brings them security and freedom from calamity.
 
So, the question I ponder this morning is this:  Did Christ’s perfect wisdom protect him from calamity, anguish, and disaster?
 
Well, to a point, it did.  Again and again, Jesus escaped disaster.  From the days when Herod tried to kill him, to the many times his enemies hatched murderous plots against him, Jesus was miraculously kept from calamity.  His soul we free from anguish.  Wisdom protected him perfectly.  But then something changed.  
 
In Gethsemane Jesus’ soul is seen to be in great distress.  Up to that moment we read of no calamity, no deep anguish, and no disaster befalling him.  But in the garden we observe something astonishing and strange:  The wisest man who ever lived is in profound distress.  He is in tremendous anguish.  He is facing the disaster of the cross.
 
Proverbs 1 tells us that the simple are killed for their turning away, but Jesus turned not away!  It tells us that the scoffer reaps calamity for his scoffing…but Jesus scoffed not.  Why the calamity of the cross?  Why, upon the cross, does Wisdom mock Jesus?  Why, upon the cross, does Wisdom laugh at his calamity?  Why upon the cross does Wisdom refuse to protect him?
 
Well, the answer is a mystery difficult to fathom:  On the cross, the wisest of all, reaped the fool’s penalty.  On the cross, Wisdom bore the disaster fools deserved.  Wisdom protected Jesus until He took upon himself the folly of the world.  He who knew no folly became folly for those who forsook wisdom.  At that point, Wisdom utterly forsook him.
 
But Wisdom is always just.  So the Father raised Him and made him the King of Kings.  Here is a deep and mysterious wisdom even King Solomon could not fathom:  The love of God for fools.

By  Andy Farmer

This is the second post reflecting on a book I recently completed.  It is a small, 103 page biblical theology on the Kingdom of God and the church entitled, well, The Kingdom of God and the Church.  The author is Geerhardus Vos, a Dutch/American theologian of the turn of the 20th Century who taught at Princeton Seminary along side the last of the orthodox lions of that great institution, B. B Warfield and J. Gresham Machen.  Vos is known as the ‘Father of Reformed Biblical Theology’, which might not mean a lot to some folks.  But his works on how the story of redemption plays through the entire Bible are foundational for understanding the grand purpose and beauty of the Scriptures as they reveal the Savior, Jesus Christ.
 
In this book Vos has accomplished an extraordinary task of taking the massive theological topic of the Kingdom of God and pressing its essential Biblical theology into a small and very readable text.  I ended up using it in my devotions and found myself regularly stopping and pondering the deep significance of some of the truths he was offering in small measure throughout.  Here’s another statement that spoke volumes to me.  

Faith and unbelief are experiential states and acts in which the whole spiritual condition of the individual comes to light.  (100)
    
This statement comes near the end of the book, following a wonderful discussion on repentance and faith.  To Vos, repentance and faith are "the two main aspects of the kingdom, righteousness and the saving grace of God, translated into terms of subjective human experience.”  In evangelism we talk about bringing the Gospel to the unbeliever; in mission we talk about reaching the unbelieving world.  Yet I’m not sure we think well about what ‘unbelieving’ means.  What we encounter in experience in evangelism and mission is not people who see themselves as ‘unbelievers’ but as people who ‘believe differently’.  And when we accept that premise as the starting point of outreach, we find ourselves trading in a market that places no value in what we offer.  We may begin to debate on the superiority of our message, be tempted to offer attractive temporal benefits of our system, or adapt our message to the tastes of those with whom we speak.  In any case we succumb to the fallacy of ‘relative unbelief’ – that resistance to God is something that can be overcome with strategy, persistence or our own great example.  But Vos presents faith as a gift of God, the sovereign activity by which He overcomes the sinful unbelieving heart with the saving power of the Gospel.  Unbelief is not alternative belief.  It is a spiritual deadness of our soul to God – an experiential state as well as a religious one – which can only be remedied by divine intervention.  

It might not be good outreach strategy to address our neighbor, co-worker, family member to their face as a ‘rank unbeliever’.  It certainly doesn’t seem loving.  But in our minds and hearts and prayers we need to keep in mind that faith can’t be teased out by our efforts.  Saving faith is God’s doing and we are privileged beyond all reason to participate in the sowing of the seeds which give birth to it.  

This statement takes on a whole different connotation when I think about personal ministry to my brothers and sisters.  At times I’ll ask somebody if they are struggling with unbelief.  Often the response is something like, ‘I’m sure I am’, followed by a ‘but what I’m really struggling with is…..’  But to Vos unbelief is an ‘experiential state and act in which the whole spiritual condition of the individual comes to light’.  It isn’t something you can skip over in the inbox of the soul to get to the real problem.  If the key to life in Christ is faith, then in some sense the key to struggles in life is unbelief.  This doesn’t mean that effective pastoral or personal ministry is summed up in squashing unbelief.  But it does seem that to truly help people we need to be able to discern how the ‘whole spiritual condition’ of those we are counseling is affected by unbelief.  And it seems that we need to be able to address truth to the specific manifestations and strongholds of unbelief in a person’s life.  Effective ministry is helping people appropriate honest and grace empowered faith to the difficulties of life.  Our practical theology of faith must contain biblically informed remedies against the dissipating effects of unbelief.  Vos has given us a one sentence truth agenda that can serve us in every evangelistic and personal ministry situation we face.   

By Andy Farmer

I’ve really enjoyed watching these Olympic Games.  And not just because the US has been rocking it on the medal stand.  Some of the things I’ve enjoyed most are not involving US athletes.  In contrast to other years, it seems like there is relatively little politicking and whining going on.  Also, it seems that except for the unexpected ‘agony of defeat moments’ where an athlete falls or fails to finish, it is taking truly great performances to win medals.  Competitor after competitor is doing a personal best, only to have that topped by somebody else’s personal best.  And that’s what makes for good sports, no matter who wins.

This brings me to what is still in my mind the greatest Olympic moment of all – the 1980 US Hockey Gold medal.  In the movie “Miracle” Kurt Russell does a great Herb Brooks, including one of the all time best rallying speeches in the history of sports.  You can check it out here (note there is one bit of mild coarse speech in this).

But after you watch that you’ve got to check out this version of the speech delivered by 5 year old Josh Sacco – it’s outstanding!  They interviewed him on SportsCenter and he talked about how he went and delivered the speech to the US Hockey team before they played the Canadians this past weekend. Is that cool or what?

And finally, if you haven’t had enough, here’s Herb Brooks played by Kurt Russell, with voiceover by Josh Sacco.  

I love the Olympics!

By Bill Patton

 

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon, a Saturday.  The warm sun beckoned grandfatherly homeowners like me to step outside and get something done.  The grass didn’t need mowing.  West winds had yet to dislodge thousands of quivering yellow leaves from the maple trees; no need to rake.  So I decided to stow the garden hoses in the garage for winter.  As I finished winding-up the first hose something happened that shattered my Saturday afternoon repose.

 

Tires screeching, a young man shouted some terribly vile expletives at me from a passing car as it pulled away from the High School near my house.  Using great economy of words he told me what to do and challenged my masculinity.  As the car roared away my thoughts were retributive and angry:  “What’s wrong with winding up a garden hose on an autumn Saturday?”  You think I’m less of a man for doing that?  Is this your idea of fun -- to shout obscenities at gray-headed grandfathers without cause?  If I’m so feminine, why not curse me to my face, you insufferable little coward!”

 

In a flash, I imagined I was righteous Elisha being taunted for his bald head by some Hebrew youths.  Two bears came out of the woods and ate those teens for lunch.  It serves them right.

 

Then my imagination went completely over the top.  I suddenly became….  Jack Bauer, of TV’s “Twenty-Four.”  Jack is a grandfather too, you know.  In the real world I was peacefully hanging up a garden hose in my garage…but in my imagination I was driving an unleashed 4.6 liter V-8 Mustang GT, rapidly converging on an evil cell of obscene-word-bombers who terrorize old people.  I imagined that with my CIA back-up’s high-tech help, I found mister-hot-stuff teen driver just as he pulled into his driveway.  I must have threatened some kind of torture if he refused to divulge the location of his head-out-the-window, curse-the-grandpa, terrorist friend -- because the kid coughed out an address, trembling.  I jumped back into my Mustang to continue the chase.

 

A comment Sue made to me once, as I watched “Twenty-Four”, suddenly came to mind.  “Maybe you shouldn’t be watching that violent show.”  Righteous thoughts have a way of ending corrupt daydreams.  “OK Lord, please forgive my vengeful, angry spirit toward the cussing kid.  I’ll try to be more careful.  Only please…allow me to watch the next season of “Twenty-Four”. 

 

But then the Holy Spirit began a deeper work, bringing to mind a CJ Mahaney sermon, and the convicting words of a hymn:

 "Behold the Man upon the cross My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers"

 

At that moment, imagination began to work with, rather than against, the gospel.  I saw my many sins as vile insults hurled at Christ.  I saw my disobedience repeatedly putting the Savior to open shame.  I saw my innumerable transgressions weighing him down so much, he could scarcely breathe.  I heard my mocking voice.  Then I heard him gasp a prayer for me.  “Father, forgive him, for he knows not what he does”.  

 

“Lord, I am so unlike you,” I prayed.  “I have mocked, insulted, and cursed you again and again.  Yet you have shown me unending mercy.  Lord, please extend your love and mercy to that boy who hurled profanity at me without cause.  Please, Lord, save him.”

 

As I stepped out of the garage to wind up a second garden hose, I marveled: How kind of the Holy Spirit to use a crude insult to remind me of the gospel -- and cause me to pray for a restless kid who needs a Savior.

By Andy Farmer

 

I don’t tend to like to make social commentary on a blog, but I couldn’t resist.  Here it is a couple of weeks away from the Winter Olympics and I’ve been presented with an ethical dilemma.  I’m a life long Olympics fan (both summer and winter games) and over my history I have learned that controversy comes with the Games.  I have vague memories of the 1968 Games and the black power salutes on the 100 meter medal stand.  Politics has always been an issue – who can forget the absurd boycotts of the 1980 and 84 games.  And of course you’ve always had the judging problems and the performance enhancing drug scandals.  So I’m no purist when it comes to ‘the Olympic Ideal’. 

 

But the Fox Fur Predicament has me in a no – win situation.  Here’s the deal.  US figure skater Johnny Weir has decided his uniform of choice should include, among various swirls and sequins, fox fur trim.  But now People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have pressured Weir to drop the fur.  Here’s the story along with a picture so you get the idea of what Mr. Weir is styling these days and why this is a big issue.  http://www.idahostatesman.com/450/story/1059905.html

 

 

So why is this my problem?  Well, like I said, I don’t mind controversy in my sports, but I like to land on one side of the issue.  And this one has me flummoxed.  Do I (assuming I ever had the chance to make my case to Weir or PETA) say,

 

“PETA, do us all a favor.  Get Johnny to dump the fir.  While you’re at it see if you can talk him into a hoodie and sweats. 

 

Or, do I say to Johnny,

 

Listen Sport; don’t let the Animal ACLU push you around.  It’s a free country – wear whatever you want – just bring home the Gold!

 

Either place I land some sensibility in me gets messed with.  I don’t really want animal rights zealots (as much as I love animals) brow-beating people on their costume choices.  But I don’t want my USA male athletes prancing around in fur trim tights.  Probably the only thing that would satisfy me is to see JW skating around in a hoodie and sweats in a routine set to Ted Nugent songs.  But that may be more than I can hope for with two weeks left to go before the Olympics. 

 

On a related note, here’s a picture of Jill and me at the International Olympic Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland a couple of years ago.

 

Bring on the Games!

By Al Everett

 

I have never really liked winter.  As a young man I suffered from what doctors might call Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD for short.  Basically it meant I would be SAD in the winter because of the decreased amount of daylight.  Each year, as Day Light Savings Time ended, the dread would begin to build and soon become debilitating depression that would last until the first real harbinger of spring – the Phillies’ spring training games.

 

Over time I began to wonder if what the doctors diagnosed as a disorder might not actually be ordinary bitterness – a simple anger at God for allowing me to suffer the cold.  The proof of this theory came along when I decided confession was a better treatment for my bitter spirit than the doctor-recommended light treatments.  As a result, the Lord led me into what would truly be my first winter without being SAD for as long as I could remember.

 

Don’t get me wrong though.  In spite of that grace, I still hate being cold.  So when I get out there like most guys and start chipping away at the ice on my driveway on those below freezing days, you can bet I am struggling to find joy.  The old bitterness may be gone but man, I still do not like the cold. 

 

One winter’s day, as I was chipping away at said ice on my driveway, feeling a little joy-challenged, I began to daydream about my garden.  (Yes, real men do garden, but that is a post for another day.)  As I struggled with that ice, I started looking around and seeing a plant here and another there.  I felt joy building as I thought,

 

"Yes...that plant will soon be green again, and that one there, it’ll soon be covered with pink and purple fragrant buds, and that row of sticks, those skinny, dead twigs, they will be filled with flowers that will bring the hummingbirds and the butterflies." 

 

I remembered the warmth of summer and the joy of splashing with my daughter in our pool.  For a few minutes the ice and gloom were gone and I was in my swim trunks, smelling burgers on the grill and hearing the crack of a baseball against a bat.

 

C.S. Lewis wrote that Narnia was a place where it was "always winter but never Christmas," a sad metaphor for a world separated from God.  You know, our present struggles in this world are winters of a sort, but because of the cross, with every winter comes a spring, with every death comes a resurrection.  If we look only at the cold and darkness of this present winter, we will be joy-challenged.  But if we can focus our sluggish souls on the spring to come, as God works all our trials together for our good, imagine the joy that His Spring will bring.  Believing is seeing and you can see it and rejoice in it now, even while living in the throws of today's cold and ice.  God's grace brings the hope of spring into our present day reality.  Though we now endure circumstances of winter, we have hope for the spring as the power of Christ's resurrection builds in the darkness of our lives, anticipating the day it will explode in joyous, glorious, fragrant spring. 

By Andy Farmer

One thing that happens in the blog world is the emergence of certain blog trails, where an issue gets picked up and added to through several sources.  I came across one of these trails a couple of days ago involving television journalist Britt Hume. 

I picked up the scent on Josh Harris’ blog, where he focused on some amazing comments made by Hume on his Christian Faith.

Here’s Hume on being a Christian,

Christianity is uniquely and especially about redemption and forgiveness.  That is what the cornerstone of what the faith is about.  Now other faiths aren't hostile to the idea, but think of what the message of Christ and Christianity is.  It is that the God of the universe sent His only begotten Son, who died a hideous death on the cross, to atone for all of our sins.  And we are thereby offered through that act a new covenant in which we are offered forgiveness and redemption on a continuing basis in return for our faith in God and our continuing efforts to live the Christian life.  That is a unique doctrine.

Pretty amazing stuff.  But Josh’s blog also led me to Justin Taylor’s site where he comments on an interview Britt did with Bill O’Reilly where he comments on things he said regarding Tiger Woods and his need for Christ.  You can check that out here.

Taylor’s blog gives more background on this well known figure who retired from the top of his profession so that he could better serve the Lord in his family and in community. 

Let’s pray for men like Britt Hume who, though he is no longer reporting from the White House, are seeking to make good use of the public platform God has given them in our culture. 

By Andy Farmer

In my devotions these days one of the books that is feeding me is J. C. Ryle’s classic book “Holiness.”  Ryle is writing in the 1800’s to address tendencies in his Christian culture for people to go to extremes.  One extreme is to see holiness is something we ‘get’ through some powerful spiritual experience – what was then called a ‘higher life’.  The other is to view holiness as a comparative thing – it’s OK as long as long as you don’t get too carried away with it.  In other words, Ryle was writing to people like you and me.  

In his third chapter he attempts to unpack the practical reality of holiness.  Reading his description has become a great test of my own desires for holiness.  Men, as we head into the new year let’s put ourselves under the Ryle’s practical holiness test.  Where is God putting his attention for our holiness in the coming year?  What clear deficiencies need to be addressed if we are to grow in practical holiness?

The following list is a summary of Ryle’s description of practical holiness with an application question to consider following each item.  Perhaps there are one or two items on Ryle’s list that the Lord has put on your list for 2010.  If you’re searching for some good sound reading for life change – get the book.  It is a true classic.

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture.

• What role is the Bible currently playing in the way you make decisions?  

A holy man will endeavor to shun every known sin and to keep every known commandment.

• Are there any areas where you know you are failing to obey God, and not doing anything about it?  

A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ.

• When was the last time you soaked in one of the Gospels – and learned about the way to follow Jesus?  

A holy man will follow after meekness, longsuffering, gentleness, patience, kind tempers, and government of his tongue.

• How do you do in situations where you are wronged?  

A holy man will follow after temperance and self–denial.

• Are there any areas of excessive self-indulgence that you are falling into on a regular basis?

A holy man will follow after charity and brotherly kindness.

• Are you battling the tendency of self protection or self promotion with love toward others? 

A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy and benevolence towards others.

• Are you looking for opportunities to do good to others?  

A holy man will follow after purity of heart.

• Is there anything you regularly watch or listen to that would defile your heart?

A holy man will follow after the fear of God.

• Is there anything you regularly do simply because it pleases the Lord for you to do it?

A holy man will follow after humility.

• Are you looking for opportunities to promote the interests of others over your own?

A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all the duties and relations in life.

• Do you see faithfulness to your responsibilities as a blessing?

Last, but not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual–mindedness.

• Are you looking to order your life around the things that stir your thirst for Christ?

By Andy Farmer

 

When I was growing up life was simple.  There were really only four college bowl games that really mattered.  The Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl.  We didn’t care about the national championship – mythical, BCS or otherwise.  We just wanted New Years day to have great football. 

 

Now, of course, we have a gazillion irrelevant bowl games with names advertisement names.  That doesn’t mean that its bad football.  In fact, each year some of the best games happen in these little bowls, even if all we see is highlights on Sportscenter.  But for me, its too much football, to along with the two much sugar, too much fat, too much couch and clicker time that is part of the holiday ritual.

 

In preparation for the bowl glut, I thought it might be good to pass along a short video that can help bring some perspective.  This is an ESPN piece on a little boy who loves sports.  And for once, sports actually return the favor.  In the world of biblical faith we call this a story of common grace – evidence that God is at work in mercy even where he isn’t being glorified.

 

Enjoy – and Happy New Year 

 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4695418

By Tim Ashford    

I recently listened to a biographical sketch on John Bunyan.  I’m was reading The Pilgrim’s Progress, so it was fitting to hear about the life of the man who wrote it.  The Pilgrim’s Progress is not all that Bunyan wrote, though.  I learned from the bio that he wrote a lot of things.  Many of his writings were penned during times of severe trial and persecution.  During the message I was listening to, a quote from another of Bunyan’s works stuck out to me.  It continues to affect me as I think about it.  He wrote on the cost of Christian discipleship:

“Following of me [Christ] is not like following of some other masters.  The wind sits always on my face and the foaming rage of the sea of this world, and the proud and lofty waves thereof do continually beat upon the sides of the bark or ship that myself, my cause, and my followers are in; he therefore that will not run hazards, and that is afraid to venture a drowning, let him not set foot into this vessel.”

In America, living for Christ is often times less than life threatening.  Bunyan’s life and testimony, though, is a glass of cold water splashed on my face in the land of ease.  He reminds me that those who follow Christ must lean hard on Him for the grace to be courageous.  The Master I follow is a stench in the nostrils of a world that functions on principles and practices that evoke His wrath.  Following Him will inevitably bring ridicule from those who oppose Him.  As a disciple of Christ I am not called to complacency but to courageously stand up and be counted for Him.  

At the outset this idea may appeal to us as men.  There’s something about standing up for what you believe that inspires us.  It’s honorable.  Brave.  Loyal.  But if the truth be told I think we all have our fair share of Peter Moments - “I do not know the man” (Matthew 26:74).  When’s the last time you thought better speaking up about Christ because the people around didn’t seem to be open to it?  Personally, I don’t have to think long. 

Bunyan’s description of discipleship reminds me that cowardliness is sin for the disciple.  Those who are ashamed of Him have no part with Him (Matthew 8:38).  But what grace is available for those humbly trust Him for courage.  Thankfully Matthew’s account of Peter’s denial is not the last we hear of Peter.  Filled with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, Peter boldly testifies of Christ to his fellow Jews (Acts 2:14 – 36).     

I can’t avoid feeling the wind on my face nor can I fear it when it blows.  It’s simply part of following Christ in a world that opposes Him.  I may not be called upon to suffer like Bunyan or to preach to the masses like Peter, but this I pray: God give me grace to courageously live for Christ.  Not man-centered, prideful, worldly courage but Spirit-filled, Christ-centered, God-glorifying courage.  I need it to be a true disciple.   

By Rob Flood

 

Faithfulness in the life of a man is least in danger when most directly threatened. 

 

Imagine someone breaks into your home and there is immediate danger.  That is a time when most men, without a second thought, step in and are faithful to their call to provide and protect.

 

The directness of the threat calls us into action.

 

Or, if there is an outright invitation to abandon your wife and family and follow after riches or fame.  If the choice is laid out in front of us with that clarity, it is easy to resist.

 

The directness of the threat calls us into action.

 

However, faithfulness in the life of a man is most in danger when least directly threatened.

 

Many a man has been slowly lulled to sleep by the lures of pleasure, only to wake, discovering that his family is gone…that his home has been invaded…that he has left the straight path.

 

There are at least a few things that are true of faithful men.  These attributes can help us and drive us to our knees.

 

A faithful man is a tethered man – He is tethered to his God.  Though his heart may want, in its folly, to drift, it can never drift far.  The tether ties him to his God.

 

A faithful man is a holy man – It is his relationship with his God that tethers him.  It is his own holiness before and with his God that keeps him near and prevents him from drifting too far.

 

A faithful man is a humble man – It is his holiness that makes him humble.  He realized that he is nothing without Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in his life.  Apart from God, the faithful man withers.  But, as a branch connected to the vine, the faithful man flourishes when we stops seeking to be something greater or stronger than he’s been created to be.

 

A faithful man is a content man – It is his humility and holiness before God that causes him to look at his lot and be content.  He doesn’t strive for more than his providing God has given.  He is satisfied with the Lord’s provision in and for his life.

 

A faithful man is a purchased man – His life has been purchased by the blood of Christ and consequently no longer belongs to him.  Thus, a faithful man is a servant of the King of Kings.  He is duty-bound to walk in the path God has set for him and to do so in a manner that worthy of his calling.

 

A faithful man is a tethered man – And so, we come full circle.  Because he is purchased, he cannot drift far from  his Master.  And his Master will not let him drift far.  He is unseveringly tied to his God.

 

And so, men, as you consider sowing seeds of faithfulness, be alert to our common vulnerability.  Our faithfulness is not mostly endangered by the obvious pitfalls.  Rather, it is the slow, subtle temptations…the ones that go unnoticed until the path is far out of view…that are likely to get us.

 

Rather than living in fear…or in constant awareness of our vulnerabilities…if we are faithful to live our lives as though they are purchased by Christ and tethered to Christ, then the testimony that will resonate from our lives is one of faithfulness. 

 

May we be driven to our knees in desperation for the tethering of Christ.  And may we be driven to our knees in gratitude that none can pluck us from His hand.

By Chris Radano

For the last 10 years I’d say that I’ve been pretty healthy, rarely getting even a case of the sniffles.  In fact, I recall my coworkers and I while in graduate school joking about wanting to be sick so we could take some time off from coming into the lab, mainly to avoid the crack of our advisors’ proverbial whip.  The 12+ hours a day in the chemistry laboratory often led to physical and mental exhaustion, but rarely did it ever turn into good old-fashioned sickness.  But…when we did get sick, we would treasure the day at home.  Nowadays, for whatever reason, getting sick is no longer hard to do.  And as a result, I have found myself considering how God has been using my sickness to grab my attention.

I first thought about this as I was recently returning home from a vacation visiting some friends.  After coming down with a head cold during the week, I was in no mood to drive ten hours on the turnpike.  Preparing for my departure home, my friends and I prayed for safe travel as well as this time for my healing.  As we were praying, I felt led to thank God for my sickness.  Sure I wanted to feel better, but I also wanted to express to God my thanks for giving me this cold.  This wasn’t meant to be a “look how spiritual I can be” kind of moment, but sincere thanks for the sickness God brought to me.  I know I’m not the only one who has thanked God for his sickness.  I’m also aware of people who praise God for their trials, carrying them during periods of chronic and even terminal illness.  But to me it seemed a bit weird to thank God for a cold which, honestly, was a real nuisance and I know would eventually go away in about four days, whether I prayed or not.

In my younger years I enjoyed the idea of temporary weakness.  After all, if being weak meant sleeping in, not going to work, and staying home relaxing then I might actually enjoy being weak more often.  What connected with me now was that I became much more excited about the prospect of eventually being healthy again.  And what began as a general hope of getting better became enjoyment of God’s promise that there will be a day when there is no more sickness and complete bodily restoration.

In John Piper’s The Passion of Jesus Christ, he describes one of the many purposes behind the atoning work of Christ’s death,

“But all this misery and disease is temporary.  We look forward to a time when bodily pain will be no more.  The subjection of creation to futility was not permanent…One day all disease will be banished from God’s redeemed creation…We will have new bodies.”

A new body, absent of disease, is definitely something to look forward to.  But this time the presence of disease in the body allowed me to reflect on a spiritual healing of my soul.  And though I’m never really happy to be sick, if the result is to refocus on God’s word, the gospel, and his promises, then I can actually enjoy it.  Even if I have to enjoy it on a ten hour turnpike drive. 

By Andy Farmer

We’re in the thick of the baseball post season, with visions of another World Series coming ever closer.  Today’s an off day for the Phils.  So to change things up this week in Take Five I thought I’d pass on a short video clip that I saw on the Kowalker.com blog.  You don’t have to be a baseball geek to get this.

http://kowalker.com/2009/10/01/the-call-of-the-baseball-year/

By Rob Flood

 

When you think of a man’s man, what comes to mind?  Swagger?  Confidence?  Independence?  When a man’s man falls down, is he the type that can pick himself up by his bootstraps and get back on his horse?

 

There are several problems with this kind of man’s man.  First, most of us don’t wear boots, so there are no straps to pull ourselves up by.  Second, most of us don’t have horses, so there’s nothing to get back on.

 

But there’s another problem…one that hits a bit closer to home: this is not how the Scriptures define manhood.  If Christ himself is an example of godly manhood, we don’t see swagger or self-centered confidence or independence.  In fact, we see something altogether different.  We see traditional manhood turned on its head.

 

Christ was humble.  Philippians 2 lays this out for us in unmistakable detail.  God became man…need I say more?  But we all know that, too.  We’re taught well enough to know that we ought to be pursuing humility.  Yet, there’s something about humility that can feel quite unmanly. 

 

No, not the disclosure of our sin.  Everyone knows we sin…so that’s safe enough. 

 

No, not even keeping quiet about our achievements and drawing attention away from ourselves.  That makes enough sense to work its way into our lives.

 

The part of humility that can sometimes feel unmanly is the “needing others” part.  In our culture, as we understand manhood, individuality and independence are necessary ingredients.  And so, concepts like fellowship and structures like Community Groups don’t look all that appetizing.

 

But here are some hard but obvious truths.  Committing to swagger, confidence and independence, in actuality, keeps us much like boys.  Far from signs of manhood, these fleshly and worldly commitments keep us from manhood.  The don’t mark a man…they prevent one.

 

Real men…godly men…are men of community.  They are men of deep and meaningful relationships.  They are transparent men.  They are faithful men.  They are humble men.  They are men that have in them the same mind as was in Christ. 

 

They are men who sacrifice.  Men who serve.  They are men who are desperate for grace, committed to the savior, and needy each day for a fresh filling of the Spirit of God.  They are men who think little of themselves and much of their God.  They are real men…they are godly men.

 

So, will you join me in a group confession session.  Ready…repeat after me:

 

I am full of pride and love myself.  Behind my swagger is a man of fear. Behind my confidence is a man of doubt.  Behind my independence is a lonely man.  Yet my savior has died to rescue men like me.  He has lived the life of the perfect man.  And he invites me to follow him on the path of humility.  Even more so, he is committed to giving the power and wisdom I need to walk that path.  Father, forgive me for my pride…and thank you for your son.

 

So, when you think of a man’s man, what comes to mind?  When we’re willing to turn manhood on its head, we’ll find what a true man…what a godly man…really is.

By Rob Flood

A recent article on breitbart.com caught my attention with the headline, “Americans spend eight hours a day on screens.”  I set it aside, not knowing exactly how to use it, but finding it quite fascinating.  While there were many findings worth noting, the following segment of the article captures the heart of it:

Adult Americans spend an average of more than eight hours a day in front of screens -- televisions, computer monitors, cell phones or other devices, according to a new study.

The study also found that live television in the home continues to attract the greatest amount of viewing time with the average American spending slightly more than five hours a day in front of the tube.

The figure drops to 210 minutes a day of average TV viewing time among 18-24 year olds but rises to 420 minutes a day among those aged 65 and older.

Here are a couple observations that I won’t make:

~   Where does the average American find 5 hours a day to watch TV?

~   Are there better ways than 7 hours of TV watching a day for those over 65 to spend their retirement?

~   While iPhones, Blackberries, and computer screens dominate the electronic stores, is anyone else surprised that TV, dating back to 1939, still ranks first?

Those might be worthy blog topics, but there is something more fundamental to capture here.  There’s something that can serve us as men regardless of how many hours of TV you watch.  And here it is:  pay attention to what you’re looking at.

What you look at consumes time…precious time.  What you look at leaves seeds behind…visual seeds that continue to sprout fruit, even once you’ve turned your eyes away.  This is commonly accepted when it comes to sensual images, but it is much more than that. 

If I mention Close Encounters of the Third Kind…do any images rush to your mind?  How about Indiana Jones?  A hat?  A whip?  How about the Golden Girls?  You forgot that seed was planted there, didn’t you.  Are any of these seeds evil in and of themselves?  No…but they sure do prove that visual seeds take root quickly and bear lasting fruit.

What are you planting in that fertile soil of your heart, men?  When it bears fruit, will it be sweet or bitter?  And, when you’re done with the visual images, will there be any room left for the cross?  …for a spouse?  …for your kids? 

The eyes are so often a gateway into the heart.  And, when the heart is yearning for something to distract it, it most often goes to the eyes for an outlet.  So, as we’re warned about our hearts…

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

…we ought to pay special attention to our eyes.  Job lays out a wonderful example for us all:

I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. (Job 31:1 – NIV)

With all the screens throwing visual images of every kind…including those of the third kind…a covenant is what it will take.  So, ask yourself…ask each other…what are you looking at?

Click here for the article from breitbart.com.

 

By Jacob Young

In reflecting on the state of my soul lately, I can't remember one single day in the last year where I wasn't tempted to, battle with, or succumbed to spiritual depression. By spiritual depression I simply mean that black, hopeless cloud of a downward spiral into a meaningless, ambivalent, despair, fueled mostly by doubt and (for me) anger. It's not precisely happy land, but a land nonetheless. Of course circumstances don't particularly matter, this is one of those things that comes about for various randomly prompted reasons. However, in a recent trial Michelle and I have been facing, I've seen the temptation arrive at my door step.

With this, I have once again picked up the letters of a good (dead) friend of mine, Samuel Rutherford. His spiritual experience of God is nothing short of staggering. I'm particularly fond of reading his letters, not so much because he's a dead Puritan, but because his experience and expressions of Christ help clear the fog for me and set a vision of what I want for my own life with Christ. In a letter I read last night, he spoke to the subject of spiritual depression with the following remark to a friend:

Now, my dear brother, I cannot show you how matters go betwixt Christ and me. I find my Lord going and coming seven times a day. His visits are short; but they are both frequent and sweet. I dare not for my life think of a challenge of my Lord. I hear ill tales, and hard reports of Christ, from The Tempter and my flesh; but love believeth no evil. I may swear that they are liars, and that [such] apprehensions make lies of Christ's honest and unalterable love to me. ~ Samuel Rutherford, Letters #92, 195.

What he says is astonishing: The war of liars of "false lies" from Satan and his own flesh is fought by the declaring the true and unalterable love of Christ for him, which he experiences regularly. The Gospel says "Yes!" to our sin and it's just punishment in Hell, but quickly follows up with the open arms and extension of Jesus Christ's love for us in the mercy of his work on the cross. In my spiritual depression, there is a fog light of love to be seen in Christ. As Rutherford states, Christ's love for me is "honest and unalterable." More over, I long to experience Christ's presence and love regularly through the day. How does one aim at this? By warding off Satan and the flesh's regular attacks of condemnation with the Gospel. Jesus Christ died to save lost and hopeless people, one of the great truths to be seen here is that God initiates salvation to bring me near. He runs to save, he runs to love, not because of me, not because of what I add to him, but because he chooses to. God comes near in the Gospel not once, but now regularly. Regular visits of Christ in love for the enjoyment of my soul.

As the Psalmist says:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God. ~ Psalm 43:5

By Andy Farmer

A couple of Sundays ago we celebrated all God did at Youth Camp 2009.  During the service we had the chance to hear from a young man, Evan Wisneski, who received the saving grace of Jesus Christ during the camp.  At the end of Evan’s testimony he made a very profound theological statement.

“I never saw it coming, but I was saved at Youth Camp 2009"

As soon as he said this my mind went immediately back to that late night on February 10, 1981, when I was saved.  Like Evan, I never saw it coming.  I sat down in a college dorm suite lounge convinced that belief in God was “the opiate of the masses” (as my hero Karl Marx said it), and stood up a few hours later a follower of Jesus Christ.

The truth is, for all of us the fitting end of our testimony is, ‘I never saw it coming, but I was saved at…..’  The apostle Paul seemed to enjoy the irony of it all – his Damascus Road arrest by the risen Savior is a key part of the story he tells about himself to whomever will listen.  And he surely never saw that coming!  Essential to Paul’s Gospel is the idea that no one seeks after God.  It is God who seeks after us (Romans 10:3-26).  Repeatedly, Jesus tells us that he has come to seek the lost, not the searching; to open the eyes and ears of the blind and the deaf.  The very people in Jesus’ day who said they were longing for deliverance from God never saw it coming.

This doesn’t mean that people don’t search for something like God.  I was certainly searching back in 1981.  I’m sure Evan would say he was searching before he went to Youth Camp.  The world is full of searchers, and there are plenty of gods, both spiritual and temporal, that are easily found.  But no human searching can find God.  Sin has ruined the eyes that are essential to see Him, ears that are essential to hear Him, and hearts that are essential to desire him.  No, my brothers, if you have found Jesus Christ, it is because he revealed himself to you.  Admit it, you never saw it coming. 

Thank you, Evan, for preaching Gospel truth to us.  I’m glad he saved you when you never saw it coming.  I know what that feels like.  It feels right.

By Jacob Young

I wrote this as a kind of journal entry a few months ago. While this was an intense but relatively short-lived trial, it produced some great fruit in my otherwise comfortable life. Maybe you can relate.

I had my second kidney stone come upon me today. The little guy is just 3mm big – and I’m still waiting for him to make his final appearance. The day went as follows: I went to the doctor in the morning because my pain and discomfort were getting worse; they confirmed it was a kidney stone; I went to another place for a Cat Scan to see where it was; went to work for a bit; came home because the pain was really bad; the pain got worse over the next two hours; I threw up because the pain was so bad; we went to the emergency room upon the guidance of my doctor; got an I-V of stronger pain medication; reflected on God’s goodness with Michelle in the ER room; and eventually came home with new medicine and feeling a lot better.

Anyhow, so below are a few thoughts upon this occasion: 

1. God has been so good to give me these kidney stones. They’re painful no doubt. Through it, I’ve seen so many vast caverns of grace he has put in my life. I’ve seen his glory radiating in my heart and life – and my wife’s as well in ways that are only particularly seen when the heat of pain is intensified.

2. Through the pain, I found my life being more conformed around God than I had expected. Though it was extremely painful, I found myself praying God’s truths to him, praying his Scripture to him, praying his character to him. However, it wasn’t like I was suddenly filled with joy at that moment. But I was preaching a universe-changing message to myself in a moment of dire pain – I was preaching the Gospel. I was thankful to be able to remember some Scripture that I could speak to myself – it’s an encouragement to memorize more Scripture, but also an encouragement that even the most random Scriptures can breath life to a weary soul (for example, I was reciting the first few lines of Ps. 36 to myself – not exactly a “hey, you’ll get better” text!). There is a power in God’s word and truth to always be working. It seems to me that even having a mind focused on God is not something for me to be praised for, but rather God, who’s given me that gift in this situation. I wouldn’t want to look at God when my body’s being destroyed, but God’s Spirit, who moves within me to look at Jesus, does.

3. God was good to prevent this stone from coming earlier. I had my first kidney stone two weeks ago to the day, just two days before we were about to leave on (essentially) two weeks of vacation. Thankfully it passed the morning we were leaving, and while I had a few bouts with the second during those two weeks, it never was debilitating. I remember feeling the second one coming on about half way through the trip when we’d come home for a couple days before our second leg of the vacation. Kidney stones feel a certain way, so it’s not just like a lower back pain. So upon feeling this, I bent down, and I quietly asked my Father to take it away. I felt his nearness, and went to bed knowing that he’d heard me either way. Obviously he didn’t take it away, but he did push it aside until the best time for me. What a great Father.

4. I look with a deeper affection on Jesus Christ with an anticipation of when these bodies will be glorified. As the pain increased, and in reflection, my knowledge and understanding that this body is decaying, that it is not perfect to sustain God’s work in me grows. That, in fact, in my weakness his strength is revealed. How often to I actually glory in my weakness? Folks, I’m a prideful man, so I like being strong. But I’m seeing how my weakness actually is God’s preferred instrument to display his might – and this doesn’t mean that I’m then given a Porsche body this side of heaven. This body is under a curse as with the rest of creation, but where as this is true from Romans 8:19-23, it is also true from the end of Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ for us (v. 35), and that all things work for our good (v.28). And what is this good?

5. It also gave me a taste for what Christ saved me from: Hell and God’s wrath. The pain was bad, but not to damnation – however, I caught a faint glimpse of the horrors of Hell, the screams of torment, the anguish of body that only faintly can reflect the wrath of God pressing in on a soul.

I pray that God fixes all these things on my mind to remember, to press on with, and to love him and his Gospel more through. I love God more now – I find myself loving the things of the world less. Oh God, write your Law on my heart through these small but intense trials that I might walk in your statues more closely to honor your name, to walk in the fruits of holiness that Christ bought me fore, that I might enjoy you more, and find Christ more and more satisfying!

By Andy Farmer

 

Note:  This is the ninth and FINAL in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE.

 

When we get to the end of this letter we’d love a big payoff – a final zinger that would bring it all home.  Instead we get an odd warning about being careful in how we interact with our relatives.  Was Newton running out the door and needed to wrap this up quick?  Was he having some in-law problems that surface here? 

 

But as I’ve thought about it, this is a fitting end to his advice.  Newton lived in a time and place where family connections and relationships were crucial to social standing and financial security.  To fall out of favor with your family was understood to be a sign of poor character and untrustworthiness.  It was assumed that personal religion shouldn’t have the poor taste to infringe upon a person’s role in the extended family.  And certainly, evangelism of family members was considered very bad form. 

 

So the pressure to live a certain way in the world and another way in the family was pretty intense.  Newton was offering a godly, yet practical way to maintain the consistency of witness in our lives.  In considering our (extended) family connections we should seek to maintain them but be careful not to allow family obligations to require ‘concessions’ that we cannot make in good consciousness as followers of Christ.  In effect Newton is making a practical application of Jesus’ words to the disciples after the confrontation to the rich young ruler - ‘Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.  (Matt. 19:29)

 

To be a Christian is to undergo a profound change in family relations.  We move from a primary identification with a biologically created family to a spiritually created family.  And it is our place in the spiritually created family that should define and impact our behavior and identification with our biologically created family. 

 

As I’ve thought about this, I’ve realized this really is good Newtonian advice.  One of the hardest places to live out Christian convictions is among our natural relations.  They know who we ‘really’ are behind all that religious talk.  They’re not afraid to remind us with words, or maybe just with subtle looks, that they don’t ‘buy it’.  And we don’t like being talked about by other family members when we’re not around – ‘What’s his problem?  Does he really think he’s better than us?  Is he in a cult?  He used to be so much fun, now he seems so up tight.  Does he have to come to the Christmas party?’

 

I get the sense that if we can walk out our convictions in a humble and loving way among those who have known us since we were little tykes, and whose opinions of us have already been set,  we will be well prepared to stand for what we believe in the rest of our lives. 

 

So, that’s it from the pen of John Newton, Pastor and sinner amazed by grace, on the subject of Christian liberty.  Let his close be my close to this series.

 

I dare not be dogmatical; but I think what I have written is agreeable both to particular texts, and to the general tenor of Scripture.  I submit to your judgment. 

By Andy Farmer

Note: This is the sixth in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE. 

Last week we saw how Pastor Newton applied the law of love to our exercise liberty before a dying world.  He next takes a step back and looks at the unbelieving world as a system of doing life.  Newton was, if anything, extraordinarily practical in his spiritual counsel.  He’d spent years in the worldliest of world systems – the trading of human beings as property in the form of slavery.  As a repentant sinner engaged in the care of souls, he understood first hand both the enterprise and enticements of the world.  He knew that withdrawal from the world was not an option for the believer.  Here’s his interesting solution.

In our way of little life in the country, serious people often complain of the snares they meet with from worldly people, and yet they must mix with them to get a livelihood.  I advise them, if they can, to do their business with the world as they do it in the rain.  If their business calls them abroad, they will not leave it undone for fear of being a little wet; but then, when it is done, they presently seek shelter and will not stand in the rain for pleasure.  So providential and necessary calls of duty that lead us into the world will not hurt us, if we find the spirit of the world unpleasant and are glad to retire from it, and keep out of it as much as our relative duties will permit.  That which is our cross is not so likely to be our snare; but if that spirit which we should always watch and pray against, infects and assimilates our minds to itself, then we are sure to suffer loss, and act below the dignity of our profession.

Most of us work in occupations which function entirely on systems created in the world.  We may be an engineer, or a construction worker, or a health care professional, or a student, but we know that the world in which we work doesn’t have as its highest value the glory of God.  So we must learn how to succeed in it without becoming a part of it.  In Newton’s analogy, there’s no way to not get wet with the world.  But there is no reason we have live soaked with the world.  We know that we’re soaked with the world when its values, language, and choices become ours. 

Paul operates a different metaphor when he warns believers to not be ‘unequally yoked’ with unbelievers – to have who we are and what we do tied to what the world is and what it does.  Instead, we are to ‘go out from their midst, and be separate from them (2 Cor. 6:14; 17).  In other words, get out of the rain!

How wet with the world are you?  Do you, like the street smart city worker, have a skill at finding those dry shelter spots in the rain so that you can do your business without getting soaked?  Or have you just gotten used to being wet?  One of the ways we make sure that the pleasant wetness of the world doesn’t become our preferred existence is to cultivate and protect our love for the things of God.  The true joy of the Lord, the fellowship of the saints, the untarnished satisfaction of servanthood are shelters in the rain of the world that we can always find – if we are looking for them.  The Christian who exercises liberty well knows when he’s getting wet, and how to stay dry. 

By Andy Farmer

Note:  This is the fourth in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE.

After assessing the effect of how we pursue liberty on our own souls, Pastor Newton calls us to turn our attention toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.  In this he is applying the teaching of the Apostle Paul, who advocated liberty constrained by the law of love in his letter to the Romans

Romans 14:14-21  ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.  ¹⁵ For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.  By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.  ¹⁶ So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.  ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁸ Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.  ¹⁹ So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.  ²⁰ Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.  Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.  ²¹ It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble

Newton advises us, in considering our brothers, that charity and prudence may require us to abstain from things that might be suitable for our liberty but would be a stumbling block for someone weaker.  But to Newton love doesn’t just mean we watch what we are doing around weaker people.  He reminds us that we don’t always know who might be affected by what we do in the exercise of liberty.  We will never know whose faith has been undermined by taking their cue from observing us when we didn’t know we were being watched.  And therefore we won’t be able to help a person who might stumble beyond our awareness.

 

He also makes a connection between how we view our liberties as they relate to what we want to be our example.

 

And it seems that an obligation to this sort of self-denial, rises, and is strengthened, in proportion to the weight and influence of our characters.

 

In other words, those who aspire to greater influence for God should be all the more concerned about their example to others. 

 

The important thing here is that we are not motivated by what others think of us.  That would be fear of man.  We are, rather, motivated by a love for God and others that will seek to make sure that our lives are lived for the ‘mutual upbuilding’ (as Paul says it) of our brothers and sisters in the faith.  So we don’t simply think in terms of avoiding what might stumble others.  We want to see our lives among our brothers and sisters as opportunities to strengthen the faith of others through how we make decisions regarding liberty.  Liberty strained through the law of love will be liberty well expressed. 

By Jared Mellinger

 

My 2 oldest children are Ryle and Ben, and they bring a ton of joy into my world.  Ryle is 5 years old, Ben is 3.  I am increasingly discovering that these boys really are at the age where I am able to have meaningful and substantial conversations with them.  Intentional conversations in our family often take place at 1) the dinner table, or 2) when I am on a Monday Dunkin Donuts outing with the kids, or 3) at bedtime.  Those are the locations and times that remind me I should be intentional and look to engage them in meaningful, strategic conversation.

 

I have a simple mind, and at times I have found myself wanting to talk with the boys, but not knowing exactly what to talk about (I’m pretty sure this is a male thing).  So in addition to having set times and locations that I look to take advantage of, I also created a simple list of questions that I use to ask the boys about their day. 

 

Different things work for different kids.  And different things work for different parents, so don’t feel like you’re obligated to implement our practice.  But for some reason, my boys absolutely love the “Bedtime Questions for Ryle and Ben” we’ve been doing over the past 6 months or so.  It usually takes around 5 minutes (10 at the most), and it’s the last thing we do before they go to bed.  But they have been known to spend all day thinking of their answers to the questions Daddy is going to ask them that night.  Ryle, who excels at following rules and helping others follow rules, has been known to panic if we neglect to do the Bedtime Questions and therefore helps hold me accountable to do them.   

     

On the dresser in their bedroom is a printed piece of paper with the questions I often ask them.  They now have these questions engraved on their little minds, simply through the repetition of me asking them each question so many times, but we still set the printed page of questions on Daddy’s lap, because that’s the way we’ve always done it and Ryle likes to do things the way we’ve always done it.  (That kid sure does make me smile!) 

 

With each one of these questions, I have something specific that I am looking to accomplish and instill in the boys.  Then, after the questions and before I turn out the lights, I give them hugs and kisses and I pray that they would be God-knowing, Bible-loving, grateful, humble, obedient boys who see their need for a Savior.

 

Bedtime Questions for Ryle and Ben:

 

1. What is one question you have for me about God or the Bible?

 

2. What is one thing you are grateful to God for from today? 

 

3. What is one way you saw someone in our family choosing to please God today?

 

4. What is one thing you did (or didn’t do) today that reminded you of your need for a Savior?

 

5. What is one way you hope to obey God’s authority tomorrow? 

By Andy Farmer

 

Note:  This is the third in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE. 
 

John Newton’s approach to liberty and worldliness begins with the effect of our choices and pursuits on our own souls. 

 

In considering our souls, Newton challenges us to refrain from things that ‘deaden our hearts to divine things’, and exhorts us to not ‘pursue, rest in, or allow’ anything that gives us greater joy than our chief joy in God.

 

Last week we dealt with a false distinction between public and private spirituality.  Newton reminded us that our public and private lives are constantly intertwined, because God sees all.  In this exhortation he deals with another misunderstanding.  We often live with a functional divide between our ‘sacred’ (meaning the things we do that are consciously about our religious experience), and our ‘secular’ (meaning the things we do that we don’t consider religious) lives. 

 

When we live with a distinction between sacred and secular, ‘Christian Liberty’ can simply become the religious permission we assume to do worldly things.  We can avoid uncomfortable evaluation of our worldly pursuits by pointing to all the religious activities (quiet times, service, meeting attendance, good deeds, etc.) that give us the right to a reasonable amount of worldly indulgence.  In a sense, we live as if we need to ‘protect’ our secular liberties from sacred contamination.  The truth is, we never have to guard our secular lives from the influence of the sacred world.  I don’t remember a time when I was watching an Eagles game and suddenly got the urge to shut off the tube and read my Bible.  Even if they were losing. 

 

At risk in this sacred/secular distinction is true joy in our soul.  Our souls weren’t created with bipolar tendencies.  They were created to find joy in God and him alone.  It is God’s lavish grace that allows us to experience true joy in God through secondary joys.  And Christian liberty may be best understood as the kind permission of our Creator to enjoy the things He has created for us.  I believe this can include things that we have created for enjoyment as well – art, music, visual imagery, sports, Mexican food, roller coasters, jokes, beach vacations, movies, Ford Mustangs… well, the list is getting a little long and a little too personalized, but you get my point.
 

The first test is, according to Newton, whether something we enjoy through liberty works against our joy in God.  If it does, it will have an enslaving and ultimately damaging effect on our souls.  And liberty was never meant to produce those results.  To rightly understand and enjoy liberty we must remove the sacred/secular divide.  All our secular enjoyments have sacred implications.  And all our secondary joys must ultimately feed our primary joy in God. 

 

 

Psalm 24:3-6  ³ Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?  ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  ⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  ⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

By Andy Farmer

 

Note:  This is the second in a series of posts on Christian liberty based on a pastoral letter written by John Newton in 1776.  For background on the letter see the 6.18.09 post.  You can read the letter in its entirety HERE .

 

In his advice to Lord Dartmouth, John Newton begins by offering three helpful insights. 

 

First, for most people who are saved out of a life lived apart from God, their initial tendency is to flee many of the ‘worldly’ activities that caused them trouble in life.  But as we move on in the Christian life there is an inevitable interest in reopening some of the doors we had closed behind us in the name of liberty.  We don’t want to go back, we just want to safely sample what we used to crave.  In these seasons we assume that our maturity will allow us to express our liberty.  But Newton reminds us that sometimes the supposed rigid legalism of a young convert is godlier than the easy liberty of the self-professed mature believer.  How we define ‘maturity’ and ‘liberty’ says a lot about what we really desire in life. 

 

Second, it is ultimately unhelpful and unnecessary to approach the question of liberties asking, ‘how near we may go to the utmost bounds of what is right without being wrong’.  If my approach to liberty is based on how much worldliness I can experience and still call myself a solid Christian, I seriously misunderstand the scriptures and I demonstrate a glaring deficiency in my love for God and others. 

 

Third, Newton offers two guiding principles for all considerations of liberty:  True godliness calls us ‘to maintain communion with Him in our own souls and to glorify Him in the sight of men.’  In other words, everything we do affects our fellowship with God and our witness about God to others. 

 

Sometimes we can see how some liberties can affect our fellowship with God but we have a hard time seeing how they affect our witness to others.  If I listen to death metal through my ear buds while I’m doing my devotions, I might have a tough time engaging with the Lord.  But all anybody at that moment would see is me reading my Bible.  So my witness would be intact.  Right? 

 

Conversely, if I have a beer at a ball game and somebody from my church sees me and thinks I’m a lush, my witness might be affected.  But if I’m only having one beer and it’s an appropriate place to have it, I can do it in faith and not have my communion with God affected.  Right? 

 

Wrong on both counts.  Newton reminds us that there is an inseparable link between what we do in private and what we do in public.  When that link is ignored we call it hypocrisy.  If God is God then he is the God of our private life and our public life.  To have a right understanding and practice of Christian liberty we must live before the face of God – Coram Deo - who works in our private lives to make us fit representatives in our public lives.  The light we have in God is the same light that is to shine through us to the world.     

 

Eph. 5:8-10:  For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

By Mark Prater

 

I recently read an article from the Spring 2008 edition of the Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood entitled “Pursuing Manhood” written by Ray Van Neste.  Mr. Van Neste’s main point is that pursuing manhood and pursuing maturity go hand in hand for he says, “avoiding maturity is emasculating.”    Van Neste is discerning about the cultural forces that shape us without our knowledge as he writes,

 

Our culture is infatuated with youth and encourages you not to grow up.  After all, it says, the glory is in the youth.  If you would be men, you must reject this siren song and swim against the tide.  You must diligently seek to throw off immaturity and to grow up.  Remember the one boy who never grew up was Peter Pan - and in case you haven't noticed, his role has typically been played by a woman.

 

In helping young men pursue maturity by pursuing manhood, Van Neste seeks to answer this question, “So, what does it look like to grown up in manliness?”  In answering the question he gives 8 traits that young men should pursue.  Here are the traits he suggests; you’ll want to read the article to see what he says about them.

 

1. Take responsibility
2. Do your work
3. Own your failures
4. Expect to work
5. Reject the temptation to whine and complain
6. Embrace commitment
7. Sacrifice
8. “Women and children first”

This is great summer reading for guys at any age.  If you’re a father or a single mom who has sons consider reading this article as a means to help you cultivate masculinity in your boys.  If your son is in middle school or high school, I would recommend that you read the article with them and then discuss how you can help them apply it.  The article can be found on the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood website at the link below.

 

http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-13-No-1/Pursuing-Manhood

By Jacob Young

 

No, it’s not the school yard bully who beat me up today…it was a 3mm kidney stone.  And boy, it whooped me.  It took me to the doctor’s office, the ER, and my home but not before taking me through various pain medications that requires an IV.  Like I said, that 3mm bully whooped me good.

 

As I look back, though, there were some lessons that God taught me that you might find helpful, too.  So, here are a few thoughts on my experience:

 

1. There’s Grace in Kidney Stones: God has been so good to give me these kidney stones. No doubt, they’re painful. Through it, I’ve seen so many vast caverns of grace he has put in my life. I’ve seen His glory radiating in my heart and life – and my wife’s as well in ways that are only seen when the heat of pain is intensified.
   
   
2. Praying God’s Word Helps Kidney Stones: Through the pain, I found my life being conformed around God more than I had expected. Though it was extremely painful, I found myself praying God’s Word to Him, praying His character to Him. It wasn’t like I was suddenly filled with joy at that moment but I was preaching a universe-changing message to myself in a moment of dire pain; I was preaching the Gospel.
   
   
3. God’s Timing is Perfect with Kidney Stones: God was good to prevent this stone from coming earlier. I had my first kidney stone two weeks ago to the day, just two days before we were about to leave on (essentially) two weeks of vacation. Thankfully it passed the morning we were leaving, and while I had a few bouts with the second during those two weeks, it never was debilitating. I remember feeling the second one coming on about half way through the trip when we’d come home for a couple days before our second leg of the vacation. I bent down, and I quietly asked my Father to take it away. I felt his nearness, and went to bed knowing that he’d heard me either way. He didn’t take it away, but he did push it aside until the best time for me. What grace!
   
   
4. God Works in My Weakness through Kidney Stones:  As the pain increased, I became increasingly aware of my physical and emotional weakness. And, in my weakness,  His strength is revealed. How often do I actually glory in my weakness? I’m a prideful man, so I like being strong. But I’m seeing how my weakness actually is God’s preferred instrument to display His might.  This body is under a curse as with the rest of creation.  We see this in Romans 8:19-23.  But the end of Romans 8 is also true: nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ for us (v. 35), and that all things work for our good (v.28).
   
   
5. This Pain is Nothing Compared to Eternal Torment: It also gave me a taste for what Christ saved me from: Hell and God’s wrath. The pain was bad, but not damnation.  However, I caught a faint glimpse of the horrors of Hell through the temporary anguish of body that only faintly can reflect the wrath of God pressing in on a soul.  Knowing the pain I felt, how grateful I am to know that the greatest physical torment was suffered on my behalf.

I pray that God presses all these things on my mind to remember.  And even though you may not be sent to the school of kidney stones, I pray He presses them into your mind as well.  I love God more now – I find myself loving the things of the world less. Oh God, make it last and make it spread.  And if a 3mm bully ever visits your world, know that it is also a little but powerful messenger from your loving heavenly Father. 

By Jason Russell

As we’ve pondered the cross over the last few months, the Lord has refreshed us and given renewed appreciation for all that Christ has done for us.  One of the things I’ve taken away from the recent preaching series In My Place is Jim’s charge to come and meditate on “the Gospel spot” each morning in my quiet time.  Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:24 stuck out to me one morning as I was doing this:

“but we preach Christ crucified….the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Of all the mighty works of God it is the cross of Christ that stands as the crown of His wisdom.  By His sovereign plan the Creator has wisely solved the human dilemma (man’s sinfulness and incapability to be reconciled to God) and the divine dilemma (God’s holiness and righteous requirement to punish sin).  He formulated the plan before the foundations of the earth were laid as the means by which he would glorify the Son and save those elected to know his love.  Since he has, we will forever praise him.   

God’s wisdom in the cross not only propels me to praise, it functions as practical encouragement for living each day.  How often am I faced with my need for wisdom?  In my marriage, parenting, at my work place, offering counsel to friends…the list goes on.  In all of these areas I am assured by the wisdom of God in crushing His own Son to redeem sinners like me.  He has proven his wisdom at the cross; surely He has wisdom enough for my problems which are far less weighty.  So, as I stare at various decisions throughout the course of a day this one thing I know: God’s abundant wisdom is more than sufficient to guide me. 

Are you facing decisions to buy or sell a home?  God has wisdom.  Trying to live on a tighter budget in light of hard economic times?  God has wisdom.  Considering a business venture?  God has wisdom.  Caring for a family member or friend in need?  God has abundant wisdom.  James tells us that all we need to do to get it is ask:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”  James 1:5

By Kim Sykora

 

Blog czar’s note:  Kim sent this to me a year ago and we didn’t have a chance to run it.  But with the current economic situation I thought it might be timely for some guys.  I’ve seen Kim’s garden and it is a work of art!  The man knows his produce!  But lest you think he be some kind of gentleman farmer, I can tell you that Kim was a missionary dentist for years and runs his own full time dental practice plus leads one of our Family Life Community Groups.  So if you’re interested in talking to him about it you can contact him through Churchbook. 

 

When Yvonne and I started our sizeable vegetable garden a few years ago, our neighbor brought over the review for a book she, tongue-in-cheek, thought we should read, entitled “The $64 Tomato:  How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden (by Wm. Alexander).  Although we chuckled at the title, the parody appeared to propagate the myth that gardening is an expensive waste of time.  We’re here to tell you it might be worth the effort.

 

At a time when most of us are feeling the squeeze of rising prices on our family budgets and shrinking income in our jobs, we’ve found that one of our best “investments” is our vegetable garden.  Even a single tomato plant or package of seeds can yield pounds of produce, saving real money, with modest involvement.  Sure, the old “time vs. money” rule applies, as it does take some effort to make it happen.  But you don’t need a ‘back 40’ and a John Deere to produce a budget helping harvest.  With a little time and energy investment out in the fresh air (itself a great benefit) you can develop your own lifestyle-sized vegetable garden. 

 

If you’ve never gardened or feel you wouldn’t know how to start, don’t despair.  Keep it simple.  Find a small sunny area to dig up and plant a few tomatoes and perhaps a small row of green beans.  Water and weed when necessary and in six to eight weeks, you’ll be enjoying the freshest food you’ve ever eaten.  Asparagus straight from the garden is, in my opinion, absolutely the best!

 

If you want to jump in this year, you still have a bit of time to plant warm weather crops like eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.  You’ll need to get going right away for beans and cucumbers.  It’s already getting a bit late for peas and lettuce – think of next year for those.

 

I’d suggest that families make it a family project so it doesn’t just get dumped on Mom.  Perhaps home school families could, with a little creativity, incorporate gardening into their curriculum.  Families who live near each other could even share in the work and yield.  Even if you don’t have much of a yard you can still make it work.  Certain varieties of tomatoes and peppers can be grown nicely in patio containers and still yield good crops.  And if you’re blessed with more than you can eat, a gift of fresh garden produce is a wonderful way to bless someone else – perhaps leading to a Gospel Outreach opportunity.

 

God originally supplied food to Adam and Eve from a garden.  Surely He knew what He was doing.

By Andy Farmer

In his book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hand Paul Tripp describes how we view ourselves as something akin to looking at ourselves through a carnival mirror (p. 279).  This is such a wonderful description of how I look at myself.  Sure, I see myself, but not clearly or consistently.  And like the distorted views of a carnival mirror, sometimes my perspective of myself can be way off.  That’s usually the case when I’m in a conflict with Jill and I can’t fathom why she doesn’t see the pristine logic of my arguments.   

But the truth is, even if I had a Hubble-quality mirror, I wouldn’t be able to fully see myself.  Whenever I look in a mirror I can only see one side of me.  That means I’m effectively blind to the rest of me.  When I turn to see a different side I lose sight of what I was just looking at before.  It’s not only impossible to see myself fully, it is also impossible to keep what I have seen in view when I’m looking elsewhere. 

This is true in a physical sense, but it’s also true in a spiritual sense.  For example, when I’m trying to focus on my impatience with others, I can seem to get a good idea of how that works.  But I can’t easily see how impatience is connected to some other selfish craving, like control.  And when I try to focus on the ways I want to control my life I lose sight of how I can impatiently treat people like circumstances or impediments.  I am so grateful that the Word of God is a true mirror, not only in its accuracy, but in its three dimensionality.  It shows my life in all its interconnectivity.  And I’m thankful that I am not dependent on natural sight to truly see.  The Spirit of God is able to open my eyes and direct my gaze not only to who I really am, but what he is really doing by grace.

Posted by Andy Farmer

At the end of his excellent book, In Christ Alone, Sinclair Ferguson includes a letter written by a close friend and colleague from Westminster Seminary, Dr. Al Groves.  It is a letter written by Dr. Groves to be read at his own memorial service.  In the last stages of a battle with cancer, Dr. Groves looked to those he would leave behind.  Gentlemen, read this excerpt from the letter and ask yourself, ‘if I could speak to the people attending my funeral, what would I say?’. 

As I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I have walked hand in hand with Jesus, the one who has already walked through that valley and come out the other side, alive, raised from the dead.  And as I hold his hand and trust him, I too am raised with him, for this was his purpose in walking that path: to raise those who trusted in him.  His rod and staff, his cross of suffering, have become my comfort.
            Now as I have died, I come before the God, the king of the universe, and I come in Christ.  He chose to suffer and die on the cross in my place, so that on account of him I might have forgiveness from sin and victory over death.  And now I have received the resurrection and eternal life that has been my only hope, past, present, and forever….
            Through all my life, Christ has been constant.  Even as I have grown and changed, he is still the one whom I loved that first day.  And nothing ever changed in how I came to him; every day of my life the story is the same: I have come to God in Christ.  His love for me has been steadfast, and he has pursued me through every time I have turned way from him and every time I have returned.  The constant prayer of my heart for my own life and the lives of those around me has been that we would see Jesus, and that he would be welcome and present among us.
            There may be some here who have never trusted Christ for life, who have never known that he is the answer to the sin and death in our lives.  I urge you to consider the claims he made to being the Son of God, to consider that he didn’t stay dead and sends a message down through the ages that there is life in him and him alone.  His death on a cross, humiliating though it seemed, was his glory, but which he has defeated our true enemies – sin and death.  By the ultimate sacrifice he made, he humiliated all powers arrayed against him.
            If you struggle with faith, let me encourage you that in the hardest moments I have faced, he has been there.  And death has been defeated.  I am in Christ, as you are in Christ.  So let us live out of the grace we have received.  Let us live out of Christ.  This means looking daily for him, asking him to open your eyes to him, and embracing what you see.
           Seek him with all your heart.  Love him with all your heart.  Love those he loves with all your heart, even to the laying down of your life for him.  Jesus, the way, the truth, the life.  In no other do we have hope.  But in him we have hope that endures forever.  We grieve, but we grieve with hope.  The hope of a resurrection; the hope of life eternal.  Together with Jesus.
            For most of my Christian life I have wanted to see Jesus face to face, to join in with the heavenly chorus in his presence around his royal throne and declare his praise in new ways.  Something else has grown through the years: an abiding sense that this is not for me alone.  Being with Jesus myself is not what he wants, nor is it what I want.  To be there with you all, those he loves and those I have come to love, that is true joy.  I have often thought of coming to heaven as Jesus standing at the finish line of a race waiting those looking for him, trusting in him, pursuing him.  But it isn’t a race for me to finish first or alone.  It has always been a race for us to finish together, arm in arm, having encouraged one another in faith.
            He is good.  From the beginning, his steadfast love has endured.  It endures forever.  He is a gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.  Trust in him with all your heart, for he is faithful.

As quoted in Sinclair Ferguson.  In Christ Alone.  235-237

By Andy Farmer

Stephen Altrogge at www.theblazingcenter.com gives us seven reasons he’s glad God created women. Funny thing is, I wouldn’t have come up with any of his seven reasons, but I can’t argue with a single one. Which only goes to show how important my wife is to me. Check out Stephen’s Seven here. And don’t miss the accompanying videos. You’ll identify!