Dec 31

Iranian Pastor Shares Joy Despite Imprisonment in Letter to Christians

By Admin Uncategorized

Are you aware of the Iranians among us? Did you know there is an ABF class specifically for Iranians, led by Iranians? You may not have known these things or ever thought about why you should care about what Believers are going through in this part of the world. For this very reason (and others) we are posting this article. It is worth your time and something that should stir your heart to prayer.

Pastor Behnam Irani smiling in this undated photo.

Jailed Iranian pastor Behnam Irani, who was last month denied hospitalization despite his critical condition, wrote a letter from his prison cell days before Christmas, ministering to Christians in his country and thanking God for letting him share “very little of” Jesus‘ sufferingon the cross.

“Despite the pressure and difficulties in prison, I am pleased to share, what is like a fountain, my Christian joy with you in the new Christmas days to come,” wrote Irani, who is currently serving a six-year sentence, according to the letter translated by Minnesota-based Present Truth Ministries, which has missionaries and pastors working in various Middle Eastern countries.

“My brothers and sisters, I love you all. Christ has given you to me on Calvary. Even if I were sentenced to many years behind bars for the salvation of one of you, there would never be any complaint,” said the pastor in his 40s in the letter, seemingly written to the people he has ministered to and Christian workers in Iran.

Before his arrest in 2011 for “acting against the interests of national security. Irani was leading the Church of Iran in the city of Karaj in Alborz Province. He has been tortured in prison and was denied hospitalization for a bleeding ulcer. He had been found several times unconscious in his prison cell when visited, raising fears for his well-being.

But Irani is still thinking of the well-being of his people. “You are so precious that God himself braved the death on the cross. Do I or other servants not have to bear imprisonment for you?” Irani added. “I wish you can love each other as much as I love you, at least. Sooner or later our earthly settlement will end, and we will leave the world with all its attractions. Please do not let any earthly attraction prevent you from sweet Christian relations.”

Irani also sought to warn and encourage Christian workers, asking them to fix their eyes on spiritual things and not on worldly problems and temptations. “There were times when I was being tempted and paying more attention to my future during my ministry as a servant of Christ,” he wrote, adding that verses from the Bible serving as “a red light stopped me, even though I was sometimes fined for passing this red light.”

Many a times, he added, Christians, especially servants, act like the Samaritan woman (John 4). The water jar she was carrying represented her worldly needs and desires, but she left it after she realized who Jesus is and what He can offer. Irani said Christian workers should not be concerned too much about financial support and other difficulties.

“In these days which are truly evil, I encourage you to be alert. Do not fear for the recent economic crisis covering the larger part of the world and especially Iran,” he wrote in the wake of reports that many Christians from Iran are fleeing persecution and famine. “You servants will find new excuses for reducing the quality and hours of your ministry; and drowning more deeply in worldly affairs you will come to a point when it is too late.”

To his “brothers and sisters, and servants who are scattered all over the church of Iran,” he stated, “Tears are shed for you. I wipe them not to be noticed. They originate from the pain of my love to you. How well I now understand when Paul the Apostle said to the church, ‘I raised you with tears.'”

The issue of some fleeing or migrating to other countries must not cause division in the church, Irani warned. “Perhaps one day we who are currently residing in Iran will immigrate away and they [those who have fled or migrated] return to Iran instead. What is expected is that we don’t forsake God’s kingdom wherever we are in this planet. Believers ought to cooperate fully with servants and aid them in pressure and difficulties. Bear their possible mistakes with the Christian love and don’t express them verbally. Respect the anointing God has given them, and know that any disrespect to their ministry and anointing is regarded as disrespect to the Holy Spirit.”

Irani became a Christian in 1992, and became a pastor 10 years later. His wife and two children have said they are afraid that unless the beatings stop and he is offered proper medical care, he might die in the prison soon.

But suffering has not robbed Irani of the joy Jesus gives. “Once again, I congratulate all the saints at Christmas and the coming new year,” he said, concluding the letter.

Dec 29

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Explanations/Disclaimer/Permissions

By Admin Uncategorized

Thoughts from the Heritage Staff

Why are we encouraging people to use this?

It is our conviction that the Word of God is the perfect tool for our lives and walks with Christ. We work hard to make it central in every aspect of everything we do in and around Heritage. And while a catechism is not directly Scripture, it is a useful tool for learning and retention.

As the goldfish swimming in the bowl is unaware of the temperature and taste of the water in which he swims, so often the most powerfully formative forces of our societies and cultures are those with which we are so familiar as to be functionally unaware of how they shape our thinking, even our thinking about what exactly it means to say that Scripture has supreme and unique authority. It would be a tragic irony if the rejection of creeds and confessions by so many of those who sincerely wish to be biblically faithful turned out to be not an act of faithfulness but rather an unwitting capitulation to the spirit of the age.

Trueman, Carl R. (2012-09-20). The Creedal Imperative (Kindle Locations 256-260). Good News Publishers.

If you are interested in learning more about the purpose, benefits, and even a bit of history of the creeds we would recommend reading:

Grounded in the Gospel, Parret, Gary

Historically, the church’s ministry of grounding new believers in the essentials of the faith has been known as catechesis–systematic instruction in faith foundations, including what we believe, how we pray and worship, and how we conduct our lives. For most evangelicals today, however, this very idea is an alien concept. Packer and Parrett, concerned for the state of the church, seek to inspire a much needed evangelical course correction. This new book makes the case for a recovery of significant catechesis as a nonnegotiable practice of churches, showing the practice to be complementary to, and of no less value than, Bible study, expository preaching, and other formational ministries, and urging evangelical churches to find room for this biblical ministry for the sake of their spiritual health and vitality.

The Creedal Imperative, Trueman, Carl R.

What if “No creed but the Bible” is unbiblical?

The role of confessions and creeds is the subject of debate within evangelicalism today as many resonate with the call to return to Christianity’s ancient roots. Advocating for a balanced perspective, Carl Trueman offers an analysis of why creeds and confessions are necessary, how they have developed over time, and how they can function in the church of today and tomorrow.

We are NOT endorsing every thought expressed...

Just because we are recommending this does not mean we are in total agreement with everything written by it’s authors. This is not new and should not come as a surprise. We are a fellowship with a wide range of thoughts on issues. Though we believe it to be good, don’t go to far in thinking each and everyone of us is in full agreement with every view presented.

The New City Catechism is it’s own App.

We are encouraging you to download it to support them. The reasons we have included it in our app are as follows: 1) Their App only works on the iPad. 2) By porting it into our App we can give access to people on a number of different platforms. If this last sentence did not make sense to you, just know it should work for you. 3) It is simpler to get it into everyone’s hands by just putting it there and not telling everyone where to go.

And YES, we checked, and the New City people have given us permission to do this.

The following is the specific legalese they asked us to include.

New City Catechism Copyright Information:

New City Catechism was adapted by Timothy Keller and Sam Shammas from the Reformation catechisms.

ESV Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

New City Catechism was devised by Timothy Keller and Sam Shammas. Produced by Ben Peays.

Videos produced by The Gospel Coalition and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Directed by Sam Shammas. Filmed by Scott Smith. Edited by Peter Ostebo.

App by Brushfire

The Gospel Coalition and Redeemer Presbyterian Church would like to thank all those who trialled, reviewed, and participated in the filming of New City Catechism.

Dec 29

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F.A.Q.

By Admin Uncategorized

MOST OF YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED BY THEINTRODUCTION TO NEW CITY CATECHISM. PLEASE READ THAT FIRST.

WHAT AGE IS THE CHILDREN’S CATECHISM AIMED AT?

This very much depends on your children and your way of using the catechism. Memorization can begin at an early age but if you want to use the Bible verses and prayers then 4th to 5th graders will get the most out of it. On the other hand, if your children are able to memorize and recite the Apostles’ Creed (the longest catechism answer) then they should be able memorize the entire New City Catechism with ease.

WHY IS SOME OF THE TEXT IN COLOR IN THE ANSWERS?

In the adult version the children’s answer appears in color to differentiate it from the longer adult answer. New City Catechism is a joint adult and children’s catechism. In other words, the same questions are asked of both children and adults, and the children’s answer is always part of the adult answer. This means that as parents are teaching it to their children they are learning their answer to the question at the same time, albeit an abridged version. The adult answer is always an expanded version of the children’s answer and so the colored text shows the children’s answer within the adult one.

IN WHAT ORDER SHOULD I GO THROUGH THE VERSES, COMMENTARIES, AND SO ON?

Start by reading the Bible verse that accompanies each question and answer, and seeing how it applies and how the question and answer derive from it. Then read the text commentary, and then watch the video commentary. If you have access to either of the further reading books, read the recommended chapter(s). End your time in prayer, using the attached prayer as a starting point and for inspiration.

HOW DO I USE NEW CITY CATECHISM?

New City Catechism consists of 52 questions and answers so the easiest way to use it is to memorize one question and answer each week of the year. Because it is intended to be dialogical it is best to learn it with others, enabling you to drill one another on the answers not only one at a time but once you have learned 10 of them, then 20 of them, and so on. The Bible verse, written and filmed commentary, and prayer that are attached to each question and answer can be used as your devotion on a chosen day of the week to help you think through and meditate on the issues and applications that arise from the question and answer.

HOW DO I USE NEW CITY CATECHISM WITH MY FAMILY?

New City Catechism consists of 52 questions and answers so the easiest way to use it is to memorize one question and answer together as a family each week of the year. It is intended for parents to help their children memorize the children’s answer and then for parents to learn the longer, extended adult answer themselves. Parents will have different ways of approaching the memorization process depending on their children and their particular circumstances—so there are no prescribed times of day or particular devotional practices attached. When and how parents use the catechism can be as diverse as during family devotions, at the breakfast table, as part of a longer study including comprehension questions and praying, or as a fun memorization time with flashcards and drills. Parents may decide to read aloud the Bible verse and pray aloud the children’s prayer attached to each question and answer, or it may be appropriate for your child to read and pray aloud themselves.

HOW DO I USE NEW CITY CATECHISM WITH MY STUDY GROUP?

Groups may decide to spend the first 5–10 minutes of their study time looking together at only one question and answer thus completing the catechism in a year, or they may prefer to study and learn the questions and answers over a contracted length of time, for example by memorizing 5 or 6 questions a week and meeting together to quiz one another, discuss them, as well as read and watch the accompanying commentaries.

WHY ARE SOME OF THE PRAYERS LONGER THAN OTHERS?

The prayers are intended to help and inspire you in prayer by showing you some of the ways historic preachers and authors prayed to and praised God. Please feel free to lengthen or shorten the prayers as is most helpful to you.

WHICH CATECHISM SHOULD I LEARN AFTER THIS ONE?

New City Catechism is based on and adapted from Calvin’s Geneva Catechism, the Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms, and especially the Heidelberg Catechism. A good next step would be to learn either Westminster Shorter or Heidelberg.

ANY ADDITIONAL RESOURCES YOU WOULD RECOMMEND?

Kevin DeYoung has written an excellent exploration of the Heidelberg Catechism in The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism (published by Moody).

Thomas Watson’s A Body of Divinity (published by Banner of Truth or Kessinger) is a great exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Thomas F. Torrance’s The School of Faith, Catechisms of the Reformed Church (published by Wipf & Stock) has a fascinating introduction to catechesis as well as being a great collection of the historical catechisms.

Grounded in the Gospel by Gary Parrett and J. I. Packer (published by Baker) provides a case for why catechetical instruction is still important for churches and discipleship today.

Dec 23

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Why Doesn’t God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering?

By Admin Uncategorized

In thinking about the subject matter on Wednesday nights, it makes me want to dive in deeper to how great God is. There are no shortage of questions and people willing to question God, but few take the time to seek answers. Here Randy Alcorn begins to unpack some of the questions. I will be breaking it into parts because it is quite lengthy. If you are eager you can find the whole thing here.

Why Doesn’t God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering? Part 1

By Randy Alcorn

Survivors of 9/11

God may already be restraining 99.99 percent of evil and suffering.

Why does the chaos that breaks out in some corner of the world always prove the exception rather than the rule? Why haven’t tyrants, with access to powerful weapons, destroyed this planet? What has kept infectious diseases and natural disasters from killing 99 percent of the world’s population rather than less than 1 percent?

In the collapse of New York’s Twin Towers, fifteen thousand people came out alive. While this doesn’t remove the pain felt by families of the nearly three thousand who died, it shows that even on that terrible day, suffering was limited.

City Nanci said to me, “Given what Scripture tells us about the evil of the human heart, you’d think that there would be thousands of Jack the Rippers in every city.” Her statement stopped me in my tracks. Might God be limiting sin all around us, all the time? Second Thessalonians 2:7 declares that God is in fact restraining lawlessness in this world. For this we should thank him daily.

If God permitted people to follow their every evil inclination all the time, life on this planet would screech to a halt. Sometimes God permits evil by giving people over to their sins (see Romans 1:24–32), and this itself leads to the deterioration and ultimate death of an evil culture, which is a mercy to surrounding cultures. The most morally corrupt ancient cultures no longer exist.

“But many children suffer; why doesn’t God protect them?” We don’t know the answer, but we also don’t know how often God does protect children. The concept of guardian angels seems to be suggested by various passages (see, for example,Matthew 18:10).

God gives us a brief, dramatic look into the unseen world in which righteous angels battle evil ones, intervening on behalf of God’s people (see Daniel 10:12–13, 20). How many angels has God sent to preserve the lives of children and shield them from harm?

My earliest memory is of falling into deep water and nearly drowning; someone my family didn’t know rescued me. As a parent and a grandparent I have seen many “close calls” where it appears a child should have died or suffered a terrible injury, but somehow escaped both.

This thought, of course, doesn’t keep a parent’s heart from breaking when her child suffers or dies. Still, though I can’t prove it, I’m convinced God prevents far more evil than he allows.

Dec 23

Love0

Maybe you should watch this…

By Admin Uncategorized

Here is one for all of us to think about. All of us are affected by adoption whether we know it or not. Maybe you were adopted? Perhaps you are thinking of it? It may be a picture of what God has done in your life? Regardless of where you are, you should watch this and be moved to be more like Christ.

New Film Premiere – I Like Adoption. from ILikeGiving.com on Vimeo.

Dec 23

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Are the Atheists Right about Christmas?

By Admin Uncategorized

This Christmas the American Atheists have posted a large billboard in Times Square New York. It has two pictures: one of Santa Claus and the other of Jesus on the cross. The captions under the pictures are “Keep the Merry” and “Dump the Myth”. Apart from having the captions under the wrong pictures, the sentiment is one I agree with.

Christmas is a merry season that is based on truth, not myth. Confusing the truth with myth doesn’t help people understand the event, or experience the merriment. Santa Claus is an ever growing and developing myth. It is possibly based on some fact, lost to any serious historical research. St Nicholas is said to have been born in AD 270, and became a bishop in Myra. He is reputed to have suffered and been imprisoned under the persecution of Diocletian and subsequently attending the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says that this is “most improbable, as he is not in any of the early lists of bishops present at the Council, nor referred to in the writings of Athanasius.” Indeed the Dictionary goes so far as to state that “scarcely anything is historically certain about him”. The earliest reference to him is a church built in his honour in AD 565, and his popularity only rose after his supposed remains were moved to Bari, in Southern Italy in AD 1087. The mythical quality of Santa Claus has increased over the last century through American advertising campaigns. Today, he is one of the most treasured and universal icons of Western civilisation—promising to generously give gifts to good children.

In comparison to this, the historical evidence for the death of Jesus is overwhelming. It is widely referred to during the first century. The very earliest Christian writings build their arguments on the basis of his crucifixion. Some of these were written within 20 years of the event. Non-Christian writings (both Jewish and Roman) also refer to his death by crucifixion.

Even sceptical scholars accept that Jesus was crucified. After all, it is an extraordinary idea to have the Messiah killed. Who would have expected such an outcome? Yet it is in his death, and subsequent resurrection, that the merriment of Christianity is found, as Christians claim to find forgiveness and new life in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The difference between Jesus and St Nicholas is not only in the historical evidences but also in their meaning. One man comes like a cargo cult, as the smiling face of our malignant materialism; rewarding morality by giving gifts only to good children. The other does not give gifts but himself – and not for the good, but for the bad, for he came to not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. His gift means forgiveness and a fresh start.
The gift of Christ is the joy of Christmas. Christians cannot help but rejoice in the coming of our Saviour and our joy is expressed in song. We sing because of his birth, we sing because of his death, we sing because of his resurrection. We sing because we are His! Few people are as committed to singing as Christians. We are not like the shops playing carols because it is that time of the year again. The gift of rebirth is not like a toy: coming without a battery, broken on Boxing Day and discarded by New Year. The joy that comes from knowing our Lord and sharing in his spiritual family far exceeds the “happy holiday season” of those whose world is limited to materialism (economic or philosophical).

Some cultural Christians—even atheists—like to share in our merriment by singing the carols with us. And of course they are very welcome. However, true joy is found not in the music or the emotions or the nostalgia it produces but in the words and ideas the carols express. Christians are singing of their Lord and Saviour, who loved them and died for them. Their joy, which the congregational singing clothes, is the message of the gospel.

Some other people have an arrogant confidence that somehow the shifting sand of modern scholarship has disproved the Bible. This enables them to make up a new religion and call it “Christianity”. A frequent SMH Christmas columnist wrote: “The Christian God exists within us, and nowhere else. It is a spirit within us to make us whole… If we nurture that spirit and revere its power, we will have found God—not in the wonders of “creation” but in the greater wonders of human kindness and charity. Since there’s no supernatural God…” Such mythologists attack believers for not sufficiently doubting, while apparently never doubting their own confident assertions. They misuse the truism that doubt is an essential part of belief, to gut Christianity of all historical certainty; reducing Christmas to symbolic myths and knowledge to the post-modern faux humility of relativism. The ancient world was well versed in mythology, but every reference to myths in the New Testament is negative (1 Timothy 1:4, 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4; Titus 1:14 and 2 Peter 1:16). Indeed one apostle contrasts myths with truth and another goes out of his way to say, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty”(2 Peter 1:16).

This history is certain: the New Testament writers believed they had witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection of the true Messiah. Accepting their witness is not arrogance, but has brought to every generation unbounded joy—”Joy to the world—the Lord has come!” It is possible that they were wrong, and Jesus isn’t the Saviour of the world. However, it is arrogance, not humility, to claim the name “Christian” while rewriting Christian beliefs in terms of mythology or replacing the historical Jesus with the mythical Santa Claus.

The atheists are right—dump the myth and keep the merry.

This post is courtesy of Phillip Jensen, Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.

Dec 23

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The Unbaked Biscuit

By Admin Uncategorized

I’ve had this thing going lately about biscuits. It is probably due to the colder (delicious) fall air. This is the season of comfort food. But to have comfort food, there needs to be a comfort person. This is not just the season to have a hot dinner hitting the table, it is the season to have a person who loves you putting it there. In my life (prompted by the cute faces that travel about my home at half height) this has somehow become a burning need to perfect biscuits. Of course there are other things too, but biscuits are just so symbolic.

Biscuits make up a small part of the culinary world. They are easy and quick, and have been satisfying children leaving honey trails on the table for generations. But biscuits have to be made. It isn’t enough to think of biscuits, because having thought of them doesn’t make a childhood more full. Having thought of them doesn’t give the dinner table that wonderful allure that having actually made them does. Your thoughts alone will not play into the memories of your children.

A little guilt cycle often happens in the life of a mother. It usually goes something like this, and could take anywhere from two minutes to two years to complete itself:

I thought of biscuits. I would like to be a person who makes biscuits for my hungry children. I do not feel like making biscuits right now. I will make biscuits another time. I will have time when I am not tired and feeling fat. The kids won’t know. I wish I had made biscuits. I could have made biscuits. I’m such a bad mom who doesn’t make biscuits. I am not as good as all the moms who are everywhere in this stupid world making biscuits. People who talk about making biscuits are self-righteous. I hate biscuits. They make me feel guilty. Jesus loves me! Biscuits or not! Jesus doesn’t care that I didn’t make biscuits. Home free! Biscuit-free!

Of course the conclusion here is perfectly accurate. Jesus doesn’t care in the abstract whether or not you are making biscuits. And of course biscuits are only an example of something that you could do for your children, might not want to do, wish you had done, and then feel stricken with guilt over not doing. It could just as easily be decorating your kids’ room, sewing a dress, making the birthday cake they wanted, talking to them in the evening longer than you wanted to, quitting your job to prioritize spending time with them, cleaning the bathroom, or any other thing that could actually be done — anything that could qualify as a work.

The thing is, works-righteousness is a damning theology. Jesus did the work for us by living sinlessly and dying for our sins. We cannot earn anything by doing, so it is dangerous to start talking about anything that Christians should be doing. If you could be the most accomplished mother in the world on your own strength, it wouldn’t matter in the end. There is no freedom from sin that you can find by doing something. Jesus is all. His blood is sufficient, and there is nothing you can do that will change that.

But His blood will change you. When Jesus is all, things happen. When you believe to your core that you are forgiven and loved, one of the first things that happens is you start doing things. Fruit is intimately connected with forgiveness. When we are forgiven, we do not gallop out into a life of ambiguity and indifference. We do not become great negotiators of whether or not it matters that we aren’t doing things. We become filled with gratitude, love, joy, and peace. And then, having a firm foundation of another’s righteousness, we are free to go out and do.

Jesus does not care even the tiniest bit what you do for your salvation, because there is nothing you can do for it. But He cares very much what you do with it. Having been given it, go out and . . . reflect on all the things that you don’t have to do? be embittered by every appearance of work? despise anything that doesn’t come easily to you, that might be difficult? choose to be above the physical world? look down on sisters who are getting more done than you?

What is fruit but the outworking of our salvation? Take what you have been given, and turn a profit on it. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is quite relevant here. The master gives gold to his servants before he leaves on a journey. Two of them use the gold to earn more. Their investment pleases the master. He says, “Well done!” But the man who is given one talent and merely keeps it safe does not please him. “Why would you bury what I gave you? Why would you sit on it in fear? What I gave you was to be used. Turn a profit on it.”

Is this us? Are we always guarding the gold we were given, always afraid of losing something? Are we storing up an arsenal of unbaked biscuits with which we will feed no one? And when our Master returns and asks us, “What have you done with what I have given you?” will we point at the other servants and say, “Look at them! They thought the gold you gave us wasn’t sufficient. I knew it was, so I hid it, to keep it safe for Your return”?

Our Master did not give us this gold of forgiveness so that we might hide it. He wants us to use it. He wants us to make things happen with it. He wants us to take our salvation and turn it into biscuits, hot on the table. He wants us to take our salvation and turn it into contagious joy, into sacrifice for others. He wants us to use it.

The love of Christ is not the reason that we don’t have to do things. It is the reason we get to do things freely. If you had no gold, there would have been nothing to invest. If your Master gave you gold, you should not be sitting on it.

In Christian circles there is constant talk about free salvation. It is free, thank God. But it is only free to us. God paid a great price for it. Jesus paid with His blood. It is free to us because someone else paid a great deal. And this is why we do not work out our salvation by never doing anything that might be hard or difficult to us. We imitate Christ, and we make sacrifices for others. We do things that are hard, that cost us much, because we want our gifts to be free to others.

It is so easy for us as mothers to look at the work we do on behalf of our families and resent that it is free to them. Look at those kids, thinking that the clean clothes just appear magically. Look at these people, not valuing the cost of my work. Look at this ungrateful family who just takes the food and eats it. Like it was free! But it is very important that we see the damage that this kind of thinking brings with it.

When we want the cost to be shared by all, we are not imitating Christ. When we imitate Christ, we want to give what costs us much, and we want to give it freely. Of course we have short-term vision, and often we feel like when we freely give, we need to see right away that it is being used responsibly. We worry that our free sacrifice will make our children greedy takers.

We think that we can see how wrong it would be if they thought that our making of biscuits was in any way easy. We want to know, within the next fifteen minutes, that everyone saw what we sacrificed, acknowledged it gratefully, thanked us profusely, reflected on it quietly, and came up with a way to repay us. But God thinks in much, much bigger story lines.

So imitate Christ in your giving. Do it daily, do it in as many little ways as you possibly can. Find a way to imitate Him in the folding of the laundry, in the stocking of the fridge, in the picking up of other people’s socks. And then decide consciously that you are giving this meal, this clean room, this cheerful Christmas — that you are giving it all freely. And much later, maybe thirty years later, you would like to see your children turn a profit on it. You would like to see your kids taking what they were freely given and turning it into still more free giving. This is because God’s story is never little. He works in generations, in lifetimes, and He wants us to do the same.

So if the very suggestion of something you might do makes you bristle, if it makes you feel judged or threatened or angry, you need to look to Christ. Your salvation has been paid for; this isn’t about that. Stop and be grateful. Thank God things to bake have nothing to do with your salvation. Thank Him for loving you. Thank Him that He has given you so much to use.

Then, after you have remembered the strength of your salvation, go out and do something with it. Find ways to use what you have been given to freely bless those around you. Tie on an apron and dust yourself lightly with flour. You are not here in this world to work your salvation in (thank God), you are here to work it out.

There are a million different ways to use this kind of gold. As much as God wants us to be using it, He wants us to be using it in different ways. We don’t all need to be making biscuits, but we should all be doing something. We should be getting our hands into stuff to give. We should be blessing others, thinking of others, giving to others. And we should be doing it so freely that we don’t remember it, because we are willing to wait to see what is done with it. We are willing to see, years down the road, what kind of interest accrued on those biscuits.

This blog post is chapter two from Rachel Jankovic’s new book, Fit to Burst: Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood (Canon Press, 2012), 19–25. Posted by permission of the publisher. The book is available exclusively from Canon Press as a pre-release special (order by December 7th to have in time for Christmas). The book officially releases in late January.

Dec 23

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Raising Kids the World Will Hate

By Admin Uncategorized

When I was a boy, my dad asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” To which I frankly answered (quite adorably no doubt), “A daddy.” When my relentlessly realistic dad informed me that no one would pay me to be a father, I told him that I would gladly pay myself.

In 2011 my dream of being a father came true when my son, Oscar, was born. Since that day my hopes and dreams have shifted to what Oscar will be when he grows up. Of course, I like to imagine him growing up handsome, talented, godly and kind, but there’s no way to really know yet. I can be fairly certain he’ll have an affinity for Texas A&M and the Green Bay Packers. There’s little doubt that he’ll have a disappointing hairline, love to eat and sweat even when it’s cold. For the most part, however, I’ll just have to wait and see who he grows up to be.

I often daydream about what a great guy he might be and how well loved he’ll be by others. I daydream that coaches, teachers and pastors will approve of him and even be impressed by him. I envision his peers holding him in high esteem, wanting him around all the time. I imagine that the generation that follows him will admire him. I hold tightly to the thought that, as he becomes a man, he will grow in favor among any and all he comes into contact with. Some of these desires are healthy, and some are prideful.

I have a strong, and certainly not uncommon, desire for my child to be validated by the love of other people. Most parents want their son or daughter to be a lovable person, and it’s that desire that makes John 15:19so important and so transformative when it comes to the way we prepare our children for the future. Christ tells His disciples, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” It’s not just John 15:19, either. There are many Scriptures that describe the adversarial relationship that God’s followers will have with those who are not believers.

Reading this, I realized that if God answers my prayer for my son to be a follower of Christ, people will hate him. People will absolutely, unquestionably be repulsed by my son.

If God graciously saves my Oscar, people will call him a bigot and a homophobe. Some will ridicule him as a male chauvinist as they scorn his “sexist” beliefs. He’ll be despised as closed-minded for saying that Jesus Christ is not only God but the only God. He will probably meet a girl who insults his manhood or considers him old fashioned for waiting until marriage to have sex. His peers will think him a prude. Bullies will call him a coward. His integrity will draw insults like “goody two shoes” (I don’t even know what that means).

Teachers will think that that my son ignores scientific facts about our origins, prompting his classmates to mark him an idiot. People will tell him he has been led astray by his parents down an ancient path of misguided morality masked as a relationship with God. Financial advisors will think he’s irresponsibly generous. When he takes a stand, there will be those who will not tolerate his intolerance. He will be judged as judgmental. He will have enemies, and I’ll be asking him to love them, and even for that he’ll look foolish.

If you’re like me and hope for your kids to be fully devoted followers of Christ, then we need to be raising up a generation who is ready to be distinctly different from their peers. In a lot of ways, that’s the opposite of my natural inclination in how to raise my son. Raising kids who are ready to be hated means raising kids who unashamedly love God even in the face of loathing and alienation. Regardless if the insults of the world are naive or legitimate, I pray our children will be ready to stand firm in the midst of a world that hates them.

This post is from the Village Church blog and can be found here.

Dec 23

Love0

A Wife’s Inner Beauty: Convicting and Compelling

By Admin Uncategorized

Years ago, I wrote a newsletter called Every Husband Feels Like a Jerk and Every Wife Agrees. It was meant to explain a common phenomenon that kept emerging in the course of my marriage counseling practice. No matter what else they brought to the table, couples seemed to agree on one thing: No one believed the husbands demonstrated loyal love in their marriages.

In fact, whenever I began to talk about the quality of love in the marital relationship, most husbands began to act ashamed. They were like Isaiah when he saw the Lord sitting on his throne, “high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1). It seemed like their wives were so good at love.

It’s true. In almost every case, a wife approaches marriage with a deeper understanding of and passion for loyal love. I consider this a God-given gift, one way she reflects the image of God (Gen. 1:27). I began to identify this as an aspect of a wife’s inner beauty.

This inner beauty exposes areas where a husband is lacking. Just as Isaiah encountered the Lord’s beauty, I heard husbands echo his response: “My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of sinful race” (Isa. 6:5).

But unlike Isaiah, who was reduced to humble contrition in the presence of such loveliness, husbands tend to fight back. “My wife wants too much from me,” they declare. The wives counter with a long list of their husbands’ failures. This tension increases because neither the husband nor the wife responds well to her gift of inner beauty.

Couple Implications

If inner beauty is God’s gift to a woman, then it stands to reason that it’s a gift that can be employed in the service of building redemptive marriages. I want to suggest a couple of implications for each couple.

To grow in loyal love, a husband must not be afraid for his sin to be exposed in his wife’s presence. This requires humility. He must stop telling his wife she wants too much and instead look to the Lord for his help. Typically, a husband wants to be a knight in shining armor. Instead, he needs to be willing to humbly see the ways he hides and casts blame. As a husband opens up to this exposure and learns to look to the Lord for forgiveness and care, he has more to give his wife. A wife’s inner beauty matters because a husband can let it expose his deep need for God’s grace and mercy. A wife’s inner beauty is meant to turn a husband toward the Lord, not drive him to intimidation, control, or defensiveness.

To use her gift to enhance loyal love, a wife must remember that her husband experiences shame in her presence. He experiences this whether or not she says or does anything. Her gift of inner beauty can be that powerful. When a wife trusts this, she can relate to her husband with more kindness and rest instead of feeling compelled to help her husband recognize where he is lacking. When Peter encourages wives to let their “adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,” (1 Peter 3:4), he is telling wives to rest as their husbands learn how to make room for the ongoing conviction of sin that comes with marriage. Peter wanted women to stop expending so much effort. A husband’s struggle to love well should turn a wife toward more faith and less activity as she waits for him to grow into God’s love.

In fact, as a wife rests and shows kindness in the midst of her husband’s frustration, she can have a powerful effect. After Isaiah witnesses God’s beauty and expresses humility, a seraph touches his lips with a coal and says, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isa. 6:7). Later, we find Isaiah willingly responding to the Lord’s direction. Beauty and kindness together inspired courage in Isaiah. He is moved to stand up and follow the Lord.

It works the same way in marriage. When a husband responds well to his wife’s inner beauty, and when a wife mixes it with kindness, she becomes a compelling force in her husband’s life.

Gordon C. Bals founded Daymark Pastoral Counseling in Birmingham, Alabama, a ministry committed to restoring people to God and to one another. Anyone interested in reading further about this topic and/or related marital themes can find them in his recently published book, Common Ground: God’s Gift of a Restored Marriage, available on Amazon or on his website, www.daymarkcounseling.com.

Dec 23

Love0

Let’s Rethink Our Holly-Jolly Christmas Songs

By Admin Uncategorized

Sometimes I learn a lot from conversations I was never intended to hear. This happened the other day as I was stopping by my local community bookstore. It’s a small store, and a quiet store so it was impossible not to eavesdrop as I heard a young man tell his friend how much he hated Christmas. And, you know what, the more he talked, the more I understood his point.

This man wasn’t talking about the hustle and bustle of the holidays, or about the stresses of family meals or all the things people tend to complain about. What he hated was the music.

This guy started by lampooning Sting’s Christmas album, and I found myself smiling as I browsed because he is so right; it’s awful. But then he went on to say that he hated Christmas music across the board. That’s when I started to feel as though I might be in the presence of the Grinch. You know, when every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing; they’d stand hand-in-hand. And the Who’s would start singing. The sour old green villain didn’t like that.

But then this man explained why he found the music so bad. It wasn’t just that it was cloying. It’s that it was boring.

“Christmas is boring because there’s no narrative tension,” he said. “It’s like reading a book with no conflict.”

Now he had my attention.

I’m sure this man had thought this for a long time, but maybe he felt freer to say it because we were only hours out from hearing the horrifying news of a massacre of innocent children in Connecticut. For him, the tranquil lyrics of our Christmas songs couldn’t encompass such terror. Maybe we should think about that.

Of course, some of the blame is on our sentimentalized Christmas of the American civil religion. Simeon the prophet never wished anyone a “holly-jolly Christmas” or envisioned anything about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But there’s our songs too, the songs of the church. We ought to make sure that what we sing measures up with the, as this fellow would put it, “narrative tension” of the Christmas story.

The first Christmas carol, after all, was a war hymn. Mary of Nazareth sings of God’s defeat of his enemies, about how in Christ he had demonstrated his power and “has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate” (Lk. 1:52). There are some villains in mind there.

Simeon’s song, likewise, speaks of the “fall and rising of many in Israel” and of a sword that would pierce the heart of Mary herself. Even the “light of the Gentiles” he speaks about is in the context of warfare. After all, the light, the Bible tells us, overcomes the darkness (Jn. 1:5), and frees us from the grip of the devil (2 Cor. 4).

In a time of obvious tragedy, the unbearable lightness of Christmas seems absurd to the watching world. But, even in the best of times, we all know that we live in a groaning universe, a world of divorce courts and cancer cells and concentration camps. Just as we sing with joy about the coming of the Promised One, we ought also to sing with groaning that he is not back yet (Rom. 8:23), sometimes with groanings too deep for lyrics.

The man in the bookstore knew that reality is complicated. There’s grit, and there’s tension. Without it, Christmas didn’t seem real to life. It’s hard to get more tense than being born under a king’s death sentence (Matt. 2:16), and with an ancient dragon crouching at the birth canal to devour you (Rev. 12:4). But this man didn’t hear any of that in Christmas. I’m glad I overheard him.

We have a rich and complicated and often appropriately dark Christmas hymnody. We can sing of blessings flowing “far as the curse is found,” of the one who came to “free us all from Satan’s power.”

Let’s sing that, every now and then, where we can be overheard.

This post is from Dr. Russell D. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, where he ministers weekly at the congregation’s Fegenbush location. Dr. Moore is the author of The Kingdom of Christ and Adopted for Life. His blog can be found here.

Dec 11

Love0

The Story of God

By Admin Uncategorized

Well, here you go. The Story of God in just a few minutes. I’m posting it because it is interesting. It is also a great picture of finding ways to communicate what God has done. We don’t have to put it on video. We don’t even have to be creative, but we should be willing and ABLE to share this great story.

Dec 11

Love0

Lord’s Prayer (pt.8)

By Admin Uncategorized

The following is the eighth part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:9-12

We have arrived in our meditations at a sentence that I think we all too often gloss over when we read and interpret this prayer. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Well, right away, we have to deal with that word “debts”. It is loaded with such a financial connotation in English that some translators use the word “trespasses” instead, which really isn’t much clearer in meaning and is definitely a less elegant translation. But either way, most people read the idea of sin into “debts” or its equivalents. We’ll get back to that.

So what does the word “debts” really mean? Up to this point, Jesus has been talking mostly about God and our relationship with Him. Has he all of a sudden switched gears and started talking about our financial situations?

No.

But to understand what’s really going on here, we’re going to have to dig into a bit of Greek. Bear with me. I’ll try not to dig any deeper than I have to.

The word that’s translated as “debts” is derived from the Greek word opheil¢, which can mean an amount that is owed, an obligation that is owed, or a service which is due to someone else—a duty, in other words. And it is this last meaning that really seems most to be in play in this verse—specifically the lack of performance of a duty.

So the verse could really be read as: Forgive us where we have failed you, just as we forgive those who have failed us.

As part of creation, we have a duty to God. Because we are among those ransomed by the blood of Christ, we have a duty to Christ. And all sin, from the least unkind thought that momentarily crosses our minds to the most horrific and grisly of murders that could be committed, is a failure of our duty to God.

“But wait,” you ask, “as believers, as sons and daughters of God, aren’t we already forgiven?”

Yes, insofar as we are talking about justification. Any and every sin that we commit, whether before we come to know Jesus as Savior or afterward, is forgiven us at the exact moment we establish that relationship with Him. So when (not if) we sin as believers, nothing we do can ever endanger our personal salvation.

But that does not mean that there is no effect of our sinning. Sin in our lives has the potential to become a barrier between us and God. Paul gives a warning about that in his first letter to the Thessalonian church.

Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

The indication is that not abstaining from every form of evil, not keeping away from sin, can and does quench the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives.

So yes, if we do not regularly confess our sins before God, pretty soon we’re comfortable with them, we don’t notice the increasing weight of the sins, and we don’t notice when our relationship with God becomes dim and dismal. That is why the first part of the verse in the prayer asks God to forgive us where we have failed in our duty to him.

But why is the second part of the verse there? Why are we supposed to pray about how we forgive those who have failed us? After all, if they’ve sinned against us, haven’t they also sinned against God, and shouldn’t they be dealing with Him? Well, that’s true as far as it goes, but it’s not that simple.

Do you remember what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments?

And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:35-40

The last sentence of this quotation is a figure of speech that basically means that everything in the Old Testament ties to one or the other or both of those commandments. That was a revelation to me the day that I first realized it. Think about it: every one of the Ten Commandments derives from one or the other of those two commandments. Every law in the books of Moses derives from those two commandments. (And actually, they are quotations themselves: see Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.) Every instruction from the prophets of God derives from those two commandments. And today we can see that every teaching in the New Testament also resonates with them. For example:

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. John 15:9-12

This very clearly tells us that as children of God, we are to have vertical relationships with Him, and horizontal relationships with those around us. And just as the vertical relationships should be based on and filled with agape (love), so the horizontal relationship should also be based on and filled with agape.

Okay, but what does that have to do with “…forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors…“?

Here’s where we get to the part that always seems to get brushed over when we read or teach this. Focus in on this.

This is relating God’s forgiveness to how we forgive others. To paraphrase it in more colloquial modern English, this verse is saying “God, You forgive us where we have failed you just as much (or as little) as we have forgiven those who have failed us.”

And before you start thinking that this is something crazy that came out of David’s feeble and twisted mind, look at this:

“For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus says this just a couple of sentences after the phrase we’re meditating on here, immediately after He concludes the prayer. That is not coincidental. Those two passages are absolutely directly related. I believe that Jesus is teaching us that the clarity of our daily relationship with God is directly related to the clarity of our daily relationship with those around us.

If we desire to know God; if we desire to have the closest possible relationship with Him; if we desire to know His cleansing forgiveness on a regular (daily) basis so we can experience that closeness; then we must first forgive. If we want to experience God’s forgiveness of our failures, then we must first forgive others when they fail us in any way.

Why?

Because a hard, harsh, and unforgiving heart is not one that can know God. If we add to our failures by failing to forgive others in a Christ-like manner, then we have in that moment taken a step away from God; and with each succeeding step of unforgiveness our relationship with God gets dimmer and more dismal. We’re still saved, but we don’t know the joy of our salvation any more, and we have placed ourselves in the position where God is much more likely to discipline us than bless us.

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” This may actually be one of the most important parts of the prayer, and yet it is the one usually least emphasized. But nothing that Jesus teaches is unimportant, and so it is with this sentence. It is vitally important to our being able to draw close to God, which should be one of our chief aims as Christians. But to do that, to forgive others, we may have to voice another prayer along with it: “And change me, Father, so that where I have not forgiven I can now forgive.” That might just be the second most important prayer of your life.

;

Grace and peace to you.

David

Dec 07

Love0

What Is Sin?

By Admin Uncategorized

The following is a definition of sin by David Powlison from The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Spring 2007; Vol. 25, No. 2) pp. 25-26. My hope is for you to keep thinking about our questions and let the Word of God richly dwell within you. Let us be people who are becoming more like Christ in all areas of our lives

Grace and peace,

Chad

First, people tend to think of sins in the plural as consciously willed acts where one was aware of and chose not to do the righteous alternative. Sin, in this popular misunderstanding, refers to matters of conscious volitional awareness of wrongdoing and the ability to do otherwise. This instinctive view of sin infects many Christians and almost all non-Christians. It has a long legacy in the church under the label Pelagianism, one of the oldest and most instinctive heresies. The Bible’s view of sin certainly includes the high-handed sins where evil approaches full volitional awareness. But sin also includes what we simply are, and the perverse ways we think, want, remember, and react.

Most sin is invisible to the sinner because it is simply how the sinner works, how the sinner perceives, wants, and interprets things. Once we see sin for what it really is – madness and evil intentions in our hearts, absence of any fear of God, slavery to various passions (Eccl. 9:3; Gen. 6:5; Ps. 36:1; Titus 3:3) – then it becomes easier to see how sin is the immediate and specific problem all counseling deals with at every moment, not a general and remote problem. The core insanity of the human heart is that we violate the first great commandment. We will love anything, except God, unless our madness is checked by grace.

People do not tend to see sin as applying to relatively unconscious problems, to the deep, interesting, and bedeviling stuff in our hearts. But God’s descriptions of sin often highlight the unconscious aspect. Sin – the desires we pursue, the beliefs we hold, the habits we obey as second nature – is intrinsically deceitful. If we knew we were deceived, we would not be deceived. But we are deceived, unless awakened through God’s truth and Spirit. Sin is a darkened mind, drunkenness, animal-like instinct and compulsion, madness, slavery, ignorance, stupor. People often think that to define sin as unconscious removes human responsibility. How can we be culpable for what we did not sit down and choose to do? But the Bible takes the opposite track. The unconscious and semiconscious nature of much sin simply testifies to the fact that we are steeped in it. Sinners think, want, and act sinlike by nature, nurture, and practice.

Dec 07

Love0

Is It Okay for a Christian Couple to Live Together If They Aren’t Married?

By Admin Uncategorized

I think this is a good policy. I think it’s a very good policy. I don’t know if we have it, but we should if we don’t.

And so I would advise to this parent to say to the boyfriend and daughter, “Move out!”

And if they say, “Why?”—and I’m dealing with a situation like this right now, where a kid is about to move in as a Christian with his girlfriend (“Not going to have sex!”)—here’s the why:

It’s not primarily, “You’re going to be tempted, and you’re going to give in, and you’re going to have more sex. That’s why.” That’s not the main reason.

The main reason is that when a man and a woman live together it says crystal clear to the world that having sex together without marriage is okay. That’s what it says.

Now, you say you’re a Christian. Do you want to say that sex before marriage is okay? And if you want to say that, then something is profoundly wrong!

And if you say, “That’s their problem,” you’re not loving people. It’s not their problem. It is your problem. You should take steps to communicate truth, and the sanctity of sex in marriage is a glorious truth, and you should want to hallow it and cherish it.

And the last thing I might say is to the guy: “Sixteen years from now—it’s going to be here just like that—your daughter says she wants to move in with her boyfriend. What would you say? She says, ‘Dad, it’s their problem! We’re not going to have sex!’ What would you say? Well, say it to yourself now.”

Dec 07

Love0

How to Tell Your Story of God’s Grace

By Admin Uncategorized

With Advent upon us, our thoughts anticipate the many gatherings that will punctuate the upcoming weeks, recognizing opportunities for gospel witness among friends and family. But what can we possibly say in such situations? Randy Newman in his recent article “Don’t Just Share Your Testimony” offers a helpful answer by explaining the apologetic nature of these encounters. I would like to approach the issue a little differently by reflecting on how your personal testimony captures attention and leads friends to consider Christ.

Stories have sticking power. When Greeks of old studied Homer’s Odyssey, the narrative shaped their ideals, intuitions, and eventually their behavior. The sequence of action, dialogue, thoughts, description, and suspense unfold in such a way as to pique interest. This is true when we read the Chronicles of Narnia with our children or when we listen to a colleague retell her story of sprinting through the JFK Airport terminal to catch a plane just moments before the door was shut. Stories communicate.

Sharing our redemptive story requires a variety of approaches, one of which—-an especially valuable one—-is the “conversion testimony.” The following example, which I shared last month when a friend asked me, “Why did you become a Christian?” illustrates the two major movements of a gospel testimony: the futility of life outside of Christ contrasted by the inexplicable joy of salvation.

All Is Vanity

At age 19, a case of meningitis landed me in the hospital for five weeks. The time of my convalescence raised profound questions about life’s meaning. Why was I alive? Is there really a God, and if so, does he care to be involved in my life? With each day, questions grew and eventually settled into a resolution to find answers.

The first step of my quest was to pursue transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. After a few months of making unusual noises in a lotus position, I understood why the Beatles became disenchanted with Mr. Yogi’s method. From there I attended seminars through the Learning Annex, studying under world-class gurus like M. Scott Peck and Deepak Chopra.

Working at the time with New York Telephone in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, I was surrounded by a broad range of religions and philosophies. The Village became my classroom. For instance, when I wanted to learn from someone in the nearby Buddhist Center, I arranged for a personal meeting. My method for doing this was dubious, even though at the time it made sense. After locating the center’s phone terminal, I disconnected their cross-connection wires, reported the trouble, took the repair, and rang the Buddhist Center doorbell to be received by a grateful host. Once inside, I found the person to interview, sat beside a wall jack in her office, pretended I was on hold with the central switchboard, and asked questions. As I recall, I think the Buddhist lady even made me a cup of coffee.

My search for life’s purpose was heading nowhere fast.

Good News

My movement toward Christ began just after my commute to work one morning. After reaching my Manhattan office, my grandfather phoned. In a serious tone he spoke a brief message: “It’s your Dad; come home.” Somehow I knew not to ask questions. It turned out to be a severe heart attack. The waterline of fear and anxiety quickly rose above our heads.

During this time, a friend, knowing of our crisis, invited me to her evangelical worship service. Having never before stepped foot in a Protestant church, I decided to go. After 40 minutes of choruses that seemed familiar to everyone but me, the senior pastor finally entered the pulpit and explained:

“Humanity attempts to produce its own fruit. We run around exploring this and that religion, this and that philosophy, and by the end of the day, when we lay our heads down upon our pillows, our souls are still empty.

In what are you resting? In what does your life find meaning and purpose? What will be there for you the second after you take your last breath and depart in death? Consider the Good News! Jesus the Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, reigns in eternal glory, and at this moment is calling you to repent and embrace him.

Everyone on earth faces the same fundamental choice. Will we continue to live independent of Christ, in restlessness of soul, eventually to be gathered like a useless branch into a pile to be burned? Or will we submit to his authority and abide in his peace? The former person dies in a never-ending state of alienation; the latter enjoys God’s acceptance now and for eternity. What will it be?”

I don’t know how to properly describe what came next. Anticipation surged through my veins and my mind swirled with questions. Then, suddenly, the eyes of my soul opened. They immediately blinked, again and again, as though they were awoken from sleep by a flash of light. The object of my vision appeared so new and bright that my initial response was to retreat.

As my inner eyes tried to adjust, I sensed an imposing presence. I didn’t see the angelic host or hear them singing. Instead, I felt divine mercy closing in on me. After a moment, this mercy, now accompanied by grace, reached out to grasp my guilt and shame—-previously reasons for hopelessness—-and brought to mind three simple words: “It is finished.”

In that moment I finally understood the meaning of Jesus’ cross and resurrection. My search for hope had ended. To this day, I don’t have a better way to describe it than with the words of Charles Wesley in his famous hymn “And Can It Be That I Should Gain”:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

The Opportunity

Maybe you feel like you could never share your conversion story. You think of Christmas dinner among family, with the prospect of articulating your faith, and you get sick to your stomach.

Let me encourage you. Simply explain the reality of your heart’s emptiness before Christ—-your vain pursuits at finding truth, the futility of running on a self-centered hamster’s wheel. Then, after explaining how you came to the end of yourself, give them the good news. Tell them of God’s mercy that set the cross of Christ between divine judgment and your soul to provide you with pardon and rest for all eternity. Tell them of how God bestowed upon you the brightness of his redemptive light and placed in you the fire of presence that cleanses and empowers. And tell them of your future hope, in which death has lost its sting and grave the victory, wherein life and death you are a child of God.

This post was written by Chris Castaldo and can be found here. Chris serves as director of the Ministry of Gospel Renewal for the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. He is the author of Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic and a main contributor to Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism. He blogs at www.chriscastaldo.com.

Dec 06

Love0

Lord’s Prayer (pt.7)

By Admin Uncategorized

The following is the seventh part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:9-11

Most commentators on this prayer typically divide it into three sections:

Adoration of God (v 9)

Submission to God (v 10)

Petitions of God (v 11-13)

Personally, the more I study it, the more I come to see that it is all praise of God, and at the same time it is all petition of God. Just something to think about.

Today I want to look at verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Bread—remarkable stuff, isn’t it? More than any other single food source, it contains enough of the necessary nutritional elements to preserve human life. It’s often called “the staff of life.” Today it’s plentiful, at least in America. And we all have our favorite types: white, whole wheat, etc. Myself, I’m partial to a good dark rye or pumpernickel.

Throughout recorded history, the masses of people survived on bread. In the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, providing bread on a daily basis often literally meant the difference between life and death. You can tell from several of Christ’s parables that there were times where a man’s ability to find day work would determine whether his family would eat that day. So frequently teachers look at this verse and say, “This is asking God to meet our physical needs.” And on one level, that’s true. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, the apostle Paul states, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:9)

Of course, there’s the little matter of just what our needs are. And when you study that matter in scripture, you will find that our physical needs are defined very simply: food, clothing, shelter. That’s it. Anything beyond that is a want, not a need. We can get by with a lot less than we want. If you don’t believe me, consider the places in Africa where a family’s income is about $200 a year.

We need to learn to be as Paul was.

Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. Philippians 4:11-12

Our prayers should not be wish-lists of “I want this, and that, and it would sure be neat if You would give me this other thing, too.” Instead, we should be asking God to meet our needs, and to help us to be content with what we have.

But that’s only one level of this part of the prayer. I see another level, one that is probably even more important.

Jesus did teach this phrase. But he also said something else that touches on this.

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4

Just as bread made of wheat, or barley, or rye, or millet, or rice, or some kind of grain is needed to keep the body alive, there is a bread that is needed to keep the soul alive, and that is the word of God. And just as we crave food, just as we crave bread, we should crave the word of God. Just as we fill our bellies with food, we should fill our hearts and minds with the word of God. After all, “you are what you eat.”

Let’s look at this from a third and slightly different angle.

Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” They said therefore to Him, “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” John 6:32-35

Jesus, the Son of God, tells us that He is the bread of life, and that just as bread sustains life for the body, He is given to bring life to the world. Our eternal life comes from God the Father by way of Jesus. We should crave knowing Him, and by extension, also knowing God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We should crave knowing God more than we crave a steak, or chocolate, or a hot fudge sundae, or whatever our favorite foods are. We should crave knowing God more than a junkie craves his next fix. It should be the overwhelming desire of our lives to know God.

To know God, who gives us Jesus on a daily basis. To know God, who gives us His Word on a daily basis.

And so our prayer should be, “Give us this day our daily bread. And give us a hunger for You that can only be satisfied with Your bread. Make us hunger and thirst for you. Strip away all things that would distract us from You, until there is nothing left for us but You.”

Grace and peace to you.

David

Dec 05

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Keeping Christ in Christmas

By Admin Uncategorized

By John and Eleanor Mahon

As Christmas approaches my heart turns more and more to the Incarnation of Christ and the great gift of Salvation which that afforded. Philippians 2:6-7 gives us a true picture of the sacrifice made by God’s only Son when He came to earth over 2,000 years ago, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

It is important though to always keep before us that the incarnation of Christ cannot and should not be separated from the message of salvation. Verse eight goes on to say, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The message of Christmas, the stand of the Christian, the high ground so to speak of the message of Christmas, is and must always be the gospel of Christ, the message of salvation. His coming and the sharing of the gospel of Christ are inseparable. As God the Holy Spirit puts it so well in John 1:11-13 “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Eleanor and I were talking about this as we shopped. I like many Christians have been concerned about the policy of many merchants to not allow their workers to say “Merry Christmas” but rather the ubiquitous, “Happy Holidays”. As we discussed this, Eleanor made a good comment, “The way to keep Christ in Christmas is not to boycott merchants but instead lead them to Christ.” This really struck a chord with me and greatly ministered to my heart.

I have often exhorted others that it is not the duty of the non-Christian world to guard and preserve the doctrines of our faith but rather the church and more specifically the individual Christians who comprise the Church. Equally true it is not the duty of non-Christian merchants to keep Christ as the centrality of Christmas but rather it is our responsibility to do this. What then is the key to keeping Christ the centrality of Christmas? Nothing less than for Christians to give a clear and ever present witness of the gospel of salvation to those around them, including asking for a decision. Eliminating materialism from Christmas will not do this. Forcing all stores to decorate for Christmas and say “Merry Christmas” will not do this. Requiring all public schools to put “Merry Christmas” on their marquees will not do this. What will do this is when you and I share the message of salvation openly, aggressively and frequently with the merchants, teachers and neighbors, around whom we live and move. This is the key to keeping Christ the center of Christmas – our verbal witness of the message of salvation.

The issue is not whether non-Christian merchants, politicians and educators will keep the message of Christmas alive but rather will Christians continue to ask, “Would you like to pray with me now to receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” For to do this Christians must first present a clear presentation of the gospel, one which requires a response by the listener.

Having said this I would like to share with you some of the things we have done to keep Christ the centrality of Christmas…

The Word of God

– We are including in this dispatch a number of helps for your personal edification, your family or your Sunday school class or small group Bible study. These can also be found on our website by following the link to HYPERLINK “http://gciweb.org/2011/07/holidays-resources/” \t “_blank” http://gciweb.org/2011/07/holidays-resources/

Now is an excellent time to begin the habit of a personal time alone with God in the Word and prayer each day. Now is the perfect time to begin the habit of a family devotional time at the evening meal. It is our hope and prayer that the attached tools will help you and your family begin a lifelong discipline of daily time spent in the Word and in prayer.

World Vision:

– Christmas is about Christ who came into the world to save sinners. How can we celebrate Christmas without including a vision for the world and world missions in our celebration. This coming week Eleanor and I will send out care packages to missionaries and national pastors throughout the world.

Evangelism

– Candy Canes: Each year we give out over 50 candy canes with the gospel attached through the “Legend of the Candy Cane” We keep these by the front door and anyone which the Lord brings our way, for whatever the reason, is sure to hear a short word of testimony and receive one of these candy canes with the gospel attached. It is not uncommon for us to see the Postal Carrier, UPS, FedEx driver, meter reader, utility reader or delivery man, sitting in his cab, nibbling on his candy cane and reading the message of the gospel before continuing his rounds. With it always comes an opportunity for a verbal witness of Christ, sometimes short, sometimes long but a witness never-the-less.

– Church Banquet: Each year our church puts on a Christmas banquet and a part of this is always a clear presentation of the gospel of Christ with an opportunity to trust Christ as your personal savior. Our neighbors Armando and Laura come each year to this event. In fact it is the only Christian event they attend that I know of. Each year we pray that this will be the Christmas they come to Christ. Each year we have them over for coffee to discuss the message of salvation. Each year it opens future doors for future discussions with them, their children and their extended family.

– Recruiting Station: In the same shopping center as the Starbucks where Rob Stephens and I meet for fellowship and time over the Word is a military recruiting station. The Air force, Army, Navy and Marine Corpse all have offices there. This week Eleanor and I will take over a “Christmas Office Party/Coffee Break” to each of these branches of service. With this came the message of salvation through the “Legend of the Candy Cane”. We do this every year and last time a number inquired as to our church. I feel a real door is open now to a Bible study. As we ministered I could not decide if the tears and choked words of thanks were from our bringing Christ to their office or because of El’s tears as she expressed her thanks and prayers for them and their fellow servicemen. Whatever the case it was a great opportunity to put Christ as the centrality of Christmas.

– Deployed Marines: This coming week I send boxes of supplies, including Bibles and books to Marines deployed in Afganistan and Iraq. For me this ministry is not about politics but rather about young men, far from home, doing their duty before God and country.

– Merchants: It is my habit each year on the 23^rd of December to wrap New Testaments in Christmas paper and then deliver them to the merchants we frequent. Then a week later, right before the first of the year I return and encourage them as their “New Years Resolution” to read the New Testament. Last but not least I ask the question, “Has anyone ever shown you the illustration that is the key to understanding the Bible?” If their answer is “No” then I have the opportunity to draw the Bridge To Life gospel illustration on the inside cover of their gift New Testament and then give them an opportunity to trust Christ.

– Christmas Eve: We have our big family dinner on Christmas Eve. The first year we were married we had our big dinner Christmas day and El spent the whole morning and afternoon in the kitchen. I thought to myself, “That is the last time El will work on Christmas Day!” So we now have our meal on Christmas Eve and El gets the day off with the rest of us. A tradition which we began while in the University Ministry which we have continued is to invite non-Christians, especially internationals, who are away from home, to share Christmas Eve dinner with us. Here they experience the true love of Christ, the true meaning of Christmas and hear the gospel of Christ. If you do not know any internationals then call the local recruiting station, ask to speak to the Master Sergeant, then ask him if there are any enlisted men alone for the holidays and have one or two over.

I share these few illustrations with you simply to stimulate your thinking. It is true that in our culture today a real understanding of the meaning of Christmas – the message of salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed lacking. It is equally true that what satan would have us do in response to this is to be angry and strike out at non-Christians. What God would have us do is to love them and openly and clearly give them the opportunity to receive Christ through a clear and verbal presentation of the gospel of Christ. A presentation which always includes the opportunity to pray. As God the Holy Spirit so clearly teaches us

II Timothy 2:24-26

“And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

This Christmas pray for Eleanor and I that Christ might be kept the centrality of Christmas by the frequent and fervent asking of this simple question, “Would you like to pray now to receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”

Dec 04

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5 Reasons to Study Old Testament History

By Admin Uncategorized

Shakespeare said that history is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” The Christian view of history is quite a contrast; we believe God ordained it, organizes it, and moves it towards a meaningful, definite, and certain purpose.

However many Christians entertain a negative view of Old Testament History, of its usefulness and even of its accuracy. It is often regarded as “far away” and “distant” chronologically, geographically, socially, and theologically. “What can it do for me?” and “Why study it?” are common questions. Here are five reasons to study it and benefit from it.

1. OT History is True History

Israel’s neighbors expressed their beliefs through fantastic, elaborate, “out-of-this-world” myths In contrast, Old Testament narratives about Israel describe real events in real time involving real people and a real God. The reality of Israel’s faith rested on the reality of Israel’s history.

Similarly, if we lose or give up the truthfulness of the Biblical record, we lose and give up the Truth. We also lose our Christian faith because it is founded not on detached philosophical speculations but on God’s acts in human history.

Approaching Old Testament narratives with unshakeable confidence in their accuracy and truthfulness will build up unshakeable faith.

2. OT History is Selective History

No matter how much they deny it, every historian has an agenda. Though often unspoken, that agenda can often be deduced by analyzing his selection, arrangement, and editing of events. Old Testament writers also had an agenda that guided the selection, arrangement, and editing of their accounts. The only difference, and it’s a major difference, is that their selectivity was divinely inspired and, therefore, in no ways diminishes their truthfulness.

Therefore, when reading Old Testament history, ask yourself why the author selected these events and that particular angle on them. It will get you much closer to the message he intended to convey to his original audience.

3. OT History is Relevant History

Old Testament preaching often faces the charge of seeming irrelevance. There are vast differences between the world of the Old Testament and the modern world. However, this “relevance gap” cannot be bridged by forgetting Old Testament history. Attempting this may make the sermon relevant but it makes the Scriptures irrelevant.

Rather, a right understanding of Old Testament history enables us to understand the original message to the original audience at the original time and place; and that having done this, the bridge to the present message is far easier and safer to construct.

4. OT History is Purposeful History

Many history books simply relate the what, when, where, and how of each event. Not many attempt to answer the “Why?” question, and those that do usually prove laughably unreliable.

In contrast, biblical history has a clear purpose: it is a progressive revelation of the mind and heart of God for the benefit of needy sinners. God is the subject and the hero of the Bible. Therefore, when we read an Old Testament narrative, we ask three questions:

What does this story reveal about God?
How is this intended to help needy sinners?
What role does this story play in the larger and longer biblical story?

The last question will help prevent us reading the chapters as disconnected dots and unrelated atoms.

5. OT History is Redemptive History

The Old Testament is redemptive history. God actively directs human history for the purpose of redeeming sinners to Himself. The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Old Testament to record what would graciously reveal that redemptive purpose, and even the Redeemer Himself (Luke 24:27). The Biblical history, then, is not just facts to teach us theology. These historical facts serve to bring in God’s elect. What greater motive do we need to study it than that these Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation (2 Tim. 3:15).

David Murray is Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and chairman of HeadHeartHand. He blogs atLeadership For Servants and you can follow him on Twitter @DavidPMurray.

Dec 04

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The Essential: Theology

By Admin Uncategorized

I am kicking off a new series of posts today that will go through a list of theological terms to provide a concise and hopefully simple definition for each of them. By “basic” I don’t always mean that the words are commonly used among Christians (or even found in the Bible, for that matter), but that the things they represent comprise some of the central components of Christian faith and practice.

The content for these posts will most often come from one or more authors whose definitions I have found particularly helpful (though I may also provide some summary or synthesis from time to time).

To start, it seems most fitting to begin with a definition of that term that has brought all of the others together—theology.

Millard Erickson, in his massive work Christian Theology, gives a simple but rather comprehensive definition:

[Theology is] that discipline which strives to give a coherent statement of the doctrines of the Christian faith, based primarily on the Scriptures, placed in the context of culture in general, worded in a contemporary idiom, and related to issues of life. (23)

What Erickson simply calls “theology” here is more precisely distinguished by others as systematic theology. Wayne Grudem, a theologian who has also written a massive book on the subject (and pretty much a must-have for your library), makes this distinction, and he defines systematic theology as “any study that answers the question, ‘What does the whole Bible teach us today?’ about any given topic” (21).

Though much shorter, Grudem’s definition is, in essence, the same as Erickson’s; they are both good and useful.

Another even more basic way of saying it, with fewer qualifications, would be to say that theology refers to what we think God thinks about something.

This article is from Tim Challies and can be found here.

Dec 04

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How To Read the Bible, and How Not To

By Admin Uncategorized

“Against those forms of Judaism that saw the law-covenant not only as lex [law] but as a hermeneutical device for interpreting the Old Testament, Paul insists that the Bible’s story line takes precedence and provides the proper hermeneutical key.”

–D. A. Carson, “Reflections on Salvation and Justification in the New Testament,” JETS 40 (1997): 585.

There are two ways to read the Bible. We can read it as law or as promise.

If we read the Bible as law, we will find on every page what God is telling us we should do. Even the promises will be conditioned by law. But if we read the Bible as promise, we will find on every page what God is telling us he will do. Even the law will be conditioned by promise.

In Galatians 3 Paul explains which hermeneutic is the correct one. “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Galatians 3:17-18).

So, if we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or grace, demand or provision, threat or promise — if we want to know how to read the Bible in an apostolic rather than a rabbinic way — we can follow the plot-line of the Bible itself and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first, in God’s word to Abram in Genesis 12. Then the law is “added” — significant word, in Galatians 3:19 — the law is added as a sidebar later, in Exodus 20. The hermeneutical category “promise” establishes the larger, wraparound framework for everything else added in along the way.

The deepest message of the Bible is the promises of God to undeserving law-breakers through his grace in Christ. This is not an arbitrary overlay forced onto the biblical text. The Bible presents itself to us this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there, fulfilled in Christ and revered by us. But they do not provide the hermeneutic with which we make sense of the whole. We can and should understand them as qualified by God’s gracious promise, for all who will bank their hopes on him.

This article was written by Ray Ortlund and can be found here.

Admin

Thoughts from the Heritage Staff

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WHAT AGE IS THE CHILDREN’S CATECHISM AIMED AT?

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Why Doesn’t God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering? Part 1

Couple Implications

The Word of God

Evangelism

1. OT History is True History

2. OT History is Selective History

3. OT History is Relevant History

4. OT History is Purposeful History

5. OT History is Redemptive History

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