January 2011
49 posts
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Desiring God Conference for Pastors
I am absolutely thrilled to be attending this conference from Monday to Wednesday with my son, Colton. This is our third pastor’s conference together.
We will hear great teaching, shop at a great bookstore, meet up with close friends, and build some new memories together. I love that my 15 year-old son gets pumped about going to a theological conference with his daddy.
Please pray for...
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A Primer On Egypt
Maybe you’re like me, and haven’t taken the time to read up on the unrest in Egypt. But about 10 minutes can change that.
Read Noor Khan’s review of the situation. He is an assistant professor of history at Colgate University, with a specialty in Modern Egypt.
Click the pic below for a picture recap from The Big Picture.
(HT: 22 Words)
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It's This Simple :: Buy It
(Click to purchase)
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“In the cross of Christ, God judges sin and yet at the same time manifests his...”
– Introduction to Romans, ESV Study Bible, p. 2151.
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Fighting Fear
I am afraid to admit I am a person often ruled by fear.
I’ve finally decided to fight, and I’m getting help from Edward T. Welch in his book, When People Are BIG and God is small. I’m only about 75 pages in, but I can already highly recommend it. He is gentle, and yet firm. He is utterly Biblical. And he constantly points to God, Jesus, and the Gospel.
I’d like to give...
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The Harvest
For about two weeks now I have been using Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation on a daily basis to pray for every tribe, tongue, and people group across the globe. It has already had a substantial impact on my prayer life, engaging my heart for the unreached and infusing my prayer life with new vitality, excitement, and joy. I highly recommend you purchase the book or...
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Go
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
So they departed quickly from the tomb with...
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WatchIs God Disappointed In Our Disobedience?
(HT: JT)
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“…nowadays we often ask ourselves whether we still need the Church, whether...”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer, p. 125.
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WatchThe Sunday Preachin’
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A Well-Timed Word From The Lord
I love how God’s timing is always so amazing.
This morning at the beginning of the sermon at Calvary, I shared about the financial needs we are facing in 2011, and my confidence that God can provide through us to meet those needs (I’ll post a link to the sermon tomorrow, if you’d like to listen in).
As Susan headed to bed tonight, she asked me, with a smile on her face,...
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A Tragic Milestone
Today is the 38th Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion on demand legal through all 50 states, and practically speaking, through all nine months of pregnancy.
Please click the pic below for an update from a very helpful ministry in the fight for the sanctity of life for the unborn.
Act.
And pray that God would move in our land to end abortion.
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WatchThe Sunday Preachin’
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“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
– Jesus, Matthew 21:22
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Two Thoughts On Prayer
From Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Where a people prays, there is the church, and where the church is, there is never loneliness.
And, my favorite…
It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.
(Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas, p. 69)
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Far From The Masquerade
I continue to work my way through Bonhoeffer. I am really enjoying the richness of the story, with the added benefit of all the thoughts it is provoking.
In a recent section, Metaxas shares Bonhoeffer’s reflections on something he learned in the midst of pastoring for a year in Barcelona. Namely, that the church can be a place insulating us from the needs which surrounds it.
May our...
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“The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep...”
– Tim Keller, The Centrality of the Gospel
(HT: Of First Importance)
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Beginning Sunday
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“If Jesus is who he says he is, and if his promises are as rewarding as the Bible...”
– David Platt, Radical, (Colorado Springs, Co.: Multnomah Books, 2010), 3
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I Am The Greatest!
Remember this line?
“I shook up the world, I’m the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest!”
(Muhammad Ali, famous boxer, after defeating Sonny Liston for the first time, 25 February 1964; as quoted in Sound and Fury : Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship (2007) by Dave Kindred, p. 58)
With all due respect, Mr. Ali, you are tragically...
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WatchThe Sunday Preachin’
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Some Guidance On Prayer
Yesterday in our corporate worship at Calvary, we spent time meditating on the teaching of Jesus regarding prayer. The outline for the morning was:
Why Is Prayer?
What Is Prayer? (The Nature, Attitude, and Model of Prayer)
When and Where Is Prayer?
On that last point, I promised I would post here a link to a series of posts by Joe Thorn that are immensely helpful in working prayer into and...
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WatchA video with one of my favorite guys moderating, and two men who are frequently playing on the iPod, iTunes, and in the truck.
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The Best Kind of Beatin'...
…is a good Gospel beating:
The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine.… Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.
(Martin Luther, quoted by Timothy Keller)
HT: Of First Importance
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WatchThis is a video based on one of Ezra and Nehemiah’s favorite books - The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village.
The Molesky family highly recommends it, and its companion volume, Halfway Herbert (both by pastor and author, Francis Chan).
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The Hope Of The Cross
We are continuing to make our way through The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come (John Bunyan), for our family worship time. In our last reading I was moved almost to tears as I read of Christian’s testimony, and the power of the cross in his life.
“And what did you see in the way?” Piety wanted to know.
“See! I went a little farther,...
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Why Ezra?
That is my fourth child, Ezra.
Today in my Bible study I again read the text that determined his name, linking forever a moment, a text, and his moniker.
The moment was months before he was born. I was sitting in our rocking chair in the front room of our cozy 800 square foot flat in Minneapolis, the place we lived while I attended seminary. It was early morning. I was the only one awake. And...
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The Roar Of Fear
A great post from my daughter last night, reflecting on the evening’s time of family worship:
“Difficulty is behind, Fear is before, Though he’s got on the hill, the lions roar. A Christian man is never long at ease, When one fright’s gone, another does him seize.”
Then I saw Christian went forward, trembling for fear of the lions, but carefully following the directions of the...
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The Role Of Women In Our Church Families
A couple of well-written posts by Thabiti Anyabwile:
I’m a Complementarian, But…
I’m a Complementarian, But… Women Must Be Taught and They Must Teach
They are well worth your time to read, thoughtfully and prayerfully.
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“[In Matthew 6:25-34], Jesus tells us that a true and faithful relationship with...”
– D.A. Carson, For The Love Of God, January 6
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Consider The Lilies Today
,
Behold this encouraging, compassionate word from Jesus, spoken for you today:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father...
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WatchThe Sunday Preachin’
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A Prayer For Those Needing Jesus Today
Which means, of course, this prayer is for all of us.
From Scotty Smith (reflecting on Lamentations 3:19-24) :
Heavenly Father, I know I’m not alone in beginning this day hungry and grateful for your promised mercies. I already feel scattered and fragmented, and the sun has yet to rise. My thoughts are racing and my heart is divided. Yet you greet us today, like every day, not with a...
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“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well...”
– Lamentations 3:19-24
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Already Behind?
In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s my goal to keep encouraging you to pursue God through His Word and by talking to Him.
Jon Acuff helps us out in a recent, humorous post about already being behind on the Bible-reading plan, and what to do about sticking with it. My favorite:
Start mentally preparing for Leviticus. That book will break you. I promise.
Unless you have some very...
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The Hardest Thing To Do
Molly Piper does a wonderful job in a recent article encouraging mothers with young children to pursue reading the Bible in the midst of the chaos of life.
She has had 5 children in the last 7 years. That includes losing one of them, Felicity, at 39 weeks, 4 days gestation, and most recently a set of twins.
She seems pretty qualified.
From her conclusion:
[GOD] wants to speak. He has...
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Gospel Power
I read this tonight over at Jared Wilson’s blog, from Charles Spurgeon’s autobiography (Vol. 1):
It was arranged that I should use the Surrey Gardens pulpit, so, a day or two before preaching at the Palace, I went to decide where it should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away...
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Pastor's Study Break
I leave tonight for a few days on a pastor’s study break. I will be with some other great pastors at Shalom House at Trout Lake Camp.
I would love it if you could pray for my time there over the next few days, even if that means just once, right now as you read this. The goal is simple: much time in the Word and in prayer, spending time learning from and listening to God. A particular goal...
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In The Eye Of The Beholder
- Jonah Praying (marble, late third century, Turkey)
I was doing a little study in Jonah this afternoon, and read this angry prayer:
Jonah 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and...
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When I Am Weak...
My thanks to Ray Ortlund for this word from Spurgeon to ministers of the Gospel:
And do we not often feel weak in the sense of utter unfitness for being ministers at all by reason of our own sinfulness? Paul said of his calling to the ministry, ‘Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!’ We can say that too; yet sometimes we feel as if we would speak no more for Christ, and we should sink...
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Turnaround
Maybe your like me. Maybe that word has overly negative connotations to it. You see it, you read it, and what you hear is “Repent!” And the little picture in your cartoon bubble is of an angry man with a vein bulging out of his forehead who is mad at you because you’ve sinned.
It was delivered to me quite differently this morning. I read it in a 2,000 year-old sermon given by...