January 2012
35 posts
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Friendly Reminder
There is a new location for Growing In Grace.
I will keep this space live, but all new posts will happen at the new location.
Please remember to update your subscriptions, bookmarks, and/or blogrolls.
Blessings, and see ya over at the new digs!
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Growing In Grace Is Moving
After a 1+ year-long experiment here at tumblr, I am going back to the platform where my blogging adventure began.
Please click to update your RSS Feed, or go to the new site where you will see the RSS Feed button right near the top left of the page.
I’d love for you to keep reading Growing In Grace on Wordpress.
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Fighter Verse
This week’s Fighter Verse (or, passage, as the case may be):
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were...
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The Pastor's Study
Without seasons of extended time in study, prayer, Scriptures, and planning, a Pastor becomes dry, empty, and useless to his people. It is why I try to get away a couple of times a year specifically for those things.
Tonight I depart with a few other under-shepherds from central Minnesota for a Pastor’s Study Break in northern Minnesota at a retreat center. We will return Thursday...
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God Shall Arise!
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises...
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“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son...”
– ~ Jesus, Matthew 11:27-30, ESV
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WatchSingle Men: Get Married!
I could not agree more with Doug Wilson’s sentiments on young men and marriage. As a pastor, I also see far too many Godly young women who remain unmarried because of the great multitude of young men who, abdicating responsibility and masculinity, refuse to honorably and expeditiously pursue getting married.
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Sexual Dirt and a Gospel Backbone
That is the title for Doug Wilson’s most recent post as he continues to work his way through reviewing the Driscoll’s latest book, Real Marriage. A couple quotes to tempt you to read…
On his overall view of the book:
Let me begin by saying that it is a very fine book over all. Before getting to the sections that call out for more discussion and some yeahbuts, let me mention...
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The Gospel, Race, and Feelings of Inferiority and...
Over the course of almost eight years as an attender and then member at Bethlehem Baptist Church (and in all the years since), Pastor John Piper had a tremendous impact on my spiritual growth. And one of the very specific ways that he did so was in the area of, as he calls it, racial harmony.
I can remember how I first reacted to this term and concept. It seemed like a good idea. Of course we...
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One Bloodline
One way to glory in the cross:
May we never lose sight of this one phrase: “Brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). Brought near to God and therefore brought near to each other. By the blood. By the cross.
Ponder this implication of “by the blood.” Paul says in Galatians 6:14 — and I hope we say with him — “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus...
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ALL Nations
God’s joy and delight in the amazing diversity of the people he himself created has been on my mind all week as we prepare for Sunday’s worship service at Calvary (sermon title: “Race, Cross, and the Christian”).
So, it was with great joy that I came up to Psalm 67 in my daily reading of the Psalms this morning. Pray this with me would you? For, while not explicit in...
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Give Us Rest
Loving the new DCB album as I study this morning.
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WatchBloodlines Documentary
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WatchWhy Pastors Should Bless Interracial Marriage
Good preparation for the message, if you are coming to Calvary on Sunday.
His book, Bloodlines, is available now on our resource table in the lobby.
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Somebody Who?
This past Sunday, I did my best to lift up the picture of Jesus found in Matthew 4:1-11 as an encouragement to reading the Bible. C.S. Lewis argues here for another reason:
We have two bits of evidence about the Somebody [behind the Moral Law]. One is the universe He has made. If we used that as our only clue, then I think we should have to conclude that He was a great artist (for the universe...
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“If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early...”
– ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking of the church in relationship to civil rights in 1963. Just as true and dangerous today as it was then.
(quoted by John Piper, Bloodlines)
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“We humans have never had the resources in ourselves to love each other well...”
– ~ John Piper, Bloodlines, p. 13.
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WatchCan’t Afford to be Colorblind
As John Piper explains in this interview about his book ‘Bloodlines,’ stereotypes are inevitable. So how can we ensure they lead us to rejoice in our God-given diversity rather than to wield them in sinful judgment?
Good preparation for the message, if you are coming to Calvary on Sunday.
His book, Bloodlines, is available now on our resource...
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“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in...”
– This week’s Fighter Verse, to recite on Sunday ::
Jesus, Matthew 5:7-9, ESV
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WatchThe Fundamentals: Temptation, Word, and the Glory of Christ
You’ve heard the story of the temptation of Christ. But why is this story in the Bible?
The Sunday Preachin’ Jan 8th
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WatchA timely subject on Sunday night…Monday Morning Motivation
What gets you out of bed in the morning to go to work? The doctrine of vocation helps us see all of life as a calling from God.
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Putting Them Right Again
If you do not take the distinction between good and bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in this world is a part of God. But, of course, if you think some things really bad, and God really good, then you cannot talk like that. You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will.
Confronted with a...
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Doug Wilson's Preliminary Thoughts on "Real...
Doug Wilson is a thinking and writing beast. My two favorite points of his merely preliminary thoughts:
2. I am more inclined to hear someone out in a discussion of adiaphora (or whether or not something should be considered adiaphora) if that person has been clear and courageous in those areas where the Scriptures speak plainly. Sexual morality and sexual cultural proprieties are two...
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10 Reasons Why Your Kids Might Think You Are No... →
Ouch!
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When Your Pastor Is Not Named Piper (or Driscoll...
I am happily a nobody who gets to talk about Somebody every Sunday at Calvary Community Church. I do not have an international platform. I do not have a national platform. I don’t have a state-wide platform. Come to think of it - I don’t have a platform!
Steve Burchett recently wrote an article that will not be written of me, or many preachers:
Many who have had the privilege of...
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America's Suicidal Ways
Doug Wilson writes yet another excellent piece of cultural commentary, this time on the current political landscape and the real threat to this country. In part:
My issue has to do with the distinction between what is a threat to our security and what I regard as the ground of that threat. If catastrophe comes to us, I am strongly inclined to believe that it will be an economic catastrophe....
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WatchThe Fundamentals: A Prayer For When Good Times Go Bad
Psalm 40 as a model for praying through difficult seasons.
The Sunday Preachin’ Jan 1st
Guest Preacher: Matthew Swanson
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WatchInvasion: Hope Fulfilled
One of the most dangerous foes to Christians - past, present, and future - is uncertainty. It makes Luke’s purpose in writing his Gospel all the more sweet: that we may have certainty about the things that we have been taught about a person, the greatest man who ever lived. And the Christmas story is just the beginning of that certainty. Come, and welcome to Jesus...
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WatchInvasion: The Cost of Hope
The story of Jesus entering the world brought great hope, and great cost. What might it have looked like if Jesus gently engaged with someone who experienced such cost?
Christmas Eve Service Dec 24th
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“Books are essential to Christian growth. And, if there is one disappointment I...”
– Derek Thomas.
Read his whole testimony on how giving a book can change a life forever.
(HT: JT)
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To Praise Her In The Gates
Magic Kingdom, Orlando, Dec 30, 2011
The wisdom writer points out that the works of a good woman literally speak praises of her among those in the community where she lives (Proverbs 31:31). Well, I’d like to take a little liberty and add my voice to the chorus being proclaimed by the many good works of my wife, Susan. (And for those who know her, you know she would not be happy with this...
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Ever Memorize A Sermon?
Each year at Calvary we begin the year with a focus on prayer and the Word. I’ll say a bit more about that in another post soon, as I introduce our new sermon series, The Fundamentals.
For now, let me encourage you to feed richly on the Bible this year. As food is for your stomach, so the Scriptures are for your soul. You need the Word to live. And since you won’t always have a copy...
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