The Shepherd's Desk

Is Jesus Enough?

2007-12-21T18:39:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time again, and what a blessed time of year this is. As I type this I am sitting next to a beautifully decorated tree, complete with a bundle of perfectly wrapped gifts below, all compliments of my wonderful wife's labor of love for her family. It's Friday evening and so that means that already I am going into "game mode" for Sunday worship with my wonderful church family, my oldest son has just place today's figurine on his advent calendar marking 3 nights until Christmas, and deep inside there is a nagging question weighing on my soul, "Is Jesus Enough?" Earlier today I had to run a couple of errands and I observed the congested parking lots of the retail establishments, listened to the frustrated shoppers tell their "war stories", and talked with people about their plans for celebrating the Savior's birth. And I wondered inside if I had none of the typical seasonal cheer, no Christmas dinner, no decorations, no gifts, and no parties to attend, "would Jesus be enough?"

So often we talk about trusting in Christ as the All-Sufficient Savior, claiming to believe what Colossians tells us about Him being our "All in all", yet I'm afraid that our actions at Christmas and throughout the year betray our practical atheism. I am afraid that too often in my own life and in the lives of the people I know and love, Jesus really isn't enough to satisfy our longings. Not because He lacks anything, but because we lack a proper view of Him. Christmas (or life in general) is only complete if we have family around us, material things that suit us, activities that please us, a gratifying program of dinner (and don't forget Santa) and Jesus on the side just to give life that little hint of religion in case we ever get in a bind. How disgusting this must be to a Holy God Who gave up His only Son to be born and to die! In thinking through this I hope that someone in reading this will be challenged about how they think and act regarding Jesus this Christmas season that He might truly be their All and in All!

Here are some questions by which we may know if Jesus is enough for us:

1) Do we think of His glory being advanced in our daily lives?

2) How do we treat His Word in our personal lives?

3) What does it take to sidetrack us from a life focused on Him?

4) What things drive us to Him (i.e. trials, emotions, His Word, etc.)?

5) How do we treat His body (does church/His people have priority in our lives or will we miss corporate worship for any little thing?)?

6) Do you hunger for His likeness in your life?

7) Are you grieved by the answers you find in your life to questions like these?

May you always and only be satisfied in Jesus!

Media Coverage of "A Common Word Between Us and You"

2007-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

In response to "A Common Word Between Us and You" I will be presenting the Biblical response on the following stations:

Radio:

KWEL 1070 AM

December 13th, 8:00 a.m.

(An audio link to a portion of the interview will be posted here when it is available.)

Television:

KMID-TV Channel 2

The Anderson Analysis

Saturday, December 15th, 10:00 p.m.

Inquiries about the content of these programs can be made to the following email address, or you may simply respond to this email by posting a comment or question.

info@colonialbiblechurch.org

PLEASE READ THE POST BELOW FOR A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THIS DEBATE AND FOR THE LINKS TO THE ORIGINAL LETTERS !!!!!!!

Thoughts on "A Common Word Between Us and You"

2007-12-13T05:40:00.001-08:00

Recently 138 leading Islamic scholars, clerics, and intellectuals around the world issued an open letter to Christianity, "A Common Word Between Us and You", calling for dialogue and change in relations between the two religions. The thrust of the letter is for an agreement between the two religions that will ultimately bring abour world peace. The Scripture is very clear in warning us about such compromise. To say that Christianity, and more specifically Christ, can be reconciled to any other belief system is not only false, it is infinitely dangerous. There is not comparison or equal to Christ, His Gospel, or His true church. The initial letter states that without dialogue, concessions toward one another over core doctrines that separate the two, and a melding of beliefs where there is perceived unity, the net result will be the end of the world as we know it. So, to that response Yale University has issued a response from the "Christian" side of the equation. Knowing that the letter is spearheaded by Yale ought to be enough to sour anyone on its content, even before reading it. However, as one peruses the letter, even in the most casual of ways, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary statement of political correctness or religious tolerance, indeed it is a line in the sand. This response from those claiming to represent Christ is a watershed event in which people will either stand openly and unashameddly on the side of Jesus Christ, or they will fall from Him and be against Him.

Over the next few post I would like to make commentary of several points of this response from an exclusively Biblical perspective. Before I do that however, the links to the two letters can be found below and I would like to ask that all of my readers read these. As you read these however, read what the Bible has to say about Jesus, His Gospel, and His followers from the following passages:

1) John 1
2) John 14
3) Colossians 1
4) Hebrews 1

Along with that consider also the following thoughts about the response letter from the "Christians":

1) He who defines the terms wins the debate. In this case the "Christians" who responded have allowed the Muslims to set both term, tone, and content. (FYI, "A Common Word Between Us and You" is a quote from the Quran in Aal 'Imran 3:64) The responders have allowed the Muslims to define what are the core differences and similarities. Since when did Satan/deception begin defining Truth?

2) Christ must be named, and named without ambiguity, for there to be true Christianity. In other words, asking for forgiveness from Allah (a.k.a. "The All-Merciful One) while equating Jesus words and Muhammad's words as essentially the same is to obscure the Truth about Jesus Christ. For starters those Truths are as follows:

a] God is a Trinity and is God alone. There are no other Gods before Him.
b] Jesus Christ is God's SOn, the second member of the Trinity, and therfore God of very God. c] To equate Him with any other, either by inference or direct statement, is blasphemy and idolatry.

In this response these "Christian" leaders have proclaimed an ushering in of peace while compromising and blaspheming the Prince of Peace. This is an absolute contradiction.
I hope that these thought will trigger your thinking and logic as you read these letters and compare them with Scripture.

By God's glorious grace, may He always find you faithful to His Son!

Letter offered by the 138:
http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=option1

The "Christian" Response
http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm

My Personal Response (Rough Outline of Points of Disagreement)

http://www.colonialbiblechurch.org/home/140001747/140001747/docs/A%20Biblical%20Respo nse%20to%20A%20Common%20Word.doc?sec_id=140001747

Reformation Day

2007-10-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

Tragically many people, even the church, will rise tomorrow, go through their daily routines, collect a bunch of candy, attend a festival of sorts and never realize the import of October 31st. In all sincerity this day is probably in my top ten most cherished days in the course of a year. When one stops to ponder what God did on this day it is truly confounding. How much glory He brought to Himself through the Reformation because it was the resurgence of Biblical teaching and doctrine. To gaze back on what God did to order events and to prepare the way for men like Martin Luther to nail a list of 95 Theses on the door at Wittenburg church, or Tyndale to translate the Bible into English from the Greek and Hebrew for the 1st time (btw, I am looking at an original page from that first printing of the 1537 Matthews Tyndale Bible in my office as I type. A most cherished treasure!), to Farrell's pleading with Calvin to remain in Geneva, to so many other things, it screams out to me that God is sovereign and His glory will not be clouded by anything. Praise God for these men who led the way in the face of what pragmatists would call "certain failure". (The One thing they leave out of the equation however is the Sovereign God Who brought these things to pass.) So tomorrow, I will celebrate my heritage, that by God's grace, I am one who stands in the direct fire hydrant type flood of blessing that has come from these faithful friends who are now with their God.
But as I reflect on the past I am drawn to a view of the future as well. With "Christendom" not much better off now than it was on October 30th, 1517, I believe we need another Reformation. Semper Reformanda (Always Reforming) you might say. To we who are striving to be faithful, I believe a greater judgment will fall if we do not boldy attempt such a Reformation by the proclamation of Biblical Truth. Greater judgment? Yes! For you see friends, in my estimation the benefit we have that many pre-Reformation didn't have is namely this, WE HAVE THE WORD OF GOD in our own languages. The critical mass of the Reformation was Sola Scriptura, the Word of God Alone. Now that we have it what will we do with it? We must be faithful to study It accurately, proclaim It faithfully and forcefully, and live It sincerely.

May God grant us the boldness to all be as bold and courageous in the Lord as Luther, Tyndale, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Rogers, and so many others were. Stand fast my friends and do not despair. Only eternity will tell the results of committment to the Truth!

Happy Reformation Day!

P.S. For anyone interested, I am working on a Reformation Calendar that will be complete with all the major dates of import on the Reformation with brief footnotes of each event. Lord willing it will have some great photos of Reformers/Reformation sites of interest as well. If you are interested you can email me or just leave a comment and a contact and I'll let you know when they are ready!

Please Excuse the Interlude

2007-08-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

On July 16th my wife and I welcomed our second son into our family. Everyone is doing well, despite the usual changes in sleep patterns that accompany a new little one.
The last few months have added several new blessings to my life, but along with those blessings have come added demands on time and energy. Not being altogether use to the task of blogging, I have allowed posting to become a low-prioritized task. Thank you for your patience and I look forward to posting some new material soon. Until then may God find us all faithful to His glory and His Truth!

The Up and Coming American Culture: Atheism and Starbucks

2007-05-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

It seems that each day I am confronted with realities of living in a post-Christian, secular culture. The outright attacks on the very existence of God, or at “best”, attacks on His Truth and the subsequent attempts to squelch those who proclaim it are increasing at an alarming rate. From attacks by respected scientists, like British writer Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), to our own American phenomenon, Starbucks, the attacks just keep rolling. Try as they will though, God is still standing, and by his grace, so too will this preacher! Take for instance the alarm I felt when I found in an article at WorldNet Daily, that Starbucks has released a coffee cup with another of their vintage anti-God messages. The attack comes in the form of a “conversation starter” on the back of the cup entitled, “The Way I See It #247”. Here is the message:

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

These segments of rather hip, humanistic, and very post-modern “conversation starters” portray a rising hatred for all things Christian and God-centered. On May 14th, the Larry King Live show hosted several leading religious figures in American culture over what part faith should play in politics, and in particular, the 2008 Presidential election. It was clear from the outset that all but one, he being Dr. Albert Mohler, were bent on the diminishment of God or His Truth, or both. Each of the panel members, except Dr. Mohler, made painstaking efforts to eliminate God from the picture, and instead focus on the anthropocentric issues such as poverty, suffering, disease, etc., all of which have no hope outside of the God they are trying to eliminate.

Another recent example of the rising cultural trend toward atheism was seen on ABC’s Nightline, in which former actor Kirk Cameron and evangelist Ray Comfort squared off in a debate against the “rational response squad”. During not only the debate, but in the extra footage as well, those espousing atheism vehemently, and sometimes violently tried to make their voices heard.

We as Bible believing, evangelical Christians, must wake up to the fact that we are no longer living in a “Christian” nation. Indeed, if one is to take the Biblical model of a people who are truly Christian, and not simply the rhetoric of its professing believers, America is anything but Christian. It would be totally incorrect to say that the fight for the existence of God is on the line, because the Truth is that whether any human being ever acknowledged His existence or not, one fact remains, HE IS! (See Exodus 3:15 and John 8:58). According to Romans chapter 1, creation and conscience are enough to validate and prove His existence. The battle then is over the right for true Christians to believe, proclaim, and live out the reality of God in their lives, and not to have Him eliminated from all of society. It is as simple as this, the atheists, be they, Dawkins, Starbucks, Rev. Barry Linn, the “rational response squad”, or anyone else, hold as their agenda the elimination of God from all walks of life, including your personal life! Theirs is an energized and sweeping agenda to pull everyone to their denial of God and His Truth.

How are we as Christians then to view and to respond to this crisis of belief for so many in our culture.

1) Realize the Scriptural pronouncement

Psalm 14:1
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God’.”

Romans 1:18, 21
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the Truth in unrighteousness…For even though they knew God they did not honor Him as God…”

The pronouncement of Scripture is clear, that to deny God is an open declaration of antipathy toward all things good and right, and a love for what is wrong and evil, and thus be judged a fool. This goes against all of modern culture for the following reasons: the judgment is authoritative, absolute, clear, and binding. These are not qualities that our up and coming, postmodern, tolerant, American culture want to hear. However, that does not change the Truth!

2) Proclaim Him from the mountain top

Whenever opposition to God has arisen throughout history, the true church of Jesus Christ has always risen higher. Sometimes through words, sometimes through actions, sometimes through blood, but always with a life and message of great clarity, proclaiming that He Is! We must sharpen our minds with the Word of God and be ready to proclaim Its Truth anywhere and anytime. (Ours is simply to proclaim, the Scripture will prove and defend Itself!)

I especially see that the battles of Modernism are alive and well, and therefore, we must be prepared more than ever to proclaim the Truth of God in science. Darwinian philosophy has so pervaded our culture that I believe that battle must be won on the grounds of showing God’s existence through His act of creation. This is no time for the church to flirt with evolution or its step-children like the Day Age theory, theistic evolution, the Gap theory, etc.

From this launching ground, we must be ready to prove the existence of God through the natural order of morality and human sexuality. In a culture that values impurity, God must be seen through the church’s love of moral excellence and purity. We must demonstrate that God is because we know how to love our spouses, and are only captivated in a physical sense with that one person whom God is given. It is no time for the church to “re-think” its position on moral issues such as adultery or homosexuality. Already some leading “evangelical” personalities have softened or muted their stance on such issues and the culture has seized the opportunity to claim acceptance by God for their lifestyle, because pastor so and so has accepted me. However, if God is not completely Holy and set apart from every type of sin and moral degradation, then He does not exist as the God of creation, and exists only as a created being of human imagination and projection. For the God Who Is, is a God of complete purity. We must realize that our stance on moral and sexual issues, both in word and deed, prove the existence of God.

Third, I believe we must fearlessly and tirelessly proclaim Christ. Only by Gospel proclamation and the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment of radically depraved eyes will anyone ever acknowledge the existence of God. Just as God has appointed those people who will believe that He is and that Christ is their sin-bearer, so too He has appointed you and I to be the instruments through which He will work. We must train our children to stand in every arena of life and proclaim the immutable and unending existence of God.

3) Prepare for resistance

If the church is going to be successful in standing for God now, it must be because we are willing to live differently than the culture, and as such, suffer the consequences for doing so.

II Timothy 3:12
“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted.”

The culture is not simply wanting a dialogue so that their view will be heard, known and accepted. The culture wants everyone to join them in their atheism, and for those who refuse, elimination is their deserved lot in life.

And so, let we who are the true and confessing church of Jesus Christ suffer in their realm of ungodliness for proclaiming Him. This realm and world is not our home, and we must never become so attached and engrained with the culture and its thinking that it bothers us to be ostracized, belittled, or even killed. We cannot hope that culture somehow will become better and more accepting of God and His Truth, but we can pray and labor to become more faithful followers of Jesus Christ!

What Are They Thinking?!!!!

2007-05-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Among conservative, Biblically conscious, historic/orthodox Christians, there has always been concern about certain leaders and movements within broader evangelicalism. Those concerns for me have moved out of the category of “scary”, “divisive”, “potentially dangerous”, “simply a different vantage point”, etc. to an all out “deal-breaker” if you will. For years there has been growing chatter about the unbiblical nature of The Seeker Movement, and most recently, the Emerging Church Movement. For me however, it is time for the chatter to end over the experiential and pragmatically minded evangelical leaders of our day, and for all out calls of repentance (meaning confession and change) to begin, if these people are to be considered fellow Christians at all. You may be asking “why?” and “who?” are you talking about. My purpose in utilizing this blog is not to be nasty, but necessary, and I believe it is time to be very necessary.

Two recent “scandals” have captured my imagination, and fueled my “O.T. Prophet” zeal. The first is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle from Thursday, May 10th, 2007. The headline reads, “DNC Chair Dean says party needs to invite young evangelical Christians”. This may sound to you like typical political rhetoric, but it extends far beyond that. The Democratic Party was outraged by (and jealous of) the “Christian Right-Wing” movement that elected Republicans in the 2004 campaign. They realized that in order to become the party of power again they would have to swing evangelicals to their side once again. No doubt that there has been much talk in the DNC war-rooms and think tanks over how to tap into this vast resource of motivated voters.

ENTER RICK WARREN and JOEL OSTEEN

For years the Seeker Movement/Churches have prided themselves on a philosophy of postmodernism that wants to avoid offending people at all costs, kind of an “evangelical tolerance movement” you could say. At the same time, the DNC (Democratic National Committee) has been inundated by those with the secular version of the same philosophy. Words like, “inclusivism”, “tolerance”, and “acceptance” have meant big business and even bigger contributions. Since 2004 the proverbial light went off for the DNC or should I say the Seeker/Emergent Church leaders, or…???? And just like that, the lines are blurred. Who is emulating whom? Has the DNC become like the modern church, or has the modern church become like the DNC? No one really knows for sure, but DNC president and 2004 Democratic candidate Howard Dean has seized the opportunity to marry the two together. In the Chronicle Article dated May 10th, Dean is quoted as saying,

“We ought to reach out to those folks (evangelical Christians)”

And so they did! So much so that in the 2006 mid-terms, 30% of professing evangelical Christians voted democrat. Dean then went on to say about the rise in re-claiming almost one- third of evangelical voters,

“We went out and advertised on Christian broadcast networks…because in the evangelical movement, young people are changing America—and they’re changing the evangelical movement. People don’t want to go to church anymore…and come out feeling bad because they happen to know somebody who’s gay. People want to go to church because they know what they can do about poverty, about Darfur, about the environment.”

The article then cites Dean’s specific credits of “Christian leaders” Rick Warren and Joel Osteen for bringing about this change for the DNC.

One who is Biblically-minded must ask themselves the question, “What are they thinking!!!!!!?” In a party where the new morality is no morality, the new life is to end life, and the rule of law is to have no law (or at best a personal law), where does a Christian fit into that agenda? The answer is no where!!!! And yet arguably, the two most influential evangelical leaders of our day (Warren and Osteen) are credited with aiding this agenda because they have traded the older, and out of fashion, Biblical ministry in for the newer, sleeker, and more acceptable model of social activism, which is the mantra of the DNC. Don’t misunderstand, what is going on in Darfur is a tragedy, people dying of AIDS is pathetic, starving children are heart-breaking, but the greatest sorrow is the abandonment of the God and Truth that can change many, if not all, of these things. That my friend, is exactly what people like Warren and Osteen are doing, they are selling out the Bible for a message that sells and promotes themselves, and in so doing aiding an immoral agenda of an immoral political party. (Just a note: Many Republicans are not much better. My purpose here is not political, but Biblical). A Mega-Church must have people to pay for and operate its enormous facilities and programs, and if the people be offended and migrate elsewhere, who will foot the bill? Biblical preaching and godly living are not the goals, business practices that produce results are. Tragically this philosophy has at last “married” the Seeker/Emerging Church movements and their man-centered view of God, with a secular political agenda determined to destroy God.

Aside from dalliance in the political quagmire, Rick Warren has also implicated himself in the moral quagmire of pornography. While Rick Warren certainly would not recommend indulging one’s self in the filth of pornography, he has nonetheless become the defacto beneficiary of one of the world’s largest pornographic industries.

ENTER RUPERT MURDOCH

Rupert Murdoch is arguably the largest media mogul in the world, running a media kingdom that covers everything from print to film to television to internet. Woven into his carefully diversified scheme of media ownership is a web of pornographic endeavors. His DirecTV holdings brought in $200 million alone through pornographic pay per-view options under the satellite television company according to the New York Times in 2000. While his business endeavors are reprehensible, his membership at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Community Church is unthinkable. How can a pastor knowingly accept a man into his fellowship who is producing such vile things as the sexual exploitation of women and men. The Biblical mandate to any pastor who finds an unrepentant man such as Murdoch in his church is to discipline him. However, Warren has done the opposite, accepting a $2 Million gift from Murdoch for his P.E.A.C.E. plan in Africa, and reaping record profits for his books through Zondervan Publishing, also owned by Murdoch.

When interviewed by the Orange County Register on November 12, 2006, about the ties between he and Murdoch, Warren responded,

“I don’t have to agree with 100 percent of what another person does in order to work with them on the 20 percent that we do agree on.”

What? We’re not talking about agreeing on which baseball team to root for here, or whether Ford is superior to Chevy, we’re talking about something that the Scripture explicitly calls wicked and demands that Christians remove from their midst! This is no matter of minutia that can be glibly overlooked!

Again, for any mind that has the faintest glimmer of discernment, we must say, “what are they thinking?” The answer is a resounding , “not Biblically”. In a post-Christian world it is increasingly imperative that we think and act Biblically. This will produce a life that may not be popular, but it will testify to the reality of the change that has been made in us through the Gospel.

In closing, let me leave you with the words of the New Testament writer James,

James 4:4
“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

“Choose, this day who you will serve”

2007-04-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

Does the Christian life seem to you, as it does to me, a constant battle for my heart and affections? How powerfully we are reminded that there is a war in this life between the old, sinful nature, and the new, regenerate nature through Christ. At every turn we are bombarded by the flesh to construct idols, and then to worship them. John Calvin once remarked, “the heart is a factory for idols”. Yet we know from Scripture God will not (and should not) tolerate idolatry in the lives of His people.

So what are we as believers to do in this mortal battle? How do we contend against our flesh and the battle to remove idols from our heart? As with so many things, it is by a mind informed by the Scripture, a will affected by such knowledge, and a reliance on the Holy Spirit to enable us to make those right decisions, and to put away our idolatry. Anything can become an idol! If any decision does not lead us to the glory of God, it is idolatrous. We must always be on guard to make the right decisions, and in so doing please God, and not ourselves.

Below is a simple chart that I picked up and modified from a NANC Biblical Counseling Conference in 2006. I hope that it helps in giving you a visual model to think through when next you are faced with a decision.

Here is a brief explanation, starting at the bottom of the chart:

1) The battle ground is our heart.

Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

2) As we proceed through life we are faced with decisions, temptations, etc. that reveal our heart at the point of decision. We must protect our hearts and cultivate right thinking that will promote God’s ways.

Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”

3) When coming to the point of decision/temptation we will go to one of two sides: Truth oriented or desire oriented.

These two are always in conflict. Truth acts on “what I know to be right”. Desire acts on, “what I feel”.

At this point we will make a decision.

4) One option is to go with desire. This choice is easy at first because it “feels right”. However, as you know, our feelings are often rooted in our sinful nature and cannot ever be trusted because our flesh is at war with God.

Because choosing desire over Truth is placing something else above God it is idolatrous and is in violation of God’s rule in our lives. This road will never ultimately be an easy road.

Proverbs 13:15 “Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is hard.”

5) The God-honoring option is to choose based on Truth, on what pleases God. This choice more often than not is hard at first because it goes against the grain of our flesh, our culture, and against our chief adversary, Satan. However, regardless of our feelings which cannot be trusted, we must learn to follow based on Biblical Truth/principle. Unlike our desires which are so often wrong because they are rooted in the flesh, God’s Word is never wrong because it is rooted in His unfailing holiness.

In the end, these decisions based on Truth make life easier because we have pleased God and put down our flesh.

Matthew 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

6) In either case, our decisions to pursue our choices in one way or another breed habits
that either aid us or harm us as we strive to follow Christ. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we were in the habit of exercising ourselves toward godliness, instead of away from it? Wouldn’t life be better if we moved toward more automatic and intimate fellowship with Christ?

7) We do all of this because it is what we were created to do. First, we were created for fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. But that ended in man’s failure to choose God/Truth over desire. (Funny that, even in a state of perfection man’s free will always chooses to fight God. Hmmm! Do we think we can do better today? Thank God for His action alone on our behalf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

However, after the Fall we have been given a new opportunity to fellowship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. It is in that context that we have been created in Jesus Christ to make right decisions that we may have fellowship with our Father.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.”

I John 1:3 “that we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have
fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Lastly we were created to do this for God’s glory and His pleasure. We must remember that in making the right choices, by placing Him on the highest place of our mind and heart we bring Him greatest glory and find for ourselves the greatest joy!

II Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”

The Power of the Cross

2007-04-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows
His head.Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

by Keith & Kristyn Getty
In Christ Alone - NEW RELEASE!

The Pain and Promise of Perseverance

2007-04-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

“But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.” – Jeremiah 20:9

In a day where Truth is increasingly passé, and even hated, we as people of God must remain encouraged in the battle. I have been challenged again by the words and wrestling of the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet who blows all of the contemporary paradigms of “successful ministry”, as he labored and wrestled through the agony of discouragement because of his call to proclaim the message of God. If we are truly the people of God we cannot allow ourselves to fail or give in to the “sweet promises” of retreat, compromise, or quite. Now is the time for the people of God to rise up with greater confidence than ever and fight through our proclamation of Truth for what is right.

If truly called, then ceasing in our labor means the following pains to us:

1) Our enemies will mock our God and us

Why can we not afford to keep silence in loving and lifting the Truth to new volumes and heights? Because those who have heard us will see not only us, but our God as disingenuous and fraudulent. We cannot afford to back down because God’s reputation is on the line! I love the words of David in I Samuel 17:46 as he stared down the giant who had caused the armies of the living God to cease and run,

“This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,”.

There is something refreshingly bold and tough about the words of a man who is so confident in his God, and his God’s message, as he looks his enemy in the face and spells out move by move what he is about to do. Why does he do this? So that that there will be peace in Israel? No. So that all will adore him for his bravery? No. Is it so that all the world will be impressed? No. The sole purpose for David’s bravery and perseverance for God in the face of overwhelming opposition is stated simply and powerfully for this reason, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,”. He simply put out the message and let the chips fall where they may. At the end of the day however, one thing is certain, no one will mock us or our God if we, like David remain faithful to the task at hand.

2) Our inward pain will make of us a broken and smoldering misery

Jeremiah knew and preached that the Word of God is like a fire and a hammer (Jer. 23:29), burning and leveling everything in its path. How painful to attempt to hold such a force inside. He contemplated the allure of quitting, but at last realized that this would only intensify his pain. Is the temporary mocking of this world and its temporal people really worth trying to bridle the omnipotent Word of Creator God? Jeremiah knew the answer: NO! If we believe this world to be to difficult try the burden of an unfaithful life. It will literally burn you out and drive you to the point of destruction. Paul echoed the same reflection of the internal torment for being egligent in our responsibility to preach the Gospel in I Cor. 9:16, “Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel!” The temporary relief is only short-lived at best!

Knowing then the pain of withholding the Truth, what is the promise of faithfully delivering the message regardless of how it is received, or even if it is received?

1) The Lord is with us as our champion

Just as David learned, when we are obedient, bold, and faithful, we won’t fight the battle alone. Jeremiah says that God is with us as our “dread champion”! He is not some equal, He is the dominating force of the universe fighting on the side of His Truth! Honestly, who doesn’t want a front row seat to watch this fight? That is the promise of faithfulness in proclaiming Truth. We will be active witnesses in watching our God accomplish all His will with might and power!

2) Our enemies will be crushed

Blurring the battle lines is never a good thing, in fact it is always a dangerous thing. As for me, I want to stay as far away from the enemy as I can because of this promise. God is going to crush them, and I don’t want to deceive anyone, including myself, as to which side I am on. God will deal with them! They will be defeated and exposed, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that promise. In fact, I want to be part of the delivery of that promise through proclamation of the Truth. I want to ride behind my conquering King as His faithful soldier, but that will never happen if I shut my mouth and suppress the message that must be preached!

All this to say that we have no option but to faithfully and fearlessly proclaim that which alone pure, powerful, and ultimately victorious! May we by God’s grace know the promises of perseverance!

A Shepherd’s Philosophy

2007-03-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

Many things have crossed my mind as to the content of the first post on this new blog, and what will hopefully be a continuing ministry to the body of Christ at Colonial Bible Church, as well as in the world of the blogosphere. At the outset my goal, broadly defined as it may be, is the same as the goal for my pastoral ministry. It is the age-old mandate of the Scripture to pastors in every church, in every age: Feed, Lead, and Defend. To whatever end this may be possible through a writing ministry for God’s people, these are my goals. As it stands in my mind this morning, these goals unpack themselves in the following ways. I pray that they are true of my ministry, and not simply confined to the wishful thinking of a detached and hypothetical form of electronic media.

1) Feeding

Many people have asked me “why” another church plant? And particularly, “why” another church in Midland, Texas? After all isn’t Midland at the center of the spiritual world? The answers to the questions are a resounding “because and no!” The “because” part of the answer is related to the dearth of sound feeding. Throughout the history of the church one defining mark of a church’s validity has always been based on the faithful ministry of the exposition of Scripture. I have not observed this in very many places in our town, as “spiritual” as it may be. Through the pulpit of Colonial Bible Church, and subsequently this blog, I want to be faithful to the age-old task of unpacking, unfolding, and unleashing the power of every verse, every line, and every word of the Scripture upon the lives of the hearer/reader. John MacArthur has likened the Scripture to a caged tiger. “Let it out”, he says, and the Word of God will do Its Own work. (For more on this, be sure to catch the morning sermon on April 15 from Mark 4:26-29!) We must feed! When people are malnourished physically, they first decay and then die! May I say there are many decaying people on the verge of falling into the next step if they are not revived with spiritual nourishment. I want to feed people in every way and in every arena that I possibly can. That is my highest priority!! What good is anything else if they die of starvation? I will by God’s grace use this and every opportunity to expound upon the source of our life and hope, the Scriptures.

2) Leading

After feeding, or alongside it, I should say, comes the task of leading. A shepherd is one of our Lord’s favorite Titles, and also most frequent examples of what true spiritual and ecclesiastical leadership is to be. It is not that the shepherd simply throws the food into the fold and “let come what may”. No, the shepherd must get into the fold and feed those who are to weak to eat, get out in front to show the way to those charging ahead, correct those whose thinking/blindness have led them the wrong way, nurse the wounded back to health, etc. Through this blog I want to lead. I want to encourage, exhort, correct, befriend, inspire, nurse. In short I want to use this “staff & rod” to shepherd!

3) Defending

Paul exhorts the Ephesian shepherds in Acts 20:28 to, “be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.” Why? Because, “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;” (v. 29). So a third aspect of the philosophy and goal of this blog is to defend. The church had been pillaged, looted, and burned today because many so called shepherds are guilty of dereliction of duty, and have left the gates wide open for whatever and whoever wants to come in and harm the sheep. Thanks to the broad majority of “evangelical pastors”, the “wolves” of this world are suffering from widespread obesity, fat on the souls of precious sheep who are given to our charge to defend. I want to be a shepherd who destroys the wolves (i.e. false teachers, the divisive, etc.) with the “Sword of the Spirit” in one hand, while nursing and feeding the sheep with the other. Do we really imagine that there can be another way? At times it will be necessary to expose, dismantle, and depose of certain people, trends, and ideas that are harming the people of God. As politically incorrect as this may be in the church today to defend, God never intended for shepherds to be politically correct, only faithful. May it never be that any wolf will ever succeed in harming our sheep, regardless of how hard and often they may try!

These things comprise the essence of my heart for ministry. May God be glorified in everything that is done through this outlet to further these goals and philosophy! May God raise up a church of men who will join me in this vision of ministry! Lest we should ever grow weary or disillusioned in our task, let the words to the following hymn remind and call us to action:

Rise up O men of God,
Be done with lesser things
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of Kings!

May it be! May it be!