39 Lessons, 20 Tips and 10 "Don'ts" For Parenting

An incredibly helpful collection of wisdom for parents, written by Matt & Elizabeth Schmucker at 9Marks.

Does John Piper use a reading plan?

Yes, in fact he does:

"Besides planning for the place and time, plan how you will read your Bible. There are many ways to read the Bible. Any is better than none. Coming to the appointed place and time with no plan for how to read the Bible usually results in a hit-and-miss approach that leaves you feeling
weak, unreal, and discouraged. For many years I have read through the Bible once each year following 'The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan.'"

-a little tip from John Piper's When I Don't Desire God

Another good reading plan is the Legacy Plan

A note on better blogging

Abraham Piper's list of 22 Very Simple Ways for a Blogger to improve just brought to my attention that, among other not-so-helpful writing problems, the title of my last post doesn't really make sense in light of the content of the blog post. Let this be a lesson...

Practicing what you preach

There have been a number of occasions over the past week when I have been moved to sit down and write about some situation that particularly struck me. However, in each instance I honestly had not effectively evaluated the situation and derived helpful insights. That takes discipline and work, a skill that I did not master in college, ironically.

And so, instead of posting my thoughts on events like the motivation seminar I attended yesterday or the situations I'm wrestling with at work or in the church, I'm going to step back and try to grow in the areas of study and fruitfulness through managing priorities.

In the area of study, I aim to better apply the following principles that John Piper states are the aims of education:

We aim to enable and to motivate the student

• to observe his subject matter accurately and thoroughly,
  
• to understand clearly what he has observed,
  
• to evaluate fairly what he has come to understand,
  
• to appropriate wisely in life what he has found valuable, and
  
• to express in speech and writing what he has seen, understood, evaluated, and appropriated in such a way that its accuracy, clarity, fairness, and value can be known and enjoyed by others.

I aim to apply these principles to my blogposts going forward, out of a desire to provide the audience with fair and useful content.

On the topic of being more fruitful, I aim to not be deceived by the idea that busyness goes hand in hand with productivity. As C.J. Mahaney points out in his blog, you can be lazy and busy at the same time:

• Busyness does not mean I am diligent
• Busyness does not mean I am faithful
• Busyness does not mean I am fruitful

Recognizing the sin of procrastination, and broadening the definition to include busyness, has made a significant alteration in my life. The sluggard can be busy—busy neglecting the most important work, and busy knocking out a to-do list filled with tasks of secondary importance.

When considering our schedules, we have endless options. But there are a few clear priorities and projects, derived from my God-assigned roles, that should occupy the majority of my time during a given week. And there are a thousand tasks of secondary importance that tempt us to devote a disproportionate amount of time to completing an endless to-do list. And if we are lazy, we will neglect the important for the urgent.

I'm sharing these personal convictions with hopes that they'll be helpful to someone else out there, and also as a way to confess areas I'm working on, by God's grace. I intend to heed this rebuke of laziness and turn from my busy-but-slothful ways (namely, attending to 2nd priority items over the highest priorities) that infiltrate my role as the head of the household and my role in my place of work. There are too many "high priority" items that, apart from God intervening, I will put off until Jesus returns. These items are typically the hardest to tackle, and may involve sacrificing my time for someone else, or focusing on something that is completely foreign and uncomfortable to me (like figuring out how much to save for my son's college). If you think of it, pray for me in this area. Lord bless you. --Joel

"Living Soli Deo Gloria Under Obama"

Justin Taylor's blog has an incredibly insightful reflection posted by Eric Redmund on the election of Obama.

The Upcoming Election

Here's my confession: with the whirlwind of many other high priorities demanding my attention over the past year, I have honestly been left with only a small amount of time to ponder and investigate the upcoming Presidential election. I've made efforts to do my homework, though mostly during my bathroom breaks (my grandparents-in-law have been gracious enough to let us borrow their old TIME magazines). The reality is that it's a struggle to balance the tremendous responsibility to vote with my other God-given responsibilities (husband, father, employee, church leadership, etc). I'll just say that I'm doing better than last election (I, uh, didn't vote), so progress is good, but I do rely heavily on the wisdom of my most trusted friends to form my own convictions.

In the spirit of the election, I was very encouraged by John Piper's perspectives in this interview:

One Reason Why I Am Not Good at Loving People

Because love is risky. In fact, you are guaranteed to eventually get hurt. I am afraid of painful relationships. But after reading the following quote from C.S. Lewis, I have been pleasantly rebuked:

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering.”

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities.…

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. (From The Four Loves, as found in The Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis, 278-279.)

Studying the Bible - What are Hermeneutics?

For the majority of my "Christian" life, I have viewed and used the Bible as a collection of stories and nuggets, and as I would read it I would get frustrated with sections that didn't pertain directly to my life. The pastor would say, "Read the Bible every day," but it was so much easier to listen to sermons or read self-help books to get my doses of self help. The Bible was too difficult.

I still am in the infant stages of learning how to read this amazing book, which in reality is a collection of 66 books, 39 being the Old Testament and 27 being the New Testament. Together, these testaments contain 1,189 chapters of both descriptive texts (telling a story of what happened) and prescriptive texts (giving an application to how to live).

The greatest and most helpful lesson I've learned over the past year is that the Bible is not primarily about me. It is primarily about Jesus. The story begins with the Trinitarian God-- God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (read the beginning of Genesis 1 and John 1). God created man. Man rebeled and ran from God. As a result man deserved punishment and eternal separation from God. But God pursued man. Continuously. And I don't understand this near enough to give it justice, but God had a plan from the beginning- to send Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, taking the penalty of sin to atone for the sins of the world. The gospels tell the central story of the universe, Jesus dying and raising from the dead. Everything in the Bible only makes sense in light of the Gospel, and one of the overarching themes is that God is good, man is rebelious and evil, and apart from God's grace, there is no hope for man.

The Bible is an amazing book. There is no other book that comes any where near it. It is picked apart from every angle, and yet it still stands to this day as the greatest source of Truth in the world. I could go on and on, but as I said, I am merely an infant in my understanding of this great book. Here are some really helpful guidelines for studying the Bible (taken from SymphonyofScripture.com), written by Philip L. Powell in his book Parables of the Kingdom:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Principles for Bible Study

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth – 2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV).

Hermeneutics is defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of Scripture or literary texts.” The application of a correct hermeneutic is essential to proper Bible study and the deducing of right conclusions from scripture. In this regard the rules are few and simple:

1) CONTEXT – always examine truth in context i.e. the textual setting – what precedes and what follows; 2) COMPARISON – Paul speaks of “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” in the context of being taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13); 3) NO CONTRADICTION – “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”- Numbers 23:19 (NKJV). “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven” - Psalm 119:89 – (NKJV).

Providing these principles are clearly established you will not go far wrong. In my own study I have accepted God’s Word as being totally inspired (i.e. “God Breathed” cf. 2 Timothy 3:16) with the thought that inspiration shines out brightest and best through our Lord Jesus Christ. Based on these considerations both consciously and unconsciously I always ask the following three questions of any difficult text:

a. What light does the context shine on the text? b. What do other Scriptures say on this matter? c. What did Christ say if anything on the subject?

If you approach scripture in this frame of mind and not primarily with a predisposition to investigate what other men have said or written the Holy Spirit will lead you into ALL truth (cf. John 16:3). That is not to say that we do not consider the thoughts, ideas and teachings of others – especially those great and godly men who lived holy lives. It simply means that we are doing what we should bytrusting God above men.

The idea that God never contradicts Himself and that He is IMMUTABLE –i.e. not subject to change – is fundamental to His WORD and to the interpretation of it. I recently outraged one or two people in a Pentecostal Church when I alluded publicly to a slogan that had been adopted by a well-known Hillsong ladies’ Conference in Sydney - “Hey princess God believes in you and we do too.” No, that is NOT true. It turns the glorious gospel of Christ on its head. God’s Word tells us that God does not believe in us and that we should believe in Him. Self-faith is a false faith.

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes - Psalm 118:8-9.

If that is true of princes it is most certainly true of princesses.

Let God be true, but every man a liar - Romans 3:4.

Free Audio Books!

Christianaudio.com features a new free download every month. This month's audio book (normally $14.98) is C.H. Spurgeon's All of Grace. It works!

Does Being Loved Mean Being Made Much of?

"For many people, this is not obviously an act of love. They do
not feel loved when they are told that God created them for his
glory. They feel used. This is understandable given the way love
has been almost completely distorted in our world. For most people,
to be loved is to be made much of. Almost everything in our
Western culture serves this distortion of love. We are taught in a
thousand ways that love means increasing someone’s self-esteem.
Love is helping someone feel good about themselves. Love is giving
someone a mirror and helping him like what he sees.

This is not what the Bible means by the love of God. Love is
doing what is best for someone. But making self the object of our
highest affections is not best for us. It is, in fact, a lethal distraction.
We were made to see and savor God—and savoring him, to
be supremely satisfied, and thus spread in all the world the worth
of his presence. Not to show people the all-satisfying God is not
to love them. To make them feel good about themselves when
they were made to feel good about seeing God is like taking
someone to the Alps and locking them in a room full of mirrors."

-John Piper in Don't Waste Your Life

John Piper on C.S. Lewis

Reading "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper tonight, I found this section very insightful, where Piper is explaining the deep impacts C.S. Lewis had on him in Piper's college years:

"He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he
showed me that newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice. Truth
and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist.
Nothing is inferior for being old, and nothing is valuable for
being modern. This has freed me from the tyranny of novelty and
opened for me the wisdom of the ages. To this day I get most of
my soul-food from centuries ago. I thank God for Lewis’s compelling
demonstration of the obvious.
He demonstrated for me and convinced me that rigorous, precise,
penetrating logic is not opposed to deep, soul-stirring feeling
and vivid, lively—even playful—imagination. He was a
“romantic rationalist.” He combined things that almost everybody
today assumes are mutually exclusive: rationalism and
poetry, cool logic and warm feeling, disciplined prose and free
imagination. In shattering these old stereotypes, he freed me to
think hard and to write poetry, to argue for the resurrection and
compose hymns to Christ, to smash an argument and hug a
friend, to demand a definition and use a metaphor.
Lewis gave me an intense sense of the “realness” of things.
The preciousness of this is hard to communicate. To wake up in
the morning and be aware of the firmness of the mattress, the
warmth of the sun’s rays, the sound of the clock ticking, the sheer
being of things (“quiddity” as he calls it3). He helped me become
alive to life. He helped me see what is there in the world—things
that, if we didn’t have, we would pay a million dollars to have,
but having them, ignore. He made me more alive to beauty. He
put my soul on notice that there are daily wonders that will
waken worship if I open my eyes. He shook my dozing soul and
threw the cold water of reality in my face, so that life and God
and heaven and hell broke into my world with glory and horror.
He exposed the sophisticated intellectual opposition to
objective being and objective value for the naked folly that it
was. The philosophical king of my generation had no clothes on,
and the writer of children’s books from Oxford had the courage
to say so.
You can’t go on “seeing through” things forever. The whole
point of seeing through something is to see something through
it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because
the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw
through the garden too? It is no use trying to “see through”
first principles. If you see through everything, then everything
is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible
world. To “see through” all things is the same as not to see.4
Oh, how much more could be said about the world as C. S.
Lewis saw it and the way he spoke. He has his flaws, some of
them serious. But I will never cease to thank God for this remarkable
man who came onto my path at the perfect moment."

Raising our Youth

"Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." - 1 Timothy 4:11-16 (ESV)

As a parent, there is a lot to wrestle with in John Piper's sermon entitled, "Let No One Despise You for Your Youth." (Links below)

One area in particular that I'm convicted to bring before God is centered around how we discipline and instruct our children. Parenting is one of the hardest things I've ever been called to do. I'm realizing one of the primary reasons for this difficulty is my own sin and my own selfishness, which go into direct conflict with the my role as a father. God has much to do in me yet. But one central challenge brought about in Piper's message is in how to teach your kids about the gospel from an early age. His words are strong and challenging.

If you are a supporter of "Love and Logic" parenting models, as my wife and I have been, this will be especially challenging. The thing is, love and logic is in essence based on a legalistic framework: good behavior leads to good results, bad behavior leads to punishment. This is undoubtedly necessary in parenting, but if this is only form of discipline your parenting consists of, then your idea of a "successful" child will be one that follows rules, not one who loves and trusts in Jesus. You may indeed have a child who is wonderfully compliant. And though it will appear to be successful, it will fail in the most important respect: the child's hope and trust will be in his/her ability to follow rules, not in Jesus' sacrifice for their sins. I encourage you to listen to this message and wrestle with this and other issues involving the raising of our youth. Please comment on any thoughts you have!

Watch

Download Audio

12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child

12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child

This was written by Abraham Piper, son of writer/preacher John Piper.

Hope and Trust

Hour after hour, checked fund after checked fund (that's what I do a lot of the day), anticipation escalated. I had run nearly every possible scenario through my head, deciding it safer to think about how I would respond when I was told I didn't get the job.

Three o'clock - no phone calls. Four o'clock - nothing. Emotions of rejection began to threaten my soul, but I still managed to pray and thank God for His goodness, that He had a plan no matter what happened, and that I could trust Him. That helped a lot.

When I received an email from my boss around 4:05 p.m. asking if I'd have time to meet, I began to calculate the odds of this being good news. The fact that my boss was not directly related to the interview process made it pretty clear, though. I would not be promoted.

My manager - his name is Evan - is a man I deeply respect and look up to. The two of us casually walked into the small conference room, closed the door, and sat down. As he sat, he began to speak with a sheepish smile saying, "Unfotunately I can't tell you that you got the job-- they decided to go with someone else."

I've never been turned down for a job since I started with this company (I had been 2 for 2), so I took a second to take in the new experience of not being "the chosen one". Ironically, I had jokingly mentioned to my wife earlier in the day how I'd always wondered what it was like to not get picked. Now was my opportunity to be tested in this.

The bad news pretty much stopped there, though. What followed was an incredible series of blessings. First, Evan debriefed my on the feedback sent by Kurt, the manager who interviewed me (and who happened to be my first manager before he was promoted). The feedback was thorough and very encouraging, filled with helpful tips and comments. Something tells me that managers don't usually do that for "the rejects" -- and I felt pretty honored.

Second, I was able to talk about my thoughts on the interview process with Evan and benefit from his own comments and encouragements.

Third, given the fact that I wasn't going anywhere, we began to shift our focus to the situation at hand with our current team, and I finally was able to articulate some of my concerns with the leadership. Evan shared what he could and we had a great dialog, which was exceedingly helpful and informative.

All and all, know that I am filled with great joy and encouragement. Thank you for your prayers and support... I feel 100 percent at peace. Well, maybe 90 percent, but just give me a good night's sleep and some time in prayer with God, and I should be right up there.

The Day of Crossroads

I interviewed for a management position two days ago where I work. Today I find out whether I am the chosen one.

It is almost eerie how I ended up in this situation, applying for a position I previously never imagined myself working in until I was at least 30 years old. But rough times bring strange and unforeseen opportunities, and it almost feels like God has been preparing me for this moment from first day I started with the company. Every technical challenge, every clashing with fellow employees, every opportunity to show mercy and grace, every experience in witnessing good leadership and bad leadership... all of these things have shaped me profoundly. It has become clear to me that I am here (at my occupation) to glorify God, to show how infinitely precious He is. My prayer is that God would work through me in such a way that people will look at my deeds and desire to praise God. I want Jesus to be made much of, to do things that could only be done through hope in Jesus Christ, not in the hopes of world.

Whatever the decision is, I will praise the Lord, who knows all things and is Holy and good. I'm simply excited to move on, be it my in current position or the new path of management. Either way, God has appointed me to be a leader, to demonstrate the redemptive power of Jesus, to fight for the redemption of the workplace, to love good and to hate evil. It doesn't matter what position I'm in, the job is always the same: to glorify God and demonstrate how precious Jesus is-- more precious than wealthy, prosperity, respect, or anything else this world has to offer.

Thank you, Lord, for life's struggles, for opportunities to realize how dependent we are on you for everything. Show the world how awesome you are.

Don't Desire Wealth

Don't Desire Wealth
October 8, 2008 | By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

I can smell it. It’s like toast or steak or brownies. It doesn’t just draw our desire, it creates desire. Deep drops in the stock market make many people salivate. They know it will rebound. They are sitting on cash. By year’s end their pile could ride the recovery to riches.

For such people I have a word from God. The word is: Don’t desire to be rich. It will kill you. And in a world like ours many will probably perish with you. Paul’s language is more graphic than mine:

There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1Timothy 6:6-10)

Lecrae's new album: Rebel

This is an album that's going right on my wishlist. It seems that one of the main themes of this album "Rebel" is to proclaim that the only real rebellion left is to rebel against our messed up culture and worldly principles-- greed, pornography, covetousness, selfish ambition, adulterous and broken marriages, laziness... wow. Here is the opening track:





Watch interview on Resurgence.com

You can buy the CD on Amazon

Singing to God

Just yesterday I extremely encouraged by a message from Bob Kauflin (author of Worship Matters and worship leader) on the topic of communicating to God through singing. This was one of many outstanding messages presented at the 2008 Desiring God National Conference. Here is the promo video by John Piper, followed by a link to the actual message.



Watch the video

Don't Waste Your Sports

Listen to the sermon here.

1 Corinthians 10:31 - "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Rarely have I heard the topic of sports brought to the focal point of a sermon, though it is one of the leading "idols" in our culture, particularly for men. I have struggled often in my life with turning sports into an idol, making the activity purely about me, and without further wisdom I had often come to the conclusion I'd be better off to simply abandon sports all together.

Thankfully, I have been reminded that sports are a gift from God, a gift to be enjoyed. In his sermon entitled "Don't Waste Your Sports", pastor C.J. Mahaney brings to life the perspective of sports in light of 1 Corinthians 10:31. Here's an excerpt from early on in the sermon:

“Participation in sports must be informed by the knowledge of God. We have a tendency, when considering the topic of glorifying God in sports, to proceed immediately to practical application and to prematurely consider specific ways we are called to glorify God in sports. But any practical consideration must first proceed from a theologically informed understanding of the character of God as revealed in Scripture and the person and work of Christ. We must begin our consideration of this topic—of every topic!—with God. Until we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ we cannot accurately or authentically glorify God (2 Cor. 4:6). Before we play sports for the glory of God we must behold the glory of God. … And this morning I have asked Puritan theologian John Owen to assist me:

Because he is—that is, an infinitely glorious, good, wise, holy, powerful, righteous, self-subsisting, self-sufficient, all-sufficient Being, the fountain, cause, and author of life and being to all things, and of all that is good in every kind, the first cause, last end, and absolute sovereign Lord of all, the rest and all-satisfactory reward of all other beings—therefore he is to be adored and worshipped. Hence are we in our hearts, minds, and souls, to admire, adore, and love him. His praises are we to celebrate. In him we are to trust and fear, and so to resign ourselves and all our concerns unto his will and disposal, to regard him with all the acts of our minds and persons, answerable to the holy properties and excellencies of his nature. This is to glorify him as God.

No doubt some are asking, ‘What does a 17th-century Puritan (who didn’t have game) have to say to the modern athlete? How does this relate to my soccer game or cross-country meet?’ Here’s why: When I behold the glory of God prior to playing sports, my heart is affected and transformed. This makes all the difference when I step out onto the field or court. This knowledge of God positions me to glorify Him and not myself. Our participation in sports must be informed by the knowledge of God in order to keep us from turning sports into something ugly, rather than beautiful. This knowledge of God’s glory will keep us from wasting our sports.”

The Legacy Reading Plan

I ran across this Bible reading plan constructed by Hank Hanegraaff (The Bible Answer Man), called The Legacy Reading plan. Of all the plans I've run across over the years, this seems like one of the best-constructed plans for reading the Bible on a yearly basis, where each season has its own strategic focus of the Bible.

Here's the plan's explanation, as explained on the CRI (Christian Research Institute) website:


The Legacy Reading Plan explained:

The Legacy Reading Plan is an innovative approach to reading through sixty-six love letters --one book at a time -- for the rest of your life. If I live to be the age my father was when he died, I will have the privilege of reading through the Bible 18 more times. If I live longer, so much the better! Reading through the Bible at any age is a daunting proposition. Thus the Legacy Reading Plan is strategically designed to empower you to "eat the elephant 'one Book' at a time." The Format is specifically formulated to make your time in God's Word the best it can be.

Location: Do you have a secret place -- a location where you can drown out the static of the world and hear the voice of your heavenly Father as He speaks to you through the majesty of His Word? For some it may be the sauna, for others a study. We are all unique creations of God. Thus, your secret place may be a sedan. The point is we all desperately need a place away from the invasive sounds of the world so we can hear the sounds of another place -- another voice. So, begin your Legacy Reading Plan by locating your secret place.

Essence: The Legacy Reading Plan is unique in that it requires you to process Books of the Bible rather than piecing together bits of Books. The goal is to comprehend the essence of God as communicated by reading each Book as a whole. The exception is Psalms and Proverbs. Psalms constituted a hymnbook or devotional guide for ancient Israel. Likewise, our goal will be to meditate on three individual Psalms each week. Thus progressing through the Psalmistry once each year. Because the Book of Proverbs is replete with principles for successful daily living, the Legacy Reading Plan is to read one chapter of Proverbs each day, thus progressing through Provers once a month.

Genre : To understand Scripture in the sense in which it is intended, it is important to pay special attention to the genre we are reading. In other words, to interpret the Bible as literature, it is crucial to consider the kind of literature we are interpreting. As a legal brief differs from a prophetic oracle, there is a difference in genre between Leviticus and Revelation. Genre is particularly significant when considering writings that are difficult to categorize, such as Genesis which is largely a historical narrative interlaced with symbolism and repetitive poetic structure. During the spring the plan is to read through historical narratives, while the focus for summer is prophecy.

Author: As it is essential to read through Books rather than bits, so it is helpful to read biblical authors sequentially. As such, the Legacy Reading Plan is grouped by author. This is particularly helpful because even though biblical authors wrote "as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21), their personalities and proclivities are clearly evident in their writings. For example, John and John alone, identifies Jesus as the Word, or Logos (John 1; Revelation 19). Likewise, John alone identifies Jesus as the true witness (John 5; Revelation 2), and it is John who most exploits the Mosaic requirement of two witnesses (John 8; Revelation 2).

Context: Context has an impact on how you contextualize one set of biblical Books in relation to another. For this reason, the Epistles are read prior to the Synoptic Gospels in the Legacy Reading Plan. As such, the didactic (teaching) principles of the Epistles will provide a theological context by which you can better understand the Gospel narratives. Moreover, because the Book of Revelation draws heavily upon the imagery of the Hebrew prophets, the reading of Revelation is placed in a close proximity to the Old Testament prophets. And because the Gospels recount the birth and ministry of Christ, the Synoptics and the Book of Acts are assigned to the month of December.

Years: The overarching objective of the Legacy Reading Plan is to read through the Bible once a year, every year for the rest of your life. The reading calendar is naturally segmented into seasons and the seasons into months. At the beginning of each year you know that during the winter your focus will be on the Pentateuch and Poetry (249 chapters); in spring, the Historical books (249 chapters); in summer the Prophets (250 chapters); and during the fall, the New Testament (260 chapter). Each season is further broken down into months. Thus every January your goal is to read through Genesis and Exodus and every December the Synoptic Gospels and Acts. There are times when you will naturally read ten chapters at a time and others when you will read one or two. More importantly you will read the Bible just as you read other literature.

Young, Restless, and Reformed

Tonight my wife and I attended a lecture at our church given by a well-respected scholar of the Bible and of Christian history, Lyle Murphy. Though the talk wasn't formally modeled this way, he more or less spent the majority of the time discussing the history of a couple of the pillars found within the "TULIP" model, which is the Calvinist description of the Doctrine of Grace (though TULIP was never mentioned tonight).

We began with Total Depravity, with which there was little dissension in the audience. However, as we moved toward the history of the doctrines of Unconditional Election and Limited Atonement, the tension in the room began to grow. Lyle shared some of his convictions, supported by scriptures, and held that he no longer embraced all of the Calvinist doctrine of grace, particularly the aspect of God choosing, or "electing", only a few to be saved.

I think I see where Lyle is coming from-- I have wrestled with the Calvinist/Armenian debate for years and years, and one of the aspects of Calvinism that repelled me the most was that the people I knew who held that position were typically some of the worst at showing grace. But then I came across "Reformed" guys like John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, C.J. Mahaney, and I began to listen to a lot of their sermons. These guys wonderfully communicated the glorious beauty of sound doctrine and Christ-centered living, unraveling truths of Scripture, and most importantly blowing my mind with the immeasurable glory of God's Grace. I love Jesus more than I ever have. For this reason, I keep coming back to these guys for more-- I love their teaching, their theology, and I can't get enough. It's like dessert for me! I've probably listened to hundreds of sermons by Driscoll, Piper, and Keller over the past year, and thanks to the technology of the internet, I've been able to pass the precious teaching of these men on to others.

I'm learning that I'm not the only young guy who's turning to Reformed doctrine. In the midst of a Post-Modern movement, of which I used to be a passionate advocate, the old and time-tested theology (also known as "Biblical") is rising in opposition. And I've been won over to the side that gives God the most glory.

To continue this thought, check out this article published by Christianity Today in September of 2006, called "Young, Restless, and Reformed"

Survivor of Late-Term Abortion Comments on Barack Obama

This was posted in June on Randy Alcorn's blog:

http://randyalcorn.blogspot.com/2008/06/survivor-of-late-term-abortion-comments.html

The Unwasted Life

This is a great series of sermons John Piper gave at the 2008 Regional Conference on "The Essence of the Unwasted Life"

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByConference/40/


I've only listened to the first of these so far, but it was one of those sermons where the Spirit of God opened up my eyes and heart to catch a glimpse of the way things really are. What does an unwasted life look like? Piper points to Paul's plea in Philippians 1:20-21 as our template for such a life:

"...as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. "

As Piper declares, this is the definition of an unwasted life, that in all that we do, all that we are, Christ will be exalted, lifted up and honored. The implications on your life are earth-shattering. How different would we live if we asked questions like:

• How can I use my money to show that Christ is infinitely more valuable than my money?
• How do I treat my career to exalt Christ as far more valuable than my career?
• How do I take care of my body to show Christ is of the greatest value?
• How do I treat my house and possessions to demonstrate Christ is infinitely more precious?
• How do I enteract with people, friends and family to "magnify" the magnificence of Christ?
  

In the unwasted life, Christ becomes the chief goal and desire, and all other things become a means for lifting Him up. If I were honest today, though, I would have to admit that I far too often make Christ a means to my own version of heaven (new house, wealth, success, perfect church) rather than an end. To make Him a means, which is the norm for the American "prosperity gospel" philosophy, completely misses the point that nothing in this world even compares to Christ in worth. Nothing.

Mark Driscoll on Church Leadership

This is a really helpful seminar/Q&A series by Mark Driscoll (Acts 29 President and Lead Preaching Pastor of Mars Hill Church- Seattle, WA) at the New Frontiers' Leadership International '08 Conference in Brighton, UK. Here's the messages:

Be Radical & Plant Radical Churches! Church Planter

Be Radical & Plant Radical Churches! Church Leadership


Be Radical & Plant Radical Churches! Final Thoughts and Q&A

Ryan Hall - Training for 2008 London Marathon

Ryan Hall on Worshiping God Through Running

For some reason, God gave Ryan Hall a gift to run really, really fast. This video testimony was taped before the Olympic Trials in November 2007, where he placed 1st, shattering the Trials' record in the process. Here is the video/testimony:



This is a more recent interview with Ryan as he talks about the struggles of idolatry that come with his passion for running. When asked what his goal is for the 2008 Olympics, his answer was simply, "To praise God and be content with however he wants to use me."

blog post by Tim Challies

Who Is In Control?

Have you ever noticed how, when a person is looking for a house, driving slowly down a darkened street straining to see the numbers on the fronts of the homes or on the mailboxes at the end of the driveways, he automatically turns down the car radio? He does so because he instinctively knows that music or voices can be a distraction. A person cannot focus as well on the task at-hand when there is noise in the background. Noise is a distraction.

I’ve often found that when I am writing, and especially writing something that requires deep thought and consistent logic, I need to remove background distractions, whether that means I turn down the music playing from my computer or close the door to my office to drown out the sounds of squabbling or playing children. I do this without thinking about it. As I strain to collect my thoughts and to put words to them, I automatically turn down the music. I am often surprised, when I have finished my writing, to find that the music has been turned off or the door has been closed. I may have no recollection of doing so. It is a natural reaction.

Many years ago I heard a sermon, one of only a few I remember from my younger days, where the pastor suggested that we try turning off the stereos in our cars, especially when we are driving alone, and spend the time thinking or praying. He had apparently developed the practice of praying aloud when driving alone. It earned him some bemused looks from other drivers who saw him talking, apparently to himself, but because he found it a beneficial practice he swallowed his pride and continued to talk to God. I often make a decision—and it has to be a deliberate decision since I am accustomed to pressing the “play” button immediately after starting the car—to turn off the radio or CD player when I drive and find this time to be extremely valuable. My mind can process things and mull things over far better where there is silence. This is particularly true if the song I might be listening to is one that is familiar to me as then, whether I am aware of it or not, I tend to sing along. It is hard to think deeply when singing!

In our culture we have allowed ourselves to become incredibly busy. And all the time, while we are busily going through life, there is a great deal of “noise” in the background of our lives. It may be music that plays when we drive, when we work and when we play. It may be a television that is always turned on whenever we have a few minutes of downtime. Perhaps when we find fifteen spare minutes between picking the kids up from school and beginning to cook dinner we watch an episode of Judge Judy or catch a re-run of The Simpsons. The background noise may be a Blackberry that constantly beeps and buzzes as it receives emails or stock quotes, even when we are far away from the office. It may be a cell phone that keeps customers or employees in contact with us even on weekends and holidays.

It seems to me that, as society continues to move in its current direction, and as we become ever more “wired,” Christians will have to be focused and deliberate about moderating and perhaps removing some of this ever-present background noise. If we are to be thinking people, people who think deeply and deliberately about spiritual matters, we simply cannot allow our lives to be overshadowed by the noise of technology.

I wonder how much we miss because of our busyness. I am often challenged to think just how much of life I miss while I check my email for the seventh time in a given evening or while I follow along online with a football game that I really don’t care about. Technology, it seems, is a great distractor. Technology sticks its foot in the door of so many areas of my life. When I sit down to read to my children we may be interrupted by a call on my cell phone. As we head outdoors to play, I may do a quick check of my email and spend fifteen minutes typing out a reply that could easily wait until the next day; and then, while I play with the children, I am distracted, mulling over what I might have or should have said. Maybe we duck out of church before the time of fellowship is complete so we will have time to get home, make a sandwich and fluff the cushions on the couch before kickoff time.

Truthfully, I cannot think of anything that distracts us so fully and completely and consistently as technology. For too many of us, technology is a master and not a servant. It is our owner, not our possession. We let it run and rule our lives. We allow technology to determine the course of our lives, taking us where it leads. We determine our schedules with TV Guide in one hand, an iPhone calendar in the other. We invest countless hours in online friendships, many of which are shallow and insignificant, while ignoring people in our local churches and communities. Perhaps while ignoring even our own families.

Technology is a great servant but an evil master. Technology is proof of the greatness of God and something we ought to be thankful for. After all, He is the One who has endowed humans with the ingenuity that makes it all possible. But why, then, have so many of us allowed it to rule and govern our lives? Why do we allow it to play such an important, transcendent role in our lives and in our families?

It may be as simple as escapism. Technology, and especially its many applications to entertainment, provide unparalleled opportunities to escape from reality, even if only for a few minutes. Through technology we can leave the drudgery of our lives to listen to music that glorifies freedom or to watch television or film where what happens is far more thrilling than what we experience at home and in the office. The purpose of much of modern technology is to allow us to take our entertainment with us no matter where we go. MP3 players allow us to take thousands or tens of thousands of songs with us in the car or on the train. Video iPods allow us to escape from work or school for a few minutes by watching (ironically enough) The Office or nearly unlimited amounts of pornography. Portable DVD players allow us to keep the children quiet in the car while we take a vacation. No matter who or where we are, we can use technology as a brief escape.

Perhaps we use technology to hide. Maybe we hate to be alone with our thoughts. We have become so accustomed to constant noise that, like a baby who can only sleep in a room with a white noise machine softly humming, we can barely stand the sound of silence. Maybe we have lost the ability to think or even the desire to think, and so we anesthetize our intellects, we lull them into inactivity, by replacing them with noise.

Maybe we need constant noise from the cell phone or Blackberry or laptop so we feel like we are accomplishing anything. Perhaps we have bought into the lie that we need to be accomplishing something significant—something that either pays the bills or leaves us with another bill to pay—at all times. And so we take phone calls during dinner and answer emails in church. We check email compulsively and work while we should be resting.

Or it could be that we prefer the anonymity and safety of online relationships, relationships that allow us to be almost exhibitionist in what we reveal about ourselves, all the while hiding behind a mask of secrecy. We would rather tell our deepest secrets to strangers on the other side of the continent, strangers we know only by their online personas, than find and nurture deep and lasting friendships close to home.

We are busy. We are distracted. Too often we hide behind the noise. As Christians we need to ensure that we are mastering the noise, not allowing it to master us. We need to be in control of our cell phones, Blackberries, laptops and inboxes. We can and often should use this technology, but we must now allow it to control us.

C.H. Spurgeon quotes

More of these can be found on the Thinkexist.com website

“If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word- Prayer. Live and die without prayer, and you will pray long enough when you get to hell.”

“Fiery trials make golden Christians”

“Every generation needs regeneration”

“Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.”

“A man who does nothing never has time to do anything”

“Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of; they just turn up some of the ill weeds on to the surface.”

“Of two evils, choose neither”

“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”

Way of the Master - the good and the bad

Mailbag: "The Way of the Master" Evangelism?

Written by Jim Bublitz on http://oldtruth.com.

Tim Keller talks about Belief in God at Authors@Google

A really good framework for how we construct our beliefs:

The Sufficiency of the Gospel in a PostModern World

Tim Keller on the “Alpha Program” and other once-successful evangelistic programs that churches adopt in order to reach those in their communities with the Gospel:

“I’ve seen this a million times with churches that just sort of try to take the Alpha Program or some other ‘magic bullet’: they raise the money, they train the people, they roll out the program, they’re just trying to ‘graft on’ to the side of their existing ministry an evangelism program hoping that somehow that’s going to help them win poor people—and it won’t work anymore. ‘The demon’s in too deep’.
There’s going to have to be a complete transformation of our personality, our theology and our community by the Gospel. The Gospel has to re-capture us and we have to re-capture the Gospel or evangelism will not work anymore. We won’t be able to do any kind of evangelism anymore. ‘The demon’s in too deep’.”

Listen -- Download Audio Track (right-click; save target as)

Doing Justice

speaker: Timothy Keller

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As quoted from theResurgence.com website:

In session 8 with our keynote speaker Dr. Tim Keller, senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, New York and founder of Redeemer Church Planting Center, preaches on, "Doing Justice" his last session of three from the Reform & Resurge Conference May 2006. The audio that you are about to listen to from Dr. Keller will challenge your view of the comprehensive work of the gospel. Four questions are fleshed out in this session. First, what is justice according to the Bible? Second, what is doing justice according to the Bible? Thirdly, who should be doing justice? Lastly, how can you be one of the people that does justice? These questions and a walk through the book of Proverbs will develop a biblically faithful approach to justice. The Biblical view of justice is counter to that of what we see in Western society. This mp3 from Dr. Tim Keller will stretch and hopefully encourage you to do justice not out of guilt but out of joy. Through faithfulness in doing justice the culture will begin to notice and hear the gospel that you preach.

Preaching the Gospel

speaker: Timothy Keller

Listen - Download Audio Track (right-click; save target as)

As Quoted from theResurgence.com website:

Dr. Tim Keller, senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, New York and founder of Redeemer Church Planting Center, speaks on, "Preaching the Gospel" in his second of three sessions (session 7) from the Reform & Resurge Conference May 2006. Listen now to this audio from Dr. Keller as he gives some insightful comments on preaching the gospel today. What is discovered is that the older evangelicals know how to preach the gospel of sovereign grace in salvation and the younger evangelicals preach the gospel of salvation as a means for a new heavens and new earth. Dr. Keller notes that there are not many movements today that combine these two ways to preach the gospel as both the building of God's Kingdom through people being redeemed by the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. What needs to be realized is that every theme and/or thread points to Jesus. This also includes the building of the Kingdom of God and personal salvation. More importantly Dr. Keller gives great advice at preaching the gospel in getting to the roots of idolatry and selfishness rather than just the slap on the hand for doing wrong. Preaching the gospel in a manner that glorifies Jesus rather than us is key aspect for the church today and this mp3 from Tim Keller should push the church in that direction.

Gospel-Centered Ministry

speaker: Tim Keller

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Listen to this audio from the Gospel Coalition, as Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian in New York talks about what ministry shaped by the gospel looks like. In this mp3, Dr. Keller fleshes out seven significant features of the gospel and how to use those features to make ministry effective.

Evangelistic Worship

by Dr. Tim Keller

THE WORSHIP WARS
One of the basic features of church life in the U.S. today is the proliferation of worship and music forms. This in turn has caused many severe conflicts both within individual congregations and whole denominations. Most books and articles about recent worship trends tend to fall into one of two broad categories."Contemporary Worship" (hereafter CW) advocates often make rather sweeping statements, such as "pipe organs and choirs will never reach people today." "Historic Worship" (hereafter HW) advocates often speak similarly about how incorrigibly corrupt popular music and culture is, and how they make contemporary worship completely unacceptable.

Read More...

Excerpts of "Lectures to my Students" by C.H. Spurgeon

From Chapter XII: The Minister's Ordinary Conversation

Pg. 167-168

“Still, a minister, wherever he is, is a minister, and should recollect that he is on duty. A policeman or a soldier may be off duty, but a minister never is. Even in our recreations we should still pursue the great object of our lives; for we are called to be diligent “in season and out of season.” There is no position in which we may be placed but the Lord may come with the question, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” and we ought to be able at once to answer, “I have something to do for thee even here, and I am trying to do it.” The bow, of course, must be at times unstrung, or else it will lose its elasticity; but there is no need to cut the string. I am speaking at this time of the minister in times of relaxation; and I say that even then he should conduct himself as the ambassador of God, and seize opportunities of doing good: this will not mar his rest, but sanctify it. A minister should be like a certain chamber which I saw a Beaulieu, in the New Forest, in which a cobweb is never seen. It is a large lumber-room, and is never swept; yet no spider ever defiles it with the emblems of neglect. It is roofed with chestnut, and for some reason, I know not what, spiders will not come near that wood by the year together. The same thing was mentioned to me in the corridors of Winchester School: I was told, “No spiders ever come here.” Our minds should be equally clear of idle habits.

Pg. 168
“On our public rests for porters in the City of London you may read the words, “Rest, but do not loiter”; and they contain advice worthy of our attention. I do not call the dolce far niente laziness; there is a sweet doing of nothing which is just the finest medicine in the world for a jaded mind. When the mind gets fatigued and out of order, to rest it is no more idleness than sleep is idleness; and no man is called lazy for sleeping the proper time. It is far better to be industriously asleep than lazily awake. Be ready to do good even in your resting times and in your leisure hours; and so be really a minister, and there will be no need for you to proclaim that you are so.

Pg. 168
“The Christian minister out of the pulpit should be a sociable man. He is not sent into the world to be a hermit, or a monk of La Trappe. It is not his vocation to stand on a pillar all day, above his fellowmen, like that hare-brained Simon Stylites of olden time. You are not to warble from the top of a tree, like an invisible nightingale; but to be a man among men, saying to them, “I also am as you are in all that relates to man.” Salt is of no use in the box; it must be rubbed into the meat; and our personal influence must penetrate and season society. Keep aloof from others, and how can you benefit them? Our Master went to a wedding, and ate bread with publicans and sinners, and yet was far more pure than those sanctimonious Pharisees, whose glory was that they were separate from their fellowmen. Some ministers need to be told that they are of the same species as their hearers. It is a remarkable fact, but we may as well state it, that bishops, canons, archdeacons, prebendaries, rural deans, rectors, vicars and even archbishops, are only men after all; and God has not railed off a holy corner of the earth to serve as a chancel for them to abide therein by themselves.
“It would not be amiss if there could be a revival of holy talk in the churchyard and the meeting-yard. I like to see the big yew-trees outside our ancient churches with seats all round them. They seem to say: “Sit down here, neighbour, and talk aupon the sermon; here comes the pastor; he will join us, and we shall have a pleasant, holy chat.” It is not every preacher we would care to talk with; but there are some whom one would give a fortune to converse with for an hour. I love a minister whose face invites me to make him my friend—a man upon whose doorstep you read, “Salve,” “Welcome”; and feel that there is no need of that Pompeian warning, “Cave Canem,” “Beware of the dog.” Give me the man around whom the children come, like flies around a honey-pot: they are first-class judges of a good man. When Soloman was tried by the Queen of Sheba, as to his wisdom, the rabbies tell us that she brought some artificial flowers with her, beautifully made and delicately scented, so as to be facsimiles of real flowers. She asked Solomon to discover which were artificial and which were real. The wise man bade his servants open the window, and when the bees come in they flew at once to the natural flowers, and cared nothing for the artificial. So you will find that children have their instincts, and discover very speedily who is their friend, and depend upon it the children’s friend is the one who will be worth knowing. Have a good word to say to each and every member of the family—the big boys, and the young ladies, and the little girls, and everybody. No one knows what a smile and a hearty sentence may do. A man who is to do much with men must love them, and feel at home with them. An individual who has no geniality about him had better be an undertaker, and bury the dead, for he will never succeed in influencing the living. I have met somewhere with the observation nthat to be a popular preacher one must have bowels. I fear that the observation was meant as a mild criticism upon the bulk to which certain brethren have attained: but there is truth in it. A man must have a great heart if he would have a great congregation. His heart should be as capacious as those noble harbours along our coast, which contain se-room for a fleet. When a man has a large, loving heart, men go to him as ships to a haven, and feel at peace when they have anchored under the lee of this friendship. Such a man is hearty in private as well as in public; his blood is not cold and fishy, but he is warm as your own fireside. No pride and selfishness chill you when you approach him; he has his doors all open to receive you, and you are at home with him at once. Such men I would persuade you to be, every one of you.

About the Author

Hi,

My name is Joel Conrad. Before I jump into the purpose of this blog, let me give you a bit of background info about me. As of today, July 20, 2008, I am a 25 year-old husband of the beautiful Kerry Conrad and father of the incredible Cameron Conrad (almost 2 years old). During the week, I work in the fund-accounting world (valuing mutual funds) for a company called State Street. That's what I do for living, and I try to spend the rest of the timedoing some or all of the following:

a.) Growing in knowledge/relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (a.k.a. the Trinitarian God), which often involves praying/talking to God, reading (and hopefully understanding) the Bible, listening to sermons, reading theological books, and talking about Him with other people;

b.) Being a "godly" husband and a good father, which usually requires that I spend time with my wife and son;

c.) Spending time/ growing in relationships with people in our church (I attend Heartland Church in Blue Springs);

d.) Staying alive and fit (a.k.a. "Taking care of my temple"). I am so thankful that God gave me legs and the ability to run-- it is such a blessing, one that I'm trying not to take for granted. I run daily and occasionally compete in various races;

e.) Playing guitar and singing in various bands in our church.

These activities encompass my "plate", for the most part. Feel free to email any time at joelconrad@gmail.com

Pain and Progress

From the 3/18/2007 sermon by Mark Driscoll on Nehemiah 4:1-4.



Download Audio

Reflections:
It is an important truth-- you can't have progress without pain. They go hand-in-hand.

C.H. Spurgeon - Lectures to My Students

The audio reading for the first chapter "The Minister's Self Watch" is outstanding, especially for those called to preaching (this does not include me, but I still benefitted much from various sections).

-- Download "The Minister's Self Watch" at Sermon Audio


-- Check out the entire book at the Google Library

How to Experience Joy

(This series is currently in progress, but I will try to post additional sermons as they come:)

Title: How to Experience Joy
Scripture: Book of Philippians
Speaker:Tim Buzan

Preached Heartland Church

Part 1 - Philippians - 6/8/2008 - Duration: 52:59 - Download

Part 2 - Phil. 1:1-11 - 6/16/2008 - Duration: 52:59 - Download

Part 3 - Phil. 1 - 6/22/2008 - "Experiencing Joy in the midst of Problems" - Duration: 45:24 - Download


Part 4 - Phil. 1 - 6/29/2008 - "Experiencing Joy in the midst of Problems" - Duration: 54:08 - Download

Part 5 - Phil. 1 - 7/6/2008 - "Are You Better Than God? (Well, are you??!)" - Duration: 49:37 - Download

Emergent Church

The Emerging Church

Speaker : Mark Driscoll, 9/21/2007 - 1 hr. 21 min.
From the Convergent Conference, Session 3

Listen Now - Download MP3

Nightline - National Response Debate w/ Kurt Cameron and Ray Comfort

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7


Part 8


Part 9


Part 10


Part 11


Part 12


Part 13


Part 14


Part 15 (Ray's Closing Remarks)


Part 16 (Brian's Closing Remarks)


Part 17 (Kirk's Closing Remarks)


Part 18 (Kelly's Closing Remarks)


Same thing, as seen on Nightline:

PART II: NightLine Debate- Does God Exist? (1 of 5)


PART II: NightLine Debate- Does God Exist? (2 of 5)


PART II: NightLine Debate- Does God Exist? (3 of 5)



PART II: NightLine Debate- Does God Exist? (4 of 5)

"Send Me" - Hip Hop

'Send Me' - Live at MHC | Ballard from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.