Recomended Posts v2

Three Ways Movies Are Searching For The Gospel - G Ortlund - 12/8/2015

O Come Again Emmanuel - Wax - 12/3/2015

Why Celebrate Advent? - Boswell - 11/29/2015

A Prayer For The First Sunday Of Advent - S Smith - 11/29/2015

Prepare Him Room - Bloom - 11/29/2015

Only One Black Friday - Tripp - 11/27/2015

A Prayer For Thanksgiving Day - S Smith - 11/26/2015

Alone With God - Chan - 11/24/2015

A Prayer For Marinating In The "In All Things Goodness Of Jesus - S Smith - 11/21/2015

It Is Finished - Chambers - 11/21/2015

We All Need Help - Piper - 11/19/2015

Four Reasons Why Some Preachers Get Better And Others Dont - York - 11/18/2015

A Prayer Of Lament - S Smith - 11/14/2015

It Starts With A Humble Heart

I have been blessed by a series of posts on the Gospel Coalition web site by Paul Tripp. And while his focus is primarily on folks in ministry, there is much truth and application to those who are not.  Here is one sample from his latest post, If You Still Think You've Arrived:

You live in the middle of the "already" and the "not yet." There is temptation all around. In the middle you are still susceptible to its draw. In the middle there is still an enemy lurking around looking for his next meal. In the middle we are capable of self-deceit and personal delusion. In the middle we still need to be rescued from ourselves. In the middle we must always live humble, concerned, and protective lives. In the middle we constantly need grace's rescue.

How true is this? I almost feel as if Tripp is writing about me. I think this because he has tapped into a reality that we all face, whether we admit it or not. By God's grace, we can (and do) face these temptations, but how often do we forget that we need to fight with the armor that Christ himself provides (Eph 6:10-20)?

My plea to God is for a serious reordering, refocusing of my own view of who He is, Father, Son and Spirit and who I am, a man of dry bones, dust and ashes. Can we be instruments in the Master's hands? Absolutely! And we should allow Him to make music with and through us. But we must always remember that even a Stradivarius receives its glory not from itself, but from the One who made it and the One who plays it.

Let me conclude with a final quote from Tripp:

The great spiritual war doesn't only rage outside of us. There is ample evidence every day that it still rages inside of us. Gospel-driven, Christ-centered ministry, one that gives grace to those who hear, doesn't start with theological knowledge; it starts with a humble heart. It starts with recognition of your own need and the acknowledgment that you and I are more like than unlike the people to whom God has called us to minister. And for this we have the grace of Jesus.

To God Alone be the Glory

Hit between the eyes.

Have you ever been hit between the eyes by God?

Do you know what I mean? You're just cruising along in life, reading or working or driving or talking when the thought hits you "I am off track" or "I've drifted way to far" or "My life and doctrine isn't what it was nor is it what it should be"? Visually, I think of this as walking in the woods, so intent on the trail that you're on that when you finally look up you realize you don't know where you are.

Such a moment came to me yesterday as I read a blog post by Paul David Tripp entitled Beware Your Delusions of Spiritual Grandeur. Based on previous posts by Tripp and the title, I thought of people to whom I should forward it to and others to whom I wouldn't forward, but who would really needed to read it.

Then I read it. And God hit me right between the eyes. Statements like the following brought me up short:

an attitude of arrival still shaped my ministry. 

when you think you've arrived, when you quit being convicted of and broken by your own weakness, failure, and sin, you will begin to make bad personal and ministry choices.

So I sit here today considering the ways my attitude of arrival has infected how I approach people and ministry. And, quite frankly, this attitude not only affects pastors and leaders, it affects us in the "rank and file" as well. Prayerfully consider this:

The reality and confession of personal spiritual weakness is not a grave danger to your ministry. God has chosen to build his church through the instrumentality of bent and broken tools. It is your delusions of strength that will get you in trouble and cause you to form a ministry that is less than Christ-centered and gospel-driven.  

Remember, the tender ministry of grace grows in the soil of constant awareness of your need for grace.

Read the full post here.

To God Alone be the Glory

Don't Settle for Mediocre Preaching

"Preaching is more than regurgitating your favorite exegetical commentary, recasting the sermons of your favorite preachers, or reshaping notes from one of your favorite seminary classes. It is bringing the transforming truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ from a passage that has been properly understood, cogently and practically applied, and delivered with the engaging tenderness and passion of a person who has been broken and restored by the very truths he now stands to communicate. You simply cannot do this without proper preparation, meditation, confession, and worship."

The quote above is an excerpt from a blog post by Paul David Tripp. What he said resonated with me since I find myself facing these same challenges in my preaching but also as I encounter and sit under a lot of mediocre preaching. I used to think it was noble to withhold sermon critiques to "honor the pastor". Now I realize that I was simply enabling mediocre preaching and doing a disservice to the Church and the one preaching. 

Here's the challenge. For those of us who sit in the pew, we need to know our Bibles well enough and love our Savior deeply enough to expect and demand good preaching. And,we need have the courage to speak the truth in love to our dear pastor, if his preaching has fallen on a rocky shoal.

And, the for those of us who have the rare privilege of preaching God's Word to God's people, we must, as Tripp says, "not lose sight of the excellent One and the excellent grace we have been called to represent. We cannot let his splendor appear boring and his amazing grace appear ordinary." We must realize that, as inadequate as we may feel, we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God is making his appeal through us. Men, we have a high and holy calling. Let's not waste our lives rearranging deck chairs!

Tripp's entire post can be read here.

To God Alone be the Glory

Where you are heading, trouble will be no more.

The following is the conclusion from a blog post by Paul Tripp that I read yesterday.  The full post is here. What strikes me most is that what makes life in this fallen world bearable is not that somehow it will get better or that I am somehow earning "misery points". No what makes life worth it is that we are working toward the prize of Christ and His promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth. May it be so, even today!

You could argue that the biblical story is about three locations. The Garden in Genesis was a location of perfection and beauty but became a place of sin and trouble. The hill of Calvary was a place of both horrible suffering and also transforming grace. And the New Jerusalem, that place of peace and refuge lit by the brightness of the Son, will be our final refuge forever. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, your story will not end with daily trouble and temporary refuge. No, your final location will be utterly unlike anything you have ever experienced, even on your best and brightest ministry day. You are headed for the New Jerusalem, where the final tear will be dried and trouble will be no more.

Today, in life and ministry, you will face trouble of some kind. Today you will run somewhere for refuge. Today there is hope and help to be found. May God be your refuge, and as you run to him, may you remember that he has promised you that there will be a day when your trouble is no more.

I now send forth this post with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good. (JC Ryle)

To God Alone be the Glory