sullivan86's Xanga

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:33:21 GMT

In Luther's own words: "God wants our conscience to be certain and sure that it is pleasing to Him. This cannot be done if the conscience is led by its own feelings, but only if it relies on the Word of God."

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:13:13 GMT

"Everyone knows the amazing works that have been done through the ministries of men like Tim Keller in Manhattan and Mark Driscoll in Seattle; but the track record of exporting the Redeemer or Mars Hill models elsewhere is patchy at best, raising the obvious question of whether these phenomena are the result less of their general validity and more of the singular talents of the remarkable individuals. To be clear, this is in no way to suggest that these churches are not faithful; but it is to ask whether they are not more unique and unrepeatable than is often acknowledged. If the secret lies in the gifts of the individual leader, then time spent trying to replicate the models elsewhere with less talented or differently gifted leaders is doomed to failure and a waste of time.

We have been here before. I spent my early Christian years amongst people always looking for the `new Lloyd-Jones' or preaching for an hour when they only had thirty minutes of material to present. So guess what? The reincarnate Lloyd Jones never came and too many English evangelical congregations resigned themselves to thirty minutes of quality negated by thirty minutes of agony every Sunday. We wasted time and valuable talent in trying to impersonate him or to identify the next one of his ilk to come along."

~ Carl Trueman

i would add though - acts29 and redeemer church planting are relatively young. we'll be better able to judge the fruit 10, 20, 30 years from now.

Do you love God?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:32:29 GMT

Do you love God? We usually gauge our love for God by what we're doing, how we're acting towards others, even our thoughts. But what about what HE'S doing?

Do you love God for all the things in your life right now? Think about everything that's going on. Especially the harder parts, the trials, the difficulties, the pains. Do you love Him for those things? Can you thank Him that you still don't have a freakin job?

When we complain about what God ordains, we blaspheme Him.

"You worship God more by this than when you come to hear a sermon, or spend half an hour, or an hour, in prayer, or when you come to receive a sacrament. These are the acts of God's worship, but they are only external acts of worship, to hear and pray and receive sacraments. But this is the soul's worship, to subject itself thus to God. You who often will worship God by hearing, and praying, and receiving sacraments, and yet afterwards will be froward and discontented - know that God does not regard such worship, he will have the soul's worship, in this subjecting of the soul unto God. Note this, I beseech you: in active obedience we worship God by doing what pleases God, but by passive obedience we do as well worship God by being pleased with what God does. Now when I perform a duty, I worship God, I do what pleases God; why should I not as well worship God when I am pleased with what God does?

As it was said of Christ's obedience: Christ was active in his passive obedience, and passive in his active obedience; so the saints are passive in their active obedience, they are first passive in the reception of grace, and then active. And when they come to passive obedience, they are active, they put forth grace in active obedience. When they perform actions to God, then the soul says: 'Oh! that I could do what pleases God, and I labour that what God does shall please me: here is a Christian indeed, who shall endeavour both these; It is but one side of a Christian to endeavour to do what pleases God; you must as well endeavour to be pleased with what God does, and so you will come to be a complete Christian when you can do both, and that is the first thing in the excellence of this grace of contentment."

"Labour that what God does shall please" you. That is so difficult. But that is the real faith struggle every day. To love what GOD IS DOING in your life. To still be thankful. To still praise Him. To be able to genuinely say from your heart: "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord." When you can really say that, God's grace in your life is evident.
"Keep your heart diligently, for out of it flow the issues of life."

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:25:52 GMT

Paul Tripp on 1 Peter:

"You would think a letter written to people who are suffering would be just comfort from stem to stern...
but this is MARCHING ORDERS. Peter's a good pastor and he knows the worst thing he can do is to get you to meditate on your suffering. because all of us are wired to be wonderful victims.

You and I don't have to take the 'wallow' class. you and i do that quite well.
So Peter wants to blow us BEYOND this little moment. BEYOND this feeling of confusion. BEYOND this moment of pain. BEYOND this moment of rejection. BEYOND it all

to be taken up with the GLORY OF WHAT GOD IS DOING!!
and say 'IM SUFFERING, BUT I WANT TO BE PART OF THIS THING!'

thats the christian life."

one time i was struggling real bad with depression, and sorta randomly i just decided to read all of 1 peter straight through. guess what, Tripp is dead on.

How People Change

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:38:28 GMT

i opened up my book tonight and the first line i read was this:
"Real repentance means that you see that your biggest problem is you, not your circumstancs."

that was a good shot to the face. and much needed.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:35:42 GMT

"people who praise God are MORE WHOLE than people who don't"
~ John Piper
because that's what you were made to do.

"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.... to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Ephesians 1:4-6)

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/4216/Audio/

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:53:07 GMT

Friday, October 02, 2009

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:36:10 GMT

dont look within to find strength.

look within to find error,
then look up to find help
and then you can look out with love

all other ground is sinking sand

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:06:09 GMT

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (matthew 7)

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." (ephesians 4:12-16)

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (james 1:5-8)

questions are good. honest doubt is healthy. But we need a foundation to stand on. we need a reference point for all of our thinking.
what beliefs, values, ideologies, political/religious/social movements are most dear to you??
what beliefs, .... do you hate/demonize the most?
what circles, institutions, publications, pundits, authors, speakers do you trust the most? eschew the most?

the answers to these questions help pinpoint what the philosophical foundation to your life is. we all have faith in something. it is impossible to live life without taking certain presuppositions for granted. the question is, which presuppositions are right? which meta-narrative story makes sense of every culture throughout all of history? which foundation stands in the midst of every storm, question, political movement, technological advance, psychology, social theory, etc thrown its way? what gives answers to life's most important questions? which way of life speaks the greatest wisdom to issues in family, technology, work, education, finance, law, emotion, etc? if your worldview is not the answer to any of the above, may i suggest that you live in a bubble?

which foundation reaches out in love, compassion and understanding as it beckons "come" to those on other 'foundations'?

maybe this whole exercise seems pointless to you. let me ask you: is there a course to your life? or do you just sail from one breeze to the next breeze to the next to the next....?

"Christ in you, the hope of glory"

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:40:39 GMT

Cross-centered living gives a purpose and direction to all our actions and words. No longer motivated by our own agenda, by God's grace, we now want our lives to reflect what God is doing in us. We want our lives to be part of what he is doing in others' lives, here and around the world. This results in surprising new Fruit in our actions, choices, and words. Where we once made war, we now make peace. Where once we were ruled by fear of others and said yes far too often, we are now motivated by God's practical will and understand when we must say no. Where once we used our God-given gifts for our own benefit and glory, we now use them for God's glory and the benefit of others. Where we once trimmed and twisted the truth to get what we wanted, we now lovingly speak the truth, even when it may be costly. Where once we held onto bitterness and anger, we now give the offense to the Lord and extend forgiveness to others.

"I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives within me. and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

~ from "How People Change"