Gospel and Church

The greatest need in the church today is the gospel.  The gospel is not only news for a perishing world, it is the message that forms, sustains, and animates the church.  Apart from the gospel, the church has nothing to say–that is, noting to say that cannot be said by some human agency.  The gospel distinguishes the church from the world, defines her message and mission in the world, and steels her people against the fiery darts of the evil one and the false allurements of sin.  The gospel is absolutely vital to a vibrant, joyous, persevering, hopeful, and healthy Christian and Christian church.  So essential is the gospel to the Christian life that we need to be saturated in it in order to be healthy church members.

From What is a Healthy Church Member? by Tabiti M. Anyabwile, page 39

Humility: True Greatness

I’m working my way through Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney.  When I first read the book a couple years ago, I remember it being a book to pick up again.  And sure enough I have picked it up again.  Here are some quotes from it that I found quite stimulating.  Some quotes are from C. J. himself and others are from various people.

This is the promise of humility.  God is personally and providentially supportive of the humble.  And the grace He extends to the humble is indescribably rich.  As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “The pleasures of humility are really the most refined, inward, and exquisite delights in the world.” (pg 21)

Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.  (pg 22)

The real issue here is not if pride exists in your heart; it’s where pride exists and how pride is being expressed in you life.  (pg 29)

Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.  (pg 31)

John Calvin wrote, “God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as thy can.” (pg 33)

Jonathan Edwards called pride “the worst viper that is in the heart” and “the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ”; he ranked pride as the most difficult sin to root out, and “the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts.”  (pg 34)

Charles Spurgeon once preached on the foolishness of pride, calling it “a groundless thing” and “a brainless thing” as well as “the maddest thing that can exist.”  (pg 39)

Mahaney, C. J., Humility: True Greatness.  Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2005

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Philip P. Bliss

There is a Fountain Filled With Blood

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from EMMANUEL’S veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Loose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r;
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply:
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler sweeter song
I’ll sing thy pow’r to save
When this poor lisping stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe thou hast prepared
(Unworthy though I be)
For me a blood–bought free reward,
A golden harp for me!

’Tis strung, and tuned, for endless years,
And formed by pow’r divine;
To sound, in God the Father’s ears,
No other name but thine.

-William Cowper

Confessions of a Feelings Driven Journal Writer

The other day I decided to look over some old journal entries (since 2005).  After reading a couple I decided to start analyzing them methodically; like any engineering mind would do, right?  So I took out a piece of paper and started to chart the themes, ideas and content of the entries.  I guess this is what happens when you mix an analytical mind with a desire to journal.  It was very interesting to look back and see what thoughts and feelings consumed my mind at a specific time.

There are probably a half dozen partially filled notebooks on my shelf or in boxes containing entries.  I think I started to journal back in February of 2003 and writing in them as always been sporadic, kind of like my blogging… As I digress, it’s funny to see how silly I was even a couple years ago and how a lot of the entries focused on extremes.  Most of the time I would only write if I felt my spiritual state was either very good or very bad, there really wasn’t much in between except for about 15% of the other entries.  I guess you could have called me a feelings driven journal writer.

Now, don’t label me as one of those anti-feeling Christians, but looking back on the entries, feelings where a huge factor in guiding my thoughts and actions.  One problem I noticed after some reflection was I would confuse bad feelings for good feelings, or worldly and fleshly feelings for godly feelings.  It was easy to rely on these feelings with out checking to be sure they were good or God honoring.

Anyway, I don’t what to get too much into ‘feelings,’ but it reminded me of the need to test everything, including feelings.  Just because something ‘feels’ good doesn’t mean it is good.  The world, our flesh and Satan are on the attack waging war on us, which also includes our feelings.  This makes it all the more important bring our feelings before the Lord and His word, the standard of truth, to guide our feelings and thoughts.

PS:  If you’re looking for some entertainment let me know and we can have a “Journal reading with Adam” night!

Adam’s blog = no fun

Today my blog has been “labeled” as serious in a comment section. I’m not going to mention the name of this individual, but I’ll direct you to their blog. As a result I’ve been tagged by Ashley to participate in this thing called “meme,” where I need to write 5 interesting things about myself. So with no further ado, let’s have some fun on this blog.

1. I enjoy reading Jane Austen novels. To date, I’ve read “Pride and Prejudice,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “Emma,” and “Persuasions,” with “Pride and Prejudice” being the tops ,IMHO. Her works are well written and witty, but they do take some work to read.

“It has been said of Jane Austen’s novels that they should be read first for the fourth time, meaning that only fourth time around will their special excellences of balanced structure, gentle satire and subtle humour come into focus in the reader’s mind.”

- J.I. Packer, in his introduction to The Mortification of Sin, by John Owen

2. I wore glasses till age 12. Back in the day, maybe when I was 3 or 4, I had surgery on my eye muscles (I think). After that I had to wear a patch on one of my eyes for some period of time, so I guess you could say I was a pirate, Arrrr. After the patch the ophthalmologists thought it was a good idea for me to wear glasses to see if they would correct the problems. My left eye, was 20/20 and the other eye was, well, not nearly as good. Basically, my right eye was near-sighted and my left eye was far-sighted, so I would use my left eye to see things at a distant and my right for things up close. This eye problem also means I have no binocular depth perception, so I’ll never be able to fly planes or drive commercial vehicles. In ordinary life it effects my driving ability, especially in close spaces, sports involving fast moving balls, like baseball, ping-pong, and racquetball are the most effected. After trying to correct the problems, the doctor finally said that glasses wouldn’t help, so I don’t have to wear them. Did that make any sense?

3. My favorite Disney song is Aladdin’s, “A Whole New World.” When I spent the summer of 2005 in Japan, my friend Brian and I would randomly break out into this song. It was also performed at a talent show during the summer of 2003.

4. I enjoy the mountains and beach. If I could chose one it would be the beach. Maybe this comes from my love of swimming, which I did competitively from ages 6-18. Each summer my family (dad, mom, sister, brother-in-law, aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins) spends a week at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We rent a beach-front house with a pool and hot tube, and it’s easy for me to spend at least 6-8 hours playing in the water and relaxing on the sand. Here is a picture taken from the balcony of our house this past summer.

5. My personality has been ‘labeled’ as an ISTP (Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving), by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The most “reliable” resource, Wikipedia, describes an ISTP this way,

According to Myers-Briggs, ISTPs excel at analyzing situations to reach the heart of a problem so that they can swiftly implement a functional repair, making them ideally suited to the field of engineering. Naturally quiet people, they are interested in understanding how systems operate, focusing on efficient operation and structure. They are open to new information and approaches. But contrary to their seemingly detached natures, ISTPs are often capable of humorously insightful observations about the world around them, and can be closet “daredevils” who gravitate toward fast-moving and/or risky hobbies (such as bungee jumping, hang gliding, motorcycling, parachuting, SCUBA diving, etc.), recreational sports (such as downhill skiing, ice hockey, racing, etc.), and careers (such as aviation, firefighting, etc.).

Let’s see here, I need to tag 3 more. I tag…

Josh - A Way Upward

Amanda - http://amandajean.wordpress.com/

Mikel - Mikel Berger’s Bailiwick

Godly Men: Introduction - Part 1b

I just read an article from the DG blog that goes hand in hand with the series I’m beginning on godly men.

Christian Smith, professor of sociology at Notre Dame, wrote in the most recent Books and Culture a review of six books that deal with the new phenomenon of “adultolescence”—that is, the postponement of adulthood into the thirties. I want to relate this phenomenon to the church. But first here is a summary from Smith’s article of what it is and how it came about.

Click here to view the whole thing.

Godly Men: Introduction - Part 1a

What is a godly man? First, it may be appropriate to ask the question, what is a man? Our culture has totally redefined the role of men, and not surprisingly, it has impacted the church. It shouldn’t shock us about the perversion of roles, since the world and mankind have been stained by one man’s trespass (Romans 1:18-32). It’s of grave importance for the church to reclaim and teach a biblical understanding of male leadership and roles, because in them God reveals His glory. R. Albert Mohler Jr. comments on the understanding of male and female roles.

Christians understand that God created human beings as male and female - for his glory and our good. The differences between the sexes are not matters of evolutionary accident, but are clear indications of God’s sublime and perfect design for human happiness. As followers of Christ, we understand that it is our responsibility to embrace, affirm, and fulfill the roles and responsibilities God has given us.

The culture’s disillusioned understanding of manhood and roles has tainted current and future generations with in the church. The influence is especially seen in the younger men. R. Albert Mohler Jr. interjects his thought and keen analysis into the problem.

In the context of this confusion, boys are especially vulnerable. The feminization of society, mixed with confusing cultural signals, has led many boys and young men to be uncertain and unaware of their masculinity and proper role. In a desperate search for a secure male identity, some are attracted to gross distortions. Some embrace a brutalized and arrogant posture while others retreat into insecure manhood, never understanding a man’s responsibility to lead.
We now face the phenomenon of perpetual boyhood on the part of many males. Refusing to grow up, these young men function as boys well into their twenties - some even into their thirties and beyond. An extended male adolescence marks the lifestyles, expectations and behavior of far too many young males, whose masculine identity is embraced awkwardly, if at all.

I’ve been thinking about this issue for some time, but hadn’t fully dug into it until the past couple of weeks. The reason I’ve been thinking about male leadership and roles is because my mind and heart have been infested with the cultures current understanding. I am in no way a champion, or even close to one, in displaying godly manhood, but the glory of God is the reason why I’m learning, studying and writing about what it means to be a godly man. The confusion in the church and my life is stealing the glory from God, which is why it’s an utmost concern.

Driscoll on Prosperity

Coming Soon

As usual I was quite spotty with posting for the past few weeks. It seems that I am more consistent when I have some type of plan for blogging. I’m not the type of guy that can randomly come up with a blog post that is edifying and glorifying to God, unless I want to post fluff. Being a thinker, I need time to meditate and organize my thoughts before I can blog with substance. This process usually takes a couple of days. If I want to blog I need to plan ahead, but since I haven’t been planning, I haven’t been blogging.

Here is the plan for the next couple of weeks.

1. Series on “Godly Men.” With the feminization of our culture the biblical understanding of godly men has been lost in the shifting sea of postmodernism. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll dig into the word and find out what it means to be a man of God.
2. Life Update. In the next week, I’ll let the ‘world’ know how the first couple months of the internship has gone.
3. John Owen Friday. I’ll still be dedicating Friday to John Owen, but will move on to his treatise, “Of Temptation.”

Have a great weekend and day in the Lord.