New Kid's Book: Fool Moon Rising

I'm looking forward to getting this new children's book for my kids: Fool Moon Rising. I am always looking for gospel-drenched books to read to my kids. Check out CJ Mahaney's endorsement and Justin Taylor's thoughts here.

Astonished Afresh

I was reminded Sunday of this prayer from The Valley of Vision:

"O Lord, I am astonished at the difference between my receivings and my deservings."

James 1:14-15 describes indwelling sin. We deserve death because of our sin.

James 1:17-18 describes the fact that God gives all good gifts.

The difference between what we deserve and what we have received is infinite. Let this truth make you a grateful person.

Do Not Be Deceived

I really enjoyed preaching James 1:12-18 Sunday. The message of this passage is that a proper perspective of trials is about knowing the character of God. We will never be able to respond joyfully to suffering if we are not familiar with God's glory and goodness.

Here were the 3 aspects of God to focused on:
1. God rewards those who endure (v. 12).
2. God does not tempt anyone to sin (v. 13-15).
3. God is the giver of all good gifts (v. 16-18).

Under point #3, I meditated on 5 precious truths from verses 17-18:
1. Every good thing we have is given to us by God.
2. God only gives good gifts to His children.
3. God is generous with His good gifts to us.
4. The God who gives all good gifts is powerful and does not change.
5. The best of all God's good gifts to us is the new birth through Christ (v. 18).

Verses 17 and 18 are a loud call to extreme gratefulness. Christians ought to be the most grateful people on the planet.

Love the Church

Love for the church should be evident in every believer’s life. The New Testament assumes that all true Christians will be committed to a local body of believers (Rom. 12:9-13; Eph. 2:19-22). In fact, most of the New Testament is written to churches, not individuals (and even the letters written to individuals are about how that individual was to serve the church – 1 Tim. 3:14-15; Titus 1:5). So, practically, what does it mean to love the church? Here are five ways to think about your love for your church (by no means is this meant to be exhaustive).

1. Love the Lord of the church.
Our love for the church is ultimately an expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ. We love the church because Jesus loves the church and laid down His life for her (Eph. 5:25). As we grow in our love and affection for Christ we should see our love for our church grow. Christ is the head of the church, the church is His body (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18). The church is Christ’s bride (Eph. 5:25ff). The Divine Husband is honored when we care for His church.

2. Love the people of the church.
The church is a people, not a place. The church is the gathering of the ones who have been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ (1 Peter 2:9). So, any discussion about loving the church must involve our actual love for the actual people of the church (1 John 4:7-12). It is popular today to hear things such as, “I like Jesus, but I can’t stand His followers.” Friends, if there is no love for Christ’s people in your heart (in spite of all their sin and weakness), you should be seriously concerned about your salvation. The apostle John wrote, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death” (1 John 3:14). In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul says that if we lack love for one another, we produce nothing, we are nothing, and we gain nothing.

3. Love the values and purpose of the church.
This is where it gets real practical. Love for the church will manifest itself in a commitment to the church’s goals and passions. Your personal obsessions and ambitions should match the corporate passions and pursuits of the church to which you belong. The church is to be passionate about celebrating the gospel of Jesus Christ and so should you. The church is to be committed to making disciples of all nations and so should you. Loving the church means loving why the church exists.

4. Love the ministries of the church.
Love what the church does. Here is a challenging question: How closely does your personal schedule reflect the schedule of the church? Do you have your own personal schedule in which you fit the church into when it’s convenient? Or, do you allow the ministries and activities of the church dominate your time, energies, and resources? Are you present when your church gathers for worship, Bible study, outreach, and fellowship (Heb. 12:24-25)? Loving the church means loving what the church does.

5. Love the structure and leadership of the church.
God has ordained that the church have a leadership structure and a decision-making process (Titus 1:9). Love for the church will manifest itself in a submission to godly and humble leadership. Love for the church reveals itself in the joyful following of the elders God has given you. Do you pray for and encourage your pastors in the work of the ministry (1 Tim. 5:17)? Do you thank them for watching over your soul as one who will give an account on the Day of Judgment (Heb. 13:17)? Love for the church shows itself in love for the organization of the church.

There are hundreds of reasons to love the church. Primarily, God is glorified when His people love the church. Your church is not perfect. But, you are called to love it.

Pursuing Maturity with You,
Pastor Justin

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ

Piper's newest book in the Swans are not Silent series is fantastic: Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton. Piper shows how suffering is not just inevitable in the Christian life but actually central to God's mission. He says, "Suffering is part of God's strategy for making known to the world who Christ is, how he loves, and how much he is worth."

I love this series because Piper helps us see biography through theology.

The lives of Tyndale, Judson, and Paton are incredibly encouraging and the theology of suffering is incredibly hope-giving.

"God has appointed our pain to be part of his powerful display of the glory of Christ."

New Azurdia Now Available

Azurdia's new book is now available: Connected Christianity: Engaging Culture Without Compromise.

Blood Bought Zeal

Titus 2:14 gives us 2 reasons Christ gave Himself for us:

1. to redeem us from all lawlessness
2. to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

When we think about the death of Christ, we normally think about #1: the forgiveness of our sins. However, what effect would it have on us if we really believed that Christ gave Himself for my purification, my identification with His people, and my zeal for good works?

Christ died that I might be radical in doing good works. What am I zealous for? Is my life characterized by zeal for good works?

Plodding Visionaries

I'll offer these two quotes as a summary of the call of Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. I couldn't agree more.

"What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That's my dream for the church--God's redeemed people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God's glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency" (p. 222).

"So I guess this is my final advice: Find a good local church, get involved, become a member, stay there for the long haul. Put away thoughts of revolution for a while and join the plodding visionaries. God to church this Sunday and worship there in spirit and truth, be patient with your leaders, rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, bear with those who hurt you, and give people the benefit of the doubt. When you are there, sing like you mean it, say hi to the teenager no one notices, welcome the blue hairs and the nose-ringed, volunteer for the nursery once in a while. And yes, bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everyone else, invite a friend to church, take the new couple out for coffee, give to the Christmas offering, be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet, enjoy the Sundays that click for you, pray extra hard on the Sundays that don't, and do not despise 'the day of small things' [Zechariah 4:10]" (p. 226).

Love One Another

My beautiful wife has an excellent post on the command to love one another. God has been kind to give me such a godly wife.

A Good Book

I'm really enjoying reading Why We Love the Church. I regularly find myself laughing out loud at the honesty and humor of this book. Not only is it funny, it is serious. It is a clear call to love the church for which Christ died.
The church is Christ's bride. Treat her as such.

The Book of James

We began a series on the book of James at Christ Baptist Church this morning. James is like buckets of cold water splashed on our sleepy faces. James is jarring. James is designed to awaken us from spiritual slumber and mediocrity.

I think verses 2-4 are among the most clear regarding the Christian response to and perspective of suffering in the Bible.

The Right Response to Trials: "Count it all joy..."
The Right Perspective of Trials: They are designed by God for our good.

The purpose of trials should fuel our joy in the midst of trials. God is accomplishing maturity and sanctification through the trials He sends.

Knowing the purpose of trials should make us different. Never grumble or complain. Greet trials with joy.

Broken-Down House

I really enjoyed reading Broken-Down House by Paul Tripp. The metaphor of the broken-down house is a helpful one. Tripp compares this fallen world to a house that is under renovation. We have to learn to live productively in a world gone bad. Tripp helps us live with the balance of seeing ourselves as sinners and yet children of grace.

I love to read books by the Tripp brothers because they always have a way of exposing what is in my heart. They have a way of putting their finger on the things that I struggle with.

For example, I was very convicted by Tripp's discussion on learning to wait on God. He says, "Waiting will always reveal where you have placed your hope. Your heart is always exposed by the way that you wait." He also says, "Waiting is one of God's most powerful tools of grace. God doesn't just give us grace for the wait. The wait itself is a gift of grace. You see, waiting is not only about what you will receive at the end of the wait. Waiting is about what you will become as you wait."

And, the "poems" at the beginning of each chapter are worth the price of the book.

Preach Christ or Go Home

Love me some Spurgeon. Amen and Amen!

If you are a preacher, I dare you to click the link.

Deep Discounts on 2 New Chapell Books

I haven't seen this publicly yet, but I just noticed that the 2 new Bryan Chapell books are available and steeply discounted.

Reformed Expository Commentary on Ephesians (67% off).
Christ-Centered Worship (60% off).

Can't beat that.

UPDATE: Its confirmed. 48 hours only.

Autumn Resolutions

John Piper has a new article encouraging us to make some autumn resolutions by faith in Jesus.

Here is one I'm making today:

By God's grace and for His glory, I am going to attempt to personally give out 50 gospel tracts and 50 Christ Baptist Church invitations by the end of the year.

Here's what I'm going to do (pray for me):
I'm going to count out 50 of each and put them in a special stack. I'm going to put several in my pocket every day and give them out as I encounter people in my daily life. I trust God will open some doors for conversations about the gospel. For ideas and encouragement in evangelism (and good humor), read some of Rob's posts.

New Hymns for the Church

I'm really enjoying the new Getty CD (the same folks who gave us In Christ Alone and The Power of the Cross). You can listen to samples at the WTS site.

The Love Dare

I dare you to take 1 Corinthians 13 seriously in your local church. If you don't, everything else will be meaningless (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

Start Here:
15 descriptions of what love does and does not do from 1 Cor. 13:4-7.
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love does not envy.
Love does not boast.
Love is not arrogant.
Love is not rude.
Love does not insist on its own way.
Love is not irritable.
Love is not resentful.
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing.
Love rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things.
Love believes all things.
Love hopes all things.
Love endures all things.

Unlove is Deadly

“Unlove is deadly. It is a cancer. It may kill slowly but it always kills in the end. Let us fear it, fear to give room to it as we should fear to nurse a cobra. It is deadlier than any cobra. And just as one minute drop of the almost invisible cobra venom spreads swiftly all over the body of one into whom it has been injected, so one drop of the gall of unlove in my heart or yours, however unseen, has a terrible power of spreading all through our Family, for we are one body—we are parts of one another…If unlove be discovered anywhere, stop everything and put it right, if possible at once.”

-Amy Carmichael

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Body of Christ,

1 Corinthians 13 has a message we need to hear. Please listen to the sermon from Sunday morning (August 9).

Sincerely,
Justin Childers

Gospel-Powered Parenting

From the author who wrote one of my favorite books (Outrageous Mercy), comes a new book on parenting: Gospel-Powered Parenting. This looks good.

Please pray for me today.

Blog readers, please pray for me today. I have the privilege of preaching the gospel tonight and desperately want God to reveal Himself and save those who hear. We had our outreach soccer camp this week and tonight is our closing assembly with parents, participants, and other family members. Many of those who will be there tonight do not trust in Christ.

Please spend a few minutes asking God to use me. Pray that I might preach the gospel clearly. And, pray that kids and parents would repent of their sin and embrace Christ as their treasure.

I'd like to know who is able to pray for me in this regard. Please leave a comment letting me know that you are pleading with God for these requests.

"...if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5:15

Reading the Psalms Together

On the very first Sunday of Christ Baptist Church, we read Psalm 1 together. Last Sunday, after having read a Psalm per Sunday, we read Psalm 150 together. It was a great experience that I want to commend to you to consider for your church. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. The Psalms are designed by God to cover a wide range of the realities of life. Reading through the Psalms forces the church to think about specific attributes of God, sorrow, death, loneliness, joy, worship, and dozens of other real-life issues.

2. Worship is a response to God's Word. God speaks. We respond. We try to make sure our worship service reflects this pattern. So, before we sing any songs or pray any prayers, we listen to God's Word. We position ourselves under God's authority. What better way to do this than to begin the service by reading a Psalm?

3. Most churches don't read enough Scripture in the public gatherings. We are commanded to devote ourselves to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13). And, even churches that do read some Scripture don't read enough Old Testament.

4. Reading the Psalms out loud together cultivates unity.

5. Reading through a book of the Bible, like the Psalms, is a pattern for consistent, devoted, disciplined faithfulness over a long period of time. Just think, in less than 3 years, your church can read through the longest book in the Bible together if you devote yourself to reading a chapter per week.

6. Psalm 119 was the most fun. Yes, we read the entire Psalm on that Sunday. In fact, we designed the entire service around that Psalm.

3 Views on Baptism

A new book on baptism is available and on sale for 69% off. Sinclair Ferguson and Bruce Ware debating baptism. Sounds good.

Purchased Sanctification

I desperately want to become what Jesus died to enable me to be.

Jesus died so that I would:
-abound in love for God and others
-be forgiving
-be radically God-focused
-be devoted to prayer
-be kind
-love the Scriptures
-serve His church
-share the gospel with clarity and boldness
-love my wife and kids
-be joyful in suffering
-consider others better than myself
-be involved in the completion of the Great Commission
-be pure in heart
-be humble

Jesus purchased my sanctification.

10 Things I'd Like to do in the next 10 years

My friend Justin Nale asked if there was anything I'd like to do in this life. I have found that if I don't put some sort of time frame on it, I won't be very serious about it. So, in order to challenge myself to actually do some great things (with the help of the Spirit of God) here is something of what I would like to do in the next 10 years (in no particular order):

1. Preach through the book of Romans (Its not going to take me 10 years to preach through Romans; I just would like to preach through it sometime in the next 10 years).
2. Pay off my house.
3. Visit Israel (this may have to wait 'till the kids are out of the house).
4. Adopt a child.
5. Lead my church to plant another church.
6. See my kids trust in Christ.
7. Read 500 books (about 50 books a year).
8. Beat my dad at golf.
9. Write a book.
10. Get certified as a Biblical counselor.

Would love to hear what goals/desires you have.

God is in Control!

“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche. He who believes in God must believe this truth. There is no standing point between this and Atheism. There is no halfway between an Almighty God, who works all things according to the good pleasure of his will, and no God at all!”

CH Spurgeon

Your Best Life Later

About 5 years ago, a very popular book came out called, “Your Best Life Now.” It’s basically a book of principles for living a happy and “successful” life. The message of the book is that God wants this to be the best time of your life (that is a direct quote from the book). The author says, “As you put the principles found in these pages to work today, you will begin living your best life now.”

Christians, don’t be fooled by this unbiblical philosophy. God never intended this world to be the place you have your best life now. Indeed, if you are a Christian, this is your worst life. Now, I’m not saying that this life is bad. Quite the contrary: I believe the joys of being a Christian in this world are infinitely sweeter than the fruitless joys of the godless. Indeed, I believe that American Christians are by and large not embracing all the pleasures of the Christian life.

However, compared to the next life (the eternal life purchased by Jesus Christ), this is your worst life. In this world, God has not promised riches, safety, comfort, health, and success. No, in this world God has promised that those who follow Him will experience pain, suffering, persecution, rejection, difficulty, sorrow, and even death. This life is not your best life.

As John MacArthur has said, “Your best life as a Christian begins when this life ends.” What comfort and hope floods my soul when I think about the life that awaits me in glory.

But, if you are not a Christian, this is your best life now. Because the next life will be infinitely worse in Hell. The worse possible existence imaginable is that of those who are condemned under the weight of their own sin for all eternity.

I urge you to turn from your rebellion against God and embrace Jesus Christ as your only and all-sufficient Savior (before it is too late).

If you are believing in Jesus Christ this morning, God has promised your best life later. And as sweet as this life is, the best is yet to come.