The Audacious Claim of Preaching

"The audacious claim of Christian preaching is that the faithful declaration of the Word of God, spoken through the preacher's voice, is even more powerful than anything music or image can deliver."

-Al Mohler, He is Not Silent, p. 17.

Essential Edwards Collection 50% Off

WTS books now has the 5 volume Essential Edwards Collection for 50% off.

When Should You Leave a Church?

Good reasons, possible reasons, and bad reasons to leave your church.

Learning to Pray from Psalm 86

I've been helped to pray by Psalm 86. You can listen to my sermon from Sunday at the Christ Baptist website.

Here is a Muller quote from the sermon that challenges me:
“The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.”

Going Unplugged

My family and I are looking forward to a few days away at the beach next week. One thing I won't be packing: the computer. No Internet. No e-mail. No news. No sports. No facebook. No blogging (although, I might schedule a few posts to appear next week). No LeBron.

I'm bringing the Bible, John Owen, and Whiter Than Snow.

Provide An Appropriate Caption

Please leave a comment with an appropriate caption for this picture.

Mine: "Honey, I told you to lock the suitcase..."

I'm not right on everything

"We should strive to hold our beliefs with a charity and kindness that won't embarrass us in heaven."

-Josh Harris, Dug Down Deep, p. 229.

Not Better than Jesus

Snuggling with my daughter during the first inning of the All-Star game, I told her, "Albert Pujols is the best baseball player in the world."

Her immediate question: "Even better than Jesus?"

"No, sweetie, not better than Jesus. I meant best player in...(never mind). You're right. Nobody is better than Jesus."

Day Off Pictures

In case you haven't noticed, I'm having some fun with a series of posts featuring pictures from my day off. I'd love to hear your thoughts. In some small way, I hope they encorage you to make the most of the time you have with your family.

You can see the past 6 weeks here.

Day Off: Daddy "Cooks" Dinner

Radical Plodding

There has been something of a debate between 2 popular author/speakers in the Reformed world over the nature of the "faithful" Christian life.

David Platt has a radical message about giving ourselves to God's global purposes, spending less on ourselves, and doing the hard thing.
Kevin DeYoung has called us to a patient life of plodding along the path of love for the local church.

The "debate" is publicly contained in a review that DeYoung wrote of Platt's book, Radical. You can read the review and Platt's response here.

I have tremendous respect for both Platt and DeYoung. God has used them both to help me in my pursuit to be faithful to Him. They are both examples of the kind of pastor and man I long to be. And, I don't think their message is all that different. Given the opportunity to sit under each of their ministries, I don't think their disagreement is very deep. I think they both contribute to a picture of what it means to live pleasing to God. Let me try to explain.


Here is the particular paragraph in DeYoung's review that I am addressing:
"I don’t worry for David’s theology, but I worry that some young Christians reading his book might walk away wondering if a life spent working as a loan officer, tithing to their church, praying for their kids, learning to love Christ more, and serving in the Sunday school could possibly be pleasing to God. We need to find a way to attack the American dream while still allowing for differing vocations and that sort of ordinary Christian life that can plod along for fifty years. I imagine David wants this same thing. I’m just not sure this came through consistently in the book."



First of all, Platt never says that the kind of life described by DeYoung is displeasing to God. This is totally an assumption that DeYoung is concerned may come across to someone reading Radical. Platt is simply calling this figurative loan officer to care about and get involved in missions and ministry to the poor. He never says every Christian has to be a missionary (just that all Christians should be involved in and concerned with missions whatever their vocation). He never says every Christian has to give everything they own to feed the poor (just that Jesus may indeed call some of us to do so).


As I read the Bible as a whole, here is what I see: We are indeed to live radically for Christ. I'm concerned that DeYoung does not adequately deal with the clear Biblical teaching to be willing to give up everything to follow Christ. But, we are not just called to do radical things and leave it at that. We are called to live consistently radical lives, plodding along in faithfulness and growth in what God has called us to do.


So, here is the question I think we have to ask ourselves: Is the trajectory of my life radical in devotion to the cause of Jesus? Am I using my life, my resources, my energies in the worship of God and the spread of His fame?
-If not, then no matter what we do, we will waste our lives.
-If yes, then we need to persevere and press on and plod along in faithfulness in that devotion (whether a loan officer or a foreign missionary).

Plodding along, by itself, is not pleasing to God.
Doing something radical, by itself, is not pleasing to God.

The life that pleases God is the life of radical plodding for the glory of God.

Bookworms

From Spurgeon:

“I have many an old book in my library in which there have been bookworms, and I have sometimes amused myself with tracing a worm. I do not know how he gets to the volume originally, but being there he eats his way into it. He bores a hole in a direct line, and sometimes I find that he dies before he gets halfway through the tome. Now and then a worm has eaten his way right through from one wooden cover to another; yes, and through the cover also. This was a most successful bookworm.

Few of us can eat our way quite so far. I am one of the bookworms that have not got halfway into my Bible yet; but I am eating my way as fast as I can. This one thing I have proved to myself beyond all question; I shall never, never exhaust this precious book. Much less shall I exhaust the wondrous person of my divinely-blessed Lord. He is that bread which came down from heaven. He is utterly inexhaustible.”

HT: Lisa

Can't Hear this Quote Too Often

"If the church is central to God's purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center?"

-John Stott

Have Grown Kids?

You Never Stop Being a Parent.

Day Off: Car Wash