Excellent post by Al Mohler re: Christian Missions in the Third Millennium

Christian Missions in the Third Millennium

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Pray for Pastor Tommy Nelson…

Tommy Nelson is the Senior Pastor of Denton Bible Church in Denton, TX.  Is is a faithful pastor and powerful teacher.  He had a heart attack today and is doing well.  I ask that you pray for him.  Here is more information:

The Denton Bible Church website reports that Pastor Tommy Nelson had a heart attack this morning.

“As many of you have already heard, at about 10:15 this morning our pastor Tom Nelson was in the church office and developed a severe pain in his chest. Dennis Boots (a fireman and ER guy) was close by and was able to assess the situation very quickly. His wife Teresa was called and she was able to get here very quickly.

“We called 911 immediately and the Fire Dept. responded very quickly. Tom was taken to the hospital and is there now getting care. As the ambulance left Tom was awake and responsive but in a good degree of pain. The evidence right now points to a possible heart attack.

“By God’s providence, a cardiac specialist was close by when Tom arrived at the hospital and they took him straight in to get a Cardiac Catheter. This is good that he was able to get to the hospital so quickly and that he is getting the best care possible so quickly.

“Tom did undergo surgery for a cardiac catheterization. During surgery they found that Tom had a 100% blockage to a single vessel in the heart. They were able to successfully open that up and he is doing very well. The doctor’s say that he has good function to the heart.

“One of our Elders, Dr. Manny Desai said this is an obvious answer to prayer and very good news. Let’s continue to pray and trust in God.”

Leviticus in 8 Words…

God is Holy, Righteous AND Full of Grace!

Leviticus is going to be new territory for most of us.  There will be times it will be intensely uncomfortable — so much so, we might have to have “children’s church” on a few Sundays, we’ll see.  I know that I am so excited about the study and preparation of this book.  I’ve never taught through Leviticus.  I may have never preached a single message from this book.  That’s one thing I love about being privileged to serve as a teaching pastor, I get to learn all the time (sometimes the hard way).

Leviticus is largely a book about God’s holiness displayed through righteous requirements of the Law and feasts that were used to commemorate His holiness AND His grace.  See, with all of God’s righteous requirements, His people have never been able to keep the Law any more than we can.  So, we have instructions on The Day of Atonement, where God’s righteous requirements come face-to-face with God’s righteous grace.  He makes sacrificial provision for sin to be wiped out among His own.

He is ALWAYS Holy.  This means that in His grace He cannot merely dismiss sin.  He must judge it to it’s fullest and something (or someONE) has to die to atone (pay for) the sin.  This insures that God is Holy and righteous while still being full of grace.  Our religious world is full of people that say, “Well, surely God wouldn’t….” (just fill in the blanks).  Read Leviticus and you know that He sure would!  Why?  Because He is Holy!

Leviticus will reveal our sinfulness in shocking detail.  In fact, most people (especially children), do not realize the weight of their sin until they’ve understand the consequence it deserves.  To see God as Holy demands a right view of self, and our radical inadequacy to do anything for ourselves to be pleasure to this Holy God.  What are we left with then?  What is our hope if the Law proves we are hope-less?

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Galatians 3:19-24 (ESV)

Do you know what your children are learning?

Check out this quote…

I am as sure as I am of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.

- A. A. Hodge, 19th century Princeton theologian

Interesting coming from a 19th century theologian.  This is no diatribe against government-based education (I hesitate to call it public because the public really doesn’t decide what’s being taught).  I’m not saying everyone should homeschool like we do.  I’m not saying that those who don’t homeschool should make sure your kids go to a “Christian” school.  All I’m saying (at this point) is that if you do send your children to government / public school, then you should be very aware of what they are learning and be prepared to have open discussions with them on everything from evolution to so-called “safe” sex.

As parents we have the responsibility to raise our children in a godly manner.  If you do not filter what they learn at school with the scriptures, eventually what they learn there will out-weigh what they learn in the home.  You just can’t expect your kids to pick up on your morals and character if it just “oozes” from you with no intentional teaching for the few hours a day you’re with them.  Schools are intentional about developing young adults who understand / embrace the mores of society and the present culture, and they have your kids for 8+ hours each day.

I personally know several families who have done very well with their children in a public school setting.  But with each one, they have an intentional, home-education, kind of mentality because they are not passive with what they’re children learn.  They work very hard at communication and are involved.  So, whether you’re a home or public education person, as a Christian you need to be intentional to train up your children in the way they should go.  If you don’t, the government will do it for you.  Last time I looked, God’s not holding the public school system accountable for the spiritual development of your kids.

A Running / Life Principle…

There’s a saying runners use, “You never regret the workouts you do, it’s the workouts you miss.”  As I was running a longer run this morning, I thought of this.  Perhaps it was because it was a particularly difficult run, and I had missed a workout this past week.  But my reflection (while running) turned quickly to my personal walk with Christ.

I’m one of those guys who, growing up believed that the day I missed a “quiet time” was going to be a bad day regardless.  I was pretty legalistic about my checklist approach to QT’s.  Then, as often happens, I went through a long period where I was very inconsistent with QT’s and struggled for consistent solitude of any kind with Christ.

Today, that is my pursuit, a regular time of solitude with my Savior.  I’ve even personally dropped “quiet time” language simply because of my somewhat distorted view.  I want communion.  I want relationship with the Eternal Ruler of the Universe through His perfect Word and prayer.  What I know now, still with inconsistency, is that it is never my time with Him that I regret (even on early mornings, late nights, skipped lunches…whatever).  What I regret is the time I miss with Him.

Think about it for  a minute.  Who at the end of their life wishes for more time at work, at the ballpark, in front of a TV or with a video game?  No one.  People wish they could have time with their family back.  They regret not having spent more time in the relationships that matter.  What relationship matters more than Christ?  In fact, it is through that time that we will be increasingly assured of our relationship with Him, looking for His soon return.

Similarly in this life, usually my regrets of missing time with Christ happens well beyond the day that I missed Him.  When you’re training for a marathon, it’s amazing how missing a few shorter runs so radically effects your much longer weekend run.  Your endurance and strength are weakened and your mind more easily loses focus.  Doesn’t that happen in our Christian walk?  We are not as steadfast or strong and we cease to set our mind on things above (Colossians 3) when we miss time with Him.

Look, He is gracious.  I’m not saying to treat some rigid time as a magic formula for the Christian walk.  If you’re not careful your self-righteous dead man will reel his ugly head and pat you on the back for “doing” so well (this is why I lost the “quiet time” lingo).  What you want is to be like David in the Psalms and commune with your God and Savior.  Unlike David, there is no fear of losing the indwelling Spirit (Eph.1:13-14).  So, you are secured in your access (just read Heb.10:19-24).

God will entrust you with longer runs in your Christian walk that will demand great endurance.  In those times you will draw mostly from the faithful “little runs” in His Word that may have seemed mundane, even dutiful.  Delight in His Word.  In due season you will bear fruit.  Keep going and don’t stop.  If you do, remember 1 John 2:1 and then press on again.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

MacArthur, Spurgeon and LOOOONG Sermons

This is really good.  Thanks, Lowell.

Breaking up your mundane Monday….

Well, this may be one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen.  Thanks, mom…

As Convinced as Ever…

I am as convinced as I’ve ever been that our Passion Statement is dead on.  Here it is again:

GLORIFYING God by TREASURING Christ above all things and REACHING others that they may find lasting joy in Him!

To simplify the reminder of this passion, we regularly highlight the 3 primary words:  Glorifying…Treasuring…Reaching.  As I’ve been sharing my passion for this Passion with staff and lay leadership in recent days, I’m bolstered in my position that this is a solid, biblically reflective statement good for use in the local church, particularly UBC.

One encouragement I want to give you (and I have to keep this brief because I’m writing on Saturday evening), take this into the “smallest” expressions of the church:  your family and home.  It is so simple to apply this to how your home is established and even more specifically to particular decisions.  For instance, you should always be asking, “Does this decision (purchase, movie, vacation, house, job…) glorify God?”  How you answer that depends upon your understanding of God’s holy attributes and whether or not what you do will make much of Him or your flesh.

Second, you should regularly ask, “Is there anything in my life (in our home) that appears to be a greater treasure than Christ?”  We in the West particularly battle worldliness, but the important thing about this battle (I think) is that we keep battling.  It’s when we give in and justify our materialism (using family, future possibilities, etc…) that we find that our heart was simply more in the world that for Christ.  Remember, where your heart is there your treasure is (Matt.6:21).  God finds particular pleasure (and glory) when we (as His children) treasure His Son, Jesus Christ, above all other loves.  Fight for a greater joy in Christ than the temporal joy in stuff!

Lastly, we are called (as a church) to go and make disciples.  We should ask ourselves, “What am I doing to disciple others?”  This is the idea of REACHING.  Do you go to your neighbors with ministries of service in hopes that the gospel will have opportunity at some point to be proclaimed in its entirety (think God-Man-Christ-Response).  Are you waiting on a church program that fits you?  Do you really think that when you are required to give an account of the deposit of the gospel in you, and your stewardship of it, that you’ll be able to say, “I just didn’t find a church program that fit my personality”?  Reach, church.

Here’s what I’ve discovered in meditating more on our Passion statement.  Simply put, God is most glorified when we treasure Christ.  And treasuring Christ is the key to Reaching others because we will declare and proclaim to others (whether or not they want to hear it) what brings us the greatest joy.

Well, back to study so that in both the preaching and the listening we may all treasure Christ together more than we did the week before.

Martin in England #9 – Let the dead speak!

Bunhill Fields

Today we had a packed day full of lots of wonderful things to see and do as we close out our time here in the U.K. We left this morning and set out for Bunhill Fields Burial Grounds, essentially a place where many nonconformist to the Church of England in the 19th century are buried. The likes of which are John Owen who recently has had a great influence on my life through one of his books, The Mortification of Sin. John Bunyan the great Puritan author of Pilgrim’s Progress as well as other works is buried in Bunhill. Issac Watts the great hymn writer, Susanna Wesley the mother of Charles and John Wesley, Daniel Dafoe author of Robinson Crusoe, and one you probably have not heard of John Rippon, believed to be the first Baptist preacher. When you look at a cemetery you have a couple of different options: you can say look at all these headstones of lives gone or you can thank God for the lives represented by those headstones. Today as I thought about the influence that several of these have had on my life, I am grateful to God for His ministry through these faithful men and women at Bunhill Fields.

Next we were on to Wesley’s house and Chapel. It was a very nice tour that took us through Wesley’s home where he spent the last 11 years of his life before died well into his 80’s. Wesley covered an enormous amount of ground on horseback preaching from town to town. One such story has it that Wesley caught up to a man riding a horse and began to talk to the man about God. The man said to Wesley, you sound like one of those fanatical followers of John Wesley, to which Wesley replied, I’m not one of those followers I am John Wesley. The man spurred his horse and rode away from Wesley, but Wesley being an experience rider caught up with the man and continued to talk to him about Christ. On Wesley’s monument the epitaph reads, “the world is my parish,” this was in response to his being criticized by the bishop for preaching outside his parish for it was uncouth to do in those days. Wesley told the bishop, I don’t think on the day of judgment when I stand before God and he asked me why i didn’t tell so and so about Christ it will be a sufficient answer to say to the Lord, “Lord, they weren’t in my parish.” Praise God for the life and ministry of John Wesley. Next, we went to see the site where it is believed that John Wesley’s conversion began on Aldersgate Street.

Then in the afternoon we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral and it was breath taking. It is the 4th largest cathedral and the life’s work of Christopher Wren. We climbed the 526 stairs to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral where the views of London were amazing. From St. Paul’s we went on to a training session at All Souls where John Stott was the pastor for some 50 years. Rico Tice, an evangelist at the church talked about a curriculum he has developed called Christianity Explored. I It was quite fascinating and a real delight to be with a man so passionate about evangelism and the local church and how they are to co-exist. One of the things that stuck with me the most today from Rico Tice when talking about evangelism he said we must love people enough to cross the pain line with them and explain to them that they are enemies of God and in danger of His wrath because of their sin and desperately in need of rescue. Powerful! He then said after you have passed the pain line and you are awaiting whatever response may come we are to 1. be for whoever we have just shared with and 2. truly believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our job in evangelism is to preach Christ and God’s work is to open the eyes of the blind towards Him. http://www.christianityexplored.org/ Rather than endorse his own material, Rico said we should look at the gospel of Mark and see if we see it the way he does when he uses Christianity Explored.

Today was a day packed full of wonderful places and things, and I am again grateful for the opportunity to be here and learn what I have and what I will continue to learn as a result of this trip. I end today with lyrics from Isaac Watt’s, When I Survey the Wonderful Cross. Google Watts and see the list of songs he wrote for the glory of God. May our worship be filled with the Glory of God, not just the sounds and styles we prefer!

1. When I survey the wondrous cross
   On which the Prince of glory died,
   My richest gain I count but loss,
   And pour contempt on all my pride.
2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
   Save in the death of Christ my God!
   All the vain things that charm me most,
   I sacrifice them to His blood.
3. See from His head, His hands, His feet,
   Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
   Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
   Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
4. Were the whole realm of nature mine,
   That were a present far too small;
   Love so amazing, so divine,
   Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Martin in England #8 – Adios Cambridge

Tyndale House

Today we left Cambridge and headed back to London for the final leg of our trip. It has been an amazing experience, but the consensus in our group is we are ready to see our families. There is still some exciting things ahead of us in the next couple of days, and we aim to finish well this amazing opportunity we have had.

Before we left Cambridge today we toured the Tyndale House and met with a couple of different men in Tyndale House. We met first with Dr. Jonathan Chaplin, the director of the Kirby Lang Institute for Christian Ethics. His primary concern is the unique relationship between Christian ethics and our culture. Our second meeting with Dr. Peter Williams, who serves as the Warden for Tyndale House (master, dean, head of college), was a wonderful time with a brilliant man. Tyndale house has a rich history and essentially is seeking to equip the people of God to understand the Bible. It is not uncommon for the likes of some very influential evangelicals to be found on sabbatical at Tyndale House like John Piper and D.A. Carson. Were I to try to describe more fully right all that they do I would not do it justice so I have included a link to their website.http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Intro.htm

Peter Williams told us more about Tyndale House and all the right and wrong reasons one should or should not pursue a doctoral degree from Cambridge or otherwise. It was an honest and welcomed assessment to a group of seminary students. One of the things I most appreciated about what he said with regards to the church and the PhD program was simply this, (not direct quote) a PhD is not designed to prepare you for the pastorate. He was saying we need both pastors and scholars in the sense that one is focused on caring for the flock of God’s people and the other is focused on the academic, archeological, historical, and other pursuits that essentially aid the pastors in doing what they do through the verification of higher critical study. I feel that the MDiv is designed in part to prepare you for the pastorate and that is why I have enjoyed my pursuit, and not that God wouldn’t or couldn’t lead me in the way of a PhD, but that is not my heart currently. I hope what I have explained here makes sense, but if it does not then please allow me the opportunity to further explain with whatever questions you may have. To give you an idea of the caliber of man Peter Williams was upon first impression to many of us in the room, he is like a younger Albert Mohler, and though we were only there one day it would seem that all those who have the privilege of studying at Cambridge in connection with Tyndale House are in great hands for as long as the Lord keeps Peter Williams there. They have a big vision, but with that comes big needs and you can learn more about that too on the website.

One final note about the Tyndale house though I am quite sure there is much more to say; the room where we met with these two men of Tyndale House was the room were the ESV (English Standard Version) was translated. This is of particular significance to me as it is the primary source I use for teaching and studying God’s Word. http://www.esvstudybible.org/
I have included also a picture of the Cambridge Divinity School building.