9 Years Ago Today!

Well I didn't expect to begin a series of posts marking anniversaries of events over the last three days such as: my conversion (9/9/1990), being installed into the pastorate (9/10/2008), and now the day that our country was attacked by Muslims (9/11/2001).

Our oldest son Seth was only 3 weeks old and we were visiting some friends about 2 hours away from our home in Dallas when we first heard the news of that unforgettable moment in New York. We were actually visiting them in anticipation that God was leading us to move there and serve in my friend's church as their associate pastor. It very quickly became a bitter/sweet moment.

I really like how Kevin DeYoung exhorts us today at his blog...

"Today is September 11. Let it be a day where Americans give thanks for liberty and pray for their country.

Let it also be a day where we remember that while God has not promised America will last forever, he has promised his people an everlasting kingdom. Our God is a mighty fortress for all who trust in him."

AMEN!

2 Years Ago Today...Hallelujah Amen!

Two years ago today God graced me with the privilege of serving Christ and His church by becoming the pastor and church planter of New Life Church. Serving the body of Christ in this way has literally changed my life and I am grateful to God for using the pastorate to sanctify my life and consecrate me more to Him.

I've been in the gospel ministry now for 15 years, but I've only been a pastor for two of those years. I remember reading Romans 10 for the thousandth time about six years ago, but it was that morning when I read Romans 10, that for the first time I realized that God was quickening my mind, my heart, and my will to serve in the kingdom as a shepherd, an overseer, a pastor, a preacher. It was truly a humbling moment to realize that I would serve in this new way.

Over the last two years I have experienced God's sustaining grace in my life, my ministry, and in the people, whom I have the joy to pastor and shepherd. God is so good to those of us who get to serve and live in this way. We are so underserving, but nevertheless, God works in us to will and to work in order to do the very things that pleases Him the most.

The aim of this ministry is to lift high the glory of Christ by proclaiming the full counsel of God's Word...period. Therefore we pray, that God will draw all men, women, and children to Himself by granting faith and repentance to those who hear the Word of Christ.

It is a good and spiritually noble thing to be a pastor...I appreciate your prayers!

20 Years Ago Today...Hallelujah Amen!

It's one thing to talk about the gospel. It is yet another, to talk about the gospel applied to my life.

20 years ago today, God granted me the gift of faith to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation.

You see, I once was spiritually dead and I walked according to the course of this world and I lived in the desire of my flesh and was by nature a child of God's wrath, but on September 9, 1990, God being rich in mercy, b/c of His great love for me, made me alive together with Christ and by His grace, I was saved and given 'New Life' from the dead, in Christ, and to never walk and live the same again!

The gospel was and by His persevering grace is still being applied to my soul...to my mind, my heart, and my will.

20 years sounds like a very long time, but it feels like just a moment in time. They say that time flies when you're having fun and I guess it really does feel that way, but I am forever grateful for God's sanctifying grace. He not only saved me from His wrath, but He placed His Holy Spirit in my life to guide me in truth and to enjoy living the gospel of ongoing and growing faith and repentance in Christ.

I am His workmanship. I am created in Christ Jesus. I am created for good works, which God prepared for me to walk in. It is amazing to see God reveal to me, slowly, these good works that I am blessed to walk in.

May the next 20 years, Lord willing, shine brighter than the first and cause all people every where to behold these good works and then to glorify my Father in heaven.

Thank you Father for the gospel of Your Son Jesus Christ!

But thank you Father even more, for the gospel applied to my life, by giving me a 'New Life' in Your Son Jesus Christ!

Hallelujah...Amen!

The Gospel / Your Money / Your Treasure / Your Eternity

Over at Life2gether, Doug Wolter highlights from J.D. Greear that how we handle/give our money is a direct result of the gospel's effectual work in our lives.

We give generously b/c the gospel of God has transformed our hearts to give generously like God gives. If we do not give generously it is b/c the gospel has not transformed our hearts and therefore this is an indicator of whether or not we have been truly born again. Below is a quote from the article...

“If you are not generous, you’ve never really experienced the Gospel. If you
feel guilty about how little generosity you show, you don’t understand the Gospel.”

You can read J.D. Greear's short article by clicking here. It is worth your time.

Labor Day Reading

Today I'm spending much of my Labor Day reading The Trellis And The Vine. It is a pretty popular book written by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. It is popular among pastors today and comes highly recommended, so my aim is to finish the book sometime this evening.

It's been both a challenge as well as an encouragement to read thus far.

The challenge comes b/c the aim is basically a very simple approach to ministry through speaking, teaching, and praying the Word of Christ into people (to non-Christians & Christians). The challenge is that there's nothing fancy about this approach to ministry. Another challenge is that it takes time to see the fruit from this kind of ministry. I'm not very patient, so it is a challenge for me to wait on God to bear fruit and set apart others to Himself.

Encouragement comes in reading this book b/c God has pretty much allowed me to be ministered to like this. As I was growing up spiritually, I was discipled/mentored in the faith for a couple of years by an older brother in Christ. He imparted his life to me and demonstrated both discipline and godliness in His walk for Jesus. He gave me something godly to imitate as I watched him live.

The fruit of his ministry in my life is being lived out in New Life Church. We too have placed a high premium on ministering in this way. We value this 'one anothering' for the Christian life. By God's grace we preach the Word of Christ to one another, we speak the Word of Christ to one another, and we pray the Word of Christ for one another. Our aim is to do ministry like this in the fullness of His Spirit and with much conviction.

There are a plethora of ministry truths, quotes, and strategies in this book, but Marshall and Payne have a pretty good statement on what discipleship is all about in Chapter 7 that really resonated with where I am in life right now...

"Christian discipleship is about sound doctrine and a godly life, and so to train or equip someone to minister to others means training and equipping them with godliness and right thinking, not just with a set of skills--because that in turn is how they will need to minister to others."

Well it's not fancy, but it is biblical. To impart, demonstrate, and reproduce ourselves into others with the gospel, the Word of Christ, is the biblical way. So far a really good word on what us pastors are to be doing in ministry today.

We're praying for God to bear fruit from the Word of Christ and for the Word of Christ to increase!

Transformed & Transforming By The Power Of The Gospel

"Christ died for the impure sins of impure people so that we may live as new people testifying to the transforming power of the gospel."

~ Craig Cabaniss - Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World (p.56)

You've Been Set Free...To Be Free!

“Telling a slave to be free is to add insult to injury. But telling a liberated slave to be free is an invitation to enjoy his new freedom and privilege.”

~ Tim Chester -- You Can Change (p.49)

(HT: Of First Importance)

"And He Received Him Gladly"

"And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.' And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly...And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'"
~ Luke 9.5-6 & 8-10

There are plenty of sweet things in this passage, but Zaccheus reminded me of how much we should always strive to remember, in that beautiful moment, how we "received Him gladly".

This helps to renew the mind in Christ when we reflect often of our salvation and conversion to Jesus Christ.

Don't Flaunt Your Personal Convictions...Just Live The Gospel!

Maybe in some of the areas that Christians are different, from those who do not follow after Christ, we would be better off in our gospel witness if we didn't purposefully make it public knowledge.

Mike McKinley says,

"As believers, we are necessarily going to have a lot of distance between us and those who don’t follow Christ. We live differently, love differently, hope differently. We’re citizens of a different country.

But it might be helpful if we limit the distance between us and the world in a lot of other ways. We don’t have to flaunt our lack of a TV and be weird and preachy about grinding your own grain. That only serves to put unnecessary distance between us and the people we’re trying to reach. Instead, we should try to engage the world around us, know what our neighbors care about, and try to inhabit the same universe they do.

If they are going to persecute us, let it at least be for things that really have something to do with being a Christian."

For those of us who strive to live God-centered lives, everything revolves around Him. So even our personal convictions, we would probably ascribe to them as Christian convictions.

But maybe there are areas of our lives that are just plain weird to the world, but the enemy uses those weird things to blind them from seeing the true gospel lived out in our lives and hearing the gospel spoken from our hearts.

One way to assess this is to ask the question, "When was the last time someone really asked me about my personal convictions and why I choose to live this way?" If they are asking, then you're probably, more likely, living it before them in a righteous way and there seems to be a freedom behind it. If they are not asking, then maybe the opposite is true.

Maybe.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

UP TO or OUT OF?

"You don't live UP TO the Gospel, if you could you wouldn't need the Gospel. You live OUT OF the resources the Gospel has given you."

~ Paul Tripp / Twitter

Bring Forth Fruits Of Repentance!

"Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." ~ Luke 3.8

Our repentance toward Christ is made evident in the fruit we bear. Fruits of generosity (v.11); Fruits of fairness (v.13); Fruits of kindness, truthfulness, and contentment (v.14).

What a declaration of genuine repentance unto Christ...to be generous, fair, kind, truthful and content.

Seek All The Good You Can In Your Life....No Really, It's OK!

"He who gives attention to the word shall find good, And blessed is he who trusts in the LORD."

John Gill writes of the one that attends to the Word of God in his/her life...

"but a diligent and attentive one whose heart is opened by the Spirit of God to attend to what is spoken in it; who lays it up in his heart, and makes it the rule of his conduct in life: such a man finds good things; things which are for his profit, edification, and instruction; good truths, good doctrines, good counsel and advice, good directions and instructions; promises of good things, things for his present comfort and future happiness;"

Let us find and discover all the good in Christ that we can as we 'give attention to the Word'.

Proverbs 14.23

"In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty."

In all of our defenses of sound doctrine, biblical approaches to ministry, God-centered evangelism, Holy Spirit filled preaching, Christ-centered families, and many others....let us always labor more in those areas and gain a profit in Christ, than just talking of those things and gain poverty outside of Christ.

Empowering Your Children To Live For God

I started reading Shepherding A Child's Heart today. I've been aware of Tedd Tripp's influence through his book on so many people's lives for years now and felt that it was time that I pick up and read it for myself.

As a parent and shepherd of five children, I often get things right and unfortunately I often get things wrong, so I'm going to a good source to help with some strategy for making disciples out of my children. I'm not content with only having an emphasis on Family Worship in our family. I think that is a good 'corporate' way for family life, but I truly want more for myself and my children in how they must see and understand God in their bright moments and even in their dark moments of disobedience.

Below is one of those sentences, turned into several sentences, that has the ability to change a person's life...especially for parents and their children.

"As the shepherd, you want to help your child understand himself as a creature made by and for God. You cannot show him these things merely by instruction; you must lead him on a path of discovery. You must shepherd his thoughts, helping him to learn discernment and wisdom.

This shepherding process is richer interaction than telling your child what to do and think. It involves investing your life in your child in open and honest communication that unfolds the meaning and purpose of life. It is not simply direction, but direction in which there is self-disclosure and sharing. Values and spiritual vitality are not simply taught, but caught.

Proverbs 13.20 says, "He who walks with the wise becomes wise." As a wise parent your objective is not simply to discuss, but to demonstrate the freshness and vitality of life lived in integrity toward God and your family. Parenting is shepherding the hearts of your children in the ways of God's wisdom.

Pray for me as I pour time and energy into understanding my role as the shepherd of my family better!

The Best Way To Discipline Your Kids

In his autobiography, John Paton, Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides, reflects on how his father so effectively responded to his children's disobedience:

If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first to his "closet" for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of the punishment for me to bear! I could have defied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a message from God.

We loved him all the more, when we saw how much it cost him to punish us; and, in truth, he had never very much of that kind of work to do upon any one of all the eleven—we were ruled by love far more than by fear. (John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides, p.17, paragraphing added)

(HT: Desiring God)

The Gospel Hurts!

About 10 minutes ago we prayed with our best friends...Andrew, Cassie, Noelle, & Uriyah Jones. We prayed with them b/c God is sending them overseas to push the gospel of Jesus Christ to where it is currently unheard of and unknown. They are leaving first thing in the morning to head to see family and then will go to Virginia for further training for 8 weeks then head out to their mission field.

The gospel hurts. The gospel hurts b/c we must say good bye to those who love Jesus and to those who are very dear to our lives in order for them to pursue the lost for Christ. It hurts b/c for those who live by the gospel must at times leave father, mother, sister, and brother for the kingdom to advance. My wife just told me that it has always been us who were leaving to go live in another state away from family, because of ministry, but this time we are on the other side of this 'separation'. Well this separation is only physical, b/c we are and will always be united in the power of the Holy Spirit.

But no doubt the gospel hurts and no doubt the gospel will heal, but today has already been tough for me and my wife. Please pray for The Joneses and for everyone who loves them.

Let's Not Just Proclaim The Gospel...Let's Live The Gospel!

Dear men,

In light of yesterday's sermon on Living the Gospel....

Over the next two days I would like for each of you, as the spiritual leader of your home, to gather your family and to talk specifically about 1 area, for each person in your family, where confession & repentance needs to take place today!

I want the spiritual leaders of our homes to be intentional about seeking out at least one specific sin that your wife is wrestling with and is having a difficult time overcoming. One specific sin that your kids are wrestling with and are having a difficult time overcoming. For the little ones, just ask them...what is something that you're doing, that you know God doesn't like, and you wish that you could stop doing? Just and example, but you know your children. And then for you (spiritual leader) to open up about one specific sin that you are wrestling with and need to confess and repent. All sin is significant, so don't get me wrong, but let's 'man up' and get real about the real strongholds in our lives.

Men, this is what it means to live the gospel and pastor your family. Every single one of us, sin. And hopefully every single one of us are wrestling with a particular sin, trying to pin it down and leave it there. We must spiritually coach ourselves and our families in confession, repentance, and forgiveness so that they can leave that sin behind and never go back to it again.

It is time that we as a church be aggressive about abiding in Christ as individuals and as a family. This means war...spiritual warfare for your family. Don't let the enemy invade and overtake your family with sin any longer. Fight the good fight of faith and persevere to abide in Christ.

Be doers of the Word and and not hearers only! Don't be like the foolish man who looked at himself in the mirror...saw who he really was and turned away and forgot what he looked like.

Encouragement For Sharing The Gospel

God controls how people feel toward us. “I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples” ~ Deuteronomy 2:25

(HT: John Piper Twitter)

Change We Can Believe In!

“It is a growing conviction of mine that no parish can fulfill its true function unless there is at the very center of its leadership life a small community of quietly fanatic, changed and truly converted Christians. The trouble with most parishes is that nobody, including the pastor, is really greatly changed. . . .

We do not want ordinary men. Ordinary men cannot win the brutally pagan life of a city like New York for Christ. We want quiet fanatics.”

John Heuss, Our Christian Vocation (Greenwish, 1955), pages 15-16.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

A Tale Of Two Sons

The second book in my recommended reading from our church is The Tale Of Two Sons: The Inside Story Of A Father, His Sons, And A Shocking Murder. This was recommended by wife Stephanie. She has been trying to get me to read fiction for some time now, but I just can't seem to get into it much. So she thought this book would help to facilitate that desire. Thank you Steph for recommending this book, it really made me see the light of the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ from a fresh angle.

____________________________________________

The Tale of Two Sons was written by John MacArthur. It is an in-depth look at “one of the greatest stories every told—The Prodigal Son, found in Luke 15.11-32.” The book begins by discussing just how superb of a story this is and how many of the most well-known literature works find their origin in the prodigal son. Those who have “expressed admiration for the parable as literature was: William Shakespeare, Garrison Keillor”, and even Charles Dickens who “famously called the parable of the prodigal son the greatest short story ever written.”

The sad truth about the prodigal story is that many have missed the meaning of it. It is placed in the context that is filled with the values and morals of the contemporary atmosphere of the day. Jesus’ meaning must be appreciated in order to understand the significance of the prodigal son. Over the centuries many well intentioned people have taken this exceptional story and have reworked it into their own tale without any regard to Jesus’ central aim for telling it. So what is Jesus’ point and aim?

As many already know this story is about a wayward son, a merciful and generous Father, and a miserable, self righteous elder brother. Each of these characters was a character in real life. One of the story’s main emphases was directed at the elder brother. This elder brother possessed a terrible problem of not being able to celebrate the repentance, return, and restoration of his younger brother by his Father. He was indignant toward his Father. There was never a genuine love for his Father or his younger brother and the celebration of his brother's restoration made it even worse. The elder brother in the story is the Pharisees. MacArthur says,

“This parable is a rebuke of the attitude of the religious leaders who resented His ministry, which was done for the joy of God. Jesus was exposing the error of the Pharisees’ own self-righteous superiority complex by contrasting their contempt for sinners with the spirit of divine compassion that permeated His whole earthly ministry. The ugliness of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and self righteousness were thus laid open for all to see. This was yet another devastating public humiliation for them.”

The prodigal son represents everyone. He characterizes everyone who comes to their senses and recognizes just how good and wonderful the Father is in spite of their own rebellious nature and deeds. It is about everyone who has come to the “end of their rope” and recognizes that only the Father is at the end of the rope ready to forgive, restore, and then to celebrate that restoration and reconciliation because of their new life in Him.

The Father is Jesus Christ. He is the one that despises the shame of running out to meet the prodigal before he makes his way through the village. He is the one that despises the shame of embracing the prodigal who deserves nothing more than eternal separation. He is the one that despises the shame of forgiving and restoring such a son that is looked upon as worthless in the eyes of the religious rulers…the elder brother.

Overall this was a terrific read on a very well known, but misunderstood, parable of Jesus Christ. It’s almost as if MacArthur pushes the reader further and further under water to discover more and more of the meaning behind each character and nuance of the story. The story boasts of a never before heard of ending and it definitely delivers! One final quote from MacArthur,

“If you can hear the parable of the prodigal son and not identify yourself, you are missing the unspoken point of Jesus’ message. It is a call to repentance, and it applies to prodigals (immoral, outcast sinners) and Pharisees (moral, respectable hypocrites) alike.”

I totally recommend this book. The best price I found was at Christian Book Distributors. Just click on this link A Tale Of Two Sons.