Hello Again!!!

After thinking about it on my own for months now and having a friend last night, completely out of the blue, say "I think you should start writing," I've decided to blog again.

I'm not writing, ultimately, for others, but for the glory of God and to hone this skill that He's given me. At the same time, I am not oblivious to the fact that this is a public blog so others can find it (how, I have no idea), so if people find it and read it, fine. If, with the literally billions of webpages out there, it remains hidden no one reads it, that's fine too.

With that in mind, I think I'm going to focus on a couple things in this blog: (1) The passion of my heart is to see Christians and non-Christians transformed by the Gospel, (2) After preaching through Proverbs twice (2008-10) in the college and singles' ministries I used to pastor in Aliso Viejo, CA I've been struck by my need for wisdom so I'll spend a lot of time looking at Proverbs 10-31, and (3) I'm working on a book idea that I'll be fleshing out here as well.

To start, I just came home from a leadership meeting at my church, Redemption Church Gateway, where the pastor asked a random person to give their testimony. It was a moving story of God's grace that moved the grown man speaking to cry in front of a room of around 100 leaders. God saved him over a decade ago, and it wasn't old news to him! It was still really good news! What struck me as I watched was how emotional he still was about being saved, something I realized I've lost the wonder of in recent days, remembering that just today I shared my testimony with a friend and didn't have that response at all.

What also hit me was how many leaders in our day are taking the obvious work of God in people's lives -- as seen in my friend who I just rejoiced with -- and using it to build their own personal kingdoms. In the lives and ministries of many, the sovereign miracle of conversion is not an end in itself to be marveled at and rejoiced in. Instead, it's used to market a man or his ministry, which is about as ridiculous as the paint brush taking credit for the Mona Lisa.

Now, this distorted and wicked motive is often hidden behind slogans like "I just want to get God's Word to more of God's people" or "More people means more exposure to the Gospel" when deep down it's about prestige, money, security, proving oneself to doubters, book deals, acclaim and bragging rights. Now, I know the obvious comeback is "You don't know their hearts" and you're right. I don't. However, according to Jeremiah 17:9-10, they don't know their own hearts either.

So, after watching my friend my thought was beware all of us who love the "Good job" after serving God's people. The sacrifice being made may not be our time and effort. The sacrifice being made may be the Gospel on the altar of our own personal ambitions.

Truth is Immortal!!!

Get to Know David Brainerd

You will never regret taking an hour to listen to John Piper's biography of the unstoppably passionate missionary to American Indians in the 1700s David Brainerd (click here to read or listen or download it). It is amazing to read how many pioneering, paradigm shifting missionaries his life deeply impacted.

Let me leave you with this insights from Brainerd's journal, which Jonathan Edwards published, and Piper's message...

"He was gripped with by the apostolic admonition: "Redeem the time for the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:16) He embodied the counsel: "Let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due time we shall reap if we do not faint." (Gal. 6:9) He strove to be, as Paul says, "abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58)."

April 17, 1747. "O I longed to fill the remaining moments all for God! Though my body was so feeble, and wearied with preaching and much private conversation, yet I wanted to sit up all night to do something for God. To God the giver of these refreshments, be glory forever and ever; Amen." (p. 246) February 21, 1746. "My soul was refreshed and comforted, and I could not but bless God, who had enabled me in some good measure to be faithful in the day past. Oh, how sweet it is to be spent and worn out for God!" (p. 366)

Among all the means that Brainerd used for pursuing greater and greater holiness and usefulness prayer and fasting stand out above all. We read of him spending whole days in prayer (p. 172), and sometimes setting aside six times in the day to pray, (p. 280), and sometimes seeking out a family or friend to pray with. He prayed for his own sanctification. He prayed for the conversion and purity of his Indians. He prayed for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ around the world and especially in America. Sometimes the spirit of prayer would hold him so deeply that he could scarcely stop.

Once, visiting in a home with friends, he got alone to pray: "I continued wrestling with God in prayer for my dear little flock here; and more especially for the Indians elsewhere; as well as for dear friends in one place and another; till it was bed time and I feared I should hinder the family, etc. But oh, with what reluctancy did I find myself obliged to consume time in sleep!" (p. 402)

Together for the Gospel 2008

If you're looking for some solid preaching to download and listen to, make sure to check out the free downloads here from the Together for the Gospel Conference, which just wrapped up yesterday.

The audio on the page above includes:

Sound Doctrine: Essential to Faithful Pastoral Ministry
(Ligon Duncan)

Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church
(Thabiti Anyabwile)

The Sinner Neither Able nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability
(John MacArthur)

Improving the Gospel: Exercises in Unbiblical Theology
(Mark Dever)

The Curse Motif of the Atonement
(R.C. Sproul)

Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution
(Albert Mohler)

How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice
(John Piper)

Sustaining a Pastor’s Soul
(C.J. Mahaney)

Also, if you like these and would like to listen to the conference audio from 2006 you can download it here. Enjoy!

Praying for Your Pastor

People often ask me how they can help me, and just so you know, the most important and most downplayed way anyone can help their pastor is to pray for him.

To help you do that, I came across this blog post. If you're going to do for me what this blog says--and I PRAY that you would--just know that I don't preach on Sunday's, but on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Also, for my own preaching and the preaching of the pastors at Compass that I serve with, I use the acrostic CAPPPP to pray for them. It stands for...

• Clear -- no confusion from what I say, a structure that flows and makes sense
• Accurate -- explains what the text says, which comes from prayer and good study time
• Passionate -- not a lecture, but a sermon for changing the heart
• Pursuasive -- that the audience would be convinced intellectually by the text
• Practical -- that it will be easy to see how to live the text
• Powerful -- that God's Spirit would save the lost and sanctify the believers present
  

So, please add these words to #4 from the blog post above. Thank you so so much!!!

Four Landmines in Ministry

While waiting to listen to John Piper at the Resurgence Conference, I am currently listening to a message from the Dallas Theological Seminary podcast by Robert Jeffress on The Four Landmines of Ministry.

These landmines, with some insights from the sermon, are:

1. Silver (= money) -- "Money is like salt water, the more you take in thirstier you get."
2. Sloth (= laziness) -- "We all have a little bit of laziness in us, and you can go a long time before laziness will catch up with you, but it will catch up with you. Expect to work hard, the lack there of will destroy your ministry!
   
3. Sex -- Most people know someone who has had to step down from ministry for sexual immorality; the dark shadow of your immorality will accompany you always and forever as the heartache you cause will be inestimable as "the way of the transgressor is hard"
   
4. Self -- My life is either God-focused or self-focused and the most basic issue we have to settle is who's kingdom are you building: God's or yours! It's one or the other. It can't be both!
   

Along these lines, if you have more time on your hands, go to this website, search for the name Donald Whitney and listen to his message "The Almost Inevitable Ruin of Every Minister...and How to Avoid It"--one of the best I've ever heard!

2008 Resurgence Conference Live

If you'd like to watch, or just listen in the background, to some good preaching over the next couple days, make sure you check out the 2008 Resurgence Conference here.

You can choose the speakers you want to listen to (Mark Driscoll, C.J. Mahaney, Matt Chandler, Jim Gillmore, John Piper) and then make sure you're online when they start.

I hope you enjoy. I have it on in the background while I do research so I just listened to the end Mark Driscoll's first message (and it was really good) and now I'm excitedly anticipating C.J.'s in 5 minutes!

Self-Promotion

I'm doing research for my sermons coming up this week and came across this quote from A.W. Tozer: "...egotism, exhibitionism, self-promotion, are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders even in circles of impeccable orthodoxy. ... Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice" (italics mine; from The Pursuit of God, 45-46).

God, give me the discernment I need for my own sin-filled heart so as to keep me from such an egregious sin (as I post on a blog that millions could read).

Called to Seminary?

Thank you to Between Two Worlds for this very helpful post for those called to the ministry who must consider seminary or at least some kind of theological education.

Has God Called You...to be a Pastor?

Here's a short, insightful article by Dr. Al Mohler on the call to pastoral leadership. Does it describe you?

I was pleasantly surprised to read that his description of the call to ministry is what I've been telling myself and other men for years now--always good when what you say is confirmed by those you respect!

Please Pray Tomorrow Morning

Hi everyone!!! I'm very sorry I haven't been updating this very frequently. I have had quite the week, and it's not letting up at all as the weekend draws near.

I'm posting now to ask you, again, to pray for me. Aside from weekly preaching, which I'd also love your prayer for, I am speaking tomorrow at our church's MOPS ministry (if you've heard of that) called Navigating Motherhood.

This is an evangelistic ministry at our church so tomorrow morning I'm scheduled to make a case for the deity of Christ before about 50 to 80 unbelievers who come to Compass every Friday morning. Just so you know, I just found out there are even Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons in the crowd, aside from many who think they're Christians but probably aren't.

Please pray for my preparation time, which is going to start right now, that it would be fruitful and protected from distraction as well as that tomorrow I would be clear, accurate, passionate, practical and persuasive in what I say.

I am supposed to start speaking around 10am, so I thank you in advance for what God's going to do through your prayers tomorrow morning.

Messages on the Trinity

Just in case you were wondering how my recent 2-week series at The Refuge on the Trinity went, I wanted you to know that it did not turn people off or away.

Rather than hurting the ministry, which is conventional "wisdom" for pastoral ministry today when it comes to teaching doctrine to Christians--let alone those in college & their 20s--just the opposite has happened.

Actually the ministry grew, newcomers came back for more and the Christians have a renewed zeal to study the Bible and reach out to, rather than run away from, cultists (Oneness, JWs, Mormons) and false religions (Jews, Muslims) who explicitly deny the Trinity.

Thank God for His marvelous grace for blessing His Word when we talked about Him--Father, Son and Holy Spirit!!!

Christianity & Culture

The blog at New City Church gave one man's opinion as to the top 20 books on Christianity's relationship to culture. Sadly, I've only read three--looks like I've got work to do!

Divorce in the Bible

Though the controversy has died down, last month saw a bit of a firestorm ignite over the Bible's view of divorce when Christianity Today devoted their cover and a 4-page article to the issue of divorce.

In summary, the author David Instone-Brewer argues that the Bible gives us four grounds for divorce that make it acceptable in God's eyes: adultery, abandonment (the two traditional grounds), abuse and neglect (emotional or physical).

I found out about it at a staff meeting last month when we spent about an hour talking about it. Within a couple days, I saw posts about it on blogs and responses to the article by such prominent evangelicals as John Piper (which, by the way, Dr. Instone-Brewer responded to here), Al Mohler (click here to a page where you can download his radio show on this topic) and Andreas Kostenberger (here and here).

I wanted to make you aware of this ongoing debate, which though it seems to me at least that it's died down in our circles, has gained national attention thanks to a new article about it in Time Magazine online here.

Update, Thank You & The Trinity

I've been swamped since getting home from Hawaii so I'm sorry for not blogging more regularly. I got off the plane Tuesday morning at 5am at LAX, ran home to shower and go right to work to help oversee the setup for our Fall Fest, Compass Bible Church's fun and safe alternative to / attempt to redeem Halloween. I preach Tuesday nights so I left the Aliso Viejo Towne Center around 4pm to prepare for The Refuge at 7pm (the singles ministry for the college students and those in their 20s that I oversee).

I was back at the Towne Center at 8am the next morning and went home around 11pm, but God richly blessed our efforts as we saw some 4000 people show up on Wednesday night and we gave out some where around 1 ton of candy. The Fall Fest was a great way to introduce the church to the community, and Lord willing many will come visit us. Thursday I was back at the Towne Center to help oversee clean up for about 7 hours, and then crashed!

Now that the weekend is over, I'm in the office preparing to preach tomorrow night on the Trinity. I'm doing a short series I called Mythbusters where we'll bust some myths about Christianity (topics are truth, the Trinity and the Deity of Christ). From there, we'll move into expositional, verse-by-verse preaching through John 17 (there may be some short Mythbuster series in the midst of that too) and then we'll jump into more exposition, this time the whole book of Galatians.

The idea is to spend a considerable amount of time on the person and work of Christ (John 17) before moving into a explanation of the Gospel and its implications for life (Galatians)--don't want to create legalists who live like Christians apart from a real deep focus on Christ first.

However, my work on the Trinity this weekend reminded me that at the beginning of this blog last year I posted four times on the heresy of modalism as embodied in Oneness Pentecostalism (by the way, did you hear about the new movement called Pentecostal Scientology?)--a false doctrine alive and well and making considerable inroads into evangelicalism. They are here, here, here and here.

Many blessings to all of you, and thank you for your prayers for me in Hawaii. It was a very difficult trip for me--not a vacation at all--because every square inch of Kauai reminds me of my grandparents. I pray the Lord will be pleased to bless the short and feeble words I gave at my grandparents' memorial service. Hope you liked the pictures I took!

Willow Creek Repents?

I just read this very interesting article about Willow Creek, one of the 2 or 3 most influential churches in America over the past few decades, and what they learned from a massive research project they did on their own ministry philosophy.

CJ's Favorite Book on Ministry

About a year ago Christianity Today gave their list of the 50 most influential books on the evangelical movement.

Well, many disagreed, and below is what C.J. Mahaney said should've been the top 10 of the 50 most influential (notice how it's really 14!):

1. The Cross of Christ, by John Stott
2. Knowing God, by J. I. Packer
3. The Holiness of God, by R.C. Sproul
4. Fundamentalism and the Word of God, by J.I. Packer
5. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem
6. The Cross and Christian Ministry, by D.A. Carson
7. The Trilogy (The God Who Is There; Escape From Reason; He is There and He is Not Silent), by Francis Schaeffer
8. Competent to Counsel, by Jay Adams and Instruments in the Redeemers Hands, by Paul Tripp
9. Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem
10. Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14, by D. A. Carson, and God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul, by Gordon Fee

I put all that here to say that his favorite book on ministry, Carson's The Cross and Christian Ministry, is on sale here for 50% off!!!

The Best Biography for FREE!!!!!!!!

Christianaudio.com gives away a free audio book every month. Most months are good; this month is phenomenal!!!

One of the best, most impacting (see my blogs about it here and here) books I've ever listened to and never finished is the one they're offering free here: Jonathan Edwards' classic, The Life of David Brainerd.

If you have not read this book, I HIGHLY recommend it. I pray that I'll have half the love and devotion to Christ, insight into my heart and zeal for the gospel that this young man did. This and much more pours out of every page of his Life.

If you usually let these pass by, do yourself a favor and don't let this one. Download and listen to this treasure and you'll never be the same again.

2007 DG National Conference

In Minneapolis this weekend Desiring God hosted its 2007 National Conference. The theme was Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints, and the speakers included John Piper, John MacArthur, Jerry Bridges, Randy Alcorn and Helen Roseveare.

If you're interested, the conference audio us available for free here.

Just Ask!!!

I read this interesting statistic here. I don't know how true it is, but thought I would share it with you:

"According to the Church of England, 6 percent of the adult population, or 3 million people, would come back to church if they received a personal invitation."

Put it to the test and see what happens -- 3 out of every 50 people you ask to church will say "Yes."

What's in it for God?

I came across this quote from Dr. Michael Horton's book Made in America, and had to share it here:

"The older theology tended to produce character. By the end of the twentieth century, we have become God's demanding little brats. In church, we must be entertained. Our emotions must be charged. We must be offered amusing programs. We give up a lot to become Christians and what little teaching we do get must cater to our pragmatic, self-centered interests. Preaching must be filled with clever anecdotes and colorful illustrations with nothing more than passing references to doctrine. I want to know what this means for me in my daily experience. Have we forgotten that God is a monarch? He is the king, by whom and for whom all things were made and by whose sovereign power they are sustained. We exist for his pleasure, not he for ours. We are on this earth to entertain him, please him, adore him, bring him satisfaction, excitement and joy. Any gospel that seeks to answer the question, "What's in this for me?" has it all backwards. The question is, "What's in it for God?"

I have nothing to say in response except I think he's dead right.