It has been a busy week, so I haven’t had much chance for blogging. Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
6 Great Reasons To Study Doctrine – Tim Challies
Six Truths about Sickness – Brian G. Najapfour
How to Use the Back of a Napkin to Prove to a Jehovah’s Witness That Jesus Is God – Greg Koukl (via Justin Taylor)
Don’t Give Up Meeting Together – Michael Kelley (IX Marks)
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day meeting together with your local church to worship our great God!
– E. M. Bounds
Behold our God who is greater
Our wise omniscient Creator
He is greater than all nations
Their idols, gods, and religions
Our God is big and we are small
He blows and pompous kings will fall
Look to the stars on cloudless night
Each one exists by His great might
So let us stand in awe of Him
And live our lives in light of Him
And in our tri-als trust in Him
With joyful hearts give praise to Him
– From a sermon on Isaiah 40:12-26
(To the tune of the Doxology)
– John Bradford
Behold our God, our Strong Shepherd
Herald the news ‘til all have heard
He comes with might to save and bless
He tends His sheep with tenderness
Our Strong Shepherd, He came to earth
And to shepherds proclaimed His birth
And for His sheep, His life he gave
To grant us peace, from sin to save
Look to your God, rest in His care
Bring all your fears to Him in prayer
Walk with the Lord, your Shepherd know
Listen to Him, and then follow
– From a sermon on Isaiah 40:9-11
(To the tune of the “Doxology”)
Here are some good posts on pastoral ministry:
What Is a Pastor’s True Calling? – Brian Croft (Practical Shepherding)
Advice to Young Pastors from Paul Tripp, John Frame, and John Yates – Matt Smethurst (TGC)
Over-Pastoring and Under-Pastoring – Tim Chester (Lifeway)
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
– Isaiah 40:11
God cares for us like a shepherd.
He tends his sheep. He takes care of us. He feeds us – both physically and spiritually. He provides for us – like a parent provides for their child. He prepares a table before us.
He gathers his sheep in his arms and carries us close to him. When we can’t walk on our own, he carries us – close to his heart. He loves us.
And he leads his sheep. Not harshly, but gently. He leads us at the right pace, and to the right place. He leads us beside still waters that we might be refreshed. He leads us in the paths of righteousness – a good path to tread! At times he leads us through valleys, but he is always with us to help us. His rod and staff comfort us.
No matter what you may be facing this Christmas, remember that the Lord is your shepherd, and he will take care of you.
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Take a Break from the Chaos – David Mathis (DG)
You need a break from the chaos, from the noise and the crowds, more than you may think at first. You need the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude.
John Macarthur on Helps and Hindrances to Joy – David Murray
In a sermon on Rejoice Always (1 Thess. 5:16), John Macarthur listed eight sources of joy and then six thieves of joy. I’ve summarized them…
Discipleship in the “Age of Authenticity” – Trevin Wax
The church’s response must be to proclaim a gospel that comes from outside ourselves – no matter how countercultural this may seem. When people in our culture discover how exhausting it is to try to be “true to themselves,” when looking further and further inward eventually shows them they haven’t the resources to transform their own lives, the church must be ready to break in with good news that life change isn’t mustered up from within but granted through grace from without. We are to challenge the narrative that happiness is found solely in self-expression. The biblical view of the self is that we are broken, twisted, and sinful. The self is something that needs redemption, not expression.
Spurgeon’s Three R’s: A Useful Method for Evangelism – Jeff Robinson (TGC)
But recently, in my regular reading of C. H. Spurgeon’s sermons, I have discovered an excellent and pithy approach to the gospel, one that is fully biblical and establishes both man’s universal dilemma and God’s antidote in Christ: Spurgeon’s “Three R’s”: ruin, redemption, and regeneration. I like Spurgeon’s outline for several reasons: it is simple, the alliteration makes it easy to remember, the biblical texts all surround the number three (another aid to memory for the throes of nerve-busting, face-to-face evangelism).
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church exalting our great God!
To follow up on my last post, here are some helpful thoughts on the homosexuality issue:
Not That Kind of Homosexuality? – Kevin DeYoung
The Myth of Hate – Alan Shlemon (Stand To Reason)
Same-Sex Attraction in the Church – Sam Allberry
Five Commitments To Those Struggling With Same Sex Attraction In Our Midst – Kevin DeYoung
It is often said that Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality. This is wrong on at least two accounts. First, such a statement fails to recognize that Jesus is God, and as God spoke the entire Bible which addresses homosexuality in several places. Second, such a statement misses Jesus’ clear teaching on human sexuality in Matthew 19:
First, God determines our gender. Jesus clearly says that God made us male and female (v4). Our gender is determined by God, and not by our thoughts, feelings, desires, or whims. God, by his act of creation, determines reality, and he creates us genetically and biologically as male or female. To reject his determination is to abandon reality. My gender is not for me to decide. God determines our gender.
Second, God determines the definition of marriage. Jesus takes us back to Genesis, and tells us that marriage is between a man and a woman (v5). Marriage is determined by God, and not by our thoughts, feelings, desires, or whims. Again, God as the Creator determines reality, and he has determined that marriage is between a man and a woman. To reject his determination is to abandon reality. The definition of marriage is not for me to decide. God determines the definition of marriage.
Third, God determines the right context for sex. Jesus teaches that it is within marriage that a man and woman are to have a one flesh sexual relationship (v5). The right context for sex is determined by God, and not by our thoughts, feelings, desires, or whims. God as our Creator determines not only reality, but also morality, and he has determined that sexual activity is to take place within marriage. And so a man and woman who sleep together before marriage, live together, shack up together for a night, or have an affair are committing sexual immorality and sinning against God. Two men or two women who engage in homosexual activity are committing sexual immorality and sinning against God. The right context for sex is not for me to decide. God determines the right context for sex.
Jesus teaches that God determines our gender, the definition of marriage, and the right context for sex. Which leave us with a stark choice: We can reject Jesus’ teaching and God’s determination, and join the rest of our culture in its mass sexual confusion. Or we can follow the teachings of Jesus, embracing both reality and morality. We can throw out the teachings of Jesus and go our own way, or we can follow him. The choice is ours, but we must choose. Let’s not have any nonsense about following Jesus while rejecting his teaching. We must choose.
What will you do with Jesus’ teaching on human sexuality?
Brian J. Mikul 