What defines a compelling life? Someone who is available to God and regularly experiences God’s fellowship, presence, and empowerment. There are no substitutes, no shortcuts. We are not compelling; on the contrary, we are sinful, often poor imitations of our Lord. But when God lives through us, shines through us, and overcomes our worst inclinations with his merciful transformation – that’s compelling. People become interested not so much in us but in what’s so different about us. The non-Christian notices the changes as we become more and more like Christ – if indeed we are experiencing more and more of Christ.
– Gary Thomas in Holy Available
Author: Brian
Follower of Jesus, Husband, Dad, Grandpa, and Pastor
Acts Articles – Intro
In preparation for a new sermon series at my church, I have been studying the book of Acts. It has been an exciting study so far. I feel like I am breathing new air as I see what the church is called to be, what it should be, what it could be, what I hope it will be.
In the following weeks, I want to explore several inter-related themes found in Acts. These include Jesus, witness, Spirit, prayer, suffering, church, and the Word. If we put all the themes together we find that the church is called to be witnesses pointing to Jesus through the Word in the power of the Spirit and in the context of prayer and suffering. As the church fulfills this mission, Jesus is acting and speaking through us. I look forward to unpacking this with you, as well as exploring a few other themes that come up along the way.
Ministry Moments
Here are some helpful posts for pastors related to prayer:
Tim Kerr has a series of posts on interceding for our congregations – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Michael McKinley suggest 8 ways to pray during our sermon preparation. I made a copy to use as I work on my own sermons.
Finally, Michael McKinley also gives six helpful ways to help people pray.
A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, and the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.
– John Owen
Declaring the Glory
Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:20
Passion Points
Here are some good posts addressing the important issue of sin in our lives:
What Does Jesus Do With Sin? – Jared Wilson
Here are 6 things Jesus does with sin.
Steps to Overcome Temptation – D. A. Carson (via Desiring God)
Carson talks about some simultaneous steps to take for overcoming temptation, including a deepening delight in Jesus.
I Chose To Sin – Tim Challies
If I sin today—when I sin today—it is not because I had to or because anyone forced me to, but only because I chose to.
4 Reasons People Backslide – Tim Challies
Here are four reasons that people backslide.
How to Backslide in 9 Easy Steps – Tim Challies
1. Stop meditating on the gospel. “They draw off their thoughts, all that they may, from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come.”
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day growing in your delight of our Lord and your hatred for sin as you gather together with your local church family!
Healthy Small Town Church
At the RHMA Small Town Pastors’ Conference, Ron Klassen suggested the following six key health indicators from Colossians for a healthy small town church:
1. Respected People’s Commendation (1:1-6) – Do other Christians look at our church with high regard?
2. Twin F’s: Faithfulness and Fruitfulness (1:2, 6) – Are we faithfully doing the right things so that we are fruitful; that is, so lives are being changed?
3. Healthy Relationships (1:4, 8) – Do the people love one another in the Spirit?
4. Faithful Leaders (1:7) – Are the leaders faithful in their service? Marks of a faithful leader include: making the teaching of the Word a priority (1:6-7), being a servant (1:7, 4:12), being a prayer warrior (4:12), being a hard worker (4:13), and being committed to doctrinal purity (4:12).
5. Commitment to Discipleship (2:6-7) – Is the church committed to going, baptizing, and teaching?
6. Commitment to Progress (1:28) – Is there a desire for the church and its people to mature?
How well does your church meet these key health indicators? In which indicator does your church particularly need to grow? Of course no church is perfect, but is your church moving in the right direction? Regardless, what steps might you take to help it move in the right direction?
A Pastor’s Longing
One of the great longings of my life is that we at Bethlehem [Baptist Church] would be the sending base of ever-increasing numbers of missionaries to the unreached peoples and that we would send them with ever-increasing effectiveness and ever-increasing faithfulness and ever-increasing care for them and their families. When I think about not wasting my life, this is what I think about as often as anything: study and pray and write and speak and lead in a way that results in more and more visionary young people and restless mid-career people and wise, mature retired people who pull up their stakes, pack their tents, and go with Jesus and the gospel to unreached peoples of the world, no matter where they are – far or near.
– John Piper in A Holy Ambition
May we have the same passion for missions!
Ministry Moments
Today, I am starting a new weekly feature. My plan is to feature some good posts on pastoral ministry each Monday. It will be similar to Passion Points, except the posts included in Ministry Moments will be primarily for pastors. I was playing around with a second blog for pastors, but I really don’t have time to write two blogs, so I’m just going to include a pastoral ministry category in this one. I suspect most of the readers of this blog are not pastors, and if that is you, you can just slide past this one each week. For the pastors, here are some good posts to consider:
On Constantly Taking Your Church’s Temperature – Jared Wilson
That voice in your head that keeps rehearsing the disappointments and flaws of your church is not from the Lord.
Christian Leader, Are You Forgetting Something – Sam Crabtree
God is not given the praise he deserves when we ignore or deny the work he is doing in people.
The Subtle Art of Sabotaging a Pastor – Jared Wilson
How the devil might (and often does) tempt a pastor….
Spiritual leadership is knowing where God wants people to be
and taking the initiative to use God’s methods to get them there
in reliance on God’s power.
– John Piper
Declaring the Glory
I have seen a lot of trilliums, but this is the first trilliums I have seen with green stripes.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
– Romans 1:20
Passion Points: Idolatry
For your weekend reading, we return to the important issue of idolatry: placing ourselves or something else before God.
We Are Not God – John Piper (via Tim Challies)
But when humans forsake their Maker and love other things more, they become like the things they love—small, insignificant, weightless, inconsequential, and God-diminishing.
Same-Sex Marriage Make a Lot of Sense – Michael Horton
If God exists for our happiness and self-fulfillment, validating our sovereign right to choose our identity, then opposition to same-sex marriage (or abortion) is just irrational prejudice.
Why Idolatry Was (And Is) Attractive – Kevin DeYoung
Can you see the attraction of idolatry? “Let’s see I want a spirituality that gets me lots, costs me little, is easy to see, easy to do, has few ethical or doctrinal boundaries, guarantees me success, feels good, and doesn’t offend those around me.”
That Idol That You Love Doesn’t Love You Back – Justin Buzzard (via Crossway)
Here’s what you need to know about your idol: That idol that you love, it doesn’t love you back. False gods don’t love you. Idols don’t keep their promises. Anything you worship and build your life on other than God will suck the life out of you and destroy you.
Or as Psalm 115:2-8 so well puts it:
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your church family worshipping the one true God!
Brian J. Mikul 