Make a PLAN
November 16, 2011
From Kevin DeYoung’s blog:
A PLAN for Giving Generously
P – Pray for a generous heart. Make people a priority over prosperity. Don’t think: “How much do I have to give away in order to be obedient?” Ask: “Give me opportunities to sow.”
L – Lifestyle cap. As we earn more, we should give more. If you are wealthier than you used to be, have you done more to increase your standard of living or your standard of giving?
A – Accountability. Set goals and find someone you can trust who won’t be threatened by talking frankly about finances. Sex and money–we don’t talk about them nearly as much as Jesus did.
N – No less than a tithe. Whether the Old Testament requirement is a binding prescription or not, I find it hard to imagine that Western Christians who have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ and enjoy great prosperity, would want to give less than was required of the poorest Israelite. Statistics consistently show that Protestants give less than 3% of their income to their churches. A tithe, for most churchgoers, would be a huge step in the right direction.
Truth
April 25, 2011
Here is the video we showed in the Easter service. A number of folks were asking for it.
Cream of blog 10.05.11
May 11, 2010
A few blog posts worthy of your time
- Kevin DeYoung on that feeling of perpetual guilt you may have.
- Kevin DeYoung on questions we should ask when people are disappointed with the church. (part one, two, and three)
- Got a “Swagger Wagon”? You might want one after watching these two videos.
- And another thing: Is your worship contemporvant? Let these guys show you how to fix that.
- Jonathan Dodson on 5 reasons you may not be seeing spiritual growth.
Happy birthday, Heidelberg Catechism
January 19, 2010
The Heidelberg Catechism has something of a birthday today. It was composed in Heidelberg, Germany at the request of Elector Frederick III, who ruled the Palatinate, an influential German province, from 1559 to 1576. An old tradition credits Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus as co-authors. Both were certainly involved in its composition, although one of them may have had primary responsibility. All we know for sure is reported by the Elector in his preface of January 19, 1563. It was, he writes, “with the advice and cooperation of our entire theological faculty in this place, and of all superintendents and distinguished servants of the church” that he secured the preparation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The catechism was approved by a synod in Heidelberg in January 1563. A second and third German edition, each with small additions, as well as a Latin translation were published the same year in Heidelberg. Soon the catechism was divided into fifty-two sections so that one Lord’s Day could be explained in preaching each Sunday of the year.
A long-standing tradition at FPC Kosciusko has been for the minister to read the first question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism at the graveside service of a church member. A local funeral home director told me that he has heard it so many times through the years he has memorized it, even though he is a Methodist and never heard it in church. In case you don’t know it yet, here it is…
1. What is thy only comfort in life and in death?
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.
Also, the questions and answers explaining the phrases of the Apostles’ Creed are very helpful aids for public, gathered worship. I recommend using them occasionally after your congregation recites the Apostles’ Creed. You can find the entire Heidelberg Catechism online from Ligonier Ministries.
The Lord is my shepherd…he laid down his life for his sheep.
December 7, 2009
Joseph Randall at Feeding on Christ wrote this meditation on Christ our Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep:
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Psalm 23:1
This amazing truth is ultimately fulfilled in the Good Shepherd – the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in Him is this supernatural satisfaction fully realized, and for this realization to happen, Jesus had to lay down His life for the sheep (John 10:11).
Jesus had to lack everything for His sheep.
Contra rest in green pastures, He had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20)
Contra still waters, He was baptized with the wrath of God (Luke 12:50)
Contra a restored soul, His soul was poured out unto death (Isaiah 53:12)
Contra being led in right paths, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and offered Himself as a propitiation so that God might be proved righteous (Acts 8:32, Romans 3:25-26)
Contra fearing no evil in the dark death valley, He was made evil Who knew no evil and sorrowed unto death as He contemplated the darkness of death that would utterly consume Him (2 Corinthians 5:21, Mark 14:34-36)
Contra having God with him as His comfort, God forsook Him, pouring out His just wrath upon Him (Matthew 27:46)
Contra having a rod and a staff to comfort Him, the rod of the Father was pleased to crush Him (Isaiah 53:10)
Contra having a table spread before Him, He hungered in the wilderness and thirsted unto death (Luke 4:1-2, John 19:28)
Contra having His head anointed with oil, He wore a blood-soaked crown of thorns (Matthew 27:29)
Contra having a cup that overflows, He drank the cup of the wrath of God to the dregs (Isaiah 51:17, Matthew 26:39)
Contra goodness and mercy pursuing Him all His days, wrath and torment pursued Him unto death (Isaiah 53)
Contra dwelling in the house of the LORD, He was banished from the dwelling of the LORD as the unclean and cursed one (Galatians 3:13)
And He did all of this on behalf of stubborn, sinful, hell deserving sheep who rebelled against Him. This is the best news in the world! All who know this Good Shepherd by grace through faith will lack no good thing, for He will provide for them, protect them, comfort them, and satisfy them fully – He will be all and all to them now and forever and ever…
Roger Lowther: organ concert and missions report, Sept. 13
September 9, 2009
Sunday night organ concert and missions report: This Sunday evening at First Presbyterian Church, Kosciusko, Roger W. Lowther will perform and give us a presentation on the MTW ministry he is pursuing in Tokyo, Japan. You can visit Roger’s blog here. Roger is a Massachusetts native with a degree in applied physics from Columbia University and a masters of music in organ performance from the Julliard School. He has won awards in a number of national and international organ competitions and served as organist at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis from 1998-2002.Roger and his wife Abi have been involved in church planting in Japan since 2005. Through artistic events and concerts, they create opportunities for friendship and evangelism and connect churches to surrounding communities. They also mentor Japanese Christians in leading worship and encourage indigenous worship and hymnody. Click here to view an excerpt from a recent performance.
Prayer: a rare medium well done
August 18, 2009
Over at Scotty Smith’s blog, he’s sharing some prayers he has composed about many different aspects of life: friends, enemies, Jesus’ return, suffering, joy, acceptance, shame, and much more below are three that have gripped my heart recently
Prayer for a Thick Skin and a Big Heart
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21
Dear Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, apart from you, the admonitions in this passage mock our sensibilities. Everything within us instinctively wants to get even when we are hurt by others. Whether it’s a “light-hearted” insult or an outright assault; whether it’s our forgotten birthday or a remembered failure; whether we’re excluded from a party or included in someone’s madness… so often, too often, the pain we feel get’s recycled and redistributed to others.
We ask you for thick skin and a big heart, Jesus. We want to love well in the presence of everything from non-intended slights to full bore evil. Where evil has already deeply wounded us or is presently lurking, Jesus, let us remember, even deeper in our hearts, that you will repay, you will avenge. Because you have already overcome evil on the cross and have secured its utter annihilation, we can dare to imagine overcoming evil with good. We are clueless about feeding hungry, thirsty enemies, Jesus. Take our hand and show us the way.
And where we are just too sensitive, Jesus, too easily offended, too ready to keep record of wrongs done to us… may the gospel bring us much greater freedom. May this be a week, Jesus, of overlooking everything that should be overlooked, of dealing wisely as peacemakers with the situations we must confront, and a week of revoking all revenge in light of the Day you return to make all things new. All for your glory we ask these things, Jesus. AmenA Prayer About Weaknesses
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Heavenly Father, I totally get Martin Luther’s statement that “bad theology is the worst taskmaster of all.” For there’s so much in this one passage of Scripture that exposes and contradicts many distorted and destructive notions I used to have about the Christian life. I wasn’t raised to delight in weakness, rather to despise weakness, to deny weakness, to demonize weakness, to de-throne weakness.
It was all about “the victorious Christian life”… being “superman-Christian,”… basically a Type A personality on spiritual steroids, filled with positive confessions, and an unrealistic obsession with being in control, of myself and others. I didn’t want sufficient grace, I wanted replacement grace. What a miserable me-centered merciless myth.
How I praise you, Father, that you are actively working to bring to completion the good work you have begun in each of your children, including me. Hasten that glad Day! Until then, Jesus, please help me to delight in my weaknesses (plural). I have NEVER been more aware of being weak, of having no ability to change certain parts of my brokenness. I really am weak. Jesus, I so want your power to rest on me, I so need your power to rest on me. I am desperate for, and expectant of, sufficient grace from you.
Lastly, as you continue to humble and gentle my heart, help me be more compassionate towards others, in their weaknesses. You haven’t called me to “fix” anyone, but to love everyone. What a wonderful merciful Savior you are, Jesus. Indeed, it was because you embraced the weakness of the cross, Jesus, that I can gladly boast in the weaknesses of my life. What a most profound, liberating and hope-filled paradox. Amen
A Prayer About Acceptance
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7
Lord Jesus, it’s both settling and centering to begin this day in the peaceful assurance of your acceptance. You know everything about me, and still I am fully and eternally accepted by God in you. You know my failures, fissures, fickleness, foolishness, faithlessness… and yet you totally accept me. When I confess my sins, I don’t inform you of anything you don’t already know. In fact, I’m probably only am aware of 3 or 4% of my actual sins. It’s absolutely astonishing to be this known and this accepted, by YOU.
But here comes the difficult part, Jesus. As you have accepted me, you are calling me to accept my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you really have enough grace that can enable me to love like that, Jesus? Are you really calling me to receive, welcome, and love others with whom I disagree about so many things? You’re really gonna have to help me, because there are a lot of my brothers and sisters, (even those in my own family), with whom I disagree on everything from topics in theology, politics, dress, issues of Christian liberty, women’s issues, how to spend money, worship styles, what to do on Sunday, educating children, drinking alcohol, entertainment… and that’s just for starters.
I need a bigger gospel-heart and more gospel-wisdom, Jesus, if I’m going to make any headway in this calling. Please help me show compassion without compromising my convictions. Please show me the difference between essential and non-essential matters. Please show me the difference between accepting someone where they are and acquiescing to the destructive things they are doing. Please free me from the limitations of my perspective, the prejudices of my heritage, and the insecurities of my comfort zone. Please, please, please free me from my stinkin’ need to be right all the time.
Father, please remind me, over and over, that YOU will bring to completion the good work YOU began in each of your children. And burn the conviction, indelibly into my heart, that it brings YOU praise when I work hard at accepting others as Jesus’ accepts me. So very Amen, I pray, in Jesus’ name.
Matthew Henry’s A Method for Prayer available online
August 12, 2009
In 1994 Christian Focus Publications released a newly edited version of Matthew Henry’s A Method for Prayer (original edition appeared in 1712). Former professor and constant friend Ligon Duncan served as editor. A Method for Prayer has assisted and encouraged in me over the last fifteen years in both private and public prayer. It has helped me pray with greater Scriptural proportion and brought my prayers into greater conformity to the priorities and the very language of God’s Word.
Now Henry’s A Method for Prayer is available online, together a number of resources. Take and read…and above all, PRAY!
WQOTW: I cannot live like Jesus
August 5, 2009
Chip Stam is the director of the Institute for Christian Worship at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He faithful puts out a “Worship Quote of the Week” (free subscription to WQOTW is available at his website). Below is this week’s quote:
Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE is a poem of worship and commitment from a ten-year-old girl (my great aunt, Betty Scott Stam). She and her husband, John Stam, attended Moody Bible Institute and went as missionaries to China. In December of 1934, scarcely one year after their marriage, they found themselves caught up in the advance of the Communists into the town where they were living. They were captured, held for an exorbitant ransom, marched through the streets of the village, and then were beheaded. I have written a short essay on their martyrdom. See www.carlstam.org/familyheritage/jbstam.html. May our families and churches help to train and nurture more ten-year-olds who will–like Betty Stam–surrender everything to the Savior.
I CANNOT
I cannot live like Jesus,
Example though He be–
For He was strong and selfless,
And I am tied to ME.
I cannot live like Jesus;
My soul is never free;
My will is strong and stubborn;
My love is weak and wee.
BUT I HAVE ASKED MY JESUS
TO LIVE HIS LIFE IN ME.I cannot look like Jesus–
More beautiful is He
In soul and eye and stature,
Than sunrise on the sea.
Behold His warm, His tangible,
His dear humanity!
Behold His white perfection
Of purest deity!
YET JESUS CHRIST HAS PROMISED
THAT WE LIKE HIM SHALL BE.– Elizabeth Alden Scott Stam, THE FAITH OF BETTY SCOTT STAM IN POEM AND VERSE. Arranged by her parents, Clara and Charles E. Scott. Philadelphia: China Inland Mission, 1938, p. 50.
The Lord bless you…bless the Lord
May 8, 2009
In 2001 I was teaching in a seminary in St. Petersburg, Russia. During my lectures on the Psalms, a rather vocal student asked me in good English with a husky Russian accent, “How is it that you can bless God? God is greater than you. He can bless you, but you cannot bless him. Is this right?” I was asked a similar question earlier this week. I think it arose in discussion in one of the adult Sunday School classes.
The idea behind “bless” (Hebrew barak) is to speak a good word about someone. When God blesses someone (e.g., Genesis 12:1-3; Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 29:11), he speaks a good word over that person for his well-being; he does or gives something of value to a person. A related Hebrew word is berakah, a blessing or a gift or present.
Only God has fiat power, i.e., he can speak and it is done. He is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality” [1 Timothy 6:15-16]. He is the only sovereign power and authority in the universe. He is the only sovereign; therefore, he is the happy [blessed] sovereign.
When a person blesses God (Psalm 26:12; 34:1; 103:1,20-22; 104:35; 106:48; Revelation 5:12-13; 7:12), he speaks a good word about God’s steadfast love, generosity, and grace. We typically call speaking a good word about someone praise. So “Bless the Lord, O my soul” means “Praise the Lord, O my soul.”
Psalm 134 is a short psalm that uses barak in both senses. Ephesians 1:3 has the same dual usage. When I bless God, I find that he blesses me (think of the benediction at the end of a worship service). Also, when I consider the way God has heaped blessings upon me in Christ, I can’t help but bless his name.
