Monday Musings

You are not what you want.  You are who you are.  And that’s defined by the Word of God. It might be that God frees your appetite from whatever it’s drawn toward, but usually he instead enables you to fight it.  This might go on for forty days, for forty years, for an entire lifetime.  That’s all right.  There must be room then in our churches for a genuine bearing of one another’s burdens when it comes to the appetites.  Pretending the appetites are instantly nullified by conversion is a rejection of what God has told us–that we are still in the war zone.

–Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried

The Final Days of Jesus

If you have a new revelation from the scriptures, you are probably wrong.  I’m not sure who said that to me first, but it is true.  If you believe you have a new revelation, you are wrong in at least one of two ways.  Either your revelation is not new at all or it is …

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Is Jesus Calling, or is Your Refrigerator Running?

As a kid I remember hearing the rumors of others doing prank calls (emphasis here on others, the fifth amendment is my right).  Caller ID has made prank calling more difficult, but one of the all time favorites for prank calling was the classic, “Is your refrigerator running?” bit.  In the days before caller ID, …

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Your Pastor Knows You Best

I don’t know Andy Schmidt, but I think I like him already.  here’s a quote from his recent article, Platt Wasn’t Enough For My Church: Are Piper, Chan, and Platt better preachers than me? Yes! By far! Can they preach the gospel better than me? Probably. However, those faithful men know and care for their …

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Why This Issue Is Different

Homosexuality isn’t the only sin in the world. But I know of no Christian leader or Christian community promoting theft or championing idolatry as a special blessing from God. It is not an overstatement to say solemnizing same-sex intercourse is in danger of leading people to hell. The same is not true when it comes to sorting out the millennium.  In tolerating the doctrine which affirms homosexual behavior, we are tolerating a doctrine which leads people farther from God, not closer. This is not the mission Jesus gave us when he told us to teach the nations all that he has commanded.

–Kevin DeYoung in Why Is This Issue Different?

A Biblical Worldview or a Worldly View of the Bible

I like this definition of biblical worldview: A Christian worldview or a biblical worldview refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs, derived from the Bible, through which a Christian individual, group or culture interprets the world and interacts with it.  A biblical worldview necessarily involves application of the whole Bible and not merely the parts that …

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World Vision’s Public Declaration of its Theology

I’ve compiled a short list below of responses to World Vision’s recent announcement that they would no longer prohibit homosexuals from employment.  I do not feel that I can add much to the debate beyond what has been said in the articles below, but one thing concerns me greatly that I do not see others …

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Baseball and Christ…The Conversations That Matter

Since yesterday I wrote about what we are learning from our daughter, today it is appropriate for me to write about what I am learning from and through my son.  Wyatt is all boy.  He loves baseball, basketball, football, bike riding, and dirt.  He is just like his daddy which can make for frustrating interactions …

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What A Broken Leg Taught Me About Church Attendance

As a pastor, I’m committed to church attendance.  That goes without saying, but many people assume that my commitment to regular church attendance is based primarily upon the fact that I’m a pastor–more of a “well, of course you think it’s important,” rather than an understanding of why regular church attendance matters. The reality is …

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Four Habits of Spiritually Immature People

I lift weights.  I don’t do crossfit, I don’t bodybuild, I don’t run marathons. I get funny looks in the gym because plates clang together and chains are loud. I like to lift heavy weights and I like getting stronger. As a result, I am a student of weight-lifting and power-lifting. I read and study …

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