Saturday 26 March 2011

5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church

Excellent article from Resurgence! Every Christian Parent needs to read this and be honest if you see yourself in any way. We are all in need of a little wake up call every now and then, and with 8 out of 10 of our kids walking away from God after High School, then these challenges are in order. I know that my children's souls belong to God and He alone can save them. My goal must be faithfulness not success. But living the gospel in front of my children should be the norm, not the exception. If I am truly a born-again believer who has been transformed by the grace of God then my children should easily see it, and who better to know if my fruit is real than my children.
Thomas Weaver » Family Children Church Wisdom


1. Make sure your faith is only something you live out in public

Go to church... at least most of the time. Make sure you agree with what you hear the preacher say, and affirm on the way home what was said especially when it has to do with your kids obeying, but let it stop there. Don’t read your bible at home. The pastor will say everything you need to hear on Sundays. Don’t engage your children in questions they have concerning Jesus and God. Live like you want to live during the week so that your kids can see that duplicity is ok.

2. Pray only in front of people

The only times you need to pray are when your family is over, Holiday meals, when someone is sick, and when you want something. Besides that, don’t bother. Your kids will see you pray when other people are watching, no need to do it with them in private.

3. Focus on your morals

Make sure you insist your kids be honest with you. Let them know it is the right thing for them to do, but then feel free to lie in your own life and disregard the need to tell them and others the truth. Get very angry with your children when they say words that are “naughty” and “bad”, but post, read, watch, and say whatever you want on TV, Facebook, and Twitter. Make sure you focus on being a good person. Be ambiguous about what this means.

4. Give financially as long as it doesn’t impede your needs

Make a big deal out of giving at church. Stress the need to your children the value of tithing, while not giving sacrificially yourself. Allow them to see you spend a ton of money on what you want, while negating your command from scripture to give sacrificially.

5. Make church community a priority. As long as there is nothing else you want to do

Hey, you are a church going family, right? I mean, that’s what you tell your friends and family anyways. Make sure you attend on Sundays. As long as you didn’t stay up too late Saturday night. Or your family isn’t having a big bar-b-que. Or the big game isn’t on. Or this week you just don’t feel like it. Or... I mean, you are church going family so what’s the big deal?

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Accountability is Not the Silver Bullet... But it is a Bullet

I have been challenged lately in my own personal life to understand accountability. I have two teenage boys and I have witnesses first hand how hard it is to stay pure and upright in this present age. It is my desire to help my boys be accountable not to lord over them or shelter them but to protect them. Then in recent months I have seen several acquaintances fall to moral failure! It has been devastating and yet scary. It has forced me to ask myself questions about my personal accountability. What have I done to guard against sin? Who do I look to for help and accountability? I found this very helpful article today from Scott Thomas. I hope any who read it will be as helped and encouraged as I am and that together we will help hold each other up in purity and integrity for the cause of Christ and His Holy name.


by Scott Thomas, Acts 29 President

Pastors Leaping into Sexual Immorality

I am concerned about the number of pastors falling (or more likely, leaping) into sexual immorality. It is not a new problem.  The Internet seems to have exposed some of these formerly quiet indiscretions hidden in the walls of the church out into the public.  I spoke with two wives recently whose pastor husbands left them for a younger woman who was employed in the church. These wives were both devastated over the tragedy and they were full of anxiety about how they were going to provide direction and provision for the young children at home. In both cases, the pastors had carried on their immorality for an extended period of time. This raised the question about their personal accountability.

Accountability Will Fix Everything... or Not.

A way to protect the pastor is through accountability but it is not a foolproof way to protect them and the church. One of the men who committed adultery was in a regular accountability with other pastors in the church. These younger associate pastors asked their senior pastor the right questions and he lied to them for seven months.
I am not convinced that accountability is properly administered within the church. I think men join an accountability group as a façade to hide their spiritually anemic lives. I even think some men are in an accountability group to get their wives off their backs. Somebody had to say it.  I think some “Men’s Accountability Groups” miss the point altogether. The focus, it seems, is on the accountability and not on responding to the Gospel. There has to be a greater motivation for an accountability group other than checking off our list of questions asked by men who hope you don’t ask them the same questions. Asking a list of the same questions can do nothing but produce self-righteousness. We need to ask, "How jacked up were you this week?" rather than basically ask questions like "How good were you?"

Accountability is the Bridge, not the Destination.

I view accountability like a bridge over a body of water. The goal is to get across the water. The means of crossing the water is the bridge. And the pillars that uphold the bridge are important for its structural integrity. But when you set out to cross a bridge, you don’t say, “We drove to the bridge to focus on the pillars and to talk about them and to take pictures of these massive pillars of concrete and steel.” Rather, you say, “We drove to the bridge so that we can cross this body of water and get to the other side.” You focus primarily on the destination, a little on the method to get there (the bridge), and hardly ever on the pillars. The purpose for accountability is to provide the spiritual integrity to uphold the means to allow the Gospel to transform every aspect of your life. The other side of the water is Christ–likeness. When you focus exclusively on the accountability, it is like the Bridge to Nowhere with awesome pillars.
I have a formalized and detailed accountability structure for my personal life, my spiritual life and my missional life. Four men serve me well and ask me hard questions. They have access to my wife to ask questions and they have access to my two sons.

Five Basics for Accountability:

  1. Focus on the gospel and your responding to the grace of God.
  2. Find men who have regular contact with you and can observe your life closely.
  3. Find men who are not employed by you or under your direct authority. Sometimes silence on their part means not getting fired. It is okay to supplement your accountability with men under your supervision, but they cannot be the only ones who are holding you accountable.
  4. You have to train participants to ask hard questions and to be relentless about their receiving an accurate answer, even if they question your honesty. Someone asked me how I would know if an accountability team was actually working for their benefit. I told him to lie to them and see if they press anyway. If you can lie to your accountability team, it is of no value or protection to you. Now, I know where all liars go. It is the same place that all whoremongers go (Rev 21:8). I am not encouraging lying; I am encouraging raw honesty.
  5. Utilize questions that are not the same every week and find questions that examine sins in your head and your heart and not just in your hands.  I believe sin starts in our head where we entertain ungodly thoughts and if unchecked, sin moves into our heart were we long to fulfill that lustful thought. Jesus spoke about this as he condemned not only the act of adultery but the thoughts of adultery (Matt. 5:28). James said, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15-16).
Accountability is not the silver bullet––but it is a bullet; it is a tool to be implemented with precision. It can be helpful when the focus is on Gospel transformation and not merely on behavioral modification. Pastors, Men, “ponder the path of your feet [and allow others to carefully observe your thoughts and your heart’s passion’s]; then all your ways will be sure” (Proverbs 4:26).

Friday 18 March 2011

G.O.S.P.E.L.

I am challenged in my life to be dicerning when it comes to the Bible and to the doctrines it teaches. I am also challenged to be humble and teachable and not to think for one second that I am always right. Only God's Word is always right. God is perfect I am not. I am from Newfoundland, an east coast island off Canada. I was raised in a conservative Baptist Church on traditional hymnal music and quartet southern gosple music. I have been blessed by this and would not trade it for anything. I am also learning that God is not only infinite in His person but in His creativity as well. I am learning that our world and cultures present and display the gospel in many ways. That the message of the Bible transcends culture but God allows for diversity in the presentation as a means to reach more and more. This video is an example of that very creativity. It is also an example of God molding me...this genre of presentation is something I could never do, but I was moved, challenged, blessed and uplifted by the sheer honesty and grace by which the truth and power of the gospel is presented. Listen and enjoy.
G.O.S.P.E.L.

Thursday 10 March 2011

What does being on Mission mean anyway?

          Terms, words and phrases, we all use them, especially in church circles. But its what we mean when we say these things that can make a world of difference. Lately the term, "Mission" is being tossed around quite a bit. "Is your church on mission?" is a question I have been asked frequently lately.
          Yet, what does it mean to be on mission as a church? Some would quote Matthew 28:18-20, others would point to the end of Acts 2, still others would go to Ephesians 4, not to mention all of Titus and I Timothy. Now all of these passages are God's Word and they all do point out and teach things the Church is suppose to do. BUT! How are we to know if we are on mission, or not? Timmy Brister has an excellent aritlce on his blog... "Provocations & Pantings" called, "Being on Mission in Community" This I has helped me personally and I hope it will do the same for you all.  

Be-ing on Mission in Community

There’s a lot of talk these days about missional communities.  Currently, I am working through Porterbrook’s Missional Community Life curriculum in three different venues, so I am discussing it quite a bit.  About a year ago, I started my kingly moleksine when I accidentally bought a sketchbook moleskine instead of a regular hardback journal.  I am not an artist, so there’s really nothing for me to sketch, but I do like to lay out my thinking in various ways, including systems, charts, diagrams, etc.
Several months ago, I began thinking about what would be the process of an unbeliever being engaged in a gospel community on mission.  The result of that thinking was this process I “skecthed” out on my kingly moleskine:

Be-ing on Mission in Community

1.  Be-friending – gospel-driven believers neighboring well in their community and building intentional relationships with unbelievers with a “sent” focus
2.  Be-longing - these believers cultivate these relationships by dwelling (incarnationally) with their new unbelieving friends and invite them to be a part their small (group) community where they are engaged within a network of authentic relationships with other Christians
3.  Be-holding – as unbelievers embrace the hospitality Christians have shown them, they witness firsthand and behold what the Christian life looks like (embracing the gospel).  They see and experience up close both in word and deed lives transformed by the gospel.
4.  Be-lieving – unbelievers come to understand what responding to the gospel means, namely repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ because they have seen it lived out among Christians.  Through this, they also come to believe themselves in the good news of Jesus Christ.
5.  Be-longing – new believers are incorporated into covenant membership in the body of Christ through the ordinance of baptism and learn life in the family of God
6.  Be-coming - new believers begin to grow through continual rediscovery of the gospel in all its implications and application, being conformed to Christ in a community aggressively pursuing holiness and authentically practicing humility.
7.  Be-getting – growing Christians reproduce themselves by making disciples in a community of disciple-making disciples
So the process of being on mission in a community takes an unbeliever from first engaged with gospel intentionality and ends with gospel reproduction (the process then repeats).  The process can be broken down in pairs as well:
Mission and Community –> Befriending and Belonging
Mission and Gospel –> Beholding and Believing
Mission and Discipleship –> Belonging and Becoming
Mission and Leadership –> Begetting
That’s a brief summary of some of the inner working in my reflection of be-ing on mission in a gospel community.  I’d love to get your thoughts on this.  My hope is to create meaningful pathways for both believers to move out for the mission and for unbelievers to move for the message.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Looks like a great book

I am currently preaching through the gospel of Matthew and will be coming up on chapter 4 in the next few weeks. This is the narrative of Jesus temptations and how He examples victory for us. I was very excited to read this article on Russel Moores new book, "Tempted and Tried". I will be buying this book to read and have in my library.

Feel the Horror of the Stories Around You

Several years ago Jessica, a new Christian, found her father hanging from a rope in her room, dead by his own hand. She was haunted by this horror, of course, and even more so because it was obvious he had planned to be found in a place where she’d be the one to find him. In the suicide note, he criticized and taunted Jessica, calling her a disappointment and a failure.
For years, she didn’t want to fall in love, didn’t want to marry, because she knew her destiny. Her father wasn’t alone in killing himself. His father had done the same, as had his father before him. There was something dark in the gene pool back there, she thought, and she saw the same depressive tendencies in herself that her father had at that age. She could see her future before her, and in it she was hanging from a rope. She just didn’t want there to be any children there to suffer for another generation as she had through hers.
Now you might not have something as horrific as all of that behind you and in front of you. But there’s something there. And many of us often feel as helpless as Jessica when surveying our past patterns and our future prospects. Jessica is wrong in the way she’s seeing this—and so are you. You are not your history, and you are not your destiny. If you are in Christ, you are a new creation. Your past is his past, and your future is his future. You do not have to be what you are.
In one sense, Jessica is actually gifted with a perception many of us can’t see (or ignore). She has looked at the possible outcome of her life, if she follows a particular path. If she embraces this as a Christian, this could actually prove to be a way to empower her resistance to temptation.
The apostle Paul warned the church at Corinth about the consequences of sin by pointing them to a picture of an alternative reality, to what would happen if they fell to Satan’s strategies. The Israelite ancestors, Paul wrote, were “destroyed by serpents” and “destroyed by the Destroyer” (1 Cor. 10:9-10). Twenty-three thousand of them fell “in a single day” (1 Cor. 10:8). They were “overthrown in the wilderness” (1 Cor. 10:5). This, Paul wrote, is an “example” for us (1 Cor. 10:11). Again, these were clearly believers in the church at Corinth. But the apostle nonetheless thought they ought to know about the disaster that could await them, a theme consistent throughout the Bible. God uses warnings to keep us from falling.
As you face whatever temptation you’re up against, consider the warning of temporal disaster. The simple truth is that, when you’re in the throes of giving in to a temptation, you just don’t know what you really want. The bread that was previously stone might have tasted good, but Jesus knew it wasn’t worth being excluded from the table of God. God has designed the universe in such a way that we flourish when we walk with the grain of the cosmos and not against it. Taking a dog by the ears might seem to be an exciting thing to do, in the moment, but observation of human nature and of dog nature and of the way the world works ought to keep you from doing it (Prov. 26:17).

 
In the Proverbs, a father showed his son the inevitable results of adultery. These aren’t just the eschatological results (that we can know by faith), but also those that can be observed, over the period of a life, by sight. The bitter end of this momentary ecstasy is disgrace and ruin (Prov. 5:8-14). In his providential discipline of us, God tends to put such pictures before us, that we might watch and take warning. A while back, I heard of a pastor I’d long respected who was caught in a secret pattern of sin. What seared into my conscience wasn’t his sin (which wasn’t all that unusual) or even the loss of his ministry, his reputation, and his home. What I remember most is hearing him talk about what it is like to drive several hours away to his daughter’s college dormitory room to tell her what her Dad had done. I don’t even have a daughter, and my children are far from college-aged, but I could envision that scenario, with horror. The human carnage of that struck me, and haunts me even now. Often in moments like this, what you hear is the Spirit saying, “This easily could be you. Hear and be warned.”
This is one of the reason we need an intimacy between generations in our families and in our churches. These days most people spend a large portion of their lives staring at screens and “consuming media.” Previous generations would have ended their evenings gathered around listening to one another tell stories or sing ballads or recite sagas. There is something lost there. When all I have is my peer group and the “entertainment” marketed to my peer group, I lose the kind of perspective that sees the ultimate comeuppance of pride or the heartbreak of sexual licentiousness or the sadness of dying with nothing more than a bunch of stuff piled around you.
Moreover, we’re all going to face the unique temptations that  come with each stage of life. We teach our children ahead of time that puberty will mean “a lot of strange things will be happening.” Why don’t we do the same thing in having older men preparing thirty-somethings for the testosterone drop that often prompts a so-called “midlife crisis”? Why can’t older women teach younger women how to handle the hormonal upheaval that can come with menopause, and how to go through it with Christlikeness? Why couldn’t the elderly in our congregations warn the younger generations about the pull toward bitterness or despondency or rage that can come with failing health or life in nursing homes?
As you resist temptation, keep a close watch on the stories around you, not with a prurient interest and certainly not with a sense of moral superiority, but with a sense of warned empathy. You could be in every one of those situations. Feel the horror that comes with each of them.
*************************
Taken from Tempted and Tried by Russell Moore copyright ©2011. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Il 60187, www.crossway.org.
Russell Moore is the dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic ddministration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church. For additional resources by Moore visit Moore to the Point.

Monday 7 March 2011

Love and Marriage

          Often there are discussions in our churches about how culture is creeping in. Divorce is almost as high within the church as it is without. Our teens are walking away from God at a pace of 8 out of 10. Pornography viewing is at an all time high inside the church among our young men and climbing at an alarming rate among young women.
          What is most incredible is that rather than being honest about our sin, Christians seem more content to play the blame game.Families blame the church and the church blames the family. Some will blame public schools and others Christian schools. Others will say we've abandoned old traditions like Sunday School and youth group, while others fire back that we've over churched the kids?
           Whoa! Lets all stand back and think for a second. I am going to sound very old fashioned here but...maybe we are now seeing the consequences of several generations raised on TV?
We have flat screen, 3D televisions with over a hundred channels and almost no supervision when it comes to family viewing. One blog a couple of weeks ago reported that the average person is watching over 30 hours of TV per week and that is no different in the church?
            More kids have TV's in their bedroom along with computers and iphones all with high-speed Internet and they are watching and listening to the worlds definition of truth which includes love! The tragedy is that we now have multiple generations in both parents and children that have been raised on TV. My fear is that we need a radical moving of the Holy Spirit to realign us with Biblical truth. From what I've observed on facebook, and listening to our teenagers, not to mention our parents, reality TV, ( if there is such a thing) is all the rage. But what are they actually teaching us about things like love and relationships?
            "Think Christian" has a great article on one such show called, "The Bachelor" a show that I have heard many talk about, especially among our young ladies. Groups of professing Christians gathering to watch a show that actually celebrates a man having multiple relationships with other women???? Please give this a careful read and may we all be honest about where we've allowed our mind to go. Romans 12: 2 says... "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
            We need to admit our failure, repent of our sin and confess it to our great Saviour! Yes! It's time to start being honest we've allowed the world to educate us, to influence us and all in the name of harmless entertainment.      

How “The Bachelor” shapes
our cultural view of love

Posted March 6th, 2011 @ 10:13 pm by Jerod Clark
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“I came here looking for love.”
         That’s the sentence I’ve come accustomed to hearing each week after the latest woman is eliminated from “The Bachelor.” Like many men across the country, I’ve found myself involved in the drama of this reality dating show thanks to the fact that my wife watches it. While it began as simply background noise for me, I’ve now become interested in the details and stressed out by the conflict and drama.
         While I can put aside some of the petty stupidity that comes along with reality television, I can’t shake how messed up the idea of love is with contestants on the show. I have to question how someone who claims they’re looking for true love can say, “Yes, the best way to find it is to go on a national game show where the prize is a marriage proposal.”
         I think this is all an amplification of what the definition of love has become in society. Love has morphed into the need for attention with the side benefits of what love really is: a committed relationship. And in this quest for attention, many of these women are willing to throw out their standards for the pursuit love.
         For example, in the journey for true love many of these women are willing to share a man – who they say they’re falling in love with – among lots of other women. Weekly, The Bachelor, Brad Womack, goes on dates with multiple ladies, which usually end in the pair making out. Along with that comes a profession from him to each woman of how special he thinks she is and how he could be falling for her. Notice he doesn’t say love. The women are okay with totally baring their souls to say they are in love only to get that lukewarm response. The show is what it is, but you can see the pain in these women who say they’re falling in love with this man but are realizing he’s having a relationship with several others.
         Throughout the show, which will have its season finale on March 14, I keep hoping for a voice of reason. Someone who would remind these contestants what’s really going on. A couple of weeks ago, Womack traveled to meet the families of the four finalists. I thought surely some parent would question what’s really happening. Yet parent after parent gave their blessings for a proposal if their daughter is the one chosen. None asked their daughter, “Are you really in love and ready to marry a guy who’s currently having relationships with three other women and can’t decide which one to propose to?” None of them questioned Womack in the same way – at least it wasn’t shown.
        I can hear people responding to this by saying, don’t watch the show. But I think in many ways there’s a need to be an active viewer to understand where culture is in terms of interpreting love. And if you understand that view of love, you can better serve the friends around you who are in a situation of trying to find a mate. I’m not fully convinced the local church is doing a good job of providing a real interpretation of love, so people are turning to things like “The Bachelor” instead.
        For the millions of people watching, “The Bachelor” is shaping our cultural view of love. It’s saying you have to compete for love. Plus you have to not be yourself and do things you normally wouldn’t to prove you’re worthy of love. Where’s the sacrifice? Where is the pursuit of true love over fictionalized romance? And what happens once the show’s over?
        You never really get to see what it’s like for the women who get kicked off the show. Being on “The Bachelor” is a crazy lifestyle. Dates include traveling the world to exotic locations, going on endless shopping sprees, performing on stage with Cirque du Soleil and having a whole carnival set up just for you. Once that’s gone, what are you left with when you’re back at home forced into finding a normal relationship?
         I hope there’s the realization of the difference between being given attention and being genuinely romanced. I’m guessing the above scenario is the case for some of the women who leave “The Bachelor.” But history shows others get the fame and attention they’re trying to find. They pop up in other places in the media realm. And some, who have a dramatic enough story, actually come back as “The Bachelorette” to try to find love again. They love the attention they get. But it’s not a fairy-tale ending for those who have “won”    
         “The Bachelor” over the years either. After the cameras are off and the elaborate dates are done, very few of the couples actually end up married. Once the real courtship begins, the thrill that comes from getting all the attention is gone. Then the search for love starts again. My hope is it doesn’t get blurred with the need for attention the next time around.
Jerod Clark is the project leader for Church Juice, which helps train and consult with churches on how to use media better as an outreach tool. Read more at the Church Juice blog.

Friday 4 March 2011

Video Games are Not Sinful, They're Just Stupid

Another great article, that I thought many of you might like me with teenage boys benefit from...
Video Games are Not Sinful, They're Just Stupid

Strength in weakness

Hey everyone,
        Here is a great quote I found on Ray Ortlunds blog. I am praying that God will give me the strength in weakness I need and to glory only in the Cross each and every day.
Strength in weakness

Wednesday 2 March 2011

No Change without Confession!

I have recently purchased a book called, "What did you Expect?? by Paul Tripp. This book takes a gopsel focused approach to marriage and is an excellent tool for marriages of all ages. I was excited to see this post on Vitamin Z today for it fits perfectly with what Debbie and I hope to do this fall. We are planning right now to do a Grace Group on Marriage using this book as a spring board to learn from God's Word. Here is a sample quote from the book...
The couple is stuck in a cycle of repeating the same things over and over again. They repeat the same misunderstandings. They rehearse and re-rehearse the same arguments. They repeat the same wrongs. Again and again things are not resolved. Night after night they go to bed with nothing reconciled; they awake with memories of another bad moment, and they march toward the next time when the cycle will be repeated. It all becomes predictable and discouraging. They hate the cycle. They wish things were what they once were. Their minds swing between nostalgia and disappointment. They want things to be different, but they don’t seem to know how to break free, and they don’t seem willing to do the one thing that makes change possible—confess.

They tell themselves they will do better. They promise they will spend more time together. They promise they will pray together for a moment before they start their day. They decide to spend more time together outside the house. They promise they will talk more. But it is not long before all the promises fade away. It is not long before they are in the same place again. All their commitments to change have been subverted by the one thing they seem unwilling to do: take the focus off the other and put it on themselves. Here is the point: no change takes place in a marriage that does not begin with confession.

Confession is the doorway to growth and change in your relationship. It is essential. It is fundamental. Without it you are relegated to a cycle of repeated and deepening patterns of misunderstanding, wrong, and conflict. With it, the future is bright and hopeful, no matter how big the issues that you are now facing.- Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage, p. 72, 73

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Rob Bell, Josh Harris and the Role of an Elder

           I have been burdened to live by example what God expects an Elder to be in a local church. Paul told the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20... "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears."
           Many in Christian circles have heard of and read Rob Bell, he is a pastor, communicator, writer and has produced many DVDs called, "Nooma". I have read most of Rob's book's and even own several of the Nooma series. I have been cautious to say the least, but now it seems that Rob is declaring a belief system that deminishes God's Holiness and Justice. He is about to release a new book called, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. The basic premise is that Hell will be empty because God is going to let everyone into Heaven?
           Josh Harris who we have booked to come in August has addressed Rob's book. I thought it would be great to share his thoughts with you. Josh has been gifted by God to write and communicate well. I am very excited to have him coming to our church, as I know God will use him to bless us.
            I share this with you, not to pick a fight with Rob Bell, nor to come across as better. My desire is to fulfill the mandiate Paul laid before the Ephesian Elders. We need to stand firm on the essentials of the gospel, and universalism is an afront to the justice of an Almight God.
           I hope you will read this with a discerning mind and humble heart. I pray that God will show Rob the balance between God's Love and God's Justice. I hope that as you read Josh's words you will be encouraged and excited to hear him in August.     

          

Many people have challenged me for tweeting my dismay over Rob Bell's new book when it hasn't been released yet. I think the content of his video alone is concerning enough to be challenged. But I will read the book and if it contradicts the publisher's description and the content of the video I will rejoice and I will apologize to Rob for jumping to conclusions. (At which point I hope Rob will forgive me and also thank me for helping to make his book a best-seller.) Honestly, I would loved to be proved wrong and look stupid on this one. But based on the trajectory I've observed of Rob's teaching, and the content of his video and the statement of his publisher, I have a sinking feeling.

We also need to remember that all discussion about hell (for those of us who believe scripture teaches its existence) should be done with heavy hearts. Hell is what our sin deserves (Eph. 2:3). Hell is what God in his love has rescued us from. And we are not rescued from hell by our merit or the rightness of our doctrine. We are rescued from God's wrath by the self-giving love and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (Rom. 5:8-9). We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8). So there should be no glee or triumph in our tone in seeking to proving this biblical doctrine. Our hearts should break for the lost and for our own coldness of heart towards their spiritual condition. This conversation should lead us to redouble our prayers and our evangelistic, risk-taking efforts to proclaim the hope of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, to the ends of the earth.
          Read the rest of the article here

Counseling Is Not About Pat Answers But a Person

This is a great interview with David Powlison on the foundations of Biblical Counseling.
Counseling Is Not About Pat Answers But a Person