Fred Luter elected President of the SBC

Today is a historic day for Southern Baptists with the election of Pastor Fred Luter, Pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans being elected as President of the Convention.  It was even more special for the election to occur in New Orleans.

Wade Burleson, a pastor from Oklahoma, gave a "live" video of this event.  Watch below:

Why You Aren't Dead Yet

After reading this blog post, Greg Surrant, Senior Pastor of Seacoast Church, decided to preach a sermon series on the topic. His creative team produced the video above to promote the series.

(This blog appears on Michael Hyatt's web site written by Greg Surrant.)

In a point of genuine humility but uncertainty he asked me, “Michael, do you think I have anything left to contribute? Are my best days over?” Tears welled up in his eyes.

I admit, his question caught me off-guard. I thought to myself, Here I am with one of the wisest men I have ever met. He is a living treasure. I would pay for the privilege of sitting at his feet and listening to his stories. And he is asking me whether or not he has anything left to contribute? I was flabbergasted.

I leaned in, grasped his hand with mine, and said, “Jimmy, listen to me carefully: your best days are ahead of you. I am not saying this just because I like you—and Ido like you—but because it is the truth. I can prove it to you.”

I then began to make an argument that I first learned in The Noticer by Andy Andrews. In the book, Jones, the personification of wisdom, makes six points to Willow, a seventy-six year old lady, who had given up hope that she had anything left to contribute. (see chapter 6, pp. 83–85).

1. God has a purpose for every single person.
2. You won’t die until that purpose is fulfilled.
3. If you are still alive, then you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do.
4. If you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do, then your very purpose hasn’t been fulfilled.
5. If your purpose hasn’t been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life is still ahead.
6. You have yet to make your most important contribution.

Jones goes on to say,

If the most important part of your life is ahead of you, then even during the worst times, one can be assured that there is more laughter ahead, more success to look forward to, more children to teach and help, more friends to touch and influence. There is proof of hope . . . for more.” (p. 85)

My friend, Jimmy, sat back in his chair and was silent for a full minute. I could tell he was taking it all in. Finally, he said, “Then I better get busy. It sounds like I have a lot of work to do.”

You may be old. You may be sick. You may be divorced. Your kids may not be speaking to you. You may be out of work. You may be broke. You may be discouraged.

But you’re not dead yet.

And that’s proof that you still have not completed what you were put on earth to do.

Day three of thoughts on marriage

As described the last two days, these blogs are from the message by Pastor Johnny Hunt, First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA on "The Effects of the Gospel on Marriage" preached April 15, 2012.

The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the Gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once.  The Gospel is this:  we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.  This is the only kind of relationship that will transform us.

Love without truth is sentimentality;  it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws.

Truth without love is harshness;  it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it.

"God's saving love in Christ, however is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us.  The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent.  The commitment and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God's mercy and grace."  Tim Keller

The hard times of marriage drive us to experience more of this transforming love of God.  The Gospel can fill our hearts with God's love so that you can handle it when your spouse fails to love you as he or she should.

Continual thoughts on marriage

As described yesterday, these blogs are from the message by Pastor Johnny Hunt, First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA on "The Effects of the Gospel on Marriage" preached April 15, 2012.

The secret ("great mystery" of  Ephesians 5:32) is Christ and the church, rejoicing in what he said in verse 25:  "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her."  It is the message that what husbands should do for their wives is what Jesus did to bring us into union with Himself.  Jesus gave Himself for us.  He gave us His glory and power and became a servant.  He died to His own interests and looked to her needs and interests instead.

"If God had the Gospel of Jesus' salvation in mind when He established marriage, then marriage only works to the degree that appropriates the pattern of God's self-giving love in Christ."  - Tim Keller

The Christian teaching does not offer a choice between fulfillment and sacrifice, but rather mutual fulfillment through mutual sacrifice.

The Gospel gives the power and pattern for your marriage.

1.  The experience of marriage will unveil the beauty and depths of the Gospel to you.  It will drive you further into reliance on it.

2.  A greater understanding of the Gospel will help you experience deeper and deeper union with each other as the years go on.

Marriage is a major vehicle for the Gospel's remaking of your heart from the inside out and your life from the ground up.

More tomorrow....

More thoughts on marriage

After I preached the message this past Sunday on the church being the Bride of Christ, a pastor friend notified me of Pastor Johnny Hunt's message on April 15, 2012 at First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA on "The Effects of the Gospel on Marriage"  For the next two days, I want to share insights from Pastor Hunt on the subject of marriage and the Gospel.

What God institutes, He also regulates.  Marriage was instituted by God, regulated by His Word, blessed by our Lord Jesus.

Main enemy of marriage:  sinful self-centeredness.  Marriage is designed to refine our character and "is to create a stable human community for the birth and nurture of children."

Number one factor concerning marriage - compatibility, above all meant someone who shared a "willingness to take them as they are and not change them."

Today, marriage is too idealistic, based not on self-denial but on self-fulfillment.  Each wants to fulfill their own emotional, sexual and spiritual desires.

For this reason, may choose to remain single or cohabitate.  To avoid marriage simply because you don't want to lose your freedom is one of the worse things you can do to your heart.

"We look to sex and romance to give us what we used to get from faith in God."  - Ernest Becker

It is the illusion that if we find our true soul-mate, everything wrong with us will be healed;  but that makes the lover into God and no human being can live up to that.

More tomorrow.....

A committed and passionate love for the local church

This past Sunday (6-10-12) I concluded the series of messages on the church speaking of the church as the Bride of Christ.  This image has greatly impacted me, as I referred to in the closing statements of the message.

Here is just a few thoughts of the impact:

1.  We need to let the thought that "we are the bride of Christ" deeply impact us.  We have been chosen by God to be the bride for His only Son.  This is our source of confidence and self-worth;  not selfish pools filled with sin and selfishness.  He will always be faithful to us.  He will never divorce us.  He loves us unconditionally.  He sacrificially gave Himself for us and continues to do so through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

2.  We need to reflect our commitment and passionate love to our husband (Christ) that He has for us.  Just as no husband or wife should have a great commitment to any other human being than each other, so our greatest relationship value should be our Lord.

3.  We need to reflect our commitment and passionate love for the Bride, just as Christ has expressed.  Who is the Bride of Christ?  No one single person.  The Bride is plural.  The church is the Bride of Christ and I believe you can find His Bride at a local address of believers.  We are the visible Bride and Body of Christ to a watching world.  The church needs a higher priority than we currently do to His Bride and Body.  This commitment is not due to who the pastor is or is not.  This commitment is not due to whether our current local church "meets all our needs" or not (and it is never meant to do that anyway....).  Our commitment to the local church is a direct reflection of our value of being a member of the Bride of Christ.

No converted, Spirit-filled believer will habitually miss regular attendance at the local Bride shop.

I will continue tomorrow....

Sermon, June 10, 2012

Sunday, June 10 was the last sermon in the series on the church.  I preached "Who is the Church?" mainly focusing on the Church as the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32).  Here are the notes.

I am out of the pulpit until July 1.

The audio of the sermon is here.

Got boys? Better read this.

Screwtape's Formula
Boys, Video Games and Porn

June 05, 2012

Written by John Stonestreet on "Breakpoint"

A generation of young men is choosing fantasy over reality. At least that’s what Dr. Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University and psychologist Nikita Duncan argue in their new book, “The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It.”

The message of the book is simple: Research is demonstrating that young men are becoming addicted to video games and online pornography on a scale unparalleled by any addiction that we’ve ever seen in history.

But unlike with drugs, alcohol or gambling, these addictions aren’t for ever-increasing quantity. Instead, they drive boys and young men to seek novelty  — the next big thrill.

According to Zimbardo and Duncan, it’s the same phenomenon observed in laboratory rats which, when given the opportunity, abandoned food in order to electrically stimulate the part of the brain responsible for pleasure. In effect, the rats gladly “short-circuit” their natural means of enjoyment to get a thrill that felt new every time.

“Young men…who play video games and use porn the most,” say the authors, “are being digitally rewired in a totally new way that demands constant stimulation.”

Not only does this kind of addiction rob guys of the time, money and health they need to do other things, but it also diminishes their ability to enjoy real life, which can never offer stimulation as frequently, easily or in as much variety. As a result, say Zimbardo and Duncan, young men addicted to digital sex and digitalsoldiering are less able or willing to participate in those acts for real.

A recent study in Psychology Today, which I talked about last year on “The Point,” reinforces this prognosis. The study found that men who regularly viewed internet pornography actually lost their ability to perform in real-life sexual relationships.

As a consequence of this over-stimulation, boys are now growing up with “new brains.” Not only are they poorly wired for traditional learning, they lack the capacity for strong romantic relationships. Why? Because they tend to be largely unable to delay gratification or set long-term goals.  They have to live for now.

And as any junkie knows, this ultimately makes us miserable. A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that “regular porn users,” despite constant stimulation and excitement, are more likely to report depression…poor physical health,” and “isolation.” And we all probably know young men who could use a little more playtime with real people and a lot less PlayStation.

I’m reminded of a chapter from C. S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” in which the distinguished old devil, Screwtape, tells his apprentice nephew how to destroy humans with pleasure: “…we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure,” he writes, “to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula.”

But simply cursing the darkness here won’t solve anything. We need to recognize that, as Screwtape himself admits, all pleasures — even destructive ones — are originally based on God’s good design.

Young men are supposed to desire sex — within marriage. And, while all right in moderation, video games aren’t the true outlet for the male desire to be heroic and to fight for worthy causes.

We need to learn how to replace counterfeit pleasure with legitimate pleasure, encouraging young men to set aside cheap imitations and prepare themselves spiritually, morally, and emotionally to pursue the real thing.

This is a place where the church can lead culture — by leading the rescue effort for this generation of young men.

Do you have any ideas? Visit BreakPoint.org, click on this commentary, and leave a comment or a suggestion.

You Need to be Preached to Every Week

I listen to many podcasts each week and one of those is from Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL.  Dr. Timothy George serves as the Dean and the host of the Podcast.

On March 6, 2012, he interviewed Father Raniero Cantalamessa.  No, I didn't listen because I could not wait to hear more about this man.  I had never heard his name.  But as Dr. George will often do, he will graciously introduce hearers to new persons in the greater community of faith.

Father Cantalamessa is the "Preacher to the Papal Household."  Yes, a Catholic priest whose responsibility each Friday morning is to preach to the Pope and his household.  As he said, the Pope believes it is very important for him to hear a message each week.  Father Cantalamessa has been doing this for over 30 years.

I got to thinking....not only does the Pope believe he needed to be preached to every week, so did Jesus (who is greater than the Pope).  "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day,...."  (Luke 4:16).

Are you better than Jesus or the Pope?  Can you make it with the spiritual discipline of regularly attending God's House "to be preached to?"

How to Leave a Church Properly - Part IV

This past Sunday (6-3-12) I preached "How to Leave a Church Properly."  I have been blogging all week about the message.  Here are three ways to leave properly.

1. By death

What an honor to leave by death in a church where you have been a long-term member and the church loves and respects you and will miss you.  What a legacy.

1.  By definite derisions 

•  If the church teaches wrong doctrine about some of the essentials of the Bible (Gospel, Trinity, who is Jesus, Inerrancy of the Bible) - then for the sake of your own spiritual well being and your family, then get out.  You need to speak to the spiritual leadership about these main doctrinal issues, but these are deal killers.  Other lesser doctrines are not.  You can believe differently about an issue such as the spiritual gifts, frequency of Communion, end times, and God may say to you, "Stay."  I believe that God could lead you to stay in those situations. 

1. By the leading of the Holy Spirit

We require someone to be able to say that the Holy Spirit is leading them here before they can join; why should we not expect the same from those who sense it is time to leave.  If the Holy Spirit is really leading you to another place, then why can you not speak to the Pastor or your LIFE Group sharing that information so all may rejoice with you, love on you and bless you as you go?  

It happens very seldom because most people leave churches for reasons given earlier this week.  May God forgive us and correct us. 

Final thoughts:  It may well be that God will lead His sheep to another fold, but He will do with integrity and with spiritual health.  Follow closely to our Lord so you can leave with grace, honor and right motives so  God can continue to bless your future ministry and life.

How to Leave a Church Properly - Part III

I'm blogging this week from the message I preached this past Sunday (6-3-12) on "How to leave a church properly."  Here are two ways in which one should not leave:

1. Don’t leave puffed up.

What I mean is “offended, mad, upset.”

I Cor 13:4 “love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.”

Matthew 24: 10-12 indicates in the last day “many will be offended...due to the love of many will grow cold.”

The real issue is love.  If we love one another, we’ll not become offended.  We will be patient, kind, love suffering and patiently endure one mistakes and sins.  

If you leave a church because you are offended, you will always be running.

1.  Don’t leave in a protest.

One here leaves with the idea that they are right and everybody else is totally wrong.  So they are leaving this “bad church.”

Or...they didn’t get their way and they are threatening “to take others with them.”  

I have very little patience with those who think their agenda or way is the best when no one in spiritual leadership sees it.  It is as if no one in spiritual leadership walks with God or as the wisdom of God and this person is the only one who has it right.

To some people it has never dawned on them, “I may be wrong.”

This does not mean we don’t need each other’s opinion.We are all members of one body.  You can bring what I need or the church may need.  But to never be willing to submit your views or plans to the larger body of spiritual leadership is a definite flaw of pride and arrogance.  

How to Leave a Church Properly - Part II

Yesterday I started sharing about the message I shared this past Sunday (6-3-12) about "How to Leave a Church Properly."  

Before we talk about leaving a church, let’s talk about how to find the right church.  Joshua Harris in his book

Stop Dating the Church:  Fall in Love with the Family of God suggest  in Chapter 5 “Choosing a Church:  The Ten Things That Matter Most”

1. Is this a church where God’s Word is faithfully taught?  Are the Scriptures the meat of the message or the seasoning?
2. Is this a church where sound doctrine matters?
3. Is this a church in which the gospel is cherished and clearly proclaimed?
4. Is this a church committed to reaching non-Christians with the gospel?
5. Is this a church where leaders are characterized by humility and integrity?
6. Is this a church where people strive to live by God’s Word?
7. Is this a church where I can find and cultivate godly relationships?
8. Is this a church where members are challenged to serve?
9. Is this a church that is willing to kick me out?
10. Is this a church I”m willing to join “as is” with enthusiasm and faith in God?

Pastor Harris continued:  “Don’t get stuck in a church-hopping, church-shopping mode.  Do your best to find a good church as quickly as possible.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed by too many points (above), boil them all down to three:

•  You want a church that teaches God’s Word.
• You want a church that values God’s Word.
• You want a church that lives God’s Word.

These are the nonnegotiables.  [End of Joshua Harris’ comments]

How to Leave a Church Properly - Part I

All this week I want to share about the message I preached this past Sunday (6-3-12).

It was the most unusual message I had ever preached as a pastor.  A pastor preaching on how to leave a church properly - are you kidding?  But after 32 years of being a pastor, I have long sensed such a message is necessary.  I firmly believe that not leaving a church properly can result in spiritual issues from one may never recover without repentance and restoration.  

Coming and going is at an all time high in churches today. I believe this is mainly due to three reasons:

1. Mobility - simply we live in a more mobile society where driving 20-30 miles to a church is no problem.  This has resulted in churches seeing themselves as in "competition" with other churches for the mobile church member.
2. Music - people will choose a church over the music they like or don’t.  While music is very important in a church, it is seldom (may be one percent or less) a valid, single reason to join a church or leave a church.  There are far more important issues.  
3. Me - the American culture is now one that is totally built around “me.”  That creeps into the church and people choose a church if it “fits me and my family.” There is no consideration of what this churches teaches or their doctrine....they just "like it."  The church is to be a different culture than the world and persons joining a church should have different criteria in choosing a church.

Tomorrow I will share more.

Antipsalm 23 and the Real Psalm 23

by David Powlison 

Antipsalm 23

I’m on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing’s quite right.
I’m always restless. I’m easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It’s a jungle — I feel overwhelmed. It’s a desert — I’m thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can’t fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life’s confusing. Why don’t things ever really work out?
I’m haunted by emptiness and futility — shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
but I’d rather not think about that.
I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
I find no lasting comfort.
I’m alone … facing everything that could hurt me.
Are my friends really friends?
Other people use me for their own ends.
I can’t really trust anyone. No one has my back.
No one is really for me — except me.
And I’m so much all about ME, sometimes it’s sickening.
I belong to no one except myself.
My cup is never quite full enough. I’m left empty.
Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
Sartre said, “Hell is other people.”
I have to add, “Hell is also myself.”
It’s a living death,
and then I die.

The Real Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Powlison says, “Can you taste the difference?”

What is a local church?

by Jonathan Leeman

A local church is a group of Christians who regularly gather in Christ’s name to officially affirm and oversee one another’s membership in Jesus Christ and his kingdom through gospel preaching and gospel ordinances. That's a bit clunky, I know, but notice the five parts of this definition: 

• a group of Christians; 
• a regular gathering;
• a congregation-wide exercise of affirmation and oversight; 
• the purpose of officially representing Christ and his rule on earth—they gather in his name;
• the use of preaching and ordinances for these purposes.

Just as a pastor’s pronouncement transforms a man and a woman into a married couple, so the latter four bullet points transform an ordinary group of Christians spending time together at the park—presto!—into a local church.

The gathering is important for a number of reasons. One is that it’s where we Christians “go public” to declare our highest allegiance. It’s the outpost or embassy, giving a public face to our future nation. And it’s where we bow before our king, only we call it worship. The Pharaohs of the world may oppose us, but God draws his people out of the nations to worship him. He will form his mighty congregation.

The gathering is also where our king enacts his rule through preaching, the ordinances, and discipline. The gospel sermon explains the “law” of our nation. It declares the name of our king and explains the sacrifice he made to become our king. It teaches us of his ways and confronts us in our disobedience. And it assures us of his imminent return.

Through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the church waves the flag and dons the army uniform of our nation. It makes us visible. To be baptized is to identify ourselves with the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as well as to identify our union with Christ’s death and resurrection (Matt. 28:19; Rom. 6:3-5). To receive the Lord’s Supper is to proclaim his death and our membership in his body (1 Cor. 11:26-29; cf. Matt. 26:26-29). God wants his people to be known and marked off. He wants a line between the church and the world.

What is the local church? It’s the institution which Jesus created and authorized to pronounce the gospel of the kingdom, to affirm gospel professors, to oversee their discipleship, and to expose impostors. All this means, we don’t “join” churches like we join clubs. We submit to them.

This article is excerpted from Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus (Crossway).