Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Rise of the Paranormal by James Emery White

The Rise of the Paranormal

A new study has been released in the U.K. on the growing belief in ghosts.  More than half of those taking part (52%) said they believed in the supernatural, up markedly from similar studies in 2005 and 2009 (both hovered around 40%).

Even more revealing?  One in five claimed to have had some kind of paranormal experience.

The supernatural has become big business in the U.K. in recent years, with the popularity of television shows like Most Haunted, and the spread of so-called “ghost walks” around supposedly haunted parts of city centers.  English Heritage and the National Trust have both started to identify which of their properties are said to be occupied by ghosts in order to attract more visitors.

It’s a similar story in the United States.

Beyond the rage of the Twilight series of books and movies, NBC is getting ready to unveil a $2 million per episode Downtown Abbey-ish series on Dracula.  Fox’s main show for the fall is an updated take on Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horsemen.  And in case you weren’t paying attention, the second installment of the Insidious series claimed the top spot last weekend at the box office.

It seems our interest in the paranormal knows few bounds.

Dave Wood, chairman of the group conducting the recent study, offers a telling explanation:  “It could be that in a society which has seen economic uncertainty and is dominated by information and technology, more people are seeking refuge in the paranormal, whereas in the past they might have sought that in religion.”

I hope every pastor and church leader who is reading this will re-read that last paragraph.

The word “occult” just means that which is hidden, or secret, beyond the range of ordinary human knowledge or below the surface of normal life.  Used in that sense, it’s almost a neutral term.  But it has come to be used as a reference to those practices which link up, intentionally or not, with the hidden, or secret, world of Satan and his demons.

And that is not neutral.

Then it involves engaging the forces of darkness, connecting with Satan and his fellow demons.  When someone does that, they willfully open the door of their life to their presence and activity.

And nothing could be more dangerous.

So what are the marks of something “occultic” in this way?  There are three primary characteristics:

The first characteristic is the disclosure or communication of information unavailable to humans through normal means.  This would involve things like horoscopes, fortune-telling, psychic hotlines, and tarot cards.

The second mark of things “occultic” has to do with the placing of persons in contact with supernatural powers, paranormal energies, or demonic forces.  This would entail the attempt to summon up a spirit, or a deceased relative through a séance, or channeling a spirit, or procuring the services of someone claiming to be a medium.

The third mark of the world of the occult is any attempt to gain and master power in order to manipulate or influence other people into certain actions.  This would include all forms of witchcraft and the casting of spells.

The irony of the rise in the belief in ghosts is that there is no such thing as ghosts.  Biblically, whatever manifestations one might encounter are not the dead, but the demonic.

But the demons are only too happy for the ruse.

So while our culture embraces the Ghostbusters, our job is to give them a different answer to the question, “Who you gonna call?”

James Emery White


Sources

“Who you gonna call? Belief in ghosts is rising,” Jasper Copping, The Telegraph, September 15, 2013, read online.

“On the Horizon: NBC's 'Dracula',” Alexandra Cheney, The Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2013, read online.

“New spin on 'headless' tale,” Fox News, September 13, 2013, read online.

“'Insidious' sequel scares up success at the box-office,” Associated Press/Fox News, September 15, 2013, read online.
    
  
Editor’s Note

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president.  His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press).  To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log-on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world.  Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Sunday Sermon - October 27, 2013

This past Sunday, October 27, 2013, I continued the series of messages "Family by the Bible, not the Ballot" with this message "The Most Glorious and Dangerous Aspect of Marriage" based on Ephesians 5:3.

Here are the notes of the sermon. Click here

Here is the audio of the message:

Monday, October 28, 2013

10 Commandments of Oneness

Ed and Lisa Young wrote a book together called Sexperiment.  While the books centers around a seven-day "sexperiment," there is much in the book that is practical and good for singles, engaged couples and marrieds.

They put together "Ten Commandments of Oneness" to be used as they related to each other.  Personalize these for you.

1.  I shall have no other human relationship before Lisa/Ed.

2.  Remember date night and keep it holy.

3.  Honor Lisa/Ed on anniversaries and special days so that I may live long in the land that the Lord has given me.

4.  I shall not take the covenant of marriage in vain.

5.  I shall not ride in a car or eat in a restaurant alone with a member of the opposite sex.

6.  I shall not travel alone.

7.  I shall not counsel with a member of the opposite sex alone behind closed doors.

8.  I shall not share the details of my marriage with others.

9.  I shall not watch, read, or expose myself to sexually explicit shows, books, websites, etc.

10.  I shall remember the implications of committing adultery.

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Lost Art of Discipline by James Emery White

The Lost Art of Discipline

A recent business article caught my attention.  It was titled “The Lost Art of Discipline.”  In it, former tech executive Steve Tobak lamented the lack of discipline people have toward their work.  Few people today sacrifice what they have to in order to get a job done.

Tobak rightly notes that one of the problems is the explosion of distractions, the “archenemies of discipline.”  With CEO’s getting in online debates and ranking Senators playing iPhone games during committee hearings, it seems no one is immune.

“Even highly focused overachievers like me,” says Tobak, “sit down to work only to find that, a few tweets, texts, and emails later, half the day is gone and the work is a long way away from getting done.”

So forget our focus on drug and alcohol addictions.  “Today, you can add texting, tweeting, posting, blogging, emailing, gaming, shopping, eating, and of course, porn, to that ever-growing list of addictive activities.  To make matters worse, it appears that the threshold for human susceptibility to these addictions is getting lower all the time.”

Tobak’s conclusion rings true:  “Discipline, will power, work ethic – call it what you want, it’s why we do what we have to do instead of what we want to do.”

This isn’t simply important for the workplace.

It’s the heart of spiritual life.

Historian Mark Noll has designated the founding of the Monastic Rule of St. Benedict (ca. 480-ca. 550) as one of the great “turning points” in Christian history.  Noll even goes so far as to say that the “rise of monasticism was, after Christ’s commission to his disciples, the most important – and in many ways the most beneficial – institutional event in the history of Christianity.”

Penned at the beginning of the sixth century, St. Benedict wished to write a “rule” that would help guide monks to holiness.  By “rule,” he intended a guide for optimal spiritual formation.  Thomas Moore writes that “Every thoughtful person, no matter what his or her lifestyle may be, has a rule;” meaning a pattern or model for living.

I need a rule.  Something that will take the scattered, frantic activities of my life and carve out space and time for God to dwell, the two of us to connect, and from that to have the deepest parts of who I am formed in Christ.

I need a rule that will reach into the numbing routines of my life, what the French often refer to as “metro, boulot, dodo” – “metro, work, sleep” – and create channels through which spiritual life can flow.

The key is discipline.

This is what a “rule” is – a collected, organized set of practices we determine to follow in order to tend to our spirits and shepherd our souls.  We need structure and discipline for our spiritual lives every bit as much as we do for every other area of life.

Whatever our “rule” may be, it can, and should, be natural to our personality and developed in light of our season of life – but it must be created.  If we know that we would be profoundly served by reading, praying, and spending time with a soul friend, then we must work toward establishing the patterns of life that allow it.

Easy?

Of course not.

The natural flow of my life is away from discipline. If disciplines come at all, I have found that they must be cultivated.

There are many protests to the demands of living under a rule, but when I think of the challenges of such a life, I am reminded of Evelyn Underhill’s quip that it is a peculiarity of the great spiritual personality that “he or she constantly does in the teeth of circumstances what other people say cannot be done.”

But the practices themselves are not the issue at hand.  The goal is to seek the face of God in such a way that Christ is formed in us.   By themselves the spiritual disciplines can do nothing, Richard Foster wisely reminds us, “they can only get us to the place where something can be done.”

But that is a very important place to come to.  Christ formed in us is what will allow us to bring Christ to the world.  So let’s not lose the art of discipline.  Otherwise we will have nothing to offer the world that it does not already have.

And it needs so much more than what it now has.

James Emery White


Sources

“The Lost Art of Discipline,” Steve Tobak, October 10, 2013, FOXBusiness, read online.

James Emery White, Serious Times (InterVarsity Press).

Mark A. Noll, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity.

Thomas Moore in The Rule of St. Benedict, Edited by Timothy Fry.

Evelyn Underhill, The Spiritual Life.

Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline.


  
Editor’s Note

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president.  His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press).  To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log-on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world.  Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Eleven Giving Guidlelines to Fight the Pull of Materialism by Randy Alcorn

It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).I believe the only way to break the power of materialism is first, to see ourselves as stewards that God has entrusted these money and possessions to, and second, to give. Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). As long as I still have something, I believe I own it. But when I give it away, I relinquish the control, power, and prestige that come with wealth. At the moment of release, the light turns on. The magic spell is broken. My mind clears, and I recognize God as owner, myself as servant, and other people as intended beneficiaries of what God has entrusted to me.

The New Testament offers guidelines for giving that can help us fight the pull of materialism:

1.  Give. Giving affirms Christ’s lordship. It dethrones me and exalts Him. It breaks the chains of mammon that would enslave me and transfers my center of gravity to Heaven.

2. Give generously. How much is generous? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. If you’ve never tithed, start there—then begin to stretch your generosity.

3. Give regularly. Stewardship is not a once-a-year consideration, but a week-to-week, month-to-month commitment requiring discipline and consistency.

4. Give deliberately. Giving is at its best when it’s a conscious effort that’s repeatedly made.

5. Give voluntarily. When we catch a vision of God’s grace, we will give beyond our duty.

6. Give sacrificially. We don’t like risky faith. We like to have our safety net below us. But we miss the adventure of seeing God provide when we’ve really stretched ourselves in giving.

7. Give excellently. Paul says, “See that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7).

8. Give cheerfully. If we’re not cheerful, the problem is our heart, and the solution is redirecting our heart, not withholding our giving.

9. Give worshipfully. Our giving is a reflexive response to God’s grace. It doesn’t come out of our altruism—it comes out of the transforming work of Christ in us.

10. Give more as you make more. Remember: God prospers us not to raise our standard of living,
but to raise our standard of giving.

11. Give quietly. Showiness in giving is always inappropriate. (But sometimes our acts of righteousnesswill be seen by men and even should be.)
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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Sermon from Sunday, October 20, 2013

I continued the series "Family by the Bible, not the Ballot" on Sunday, October 20, 2013 with this message "From the Heart of a Father and Pastor."

The notes of the message may be found here.

The audio of the message is below:




Monday, October 21, 2013

Great read from Paul David Tripp

Well, I?m off to India again for two weeks of ministry. I have the wonderful opportunity to teach Indian leaders from the great city of New Delhi, to the rural regions of Kachhwa, to the southern environs of Bangalore. I?ll be traveling with my dear friend and Paul Tripp Ministries colleague, Malcolm Osborn.

I really do consider it a great honor to be given such an opportunity. In many ways these leaders are my heroes. They?re willing to minister for Christ at great personal cost.

I was thinking this morning about the long journey that?s ahead of us, landing us in a culture so fundamentally different from our own, and I was filled with a sense of the power and glory of God.
Why, you may ask? Because it hit me that I didn?t choose where I'd be born on this planet on which we live. Yet as I travel from the little spot on the globe where I live and arrive in India at the little spot on the globe where others live, I?ll still be in a spot that is ruled by the same God! And I?ll be ministering to people who are just as much his children as I am and who are just as aware of his presence as I am right here, right now!

This got me thinking of how many important things in our life we didn't choose:
  • You didn?t choose the family you were born into.
  • You didn?t choose the period of history you would live in.
  • You didn?t choose the world events that would take place around you.
  • You didn?t control the progress of science and knowledge, but you have benefited from both.
  • You didn?t create the technology that has made your life easier and more comfortable.
  • You didn?t choose what street you would grow up on.
  • You didn?t choose what childhood school you would attend.
  • You didn?t choose how healthy your body would be.
  • You didn?t choose who your parents and siblings would be.
  • You didn?t choose who would be your neighbor, your mayor, your president.
  • You didn?t choose what the economic conditions would be around you.
  • You didn?t choose how safe your environment would be.
  • You didn?t choose how early you would be exposed to truth.
  • You didn?t choose whether you would live in the first world or the third world.
  • You didn?t choose what language you would grow up speaking.
  • You didn?t choose what culture would shape your view of life.
When you really begin to access the sum total of your life, you can only end up with one conclusion. Here it is - God is great!

He is awesome in his wisdom, power, and glory. His magnificence reaches beyond the most descriptive and poetic ability of human language. His glory lives way beyond the boundaries of the human intellect to reason. But there?s something else to be said. Pay careful attention here. He?s great...and we?re not.

We?re all tempted to buy into the delusion of our own greatness and our own sovereignty. We really like to think that we?re in more control of more things than we actually are. And why do we do this? Because we?re terrified of the dependent danger of humble faith. We find it very hard to put ourselves in the hands of Another.

So what do we do? It?s an awful thing. We exaggerate our greatness and we minimize the Lord's. We take credit for what we didn?t produce and we fail to give him credit for what has come from his hands. 

All of this works to make us more comfortable with a dangerous and delusional self-reliance.

So I?m thankful for the trip to India. Not just because I get to minister and to serve, but also because it forces me to be reminded once again of how small I actually am and how glorious God continues to be. 
This trip invites me to recognize Glory and rest. How about resting with me?

May the Lord of it all be your Lord of rest!
God bless
Paul David Tripp

Friday, October 18, 2013

9 Lessons for a New Christian by Chuck Lawless



By Chuck Lawless
It’s been a long time since I became a Christ follower (39+ years ago), but I still think about what I wish I had known back then. You see, my first years as a believer were not easy. My family was not a Christian family. I was in my early teens, wanting to be faithful to God but also seeking to fit in with my peers. My church loved me, but discipleship was not intentional. I wish someone had helped prepare me for the journey.

If I were writing a new believer’s guide today for people like me, I would include a simple “lessons learned” section with at least these lessons:
  1. It’s okay to be a baby in Christ. Everybody in my Bible study class knew all the answers, it seemed. I watched as others found the Bible passage while I pretended to know the right page. Others knew the song lyrics by heart, and they knew exactly what to do at every church event. I didn’t know any of that – and I was both awkward and ashamed. No one told me that every believer begins as a baby in Christ.
  2. The Bible is not always easy to read. I was fascinated when I first started reading the Bible. Genesis was great, because I knew nothing about the beginnings of the world. The book of Exodus was equally exciting, filled with burning bushes, judgment plagues, dividing seas, and shaking mountains. But, then I reached Leviticus. . . . and I quit reading. I needed someone to help me when the reading became difficult.
  3. The Christian life will have ups and downs.  We usually learn this lesson the hard way. Because I did not know Christianity has mountains and valleys, I assumed that the “down” moments were the result of a lack of faith or an unconfessed sin. Sometimes that was the case, but sometimes God was stretching and testing my faith. Even the obedient believer can wrestle with a thorn – but I didn’t know that.
  4. You are not alone in your struggles. I was sure nobody else battled with temptation like I did. Nobody had sin lurking in the shadows like I did. Surely every other believer had conquered sin – at least, it seemed that way on Sunday. I was so certain of that truth that I didn’t dare talk to anyone about my struggles. The result in my life was continued failure and increasing defeat.
  5. The devil is real. In my young mind, the devil was a Halloween character rather than a supernatural enemy against God and His people. Because I didn’t recognize the reality of the devil, I thought I could win spiritual battles in my own power. Prayer was not important, and cries for the power of God were non-existent. I was losing a war I didn’t even know existed.
  6. Many people don’t pray well. The only prayers I heard then were prayers from the pastor, a deacon, or a Bible study teacher. The petitions were polished, eloquent, and deep (or so I thought then). I didn’t always understand the words used, and I was certain I’d never reach that level of praying. Little did I know these same folks often struggled in their private prayer life, and perhaps we could have helped each other grow in prayer.
  7. Some people won’t share your excitement. My Christian conversion was powerful. A friend had shared Christ with me, and I couldn’t wait to tell others about Him. I was at times obnoxious with my evangelism. Rude, even. I just couldn’t understand why anybody would choose not to follow Jesus. Had I known then that not everyone listens, perhaps I would have felt less defeated in my evangelism efforts.
  8. Churches are not perfect. I was unprepared for the tares among the wheat, the sin in the camp, the arrogance among the redeemed. It was years of discouragement before I realized that Jesus Himself had a fake in His group, and the apostle Paul loved a church as messed up as the church at Corinth. It took some time for me to learn that the church exists for the sick and the needy – that is, for people like me.
  9. God will always be faithful. Perhaps you learn this lesson only through the years, but I wish someone would have challenged me then to trust – and even memorize – these words: “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread” (Psa. 37:25). God really does take care of His own. Always.

Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary.
You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter andFacebook.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Holding Fast to the Word of Life by Sam Storms (Read this well)

(Written by Sam Storms.  Read this blog carefully and slowly.  Meditate on it.)
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me” (Philippians 2:14-18).
Hold on. Let me get this straight. Paul is commanding us to live blameless and innocent lives right smack dab in the middle of our crooked and twisted world. Right?

“So how, in heaven’s name, does he expect us to do this?” I’m so glad you asked! Let’s look closely at Paul’s answer, or yet again, God’s answer. It’s found in the first half of v. 16.

How do you “shine” in a sick, perverted, darkened world? By holding fast to the word that gives life! The key for us is the meaning of the word translated “holding fast.” It can mean to “hold fast” in the sense of guard and protect, but also to “hold forth” in the sense of make known and proclaim. Here, though, there is also the idea of “giving heed to” or “fixing one’s attention upon” (see 1 Timothy 4:16; Acts 3:5). 

Thus we are to explore it, explain it, embrace it, protect it, offer it to others by making it known, and focus upon it with dedication and devotion.

The “word of life” is both the good news of the gospel of what God has done for sinners in Jesus Christ as well as the word of revelation found in Scripture that explains what that gospel is. It is the word of “life” because it is there that we find truth regarding where life may be found, namely, in Christ. But it is also the word of “life” because it is used of the Spirit to impart new life (1 Peter 1:23-25).

Let me say this with as much force and sincerity as I can. The one thing that will prevent your light from being snuffed out by the darkness of this world is holding fast the word of life. The one thing that will protect you from becoming crooked and twisted like the world around you is holding fast to the word of life. The one thing that will guard your heart and ward off the perverse influence of a society such as ours is holding fast the word of life.

So, I want to take a few minutes and talk to you about what we all must do to “hold fast the word of life,” and in particular what this means for how you come into a corporate assembly on a Sunday where this “word” is proclaimed, explained, and preached. I could talk about numerous ways in which we heed Paul’s counsel, but I want to focus on only one dimension of what it means to hold fast the word of life. It is perhaps the most important dimension.

In other words, I want to say a few words about how you hear or how you listen to God’s Word. My suspicion is that most Christians rarely think twice about what they are doing on a Sunday morning and thus rarely if ever take steps to prepare their hearts and minds in advance for that glorious experience. And the simple fact is that if you don’t maintain a diligent and disciplined approach to hearing and responding to God’s Word you won’t shine as lights in this dark and twisted world.

But first, I want to respond to the horribly misleading and distorted perspective that I hear in certain circles of professing Christians today. We are being told that corporate gatherings where Scripture is preached and taught and explained and applied is outdated, ineffective, and even dangerous. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve either read or heard someone say, “Oh, I don’t need to gather with the church on a Sunday to hear someone preach. That’s so boring. It’s all about one man exercising his spiritual gift while hundreds of others sit passively and do nothing.”

How utterly insane! I can’t think of anything more active and engaging and participatory and practical than listening to God’s Word being explained and applied.

For one thing, listening to God’s Word is worship! When you hear a truth from Scripture about God’s love and marvel and perhaps even weep that you are a recipient of God’s saving affection, that’s worship! When you listen attentively to the truth of divine grace and mercy and your redemption and the forgiveness of sins and you are left breathless that so great a blessing is yours, even though you deserve hell, that is worship! When you feel conviction for your sin and are called to repentance for having hardened your heart against God, as Scripture pierces through your resistance and shines a light into the darkness of an indifferent soul, that is worship!

I simply don’t understand how anyone can suggest that listening to and heeding and thinking over and meditating upon the glorious truths of God’s Word is a waste of time, or that it doesn’t require energy and focus and is only about the person speaking and not the person hearing. Nonsense!

Consider what Jesus says about hearing the Word in the famous parable of the soils. Each of the four different types of soil is differentiated by how it “hears” the Word of God (see, See Luke 8:12, 13, 14, 15). Thus he concludes with this exhortation: “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” 
I think he’s telling us that if we have a heart devoted to hearing and responding to the Word we will be given understanding and our lives will bear the fruit of godliness.

Why is hearing important? Jesus says that our salvation depends upon it (Luke 8:12b). He says in Luke 8:15 that whether or not we “bear fruit” depends on how we hear.

So here are some practical suggestions for how to hear and “hold fast” the Word of Life.

Prepare for preaching by praying: “If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:3-5). See Psalm 119:18 and Ephesians 1:17-18.

Prepare for preaching by resting. If you find yourself listless on Sunday morning, struggling to stay awake, your mind wandering and your body weak, it may because the preacher is boring and not making any sense. If that’s true, shame on him. But it may also be because of what you did on Saturday night. I doubt if any parent would recommend that their teenager stay out late and indulge themselves in the world when they are scheduled the next morning for the ACT or SAT. But is not the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word of infinitely greater value?

Model for your children how to hear and hold fast the Word of life. Parents, do you by your own lifestyle teach your children that worship by hearing God’s Word is so optional that it doesn't matter whether you come or if you come you come exhausted and distracted and out of a sense of duty rather than delight and joyful anticipation for what God is going to say?

Hunger for God’s Word like you do for your favorite meal (1 Peter 2:2). If you find yourself already stuffed and not hungry for Scripture you need to ask, “What have I been eating that has dulled my appetite for Scripture?” Listen to what God himself says about his law, his precepts, his commandments in Scripture – “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:10-11).

Be teachable, but not gullible. In other words, listen critically (Acts 17:11).

Be attentive. After all, God’s Word is your very life (Deut. 32:47).

Purify your heart and mind before you come to hear (James 1:21).
“It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch - and then wonder why their spiritual lives are weak and their worship experience is shallow with no intensity. If you really want to hear the Word of God the way he means to be heard in truth and joy and power, turn off the television on Saturday night and read something true and great and beautiful and pure and honorable and excellent and worthy of praise (see Philippians 4:8). Then watch your heart unshrivel and begin to hunger for the word of God” (John Piper).
Hear humbly (James 1:21). In other words, be open to rebuke. Be open to change. I’ve known people who come to church with a chip on their shoulder, daring the pastor to say something that they disagree with or hoping he will slip up in some way so they can decapitate him after the service. Or they come convinced they are infallible and omniscient and there is nothing more for them to learn. 

That is not humble listening. Now, it is true that some preachers are dull and ill-informed. Shame on them. If I’m a dufus and say something stupid or misleading or confusing, I’m not asking you to believe me or accept it as God’s truth.

Mingle the Word with faith (Gal. 3:5; Heb. 4:2). Pray that God would deepen your confidence in what you hear.

Practice what is preached (James 1:22).

Seek the Spirit (Luke 11:13).

For heaven’s sake, bring a Bible! Look at it. Read it. Write in it. Labor to cultivate a taste for God’s Word, through meditation and memorization. Transformation comes through the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:1ff.). Listening, though, is never purely an intellectual exercise. We listen to encounter God. We listen to hear his voice. We listen to experience his love. We listen to have our affections awakened.

All these points apply equally well to the songs we sing. Listen to them. Hear them well. Don’t just sing the words in our songs, think about them. Muse on them. Meditate on them. Turn them back into prayer.

And never forget, as someone once wisely said, that “when the singing is over, worship is not.” It is in our hearing and responding to God’s Word, in our reading and rejoicing over its truths, that Christ is adored and honored and his presence intensifies and his preeminence becomes preeminent.
How do we shine as lights in a crooked, dark, degenerate world? We do it by holding fast the Word of Life. Hold it firmly. Keep your eyes on it constantly. Fixate your mind in its truths. Don’t leave it. Give yourself to it. Exert a strong grip upon its principles and set a penetrating gaze on its truth.
In conclusion, do you want freedom? Then hold fast the word of life, for as Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

Are you desperate for more faith? Then hold fast the word of life, for as Paul said, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Are you hungry for joy? Then hold fast the word of life, for Jesus said to his disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

Do you need more of the Spirit and his supernatural and miraculous power? Then hold fast to the Word of life, for Paul asked the Galatians, “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” (Gal. 3:5).

Do you long to live blamelessly and without reproach, as Paul exhorted in Philippians 2:14-15? Do you aspire to shine brightly in a crooked and twisted generation? Then hold fast to the word of life, for Jesus prayed this to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

Monday, October 14, 2013

The Dark Night of the Soul

What must we think when we fall into those seasons of life where God seems distant and life is dark? J. I. Packer speaks to us with great wisdom and encouragement. He writes:
[Sometimes] “God brings on dryness, with resultant restlessness of heart, in order to induce a new depth of humble, hopeful openness to himself, which he then crowns with a liberating and animating reassurance of his love – one that goes beyond anything that was sensed before. As Christ’s humiliation and grief on the cross preceded his exaltation to the joy of his throne, so over and over again humbling experiences of impotence and frustration precede inward renewing, with a sense of triumph and glory, in the believer’s heart. Thus, with wisdom adapted to each Christian’s temperament, circumstances, and needs, our heavenly Father draws and binds his children closer to himself.”
(Rediscovering Holiness [Servant Publications, 1992], 100-01).

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Sunday Sermon, October 13, 2013 "You Want Me To Do What as a Wife?"

I am preaching a series of messages "Family by the Bible, not the Ballot" based out of Ephesians 5:22-6:9.

The first two messages may be found in sermon note form here:

September 8 - "What's The Big Deal About Marriage Anyway?

September 29 - "Help! I'm a Husband"

The message October 13 is "You Want Me To Do What as a Wife?"  The sermon notes are here.

The audio of the message is here:



Friday, October 11, 2013

Nations That God Bless by Dave White



I’m told God and Government Do Not Mix.  
Poppycock, baloney, hogwash!  Pastor Tony Evans is right when he says, “The Bible is pregnant with politics.”  The Bible addresses many meaningful topics such aseconomics, military power, war and peace, international relations, social reform, welfare, crime and punishment, church and state, and much more.  It is cascades with politics.  It is particularly strong in giving nations a clear warning that blessing comes from honoring God and cursing and consequences come to nations who dishonor Him.

God Cares About Political Matters.  

If God is concerned every time a sparrow falls to the ground, if God counts the very hairs of our heads, then God surely cares about the civic affairs of the state. If God sent His prophets of old to thunder against the abuses of the kings of Israel and Judah, if God’s servants were to warn of the evils in ancient Assyria and Babylon, then surely, today, God’s pastors are to speak up regarding the relevant truths of Scripture that help present the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

Nations that Forget God are Now Forgotten!

God cares so much for civil government and political matters, that nations that ignore God and this truth are eventually undercut.  History shows that the great empires of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Persia are but a dust heap.  The majesty of Greece is gone; today they languish in financial and spiritual ruin.  The Roman Empire is but rubble.  Italy remains a great place to visit; even the ruins are beautiful.  But the country languishes in obscurity.  The British Empire has been truncated into nominal world influence since its’ commonwealth abandoned God.  The former hollow atheist state of the former Soviet Empire self-imploded in less than 70 years.

Gary DeMar, in his wonderful book “God and Government” writes, “The historical landscape is replete with the strewn corpses of fallen dynasties and collapsed kingdoms.  There is a reason for this.  Every kingdom that has fallen in some way or another has transgressed God’s commandments” (p. 204).

Nations that forget God either collapsed under the weight of their own sinful decadence or they were conquered by other hostile kingdoms (Daniel 1:17; 2:31-45; 4:28-37; 5:1-31).  In either case, the reason for their collapse is spiritual (and ethical).  They transgressed God’s commandments and God judged them. Nations that submit to God remain; those that rebel are judged.
Psalm 33:12

God’s word couldn’t be clearer.  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

God’s Chosen Nation was No Exception!
  • During Israel’s occupation of the land of Canaan, God made it clear that the reason the previous occupants of the land were evicted was due to their violation of His law (Leviticus 18:24-27).
  • The Canaanites’ refusal to obey God’s law meant their removal from the land. They weredispossessed because of rebellion.
  • During the period of the Judges, Israel’s failure to heed God’s warnings regarding His law brought judgment and temporary displacement from the full use of their land inheritance (Judges 6:1).
  • As time went on, Israel slowly lost its inheritance through repeated acts of rebellion (Jeremiah 25:1-11).
  • Eventually the entire nation was exiled for 70 years and came under God’s righteous sanctions (Daniel 9:11-16).
  • One final act of rebellion, the rejection of the promised Messiah, meant disinheritance“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it”  (Matthew 21:43; 23:38).
Nations that Honor God Thrive
  • Obedience brings blessing (Deuteronomy 28:1-14)
  • Disobedience brings cursing (Deuteronomy 28:15-68)
  • The New Testament confirms this truth (Romans 13:3-4).
Proverbs 14:34
“Righteousness exalts a nation [positive sanction and blessing], but sin is a disgrace to any people[negative sanctions and cursing]”

The post Nations that God Blesses appeared first on Dr. Dave White.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Theory of Desirable Difficulty by James Emery White

(The original blog can be seen here)

There are a handful of authors that I have been so consistently impressed by that I feel compelled to read whatever they produce.  In fiction, there’s C.J. Sansom.  In terms of business or leadership, there’s Jim Collins.

And in a genre of writing hard to describe is Malcolm Gladwell.  His typical approach is to popularize research, mostly in the field of social science, that challenges conventional wisdom.  You may be familiar with some of his writings, such as The Tipping Point, Blink, or Outliers.

His new book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, has just been released.  And yes, it is just what the title promises.

Gladwell explores two ideas:  first, how much of what we value in the world is produced from such lopsided conflicts as David and Goliath.

But second, and the more provocative of the two, is how we consistently get these kinds of conflicts wrong.

Consider his take on the classic biblical tale.

First, the weaponry.  David was an expert “slinger,” which means the stone hurled at Goliath was with pinpoint accuracy at a velocity of thirty-four meters per second.  “In terms of stopping power, that is equivalent to a fair-size modern handgun.”

Further, Gladwell suggests that Goliath’s size was due to acromegaly, a disease caused by a benign tumor of the pituitary gland.  Often resulting in serious vision problems, this would account for Goliath’s need to be led by an attendant, thinking David had “sticks” (plural) instead of his one staff, and perhaps missing the tact his opponent was taking against him until too late.

So what gave the giant his size was also his source of greatest weakness.

Conclusion?

David wasn’t the underdog.  Goliath was.  And everything we thought made David weak actually made him strong.

Moving from the pages of the Old Testaments to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high cost of revenge, as well as the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms, Gladwell demonstrates “how the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty” and how the disadvantaged often have the advantage.

I was particularly drawn to the second part of the book, “The Theory of Desirable Difficulty.”  There he tells the story of David Boies, who credits his dyslexia for forcing him to compensate by developing skills of observation and memory.  Gladwell asks, “You wouldn’t wish dyslexia on your child.  Or would you?”

Here lies a deeply important, and deeply biblical, idea.

As a pastor, I’m often confronted with the confusion and bewilderment surrounding why God might allow pain and suffering into a human life.

I know one of the reasons.  It is to strengthen us, for what has wounded us most deeply is often what has made us who we are.

Think of how it works with our muscles.  To build muscle, you have to actually tear the muscle.  And then, when it heals, the scar tissue builds the muscle up and strengthens it.

Biologists have witnessed this in their work among plants and animals for years.  They call it the adversity principle.  They have discovered that habitual, ongoing well-being is not good for a species.  An existence without challenge is not healthy.

You see it in the flabby animals at a zoo that have their food delivered to them every day.

You see it in rainforest trees.  Because water is everywhere, they don't have to extend their root system more than a few feet below the surface.  As a result, the slightest windstorm can knock it down.  But a tree that is planted in dry land has to send its roots down thirty feet or more in search of water.  Then, not even a gale force wind can knock those trees down.

It's no different with our life.  Our pain is often what has developed us, strengthened us, allowed us the ability to grow.

And that's what the Bible teaches:

"...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (Romans 5:3, NIV).

All to say, Gladwell is on to more than he might realize.  These ideas aren’t simply observations from social science,

…but spiritual science.

James Emery White


Sources

Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.

James Dobson, When God Doesn’t Make Sense.
  
  
Editor’s Note


James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president.  His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press).  To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log-on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world.  Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.

Monday, October 7, 2013

How to End an Extra-Marital Relationship by Brad Hambrick

This resource is taken from the “False Love: Overcoming Sexual Sin from Pornography to Adultery” seminar (RSVP links are included at the end of this post).

If you’re question is, “What is the easy way to end a relationship that should have never started, but has become emotionally connected and/or sexually active?” The simple answer is, “There is not an easy way.”

The rebuttal would probably be, “But I really care about this person and don’t want to hurt them. I am more to blame for what has happened as they are. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt them.” The reality is that when a sinful relationship gets started someone, usually multiple people, are going to get hurt and hurt badly. The choice you have is not “if” someone is going to get hurt, but “who.”

Stop and think about it. How are you going to get out of the situation you’re in, where you have committed to love two people with a love that can only belong to one person, without hurting someone? You can’t. You will not make any wise, or even sane, decisions as long as you are holding out hope that an impossible reality is possible.

It is likely that a big reason why things have gotten to where they are is that you have been looking for an option that doesn’t exist. Several things are true at this moment and you will have to accept them all. Even if you choose to ignore them now, you will have to acknowledge them as reality at some point, and the longer you wait the more intense the consequences will be for everyone involved.

1. You are going to hurt one or more people that you care about.
2. You are going to have to be more honest with more people than you want to be.
3. An “easy” answer is not going to present itself that makes this situation “just go away.”
4. The rest of your life is going to radically change based upon what you do with what you’re reading.
5. Not just your life, but generations of your family, will be affected based upon what you do.

Three Steps to Freedom

Step One: Cut Off All Contact

Willingly cut off, disclose, and surrender all contact with your adultery partner in an open communication in which your spouse is overtly present and aware of all that is said. All five pieces of this step are vital and defined below.

1. Cut Off All Contact: It should be clearly stated that you are requesting no future contact for any reason, because you realize a romantic relationship outside of your marriage covenant is evil. It is appropriate to apologize for the harm you have caused this person, but you should equally affirm that any genuineness to your apology requires ending all contact. What Arterburn and Stoeker say about pornography is equally true of adultery, tapering down only increases the appetite for something that is still not being treated as evil and powerfully destructive.
“What works best with sexual impurity? Cold turkey. You cannot just taper down… With tapering, whatever impurity you do allow seems to multiply in its impact, and the habit won’t break (p. 109).” Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker in Everyman’s Battle

2. Disclose All Forms of Contact: Any form of contact should be disclosed to your spouse (i.e., secret cell phone, secret e-mail address, rendezvous times in your schedule, etc…). When you end the relationship you should tell your adultery partner that all of these forms of contact have been disclosed to your spouse as a way to reinforce that you are serious that no future contact is desired.

3. Willingly Surrender All Contact: You should hand over every form of contact to your spouse like a suicidal person needs to hand over their gun. You are not giving up something good, but something intended for self-inflicted destruction. Like a suicidal person looks at their gun as a friendly thing that is there to give them relief, you likely still look at these modes of contact through distorted lenses. You won’t feel like doing it until after you’ve done it.

 4. Open Communication: Secrets have been part of the excitement of the illicit relationship. “Open” should mean that (a) you do not meet privately or in person to talk, (b) what you say is e-mailed to your adultery partner with your spouse carbon-copied, and (c) if married, you encourage your adultery partner to confess to their spouse.

Documenting the request for no future contact is advised in case a restraining order is needed should your adultery partner not comply with your request. In this kind of situation obtaining a restraining order requires proving that a clear request to cease communication has occurred (documented by your e-mail) and that continued “harassment” is occurring (documented by continued phone call, showing up at work, coming to your home, etc…). Taking these two pieces of evidence to your local law enforcement should be sufficient to obtain a restraining order if needed.

This step may have legal, safety, or employment consequences. The consequences of sin are part of the trap Satan sets to keep us in our sin. Forsaking sin is always an act of faith in God. In this case, it may not only be faith in God’s superiority to sin, but also faith in God’s ability to provide or protect when the consequences of sin are realized. You must realize and remember that prolonging a sinful relationship does nothing to make the situation “better” for anyone involved. Delayed consequences only grow and make obedience to God harder.

5. Spouse Overtly Present: One way we communicate who we love most is by who we talk to about another. When you talked about your spouse to your adultery partner that revealed your primary allegiance. By now talking about your adultery partner to your spouse and refusing any communication with your adultery partner, you are reversing this allegiance. If you communicate the termination of the relationship by phone, your spouse should at least be in the room while you talk, or if by e-mail, your spouse should be carbon-copied on the e-mail.

Step Two: Avoid the “Closure Trap”

There is no such thing as closure after adultery. Closure is a word that gives the impression of a settled, happy ending. One of the two romantic relationships in your life will die an awkward painful death. More uncomfortable still, you are going to decide which relationship (marriage or adultery) dies and then stand over it; watching it die. This will either happen in divorce court or now. But in either option you choose, there will be no “closure” for the dying relationship.

You might ask, “Why are you being so graphic and harsh?” The reason is simple—“closure” is the lie most people follow back into adultery multiple times while trying to restore their marriage. Closure is an innocent word that masks its devastating consequences. Naively following the closure lie will make the already difficult road ahead of you longer, steeper, and rockier. When you hear the lie, plug your ears and run!

Step Three: Disclose All Attempted Contact

Ending an adultery relationship requires more than doing the right thing one time after you’ve been caught. If your adultery occurred in an ongoing relationship, the other person will likely not want the relationship to end. Your sin will not stay away while you pursue godly character. Your adultery partner is very likely to fight for the relationship they thought was theirs to have.

It is absolutely vital that you disclose any contact, attempted contact, or potential attempted contact by your adultery partner to your spouse. Even if you get a phone call from an unknown number, choose not to answer it, and no voice mail is left tell your spouse. If a friend of the adultery partner gives you a note refuse to read, tell your spouse and (if necessary) take the note as the second piece of evidence needed to get a restraining order.

This relationship should be treated like a poisonous snake in the house with your children. Even if the snake is in another room, you would take every measure possible to destroy the snake because you know the snake is a predator and its presence, even in another room, puts them in mortal danger. Any undisclosed contact from your adultery partner is just as deadly to your relationship with God, your marriage, and the future of any children you have.

Written by Brad Hambrick.  Check him out here

Friday, October 4, 2013

Seven Ways to Make Yourself Miseable

(This post originally can be seen here.) 

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18

Living in Whiting for the past 17 years I have run across some really miserable people. People how really lost their joy. As believers we should be modeling “joy in the journey.” But I am afraid that there are way too many Christians who are miserable.
Miserable

Elizabeth Elliot, wife of martyred missionary, Jim Elliot, gave this list of seven ways to make yourself miserable:

1. Count your troubles, name them one by one – at the breakfast table, if anybody will listen, or as soon as possible thereafter.

2. Worry every day about something. Don’t let yourself get out of practice.

3. Pity yourself. If you do enough of this, nobody else will have to do it for you.

4. Make it your business to find out what the Jones are buying this year and where they are going. Try to do them at least one better even if you have to take out another loan.

5. Stay away from absolutes. It’s what’s right for YOU that matters. Be your own person and don’t allow yourself to get hung up on what others expect of you.

6. Make sure you get your rights. Never mind other people’s. You have your life to live, they have theirs.

7. Don’t fall into any compassion traps – the sort of situation where people can walk all over you. If you get too involved in other people’s troubles, you may neglect your own.

(Adapted from Lists to Live By – The Second Collection – Multnomah Publishing)

Now I know that you know that this is not the way God intended you to live life. Bottom line is that if you live this way you will REALLY be miserable. Choose today to allow Christ to live HIS life through you and guess what – rather than repel people away from you – people will be drawn to you.
What are some of the ways you have been living a miserable life? How will you choose to live differently today?
Running the race with joy,
Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick