pilgrim in a foreign land

Friday, January 8, 2010

What Joel Osteen is really preaching

Here is one of the best exegetical breakdowns that I have heard so far on Joel Osteen. This audio file is around 35 minutes and I want to recommend you get a favorite beverage, Bible and notebook and give it a listen. We are living in dangerous times as it relates to a counterfeit gospel. Think of this kind of listening investment as a type of spiritual insurance for your children and grand children. Whenever you have the time please consider giving me some feedback as to what you learned. This comes from the White Horse Inn group that is made up of Michael Horton, Ken Jones, Kim Riddlebarger and Rod Rosenbladt.

Just click on this LINK.

The Smaller You Get, The Freer You Will Be

Posted January 6th, 2010 by Tullian Tchividjian

Following God’s lead is always good but never safe. When you commit yourself to do whatever God tells you to do and to go wherever God tells you to go, you inevitably experience ups and downs; highs and lows.

As many of you know, this past year was the hardest year my family and I ever experienced. It was filled with excitement and fear; misunderstanding and frustration; laughter and tears. I experienced moments of great desperation and great deliverance; grief and glory. God’s Spirit and God’s truth afflicted me in my comfort and comforted me in my affliction. As a result of this hard year, however, God and his gospel became more real and relevant to me than ever before. I’ve never felt so dependent on him. He’s never been so big; I’ve never been so small. The idea that Jesus plus nothing equals everything ceased being simply a cognitive truth for me–it became my functional lifeline.

Interestingly, the world would have us to believe that the bigger we get and the better we feel about ourselves, the freer we become. This is why so many worship services have been reduced to nothing more than motivational, self-help seminars filled with “you can do it” songs and sermons. But what we find in the gospel is just the opposite. The gospel is good news for losers, not winners. It’s for those who long to be freed from the slavery of believing that all of their significance, meaning, purpose, and security depend on their ability to “become a better you.” The gospel tells us that weakness precedes usefulness—that, in fact, the smaller you get, the freer you will be. As I pointed out in a post last week, G.K. Chesterton wrote, “How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it.” Nothing makes you more aware of your smallness than pain and hardship. The trials and tribulations of 2009 helped me to recover a glorious sense of God’s size!

As has often been the case in my Christian life, God has used the preaching of the late Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones to bring great perspective and reorientation to my troubled soul. His sermons on revival preached in 1959 are, by far, the best series of sermons on revival I’ve ever heard. At various times this past year I’ve gone back to those sermons desperately needing God to liberate me from the slavish pressure to perform by reminding me of my smallness and his bigness. This morning I woke up and once again needed to be comforted by the fact that God is always wide awake and working all things out for our good and his glory. So I re-read a small portion of one of those revival sermons. With great unction, Lloyd-Jones said:

Our supreme need, our only need, is to know God, the living God, and the power of his might. We need nothing else. It is just that, the power of the living God, to know that the living God is among us and that nothing else matters…I say, forget everything else. Forget everything else. We need to realize the presence of the living God amongst us. Let everything else be silent. This is no time for minor differences. We all need to know the touch of the power of the living God.

Upon reading (re-reading) those words, my troubled heart was put to rest. I thank God for Dr. Lloyd-Jones. But I thank God even more for the blessed freedom the gospel brings–good news which reminds me everyday that God is God and I am not; that in the person of Jesus Christ, God has already secured for me what I could never secure for myself.

Crashing the Super Bowl

Over the last year one of our consistent prayer requests has been a job for our son, Butner. Many have been kind in asking how he’s doing and what are the prospects for a job. As of this time he is planning on going to LA to pursue a career in film. Mainly he want to do short film, or the scripting and editing of short teaser trailers for the video game industry.

Crash the Super bowl is an advertising campaign sponsored by Doritos. They take entries from all over the country and the top 6 are flown out to the Super Bowl. If you have watched the Super Bowl over the years you know one of the favorite activities has been to watch the commercials. So here is my son Butner, and friends doing what he hopes to do at the professional level. Sometimes its hard to describe what your adult child does or wants to do for a living but this video sums it up. Two more facts, Butner is the young man in the blue shirt, and they did not get voted into the top 6. Still I really like the commercial and thought it was well done. Again, thanks for your prayers on his behalf over the last year.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Snickers - March 28, 1995-November 16, 2009

My daughter Anna wrote a wonderful tribute to our precious Snickers who was put to rest today.

Snickers Brimberry was the first addition to the Brimberry family, born May 28th 1995. I remember harassing the Sarjeant family, our neighbors a few houses down, when Bailey (sp?), their precious Golden Retriever, was pregnant with her first litter. Both Butner and I were home schooled at the time, and any free time I had, I spent with those puppies, in the Sarjeant's garage.

I will always remember looking at Bailey’s puppies fighting for food and the one tiny runt of the litter squealing, squirming, and attempting to nudge her brothers and sisters out of the way. This runt was given the name Snickers by the Sarjeant’s because she was darker than the other puppies and well, we were young and she looked like a Snickers bar.

After crying, begging and pleading with my parents for one of the puppies they gave in! I knew once my parents saw the puppies; they would be just as in love with them as I was. I was right!!

That day was one of the happiest for me as a child. I had never wanted something so wholeheartedly and my reality set in; I was getting a Golden Retriever puppy. There was that agonizing torture of having to wait 6 weeks before we could take her home, even worse when my parents said we could get her and she was still too young to be taken away from her mother. But finally the day came; Butner and I pulled out a red wagon and followed out parents down the street to pick up Snickers Brimberry.

July 4th 1995 my family fell head over heals in love with Snickers, and she with us. On that day the thought never hit me that one day this precious animal would one day no longer be around.

It’s so easy to love an animal; because they don’t have conditions you have to meet to gain their love. I believe that’s because they know nothing else but love to give and all they really want back is to be loved.

July 4th 1995 through November 16th 2009, Snickers Brimberry brought love and joy into each of the lives of my family member, love and joy that we hadn’t known was missing until Snickers came into our hearts and showed us.

Snickers you are irreplaceable. I cried when I got you, and I cried when I lost you. I won’t forget the time in between though, the happy times; rather not mourn your death but celebrate your long lived life.