Each year the anticipation of coming to the beach is always fun! This summer, Lord willing, there will be friends and family as we fellowship in the low country. The weather is warm but the fishing is good and the memories made are even better.
Friday, May 29, 2009
What is at the core of sin?
From the Shepherd's Scrapbook blog site:
What is the core sin of the human heart? Is it pride? Is it the sin of unbelief? Theologians have debated this topic for centuries. But According to Dr. David Powlison, the sins of pride and unbelief are really “two doors into the same room.” And he adds a third door—the fear of man.
These three core sins are interrelated, and it’s not difficult to see how. Pride is the act of installing myself as the king of my own autonomous kingdom. Unbelief is the act of erasing God from my kingdom (functionally, if not deliberately). Fear of man is the act of installing other sinners as big players in my kingdom (When People are Big and God is Small).
And it’s no surprise that all of the lies and lusts of our hearts are to be found rooted in these three core sins. These lies and lusts are expressions of the three core sins.
What is the core sin of the human heart? Is it pride? Is it the sin of unbelief? Theologians have debated this topic for centuries. But According to Dr. David Powlison, the sins of pride and unbelief are really “two doors into the same room.” And he adds a third door—the fear of man.
These three core sins are interrelated, and it’s not difficult to see how. Pride is the act of installing myself as the king of my own autonomous kingdom. Unbelief is the act of erasing God from my kingdom (functionally, if not deliberately). Fear of man is the act of installing other sinners as big players in my kingdom (When People are Big and God is Small).
And it’s no surprise that all of the lies and lusts of our hearts are to be found rooted in these three core sins. These lies and lusts are expressions of the three core sins.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Things I must remember...
1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it up.
2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.
3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.
4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.
5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.
6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's in the bathroom.
7. Sticking my nose into someone's lap is an unacceptable way of saying 'hello'..
8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table .
9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.
10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my rear end.
11. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.
2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.
3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.
4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.
5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.
6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's in the bathroom.
7. Sticking my nose into someone's lap is an unacceptable way of saying 'hello'..
8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table .
9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.
10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my rear end.
11. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Back to the Basics
As I come across sound articles of Bible doctrine and I will continue to share on this blog site. Michael Patton over at the Parchment and Pen is a theologian who teaches Bible hermeneutics. Hermeneutics means a system by which we come to study the Scriptures. If you want to read his full article then click on this LINK. Here is what really caught my attention that I want to share especially with our community.
Today, I believe that we (evangelicals included) are dangerously close to Gnosticism with regards to our Bible study. We have lost the spirit of Reformation hermeneutics, especially in the pews. We sit around in Bible study circles and ask “What does this passage mean to you?” We applaud as someone gives their answer and then move on to the next and ask the same question. “What does it mean to you Billy?… And what does it mean to you Sal?… What does it mean to you Kevin?” We affirm each person’s response even if it means something different to each person. Can the text have different meanings? Only if you are practicing a Gnostic hermeneutic where the Bible becomes a magic book with a secret spiritual meaning that transcends the literal.
While the Bible can have different and subjective applications, it cannot have different and subjective meanings. It means what it meant. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no person, group, denomination, tradition, or magisterial authority who has a magic decoder ring. There is no secret hidden meaning. The only meaning that we can discover is what the original author meant.
While this does produce fear of the Scriptures, I believe that this is a healthy fear. After all, the Bible is God’s word, isn’t it? We can’t take it lightly.
Today, I believe that we (evangelicals included) are dangerously close to Gnosticism with regards to our Bible study. We have lost the spirit of Reformation hermeneutics, especially in the pews. We sit around in Bible study circles and ask “What does this passage mean to you?” We applaud as someone gives their answer and then move on to the next and ask the same question. “What does it mean to you Billy?… And what does it mean to you Sal?… What does it mean to you Kevin?” We affirm each person’s response even if it means something different to each person. Can the text have different meanings? Only if you are practicing a Gnostic hermeneutic where the Bible becomes a magic book with a secret spiritual meaning that transcends the literal.
While the Bible can have different and subjective applications, it cannot have different and subjective meanings. It means what it meant. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no person, group, denomination, tradition, or magisterial authority who has a magic decoder ring. There is no secret hidden meaning. The only meaning that we can discover is what the original author meant.
While this does produce fear of the Scriptures, I believe that this is a healthy fear. After all, the Bible is God’s word, isn’t it? We can’t take it lightly.
Consumer Gospel
At our men's Bible study the other night I opened with some comments about the consumer mentality that exists in America. How easily that has invaded the church today and we have in essence a "Burger King" (have it your way) Jesus. In this sense we market the gospel to be a self help program, a gospel that can develop better leaders, fix a bad marriage, keep our children from rebelling, give better health, and even secure our 401 K plans via divine guidance and protection. So think about this for a minute, if Jesus can do all of that, plus I don't have to go to hell where I suffer for an eternity, and my sins can be forgiven so I don't go to bed with a guilty conscience, and you can convince me that God does have a wonderful plan for my life, then sure I will take Jesus - do you have more than one?
We have created in our consumerism a gospel of felt needs and we sell Jesus as the One who can fill the need. The Christian life becomes in essence an off shoot of going to the local Jiffy Lube where they roll out the red carpet and give you service in 15 minutes and you are on your way. I go into Christian book stores and see devotion books that are labeled a "5 minute time with God daily." And in my mind I am thinking "love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength." Folks there are 1,440 minutes in every day which means 1% of our day would be 14 minutes with God in the morning or evening for prayer and Bible. And yet for the American consumer who has little time for Christ other than Sunday, holidays and emergencies, we market a 5 minute devotion book. This is the day of "fast food" religious activity but it is not the gospel spoken of in the Bible. Something is wrong, desperately wrong and every fiber of my being wants to cry out REPENT AND BELIEVE!
I am drawn to the language in the Bible that the Lord Jesus Himself spoke when it comes to being a "genuine" Christian. Look closely at these words and compare them to the consumeristic gospel that exists for us so that we can have our "BEST LIFE NOW!"
Mark 8:34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. The context of these words are when Jesus first tells His disciples in plain language that He must go to cross and die and then 3 days later be raised from the dead.
The Christian life is about:
1. Denying self - in the day and time in which we live this is something I rarely hear talked about or preached. This is about us denying everything in our lives that could be a distraction from the real treasure and prize which is Christ Himself. As C.S. Lewis once stated "we have been so happy for years playing with mud pies in the streets and we have no idea what it would be like to enjoy a day on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Do you see how this statement of "deny yourself" plays out in a day of consumerism? Tell the people in church, it is not about what you can get from Jesus but what you are willing to give up in order to follow Jesus. Let me ask you a question - what are the things in your life right now that take your time and attention away from Christ? Is there something or are there things that you value here on planet earth that you value more than Him?
2. Take up your cross - Every day you must go to the electric chair, the hanging gallows, the lethal injection chamber and die. You are dying daily to everything that would keep you from the main thing and the main thing is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Check out this verse Romans 8:13 "for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." The only way this can be done as you read carefully through this section of Scripture is via the Spirit by the very word of God! Are you in the word daily, consistently and getting saturated to the point that when others bump into you throughout the day you bleed Jesus. Please don't confuse DUTY with DELIGHT. Is Christ the passion and treasure of your life so that you are a man or a woman after God's own heart? 2Chronciles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
3. Follow Christ - this verb is written in the present tense which means to be a continual and habitual way of life. And once again if you were to ask in the context "how am I to follow Jesus Christ" the answer is as follows - by denying self and taking up your cross!
Please notice there is nothing in this verse about any guarantees to health, wealth and prosperity. He doesn't say follow me that I can fix the marriage, help with your time management skills, make you a better steward of the environment. Jesus did not come to be a "life coach" or a good example. Jesus came to reconcile us from the wrath of God. He absorbed, on the cross, the full wrath of God that we deserved and at the same time credited to us a righteousness that we did not deserve. It is the understanding of this grace, yes this AMAZING GRACE, that should overflow with delight into lives that are about denying anything that would take away from Him as our treasure and killing daily things like lust, envy, greed, jealousy, pride by His Spirit and through His word! (By the way this will take more than 5 minutes)
The Christian life is not about us! The Christian life is about Christ! The only right we have is the right to eternal judgment, damnation and hell. It is only through God's wonderful grace and mercy that He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. May in this age of consumerism and getting what we want when we want it, that we would be the people of God who live not for us but for Him and Him alone.
Blessings,
We have created in our consumerism a gospel of felt needs and we sell Jesus as the One who can fill the need. The Christian life becomes in essence an off shoot of going to the local Jiffy Lube where they roll out the red carpet and give you service in 15 minutes and you are on your way. I go into Christian book stores and see devotion books that are labeled a "5 minute time with God daily." And in my mind I am thinking "love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength." Folks there are 1,440 minutes in every day which means 1% of our day would be 14 minutes with God in the morning or evening for prayer and Bible. And yet for the American consumer who has little time for Christ other than Sunday, holidays and emergencies, we market a 5 minute devotion book. This is the day of "fast food" religious activity but it is not the gospel spoken of in the Bible. Something is wrong, desperately wrong and every fiber of my being wants to cry out REPENT AND BELIEVE!
I am drawn to the language in the Bible that the Lord Jesus Himself spoke when it comes to being a "genuine" Christian. Look closely at these words and compare them to the consumeristic gospel that exists for us so that we can have our "BEST LIFE NOW!"
Mark 8:34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. The context of these words are when Jesus first tells His disciples in plain language that He must go to cross and die and then 3 days later be raised from the dead.
The Christian life is about:
1. Denying self - in the day and time in which we live this is something I rarely hear talked about or preached. This is about us denying everything in our lives that could be a distraction from the real treasure and prize which is Christ Himself. As C.S. Lewis once stated "we have been so happy for years playing with mud pies in the streets and we have no idea what it would be like to enjoy a day on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Do you see how this statement of "deny yourself" plays out in a day of consumerism? Tell the people in church, it is not about what you can get from Jesus but what you are willing to give up in order to follow Jesus. Let me ask you a question - what are the things in your life right now that take your time and attention away from Christ? Is there something or are there things that you value here on planet earth that you value more than Him?
2. Take up your cross - Every day you must go to the electric chair, the hanging gallows, the lethal injection chamber and die. You are dying daily to everything that would keep you from the main thing and the main thing is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Check out this verse Romans 8:13 "for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." The only way this can be done as you read carefully through this section of Scripture is via the Spirit by the very word of God! Are you in the word daily, consistently and getting saturated to the point that when others bump into you throughout the day you bleed Jesus. Please don't confuse DUTY with DELIGHT. Is Christ the passion and treasure of your life so that you are a man or a woman after God's own heart? 2Chronciles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
3. Follow Christ - this verb is written in the present tense which means to be a continual and habitual way of life. And once again if you were to ask in the context "how am I to follow Jesus Christ" the answer is as follows - by denying self and taking up your cross!
Please notice there is nothing in this verse about any guarantees to health, wealth and prosperity. He doesn't say follow me that I can fix the marriage, help with your time management skills, make you a better steward of the environment. Jesus did not come to be a "life coach" or a good example. Jesus came to reconcile us from the wrath of God. He absorbed, on the cross, the full wrath of God that we deserved and at the same time credited to us a righteousness that we did not deserve. It is the understanding of this grace, yes this AMAZING GRACE, that should overflow with delight into lives that are about denying anything that would take away from Him as our treasure and killing daily things like lust, envy, greed, jealousy, pride by His Spirit and through His word! (By the way this will take more than 5 minutes)
The Christian life is not about us! The Christian life is about Christ! The only right we have is the right to eternal judgment, damnation and hell. It is only through God's wonderful grace and mercy that He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. May in this age of consumerism and getting what we want when we want it, that we would be the people of God who live not for us but for Him and Him alone.
Blessings,
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Quote for the day
The contemporary moral climate does not favor a faith as tough and fibrous as that taught by our Lord and His apostles. The delicate, brittle saints being produced in our religious hothouses today are hardly to be compared with the committed, expendable believers who once gave their witness among men. And the fault lies with our leaders. They are too timid to tell the people all the truth. They are now asking men to give to God that which costs them nothing.
Our churches these days are filled (or one-quarter filled) with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spinetingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail. Such can only be called weak adherents of a faith they never really understood. (That Incredible Christian, 76).
A.W. Tozer
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Ridgecrest Retreat Flip Video
Here is a short series of flip video's that document our trip up to Asheville last week for our class retreat. We were packed to the gills and really looked liked the Beverly Hillbillies of the Carolinas. Nancy could not see out the back of the car but what a great time we had in Asheville!
Quote for the day
“We’ve become very familiar with preaching that, pays scant attention to the Bible; is self-focused; and is consequently only capable of making the most superficial impact upon the lives of the listeners. This would be bad enough were it not for the fact, that large sections of the church who listen to this kind of stuff are actually oblivious to the fact that what they’re getting is a placebo rather than the real medicine. And therefore they leave satisfied with the feeling that it has done them some good. A feeling which disguises the gravity of the situation… They get bloated up by all this stuff, and it gives them the feeling that somehow or another they’ve had a meal, but after a few hours they say, ‘You know, I don’t know whether that thing did anything at all…’ And so, in the absence of bread the population grows accustom to cake.”
- Alistair Begg
- Alistair Begg
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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