FreeTruth

One of the chief blessings our church has received through our relationship with Sovereign Grace Ministries has been a new ability to see the centrality of the gospel for all of life. This is not a cliche for us; it's life-blood for our souls.

The only thing worth declaring and the only boast worth having is the gospel of Christ's atoning death on the cross (1 Corinthians 2:2; Galatians 6:14). This is the "thing of first importance" (the "main thing" as one of our SGM friends and leaders, C.J. Mahaney, would put it) by which, it should be noted, we not only were saved, but we "are being saved" (1 Corinthians 15:1-3).

The cross is not simply what delivers us from hell; in a very real sense, it is what delivers us from everything. We cannot face any need or crisis or temptation or sin without a fresh look at the cross and its implications for our lives. At TFC we have always believed, preached, and lived the gospel. But in recent times we have seen its glorious relevance for all of life. We are those who are redeemed, ransomed, delivered, empowered and secured by the atoning and wrath-averting death of Christ.

Because God was willing to deliver Christ up for us all we are sure that God will freely give us all things we need for life and godliness (Romans 8:32). Perhaps a few words from and cited by C.J. in his widely read and delightful book, Living the Cross Centered Life, will crystalize this for us today:

"We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross" (from David Prior).

For this reason we should:
1. Preach the gospel to ourselves everyday.
2. Memorize the gospel through gospel texts.
3. Pray the gospel.
4. Sing the gospel.
5. Review how the gospel has changed our lives.
6. Study the great doctrines of the gospel.

Because of the gospel of Christ's atoning death and triumphant resurrection we should "expend all our energies admiring, exploring, expositing,and extolling Jesus Christ" (from Sinclair Ferguson).

If people attending our church think they sense a fullness of joy and a deep appreciation for grace, it is because we have become increasingly cross centered. I believe that Trinity Fellowship Church has become more humble, more holy, and simply put, more happy, precisely because it has become more radically and pervasively a community of the Cross.

And for this emphasis we are indebted to God's grace channeled to us through Sovereign Grace Ministries. For this I, for one, am thankful.

Labels: Cross Centered Living, Gospel, Gratitude, Mission, Missions, Sovereign Grace Ministries

Today I continue some thoughts I began yesterday re TFC's relationship with Sovereign Grace Ministries and the joys it has produced. I continue this boast confident of a couple of things. First, boasting in others is a very biblical thing to do (as Paul models for us time and again in the NT).

Second, I can boast in God's grace to us through SGM without any hesitation because in my estimation it has nothing to do with me except this: my church and I have been on the receiving end of grace in this relationship a whole lot more than the giving end. In boasting about the family of churches of which we are a part, I am not boasting about ourselves for this simple reason: pretty much all we've done is receive!

And third, I boast in others really so I can glory in God who in His astonishing mercy gives others to us for our good and His praise! If any good is to be found in SGM it is due to the amazing grace of God, and so in the end to boast in others is to glorify Him. And this I do with all joy!

So with all that in mind, let me continue with some excerpts from some thoughts I shared recently at a SGM pastors event:

Before I mention some specific blessings TFC has enjoyed in relationship with Sovereign Grace Ministries, let me say this. I’ve made more decisions during my life than I’d like to recall or admit, in which after the decisions were made, it became abundantly clear that those decisions were mistakes. Time revealed the errors of judgment of which I was guilty. But in the case of adoption into Sovereign Grace, the opposite is true.

Now that I can see with four years worth of hindsight, I can say with deep gratitude that as time has gone on, this is one decision about which I (and the TFC leadership team) have no regrets! I can say without any hesitation and with all thankfulness that we’ve become more sure of, more happy in, and more grateful for, God’s grace in leading us into relationship with Sovereign Grace than we were when the decision was first made. I’ve seldom been surer of the grace-produced rightness of a pastoral decision than I am of this one.

With all that said, when I asked Gayline to help me think of the blessings that being a part of SGM has yielded in our life and ministry, she didn’t take long to shoot off to me a list of no less than 20—yes 20—blessings. I think the process took her about three minutes! That’s the kind of joy impact that this relationship has had in our life. And now I get to share some of them with you...

Tomorrow I'll start sharing some specifics. But can I take a moment now to ask you this question: do you pause regularly to consider how God has blessed you through others, and then intentionally thank God and them for those blessings? When I got to share these thoughts with my SGM friends and leaders I was overwhelmed with joy precisely because I got to share them! I was given a chance to say thank you and to tell the folks that have been a means of God's grace in my life that I was grateful and humbled because of them and that grace.

Have you done that with anyone recently? A parent, a Christian friend, a pastor, a children's ministry worker who is a blessing to one of your children, a care group leader who commits 5-10 hours per week to help care for your soul? May I encourage you to practice the lifestyle of gratitude to others and glory to God that is displayed pervasively in the Bible?

Why not go out of your way to do this today?

Labels: Gratitude, Mission, Missions, Sovereign Grace Ministries

October is Sovereign Grace Ministries' (SGM) mission month. During the month in our church we will be viewing a series of short videos highlighting the mission of SGM in which our church shares. On October 25th we will be receiving a special offering to give to SGM to help our family of churches extend its gospel reach even further into the world.

To help us grasp the reasons why all of those connected to Trinity Fellowship Church should rejoice in SGM, and want to support it with all our might (and much of our money) I want to take a month of blog posts (or at least quite a few days) to share the blessings our church has gained in the past four years since we were adopted into this family of about 70 churches in this country and around the world.

I'm going to share excerpts from a public word of gratitude that I was privileged to give at a recent SGM pastors event. In doing this I hope to do a couple of things: boast in the kind grace of God in our church's life and give honor and gratitude to whom honor is due! Here's how my testimony began:

It is a huge pleasure to be able to share what becoming a part of the Sovereign Grace family has meant to my wife, Gayline, to my church family, and to me. I should probably give a bit of history first. I’ve been pastoring for nearly 27 years, with 24 of those years being in an independent, unsupported and unaccountable local church work.

I was blessed with very good and wonderful men at my side, guys whose life, character and leadership were (and still are) of immense personal value to me, and of priceless pastoral value to the church in which I serve. Without Tim, Bruce, Steve, and Scott, all members of TFC pastoral team during the years, I would have crashed and burned years ago. Whatever current and future blessing God may have in store for me in the ministry entrusted to me, I have determined never to forget or let others forget the role these guys have had in my life. I thank God for who they are and what they mean to me.

But I also know that while God was kind to keep me going for around 25 years of ministry with these guys as a primary means of persevering grace for me, I could not envision 25 more years without their continuing care, and without something even more by way of oversight and care going on in my life. I knew the spiritual challenges of pastoral ministry enough, as well as the leadership challenges of a growing church, to know that for me to be faithful to the end of my days I was going to need increased grace from God through a widening circle of care and accountability.

About a dozen years ago those of us in leadership at Trinity began a theological journey in new directions. We’d always been Reformed in our theology, being strongly committed to the doctrines of grace and the God-centered and God-entranced worship they produce. But we were also—to put it mildly—rather vocal, dogmatic, and deeply entrenched cessationists, being convinced for years that there were certain of the spiritual gifts talked about in the New Testament that had ceased. Our theological journey was from cessationism into continuationism, a journey now quite complete (for a statement of the reasons why we took this journey into a more complete embrace of all the spiritual gifts the reader can go to the TFC website and under "Resources" read the Cardiphonia paper about "Continuationism").

This journey was not without difficulty, especially as we were called to lead our people through a transition into a real openness and delight in things we once disbelieved, doubted, and even denounced. It was back in 1998 or 99, as we were shifting directions that we came upon Sovereign Grace in a way most unexpected. Someone...gave us a tape of SGM (then PDI) music, Love beyond Degree, on the back of which were written these significant words: “PDI is essentially reformed with a significant charismatic dimension”...

[T]hose words hit us with a certain measure of pleasant shock, for they reminded us of us—and we had yet to meet anyone quite like us! We had felt oddly different with our perspectives and it was reassuring to know that there were at least a few other unusual (shall I say, weird) ones around. We were amazed at what God had led us to stumble upon!

To abbreviate a story exciting to us but probably tedious for some, let me just say that we initiated conversations with SGM guys—mostly my wonderful friends Warren Boettcher and Dave Harvey--asking them for all the help they could give in guiding us during our transition into a biblical pursuit of the gifts in church life.

We had no thoughts initially of joining with Sovereign Grace, but as they overwhelmed us with their friendship, aid and wisdom, it wasn’t too long before we knew—at least as leaders—that we would love to be a part of this family. It became clear to us that their convictions and values were the same as ours.

The conversations developed into a kind of foster kid relationship with Sovereign Grace, with SGM allowing us to crash all their family parties, and go to nearly everything they were doing. Things then moved—in a process lasting 2-3 years—to full adoption, a relationship that was formalized in August of 2005 and which we now cherish beyond words.

More to come...

Labels: Gratitude, Mission, Missions, Sovereign Grace Ministries

This entry will be a bit longer than normal, but I would like to share with you in this post some convicting thoughts I recently encountered in a new book written by R.C. Sproul Jr.. The book is titled “Believing God: 12 Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept”, and the forward to the book was written by Ray Comfort. It is in the forward that I found, and was struck by, the following comments. It begins first with a letter that Ray Comfort received from an individual who was a professed atheist, and this is what he wrote:

“You are really convinced that you’ve got all the answers. You’ve really got yourself tricked into believing that you’re 100 percent right. Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you’re right, as you say you are, and you believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me, you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation, into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain that your “loving god” created, yet you stand by and do nothing. If you believed one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unchangeable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That’s equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You’re just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that “walk” signal will shine your way across the road. Think about it. Imagine the horrors hell must have in store if the Bible is true. You’re just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you’re right, then you’re an uncaring, unemotional, and purely selfish (expletive) that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring”

In response to this individual, Ray Comfort wrote back, and expressed to him that the reality was this: “I couldn’t sleep at night because I was so horrified by the thought that anyone would go to hell. Since 1982, I have risen from bed around midnight most nights of the week to cry out to God to save them”. Furthermore, he when on to say that “for more than thirty years I have been running the streets, pleading with the unsaved to turn from sin. When we read the book of Acts, we see that this is nothing special. It is our reasonable service and should be the testimony of every believer who professes to possess the love of God. Charles Spurgeon knew what it was to have a deep concern for the lost. He pleaded: ‘Save some, O Christians! By all means, save some. From yonder flames and outer darkness, and weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, seek to save some! Let this, as in the case of the apostle, be your great, ruling object in life, that by all means you might save some’”.

So why do I share this with you? I can assure you that it is not because I love the lost anywhere near as much as Ray Comfort (and more importantly, the Bible) indicates we should. Because in fact, to my shame, I don’t. But the stark realities of judgment and the great divide that is to come, press increasingly upon me the need to cultivate and deepen my love for lost people---and to express that love in actively bearing witness to the Savior and to the free pardon that He offers.

How about you?

Labels: christian life, Evangelism, Mission

"So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone" (1 Samuel 17:50.

One of the joys of consistent Bible intake is that you notice increasingly the little turns of phrase that God intends to capture our imagination. Here's one of them: "David prevailed...with a sling and a stone."

That's no inconsequential detail; in one sense it's the point of the whole story. How did little David defeat giant Goliath? With a sling and a stone. That is to say: "David didn't prevail over Goliath at all; God did." The attention is drawn to the means David used in order to make it clear that something/Someone other than David and the means was the real cause of David's victory.

Of course David knew this and made sure that everyone did too when he says in 1 Samuel 17:45-47--

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.

God loves to use slings and stones and borrowed swords because bigger weapons just might tempt us to credit the means rather than the Maker.

So what are your Goliaths? Sin, abortion, secularism, an unsaved loved one, discouragement, an ugly or evil habit, the culture war? You can be sure of two things: God will give the victory, and God will get the glory. And most likely He will acheive the latter by using some small effort, some inconsequential word, some lesser gift, some quiet insignificant act, some otherwise un-noteworthy person to achieve the former.

Let us never despair if it seems that the enemy has all the big guns on his side. For we've got a God whose really good with a sling and an arrow, and He loves to use it.

Labels: Culture War, Family, Mission, Witness

The war with culture must be engaged not just with words or counter-attack or defense. It must be engaged with love. Christians must connect profoundly to a lost and desperate world with radical love.

I’ve shared a few words from others as I’ve been away this week. Let me add one more citation to stir your hearts to go deeper into the heart and love and imitation of Christ for the sake of our world.

Having written a marvelous chapter entitled “God Incarnate” in his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer concludes his wondrous teaching on the sacrifice of Christ in becoming one of us with this amazing challenge for us:

We see now what it meant for the Son of God to empty Himself and become poor. It meant a laying aside of glory; a voluntary restraint of power; an acceptance of hardship, isolation, ill-treatment, malice, and misunderstanding; finally, a death that involved such agony--spiritual, even more than physical--that His mind nearly broke under the prospect of it (see Luke 12:50, and the Gethsemane story). It meant love to the uttermost for unlovely men, who "through his poverty, might become rich." The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity--hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory--because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.

We talk glibly of the "Christmas spirit," rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But what we have said makes it clear that the phrase should in fact carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of Him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round. It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians--I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians--go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord's parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet them) averting their eyes, and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas Spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians--alas, they are many--whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the sub-middle-class sections of the community, Christians and non-Christian to get on by themselves. The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christian spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor--spending, and being spent--to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, trouble care and concern, to do good to others--and not just their own friends--in whatever way there seems need.

There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things He will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. "For you know the grace of our Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

O Lord, may they know we are Christians by our love.

Labels: Culture War, Love, Mission

Years ago I read the following true narrative from Charles Colson’s Loving God. It marked me for life. In posting it for you today, I’m hoping that maybe it will mark you, too.

“In the fourth century there lived an Asiatic monk who had spent most of his life in a remote community of prayer, raising vegetables for the cloister kitchen. When he was not tending his garden spot, he was fulfilling his vocation of study and prayer.

Then one day this monk named Telemachus felt that the Lord wanted him to go to Rome, the busiest, wealthiest, biggest city in the world. Telemachus had no idea why he should go there, and he was terrified at the thought. But as he prayed, God’s directive became clear. He was sure God wanted him to go to Rome.

He arrived there during the holiday festival. The city was bustling with excitement over the recent Roman victory over the Goths. In the midst of this jubilant commotion, the monk looked for clues as to why God had brought him there, for he had no other guidance, not even a superior in a religious order to contact.

'Perhaps,' he thought, 'it is not sheer coincidence that I have arrived at this festival time. Perhaps God has some special role for me to play.'

So Telemachus let the crowds guide him, and the stream of humanity soon led him into the Coliseum where the gladiator contests were to be staged. He could hear the cries of the animals in their cages beneath the floor of the great arena and the clamor of the contestants preparing to do battle.

The gladiators marched into the arena, saluted the emperor, and shouted, 'We who are about to die salute thee.' Telemachus shuddered. He had never heard of gladiator games before, but had a premonition of awful violence.

The crowd had come to cheer men who, for no reason other than amusement, would murder each other. Human lives were taken for the purpose of entertainment. As the monk realized what was going to happen, he realized he could not sit still and watch such savagery. Neither could he leave and forget it. He jumped to the top of the perimeter wall and cried, 'In the name of Christ, forbear!' [That means, "STOP"]

The fighting began, of course. No one paid the slightest heed to the puny voice. So Telemachus pattered down the stone steps and leapt onto the sandy floor of the arena. He made a comic figure--a scrawny man in a monk’s habit dashing back and forth between muscular, armed athletes. One gladiator sent him sprawling with a blow from his shield, directing him back to his seat. It was a rough gesture, though almost a kind one. The crowd roared.

But Telemachus refused to stop. He rushed into the way of those trying to fight, shouting again, 'In the name of Christ, forbear!' The crowd began to laugh and cheer him on, perhaps thinking that he was part of the entertainment.

Then his movement blocked the vision of one of the contestants; so that the gladiator only saw a blow coming just in time. His interruption angered the crowd. They began to cry for his blood. 'Run him through,' they screamed.

The gladiator he had blocked, raised his sword and with a flash of steel struck Telemachus, slashing down across his chest and into his stomach. The little monk gasped once more, 'In the name of Christ, forbear,' and collapsed onto the sand.

Then a strange thing occurred. As the two gladiators and the crowd focused on the still form on the suddenly crimson sand, the arena grew deathly quiet. In the silence, someone in the top tier got up and walked out. Another followed. All over the arena, spectators began to leave, until the huge stadium was emptied.

There were other forces at work, of course, but that one, innocent figure lying in the pool of blood crystallized the opposition, and that was the last gladiator contest in the Roman Coliseum. Never again did men kill each other for the crowds’ entertainment in the Roman arena.”

I wonder: what are we willing to sacrifice to stop the bloodshed today?

Labels: Culture War, Mission

As an example of positive cultural warfare I’d like to post the following letter from one of our church folks to the principal of his local public high school. This brother has been known to go to school meetings to speak out against various issues like evolution, but this letter shows that he is also willing and eager to speak up when good happens. This is part of being “ready to give an answer with all gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, 16). It also follows the “see-the-positive-and-commend-it” model of Paul when addressing various pagan and ungodly people (Acts 17:22; 24:10; 26:3; 25, 26). Read and appreciate:

Letter to the Editor (of the school newspaper)
Mr. Holman for Mayor

“On December 17th my wife and I attended the annual Pinelands Regional ‘Winter Concert.’ As the program of music and song unfolded, we were surprised and delighted to discover that this was no mere ‘Winter’ or ‘Holiday Concert’ at all. It was, in every sense, a Christmas Concert!

We congratulate Mr. Holman and Mrs. Sedlak on their selections, which consisted of traditional Christmas Carols and other sacred choral music. There was mention of ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem’ and of ‘God and sinners reconciled!’ Of Jesus coming to ‘save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray…’ By the end of the concert, I was definitely ready to celebrate this season of joy! Mr. Holman even invited the audience to join in the singing! All this, mind you, in a public school auditorium!

Thank you, Mr. Holman, for remembering what Christmas means to so many of us--I can’t tell you how encouraged we felt. The situation is not as far gone as I had supposed. Yes, the drive toward secularization threatens to sterilize even this most joyous time of the year, but on this evening my faith was restored.

At one point, toward the end of the concert, Mr. Holman turned to the audience and said, “Merry Christmas…yes we do say that around here!” The place erupted in applause.

After the concert, I personally thanked Mr. Holman, pointing out the overwhelming positive response of the crowd. He too had apparently noticed it, and jokingly suggested that this might be his chance to run for mayor! Go for it Ross! And thanks for reminding us of the reason for the season.”

A letter well written that shows grace and gratitude even in the middle of war; a model worth following. Thanks bro!


Note: if you haven't yet responded to Tuesday's post, please go back and leave a comment!

Labels: Culture War, Mission

So how do we confront the culture in which we live? I think first we need to confront the culture in us that lives.

As I see it our times are marked by:
1. Perverse Materialism: Has any culture ever been marked at every level by such a raw love of money and the things money buys, and then had the perverse gall to think of it as an entitlement?
2. Uninhibited Hedonism: Has any culture ever had so much sensual pleasure easily at hand, with so little moral conscience to feel guilty about any of it, so few social stigmas to restrain it, and such a focused greed to make sure that not one of those pleasures goes unexperienced?
3. Unblushing Narcissism: Has any culture ever had so many mirrors, so much make-up, and such radical makeovers; or has any culture ever been so self-absorbed, self-confident, and self-preening, and actually been proud of it, turning all this vanity into a virtue?
4. Mind-numbing Decibalism: Has any culture ever created so much noise and turned it up so loudly to blare away all silence, and with it nearly all capacity to think, to reflect, to feel the deeper things?
5. Unvarnished Secularism: Has any culture ever been so brazenly and boastfully secular as ours, making agnosticism a mark of humility, and banishing the sacred to the realm of the closet and the cathedral?
6. Rampant Relativism: Has any culture ever intoned the "what's true for me may not be true for you" mantra more mindlessly than ours, leaving a whole generation or two almost really believing that anything goes?
7. Pervasive Nihilism: Has any culture ever embraced Hemingway's "life is a short day's journey from nothingness to nothingness" pessimism more enthusiastically than ours, and then lived like they meant it by feeling no sense of the transcendant, and by creating an abortion friendly, euthanasia open, suicide embracing, and violence craving culture of death?

These are the signs of our times; the charactristics by which future generations will remember us, if in fact we survive long enough for there to be any future generations.

The question for us culture-war minded Christians is this: "To what degree are we losing the war in the territory of our own hearts?" How much culture has already invaded my inner self? Where does the "spirit of the age" already rule my life?

We'd do well to review all the above and discern how much each of these soul-diseases has infected us. To win the war out there, I'm convinced we need to recapture the territory within.

Not only do we need this recovery of the soul for our soul's sake; we need it for our witness' sake. For when Christians speak out against a world gone mad when it's clear to the world that the church is both in and of the very same world she condemns, our witness sounds shrill and phony.

And it is.

Labels: Culture War, Mission, Sanctification

The hobbits loved their shire. It was a quiet place in which living and letting live was the life-style of choice. Hobbits wanted no part of the bigger world of wraiths and orcs and demons. And they hoped that whatever was going on out there would never quite reach them or affect their cozy way of life.

But the problem with evil is that it never rests. It always assaults, always prowls, always seeks to devour. What Frodo and the others had to face is that there is a dark evil in the cosmos, and the darkness always spreads.

I know a lot of Christians who are hobbit-like. I'm one of them. I like my shire, my home, my family, my church, my sphere of ministry. I'd like to keep my life under the radar so no one out there will notice (unless they're wanting to be a part of my world). I'd like to speak truth to my folks, and maybe speak out against error and sin at a safe distance from the world of evil around me, but not really get noticed for that stand against sin and for righteousness. If I get noticed then the risks of hostility increase.

Martin Luther rebukes me in his famous wake-up to the church and her leaders:

"If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I maybe professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle field besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

Friends: evil is happening. Clouds of darkness are forming. A culture of death and malice and self is squeezing us in. Freedom is waning, and the cost of speaking clearly for Christ is going up. It is not a time to flinch or fly under the radar. It's a time to stand up, speak up, and give it all up, for Christ.

I'm still processing what that has to look like, but one thing I know: we need real men and strong women (both as biblically rather than culturally defined) who will take a stand for God, truth, life, and love--in both word and deed--and in so doing confess Christ where the battle rages in our times.

O Lord keep us from flight and disgrace.

Labels: Culture War, Mission

One of my favorite parts of the Lord of the Rings is a conversation between Frodo and Gandalf. A dark evil is filling the land. Wraiths and orcs--demonic forces of darkness--are on the move. Powers of malice are threatening the whole earth. And, as you probably know, the only way to stop the evil is to destroy a powerful ring that will otherwise control the future by its hellish magical force.

The task to destroy this ring falls to Frodo, an average hobbit with a monumental challenge accompanied by perilous terrors. As the young hobbit carries the weight of the ring through one life-threatening crisis after another, the burden becomes almost more than he can bear. And in a moment of near despair as Frodo speaks with the powerful and good Gandalf, he cries: “I wish the ring has never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”

We've all known such moments: moments we wished had not come our way; burdens we wished we did not have to carry; challenges we wished we did not have to face; circumstances we wished were not our lot to endure; risks we wished were not ours to confront; threats and impending dangers we wished were never a part of our lives.

Gandalf's response to Frodo has inspired me numerous times. In fact, sometimes I'll re-watch the movies or re-read the book, just to get to this moment of Gandalfian wisdom: “ So do all [wish none of this had ever happened] who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Very often in life, we do not choose our path; it chooses us. More precisely, it is chosen for us by God. What's left for us is to decide what we will do with the time and the path chosen.

Alert Christians in our moment of American history are aware that we are in perilous times; times of economic peril, moral degradation, social meltdown, freedom loss, global disdain for Christian values, and a wholesale unraveling of anything like a fundamental commitment to basic morality and the sanctitiy of life.

These are perilous times which are only going to worsen in the days to come. We wish that such times would not happen, but they do. And these times are our times. What is for us to decide is what we are going to do with the times we are given.

In recent days I've felt the call of God to do more than pastor my flock. There is a call upon men and women of God to be a conscience for society, a defender of the helpless, a beacon of truth and guardian of all things sacred. The church is not supposed to be hidden, but out in the open. It's not to be slinking off into the shadows hoping for the "safety" of anonymity, but stepping out onto the hill side in the power of love and with a bull horn for truth and right. This is the moment and the path chosen for us.

Right now I'm trying to discern what that path is to look like for me. How do I become a voice for righteousness as the darkness gathers? And what about us all? What is the self-denying perilous path of obedience and courage to which God is calling you and me in this our time, our moment, our battle with evil?

We have no choice but to ponder our place and moment and calling in this hour. Are we willing?

Labels: Culture War, Mission

In Joshua 2:11 Rahab, a converted harlot, tells of why she came to faith in the God of the Bible. She'd heard of the works of God which proved that He is Lord of heaven and earth, and her heart melted like wax. The undeniable presence of God with the people of God led to a heart-melting fear of God on the earth. And in her case, it led to her conversion.

There are NT parallels to this phenomenon. Acts 2:42-48 and Acts 4:29-33 and Acts 5:12-14 and Acts 6:7 and Acts 9:31 and 1 Corinthians 14:24, 25 and 2 Thessalonians 3:1 and 2 Timothy 2:8 all recount how Jesus' prediction of the triumph of the Church and the gospel (Matthew 16:18) would unfold in this age. Fearless preaching married to godly living and anointed by God's powerful Spirit made for an unstoppable gospel. People heard, feared, and believed.

When the invincible Word of God is proclaimed by the holy people of God through the living church of God accompanied by the mighty works of God, the hearts of men and women will melt like wax, and wherever we set the soles of our feet we will gain new spiritual ground and win new people to Christ (Joshua 1:3-9). To be sure, as in the day of Joshua, there will be much opposition to the undeniable reality of God. But at the same time, many Rahabs will be saved and the gospel will triumph.

What we need today is for local churches to rise up as battalions of faith, enflamed by the glory of God in the gospel, amazed at the wonder of grace, transfixed by the face of Christ and the beauty of The Holy, surrendered to a life of love, uncompromised in the pursuit of godliness, and gifted and empowered and filled by the Holy Spirit--to proclaim a triumphant Savior. This is that "something bigger than us" that I referred to the other day. To it we are all called, and in it we will all find the greatest of joys.

The world simply cannot stay neutral in the face of such a force. It's heart will melt like wax. It will know that the Church is a divine force to be reckoned with. But I should warn you: when this happens we will see both the winning of many converts to Christ and the increase of much opposition to Christ. Mark these words: when the Church rises up like this it will not be irrelevant. Nor will it go unnoticed. People with melting hearts before the reality of God will either join us or fight us. One thing the gospel will not let them do is ignore us.

O Lord raise Your Church to join the great cause of God and Truth, and may the world's heart melt with fear mixed with faith for Your everlasting praise.

Labels: Evangelism, Mission

Joy comes from being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

What we are a part of is a partnership.

What we are a part of is more important than the part we play.

There is One Who has taken the humblest part that we might have a part in the joy of the gospel.

These are the four points I made in Sunday's message. I offer them here by way of review. Based on Philippians 1:12-18, they capture an outlook on life that sets direction and purpose for all we do. If you're interested go to www.trinityfel.org to listen to the message in full.

Whoever you are and whatever church you are a part of, my simple word to you today is this: do not shrink life down to your own little world. God is up to something huge, and He invites you to share the joy of being a part of it. Seek counsel from pastor, spouse, and members of your local church, to find out what part that might be.

Then go for the joy!

Labels: Joy, Mission, Partnership