Desperate for Change

Are you desperate for change? Have you exhausted your resources in an effort to fix your life? Mark 5:24-34 tells a story about a woman who had spent all that she had in an attempt to heal her body, but all that money and time and pain had been an exercise in futility. For 12 years, this woman had fought with her disease, gotten a second opinion, then a third, and yet no doctor or treatment could cure her of her disease.

Aren't our lives like this? We have a horrible disease; it is called sin. You can fight it, but you will lose. Just like someone with a deadly virus, we are dead men walking, because sin is a spiritual disease that has physical effects. We die physically because of the disease of sin we were born with. That's the bad news.

Here's the good news. Jesus Christ. Just like our friend in Mark, who stalked Jesus, reached out her hand in faith and touched his clothes, all we must do is reach out our hand in faith and trust in Jesus' obedient life and sacrificial death. When we put our faith, our trust, in Jesus Christ, we are healed, too! Our spiritual disease gets cured, and we start seeing evidence in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

So go in peace, and follow Christ!

Todd

Why Does the Bible Have to be Difficult?

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him." -- 1 Peter 3:18-22

In 1998, John Piper preached a sermon from Romans 3:1-8 entitled "Why God Inspired Hard Texts." He argues that schools, among other things, are one of the main answers to this question. "Education is cultivating the life of the mind so that it knows how to grow in true understanding. That impulse was unleashed by God's inspiring a Book with complex demanding paragraphs in it."

So get into the Word and grow your mind!

Todd

Portrait of a Believer

Mark 5:1-20 tells us the story about a man who was out of control. His life was ruled by demons. And not just a couple; the name of the demon was Legion, "for we are many." How many? Enough to stampede 2,000 pigs to their death. This man was miserable, crying out and cutting himself day and night. He was living in the graveyard, for crying out loud, and he was obviously harassing the general public if they were attempting to restrain him with shackles. But it didn't do any good; the demons were too strong. No chains could bind him; no jail cell could hold him.

So how do you explain the man, "sitting there, clothed and in his right mind"? Who is this Jesus? And what happened to the pigs!?! I can imagine the reactions of the people, and I'm not terribly surprised that they begged Jesus to leave. Jesus rocked their world.

Jesus rocked the world of the man with the demons, too, and he was ready to follow Jesus. Jesus had other plans, however. Jesus told the man to go home, and to tell his friends what God had done for him. I think this is precisely what God expects us to do; we have been freed from the demonic stranglehold of sin. We are no longer in bondage to sin. We are free to serve! And all God wants us to do is keep loving Jesus and to tell our friends what he has done for us.

What has Jesus done for you?

Todd

Can it Possibly be True?

This semester has felt like a marathon! I just finished a final exam for Dr. Allison's Doctrine of Humanity and Sin class, and I am brain fried! All that's left is for my poor wife to read through the beast and make any necessary corrections.

Praise God! Only twenty credit hours left! I should be done by May 2009, hopefully...

Todd

Global Incident Map

Keep up with all the latest terrorist incidents and suspicious activities at this interesting site.

Todd

ht | Heather

Mindless Fun

Someone at work sent me a link to an addictive, silly little paper airplane game. Check it out, but be careful that you don't get addicted.

By the way, let me know if you beat 105 meters. :-)

Todd

One Down

It is that time of the semester when mixed emotions are common. We finish one race, yet cannot rejoice because the tasks are not all complete. I took a final in my Ministry of Proclamation class last night, and plan to spend the weekend working on my Doctrine of Humanity and Sin take home final.

Praying for endurance,

Todd

Free Online Books at CBMW

The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood has several free books available by authors like John Piper, Wayne Grudem, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Mary Kassian, and Dennis Rainey.

I know you like free books, so check it out here.

Todd

Baxter on Sincerity

Richard Baxter, as quoted by Stott in Between Two Worlds, writes,

"It is a palpable error in those ministers that make such disproportion between their preaching and their living, that they will study hard to preach exactly and study little or not at all to live exactly. All the week long is little enough to study how to speak two hours; and yet one hour seems too much to study how to live all the week . . . We must study as hard how to live well as how to preach well" (268).

Sanctify us, Heavenly Father, so that our lives might match our proclamation of the truth of your Word!

Todd

Thorny Soil

Mark 4:1-9 records Jesus' parable of the sower who casts his seed indiscriminately upon various soils. Some seeds are snatched up by the birds. Some take root but wither and die because they are malnourished. Some are choked out by thorns and fail to produce fruit. Other seeds fall on good soil and produce lots of fruit.

In the next passage in Mark (4:10-20), Jesus explains this parable to his disciples. The seed is the gospel and the soils are human hearts of various condition. Some hearts are hard and the gospel does not penetrate their lives. Neither does Satan let the gospel remain on their minds long enough to have an effect. Some hearts are shallow, and the gospel seems to impact their lives, but their faith withers at the first sign of sacrifice; their faith is not deeply rooted in the truth.

And then Jesus explains the soil with the thorns. In my devotion time this morning, I was reading this passage and I was convicted by these words:

"They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful."

Don't we all risk being choked out by "the cares of the world"? What about "the deceitfulness of riches"? Are you distracted by "the desires for other things"? I think this is a clarion call for us to sacrifice the things of this world that may be good for the things of God that are better. I struggle with this every day. I want to see and do and smell and taste and touch and drive and play and experience stuff that gets in the way of my wanting to follow Christ with all my heart.

Do you have a hobby? Does it hinder you from producing fruit? Do you have a passion? Does it hinder you from producing fruit? Do you have a pet worry (or lots of pet worries!), or a pet sin, or a pet habit that interferes with your fruit production?

Hobbies are not wrong. Recreation is a blessing from God that can restore our mental and physical health. Rest and relaxation are sometimes a great benefit to the weary. But do we risk eternity for the light pleasures of this world?

Let us evaluate everything in the light of eternity.

Todd

Spurgeon on Preaching

I could not help but post this one. Here's Spurgeon's take on preachers who can't connect with their audiences.

"Christ said, 'Feed my sheep . . . Feed my lambs.' Some preachers, however, put the food so high that neither lambs nor sheep can reach it. They seem to have read the text, 'Feed my giraffes.'"

Sometimes I think Dr. Mohler might have read this text when I listen to his radio program! :-)

***Please don't kick me out of school, Dr. Mohler. I was just kidding.***

Todd

Stott on the Church and the Word

I'm reading John Stott's Between Two Worlds and I thought I would share his take on the Church. In one section of his book he addresses "Theological Foundations for Preaching" and Stott states,

"Doubtless we have numerous convictions about the Church. But for my purpose I have only this one in mind, that the Church is the creation of God by his Word. Moreover, God's new creation (the Church) is as dependent upon his Word as his old creation (the universe). Not only has he brought it into being by his Word, but he maintains and sustains it, directs and sanctifies it, reforms and renews it through the same Word. The Word of God is the sceptre by which Christ rules the Church and the food with which he nourishes it" (109).

When I read this paragraph, I immediately felt the need to renew my daily commitment to Bible reading and meditation. Not only does God bring about new life in Christ by the power of his Word, but he also leads, sustains, and sanctifies us through his Word. If we ever struggle with sin (that would include you, too!), we need to be regularly applying God's Word in our lives in order that he may continually renew us.

Make us like you by the power of your Word, Lord Jesus!

Todd

"Chuck Norris Approved"

The Grind

Well, finals are next week. I have one final next Thursday, November 29, and one take-home final due on Thursday, December 6. I have two books to read:

and

I also have to listen to several SBTS chapel services and evaluate them.

All this to say, I may be posting sporadically for the next few days.

Todd

One Vote Under God

My wife and I have discussed briefly who we might vote for in the primaries, but we have not landed on one particular candidate yet. We didn't have enough information and had not done enough research. Where can you find out more about what the candidates really believe? I found this site helpful in comparing candidates, understanding their religious backgrounds, and identifying their stances on the different issues.

Check it out: One Vote Under God

Todd

Barry Bonds, Arrogance, and the Promises of God

Barry Bonds was indicted on Thursday, November 15, 2007, for perjury and obstruction of justice charges. While we don't really "know" whether he is guilty or innocent of these charges, we do know that he is guilty of a different charge. One would be blind not to recognize Bond's arrogant attitude. It exhibits itself after every home run. It is written in the contempt on his face for every television camera. No one can deny the charge that Bonds public life is characterized by arrogance.

The Bible speaks clearly on this matter, and God expresses his own attitude about those characterized by arrogance. Proverbs 16:5 tells us, "Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished." It is no wonder why Bonds has earned such incredible negative sentiment from the public. Everyone who sees his attitude for what it is feels disgusted by his contempt.

Nevertheless, I am not happy that Bonds faces the possibility of prison. Don't get me wrong; part of me longs for that guy to get his name expunged from the baseball record books. Part of me wishes he would get what he deserves. But much more of me wants to weep for that poor, miserable, unhappy, contemptuous, arrogant man. He has no idea what awaits him in eternity! He bears fruit in keeping with ungodliness, and this is precisely why God can assure us that "he will not go unpunished." How will he deceive the Judge who was with him when he put the needle in his arm and could hear his thoughts?

What's worse? You are arrogant. You are contemptuous. You display attitudes just like Barry Bonds. Maybe you don't do it on TV in front of millions of people, but you might do it in your car when somebody wants to get over in your lane and you don't want them to. Maybe you feel a little too proud of your achievements at work. Maybe you fail to offer up every praise you receive to the one who gave you everything you have, including every breath and heartbeat.

Barry Bonds' arrogance will be paid for; either by Barry, in hell for eternity, or by God's glorious gift of grace in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. We, with broken hearts, long for God's justice, but we pray that his justice will fall on Christ's work and not Barry's ultimate demise.

Forgive us Father for our pride.

Todd

"If You Could Only Say One Thing To Us"

Tonight, in our last regular preaching class, one of the students asked Dr. Vogel, "If you could only say one thing to us, what would it be?" Dr. Vogel replied, "Guard your walk with the Lord. It doesn't matter how much you invest in your preaching skills if you shipwreck your faith because you failed to guard your heart" (rough paraphrase). He gave us a couple of examples of men who had excelled at preaching but failed miserably in ministry because they let down their guard and Satan landed a crushing right hook on their glass jaw.

"Be killing sin or it will be killing you."

Thanks Dr. Vogel and John Owen.

Todd

Pyromaniacs on Logos Bible Software

Interesting. I upgraded to the latest version of Logos Bible software today, and Dan Phillips over at Pyromaniacs posted this review of the software this morning, too. He compares BibleWorks and Logos to contrasting tools like a scalpel and a chainsaw (no comment on which is which). Each tools is great for the job it is designed for.

Read Phillips' review and buy the software if you can.

Todd

Earth, Right Now, From Space

Check out this World Sunlight Map "showing current sunlight and cloud cover as of Nov 14 2007 23:00 UTC."

Even the space shuttle can't see this view!

Todd

Piper on "What Should We Expect?"

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog entry asking some tough questions like, "should our government legislate in ways that make unbelievers criminals for living life according to their fallen nature?" John Piper, by way of one of his 200+ sermons on Romans, lends his perspective on the issue in a sermon from August, 2004.

In a sermon on Romans 12:1-2 addressing the issue of homosexuality and the marriage amendment, Piper argues that we must approach life on this earth from two perspectives: as indigenous and as pilgrims. As indigenous to the people we are a part of, Christians should get involved in the law-making process. He says,

We should pray and work to shape our culture, its customs and laws, so that it reflects the revealed will of God, even if that reflection is only external and dim and embraced by unbelievers with wrong motives. . . . If someone asks, Why do you impose your religious conviction on the whole culture, we answer: all laws impose convictions on a culture. And all convictions come from worldviews. They don’t come out of nowhere. People argue for laws on the basis of a certain view of the world.

He argues that we should work as indigenous people to make our world better.

He also argues from the perspective of the pilgrim when he says,

On the pilgrim side of the tension, we make our Christ-exalting, cross-centered, soul-saving biblical worldview known with brokenhearted joy. Joy because Christ really is the sovereign Lord of the universe and will establish justice and purity in due time out of this fallen world. And brokenhearted because we share in the pain and misery of what sin has brought on this world. . . . The salt of the earth does not mock rotting meat. Where it can, it saves and seasons. And where it can’t, it weeps.

I don't think this answers the question, but it does help us frame the question a bit more clearly. We must be engaged, but we cannot leave all our hopes and dreams in the hands of government.

We have a greater hope.

Todd

Salting our Words

Justin Taylor recently posted a blog entry On Blog Commenting that is really applicable to blogging on the whole and the Christian life in general. Too many of us fail to remember Jesus' commands about true greatness: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26). Our interactions with one another really must be characterized by humility: "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

Do you consider how you are impacting others when you simply say what is on your mind? What reason do you have for ungracious speech? "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7)

"Heavenly Father, help us salt our words. Let us be a blessing to others, not a thorn in their side. Forgive us."

Todd

So This is How Monday Feels For Preachers

Boy, I'm beat down. My pastor called me on Thursday of this week to tell me that he was going to have to have a wisdom tooth removed. Thankfully, I had prepared a sermon for my Ministry of Proclamation class the week before, so I had something in my back pocket. I spent my normal way-too-many-hours on Saturday between doing schoolwork, reworking my sermon for a different audience, and having some friends over for supper.

I arrived at church about 8:15 on Sunday morning in order to prep the PowerPoint with my sermon slides. From 8:30-9:30, our band (minus our preacher/drummer and his wife/pianist, plus Bart/fill-in drummer) worked out the kinks (most of them) in the music we were playing for worship. We discussed the person of Christ, specifically his eternal reign as a man, in Sunday School, and then we had a short time of prayer before the worship service began.

I preached on James 1:2-4, and tried to illustrate that we are like the hunk of steel a blacksmith forges into a useful tool. The point of the sermon was that we should have joy in our trials because we should recognize that God is shaping us into useful (fully mature) tools that he can use for his own purposes. I felt the clutch slipping quite a bit to begin the sermon; I couldn't get everything together. I felt like I was floundering! Thankfully, I started to get into a groove about half-way through, and the illustration about the blacksmith helped me pull the thing out of a steep nose-dive. God is so good; he shapes us through various trials, including preaching!

After church, we practiced the music for our Christmas service, and then several of us went out to grab something to eat. We got home about 2:30 or so, and I started working on my illustration file for my preaching class. We headed back to church at 5:00, and got home around 8:00. Heather and I talked for a while, working on a few projects that required our attention, and then I spent another hour or so on that illustration file.

So, that was my weekend. I am so tired! I hate the fact that I cannot enjoy school because of the incredible demands it places on my waking (and sleeping) hours. I hate the fact that I cannot enjoy my family the way I want to! But ultimately, I will consider this all joy, because God is working in all these various trials to bring about my full maturity; he is shaping me into a finished tool that will be useful for his purposes.

Thank you Father for working all things together for good!

Todd

A Great Definition of Perversion

From Plantinga's book, Not the Way It's Supposed to Be, a definition of perversion that is helpful for understanding the extent of its impact:

Perversion is an ends-and-purposes disease. Most broadly understood, perversion is the turning of loyalty, energy, and desire away from God and God's project in the world: it is the diversion of construction materials for the city of God to side projects of our own, often accompanied by jerry-built ideologies that seek to justify the diversion.

Plantinga's book is filled with wonderful, descriptive illustrations of sin, its corruption, and its extent. Check it out.

Todd

A Paper on The Problem of Evil

In my Personal Reformation post, I mentioned a couple of papers that I had written that were formative for my life and theology. I posted the first about God's sovereignty about a week ago, and I just posted the other, a paper on the problem of evil.

I have no delusions; I do not claim to be a good writer or wise scholar. I just wanted to share with you how God has worked in my life.

Please feel free to comment, but only with graciousness, please. ;-)

Todd

Recommended Reading from Reformation Theology

Reformation Theology has some recommendations for those of us interested in studying theology that are not able to attend a great institution like SBTS. I can personally recommend several of these titles, and I look forward to reading the others.

Todd

ht | Thad