How Do We Put Anxiety to Death by the Spirit's Help?

Two nights ago at our Wednesday evening Bible study on anxiety and depression, we thought about the Biblical distinction between anxiety/worry and concern. There is an appropriate and legitimate concern and regard and care that we are to have as good stewards of the life and circumstances the Lord in His providence gives us. But to be anxious and worried is to act and think and feel in a manner contrary and displeasing to the holy will of God. This truth is established primarily by the fact that God commands us not to be anxious in Philippians 4:4-7; I Peter 5:6-7; Matthew 6:25-34; and Psalm 37:1, 8, among other passages. Jesus died on the cross to bear God’s punishment against our sin of worry and anxiety, and He died to redeem us from this lawlessness (I Peter 2:24; Titus 2:14). Therefore we are to confess our anxiety to God as sin, repent of it, and put it to death by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:13). But how do we put to death something that perhaps seems to us so natural, a state to which our hearts are oft inclined? Here are some of the things we considered Wednesday night:

  1. Take your requests to the Lord. Paul is explicit in Philippians 4:6, as is Peter in I Peter 5:7 - we are to replace anxiety and worry (self-focused responses) with prayer (a God-centered response). Every request represents a legitimate concern, some distressing, troubling, and just plain hard circumstance that overwhelms us, typically something that we are called as stewards to have regard for and pay attention to and care about. We are to cast these cares upon the Lord with all our might, with thanksgiving for God’s provision even in the midst of them, and with submission to God’s sovereign and good plan. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was greatly distressed and trouble (Mark 14:33) - but He was not anxious, He did not worry. He was not sinning in the Garden, though He was suffering. His distress and trouble were an appropriate response to the agony of the cross that lay before Him, and His fervent prayer and submission was a righteous act of dependence that models for us what we are to do with our cares and concerns. So often, worry replaces prayer, even counterfeits prayer. But God calls us to replace worry with genuine and heartfelt prayer - to throw ourselves upon and into His everlasting arms - for He is the God who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19).

  2. Meditate on God’s word and promises. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad” (Proverbs 12:25). What word is better than the word of God? God consoles us through His word and promises, and as Psalm 94:19 reminds us, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” When overwhelmed and attacked by anxiety and panic, speak to yourself the truth of God’s word: that He is near (Philippians 4:5); that He cares for you (I Peter 5:7); that you are of more value than the birds of the sky, whom your heavenly Father feeds (Matthew 6:26); that He has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32); that He knows what we need (Matthew 6:32); that He will freely and sovereignly add to us all things that we need in His perfect timing (Matthew 6:33); that He is wise, sovereign, and good, and can be trusted implicitly.

    D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has stated our desperate need memorably: “The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression [and anxiety] in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problem of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself, ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been repressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you’. Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have but little experience. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’–what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’–instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet priase Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’.” (Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures, 20-21).

    Not only must we speak the truth to our heart, but we need to put ourselves around people who will speak this truth to us, who will do for and say to us according to Isaiah 35:3-4, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

  3. Search your heart for the sin beneath the sin. Lurking beneath the sin of anxiety is a host of other, deeper sins. The sin of fear (of man, of death, of losing a loved one, of sickness, of suffering, of being poor, of being alone, etc.) is so often a root sin of anxiety. Likewise pride - we seek to control what only God can control, and when we are unable to control it, when we are out of control, our heart grows anxious. We assume that we know what is best for us, and when it is best for us. Anxiety flows from a trust in ourselves and our own strength or wisdom rather than the Lord. Is it any wonder then that Peter tells us to humble ourselves just before telling us to cast our cares upon the Lord? Often an idol of comfort lies at the root of our anxiety, or a joyless discontentment or envy that is upset the Lord is not giving us what we we think we deserve, or what others have. Most of all, anxiety flows from an unbelief in the goodness, power, wisdom, and love of God. All these root sins bear the sinful fruit of anxiety, and anxiety feeds and strengthens those roots. As God searches our hearts and knows our anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23-24), He will till up these deep roots and by His Spirit will enable us to put the Roundup of grace upon them as well.

  4. Focus on what you can and should be concerned with, and leave the rest with God. The opposite extreme from anxiety is apathy, laziness, carelessness. In calling us to put off worry, God is not calling us to put on indifference. Rather, He wants us to be free from the care that is anxiety, so that we can have the care that is righteous and appropriate stewardship. We must pray for our daily bread, but if we do not work, if we do not sow, reap, gather, toil, and spin, then we will not eat (Matthew 6:11, 26, 28; II Thessalonians 3:10-12). We are not to make genuine concerns ultimate concerns, but we are to be concerned with the things God calls us to be concerned with. Whether with regard to our finances, our health, our house, our family, our job, our education, our vehicles, our futures - it it right to do what we need to do, always attending to these things in submission to our chief aim: the kingdom of God, the glory of God, and our glorious Savior Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:33; I Corinthians 10:31; Luke 10:41). Nehemiah 4:9 shows the beautiful twin graces of dependence and diligence: “But we prayed to our God, and because of [our adversaries] we set up a guard against them day and night.” Trust God and keep your powder dry. Be anxious for nothing, but be concerned for all that God calls you to be concerned for. Trust Him, wait on Him, submit to His will. And know that He will cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Preparing for the Lord's Supper This Coming Lord's Day

This Sunday, we are celebrating the Lord’s Supper at Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church. Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 11:27-29, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” This passage requires us to prepare for this covenant meal - to think about what we are doing when we come to the Lord’s table - so that we do not eat and drink in an unworthy manner. Each one of us is to examine himself/herself individually. But in regards to what should we be examining ourselves?

Our Westminster Larger Catechism gives a helpful summary of what this self-examination entails in question 171:

How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it? They that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves of their being in Christ, of their sins and wants; of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these graces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer. [I’ve omitted the Scripture references for each phrase in this answer, but I encourage you to locate and study them in your own copy of the Larger Catechism or online]

The Westminster divines are not teaching “preparationism,” as if by examining ourselves we make ourselves well-deserving of a seat at Christ’s table. Quite the opposite: as we spend time in the days leading up to this ordinance examining our hearts, we see more deeply the reality that by nature we do not deserve a seat at the table, and that our hope for acceptance is in Christ alone. Coming to the table - and making preparation for this supper ahead of time - is an opportunity to survey your soul, to take stock of where things stand spiritually, to ensure not only that you are indeed a believer, but that you are growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus, and that your love for Jesus is overflowing into a love for others. It’s an opportunity to fan into flames dimly burning wicks, to add fuel to the fire, so that come Sunday you have already been meditating on the wonder of the death of Christ for a sinner such as you, and your heart is tuned to sing His praise all the more.

So take some time this weekend to reflect prayerfully on the state of your own heart. If you are looking for helpful meditations on the Lord’s Supper, check out The Communicant's Manual (1848) by Jacob Jones Janeway, or Plain Words to a Young Communicant (1854) by James Waddell Alexander. Both men are 19th century American Presbyterians who thought deeply on the cross of Jesus and the bread and the cup that He appointed for us to eat and drink to our growth in grace.

Preview for Tonight's Teaching: God And the World We Live In

Here is a preview video of what we’ll be talking about tonight. Bring your kids to catechism and bring your 7th-12th grade children to the Youth Large Group. Dinner starts at 5:30 and the teaching starts at 6:30. There will be a teaching session for half the time and discussion in groups for the other half.

Old Testament Help in Confessing Your Sins

Last Sunday night in my sermon at our officer ordination/installation service, we saw from Mark 10:32-45 that the church is filled with sinners. Each one of us struggles with pride, selfishness, a condescending dismissive heart, sinful anger, envy, self-righteousness, self-centeredness, slowness to learn the lessons God is teaching us. Yet Christ has come to serve us, and to give Himself as a ransom for us, paying the price our sins deserved and dying in our place (Mark 10:45). Our sins are completely and absolutely forgiven - past, present, and future. Yet we are still commanded, even as Christians, to confess our sins to God, and when we have sinned against someone, to confess those sins to one another (I John 1:9; James 5:16). As our Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us, “God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified; and, although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance” (WCF 11.5).

So confession of sin ought to be a part of our regular prayer life. Sadly, it often is not. Yet God’s Word is filled with helps toward confession. We are usually familiar with the Psalms that express contrition and sorrow over sin (i.e., Psalm 32, 51, 130, etc.). But a lesser-known aid toward confession is found in the exilic and post-exilic books by Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Providentially, in chapter 9 of each one of these books, we have extended prayers of confession, written in response to Israel’s sin that led them to be removed from the land of Canaan. They show us beautifully what God-centered, grace-based, self-examining, hopeful, honest confession looks like. If you’ve never read these prayers, take time this weekend to do so. Meditate on them, mark them, make use of them. Though the name of Jesus is not mentioned, yet these saints looked forward to redemption to come through the Messiah. Thus we can learn from them how to approach God in confession, knowing that because Jesus has already become incarnate and died, we bring all our confession to our heavenly Father through the Son explicitly and with even greater confidence than Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah knew.

Let us remember that a broken spirit and a contrite heart God will not despise (Psalm 51:17)!

"Thy Will" - A Poem by Patsy Futvoye

Many of you know that Patsy Futvoye (the mother of Dr. Matt Futvoye, one of our members here at Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church) passed into the arms of King Jesus last week. At her funeral service Tuesday morning, Mr. Wiley Lowry, Minister of Pastoral Care at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, mentioned that Patsy had been writing poetry in the months preceding her death. Like so many disciples of Jesus in church history who have suffered long, her piety flowed out in written prayer and praise to the God who had saved her and sustained her by grace.

This past October Patsy penned the following words, read at her funeral and printed here with permission of her family. They beautifully display what I pray will be mine in ever-increasing measure through all my days: a keen awareness of her own fearful, doubting, sinful heart; a faith and confidence in our sovereign God in the midst of suffering; a hope in the gracious gospel of Jesus’ cross; and a Spirit-wrought longing for holiness that was satisfied in every way when she joined the ranks of the “spirits…made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23). May these stanzas be a source of comfort and strength for you as you endure the many tribulations through which we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).  

Thy Will

Walking the verge of death’s dark vale,
My doubts and fears do me assail.
Like dawn, your promises are clear 
That you will be forever near.
”Do not fear,” I hear you say.
You guide each minute of the day.
Sovereign are you in every way.
Align me with thy will, I pray. 

I know you have a special plan.
You sent a Savior, the Son of Man,
To bear the sin and take the blame,
Who carried the guilt and bore the shame.
Forgive me, Lord, the pain I brought,
The times my efforts came to naught.
The commandments you gave I did not heed,
Shunned and ignored my brother’s need. 

Thank you, Lord, for your precious Son.
Through faith in Him, my victory’s won.
He has paid my price and made a place
Through His measureless love and grace. 
Holy Spirit, warm my cold heart.
Let me ne’er from thee depart. 
Sovereign are you in every way.
Align me with thy will, I pray.

— Patsy Futvoye, October 2019

Don't Forget to Remember that God Remembers and God Forgets

Tomorrow is the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath. God commands us in the fourth commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Every time we gather around the Lord’s table we hear the same language: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). Indeed, a large swath of Christian practice can be summed up under the word “remember.” We are to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to Paul’s gospel (II Timothy 2:8). At the Lord’s supper we remember that He is the Son of God and the son of Abraham and David. We remember that He died for our sins and rose again for our justification and sits at God’s right hand as the King of kings ruling over all things for the good of His church, even sicknesses, wars, persecution, economic struggles. We are to remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them (Numbers 15:39-40). We are to remember our former state in slavery to sin (Deuteronomy 5:15; Ephesians 2:11-12). We are to remember the Lord our God and all the way the Lord has led us (Deuteronomy 8:2, 18). We are to remember the marvelous works that He has done (Psalm 105:5). We are to remember Lot’s wife and avoid her worldliness (Luke 17:32). Psalm 103:2 tells us not to forget all God’s benefits. We’re eleven days into a new year, but it’s still not too late to remember how God was with us in 2019, through the easy times and the hard times, and bless Him with all that is within us.

But if we’re honest, we know how prone we are to forgetting. So how do we remember to remember? One way is by remembering that the Bible teaches that God remembers and that God forgets. Psalm 103:14 tells us that God “knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” Obviously, when the Bible speaks of God remembering or not remembering, it’s accommodating itself to human speech and human modes of being. There is no past or future with the great I AM, only an ever-present now. When the Psalmist tells us that God remembers that we are dust, he means that God takes notice of our mortality and is mindful of our infirmities, and deals gently with us. How easy it is for us to forget that we are but dust, or to not keep in mind the infirmities of others as we deal with them! But God remembers our frailty and hears our cries for help. Indeed, if He did so before the incarnation, how much more after it, when the Son of God took to Himself human frailty and weakness, and knows intimately what it is to be dust.

God remembers, and He also forgets. Jeremiah 31:34 tells us that in the new covenant, because of the blood of Jesus, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more – that is, He forgets them all, when we believe in Jesus Christ. Again, it’s not that God has dementia – but He deliberately does not bring our sins to remembrance when He deals with us. Psalm 103 puts it this way: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (103:12). Isaiah 38:17 tells us that He casts all our sins behind His back. Isaiah 44:22 says He has wiped out our transgressions like the sun burning away the thick fog. Micah 7:19 says that He has cast them into the depths of the sea. And He has done this through the cross of Jesus Christ. In Jesus God remembered our sins. In Jesus east and west meet. In Jesus our sins are right in God’s face. In Jesus our sins are the thickest cloud you’ve ever seen. In Jesus our sins are the heaviest anchor, and He bears them all upon His back, suffering the punishment that we deserve. Salvation is free for us, but only because Jesus paid for it at the cost of His life. I love how our Westminster Larger Catechism puts it in question 71: “Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.”

And so as this new year begins, don’t forget to remember that God remembers and that God forgets. He remembers that you are dust. And He forgets all our sins. He does both supremely in the person and work of His Son. As you remember these two things, you’ll be enabled more and more to remember everything else that God calls you to remember.  

The Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church Pulpit in 2020

As Pastor Carl and I anticipate our pastoral transitions at the end of March, one of the things that he has handed off to me is the 2020 preaching calendar. At the beginning of each year he has given us a calendar of what will be preached at our morning and evening services, who will be preaching, when we will do the Lord’s Supper and have Baptisms, and all the other calendar related items that are known at the start of a new year. This calendar is a huge help to us as staff, so it is definitely something I plan on continuing to do - although it was a bit overwhelming when I started working on it a couple months ago, since in my previous senior pastorates I was the only or primary preacher, and so didn’t need to plan out everything a whole year at a time. But God has been gracious, and I’m looking forward to what 2020 will hold in terms of the preaching of the word.

On Lord’s Day mornings, we will begin the year by continuing to work our way through Genesis. By the time March 22 rolls around (the date of my installation as Senior Pastor), we will have finished the Jacob narratives. Soon after the transition we will begin a new series in I Peter. This letter is one of my favorite books in the Bible because of its emphasis on how Christians are to live as resident aliens in the world, and the way it grounds our holiness and our witness in the character of God and the gospel of Jesus. Filled with rich theology and practical instructions, particularly regarding how to walk through trials, my prayer is that this this book will be a great encouragement to our souls and will set the course of my ministry among you. Following I Peter, we will pick back up in Genesis at chapter 37, the story of Joseph. This last section of Genesis will take us into 2021, with a break in December to sing along with Dr. Luke’s carols (the songs of Mary, Zacharias, the angels, and Simeon at the birth of Jesus). Throughout the year I have also planned a handful of topical sermons to fit the need of the particular moment.

On Lord’s Day evenings, we have just started a series on Proverbs 1-9, seeking to learn the wisdom of Solomon for our daily lives. When that is completed we will begin a series on idolatry entitled “Broken Cisterns” (taken from Jeremiah 2:11-13). We will be preaching topically through a number of common idols of the heart with which Satan and the world seduce us. Following that series, we will preach our way through several of the shortest books of the Bible: 2 John, 3 John, Philemon, Jude, Obadiah, and Ruth.

This is the plan. And like all plans, we hold it with an open palm, knowing that “the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Would you pray with us that the Lord would use these sermons to build up His people in faith, hope, and love, and to convert His elect from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation? As ministers of the gospel, our primary calling is to preach God’s word to feed Christ’s sheep. It is our chief delight and highest privilege. Thank you for calling us to open up the Scriptures to you, and for your readiness to hear it, your encouragement, and your prayers.

Top 20 Books From 2019

We are what we read. Whether on the phone, computer, iPad, e-reader, or good old fashioned books (my favorite!), we are what we read. As the Puritan John Trapp once said, “Be careful what books you read, for as water tastes of the soil it runs through, so does the soul taste of the authors that a man reads.”

I’m not going to sugar coat this, I read some awesome books this year! This was a great year of reading for me. The Lord brought so many great books across my desk this year. Some are old and some are new. All of these books were very influential to me this year.

This is not a list of books that came out this year but rather a list of the best books that I read this year. Like everyone’s top 10 list, this is certainly one that is very opinionated and subjective. Nevertheless, I hope some of these books might make it to your bedside table or your bookshelf.

  1. Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically by John Snyder
    Life-changing. I don’t just throw that out. “Truly, Truly” this book was life-changing. Few books have shown me a bigger God. Although this is more of a study (and a DVD accompanying set if you so choose), I have come across few things that showed me the God of the Bible like this. There are certain seasons of life where certain books start that new chapter. This is one of them for me. This launched me into some of the other books that I read this year (Barrett, Gladd). The Lord used this to give me such a craving to know Him more. This book will plow, plant, and nurture your heart. It’s a phenomenal resource for daily devotions, Bible studies, or for turning it into a Sunday school lesson series. Thankfully, he has come out with another book and, word on the street is that he is working on a third study!

  2. None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God by Matthew Barrett
    Stunning book. The cover design (a lion staring you in the face!) really does echo the content of the book. God is seen as an “undomesticated” lion in this book. This is so enjoyable to read and so easy to follow along. As one pastor has said, “It’s easy to understand but hard to swallow.” These truths about who God is will blow your mind! It has been such a refreshing book for me to read and certainly one that I will read again in later years.

  3. The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
    This is what my Summer Adult Sunday School class went through and this meant that I needed to go through it as well. Yes, this is a big book with many words but that shouldn’t scare you away. Calvin is devotional, clear, accessible. There is a reason why this book has been around for hundreds of years. There is a reason why the Church has poured itself over this book. This is NOT a book merely for pastors and teachers. Actually, it was written for the “common” person! This is one of the original “systematic theologies” and it is still one of the standards. Pick up Calvin and read him! Even if you only need a book to reference, buy Calvin! You’d be surprised how much you could read if you read him for only 15 minutes a day. There is no substitute for this classic.

  4. From Adam and Israel To the Church: A Biblical Theology of the People of God by Benjamin L. Gladd (RTS Professor!)
    I was privileged to get an early copy from the man himself! And look, I’m at the point that I’m just going to read everything he writes. He is enjoyable, clear, applicable, and writes in such fresh ways that makes the Bible seem brand new. Every time I listen to his lectures or read his books I see the Bible in a new way. To be sure, Gladd isn’t coming up with anything new but rather pointing out to us what’s been there all along. This is a great book that totally shapes our identity as a people of God and how God has devoted Himself to us. Also, he has some awesome graphics and charts in there.

  5. Romans by J.V. Fesko
    This is a book that I have written recommended to many people this year. While preparing for our Youth Large Group sermon series, I picked up this book from one our newest professor at RTS Jackson. This was a great read! I used it for my daily devotions as I read one chapter each morning. Once again, this was so clear and so accessible. I came away each day thinking, “I know this section of Romans better.” It was not only intellectually stimulating but it was also devotionally warm. Fesko makes sure to apply the text to our modern-day situation and he does so in a great way. God is big. Salvation is amazing. Holiness is beautiful. Heaven is sure. These were major takeaways for me from this excellent commentary.

  6. Setting Our Affections upon Glory: Nine Sermons on the Gospel and the Church by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
    I read a lot of Lloyd-Jones. Matter of fact, I read everything of Lloyd-Jones. This is, yet again, another series of sermons that are timeless and life-changing. I want to know the God that Lloyd-Jones knew. These sermons were preached when Hurricane Camille (the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States) was heading straight towards Pensacola and McIlwain Presbyterian Church where Martyn Lloyd-Jones was to preach. As in typical Lloyd-Jones style, this didn’t alter him at all. He was going to preach and preach he did. If you like reading the sermons of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, you should grab this book. This is a bucket of cold water for our evangelical culture today.

  7. The Life and Theology of Paul by Guy Waters
    No, this is not a paid endorsement for my RTS professors. This is genuinely another book from them that I read this year that was in my top 10. The strength of Dr. Waters is doctrinal clarity. I love lists. I love orderly writing. Dr. Waters’ book is full of lists (Ex: “First,…Second,….” etc.). For me, this makes it easy to follow and also easy to use. If you want a short, accessible, yet in-depth book on the life and theology of Paul then you need to pick this one up. If you’re teaching on any of the Pauline epistles then you need to use this as a guide. This is a great resource for book studies as well. Like my other RTS professors, Waters makes you come away with a better understanding of Scripture and a clearer view of God and His marvelous salvation.

  8. Revelation For You (God's Word for You) by Tim Chester
    Do you want to understand the book of Revelation in a more simple way? Get this book. This will make you want to teach a Bible study through the book of Revelation. Chester is one of my favorite modern writers and commentators. This is a great resource for devotions (as is the whole series) and this will leave you with confidence that you know the book of Revelation. I loaned this out and that person came away with the same thought!

  9. 2 Samuel For You: The Triumphs and Tragedies of God's King (God's Word for You) by Tim Chester
    I could say the exact same thing as #8 but in reference to the book of 2 Samuel. Great read! Great for devotions! Read Chester.

  10. Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller
    This book will help you see another side of Jesus. It’s almost like you have a documentary camera crew following Jesus so that you can see Him up close. Things that are clear in Scripture, but frequently skimmed over, are brought to light. The compassion, honesty, and dependence of Jesus were much needed for me to see. God in the flesh was seen as beautiful! This is a great book to teach me to slow down in my Bible reading (especially in the Gospels) and to notice what the writers are actually saying.

  11. The Gospel-Driven Church by Jared Wilson
    I love Jared Wilson’s books. He is a page-turner! This book is a solid addition to the many gospel-centered books coming out. In my opinion, this one has been the best one that I’ve read so far. His chapter on “The Five Metrics That Matter Most” is a reduplication and application of some of what Jonathan Edwards saw in the Great Awakening. This chapter is worth the price of the book. This is a great book not only for pastors but for the average church member. It makes you want to pursue to be more of a gospel-driven church member.

  12. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    This was my first time reading The Hobbit. I know. I know. I’m sorry for the 28-year delay. This was such a great read. Books that take you on a journey are so refreshing to read. There were several times I was reading where I could see the parallel between Bilbo’s journey to The Lonely Mountain and the Christian life. The book is better than the movie (but I definitely watched the movies afterward!).

  13. Insecure: Fighting our Lesser Fears with a Greater One by John Perritt
    You just need to take an afternoon or two to read this. Yes, John is writing mainly to youth but don’t let that keep you (if you’re not a youth) from buying this. This is timeless (this will also hilariously remind you of what your teenage days used to be like!). Short, clear, applicable, and biblical. There is a reason why John’s RYM elective class this Summer was one of the biggest classes at all the conferences. There is also a reason why our Youth Ministry Fall Retreat got some much feedback (because he was the speaker!). This is a great resource for those who know they struggle with insecurity and for those who don’t acknowledge it (but trust me, after reading this you’ll realize that you do to some level). I’ve passed out all my copies by now.

  14. Pursuing a Heart of Wisdom: Counseling Teenagers Biblically by John Kwasny
    Doctor, Pappa, Father, Sunday School teacher, Christian Education Director, Biblical Counselor, and lover of Chicago White Sox baseball John Kwasny has written a terrific book. There is a lot of popular psychology out there but this gets to the heart. Like Dr. Waters’ book, this is so organized and filled with lists (did I mention that I love lists?). In my opinion, I think the book’s strength is in using it as a reference book. The table of contents is divided up in such a way where you can search for issues by topic. This makes it easy to use over the years.

  15. The Rhetoric Companion: A Student’s Guide to Power in Persuasion by N.D. Wilson and Douglas Wilson
    I am teaching a class at CCS on Public Speaking and I was preparing for the class I looked up several books that I could use for teaching the class. This was great! This is a solid resource that shows you the basic elements of speaking but does so from a Christian worldview. The Wilsons (father and son duo) are great writers and teachers. It is a great book to use for all ages. As someone who speaks often, I found it to be one of the more helpful books on speaking that I have read.

  16. Simplicity in Preaching by J.C. Ryle
    Short, to the point, and so relevant, this was such a good read for me this year. From the back cover: This is a new and updated edition by H&E Publishing with a helpful addition by Bennett W. Rogers. The early preaching ministry of J. C. Ryle, one of the most powerful preachers of the Victorian era, was an unmitigated disaster. He struggled to keep the attention of his rural congregation, and so he embarked on a series of failed "pulpit experiments." Through this process of trial and error, Ryle learned to "crucify" his style and win the attention of his parishioners. Once he found his voice, popularity soon followed. He filled his churches to suffocation and became a sought after platform speaker. He was repeatedly chosen to be the select preacher for Oxford and Cambridge, and continued to draw large crowds well into his eighties as the Bishop of Liverpool. In Simplicity in Preaching, J. C. Ryle presents the fruit of a lifelong quest to attain a simplicity in preaching for his fellow ministers.

  17. Safe and Sound: Standing Firm in Spiritual Battles by David Powlison
    This was such an encouraging book to me in the season that I read it. Outside of William Gurnall’s massive treatment on the Armor of God, this is my go-to read. This is a short book but man is it packed with power! This is why people love reading everything Powlison writes. This book shows you that spiritual warfare is real and more evident than you realize. Powlison also shows you how to fight back and how to live by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  18. When People Are Big and God Is Small by Ed Welch
    There is a reason why this is a modern-day classic. If you are struggling with anxious feelings, peer-pressure, codependency, pride, shame, or anything like this then you need to get this book. It took me too long until I finally read this. This was like a fire in the middle of a cold winter.

  19. Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World by James Emery White
    Although I don’t agree with several of his suggested responses to the problems of Generation Z, this was a very needed book for me to read as someone working in Youth Ministry. I think the first couple of chapters of this book will benefit any parent, pastor, or youth worker. We cannot think about today’s teenagers through the lens of, “Well, when I was that age _________ .” That doesn’t work. This is a new and different generation. We need to learn what they are like and this book helps us to do so. This is filled with showing us the good things about Generation Z but also the not so good things. The Church needs to take heed of what this generation is like because they are the future elders, deacons, pastors, leaders, and members of the Church.

  20. How to Grill Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Flame-Cooked Food by Mark Bittman
    I don’t apologize for putting a cookbook in here. This thing is amazing. No, I haven’t read it from cover to cover but I have looked at every recipe and tried several of them. This is awesome. Definitely a solid Christmas gift for someone you know.

Large Group Sermons on Romans

Recommended Reading During Christmas

Each year there are several books that come out dealing with the Christian theology of Christmas. While several of these are great reads there are a few that rise to the top. Here is a list of some of the most helpful books (in other words, you won’t be wasting your time if you pick one of these up):

  1. Child In The Manger by Sinclair Ferguson
    See the video to the right to see what Alistair Begg says about it.

    ‘The best story ever told in the best possible way. Cumulatively, these chapters provide rich, rewarding and revitalizing expositions that form a perfect addition to a truly Christian, Christ-centered, Christmas.’ — DEREK W.H. THOMAS

    ‘Full of thoughtful exposition, solid theology, winsome gospel presentation, and worshipful adoration of its glorious Subject. Sinclair Ferguson just may be my very favorite pastor-theologian, and this book illustrates why. A sheer delight to read and to recommend. Read and enjoy the Christmas story as for the first time!’ — FRED G. ZASPEL

  2. Hidden Christmas by Tim Keller
    From the book sleeve: Even people who are not practicing Christians think they are familiar with the story of the nativity. Every Christmas displays of Baby Jesus resting in a manger decorate lawns and churchyards, and songs about shepherds and angels fill the air. Yet despite the abundance of these Christian references in popular culture, how many of us have examined the hard edges of this biblical story? In his new book Timothy Keller takes readers on an illuminating journey into the surprising background of the nativity. By understanding the message of hope and salvation within the Bible’s account of Jesus’ birth, readers will experience the redeeming power of God’s grace in a deeper and more meaningful way.

  3. Repeat the Sounding Joy by Christopher Ash

    "Simply superb. A genuine model of Christian devotional writing—warm, enriching, and exciting application drawn from insightful expository and theological reflection on the biblical text. Each of these brief chapters is an absolute delight to read. This is joyful Christmastime reading for Christians of every age and experience. Very highly recommended." — FRED ZASPEL
    "These devotionals are digestible: they will go down easily in the busy days of Advent. They are profound: they will go down deep. Most wonderfully, they are word-filled: they will feed us with the truth and beauty of the Scriptures, and of the Savior whose advent we celebrate." — KATHLEEN NIELSON

  4. Come, Let Us Adore Him by Paul Tripp
    "A rare gem—great theology inspiring great devotion. This book will enrich my family’s experience of Christmas this year, and I believe it can enrich your Christmas too." — RAY ORTLUND
    “This devotional will help us remember the great love with which we have been loved. Read its pages, share it with your family. Enter into that manger scene. And breathe.” — ELYSE FITZPATRICK

Other Books Not Exclusively on Christmas but recommended reading during the Christmas season:

  • Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller
    Pastor Dean says, “Why this book? Because there’s a whole lot of suffering, depression, and other negative experiences/emotions during this time of year. This book moves us to consider how to come alongside those whom God is calling us to serve, in and outside the church.”

  • A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Jesus Christ by Mark Jones
    ”This book is gold. I can't remember the last time I read such a small book that has had such an effect on me. At 76 pages I think it's worth almost memorizing! There are lots of really helpful emphases, particularly Jones's treatment of the Incarnation, Christ and the Holy Spirit, and the Threefold Office of Christ. It is Christology from above and is a very helpful introduction indeed. It could be used in a variety of contexts in church life and will leave people wanting, even craving, more. Buy and read.” — Reformation 21- The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

5 Questions To Ask During Your Devotions

In my experience, many people don’t do daily devotions because they don’t know how to do them. Do they drop their Bible to see where it randomly opens to? Do they choose a book and simply read through it? Do they pick up a devotional book and see where it leads them?

One of the best pieces of advice that I got was when I was in college. I was told (I cannot remember who it was from) to go through a book of the Bible and ask five questions of every passage that I read. these are the five questions:

  1. What is the main point of this section of Scripture?
    The first thing I need to do is to understand what God is saying rather than what I think it means. It does me no good to have my own interpretation but rather I need to seek what God’s point of this passage is. That means that I need to pray about what He is saying and ask Him to bring it to my mind.

  2. What does this text say about God?
    The Bible is primarily a book about God revealing Himself to us. Salvation is primarily about us being restored to a relationship with God so that we can enjoy Him. The purpose of creation is for God to proclaim His Glory. Everything must be first and foremost about God and His glory. We are not the purpose of the Bible. The devotionals that focus only on us and applying truths to our lives are vastly off the path. The Bible is about God. So, that means that I need to ask every time what this particular passage is saying about God. Who is He? What has He done? How is this describing Him? How is He revealing Himself to these particular people in that particular time? How do I see this aspect of God in my life today? If we miss this question then we miss God and therefore the whole point of the Bible.

  3. What does this text say about Man?
    The Bible is primarily about God but it is also about God’s relationship with Man. How does God relate to Man? What state is Man in? What does this text say about sin? What does this say about living out the image of God? What does this text say about us living in a community? We need to know what this text is telling us about ourselves. We need the good, the bad, and the ugly (even if the ugly is REALLY ugly).

  4. What does this text say about Salvation?
    It is not enough to read the Bible to be convicting. Our devotional duty isn’t done merely when we feel bad for how we have lived. We need to run to the Cross. Whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, what does this text tell me about how I need to be saved? What does this text tell me about how I am saved by Jesus? What really happened on the Cross? What did Jesus’ death accomplish? How does God bring me to Himself?

  5. What does this text say about Sanctification?
    Jesus’ death didn’t merely purchase our conversion but it also purchased our living the Christian life. How does this text show me what godly living is? What commands are in this text? What is obedience according to this text? There is a tendency in Reformed circles today to forget that God still commands Christians. The Law does not merely lead us to the Cross but the Law also shows us how we can live a life pleasing to God. Christians are still supposed to obey the Law. God’s Law shows us what God delights in and God’s Law shows us what the good life really is. We cannot forget this last question but we also cannot seek to fulfill this on our own power. We must prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to live this way and when we fail we must ask the Spirit to help us repent. The Cross doesn’t cancel our need to obey but rather empowers our obedience.

One Of The Most Convicting Blog Posts I've Ever Read

My wife finds great blog posts from other people that I miss throughout the week. This very well might be a gift from the Lord because she often finds articles and blogs that are spot-on for what I am looking for.

While preparing to preach from Romans 14-16 in a couple of weeks I have been looking into the topic of peacemaking in the church. As this is on the horizon, my wife sent me a blog post from Kevin DeYoung that perfectly fits the bill for what I was looking for. The title of the blog post is “Distinguishing Marks of a Quarrelsome Person”. The following are some of the marks that are included on DeYoung’s list of 12.

1. You defend every conviction with the same degree of intensity. There are no secondary or tertiary issues. Everything is primary. You’ve never met a hill you wouldn’t die on.

2. You are quick to speak and slow to listen. You rarely ask questions and when you do it is to accuse or to continue prosecuting your case. You are not looking to learn, you are looking to defend, dominate, and destroy.

4. You are incapable of seeing nuances, and you do not believe in qualifying statements. Everything in life is black and white without any gray.

7. You are unable to sympathize with your opponents. You forget that sinners are also sufferers. You lose the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

8. Your first instinct is to criticize; your last instinct is to encourage. Quarrelsome people almost always see others in need of rebuke, rarely in need of refreshing.

11. You are always in the trenches with hand grenades strapped to your chest, never in the cafeteria with ice cream and ping pong. I remember years ago talking to a returning serviceman in my church who told me sheepishly that his job in Iraq was to drive an armed convoy for the ice cream truck. It was extremely dangerous, escorting the vehicle through bomb infested territory. This was brave, honorable work. And important: Even soldiers need ice cream once in a while. The amp doesn’t have to be cranked to 11 all the time. Seriousness about God is not the same as pathological seriousness about everything. Remember G. K. Chesterton: “We have to feel the universe at once as an ogre’s castle, to be stormed, and yet as our own cottage, to which we can return to at evening.”

This article is a fabulous and convicting read but certainly, one that will rightly humble us. For the full article, click here.

How To Listen To Sermons Better

George Whitefield is often called the greatest preacher of all English speaking preachers. Many of Whitefield’s sermons have been lost over time but there are a few that remain. One of which is a sermon about how to listen to sermons. In this sermon, Whitefield shows us six ways we must be faithful when we are sitting under the preached Word. Here are six ways:

  1. Come to hear, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty.

  2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God.

  3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister.

  4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think.

  5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that has been delivered.

  6. Pray to the Lord before, during, and after every sermon.

For more explanation on these, see more of Whitefield’s notes here.

For more content on this, check out this podcast from the Behold Your God podcast channel.

The One Thing You Must Do When You're Suffering

In his masterful devotional study, John Snyder says, “Israel’s measure of God was the measure of their hope—big God equals big hope.”

The context in which he is commenting comes after reading Isaiah 40. The book of Isaiah is divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-39 are written to God’s rebellious people who crave worldly security. Because of their rebellion, God tells them that exile is soon to come. Chapters 40-66 are prophecies about the later hope they will have amidst exile. Even though they will be in exile and under the dominion of Babylon there will nevertheless be a return to the land (a second Exodus).

In other words, chapter 40 is a word of hope amidst the turmoil, trial, and temptation to doubt God. What would give them hope to persevere? What would give them hope that God would never forget them? What would give them hope of deliverance? Verse 9 says, “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’”

That is why Snyder says, “Israel’s measure of God was the measure of their hope—big God equals big hope.” Is this your hope as well? The one thing you must do when you’re suffering is to behold your God. The size of your hope is directly correlated to the “size” of your God.

What does it look like to “behold your God” amidst suffering?

  1. Study Him
    Suffering is the time to lean into your Bible reading. Suffering is the time to pick up a Systematic Theology or a doctrinal book. Why do we think that theology is only for seminarians and those who teach seminarians? Who came up with that suggestion? Suffering is the time to read authors who teach you the most about God. We need to study who God is and what God has done so that we can better interpret our suffering.

    Now, you can choose books that aren’t always helpful at the right time. It’s not always helpful to open up Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics (all 4 volumes!) when you're in the depths of suffering. But, sometimes it is! Different books work better at different times. The point is this: Don’t be satisfied with the shallow stuff. Don’t be satisfied with the OK stuff. Immerse yourself in the resources that saints of old have immersed themselves in.

    Much of what passes for “devotional” literature isn’t devotional at all. It is theology that truly transforms our thinking. We need to study God and seek to learn new things about God so that we can think, live, and feel differently. One of the best things I have done is read about the attributes of God during a tough period of suffering. I remember reading a book on the Trinity in a season of suffering. A God who is untameable is of great comfort. A God who I know everything about brings no hope.

    If our hope correlates to our view of God then we must strive to expand our view of God. We need help from modern and past saints. We need to read from those who have beheld God. But, we must be sure that we are not piggy-backing off their beholding. We must behold God for ourselves. Suffering is the time to make God our own. We must not rely on someone else’s words or experiences but rather we must meet the Lover of our souls for ourselves. What if God brought you into this particular suffering for you to know Him intimately.

    Suggested Reading:

    1. Confessing the Faith by Chad Van Dixhoorn

    2. Knowing God by J.I. Packer

    3. Reformed Dogmatics (in One Volume) by Herman Bavinck

    4. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

  2. Study Suffering
    This might sound strange but it is necessary. What is your doctrine of suffering? Are you suffering more because your doctrine of suffering isn’t accurate? For instance, are you angry because you don’t feel like you should be going through this? Are you depressed because you never thought you would have to hurt this way? Are you upset because you feel entitled to have inner peace all the time? We need to have a right theology of suffering. Our Lord was a man of sorrows (Is. 53). Jesus told us that we will suffer because He suffered (Mt. 10:22, Jn. 15:21). Paul told us that we will suffer (Ph. 1:29). Suffering is a temporary tool that God uses to rid us of our earthly treasures.
    Suggested Reading:

    1. Embodied Hope by Kelly Kapic

    2. Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop

    3. Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

  3. Find Help From Others

    It is not enough to be alone and read books. The only suggestion here is to find a group of trusted people you can be vulnerable with. We are too trapped in our minds when we are only dealing with suffering by ourselves. We need other voices. We need others to speak truth to us. Who are the people who have suffered similarly and met God in their suffering? Who are the people that can show you your story in light of God’s Story? Who are the people that know when to speak and when to listen? We behold God in community. God requires us to have a personal relationship with Him but not a personal church. In other words, the church is not only you. You must be in the thick of God’s people. If God is a community in Himself (The Trinity) then you can be sure that you (made in the image of God) need community.

Dear Parent, There Is New Hope For You In This Old Song

Martin Luther wrote A Mighty Fortress Is Our God as a reflection on Psalm 46. In this psalm, the psalmist feels terror and trials breathing down his neck. In the midst of threats all around, he hears his Lord say, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Can you imagine what this psalm meant to Luther amidst his trials, terrors, and threats all around? This is why the hymn A Mighty Fortress still speaks to us in mighty ways in the present day. Particularly, I think it is a great meditation for parents of teenagers in today’s world. With this thought in mind, I’d like to draw out some lessons and hopes for parents who struggle to lead their children during these dark days.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
What is a fortress? It is a stronghold of defense against your enemies. It is a structure that makes you feel totally safe from the threats outside. Dear Parent, God is your Fortress. He is a bulwark (“a defensive wall”) that never crumbles or cracks. There are no weaknesses in your God. No matter what happens in your child’s life God will never fail you or your child. Though all else seems lost and though the enemy (insert whatever seems most threatening to your child’s salvation and well being) appears like a force so strong that it could bring down the Fortress, we must have faith that our God has stood the test of time.

Dear Parent, He is your Helper. It does not say that God will keep your life free from floods and mortal ills but rather this hymn assumes those things will come at you and your family. The fact is that amidst all of this God is your Helper. We learn to know the “helpfulness” of God amidst our floods of suffering. What is a flood? Picture what Hurricane Katrina did. The waters broke through the levees in New Orleans and spilled over into the whole of the city. Floods know no bounds. They overwhelm anything in its path. The floods of pornography, vaping, drinking, self-righteousness, and worldliness destroy everything in its path until it comes to the foot of our Fortress. God is your Helper. God is your Fortress. Even when it feels like you are drowning, God is the One who will carry you through.

For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and pow'r are great, and, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

Make no mistake about it, the same Serpent in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 is the same Serpent slithering around seeking to strike at our youth. Whether through cell phone, Netflix show, peer pressure, or even simply the busyness of life, Satan lurks and prowls around seeking to take someone away from the knowledge of God. Dear Parent, do not try to parent your child without remembering that you have an Enemy. The Dark Lord holds sinners in his dominion. Yes, it is God who is Sovereign over him but God Himself has given sinners over to his dominion. This is a grip that you cannot release. He is too powerful for you. Stop trying to fight his craft, power, and cruel hate with spiritual squirt guns. Imagine trying to stop a bank robber who has a loaded AR-15 assault rifle while you only have a dollar store squirt gun. Good luck. But this is what we can look like when we seek to do battle without the Holy Spirit and His weapons.

Dear Parent, his craft and power are indeed great. How great? Greater than you! Nevertheless, he is no match for the Omnipotent One. The Dark Lord is armed with cruel hate but we worship the God of Love. It is only His Love that can set your child free from whatever bondage they are in. Listen, if you try to parent in a way where you neglect the reality of Satan then you will fail. On earth is not his equal. Luther knew this and you should know it too. He is smarter than you. He is stronger than you. He is quicker than you. You are like a toddler trying to arm wrestle the strongest man in the world. He yawns when you try to defeat him in your own strength. But, he trembles when you pray. His knees are wobbling when He sees you call upon the Fortress. He flees when you resist him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Your children need your prayers more than anything.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.

Satan has his army. He delegates his demons to do his bidding. Even though your eye does not see, there is a war going on. Spiritual warfare is around every corner. When you relax in war, you get shot. Dear Parent, lurking around every spiritual corner is a war. We must prepare our children for it. A war takes place every time they open social media. A war takes place every time others gossip in the hallway. A war takes place every time their friends pressure them to do something ungodly. The Dark Lord and his army will seek to undo you and your child. This is no time to play Christianity. This is time for the real thing.

Should that make us fear? It should if we didn’t have help. But here is the truth: We do have help! We have the one who has tied Satan onto a leash like a owner leashes a dog. Satan and his army can only do what our God allows them to do. Even then, everything that happens to the believer is for their eternal good! This should not make us relax though. We must reject complacency at all times. Your job, dear parent, is never over. There is no off-season. We must stay in this fight and fight we must but we can have hope. God has willed that He will triumph through us. Think about this hope. You might have a wayward child that seems carried away in sin like a tumbleweed in a tornado. Behold your God! Nothing is outside His Sovereign Power. Regardless of the result, He will triumph through us. That should cause us to pray until our last breath. Dear Parent, your child will be attacked but if they are God’s child then God’s truth will triumph through them. Do not neglect the study of God. Do not neglect the teaching of your children the ways of God. This is no time for half-hearted theology. This is no time for trendy topics. Our children need to see how big God is and how big His gospel is. His truth will triumph. The time to study theology is now. The time to show our children how theology applies to life is now!

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.

Remember, the Prince of Darkness is no joke. Still, we tremble not for him. Like the wolf chasing the three pigs, eventually the wolf runs out of breath and gets tired. He couldn’t endure. We can resist the devil by the Holy Spirit’s power. The Dark Lord will not endure. God, on the other hand, never tires and never changes. God does not have to put forth energy in being God. He simply is God all the time and never tires of being God. He exercises His power and yet He is never fatigued. He is always applying His wisdom and yet His mind never grows weary. The God who promised that He would crush the head of the Serpent in Genesis 3 is still our God today. The Dark Lord may blow and blow and blow upon your house but he will eventually tire out. Like the three pigs, the question is: What is your house made of? Are you building your home on the foundation of Christ? Are you seeking above all else to show your children Christ? Are you striving to know God and overflow with the knowledge of God onto your children?

There will spiritual assaults upon you and your children. We must teach and train them to endure. We must show them how to fight when anxiety overwhelms them in the middle of the night. We must show them how to fight against lust when someone sends them something inappropriate. We must show them how to fight when the world seeks to change the way they think about sexual ethics. The Prince of Darkness is fighting against them and we must teach our children how to fight back. Are we more concerned with raising up our children to be worldly successful? They must learn to treasure up God’s Word in order to use it.

That word above all earthly pow'rs, no thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth.

Dear Parent, the Word of God never fails. It is above all earthly authorities. When the world sought to destroy the Bible the underground printing press was formed. When the world sought to kill preachers, more were sent out into the world. All men are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever. Dear Parent, trust this Word! This Word is what your child needs. They need the Word more than they need a good resume. They need the Word more than they need popularity. They need the Word more than they need a good education and a good job. Do you believe this? It is the Word that reaches the heart by the Spirit’s hand. The Spirit transforms us by using the Word in our lives. This is the spiritual power and the heavenly dynamite that will topple our idols and destroy sinful desires.

Not only do you have the Word at your disposal but you also have the Spirit. God Almighty dwells with you! The Spirit and the gifts are yours in Christ. He is on your side! Parenting in a postmodern culture might look impossible. It should. It is impossible. You need the Spirit but do not fear because you have the Spirit if you have Christ. It is He that will guide you. It is He who is stronger than the peer pressures of youth culture. It is He who can give you better guidance than the worldly wisdom floating around. He has sided with you.

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.

Because we have the Spirit we can let goods and kindred go. Dear Parent, do you believe that if your child gained the whole they could still lose their soul? What good would that be? Are we teaching our children to value the world and the things of the world or are we teaching them to lose all for the sake of Christ? Is your parenting motto like Paul’s life motto: To live is Christ and to die is gain?

The culture is constantly tempting you to think that it can satisfy our eternal desires. The new iPhone, the subscription to Netflix, the next post on Instagram, the cool group of kids at school, making that sports team, getting that grade, having that relationship, or developing that success. All these things tempt us and our children to think that the world can satisfy us. We must teach our children that there is One who surpasses it all! There is One of such great worth and value that all the riches of the world are worth throwing out in order that we might know Him.

Dear Parent, do our children see in us such a desire to know God that we wouldn’t be ashamed to die for Him? Do our children see our confidence in God in the face of opposition? Does our faith in our Fortress make our children fearless? It is His kingdom that will forever stand. Dear Parent, do not fear. God will never be conquered nor caught in the hand of the Enemy. His kingdom is undefeated and unstoppable. No matter what threatens your family, you can be sure that nothing will defeat God’s kingdom. This is your hope. This is your God.

How Big Is Your God?

Have you ever gotten frustrated trying to explain a movie to someone who had no clue what you were talking about? What about that time when someone did that unbelievable thing at school and you tried with all your intellect to explain what happened and how it happened so that your audience could understand a glimpse of what you saw? Doesn’t it make it worse when the person across from you starts to get bored with your story?

There are many times when we just can’t find the words to express what we saw. How much more so with God? Have you ever felt the mental and emotional frustration when trying to express the infinite glory of God with finite words?

The Incomprehensibility of God

God is incomprehensible. Do you know what incomprehensibility means? It means that you’re not able to fully understand it. Just like the ocean, it drowns your intellect. When we talk about God being incomprehensible we mean that even though we can know true things about God we still don’t know all that there is about God. Just when you start to think you have a grasp of who God is, He is like the undertow at the beach that sweeps you out into the depths.

Our minds are like a glass of water. If you take that glass of water and put it at the bottom of the ocean we can make a true statement by saying that the glass is full of water. But, we cannot say that the glass contains the fullness of the ocean. In the same way, we can say that we know God and yet simultaneously admit that God is far beyond our greatest intellect. If we know everything about God then that is not God because God is infinite and we are finite. Anything less than an infinite God is useless and no God.

There should be a holy frustration at times with our words (even the words that God gives us). How can a four-letter word (“love”) truly encapsulate the loving affection of the King of Kings? How can a word like “wisdom” really grasp the fullness of what God is doing in this world? How can a word like “eternity” truly gives us a full picture of what it means for God to exist outside of time? There should be times when we are like a young child who gets frustrated because others don’t understand us. 

If we have a God who makes total sense to us then we have no clue who God really is. If we have a God who bores us then we have no clue who God really is. If we have a God who we think we don’t need to study and pursue more then we have no clue who God really is. Those who pursue God further never come away regretting it. 

In C.S. Lewis’ famous book The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, we see a see where one of the children is about to meet Aslan. “Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver…. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course He isn’t safe. But He’s good. He’s the King I tell you.” I wonder, is your God safe like a house cat or is He the King like a Lion? Is He theologically tamed for you? Is He a doctrine that is dormant?

Two Books That Helped Me Fear God

When I was a new believer, I came across the attributes of God pretty early on. Thankfully, I had heard of these guys named J.I. Packer and A.W. Tozer. I decided to get their books Knowing God and The Attributes of God. I am pretty sure that more sentences in Knowing God are underlined than there are sentences that are not underlined. 

In arguably the most important book in the past fifty years, J.I. Packer begins his book Knowing God with someone else’s words. He only gives the introduction.

On January 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows: “It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.” Packer goes on to say, “These words, spoken over a century ago by Charles Spurgeon (who at that time was only 20 years old) were true then and they are true now.” 

Look, I was twenty years old when I was reading that. I felt like I was drowning in the words of Spurgeon.

I also remember reading Tozer’s The Attributes of God. Specifically, I remember his chapters on the Infinitude of God and the Immensity of God. I remember sitting outside just looking up in the night sky of Alabama thinking about how puny and small I was. That’s a pretty good spot for a boastful college football player to be in. I have underlined in that book the following:

“Infinite” means so much that nobody can grasp it, but reason nevertheless kneels and acknowledges that God is infinite. We mean by infinite that God knows no limit, no bounds and no end. What God is, He is without boundaries. All that God is, He is without bounds or limits.

The Wonder of the Gospel of God

Dear reader, do you understand the God of the Bible? Do you understand that He is far beyond your wildest imagination? Do you believe that angels long to look into the things of God? Do you marvel at the fact that the great business of heaven will be pursuing a greater and more intimate knowledge of God for eternity? How is this a God we can be bored of?

This is what makes the gospel so startling. This infinite, immense, incomprehensible God became flesh. The infinite became finite. The immense and transcendent One became a man located in time and space. The incomprehensible One adopted our language. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, died a cursed death on a tree. The very God who created wood, forests, and all different kinds of trees is the same God who died a splintery death upon the Cross. Are you not astounded by this?

There is a wild unknown in our oceans. Do you know that 80% of the ocean is left to be explored? Think about all the footage and studies that Marine Biologists have done and yet after all this time only 20% has been explored! Now, think about how much we’ve explored outer space. Even in our scientific research, we are drowning in the depths of our lack of knowledge. How much more so with God?

Aren’t we creatures who love adventure? Aren’t we a people who dare to dream big? How much bigger and adventurous does it get for us to draw near the Holy One? How foolish are we who think that studying theology irrelevant! We try to satisfy ourselves on the cheapest of sermons, podcasts, and books. We barely prioritize the worship of the infinite God. We are like those who come face to face with a buffet of the riches food at free cost and yet decide to go eat the scraps we can find in the dumpster.

What marvelous grace God has given us to keep pursuing us! What astounding mercy He has given us to make Himself known to us! We live in an age where celebrities often try to hide from the paparazzi and yet we pursue them as if we stumbled upon a unicorn. At the same time, we have the God of infinite majesty and beauty who pursues us and we are more enamored with Netflix and Social Media. How blind we are to His greatness!

When will we feast our eyes upon the Lion? When will we bow down to the King? May He grant us to truly fear Him and follow Him. That’s what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do. Do you sense Him calling you to pursue Him further? Follow the Spirit and immerse yourself in His Word. Don’t be satisfied until you feel overwhelmed with your lack of words to describe His greatness. 

Last year I heard Kevin DeYoung give a story about Sinclair Ferguson. After a sermon that Ferguson preached, DeYoung came up to him immediately after to talk about how much that word meant to him. He had told him how beautiful of a sermon it was when all of a sudden Dr. Ferguson gave an interesting response. He responded with, “Oh Kevin, that was only a dog’s breakfast.” Isn’t that what our best often feels like? It feels like it is something that is so small. This is more so a declaration of God’s greatness more so than a pity party of our weakness.


The Dangers of Messy Christianity

The following is a brief excerpt from a helpful article that my wife sent me earlier today.

There’s a recent trend in American Christianity to speak of spiritual life as messy.

We’re sinful, broken people, this view argues, and even in our redeemed and reconciled condition we make mistakes that affect our and others’ lives. The messiness is pervasive, constant, and unrelenting. There’s no hope for the eradication of sin this side of Christ’s return, so the best we can do is embrace the mess and encourage one another to keep wading through the mire. The Christian life is a series of messes with a few mountaintops in between.

No doubt, this description is often used with honorable motives. We want to express humility and provide solidarity and support for our struggling brothers and sisters or new Christians—as we should. But there’s something about describing the process of sanctification only as “messy” that seems a little off. It’s certainly true that believers struggle with sin, pain, failure, and turmoil. I continue to wrestle with those things and more, so there’s a sense in which sanctification is messy. I definitely feel that myself.

Yet I also realize that Jesus didn’t die so we could live a merely messy Christian life. His desire isn’t for us to simply hop from crisis to crisis, doomed to failure, discouragement, and depression this side of glory. The gospel is more about joyful transformation than messy complacency.

If we’re not careful, a merely messy Christianity fails to do justice to a biblical view of the Christian life in at least three ways.

For the full article, click here.