From the Pastor's Study

February 4, 2022

I hope you're planning to be with us the next two Lord's Days (and the Wednesday in between!) to hear our Missions Festival preachers and other presenters. Tito Padilla, Mark Horn, and Rick Phillips will be bringing God's good word to us, to equip and encourage us in the glorious work He has saved us to do in His world. Have you ever wondered why God didn't take us immediately into heaven on the day He saved us out of darkness? Why does He leave us in this world to struggle with our sinful hearts and the suffering of a fallen world? Part of the answer is because He has work for us to do - He intends to send us into the darkness out of which He has saved us, so that He might rescue more men and women and boys and girls into His kingdom of light and life in Jesus Christ! "As you sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world," prayed Jesus in John 17:18. We are sent as the Son was sent, to suffer, to serve, to plead, to pray, to live among the lost as shining lights so that they might see God's glory and goodness and come to honor the one who created them.

Of course, that work doesn't only need to be done across the oceans. We do it right where we live. One of the reasons to read missionary biographies and to hear tales of missionary labors is that we might be spurred on to live as the missionaries we're called to be right where we live and move and have our being every normal, ordinary day of our lives. Whether you live in Ridgeland, Madison, Jackson, Gluckstadt, Flowood, Brandon, Clinton, Pearl, or some other part of the Jackson Metro Area, you are called to live for the glory of God and the spiritual good of your neighbors, speaking about Jesus and living out the gospel of grace in your daily life, so that many might be saved. The church of Jesus is an outpost of exiles in a foreign land, recruiting others to come follow the risen King of kings and Lord of lords.

As of this past week, there's another outpost of our branch of the Lord's church in the Jackson area: at the meeting of the Presbytery of the Mississippi Valley this past Tuesday, we approved the request of a group of saints who live around the Florence area (including a few POPC families!) to recognize and establish them as a mission church of the Presbytery. This is exciting news, not only because it's been a long while since our Presbytery planted a church in the Jackson metro area, but also because the Florence/Highway 49 South area has been in need of a PCA church for decades. Be in prayer for the Presbytery as it appoints a provisional Session as a temporary form of government for this church plant, and for those the Lord will call to be a part of this plant - both current believers and current unbelievers/future believers. Lord willing, it will be the first new church plant of several more to come down the road. We'll keep you posted on how this Florence mission church grows and develops, and how you can support and pray for them.

I'm so thankful to be a part of a congregation that has a vision for planting churches and supporting laborers in God's harvest fields in every continent, and I can't wait to see how God continues to use us to bring His gospel to the lost all around us. I pray that we would continue to send out missionaries (i.e., Christians) around the world and across our community, so that the spiritually dead might be converted to Christ, and the spiritually alive might be built up in the faith. Let's be praying and working and giving toward that end!

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Speaking of giving, don't forget that one of the key opportunities you have at our Missions Festival is to pray about how much you will give toward supporting our missionaries and ministry partners in 2022. We will be collecting your commitment cards next Sunday and throughout the rest of February, so please aim to give generously this year! Our total 2022 missions budget is $328,106 - the POPC general fund will underwrite $215,560 of this amount, so we need $112,546 in direct member giving to supply the rest. It would be great to receive even more than this amount, as we did this past year, so that we can give even more money away to those serving the Lord around the world. Thank you for your sacrificial giving!

From the Pastor's Study

January 28, 2022

I'm looking forward to our Missions Festival starting up next Sunday! From my earliest days as a Christian (which in God's providence coincide with my earliest days as a human, since I was born just a few years after my parents were converted to Christ, and God enabled them to raise me in such a way that I don't really remember a day I didn't know Him as Savior and Lord), I learned that bringing the gospel to the lost in the nations was a part of what it meant to follow Jesus. Like other universities, the nations were coming to LSU to study, and my parents were involved in international ministries at my church in Baton Rouge (The Chapel on the Campus), and we regularly had an international college student that we "adopted" and had over for dinner, holidays, etc.

As I transitioned into high school, I was privileged to go with our youth group on mission trips to Reynosa, Mexico; Mandeville, Jamaica; and the Yucatan Peninsula. My church took adult trips to Russia, and when I started LSU I took Russian, thinking that if I had the opportunity to go with my church, I'd love to be able to communicate (unfortunately I never was able to go, and now I've forgotten nearly all of what I learned!). These trips - the ones I participated in and the ones I heard about from others who participated - were formative for my spiritual development. Missions was not some "add-on" or "expansion pack" to the Christian life, it was part and parcel with what being a Christian was all about. I hope that is what my children will recall about growing up in our home, and what you are learning as a member of Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church.

Missions Festivals/Conferences have always been a highlight of my year, because it's a been chance to hear directly from those with boots on the ground from around the world and around town, and it's been a spiritual shot in the arm to my own ministry wherever I have been serving. To hear of God's global purposes of grace, of the expansive nature of Christ's kingdom, of the call to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, of the reality of sin and judgment and hell, of the glories of salvation - all of these things combine annually to be a spur to my apathy, pride, and forgetfulness. This year's conference looks to be wonderful. Not only will we get to hear God's word preached from a missionary on the US/Mexico border, a church planter, and a pastor who loves missions, but we'll also get to hear reports from several of the ministries we support. Be encouraged, be convicted, be challenged, be resolved to bring the gospel to the lost, to bankroll the gospel's progress around the world, and to pray for the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do.

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This Sunday we gather together around the Lord's table (one week earlier than the usual first Sunday of the month, because of the Missions Festival on February 6). It is so easy to take sin, even our own, for granted. Yet to understand what sin deserves, we must look to the cross, where the Son of God bore the awful load of the wrath of God in the place of sinners. Sin deserves death, and the blood of bulls and goats was in no way able to take away the sin of men and women and boys and girls. Our Savior came into this world to pay the price for our sins. He was beaten, whipped, mocked, unjustly treated in the courts, forsaken by friends and abandoned by His Father. So that we might never forget the cross, which demonstrates to us both our great sinfulness and His great lovingkindness, Jesus left us with a symbolic meal to eat regularly. Meals represent fellowship and peace, and thus we call this meal “Communion,” because we have peace with God and commune with our Savior as we eat and drink. We also commune with one another, and have fellowship in one another’s gifts and graces.

I love looking at the Westminster Larger Catechism as I prepare to come to the Lord's table. Question 171 is especially helpful: "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 [lacks]; 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." (If you don't have a copy of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, let me know and I'll give you one, so that you might be able to read the Scriptural foundations of each one of these phrases, and all the rest of the meat of this ancient document that so beautifully summarizes what the Bible teaches.) May the Lord Jesus grant us an increase of faith and hope and love as we feed upon Him by faith, and may He confirm and seal to our hearts our continuance and growth in Him by grace!

From the Pastor's Study

January 21, 2022

I encourage you to be present Sunday evening at the installation service of Dr. Mike Atkinson as a ruling elder of Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church. I love ordination and installation services, because they are a reminder of the way Jesus, our great Shepherd-King, cares for His people by giving them elders and deacons. I am so thankful for the Presbyterian form of church government that Jesus has appointed in the Bible - not only because it means that I as a pastor/teaching elder do not have to be a one-man ministry show, and that spiritual oversight is a joint effort, but also because you glean the benefit of having multiple undershepherds available to care for your soul.

Shepherding is a joint labor of knowing, feeding, leading, and protecting the sheep, but Scripture and church history show us the wisdom of dividing the congregation up among the individual elders so that each one of the sheep can have more focused care, and each elder can have a more focused focus of attention and responsibility. Thus we put each member of our congregation in an elder's shepherding group. At our Session meeting next week, we will be putting our newest members into shepherding groups. If you have been a member for more than a few months, then our hope is that you know who your shepherding elder is. Our elders have a desire to shepherd you (and your family) as well as they are able - to get to know you and your spiritual needs better, to pray for you, to encourage you with the word of God as needs and opportunities arise, to call you away from sin and toward gospel holiness, to help you use your gifts for the growth of the body. Each elder has up to seventeen family units in his group, and thus it can be difficult to shepherd everyone equally well (that's why I'm always glad when new elders are elected, so that the number of sheep each elder has decreases!). I am thankful to see how our elders take their callings seriously, and long to grow in this aspect of their work.

Please pray for your elders and encourage them as they labor among you. If they reach out to you for prayer requests, please let them get to know you better and share what is going on in your life. If they desire to visit you in your home, or have you over to their house, take advantage of this opportunity to be shepherded. If they challenge you about something they see amiss in your life, don't bristle at their words of loving rebuke, but seek to change where change is needed. Some of you may be in a position to ask your shepherding elder how you can help them care for the rest of the sheep in their group. Perhaps you can reach out to new members, or host times of fellowship, or write notes of encouragement to the sheep. Our goal as elders ultimately is to equip the saints to do the work of ministry, for the sheep to be serving other sheep. We have no great joy than to see God's children walking in the truth together in faith, hope, and love!

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Before evening worship this Sunday night, Lee and Emma DeHoog are going to be giving a final missions report to us in the Cafeteria at 5:30. The DeHoogs have been missionaries in Northern Africa for many years, and retired last year. This "Farewell and thank you!" presentation will be a blessing for all who attend, and your presence will be a blessing to them. Please join us if you are able!

From the Pastor's Study

January 14, 2022

I turned 46 on Wednesday. It was a great day celebrating with my family the kindness of God to me this past year. Thank you to everyone who reached out with happy birthday wishes! But being a pastor, and thus being in the presence of so much death over the past 19 years, has taught me that birthdays are also an opportunity to reflect soberly on the brevity of life. We absolutely should rejoice in the goodness of God who has sustained us another year, but we should also remember that "as for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away" (Psalm 90:10). God wants us to number our days in this manner, so that "we may present to [Him] a hear of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Psalm 90 and Psalm 39 are psalms I aim to read on my birthday each year - both contain prayers that frail creatures of dust ought to pray regularly. "Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath" (Psalm 39:4-5).

Several thoughts along these lines came to my mind on Wednesday.

• First, I realized that when my dad turned 46, I was 22. It feels like just yesterday that I was 22. How would I have responded to and thought about my dad differently when I was 22 if I knew then what I know now about being 46?

• Second, I learned about a 48 year old in Baton Rouge who had just died of colon cancer. What if I had only two years left to live? That is possible - and so may the Lord enable me to make the most of my days, redeeming whatever time he gives me.

• Third, assuming that the Lord allows me to work until I "retire" (age 67 for full benefits per the SSA), that means I have around twenty-one years left of working full time. So even if I live out a normal working career, that's not much time left to serve the Lord and His people, though it's enough time for a lot of things (good and bad) to happen! How will I spend these next years? What impact will I make for Christ and His kingdom? How will the Lord choose to use me? It will be fun (is that the right word???) to see how the Lord's plan unfolds for me and my family from 2022 through 2043 and beyond. I'm thankful that He has me here at Pear Orchard, and pray that I'll be able to serve you as long He keeps me alive.

• Fourth, no matter when I die, I'm one year closer to the return of Jesus or to seeing Him in a disembodied existence, free from sin and free from sorrow. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

As a large part of my calling as your pastor is to prepare you to die well - in the Lord and experiencing the sure and steady confidence and joy of eternal life - I hope that you will take time today (and on your birthday) to remember that "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21)!

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This coming Sunday morning we celebrate the sacrament of baptism. Take time these next few days to meditate on that wonderful question and answer from the Westminster Larger Catechism #167 - "How is our baptism to be improved by us? The needful but much neglected duty of improving our Baptism, is to be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when we are present at the administration of it to others; by serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends for which Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby, and our solemn vow made therein; by being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of, and walking contrary to, the grace of baptism, and our engagements; by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin, and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament; by drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are baptized, for the mortifying of sin, and quickening of grace; and by endeavoring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness, as those that have therein given up their names to Christ; and to walk in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body." If you have a copy of the Westminster Larger Catechism, I encourage you to look up the Scripture references that go along with this answer. And if you don't have a Larger Catechism, let me know and I'll give you one!

From the Pastor's Study: Songs for the Christ Child

December 11, 2020

Why should December have all the good music? I ask this tongue-in-cheek, but it’s something I think about at the end of every year. The poetry and melodies that have been composed to celebrate the birth of Jesus are some of the most Scripturally-saturated, doctrinally-rich, gospel-rejoicing, Christ-centered, and God-honoring songs the church gets to sing. It shouldn’t surprise us that this is the case, because even in the days and months surrounding the actual birth of Jesus, God’s people wrote songs of praise and thanksgiving for the incarnation of the Messiah. 

We’re looking at those divinely inspired songs on Sunday mornings as we close out 2020. They’re found in the first and second chapters of Dr. Luke’s gospel, and were “sung” by Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon. The saints under the old covenant had long awaited the coming of the Christ, and when He came, they couldn’t help but expressing their joy in poetry. We don’t know what sort of tunes or rhythms these psalms were set to, but the content is clearly designed to get us contemplating the sovereign purposes of God in the birth of Jesus to bring salvation to His people. As it was said of John Bunyan, “If you prick him, he bleeds bibline,” so it is of these songs - they are filled with references to the Old Testament. The birth of Jesus didn’t come out of nowhere, but was the fulfillment of the promises of old, starting all the way back in Genesis 3:15. His appearing has brought joy to our sorrow, peace to our turmoil, righteousness to our sin, and hope to our despair - and as we conclude 2020, aren’t we in desperate need of a whole lot more joy, peace, righteousness, and hope? 

As you meditate on Jesus’ birth, spend time in Luke 1-2. There’s no way we can cover in our sermons the depth of truth found in these four songs, so use our preaching each Lord’s Day as a springboard for further exploration of God’s word. Think about the birth and appearing of Jesus not just in December, but throughout the year - and especially as we come to the Lord’s Table each month. Jesus became a man to reign on David’s throne as our King, to offer Himself as a priestly sacrifice, and to guide our feet in the way of truth and peace through His prophetic teaching. May we submit to His reign and rule over us anew in these coming days. 

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I’m not only excited about our preaching in December, I’m also eagerly anticipating what we’ll be preaching in 2021. As the calendar turns over its annual leaf, we’ll finish up Genesis on Sunday mornings for about a month, and after our Missions Festival we will work our way through Philippians and then start Paul’s magnum opus, the letter to the Romans. We’ll close out the year with a frolic in the Servant Songs of Isaiah. On Sundays evenings, we’ll work our way through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) from January to August, and then study several Messianic Psalms to learn more of who our Savior is and what He has done for sinners like us. 

Please be praying even now for God to bring forth much gospel growth from the preaching of His word. Pray for conversions and for sanctification. Pray for God to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Pray that He would strike straight blows with crooked sticks. Pray that He would prevent Satan from snatching away the word that is sown in our hearts, and cause us to bear good fruit for His glory. Pray that we would receive the word as the very word of God, and that it would accomplish its work in use who believe. Without prayer, preaching is powerless. So pray that we as preachers would pray as we prepare, pray as we preach, and pray after we preach. Let us all like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the Word of Christ! 

From the Pastor's Study: The Incarnation and the Lord's Supper

This coming Lord’s Day morning we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper. Your mind has likely already started thinking about the birth of our Savior, and I would encourage you to consider that every time we sit down at our Lord’s table, we are celebrating His incarnation. “This is my body…this is my blood…” (Matthew 26:28). Our Savior had (and continues to have!) a true body with real blood, as well as a rational soul able to develop and express the direct comparison of bread and wine to his body and blood. Over two thousand years ago the Son of God took to Himself a human nature - and He did it in order to live a sinless life for those whom the Father had given Him before the foundation of the world, and then to die a violent death for His people to deliver them from their sins by bearing in His body on the cross the full wrath of God against them. God can’t die - therefore God the Son became a man without ceasing to be God in order to die in our place and free us from the curse of the Law, slavery to sin and Satan, and the fear of death. 

The physicality of the incarnation is matched by the physicality of the sacraments. There is an earthiness to the gospel that is repulsive to some, and yet it is our salvation. God has stooped low to inhabit the dust of the earth. And He has also stooped low to give us finite, tangible, concrete, edible signs of His covenant lovingkindness and faithfulness. He knows our frame, that we are weak and frail creatures. He loves us enough to speak to us in visible ways because He knows that our faith falters and wavers. We need to see, to touch, to taste, to smell, and to feel the gospel, as well as to hear it. 

So as you come to the table this Sunday with the saints, come with a heart lost in wonder, love, and praise. Celebrate the incarnation of our Savior, and the incarnational grace of His Supper. Take with your physical hand and eat and drink with your physical mouth and digest with your physical stomach. But don’t allow your celebration to be merely physical. Rather, let the physical be the pathway for true spiritual growth in grace, faith, hope, and love. As you examine yourself in preparation for this covenant meal, pray that the Lord will open your eyes to see the amazing grace of the God-man toward you.

From the Pastor's Study: The Grace of Gratitude

Does gratitude seem to you to be in low supply in 2020? If so, don’t assume that we’re experiencing anything new. “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). One of the chief marks of the sinfulness of man since the fall of Adam is ingratitude - “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). Our natural bent is toward presumptive selfishness, thinking that people owe us and exist to serve us and advance our agendas, assuming that we’re deserving of whatever good we might receive from those around us.

Jesus encountered ingratitude in his ministry. In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus healed ten lepers. He didn’t heal them immediately by touching them. Rather, he told them to go and show themselves to the priests - and as they went on their way they were cleansed. One man realized what had happened and who had accomplished the healing, and he turned around in mid-trip to give thanks to Jesus. Amazingly, the man who came back to thank Him was a Samaritan, prompting Jesus to exclaim, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine-- where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And then Jesus declared to the man, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:17-19). The man’s saving faith was evidenced by his gratitude, his giving glory to God for the mercy He had shown Him through His Son. 

Throughout the Bible, we see that gratitude is one of the chief fruits of God’s gracious salvation. Indeed, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ alone that can truly and lastingly transform a thankless, entitled, discontented heart into a heart overflowing with gratitude.

• “I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever.” (Psalm 86:12, along with scores of other passages in the Psalms)

• “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” (Colossians 2:6-7; see also 1:11-12)

• “…and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” (Ephesians 5:4)

• “…always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father…” (Ephesians 5:20)

• “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

• “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

• “Through [Christ Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15)

Ingratitude is the fruit of pride (“I deserve all this; God owes me these things; I have done all this by the strength and wisdom of my hands”) or discontentment (“I may have this and that, but God hasn’t given me these things and those things”). When we realize that we deserve nothing, and that we have been given so much more than we deserve — particularly as we reflect upon the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ — then we’ll be thankful. J. C. Ryle has put it beautifully: “We are more ready to pray that to praise, and more disposed to ask God for what we have not, than to thank Him for what we have. Murmurings, complainings, and discontent abound on every side of us. Few indeed are to be found who are not continually hiding their mercies under a bushel, and setting their wants and trials on a hill.”

As we enter a week when our entire country is trying to reflect upon all the reasons we have to be grateful, may the Lord God of merciful providence grant us His people more and more the grace of gratitude. 

From the Pastor's Study: What Does Baptism Mean?

This coming Lord’s Day we have the privilege of witnessing the sign and seal of baptism administered to several covenant children: Georgia Raye Dahl, daughter of Steven and Erika Dahl; Alyssa Suzanne and Owen Lee Norwood, children of Drew and Kim Norwood; Yashaiah Eldrin Bhanat, son of Eldrin and Rinku Bhanat; and Daniel Trace, Hastings K, Elizabeth Bradstreet and Margaret Madeleine McMullin, children of Garrett and Cindy McMullin. Three of these families have just recently joined - God has been kind to bless our body with new life! 

As you prepare for worship, meditate on the joyful meaning of baptism. The water of baptism symbolizes the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all our sins (Hebrews 9:11-14), and the Spirit of Jesus that regenerates and renews us unto newness of life (Titus 3:5). Just as our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience (Hebrews 10:22) and the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us richly (Titus 3:6), so we sprinkle or pour the symbolic water upon the recipients of this sign of solemn admission into the visible church.

Of course, we do not believe that everyone who receives the sign of baptism has the things signified - in both the old and new covenant administrations of the one covenant of grace, many receive the outward seal (whether as a covenant child or an as a professing believer) without any inner reality in the heart. Not all Israel is Israel, as Paul puts it in Romans 9:6. But for God’s elect, the “remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (Romans 11:5), the outward sign assures them of the reality of the promises of God, and so increases and deepens faith. The Heidelberg Catechism #73 beautifully expresses this truth: “Why, then, does the Holy Spirit call baptism ‘the washing of regeneration’ [Titus 3:5] and ‘the washing away of sins’ [Acts 22:16]? God speaks in this way for a good reason. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ remove our sins just as water takes away dirt from the body; but more importantly, He wants to assure us by this divine pledge and sign that we are as truly washed from our sins spiritually, as our bodies are washed with water.” 

And so when we are present at the baptism of others, or when we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us or to succumb to sin, we remember our baptism and all that it represents - we remember that God has branded up by putting His name upon us in our adoption as sons and daughters; that we have been united to Jesus in His death and resurrection to walk in newness of life; that we are a part of one body devoted to love and serve one another; that we have been separated from the world to live holy and godly lives. 

May the Lord be pleased to work the graces of faith, hope, love, and purity into the hearts of all who are baptized in His time, in increasing measure.

From the Pastor's Study: A Heavy Two Weeks

November 6, 2020

It’s been a full and heavy last two weeks. I thank you (and I thank God) for your prayers for our Session retreat two weekends ago, and for my study week last week. Your elders had a good conversation about our purpose and passion as a church - why we exist - and about the specific ministry focus the Lord has given us in light of our unique history, location, demographic, and gift mix. Likewise, my study week was blessed by our heavenly Father - not only did I get to map out much of the 2021 church calendar and preaching calendar, I was able to feed my soul by reading D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ classic book Preachers and Preaching again, and Dane Ortlund’s book about Jesus, Gentle and Lowly, and I started studying for the 2021 preaching series (more on those in a later post!). 

As you know, our brother Step Morgan was in a horrific mountain biking accident the Friday afternoon before our October 24 Session retreat, and ended up having his lower left leg amputated. This tragedy has been a sober reminder for me of how quickly life can be completely and radically turned upside down and inside out. But God has been good throughout this affliction, and Step and Jessica’s response to God’s providence has been such an encouragement and an example. I can’t wait until he has a chance to share more with you about the way God has showered him and his family with grace in the midst of this trial. Several passages of God’s word that speak of the responses of God’s people to trials have stuck in my heart the past two weeks: 

• “…but God meant it for good, to bring about this present result…” (Genesis 50:20)

• “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)

• “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18)

• “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

• “I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel…” (Philippians 1:12). 

• “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

God has mercifully given the same heart response to the Morgans as He gave to Joseph, Job, Shadrach/Meshach/Abednego, Habakkuk, Paul, and Jesus His Son. Let us continue to pray for them - the journey ahead is going to be long and difficult, and they will need our support, physically and spiritually.

It’s also been a heavy week because of the uncertainty of our national elections. As of my writing this, neither candidate has won the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory. But no matter who wins, the following things remain true: 

• There is no doubt who is in charge and winning: Jesus is the King of kings and the President of presidents (Revelation 17:14; 19:16; Acts 17:7), and is reigning and ruling over all the nations. He is the divine-human Messiah who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth by His Father (Matthew 28:18), and must rule until all His enemies are under His feet (I Corinthians 15:25; Psalm 110:1). 

• The Christian’s calling is to pray for whoever is in authority over us, so that we might lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity (I Timothy 2:2), and to submit to our governing authorities, so that by doing right we might silence the ignorance of foolish men (I Peter 2:13-15; Romans 13:1-6).

• Like Joseph in Egypt, as well as Daniel and all the post-exilic saints in Babylon, we are to serve our country no matter who is leading it, seeking its welfare as those who are sojourners and exiles in America (Jeremiah 29:7), whose true citizenship is in heaven and not on earth (Philippians 3:20-21; I Peter 2:11-12; Titus 3:1-2). 

• Because we are citizens in two kingdoms, we must “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). Though we are quick to serve our country, we must always be ready to obey God rather than men when the state commands us to disobey God, or prohibits us from obeying God (Acts 4:19; 5:29). 

• If we as Christians end up being more persecuted or more marginalized as a result of this election, let us remember that such is the normal Christian life (Matthew 5:10-12; Philippians 1:29-30). To quote Paul David Tripp about marriage, “What did you expect?” Christ’s kingdom advances through weakness, suffering, and opposition - we follow a Master who was crucified on a Roman cross. “Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (John 15:20).

May the Lord grant us grace to find our joy and peace in the Lord and not in any created person, thing, or institution, and to live as salt and light to our country in all circumstances. 

From the Pastor's Study: Pray for our Session Retreat!

10/23/2020

Tomorrow, your elders will be having an all-day Session retreat. I had hoped to have this retreat right after I became Senior Pastor, to start my tenure off on the right foot with our elders, but COVID kept us from gathering. Now we’re able to be together, distanced and even possibly outside since it looks like it will be a beautiful day. 

We plan on talking about where we see the Lord leading Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church in 5-10 years, what we need to focus on to accomplish that envisioned future, how to communicate that vision clearly to the saints, and some other miscellaneous items. These sorts of longer horizon conversations are vital to the work of oversight that is a chief calling of elders (another title in the Scriptures for an elder is “bishop/overseer,” from the Greek word episkopos - we not only oversee individual sheep, but this particular church of God as a whole). We want to have a clear view of the direction in which we’re seeking to shepherd the flock, though we realize we must hold our plans with an open palm instead of a clenched fist: “The plans of the heart belong to man but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:9); “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). 

Please pray earnestly for the Lord to guide our discussion and give us wisdom, unity, and good fellowship together. Pray that we will be able to listen well, speak our thoughts clearly and graciously, and come to one mind on the issues before us. There are many strengths of Pear Orchard, many good ministry opportunities, so we need your prayers to discern how the Lord would want us to keep moving forward. We don’t expect to come away from Saturday with answers wrapped up with a bow on top, but I do pray that we will have a solid start as we engage in this planning process together. Pear Orchard is blessed with godly and wise elders, and I look forward to spending the day with them.

I also ask you to pray for me as I spend next week in study, prayer, and planning the 2021 preaching calendar. I will be mapping out what we will be preaching through next year, and who will be preaching each text. The preaching calendar helps the staff know their responsibilities for the new year, and helps in the planning of worship. I’m excited to think about the needs of the congregation and which books of the Bible I believe we can preach with fruitfulness for the growth of the body in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our highest calling as ministers of the gospel is to feed Christ’s sheep with the word of God, and Paul’s words to Timothy ring loudly in our ears: “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching… Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you…Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (I Timothy 4:13, 15-16; II Timothy 4:2). 

May the Lord continue to use His living and active word to search the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, to shatter our hardness and thaw our coldness to Christ, to root us in grace, and to bear fruit for His glory!

From the Pastor's Study: Let's remain a church planting church!

This past weekend we went down to Baton Rouge to see two of my brothers and their families (Hurricane Delta unfortunately cut our trip short by a day). On Sunday morning we visited South Baton Rouge Presbyterian Church, a PCA congregation that was planted in 2000, a couple years after I graduated from LSU. When I was growing up nearly all the Presbyterian churches in Baton Rouge were in the PCUSA, and the only PCA churches were on the outskirts of Baton Rouge or in surrounding towns. I was brought to Reformed convictions during college, and attended Plains PCA (where the Kwasnys were members) - about a thirty minute drive from LSU and downtown Baton Rouge. So when I heard that a PCA church was being planted near LSU, I rejoiced. 

Church planting has been in the DNA of the PCA from its inception, and it has also long been in the DNA of Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church. A church plant ourselves out of First Presbyterian Church Jackson, in our brief lifetime as a congregation we have supported dozens of church planters around the country, partnered with Highlands Presbyterian Church to plant Madison Heights Presbyterian Church, and been a founding church of the Mid-South Church Planting Network. The three senior pastors before me were committed to church planting, and I want to follow in their train. I want our congregation to continue to be a church planting church, a church that sends its money and its members into areas of our community devoid of solid Reformed Presbyterian churches centered on the gospel of God in Christ - for planting new churches is one of the best ways to reach the lost for Jesus and to energize the evangelistic fervor of established churches.

If you looked at a map of the Jackson metro area, you’d see several places where there are no PCA congregations: Gluckstadt, Canton, Richland/Florence, southwest Jackson near JSU, the Northshore/further out Lakeland - and soon the 39211 zip code. For at the end of January 2021, for a variety of reasons, Trinity Presbyterian Church will be closing its doors after 70 years of service to Christ and His people. You have likely seen several Trinity families visiting among us on Sundays and Wednesdays, as they consider where the Lord might lead them to transfer their membership. But as those families disperse into congregations across the metro area, a hole will be left for gospel ministry in one of the most diverse and populated zip codes in our region. 

Let’s be praying that the Lord, who is never slow but never in a hurry, would raise up a new church in due time in 39211, to reach His elect there with the gospel of Jesus. Very early initial and exploratory conversations about what this plant might look like and how it might come about have begun in our Presbytery, and it excites me to think about ways that Pear Orchard might be able to play a role in a new work to our south one day. And one day in the future, who knows what other churches might be planted around us - as the saying goes, we often overestimate what can be done in five years, and underestimate what can be done in twenty years. God is at work! And we are privileged to join Him in the harvest fields. 

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This coming Lord’s Day I will be preaching from Genesis 38, the story of Judah and Tamar. I encourage you to read it ahead of time (especially if you have children) so that you won’t be caught off guard and so that you will begin to think through how you might discuss it with your family. It’s a shocking and sordid story of sexual sin, and depicts the reality of life in a fallen world without sugar coating any of the raw and awkward edges. But it also reveals the shocking grace of God, who saves a sinful people and brings good out of evil. Be praying for our time together in God’s word. 

From the Pastor's Study: The way up is the way down - thoughts on Luke 18:9-14 as we come to the Lord's table

1. From the Pastor’s study…

The Christian life is full of paradoxes – things that seem contradictory but really aren’t. Consider Paul’s declaration in Philippians 1:23, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better,” in relation to what he says about Epaphroditus’ near death in Philippians 2:27, “Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” At the same time the Christian desires to die and be with Jesus, and yet can be filled with sorrow upon sorrow when loved ones die. 

Benjamin Morgan Palmer, a 19th century Presbyterian pastor in New Orleans, noted four more paradoxes in a series of articles in 1870. First, Christians possess deep reverence and awe before God, and at the same time a childlike confidence and boldness toward Him. Second, Christians are keenly sensible to the sorrows of this life, and at the same time have a great composure and peace of heart as we trust in God’s providential control over all things. Third, Christians are dead to this world and do not love the world or the things in the world, and yet have the truest enjoyment of the world. And finally, because we are forgiven sinners, Christians are filled at the same time with a profound humility, and a profound dignity in Christ.

Related to that last paradox is the one we find in Luke 18:14, the punchline in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Another way to say put it is that in Jesus’ kingdom, the way of advancement is the path of humility – the way up is the way down. The proud are out, while the humble are in.

But we don’t often think this way, do we? Like the Pharisees to whom Jesus told his parable in Luke 18:9-14, we tend to believe simplistically that that the good are in and the bad are out - and thus we  “trust in ourselves that we are righteous, and view others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). Religious Jews would not have been amused by the idea of the Pharisee being rejected in God’s sight, and the tax collector being accepted by Him. But Jesus is clear: those who think they are good are out, while those who know themselves to be bad and cry to God for mercy are in. 

Jesus’ parable shows us what true humility looks like: acknowledging God’s holiness and our sinfulness (as opposed to the Pharisee who compares himself to other people and focuses on all the supposed good things he has done); trusting in the mercy of God alone (the Pharisee trusted in his law-keeping and acted as if God owed him for his obedience, while the tax collector knew he needed a substitute to be the propitiation for his sins - to bear God’s wrath in his place); freely loving the sinners around us (unlike the Pharisee who despised those whom he imagined he surpassed in godliness). The two things always go together in pride - when we trust in ourselves that we are righteous, we will always view others with contempt. 

Of whom do you think the way the Pharisee thought of the tax collector? “Lord, I thank you that I am not like _________.” To whom do you consider yourself superior, whether because of your theology, your skin color, your nationality, your cultural background, your wealth, your education, your intelligence, your political views? As you come to the Lord’s table this coming Sunday, remember that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Never stop being amazed at the fact that you are a Christian, and never think that anyone is too lost to become a Christian. 

From the Pastor's Study: Why Do We Want to Resume Collecting the Offering in Worship?

Fall in the air feels good, doesn’t it? We even jumped the gun out of excitement last night and had a fire in our fireplace (I forgot to open the flue - I don’t recommend burning a fire in your house without using the chimney). It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly in the last three months of this wild year. God has been so good to provide for His people through these difficult times, and I know each one of us as individuals and as families can testify to the many ways that we have experienced His faithfulness. 

Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church has experienced God’s faithfulness as well, through the faithful generosity that He has worked within you. Thank you! And thank our gracious God with me! It has been truly remarkable to see how He has provided for His gospel work here through the saints, even though we haven’t taken up a physical collection in corporate worship since early March. You have given online, mailed in your gifts, or sought out the offering plate at church, in spite of a downturn in the economy, the loss of jobs or hours, and an uncertain future. Be encouraged as your officers have been, that ministry is being supported, our facilities are being maintained for ministry, and the spread of the gospel is being funded around the world.

As we continue to reopen and resume our ministries, the elders have approved beginning once more to receive your tithes and offerings during the worship service. The deacons will be discussing soon when exactly to restart this familiar practice. The plan is that like the elders did as they served the Lord’s Supper, our ushers will hold the offering plates while walking down the empty rows in the Sanctuary and between the rows in the Gym (assuming there are enough ushers in the Gym), so that the plates are not passed from person to person.

We want to resume the giving of tithes and offerings in worship soon for a variety of reasons:

• Because giving is an act of worship. Throughout the Scriptures (i.e., Deuteronomy 16:16; Malachi 3:7ff.; Mark 12:41ff.; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Hebrews 13:16) God’s people give to the Lord as they gather for corporate worship. Even if you have given to the Lord online during the week, or if you give at a different frequency than weekly, in the gathered assembly you worship as you acknowledge from your heart that God is the owner of all your wealth and has allowed you to be a steward, and as you rededicate to Him yourself and all that He has given you.

• In order to give everyone a ready opportunity to give to the Lord during corporate worship, including those who don’t have online accounts or who prefer to give cash.

• So that our children and others will have the opportunity to worship the Lord with their dollar bills and coins (Mark 12:42), and to see the adults around them also honor the Lord with the firstfruits of their wealth. The lack of a time to give within the worship service has meant the lack of a teachable moment for our youngest worshippers. More is caught than taught, as the saying goes, and there is little more important to catch at a young age than the necessity of giving at least a tenth of your money to the Lord. 

Whenever the passing of the offering plates is resumed, let it be an opportunity to remind yourself of the gospel of Jesus: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (II Cor. 8:9).

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This Sunday morning we will have a guest preacher in our pulpit: Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, a friend of Pastor Dean, and a prolific author and teacher. He has been a ruling elder in PCA and OPC congregations, as well as a professor at Covenant College and Knox Theological Seminary, and is currently the President of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, a network of evangelical scholars dedicated to teaching about Biblical earth stewardship, economic development for the poor, and the Christian gospel and worldview. Dr. Beisner will be preaching what is turning out to be the last of our sermon series on idolatry - the idol of science. Don’t miss this chance to think about what the Bible has to say about our culture’s (and our) propensity to worship the creature rather than the Creator. 

The "Sex Positive" Movement (Walt Mueller)

This article is very helpful to understand what’s going on. You might be shocked at what’s happening in culture but we need to know about this. Here is an excerpt:

Psychologist David Yarian, a proponent of the sex-positive movement, says, “Fundamentally, I think sex positivity is about looking at sex through the lens of natural playfulness and curiosity that has no strict agenda, judgment, or pressure.” Another proponent, sex therapist Vanessa Marin, says, “Being sex-positive means you get to declare, ‘This is my body. This is my life. These are my desires.”

With sex-positivity being taught both implicitly and explicitly as foundational in today’s school-based comprehensive sex education, the beliefs our kids hold are being shaped in ways that will yield behavioral evidence, now and for the rest of their lives, that they personally choose sex-positive. And with pop culture reinforcing the sex-positive message, along with elevating the self to a position of final authority on all matters of life, the message is convincing and clear. Sadly, the sex-positive movement sees traditional biblical sexuality as sex-negative.

The movement holds that “sex-negativity has been a yoke upon civilization for nearly ten thousand years, hoisted upon us by dominator/patriarchal culture as a system of control and exploitation.” But nothing could be further from the truth. The Christian knows that true human freedom and flourishing come when we live into and under the authority of God, choosing to see sex and gender as good gifts from a God who offers a resounding and celebratory “YES!” to sex and gender as He established them at creation. The reality is that God is completely “sex-positive”!

For the full article, click here.

From the Pastor's Study

This coming Lord’s Day the fast becomes the feast. For six months we have not been able to eat and drink the Lord’s Supper, and now we finally get to feast with and upon our Savior. I trust your soul has been famished, longing and even yearning for this covenant meal in the courts of our King, to use the language from Psalm 84:2. It will be rejuvenating to draw up our seats together around the table of our Savior to feed upon Him together by faith. 

Jesus has appointed the Lord’s Supper to be observed by His church “until He comes” (I Corinthians 11:26). In eating bread and drinking the fruit of the vine, we remember Jesus and His finished work on the cross, and we proclaim His death to ourselves, to one another, and to the world. It’s easy to make too much of this sacrament, and give it powers it does not possess; this is the error of Romanists. But evangelicals are much more often tempted to make too little of the Lord’s Supper, and disregard it as unnecessary and impotent in the Christian’s life. I believe the Westminster Standards help us to steer clear of both errors. 

According to our Westminster Larger Catechism (WLC), the Bible teaches that the Lord’s Supper “is a sacrament of the new testament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine according to the appointment of Christ Jesus, his death is showed forth; and they that worthily communicate feed upon his body and blood, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace; have their union and communion with him confirmed; testify and renew their thankfulness, and engagement to God, and their mutual love and fellowship with each other, as members of the same mystical body” (WLC #168).

• Jesus doesn’t advocate cannibalism, so feeding upon His body and blood is of course a spiritual action - by faith and by the power of the Holy Spirit we receive and apply unto ourselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death (WLC #170).

• To borrow language from the Heidelberg Catechism, the tangible elements of bread and the fruit of the vine assure us “that we are as really partakers of his true body and blood by the operation of the Holy Spirit as we receive by the mouths of our bodies these holy signs in remembrance of him; and that all his sufferings and obedience are as certainly ours, as if we had in our own persons suffered and made satisfaction for our sins to God” (HC #79).

The Lord’s Supper replaced and fulfilled Passover as the sign and seal of our fellowship and communion with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Passover meal remembered with joy the Exodus, when God rescued His people of old from Egypt (see Exodus 12).

• By killing and eating a lamb each year, the Israelites remembered how their ancestors had sacrificed a lamb, and painted its blood on their doorposts and on the beam above their doors. When God passed through the land of Egypt striking down every firstborn male, He passed over the houses covered by the blood.

• By introducing a new meal for His covenant people in the middle of the Passover feast, Jesus was saying, “I am the Lamb of God, whose blood protects you from the wrath of God. And I am the firstborn of the Lord, who dies in your place. Those who feed upon Me, spiritually, by faith, have salvation and rescue from even greater taskmasters – sin and Satan and the flesh. Be assured that if you are trusting Me, your sins are forgiven and you have my righteousness reckoned to your account! Be strengthened by my body and blood to grip the gospel even more firmly and to serve God and neighbor with joy.”

As you’ll see here, we are adjusting how we serve the sacrament in light of COVID. But as concerned as we need to be about physical safety as we come back to the Lord’s table, Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 11:27-34 that we should be even more mindful of spiritual safety.

• If we eat the bread and drink the cup in an unworthy manner - that is, without preparing and examining ourselves before we sit down at His table, without discerning or recognizing the significance of the members of the body of Christ and the call to sacrifice for one another - then we are in danger of eating and drinking God’s discipline unto ourselves.

• So spend time before Sunday morning meditating upon all the glorious themes that converge in the cross (borrowing the words of The Communicant’s Manual by Jacob Jones Janeway): the apostasy of our race—the superiority of the Christian dispensation—the glory of God shining in the face of Christ—the  divine person of our Redeemer—his infinite condescension and profound humiliation—his holy life, and painful sufferings and agonizing death—his triumphant resurrection and glorious ascension into heaven—his session at God’s right hand and intercession there—his coming again to judge the world, and consummate the salvation of his people—the all-sufficiency of his atonement and righteousness, and rich and invaluable benefits—his free and boundless love—the evil of sin—and so much more.

• And as you return home, remember those members of our congregation who were not able to be physically present with us, and thus were not able to share in this meal that is for the gathered assembly of the saints. Serve them in love; visit them with whatever degree of physical presence and deeds of mercy they might need; pray for them; encourage them with your words. 

May the Lord God Almighty be exalted as we remember our Savior’s death, to our growth in faith, hope, and love!

Should My Child Have A Phone?

It’s that time of the year again where many parents are asking whether their child should have a phone or not. It needs to be clear that this question falls in the realm of Romans 14 and Christian freedom. My job is not to make your decision. My job is to help you think through certain questions and facts to help you come to your own decision.

I have my own personal opinions but, let’s be honest, I’m sure that by the time I have teenagers that my opinions might change. Also, who knows what the newest technology will be in 15 years? The point of this is to help you think about what a phone does, how necessary is a phone for you child, and what can be accessed through a phone. I will offer some wisdom based on what I have seen other parents do well in and what I have seen that doesn’t work very well. In all this, I am speaking from experience of looking at our own students from close up for 5 years, from looking at another church’s students for 2 years (the church I was at before coming to POPC), and from hearing countless accounts from other youth workers across the country. This is also taking into account the rising stats in youth culture from books such as Jean Twenge’s seminal work iGen. For another helpful article by Jean Twenge, check out “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”

The question is not: Are phones bad or good? We also shouldn’t be going to the extreme and never letting them get acquainted with a cell phone. Sooner or later, they will and they need to know how to rule over it (Gen. 1:28). It’s not about saying no to everything in the world. It’s about showing them how to tame the things in the world through a gospel-centered worldview. If we are going to help prepare our kids for college, where they will have complete access to everything, then we need to think wisely about how we prepare them for the use of technology.

Ask Yourself…

1. Is this the right time for my particular child?
   Don’t look at what other kids are doing. Think about your particular child in their particular situation. Your child will certainly give you the “but so-and-so has a phone” speech. Matter of fact, they will most certainly hound you with that speech. You need to hold strong and ask if this is the right time for your child (not what others are doing). You need to ask if this is the right time for this particular child of yours. Are they ready?

2. What kind of phone should they start out with?
   Learning to use a phone is like learning how to build and maintain a fire. It wouldn’t be wise to hand your child a can of gasoline when they’re first learning how to build a fire. Sin is worse than a physical fire and it burns much worse. Kids are getting burned by sin coming by the use of cell phones constantly. It might be wise to start them out slow. Make them earn your trust. Maybe start them out with a “dumb phone”. Maybe start them out with an iPod that can text on Wifi. Figure out what works for you and your family. Plus, it might not be most wise to break the bank buying the latest smartphone. What kind of precedent with that show your child? Speaking from experience, I have seen many students (at several different churches, including ours) fall into grievous sin because their first phone was a smartphone that had no restrictions on it. These kids are not those who grow up in godless homes. They are the kids who have godly parents and care about their children. All kids are totally depraved. Anyone is capable of any sin, including those in godly homes. It is very sad to see students who have hardened their hearts and draw away from the church because of the sin that they indulge in via their cell phones.

3. What restrictions should they have on their phone?
   One night at a session meeting, I was giving a presentation on youth culture to the elders. One elder asked me about phones and what restrictions worked. Another elder then asked, “Should my child have a dumb phone at first?” I decided to answer by giving a visual example.
   In front of the whole session, I opened up my phone for them all to see. I showed them that I didn’t have any Web Browser on my phone. I didn’t have Safari, Google Chrome, or even Covenant Eyes. I didn’t even have access to the App Store to download one of those apps. There is not a single app on my phone that will take you to a Web Browser. So, it seemed.
   I opened up a harmless app—the Premier League Soccer app. I scrolled to the bottom of the app where there was a hyperlink to Twitter. Once again, I don’t have Twitter on my phone. I don’t even have a Twitter account anymore. Regardless, when I clicked the link, a window opened up within the app that gave me access to Twitter. From there, I could search any profile I wanted and even get to Google so that I could search all that I wanted. There is no web blocker that could keep a history of what I look at. There was nothing stopping me from getting there. And the kids know how to do this.
   Here is the thing: You can do this on many apps. The kids know how to do this too. So, why do I tell you this? I tell you this to remind you that restrictions are important. Do not neglect restrictions. But, restrictions can’t keep everything out. Kids are so smart with how to work around an app to get to the Internet. As a youth staff, we are constantly hearing about how kids can get around the latest restrictions.
   This is what you need to keep in mind. Merely having restrictions on your child’s phone won’t change their heart. You need to pray that the gospel changes their heart. It’s not enough merely to put up restrictions and never check their phone. You need to be asking them questions and taking up their phone to look at what’s going on. Don’t give them any warning about it. Their conscience is going to be the ultimate restriction. If their conscience isn’t bound by the gospel then they will find a way to get to what their sinful heart wants.

   By the way, don’t forget that they know their friends who don’t have restrictions and they can see things off their phone too.

4. Should I let them have their phone in their room at night?
   Based on what we’ve seen and when kids typically look at pornography, send or receive nude pictures, or send scandalous messages, I would say that it’s not wise to let your child keep their phone in their room at night by themselves. You know your child but make sure you don’t forget that temptation is very powerful and can attack any child. It only takes one image to cause someone to lust. It only takes one suggestive picture, video, or song to send them down a trail hunting for my teasing images that lead to sin.
   Nowadays, students don’t have to ask for nude pictures. In many cases, they just appear in your inbox. It’s crazy, but this is happening and it’s happening with people you least expect it from.
   My advice would be that you take your child’s phone up at night. It not only protects them from temptation but it also helps them rest. I cannot tell you the last student I have come across who tells me that they consistently get 8 hours of sleep at night (which is the minimum of sleep they should be getting at their age). More often, students are getting only 4-6 hours of sleep. Matter of fact, it’s seen as a bragging right to other students if you only sleep 2-4 hours a night! It makes you look like people always want to talk with you or that you work really hard. Taking up your child’s phone at night will help them sleep. Sleep will help them battle against anxiety and despair.
   For many different reasons, take their phone up at night and put it in a place where they can’t just come out of their room to get it. That’s my advice. Whether you do it or not is up to you and we are not to judge. My advice is to think wisely about how to help your child most.

Conclusion

It’s helpful to ask what other parents are doing. It would be good to ask many parents what they’re doing. Don’t try to copy and paste what someone else is doing into your family but think about how those good practices might be applied to where your family is and what they’re going through. Some will be more strict and some will be more relaxed. Be careful when you make judgments. Wrestle with every view, including mine, and figure out if it works for your family or not. The biggest thing is to be thoughtful with your child’s eternal soul. It is not to be taken lightly.

If you have any suggestions or insights, send them my way. I would love to continue the conversation with you. If you think I’m wrong, then please come sharpen me as someone who is trying to help parents out with their children. We need to continue to learn from y’all! We would welcome your feedback on ways in which you think you have done it well and not so well as it comes to technology.

But, remember this: There is grace for failures. All of us are going to fail in this realm. We are not immune to this. You need to remember that even if you failed there is grace and redemption for you. You have to remember this or your failures will bury you with guilt and shame. There is forgiveness, cleansing, and new life in Christ. Run to Him!

Luke 1:1-4 (A Devotional Commentary)

Intro

No one is like Jesus. The man that lived 2,000 years ago has everything to do with us today. God deserves to be praised by the whole host of angels and the elect for all eternity merely for the fact that He preserved for us the Gospel according to Luke. Here, we see Jesus the Son of God who came for sinners and sufferers. No, Luke is not the only Gospel account but there are those distinct flavors that Luke gives us that leave us in a holy awe. Luke loves to set forth a Jesus who comes for the poor, broken, outcast, and sinner. He loves to highlight biblical-theological themes such as the Sabbath, the Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit. Beale & Gladd, in The Story Retold, say that the purpose of Luke is to show that Jesus is “the Spirit-anointed king, [who] overthrows Satan and his minions that enslave Israel and the nations in bondage of sin” (Beale & Gladd p. 100).

In this devotional commentary, I have decided not to comment on every word or phrase but simply those that seem to stand out and contribute to the main point of the text. The goal is that you might be able to take this and use it for your own devotions. I have tried to provide some exegetical insights but in such a way that is edifying. In other words, I’m trying to ask the question, “Why does it matter that this word is written in this way?” After the commentary, I have written an application section that you can use to apply to your own life.

Commentary

• (v1) Luke writes with certainty that the things of Jesus happened. It’s almost as if he takes it for granted that they’re historical. There is no sense of questioning whether these things happened or not. It’s a matter of what they mean and what they mean for the world. This word for “have been accomplished” is a perfect passive participle meaning that what has definitely happened in the past has everything to do with us today. In other words, the things of Jesus that happened thirty years prior still have massive consequences for Luke, his audience, and even us today. It’s like he’s saying, “Buckle up because everything that I am about to tell you about what was accomplished back then has everything to do with you right now.”

• (v2) The fact that Luke mentions that there were eyewitness accounts strengthens what he is trying to say. There is no doubt that these things happened. It’s not a matter of if they happened but rather how will we respond to them? Luke lived in an eyewitness world. That was their main source of documenting historical events. It was a reliable way of telling the truth. These eyewitness accounts were not to be hidden so that no one could back up what Luke was saying. They were to be sought out, as Luke himself sought them out, in order for everyone to see that this really is true. Remember, as Joshua Foer talks about in Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, that the art of memory recall was essentially a virtuous trait back then. It was something people highly valued. “A strong memory was seen as the greatest virtue since it represented the internalization of a universe of external knowledge…Indeed, the single most common theme in the lives of the saints—besides their superhuman goodness—is their often extraordinary memories” (Foer p. 96). In other words, if you had a good memory of true events then you were a very important person.

• (v2) These “ministers” are more so “servants” of the word. They serve the truth to us like faithful butlers in the master’s house. 

• (v3) “It seemed good to me also” → This seems to piggyback off of the fact that there were others who “served” the word. Luke is wanting to serve as well. He is not doing this for selfish gain or political power. Indeed, this would most likely only endanger his life. When he says “it seemed good”, he means really that “it seemed best”. What could possibly be better than writing down an account of the most important person who ever lived on this earth? Even more so, what could be better than to write a Gospel account of the only Savior for wretched sinners? It’s so good that we could look over and over and over at Luke’s Gospel account and never get bored. 

• (v3) Also, notice this. Luke says that he has followed all things closely for some time. What does he mean? The BDAG lexicon says this word has been used in phrases such as: “to pay careful attention to something in a segment of time, to follow a thing, to follow a course of events, to take note of”; “one well acquainted with the affairs from the very beginning”; “I bring my charges as one who has accurate knowledge and has followed everything”; “personal acquaintance as opposed to information secured second-hand”. Isn’t that beautiful? Luke is saying that he is not making this stuff up. This word is a perfect, active, participle which conveys to us, once again, that these are past events that have everything to do with us in the future. This Gospel account is not just a history book in which people may approach it with a “take it or leave it” mentality. You are confronted with its truth. You are compelled to make a decision. You are face to face with the ultimate reality of all things. How awesome must this Jesus be?

• (v4) Why is Luke writing to Theophilus? He wants him to have “an orderly account...that you may have certainty”. Theophilus seems to have heard some of this already but Luke is giving him more certainty that it’s true. Luke thinks it’s worth all his hard work to compile this account so that Theophilus might have a thorough understanding of Jesus. Luke wants him to grow in his knowledge of Jesus. Isn’t that eternal life (Jn. 17:3)? Our problem is not that we know too much. Our problem is that we know too little about Jesus. We need to grow in our knowledge of Jesus!

Application

Isn’t this where spiritual warfare from the dark lord can come in? He can tell us that the works of Jesus back then don’t apply to us today. He can say, “That was just for them back then. You’re a different case. You can’t trust what you see in this gospel account.” Doesn’t the world tell us the same thing?

Doesn’t the world say, “How can you know that’s true? You can’t trust that Bible. Our Enlightenment gurus have already shown us that the Bible isn’t accurate.”

Isn’t this also what the flesh tells us? We throw our own doubts and unbelief in the mix as well. “Jesus may have forgiven that woman in Luke 7:36-50 but I don’t know if He will forgive me. I know Jesus told the parable of the Father running after His sinful children in Luke 15 but I don’t know if that applies to me today. I’ve done too much. I’ve used my last straw.”

Don’t you see how important these verses are for us? These things have everything to do with us today. They don’t wait for us in heaven. They apply to this life and this realm. It applies in this world with these people. In other words, by faith, you can claim these. Even more so, by faith, you must claim these! They are yours in Christ! The dark lord knows they are yours and that’s why he wants to keep you thinking that “maybe, just maybe” they don’t apply to you. 

From the Pastor's Study

September 4, 2020

This Monday we Americans celebrate Labor Day. Until doing a search on the Internet, I couldn’t have told you that the first Monday in September has been a national holiday since President Grover Cleveland signed it into law on June 28, 1894. Work has changed a lot over the past 126 years! So much work now takes place online, or at home, or in the gig economy, or in the sharing economy, or in a plethora of new jobs that no one could have imagined in 1894 - or even in 1994 as the internet was just beginning to connect the world. Think how much COVID alone has changed the ways some people work.

But one thing has not changed: what God thinks about work. The Bible has much to say about labor, and we ignore it to the dishonor of our Creator and Redeemer, and to our own sorrow.

• Work is not a result of the fall into sin. Genesis 1-2 teach us clearly that Adam and Eve worked in the Garden of Eden before Satan tempted them to rebel against their Maker (Genesis 2:15). God commanded Adam and Eve to fill the earth and subdue it, and to have dominion over all creatures (Genesis 1:28). I love how John Murray expounds this dominion mandate: “When we consider the manifold ways in which the earth is fashioned and equipped to meet and gratify the diverse nature and endowments of man, we can catch a glimpse of the vastness and variety of the task involved in subduing the earth, a task directed toward the end of developing man’s nature, gifts, interests, and powers in engagement with the resources deposited by God in the earth and the sea” (Principles of Conduct, 37). For God’s glory and his own good mankind was made to work, imitating his Maker, as we see implied in the Sabbath ordinance of Genesis 2:1-3. So we must recognize that work is a blessing, not a curse; it is part of the “very good” of Genesis 1:31. Manual labor and mundane labor are not undignified, and the wide variety of our various callings is built into the very fabric of our humanity.

• Work is difficult because of the fall into sin. After Adam sinned, God cursed the arena of man’s work (Genesis 3:17-19). Now the creation works against us, and thorns and thistles are our constant companion. Work is hard, sweaty, toilsome, painful, and frustrating. Things fall apart. Futility sets in. Not only is the arena of work affected by the fall, but we workers have been impacted as well. Our motivations have been skewed by sin: we struggle with discontentment, envy, working merely for the weekend or retirement, or just to get rich. Sometimes we are just plain lazy. We bow down to the idol of comfort and convenience. Professor Murray helps us again: “The Christian ethic strikes not only at conspicuous idleness; it strikes also at the sloth, the laziness, which is too frequently the vice of professing Christians. It strikes at the dissipation of time and energy of which we all must plead guilty. The principle that too often dictates our practice is not the maximum of toil but the minimum necessary to escape public censure and preserve our decency” (Principles of Conduct, 85). At other times we make work itself an idol, seeking our identity and satisfaction in our accomplishments on the job, being ruled by our callings rather than by the one who has called us to them. 

• We are still called to work. In spite of our fallen nature, work is still a part of our calling as humans - and as Christians. The creation mandates have not been revoked. Work, though hard, is still a blessing. We only eat as we toil and labor. “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat,” writes Paul in II Thessalonians 3:10. We are to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to our own business and work with our hands, so that we will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need (I Thessalonians 4:11-12). We are also to work so that we will have something to share with the one who is has need (Ephesians 4:28; see I Timothy 5:8). 

• We must work in the ways God tells us to work. God’s word tells us how we as redeemed sinners in Jesus Christ are to approach our work. Here are just a few of God’s instructions for His people:

  1) Work six days, and rest one. The fourth commandment is still binding upon God’s people, though the day of rest has changed to the first day of the week in light of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on that day. We are commanded to work - in all its forms, whether at our places of employment or around the house - for six days, and then to take that blessed God-given day off from work to remember His mercies in the gospel alone with Him and together with His people.

  2) Work for Jesus. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Colossians 3:23-24). Jesus is our ultimate boss. So whether anyone recognizes or notices our work, we know that He sees it all - thus we strive to please Him in all we do (I Corinthians 10:31). 

  3) Work with all your might. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Whatever God has called you to do, glorify Him in it by doing it to the very best of your ability. If you have retired from your lifelong employment, ask the Lord to how you how you might continue to be used of Him to be a blessing to your neighbors and your brothers and sisters in the church. 

One of the tragedies of the pandemic of 2020 has been the number of people in our country who have lost their jobs or seen their hours reduced. Many who want to work are not able to do so. As you enjoy your holiday this Monday, continue to pray for God to provide us and our neighbors with work, the ability to work, the will to work, and the skills to work. Pray that God might continue to use the labor of man to give us what we need and what we enjoy. Pray that we as His people would show forth the goodness of labor in all that we do, so that we might bring forth honor to our Savior, and the fruit of our labor for the benefit of our fellow image-bearers.

How Should Christians Approach Sports?

After preaching this past Sunday night, I received several questions that had more to do with the particulars. There is a reason why I tried to stay away from particulars. My goal in the sermon was to ask one question: Do you have an idol of sports? The entire goal was to put us before the Law of God (specifically, the first commandment) and to see how we need Christ.

I don’t think it’s helpful to give personal opinions in a cloudy area in a sermon but I do think it’s helpful in other platforms. After all, as Haddon Robinson says, “More heresy is preached in application than in Bible exegesis." That language is pretty strong and I might disagree with some of what he says, but I do understand his point. We need to be careful about how we apply the Bible whenever we preach, “Thus says the LORD.”

This is a more appropriate follow up for some of those particulars. The following are my personal opinions on some of the more popular questions I have been asked over the many years of playing sports.

1. What about the Sabbath and sports?
   There are tons and tons of questions that fit under that principle. What about professional sports? What about travel sports? What about youth sports on Sunday? That is a totally different blog. All I will say is this. There are many good solid Reformed theologians who take different views of the Sabbath. You will have to embrace your view as well. But, to be sure, do not adopt your view based on what is most convenient for you. What does the Bible say? If the Bible says that, embrace it and apply it to sports.
   The overall rule: If sports are consistently taking you away from worship and the life of the church then you need to rethink the way you approach sports.
   To be sure, we need to be careful when we make hard and fast rules. For instance, think about your view of the Sabbath and how it pertains to professional athletes and coaches. Professional sports do not determine the doctrine but the doctrine should determine the Christian’s approach to sports but make sure you think graciously and wisely about that. But, also think about this: How does that same view apply to our military when they are deployed and away from church for many months?
   Be careful about making this about certain rules and merely getting in line with the rules. Make it about the heart of the Sabbath.

2. Can I spend money on trainers to help my child improve?
   Yes! Matter of fact, send them to me! (Shameless plug.) I love training athletes. I am constantly trying to train guys and girls. Why? Because I know that’s an opportunity to help them in sports and to apply the gospel to sports.
   I have had many conversations with athletes about their gospel identity while I am training them hard. Plus, I love to have an excuse to yell really loud. If you want to be entertained, come watch me train Wide Receivers.
   In all seriousness, yes, you can spend money on trainers. It is not an ungodly thing to do. The question is: Why? Why are you wanting to do this? Is it because you have to have a child who is successful in sports? Is it because your child has to live in light of your athletic prowess? Why do you want to do this? Is this training taking them away from church?
   Also, how much money are you spending? Is it hindering your tithing? Is it hindering your responsibility to pay bills and support your family?
   Yes, it is totally fine to pay for training but just be wise. Search your heart and your child’s heart for the why question. Matter of fact, that’s really how I will answer a lot of these questions.

3. Can my child play football or an extreme sport?
   Depends. What condition is your child’s body in? How old are they? What extreme sport is it? This is not a moral or ethical decision but rather a situation-by-situation decision. I played football. My son most likely will play football. Will I force him? No. Will he want to? Maybe. Is he allowed to be a defensive back? Absolutely not! (I say that facetiously. If you know me, you’ll understand my love for “Wideouts”.)
   Think about how big and how fragile your child is before they enter that sport. For my parents, I waited until 6th grade. I broke my collar bone that year. That’s why I hated to play defense. But seriously, I had an injury in an injury-prone game. Was I ready to play football then? I think so. Should I have waited? Maybe? Who knows? Each parent must come to their different conviction. This is not a moral issue. This is a wisdom issue.

4. What does it look like to be competitive and work hard as a Christian?
   There is a grand difference between hard work and idolizing. As Mark Brown so wisely said to me yesterday, “You can just smell it when it’s there.” I think he’s right. It’s not always the easiest to tell to the naked eye but when someone is idolizing sports, it just seems to stand out.
   Athletes should work hard in sports. We dishonor God and don’t love our teammates when we slack off. But, there is a difference between being competitive and hard-working versus idolizing sports. You need to search your own heart. You need the gospel continually before you. Here are some probing questions: If sports were taken away from you, would you be really sad or would you be full-on depressed? What makes you most anxious in life? Is it how you perform? What gives you your identity? Is it Christ or your performance?

5. What if sports is your job? How does that affect time, thoughts, and money?
   We need to be careful whenever we make hard and fast rules about how much time and thoughts we put into sports. Does this apply to coaches or athletes when it’s their job? The real question is: Can you stop thinking about sports and think about the gospel? Can you bring the gospel into your working world? Are you preoccupied more with your performance than you are with the Person and Work of Christ for you? Is corporate worship still prioritized?
   If sports is your job, you should be thinking a lot about sports! It’s honoring to God that you do so. But, like any other job, if it grabs your affections more than anything else then you’re idolizing it. Is God really God to you? Or, is sports? That’s the heart question. What really controls your life? Who do you really answer to?

6. How do I know when sports is becoming an idol?
   I’ve been answering this in each one. I think there are many indicator lights to answer this. Once again, Mark Brown was spot on when he said to me, “Who do we answer to?” That’s the question. In the end, who do we answer to? Do we rest in our sports performance or in Christ? Do we give ultimate allegiance to Christ or to sports? Who do we obey? Who do we follow? What is our confidence in? When sports is said and done, can you really give it up? Do you live in the past? Are you inseparable from your identity on the court?

7. What if my child is on a team that is filled with very ungodly people?

   Awesome! What an opportunity! Now, be careful though. Make sure you keep talking to your child. Watch their heart. They still need a godly community. But, what an opportunity! Show them how to live out and speak the gospel to their teammates. Often times, teammates are very vulnerable in the locker room. There are so many opportunities to give someone gospel hope whenever things don’t go right for another athlete. This shouldn’t be their primary community but must be an important one. Take advantage of this! Your child shouldn’t get to the end of a season without their teammates knowing they’re a Christian. That doesn’t mean they’re obnoxious about it. Rather, we need to be winsome. We need to speak the truth in love.

8. Is it wrong to play multiple sports?
   No. Playing multiple sports is great! They can learn so many different things playing multiple sports. The real questions are: Are the multiple sports keeping them from the church? Why are you playing multiple sports? Is it for self-glory?
   Is it wrong to play multiple sports? No. But, make sure to keep a gauge on your child’s heart. Is this teaching them that sports are the most important thing in life? This differs from child to child. Also, maybe playing multiple sports is actually hurting your family. Maybe it’s not the most practical thing. Maybe for other families, it’s very practical. There are some kids who should be playing sports all year because it’s not very good for them to stay idle.

9. Is it wrong to be an avid supporter of a sports team?

   Absolutely not! I love Tulane, Troy, Manchester City, and the New England Patriots. The question is: Is your identity in these teams? Here are some questions you can ask yourself: Do I get inordinately angry when my team fails? Am I treating the players and coaches as real people in need of Jesus or are they animals playing a sport for my slavish delight? Is my week more determined by the schedule of my favorite sports team or by the covenant community? Does my love for a sports team cause me to hate supporters of other teams? Am I spending too much money in support of this team?
   Supporting teams is a great thing! Matter of fact, I think it’s a common grace that should teach us about supporting our local church through the highs and lows.

At the end of the day, who is Lord of your life? What is the gospel? Is it that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead? Or is it sports?

If The Bible Is The Word Of God, What Should We Do With It?

This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its impaleness; a glory without a dimness. O Bible! it cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly.

-Charles Spurgeon

The Bible is amazing. I, myself, wish I knew this more. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. It is sufficient, relevant, and applicable to all of life. The fact that is has withstood thousands of years of the most intense persecution and only multiplies gives forth its supernatural character. Someone is behind the preservation of it.

But, what is our attitude towards it? In an age of increasing biblical illiteracy among solid evangelical churches, what is our relationship with the Bible? If the Bible is God’s Word, what should we do with it?

1. Read It!
   It is stunning how many Christians profess that the Bible is God’s Word and yet how few of us know it! If the Bible is God’s Word then we must read it. There is no other application more important than this. At the most basic level, what does every Christian do? They read the Bible. The Bible is how we grow in faith. The Bible is how we come to know God.
   Christians in centuries past who didn’t have access to Bibles were dying that people would read it to them. Men and women died to have the Bible accurately translated into their native tongue. They would commit it to memory if they didn’t have 24/7 access to it. They would study it zealously. But, in the 21st Century, it’s hard enough for us to get off Instagram and Facebook merely to open up the Bible.
   There is no book that contains the beauties and wonders that the Bible contains. No book has the rich spiritual gold that the Bible has. The Bible does not contain the Word of God; the Bible is the Word of God. Read it!
   What other book tells us so much of Jesus? What other book is so pure of the gospel? Other men and women merely write books about the Bible. The books that light our hearts on fire most are books that explain the Bible best.
   Let me give you an explanation of what one of my seminary professors recently told us. What’s the difference between man and dust? The breath of God. God made man from the dust and breathed life into him (Gen. 2:7). The breath of God causes something inanimate to become dynamically animate. The breath of God brings life, purpose, identity, and joy. It brings a relationship with God.
   Now, what is the difference between the Bible and other books? The breath of God. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” Robert Mounce says, “Scripture is ‘God-breathed.’ The word occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It means that Scripture is the product of God’s creative breath. As God formed man from the dust of the ground and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” so that “man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7) so it is that God’s breath has turned lifeless words on paper into a living utterance. Had God not breathed life into the words of the prophets they would have been no more than the words of men. As it is when we read the prophets we find ourselves confronted with God Himself who speaks to us directly through what was written by chosen men of old.”
   There are no devotional books, no Christian living books, no doctrinal books, and no commentaries that replace the Bible. Authors are only worth their gold if they explain what The Author has said. We are living in an age where anything that remotely smells of pseudo-Christianity is adopted as something inspired. There is a reason why John Kwasny is teaching a Sunday School class on “Bad Books” because it is so rampant even in the best churches.
   Nothing matches the Word of God. If it is God’s Word, read it!

2. Meditate On It
   That which is most sweet to us stays on our minds. Those experiences that are so meaningful to us are the stories we tell most. If the Bible is the Word of God, we must spend time meditating on it. The Bible is a rich dish of food. It’s not something you shovel into your mouth so that you can get it over with. The Bible is something that should be savored. You should try to point out all the different flavors to it. It’s when you meditate on the Bible that you turn to your neighbor and say, “You’ve got to try this!”
   If the Bible is God’s Word, one of the most important things we can do in life is find times (whatever works for you) to slow down and limit distractions so that we can meditate on God’s Word. Practically, what does this look like? One thing that has often helped people is to take a portion of the Bible and write down 20-30 thoughts on that one portion. Many times, when you get to about 10-15 it gets much harder. This requires you to meditate even more on the truth.
   Ask these questions of the Bible: What is the Bible trying to say? How is the Bible saying it? Why did the author want to say that truth to those people back then? How does that apply to us today? How is the text leading me to the Person and Work of Jesus?

3. Give It To Others
   If the Bible is God’s Word, give it to other people. Don’t let them just assume what the Bible says. If they have questions, show them what to read. If the Bible is no ordinary book, if the Bible is God’s Word, if the Bible is heavenly dynamite then give it to someone for them to read. Read it with them. Let the Bible speak for itself!
   There are countless of conversions that happen merely because someone has to read the Bible for themselves. Matter of fact, no one is ever converted without the truth of Scripture. Don’t you see this? If everyone is converted by the Bible (in one way or another) then give them a Bible!
   To be sure, not every is converted when they read. It’s not in the mere physical and mental act of reading that converts them. It’s when the Holy Spirit takes the living and active Word of God and causes a spiritually dead person to come alive to the truth is when conversion happens. Dead people read the living Bible and come alive by the infinite power of the eternal Holy Spirit.
   What is one of the best evangelistic activities you can do? Offer to read the Bible with an unbeliever. We worry too much about making sure we know all the answers to apologetics, worldview, and ethics. We want to make sure we can answer questions in a scientifically true way. We are so easily distracted. Knowing apologetics, worldview, and ethics is very important but let the Bible speak. Apologetics never converts someone. Worldview never converts someone. Ethics never convert someone. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. The Bible tells us of this gospel.