Pure Church

Read This with Hunger and Joy

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His presence continually.

Splendor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and joy are in His place.

1 Chronicles 16:11, 27

Be Yourself As a Preacher

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Kevin DeYoung at the 9Marks blog:

One of the hardest things for any preacher to learn, especially young preachers, is to simply be yourself. Don’t put on someone else’s passion or humor or learning. And don’t take off your own personality because one of your heroes doesn’t share it exactly. Go ahead and learn from the best. But your congregation needs to hear you on Sunday, not an impression of the preacher you wish you were. Let your person constantly be refined by the Spirit of God, and let the truth of God’s word shine through your own personality. Preach as a dying man to dying men. And don’t forget to be your own man.

Read the entire, typically-Kevin (funny and insightful) post here.

Consecration

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:31:00 +0000

That's a word I don't hear much any more: "consecration." It's a great word, smooth to start then crunchy. Say it: "consecration."

When I was a new Christian, I used to hear talk of consecration a lot. That's probably because a lot of the people I knew then were Pentecostals, neo-Pentecostals, Bapticostals, charismatics, and the like. And to their credit, these people took holiness seriously. I don't mean they were narrow and legalistic, or that they had a superficial idea of holiness. I mean they genuinely wanted to be "laid aside" or "set apart" for God's use. They taught me to pray for and to seek to be consecrated unto the Lord. Looking back, I think this was really formative.

But over the years, to be honest, I don't know that I pray that as fervently any more or that I hear many people in my circles speak this way. Sometimes it's because some of my circle is "garden variety" evangelical. There's more talk about "engagement with the culture" and "culture wars" than there is talk about being "set apart." Some of my friends are just plain pragmatists; they want to "do something that works" and maybe aren't all that concerned about the interior life. Sometimes it's perhaps because some in my circle of friends have really great theology, and maybe they demur at less precise understandings of holiness. Maybe the idea of consecration suffers from its association with Pentecostalism because many people historically have held condescending and class-prejudiced views of Pentecostals.

I don't really know what the mix of reasons are. But I was struck fresh this morning when I read this: "David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites... and said to them, 'You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it." (1 Chr. 15:4, 12).

I heard that smooth and crunchy sounding word and thought, Consecrate yourself. Set yourself apart. Yes, you're set apart in Christ, and you're committed to the cause of the gospel ministry. But consecrate yourself. Renew your spirit toward the Lord and seek afresh to be wholly His. Present your body as a living sacrifice unto the Lord, holy and acceptable.

Then the Lord began to address me more directly by His word:

If then, Thabiti, you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Thabiti, set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then, Thabiti, you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you [consecrate yourself]: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. Thabiti, in these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away [consecrate yourself]: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, Thabiti, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
And whatever you do, Thabiti, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:1-10, 12-15, 17)

That's for me this morning. Consecrate yourself afresh. Put off the old man, put on the new. Put to death whatever is earthly, set your mind on Christ above. Consecrate yourself.

Oh Lord, renew a right spirit within me. I need the renewing work of your Spirit today! Grant me this heavenly mindedness, the mortification of sin and earthly desire, the putting on of Christ, and the seeking after your glory!

How about you? Are you consecrated unto the Lord and His purposes today? Is your heart and mind and body fully set apart for Him?

Related Posts:

How to Pray for Your Pastor...

How to Spend a Day with God

What Grace Teaches Us

The Perfect Substitute

Love the Truth

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:50:00 +0000

We had a wonderful time in Bible study last night at church. I love our Wednesday night meetings; they're filled with such joy in the word and eager fellowship one with another. We've been working our way a couple verses at a time through 2 Thessalonians. In recent weeks we've been considering chapter two, with all its interesting and sometimes difficult discussion of apostasy, the "man of lawlessness," and "the one who now holds it back". Interesting, humbling, shocking, and energizing time.

Last night we considered verses 10b-12:

"They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness."

Just before these verses the text reads: "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan and displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing" (v. 9-10a).

Consider the sweep of things detailed in this passage:

First comes Satanic power displayed in supernatural acts that deceive.
Second is the refusal of some to love the truth and be saved.
Finally God sends a "powerful delusion" that seals people in the lie they believe and condemns them eternally.

Satanic deception. Human self-deception. Divine delusion that dooms.

This scene is horrible! It's unimaginable for so many who fancy themselves "enlightened" and think of a passage like this as pre-scientific. And surely that's part of the deception and the refusal to love the truth that God will in His glorious righteousness judge with a powerful delusion, a continuing delusion, a condemning delusion.

But we must not lose sight of this: God is ruling throughout 2 Thessalonians 2. There is no evil--not even that of Satan himself--that goes unbounded by the power and judgment of God. And there is no evil in the history of the world that will not finally be "destroyed by the splendor of Jesus' coming" (v. 8). And there is no wickedness in men that will not be condemned (v. 12). And in it all, God will be exalted and glorified and praised for all eternity (Rev.).

And so, we don't merely "accept" the truth of 2 Thessalonians. We don't just acknowledge it and go on to more "pleasant" things. We don't look at these realities and grudgingly admit them to our understanding of the faith. No. We are to love the truth--all of it. We are to rejoice and exult in the truth of God's Son--crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended, returning, judging and reigning. All of it, and all of its implications, are to be loved... lest we in any way resemble those who "refused to love the truth" and who "believed the lie" and who "delighted in wickedness." For what our God does, He does well. What appears horrible to us (the strong delusion that condemns)--and is horrible--is also glorious and will be seen to be glorious when we more fully sympathize with God in His holiness and not with man in his sin.

"What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?" (Rom. 9:22-24).

If I might attempt a perhaps too simplistic reduction... "What if God prepared some for wrath and destruction so that those he prepared for mercy and glory would better know the riches of his glory?" What if God wants to show the riches of His glory by having an eternal contrast between those prepared for destruction and those prepared for glory? And what if some knowing more fully the riches of His glory justifies God's preparation of some as objects of His wrath?

What would make such an action by God "defensible" or even "worth it"? It must be that the "riches of His glory" are so indescribably "worth it," and the expression of that glory not only defensible but the highest possible good, that God is right to act in this way. Seeing and savoring the glory of God must be so ineffably splendid and wonderful that God determines that even the horrible contrast between the eternal state of the wicked and the righteous would be a good and right way of making that glory known to the universe.

Can you imagine a God so wonderful in glory that even the just damnation of sinners makes His glory to shine forth even more?!

Behold your God--awesome and terrible in all His ways. Behold Him, love Him, fear Him, and worship Him.

Five Things I Need to Remember as a Pastor Today

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:21:00 +0000

"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen" (Heb. 13:20-21).

1. I need to remember the resurrection of our Lord.

God the Father raised His Son from the dead just as He planned. And that changes everything. Life triumphs over death, eternity trumps time, glory follows suffering. It was "the God of peace" who purchased peace for us through the sacrifice of Jesus (Eph. 2:14). "By the blood of an eternal covenant" my Father in Heaven purposed that I, too, should share in resurrected life with Jesus. Whatever affliction awaits in the ministry, whatever suffering and hardships come, even if I should despair of life and feel crushed to death, I'm being taught to "rely not on myself but on God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:8-9). The hope of the resurrection teaches me to abandon myself and trust more fully in my Father, and it teaches me that this life does not have the last say-so. The Life to come does.

2. I need to remember that Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep at FBC.

What good news that is! I'm going to experience countless limitations and failures today. I'm going to see people who need real and deep help. I'm going to encounter people undergoing tremendous suffering, receiving wounds and scars sometimes the length of their souls. I'm going to have to put aside a hundred good tasks, in order to do the more essential. That will be the correct decision, but I'll still agonize over the 100 other good things. There will be sheep I can't find today. There will be sheep who feed on brown, worthless fields rather than the lush green fields of our Lord's fold. There will be sheep who look and act like goats. There will be sheep entangled in the thicket of sin and worldliness. And I won't be the shepherd they need. I won't get it all done. I'll finish the day with a good exhaustion from trying. But it won't be enough. So how wonderful that the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd says, "I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak...." (Ezek. 34:14-16; read all of Ezekiel 34 and John 10). The Great Shepherd uses us under-shepherds, but He is providing for all the Sheep himself without fail. So I can rest after an imperfect day, sleep through the night, and rise tomorrow to again joyfully face pastoral limitations and failures with zeal.

3. I need to remember that God equips me with everything I need to do His will.

"His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature..." (2 Pet. 1:3-4a). In His word I find sufficient equipment for all the tasks of pastoral ministry. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). He equips me with His Spirit, His word, His promises, and everything else needed for competence in every good work. I don't need my own equipment or ideas or strategies; I simply need to reach into the toolbox the Lord supplies and withdraw the equipment He provides.

4. I need to remember that I not only want to please God but He is the one working in me so that I will please Him through Christ.

How amazing is that? The power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us who believe. That power is "working in us that which is pleasing in His sight." I'm not only created unto good works (Eph. 2:10) "out there," but God is at work in me to will and to do His good pleasure. The Lord is producing in me the things that He finds lovely and commendable. I'm not producing it by sheer grit and determination, or by genius and cultured habit. If there is anything good in me, it's because the Lord God is working it in me through Jesus Christ. "I have been crucified with Christ. It is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Oh, how I need to remember this today in pastoral ministry and the Christian life!

5. I need to remember God gets all the glory.

To Jesus Christ be all the glory forever and ever, Amen! "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness" (Ps. 115:1). He lived in perfect righteousness for me, He died brutally for me, He swallowed the cup of God's wrath for me, He rose from the grave for me, ascended to the right hand of the Father for me, and He's coming again for me. So to HIM be all the glory forever and ever, Amen! He was resurrected, He shepherds, He it is who equips, He works in men. To HIM be all the glory and honor and praise forever!

I so desperately need to hold onto this divine benediction today: "Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

What about you?

Who Makes You Laugh on Tuesdays?

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:22:00 +0000

There are Friday Funnies at GirlTalk.

Kevin DeYoung devotes Mondays to starting with a laugh.

But who makes you laugh on Tuesdays?

Today, it's comedian Michael, Jr. for me. Check him out...

Jesus' lil' brother

Father Abraham

Related Posts:
One of the Funniest Pastors I Know on Humor in the Pulpit
How to Fill Your Church with False Converts

Mohler at UofL

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:48:00 +0000

Here's audio of Al Mohler speaking at the University of Louisville about his book, Atheism Remix. Mohler comments on the event itself here.

Celebrity and Riches Don't Have to Destroy You

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Mockingbird has interesting and encouraging short post about a somewhat unusual species... an athlete, singer, movie star, politician who lives to give away all that he earns to those in need. He's the modern-day opposite of the rich young ruler... and of professing Christians who love the world and wealth.

Oh, how I pray the Lord would raise up more Manny Pacquiaos, and that He would make me one as well!

Bruh Ripped It Up!

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:15:00 +0000

Was thrilled to have a front row seat for this one!

See JT (HT) for the lyrics.

Edwards on Pride

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Quoted at Christ Is Deeper Still:

"There is no sin so much like the devil as this for secrecy and subtlety and appearing in a great many shapes undiscerned and unsuspected, even appearing as an angel of light. It takes occasion to arise from everything, it perverts and abuses everything, even the exercises of real grace and real humility. It is a sin that has, as it were, many lives. If you kill it, it will live still. If you suppress it in one shape, it rises in another. If you think it is all gone, it is there still. Like the coats of an onion, if you pull one form of it off, there is another underneath. We need therefore to have the greatest watch imaginable over our hearts and to cry most earnestly to the great Searcher of hearts for his help. He that trusts his own heart is a fool."

Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the New England Revival, page 155, edited slightly

Related Posts:
Pride and Preaching
Good Words on Faithfulness, Fruitfulness, and Pride

Kobe, Lebron, or D-Wade?

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:09:00 +0000

Personally, I'm drafting D-Wade. Exhibit A:

That may leave a bruise! HT: Z

Desperate Church Leaders

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Al Mohler comments on a story about churches who are having special services for people and their pets. I've long heard of Roman Catholic churches that have a special service where pets are blessed. But this particular story features Protestant churches doing the same, and a handful having not an annual "special" service but regular services complete with treats and trinkets for the animals. One pastor featured in the report says he hopes that having these services will help revitalize his aging church and help people love God as much as their pets.

Wow.

Well, we must eagerly desire the revitalization of churches that have experienced decline--whether the decline comes from an aging congregation or other things. We love the church. And so, we pray for her vibrancy and power.

But c'mon. "Woof 'n Worship" and "Canines at Covenant." Depending upon pets to put the power in the gospel is beyond desperate. And it's the wrong kind of desperation. It's an unleashed pragmatism.

We want that kind of desperation that pleads often and long with the Lord to send laborers into the harvest, to enlarge the work of His Holy Spirit, to stoke burning zeal in the hearts of His people, to touch the preacher's tongue with burning coals from off the altar. We ought to be desperate, but the means of expressing our desperation should be the means established by God Himself in His word. After all, it's God who both creates the longing in our hearts and satisfies it with his presence.

I read Mohler's commentary and I was made freshly grateful for the over 95% of churches who don't stoop to such things, but trust God in more biblical fashion. I was made thankful for the churches that hold differing ministry philosophies than my own, but who nonetheless stay far away from such gimmicks. I'm thankful the Lord has a very large remnant that has not bowed the knee to Spot and Fido.

Lord, we praise you for everyday, mundane faithfulness and trust in your Word. And Lord, please fill our desperation with more of Yourself.

Our Great Need: To Know God's Love

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:08:00 +0000

"The more I study the New Testament and live the Christian life, the more convinced I am that our fundamental difficulty, our fundamental lack, is the lack of seeing the love of God. It is not so much our knowledge that is defective but our vision of the love of God. Thus our greatest object and endeavor should be to know Him better, and thus we will love Him more truly."

D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Love of God, pp. 49-50.

Strauch on Effective Elders' Meetings

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:04:00 +0000

HT: JT. Further to yesterday's post, here are 16 more things to consider for effective elders' meetings.

A Call to Christian Unity

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Tony Carter on Moody radio.

Elders' Meetings That Work

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:56:00 +0000

My wife, the faithful and constant helper, sent me this link from Jim Eliff. We had a great meeting last night, and so this was affirming in a lot of ways. You might not agree with everything that's recommended here, but it's good food for thought. Read the entire post here.

Here are his 7 headings:

1. Plan for meeting together more often and for a longer period of time.
2. Challenge each other spiritually.
3. Discuss the state of the flock.
4. Have an agenda.
5. Actually pray for individuals and issues being faced.
6. Study together toward a unified position on difficult issues.
7. Make these meetings non-optional.

Thank God for the Safety of Our Children

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:59:00 +0000

I was touched as I read this post from Conrad Mbewe about the safety of children in Zambia. Here's the conclusion:

There are many mornings and afternoons when I see small children in school uniforms walking alone or in pairs as they make their way to or from school--and the school is quite a distance away. on other occasions I see children coming from the market with small packets of groceries in their hands, blissfully walking along as they make their way home. And here are cops saying they never get reports of missing children around here. That must sound like heaven for many of our friends in the West, where children are preyed upon and snatched by human predators. Let us never take this common grace for granted. Let us thank God for the safety of our children.

Amen. I remember when we first arrived in Cayman. It was one of our first Sundays at the church. After the service, the children had disappeared. We'd been hanging around after the service for a while, so we panicked because the kids could have been taken at any point.

I went one direction; Kristie went another. People looked at us with some surprise. "Relax," they said. "This is Cayman. The children are safe." Honestly, I still felt very nervous. I could only think of the horror stories filed away over many years of news reports of missing children in the States.

For me, children were no longer safe after the Atlanta child murders in the late 1970s. Childhood changed then. That's when I couldn't ride my bike beyond certain borders in town or after early evening. That's when my parents, like a lot of others, started requiring from their children exact reports of planned movements around the neighborhood. So, it was incredible to find in Cayman a place where there wasn't the low-level fear gnawing at every parent's heart.

But, here, children are safe. I praise God along with my brother Conrad.

Remembrance Day

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:50:00 +0000

Yesterday we celebrate Remembrance Day in the Cayman Islands. Remembrance Day commemorates the courage and sacrifice of those fallen in war.

Today is a public holiday. So, we're headed to the beach.

The Next Step... The Threshold of Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:01:00 +0000

I'm being challenged right now reading Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot. I've just started the book, but already I'm deeply encouraged by the zeal that shows through the life of a young man joyfully serious about Jesus. Elisabeth Elliot's writing is almost spartan, but always appropriate and useful. I particularly appreciated these paragraphs in the preface:

Jim's aim was to know God. His course, obedience--the only course that could lead to the fulfillment of his aim. His end was what some would call an extraordinary death, although in facing death he had quietly pointed out that many have died because of obedience to God.

He and the other men with whom he died were hailed as heroes, "martyrs." I do not approve. Nor would they have approved.

Is the distinction between living for Christ and dying for Him, after all, so great? Is not the second the logical conclusion of the first? Furthermore, to live for God is to die, "daily," as the apostle Paul put it. It is to lose everything that we may gain Christ. It is in thus laying down our lives that we find them. (pp. 9-10).

While at college in Wheaton, Jim wrote this advice to his 15-year-old sister:

Fix your eyes on the rising Morning Star. Don't be disappointed at anything or over-elated, either. Live every day as if the Son of Man were at the door, and gear your thinking to the fleeting moment. Just how can it be redeemed? Walk as if the next step would carry you across the threshold of Heaven. Pray. That saint who advances on his knees never retreats.

I've only started, but it's an excellent read, another "classic" I'm just getting around to. And I can tell I'll be thankful and in some measure changed when I've finished it. If you've read it, how did the book affect your life?

Related Posts:

An Interview with Access Partners

Talking to Children About Race

Reflections on the Recent Trip to the Middle East

Prophet and Shepherd

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:36:00 +0000

“A ministry that is all prophetic all the time will wear down a congregation. It will eventually defeat a congregation. A ministry that is all sympathetic all the time will coddle the congregation straight into the deadly pastures of unwarranted self-assurance and the false pastures of self-security. A pastor who would be a theologian knows when and how to be both convicting prophet and comforting good shepherd.”

--Stephen J. Nichols, “Proclaiming the Image: Theology and Preaching,” Gheens Lectures at Southern Seminary

Which was your pastor today?

Appropriate Pomp for the Circumstance

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Yesterday, the Lord granted me the privilege of observing seismic historical changes in the Cayman Islands. The country celebrated the adoption of its new constitution, replete with new authority, new political positions, and some continuity with previous ties to England. The constitution modernization process also included a Bill of Rights, identifying 19 basic human rights for people in the Cayman Islands.

Yesterday's celebration was a long time in the making. The constitution modernization process took a LOT of time, with a LOT of people, thinking through a LOT of issues. The democratic process was at its messy best with multiple public hearings, negotiations with England, public debate between various stakeholders, including voices secular and religious. Along the way, there were "make or break" issues that threatened one side or another. But in the end, the Constitution was approved by a huge margin in the Country's first-ever public referendum. Free democracy fueled by an enlightened citizenry produced another happy result in the cause of just rule.

Writing or editing a constitution for a country is arduous and at time precarious in any county. But I was struck at the clash of ideals that often occurred in this process. Ideas have consequences and one could see that as issues like marriage and public education were discussed.

As I sat among the crowd yesterday, I caught sight of a number of my colleagues in ministry here. Some of them played herculean roles in this process, giving biblical and prophetic witness during many discussions. What a blessing to know these men and to live in a country that seeks the blessing of God and the input of pastors.

The first ever Premier, Deputy Premier, and Deputy Governor were sworn in during the service. As an American, I'm still a bit allergic to referring to Queens and her appointees with titles like "Her/his majesty." Kinda puts the taste of tea in my mouth. But there was a majesty about the day. One official donned powdered wig and robe. His Majesty the Governor, appointed by the Queen of England, inspected the ceremonial guard who shouldered arms, paraded, and saluted at all the appropriate times. And at times, the Premier's speech cast high and lofty vision in common and accessible language. There was a brass band, the national choir, and tons of people assembled on this historic day. We witnessed something of the peaceful transition of power and the day-one inauguration of a new era of legal and governmental authority.

Throughout the day's ceremony, many thanks were given to God. Pastor Alson Ebanks prayed the invocation and did so with keen and clear meditation on the Lordship of Christ. It was great. The Premier gave honor to God throughout his remarks... even if he gave a bit too much honor to himself. He's a politician after all. The national choir sang "the Hallelujah Chorus," and a quartet led in a song that very much celebrated "the victory of the Lamb." The ACLU would have wet its pants, and already a case would be making its way to the Supreme Court.

But with all the pomp and circumstance, I'm most thankful for how I was left longing for the coronation of Christ the True King and Only Majesty, Potentate of potentates, Lord of Glory! What a coronation it will be when the King Eternal consummates His reign and puts death under His feet. What a processional of angels and saints marching up to Zion! And, oh! how the heavenly choir will sing and the harps play! Redeemed Premiers and Governors and High Officials will bow with martyrs and missionaries and housewives and all creation to give all praise and honor to the Lamb who is worthy! On that day, the pomp will match the circumstance and the circumstance will be the transformation of all creation into a showcase of Jesus' unveiled glory!

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

An Overview of "The Decline of African-American Theology"

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:25:00 +0000

This year at The Gospel Coalition conference, I had the privilege of doing an overview of The Decline of African-American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity. In the talk, I tried to accomplish four things:

1. Provide a brief biblical basis for writing a book like The Decline, a book that critically examines the theological positions of professing Christians writers and theologians. We briefly looked at Colossians 2 for support.

2. Provide an overview of the book's methodology and limitations.

3. Give a general overview of the African-American theological starting point as characterized by writers in the 1750s to early 1800s, who were largely Calvinistic, then work through historical turning points in the theological history.

4. And a few thoughts on the way forward: including correcting the revisionist history and bad theology out there, a call for more writers contributing to this field, recover the Bible to make it functionally central in the African-American church, recovering a high view of God and the recovery of the gospel, and recovering the purity and centrality of the local church as "the colony of God left here to beam out the gospel and to organize its life around the gospel".

Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Related Posts:

Critiquing "The Decline"

Why Write "The Decline of African American Theology"

Comments Elsewhere:

Readers' Comments at UrbanMinistry.org

"Black Power in the Pulpit," Christianity Today

Vincent Bacote's review at Black Christian News.com

"What Happened to African-American Theology?" on the R. Albert Mohler Show

Challies.com Book Review

Pick Up "The Decline" Here:

Westminster Bookstore

Amazon.com

Monergism

New 9Marks Interview

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Inspiring Lives with Iain Murray. Listen here.

You're So Early 80s

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:27:00 +0000

Yeah that's me. The last mobile phone I owned was a bag phone you plugged into the cigarette lighter of your car.

In terms of secular rap, I think Rakim still reigns. Never understood the Biggie, Pac, or Jay-Z thing.

We own all the seasons of the Cosby Show on DVD. Still watch them.

And I still read books that are actually printed! I've watched this Kindle phenomena with something resembling mild disgust. Give me book dust any day!

That's why I didn't even know that What Is a Healthy Church Member? and The Faithful Preacher are available on Kindle. Now, I have mild disdain for technology, but not for book readers who use the technology. So, if this is your kind of thing, have it. And if you check out one or both of these books, I pray they bless you real good.

Preaching As Worship

noreply@blogger.com (FellowElder) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:22:00 +0000

Jeff Purswell with a brief biblical theology of preaching as the central event in the gathered worship of God's people:

Throughout salvation history, all the way into the new covenant, God’s Word is at the center of worship. The early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and every church was nourished on God’s Word, all the way down to the last chapter of the last book that Paul wrote, where he tells Timothy to preach the Word “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Why? Why so much preaching? Why all this talking? Because the primary way we encounter God in worship is through the preaching of the Word of God.

Think about it this way. Normally, in what we call “worship,” we spend significant time—perhaps the whole time—addressing God, singing to him, praising him, extolling him, praying to him. Wonderful! But in preaching we are no longer addressing God; he is addressing us. Nothing is more important than this moment. And this is why the most important worship leader in your church is your pastor.

That really gets to the heart of preaching. The Bible is not simply a book that we talk about. When God’s Word is faithfully preached, God is addressing us. God is speaking. We hear not merely a man’s voice. We hear the voice of God.

Read the entire post here.