Puritan Prayers: God’s Cause

From the Valley of Vision – pg. 320-321

Sovereign God,

Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to thee with greatest freedom to set up thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns; Glorify thyself and I shall rejoice, for to bring honour to thy name is my sole desire.

I adore thee that thou art God, and long that others should know it, feel it, and rejoice in it.

O that all men might love and praise thee, that thou might have all glory from the intelligent world! Let sinners be brought to thee for they dear name!

To the eye of reason everything respecting the conversion of others is as dark as midnight, but thou can accomplish great things; the cause is thine, and it is to thy glory that men should be saved.

Lord, use me as thou wilt; do with me what thou wilt; but, O, promote thy cause, let thy kingdom come, let thy blessed interest be advanced in this world!

O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus! let me see that glorious day, and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls; let me be willing to die to that end; and while I live let me labour for thee to the utmost of my strength, spending time profitably in this work, both in health and in weakness.

It is thy cause and kingdom I long for, not my own. O, answer thou my request.

Sharing the Love of Christ on Halloween

For year my wife and I have sought to find ways that our family could redeem Halloween for the sake of gospel advance. We have led our church in Reformation Day carnivals, we have handed out candy with Scripture attached, we have gathered together with believing friends to host community group reformation parties; but we are always on the lookout for creative ways to redeem cultural celebrations for the sake of the gospel.

Last night as we were watching game 6 with our neighbors and a few families from our Community Group we got in the discussion about what we were going to do this Halloween. During this discussion someone brought up a blog post by Jeff Vanderstelt where he outlines several ways that families and singles can be missional during Halloween. He has some great ideas so take a look.

Reflecting on the Death of Steve Jobs

The death of a brilliant man (or woman) is always a difficult pill to swallow. For many, Steve Jobs changed the way they viewed life; for others, he changed the way they interacted with it. The man made amazing and beautiful things. He gave us the first fully computer animated feature film (Toy Story). His ideas have shaped the way we interact with our world and with one another. But the man, any man, is more than simply the sum of all his accomplishments, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – (Luke 12:15) 

I don’t want to be insensitive to the grief that so many people feel over the death of Steve Jobs. Their pain is real and his death is truly a loss. But for those of you who are still reading I simply want to suggest that our grief and compassion is incomplete, even shallow, if it only focuses on the treasures that rust and not on the state of a man’s soul before God. Jared Wilson’s thoughts on this are sober and helpful…

It is a hollow compassion to mourn the loss of a man’s products and creativity and set aside the potential loss of his soul as not as important, even if what we just mean is that it’s not as important at this time. Nobody I have seen is denying Jobs incredible impact and artistry. But Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:26 point us in the direction of greater grief, deeper grief.

A grief that mourns the loss of a man’s worldly accomplishments but feels no anxiety for his eternal destiny is upside down. A man’s worth lay not in his achievements or success but in his being made in the image of God. Setting aside for the moment the state of Jobs’s eternal destiny — because none of us can really know for sure — let us just be real about what is at stake in this life. It’s not fame and renown, it’s not the fulfillment of our gifts and talents, it’s not the altruistic good we can do our fellow man — it is eternal life and eternal death. All else is treasure that rusts.

A Great Conference on Discipleship

Last week a great friend of mine was able to come and stay with my family while he poured his heart out for us on the topic of discipleship. If you were able to come and be a part of our Bible conference then I trust that you were encouraged and challenged by Josh Wagner’s handling of the Scriptures. If you missed the conference I strongly recommend you listen to the audio that has been posted here.

Also, you might be interested in the list of books that were mentioned during the talks, here they are:

1. The Trellis and The Vine by Collin Marshall and Tony Payne
2. Listen Up! by Christopher Ash is a practical guide for listening to sermons
3. Operation Multiplication by Billy Hanks Jr. A Call to Joy/A Call to Growth Discipler’s pack is a helpful guide to one on one discipleship but the first two chapters on salvation come from a strong Arminian perspective.
4. Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Don Whitney is a great place to start if you don’t know where to start.
5. Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
6. The Christian Counseling and Education Foundation you can find many wonderful resources in their bookstore to help in one on one discipleship.
7. Church in the House by Matthew Henry is a must read help for family worship.
8. The Peacemaker by Ken Sande

So What’s it Like Being a Pastor?

I get this question quite often because for most people it’s difficult to imagine the day to day life of a minister. I guess it’s easier to imagine what life is like for a police officer, a lawyer, or a doctor because these professions are not only more common but they are also the staples of prime time television drama. And on the rare occasion that television programming calls for a pastor, the guy is usually portrayed in a less than positive light (and that is putting it mildly).

But what is it like to be a pastor? What goes on day to day in the heart and mind of a man who honestly cares for the mission of God he’s been called to and the sheep of God he’s been called to care for?

In a recent post Jared Wilson has done a masterful job in answering this question.