Psalm 35

Yesterday & Today's Psalm reading is Psalm 35... little helps like this might assist you as much as they do me...
Division of Psalm 35 The most natural mode of dividing this Psalm is to note its triple character. Its complaint, prayer, and promise of praise are repeated with remarkable parallelism three times, even as our Lord in the Garden prayed three times, using the same words. The first portion occupies from Ps 35:1-10, the second from Ps 35:11-18, and the last from Ps 35:19-28; each section ending with a note of grateful song. --Spurgeon

Also, glad to hear many folks are benefitting from memorizing Psalm 28:6-8

Blessed be the Lord!
For He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The Lord is my strength & my shield.
In Him my heart trusts, and I am helped.
My heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him.
The Lord is the strength of His people.
He is the saving refuge of His anointed. (This is from my memory.... here is official memorization text!)

Thinking About Teenagers

Center for Parent & Youth Understanding
is ommitted to building strong families by serving to bridge the cultural-generational gap between parents and teenagers.

Who Invented Adolescence, by Mardi Keyes
Written by a brilliant & godly woman who serves at the Massachusetts L'Abri
This article was found on the very good website http://www.ransomfellowship.org/

workday saturday

8am til noon

How Affliction & Trials Can Help

Faith can make use of the waters of affliction to swim faster to Christ.
-Thomas Watson, 1600's

How Can I Forgive Them?

loads of stuff is written on forgiveness... seems that (like a car engine) every r'ship--to run properly... to survive!!---must be constantly lubricated by a pretty generous dose of forgiveness

Hands down the best thing I've ever seen on practically pursuing forgiveness by accessing the promises of Jesus is the Forgiveness Project by Tim Keller. I'll seek to post bite size portions in coming days...

If you need the whole thing NOW! click here

A. The Resources for Forgiveness.

1. We need enough humility.

Jesus ties our ability to forgive to our ability to repent. ("Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" Matt.6:12.) This doesn't mean that God forgives our sins because we forgive others. It means that in general we are as forgiven by God as we are forgiving to others because unforgiving people are unrepentant people. The more we hold grudges the less we see ourselves as having done wrong and needing forgiveness; the more we see ourselves as needing forgiveness, the more likely we are to forgive others. Why? Resentment requires a person to sit in the position of Judge (Rom.12:19-20). We can only hold grudges if we feel superior to the other person. Jesus very directly and bluntly tells us that, if we hold a grudge against another person, we are ignorant of how much we owe God. So the first thing we have to see is our own need for forgiveness. We need enough humility to forgive.

The Dream & Promise of Being Sin-Free... one day

First of all... if you have a gmail account and you aren't using google reader... you should!!!! And make Paul Tripp your first subscription. Er, second subscription... after cccpastors.blogspot.com

Tripp continues his incredibly helpful work on the soul, using Psalm 51:
When your sin really does become ugly to you, when it produces pain in your heart and sickness in your stomach, you celebrate forgiveness, but you want something more. You want to be clean. You long to be once and for all purified from all sin whatsoever. You want your sin to be once and for all washed away. You want to be free of every dark residue of sinful thought, desire, word, or deed.

Yes, you'll love the fact that you can stand before God dirty and unafraid because of his comprehensive and freely given grace. You'll love the fact that his forgiveness of you has been full and complete. But you'll grow tired of needing and seeking forgiveness. You'll mourn the hold that sin has on you. You'll be frustrated with the way that sin seems to infect everything you do. And you'll begin to plead for what the blood of Jesus alone is able to do; wash away your sin! In this moment of need and helplessness, you'll cry, "Purge me with hyssop Lord, dip the branch of your grace into the blood of your Son and cleanse me once and for all!" --Paul Tripp

Entire Post here

Psalm 35:1-18.... Today's reading

A bit o' help from Spurgeon:

“Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” Psalm 35:3

The text informs me first of all that David had his doubts; for why should he pray, “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation,” if he were not sometimes exercised with doubts and fears? Let me, then, be of good cheer, for I am not the only saint who has to complain of weakness of faith. If David doubted, I need not conclude that I am no Christian because I have doubts.

Want more?

Parenting by Grace

Gospel Parenting

Today is the first of several posting of excerpts from a good article on parenting, written by Dave Desforge.

Heart to Heart Parenting
I. As a parent/steward I am called to imitate God’s example.A. The biblical picture of God as a perfect parent is rich and multi-dimensional.He reveals Himself as much more than simply a disciplinarian. He is protective (Psa. 68:5), compassionate (Psa. 103:13,14; Isa. 49:15), comforting (Isa. 66:13; 2 Cor. 1:3), loving (Hos. 11:1), a caregiver (1 Peter 5:7), and a gift-giver (Jer. 3:19; Mt. 6:4; 7:11; Lk. 11:13; Jas. 1:17).He is depicted as one who knows His children intimately (eg., Psa. 139), as one who liberally forgives (Mt.26:28; Jn. 3:16,17; Eph. 1:7), and as one who is responsive to human needs (eg., Gen. 9:8-17; and the rescue of Israel from Egypt).

Are there any ways in which my role as a parent is becoming narrow and truncated? Am I allowing necessity and expediency, the tyranny of the urgent, to shape my parenting? As I face the hectic, overbooked, overcrowded, overcommitted nature of modern life, am I becoming more and more of a reactive parent, who steps in far more often as the corrector, than the balanced, multi-dimensional sort of father God models?

God's Time & Ours

However true it is that God is the believer's refuge, sometimes in this broken and fallen world it
does not feel like it at the moment. The truth is that God's timetable is rarely the same as ours. --Don Carson

Where is God telling you to wait?

Keller, 1 Thing, and Idoltry of the Heart

"My fears are directly proportional to the vulnerability of the things that are my greatest joys. Anything but God and His will is vulnerable." --Tim Keller

Again, Psalm 27 makes us ask--what are my idols? What are good things that we've let become our ONE thing. Reputation? Relationships? Accomplishments? Our one thing... that thing without which "I cannot be happy or fulfilled or productive"... is either God or an idol.

FYI There is a book coming out this summer which promises to be very helpful. Written by Dan Allender & Tremper Longman... Breaking the Idols of Your Heart

You can read the rest of this post here

St. Augustine--the dude, not the city

Augustine said--and this is a paraphrase--

"Your anxieties are like smoke. You can trace them back and find the thing/person/etc
for which your heart burns inordinately."

Or in the words of David in Psalm 27:4... your one thing.

One Thing

Sunday I'm preaching on Psalm 27--which was part of y'days reading-- and here's a sample of what's in store for us:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple. --Ps.27:4

David's twofold desire, to behold and to inquire, to know more intimately the beauty of the Lord's Person and the wonder of His will, combines as the one thing he wants

above all others. --Derek Kidner

Psalm 28is Today's reading

Kidner says:
26-28 share themes of

1.) God's Protection
2.) The Joy found in God's presence
\3.) The confidence & loyalty of the singer of the psalm, and us who sing now!

elder training update

very good news.... Elder Update

Marriage Resources

This is taken from very helpful article called When Marriage Brings Suffering......

"Status of a Marriage." Eight options:

1. Ecstatic Union


2. Intimate Partnership


3. Cordial Friendship


4. Peaceful coexistence


5. Tense silence


6. Active hostility


7. Full-scale belligerence


8. Irreconcilable brokenness
   

The School of Grace

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me..... Psalm 25
Experiential teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord’s school: four times over in two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace. --Spurgeon

Futbol!

Champions League Final is today

read the bible on your ipod

You can FREE get the new testament on your ipod here

Psalm 25... today's reading

David is pictured in this Psalm as in a faithful miniature. His holy trust, his many conflicts, his great transgression, his bitter repentance, and his deep distresses are all here; so that we see the very heart of "the man after God's own heart." It is evidently a composition of David's later days, for he mentions the sins of his youth, and from its painful references to the craft and cruelty of his many foes, it will not be too speculative a theory to refer it to the period when Absalom was heading the great rebellion against him. This has been styled the second of the seven Penitential Psalms. It is the mark of a true saint that his sorrows remind him of his sins, and his sorrow for sin drives him to his God. --Charles Spurgeon

Adam & Ashley Means welcome...

Ace Campbell was born last night May 21^st at 10:29pm. 8 lbs 6ozs

They will be at Shands until tomorrow.

Todays Psalms are 23 & 24

Regarding the 23rd Psalm, Spurgeon says:
The position of this psalm is worthy of notice. It follows the twenty-second, which is peculiarly the Psalm of the Cross. There are no green pastures, no still waters on the other side of the twenty-second psalm. It is only after we have read, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" that we come to "The Lord is my Shepherd." We must by experience know the value of blood-shedding, and see the sword awakened against the Shepherd, before we shall be able truly to know the Sweetness of the good Shepherd's care.

Christians Need the Gospel

In your opinion, why do many Christians view the Gospel as only for unbelievers?
I would guess because we are all slow of heart to see the Gospel clearly. Luther said we have to remind ourselves of it all the time and beat it into our heads continually. I am so deeply self-righteous and self-reliant that it takes effort to remind myself of the grace of God. Take that tendency in all of us and mix it with lack of reading the Bible where we see the Gospel everywhere, and you have all that you need to have a "front door to salvation" view of the Gospel. I also think God is doing this work of making us Gospel centered in a new way in our day. --Mark Lauterbach

Psalm 19 "leftovers"

need to tell you some great stuff about the Scriptures and Christ... stuff i had to cut from sermon... coming soon

Joshua Bell and Jesus

People had a tremendous opportunity... and busyness and other things kept them from tasting and delighting in beauty.

More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold; ---Psalm 19, speaking of the Scriptures

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
--Jesus in Jn 5

Pearls Before Breakfast, in the Wash.Post
The article can be read and video viewed here

Desiring God and Not Desiring God

Thoughts of Psalm 19 and the summer...

We believe that a seminary education is successful only if -- at its end -- the student knows Jesus Christ more intimately than at its beginning.

That's covenant seminary's plumbline. Seems like a good one for evaluating the summer months... and for praying towards them. God cause me to know Jesus Christ more intimately in August than I do today.

An oft-neglected question among Christians and churches is.... What about when I don't desire to know Jesus more intimately? A great book is free online or can be purchased:

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy

What do you do when you discover that you're not satisfied in God the way he wants you to be? Joy is more than an afterthought of the Christian life; it is the sustaining fruit of a relationship with God. With a radical passion for Christ's glory, John Piper helps you find the joy God wants you to have.

* Foreword and Prayer, Chapters 1-3 (188KB PDF)
* Chapters 4-6 (192KB PDF)
* Chapters 7-10 (299KB PDF)
* Chapters 11-12 (230KB PDF)
* Notes and Desiring God: A Note on Resources (144KB PDF)
* Index (79KB PDF)

Purchase When I Don't Desire God

I particularly remember some great things Piper said about the use of being in creation to stimulate our desire for God. Psalm 19 speaks of creation "gushing forth" about God.

When God is Glad

Paul Tripp continues his honest and hope-filled meditative writing on Psalm 51.

In the pain of my confession it's hard to recollect the fleeting pleasures of my sin. My shame hides your face. My anguish drowns out your voice. ... ....

There's no place to run. There's no place to hide. I can't escape what I have done.
I can't erase my stains. So in my grief I ask for one thing. I long to hear You sing.
I long to see You rejoice.

You can read the rest by clicking here

Also, if you are have a Gmail account and are not taking advantage of Google Reader.... you really should. And subscribe to this one first....
http://paultrippministries.blogspot.com/

Birds, Our Teachers

John Stott once preached 3 sermons on what it means to follow Jesus' advice to, "Look at the birds..." (Matthew 6). You can get them from All Souls Church

anyway, eating lunch at my desk ... birds are on my mind... specifically the little ones in the nest in my garage

Y'day 6 yr old John Reid told me, "There's a nest in our garage. Right there!"
I didn't know how long they'd been there or what stage they were at--eggs or babies."
Fast fwd to this morning... while sipping coffee I read this from Jimmy Packer:
Come to the Bible hungry and expectant, conscious of daily need to hear God speak. “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it,” says God (Psa 81:10). The open mouth is a gesture of hunger and dependence. “With open mouth I pant, because I long for thy commandments,” says the psalmist (Psa 119:131). Desire for God, springing from a sense of our need of him, is the factor that decides how much or how little impact Scripture will make upon us.

The open mouth is a gesture of hunger & dependence. The nest! I race out to raise the garage door that has been down since 9pm last nite. I look in the nest. It is not an exaggeration to say that all I saw were..... 2 mouths... opened as wide as they go. And the babies were making this noise that I am sure (though i don't claim to speak bird) was saying, "Feed me. I need your help."

Yep. Shortly I began to see a loving parent come and take care of these little ones. I walked away thinking about what I'd read in Packer and seen in my garage and praying-- "O God, make my heart like that. Would that my experience was more regularly that I would open my Bible with my mouth wide open... hoping. Expecting. From You.

The sky proclaims God's Handiwork

THE SPACIOUS firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day	5
Does his Creator’s power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,	10
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth;
Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,	15
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found?	20
In reason’s ear they all rejoice
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
“The hand that made us is divine.” Joseph Addison (1672–1719)

Intro to Christ Community tonite

7pm at the church house

Where's the Gospel in Psalm 15?

At first reading, Psalm 15 (our May 14 Psalm reading) makes it sound like:
"If you want to be in the presence of God, you better be pure."

Almost like you earn your way there. Did you notice this? More later this morning?

Psalm 24 is a hint...

Psalms at the Seminary Level

fyi, the lectures and outlines from Covenant Seminary's class on Psalms here Course Syllabus		PDF
1. Course Information & Syllabus	PDF HTML	PDF
2. Introduction to Course	PDF HTML	PDF
3. How to Read & Apply Biblical Poetry, I	PDF HTML	PDF
4. How to Read & Apply Biblical Poetry, II	PDF HTML	PDF
5. How to Read & Apply Biblical Poetry, III	PDF HTML	PDF
6. How to Read & Apply Biblical Poetry, III (continued)	PDF HTML	PDF
7. Psalms, I	PDF HTML	PDF
8. Psalms, II	PDF HTML	PDF
9. Psalms, III	PDF HTML	PDF
10. Psalms, IV	PDF HTML	PDF
11. Psalms, V	PDF HTML	PDF
12. Psalms, VI	PDF HTML	PDF
13. Psalms, VII	PDF HTML	PDF
14. Psalms, VIII	PDF HTML	PDF
15. Psalms, IX; Imprecatory Psalms	PDF HTML	PDF

a gospel & Christ-centered quiet time guide

Here is 1 and a half page pdf file based on teaching of Tim Keller

very good stuff, very brief
Gives some good step by step instructions... for beginners or old-timers who want to re-visit the basics

Keep Me From Presumpteous Sins

meditating on Psalm 19:13:

Our heart, like an ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it were not for the checks which the Lord sets on us in both providence and in grace! --Charlie Spurgeon

Entire devotion here

A message for women

a while back i was asked by a woman -- "A year ago the men of CCC read & met around this topic: 'Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God'... is there anything similar for women to read?"

I would recommend this audio message:
Message to Women
by Carolyn Mahaney MP3 10.2MB

Eavesdropping on a conversation...

There is an online debate between an atheist and a Christian. Christopher Hitchins, who has been getting a lot of attention lately, is the atheist. Douglas Wilson is the Christian. The installments are brief. The topic is: "Is Christianity Good for the World?"

Here

Psalms Memory Work, Mercy Needed

Friends, just a note to say that I made a mistake on Sunday. Actually two:
1.) I made the Psalm 19 memory work longer than it should be
2.) I deleted the other memory work for May

SO.... here is the lowdown
For this Sunday, we will recite together Psalm 19:7-9, using this language:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.

If you have already memorized other stuff... more power to you and I'm sure God will use it.

Sunday we will give you a handout that contains the memory work for May 20-May 31.

If you are still confused, it is not you. It is still us!

Tuesday's Psalm... #16

You Will Not Abandon My Soul

A Miktam of David.

16:1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

These Inward Trials

I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow
John Newton

I asked the LORD that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, his face.

’Twas he who taught me thus to pray,
And he, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once he’d answer my request;
And by his love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with his own hand he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

LORD, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“’Tis in this way, the LORD replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in me.”

The Book of Revelation

The book of Revelation is often very confusing. Some think, sadly, that it reads like a "How the World will end... FOR DUMMIES". Some of this is because of the commercial success of LEFT BEHIND books. They are, in my humble opinion, poor literature and worse bible teaching.

Example: Whenever I travel outside of Gainesville and hear the venom that is out there for the Ol' Ball Coach... I think, "Y'all don't understand Spurrier. At all." I feel the same way when people think that Left Behind is a good understanding of the Book of Revelation.

So, Pendley, what are some helps? Articles, book recommendations, and sermons... see below

The Chronicles of Jesus and His Victory ... by Scotty Smith is a brief-brief of one aspect of the book.
Article Here

Overview Article by Derek Thomas here

BOOKS: I have both of these in my library and will graciously loan them--on penalty of death if not returned. Or you can get them from amazon.com

• Vern S. Poythress, The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation (P & R)
  • Highly recommended basic guide. Good background material, theological content. Best place to start
• Michael Wilcock. The Message of Revelation, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP)
  • Part of the IVP "Bible Speaks" series. Good for personal study. Includes study/discussion questions

Sermons:
by Arturo Azurdia

Apocalypse Now - Introduction	Part 1	Revelation
Apocalypse Now - Introduction	Part 2	Revelation
Apocalypse Now - Introduction	Part 3	Revelation

My mentor & friend Ray Cortese preached through Revelation in 13 sermons available here.

Violent Grace

Paul Tripp is spending a ton of time to slowly walk through different aspects of Psalm 51, the famous Psalm he wrote after finally realizing that his adultery with Bathsheba was a devastating tragedy of sin.

We all have a perverse capacity to be comfortable with what God says is wrong. So God blesses us with violent, uncomfortable grace. Yes, He really does love us enough to crush us, so that we would feel the pain of our sin and run to Him for forgiveness and deliverance. David says, "let the bones You have crushed rejoice." (verse 8) It is a curious phrase. Crushed bones and rejoicing don't seem to go together. You wouldn't say, "Hooray, I have a broken bone!" But that is very close to what David is saying. He is using the searing pain of broken bones as a metaphor of the pain of heart that you feel when you really see your sin for what it is. That pain is a good thing!

Think about it. The physical pain of an actual broken bone is worth being thankful for because it's a warning sign something is wrong in that arm or leg. In the same way, God's loving hammer of conviction is meant to break your heart and the pain of heart you feel is meant to alert you to the fact that something is spiritually wrong inside of you. Like the warning signal of physical pain, the rescuing and restoring pain of convicting grace is a thing worth celebrating!

So God's grace isn't always comfortable because He isn't primarily working on our comfort, He's working on our character. With violent grace He will crush us because He loves us and is committed to our restoration, deliverance, and refinement. And that is something worth celebrating!

Kiss a Striking Lord

came across a quote by Samuel Rutherford where he describes HOW a Christian can find grace in the midst of the pain of being disciplined by a loving Father...

“…. The Psalmist has learned how to Kiss a striking Lord. And how to flee to God even when he knows God’s displeasure with his deeds. Because beyond God’s displeasure with our sin is the greater and deeper and higher love of God grounded in the work of Christ on the cross.” --Samuel Rutherford

encouraging your wife

great words about and to their wives in the dedication page of the book "Cry of the Soul"...

She is beautiful in appearance and in personality. She believes in me, and she encourages my labor--far more, she lives with a depth of love that I yearn to mimic. --Tremper Longman

No one draws my heart to the passion of heaven, no one can break my heart or give me a taste of glory, like you. Your life is a gift exceeded only by the promise of eternity with you. I am grateful that you struggle faithfully to know God and offer the fruits of your journey to your family. --Dan ALLENDER

May God encourage the husbands of Christ Community to use creative language (and actions!) to honor their wives... alone, and in front of the children.

Bono on the Psalms, Part 2

from the fabulous RollingStone interview from a couple years ago

interviewer asks Bono, "You never saw rock & roll -- the so-called devil's music -- as incompatible with religion?"

Bono: Look at the people who have formed my imagination. Bob Dylan. Nineteen seventy-six -- he's going through similar stuff. You buy Patti Smith: Horses -- "Jesus died for somebody's sins/But not mine . . ." And she turns Van Morrison's "Gloria" into liturgy. She's wrestling with these demons -- Catholicism in her case. Right the way through to Wave, where she's talking to the pope.

The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt. So the blues, on one hand -- running away; gospel, the Mighty Clouds of Joy -- running towards. And later you came to analyze it and figure it out.

The blues are like the Psalms of David. Here was this character, living in a cave, whose outbursts were as much criticism as praise. There's David singing, "Oh, God -- where are you when I need you?/You call yourself God?" And you go, this is the blues.

Both deal with the relationship with God. --end quote

Understanding Anger

the pdf of the anger article i mentioned this week is here

Marriage Weekend June 29-July 1st

From time to time we like to remind you that there is help and hope for marriage. One of these is the "Family Life Marriage Conference". The next one that is nearby is June 29-July 1 in Hollywood, Florida. Is that Miami? Ft. Lauderdale? Well, somewhere south of Orlando.

More info

Memorizing Psalms while watching Lebron

or is it LeBron?

memory work:
Last night I spent some time with my 3 children individually, helping them memorize Psalm 19. A couple of thoughts:
1.) MAN! Did we ever set the bar high for how much we could memorize!!! Psalm 19:7-11, wow.
1a.) When was last time I spent time like this? Too long ago.
2.) Psalm 19 has a pattern
4 names for God's Word/Scripture (law, testimony, precepts, commandment)
4 adjectives describing God's word (perfect, sure, right, pure)
4 effects of God's Word (reviving the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the eyes)

How to Love a Wayward Child, from a former one

Many parents are brokenhearted and completely baffled by their unbelieving son or daughter. They have no clue why the child they raised well is making such awful, destructive decisions. I’ve never been one of these parents, but I have been one of these sons. Reflecting back on that experience, I offer these suggestions to help you reach out to your wayward child. --Abraham Piper, son of John & Noel Piper

1. Point them to Jesus Christ

2. Pray

3. Acknowledge that something is wrong.

4. Don’t expect them to be Christ-like.

5. Welcome them home

6. Plead with them more than you rebuke them.

7. Connect them to believers who have better access to them.

8. Respect their friends.

9. Email them.

10. Take them to lunch.

11. Take an interest in their pursuits.

12. Point them to Christ.

Entire Article is here

Wednesday Psalm Reading: Psalm 5 & 6

How's the Psalm reading going? Rhymes with Palm Reading, huh? Sounds mystical. So, how's it going?

Been good for me so far. Have had some good conversations with folks about what they are reading.

By the way, what if you fail? There are some of you who forgot until reading this, I'm sure. Don't sweat. Don't try to "make it up" or catch up. Start today.

Psalm 5 & 6 amaze me with their honesty!

"I am so angry!"

God, Anger, the Psalter

While reading psalms I see there is alot about anger... I'm trying to compile some stuff for at least one sermon on anger this summer... but here's some samples for those who need to learn more now...
1. Paul Tripp, a counselor who has shaped much of my thinking about how the gospel changes us has an online lecture entitled"Anger is one of God's most beautiful characteristics."
you can find it here
2. Years ago I remember great gospel work when I went through 3 bible studies on anger with a young man. Here is the intro to those 3 articles... (I"ll seek to post them later)
Every human being deals with anger. In a world of disappointments, imperfections, miseries, and sins (our own and others’), anger is a given. You get angry.
I get angry. Those you counsel get angry. No doubt that’s why the Bible comes packed with stories, teachings, and comments about anger: God intends us to
understand anger and to know how anger problems can be resolved.

What is anger? How do we make sense of it? Let’s begin with five general statements about something we often experience but seldom stop to understand.
1. The Bible is About Anger
2. Anger is Something You Do
3. Anger is Natural
4. Anger is Learned
5. Anger is a Moral Matter

Listening to the Psalms

Stephen Addcox sent me the note below. FYI, the Psalms are on my ipod and I find it helpful too.

One of the things that I love about the Psalms is how well they read aloud. I find that listening to them is often a more enriching experience than reading them. Recently I discovered that BibleGateway.com has free audio Bibles (including ESV) that you can use with RealPlayer. Here's the link:
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/audio/. The guy who does the reading, Max McLean is quite good; he's a Christian performance artist from New York, and he has a very distinctive and well-cadenced voice.

Complaining to God... has a place

This Sunday we'll look at Psalm 6. It is raw.

"God, I'm languishing." "My bones are troubled." John Calvin says that these kinds of psalms teach us to resist a wrong tendency we have to "play it close to the chest" but rather to "relieve ourselves" by pouring out our hearts to God.

"We have a diseased but deeply-rooted principle in our nature, which leads us to hide our griefs, and ruminate upon them, instead of relieving ourselves at once by pouring out our prayers and complaints before God." -John Calvin

Pastors Retreat for Planning, Prayer, and Frisbee Golf

Just got back from 36 hrs away with Matthews. We went to Camp Kulaqua in High SPrings to:
-- have some extended time in prayer for the church
-- have some extended time of planning for the church

We wound up playing about 3 or 4 rounds of frisbee golf. For the record, I smoked him. This is despite the fact that:
a.) I've never played
b.) he plays about twice a week

Nonetheless, we had a very encouraging time and I'm looking forward to seeing our plans and thoughts made better as we bring them to staff, elders, and other leaders. Thank you for your prayers for us and for the joy

Christian Freedom

A really good article that I find myself revisiting regularly, and therefore want to make you aware of ... was written by the cat who taught us (Matthews, Pendley, Lammers) ETHICS at Covenant Seminary. I'm thinking of it this week because Psalm 2:11 says to serve the Lord with fear. This always leads to the question, what type of fear? Here's Jones:

We should note that the Scriptures use the word "fear" in two distinct senses. There is the fear of terror and dread, and there is the fear of veneration and honor. The fear of terror makes us want to run away and hide; the fear of honor leads us to stand in awe and worship. The Gospel removes the fear of terror as a source of motivation in the Christian life. Punishment has no power to rehabilitate.

...to be motivated by the threats of the law is sub-Christian. In the words of
Toplady's great hymn:
"The terrors of law and of God / With me can have nothing to do; / My Saviour's
obedience and blood / Hide all my transgressions from view."


The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law; and, in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin; from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as also, in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and willing mind (Westminster Confession of Faith, ch20.1).

Psalm 2

This psalm was used by God's people of old--the Hebrew nation--at the installation of their kings. It also pointed forward to the ultimate King, the Lord Jesus. One verse that I've been asked (and wondered myself) about is 2:7. Specifically, "Today I have begotten you..."

What is the begotten?
When is the today?

Much ink spilled here... and i've read good bit of it in preparation to preach. I'm convinced by the following interpretation:

"The begetting is of the incarnate Son--not the eternal begetting... and it marks the completion and the acceptance of Jesus' redeeming mission to our world." --Philip E. Hughes

The Apostle Paul quotes this verse when preaching the resurrection of Jesus in Acts 13, giving us reason to believe that the DAY spoken of here is the day of his glorious victory and vindication... Easter!

His love will never die

"It is not like the Lord to cast off those whom He loves.

He chose us from eternity and He will love us throughout eternity.

He loved us so as to die for us and we may therefore be sure
His love will never die." C.H. Spurgeon

Psalm 2--Kiss the Son

However great thy guilt, however enormous thy transgression, if thou art now willing to be reconciled, God has made thee willing, and he would not have put the will if he did not intend to gratify it. There is nothing that can keep thee from Christ if thou art willing to come. Christ casts out none that desire to be saved. There is in his heart enough for all that seek him, enough for each, enough for evermore. Oh! think not that Christ is ever slower than we are. We never love him before he loves us. If our heart loves him, his soul loved us long ago. and if we are now willing to be reconciled to him, let us rest assured that Jehovah's melting heart yearns to clasp his us to his breast. ---Spurgeon on Psalm 2

He also says that the kiss of Psalm 2 has 4 meanings:
1.) Reconciliation ("Jesus, we are at peace.")
2.) Allegiance & homage ("Jesus, I will follow you.")
3.) Worship ("Jesus, you are worthy of all that I am.")
4.) Affection ("Jesus, I love you.")