Learning From History...

Click HERE to read the article that we talked about in SS this morning. [HatTip: WorldMagBlog]

Remember that while we are thankful that God has seen to keep our church faithful to Him and to the Bible, we must continue to depend on Him and constantly remind ourselves of the Gospel which teaches us that we are ALL sinful and in need of a Savior - and that we have One, Jesus Christ.

If you are interested in Presbyterian church history, here are a few items to check out:

• I Am Reminded by Kennedy Smartt - This is a first-hand account of the beginnings of the PCA by one of the men that was there from the beginning. (This book is in our church library.)
• A BRIEF HISTORY of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA -- from the PCA Website.
• The Wikipedia page on the PCA -- has some good links about the PCUS and other history.
• Living History of the Presbyterian Church in America, by Jerry Kornegay - this item is available from the PCA Historical Center.
• On Being Presbyterian by Sean Michael Lewis -- This is a new book that is still on my "need-to-read" list, but the author is a church history professor at Covenant Theological Seminary.

Good News On A Monday Morning!

“When God is your Father, He never stops being your Father. To put it in theological language, not only is your justification (being saved) by grace, your sanctification (becoming more like Christ) is by grace too. The trouble is that most Christians think they’re saved by grace but grow by sweat. Many of us believe that when we were saved, God took our slate filled with sin and rebellion and wiped it clean. That’s a lie…Listen! God took our slate and He broke it in pieces and threw it away. He does not deal with His family by keeping track on a slate of how we are doing. The slate is irrelevant because of the blood of Christ.” Steve Brown, When Being Good Isn’t Good Enough

This quote came to me this morning via Graced Again. You can sign up for regular words of encouragement at their website.

Resources

The sermon from Sunday on adultery and lust may have you looking for resources for yourself or someone else. Here are some ideas:

Setting Captives Free - free online courses on a myriad of addictive issues such as sexual purity, food issues, substance abuse, and gambling from a God-centered perspective.

Books I recommend:
Sex is Not the Problem (Lust Is) by Joshua Harris - a great, Christ-centered, easy-to-read resource for anyone wanting to understand the problems that sexual sin pose.

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ edited by John Piper & Justin Taylor - broader in scope than Josh Harris' book. The chapters are based on lectures given at the Desiring God Conference in 2004. It also comes with a DVD of John Piper giving his two lectures - good stuff!

Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle - general advice for young men, including how to keep your hearts pure from pride and the love of pleasure. Good for men of all ages.

The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard - a re-writing of John Owen's Indwelling Sin for modern readers. It's great concerning the power of our sinful nature and how sin is defeated in our hearts. Highly recommended.

The Room

I am preparing to preach on Matthew 5:27-30 this Sunday. This is the passage on Adultery and Lust. As I was reading, I came across this short story by Josh Harris. We all have need for repentance and forgiveness regarding our lustful hearts -- as well as sins of an infinite variety. This story reminds us of our hope.

In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features save for the one wall covered with small index-card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endlessly in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I Have Liked." I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one.

And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn't match.... (Continue reading by clicking HERE.)

A Baptism Prayer

When we baptized Amelia and Luke a few weeks ago Anna sang this hymn during the offertory. It is a baptism hymn which serves as a prayer for our children. It's beautiful and I encourage you to use it as you pray for our covenant children – no matter their age!

Gracious Savior, gentle Shepherd,
Our little ones are dear to Thee;
Gathered with Thine arms and carried
In Thy bosom may they be
Sweetly, gently, safely tended,
From all want and danger free.

Tender Shepherd, never leave them
From Thy fold to go astray;
By Thy look of love directed,
May they walk the narrow way;
Thus direct them, and protect them,
Lest they fall an easy prey.

Let Thy holy Word instruct them:
Fill their minds with heav'nly light;
Let Thy love and grace constrain them,
To approve whate'’er is right,
Take Thine easy yoke and wear it,
And to prove Thy burden light.

Cleanse their hearts from sinful folly
In the stream Thy love supplied;
Mingled streams of blood and water
Flowing from Thy wounded side;
And to heav'’nly pastures lead them,
Where Thine own still waters glide.

by Jane Leeson, 1842

The God of Grace

I was reading, praying and preparing for my sermon this morning and came across the following prayer in "“The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions."” If you have not gotten your hands on this collection of prayers I encourage you to do so --– it'’s incredible. We are using part of the following prayer as our preparation for worship this Sunday, but I thought you would benefit from reading the entire prayer.

O God of grace,
Teach me to know that grace precedes, accompanies,
and follows my salvation; that it sustains the redeemed soul,
that not one link of its chain can ever break!

From Calvary's cross, wave upon wave of grace . . .
reaches me,
deals with my sin,
washes me clean,
renews my heart,
strengthens my will,
draws out my affection,
kindles a flame in my soul,
rules throughout my inner man,
consecrates my every thought, word, work,
teaches me Your immeasurable love.

How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus!
Without Him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast.
In Him I draw near and touch His kingly scepter!
Without Him I dare not lift up my guilty eyes.
In Him I gaze upon my Father-God and friend!
Without Him I hide my lips in trembling shame.
In Him I open my mouth in petition and praise!
Without Him all is wrath and consuming fire.
In Him is all love, and the repose of my soul!
Without Him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish.
In Him its gates are barred to me by His precious blood!
Without Him darkness spreads its horrors before me.
In Him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon!
Without Him all within me is terror and dismay.
In Him every accusation is charmed into joy and peace!
Praise be to You for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus!
"The Valley of Vision" is published by The Banner of Truth.

The Epitome of Sad

Justin Taylor posted the following yesterday on his blog:

This has to be one of the saddest stories I've read in a while. The BBC reports that a woman in Scotland sought to abort her twins. Unbeknownst to the mother or to the doctors, one of the babies survived the attempted murder. So now the mother is suing the hospital for compensation, seeking damages for the "financial burden" of raising the child.

"I have got a child now that I wasn't planning to have and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that," she said.

"They should have known, or at least warned me, that I might still be pregnant when I left. It has totally changed my life and my parents' lives.

(My emphasis.)

"I still don't know if, or what, I am going to tell Jayde when the time comes. Maybe when she is nine or 10 I will sit her down and explain it to her."

Try to imagine that conversation. Then weep at the depravity. Then realize that we would act in such a murderous, self-centered way but for the grace of God. May we cling to the cross, and cry out to God for both mercy and justice. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

I agree.

Piper on Not Wasting Your Cancer

"Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God. It is meant to put feeling and force behind the command, 'Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord'(Hosea 6:3). "
-- John Piper

This quote is from an article that Piper wrote on the eve of his cancer surgery. You can read the entire article here.

Keller on Becoming a Christian

"We are not converted by faith in God in general or a spiritual experience of some vague sort or by subscribing to doctrinal truth in general. We are converted, spiritually reborn, when (a) we hear the work of Christ expounded to us, so that (b) we are awakened and convicted that we have been seeking to complete ourselves through our own work, so we (c) transfer our trust from our works to Christ's work." -- Tim Keller

Out of My Bondage (Jesus, I Come)

This past Sunday we discussed briefly the fact that Jesus’ healing ministry ultimately served the purpose of revealing to people that He possessed the power to meet their eternal needs as well as their earthly needs. Our greatest need is that we are sinners who need a Savior -- and our broken bodies, relationships, finances, etc. serve to remind us of that fact.

We sang a hymn a few weeks that expresses the rescuing nature of Christ’s saving work. This hymn was written in 1887 by W.T. Sleeper -- it is still true today.

Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself, Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm, Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove, Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of the fear and dread of the tomb, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold, Jesus, I come to Thee.

May we all run to Jesus!

Luke, The Young One

Here is Luke -- not content to let his big brother get all the attention.
Luke will be 8 weeks old tomorrow.
I'm very curious to see what his personality will turn out like but, there is one thing we know -- HE IS CUTE! (and I am biased!)

Andrew, The Clean One

This is Andrew. Andrew is 22 months old. Andrew loves to be clean.

Andrew cannot stand to have anything on his hands (except ketchup & chocolate, which he likes to lick off) or his clothes or the table around his plate... Sometimes I wish that he would just go jump in a mud puddle (and I know the day is coming when I will probably beg him to be clean). Sometimes I call him "little Monk"!

As much as Andrew loves to be clean, lately he has not been enjoying actually taking a bath. Oh, he loves getting in the tub and playing in the water. It's the scrubbing part that he actually has come to dislike. Andrew loves the appearance of being clean, but the process to get there is what seems unpleasant at times.

I am like that as well. I love the appearance of holiness and I am really good at appearing holy on the outside. While I long to be really clean I hate going through the process of getting there. Being holy often means giving up things that I would like to hang on to (even though I know better). Being holy means admitting that I have messed up, offended people, done stupid stuff or hurt those that I love.

When God moves me through the process of being made clean it means having to admit that I am dirty. That is not pleasant, but it is necessary. Without acknowledging the need for cleansing and submitting myself to being made clean, I will never get there. The good news is that God is committed to my holiness -- to the point that He sent His Son to be holy for me and to become dirty for me, so that I could be found clean.
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"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." -- Matthew 23:25-28 (ESV)

Piper Books for FREE!!!

You probably know by now that John Piper is my favorite author.
Many of his books are available on-line for free! You can read them here.
I would recommend starting with Desiring God, although Don't Waste Your Life is an easier (and shorter) read.
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I personally like to have a book in my hands as I read. It is easier on my eyes and I take notes and write comments in the margins and all over the page. Al Mohler writes in this post at the TFG blog that we need to "learn to have a conversation with the book, pen in hand." I agree -- it helps me learn!

Listening to the Word

If you like to LISTEN to the Bible, you can now listen to the English Standard Version online for free.

You can follow this link to go to the ESV search page to look up a portion of Scripture.
You need to set up your computer to play the audio by clicking on the options link at the top right and then choosing either "flash" or "MP3" as your audio format. (Flash worked better for me.) Once you save your preference you can search a passage and a "listen" link will appear next to the chapter title. Click that and wait a few seconds and the reading will commence.

This is helpful to me as I have returned to trying to regularly and purposefully memorize Scripture. Hearing Max McLean read the passage seems to help me -- but not as much as me reading it myself out loud over and over :-)

Also, I received my Scripture memory "Fighter Verses" from Desiring God today and I am looking forward to trying something fresh. During college I started writing verses on index cards -- and since then I have changed the version of the Bible that I read and NOT been faithful to review and add verses regularly over the years. I am excited about spending time each day purposefully memorizing Scripture -- I hope you are joining me!

If you are intereseted in the plan I am using, stop by the office sometime (call first, in case I'm "out") and I'll show you my Fighter Verses pack so you'll know what you are getting into before you fork out $12.00 for the verse pack. You may decide that you just want to get the list of verses (which you can find here) and write them on your own index cards (which is not a bad idea).

Memorizing Scripture to Fight Temptation

On Sunday the sermon is from Matthew 4 on the temptation of Jesus. We are going to see that Christ's tool in fighting off temptation was Scripture. We are going to see that for us to fight temptation successfully we need to find ourselves treasuring Christ and loving the Word of God.
In light of that, I want to encourage you to start memorizing the Word of God.
Here are some tools that are available for you:

• The Navigator's Topical Memory System may be the most widely used plan.
  
• John Piper has a great sermon on why Scripture memory is important.
• Piper's Fighter Verse Memorization Plan is a great tool that you can buy for you or your children.
• Sovereign Grace Ministries has a plan that is useful for kids from age 2 through adults.
• Bible.org has a list of verses on different topics that would be great to memorize.

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Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV)

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

The Unchanging Gospel

This morning in our 6:15 men's study we discussed the fact that God never changes. At the 11:00 study we are studying Paul's Letter to the Galatians. As Paul writes in this letter about the one true gospel, I started thinking about how the unchanging nature of God is revealed in the unchanging message of the gospel! The gospel is good news, but it is not new news. God has been faithful to preserve the good news that He provides salvation throughout the earth's history -- and it remains good news today. The previous post contains a quote from Martin Luther from his Commentary on Galatians. This commentary was first published almost 500 years ago in 1535, yet it still has an impact on Christians around the world today. Why? Because Luther faithfully and clearly explains the gospel of Jesus Christ -- and that never becomes irrelevant. I highly recommend that you read old books. They remind us of the fact that the truth never changes.

Good News from Martin Luther

Martin Luther from his Commentary on Galatians:

Although I am a sinner by the law and under condemnation of the law, yet I despair not, yet I die not, because Christ lives, who is both my righteousness and my everlasting life. In that righteousness and life I have no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience, no care of death. I am indeed a sinner as touching this present life, and the righteousness thereof, as a child of Adam. But I have another righteousness and life, above this life, which is Christ the Son of God, who knows no sin, no death, but is righteousness and life eternal; by whom this my body, being dead and brought to dust, shall be raised up again, and delivered from the bondage of the law and sin, and shall be sanctified together with my spirit.

THAT gets to the heart of the gospel! Only in grasping the Gospel with all our being do we find true freedom to be what God has made us to be. Only in treasuring Christ above all things do we find true freedom from the fear of death and hope for our broken lives. The gospel is good news!

Meditating on Psalm 2

John Piper's "Fresh Words" this week is a meditation on one of my favorite passages. Psalm 2:11-12 says:

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Piper says:

Outside of God’s care there is only wrath. But there is a refuge from the wrath of God, namely, God. The safest place from the wrath of God—the only safe place—is God. Come to God. Take refuge in God. Hide in the shadow of his wings. This is where we live and serve with joyful trembling.

You can read the entire meditation HERE. You can also click a link on the top right corner of that page to have his weekly article e-mailed to you!

Also, pray for John Piper. He found out this week that he has prostate cancer. He wrote a very enlightening letter to his church that gives great insight on how to deal with personal tragedy. You can read the letter HERE.

We Should Pray For Them Too

I first saw this photo on The Officer's Club through conservative columnist Michelle Malkin. Yes, it is a picture of Airmen and Soldiers taking a moment to pray for each other's safety before heading out for another day of convoy duty in Iraq.
Note: Links provided on this page does not mean that I or WPC endorse all of the content of those pages.

A Great Answer To What Is, Sadly, A Common Question...

Philip Ryken, the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, writing over at Reformation 21, answers the question, "What, in hell, has God ever done for us?":

Like many Americans, I have been watching with keen interest as the tragic events have unfolded at the Sago mine in West Virginia. Miner family member John Casto has been widely reported as saying that after the first report (12 miners were alive), people at Sago Baptist Church "were praising God," but after the second report (12 miners were dead), "they were cursing." As I heard these words, I couldn't help but think of Job, who had praise to give both when God gave and when God took away (Job 1:21).

One television report was more explicit about the cursing. Apparently, when the worst of all news had come, the pastor of the church told people to keep looking to God. But one man shouted, "What in hell has God ever done for us?"

The question is well worth pondering: What, in hell, has God ever done for us?

The answer, of course, is that in Christ, God himself has suffered the hellish agonies of the cross. We believe that Jesus descended into hell. That is to say, we believe that on the cross Jesus suffered the full fury of divine wrath and the utter despair of being separated from his Father's love -- the very essence of hell.

What, in hell, has God ever done for us? He has suffered the full penalty that our sins deserve. And now, having been to hell and back for us, Jesus has the empathy of grace to give every grieving, anguished, and enraged person who has lost what they love in life. There are some people in West Virginia who know this, and some who don't, and we should keep them all in our prayers.