Isabella, a golden retriever at the Safari Zoological Park, east of Caney, Kan. nurses Wednesday, July 30, 2008, three white tiger cubs she adopted after they were abandoned by their mother at the park. The cubs were born on Sunday. (AP Photo/The Daily Reporter, Rob Morgan)
Here is the full story. Not only is this cute, it is amazing. A dog taking care of wild cats! It reminds me of what we have through Christ in the care of God our father. Since the fall of man we are these wild creatures, not like God. He is holy, we are sinful and rebelious. He is perfect and we fall short. Yet in His great love and mercy He takes us in, as if we are His own children. He cares for us as He would His own Son. That amazes me even more.
John MacArthur has some wonderful thoughts on Luther and compromise and its application for today’s church.
It is interesting to speculate what the church would be like today if Martin Luther had been prone to compromise. The pressure was heavy on him to tone down his teaching, soften his message, stop poking his finger in the eye of the papacy. Even many of his friends and supporters urged Luther to come to terms with Rome for the sake of harmony in the church. Luther himself prayed earnestly that the effect of his teaching would not be divisive.
When he nailed his 95 Theses to the door, the last thing he wanted to do was split the church.
Yet sometimes division is fitting, even healthy, for the church. Especially in times like Luther’s—and like ours—when the visible church seems full of counterfeit Christians, it is right for the true people of God to declare themselves. Compromise is sometimes a worse evil than division. Second Corinthians 6:14-17 isn’t speaking only of marriage when it says,
Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
Sometimes we lose sight of the cost of not being faithful in all areas and with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is easy to think that we are saved and we are okay, the details are not that important. Maybe we see others who claim to be Christians and are tempted to think they are so much happier and better off because they are not so concerned with being abandoned to God. Imagine what the condition of the church could be like if Luther had shared such logic. We are to live for the Kingdom of God, not ourselves. This means that we should not be content with compromise because even if it has no realized effect upon us it may cost those around us or generations to come.
Years ago the leaders of our church established a goal to put good books in the hands of the people. Therefore we opened a bookshop in our church building to offer books of solid substance at as low of a cost as possible. The internet has opened other avenues as well, and there is no lower cost than free!
When you fill out the form below to join our mailing list, we’ll automatically mail you an offer in September for a FREE copy of John’s soon-to-be-released book, Daily Readings from the Life of Christ. No pressure, no obligation—we just want to minister to you.
If you’re already on our mailing list, there’s no need to fill out the form; you’ll automatically receive John’s letter and book offer in your mailbox in September. It’s our gift to you—an expression of our commitment to “Unleashing God’s Truth One Verse at a Time.”
Note: The book will not be available until September. This Free Book Offer page will expire August 20, 2008.
“I think my parents’ pool hall fence was appropriate. But there is a lesson in my experience for all parents: Don’t focus on the fence. If you erect a fence for your children - for example, in regard to certain movies or television programs- be sure to focus on the real issues, not the fence. Take time to explain and re-explain the reason for the fence.
If you decide, as my parents did, that you don’t want your children going to the local pool hall, explain why. Distinguish between playing the game itself - which has neither negative nor positive moral value - and the atmosphere you are trying to protect them from.
For all of us, it may be good to have some fences, but we have to work at keeping them as just that - fences, helpful to us but not necessarily applicable to others. We also have to work at guarding our freedom from other people’s fences.
Some of the fences in our respective Christian circles have been around a long time. No one quite knows their origin, but by now they are “embedded in concrete”. Although it may cause conflict if you violate one, you must guard your freedom. To paraphrase Paul, “Stand firm in your freedom, and don’t let anyone bring you into bondage with their fences.”
I’m not suggesting you jump over fences just to thumb your nose at the people who hold to them so dearly. We are to “make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19). Use discretion in embracing or rejecting a particular fence. But don’t let other coerce you with man made rules. And ask God to help you see if you are subtly coercing or judging others with your own fences.”
Being ungodly is not just about committing a certain lists of sins. It is also about finding fulfillment outside of God, which leads me to commit an endless list of sins of the heart… We are supposed to groan because there are things that we have been promised but do not yet have. We are supposed to groan because the full expression of God’s Kingdom has not yet come. We are supposed to groan because we are not yet all that God shed the blood of his Son for us to become. We are supposed to groan because the temporary pleasures of this physical world do not satisfy us; they always leave a void in our hearts. We are supposed to groan because in every situation and circumstance we see the damage that sin has done and is wrong. We are supposed to groan because we recognize how we each give into the temptation to seek in the physical world what we can only find in the Lord and what will only be fulfilled in eternity. This side of eternity, groaning is meant to be the default language of the big kingdom.
Or the day Comcast killed the music. Sorry about the lack of posts, no internet at the office this week has kept we away from the blog. What does Comcastic mean to you? Hopefully they will have things up and running next week.
There is a right and wrong way to use words. The New Testament spends many verses discussing this principle. Sinclair Ferguson is preaching at Desiring God’s National Conference this year on this subject. This brief video, giving a taste of what is to come, is very challenging in itself. If you have never heard of Sinclair Ferguson, get to know him, listen to him, read him. There are many men that impact my life and ministry. Outside of my father there are three men alive today that stand out clearly, Eric Alexander, Peter Jeffery, and Sinclair Ferguson. I could list others that shape my pastoral ministry, but these men shape my theological and teaching ministry. There is a depth, soberness, and sincerity about their preaching that I long for in my own.
The title is all I will say on the phone call. I had several posts I intended to write today. They will have to be written another day. For now I am reduced to posting the lyrics of a Sovereign Grace Hymn. (it is not my pain, but feeling the pain of another)
Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings
Yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine
Yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love You in times of plenty
Then leave You in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest
But when winter winds blow, then doubt
Oh let Your will be done in me
In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long
As You are glorified
Are You good only when I prosper
And true only when I’m filled
Are You King only when I’m carefree
And God only when I’m well
You are good when I’m poor and needy
You are true when I’m parched and dry
You still reign in the deepest valley
You’re still God in the darkest night
So quiet my restless heart, quiet my restless heart
Quiet my restless heart in You
I promise not to turn this blog into a sports blog, I will stick to theology and Christian living and a few family tidbits. However, the Rick Greenspan news story caused too much disturbance to simply let it go. Several months back we, IU Fans, watched a coach leave a program he did considerable damage to in his few years there. He resigned and was given $750,000 to buy out his contract. In what other line of work can one nearly run a business into the ground (they are awaiting sanctions, have self imposed sanctions, and do not have a single player left on the roster that Sampson recruited less than 5 months after his leaving) and walk away with as much money as many people will expect to make in a lifetime! Well, we now have to watch $441,000 more be given to the Athletic Director who took “a risk that should not have been taken” and hired Sampson. Again, a very nice severance package for a guy who has has “failed” in his job. Oh yeah, he got the rights to any book he may want to write too. Now there is a book not even Purdue fans will want to read. Did I mention we dished out $66,000 to buyout the assistant coach who helped Sampson break the rules while Greenspan was not watching? Doesn’t it seem like it is better to be really bad at a job and be employed by IU than to be really good at a job in the real world?
Bring on the Crean and Crimson!
About The Author
Andy has been serving at Edgewood Baptist in full time ministry since 2000. He is a graduate of Cedarville College and Southern Seminary. He and his wife, Heather, have been married since 1997 and they have 3 children.
prone to compromise. The pressure was heavy on him to tone down his teaching, soften his message, stop poking his finger in the eye of the papacy. Even many of his friends and supporters urged Luther to come to terms with Rome for the sake of harmony in the church. Luther himself prayed earnestly that the effect of his teaching would not be divisive.
Note: 
family tidbits. However, the Rick Greenspan news story caused too much disturbance to simply let it go. Several months back we, IU Fans, watched a coach leave a program he did considerable damage to in his few years there. He resigned and was given $750,000 to buy out his contract. In what other line of work can one nearly run a business into the ground (they are awaiting sanctions, have self imposed sanctions, and do not have a single player left on the roster that Sampson recruited less than 5 months after his leaving) and walk away with as much money as many people will expect to make in a lifetime! Well, we now have to watch 