Lauren turned 5 this weekend and couldn’t have been more excited about her birthday. She got a lot of dolls and a pink billfold with some money in it. She had asked me what she could do with her money. One thing she wanted was a build-a-bear and an outfit. She had a gift card to build-a-bear so we told her she could use some of her cash for the outfit. We also talked about how some of it should go to God. Sunday she brought her billfold and money. Offering time came. I usually give each of the girls some money to put in the plate. I got ready, but was informed Lauren had her own. Then to my surprise she started handing out money to the row for the offering. I got a dime. I think the usher got a kick out of that.
After Sunday evening, when I preach, Lauren rode home with me. As we got in Alistair Begg was preaching on the radio. Lauren promptly said, “He is a good preacher,” then added without any further thought, “better than you.” Of course I know this to be true, but one has to hope that their 5 year old daughter is biased towards daddy. That took care of any pride left for the day.
Tuesday was Kara’s first day of kindergarten. This was a big day for her and an even bigger day for Heather and me. We were all ready for this though. She loved it. She is now officially a Lapel Bulldog.
Update: Good news! The 3 remaining ducks, Hewie, Deuy, and Louie, are alive and doing well. They are starting to get used to us, but are still a little uncertain. Hopefully we will raise 3 healthy ducks this summer. Just when I was hoping to get the van back in the garage, it has turned into Duckville in Perkinsville, but it has been fun for our whole family.
That sounds like a great country song, but this is reality. Friday my dad called and asked if there was a fire on our street because he had seen smoke near us. I walked outside to see the neighbor’s house across the street nearly destroyed. No one was injured, but the house and memories are nearly all gone.
In honor of Dave’s Preludal Picture Day I have finally posted a picture. This is me in my Nike Free shoes “training” for the mini-marathon that is run this saturday. 13 miles, I guess 3 miles a month is not the best training. Here’s to hoping I finish. By the way Nike Free stands for free cuts, free scrapes, and free blisters the size of texas. Our entire church body is cheering for Heather to clean my clock!
For those of you that were there, you already know, but to the rest of you, the conference was great. To be able to worship with 3000 men, and these were the kind of men that loved to sing, is an experience I loved. The preaching was what you would expect from Dever, Mohler, Mahaney, Duncan, MacArthur, Sproul, and Piper. It was convicting, ecouraging, humbling, clear, and christ-centered. I rushed out of the conference to make it back to the bedside of a dying deacon from our church. The emphasis upon Christ-centerdness and then watching a man cross over from this earth to the presence of God went hand in hand.
Here are a few quotes/paraphrases:
Piper: “If you could have heaven, your health, your relationships, your dreams, and God is not there is that okay?”
Mahaney: “Don’t ever limit your evaluation of yourself to yourself.”
MacArthur: “In our church if you don’t love who we love (God/Christ), then you are not comfortable.”
None of those quotes do justice to what we heard, but hopefully it gives you a taste. If you want to read more go to the live blog.
And if you are a Pastor and you missed it, set your calendars for April ‘08.
Well I will leave tomorrow morning for a conference I have been looking forward to for a while now, Together for the Gospel. It will be a great break, because I will get to see many of my Friends from Southern and will also hear some great preaching.
Does every leading conservative pastor in America have their own cruise? I posted several days about Steve Camp’s Cruise, but now several have drawn my attention to the fact that the Pastors at Edgewood may have missed the boat! I ran across this recent option with R.C. Sproul. The wealth of Western Evangelicalism never ceases to amaze me. Sure we need to have times of rest and refreshment, but Cruises for Jesus? Google for a little while and I bet you can find a majority of the prominent Christian leader on a cruise sometime in the next two years. I have to admit that I would love to go on one of these for the enjoyment of it (You may have to forgive my pure selfishness, but if I do go on a cruise I will probably forgo any religious ones and just take it all in). I just see a real tension here though. Who can go on these trips to hear the gospel? The wealthy. Who are the pastors trying to attract as people they want to spend intimate time with on a boat? The wealthy. Who did Christ come to spend time with? The poor, and lowly. Are they all wrong? We can debate that until we are blue in the face, but doesn’t anyone else see the great difficulty with the wealth of western religion? Are our priorities where they ought to be?
From the Indy Star
The Indiana Senate opened its 2006 legislative session Monday with 20 seconds of silent prayer, voluntarily following a federal court order against sectarian prayer in the House. The Senate is not a defendant in the lawsuit that has forced the Indiana House to stop using prayers that single out Jesus.
In many ways it seems odd that it has taken this long for prayer in Jesus name to end in government. However, it is still a sad day for those who are Christians, and even for those who follow closely the intent of our founding fathers. Responses seem to vary among conservative Christians. Some may want to form some kind of boycott of the government or to form a group to defend our rights. I see some logic and truth in this, but seem to conclude that it goes more against the grain of scripture than with it. Rights in government appear to be more of an American idea than a scriptural idea. I fear many times in defending truth we violate other truths of Christianity. Others would suggest that this is only right for we would not want to be forced to sit under a Muslim prayer or a prayer to any other god. I have to admit that I see the logic in this argument and agree with much of it. I cannot conclude to accept this change though. As Christians we do not hold to another religion, but the one true religion. We do not worship one god while others may choose to worship another, but we worship the one true living God. We should not be content with saying we do not want to force others to have to sit under a prayer to God. So what is the answer? Pray! We cannot force others to worship God, it is an act of the Holy Spirit. We cannot trust in political groups to turn the hearts of men, we must trust in the Lord our God. I believe this new day, is a reminder to all believers that we need to pray for revival.
As much as I enjoy Steve Camp and agree with his stand against CCM, this ad on his blog really seems ironic to me. A Cruise to discuss pulpit crimes? Pulpit crimes like using the ministry for personal gain and a life of ease? Making the truth more palatable? Using entertainment to spread the gospel?
I hope the Cruise goes well, and I know many popular and good speakers offer their own, but the combination of the topic and location seemed to ironic to pass up.
Application:
- All of us are tempted to compromise is some area. Satan is always at work and loves for us to compromise the truth in any way.
- We all have blind spots. As right as many of us think our theology and worldviews are, we all have chinkes in our armor. It is another reminder to be dependant upon the Holy Spirit and not our own understanding.
- Reformed Theology needs to go further than knowledge. If you truly believe in the sovereignty of God and salvation by grace alone it needs to impact all of your Christian walk. It must impact your Justification, Sanctification, Worship, etc. Having the right theolgy is not enough, it has to be applied correctly in all areas.
I have thought of a few other possible cruises and topics, none of these actually exist.
* “Get Out of Debt” featuring Dave Ramsey. Rates begining at $499 per person. Plus you must pay the $185 seminar fee for copyright purposes. If you would like to keep up on your personal money make over, wireless internet is available at $4.95 a day (You must first have a monthly membership to his website at $8.95 a month). T-Shirts and hats will be available at the duty free gift shop. Port fees not included.
* “The Discipline of Fasting” featuring John Piper and Donald Whitney. A seven day cruise all drinks and meals are included.
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
This is to be true of all believers. The joy that Christ has brought into our lives is everlasting and full. It surpasses any other joy known to mankind. The joy that Christ brings surpasses any pleasure of sin. The joy that Christ brings exceeds any joy that can be shared by the unbelieving and believer alike.
This is also a reminder to us of how satisfying heaven will be. No one will get to heaven and say, “this is it?” No one will think, “I was expecting something different but this will do.” Right now in our family, we are anticipating a trip to Disney World. We have read many reviews of what to do with pre-schoolers. It is interesting to see how many people’s anticipations were disappointed at the character meals, and various attractions. There is no chance of this being true with heaven.
In all of this we must be reminded that we should not be disappointed with our relationship with Christ here on earth either. The psalmist was not in heaven when he made this claim, but here on earth. What Christ brings into our lives in the here and now also exceeds the abundant pleasures of this earth. This phrase ought to bring conviction to many, if Christ is so satisfying, why am I craving other things? Why do I want Christ, plus what the world has to offer?
