A Great Heart

Can't get enough Spurgeon...

“A man who is to do much with men must love them and feel at home with them. An individual who has no geniality about him had better be an undertaker and bury the dead, for he will never succeed in influencing the living. . . . A man must have a great heart, if he would have a great congregation. His heart should be as capacious as those noble harbors along our coast, which contain sea-room for a fleet. When a man has a large, loving heart, men go to him as ships to a haven and feel at peace when they have anchored under the lee of his friendship. Such a man is hearty in private as well as in public; his blood is not cold and fishy but he is warm as your own fireside. No pride and selfishness chill you when you approach him; he has his doors all open to receive you, and you are home with him at once. Such men I would persuade you to be, every one of you.”

C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to my Students (Grand Rapids, 1970), page 169.


HT: Ray Ortlund

Sunday's Coming!

Not as good as the last one, but powerful because it's true.
And tomorrow's FRIDAY! .... But Sunday's Comin...

I could watch/listen to this 100 times

and I bet I would weep each time...



Glory to God!

Quiet Fanatics

Not sure where Ray Ortlund Jr. finds these guys in order to quote them, but this one smacked me in the face today...

“It is a growing conviction of mine that no parish can fulfill its true function unless there is at the very center of its leadership life a small community of quietly fanatic, changed and truly converted Christians. The trouble with most parishes is that nobody, including the pastor, is really greatly changed. . . .

We do not want ordinary men. Ordinary men cannot win the brutally pagan life of a city like New York for Christ. We want quiet fanatics.”

John Heuss, Our Christian Vocation (Greenwish, 1955), pages 15-16.

Lord, please make me what you need me to be for your kingdom.

Great sermon... Paul Washer

I've heard of Paul Washer, but this is the first of his sermons that I have listened to from beginning to end. It's fantastic. The title of the you-tube clip is what made me listen, because looking at Paul Washer does not make me think about rap music. :-)

But I love reformed rap, and it is becoming more and more lovely to me, and Mr. Washer gives good warnings to these guys at this conference, but what he does later in the sermon shutting down carnal Christianity and after that with 1 John is worth the hour.

Dig in and be challenged and be fed.

How to Wreck Your Church in Three Weeks

The above link to the below blog post will reveal that this post has been pulled from Ray Ortlund's blog over at the Gospel Coalition. I hope it's just temporary because I found it to be one of the most timely and insightful blog posts I've read in a long time.

I'm going to post it in its entirety here, but you should check out Mr. Ortlund's blog, it's quite good.

Here's his now missing post:

How to wreck your church in three weeks

Week One: Walk into church today and think about how long you’ve been a member, how much you’ve sacrificed, how under-appreciated you are. Take note of every way you’re dissatisfied with your church now. Take note of every person who displeases you.

Meet for coffee this week with another member and “share your heart.” Discuss how your church is changing, how you are being left out. Ask your friend who else in the church has “concerns.” Agree together that you must “pray about it.”

Week Two: Send an email to a few other “concerned” members. Inform them that a groundswell of grievance is surfacing in your church. Problems have gone unaddressed for too long. Ask them to keep the matter to themselves “for the sake of the body.”

As complaints come in, form them into a petition to demand an accounting from the leaders of the church. Circulate the petition quietly. Gathering support will be easy. Even happy members can be used if you appeal to their sense of fairness – that your side deserves a hearing. Be sure to proceed in a way that conforms to your church constitution, so that your petition is procedurally correct.

Week Three: When the growing moral fervor, ill-defined but powerful, reaches critical mass, confront the elders with your demands. Inform them of all the woundedness in the church, which leaves you with no choice but to put your petition forward. Inform them that, for the sake of reconciliation, the concerns of the body must be satisfied.

Whatever happens from this point on, you have won. You have changed the subject in your church from gospel advance to your own grievances. To some degree, you will get your way. Your church will need three or four years for recovery. But at any future time, you can do it all again. It only takes three weeks.

Just one question. Even if you are being wronged, “Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Corinthians 6:7).

This is Making the Rounds...

... so I thought I'd jump on the interwebs bandwagon. The message is excellent because it is true - but not true of all messages! :-)

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Hit the Link in the Title for more animation from Ronnie Bruce.

For more poetry from Taylor Malin: Go Here

I could hat tip this from about 25 places, so nobody gets credit. Boast in the Lord!

;-)

The Anti-Psalm 131

Here’s Anti-Psalm 131:

Self,

my heart is proud (I’m absorbed in myself),
and my eyes are haughty (I look down on other people),
and I chase after things too great and too difficult for me.

So of course I’m noisy and restless inside, it comes naturally,

like a hungry infant fussing on his mother’s lap,
like a hungry infant, I’m restless with my demands and worries.
I scatter my hopes onto anything and everybody all the time.

Contrast that with the real Psalm 131:

O Lord,

my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Me:
conviction=1
repentance=1
guilt=0
shame=0
condemnation=0
contentment=1

at least that's how it oughtta be...

HT: JT

Haven't laughed this hard in awhile...

This is now my favorite internet movie of all time...
If you don't think its funny, don't tell me. It'll cause a rift in our relationship.
J/K (no, seriously...)

Star Wars: Retold (By Someone Who Hasn't Seen It)

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Spoofs | Star Wars Fan Movie Champions

A Newly Realized Argument for a Definite (Limited) Atonement

He's back, ladies and gentlemen! But don't get too excited, because who knows if or when I will ever have (or take) the time to post again?!

And aren't you glad I chose a heady theological topic for my re-entrance into the blogosphere after an absence of over 4 months? I could have eased you in with updated photos of my daughter...

Or I could have sucked you right in with cutesy pictures of our new puppy, Tobiwan Kenobi... or just Toby if you prefer...

But no... I'm coming right at you with a mind bending discussion of one of the most heated topics in Christendom... For whom, exactly, did Christ die?

Now, I'm not going to spend a lot of time rehashing all the arguments on both sides (Arminianism vs Calvinism) of the issue, I really just want to point out an argument that was new to me.

Notice I did not say new. Just new to me... The biblical arguments for a definite or limited atonement are profuse and irrefutable as far as I am concerned, but recently I heard an argument that was both simple and profound, and I heard it from a not unlikely, but unexpected source.

Awhile ago I posted on the rising of new Christian rap artist Lecrae, and in passing mentioned Shai Linne as well. Well at first I couldn't get enough of Lecrae, but Shai Linne has far surpassed him in time spent in my ear over the last few months. His blog is titled "Lyrical Theology" and it is more than fitting for what this man does on the mic...

There is one song in particular, called "Mission Accomplished" that brought out this particular argument about Limited, or Definite Atonement. The song lyrics discuss how (and then Shai Linne explicitly explains, as do the Scriptures) that the Godhead is unified, and all three persons of the Trinity have been working together from the foundation of the world in order to bring about the salvation of God's people, for His glory.

Now, it seems both sides of the argument would agree that The Father, from eternity, chooses specific individuals to save (be it conditionally or unconditionally - that's another argument), that's called election. And both sides also agree that there are specific individuals to whom the Holy Spirit actually gives the new birth, applying what Christ did on the cross (And amazingly, at the end of the day, they happen to be the same people! Go figure!). But if God is unified in His being and in His work, why would Christ's work on the cross be applied universally if what the Father did in eternity, and what the Holy Spirit does now, is limited only to specific individuals? Doesn't that put the Godhead at odds with itself? Why would the Son's work in salvation be for everyone, when the Father's and the Spirit's work in salvation is decidedly not for everyone universally?

Of course the answer is that it is not. Christ's atonement is only for those whom God has chosen from all eternity and those to whom the Holy Spirit effectually applies it in history.

OK, not exactly mind bending... and maybe not even clear. :-)

Here is the song if you want to here it for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-jl6jFn86k

Please disregard the images, as they do not really apply and some could be considered offensive.

Now, back into the void....

The Anti-Psalm 23

David Powlison writes an inversion of the great Psalm 23 in an article @ boundless.org

Go here for the context...

Here is the darkest song I've ever heard:

I'm on my own.
No one looks out for me or protects me.
I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing's quite right.
I'm always restless. I'm easily frustrated and often disappointed.
It's a jungle — I feel overwhelmed. It's a desert — I'm thirsty.
My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can't fix myself.
I stumble down some dark paths.
Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.
But life's confusing. Why don't things ever really work out?
I'm haunted by emptiness and futility — shadows of death.
I fear the big hurt and final loss.
Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,
but I'd rather not think about that.
I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.
I find no lasting comfort.
I'm alone ... facing everything that could hurt me.
Are my friends really friends?
Other people use me for their own ends.
I can't trust anyone. No one has my back.
No one is really for me — except me.
And I'm so much all about ME, sometimes it's sickening.
I belong to no one except myself.
My cup is never quite full enough. I'm left empty.
Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.
Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?
Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?
Sartre said, "Hell is other people."
I have to add, "Hell is also myself."
It's a living death,
and then I die.

What song are you singing?

HT: Justin Taylor

And the Winner is.....

I have been having some serious browser issues lately.

Just like everyone else, I grew up (since the internet started in the early 90's) using Internet Explorer. This was fine. I didn't know any better, didn't know any different. For many years there was nothing different. So I blithely went along with IE until I very slowly and somewhat reluctantly (I am a rare early adopter) made the switch to Firefox while in seminary, around 2003 I believe. I don't even think I had seen it until one of my roommates showed me the light.


Since then, I love Firefox. I have loved how far superior it is to IE for so long, and all the add-ons and customization. It's been a wonderful 6 years together so far, it really has.

However, lately, Firefox has been letting me down. It uses so much RAM, even for a single tab, that it will at times force me to shut it down just to clear some room for the next page. But that is not even the worst part. Now, every time I load the browser, for about 2 and a half minutes it completely hogs all CPU, virtually making the computer unusable, after which it runs normal - which is to say it slowly uses all the other resources. I have tried just about everything for these issues, even completely wiping my install and starting over with no add-ons... no dice.

I got so frustrated with Firefox that I even tried making the switch back to IE with their new piece of garbage, IE8. It started out OK, until of course it never worked. 7 out of 10 times it would simply refuse to connect to a server. Had a headache or something I guess... whatever, that got tired real quick and IE8 was kicked to the curb with its garbage predecessor.

I was so desparate, I even downloaded SAFARI, and I am an avowed MAC hater... this shows how bad things had truly gotten. But I must say that Safari, for being all Mac and crap, was not terrible. It was definitely NOT the fastest broswer, as advertised, but apart from it's poor layout, (which for mac users is probably home) it got the job done. But I just couldn't stomach using it... I barely kept lunch down installing the thing...

Enter my knight in shining armor... Goggle Chrome.

I never would have guessed it, but this has been the best upgrade I could have asked for. It runs on almost no RAM (like 30K for each instance or tab, not bad at all). It uses very little CPU, even to render heavy pages. It's fast. It is by far the best browser I have used to date. I have to give great thanks and kudos to my brother from another mother Aron for pointing me in this direction. So far it is the clear winner. All the best add-ons I would need to install on Firefox are already in Chrome without the extra weight. When you're not using it, it basically doesn't exist as far as your computer is concerned. It's been a great experience so far and I am almost completely on board the Google gravytrain. I recommend you jump on for a ride!

But now, Firefox has release 3.5 .... What to do?
I will have to download it and give it a test drive, but it will be hard pressed, even after 6 years of loving companionship, to get me to come back at this point. Hard pressed indeed.