Hi. Welcome to the silence.

Life is so loud sometimes and just being still even for a few minutes can powerfully rearrange everything that’s assaulting our minds and our hearts. Especially when God is in view. After all he’s the one who said “be still and know that I am God.”

So we’ve turned the volume down as we start what we hope will be a beautiful and raucous night in the hopes that the things we need to hear most will become really, really loud.

God knows who you are. Where you are. And he knows what you need in this moment. He is not looking at a massive crowd but the eyes of the one who so easily spoke galaxies into their places are looking right at you. Amazingly he knows your name and the color he painted your eyes. And he knows what makes you laugh and what makes you cry. He is not distracted by what you think about him. Or what you want him to think about you. He knows what he thinks about you and how he feels. And he wants to say something to you in the silence.

“I love you.”

Let that sink into the silence and the stillness and the soil of your heart.

God loves you. Oh don’t believe the words on the screen or the words of somebody. You don’t have to take it from a third party. No. The Father has spoken directly to you. The God of all creation is engaging you in a pretty stunning conversation. And as is always the case God is speaking first. Not waiting for your proposal or assessment of where you feel you are. Or if you’ll ever be as amazing as something deep inside tells you that you were meant to be. He isn’t waiting to hear about all your screw ups or your great deeds to make it up. No God is eager to share his take on you. Read the rest of this entry »

In preparation of my first real preaching invitation, I found this “Application Grid” to be very helpful in developing applications from the countless hours of exegetical study:

Unique Salvation History – What about the passage is important for the way God unfolds his plan of salvation in history?  What’s unrepeatable by us but worthy of worshipping God for?

Non-Christian – How does the passage speak to the unbeliever?  How does it call him/her to repentance and belief? How does it warn, rebuke, correct, or prod the unbeliever?  What does it say about the danger of the unbeliever’s situation, the exclusivity of Christ, the sinner’s need for a Savior, or the sufficiency of that Savior as a substitute for the sinner?

Public – What does the passage say about our lives and roles in the public sphere, both as Christians and non-Christians (e.g., government, neighborhood)?

Christ – How is Jesus foreshadowed or typed?  What particular perfection of Christ does that type depict?  How is Jesus remembered or described in character, authority, glory, or essence?

Christian – What does the passage mean for the life of the individual Christian?  How does it call him/her to deeper repentance and belief?  How does it warn, rebuke, correct, motivate, comfort, or  encourage the Christian?

Local Church – What does the passage mean for the corporate life of our local church?  How does it call the local corporate body to tend to its corporate life together and corporate witness to the unbelieving community around it?

Source: 9 Marks - Expositional Preaching Application Grid

Also, I’ve found these lectures/sermons from the 2007 Expositors’ Conference very helpful, especially for this seminary student who hasn’t yet taken a Preaching class yet ;-)  Dr. Steve Lawson outlines 10 steps for expositional preaching that is really insightful for the beginner or seasoned preacher!

I found this recent blog post at CBMW to be a very appropriate reminder for our pomo, egalitarian culture:

1. We should court someone who is a Christian.
2. We should court someone who knows and treasures God.
3. We should court someone who is pursuing humility (by the grace of God).
4. We should court someone who we see God at work in.
5. We should court someone who is committed to a local church.
6. We should court someone who is personally mature.
7. We should court someone we “like”.

And here’s their conclusion:

Finally, in any and all of these areas, do not look for perfection, except that we should not court a non-Christian. Look for growth. Look for God at work, transplanting new desires and new delights in place of old desires and old delights.

Read the entire article here.

As the clock struck 12am, I registered for my summer classes! I changed my mind on a few classes I originally planned on doing so that I could have each week-long summer class spread out a bit, giving me more breathing (reading) time in between each class.

Here’s my current schedule for this summer:

32960 INTRODUCTION TO MISSIOLOGY
Troy Bush
MTWRF(8:00 am-5:00 pm) 6/2/2008 to 6/6/2008
MAIN NRT 104

40080A THE MINISTRY OF LEADERSHIP
Randy Stinson
MTWRF(8:00 am-5:00 pm) 6/23/2008 to 6/27/2008
MAIN NRT 101

34300 INTRO TO BIBLICAL COUNSELING: METHODS & SKILLS
Paul Tripp (visiting professor from Westminster)
MTWRF(8:00 am-5:00 pm) 7/7/2008 to 7/11/2008
MAIN NRT 102

I’ll update this page if there’s any changes;-)

For those looking to get better sleep, y’all should read this:

Ten steps away from achieving a perfect slumber.

A good night’s sleep: does it sound like an impossibility? The National Sleep Foundation 2005 Sleep in America survey found that 40 per cent of adults slept less than seven hours a night – below the recommended seven to nine hours. Here are 10 ways to help you wake up feeling rested.

1. Do breathing exercises. Dr. Eva Libman, a sleep researcher at McGill University in Montreal, recommends breathing deeply while counting to 10; that is, breathe in for the first count, out for the second until you reach 10. Do the same counting backward. Repeat until you’re relaxed.

2. Write down your thoughts. A swirling mind can keep anyone up into the wee hours. Keeping a journal will help you feel more in control of your life and help you to relax, says Libman.

3. Create a bedtime ritual. Rituals are personal and can include anything from reading to watching TV. Don’t limit what you can do before bed, cautions Libman; if working on your computer or watching TV relaxes you, make that your bedtime ritual.

4. Retire and wake up at the same time every day. This routine helps you fall asleep easier and faster. It also trains your body to be more alert in the morning – a win-win situation since this alertness will last throughout the day and result in a deeper sleep the next night.

5. Dust your bedroom. Bedding, drapes, and carpet are all home to dust that can aggravate allergies, which are sure to keep you awake. Avoid stacking magazines on bedside tables since they gather dust, but add houseplants and air purifiers, which help keep air clean.

6. Exercise early in the afternoon. Your body heats up during exercise, and the subsequent cooling process, which takes several hours, helps induce sleepiness at bedtime.

7. Keep the temperature and amount of light in your bedroom at your comfort level. This helps you relax during bedtime.

8. Listen to talk radio. “In order to interrupt what’s going on inside your head, you should listen to talking, not music,” says Libman, adding that books on tape are another talk source.

9. Experiment with aromatherapy. Smell is the strongest of the senses and can be used as a sleep aid. Lavender is a popular herbal sleep aid.

10. Take naps. But avoid them after 4 p.m., or they could reduce the quality of your sleep.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

–The Apostle Paul, to the Corinthians (1 Cor 13:7)

When it was over and they could talk about it.
She said,

“There’s just one thing I have got to know:
What in that moment when you were running so hard and fast
Made you stop and turn for home?”

He said,

“I always knew you loved me even though I’d broken your heart
I always knew there’d be a place for me to make a brand new start.”

Oh love wash over a multitude of things
Jesus save us from a multitude of things
And make us whole

When it was over and they could talk about it
They were sitting on the couch
She said,

“What on earth made you stay here
When you finally figured out what I was all about?”

He said,

“I always knew you’d do the right thing
Even though it might take some time.”

She said,

“Yeah, I felt that and that’s probably what saved my life.”

There is a love that never fails
There is a healing that always prevails
There is a hope that whispers a vow
A promise to stay while we’re working it out
So come with your love and wash over us

Going into this week’s Greek translation assignment on 1 Peter 1:1-12 (which is quite difficult), I have been thinking a lot about this one question (which I think has been previously discussed on this website in the past):

How good is good enough?

It is a very simple question that begs an honest answer, and yet it is a question in which we often answer dishonestly and incorrectly. It is a question that applies to just about every situation and circumstance in our lives. Whether it be about going into vocational ministry, obedience to parents, grades in school, dating / courting / marriage relationships, as well as our salvation and standing before God — we all ask ourselves at one point or another, “Am I good enough for _____?”

I have often found myself answering this question with, “No — I am not good enough for that yet. I am not mature enough yet, not holy enough yet, not learned enough yet, not obedient enough yet, and not ‘ready’ for this right now!” And thus, I delay whatever it is that I was intent on doing, and delay it I might, until finally I think I am “better” or “ready”. We now have put a huge burden on our own shoulders, trying to please ourselves, to satisfy the ‘good enough’ bank of others around us, or appease our Heavenly Father. Soon enough (if we do this for a long duration of time), we will find ourselves unable to move or do anything of significance, because we realize that we’re chasing after a goal of perfection that can we can never reached. In this situation, we have gotten ourselves into the endless cycle of the pursuit of perfection by works righteousness — a cycle that has no exit.

However, I do not think the Scriptures could support that answer to this question. It seems that the canon of the Bible says that we are never ever “good enough” for anything before our Holy LORD Almighty. Left alone by ourselves, if God only took into consideration who we are and what we have done, are doing and will ever do — we can never be “good enough”. There is no good within us, at least not in terms of being pleasing to God. As sinners, we are both unable to do anything that pleases God, and unwilling to obey His commands. Certainly, we know this is true of our salvation — we are imperfect human beings who can contribute absolute nothing for our salvation! Even the faith and trust we put in Christ is a gift from him, an ability to trust which the Spirit gave us when He made us alive in, with and through Jesus Christ. Everything we have, and anything we could ever accomplish — especially in terms of obedience — is a gift of God. It is God himself who has caused us to be born again to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading!

So then, how shall we walk the road of our lives with this in mind?

Well, we certainly can no longer live by works as Christians — we ought to live and think and make decisions in life by faith. Every time this question comes into our minds, we must focus on and trust in the finished work of Christ — the redemption that He has accomplished and applied to our lives! In every situation in which we think we are not yet good enough to (say, go to seminary), we must preach the Gospel to ourselves and remember that it is only by the glorious grace of Christ that we can do any and all things. Hopefully, with this in mind day by day, morning by morning, and night by night, we would stop trying and starting dying to ourselves, and moreover, press on by living everyday to the glory of God in Christ!
Read the rest of this entry »