Monday, February 27, 2012
Church planter challenge (Darrin Patrick)
Saturday, February 25, 2012
How do you think about your husband - the wife's perspective
My husband just posted a great post about Mark Driscoll's latest session in the Real Marriage course we are hosting. He posted up a 5 minute clip, here's the link to the entire session, it's an hour long, but it's a good hour.
Let's be honest, this is a touchy issue. There are histories of abuses against women, or hard handed men, and the newer (relatively speaking) movements of feminism to try to balance things out. He speaks hard about women.
Guess what. Last week he spoke hard about the men.
He told the men they must love their wives, as Christ loved the chuch. A "never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love"(pg 54). It doesn't say to love your wife when she's sweet, or kind, or lovable. It says LOVE HER. And guess who is the referee to say if you are loving her? She is. She decides if you are loving her, cherishing her, always and forever loving her. She decides.
You can hear women all over the world cheering at that.
Oh, but wait. We (as wives) are called to respect our husband. Respect him with our thoughts, with our words, with our actions. Not respect him when he's respectable, when he's what we want, not a respect based on him meeting our expectations. Respect. AND, guess who's the referee to say if we are respecting him? He is. He decides if you are respecting him. He decides.
Where did all that cheering go? Suddenly we aren't as happy.
I know, I know. There are histories of abuse. Guess what - there are histories of abuse of men suffered at the hands of women. Emotional abuse, more often than anything else. The psychological threat of "I'm going to leave and take the kids and you will never see them again.". "You aren't providing for us, why can't you be a real man?!?!".
We can find a thousand examples to heap on each side. History will always back up the pain inflicted on one gender by another, and we, as woman, have suffered and continue to suffer horribly at the hands of many men. It's terrible, it's awful, and it's wrong. If you are being abused, get help. I repeat, get help. This is not okay.
Most marriages, though, aren't like that. There aren't horrible abuses, but there is a laundry list of annoyances, bitterness, and small hurts. We want better from our marriages, from our husbands, for our children.
We have to be willing to make that change too. We can't cheer them on about loving us more, and then make our respect conditional. We have to repent of what we are doing wrong, and work towards being the wives we are called to be, regardless of if they are loving us the way we want yet. It's a goal to work towards together, and we can't hold back our end until they have their end figured out.
Can you imagine how it would feel if that shoe was on the other foot? "I will love you when you are respecting me enough, and not a moment before." That doesn't sit well, does it?
It's hard. Marriage is hard. Life is hard. It's all going to continue to be hard, at least in this life. The best things in life are the things we work the hardest for. Wouldn't you like to at least be working for your marriage to be one of the best things?
Let's be honest, this is a touchy issue. There are histories of abuses against women, or hard handed men, and the newer (relatively speaking) movements of feminism to try to balance things out. He speaks hard about women.
Guess what. Last week he spoke hard about the men.
He told the men they must love their wives, as Christ loved the chuch. A "never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love"(pg 54). It doesn't say to love your wife when she's sweet, or kind, or lovable. It says LOVE HER. And guess who is the referee to say if you are loving her? She is. She decides if you are loving her, cherishing her, always and forever loving her. She decides.
You can hear women all over the world cheering at that.
Oh, but wait. We (as wives) are called to respect our husband. Respect him with our thoughts, with our words, with our actions. Not respect him when he's respectable, when he's what we want, not a respect based on him meeting our expectations. Respect. AND, guess who's the referee to say if we are respecting him? He is. He decides if you are respecting him. He decides.
Where did all that cheering go? Suddenly we aren't as happy.
I know, I know. There are histories of abuse. Guess what - there are histories of abuse of men suffered at the hands of women. Emotional abuse, more often than anything else. The psychological threat of "I'm going to leave and take the kids and you will never see them again.". "You aren't providing for us, why can't you be a real man?!?!".
We can find a thousand examples to heap on each side. History will always back up the pain inflicted on one gender by another, and we, as woman, have suffered and continue to suffer horribly at the hands of many men. It's terrible, it's awful, and it's wrong. If you are being abused, get help. I repeat, get help. This is not okay.
Most marriages, though, aren't like that. There aren't horrible abuses, but there is a laundry list of annoyances, bitterness, and small hurts. We want better from our marriages, from our husbands, for our children.
We have to be willing to make that change too. We can't cheer them on about loving us more, and then make our respect conditional. We have to repent of what we are doing wrong, and work towards being the wives we are called to be, regardless of if they are loving us the way we want yet. It's a goal to work towards together, and we can't hold back our end until they have their end figured out.
Can you imagine how it would feel if that shoe was on the other foot? "I will love you when you are respecting me enough, and not a moment before." That doesn't sit well, does it?
It's hard. Marriage is hard. Life is hard. It's all going to continue to be hard, at least in this life. The best things in life are the things we work the hardest for. Wouldn't you like to at least be working for your marriage to be one of the best things?
How Do You Think about Your Husband? (Mark Driscoll)
This last week our Marriage Course covered Chapter 4 which dealt with women and their roles and responsibilities. Mark was more blunt than I've heard him in the past when dealing with the ladies. The other thing I noticed was that he treated women's issues and personalities much like he has done in the past with the guys, and I've never heard anyone, from any pulpit in the thousands of hours I've listened to from various preachers, put things as bluntly as Mark did. Mark had many great points (or should I say Grace had the great points which Mark simply preached upon).
Here's a clip.
Here's a clip.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
How can we rescue the family? (John MacArthur)
The following article was posted on www.gty.org, the website of Grace To You, John MacArthur's ministry. It is what we at Hill Country strive to encourage in our people. Have a read.
John MacArthur
Soccer,
dance lessons, school activities—involvement options for families today
seem to have no end. But how do all those “family” commitments affect
local church ministry? Is it possible to put too much emphasis on the
family?
Next time you visit your Christian bookstore, notice how many books are available on the family. What you’ll see is graphic evidence of the explosion of evangelicals’ interest in the family. You could say we’re obsessed with the family.
You might think people would be tired of hearing about the family, but that’s not the case. People regularly tell me they wish we would offer more material on the family. My series of messages on The Fulfilled Family is consistently one of the most popular topics on our radio broadcast.
With all the material available to help families, why are so many Christian families in trouble?
May I suggest that our preoccupation may be part of the problem? We have become so engrossed in the family itself that we are losing our perspective on why the family is important to God and where it really fits in His kingdom plan.
I don’t mean this as criticism of any of the valuable ministries that exist to help the family. Many of them fill a much-needed role, articulating biblical principles for family life. I thank God for them.
But not all teaching that claims to be pro-family is genuinely biblical. In fact, some of the popular ideas that have attached themselves to Christian pro-family movements are clearly a threat to the true purpose God designed for families.
It’s amazing how many Christians believe, for example, that the family is always a priority over ministry. I know parents who have bailed out of any form of Christian service, thinking extracurricular church activity is an automatic threat to the sanctity of the home. They have become so absorbed in family activities that they don’t have time to exercise their spiritual gifts. Several people have told me they don’t attend Sunday evening church services because they set that night aside for “family time.”
Those are revealing attitudes. Have we lost our sense of the family’s real mission? Could it be that our infatuation with the family has actually fostered a kind of self-indulgent diffidence toward our spiritual responsibilities?
The family is high on God’s list of priorities. The sheer volume of biblical teaching about family relationships demonstrates that. God wants children to honor their parents (Ex. 20:12), husbands to love their wives (Col. 3:19), wives to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22), and parents to train their children properly (Prov. 22:6). But Scripture never suggests that we should elevate the temporal family at the expense of God’s family. We dare not turn our backs on the kingdom for the sake of our families (Luke 9:61-62).
Christian families are not an end in themselves. They exist to further the work of the kingdom. They do this by being a testimony to the unredeemed and by showing hospitality and service to all, especially those who are of the household of faith (cf. Gal. 6:10).
Too many today see the family as a shelter exclusively for family members, a retreat from the world. They wall themselves in, even from the church. They concentrate on temporal, self-focused, self-gratifying concerns.
Study, for example, the trends in “Christian” family therapy. Today’s counselors seem to major on the externals—having date nights, affirming one another’s dignity, participating in a sport or a hobby together, or better sexual techniques. They make children the center of the family, stressing the importance of stability and privacy, well-organized and exciting family activities, and on and on.
There’s nothing wrong with most of those things—in their proper place. But we have emphasized them to the point of overkill, producing an almost narcissistic perspective. We assume that a mutual obsession with family members’ needs will hold the unit together.
All those things are external props; they will not rescue a falling family. They may even deflect a successful family to the path of failure.
Real help comes when we see that the family exists for a purpose outside itself. Our families are healthy only to the degree that they understand their primary function in this world is not to be fulfilled within themselves. True family solidarity is a by-product of together exalting Christ, obeying His word, and being spiritually vigorous.
The family that knows its spiritual and redemptive purpose does not need external props. It has a supernatural cohesion. Its members have no option but to stay together and build meaningful relationships, not for their own sakes, but because they are compelled by the highest of goals.
Put another way, people who understand that their family’s chief aim is to testify of Christ and His life-changing power have no option to get divorced, commit adultery, abuse one another, or otherwise self-destruct. Do you want to keep your children from rebelling? Begin by teaching them from the earliest age that the family’s most important calling is to exalt the name of Christ in the community by living in obedience to Him.
It is right that we strengthen our families. But let’s not attempt to do it with gimmicks or self-centered efforts. Let’s live not only for each other, but for the Lord. In living for Him, we will end up fulfilling one another. May God give our families a supernatural sense of their purpose, and may we be a testimony for Him in the midst of a hostile world and a needy church.
How Can We Rescue the Family?
Soccer,
dance lessons, school activities—involvement options for families today
seem to have no end. But how do all those “family” commitments affect
local church ministry? Is it possible to put too much emphasis on the
family?Next time you visit your Christian bookstore, notice how many books are available on the family. What you’ll see is graphic evidence of the explosion of evangelicals’ interest in the family. You could say we’re obsessed with the family.
You might think people would be tired of hearing about the family, but that’s not the case. People regularly tell me they wish we would offer more material on the family. My series of messages on The Fulfilled Family is consistently one of the most popular topics on our radio broadcast.
With all the material available to help families, why are so many Christian families in trouble?
May I suggest that our preoccupation may be part of the problem? We have become so engrossed in the family itself that we are losing our perspective on why the family is important to God and where it really fits in His kingdom plan.
I don’t mean this as criticism of any of the valuable ministries that exist to help the family. Many of them fill a much-needed role, articulating biblical principles for family life. I thank God for them.
But not all teaching that claims to be pro-family is genuinely biblical. In fact, some of the popular ideas that have attached themselves to Christian pro-family movements are clearly a threat to the true purpose God designed for families.
It’s amazing how many Christians believe, for example, that the family is always a priority over ministry. I know parents who have bailed out of any form of Christian service, thinking extracurricular church activity is an automatic threat to the sanctity of the home. They have become so absorbed in family activities that they don’t have time to exercise their spiritual gifts. Several people have told me they don’t attend Sunday evening church services because they set that night aside for “family time.”
Those are revealing attitudes. Have we lost our sense of the family’s real mission? Could it be that our infatuation with the family has actually fostered a kind of self-indulgent diffidence toward our spiritual responsibilities?
The family is high on God’s list of priorities. The sheer volume of biblical teaching about family relationships demonstrates that. God wants children to honor their parents (Ex. 20:12), husbands to love their wives (Col. 3:19), wives to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22), and parents to train their children properly (Prov. 22:6). But Scripture never suggests that we should elevate the temporal family at the expense of God’s family. We dare not turn our backs on the kingdom for the sake of our families (Luke 9:61-62).
Christian families are not an end in themselves. They exist to further the work of the kingdom. They do this by being a testimony to the unredeemed and by showing hospitality and service to all, especially those who are of the household of faith (cf. Gal. 6:10).
Too many today see the family as a shelter exclusively for family members, a retreat from the world. They wall themselves in, even from the church. They concentrate on temporal, self-focused, self-gratifying concerns.
Study, for example, the trends in “Christian” family therapy. Today’s counselors seem to major on the externals—having date nights, affirming one another’s dignity, participating in a sport or a hobby together, or better sexual techniques. They make children the center of the family, stressing the importance of stability and privacy, well-organized and exciting family activities, and on and on.
There’s nothing wrong with most of those things—in their proper place. But we have emphasized them to the point of overkill, producing an almost narcissistic perspective. We assume that a mutual obsession with family members’ needs will hold the unit together.
All those things are external props; they will not rescue a falling family. They may even deflect a successful family to the path of failure.
Real help comes when we see that the family exists for a purpose outside itself. Our families are healthy only to the degree that they understand their primary function in this world is not to be fulfilled within themselves. True family solidarity is a by-product of together exalting Christ, obeying His word, and being spiritually vigorous.
The family that knows its spiritual and redemptive purpose does not need external props. It has a supernatural cohesion. Its members have no option but to stay together and build meaningful relationships, not for their own sakes, but because they are compelled by the highest of goals.
Put another way, people who understand that their family’s chief aim is to testify of Christ and His life-changing power have no option to get divorced, commit adultery, abuse one another, or otherwise self-destruct. Do you want to keep your children from rebelling? Begin by teaching them from the earliest age that the family’s most important calling is to exalt the name of Christ in the community by living in obedience to Him.
It is right that we strengthen our families. But let’s not attempt to do it with gimmicks or self-centered efforts. Let’s live not only for each other, but for the Lord. In living for Him, we will end up fulfilling one another. May God give our families a supernatural sense of their purpose, and may we be a testimony for Him in the midst of a hostile world and a needy church.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Go, Your son shall live (John 4:43-54)
Jesus spends two days in Sychar, a Samaritan town where Jesus was welcomed and many came to faith by simply listening to Him. From there, He continues on to His destination of Galilee, back to the town of Cana, where He performed His first miracle. This is where we're introduced to Herod's official from Capernaum who has a son on his death bed.
In desperation he seeks out Jesus to come back to Capernaum with him to heal his son. We see that as Jesus arrives at Cana, He is not received with honor, yet the text tells us He is 'welcomed'. This would be the equivalent of a modern-day rock-star coming home. While all appearances are that everyone loves Him, the reality of the situation is that they are using Him for His popularity, His miracles, or some other selfish reason. We will see this later on as Jesus doesn't become what the people want, and they turn on Him. We also see from chapter 2 "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name ewhen they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus fon his part did not entrust himself to them, because ghe knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for ghe himself knew what was in man.
When we see the desperation of the official, Jesus has some harsh words for not just him, but for all those in Galilee. He uses the plural form of 'you' when saying "You will not believe unless signs and miracles are given." This is in sharp contrast to Samaria. Jesus, in His graciousness and mercy, tells the official that his son will live. The next day as the official arrives back home, he is told his son's fever had broke. When asked, they confirmed that his fever broke the same time that Jesus said that he would live. This miracle allowed the official to believe in Jesus as the savior and we read that his entire family came to faith as well.
This scripture allows us the opportunity to review how we approach our Savior. Do we come to Him with selfish reasons? or do we revere Him? Often we can fall into one of the two ditches, namely if we have reverence only, God is isn't One we can relate and approach easily. If we are too far in the other direction (Jesus is my home-boy), we make Christ just like us (which He is not). There needs to be a line drawn and followed. Question is: How do you approach Jesus?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The Will of God (John 4:27-42)
This week's scripture was from John 4:27-42. This section of text (along with every other section of the Gospel of John) is absolutely full of lessons and truths that could easily overwhelm you. It starts off with the sovereignty of God through His timing with everything. He meets the woman at the well, He has a good conversation with her, and then declares Himself to be Messiah just as His disciples return from getting lunch in Sychar. This of course would have been quite the wake-up call for His disciples as Jews and Samaritans don't have anything to do with one another. On top of this, she was a woman. Rabbi's don't talk to women, especially Samaritan ones. To make matters worse, she was about as popular as a prostitute by the social norms of the day. Yet, there was Jesus, sharing the gospel message with her, and His disciples were able to hear the exchange.
Her next move was to take off into town to share with everyone her testimony (a good indication that she was saved), and even encouraged people to check out this Guy by the well that might be the Messiah. And they do.
Meanwhile, back at the well, His disciples are trying to get Him to eat something, but He declares He's not hungry, for He has food that they are not aware of. They don't get it. This would be the fourth time in this gospel that Jesus speaks on a spiritual level while those that He's speaking to are thinking on a physical level. Jesus says that His food is to do the will of him who sent Him (v. 34). His mission from God was to give eternal life, to save His people (v. 36). How this relates to us is that we too are fed spiritually by doing God's will. This can be summed up in three verses. First, get saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4). Second, be wise and full of the Spirit (Eph. 5:17-18). Finally, be sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3). We get ourselves into all kinds of trouble when we try to figure out God's private will. To quote R.C. Sproul: Many Christians become preoccupied or even obsessed with finding the "will" of God for their lives. If the will we are seeking is His secret, hidden, or decretive will, then our quest is a fool's errand. The secret counsel of God is His secret. He has not been pleased to make it known to us. Far from being a mark of spirituality,the quest for God's secret will is an unwarranted invasion of God's privacy. God's secret counsel is none of our business. This is partly why the Bible takes such a negative view of fortune-telling, necromancy, and other forms of prohibited practices.
We
would be wise to follow the counsel of John Calvin when he said, "When God
closes His holy mouth, I will desist from inquiry." The true mark of
spirituality is seen in those seeking to know the will of God that is revealed
in His preceptive will. It is the godly person who meditates on God's law day
and night. While we seek to be "led" by the Holy Spirit, it is vital
to remember that the Holy Spirit is primarily leading us into righteousness. We
are called to live our lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
It is His revealed will that is our business, indeed, the chief business of our
lives.
Jesus then talks about missions, pointing to the harvest, namely, the Samaritans that were on their way to see Him. Missions will and should be a celebration by those that sow and reap. The sower in today's evangelism is largely ignored as most of the accolades goes to the "reapers" in the loaded question "How many people have you lead to Christ?" Both sower and reaper will rejoice in the harvest.
Many Samaritans believed in Jesus during that two day visit, and understood the truth that He is the Savior of the world.
Thanks be to God.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Essence of Masculinity Is Taking Responsibility
Our marriage course begins tomorrow night, and we're very excited. Our course is full, but if any others would like to join us, I'm sure we'd find you the room. Here's a clip from session #3.
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