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A Spectacular Something
The annual resolutions review is good. And humbling. And heartening. And yes, both at the same time.
My two 2009 resolutions were very much related to two teaching series that occupied my mind: a verse by verse study through Genesis and a retreat on Repentance.
Articulate something six days a week. This resolution was spectacular, a spectacular fail. It was my “most specific resolution ever,” and though the wheels rolled, they never left the ground.
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Thick Gratitude
Every Christian in clay pot ministry1 should desire God’s glory above all else. According to Paul, abounding glory for God comes from abounding thanksgiving from men, and abounding thanksgiving from men comes from abounding grace poured out as pots endure affliction for men’s sake. But not only is God glorified when bumped pots slosh gospel grace onto others, He is also honored when the pots themselves express gospel gratitude.
We must be examples of abounding thankfulness.
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Pray for Your Elders
Pray for Your Elders ➔ You see: what if all those lousy elders out there had an army of people like you praying for them daily, crying out to heaven, “God: you have him/them to this church full of your people, and now you have to either give him the gifts to lead them and the love to lead them and the power in your Spirit to lead them, or you need to convict him to move on.
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Not an Automatic Friend
In this world, time is not an automatic friend…. Time deepens wisdom, but it also hardens folly. Time is given so that we might have time to repent, but it also given so that we might be without excuse. Time allows the grain to ripen, and it allows the weeds to grow. Time allows the meat to roast in the oven, and is also what causes it to burn.
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Ten Questions
Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year ➔ The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.
What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
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Stonified in a Toga
When tall, stonified Susan Bone in a toga says to do something, you do it.
—In a chat with @hobbsandbean, 2009-12-29 04:17 PM
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In Honor of Tethered Preaching
In Honor of Tethered Preaching ➔ The Bible-oriented preacher wants the congregation to know that his words, if they have any abiding worth, are in accord with God’s words. He wants this to be obvious to them. That is part of his humility and his authority. Therefore, he constantly tries to show the people that his ideas are coming from the Bible. He is hesitant to go too far toward points that are not demonstrable from the Bible.
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Something Has to Die
Something Has to Die ➔ When we are not getting along with others, the pressing temptation is always to believe that you are just as you have always been, and that they have somehow changed. This is often not true at all, but even if it were true, that does not put you in the right. Perhaps they have changed in that they have decided to stop putting up with your rudeness.
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His Blood is Bibline
He had studied our Authorized Version … till his whole being was saturated with Scripture; and though his writings … continually make us feel and say, ‘Why, this man is a living Bible!’ Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak with out quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God.
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Seeing Sin for What It Is
Series | Repentance
Augustine had a powerful and profound impact because he accurately identified the real problem, in his own heart and in the church. He knew the problem wasn’t low self-esteem or bad parents; the problem was sin. He also accurately understood the remedy to the problem was not more of the world, but more of God. He saw sin, not only as an offense to God, but as an obstacle between he and God.
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Industrial Grade Sandpaper
[L]iving in believing community is one of the central instruments that a loving God has given to us to prepare us for that great day. Living among fellow sinners, learning how to deal with it properly, is the principal form of industrial grade sandpaper that the Holy Spirit uses on us. But many pietists, including many educational perfectionists, withdraw from that treatment, shrinking from it, and all in the name of maintaining their smooth surfaces.
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A Long Way to the Top
The original. I don’t know why I love it so. Not the band. Not the bagpipes. Not the subject. But it works for me.
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Hard Fathers, Soft Sons
The father who has a son like this—a son who shames him—must do more than just experience the shame. He must own it. That means that he needs to see how he contributed to the creation of something that appears to be very much unlike him. But this is just a surface appearance. All these years, the father was being hard, not because this was the way he had to be in order to serve his family.
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Cross References and Context
Cross-references may be the most abused practice in Bible study.1 Sure, some are helpful. When a New Testament author quotes an Old Testament passage, it’s convenient to know the reference apart from reading all 37 books to find it. Likewise, when the same event is described in multiple places, sometimes those additional perspectives increase understanding.
However, not all cross-references are created equal. Just because a similar phrase or idea is found in two or more places does not necessarily mean that both places are related.
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Does the Shoe Fit
Does the Shoe Fit? ➔ Article by David Powlison on how responses to criticism reveal who we are.
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Voltron
I can’t really explain how I got from Sproul to Voltron but, man, did I love this cartoon as a kid.
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Church Conversation
SKH: You’re doing a great job (sitting still).
SKH: I really like cuddling with you, too.
Calvin: Yeah. Some guys don’t have a lot of hair. Why some guys don’t have a lot of hair?
—sitting in church last Sunday night with Calvin on my lap
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Equipped by the Word
The “man of God”…does not give fresh revelation himself, but rather is the man who has the compilation of that completed revelation in his hands. While he is not a prophet himself, he is the heir of the prophets. In other words, he is not limited by the cessation of the prophetic gift because, as it says here, he is “competent” or equipped for every good work. There is no task the minister will be called upon to perform that he is not equipped to perform through the Scriptures.
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What Comes Naturally
Granted, this comic is funny now, as a Christian parent. It would not be funny if I was 16 (per the comments here).
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Ox and Ass at Christ's Manger
Ox and Ass at Christ’s Manger ➔
The reason the ox and the ass are prominent in manger scenes is because of early Christian interpretation of Isaiah 1, and a theology of the way God in Christ overcame human rebellion through the incarnation.
We tend to hear a much squishier idea of God’s goodwill toward men at this time of year, one that ignores sin, rebellion, wrath, and a host of biblical truths that form the dark background against which Christmas joy makes sense: “In wrath remember mercy,” as Habbakuk says.
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fan•tod
noun – [fan-tod]
definition: usually, fantods. a state or attack of uneasiness or unreasonableness, extreme nervousness or restlessness.
synonyms: the willies; the fidgets
example usage:
In my previous post on this, I got a little into the theological weirdness that is pervasive in this Twilight business. This time, I would like to explain why this whole phenomenon gives me the pastoral fantods.
Doug Wilson, Twilight Review #6