Gospel Living

Some parents have found the following books fruitful according to one resource , and I'm copying and pasting it here for your own families: The American Girl Library.  The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls.  American Girl Publishing Inc., 1998.  ISBN: 978-1562476663. This guide answers all the questions growing girls have about their bodies—from hair care to healthy eating, bad breath to bra buying, pimples to periods. It offers guidance about basic hygiene and health without addressing issues of sexuality. Comment:   “While it's not a perfect book, we found it to be very helpful. I remember looking at it the first time and thinking, "Oh dear....no, no, no...." because of some cartoon illustrations in there having to do with certain and very specific information and "how-tos" regarding a young girl's physical development as well as beginning her monthly cycle. To make a long story short, I ca...

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.   (1 Cor 6:9-11) Scripture provides hope to the thousands of former homosexuals, for they, like the rest of us sinners, have found undeserved freedom and forgiveness in Christ.  God's glorious gospel provides the light that burns away the darkness in our hearts (2 Cor 4:3-6). Unfortunately, the god of this world loves to deceive people, trying to keep them in darkness.  He fools them into embracing a Romans 1:18-32 mentality, prompting many to become entrenched in their dark deeds and, in turn, promise to ot...

Would people still create false altars like they did in the Old Testament?  Would they seek experiences outside of Scripture?  Yep and yep.

This makes me miss marching band.  From the YouTube description: You have to see this halftime performance of The Ohio State University Marching Band on 10/6/12 against Nebraska. The theme was Video games and it included parts from Zelda, Halo, Pokemon, Tetris, and others. 

Praising God using worldly songs may be an obvious sign of unhealthy church leadership.  Adopting secular concepts of leadership would be another.  However, many churches today would rather have an MBA than an M.Div. as their pastor. In 2006, Christianity Today sat down with pastor Andy Stanley to discuss his philosophy of leadership.  In the award-winning interview (!), he advocates a corporate, “get-it-done” approach to leadership in Christ’s church. The interview begins with a clear admission on Stanley’s part: “ There's nothing distinctly spiritual [about my church’s leadership].”  He continues, One of the criticisms I get is "Your church is so corporate." I read blogs all the time. Bloggers complain, "The pastor's like a CEO." And I say, "OK, you're right. Now, why is that a bad model?" A principle is a principle, and God created all the principles. That’s quite a leap, but he continues by throwing out a distinctly biblical appro...

Today, we witness irony.  Following the day America remembers a civil rights hero, our nation's first black president celebrates 40 years of legal murder of minorities .  Indeed, the most dangerous place in the world is in an African American womb . As the American culture struggles to understand the impact of 55 million terminated lives, both encouraging and discouraging stories fill the Net.  On the encouraging end, it appears that advances in imaging technology provides the needed evidence to sway public opinion.  On the other hand, only Evangelical Christians seem concerned with the issue. Here's a small collection of writing on the net, in no particular order: "Lately dead" by Daniel James Devine World Magazine "The Abortion Memorial" by Jesse Johnson Cripplegate blog "Mother against child" by Janie B. Cheaney World Magazine "Parallels between abortion and the Holocaust, Part 1" by Marty Duren Kingdom in the Midst blog ...

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.  (Ephesians 5:15-21) When Paul addresses the Ephesians, he calls them to a sober-minded approach to their Christian walk.  They must consider whether they are walking in love, and that includes examining their speech and behavior toward others.  In Chapter 4, he ties this to unity in the church, and later in this chapter he'll tie it to believers  submission to one another. In the midst of that discussion, Paul says, ...

I hope your church has more sense than this: (HT: Appraising Ministries ) In the song this "pastor" plays, a Korean comedian praises the pleasures of the Gangnam District of Seoul, South Korea, not the Lord .  (In case you are not among the 1.2 b illion views of the video on YouTube, head over and watch the silliness  - not for young eyes). I'm sorry, but playing such a worldly song while quoting Bible verses does not make it Christian, nor does it make it into acceptable worship of the Holy and Living God.  One YouTube user  aptly drew a parallel between this kind of behavior and the way the priests of Israel brought in worldly worship into the temple: That's sad, day after day the world goes deeper into the church  "Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed between the unclean and the clean" Ezekiel 22:26a  "Destru...

Steven Crowder gives the skinny on the maui wauie:

Whether you shelter your kids through homeschooling or some prestigious Christian academy, or allow them the ups and downs of a government institution, your children will sooner or later face tough questions about their faith.  Praise God for such times: Lord willing, and if you've prepared them for it, these times solidify your kids' faith. How do we do that, though?  D. A. Carson answered this question in Ligonier's Tabletalk mag, and you can read it on Justin Taylor's blog . Once again, we are reminded of the importance of allowing the gospel to affect the whole person, transforming our home life as well as our conversations with our children.

This was a message to the adult Sunday School class at Old Plank Road Baptist Church, Jacksonville FL, on December 30, 2012.  Thank you once again for having us come and fellowship with you! e are having a wonderful time back in Jacksonville.  We’ve lived in California since 2005, and, of course, our Florida family is the one thing that we miss the most.  I was asked recently to sum up my time out there in lessons learned.  The main thing I’ve gleaned   from the professors and pastors at the Master’s College and Seminary is a deeper reverence for God’s Word.  That sounds strange, because I went out there in part because I already had a love for Scripture and wanted to learn more.  Even so, I know now that I was not truly and fully explaining God’s Word to people when I taught. Understand, teachers of God's Word can love the Bible but not reflect that love when it comes to some of their interpretations.  For instance, perhaps...

DefCon has an excellent post to help you consider the importance of your own pastor's work: Do You Follow a Celebrity Pastor?

(Repost from 3 March, 2010) Um, no intro is fitting to this... video. Just watch it: I have no idea what the source of this video was. It looks like a parody at first glance, but hey, I know firsthand the kind of cheese Christians produce in the name of Christ. "Star Tracts" could well be something from the depths of the Charismatic wing of evangelicalism. Why the Charismatic, you ask? I have many videos that are of the same vein, my friends. (*shudder*) As a nerd as well as a Christian, I find this offensive on many levels. So, here are some thoughts in the order that they entered in my head.  While I know a lot of this was intended to be tongue-in-cheek... Inexplicably, the Enterprise has been turned into a flying shark. So, insert jumping shark joke here. There has been an apparent tear in the fabric of the time-space continuum, which the only explanation of the multiple-generation mixture of uniforms.  They did that after investing time in a decent ...

Little did they know, the cupcakes were the triggers to surface his repressed memories of horrors past. HT  SeniorGif

Visit the website if you or your pastor would be interested: http://www.shepherdsconference.org/

In case you didn't hear, the media was abuzz with the Mars rover's "earthshaking" discovery in December.  You may not have heard because the story fizzled shortly thereafter.  What happened?   Spike Parris , former US military space engineer, explained in his recent newsletter: An “Earthshaking” Discovery on Mars From the here-we-go-again department A NASA scientist recently announced a major, “earthshaking” discovery on Mars. According to an interview with John Grotzinger, the principal investigator for NASA’s current Mars rover mission, the rover had analyzed some Martian soil. And it had made an “earthshaking” discovery. Grotzinger even said “this data is [sic] gonna be one for the history books. It’s looking really good.”  James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said there were “unprecedented measurements of solid material samples with incredible implications about Mars ” (emphasis added). The media were a...