Monday, November 21, 2016

3 Parenting Myths...and the Truths We Need to Displace Them

Author and popular blogger Tim Challies summarizes some important parenting wisdom from Chap Bettis HERE. Here's the nutshell:

  • Myth #1: RESULTS GUARANTEED. The perfect environment will guarantee that my children follow the Lord. 
  • Truth #1: You cannot control your children. … Our goal is not ‘successful’ parenting per se, but faithful parenting.”
  • Myth #2: MY KIDS ARE MY LIFE. The ultimate goal of my Christian life is to have my children follow the Lord.
  • Truth #2: You should not make an idol out of having perfect Christian children. … “As my children realize that I love Jesus more than them, they will realize their place in the order of the universe.”
  • Myth #3: IT’S ALL UP TO ME.
  • Truth #3: You cannot do this alone. … "The best thing you can do for your child’s soul is to become actively involved in a gospel-preaching, gospel-living church community.”

By the way, Chap Bettis is a friend of the Chapmans. They think very highly of him. He's lived these principles out in his own home and in the church he pastored for many years. You can get his book (that Tim Challies summarized) by going here.


Friday, November 18, 2016

Food for Thought Friday

This collection of juicy quotes comes from a recent post by Russell Moore entitled, "7 Books That Changed My Life." Yes, indeed. There's some life-changing truth here. Read on, chew, and be changed.


J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism
“The truly penitent man longs to wipe out the effects of sin, not merely to forget sin. But who can wipe out the effects of sin? Others are suffering because of our past sins; and we can attain no real peace until we suffer in their stead. We long to go back into the tangle of our life, and make right the things that are wrong—or at least to suffer where we have caused others to suffer.”

Frederick Buechner, A Room Called Remember
“The decisions you think are the most important turn out not to matter so much after all,” he wrote, “But whether or not you mail the letter, the way you say goodbye or decide not to say it, the afternoon you cancel everything and drive out to the beach to watch the tide come in—these are to be the moments when souls are won or lost, including quite possibly your own.”
“By faith we are to understand if we are to understand it at all, that the madness and lostness we see all around us and within us are not the last truth about the world but only the next to the last truth.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.”
“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state and never its tool.”

Walker Percy, Signposts in a Strange Land
“Just because Jimmy Swaggart believes in God doesn’t mean that God doesn’t exist.”
“The good news is that in becoming the minority in all countries, a remnant, the Church also becomes a world church in the true sense, bound to no culture, not even to the West of the old Christendom, by no means triumphant but rather a pilgrim church witnessing to a world in travail and yet a world to which it will appear ever stranger and more outlandish.”

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Ernie Johnson's Post Election Thoughts

I really like (and respect) this guy:



And in case you missed it, here's more reason to like (and respect) this guy.

HT: JT

Isaiah: Seeing the Forest After the Trees

We just finished our "God Saves" series on the book of Isaiah last Sunday. It took us 53 weeks worth of Sundays to study our way through it. Isaiah is obviously a big book and it's easy to lose the forest for the trees.

The Bible Project videos are great for gaining a clear "forest view" of a book of the Bible. Here are their two Isaiah videos. They're a great introduction, but also a great recap on the heels of our study.




Wednesday, November 16, 2016

2016 IDOP Video

Each year, a video is produced for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We showed this year's video last Wednesday night, so you may not have seen it. I encourage you to watch it. It's very sobering, and a powerful testimony of costly, Christlike love.


Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Something You Can Count On

Lamentations 3:21-26
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Song Recommendation: "How Long?" by Sojourn Music

On the heels of Sunday's message, Pastor Tyler brought the song "How Long?" (Sojourn Music) to my attention.

You can listen to it here.

You can catch the lyrics here (YouTube lyrics video).

"How Long?" is on Sojourn's Over The Grave album. Same album that contains "Living Faith," the theme song for our study through the book of James in 2014.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016