Tech
Right now I’m reading a brand new book called God, Technology, and the Christian Life by my main man Tony Reinke. I gotta say, I’m vibing. Let’s be honest. It’s a pretty dope time to be alive. Technology is amazing, and we can use it to promote God’s glory. I mean, here we are, blogging. It’s all pretty astounding if you ask me.
Like every good thing, modern tech comes with its dangers and snares. It’s a matter of stewardship for mature believers to excel in. In all our tech endeavors, let us focus on the true, the beautiful, and the good, and let us do good to everyone, especially to the household of faith all up in the digi-space.
The Psalms Got Something to Say
What do you do when you feel helpless? Where do you go for help when you feel discouraged, or weak, or angry? This is the whole issue of worship and idolatry in a nutshell, and the Psalms got something to say about that.
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2
When you’re feeling out of sorts, don’t look to yourself. Don’t look to your successes. Don’t look to your possessions. Don’t look to your enjoyments. Look outside yourself. Look up. Look to God! This is our great act of worship, to look to our Maker for help. He helps his creatures, not the other way around.. It is our happy duty to seek refuge in our loving Creator at all times.
Do not attempt today without looking up to God.
Chin Up, Christian
Discouragement is a normal part of the Christian life. Truly the heavenly Way is not without its thorns and thistles. Consider the international symbol for discouragement: when we feel discouraged our faces fall and droop towards the ground. Sadly we all know what it’s like. But I’m going to give you something helpful to use the next time you feel this way. It’s from one of David’s psalms:
But you, O Lord, are…the lifter of my head. (Psalm 3:3)
Discouragement is part of God’s plan for us. He lets us go through it for many reasons, but one of them is clear from this verse: to teach us about everything he is for us in Christ. The Christian life is not about figuring it all out and reaching a certain level where we are never downcast again. Every step along your path to glory is designed by your amazing God to teach you to trust him more, including your discouragements. The Almighty is the One who tenderly lifts your chin, so that you may behold him again and rejoice. Look to him now with the eyes of faith.
Chin up, Christian!
In Sanity
King Nebuchadnezzar went insane. Everything he spake did not have logic. God humbled the ruler of the world and made him eat grass. You’ve heard of the Daniel Diet, but what about the Nebuchadnezzar Diet? In a word, he got rekt. It was a complete undoing from the inside out. You can read all about it in Daniel 4.
Your sanity—your ability to think and reason and interact with reality—is a gift from God. It is a sparkling jewel that sets you apart from the animal kingdom. Your reason is a platform that has been given to you on which to know the Creator who lives forever. A mighty gift! Use your intellect today to seek God in his word, to rest in the finished work of his Son, and to praise and worship him who is real. Isn’t that what sanity is all about?
What is the Reformed Doctrine of Holidays?
Tis the season. Holidays are approaching in rapid succession. Families shall gather and celebrations will ensue. But I’m sure in the midst of it all there’s one nagging question driving you mad: What is the Reformed doctrine of holidays? Not to worry! We are here to help.
The short answer is that the Reformed tradition has all the holidays. 52 to be exact. That’s right, every Sunday. God blessed the people of Israel with many feast days in which to enjoy his good gifts; he has blessed his church with feasting days of plenty, one in every seven!
So as you gather with your family and friends over the next several weeks to eat and enjoy, let it be a reminder that, in Christ, you have this to look forward to every single week. For the Lord’s Day is the perfect day to gather with family and friends to feast and fellowship.
Keep It Simple Not Simp
According to manofmany.com, “Put simply, a simp is: Someone who tries way too hard to impress the person they like, often going above and beyond to satisfy their every need.” In one of life’s many glorious ironies, simping typically produces the opposite of its intended effect. You know what they say, Simpin ain’t easy.
The prophet (or wizard, according to at least one preacher) Daniel was, metaphorically speaking, no simp. He found himself in the courts of the single most powerful king on the planet and did not change who he was to impress him. Instead, he kept things simple: he stuck to his simple faith and to God’s simple laws and let the chips fall where they may. And what was the result? A simp’s dream: respect and honor.
BELOVED, IN MATTERS OF FAITH KEEP IT SIMPLE NOT SIMP.
What is the Value of A Sermon Series?
We are about to do something at our church that hasn’t been done in an age. That’s right, we are starting a sermon series (through Daniel!). Today we shall consider three advantages of preaching through a book of the Bible.
A series allows a Deeper focus.
Digging into one book of the Bible can be an exciting and catalyzing force upon the congregation. The Bible is absolutely inexhaustible and a sermon series gives God’s people a chance to see anew just how deep the Scriptures are. It also encourages ready attendance since who would want to miss out on the Lord’s Day dig?
A series teaches hermeneutics.
Hermeneutics is just a fancy word that means the way we interpret the Bible. A preacher should show his method of interpretation in every sermon, but the preacher’s technique of getting at the truth of the text will show itself more clearly in a series. This will equip Christians to understand the text more deeply and to read their own Bibles more better.
A series forces us to face uncomfortable texts.
This is one of the classic defenses for verse-by-verse preaching through books of the Bible. It’s true within reason, for the preacher retains the liberty to choose which book he takes up in the first place. But once locked into a biblical book, the preacher will be forced to deal with its difficult passages as well as the easy ones. This helps showcase the full-orb of biblical truth to God’s people.
3 Prayers for your Church
If you are blessed to be part of a local church, you know that the fellowship is made up of believers who are weak, just like you. One of the reasons our Lord Jesus has called us together into local church communities is so that we can pray for and encourage one another. Here are three prayers to pray for your local church.
Pray for humility
Pride was the original sin (1 Tim 3:6). It drove a special angel to leave his heavenly abode, rise up against his Maker, and become the devil. It is the essence of sin, to exalt oneself against God. And now it still rules over other sins and drives them. True gospel humility is the antidote for pride, so let’s pray for God’s blessing upon us.
Pray for faith
It is not enough to be convicted for our sins before God. In fact, all mankind lives with some level of conviction. The great difference maker is faith, and we need lots of it. Faith (trusting God!) is a gift that allows us to rest in the finished work of Christ with joy and contentment. It also empowers us to press forward against sin, temptation, and trials of various kinds. Let’s pray for each other’s faith today.
Pray for unity
The genius of the church is that we are many parts working together. What binds us together is our unity in Christ: our common faith, our common destiny, and our common status as born again persons. A thousand things threaten the unity of our local churches, but Christ holds us together. Let’s ask him to unify us more than ever.
What is the Reformed Doctrine of Mercy Ministry?
The mission statement of our church is “bringing classic Christianity to modern people with simplicity and excellence.” Our faith is old, and we want people to feel that. Christianity has withstood the test of time upon its sturdy foundations which are both ancient and ever-fresh. So no matter when it is in her glorious history, even hundreds of years in the future, the church is always of the same living truth, the same Christian stuff. And one of the main ingredients in the stuff of God’s people is mercy ministry.
Mercy ministry pays attention to the physical needs of people and seeks to meet them in the name of Christ. The early church was exemplary in this: “There was not a needy person among them” (Acts 4:34). Wow. They felt the pains and pinches of others because that’s what God’s children do. We are like our Father who is full of compassion and mercy. He calls us to bring out good things from the treasury box of his Son and give them freely to people in need—especially those believers in our local church community— transforming even simple gifts into tokens of heavenly grace. And it doesn’t get any more Reformed than that.
Where is the Bible?
“Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.“ Psalm 119:89
If you be so fortunate as to own a Bible, you are the envy of a great many people in ages gone by. You own your very own copy of the Holy Scriptures! You have the Bible. But so do other people. It leads one to ask, Where do all these Bibles come from? Where is the Bible stored anyway?
The psalmist tells us that the Bible lies beyond the reach of man’s destroying arm. The Bible is stored off-world, on God’s cloud. This makes sense since the Bible is a uniquely spiritual creation. It’s a heavenly Matrix, a portal to another Realm. It is God’s tesseract which allows earthlings to peer into the heavenly dimensions. It is truly extraterrestrial and wonderful.
Our physical Bibles have been handed down to us through the blood, sweat, and tears of many saints. But your Bible could be destroyed; the ink that forms the words could be blotted away or melted. Pages can be torn out and lost. Even the Bible on your phone can be deleted. If all those things happened to every Bible in the world (and on the World Wide Web!), would God’s word be gone? Of course not, for its truth is firmly fixed in the heavens forever. But God will preserve his word on earth until his Son returns on the clouds to reign.