Some good reads here, happy clicking

Follow the Money

A few months ago I heard a genuinely shocking statement at a leadership conference for pastors. The individual was saying that he wanted people in his community to think of his church before any others in the local area, and said quite matter-of-factly, “I’m after market share. And I don’t apologise for that.” I have no idea whether anyone else in the room was troubled by it (though I hope so); I certainly was, and it has come back to trouble me on and off ever since. What sort of pastors (or churches) are we, when someone can use the language of market-based competition to describe partnership in the gospel, and think nothing of it?

Is It Sinful to Want to Die?

Is it sinful to desire death as an escape from the pain of this world and as an escape from the pain caused by our own sinfulness?

Three Life Lessons Learned from Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot’s life was one that displayed one of the greatest acts of forgiveness. Two years after her husband was brutally murdered, she went to live with the tribe that had speared her husband.

10 Distinctives of Biblical Counseling

People often ask me how biblical counseling differs from other approaches to soul care.

Yesterday I started reading the book of Nehemiah as part of my daily reading. I love reading Nehemiah, the book is full of drama, conflicts, and how various people in leadership positions handle the various situations they find themselves in.

At this point in history when the book of Nehemiah is written, the people of Israel have been in exile for quite some time, many taken from their homeland by Babylon originally , but then the Persians came along and have now overcome Babylon and are the new power on the block.

As I read Nehemiah yesterday there were 7 leadership characteristics which I couldn’t help but notice in the life Nehemiah.

1. Leaders Have Genuine Concern

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. – Nehemiah 1:1-2

Years have passed since the Babylonian exile, years have passed since Persia has taken over, yet when Nehemiah sees Hannai, a fellow countryman, what is his question? How are our people doing who survived the exile in Jerusalem?

Leaders rise above their current circumstances and show genuine concern for people.

2. Leaders Care

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. – Nehemiah 1:3-4

When Nehemiah heard the news from Hannai, it crushed him. He could not go on with his day as normal, he was mourning and weeping for his people.

His concern was birthed out the fact that leaders care.

3. Leaders Concern and Care Drives Them To Pray

Nehemiah could have done many things in response to the news of his country and people. But Nehemiah’s first leadership response was to fast and pray.

Wow!

A few things to notice here, Nehemiah’s concern and care for his nation and countrymen drove him to fast and pray out of love for them.

Nehemiah also recognized, we may be governed by Persia but the Lord is the one who is really in control. Which is why his first leadership act was to go to the one who holds everything in his hands.

As Leaders, we need to learn from Nehemiah, many times leaders are driven to act in response to various situations, when our first act should be to pray.

4. Leaders Know and Are Dependent on God

And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, – Nehemiah 1:5

One thing we know about Nehemiah is that he knew the God he served. He knew he was Sovereign over all, which is why he calls God The Lord God of the heaven.

Nehemiah also knew that even though the nation of Israel was being judged by God, he still banked on the promise of God’s love for them.

As leaders we need to be dependent on a Sovereign God who loves his people and works all things for the good to those who love Him, even when circumstances look bleak, God is still in control.

5. Leaders Identify With Those They Lead

6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. – Nehemiah 1:6-7

I have seen at times when it is an us/them divide between leaders and the people they lead.

Judgement came upon Israel because of their unfaithfulness to God and his laws by the generations who came before Nehemiah. Yet in Nehemiah’s prayer it isn’t an us/them dichotomy it is WE. Nehemiah identifies with the generations who have been unfaithful.

6. Leaders Must Lead With Humility

Nehemiah’s prayer reflects a level of humility we should desire. He didn’t think of himself better than the people of Israel, but identified with them.

He recognized he was just like them.

7. Leaders Know God’s Word

Read Nehemiah’s Prayer, do you recognize what he is doing?

He is praying the Word of God back to God. Which means Nehemiah knew the Word of God.

Until Next Time

Solo Deo Gloria

Hope you enjoy these links, much to read so little time.

Were the First Christians Socialists?

Despite the initial plausibility of a socialist reading of Acts, there are at least two realities that make the sharing in the early church very different from socialism and especially communism.

Babies Are Not Tech

You might, reasonably, ask what the differences between dial-up Internet and the iPhone have to do with babies. But, increasingly, babies are thought of as themselves aspects of technology. And that’s not good news.

The Feel-Good Gospel How We Use God for Comfort

God has much to say to the anxious, the depressed, the angry, the grieving, the confused, the despondent, to all the discontent who will trust him. But God’s revelation isn’t primarily about meeting these ailments. Jesus did not come into the world to first save us from our sadness — but our sin. Yet that is not what the new prosperity gospel of emotional health, wealth, and happiness teaches. We may shake our heads at messages about Jesus bringing believers mansions and Mercedes, all the while subtly believing that Jesus’s primary mission entailed giving us our best (emotional) lives now.

Check Your Digital Self-Image

Our digital photos and selfies only amplify this self-projection. According to global stats, we now take more than one trillion digital pictures per year. We become actors before our own phones and the phones of our friends. We modify our self and filter our appearance. And then we become spectators of ourselves, because “each selfie is a performance of a person as they hope to be seen by others.”

Worship Is Not a Reflection of How You Feel

Many of us go to church thinking about how we feel. But worshipping is not a reflection of how we feel; it’s a reflection of what we know to be true and what God has promised in his Word. It’s a declaration of what God is worthy of.

My wife and I had the opportunity to serve our church for Mother’s Day yesterday. We were able to prepare a Mother’s Day luncheon for the Mothers and their families to enjoy.

Here is a glimpse of the pork roast we made,

The work that goes into prepping, cooking and serving a meal is exhausting. But with the help of some of the young adults in the church, we were able to serve our church family lunch on Mother’s Day and allow many of the Mothers to sit back, be served and enjoy a meal.

After all was eaten, cleaned and stored up, it was time for a long Sunday afternoon nap!

But as I was contemplating on yesterday’s events, I took joy in the pleasure of serving my church, no matter how tired and ready for a nap I was when it was over.

As I sat and reflected on serving this morning I was reminded of these truths from Scripture.

1. We all are given gifts, talents and treasures by our Creator, who has fashioned and created us so we can use those gifts, talents and treasures to serve one another, by doing so we become good managers of what God has given us.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. – Galatians 6:10

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4

4. Finally, when we serve one another, we are becoming like Jesus who was God yet became a man, a servant, to serve and die for us. When we serve one another we are thinking like Jesus.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:5-8

Until Next Time

Solo Deo Gloria

Hope you had a great Sunday.

Basic Instincts, Changing Habits

And we need to tell a better story about sex, one that demonstrates to those caught in Tinder and porn secularism that godly life is more satisfying than genital life. 

Mature Joy Will Free You from Fear

The One Thing I Tell Moms of Wayward Children

Wandering young adults, more than anything else, need moms like Monica, who will drench the ground with tears on their behalf. They need moms who will let them wander, believing—as Evelyn Waugh wrote in Brideshead Revisited—that God has already caught them with an “unseen hook and an invisible line which is long enough to let them wander to the end of the world and still to bring him back with a twitch upon the thread.” I believe that behind many of the lives I’ve seen transformed in my years of young-adult ministry are moms who refused to quit praying even when it felt hopeless, pleading with the same kind of adrenaline-filled intensity of moms who have been to known to lift cars to save their kids.

I Don’t Have Time to be in God’s Word.

It’s so easy to believe this lie: “I don’t have time to be in God’s Word.”

And if you’re imagining yourself spending multiple hours of quiet time every day in deep study of the Word, then maybe you’re right—perhaps you don’t have either the mental energy or time for that at this point.

But if you find yourself in a season of life where you feel like you don’t have any time to spend in God’s Word, here are three truths I urge you to consider: 

Why Did God Command Hosea to Marry an Immoral Woman?

The prophecy of Hosea is probably best known for the scandal of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer. So the question is straightforward: Why did God command his prophet to marry an immoral woman?

Below is a clip from Ray Ortlund from Immanuel Nashville.

t.co/BgI0kPPce9

Here is the full sermon, worth the listen.

Have a Blessed Friday!

Some good reading today

How to Respond When Church Leaders Fall

How ought we respond when we hear that a Christian has fallen into scandalous sin? What effect should the fall of a Christian pastor have on us? 

THE SURPRISING ENEMY OF THE MODERN CHURCH: DISTRACTION

The rise of media saturation, targeting every moment of our lives, has ushered in a new age of competition with the gospel for the human gaze.

What the Bible Says About Itself—Book by Book

What God says about his Word is a deep, complex, and staggering thing. And each book of the written Word testifies to the wonder of his revelation. I decided to take a look, book by book, selecting a representative passage from each to highlight many of the things God’s word says about God’s words.

Don’t Look Now: Taking Control of Your Eyes

 “Attention leads to adoration,” says Jon Tyson. “What you look at, you long for and love.” In other words, show me what you’re looking at, and I’ll show you what you love. 

True Repentance Is More Than Just Words

To be repentant means to not just be sorry about sin, but also to be committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep from falling back into it.