Here’s a column by Al Mohler on September 30’s being the first “International Blasphemy Day,” sponsored by the Center for Inquiry International. Interesting it should come up this week. Just last Sunday morning we studied Matthew 26:57-68, where Caiaphas takes Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah as blasphemy. Dr. Mohler also suggests some ways Christians should respond to this event. Number one? Take no offense.
(posted 9/28/09)
A quotation from David Powlison’s Seeing with New Eyes (p. 161):
“The Christian life is a great paradox. Those who die to self, find self. Those who die to their cravings will receive many times as much in this age, and, in the age to come, eternal life (Luke 18:29). They will find new passions worth living for and dying for. If I crave happiness, I will receive misery. If I crave to be loved, I will receive rejection. If I crave significance, I will receive futility. If I crave control, I will receive chaos. If I crave reputation, I will receive humiliation. But if I long for God and his wisdom and mercy, I will receive God and wisdom and mercy. Along the way, sooner or later, I will also receive happiness, love, meaning, order, and glory.”
(posted 9/23/09)
A quotation from John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life:
“God created me–and you–to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion–namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. Enjoying and displaying are both crucial. If we try to display the excellence of God without joy in it, we will display a shell of hypocrisy and create scorn or legalism. But if we claim to enjoy his excellence and do not display it for others to see and admire, we deceive ourselves, because the mark of God-enthralled joy is to overflow and expand by extending itself into the hearts of others. The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.
(posted 9/5/09)
The Women in the Church (WIC) ministry held its kickoff event last night, and I had an enjoyable time last night as the token male. Stephanie had invited me to speak about the book they would be using in the two Bible studies: Jerry Bridges’ The Disciplines of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness. Stephanie spoke on the ministry of WIC and its theme for this year, 1 Corinthians 12:27: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.” Other women spoke on the various ministries of WIC–providing meals, supper clubs, the annual PCA WIC Love Gift, and others. We had a good turnout, and the desserts were excellent.
(posted 9/2/09)