8 Ways To Cultivate Family Missions:

This summer I read several books on the importance of getting your children and family involved in International and local missions. So, here are 8 Ways to Cultivate Family Missions (taken from the book, Gospel Family):

(1) Buy your children passports: I believe this could be a practical way to move missions to the forefront of your family’s conversations, even if you don’t have a trip planned.

(2) Use your Family Devotion time to walk through the book Operation World as a family: This book highlights a different people group every day, sharing national statistics, cultural norms, spiritual needs, and specific prayer requests. If Family Missions includes opening our doors to the nations and the Gospel, we first need to cultivate a heart for the nations and an awareness of the needs of other peoples. Show me a family who prays for the nations and I will show you a family likely to engage the nations with the Gospel.

(3) Invite close friends and relatives over for dinner: It is easy to be selfish with our family time. It is easy to guard our nights and weekends to the point that we never share life with others. We come home from work or school, run into the house, lock the door, and pray the phone and doorbell don’t ring. When we make time for others and invite extended family, friends, and neighbors over for meals, we often enjoy spiritual conversations and evangelistic opportunities. It is far easier to share the Gospel with those with whom we share life (see 1 Thessalonians 2:8).

(4) Invite the lost to your church: In Acts 10, a man named Cornelius put his friends and family in a position to hear about Jesus. For many of us, an easy, practical way to do this is to invite those in our spheres of influence to the church house where they will hear the Word of God proclaimed. There was probably a time before you knew Christ when someone was inviting you to places where they knew you would hear the Gospel. Now it’s your turn.

(5) Display Bible verses about missions around your home: Scripture (Deuteronomy 6) puts forth the model of putting God’s Word in our home, giving us a wonderful example. What if some of these verses highlighted the Great Commission and God’s heart for the nations? We don’t put these verses up just for decoration or because they look a certain way or make our families appear a certain way. We can put these verses up around the house, though, to keep God’s missional heart at the forefront of our minds, to remind us of the call to be Great Commission Families, and to further cultivate Family Missions in our home.

(6) Pray for missionaries: There are missionaries all over the world sharing the Gospel. They, like Peter in Acts 10, walk into homes and story through the life, death, resurrection, and salvation of Jesus. Find a missionary family and begin praying for them. Put their prayer card on your refrigerator. Print out their prayer updates they email and read them to your family during your Family Devotion. Mark their country on the map. Send them care packages and emails of encouragement. Let every member of the family get involved in praying for this missionary family.

(7) Sponsor a child through a ministry like Compassion International: Allow your children the chance to get to know this child living on the other side of the world. Let them become pen pals who exchange letters and coloring pages with one another.

(8) Go on a family mission trip or serve together in your own community: Whether it’s a local opportunity or an international mission trip, seek a way to engage another culture with the Gospel as a family. My favorite mission trips have been the ones that I shared with my wife, Julia. There aren’t many blessings in ministry that compare with the joy of seeing your spouse, firsthand, use his or her spiritual gifts to love the nations.

How To Hate Your Life:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

“Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” What does that mean. It means, at least, that you don’t take much thought for our life in this world. In other words, it just doesn’t matter much what happens to your life in this world.

If men speak well of you, it doesn’t matter much.
If they hate you, it doesn’t matter much.
If you have a lot of things, it doesn’t matter much.
If you have little, it doesn’t matter much.
If you are persecuted or lied about, it doesn’t matter much
If you are famous or unheard of, it doesn’t matter much.
If you are dead, these things just don’t matter much.

But it’s even more radical. There are some choices to be made here, not just passive experiences. Jesus goes on to say, “If anyone serves me, let him follow me.” Where to? He is moving into Gethsemane and toward the cross.

Jesus is not just saying: If things go bad, don’t fret, since you are dead anyway. He is saying: choose to die with me. Choose to hate your life in this world the way I have chosen the cross.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). He calls us to choose the cross. People only did one thing on a cross. They died on it. “Take up your cross”, means, “Like a grain of wheat, falls into the ground and die.” Choose it.

But why? For the sake of radical commitment to ministry: “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). I think I hear Paul saying, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me-if I can just live to the glory of his grace.”

I challenge you to choose to die today and in dying find everlasting life.

God Works For You:

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. He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber. (Psalm 121:1-3)

Do you need help? I do. Where do you look for help?

When the Psalmist lifted up his eyes to the hills and asked, “From where does my help come?” he answered, “My help comes from the Lord”- not from the hills, but from the God who made the hills.
So he reminded himself of two great truths: one is that God is a mighty Creator over all the problems of life; the other is that God never sleeps.

God is a tireless worker. Think of God as a worker in your life. Yes, it is amazing. We are prone to think of ourselves as workers in God’s life. But the Bible wants us first to be amazed that God is a worker in our lives: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

God is working for us around the clock. He does not take days off and he does not sleep. In fact he is so eager to work for us that he goes around looking for more work to do for people who will trust him: “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is whole toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

God loves to show his tireless power and wisdom and goodness by working for people who trust him. Jesus was the main way the Father showed this: “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). Jesus works for his followers. He serves them.

This is what we must believe-really believe- in order to “rejoice always” (Philippians 4:4) and “give thanks in everything” (Ephesians 5:20) and have the “peace that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7), and “be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6) and “hate our lives in this world” (John 12:25) and “love our neighbor as we love ourselves” (Matthew 22:39).

What a truth! What a reality! God is up all night and all day to work for those who wait for him.

I Hate Legalists & Legalism:

If there is any word in the English language which makes my skin crawl and makes me sick to my stomach is the word “legalism”. Being involved in Christian ministry for the last nine years I have met my share of legalists and every time I meet them I would rather punch them in the throat than listen to them spew their unchristian rhetoric and hate. A few months ago I was speaking in a local high school and a minister was in the audience from an independent “legalistic” Baptist church in the area and he looked me up and down sharing the Bible in shorts and a t-shirt and told me, “next time you speak to teens, if you want to be used by God you need to make sure your in proper attire.” (For him proper attire included a suit and tie). Needless to say I hate legalism and legalists.

The word “legalism” does not occur in the Bible. It is a term Christians use to describe a doctrinal position emphasizing a system of rules and regulations for achieving both salvation and spiritual growth. Legalists believe in and demand a strict literal adherence to rules and regulations. Doctrinally, it is a position essentially opposed to grace. Those who hold a legalistic position often fail to see the real purpose for law, especially the purpose of the Old Testament law of Moses, which is to be our “schoolmaster” or “tutor” to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).

Even true believers can be legalistic. We are instructed, rather, to be gracious to one another: “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters” (Romans 14:1). Sadly, there are those who feel so strongly about non-essential doctrines that they will run others out of their fellowship, not even allowing the expression of another viewpoint. That, too, is legalism. Many legalistic believers today make the error of demanding unqualified adherence to their own biblical interpretations and even to their own traditions. For example, there are those who feel that to be spiritual one must simply avoid tobacco, alcoholic beverages, dancing, movies, etc. The truth is that avoiding these things is no guarantee of spirituality.

The apostle Paul warns us of legalism in Colossians 2:20-23: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” Legalists may appear to be righteous and spiritual, but legalism ultimately fails to accomplish God’s purposes because it is an outward performance instead of an inward change.

To avoid falling into the trap of legalism, we can start by holding fast to the words of the apostle John, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17) and remembering to be gracious, especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ. “Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4). “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat” (Romans 14:10).

In conclusion, Christians please avoid falling into the trap of legalism and extend grace and mercy with fellow believers who may believe differently than you do regarding un-essential doctrine. If you disagree with someone over non-essentials, please agree to disagree and move on. Let us kill legalism at it’s root and trust in others.

Tough Question: How Sovereign Is God?:

Charles Spurgeon:

I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—

that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens—

that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses.

The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—

the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.

Does Scripture really teach this? I believe the answer is yes. Here is just a tiny sampling:

God Is Sovereign Over . . .

Seemingly random things:

The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD.
(Proverbs 16:33)

The heart of the most powerful person in the land:

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;
he turns it wherever he will.
(Proverbs 21:1)

Our daily lives and plans:

A man’s steps are from the LORD;
how then can man understand his way?
(Proverbs 20:24)

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
(Proverbs 19:21)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. . . .  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
(James 4:13-15)

Salvation:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
(Romans 9:15-16)

As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
(Acts 13:48)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(Romans 8:29-30)

Life and death:

See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
(Deuteronomy 32:39)

The LORD kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
(1 Samuel 12:6)

Disabilities:

Then the LORD said to [Moses], “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
(Exodus 4:11)

The death of God’s Son:

Jesus, [who was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
(Acts 2:23)

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
(Acts 4:27-28)

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief. . . .
(Isaiah 53:10)

Evil things:

Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the LORD has done it?
(Amos 3:6)

I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
(Isaiah 45:7)

“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. . . . “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
(Job 1:21-22; 2:10)

[God] sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
(Psalm 105:17; Genesis 50:21)

All things:

[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will.
(Ephesians 1:11)

Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
(Psalm 115:3)

I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
(Job 42:2)

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
(Daniel 4:35)

Praise God today because He is sovereign and in complete control of everything.

Author: Justin Taylor
Link: Just How Sovereign is God

10 Things Christianity is NOT:

10 Things Christianity is NOT:

10. A Membership to a Country Club

It might feel this way sometimes by the way we dress or the racial lines drawn—sometimes unintentionally—but Christianity is not an elite club. No, Christianity is as wide open as any group in the entire history of the universe. Everyone is welcome: poor, wealthy, gay, straight, police, teenagers, disabled, healthy, convicted murderers, toe-headed kindergarteners, prostitutes, prudes—even the self-righteous. Everyone is invited to come in and find forgiveness and true life in the person of Jesus Christ. So, it’s kind of the exact opposite of a country club—unless your country club throws birthday parties for prostitutes.

9. A Feel-Good Support Group

Christianity is not an AA meeting or a self-help group. Christianity is a community of people dead-set on making much of Christ and seeing his rule and reign realized through obedience, sacrifice and worship. It’s not really about fixing you as much as it is about opening your eyes to see Christ clearly and living in such a way as to draw others to the same vision. Support groups talk about problems and provide community—that happens in Christianity, but it’s a small piece of the pie compared to the radical mission of living out Jesus and making much of Him together.

8. A Nice Thing to Do on Weekends

Christianity is not a weekend-warrior sport—it’s a 24-7 life commitment to follow a Savior who changed the world. It’s so much more than getting your family dressed in nice clothes, smiling to friends, listening to a sermon and grabbing lunch at Appelebee’s after it’s done. Christianity is a collection of people who are battle-charged to go into the world and make Jesus known at every moment.

7. A Safe Haven From the World

Christianity is not a holy huddle for families to find safety and protection—or shelter—from the world. Christianity was never intended to be a place where people pulled out from the world to form safe and secure sub-communities. Christianity is dangerous, world-engaging, justice-fighting, bold-hearted, grace-infused activism—meant to spill into the world like rain… covering the masses like a downpour and flowing to every crack and margin with a message of hope, forgiveness and reconciliation. Christianity was never meant to be cooped up—it’s a wild community of people-loving crazies willing to risk comfort to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Nothing safe there.

6. A Political Party

At times, Christianity gets co-opted into a political agenda, but Christianity is never about party politics; instead, Christianity is wrapped up in the politics of the Kingdom of God. It’s impossible for a single party to claim Christianity—no matter how many issues rest neatly on the party line. Christianity is bigger than Republicans, Democrats and Independents—its expanse rolls through history, world events, issues, leaders and nations and rises above to represent a here-but-not-yet Kingdom with Christ on the throne, ruling. Our vote is always for Jesus.

5. A Group for Perfect People

Christianity is filled with flawed people. That’s really the only kind of people we’ve had throughout history. Adulterers, slave owners, prostitutes, pastors—you get the drift. The problem stems from the fact that we’re often not very open about our issues and the way we huddle in church with our smiles, nice clothes and positive attitudes make it look like we’ve got it all together. Um, but we don’t. We’re imperfect people resting on the grace of Christ. We’re not trying to be imperfect, but we can’t avoid it. There’s only one perfect person in our group: Jesus. So, don’t be surprised when you see a pastor fall from grace or a church leader lose his temper. This happens. Oh, and you’re welcome to come in with your imperfections too. You just have to get past the smiles to find out we’ve all got issues.

4. An Anti-Gay Rally

You’ve probably heard a lot in the news about Christians speaking out against homosexuals and not baking cakes and such. However, this is more of a right-left media argument, don’t be fooled by the hyped-up controversy. The church is not one big anti-gay rally. Does the Bible speak about the sin of homosexuality? Yes. It also speaks about gluttony, greed, sex out of marriage and a lot more. Christianity, at its core, is about pointing people to the radical grace of Christ and his work on the cross to rescue sinners—not stopping people groups from getting government healthcare.

3. A Cruise Ship

Christianity is not a luxury cruise—it’s a battleship if anything. Christianity isn’t about your personal comfort and entertainment while on board. It’s not about providing you or me with a resort-like experience. Christianity is about engaging the world and the powers of darkness with the truth. The battle is real. A lot of people leave Christianity when they discover this, but I hope you don’t. We’re on a dangerous mission, but we know the outcome and it’s pretty stellar. So hang in there.

2. A Ticket to Heaven

Being a Christian is not about getting a golden ticket from Wonka or a hole-punched ticket from the Polar Express that says, “You’re in!” It’s also not some kind of one-time transaction that gets you in the door so you can live however you want for the rest of your life. Christianity is about dying to yourself and literally giving your life over—the minutes, days, months, years—to a King who’s so good he will fill you up with life overflowing. Christianity is about being a new human being with a new heart—one that changes your life forever. It’s not about duty, but joy, passion, goodness and fullness. A new kind of humanity. A new kind of living.

1. A religion

This is where some people get tripped up. They see Christianity as just another religion with its rules and traditions. Christianity was never meant to be a “religion” in the traditional sense, but a movement of called-out people who follow a new King other than self. When you step into Christianity through faith in Christ you don’t step into a religion—you step into a new Kingdom. Christianity is not about making sure you keep the religious rules; it’s about fostering a relationship with your true King—the one who will return to set up his rule for eternity over all creation. There’s a big difference.
 

Fight Lust:

Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.-1 Peter 2:1

When I confronted a man about his porn addiction, I tried to understand his situation, and I pled with him to stop looking at porn. Then I said, "You know, Jesus says that if you don't fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever."

As a professing Christian, he looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, "You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?"

So I have learned again and again from firsthand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings. I believe this view of the Christian life is comforting thousands who are on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

Jesus said, if you don't fight lust, you won't go to heaven. Not that saints always succeed. The issue is that we resolve to fight, not that we succeed flawlessly.

The stakes are much higher than whether the world is blown up by a thousand long-range missiles, or terrorists bomb your city, or global warming melts the icecaps, or AIDS sweeps the nations. All these calamities can kill only the body. But if we don't fight lust, we lose our souls.

Peter says the passions of the flesh wage war against our souls. The stakes in this war are infinitely higher than in any threat of war or terrorism. The apostle Paul listed "immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness," then said it is on account of these the wrath of God is coming" (Colossians 3:5-6). And the wrath of God is immeasurably more fearful than the wrath of all the nations put together. 

May God give us grace to take ours and others' souls seriously and keep up the fight.

Wednesday Worship

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Wednesday Worship

Wednesday Worship

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Monday Morning Humor

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Monday Morning Humor

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Monday Morning Humor

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Monday Morning Humor

Monday Morning Humor:

If you are watching from a phone here is the link... Monday Morning Humor

A Kingdom View Of Sports:

We watch them. We play them. We talk about them. We listen to experts talk about them. Yet we see sports as nothing more than entertainment—meaningless, harmless fun. If not that, we see sports as bad or evil—after all isn’t the stadium, like a sanctuary, a place of worship? Whatever the case, Christians tend see sports as something altogether separate from the serious matters of life, such as faith.

Sure, some of us see sports as a “mission field,” a platform for sharing the gospel with those we might not normally come in contact with, whether that be with fellow teammates or the parents of those on our children’s sports teams. And that’s good and right, but the same should be true for the whole of life—everything and everyone should be our mission field. We are called to make disciples in all that we do.

What we really need is a fuller, more biblical view of sports—and not one that sees them as a mere evangelism tool. We need to see sports not as something without purpose and meaning, something secular, but instead as something with purpose and meaning, something sacred. This understanding—a theology of sports—will allow us to not only better enjoy sports but to also better worship God through sports.

A Common Grace

Though we usually credit humans for creating sports, God ultimately created sports as a common grace—described by Wayne Grudem as “the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation.” We don’t believe God set the world in motion and then stepped away to let humans do their thing, nor do we believe He elevates the spiritual and separates it from the material. Through Scripture, we know that God, out of love, established and maintains a world that we are to enjoy and cultivate—for His glory. He gives us every good and perfect gift (James 1:17)—often through human ingenuity—including sports.

So, first and foremost, we have to stop seeing sports as purely a human creation, outside the rule and reign of the sovereign Creator. And, as a result, we have to stop feeling apologetic for caring about—and sometimes even spending time and money on—sports, as if it were all futile. God gives sports to Christians and non-Christians alike as a free gift to embrace and enjoy, and for that reason, they’re intrinsically sacred and meaningful.

The Imago Dei

As beings created in His image, God gives many men and women the physical, intellectual and emotional capabilities to play sports. Sure, animals are smart and physically adept, but they can’t do sports in the same sense that humans can. The imago dei doesn’t just distinguish humans spiritually but in other capacities, as well, specifically those required for sports.

When we watch and play sports, we see the image and glory of God reflected in all the extraordinary aspects and feats. Whether it’s in a sophisticated basketball offense or the unique throws of a pitcher in baseball or softball, the imago dei comes on full display, and the great and glorious nature of our God is showcased for the world to see.

Growth and Formation

There’s a reason we have so many sports cliches, like “There’s no ‘I’ in team”: Sports provide unique training grounds for growth and maturity. As we interact with sports, especially as our children participate, we’re given opportunities to practice selflessness, giving up our preferences and pride for a bigger purpose. We’re also given opportunities to learn self-discipline and perseverance.

Even as mere spectators, we can benefit from observing athletes. As we recognize the hard work and drive of others, we can look inwardly to consider where we lack self-discipline, where we are putting ourselves before others, hurting the health of our families, churches, workplaces and communities. This is why, in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul likens the self-discipline of sports to that required of believers in their faith.

Sports also function as what James K. A. Smith calls “cultural liturgies,” artifacts and rituals that shape us and instill in us a true, good and beautiful vision of human flourishing. For many of us, sports can stir up a greater delight in the Lord; as a common grace stewarded responsibly, they can form us more into the likeness of Christ.

Signposts and Shadows

All of God’s creation reflects His glory, and this includes sports; they function as signposts and shadows of greater realities. For example, the fandom of sports points to the innate desire in every human to be part of something bigger than ourselves—a bigger story, a bigger purpose, a bigger community. In the many moments of awe and excitement that we experience when watching sports, fandom also offers a foretaste of the sort of worship we were created for, the sort of worship we will fully experience in the new heaven and new earth.

But probably the most overt of these signposts is the concept of a team and all that it mirrors. NBA hall-of-famer Isiah Thomas once said that “the secret to basketball is that it’s not about basketball.” He was pointing to the fact that the greatest sports teams succeed when the athletes put their egos and differences aside for the greater good of the team, working collectively toward the same end. When we see a team doing this well, in any sport, it paints a compelling picture of community and the Church and, even more, the greater community of the triune God, allowing us to see His beauty and character in a whole new light.

Worship, Sin and Eternity

Of course, like any cultural artifact or activity, sports are affected by the presence of evil in the world. They are corrupted and tainted by sin, from the human ego to the greedy corporations that monetize them. It’s also easy to make sports a god, putting our hopes in them, trying to fill a void.

Nevertheless, we can’t let the reality of sin warp our view of sports. We need to be careful, for sure, always using discernment, always aware of our tendency to drift away from the gospel and to make things other than God ultimate in our lives. But we can’t forget that, in the end, sin doesn’t win. One day, we will live in a kingdom void of sin and corruption—everything that robs sports of all they might be. And it is our role now to usher in and live in this kingdom, making it on earth as it is in heaven—and that includes the way in which we see and interact with sports.

Original Article: A Theology of Sports
Original Author: David Roark

I Love My Church:

May I be honest for a minute? I'm going to imagine you are nodding your head yes.

At times I can become very discouraged regarding the church. I study the Book of Acts in my quiet time and than I look at the church in America and around the world and I do not see the church living up to it's potential. Some days I want to throw in the towel from church work, move to the beach, buy a small house on the ocean, away from everyone and blog for a living. My wife laughs at my foolish fantasy.

Before the start of this summer I was feeling discouraged regarding the church I serve in. I had become aware of a lot of disunity, animosity, and anger which was in the church and it had me discouraged and ready to throw in the towel (just being honest) but, than summer came and I have seen the church I am a part of come together and serve our community in a thousand little and significant ways.

I was cleaning up after Vacation Bible School and I was overcome with love for First Baptist Stanleyville. I was overcome with love for the incredible ways the church had been the church during VBS. I began thinking about Vacation Bible School but than I also began to think about the other ways FBCS has been serving in our community and serving church members this summer. Are we perfect? NO! Let me burst your bubble for a minute; there is no such thing as a perfect church. We have our problems and struggles; however, we are family and we serve, love and fight like family. Below are five reasons why I love my church; First Baptist Church of Stanleyville.

5) We are a church filled with members who have a servant's heart: This past week I saw Stanleyville rise to the occasion and serve our community and families through VBS. I saw church members give up a Saturday, busily getting ready for a week of VBS... and they didn't slow down much after that. They gave a week of their time to share the love of Jesus with many kids. Church members helped with registration, T-Shirts or helped with security. Some helped with crafts and they still have glue, paint, marker or some other special solution still on them. Other taught classes and can still hear the ringing of 20+ kid's voices in their ears. Recreation, snacks and hospitality people are worn out and  music folks are probably still sore. Those who were group leaders logged countless number of steps as they weaved their way through crowds to get kids from place to place. We had a crew of people who helped with media, drama and others who helped build the set! I know our preschool workers are exhausted after helping with our eternally energetic little ones. Whatever the way church members served I was impressed and blown away by everyone's servant heart and my love for FBCS has grown.

4) We are a church who takes care of the sick, widowed, shut-ins and those in the nursing homes: One of my many responsibilities as Associate Pastor is to visit those in the church who are shut ins or in nursing homes. This summer more than in the past I have been to visit someone and they will tell me that just the other day another church member had been to visit them or another church member came by with food or sent them a card. I even learned that the WMU (which is a group of older ladies who meet once a month) will be going to visit a local nursing home to share the love of Christ. I talked with one lady who FBCS served while she was sick and church members made her 28 meals during the time she was recovering. I have sat with families while their loved ones have been in surgery and watched as church member after church member took time out of their day to visit with the family and pray with them. This summer I have been impressed and blown away by everyone's love for the sick, widowed, shut-ins and those in the nursing home who are church members and my love for FBCS has grown.

3) We are a church which has a heart for families: Our Vacation Bible School had an average attendance of 145 individuals per night and every night I would hear church members disappointed that more children were not there. Their disappointed shows a heart and a compassion for families and the lost. Those who were disappointed understood that numbers equal children and children equal families who need to hear the Gospel. Church members understood that families need to be encouraged and have the church come alongside to equip and assist them in raising their families. We were not made to  our way through life as an isolated individual, instead, we are made to take advantage of the guidance, community, and accountability offered by our brothers and sisters in the family of God. When CREW (Youth Ministry at FBCS) was going to camp church members stepped up and paid camp fees to ensure that students would be able to attend for a fraction of the cost or would be able to go for free. This summer I have been impressed and blown away by FBCS and their heart for families and my love for FBCS has grown.

2) We are a church which unifies around a common mission: FBCS has two services, a contemporary service at 8:30 am & traditional service at 11:00 am. I have seen both services come together this summer in countless ways. I have seen the services come together to serve during basketball camp, vacation bible school, CARE ministry, Wednesday nights, Fourth of July cook-out, etc. There are some in the church who seek to spread disunity but the vast majority of church members want and do come together to serve and be unified around a common mission; going outside the camp and serving our community. This summer I have been impressed and blown away by FBCS and their unity around a common mission and my love for FBCS has grown.

1) We are a church which loves the Lord and has a passion to spread His glory among all peoples: It has well been said that freed people free people. FBCS has lived out this phrase this summer (freed people, free people). Church members which have been set free from sin and bondage have rolled up their sleeves and invested in people's lives to share the Gospel and be used by the Holy Spirit to lead individuals to Christ. I have talked with church members who were afraid to share their faith but swallowed their fears & shared and because of their obedience the Holy Spirit used their words to draw a child or an adult to saving faith in Jesus Christ. I have had a revolving door of church members coming into my office with ideas and plans on how to better reach our community with the Gospel.  I am working closely with a church member to plan a North American mission trip next summer for families in one of the poorest counties in America. This summer I have been impressed and blown away by FBCS and their love for the Lord and passion to spread His glory among all peoples and my love for FBCS has grown.

In conclusion, I love my church. Are we perfect? NO. Far from it. If FBCS was perfect it stopped being perfect the moment I came on as Associate Pastor/Minister of Students. However; even though we make mistakes and even though I can become discouraged it does not mean it's time to throw in the towel and give up on the church. I am no longer discouraged because when I look around for the good in FBCS I find it and I find a church which loves the Lord, loves it's city and wants to spread the glory of God among all peoples. First Baptist Church of Stanleyville is a church which exists to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples and that is why I love my church.

Justified For Evermore:

JUSTIFIED FOR EVERMORE
As far as any eye could see
There was no green. But every tree
Was cinder black, and all the ground
Was gray with ash. The only sound
Was arid wind, like spirits’ ghosts,
Gasping for some living hosts
In which to dwell, as in the days
Of evil men, before the blaze
Of unimaginable fire
Had made the earth a flaming pyre
For God’s omnipotent display
Of holy rage.

The dreadful Day
Of God had come. The moon had turned
To blood. The sun no longer burned
Above, but, blazing with desire,
Had flowed into a lake of fire.
The seas and oceans were no more,
And in their place a desert floor
Fell deep to meet the brazen skies,
And silence conquered distant cries.

The Lord stood still above the air.
His mighty arms were moist and bare.
They hung, as weary, by his side,
Until the human blood had dried
Upon the sword in his right hand.
He stared across the blackened land
That he had made, and where he died.
His lips were tight, and deep inside,
The mystery of sovereign will
Gave leave, and it began to spill
In tears upon his bloody sword
For one last time

And when the Lord
Wiped every tear away, and turned
To see His bride. Her heart had yearned
Four thousand years for this: His face
Shone like the sun, and every trace
Of wrath was gone. And in her bless
She heard the Master say, “Watch this:
Come forth, all goodness from the ground,
Come forth, and let the earth redound
With joy.”

And as he spoke, the throne
Of God came down to earth and shone
Like golden crystal full of light,
And banished, once for all, the night.
And from the throne a stream began
To flow and laugh, and as it ran,
It made a river and a lake,
And everywhere it flowed, a wake
Of grass broke on the bands and spread
Like resurrection from the dead.

And in the twinkling of an eye
The saints descended from the sky

And as I knelt beside the brook
To drink eternal life, I took
A glance across the golden grass,
And saw my dog, old Cami, fast
As she could come. She leaped the stream-
Almost- and what a happy gleam
Was in her eye. I knelt to drink,
And knew that I was on the brink
Of endless joy. And everywhere
I turned I saw a wonder there.
A big man running on the lawn:
That’s old John with both legs on.
The blind can see a bird on wing,
The dumb can lift their voice and sing.
The diabetic eats at will,
The coronary runs uphill.

The lame can walk, the deaf can hear,
The cancer-ridden bone is clear.
Arthritic joints are lithe and free,
And every pain has ceased to be.
And every sorrow deep within,
And every trace of lingering sin
Is gone. And all that’s left is joy,
And endless ages to employ
The mind and heart, and understand,
And love the sovereign Lord who planned
That it should take eternity
To lavish all his grace on me.

O, God of wonder, God of might,
Grant us some elevated sight,
Of endless days. And let us see
The joy of what is yet to be.
And may your future make us free,
And guard us by the hope that we,
Through grace on lands that you restore,
Are justified for evermore.

John Piper, "Future Grace" pgs. 279-282

The Church Needs More Tattoos:

I sat down this morning to write a "Tough Questions" blog on whether or not a Christian could get a tattoo and while I was thinking through what to write I came across a quote by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul in which he said, “Republican Party events need more people with tattoos.” (After reading the quote my train of thought was wrecked and my mind began to run in a different direction).

What Paul (the senator, not the Apostle) means, it seems, is that his party, if it is to have a future, shouldn’t count on just doing the same thing it’s always done, and it can’t rely on people who look like what people think Republicans ought to look like. The party must expand out to people whose pictures don’t currently show up in a Google image search for “Republican.” There are people, Paul says, who agree with the Republican message, in theory, but who pay no attention to it because they assume they aren’t the kind of people the party wants to talk to.

Paul isn’t alone in this. His colleague Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who disagrees sharply with Paul on foreign policy and other issues, quipped recently, “They aren’t making enough angry white men for our party to have a future,” unless the party reaches new constituencies.

My interest here isn’t the Republican Party, or the Paul or Graham wings of it and their ideas for reinvigorating a political movement, or even whether their critique of the political situation is accurate. Instead, Paul’s imagery reminded me of a burden I have for the church of Jesus Christ to, as Jesus puts it, “seek and to save that which was lost.”

If the Spirit starts moving with velocity in this country, our churches will see more people in our pews and in our pulpits with tattoos.

Now, what I don’t mean by that is that we need to more Christians to tattoo crosses or Bible verses or Psalms in Hebrew or the Apostles’ Creed or the sinner’s prayer across their arms or necks. That’s not a sign of gospel awakening; it’s just, at best, personal fashion and, at worst, more marketing in an already over-marketed evangelical church.

What we need are more people in our churches with tattoos. I first saw this not in a “relevant” urban church, but in the most stereotypically “hellfire and brimstone,” King James Version, gospel hymn-singing southern revivalist church you could imagine.

As a new Christian, I remember seeing a man sitting in front of me, with his arm resting on the pew. The arm was covered with a large tattoo of a woman who was, well, let’s just say she didn’t fit what we would consider biblical standards of modesty in her attire. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this, in church, so I nudged the man who brought me to church and pointed, as if to say, “Can you believe this?”

The man whispered, “Yes. He’s doesn’t know the Lord yet, and he’s had a hard life. But his wife has been trying to get him to come to church for a long time, and we’ve all been praying for him. He’s not trying to be ugly to anybody. He just doesn’t know Jesus yet.”

I’ll never forget that “yet.”

With that one word, he put before me the possibility that this hardened ex-military man with the unclothed lady tattoo might one day be my brother-in-Christ. And, in time, he was. I suppose as time went on, this new Christian started to see that his tattoo was potentially a stumbling block, because I started to see it less and less as he started to wear long sleeves to church.

Tattoo removal wasn’t a booming technology then, but, if I had to guess, this man started to see that tattoo as emblematic of an old life he’d left behind. He didn’t need a tattooed pastor (necessarily), but he needed a church that didn’t see his tattoo as evidence of a life too far gone, of someone too rowdy to be loved with the call to repentance and faith.

I think about him often when I see people in the local coffee shop or walking down the streets with tattoos. Some of the markings are of are of blood-drenched skulls. Some of them are slogans of a hedonistic quest for pleasure. Some are threatening others, demonstrating their fearsomeness. Some are pagan, or even occult. I am chastened by how rarely my first thoughts are rooted in gospel wisdom.

Not everyone with tattoos is an unbeliever or has lived a hard life, of course. But the larger point remains, how many people don’t listen to our gospel message because they assume they don’t “look” like the kind of people who would follow Jesus?

And, shamefully, how many times do we filter out our gospel preaching to people who would, upon baptism, be able to pose nicely for our Sunday school booklet illustrations? How often do we assume that the good news of Christ is a message just like a political campaign or a commercial brand, targeted toward a demographic of a certain kind of buyer?

The Gospels consistently tell us that the preaching of Jesus drew in those who had hard stories, who had made bad decisions, or faced horrible situations that seemed to have wrecked their lives forever: prostitutes, Roman collaborators, leprous outcasts, the demon-possessed, and on and on. That’s because, he tells us, the Spirit builds the kingdom not with the noble or the powerful but with the lame, the marred, the hopeless (Lk. 14:21-23; 1 Cor. 1:26-29).

If we’re really carrying the gospel to the whole world, this means there are going to be people listening, whose bodies carry messages contrary to the Word of God. So did our hearts and psyches.

That young woman with the Wicca tattoo, or the old man with the Hell’s Angels marking, they may wonder, as they feel the pull of the gospel, “How can I enter with this visible reminder on me of my past?” That question is the same we all had, regardless of how “respectable” we looked when we came to Christ: “Deep is the stain that we cannot hide? What can avail to wash it away?”

Jesus will build his church, with us or without us. But if we are going to be faithful to him, we must share his mission. This means we don’t just talk about lost people, we talk to them. And we don’t talk to them as enlightened life-coaches promising an improved future but as crucified sinners offering a new birth.

If the Spirit starts breathing this burden into us with power, we’re going to see churches filled with people who never thought they fit the image of “Christian.” We’ll see that the markings on the flesh, whatever they were, count for nothing, but that what counts is a new creation (Gal. 6:15).

We’ve come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We’ve come to call not just those who look like whatever Christians are assumed to look like, but the whole world. If the church is powered by the gospel, then sometimes the Body of Christ has tattoos.