the love story

it is good
he declares it
with pride in his work
the perfect bride
his gift to his Son.
glowingly radiant
a beautiful love
untainted by grief
or deceit

yet for all
the perfection
the bride went astray
lust and greed
clouding her face.
loving the world
she greedily pursued it
spurning the love
of the Son

the Son was grieved
and mourned his great loss
wounded by spite
yet still on he loved.
he determined to win
at the greatest cost
but he would not abandon
his bride

he found her amidst
all the wreck and despair
and the miserable guilt
that deceit had brought there.
her face was scarred
her beauty marred
by the lust she
so gladly embraced

in grief so great
he wept tears of blood
compassion and anger
rolled onto one.
he declared he would
rescue her from the
miserable fate
all for the sake
of his love

the price was death
there was no escape
the sin was the bride's
she would have to pay.
but the Son stepped
forward as she was
brought forth to die
"no," he said,
"she is my bride."

but the price
must be paid
justice have it's say
someone had to die.
and so, the Son
gave up his life
taking the place
of his bride

beaten and broken
marred and abused
he looked at his bride
"let no one accuse her,
it is finished!" he cried
and he looked in her face
"forgiven," he whispered
and died

the bride stared
in horror
realizing what she had done
she fell to her knees
and wailed.
she begged for forgiveness
and vowed to be pure
all for the love
of the Son

but then, with a shout
the Son had returned!
his Father had raised him
he's risen, he's here!
they run to meet,
and embrace with a kiss
vowing faithfulness
to the end,
all for love

gloriously radiant
spotless and pure
with unmarred perfection
she stands there dressed
in dazzling white
to pledge herself to the Son.
with glorious love
faithful and true
pursues, wooed, and won
through the great sacrifice
of the Son

- Written by Jessica Norris, age 16, my daughter!
- Originally posted on Facebook on 2/10/2009

Debt - Always a bad thing?

Recently, a friend at work and I were discussing the current financial and political situation in our land. My friend insisted that we have to pay off the national debt, if not for ourselves, then for our children. I said that would be a bad idea. Then he looked at me like I had just disclosed some horrid moral flaw.
How to explain? Well, here's a very simple explanation I saw on, of all things, Youtube. Watch and learn. (Use high quality mode.)

Looking forward to this new Study Bible!

HERESY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE IN THE PRE-NICENE CHURCH

Several of my friends have commented on my not posting on this blog. I've been kind of busy taking some classes, and just couldn't get this fit into the mix. BUT, here is a paper I wrote for my church history class.

HERESY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE IN THE PRE-NICENE CHURCH

BY

JEFFREY A. NORRIS

MAY 7, 2008

INTRODUCTION

In the early church, doctrinal clarity developed and solidified gradually, primarily in response to emerging heresies. Within modern Christendom, there is a tendency to think that all Christendom understood and believed common orthodox doctrines that were fully developed by the time the documents of the later canonized New Testament were written, circa A.D. 96. Because we hold to sola scriptura, that the scriptures alone are the authority for faith and practice, and because we have a copy of the Old and New Testaments for almost every room in the house, we forget the depth and breadth of thought that went into formalizing and finalizing the core doctrinal beliefs. What follows is a brief study of the four largest historical threats to the key doctrinal beliefs about God, the Trinity, and Christ, and how the early churches clarified doctrine in response to them. This paper will explore the specific heresies of Docetism, Monarchianism, Subordinationism, and Arianism.

HERESY

A heresy is any doctrine that is contrary to clear biblical doctrine, and that is “sufficiently intolerable” so as to “destroy the unity of the Christian church.”[i] Pelikan points out that the earliest Christian use of the term “heresy” (from hairesis, meaning “party”, from the Latin verb “to cut”) was not sharply distinguished from the word “schism,” since both were divisive in nature.[ii] However, as Augustine would define it, heresy is the holding of false beliefs regarding God that do injury to the Christian faith.[iii] There are four heresies in the first three and half centuries that historically had the greatest potential for injury to the faith.

DOCETISM

Docetism was the first Christian heresy, though it was rooted in Gnosticism.[iv] Gnosticism as a whole predates and was outside Christianity, though it was prominent in the Greco-Roman world before, during, and after the birth of the Church. Kelly points out that Gnosticism “was older and wider than Christianity…the product of syncretism,” taking pieces of “Jewish, pagan, and oriental sources.”[v] Docetism, from the Greek dokeo “to seem, to appear to be,” was the heretical belief that Jesus only appeared to have a human body. This thinking is linked to Gnosticism, since one of Gnostism’s basic tenets is that the material world and the physical body are evil. The reasoning goes, Jesus could not really have had a physical body, because a physical body cannot be good. If Jesus is God, and God is good, then Jesus could not have a fleshly non-good body. To get around this, the heresy says Jesus only appeared to be human, or only appeared to suffer on the cross.

Grudem points out that no prominent church leader ever advocated this heresy[vi], but the essence was prevalent enough even in the first century that the Apostle John wrote that “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”[vii] One of the main refutations came in pointing out all the human activity attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. As one example, Athanasius mentions Jesus’ eating as an indication of his having a real body, and not just one in appearance.[viii] But the more poignant reality of Christ’s suffering on the cross was frequently appealed to, as Christians faced persecution and martyrdom on a daily basis. Ignatius challenged the falsehood of this heresy by suggesting if Christ only appeared to suffer, then all other Christian suffering was a false witness against the cross of Christ.[ix] In his letter to the Smyrneans, he says, “For if the Lord were in the body in appearance only, and were crucified in appearance only, then am I also bound in appearance only? And why have I also surrendered myself to death, to fire, to the sword, to the wild beasts? But, in fact, I endure all things for Christ, not in appearance only, but in reality, that I may suffer together with Him.”[x]

Irenaeus is by far the most thorough in writing against Docetic beliefs, though he is never known to refer to them by the name Docetist. He refutes the Gnostic teachings of Simon Magus who taught that he was actually the incarnation of both the Father and Jesus the Son, and had only appeared to suffer on the cross.[xi] Irenaeus also refutes the teachings of Basilides, who taught that Simon of Cyrene had died on the cross instead of Jesus. Basilides taught that a last minute switch had occurred and that Simon of Cyrene had been changed to look like Jesus, and therefore suffered in his place.[xii] In many other places, Irenaeus appeals to scripture and shows that none of these false teachers truly believed that Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God.[xiii]

Up to this early stage in Christendom, there were threads of common orthodox beliefs, but they were passed down verbally and informally. The Apostles Creed itself, taken out of the early church baptismal liturgy, is a doctrinal confession and statement of belief that refutes the Docetic and Gnostic heretical ideas that Jesus was either not human, only appeared to suffer, or that once dead, he was freed from a physical body.[xiv]

Docetism undermines the true nature of the Lord Jesus Christ’s incarnation and subsequent atonement, without which we cannot be saved. To suggest that Jesus was neither truly man nor truly suffered denies the propitiation by His blood that purchased our salvation, which is why Docetism is considered one of the more dangerous heresies in the early church.

MONARCHIANISM

Another dangerous heresy in the early church was Monarchianism, which was rooted in the monotheistic conviction that God is one[xv], over against Gnostic and Greco-Roman polytheism. Christianity did not consider itself a new religion, but a true form of Messianic Judaism, with significant history in the Old Testament, which was well known to the early church. But in affirming strict monotheism, Brown points out that two different heresies grew out of it, tightly bound up under the heading of the defense of God’s monarchy, Adoptionism and Modalism.[xvi] Both undermine the triune nature of God, and by so doing, either deny the deity of Christ, or the distinct persons of the trinity.

Adoptionism

Adoptionism is reported to have appeared as a distinct heresy in A.D. 190 in Rome[xvii], as evidenced by Eusebius[xviii]. Theodotus actively proclaimed that Jesus was only a man and not God, but that God had adopted him at his baptism, making him God’s son, but not a deity. Adoptionism was further espoused by Paul of Samosata, who suggested that Jesus was God or God-like, but only in the sense that he had been adopted as such by God the Father, because of Jesus’ moral excellence. Paul of Samosata was formally renounced as a heretic at an assembly in Antioch in A.D. 268.[xix] Irenaeus refuted the teachings of Cerintus who taught that the Christ had come and indwelt the human Jesus at his baptism, but had departed before the suffering leading up to the crucifixion.[xx] Cerintus taught aspects that sound both Docetic and Adoptionistic. In any case, Adoptionism denies the true nature and deity of Christ in all aspects of His incarnation.

Modalism

Modalism upholds the deity of Christ and is actually anti-adoptionistic, but blurs or loses the distinction of the separate persons in the Triune, Monotheistic Godhead. It is the belief that God takes on different forms or modes, depending on His purpose.[xxi] For example, Modalism says that God is the Father in the Old Testament. Later, He is the Son as Jesus in the incarnation. And finally, He is the Holy Spirit after Christ’s ascension.

There are all kinds of implications in Modalism. Patripassianism comes from Modalism, by the belief that there is only one person in the Godhead, so the Father is the Son, and therefore the Father suffered in the crucifixion. If the Father didn’t suffer, but is the Son, then Docetism comes into play, as He only then appeared to suffer.

There were two main heretics identified with Modalism, Praxeas (fl. A.D. 190) and Sabellius (fl. A.D. 200), and both were extensively refuted by the early church fathers. Tertullian wrote an entire volume against the modalistic teachings of Praxeas.[xxii] Athanasius and Hippolytus of Rome were both strong antagonists against modalistic Sabellianism.[xxiii]

Although Praxeas strongly upheld the deity of Christ, he taught that Christ was the Father. Brown says that this rise of Modalism indicates that both Gnosticism (and hence Docetism) and Adoptionism had been defeated by theological orthodoxy by the late 2^nd century, primarily because of the overwhelming evidence of the New Testament witness to the deity of Christ and his co-equality with the Father.[xxiv] Brown also points out that what finally defeated modalistic Sabellianism “was the conviction that [Jesus] Christ really is distinct from the Father [and the Holy Spirit], a conviction that naturally results from all the New Testament passages in which the Father and the Son deal with one another as distinct persons.”[xxv]

SUBORDINATIONISM

If Jesus really was a man, both in appearance and in reality, and really suffered on the cross, and if He is God within the Godhead, Subordinationism suggests Jesus’ role within that Trinity is inferior and at a lower status than the Father. Ultimately, Subordinationism is based on the difficulty in grasping the twofold nature of Christ, being both divine and human, and so relegates Christ to a subordinate position to the Father.

As the early church wrote and thought about the deity of Christ and the triune nature of God, there were subordinationist tendencies in some of the writings of Justin Martyr[xxvi], Origin[xxvii], and Tertullian[xxviii], who all had some difficulties reconciling the mutual submission within the Godhead with the clear humanity of Christ. It is this extreme difficulty in grasping the balance and fullness of the person and nature of Christ that would lead to the most dangerous heresy of all in the early church, that of Arianism.

ARIANISM

Arianism, named for its chief proponent Arius, an ordained presbyter in Alexandria in A.D. 311, was also rooted in monotheism, but it misunderstood the person and nature of Jesus Christ. Arius believed that Jesus was divine, but that He was not eternal with the Father.[xxix] Arius and his followers articulated that God had not always been a Father, that the Word of God was not always so, but that He had been made, and therefore there was when He was not. From this, Arius and others believed that because Jesus was created, He was not of the eternal nature of the Father, and therefore could not be of the same substance or nature as the Father.[xxx] Arius and his followers appealed to an incorrect exegesis of Proverbs 8:22 that they took to mean that God had created wisdom before He created the world, and that since Christ is the wisdom of God, then therefore Jesus was a created being.[xxxi]

This heresy was so divisive and so prevalent within Christendom that Emperor Constantine called a council to Nicaea in Bithynia to settle the issue once and for all. Out of that council, one of the most significant milestones of church history was reached, the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed, though expanded slightly and modified at two other councils, significantly defined orthodox, Trinitarian theology that still holds firm to this day. The Creed of A.D. 325 in its original (translated into English) version affirmed that:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον) with the Father; by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit. But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and 'He was not before he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable'—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church. (emphasis added)[xxxii]

There are two reasons Arianism was so dangerous. First, if Jesus was created and not eternal, then He was not unlike all the other polytheistic deities of the Greco-Roman pantheon. Interestingly enough, this appealed to Emperor Constantine, who favored Arianism. Secondly, and most importantly, if the Christ was only a created being, then He could not have saved mankind by taking the sin of the world upon Himself and satisfying the wrath of God upon that sin. Neither could He provide the righteousness that is imputed to our account. Without the co-eternal, same nature, co-equality with the Father, there would be no salvation for mankind, and the Gospel would be lost.

CONCLUSION

Although this is barely scratching the surface of the four heresies of Docetism, Monarchianism, Subordinationism, and Arianism, it is clear that they dramatically shaped the orthodox beliefs of the early church as it was forced to respond to them. These heresies had profound implications on the theological thinking in the early church. In fact, it took two and a half centuries to clearly articulate both the relationship of Christ as deity to His humanity, and the relationship of Christ as deity to the deity of the Father.

It was in this thinking and searching of the scriptures that the early church eventually articulated the “twofold” nature of Christ as both fully God and fully man, co-equal and of the same substance as the Father, which we hold so closely to today. And as it was true in the early church, and throughout history, so it is proving true today that Christian orthodoxy has been forced to define itself in response to heretical ideas.[xxxiii]

---

[i]. Harold O.J. Brown, Heresies, in (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003), 2.

[ii]. Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1971), 69.

[iii]. E.P. Meijering, Augustine, De Fide et Symbolo: Introduction, Translation, Commentary (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1987), 10.21.

[iv]. Brown, Heresies, 52.

[v]. J.N.D Kelly, Early Church Doctrines (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1978), 23.

[vi]. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Intervarsity Press, 1994), 540.

[vii]. 1 John 4:2-3 ESV (English Standard Version)

[viii]. Athanasius, The Treatise De Incarnation Verbi Dei, in On The Incarnation, trans. a religious of C.S.M.V (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, n.d.), 46.

[ix]. Ignatius, Epistle to The Trallians, 10.1

[x]. Ignatius, Epistle to The Smyrneans, 4.1.

[xi]. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.23.

[xii]. Ibid., 1.24.4.

[xiii]. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.11.3, 3.16.1, 3.18.3-6, 3.22.1-2.

[xiv]. Phillip Schaff, “Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume 1,” http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.iv.ii.html (accessed May 7, 2008).

[xv]. Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV

[xvi]. Brown, Heresies, 95.

[xvii]. Ibid., 96.

[xviii]. Paul L. Maier, Eusebius--the Church History: A New Translation with Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1999), 201.

[xix]. Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology (Wilmington: DE: M. Glazier, c1983; reprint, Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1990), 41.

[xx]. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.26.1.

[xxi]. Brown, Heresies, 99.

[xxii]. Tertullian, Against Praxeas.

[xxiii]. Kelly, Early Church Doctrines, 121-3.

[xxiv]. Ibid., 101.

[xxv]. Brown, Heresies, 103.

[xxvi]. Kelly, Early Church Doctrines, 146.

[xxvii]. Ibid., 281.

[xxviii]. Ibid., 152.

[xxix]. Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence Fo The Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1971), 195 (page citations are to the reprint edition).

[xxx]. Philip Schaff, ed., “Deposition of Arius,” in A Select Library of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of The Christian Church (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark; reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Erdmanns Pub. Co., <1989>).

[xxxi]. Ibid., 112.

[xxxii]. Phillip Schaff, “Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes. Volume 1,” http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.iv.iii.html (accessed May 7, 2008).

[xxxiii]. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walther A. Elwell, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 550.

Reflecting on Christ

Consider Jesus Christ, the Messiah:

• He came from the eternal bosom of His Father – to a region of sorrow and death;
• God – manifested in flesh;
• Creator – made a creature;
• He that was clothed with glory – should be wrapped with the rags of flesh;
• He that filled heaven and earth with his glory – should be cradled in a manger;
• The God of Israel – fled with his parents to Egypt;
• That the God of the Law – should be subject to the Law;
• The God that made the heavens – worked at Joseph’s homely trade;
• That He that binds the devils in chains – should be tempted;
• That He, whose is the world, and the fullness thereof – should hunger and thirst;
• That the God of Strength – should be weary;
• That His head, before which angels (and saints) do cast down their crowns – should be crowned with thorns;
• Whose hands hold the scepter of heaven and whose feet, “like burnished bronze” – should be nailed to the cross for man’s sins;
• The Judge of all flesh – condemned;
• The God of life – put to death;
• That He that is one with His Father – should cry out of misery, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
• That He who had the keys of hell and death – should lie imprisoned in the sepulcher of another.

Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Heb. 12:3

Adapted from Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, Banner of Truth, p. 36-37.

Our Lives: a Sermon that None Can Escape

"We cannot live to ourselves only in this world. Our lives will always be doing either good or harm to those who see them. They are a silent sermon which all can read. It is sad indeed when they are a sermon for the devil's cause, and not for God's. I believe that far more is done for Christ's kingdom by the holy living of believers than we are at all aware of. There is a reality about such living which makes men feel, and obliges them to think. It carries a weight and influence with it which nothing else can give. It makes religion beautiful, and draws men to consider it, like a lighthouse seen afar off. The day of judgment will prove that many besides husbands have been won "without a word" by a holy life (1 Peter 3:1). You may talk to persons about the doctrines of the gospel, and few will listen, and fewer still understand. But your life is an argument that none can escape."

J. C. Ryle, Holiness, 1877, p 50.

Like a mint with your coke?

A couple of the guys here at work are renown for their mentos in a coke demonstration. Today, I was given this, and it was too funny to keep to myself. These guys are from EepyBird, not the two guys here at work. But it's still fun. If you don't know the science behind it, the mentos (mint) causes massive release of the carbon dioxide that's trapped in solution. The release causes the coke to need to escape. Thus...the experiment!

Strength & Fitness

Since mid-July, I've been lifting weights and eating better. I've lost over 20 pounds of fat, and gained back much of my youthful strength. I decided to video a lift I did today. It's called a Partial-Deadlift. The idea is to pick up a weighted barbell from just above knee height. So here's my lift. It's 465 lbs. The bar is 45 lbs. On each side, there are 2x45 lb plates, 2x35 lb plates, and 2x25 lb plates.

Spiritual Leadership - Initiative

“A leader must initiate.

The leader must either initiate plans for progress or recognize the worthy plans of others.

He does not wait for things to happen.

He is a self-starter…eager to test new ideas.

Robert Louis Stevenson called the attitude of safety and security “that dismal fungus.”

More failure comes from an excess of caution than from bold experiments with new ideas.

The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.”[1]

[1] Spiritual Leadership, J. Oswald Sanders, p 128, selected excerpts from Chp. 16, Responsibilities of Leadership.

My Artist Daughter

My daughter has been blessed with amazing artistic talent. Here is a picture she just finished for a display at a local exhibit. Did I mention the amazing talent!??

Snake Bit

Once again, I had the privilege of preaching at my church this last Sunday. You can download the message here. The message was only on Numbers 21:4-9, not the whole chapter.

Useful Men

"I know that, whenever God chooses a man for the ministry, and means to make him useful, if that man hopes to have an easy life of it, he will be the most disappointed mortal in the world. From the day when God calls him to be one of his captains, and says to him, “See I have made thee to be a leader of the hosts of Israel,” he must accept all that his commission includes, even if that involves a sevenfold measure of abuse, misrepresentation, and slander. We need greater soul-exercise than any of our flock, or else we shall not keep ahead of them. We shall not be able to teach others unless God thus teaches us. We must have fellowship with Christ in suffering as well as fellowship in faith. Still, with all its drawbacks, it is a blessed service, and we would not retire from it. Did we not accept all this with our commission? Then we should be cowards and deserters if we were to turn back. These castings down of the spirit are part of our calling. If you are to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, you must endure hardness. You will have to lie in the trenches, sometimes, with a bullet lodged here or there, with a sabre-cut on your forehead, or an arm or a leg shot away; where there is war, there must be wounds, and there must be war where there is to be victory.”[1] - C. H. Spurgeon

[1] C. H. Spurgeon, Sweet Stimulants for the Fainting Soul, Sermon # 2798, New Park Street Chapel, Winter, 1860.

The Power of the Gospel in the Here and Now

I had the privilege of preaching again this past Sunday. Here is the message, in MP3 format.

Books and Reading

Occasionally, someone will ask me, "Do you really read all those books?" I guess it's a little out of the ordinary to read 3-5 books at a time. In return, I typically ask whether they are able to have 3-5 conversations in a day, and then the discussion ends. Sorry. That sounds rude, and I don't think I sound rude when we talk about it. But I do try to explain that I read a little in each one, perhaps 3-10 pages a day. On a good day, I might get 2 hours of reading in. Most of the time, people just can't fathom reading that much. It's too bad, too. I just think people watch too much television, or engage in other mindless activity, and so waste the time that's been given to them.

To give just a little more insight into my reading, I thought I would show how I also mark and digest my books.
Before I begin a book, I will prepare two things, a highlighter (mostly yellow), and the Post-It tabs that I'll use to "highlight my highlights." Here's a picture.



I then cut these useful little flags in half, to get twice as many.



After I have all the flags cut, I "stage" them in the back of the book.



This is really useful, because as I read, I like to highlight significant passages, words, sentences, paragraphs, that really resonate with my heart. Sometimes, those highlighted passages are things I want to be able to find quickly, so I'll take one of these prepared flags, and tape it next to the highlighted section. I let the flag just barely stick out of the book when it's closed, that way I can turn to it quickly.



I've been doing this for just over a year now, and it works really great for me. Let me know what you do.

Puritan Library

I would love to build a library someday, for one purpose: To fill it with books!

I came across this site today and was even more motivated to work on filling my own library with good books. Take a look at his plan.

Mortification of Sin

Several weeks ago, I shared with a group of men that I desired to get at the heart of my sin, more than I desired to just "stop" sinning in any particular category. To be sure, I desire to stop sinning, but ultimately, my sin comes up and out of my own heart. It seemed that a few didn't understand me, thinking perhaps I was not serious about sin. In fact, I'm deadly serious about it, since Jesus Christ my Lord DIED because of it.

Yesterday, as I was reading in Overcoming Sin & Temptation by John Owen, I read this quote. It is puritan-ese, so re-re-reread it as necessary. It is profoundly powerful.

"A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; while the root abides in strength and vigor, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more. This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of (sinful behavior), but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make little or no progress in this work of mortification." [1]

[1] Overcoming Sin & Temptation, John Owen, Crossway Books, 2006, p75-76.

Desiring God - The Holiness of God

I had the privilege of going to the 2007 Desiring God Pastor's Conference last week. Here are all the sessions audio, video, and print from the conference.

First Response

On Monday morning (2-4am?), I had another difficult attack of my ulcerative colitis. It got so bad I passed out quite loudly in our one functional bathroom. My three little boys sleep at that end of the house, so they heard me go down, moaning, and then become quiet. They said later they thought I had died. Bless their hearts. My wife came running and calling to me, with no response.

The thing I wanted to relate about this isn't my pain, but the thing that happened while I was out cold. Those three boys, ages 11, 9, & 7, huddled together and prayed!

If you have little ones, or even medium or large ones, you can imagine how very touching and moving that is, to have your young children seeking the Lord immediately, without prompting, and without adult involvement.

C. J. Mahaney - Blessings

For the last month, I have had the privilege of meeting as part of a group of men at our church for Elder training. Our Pastor is taking us through a year of study and examination to explore the possibility of our becoming Elders, following the Biblical model of church polity. 1 Tim 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9; 1 Pet 5:1-4.

Not quite two weeks ago, as part of the training, we were listening to a message by C. J. Mahaney, called Watch Your Life and Doctrine. I got to hear it live at the Together for the Gospel conference last year, but it's one of those messages that needs to be listened to over and over again.

Anyway, one of the guys in our group knows someone who works at Sovereign Grace Ministries, and so as we listened to C. J., he emailed his friend and said how good it was, and how much it was ministering to us. The next day(?) he got a reply that C. J. had heard about our little group and wanted our names.

Well, he sent us all autographed copies of his books "Living the Cross Centered Life", "Humility", and a book on what every Christian Husband needs to know!!

What a blessing! And what an amazing thing, that this man could and would take the time to bless our little group of men in snowy Michigan. Having heard him preach, and listened to him interact with his friends Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, and Al Mohler at TFG, I think he really models humility and Christ-like love that is inspiring.

Thanks C. J.!

African Mission Trip

I really did return from my trip to Africa. I know it’s been awhile since I posted anything. I’ve just had a hard time getting back into the right gear.

This year, our church made it’s second visit to the Back to the Bible Training College, in Barberton, South Africa, where over 80 students from all over Africa (and other continents) are studying and preparing for ministry. Many of them are already itinerant preaching and ministering while attending the school. The college is very poor, and they have very few resources. So the purpose of our trip was to provide teaching, training, encouragement, study resources, and service to the staff and students of the college so that they could more effectively proclaim the name of Christ.

With the cooperation of the college, and following the model of Christ training His disciples, our church here in Michigan adopted twelve of these students. Our pastor is training them in expository preaching, Biblical leadership, theology, etc. On this trip, we took each of these 12 students and the college library 20 books each, including Bible dictionaries, commentaries, a systematic theology, and other study tools. We also took each of the 80+ students a book called Peacemakers, by Ken Sande.

What a blessing it was to see how God provided these resources so we could take the 700 lbs of books to Africa for the students of this college.

We left the United States on October 30th at about 7am, with a couple of hops, from South Bend, to Detroit, to D.C. The flight from D.C. to Johannesburg took 15 ½ hours. From there, we traveled another 5+ hours to the college in a little van. The flight back to D.C. from “Jo-burg” took 18½ hours, with a short stop in Dakar, Senegal. The return trip back was the toughest, taking 36 hours of combined driving, flying, and layovers.

There were my four main highlights: The spontaneous praise and worship that erupted as we handed out the books, the opportunity to preach at a tiny church in Barberton on Sunday (translated into Zulu!), the opportunity to preach to the staff and students of the college on Monday morning, and the sweet fellowship of the team during the whole trip. Here's my pastor's blog post on the trip.

The college has an awesome mission, to reach Africa for Jesus. We believe the best way we can contribute to that mission is to equip and train native pastors and leaders for their work of ministry.