How Does the Gospel Conquer the Sin of Pornography
Some excellent thoughts here from DA Carson and Tim Keller on how to overcome the sin of pornography with the gospel.
August 13 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
“A Gospel Primer” Book Review
I first saw A Gospel Primer for Christians at the Shepherds’ Conference a couple of years ago. It looked like an interesting read, so I picked up a copy but in the busyness of life and ministry forgot about it until just a few months ago. As I was packing up my library preparing to move down to Cool I found this little book (97 pages) and decided to read it. The result has been a powerful re-awakening of my love for the gospel and insight into it’s application to daily life.
A Gospel Primer is essentially a devotional book with a series of meditations. What makes this such a powerful book is the way that the author unfolds the implications of the gospel for every day life. Each meditation is well thought out, winsomely written, and directly applicable today. The second half of the book is called “A Gospel Narrative”, which walks step by step through the process of salvation in a way that exalts Christ and leaves one hungry for more of the gospel.
This is a fantastic little book and one that I highly recommend. I’ll close with my favorite meditation from the book on the topic of Liberation from Self-Love
Compared to greater endeavors, self-love is mundane and tiresome. Consequently, the more thoroughly I can be done with such tedium, the freer my soul will be to soar at its God-intended heights.
One of the leading causes of my natural tendency to self-love is fear. I fear that if I do not love myself there would be no one left to love me quite so well as I do. An even more significant cause of self-love is a lack of persuasion that there is someone out there who is worthy to be loved more than I. Arrogance lies underneath both of these causes: I love myself supremely because I am the most worthy person I know to be loved and also because I think I can do a better job at it than anyone else. Such arrogance makes me dangerous, yet it is deeply ingrained in my sinful flesh.
Thankfully, the gospel frees me from the shackles of self-love by addressing both of these causes. First, the gospel assures me that the love of God is infinitely superior to any love that I could ever give to myself. “Greater love has no one than this,” says Jesus while speaking of His love. And the deeper I go into the gospel, the more I experience the truth of His claim and thereby know how far His love for me surpasses even my own. His astonishing love for me renders self-absorption moot and frees me up to move on to causes and interests far greater than myself.
Second, the gospel reveals to me the breathtaking glory and loveliness of God, and in so doing, it lures my heart away from love of self and leaves me enthralled by Him instead. The more I behold God’s glory in the gospel, the more lovely He appears to me. And the more lovely He appears, the more self fades into the background like a former love interest who can no longer compete for my affections.
Preaching the gospel to myself every day reminds me of God’s astounding love for me and also of His infinite worthiness to be loved by me above all else. These reminders deliver a one-two punch to my innate self-absorption and leave me increasingly absorbed with Christ and with God’s ultimate plan to gather together all heavenly and earthly things in Him.
August 09 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
What is the Gospel?
Great video here from Southern Seminary.
What is the Gospel? from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.
July 09 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
Two Ways to Live
Online evangelistic tracks have a reputation for being “hokey” and often times completely wrong about the gospel. Yet, the sheer volume of people on the internet makes it a powerful place to present the gospel. I recently ran across an online track that I think is worth mentioning because they present the gospel in an accurate and winsome manner.
The name of the track is “Two Ways to Live”. Here’s a summary of the track:
In essence, Two Ways to Live is a memorable summary of the Christian gospel. In six simple points it conveys the key information that the average non-Christian person needs to understand in order to become a Christian. And it does so in a way that does not assume any prior knowledge or understanding of Christian concepts.
There is also a children’s version called “Who Will be Your King?” that is very good.
May 12 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
7 Characteristics of Evangelistic Christians
Great thoughts over at Thom Rainer’s blog on characteristics of evangelistic Christians.
1. They are people of prayer. They realize that only God can convict and convert, and they are totally dependent upon Him in prayer. Most of the highly evangelistic Christians spend at least an hour in prayer each day.
2. They have a theology that compels them to evangelize. They believe in the urgency of the gospel message. They believe that Christ is the only way of salvation. They believe that anyone without Christ is doomed for a literal hell.
3. They are people who spend time in the Word. The more time they spend in the Bible, the more likely they are to see the lostness of humanity and the love of God in Christ to save those who are lost.
4. They are compassionate people. Their hearts break for those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have learned to love the world by becoming more like Christ who has the greatest love for the world.
5. They love the communities where God has placed them. They are immersed in the culture because they desire for the light of Christ to shine through them in their communities.
6. They are intentional about evangelism. They pray for opportunities to share the gospel. They look for those opportunities. And they see many so-called casual encounters as appointments set by God.
7. They are accountable to someone for their evangelistic activities. They know that many good activities can replace Great Commission activities if they are not careful. Good can replace the best. So they make certain that someone holds them accountable each week, either formally or informally, for their evangelistic efforts.
HT: Vitamin Z
April 20 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
Where Do You Find Comfort?
”To the degree that you have based your life on something other than the Lord, to that degree God’s love and the hope of the gospel will not comfort you.” – Paul Tripp
April 07 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
What Does it Mean to Receive Jesus?
John Piper gives an outstanding answer in this video.
March 12 2010 | Blog | No Comments »
My Story (part 2) – A Servant’s Heart
As I look back over the course of my life I am stunned by the sheer number of blessings that God has placed in my life. A a child, the single greatest blessing was certainly being born into the family that I was born into and having the privilege of hearing the gospel from an early age. As a teenager, I believe that one of the greatest blessings in my life was the church I was a part of and specifically, the youth ministry that I was involved in.
My years in youth ministry at Riverlakes were full of wonderful memories that I cherish to this day. My Youth Pastors (Ed Kelley and later Brian Murphy) are both godly men who made significant investments in my life and are still dear friends today. It was during this time and under the care of these men that God began to call me to the ministry as early as Junior High.
God was working in my life in many significant ways during this time: teaching me about the church, leading worship, friendships, mission trips, etc. If I were to put a single banner over the lessons that I learned during these years it would be how to have a “servant’s heart”. One of our theme verses was Mark 10:42-45 –
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Through mission trips to Mexico, to regular service projects, to student leadership teams and beyond God’s heavy emphasis upon servant-hood was impressed deeply upon my heart by godly men and women who loved me, often times in spite of myself.
For me, my High School years were much more about the church than the High School I attended. I loved South High, but for me it was mainly a place that I had to go during the day to get an education. My true love was fast becoming the church. I suppose this is one of the reasons that I love Student Ministries so much, because it had such a profound impact on my life and my love for the church.
As I mentioned in my lat post, one of my hopes in this series is to draw attention to two great truths that I have clearly seen working themselves out in my life: 1) I am a great sinner, 2) Christ is a great Savior. There is probably no better place in my life that I can testify to the truth of the first of these statements than my High School years. The emotional turmoil of High School, the besetting sins of lust and pride that continually haunted me, along with the rampant occupation with self are all clear testimonies to my own sinful heart. In spite of all this my great Savior was quietly calling me closer and closer to himself and developing in me a heart that would be sensitive to Him.
December 14 2009 | My Story | No Comments »
The Gospel…He is Coming
This is a stirring video about the coming of Jesus from Steve Lawson. If you’ve ever wondered what the gospel is, this is a great place to start.
It Will Cost You Everything from I’ll Be Honest on Vimeo.
December 12 2009 | Blog | No Comments »
Messed Up Kids
In the spring of 2005 I was awakened one morning to my wife jumping on our bed and loudly announcing that she had just taken a pregnancy test and that it was positive! This 5:00am wakeup call was my first introduction to fatherhood and it was a wonderful one. I remember going to all of the Doctor appointments and taking extra special care to make sure that Amy was ok. The climax of the whole event came on January 13, 2006 when Micah Andrew Buell was born. There are no words to describe the intimacy of that moment when Amy and I first held our little boy and prayed together for him. I remember having this awesome sense of responsibility to take care of this little one, which has continued ever since.
I remember looking at Micah and thinking that he was the most perfect little boy to ever be born. At the same time, I remember thinking that I was way too young to have this kind of responsibility and that I would surely mess this whole thing up. I was soon proved right.
As Micah grew older I became increasingly aware that something was terribly wrong with him. It all began when he learned to say the word, “No”. At first, it was cute how he would walk around like a big boy chanting “no, no, no, no, no, no, no” (much the way his little brother does now). Eventually the cuteness wore off and he began to actually mean what he said.
“Micah, please take a bite of your food”
“No.”
“Micah, please don’t hit your little brother.”
“No, No!”
“Micah, it’s time for bed”
“NO, NO, NO!!!”
Why was my child so rebellious? Why was he so defiant? Had I made a mistake already? Did I read the wrong parenting book? How did he get so messed up so fast? The answer is that Amy and I didn’t do anything to mess Micah up, because he came that way.
Every child is born with a sinful nature (Psalm 51:5), which is inherited from our first father Adam (Romans 5:12). This simple fact has had a profound impact on my parenting, because it changes my orientation. If I believed that Micah was born pure as the driven snow, than my job would be to maintain his purity and stop any outside influences from ever leading him into sin. If on the other hand Micah was born naturally sinful, my job is not to keep him from sinning but to find a solution for his sin problem, which leads me to the gospel.
Every child is born in sin, so every child has a desperate need for the gospel of Jesus Christ to solve his sin problem. As a parent that means that the most helpful thing that I can do for my children is to live out the gospel in front of them and to continually point them to Jesus, who can solve their sin problem.
September 28 2009 | Devotional | No Comments »