A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy street. Suddenly, just in front of him, the light turned yellow. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was furious and repeatedly honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, while also, dropping her cell phone and makeup.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very stern looking police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.
He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, 'I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. 'I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' window sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk; naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car.'
People sometimes ask me how I have time to read books, pastor a church, host a radio show, publish newspaper articles and books and still spend time with my family. The answer is simple. I said goodbye to television.
Even if you watch "good" shows, is that the best use of your time? Or does TV eat up your time, like carbon monoxide eats up your hemoglobin?
Several studies say the average American watches more than three hours of TV daily. That adds up to 45 days per year in front of the tube.
What could you accomplish if you suddenly had a full month and a half of free time? How much time could you spend with your family? How many friendships could you build? How much time would you have to help people in need?
Just as carbon monoxide makes your cells starve for oxygen, television makes your life itself starve for meaningful experiences. When you are old and gray, would you rather remember times spent with family and significant accomplishments or all those TV shows you watched?
ABC's Nightline aired another one of their Face-Off debates last night. This one, involving Mark Driscoll and Annie Lobert arguing the affirmative, and Deepak Chopra and Carlton Pearson argument the negative. If you missed it, you can watch clips of the entire thing at ABC's website.
A couple observations:
- Driscoll didn't focus that much on Satan. Instead, he always brought it back to 3 things: God, the Bible, and Jesus. After all, Satan is real, yes, but he's also been defeated. He opened with the gospel, and closed by simply reading the gospel from the Bible.
- Deepak Chopra might be the most arrogant, condescending, and confusing person ever.
- Pearson is about as consistent in his arguments as a pro-life Obama supporter.
- Annie Lobert has an amazing testimony that was ridiculed and made to look like mental issues by the other side. Not gracious at all.
When I was out at the Acts 29 Church Planting Boot Camp in Seattle a couple weeks ago, my favorite session was Matt Chandler's talk on preaching. For those who don't know, Matt is a pastor at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. You can also check out an interview with Matt I posted last week. He's funny, articulate, and insightful. For those who don't believe preaching is important anymore, or if you want re-assurance that it is, check out this sermon. Amazing.
Note: I need to preface the first 30 seconds. In the talk right before this, Scott Thomas was talking about the speakers a little bit and said Mark Driscoll was like the meat during a meal, and that Chandler was like some good asparagus with it. He meant it as a compliment. Matt took it another way...
If you're a young guy planning on getting married in the future, a newly married guy, and a guy who's been married for a while, you need to hear this sermon. Mark Driscoll preached to women at his church last week about what submission looks like within marriage and how God designed their roles in marriage. On Sunday, Driscoll turned his attention to the guys (or little boys, as he calls them) who refuse to grow up and take responsibility for things.
I've seen Driscoll fired up in the past, but I don't think I've ever seen him like the last 10 minutes of this. Wow. He's mostly talking to guys who aren't married yet, but this had some great reminders and rebukes for me, even though I've been married almost 4 years now. Great stuff.
It's long (about 73 minutes), but worth it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ UPDATE: Here are the notes from Mars Hill Church's Blog:
Like Adam, the sins of men fall into two general categories: sins of comission (doing what you’re not supposed to do) and sins of omission (not doing what you’re supposed to do). This leads chauvinistic or cowardly tendencies:
Chauvinism
No Sissy Stuff Sam: whatever women do, do the opposite
Success and Status Stewart: masculinity = material success
Give’em Hell Hank: angry and abusive
I’m the Boss Bob: domineering and controlling; in authority, not under authority
Cowardice
Little Boy Larry: never grew up, disorganized, lives with his mother, etc.
Sturdy Oak Owen: absolutely dependable but emotionally absent
Hyper-Spiritual Henry: Hides behind religious behavior and “God talk.” Talks at you but not to you.
Good Time Gary: irresponsible life of the party
3. Your Savior: Jesus Christ (the Last Adam, 1 Cor. 15:45)
Ephesians 5:25 calls men to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. Men are not ready to be good husbands until they are a part of the Church and understand how Christ loves the Church by taking responsibility for her and sacrificing himself for her.
The essence of true masculinity is taking responsibility.
4. Your Wife
Understand that a wife’s fears (1 Pet. 3:6) are legitimate; men dominate the lives of women and children, for good or for evil. Honor your wife:
Honor her maritally. Take a wife honorably. Establish right priorities, and be a one woman man–absolutely faithful to your wife.
Honor her physically. Be strong for your wife, not against her. Be protective of her and present with her.
Honor her emotionally. Be emotionally present and intimate. Take her on dates.
Honor her verbally. Speak honorably to her. Speak honorably of her, when she is present and absent.
Honor her financially. Provide for the financial needs of your family, organize your budget, and be generous towards your wife.
Honor her practically. Consider her needs and how you can serve her.
Honor her parentally. Be “Pastor Dad” by shepherding your children (praying with them, teaching them about Jesus, reading the Bible with them, etc.).
Honor her spiritually.You initiate and lead prayer, Bible, chats, church attendance, etc. Take responsibility for your church.
What happens when you fail to honor your wife? God ignores you (1 Pet. 3:7). Repent.
I was out in Seattle at the Acts 29 Bootcamp last week, and I got to hear Matt Chandler give one of the better sermons I've ever heard on preaching. When they get the video for that sermon up, I'll post it on here. You'll definitely want to check it out. Amazing.
In the meantime, the guys at Resurgence have posted an interview Mark Driscoll did with Chandler during the conference. I highly encourage checking out the interview and Matt's iTunes podcast from The Village Church, where he's the pastor.
What do you think would happen if Paul's letter to the Galatians was published in, say, Christianity Today this week? How would people react to his comments? The Sacred Sandwich has some humorous, yet pointed, hypothetical responses from readers.
Dear Christianity Today:
In response to Paul D. Apostle’s article about the Galatian church in your January issue, I have to say how appalled I am by the unchristian tone of this hit piece. Why the negativity? Has he been to the Galatian church recently? I happen to know some of the people at that church, and they are the most loving, caring people I’ve ever met.
Phyllis Snodgrass; Ann Arbor, MI
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Dear CT:
I’ve seen other dubious articles by Paul Apostle in the past, and frankly I’m surprised you felt that his recurrent criticisms of the Church deserved to be printed in your magazine. Mr. Apostle for many years now has had a penchant for thinking he has a right to “mark” certain Christian teachers who don’t agree with his biblical position. Certainly I commend him for desiring to stay faithful to God’s word, but I think he errs in being so dogmatic about his views to the point where he feels free to openly attack his brethren. His attitude makes it difficult to fully unify the Church, and gives credence to the opposition’s view that Christians are judgmental, arrogant people who never show God’s love.
Ken Groener; San Diego, CA
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Dear Christianity Today:
The fact that Paul Apostle brags about his public run-in with Peter Cephas, a well-respected leader and brother in Christ, exposes Mr. Apostle for the divisive figure that he has become in the Church today. His diatribe against the Galatian church is just more of the same misguided focus on an antiquated reliance on doctrine instead of love and tolerance. Just look how his hypercritical attitude has cast aspersions on homosexual believers and women elders! The real problem within the Church today is not the lack of doctrinal devotion, as Apostle seems to believe, but in our inability to be transformed by our individual journeys in the Spirit. Evidently, Apostle has failed to detach himself from his legalistic background as a Pharisee, and is unable to let go and experience the genuine love for Christ that is coming from the Galatians who strive to worship God in their own special way.
I'm out in Seattle right now for the Acts 29 Bootcamp, which has been incredible. I'm leaving today to fly into St. Louis and drive to Columbia, MO for a business trip on Wednesday and Thursday. With all this going on, I may not be posting the next couple days. We'll see if I have enough time in the evenings.
I found this fascinating. Certain people are tossing around the term "trillion" in discussions these days, but have you ever wondered exactly what $1 trillion would look like? Check this out for a good visual of what $1 trillion in $100 bills looks like.
For some reference, this picture is $100 million (those are stacks of $100 bills). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: Just noticed their server must have crashed or something. That's why the picture isn't showing up and the link doesn't work. Also noticed that FoxNews linked to the page, so that might explain why their server might be down. I'll leave the post in case things start working again.
In the meantime, found a link where someone had saved it as a PDF. You can view the PDF here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: Looks like the site is up and running again.
It's never easy to determine exactly why the stock market moves in a particular direction. Plenty of other factors have influenced stock prices since November. For example, the global economy has slowed further and the outlook for corporate profits has worsened.
But BusinessWeek interviewed a wide array of investment professionals, and many said the first six weeks of the Obama Administration have soured their outlook on the stock market.
"Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards."
~J. Campbell White, “The Layman’s Missionary Movement,” in Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, 1st dition (Pasadena, Ca.: William Carey Library, 1981), 222.
Every job has its discouragements and its seasons of darkness. We must not interpret such experiences automatically as a call to leave our post.
But if the discontent with your present situation is deep, recurrent, and lasting, and if that discontent grows in Bible-saturated soil, God may be calling you to a new work. If, in your discontent, you long to be holy, to walk pleasing to the Lord, and to magnify Christ with your one, brief life, then God may indeed be loosening your roots in order to transplant you to a place and a ministry where the deep spiritual ambitions of your soul can be satisfied.
It is true that God can be known and enjoyed in every legitimate vocation; but when he deploys you from one place to the next, he offers fresh and deeper drinking at the fountain of his fellowship. God seldom calls us to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace.
C.J. Mahaney had another great post in his Biblical Productivity Series at his blog. This was focused on serving and surprising people. He used the example of his role with his wife. I found this post very helpful and convicting.
Study Your Wife
For example, let’s look at my role as husband to Carolyn. As I plan how to serve and surprise my wife, I think about a number of categories. Here are my two lists. You can probably add to them.
Do you know how to surprise and delight your wife in specific ways in each of these areas?
clothing sizes, styles, and stores
jewelry
health
exercise
books and magazines
movies
the arts
sports
food
music
entertainment
places to visit
intellectual interests
hobbies
vacations/getaways
and, of course, sex
Do you know how your wife is faring in each of these areas?
theological knowledge
practice of the spiritual disciplines
growth in godliness
spiritual gifts that can be used to serve others
involvement in the local church
relationships with children
relationships with parents
relationships with in-laws
relationships with friends
personal retreats
fears
hopes
dreams
disappointments
temptations
Once I have considered these categories, I can put specific ways to serve and surprise my wife on my weekly and monthly schedule.
Ben Witherington:
