A Little Friday Humor - Brian Regan

"They didn't invent whispering for compliments..." Classic.



HT: Challies

A Prayer about Uncertainty and Change

Scotty Smith, with a prayer I needed to hear and pray today and for the next few months:

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Psalm 143:8

Dear Jesus, in the morning, at mid-day, in the afternoon and throughout the night, keep on bringing us word of your unfailing love. That’s all we need, that’s all we really need. By the Holy Spirit, incessantly gossip the gospel in our inmost ear. Wrap the good news of your boundless, endless affections around our hearts, tighter and tighter and tighter. Permeate every bit of our being with your fresh mercies, steadfast love and transforming grace, for we have put our trust in you.

Jesus, it’s the assurance of your unfailing love which enables us to trust you with the changes we go through in life and the uncertainties about the future. Change is never easy. Change makes us feel vulnerable, fearful and insecure. We get tempted, once again, to be our own savior. Spare us that misery, Jesus, spare us and those we love. Now’s not a time to lean on our own understanding or walk by the light our own torches (Isaiah 50:10-11). May your Word dwell in us richly, your peace rule in us powerfully, your Spirit pray in us effectually. We want your glory be our main passion and delight.

We’ve entrusted our lives to you, Jesus, because you alone are trustworthy. We’ve given you our sins, wounds, brokenness and weakness. Now, in fresh surrender, we give you our planning for the next season of our lives. Show us the way we should go through our transitions—transitions of age and stage; loses and crosses; career and calling; health and finances; relationships and ministries. Write stories of redemption beyond our wildest dreams and hopes. It’s all about you, Jesus, not us. It’s all about your glory and our growth.

We’re not so arrogant as to expect all the details. Just take us by the hand and lead the way. Shepherd us, Jesus, open doors we cannot shut and shut doors we cannot open. All we need to know is that you love us and that you’re with us. You’ve promised us both, and you do not lie. So very Amen we pray, in your peerless and priceless name.

MacArthur to YRR's: Grow Up

John MacArthur has written the next post in his series aimed at the Young, Restless, and Reformed crowd (among which I would consider myself). Despite some disagreements I have with some of his points (including some blanket statements that give no credible examples), I am glad he is taking the time to address the movement. I'm afraid many won't listen to him because of some past statements, but that would be a mistake. We don't have to agree with everything someone says to gain wisdom from them. He has had a long, faithful, fruitful ministry. We'd be fools not to listen and learn where we can.

Here's a sample from his post:

If I could impress on Young, Restless, Reformed students just one word of friendly counsel to address what I think is the most glaring deficiency in that movement, this is what it would be: "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature" (1 Corinthians 14:20).

I'm very glad the ranks of YRRs are growing numerically. Many good things about that movement are full of promise and potential. In order to fulfill that potential, however, this generation of Reformers desperately needs to move past the young-and-restless stage. Immaturity and unrest are hindrances to spiritual fruitfulness, not virtues.

Read the whole post.

JimPressions

Good stuff.



HT: Kevin DeYoung

Music Video of the Week: MuteMath

MuteMath - "Odd Soul"

Quick Update

The last few months of my life have been pretty crazy. Along with being the busiest time of the year at work by far, my wife and I have been working through some things we believe God has put on our hearts. After lots of prayer and discussion, I will be starting classes at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary this fall. Even though I'm accepted already and registered for classes starting in August, there are still a ton of things to take care of (including trying to sell our house in Cincinnati to move to Louisville), but we are trusting that God will provide.

We have already seen so much of God's faithfulness through this, and we wholeheartedly believe this is the right decision for our family as we prepare for (and participate in) ministry. We are very excited for the next chapter in the life of our family and what God has in store for us.

"Can I Be Thankful for This?"

Convicting.

Kevin DeYoung:

I’ve learned over the years that the simplest way to judge gray areas in the Christian life like movies, television, and music is to ask one simple question: can I thank God for this? (We are to give thanks in all circumstances, right?) Not too long ago my wife and I went to the movie theater to watch one of the summer blockbusters. It was a fun PG-13 movie, and you’d probably say it didn’t really have any bad parts. But it was very sensual and suggestive in several places. I got done with the movie (yes, I watched the whole thing) and thought, “Can I really thank God for this?” Now, I’m not a total kill-joy. I like to laugh and enjoy life. I can thank God for the Chicago Bears, Hot N’ Readys, and Brian Regan. But I wonder if after most of our entertainment we could sincerely get down on our knees and say, “Thank you God for this good gift.” Something to think about.

MacArthur on the Young, Restless, and Reformed

John MacArthur's first in a series of posts on the YRR movement:

I’m very glad for most of what this movement represents. It seems to be a more biblically-oriented, gospel-centered, theologically-grounded approach to Christian discipleship than this generation’s parents typically favored—and that is most certainly to be applauded.

YRRs have by and large eschewed the selfishness and shallowness (though not all the pragmatism) of seeker-sensitive religion. They are generally aware of the dangers posed by postmodernity, political correctness, and moral relativism (even if they don’t always approach such dangers with sufficient caution). And while they sometimes seem to struggle to show discernment, they do seem to understand that truth is different from falsehood; sound doctrine is opposed to heresy; and true faith distinct from mere religious pretense.

It is overall a positive development and a trend to be encouraged—but the YRR movement as it is shaping up also needs to face up to some fairly serious problems and potential pitfalls. So I have some words of encouragement and counsel for YRRs, and I want to take a few days here at the blog to write to them about their movement, its influences, some hazards that lie ahead, some tendencies to avoid, and some qualities to cultivate. (A few men on our staff will also join the discussion with a few thoughts of their own.)

Our chief concerns have to do with immaturity, instability, and inconsistency in the YRR movement. It is clear from Scripture, of course, that people who are young need to aim for maturity (2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 5:12-14)—not perpetual adolescence. Scripture likewise makes clear that it’s better to be “like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3) than to be constantly restless. And one cannot be genuinely “Reformed” and deliberately worldly at the same time. The two things are inconsistent and incompatible. To embrace the world’s fashions and values—even under the guise of being “missional”—is to make oneself God’s enemy (James 4:4). Many supposed reformations have faltered on that rock.

No one is truly Reformed who is not constantly reforming.

In all candor, some of the ideas YRRs seem most obsessed with—starting with their standard methods for reaching the unchurched and “redeeming culture”—seem to be holdovers from the pragmatism that dominated their parents’ generation. If we profess theology that recognizes and honors the sovereignty, majesty, and holiness of God, our practice ought to be consistent with that.

It is a wonderful thing to come to grips with the doctrines of grace, and it is a liberating realization when we acknowledge the impotence of the human will. But embracing those truths is merely an initial step toward authentic reformation. We still have a lot of reforming to do.

And let’s face it: the besetting sin of young Calvinists is a brash failure to come to grips with that reality.

I’ll elaborate more on these points in the days to come.

Mike Pohlman: Flippancy

Mike Pohlman, wondering if James (author of that book of the Bible) could ever be a pastor today:

I say this because of how pervasive “flippancy” is in today’s culture. By flippancy I mean our default instinct to always make light of something serious. Or, as C.S. Lewis said, always finding a ridiculous side to every serious subject. And as Lewis masterfully shows in The Screwtape Letters, flippancy is one of the great tactics the devil uses to dull us to God.

In chapter eleven, Screwtape (the senior devil, uncle, and mentor to aspiring junior devil Wormwood) takes up the topic of laughter and commends flippancy as the best form for the devil’s purposes of keeping us away from the “Enemy” (i.e., God):

But flippancy is the best of all. In the first place it is very economical. Only a clever human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy; it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practise it.

Flippancy, like so many other manifestations of worldliness, is a quiet killer of the soul. Like a fog in the night, it creeps in subtly. But James sounds the alarm. I’m grateful, and looking to this trusted guide to help get us safely home.

A Round-Up of the C.J. Mahaney/Sovereign Grace Melee

Jesse Johnson has waded through the 600 or so pages in Brent Detwiler's accusations against C.J. Mahaney, and has posted his observations. I read through about 50 pages and was coming to some similar conclusions, so I'm glad I didn't read any further.

Here's what Johnson says:

Let me just come right out and say it: this CJ Mahaney thing is a train wreck, is exhibit #42 for why I believe in elder lead churches, and exhibit #476 in defense of cessationism.

If you are not following from home, let me bring you up to speed. CJ, the former pastor of the Sovereign Grace flagship church in Gaithersburg, MD, was the head of the Sovereign Grace network. I say “was” because two weeks ago he stepped down in light of accusations against him. These accusations were made by former pastors who were on his staff. The essence of the accusations? CJ is proud and manipulative.

The main accuser, Brent Detwiler, put out over 600 pages of emails interspersed with his own commentary to make those points. I have read much of those 600 pages, and let me save you some time by telling you this: 1. Don’t waste your time. These things have been downloaded 55,000 times, and I feel sorry for anyone who has read more than 10 pages of them; 2. There is no smoking gun. Strip away all of the commentary and whining, and you are left with a picture of a pastor who is running an organization, and some associates who feel slighted.

Honestly, reading this made me ask: “Don’t these people have real sin to confront?” Some of the pastors think CJ is acting too proud, and they rate him on his pride, and they schedule meetings to talk about his pride, and CJ repents of 9 of 11 species of pride that they have identified, and they go back to the drawing board to identify examples of the other two species of pride, they email each other to ask if others have seen that pride, and then CJ thinks those fit under the first species of pride, and they chart the pride, and so on. Blah. Wouldn’t it be nice if occasionally love covered a multitude of sins?

...That is not to say there is not enough blame to go around. The emails paint a stunning picture of Sovereign Grace’s approach to sanctification and church leadership. The pastors appear to have annually rated each other’s strengths and weaknesses (if that is not a recipe for disaster and disunity and six hundred pages of disgruntled emails, I don’t know what is). Sovereign Grace appears to be lead by a board, and this board is different from the church, and the church is led by an apostle (or is he pastor at the church, and apostle at the board level?), and when it all shakes out, it is an ecclesiological mash-up. It is almost enough to make me want to be a fundamentalist.

In reality, this serves as an example of why churches should not be allowed to function without real elders. The NT has much to say about how to handle church leadership and sin, and this fiasco is a reminder about what happens when you deviate from that. Take out elders and replace them with an apostle, then add a board that leads a group of churches, and you officially have created something other than a New Testament church.

In the Bible, churches are lead by elders. You can recognize who an apostle is, because he is the guy writing the Bible, raising dead people, and driving illnesses out of the city. Absent those guys—who have been missing for 2,000 years or so—you are left with elders running the whole thing. Also in the Bible, if an elder sins, confront him. If two or three people see a pattern of sin, they should tell it to the elders, and the elders investigate, and then they should deal with it.

It should not be that complicated. In this case, it is being mishandled and complexified for a few reasons. First, CJ is an apostle, and his co-pastors are part of an apostolic team. This is not a recipe for humility from the outset. Second: Brent apparently took the accusations to the “elders,” and did not like how they dealt with him, so he made his accusations public. This leads to the 600 pages of documents, because now rather than presenting a case to local “elders” who know everyone involved, he is obviously trying to convince anyone with an IP address that CJ is in sin. This is not the way it is supposed to work. The public is not the court of appeal for an elder decision that you don’t like. Brent is acting like a German shepherd, not a shepherd. At this point, CJ’s pride is not the issue, but rather Brent establishing a precedent that you can expose sin publically if the elders refuse to. And an attitudinal sin at that.

The latest wrinkle in the drama is that the Sovereign Grace board is taking the lead in investigating the issue. Don’t worry though, because they will also convene a board of outside experts that are not affiliated with CJ’s church. This has lead Joshua Harris, who pastors the church CJ attends, to step down from the Sovereign Grace board. The very existence of a board that oversees churches is awkward, especially if they start investigating accusations of sin against a member of a church with its own leadership. But by not only taking the issue away from the local church, but by creating a second committee, they are trampling on the idea of local church autonomy. Why Sovereign Grace is doing anything publically is a little bit strange, and a basic affront to the concept of church elders acting as overseers of souls.

When you compound the layers of apostles with a rejection of the authority of elders, you still are not done, because this drama also includes charismatic chaos. The emails are filled with words of prophecy and knowledge, some of them given by unnamed people. The leaders are wondering if certain events are what was intended by various prophetic words. Not only is this whole ordeal an argument for the autonomy of the local church, but also for cessationism. Even the process of examining CJ’s attitudes gets jerked back and forth by whatever the latest prophetic word seemed to say.

I have absolutely no sympathy for Brent. He wants to show the world that CJ has pride and that he is surrounded by board members that will cover for him. Here is my advice: don’t go to a church led by an apostle, then be shocked and appalled about accountability in his life. Don’t go to a church where prophetic words from church members influence how the leadership approaches issues. This is a whacked ecclesiology (aided and abided by abhorrent pneumatology), that Brent helped propagate, and now he wants to publically rail against it.

Brent needs to repent for putting up these emails, not because they were confidential correspondence, but because they are dumb and divisive. Brent needs to repent for leading a church that is outside the biblical model of leadership, and for going outside the authority of elders in dealing with this sin. And he should recognize that the open but cautious approach to the gifts is burning his house down.

Pride is not the issue, but church leadership is.

This is a mess, and I tend to agree with Johnson's critiques of the leadership structure and danger of charismatic theology. There's just no objective benchmark to look to on issues when the latest prophetic word can change everything. It makes things much more complicated than they need to be, and you end up with things like this. It just makes me sad, because there are men here who clearly love Jesus and want to glorify him, but they've ended up mired in this craziness which distracts them from focusing on reaching unbelievers and building up believers.

Music Video of the Week: Matthew Mayfield

Matthew Mayfield - "Toxic (Britney Spears cover)"

Outsourcing Our Memories

This is fascinating.

A study published in today’s Science suggests that the Internet has changed how we remember facts. The study shows that the Web has become a sort of external hard drive for factual information. So instead of remembering specific details, such as who directed the film Casablanca (Michael Curtiz), we remember the name of the website where we can look up that information (IMDb).

"It’s not really that different from what we’ve always done," says Betsy Sparrow, the psychologist at Columbia University who led the study. Indeed, many of our trusted Web resources are merely online versions of print references—maps and dictionaries, for example—that we used to consult. "But the Internet is more prevalent, and people are more aware that they’re using it in this way," she says.

The study authors tested this hypothesis by giving subjects a list of facts they were unlikely to know, such as "The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry over Texas in February 2003," then had them type them into a computer. As the subjects typed in a fact, they would receive a message on the computer screen telling them that the item had been saved in one of five folders, each with a different name. When quizzed afterward, most subjects were unable to remember the details of the facts, but about 30 percent recalled the name of the folder where the information was stored. "This is consistent with the long history of studies showing that people remember contextual clues that can help them remember the relevant information," says Michael Mozer, a memory researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who did not participate in the research.

Only when the subjects received a message that the factoid they typed in would be erased did their performance on the memory tests improve, supporting the notion that people trust computers and the Internet to store information. "It’s clear that the Internet and computers have a lot of meaning to us," says Gary Small, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has studied how online search affects brain activity but was not involved in the Science study. Historically, people have relied on physical hive minds made up of friends and colleagues to help them remember specific details, a phenomenon social psychologists call transactive memory. The study authors propose that the Internet now fills this role, becoming the ultimate know-it-all friend whom we can access anytime.

You can read the rest of the article here. Very interesting to see how our thinking has adapted to the tools around us to allow us to process information. Or (if you're the pessimistic type) made us idiots who can't remember simple facts if our phone battery dies...

HT: Challies

We Were Dead In Our Sins

HT: Zach Nielsen

Matt Chandler: Nobody Dies Early

Some people have a hard time with this idea. To me, it's one of the most comforting things I believe. God is sovereign over all things, including death. He's also good, so I can trust Him.

Book Review: Mike McKinley - Am I Really a Christian?

Genre: Non-Fiction/Christian Living
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: June 7, 2011

Are you really a Christian? If you believe you are, you might be bothered that anyone would even ask. I mean, of course you are, right? How dare anyone question that?

So it’s likely to be a little off-putting to some when Mike McKinley begins the introduction to his book, Am I Really a Christian? by making this statement: “This is a book aimed at convincing you that you may not be a Christian” (he even acknowledges he’s kind of a jerk…). McKinley has looked out over the landscape of Christianity (along with numerous biblical warnings) and concluded that there are many people who believe they are Christians but will hear Jesus say these dreaded words one day: “Depart from me; I never knew you.”

So despite the uncomfortable nature of the topic, McKinley’s pastor’s heart causes him to dive in to many of the ways people have been deceived (or deceived themselves) into wrongly believing they are Christians. After all, this is vitally important, and the bible gives numerous warnings to professing believers to examine themselves to see if they really are true believers. Using the analogy of a race, McKinley says that if you had a group of people running a race where finishing meant salvation, but many of them were just standing along the road in their nice running clothes and shoes but not actually running, it would be cruel not to tell them they will never finish the race that way. Their eternal destiny depends on actually running and finishing.

In each chapter, McKinley tackles a misconception about what it means to be a Christian. One of my favorite chapters was “You Are Not a Christian If You Enjoy Sin.” I thought McKinley did a great job here of balancing the truth of salvation by faith through grace alone with our new orientation as believers towards sin. He gets the balance right, guarding against works-salvation on one hand and indifference towards sin on the other.

The other aspect of the book I really liked was the emphasis on the importance of the local church. McKinley pleads with people to get plugged into a good church and not to walk alone, for multiple reasons. Some who are weak in their faith might be discouraged by their doubts and failures and give up, feeling like they don’t measure up in the faith. They need people alongside them to encourage them and point out evidence of God’s work in their lives. Others are prone to pride and performance-based salvation and they need brothers and sisters to call them to repentance and convict them of sin and (sometimes) even question their faith if there is truly no fruit of repentance.

First and foremost, McKinley writes here as a pastor concerned for lost sheep who believe they are on the right path when they aren’t. It’s not always pleasant, but all of us need to examine ourselves to see if our faith is real. God commanded us to do so. In an age when many are content to collect “decisions for Christ” and let them go on their way, it’s nice to see someone calling us to “count the count” of following Jesus and not presume to be in the faith. Our salvation was far too costly to count it that lightly.



This book was provided for review by Crossway in exchange for a review. No expectation of a positive review existed.

Trevin Wax: Why You Might be an Ear-Tickling Preacher

This is really good stuff from Trevin Wax.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

When we come across these words from the apostle Paul to Timothy, we tend to see this verse as a description of our day and age. How else do we explain the elegant churches whose liberalism has overtaken their once-glorious heritage? Or the masses that fill stadiums to hear prosperity teachers tell us how good we are and how much God wants to bless us financially?

Preaching that tickles the ears. We nod our heads in agreement and pray …

Lord, deliver us from the liberals who don’t believe anything and don’t preach the truth.

Lord, deliver us from those who give good advice and moral platitudes without the Good News of individual salvation.

Lord, deliver us from the stand-up comics who fill stadiums with ear-tickling, side-splitting sermons that are all about us and not about God.

Then, we sit back on Sunday mornings with a smile, satisfied in our assurance that our ears don’t itch.

But are we deceiving ourselves? Do we truly believe we have escaped the temptation to listen to pastors who tickle our ears? Is it possible to preach harshly against certain sins and yet still be an ear-tickling preacher?

The prophet Jeremiah tells us the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. We think that if we attend a church where the pastor consistently preaches hard messages with hard truths, we will never succumb to the “itching ears” syndrome. But such is not the case. Paul tells Timothy that itching ears accumulate for themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Itching ears desire teaching that suits their own passions.

Many laypeople hope to listen to a preacher who every week will tell them what’s wrong — with everybody else.

The congregation of teetotalers wants a pastor who, week after week, condemns alcohol from the pulpit.

The anti-war congregation hopes to hear a rousing sermon against those warmongering conservatives.

The congregation of staunch Republicans smiles as their pastor rails against “the gays” and “the liberals.”

The Calvinist congregation wants to hear a theologian/pastor who will preach against the errors of those Arminians.

The congregation of door-to-door soul-winners hires a pastor who will mock the namby-pamby “lifestyle” conversations that pass for evangelism in this day.

The charismatic congregation loves when its pastor tears into the dry, ritualistic worship of their liturgical neighbors.

And the liturgical congregation nods approvingly at critiques of their neighbors who manufacture emotionalism.

Can you hear the hearty “Amens” coming from the pews? Yes, Lord! Thank you for showing us what real Christianity is! Lord, help us not be like those Christians who are too blinded by their biases, who have been co-opted by the culture!

Of course, there are times when a pastor should address the issues above. Church members should expect pastors to preach boldly, to condemn sin, to faithfully exposit the biblical text, and to speak to the current issues of the day.

But let us not underestimate the evil intentions of the human heart. We crave a message that puffs us up. We read Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector and rightly condemn the Pharisee for his pompous prayer, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector.” Then we thank God that we’re not like the Pharisee.

Read the whole post.

C.J. Mahaney Update: Comments to Covenant Life Church

On the Sovereign Grace Blog, Dave Harvey posted the following:

After last week’s announcement about C.J. Mahaney’s leave of absence, the pastors at Covenant Life Church called a members meeting so that C.J. could address the congregation. Some of his comments are relevant to others in Sovereign Grace churches as well, so we’ve posted them below.

***

Because of my history with this church and my love for this church, I am grateful for the opportunity to address you. I want to thank Josh and the pastoral team for giving me this time.

I am sure for the vast majority here, what you heard the past week about the charges made against me has come as a complete shock. I understand and I am so very sorry.

Let me clarify at the outset that your pastors are not the primary object of these accusations—the accusations are primarily directed at me in the context of Sovereign Grace Ministries. This is about me, not your pastors. It is my hope that your relationship with the pastoral team will be strengthened, not weakened, through this. Please provide them with your support at this time. And if you are angry, I understand. But please direct that anger toward me.

My intention tonight is to share with you a few of the ways I believe I have sinned and some of the failures in my leadership, and help you understand to some degree how we have arrived where we find ourselves this evening.

You can read the rest of C.J.'s pretty detailed descriptions of the charges against him and his confession of some sins over the past years in those comments.

As someone who has benefited greatly from the ministry of Sovereign Grace and C.J. in particular over the past years, I pray that the gospel would shine through this situation and that all involved would seek that end above all else. I pray that C.J. would continue to have a contrite heart where needed, that his accusers would seek gospel reconciliation and not vengeance, and that God would be glorified through all this.

I once heard C.J. get up to preach after John MacArthur and make a comment to the effect, "I can't preach as good as him, but my gospel's just as good." May the goodness of that gospel remind all of us that none are above any sin, that we all need brothers to keep us accountable, and that our response to being confronted with our sin should be humble astonishment that Christ's death is sufficient even for those sins. We truly are all blessed much more than we deserve.

Biblical Authority in the Age of Uncertainty

I could listen to these guys talk for hours, and this is a vital conversation to have.

Music Video of the Week: Needtobreathe

Pretty sure I've used this before, but on a Needtobreathe kick now and LOVE this song.

Needtobreathe - "Washed by the Water (Live Acoustic)"

Pratical Tips to See the Gospel in Daily Devotions

Dane Ortland:

1. Reflect deeply, in an unhurried way, on your own sin. Not misanthropic introspection, but healthy self-assessment, in the spirit of 2 Cor. 13:5. One reason the gospel does not feel real to us is that our sin does not feel real to us.

2. Get married, then have kids, adopting if need be. Nothing exposes your sins and need of the gospel like living with other people who see what you’re like when you’re not out in public, wearing various masks, trying your hardest to come across a certain way.

3. Discipline yourself to read Scripture every day. It’s hard to get in a spiritual rhythm of communing with the God of all grace if you only have fellowship with him sporadically.

4. Sing. Print out your favorite hymns and worship songs and sing amid your Bible reading. We are whole people, not brains only.

5. Belong to a church that loves the gospel and preaches the gospel so that you can learn from a wise pastor how to see the gospel all over the Bible.

6. Read every passage mindful of what Jesus himself says in John 5:39-46 and Luke 24:25-27, 44-47, and what Paul says in 2 Cor. 1:19-20. If that’s how Jesus and Paul read their Bibles, shouldn’t we?

7. Read books by Jerry Bridges, Bryan Chapell, C.J. Mahaney, and Mark Driscoll.

Read the whole interview Dane did at The Resurgence.

Mike McKinley: Do Christians Have to Go to Church?

Just finished Mike McKinley's new book, Am I Really a Christian?

I'll have a review of the book up soon, but in the meantime, here's an interesting clip where Mike answers the question, "Do Christians have to go to church?"



HT: JT

C.J. Mahaney's Leave of Absence

Not sure what to do with this information yet.

Over the last few years some former pastors and leaders in Sovereign Grace have made charges against me and informed me about offenses they have with me as well as other leaders in Sovereign Grace. These charges are serious and they have been very grieving to read. These charges are not related to any immorality or financial impropriety, but this doesn’t minimize their serious nature, which include various expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment, and hypocrisy.

I believe God is kindly disciplining me through this. I believe I have by the grace of God perceived a degree of my sin, and I have been grieved by my sin and its effects on others. I have had the opportunity to confess my sin to some of those affected in various ways by my sin. And I am so very grateful for their forgiveness. But I want to perceive and confess any and all sin I have committed. Although my experience of conviction has already started—and this is an evidence of God’s mercy—I’m sure there is more for me to perceive and acknowledge. Even with the charges I disagree with it has been beneficial to examine my soul and ask for the observation of others. And I am resolved to take responsibility for my sin and every way my leadership has been deficient, and this would include making any appropriate confessions, public or private. Most importantly I want to please God during this season of examination and evaluation.

So here is what I am going to do. I’ve asked to take a leave of absence in order to give time to considering these charges, examine my heart, and receive the appropriate help from others. With the guidance of the SGM board, I would also hope to pursue reconciliation with former pastors of Sovereign Grace during this leave. I have stepped off the board and I will not be the President of Sovereign Grace Ministries during this period of examination and evaluation. In order for me to receive an objective evaluation in relation to these charges the board is securing the help of a third-party ministry that has no history of relationship with SGM. With counsel from that ministry, the board will determine the appropriate steps I should take going forward. After processing these findings, the board will determine the appropriate steps I should take going forward. This leave of absence will also help remove any impediment to the panel’s exploration that could potentially arise if I remained in my current position, and it will enable me to fully cooperate in the process.

Just so you’ll know, I have also contacted David Powlison and Mark Dever and asked them to review the charges and provide me with their counsel and correction. I have enlisted them to serve me personally during this time and to ensure this process of examining my heart and life is as thorough as possible. And for the past year I have been the recipient of Ken Sande’s correction, counsel and care. That, I am grateful to say, will continue. And as you would expect I will continue to meet with the appropriate men on the board of Sovereign Grace and benefit from their correction, counsel, and care as well. I am deeply moved as I reflect on how rich I am relationally and I am humbled by the time these men are willing to spend serving me and Sovereign Grace.

My friends, I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I continue to walk through this process. Please pray that God would give me the gift of sight where I have been blinded by my sin and others have been adversely affected by my sin. Pray that I will be convicted and experience godly sorrow resulting in reconciliation where necessary and adjustments to my heart and leadership. Thank you for praying in this way for me.

One more thing. For the past 5 years or so I have become increasingly aware of certain deficiencies in my leadership that have contributed to deficiencies in Sovereign Grace Ministries’ structure and governance, the lack of a clear and consistent process of conflict resolution and pastoral evaluation, and the number of former Sovereign Grace pastors who are offended with me/SGM. I have met with some and by God’s grace there has been reconciliation with men like Larry Tomczak (I wish I had recognized and repented of my sin against him years ago). This brings great joy to my soul. In other cases, appeals for mediation have thus far been declined, but I’m hopeful this process will facilitate further reconciliation. But beyond this, there are still issues that need to be addressed and fixed in our family of churches. And I bear a primary responsibility because it has happened on my watch and under my leadership. I have resolved that I and the Sovereign Grace team can’t effectively lead us into the future without evaluating the past, addressing these deficiencies, improving our structure, and as much as possible pursuing reconciliation with former pastors. So during this leave of absence I will not only devote all the appropriate and necessary time to the independent panel and the charges but also to doing what I can to identify where I have failed to lead us effectively in relation to pastoral evaluation and conflict resolution.

My friends, though my soul can be easily overwhelmed as I contemplate my sin and its effects on others, I am also resolved to examine my heart, address the past, and play my role in preparing SGM for a future of planting and serving churches. And given the mercy of God portrayed in the gospel my heart is filled with hope that his good purpose for us will come to pass and cannot be frustrated. I trust there will be much grace to tell you of at the end of this process.

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