The Apostle's Creed On An Anniversary

It's been 15 years since Rich Mullins beat the rest of us to glory.  His music played no small role in my formation as a teen and a young adult.  His lyrics still bring me to tears and the truth he taught in his songs remains a part of my spiritual musculature. 

"Creed" is simply the Apostle's Creed set to music (ahhhh that hammer dulcimer) and the first half of the video below features scenes from my earthly home, Kansas: the Flint Hills, Lake El Dorado, windmills and barbed wire.

Favorite line: "I did not make it, no it is making me.  It is the very truth of God, not the invention of any man."

This Always Works!

What always works?  God's calling, that's what. It is inescapable, true, and chock full of GRACE.

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call. ~ Acts 2:39

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ~ John 6:44

Charles Spurgeon taught it this way:

It is said, especially, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Now that is not the effectual call which is intended by the apostle, when he said, "Whom he called, them he also justified." That is a general call which many men, yea, all men reject, unless there come after it the personal, particular call, which makes us Christians.

You will bear me witness that it was a personal call that brought you to the Saviour. It was some sermon which led you to feel that you were, no doubt, the person intended. The text, perhaps, was "Thou, God, seest me;" and the minister laid particular stress on the word "me," so that you thought God's eye was fixed upon you; and ere the sermon was concluded, you thought you saw God open the books to condemn you, and your heart whispered, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord." You might have been perched in the window, or stood packed in the aisle; but you had a solemn conviction that the sermon was preached to you, and not to other people. God does not call his people in shoals, but in units. "Jesus saith unto her, Mary; and she turned and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master." Jesus seeth Peter and John fishing by the lake, and he saith unto them, "Follow me." He seeth Matthew sitting at the table at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, "Arise, and follow me," and Matthew did so.

When the Holy Ghost comes home to a man, God's arrow goes into his heart: it does not graze his helmet, or make some little mark upon his armour, but it penetrates between the joints of the harness, entering the marrow of the soul. Have you felt, dear friends, that personal call? Do you remember when a voice said, "Arise, he calleth thee." Can you look back to some time when you said, "My Lord, my God?" when you knew the Spirit was striving with you, and you said, Lord, I come to thee, for I know that thou callest me." I might call the whole of you throughout eternity, but if God call one, there will be more effect through his personal call of one than my general call of multitudes.

Insurance Doesn't Cover That

Reading through the news this morning this ad caught my attention (as many of them so annoyingly do) and I laughed.  I'm so glad to know that not only will my life insurance provide for my family in the event of my demise, but it will also prevent that demise from sneaking up on me. WHEW! 

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'" ~ Luke 12:20

What "All Things" Are You Talking About?

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

This could possibly be one of the most misunderstood verses of Scripture. We've all seen this verse stamped on posters and images that depict people lifting weights at the gym or climbing a mountain or even hunting bear with a bow. 

The problem is, Paul didn't write those words because the Holy Spirit inspired him to encourage human achievement.  This statement is in fact the finishing thought for a section of Paul's letter to the Philippians in which he explains that he has learned to be content whether he's hungry or well fed, humiliated or living at ease. It's not a motivational speech to encourage you to achieve your full potential.  That's just mamby-pamby milk toast Westernized insipid Christianity talk right there.  No, this is a call to godly contentment.  IOW, no matter what circumstances life throws at me, I can be OK with that through Christ.

Paul wasn't working his way up in a company or trying to finish a thesis by a deadline.  His goal was to be obedient to God's call, and to do it with Christlike aplomb.  That, he was sure, could be accomplished through Christ who was his strength.

So, through him who strengthens me, I can remain faithful and true when my bank account has an definite echo, when my children are wayward or when I'm disillusioned in my marriage.  I can, because He does, grant me the endurance to actually be content no matter what my situation is because I know that He is sovereign.

The Puritans On Counseling

This morning I appreciated Justin Taylor's article about the Puritans and what they have to teach us about counseling.  Some of the points offered are echoed in a book from Cruciform Press entitled Licensed To Kill: A Field Manual For Mortifying Sin. I'm working through this book right now with a class of teenagers at our church.

Two items in particular resonated with me and what I've been studying lately:

First, the Puritans "looked not just at behavior but at underlying root motives and desires. Man is a worshipper; all problems grow out of ‘sinful imagination’ or idol manufacturing."

Killing sin is not just about changing behavior, it is essentially and more critically about transforming the heart and its very desires.

Second,the Puritans "considered the essential spiritual remedy to be belief in the gospel, used in both repentance and the development of proper self-understanding."

The Gospel isn't just for "getting me saved", it is living and active and vital to my everyday growth, comfort, discipline, sanctification and perseverance.

Madison Rising - Star Spangled Banner

I was planning on posting something else today, but then I saw this....(turn up the speakers and plug in your air guitar)

A Bill Nye Rebuttal

Have you seen this? It is Bill Nye's assertion that teaching children creationism is inappropriate.  Even stupid.  At least that's what I inferred from listening to him.  When Nye had his PBS show on several years ago, I thought it was fantastic, and it was.  Best produced science show for kids I've ever seen.  However, I didn't realize just how energetic he was in his disdain for creationism.  Too bad.  So here is the video, followed up by two other very well educated people who have formed a response to Bill Nye.  BTW, it is unfortunately not common knowledge that there are many, many PhD's, MD's and smarter-than-me's in every field of science who are Biblical creationists.