1. Growing in godliness is predominantly about desiring God above everything else.
Blaise Pascal one said, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.” By nature we live for what we value. Therefore, the battle ground of the Christian life is about what we desire. We are called to fight, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to value Jesus above all other things – then we’ll choose Him. As Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
DESIRING GOD BY JOHN PIPER, PSALM 16:11; PSALM 43:4; PSALM 119:103-104, 1 SAMUEL 12:21
2. Believers MUST memorize chapters and books of Scripture!
God’s Word says, “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:2-3). You cannot meditate on Scripture day and night without having it committed to memory! Paul wrote “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (3:16) which requires reading and memorizing God’s word!
A CALL TO SCRIPTURE MEMORY BY SUSAN HECK, DEUT 6:6; DEUT 11:18, PSALM 119, ROMANS 12:2, AND SO MANY MORE!
3. You respond to the Gospel through repentance and faith for both justification and sanctification.
You will grow in Christ the same way that you came to Christ: Repentance and Faith. You must continually see and confess that you are a more wretched sinner than you thought, yet through faith in Jesus, you are more loved and accepted than you could have ever imagined! This is the Gospel – never move past it! The Gospel both immediately justifies and continually sanctifies you. This is why you need to preach the Gospel to yourself every day.
THE SLOPE OF REPENTANCE & FAITH FROM THE OAKS, THE CROSS CENTERED LIFE BY C.J. MAHANEY
4. You must constantly repent to yourself, to God, and when necessary to others.
Pervasive, all-of-life repentance is the best sign that you are growing deeply and rapidly into the character of Jesus. You must be resolved, as Jonathan Edwards was, to confess frankly to yourself, all which you find in yourself, either sickness or sin; and also to confess the whole case to God, and implore needed help [the Holy Spirit and the accountability of brothers and sisters in Christ].” You must ask yourself every night and every week: What sin have I repented of? Is there anyone I need to repent to or any sin that remains unconfessed?
ALL OF LIFE IS REPENTANCE BY TIM KELLER, THE RESOLUTIONS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS, ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS
5. Do not give authority to your feelings; they often arise from your flesh, which is totally depraved.
Martin Luther wisely said, "All natural inclinations are either without God or against him; therefore none are good.” The desires of your flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, so you must choose to walk by the Spirit. You cannot blindly trust your feelings. They often arise from the flesh and are therefore sinful. Always take your thoughts captive, question their aim (God or self), and reinterpret them through Scripture.
SEEING WITH NEW EYES BY DAVID POWLISON, FLESH CARTOON BY JOSHUA HARRIS, ROMANS 7, GALATIANS 5:16-24
6. You will live most freely when you believe that dying is gain.
Christ came to set you free, so that sin and death no longer have power over you (Galatians 5:1). “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:54-57). Christ bought your freedom, but you must now live in it. Look to Paul’s words in Philippians 1:20-26 as an example, primarily “For to me to live in Christ, and to die is gain” (v. 21). Do not allow yourself to be content with the level of your surrender to Christ until you learn to cry out as Esther did, “If I perish, I perish!” (v. 4:16).
DOING MISSIONS WHEN DYING IS GAIN BY JOHN PIPER, GALATIANS 5:1, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-57, PHILIPPIANS 1:20-26
7. Discipleship is a Biblical command so that our lives do not bring shame to God’s word.
Live as a Titus 2 Woman: “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women … that the word of God may not be reviled.” Scripture commands that women be discipled by qualified older women and disciple younger women, so that the word of God may not be despised.
TITUS 2:3-5, FEMININE APPEAL BY CAROLYN MAHANEY
8. Learn to treat the church like Jesus Christ’s beloved bride.
The local church is not meant to be treated with a critical, me-centered, non-committal, two-timer attitude. The Church is Christ’s bride and we must treat it as such - love it, speak well of it, serve it, give to it, and become a part of it. Joshua Harris writes, "The greatest motivation we could ever find for being passionately committed to the Church is that Jesus is passionately committed to the Church." As Christians we are called to be imitators of God (Eph 5:1) and to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8:29). Therefore we must love the Church and put that passion into action by thinking globally and loving locally. Briefly put, stop dating the church and commit!
STOP DATING THE CHURCH BY JOSHUA HARRIS, WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH MEMBER BY THABITI ANABWILE
9. When committing to a local church, you cannot afford to unwisely asses its healthiness!
Therefore, we cannot afford to unwisely asses the health of a church! We need to Biblically consider the crucial, deal-breaking, qualities of a church. Mark Dever writes that the 9 marks of a healthy church are: 1) Expositional Preaching 2) Biblical Theology 3) The Gospel 4) A Biblical Understanding of Conversion 5) Evangelism 6) Church Membership 7) Biblical Church Discipline 8) A Concern for Discipleship and Growth 9) Biblical Church Leadership.
9 MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH AND WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH BY MARK DEVER
10. Please, read wisely.
A. Invest in a study Bible and learn how to use it. Don’t settle for a diet of predigested truth (Christian books). Read your Bible more than you read anything else. 2 TIMOTHY 3:16, HEBREWS 4:12
B. The New Testament is written to an audience well versed in the Old Testament; therefore you cannot compromise your time reading and understanding the Old Testament.
C. Know the authors of the Christian books you read. Find-out their beliefs, publishings, reputation and legacy. If their life isn’t worth emulating, read a different book. HEBREWS 13:7, 3 JOHN 1:11
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Wisdom from D.A. Carson
This past weekend Melissa and I found ourselves on a road-trip to Chicago in search of wisdom as we consider attending seminary in the near future. The purpose, although not the highlight, was to explore Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. As we mingled with current and prospective students, heard from the admissions office, toured the campus, attended a class, ate deep dish pizza with the professors, and scoured the bookstore we grew in understanding of self and seminary. Trinity is an academically rigorous and theologically diverse seminary. With it's Evangelical Free background, there is freedom for professors and students to agree to disagree. It is also one of the most academically demanding seminaries in the country, with a nationally recognized masters in Mental Health Counseling. This masters program was my point of interest in the seminary.
Perhaps the most memorable and insightful experience was when Melissa and I shared in the excitement and the privilege of sitting down with New Testament scholar, D.A. Carson. We left the Admissions Office presentation to seek input from Dr. Carson, a professor whom we have already learned to greatly respect through his preaching and writing. The question that we posed to Dr. Carson aimed at the core of our seminary selection process. Why would Dr. Carson, a Reformed New Testament scholar, president of The Gospel Coalition, choose to teach at Trinity, an Evangelical Free and theologically diverse seminary? And how should two young women, who align with Carson's theological stance, make an informed decision about attending such a seminary?
Dr. Carson was wise to remind us that every church, seminary, and ministry has its imperfections. There are aspects of Trinity that Dr. Carson does not fully agree with, yet he continues to stand by his decision to teach at Trinity. It's Evangelical Free background has guarded him, as well as others, from crudely characterizing other theologies. At Trinity, you'll think twice before stereotyping or ridiculing a Lutheran, Armenian, etc because you can be sure there is one just down the hall. What a blessing for humility and unity! Furthermore, Dr. Carson noted that students at Trinity tend to respond to the theologically diverse teachings in one of two ways. Some students, upon observing that Professor A and Professor B can not agree on a particular topic, decide that they can not possibly reach their own conclusion on the matter, and give-up all together. Other students will obverse that Professor A and Professor B do not agree, be challenged in their faith, fight to discover truth, and be better off for having gone through the challenge. Students must be willing to face these questions and challenges in order to thrive at Trinity.
However, Dr. Carson encouraged me that if I have confidence that reformed theology most glorifies God (as he similarly does), it is not prideful to seek a seminary which teaches from that specific and unified theological stance as long as I have been exposed to other teachings. Westminster and other reformed seminaries might be best for me, and I need not be afraid of that. Trinity is not the right fit for everyone, and Dr. Carson wisely warned me not to be a 'loving post-modern lass who is afraid to tell anyone they are wrong'. Ouch.
I'm excited to continue to gain wisdom from Dr. Carson as I read The Cross and Christian Ministry, a book that Melissa and I picked-up from Trinity's bookstore.
It couldn't have been a better weekend.
"People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." - D.A. Carson
Perhaps the most memorable and insightful experience was when Melissa and I shared in the excitement and the privilege of sitting down with New Testament scholar, D.A. Carson. We left the Admissions Office presentation to seek input from Dr. Carson, a professor whom we have already learned to greatly respect through his preaching and writing. The question that we posed to Dr. Carson aimed at the core of our seminary selection process. Why would Dr. Carson, a Reformed New Testament scholar, president of The Gospel Coalition, choose to teach at Trinity, an Evangelical Free and theologically diverse seminary? And how should two young women, who align with Carson's theological stance, make an informed decision about attending such a seminary?Dr. Carson was wise to remind us that every church, seminary, and ministry has its imperfections. There are aspects of Trinity that Dr. Carson does not fully agree with, yet he continues to stand by his decision to teach at Trinity. It's Evangelical Free background has guarded him, as well as others, from crudely characterizing other theologies. At Trinity, you'll think twice before stereotyping or ridiculing a Lutheran, Armenian, etc because you can be sure there is one just down the hall. What a blessing for humility and unity! Furthermore, Dr. Carson noted that students at Trinity tend to respond to the theologically diverse teachings in one of two ways. Some students, upon observing that Professor A and Professor B can not agree on a particular topic, decide that they can not possibly reach their own conclusion on the matter, and give-up all together. Other students will obverse that Professor A and Professor B do not agree, be challenged in their faith, fight to discover truth, and be better off for having gone through the challenge. Students must be willing to face these questions and challenges in order to thrive at Trinity.
However, Dr. Carson encouraged me that if I have confidence that reformed theology most glorifies God (as he similarly does), it is not prideful to seek a seminary which teaches from that specific and unified theological stance as long as I have been exposed to other teachings. Westminster and other reformed seminaries might be best for me, and I need not be afraid of that. Trinity is not the right fit for everyone, and Dr. Carson wisely warned me not to be a 'loving post-modern lass who is afraid to tell anyone they are wrong'. Ouch.
I'm excited to continue to gain wisdom from Dr. Carson as I read The Cross and Christian Ministry, a book that Melissa and I picked-up from Trinity's bookstore.
It couldn't have been a better weekend."People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." - D.A. Carson
Chosen By God by R.C. Sproul
Knowing God's perfect plan for His glory and His children
To me this is more than a book, is it part of my story...
Two years ago, a sweet friend of mine called me and posed the simple question, "What is Calvinism?" To prideful to tell her that I had no clue, I recommended that we both look-up resources on Calvinism (whatever that means...) and meet at Starbucks in a few days to discuss. The hour before our Starbucks date I frantically googled 'Calvinism', printed off a bunch of charts and information and stared at them in bewilderment. As a last resort, I called my friend Vince (who I believed knew everything, so he must know something about this 'Calvinism' term), and demanded that he explain Calvinism to me in under 5 minutes. He laughed.
At Starbucks we read down the two-column google print-off I had brought with me. On the left was 'Calvinism' and on the right was 'Armenian' with subpoints explaining their corresponding theological beliefs. We read each subpoint, decided which side we agreed with more, and circled our preference. By the time we were done, it looked like a little kid with a crayon had attacked our chart!
Through much of Vince's laughter (and personal enjoyment, I'm sure), I fought through seemingly unanswerable questions for weeks. The Bible study that I attended was discussing God's view of evangelism through-out Scripture, and one night I erupted with questions about the purpose of evangelism, predestination, assurance of salvation... my head was spinning and nothing was helping! On the way out the door that night, one of the girls in my study handed me a copy of Chosen By God, and told me to read it.
Life and Scripture began to make sense...
Sproul taught me one step at a time; predestination and free will, Adam's fall and mine, spiritual death and spiritual life, foreknowledge and predestination, and can we know that we are saved? Sproul even addressed the questions and objects he foreknew that I would have. I tried to fight with Sproul, yet his words held get wisdom drawn from Scripture. Through comical, yet profound, examples from Alice and Wonderland, real life, and historical theologians, this book taught me great truths - and left me with more, yet better, questions than before.
When I moved into my apartment I was amazed at all the extra expenses and details. Extension cords, garbage bags, kitchen appliances, etc. And my apartment had nearly no over-head lighting, making light bulbs a new major expense in my life, how ridiculous! I was so sick of spending money at Walmart that I dug up whatever light bulbs I could find in my moving boxes and screwed them in. Months later, they needed replacements, and I begrudgingly drove off to Walmart to scour the home improvements section. With upgraded light bulbs in place, I flipped on the lights and was amazed at the brightness! How had I not realized that I had been living in a cave before?! The story was the same with my understanding of God. Sproul provided light before my eyes as I dug into Scripture with a new clarity and sight. Oh, how thankful I am for a continually deeper relationship with God.
R.C. Sproul writes:
My hope is that we will all continue to struggle. We must never assume that we have arrived. Yet there is not virtue in sheer skepticism. We look with a jaundiced eye at those who are always learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. God is delighted with men and women of conviction. Of course he is concerned that our convictions be according to truth. Struggle with me than as we embark upon the difficult but, I hope, profitable journey examining the doctrine of predestination.
Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Alsup
Practical Theology for WomenHow Knowing God Makes a Difference in our Daily Lives
Wendy Alsup refuses to be dampened by stuffy misconceptions of “theology” as she joyfully shares her love for it. She truly applies understanding God to everyday life through-out this book. The preface is an intimate window into her life which is a powerful testament of God, and the rest of the book is filled with scripture, theological knowledge, personal experiences, and convicting application. Wendy lovingly reprimands, “we have no excuse to remain ignorant of his character” and I doubt any Christian could read this book and remain convinced otherwise. Wendy lays a foundation of a Biblical picture of God our loving Father, Savior, Example, Bridegroom, and Help. She concludes with an applicable section on communicating with God through prayer and God’s Word. The whole book is as easy to read as talking to your best friend over coffee, but it teaches you and touches your heart through Wendy’s vulnerability and wisdom as she shares her thirst for God. This book expresses a passion for a depth and understanding of God that most women's ministry is sadly lacking.
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