Charles Simeon On Being a Pastor

These are Simeon's comments to a young man being ordained to the service of ministry:

My dearest friend,l most sincerely congratulate you, not on permission to receive 40 pounds or 50 pounds a year, nor on the title of Reverend,but on your accession to the most valuable, most honorable, most important, and most glorious office in the world-to that of an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Basic | Fear God

There is a lot of good reasons to be excited about this new series. One of em', Chan gets it.

Hillsong Live | A Beautiful Exchange

This is Hillsong Live's forthcoming cd... It should drop in July.

A Beautiful Exchange Promo from Hillsong Church on Vimeo.

I am Grateful for Ray Ortlund

Christ is Deeper Still is a wonderful blog written by pastor Ray Ortlund. Today he wrote an earth shattering article on theology, sociology, spiritual pride, and divisiveness within the church. I recommend it to you! And I totally agree with one commenter that said, "If I weren't the only one in the house awake right now, I would stand up and clap!" Well I am in my office clapping. Well done Orlund. Thank you for your keen wisdom.

Here is an excerpt from the post, but I recommend you head over and read the whole thing:

Whatever divides us emotionally from other Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians is a “plus” we’re adding to the gospel. It is the Galatian impulse of self-exaltation. It can even become a club with which we bash other Christians, at least in our thoughts, to punish, to exclude and to force into line with us.

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

I am Jonah

When I watch the working of my own heart... this is what I am compelled to write: I am Jonah. In the matter of my own reputation as a preacher that is. For I used to say, Let me die first before I am eclipsed by another in my pulpit and among my people. I fought with a Jonah-like fierceness against the remotest thought of my reputation ever passing over, in my day at any rate, to another.
-Alexander Whyte in Bible Characters: Ahithophel to Nehemiah

Suffering

In a Sermon Series on Jonah that I recently listened to, Timothy Keller cited this beautiful quote:

I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidian mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened with men.
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Preparing For Camp

Camp is just around the corner for us... Camp is one of my favorite times of year. I have seen first hand how a concentrated week of ministry can change a life. I am sure that camp has a big effect on the campers but what I am talking about is the way it has changed several of the volunteers lives, including mine. So there is some eager expectation surrounding this time of year.

One of my privileges at Camp is preparing and delivering the messages for staff devotionals and middle school. This year we've decided to do a series called "Reckless Pursuit" (we rotate themes every 4 years so this is a repeat). For this series we will be looking at how God pursues rebels like you and me... How appropriate that Tullian Tchividjian new book just came out called Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

And here is the trailer for the book:

Surprised by Grace trailer from Crossway on Vimeo.

In addition to Tullian's book I am also reading Man Overboard by Sinclair Ferguson.








Let me just tell you how beneficial this is for me! I have studied Jonah pretty extensively now (I recently had a class project on Jonah) and I must say, the story of God's mercy and grace is ridiculous! God is absolutely unrivaled in His mercy and compassion. If we were treated as we deserved we would be in lots of trouble. Praise God for His grace.

Also, as I study I am reminded of how prideful I am. Jonah was quick to call himself, with a puffed up chest,a "Hebrew". He is spiritually prideful. But, the reality of story is that he is actually the one in desperate need of grace over and over again. Likewise, I am quick to swell with spiritual pride, but I think most days I am the one in greatest need of God's overwhelming compassion.

If you can't tell, I am very excited about what God might do in the coming weeks.