Reformed Conference on Mercy Ministry

First RPC of Grand Rapids held its annual Conference on Practical Theology and this year’s topic was Mercy Ministry. The title “War for Poverty” is intended to communicate the idea of who’s work it is to take care of the poor. Is it the job of the Civil Government (which seems to be the popular contemporary message in the political arena)? Rev Barry York would argue otherwise, teaching that the work of mercy is primarily the work of the Church given to her by the Lord of Mercy.

There are a lot of challenging and thought-provoking ideas on mercy ministry, worship, mercy on the Sabbath, roles of officers of the church, and a host of other great topics.

I highly recommend you check out this conference series.

First RP Church Practical Theology Conference:
War For Poverty Resources

 

Works of Jonathan Edwards (Yale Edition)…Online…Searchable…for FREE

I think the title says it all. Just click below!

 

Humility: True Greatness

I have been reading C.J. Mahaney’s book, “Humility: True Greatness“. It is a very helpful book, not only identifying how much God hates pride, but also laying out some very practical ways to cultivate humility and mortify pride, as a means of conforming to the image of Christ. We cannot neglect such a great duty and privilege.

To possibly stir you up to read this short work, listen to these sermons which influenced the material in this book.

The One to Whom I Will Look (C.J. Mahaney)

True Greatness (C.J. Mahaney)

 

 

 

Tribute to Super Bowl XLIII 2009

Could things like the Super Bowl or other Sunday activities, which profane the Lord’s Day, be one of the reasons why the LORD has brought so much disaster on the city and this nation?

Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; “then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

And where are the Nehemiah’s today? And where are the purifying Levites guarding the gates?

Nehemiah 13:15-22 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!
     Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? “Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
     As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.”
     From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

 

What I’ve been listening to lately

London City Mission: Urban Plant-life — site

Schedule – Audio DL – Follow-up Consultations

 

Resolved 2008: Heaven & Hell — site

John Piper #8 – C.J. Mahaney #11

 

IVP Following Christ 2008: Human Flourishing — site

Audio – A Guided Sabbath – N.T. Wright 1998

 

Mixing Faith and Occupation

IVP site – Redeemer site

 

Tim Keller Monergism MP3s — site

 

Possible Resolutions for the New Year 2009

New Years is not that big a deal to me, but it does cause me to reflect on opportunities to develop better habits of Christian living. I guess we will continue to work on paying off all of my debt which consists of the dreaded student loans. We are also continuing our work as a family to memorize outlines of each book of the Bible.  In light of the New Year, I thought I would post a few suggestions for you to consider as well.

Start with this article: “The Meaning of New Year’s Resolutions” over at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. It’s not Christ-centered, but it is a good motivator seeing through Biblical lenses.

Bible thru the year:  There are many ways to accomplish this. Check out “Between Two Worlds” blog on Justin Taylor’s suggestions how to accomplish this goal. He didn’t mention a couple sites I think are worth while: 1) Blue Letter Bible Daily Reading Program. 2) Michael Goheen’s Bible Reading Plans at the bottom of this page.

Calvin thru the year: Since this is the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth (aka an excuse to promote a Reformed worldview) many have suggested different ways to become more familiar with Calvin’s writings. Two resources include: 1) Read thru the Institutes in a year – the thing I like most about this is that it leaves off the Sabbath day so that you can do other reading on that day. and 2) 365 Days with Calvin by RHB — A unique collection of 365 readings from the writings of John Calvin, selected and edited by Joel R Beeke.

Challies offers his own list HERE.

 

If you would like a resource for goal-setting check out Joe’s Goals.

 

Nathan Eshelman gets on Christian Observer

So I have not posted much on here due to my busy schedule, but for those 3 of you who check this out once in awhile…

Nate posted on his blog last week some thoughts on Urban Church planting as a reformed and presbyterian witness in some of the more “strategic” cities in the US.

You can check out the CO HERE.

And if you follow Facebook, there are some interesting comments between Edgar Ibarra, Richard Bacon and Nathan, in the comments section of his post there.

 

Mission Update

Because I am so busy at work, Tam has been nice enough to post pics of whats going on out here. Check them out:

http://occluded.blogspot.com/

 

On a mission in Mission, TX

Those not local to Grand Rapids are not aware that Tam and I are on a mission…well more like an adventure. Full time work along with Full time seminary was getting old. I wasn’t really getting the work done like I needed to. However, gotta pay my student loans.

So I am doing travel nursing. My first assignment is here in Mission Texas. I work for a great company, so if any of you RNs are reading this and want to double your income, send me a private email and I will hook you up.

Tammy and I will blog about our trip down here sometime in the near future. We want to thank our dear friends in our home church, First RPC, for their loving send off. Also a special thanks to Ben and Kathryn Hart who we got to spend some time with, though not enough!

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

Gospel Coalition ‘09: Entrusted with the Gospel