My Baby is Already Taking After Jesus

That is -- he's gonna be a baby boy! We found out yesterday that our child indeed had little man parts. We are quite excited.












By the way, for those who took advantage of the John Piper books being on sale, man that website was slow yesterday! It took me about 2 hours to order 26 books (not all for me). Hopefully that didn't keep too many people away. The deal is still going on today.

Oh My Goodness! What A Deal!

Mark your calendars ladies and gentlemen! On June 27th and 28th, it looks like every book at Desiring God is on sale for $5.00 (online only)! This is a ridiculous deal. If interested, check this link out: DesiringGodStoreBooks. This is such a good deal that even though I own almost all of John Piper's books, I'm thinking about getting 4 new versions of books I already own as well as 9 new ones! I need to get approval from the wife first. Anyway, I thought I would pass this deal along.

Pure Randomness

So, I've got about an hour left of June 21st. Four years ago today, I married my wonderful wife Whitney in New Castle, KY. I'll never forget that night as Dontrelle Willis threw a 5 inning, rain-shortened, complete game shutout for my keeper league fantasy baseball team. Well, that's not the biggest reason, but I'm definitely glad to be married to such a great girl. You would think that being married for four years would make a young man start feeling old...normally that would be the case, but wait until you hear what I did Tuesday night.

You know those crazy old guys who give out Bibles for graduation and such, the Gideons? Well, I joined the Gideons Tuesday night, a group of Bible-believing business men who have a passion for lost people. I hope that would describe me for rest of my life. Wow, did I feel young again! Besides my friend Daniel, who talked me into going to the banquet, there probably wasn't another guy in the place below the age of 40...and many were in their 50s and 60s. Did you know there were Gideons in over 180 countries? And that the Gideons, by the grace of God, place two Bibles somewhere every second! It's incredible, and I'm honored to be a small part of a group who loves the Word of God as much as I do. Now, if I could only remember to carry my 'testament' with me and go the weekly and monthly functions.

My final bit of randomness comes from some thoughts I was having on Monday and Tuesday. This passage was in my mind, 1 Timothy 1:12-17 -- "I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."

I had begun thinking over the past several years of my life when it really hit me hard -- man, perhaps I have passed Paul and am now the chief of sinners! It was sobering to think about all the grace I've been given, all the mercy I've received, the vast knowledge of God I've been made aware of, and all the deep spiritual truths I've been exposed to. And to think, after all of that, I still sin all the time! Woe is me, what a wretch am I! And finally it all made a lot of sense to me -- no wonder Paul talks so much about grace and mercy when he speaks of himself as the chief of sinners. The usual way I go about humbling myself is to focus on the holiness of God and the love of Christ (though they are both holy and loving). But this time I turned my attention to what a mess I've made of the blessings I've received. And of course the line from my favorite hymns rings true -- "what poor returns I make to thee, for all the mercy shown to me."
But...this following hymn came to mind even more:

Depth of Mercy - Red Mountain Music, written by Charles Wesley

  Depth of mercy! Can there be 
 mercy still reserved for me? 
 Can my God his wrath forbear, 
 me, the chief of sinners, spare? 

 I have long withstood his grace, 
 long provoked him to his face, 
 would not hearken to his calls, 
 grieved him by a thousand falls. 

 I my Master have denied, 
 I afresh have crucified, 
 oft profaned his hallowed name, 
 put him to an open shame. 

 There for me the Savior stands, 
 shows his wounds and spreads his hands. 
 God is love! I know, I feel; 
 Jesus weeps and loves me still. 

 Now incline me to repent, 
 let me now my sins lament, 
 now my foul revolt deplore, 
 weep, believe, and sin no more.

Which of course made me think of this song:

Only Hope - Caedmon's Call, written by Randall Goodgame

Depth of mercy, can there be
Mercy still reserved for me,
Can my God, your wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners, spare

Chorus
It's my only hope,
You're my only hope,
It's my only hope of Heaven,
At the cross forgiven

I have long withstood your grace,
King, provoked you to your face,
Would not harken to your calls,
Grieved you by a thousand falls,

Chorus

There for me the Savior stands,
Shows his wounds and spreads His hands,
Face to face before the Son
And like Isaiah I'm undone

Depth of mercy, vast and free,
So much deeper than the sea,
God of love, you heard my cry,
Now into your open arms I fly

Chorus

A Little More on Temptation

Hey, I'm back for a quick post -- again on temptation. If you recall from my last post, one of the verses that I highlighted was Matthew 26:41 - "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." The praying part should be obvious, unless you're one of those who think you can do theChristian life on your own. If you are serious about avoiding temptations (and thus avoiding the likely sin to follow), please do yourself a favor and pray often that you might not be led into temptation. The 'watch' part of Jesus' warning is a little tougher I think -- what exactly are we supposed to be watching for? Well, if one or two temptations are common enough, you may already know what entices you and should therefore know situations and circumstances to avoid and watch for if possible. Sometimes, it's not so easy, and John Owen gives us a few "seasons" to be on the lookout for -- circumstances in which temptation may be near. I won't describe them in their entirety (you'll have to buy the book for that), but most should be fairly straightforward:

1.) A season of unusual prosperity.
2.) A time of slumber of grace, of neglect in communion with God, or formality in duty.
3.) A season of great spiritual enjoyments.
4.) A season of self-confidence.

So, again, I really liked what I just read and wanted to share it on my blog (for I'm determined to keep up blogging and not be a once-a-month poster). Keep a lookout for these seasons in particular because temptation will be awaiting. Remember, dear readers, that the Christian life Jesus had in mind was not some sort of fluffy and flippant way of living but instead a difficult battle. We have to fight to be pure. We have to fight sin to honor God with our lives. Have you had a season that didn't have much fight in it? Well, I have, and it hurts to look back on it. Christ is not a weak savior and is not a weak Lord. Let's not be weak Christians. Avoid temptation like the plague if at all possible, but be sure to pray for help!

Not Through Blogging Yet -- Words on Temptation

Wow, so much for my goal of 4 or 5 posts a week. Man, I stink at blogging. But I'm not ready to quit yet. Tonight I would like to share a little bit on what I'm going through in the John Owen books. I have moved on to the second book in the three-book book "Overcoming Sin & Temptation," and I must say it is quite good. What you are about to read is a combination of my thoughts, God's thoughts, and John Owen's thoughts. But I hope that someone out there can get something from it, even if it's a repeat of what you have heard before.

Regarding temptation...

I think it my young Christian life, I've always given more respect to verses such as these:

1 Corinthians 10:13 - "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Hebrews 2:18 - "Because he himself [Jesus] suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

and not as much respect to verses such as these:

Matthew 6:13 - "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

James 1:14-15 - "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

Matthew 26:41 - "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Now, don't get me wrong - since I've been a Christian, I've always respected all these verses, but what I'm trying to say is that I think my life reflects that I've put more stock in the former and regarded the latter a little less.

The first two verses speak of the power of God to deliver his people from various temptations. In fact, we are told in one verse that God provides a way out of every temptation and in the other verse that Christ himself is able to help those who are being tempted. This is very powerful! Oh, how I've relied on these promises to get me through many a temptation. However, have I relied on them too much while ignoring the warnings in the other three verses?

When Christ teaches us how to pray, he says that we are to ask God to keep us from the temptation because of the evil that lies ahead. James teaches us that all sin can be directly traced back to a failed temptation. And finally, at the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ tells his disciples to pray, not for his safety or for God's glory, but that they won't fall into temptation -- because the body is weak!

I think God used this John Owen book to remind me of something -- instead of relying on God to get me out of every temptation, I should start by praying that don't fall into temptation to begin with! Owen does a fantastic job explaining how the various lusts of the soul just lie in waiting for the right moment of temptation when they can bust out and cause me to sin. The body is indeed weak. The old man is not completely gone in this life. Sure, I've heard this all before, but not in the way Owen describes. Or maybe God just needed to be heard once again, so he spoke up. Remember, if you are a Christian, you are being tempted. If you are sinning, then you are falling into temptation and failing! We need to be proactive in identifying problem areas, go for the kill, and avoid the temptation all together (until the sin is at least mortified).

Shall I be more practical? Struggling with thoughts of an affair with a co-worker? Don't talk to her. Struggling with watching 3 hours of television every night? Don't turn it on. Getting into a shouting match every time you play sports? Stop playing. These might be extreme, but we each need to identify when the moment of temptation comes and certainly when we reach the point of no return. Having fights with the spouse all the time? Find a way to get out of the situation(s) that cause the quarrels. I'm sure you get the picture, and you are probably doing this already. But I know I need to get better at things because I'm still a wretched sinner who lets the flesh get the best of me way too often. Christ went through too much for us to go on in life carelessly sinning and grieving the Holy Spirit.

And finally, remember the warnings in the Scriptures like these:

Proverbs 28:26 - "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered."