Genesis 2:

This chapter teaches us several things about God and man. We see first of all that God makes and declares things holy (his declaration of the Sabbath as holy). The seventh day is not holy in essence, only because the sovereign Lord has made it thus. All throughout this chapter we are reminded of the great love and care with which God provides for his creation (primarily the man). We also learn that while this God is loving he also has certain commands. And he has authority.

Man in contrast to the great God is but dust. As my eyes began scanning over this chapter I accidentally read a verse wrong. I started in the middle of it and saw a very significant statement about who man is. "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground..." All I saw in that statement was "man of dust". Even though that is not specifically what the Lord is saying it is accurate. Psalm 103:14 says that the Lord remembers that we are but dust. What a significant contrast; man of dust, LORD God. We see that while God is in authority man is under authority. The man's need for companionship and "work" (some refer to as the dirty four-letter word) are actually before the Fall. We also can deduct that man must have been made for pleasure. Why else would God have put in trees that were "pleasant to the sight" and "good for food". What a gracious God to give his creatures such blessings. We also see that thus far man is free from shame.

One question comes from Genesis 2. Feel free to respond to it. Is there a significance in mentioning the tree of life with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Note that the tree of life is not forbidden. Therefore, did man reject the tree of life and embrace the forbidden tree? Is this an example of what happens when we reject Christ? What are your thoughts on this?

Matthew 2:

Man, the gospel accounts should never be drab. But I have to be honest and say that Matthew 2 is one of my least favorite chapters in Scripture. (I am certain that is not right to say--I am to tremble at all of the Word). As I read through this I have to ask--what about this is to cause me to tremble? Should I see myself in Herod? Should I be more like the wise men? Do I see the awesome power of God in fulfilling all that was spoken through the Prophets? Does this establish the trustworthiness of God and thereby cause me to rejoice and tremble? Verse 10 I believe serves as a rebuke to my sometimes (dare I say often) stagnant worship. "When they saw the star, the rejoiced exceedingly with great joy". Does seeing the fulfillment of the promise of a coming Messiah (that has came) cause me to rejoice exceedingly with great joy? It serves as a fitting rebuke--perhaps it's not so drab after all.

Ezra 2:

What am I supposed to take from Ezra 2? They had professional singers back in the day. Donkeys were more common than horses. Heads of families made freewill offerings (I can hear the Arminian now...see look...there it says freewill). They had a pretty fair amount of gold (at least I think). Lots of people came back. They had servants. A group of people could not provide their genealogies and were excluded as unclean. I am certain that is significant but not sure how. I would probably need to be an Old Testament scholar to really get Ezra 2. Can anyone help? It is pretty cool that God brought his people back like he promised; I know that much is true.

Acts 2:

Ezra edifies me little Acts 2 could preach to me for a year. Peter's "first sermon" was quite a bit better than mine. I also note that he was standing with the eleven. This must have looked pretty amazing. You have 12 different guys standing up and speaking in weird languages... although come to find out its not weird, it's native tongues. Would each have been speaking the same message in a different language to his tongues audience? Then Peter (it seems to me) begins speaking to the Jewish people in their native tongue. Verse 22--"as you yourselves know" implies a knowledge and willful rejection. Jesus was crucified according to God's plan. Verse 30, would it have been odd to call David a prophet? Verse 33, seems to be the answer to these men's question. It is really neat how Peter goes the long way around to show the Jesus-centered purpose for what they are seeing. He could have simply said it is the Holy Spirit--but instead he gives a history and points them to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the gift of Jesus. Verse 37--Is this always the result of Holy Spirit anointed preaching? Perhaps so, perhaps not. In this case the Holy Spirit, speaking through Peter, brings about a "cut of the heart" and a desire to know what they must do. Peter's answer is to repent and be baptized. (Uh oh--that sounds like baptism is necessary for conversion, or at least reception of the Holy Spirit). This promise is for them, their children, and everyone whom God calls to himself (certainly that means the entire world doesn't it? OR is this effectual calling?)
I remember being told once that verse 40 was Peter's "altar call". Every time I read this verse now it makes me laugh. I also find it interesting that Peter is urging them to "Save yourselves form this crooked generation". Certainly, this would be a rejected form of preaching by Hyper-Calvinist. We must call men to repent and "save themselves". 3,000 people received the word and were baptized.

There is a ton of theological questions in this chapter--none of which I hope to delve into at this time. The only thing I want to mention is that when the Holy Spirit preaches the gospel we see things like 3,000 people saved. Granted sometimes gospel preaching does not lead to conversion--but certainly this should be our aim.

Lastly, it would take a long time to exposit 42-47. This section has always convicted me that THIS is what church should be like. Devoted to the word, to fellowship, to breaking of bread, to prayer! What is the result of this type of "fellowship"? Awe, Spirit working, unity. It is also astonishing how often they "met together". Day by day. That sounds strange to our modern "churchianity" ears. What if church is more than a building (am I starting to sound Emergent...)? What if church is fellowship of believers. But note that they "attended the temple together". So maybe there is some precedent for this "meeting place" after all. But maybe it's more than just the "meeting place". Maybe sometimes they have "church" in their homes. "Praising God and having favor with people." Certainly the favor with people would not last for long. More people coming to believe in Christ every day! Wow! Sign me up for this church.

May the Lord do such a work in our church that we might be used by the Lord in such a way. Knowing that I am part of the Church I have to ask myself. Am I devoted to the Word? Am I devoted to fellowship? Am I devoted to prayer? Am I devoted to breaking of bread? (And what does that even refer to, any suggestions?)

How often do children of God sadly experience that which Newton speaks of? How is it that we can experience the blessedness of God and over time the evenening shade prevail? Newton offers encouragement and points us to sovereign grace. This is Newton's poem on Job 29:2.

Sweet was the time when first I felt
The Savior’s pard’ning blood
Applied, to cleanse my soul from guilt,
And bring me home to God.

Soon as the morn the light revealed,
His praises tuned my tongue;
And when the evening shades prevailed,
His love was all my song.

In vain the tempter spread his wiles,
The world no more could charm;
I lived upon my Savior’s smiles,
And leaned upon his arm.

In prayer my soul drew near the Lord,
And saw his glory shine;
And when I read his holy word,
I called each promise mine.

Then to his saints I often spoke;
Of what his love had done;
But now my heart is almost broke,
For all my joys are gone.

Now when the evening shade prevails,
My soul in darkness mourns,
And when the morn the light reveals,
No light to me returns.

My prayers are now a chatt’ring noise,
For Jesus hides his face;
I read, the promise meets my eyes,
But will not reach my case.

Now Satan threatens to prevail,
And make my soul his prey;
Yet, Lord, thy mercies cannot fail,
O come without delay.

Today is January 1st and the first day that I begin the McCheyne Yearly Bible Reading Plan. I am horrible at sticking to this things--hopefully being involved with other brothers in this endeavor will keep me more accountable. Today's readings are Genesis 1, Matthew 1, Ezra 1, and Acts 1.

Genesis 1

If this were the only chapter I had read of Scripture I could still discern much about God. I would discover quickly that this God spoken of is sovereign as the Creator. It appears that all He has to do is speak and something happens. He seems to be so authoritative that everything listens and acts even upon a word from His mouth. Furthermore, everything He makes is good. I could also discern that this God is loving. With everything that he gives to this man that He has created we can detect that he loves like a Father and rejoices to give. I could also tell from this chapter that of all the created beings man is the climax. Things are put under man's authority and it is man alone that is created in the image of this God.

As I consider Genesis 1 in light of the rest of Scripture it causes me great astonishment that God would so bless he man that would later crucify Him. Certainly His love is astonishing and unfathomable. It is also encouraging to know that this powerful God did not stop creating in Genesis 1. Still today he shines the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ into the heart of man; and with the same power with which He spoke in creation He still says, "Let there be light" and it is so.

Matthew 1:

As I open up Matthew I must consider the contrast between the beauty of Genesis 1 and the dire need for a Savior to rescue his people from their sins. One of these people (or perhaps all of them) in this list must have really done something wrong to cause this grand contrast. It does, however, look like the one command the people were obedient in is to be fruitful and multiply. I also note the unusual way that Jesus the Anointed One came to the earth. This Jesus has been born of the Holy Spirit. Did not Genesis 1 just teach that like begets like? Is this the Son of a man or the Son of God. Does Immanuel mean more than a name? Is it really true that God is with us?

Reflecting on Matthew 1 in light of the rest of revelation we readily embrace that man has indeed "messed up" Genesis 1. We know from the full story of revelation that since the first man we have run away from God instead of to him. We know that we treasure our sin instead of treasuring our Creator. We are indeed in bondage to our sin. This is why the Anointed One, Jesus the Christ, must come and rescue his people from their sins. (I do also note a potential verse pointing us to particular atonement--Jesus came to rescue "his" people). What a blessed thing that God Himself would come to our rescue!

Ezra 1:

Ezra did not strike me nearly as much as Genesis or Matthew thus far. The only thing that really stuck out to me is the mighty working of God to stir the hearts of men to accomplish his purposes. (v1) How marvelous it is that the Lord has the power to stir the hearts even of unbelievers to accomplish his purposes. (I also note that this text might be pointing us to an idea of effectual grace/calling/purposes of God). He also stirs the spirit of his people. (v5) My prayer after reading Ezra is this--Lord, stir my heart to accomplish your glorious purposes!

Acts 1:

Often when I read Acts I reflect on the present day church. This is probably not fitting. Our goal is still the same--to enjoy Him and spread the glory of God to the nations. Our mission field and specific callings are somewhat different. God has different plans (specifically speaking) for us than he did for the early apostles. Nevertheless, I do believe that he has the same plan (generally speaking) and desire for us--to enjoy Him and spread His glory to the nations.

A few things I notice that are lacking in our church life that was present in Acts 1 are: waiting upon the Holy Spirit, being in one accord, devoting ourselves to prayer. I wonder if our mission is still Acts 1:8? I wonder if we are accomplishing that in our own power or in the power of the provided Holy Spirit? I guess we could tell by whether or not we are exalted or Jesus.

I also notice the promise that Jesus is coming back! Which leaves me praying, "Come Lord Jesus". As I reflect on my personal failures at living the gospel and being a bold Acts 1:8 type of witness, I am only left with the hope that Jesus Christ will still come and rescue me from my wanderings and going after other affections. May the Holy Spirit come in power.

Happy New Year! Not only is this New Year's Day but it is also my Birthday. Not my physical birthday but my spiritual birthday. 8 years ago today the Lord effectually drew me to himself. Actually, if I were to be speaking theologically my actual "new birth-day" probably came some time before January 1st. Nonetheless, January 1st is the day that my eyes were opened to see the beauty of Christ.

There are not many blog posts yet to speak of, so this will be short.

One quote that gripped me this morning was by Ray Ortlund. In his Happy New Year post he encourages us with these words: "Yes, we live in an age of deep darkness. But so did the apostles. They did not moan, 'What's the world coming to?'They shouted, 'Look what's come to the world!'" This serves as a reminder that God is still on His throne. No matter how dark the world gets we must remember--greater is He.

Another great thing to remember this year is this quote by C.J. Mahaney: “If there’s anything in life that we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate about sharing it with others. I mean passionate about thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.” (HT: Of First Importance)

Timmy Brister posts a completed year in review with all of the statistics for his blog, and links to all of his posts. As I am fairly new to his blog, I find some of the titles quite intriguing and will probably check a few out.

Nathan Busenitz compiles Edwards' resolutions into a Top Ten list. He also reminds us that our resolutions should look more like the God-centered resolves of men like Edwards than the shallow man-centered promises of the world.

Looks like bloggers are back to work this morning; as soon as I looked at my Google Reader I noticed 28 new posts. It being New Year's Eve, I thought it wise to point you to a couple articles on the New Year. Matt Harmon points us to Jonathan Edwards Resolutions; which are always good to read this time of year. It is especially important that we remember Edwards' beginning statement: "Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake." I reminded our youth on Sunday that even if we make our New Year's resolution something to the effect of "determining to know nothing in 2008 but Jesus Christ and Him crucified", we will fail by January 2nd or 3rd. Therefore we must live under and preach the gospel to ourselves daily.

Many people use this time of year to reflect upon the past year, and sometimes their entire lives. John Piper considers it a yearly dress rehearsal for meeting Jesus. Therefore, this time of year can serve to awaken us to a realization of another year passed and another moment closer to meeting the Lord. Pyromaniacs use the last words of Benazir Bhutto to remind us of the frailty of life. How ironic that her last words were "Long live Bhutto". As this year draws to an end we must remember that the only way to accurately proclaim "Long live..." is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Last night Tim Challies summarized the Reality Check Conference. He concluded his blogging on sessions 6 and 7.

Timmy Brister concluded his 2007 Year in Review with post 10-6 and 5-1. One of these posts that particularly caught my interest was On Hitting Homiletical Homeruns. The conversation was also carried over at Said at Southern, here. The discussion is over plagiarism in the pulpit. The discussion began when James Merritt suggested going to his website and preaching his sermon instead of spending so much time putting together their own. This is not an uncommon thing. I frequently get fliers in the mail encouraging me to stop preparing sermons and do what really matters (and apparently what I should really want to do)--spend time with our youth. I wonder if this might be an unbiblical practice on top of another (shout out to Garrett). I wonder if we had a plurality of elders maybe a teaching pastor could spend time on sermon prep and the other elders could do some of those other things. Maybe the pastor was not meant to be the lone ranger and having to rip sermons off the internet because he spent 30 hours this week at the hospital and in counseling.

The 9 Marks newsletter has been posted online. This newsletter focuses on Corporate Prayer and will be worthy of checking out.

John Piper points us to Clyde Kilby's 10 Resolutions for Mental Health.

Lastly, the Irish Calvinist draws our attention to a video posted on James White's site. It compares Joel Osteen, The Secret, and Stuart Smalley. It would be humorous if Osteen did not boast 20,000+ deceived members. The reason I am so strongly opposed to Osteen is because he is a false prophet that deceives many. He preaches a half (maybe quarter) truth that is divorced from the bloody Cross of the Gospel. The problem is not that God doesn't want to bless us. The problem is that the blessing is not in material things it is in God Himself, and it comes through the Cross. Not only the Cross of Christ but also ours (Matthew 10:38). Here is the video:

The title may be a little deceptive. This will not be a review of all of the ministries here at FBC New London, but only the student ministries.

The first part of January saw us finish a sermon series on Hosea. We finished off January by looking at Fad Jesus. We were introduced to Superhero "Jesus", Cool "Jesus", Homeboy "Jesus", and South Park "Jesus". All of these, as we noted, fall well short of the biblical Jesus. We also had a lock-in at the beginning of the new year.

February was given to relationships. Nikki and I told our story. We also gave some advice on "dating" and laid out for the youth biblical courtship. During the month of February we also had Soup-er Bowl Sunday.

In March we began a 17 week series on Philippians: Advancing the Gospel. This series lasted until June 27th. (It is my hope to put this entire series, as well as a series on 1 John, available online). During this time we celebrated graduated with our seniors. We held "revival" at our church in March. We went on a mission trip to Columbia to help plant Heritage Baptist Church.
Also, as soon as the school semester was over we began our Ministers In Training program. This lasted throughout the summer. We also went to Six Flags in June (or maybe August, I forget)

July was an extremely busy month. We had 4th of July missions, church camp, and VBS. During VBS week we looked at 5 Dangers. Also in July we had Youth Wednesday. That week we were honored to have Ryan Lake preach the message and our youth praise band led the worship.

The first weekend in August we held our second-annual Evangelism Seminar. This year we looked at Evangelism in a Postmodern World. August was actually dedicated to teaching on evangelism. Our sermons for August were geared toward preparing the students to enter their mission field at school.

In September we began a sermon series on the Minor Prophets. The series lasted until last week, when we summarized all of the messages by telling of the Promised King. Each week was an overview sermon on each of the 12 Minor Prophets. As far as activities during this time we were relatively inactive, except the occasional FCA.

These are a few of the highlights of the year for us. Each of these activities and sermons carry memories for me. Some of the messages were used by God to bring salvation to some of our students. We were encouraged by having a few baptisms of our youth this year. Also the number of students involved in Ministers in Training was highly encouraging. Many students also grew deeper in their enjoyment and love for Christ.

2007 was a good year and God blessed us in numerous ways. If I forgot something (like the making of a few of our short films) then please share some of your memories of 2007. My prayer for this year is that we might deepen in our love for Christ. I also am praying that our passion for serving the King might ever-increase.

At 2 Worlds Collide, Don Whitney gives us 31 Things to Ask Yourself this New Year. This first question sets the God-centered pace of these questions: "What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?"

Tim Challies is attending the Reality Check Conference (sponsored by Anchored in Truth Ministries) and blogging after the sessions. So far he has posted on Session 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Sounds like some really great Christ-centered preaching and teaching at this conference. This would be a good conference to take our young people to next year.

Timmy Brister continues his year in review--today is 15-11.

And lastly, as I post this, the Patriots are set to play the Giants in hopes of going 16-0. Tom Ascol reminds us to be praying for Tom Brady tonight as we watch this game.

Tomorrow (or possibly late tonight) I will be posting a 2007 at FBC New London Year in Review.