Today is Martin Luther King, Jr Day, the day we observe the birth (January 15, 1929) of Martin Luther King, Jr, one of America’s most prominent civil rights leaders in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

I encourage you to read Dr. Albert Mohler’s commentary, “The Content of Our Character–King’s Dream and Ours.”

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Mark preached yesterday from 1 Corinthians 6:1-11. The basic idea: “If you sue your brother, everyone loses.”

Not many teenagers are actually going to be suing anyone, although it was an occasional threat around our house, when either my sisters or I demanded that the others share the last of the ice cream. So it was really helpful when Mark explained that the issue isn’t so much lawyers, but conflict as an experience; underneath every lawsuit is a relational conflict. In other words, many of us might not take someone to court, but the anger and bitterness that leads someone else to go to court might be there in our hearts, too. Mark gave us three points from these 11 verses to help us understand:

1. The problem (vv.1-8)
2. The danger (vv. 9-10)
3. The solution (v. 11)

I was especially helped when Mark explained the Apostle Paul’s rhetorical question, “Why not rather be wronged? ” Why not just overlook an offense? Here are a couple reasons:

• Because I want to be right
• Because I want the other person to know I’m right
• Because I want an apology
• Because I’m proud

Can you relate to any of these? I do any and all of them at some time or other. This is why it was so helpful for Mark to point us to the gospel in verse 11: “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” We’ve not only been set free from lawsuits by the gospel, we’ve been set free to forgive by the grace of God.

In his book, The Peacemaker, Ken Sande reminds us of the four promises of forgiveness:

• “I will not dwell on this incident.”
• “I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you.”
• “I will not talk to others about this incident.”
• “I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship.”

Talk to your parents if you are doing a good job extending forgiveness to them, to your siblings, to your friends. Be humble, and go back to people to forgive them if you need to.

If you sue, everyone loses. If you forgive, everyone wins.

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Seniors, New Attitude Registration is now open.
Register today! You might win an iPod!

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When reading through the Bible on a regular basis (as we are often encouraged to do!), it is easy to forget just what it is that we’re reading.

I was struck by this the other day when I read Psalm 12:6:

“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”

I wondered: how often do I think to myself: “these are the words of the Lord”? Or: “these words are of incredible value, like highly refined silver”? Not often enough. I know that if thought that every morning and believed that every morning, it would change the way I read my Bible every morning.

Do you have a verse that you refer to each morning to help remind you of the importance and value of God’s word? In a previous post I suggested John Piper’s I.O.U.S method from Psalm 119:36, 119:18, 84:11, and 90:14. If you’re using a different verse, we’d love to know what it is.

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A message for the Seniors from the peeps at Na:

Registration starts tomorrow

The wait is over…

Official registration for New Attitude starts Friday January 13th at 5pm (EST). Floor shaking worship, powerful encounters with God’s Word, eating pizza at two in the morning…they’re all waiting for you. Warm up that mousepad because we’re giving away an iPod Nano every day for the first week to get you moving. Spots are going to fly with almost 600 people already pre-registered so keep that browser fixed on the registration page so you won’t be left out.

It’s time to forget reinvention, rediscover biblical Truth, and embrace a humble orthodoxy. We hope you’ll join us.

The New Attitude Crew

(…pssst!…keep your eyes open because we’re getting ready to unleash our first Napcast and new music on cyberspace soon..)
Find out more: NewAttitude.org and SaveTheWheel.com

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I realize that any discussion of the spiritual disciplines is an invitation to condemnation; any one of us thinks, “I should do more.” And we should. We are sinners, and our disposition is to stray, to drift from the devotion we once had, to lose our first love.

We need to be encouraged by words like these, from page 50 of Puritan Richard Sibbes’ classic, The Bruised Reed. (Note: This is old language; you should know that “duty” and “good actions” refer to spiritual disciplines; “flax” is a wick, like in a candle.)

“It should encourage us to duty that Christ will not quench the smoking flax, but blow on it till it flames. Some are loath to do good because they feel their hearts rebelling, and duties turn out badly. We should not avoid good actions because of the infirmities attending them. Christ looks more at the good in them which he means to cherish than the ill in them which he means to abolish.”

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I need to tell you about a scheduling change for the five15 BIG MEETING on Saturday night.

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Beginning the new year is a great time to review what we do in our spiritual disciplines, and why. By “spiritual disciplines,” I mean practices that bring us near to God and promote godliness in our lives, such as reading God’s word, praying, fasting, fellowship, serving, etc.

It’s so easy for us to fall into a cruise control-like mode, where reading our Bibles and praying becomes routine, dry, uninspired. We can easily become more aware of how difficult the disciplines are than how much grace can come to us through them.

We need to be reminded of why we’re doing this: as Christians, we are called to live lives that prove the message of the gospel is true, that show that we have really been changed. Growing in Godliness means becoming more like Christ. That’s why Paul writes in Philippians 1:27,

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…”

This is serious business, becoming like Christ. But God also intends to meet us when we humble ourselves by drawing near to Him through the disciplines. This week, I want to remind you about the grace of God that comes to us through the spiritual disciplines, and I want to encourage you in your own practice of them.

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Please pray for two of our favorite authors:

Dr. Donald Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and other books is currently battling colon cancer. You can read updates on his health here.

Dr. John Piper, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and author of Desiring God, The Pleasures of God, and many other books, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He wrote a letter to the people of his church which included these gospel-saturated words:

This news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ in these days have been unusually sweet.

For example, is there anything greater to hear and believe in the bottom of your heart than this: “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)?

You can read his entire letter here.

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This picture makes me laugh:

Can you think of a good caption? I’ve got a prize for the best one.

I’m the only judge. No anonymous posts.

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