Archive for November, 2006
November 17, 2006 7:52 pm
Sorry parents, I’m a day late on Thursday Thoughts. Busy week.
For you today, I’m reprinting the questions I provided for you at the five15 BIG MEETING on Saturday night. These questions are adapted from material I got from Kenneth Maresco, one of the pastors at Covenant Life Church. I recommend using these questions to evaluate your leadership of your teens in your home. This is connected to the second point in the message I did–HOV: Proverbs on Family. The point was about a lesson for parents from Proverbs 1:8-9… about providing instruction and creating an atmosphere in your home in which your teens want to be.
Enjoy. And may these questions provoke many hours of fruitful discussion in your home:
- Let me share with you ways that I am encouraged about your progress…
- Do you have any observations for me as a dad/mom?
- Is there anything I have said or done that would cause you to struggle or you would want to bring to my attention?
- Do you feel that mom or I have treated you unfairly in any situation or circumstance that you would want to bring to my attention right now?
- Have you had any conversation with friends regarding issues or expressing thoughts, which you know I would be concerned about or want to know about? Have you engaged in any activities which you know your mom and I would not approve that you have not informed me about?
- Is there any thought on your mind that you know is wrong but you are having a hard time with?
- Are there any unresolved relational issues among you and this family or your friends?
- What things have been repeatedly on your mind during the past week or two? What have you been thinking about? What things specifically?
- What has been the main focus of your quiet times recently? What are you reading? What are you praying about? Are you benefiting from your devotional times or are you doing them primarily out of obligation?
- How do you feel about your relationship with God right now? Are you feeling passion for him and his kingdom? Is there anything competing for your affections right now that would hinder you from loving God with all your heart?
- Are there any girls/boys that you are having a hard time not thinking about? What are you thinking about them? Do you have any questions about relationships with guys or girls?
- Have you viewed any inappropriate images, or read any inappropriate material since we last met?
- How are you being diligent in managing your personal life? Devotional times, chores in the home, schoolwork, budget?
- What sins are you struggling with and how are you working on them? What have you done to work on your sin area? Do you have you any kind of plan?
Categories: Thursday Thoughts For Parents, five15 blog
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November 16, 2006 4:33 pm
November 15, 2006 8:38 am
Saturday was our five15 BIG MEETING; message 3 of our Drivers Ed series was from Proverbs 1:8-9, entitled HOV: Proverbs on Family.
Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
Zoe, the daughter of my friends Kenny and Amy, was two years old when she took the family mini-van for joy ride into the middle of a cornfield. But what do you expect: she’s never had any instruction in how to drive a car. In order to drive a car well, you need instruction on how to do it. The same is true with life: to live life well (meaning: in a way that pleases God), you need instruction. If we do what comes naturally, or try to figure it out on our own, we’re not going to do any better than two year old Zoe. God intends for the family to be the school of godliness in the life of a teenager.
From these verses I explained that there is a simple lesson or teens and a simple lesson for parents. The lesson for the teens: Listen to what you learn at home. The lesson for the parents: provide instruction.
Here are the quotes I used:
“The son is called to “listen to” the father. The Hebrew word denotes more than the simple act of hearing; it implies obedience. The son must act on the instruction that follows, not just learn it as brute fact. The negative is used in reference to the mother’s teaching, but it implies the same thing. To not “neglect” her teaching means to act on it.” Tremper Longman
“God essentially says this: ‘I have designed the family to be my primary learning community. There is no better context to teach the truths that need to be taught so that my people should live the way they should live.’” Paul Tripp
“The most powerful way to keep your children from being attracted by the offers of camaraderie with the wicked is to make home an attractive place to be. Young people do not run from places where they are loved and know unconditional acceptance. They do not run away from homes where there are solid relationships. They do not run from homes in which the family is planning activities and doing exciting things. Tedd Tripp
Parents: look for the discussion questions tomorrow.
Categories: five15 blog
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November 14, 2006 11:55 am
I love these words from Psalm 130:7…
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
I love thinking about “plentiful redemption.” I’ve thought about this verse often in the last few weeks, and I’ve had the recurring thought: This means there is plenty of grace to go around. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, God’s redemptive power can (and does) extend to that situation.
Jesus is in the business of fixing all that sin has broken, so a verse like this should give us faith and hope in the midst of any trial, whether it is sin from outside of us, or sin that we discover in our own hearts.
Got trials? Got sin? Got disappointment? Got relational conflict? Got physical suffering?
There is plentiful redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. Flee to him, and find that there is plenty of grace to go around.
Categories: five15 blog
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November 10, 2006 4:29 pm
Breaking news that any of you GirlTalk readers already know:
We learned yesterday that we are having a girl. She appears healthy and normal. Of course we are thrilled, and thanking God for this amazing gift. Jack is excited to be getting a little sister, but I don’t think he understands what we mean.
No name yet. Suggestions?
Categories: Announcements, five15 blog
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 Monday afternoon, I took a look at my street from a new and fresh perspective. I was on the roof of my garage cleaning out my gutters, so I (carefully) climbed to the crest of the roof to see what it was like to stand on the crest of the roof. Though only a few feet higher than I would have been if I looked out of my bedroom window, I was surprised at how a minor adjustment in elevation resulted in a very different perception of the yard and street below. The mailbox looked shorter, the car smaller, the neighbor’s yard farther away.
It’s not that I’ve never looked at my street before, but this was a subtly different angle on such a familiar scene. Maybe you’ve noticed the same thing if you’ve ever climbed a ladder to change a lightbulb, moved to a new seat in class, or played with a younger sibling on the floor.
It occurs to me that sometimes we need to view familiar scenery from a new and fresh perspective. This is particularly true of spiritual truths. It is easy for us to become overly familiar with a few pet verses, with certain books of the Bible, or favorite terminology for describing salvation. We need to be alert as we read God’s Word and other books to new and fresh ways of describing salvation, new and fresh aspects of Christ’s redemptive work, and new and fresh insights into our own hearts.
Here are two examples of new and fresh perspectives, first a description of salvation from the prophet Hosea, and then thanksgiving for salvation from The Valley of Vision:
I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Hosea 14:4-7
All praise to thee for electing me to salvation
by foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus;
I adore the wonders of the condescending love,
marvel at the true believer’s high privilege
within whom all heaven comes to dwell,
abiding in God and God in him;
I believe it, help me to experience it to the full…
Continue to teach me that Christ’s righteousness
satisfies justice and evidences of thy love;
Help me to make use of it by faith of the ground of my peace
and of they favour and acceptance
so that I may live always near the cross.
From “Election”, Valley of Vision, 88.
Where have you seen a new and fresh perspective of God’s redemption in Christ recently?
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We’ve got a five15 BIG MEETING Saturday. This is for all high school and middle school students and their parents.
If you’d like to begin preparing your heart for Driver’s Ed, Part 3–HOV: Proverbs on Family, you can read Proverbs 1:8-9. Please pray that we would experience the full range of the Holy Spirit’s work in our meeting: illumination of God’s Word, conviction of sin, serving one another through spiritual gifts, and so on.
Please consider coming early to pray with Zach and the others. 6pm, Room B01. Other than the preaching of God’s Word, there will be nothing more important happening on Saturday night than this.
As usual, pizza & ping-pong at 5:15pm, the meeting starts at 6:30pm. See you there!
Categories: Announcements, five15 blog
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We’ve been interviewing candidates for baptism lately. I love hearing people’s testimonies, how God intervened in their lives, setting them free from sin and turning them from their sprint towards hell.
I thought about these stories as I read the following paragraphs last night in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress:
He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below in the bottom, a Sepulcher. So I saw in my Dream, that just as Christian came up with the Cross, his burden loosed from off his Shoulders, and fell from off his back; and began to tumble, and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the Sepulcher, and I saw it no more.
Then was Christian glad and lightsom, and said with a merry heart, He hath given me rest, by his sorrow; and life, by his death. Then he stood still a while, to look and wonder; for it was very surprizing to him, that the sight of the Cross should ths ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks.
Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing.
Thus far did I come loaden with my sin,
Nor could ought ease the grief that I was in,
Till I came hither: What a place is this!
Must here by the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from off my back?
Must here the strings that bound it to me, crack?
Blest Cross! blest Sepulcher! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me.
Let’s look and wonder again. Review your own testimony today: think about where you were headed and what the Lord saved you from. See if the springs that are in your head don’t send waters down your cheeks.
Categories: five15 blog
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November 6, 2006 10:47 pm
IN GOD WE TRUST
More than the official motto of the United States, it’s a useful summary of the book of Isaiah. That’s what Mark taught us yesterday in his message. Another way to put it: God delivers: trust Him.
That was amazing: 66 chapters of Isaiah in about 55 minutes. We learned that the book of Isaiah can be thought of as two islands and a bridge. The first island is chapters 1-35, prophecy given by God that will mostly come to pass during Isaiah’s lifetime. The second island is chapters 40-66, primarily prophecy about events to happen in the (sometimes distant) future, although Isaiah speaks of them as if he were there. The bridge is chapters 36-39, a section of prose about fearful, faithful, foolish Hezekiah.
Mark also introduced us to four places (Assyria, Jerusalem, Egypt, and Babylon), four dates (740 BC, 722 BC, 605 BC, and 539 BC), and four names (Ahaz, Sennacherib, Hezekiah, and Cyrus). If you can’t remember the significance of these places, dates, or names, go back and listen to the message again.
Three questions that the book of Isaiah answers:
A. Who is the Lord?
- He is the holy one of Israel
- He is the rule or history
B. What hinders trust in Him?
- Trusting other nations
- Trusting other gods
- Trusting in themselves
C. What does He promise to those who trust in Him?
- To deliver in the midst of severe trials
- To deliver from coming judgment
- To deliver through a servant king
I think the second question may be the most significant for our consideration. Ask yourself: What hinders me from trusting in Him? Is it trusting in nations, hoping that the systems that exist around me will keep me safe? Is it trusting in other gods, maybe confident that money or a relationship or something else will bring me happiness? Or is it trusting in myself, confident in my own abilities, wisdom, strength, and so on? Ask God to show you when it is that keeps you from trusting Him, and when He does, turn from it and trust Him instead.
“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Is. 26:4
Categories: Monday Matters, five15 blog
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Time magazine reports this week that there is a trend afoot among modern American youth ministries to move away from entertainment and towards substance. Writer Sonja Steptoe explains how things have changed in recent years:
Youth ministers have been on a long and frustrating quest of their own over the past two decades or so. Believing that a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging was the way to attract teens to their flocks, pastors watered down the religious content and boosted the entertainment. But in recent years churches have begun offering their young people a style of religious instruction grounded in Bible study and teachings about the doctrines of their denomination. Their conversion has been sparked by the recognition that sugarcoated Christianity, popular in the 1980s and early ’90s, has caused growing numbers of kids to turn away not just from attending youth-fellowship activities but also from practicing their faith at all.
I thank God that Lou got us on track with Bible-rich, gospel-saturated, parent-driven, church-based youth ministry. Lou would be quick to tell you that most of what he implemented he picked up from our friends at Covenant Life Church, (which got a favorable nod in the Time article, you should know).
It’s the presence of God’s Word and the gospel that have kept us from sugar-coating our youth ministry. My hope and commitment is to lead five15 in a way that my parting words on your graduation day to be these:
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15-16
That’s the meat of the Word and the gospel, peoples. Let’s eat.
PS - check out Al Mohler’s perspective on the Time article, and his kind words about CLC.
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Great news: the Sovereign Grace Ministries Mission Presentation is now available online.
