Leader or Follower?

Follow this link for a neat video (by Curt Cloninger, a Christian skit-guy) about "leadership."  Leadership is of course all the rage (and with good reason, often), but is leadership overrated?  Watch this to the end to get the "punchline".

What Are the Biblical Qualifications for Elders and Deacons?

This month our church is making nominations for the offices of elder and deacon.  If you are interested in a short paper that studies what 2 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 says about the qualifications for elders and deacons (i.e. what kind of men you should nominate), please email me for a PDF file.  The blog site does not allow me to post it here--or else I have not yet learned how to do so.  (If you don't know how to email me, just leave a comment with your name, and I will get it to you).

Talking Political Candidates

One of the most frustrating (see the sermon for August 26--how we "groan" in this fallen world) things about "political season" (the time just before a major election) is how much truth suffers in all the advertising (most of it done via sound-bites and twitter feeds and short facebook blurbs).  Pundits seem to agree that this year's election is particularly bad.  What is one to do?
Sam Logan (President Emeritus--that means former president--of Westminster Seminary) has on his blog some biblical advice from the Westminster Catechisms about how to speak about the candidates.  You can find it here. And no, it is not a sound bite--and will keep you away from sound-bites, if you heed it.

No more sunburn--Chinese style

Check out this article on the latest in sun-blocking at the beach in Qingdao, China.  Better than sunscreen--at least at blocking the sun!

Sabbath on the Ranch

One of my abiding longings is to learn to properly take a Sabbath on Sundays (we call it the Lord's Day, following the apostle John, Rev. 1:10).  Sure, in the morning I work--but my work is also worship, and so it is, still, for me, the Lord's Day.
Here is an article I found on a blog that is a good reflection on Sabbath and rest, by a rancher in Wyoming.  Perhaps you will find it helpful.

Syria from another perspective

We live in a fallen world... we know that, at least in theory.  How that plays out is varied, and sometimes frightening.  Take Syria for instance.  From our news sources we know that the Assad regime in Syria is cruel and totalitarian, as the regime has, over the last year, squashed demonstrators, who then turned into a guerilla force, and now an opposition army.  American sympathies are mostly with those opposed to the regime.  But here is a bit of news from Syria that shows the situation is more complex.  (This blurb comes from the web site powerofchristatwork.net.)  Keep this in mind as you hear the news, and pray for Syria and her Christians:

Update on Syria

Syrian Christians are heartened by the outpouring of prayer for their protection. They are threatened by Islamists opposing the government. The worst incidents have been in Hama and Homs. 

A predominately Christian neighborhood of west Hama named Mahrada, was overrun by Islamist armed men.  They forced families to flee and occupied homes.  Three men were shot dead before their families. 

In Homs the same occurred on a larger scale in the predominately Christian neighborhood called Hamidiyah.  There tens of men were killed and 23 women were kidnapped and repeatedly raped before being freed when the Syrian army regained control.  Christians are gradually returning to their looted homes. 

Pray for peace and stability as well as repentance, healing and forgiveness.

Law and Grace

As I'm working through Romans 8 right now, it is a good time to (indeed, Romans forces us to) consider the relationship between law and gospel, or law and grace.  Some truths from Romans that need to be kept together:
1. The law--God's law--is good (7:12).  It is Spiritual (with a capital S, i.e. it is of the Spirit of God, 7:14).
2. By works of the law no one will be justified (declared righteous) in God's sight (3:20).
3. Justification is a gift of God's grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (3:24); and it is based on the righteousness of Christ received by faith (3:22), not on the law.
4. God's purpose is for the requirement of the law to be fulfilled in us, his people (8:4).
5. The law is weakened by the flesh (i.e. our sinful disposition, 8:3), so that we cannot by nature keep it (see 2.).
6. But when we are made alive by the Spirit, we can submit to God's law (implication of 8:7) and thereby please God (implication of 8:8), both of which are very good things.
Here is a quote from John Murray: "We must guard grace from the adulteration of legalism and we must guard law from the depredations of antinomianism." (Principles of Conduct, p. 182; "antinomianism" is the belief that the law is no longer to guide Christians).

Blog Worth Following

Recently I got onto Tim Challies' blog.  After a few weeks, I will recommend it to you (the few of you who read this, but then, perhaps you have people you can pass it on to :)).  You can find it at challies.com.  Challies is the guy who wrote the book The Next Story, about technology; I posted about that book in May of last year.
The last few days Challies has had an interview with R.C. Sproul.  Nothing earth-shattering there, but some good thoughts by a thoughtful man.  Well worth a read.