Category Archives: posts

Don’t Waste Your Life

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Dear Collegians,

I hope your second semester is off to a good start, and that there aren’t too many cobwebs from Christmas break. It was great to see so many of you when you were back home, and if I didn’t get a chance to see you then, hopefully I’ll get a chance to connect with you over Spring break or another weekend you stop by Garner.

As you’re dealing with the business of life, studies, relationships, and work, it’s easy for all of us to get so caught up in the details that we never spend any time actually living for anything. But let me warn you – don’t waste your life. Don’t spend all of your time living for the details and missing the big picture. Not only is it possible, it is natural for Americans to be consumed by pleasure and business and a whole host of other temporal, trivial issues in life. But there’s only one way to live so that you don’t waste your life. And that is to live in such a way that demonstrates that Jesus is more valuable and priceless to you than anything else in this world. He’s more valuable to you than money or marriage, or power or pleasure.

Our Lord Jesus finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. – C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

If you’d like to learn more about how to live in such a way as to not waste your life, I’d encourage you to download this free book – Don’t Waste Your Life (.pdf format). Its written by a pastor who has mentored me through the years named John Piper, and you can find more about him and his ministry here.

You are in the years of your life when you are making a lot of decisions that will define who you are and what you do for years to come. My prayer for you (and for myself) is that you wouldn’t come to the end of your life and sadly whisper, “I’ve wasted it.” If you ever want to talk about this or anything else on your mind, get a hold of me: pastorbrian AT zionerchurch Dot com or 641.923.3152. I’d love to talk. Until then, don’t waste your life but let’s live for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Hope to see you soon,
Pastor Brian

Don’t Waste Your Life

Couples Can’t Figure Out Monogamy

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“Many young American couples can’t agree on whether they’ve decided to have sex only with each other, a new study shows.”REALLY?! Now, far be it from me to criticize just because I disagree, but this article didn’t come across as the pinnacle of scholarship or journalistic rigor. For example, when Marie Harvey, a professor of public health, said, “Couples have a hard time talking about these sorts of issues, and I would imagine for young people it’s even more difficult,” my initial impression of Harvey’s inductive skills doesn’t skyrocket. The whole article can be read here.

But perhaps more worrisome than the incompetence of the authors is the idiocy of the subjects of the investigation: “…married couples were no more likely than other couples to have an explicit monogamy agreement.” REALLY?! You can’t find a commitment to monogamy somewhere in your marriage vows?!

This is one of those where you either have to laugh or cry. It seems that the sexual revolution of the ’60s liberated us right out of reality and into some dystopic orgy of confusion. We’re living in Eliot’s Hollow Men world with hollow marriage promises. How does this kind of world end? “Not with a bang, but a whimper.”

WSC: Christianity & Liberalism Revisited

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The annual conference held at Westminster Seminary, CA this year is “Christianity & Liberalism Revisited: A retrospective and prospective.” The title derives from J. Gresham Machen’s 1923 monograph which maintained that liberal Christianity was not, in point of fact, Christian at all. Machen, who would go on to establish Westminster Theological Seminary, became an important figure for confessional Christianity in the face of liberalizing tendencies. By looking backward and forward, this conference looks like a fascinating opportunity to contemplate where confessional Christianity is facing challenges and what, if anything, may be done about it. You can find out all the details at their site.

Wishing you could hear this amazing conference but can’t swing out to SoCal for the weekend? Never fear! WSC is graciously hosting the event live, and you can watch the live stream here. I’ve got my connection all warmed up. The first session begins tonight (Jan 14) at 7pm (Pacific Time).

Schedule
“Christianity and Liberalism Today” –Michael S. Horton
“The Perennial Machen” –D.G. Hart
“Machen and the Bible” –Joel. E. Kim
“Machen and the Gospel” –J.V. Fesko
“Machen and Ethics” –David VanDrunen
“Machen, Christianity, and the Church” –W. Robert Godfrey
“Q & A” -Faculty

Looks like I’ve got my viewing pleasures all mapped out for the next two days. Will you be watching?

GTD and the Lord’s Day

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

David Allen was interviewed by MSNBC regarding stress and job burnout. He went over some of his standard talking points: the increased number of inputs we face today, our inability to be conscious about our various projects and NA’s, and the need to keep these out of our head and organized. One of the hosts of MSNBC suggested the importance of a vacation. The David’s response? Weekly. People need to regroup and rest on a weekly basis rather than once a year.

Further evidence for natural law, the abiding principle of the moral law, and the importance of the one-in-seven pattern laid down in Creation, covenanted at Sinai, and re-stipulated at Zion.

Though he may not put it this way, even David Allen wants you to remember the Lord’s Day, forsake not the fellowship of the saints, and regulate your worship in Covenant Renewal. Tickle that for every first day of the week.

Looking Ahead for 2011

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Dear Zion,

It seems like the New Year has snuck up on us again, and with 2011 comes all sorts of new experiences: new hopes and new fears for what the new year may bring, new possibilities, as well as the feelings of regret and loss that can come as time marches on. Many people spend the New Year thinking about new resolutions to make and ways to change. But how should Christians think about the inauguration of 2011? How are we to “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16)? While there are surely many ways to think about these issues, here are some especially pertinent, biblical concepts to consider.

The Sovereignty of God in 2011
No matter what the new year brings, we can be sure of this: God is in control of 2011. All times are in His hand, and since He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (Revelation 1:8), we know that He makes the ends known from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). Every day that we live in 2011 has already been written in His book (Psalm 139:16), and nothing that happens to us can happen apart from His will. Life and death, health and sickness are in His hands (Deuteronomy 32:39). Neither a sparrow (Matthew 10:39 – 31) nor a hair from your head (Luke 21:16 – 18) can fall apart from God’s will. So for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, the future of the new year doesn’t need to be a scary thing, because He has promised that all things will work together for our good (Romans 8:28). As we make our plans for 2011, we should recognize God’s absolute power and control over all the decisions we make, and ultimately entrust ourselves and our plans to Him (James 4:13 – 17).

The Second Coming and Missions
It could be that 2011 is the year in which Jesus Christ returns “to judge the quick and the dead,” and to bring His people home to God. I can’t think of a more glorious idea! We pray with the saints down through the ages, “Come quickly, O Lord!” (I Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20). When the date is written out 2011 A.D., that stands for anno domini, or “the year of our Lord,” and it reminds us that time is waiting for Christ to return. The Second Coming of Jesus is the blessed hope for all Christians, and one we eagerly await. As we wait, we are to strive to live in a manner worthy of His calling.

But we are also to spread the Good News of God. If Jesus doesn’t return in 2011, may the Lord use this season for the advancement of His Kingdom! Jesus reminds us that in every age “the fields are white for the harvest,” and so we should “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2; John 4:35). How may God be calling you to support missionaries and evangelistic efforts through prayer, finances, and your own time?

Personal Holiness and Spiritual Growth
No matter what God’s will for 2011 may include, you can be sure of this, that part of God’s will for you is for you to grow in holiness (I Thessalonians 4:3). That is true in all times and all places. Many New Year’s Resolutions include weight loss and stopping bad habits, but how many of us take time to plan how to grow in our faith? How many of us purposefully seek deeper discipleship and richer communion with the Triune God? If it would help you, notice the Bible reading plan included in this newsletter[1]. Perhaps you would like to join or start a prayer meeting. May God grant us all a zeal to be holy, even as He is holy, in 2011 (I Peter 1:16).

Praying with you for faithfulness in 2011,
Pastor Brian
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[1] This is referring to M’Cheyne’s Bible Reading Plan.

Some Annotated Links

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Cardiphonia
A site constructed by several PCA ministers who are liturgically friendly. This doesn’t follow a strict understanding of the Regulative Principle of Worship, but even those who hold carefully to the RPW may find much to benefit their conducting of liturgy.

Iain Duguid Resources
Dr. Iain Duguid, one my OT and Hebrew professors at WSC, has many of his sermons and resources compiled (by an admiring student?) as well as links to many of his books. Dr. Duguid is a rare and talented exegete and preacher.

DMLJ Trust
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the good Welsh doctor, has many of his greatest sermons recorded here. An invaluable site.

What should I do when my children say they don’t want to go to church?
R.C. Sproul @Ligonier Ministries weighs in.

an incarnation of one of my earliest blogs

Headline | Ames on Chastity

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William Ames (1576 – 1633) was one of the important figures of the Reformation both in England and on the Continent. His Medulla Theologica (Marrow of Theology) was an important work for training ministers both in Puritan Britain as well as the Nadere Continent, and in this way his teaching connects early lights such as William Perkins with successive generations.

Ames is noted for his employment of Ramist divisions, which is a methodology that carefully considers a dialectic logic (though this claim should be carefully qualified as not embracing all accents which are associated with Ramism). Its especially helpful to see this when Ames considers “chastity.”

By carefully considering chastity in Scripture, Ames brings many qualities to light that seem all but forgotten by Christians (not to mention the world) today. Continue reading →

Twitter Clients

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What clients do you use for Twitter?

Ow.ly is great for shortening links and Twitter tools. PockeTwit is my favorite mobile client for Windows Mobile. Digsby is my desktop client, great for handling email, chat, Facebook, and all of your social media. Tumblr isn’t actually a Twitter client, but works great with your tumblog.

What other clients are “must have’s” for Twitter and blogging? Have you run into any security measures with any clients?