#9marks.org

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Mike Christ | The exact moment when I sensed the inadequacy of my understanding of sanctification is engraved in my mind. It occurred in a small-group meeting, while discussing the dynamic between our actions and the work of the Spirit in the process of becoming holy. As these conversations often go, people were sharing what helped them grow—or at least what they learned in church about what ought to help them grow—you know, reading the Bible, praying, etc. At the same time, everyone steadfastly maintained that the Holy Spirit actually did the work of sanctification. Finally an honest woman blurted out...

[awideplace]

Need to find a church? Here’s three sites that can help: 

founders.org/church-search  tms.edu/find-a-church 9marks.org/church-search

These are 20 essential questions to ask a pastor that will help you find a Biblical church.

1. What is man's biggest problem: sin or self-esteem? 2. What must a man do to inherit eternal life? 3. How do you deliver the salvation message? 4. How hard is it to become a Christian? 5. How often do you talk about sin, righteousness, and judgment? 6. How seeker-sensitive is your church? 7. How do you handle complex theology in your sermons? 8. What is your mixture of topical vs. expository preaching? 9. Describe your youth programs. 10. Describe your evangelism programs. 11. What church growth model do you follow? 12. How much do you give to missions and the hungry? 13. Do you believe the Bible contains any errors?  14. Do you believe in a literal six day creation? 15. Do you believe in a literal hell and eternal punishment? 16. When you distribute the Lord's Supper, do you emphasize the need to examine yourself? 17. Can a person who is living in a willful and persistent, unrepentant lifestyle of sin inherit eternal life? 18. Does your church exercise church discipline? 19. What criteria are used to determine if someone is qualified to be a Sunday school teacher or a youth volunteer? 20. What are the essentials of the Christian faith?

Source

[letmeillustrate]

https://www.9marks.org/article/regulative-discipleship-why-a-full-calendar-doesnt-necessarily-produce-mature-church-members/

[thecountiesinfo]

Top 10 Christian Preaching & Christian leaders Podcasts

Top 10 Christian Preaching & Christian leaders Podcasts

Pastor’s Talk from 9Marks.org – Christian leaders podcasts In this Christian leaders Podcasts, Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever discuss a variety of issues important to the local church. Both Leeman and Dever minister at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Leeman is also the editorial director and Dever the president of 9 Marks. The Expositor Podcast This podcast offers informative…

[sadsongsandwaltzes]

https://www.9marks.org/article/afghan-pastors-ask-for-prayer/

"Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body." Hebrews 13:3

[azspot]

The most splendid dinner, the most exquisite food, the most gratifying company, arouse more appetites than they satisfy. They do not slake man’s thirst for being; they whet it beyond all bounds. . . . We embrace the world in all its glorious solidity, yet it struggles in our very arms, declares itself a pilgrim world, and, through the lattices and windows of its nature, discloses cities more desirable still.

Robert Farrar Capon

[musicgoon]

Thank God It’s Friday

While I link to fresh weekly content as part of my Recommended Reading, the weekend is here for us to relax and do some deep dives into the Internet.

You can find all of my Friday posts with the TGIF-tag. I love reading links and your comments, so please keep in touch. Have a great weekend!

Fundamentals of Expository Preaching - From The Master’s Seminary Archives, Dr. John MacArthur and Dr. Steven Lawson teach a free 10-lecture video course on Expository Preaching.

Pastoral Burnout: Its Causes & Cures - Over 20 resources from 9Marks.org regarding facing burnout, diagnosing burnout, and avoiding burnout.

Happily Ever After - Download the DesiringGod eBook for free this weekend only. The thirty devotional readings in Happily Ever After have been assembled to shape, challenge, and inspire you and your spouse’s (or fiancé’s) vision of marriage.

And Then There Was Shawn - Season 5 Episode 17 of Boy Meets World was particularly memorable and terrifying to me as a tween. Watch the full episode on YouTube and check out 50+ more episodes on the channel.

The Twilight Zone - Since California Adventure retired the original Tower of Terror ride, head on over to this Wikipedia page and read the synopsis to over 200 episodes of the fantasy, science fiction, suspense, macabre, and psychologically thrilling show.

[clintondavidoxford]

Man and Woman in Creation (Genesis 1 and 2) : 9Marks

"Man and Woman in Creation (Genesis 1 and 2) : 9Marks" https://www.9marks.org/article/man-and-woman-in-creation-genesis-1-and-2/

Precient

[bookstand]

Not My Review: Pastors and Their Critics - A Guide to Coping with Criticism in the Ministry by Joel R. Beeke and Nick Thompson

Not My Review: Pastors and Their Critics – A Guide to Coping with Criticism in the Ministry by Joel R. Beeke and Nick Thompson

The link below is to a book review of ‘Pastors and Their Critics – A Guide to Coping with Criticism in the Ministry,’ by Joel R. Beeke and Nick Thompson. For more visit: https://www.9marks.org/review/book-review-pastors-and-their-critics-by-joel-beeke-and-nick-thompson/

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Dan Darling | Well, that’s what they want you to think,” a friend insisted, with particular emphasis on the they and want, after the end of a long and fruitless argument about whether or not a group of secretive bankers was plotting in smoke-filled rooms to destroy the world. I tried, in vain, to convince him that Donald Trump’s election, a natural disaster in Indonesia, and the rise of the price of plastics were not, in fact, tied to a central, evil, dark conspiracy...

[madewithonerib]

Enter into the Trials of Fellow Church Members | 9Marks

      What if I told you a healthy imagination was essential to       being a good Church member?

      You may think I need to read less Lewis & Tolkien &       more 9Marks. But I’m serious.

      Imagination not only provides a door into the fanciful       world of fairy tales; it also provides a pathway to       understanding the pain & perplexities of fellow       Church members.

      Cultural clichés hint at this point:

            “She lives vicariously through her children,”             we say. We’ve even coined words to describe             this imaginative ability.

      An “escapist” is a person who seeks distraction & relief       from unpleasant realities by imagining themselves       living a different life, often someone else’s.

      As believers, our imaginations have been redeemed.

      They’re no longer primarily a way of escaping into the       unreal, but rather a way of entering into the realities of       fellow suffering saints.

The BIBLE is full of commands to do this:

Weep with those who weep [Rom. 12:15]. Remember those in prison as though in prison with them [Heb. 13:3]. Bear one another’s burdens [Gal. 6:2].

Consider how to stir one another up & encourage one another [Heb.10:24–25].

      These commands implicitly require that we to some       extent feel the grief of the stillborn, the paralysis of       prison, the burden of our brother’s struggle with sin.

      When Hebrews exhorts us to consider, it’s exhorting       us to imagine.

      The writer is commanding us to envisage our brother’s       or sister’s situation such that we, with the help of the       SPIRIT, are able to stir them up to love & good works.

      In order to do this fully & fruitfully, we must remember:       If one member suffers, all suffer together [1 Cor. 12:26].

      As we encounter suffering saints in our Church, we often       think: I need wisdom for this conversation.

      We don’t want to ask the wrong question or say the       wrong thing. I’d like to suggest that good questions       come less often from spontaneous wisdom & more       often from taking the time to think or imagine our way       into someone else’ trials.

COME IMAGINE WITH ME

      Let’s do some imagining together.

      Does someone in your Church deal with chronic pain?       Let’s imagine what their life is like.

      Have you ever gotten your fingers shut in your front door?       What if you couldn’t get them out?

      There you sat in the foyer on the floor.

      Everyone has made suggestions, & you’ve tried them       all, but still your fingers are stuck. For months, you       keep a hopeful attitude.

            “Maybe tomorrow will be better?”             you say to yourself.

      Three months go by & you start to get used to your       predicament. The pain, however, is only part of it.

      You miss doing things you used to do:

            working, going on dates with your wife, taking             your children to the park, teaching Sunday School.

      You tell yourself, “It’s okay. Things are just different now.       I just have to find a new normal.” So you do.

      You find a new way to date your wife, play with your       children, & serve the Church.

      But going to work is out of the question.

      You can’t “go to work” with your fingers in the door.

      So you start dreaming about how you could work from       home if you could learn to type quickly with one hand.

      Or maybe you could buy some voice recognition       software. After several months of failed attempts,       you give up on that idealistic mirage.

      Your new normal means a new normal for your family.

      Your children & wife are doing their best to acclimate.       Their expectations are slowly recalibrating.

      You enjoy playing with your children for 15 minutes;       you even forget about your fingers for a while.

      But before too long, after all that moving around &       having fun, the pain increases.

      Your wife is doing her best.       She has a good attitude about taking care of all the       family responsibilities.

      Plus, she’s taking care of you now, too.       You can no longer get dressed, take a shower, or even       cut your toenails. She gets dressed up for your “door dates”       even though you can’t go anywhere.

      Most difficult for her, though, is your inability to listen to her.

      Coping with the pain commandeers your concentration.

      Your doctor tries to help.

      She prescribes medication & various remedies.       But none of it can actually get your fingers out of the door.

      As the months pass, you start to notice that the       medication has some negative effects.

      It distorts your personality.       It makes you feel hungover in the mornings.       It ruins your ability to concentrate; it stokes nightmares.

      But without it, you can’t be a dad or a husband in any       meaningful way since because the days of being used       to the pain are long gone.

      By now, you’re worn-down.

      You just want your fingers out of the door.       And if one more well-meaning Church member—who has       both their hands in their pockets & a smile on their face       —says, “How’s your pain today?” you might just lose it!

A FEW PRINCIPLES

      A few principles that apply to both short-term &       long-term suffering.

1. “The problem” is not the primary problem.

Take the guy who loses his job & remains unemployed for a while. The ensuing trial is not the loss of his job per se. More meaningful is the fact that he no longer has the money to pay his mortgage. His family no longer enjoys financial stability. Inwardly, he now lacks purpose—particularly if his unemployment is prolonged. He feels defeated by the deafening silence of waiting for yet another response to his resume.

2. Take the burden of the question on yourself.

When we ask a suffering saint, “How are you doing?” or “How was your week?” we are inadvertently asking them to do the “considering.” These questions may indicate that we haven’t genuinely considered their predicament. We see them in the Church hallway. We know they’re not doing well, so we say the 1st thing that comes to mind. We know from experience that inexact questions like “how was your week?” are notoriously difficult to answer. Who walks around with their whole week inside their head? Plus, it can hardly be answered genuinely while scurrying through the foyer on your way to Sunday School.

3. Don’t turn the person into the problem.

Our go-to question for someone in a trial is often: How was your “so-and-so” this week? While they’ve probably been asked about their cancer or their Crohn’s multiple times that week, no one has likely asked them how they’re doing spiritually. But remember: your brother is not his burden. YOUR sister is not her suffering. They’re Christians who are experiencing a trial, & they are fighting for their spiritual health.

So ask them if they’ve been able to read their BIBLE this week. That question provides an opportunity to get their mind off their problem & to encourage you with what he’s been thinking about from SCRIPTURE. Or perhaps he’ll tell you how his Crohn’s makes it difficult for him to concentrate or read. That will help you to pray for him, & to ask more specific questions in the future.

4. Leave room for lament.

Just as a poor atmosphere makes it hard to breathe, a poor question can make it hard for a sister to truthfully tell you how she’s doing. When we haven’t imagined ourselves into our struggling sister’s situation, when we haven’t felt her frustration, our questions can give off an air of positivity that communicates our lack of consideration.

Conversely, faithful consideration helps us do away with the unspoken expectation that our sister should have something positive to report. It opens the door to hopeful lament. When positivity pervades, those in the midst of trial will rightly or wrongly feel like you don’t “get it.” When we, however, allow ourselves to be burdened through imagination, our questions will come with a solemnity that often not only opens the door to lament but also to praise.

5. Remember people aren’t silos.

Our suffering normally causes suffering for those we love. Remember the brother who lost his job? Encourage your wife to write his wife a card with Matthew 6:25ff in it. Create space for your wife to take her to coffee & to find out how she’s doing & if they need help financially.

6. Always consider—but rarely compare [at least out loud].

When considering someone else’s suffering, we often compare it with our past experiences out of a good desire to identify with them. This practice rarely encourages people in the midst of suffering. Remember the fingers-in-the-door illustration? After about the 6-month mark, how helped do you think you’d be by someone saying, “YOU know what, I got my fingers stuck in the door one time”?

CAVEAT + CONCLUSION

Am I saying that you need to imagine & feel the detailed trials of each & every one of your fellow Church members as you pray though your Church membership directory? No. We are finite; we can only do so much. GOD knows we are dust.

But I am suggesting that faithfulness requires that we don’t content ourselves with holding the body’s pains, burdens, & sorrows at arm’s length. Faithful consideration requires imaginative contemplation [Heb. 10:25]. If Paul’s words, “If one member suffers, all suffer together” are realized in our Churches, it will be through the labor of Spirit-empowered imagination.

By Derek Minton

https://www.9marks.org/article/enter-into-the-trials-of-fellow-church-members/

[letmeillustrate]

https://www.9marks.org/article/church-discipline-and-expressive-individualism/

[untitled632church-blog]

Implement effective Christian evangelism

http://www.ltw.org/global-work/international-outreach. International Evangelism & Outreach

REACHING THE HARD-TO-REACH PLACES OF THE WORLD

https://www.9marks.org/article/journalthree-lessons-cross-cultural-evangelism/ Three Lessons for Cross-Cultural Evangelism

http://www.reachinginternationals.com/six-tips-for-ministering-the-gospel-to-muslims/ Six Tips for Ministering the Gospel to Muslims

https://www.josh.org/evangelism-and-muslims/ Evangelism, Islam and Muslims

https://christiananswers.net/evangelism/beliefs/islam.html Witnessing to Muslims • Effective Evangelism • ChristianAnswers.Net