NaNoWriMo attempt is near impossible!

For what it's worth, I've joined NaNoWriMo. We gotta make it to 50k words by the end of the month, but seriously its hard writing every day! I'm writing some sorta story based partly on experience and partly fiction. Here's an excerpt:

Every journey has a beginning and an ending. Every ending is not really the end, but begins another journey to a new and different ending.

This is not the ending.

Today has hints of yesterday, yet vaguely different.

No, it’s actually not different at all. It feels distinctly similar. As if nothing has changed. But something has.

Today is the day I gave my life to the Lord. The day that I said a prayer to “accept Him into my heart”. The notion of having the God of the universe dwell in my heart was incomprehensible, like blowing too much air into a balloon, it will burst. That’s what I thought.

Like a child, starry eyed and innocent, waiting for a mystical magical moment to burst forth like thunder, with singing and exuberant praise to the name of the Almighty, with angels celebrating and rejoicing over every inch of the room. I waited for the mystical, a clue to distinguish the old from new. Nothing.

Yet something felt different, different on the inside. The feeling can be described as the instant feeling when the thing you were hoping for has finally come true. Like the day of release for a prisoner. Like the day you got your drivers license. Like the day your spirit, like a captive bird, is released. Like being born again. In fact, it felt very much like today.

No mystical fireworks. No angels. Heck, I’m still the same person.

No real direction for the novel yet, but this is the introduction. I've written a bit more than this. Don't know if I'll be able to finish in 50,000 words but I'll give it a go. A few comments would be good (make them helpful k).

PS: Check out The Gospel Coalitions site which has many many Christian resources.

Should Christians find obscenity funny?

I want to do a little poll and start a discussion on a topic I've had in my head for quite a while.

Is it right for a Christian to find obscenity and expletives "funny"? Or to put it another way, while we can laugh at many things, should we "enjoy" jokes or phrases that people use containing foul language?

Leading on from that, does finding it "funny" mean we condone that act or just to appreciate the "wit and humor"?

Click comment and let's go at it.

God's display of His glory

All the different ways God has chosen to display His glory in creation and redemption seem to reach their culmination in the praises of His redeemed people.

John Piper, Desiring God (p45)

A test for how well you understand Christianity

Justin Taylor posted this on his blog.

J. I. Packer:

You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator.

In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father.

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up I the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God.

Which is easier?

Living as a Christian in a world full of temptations is a hard thing. Trust me, I know. (In fact, don't even trust me, trust the Bible which says so. It's truth endures forever; Isaiah 40:8)

One minute you can be fully passionate in worship and make commitments you know you probably can't keep. The next, you backtrack on your commitments like it meant nothing more than "paying your dues". It's not that you want it that way. It's always because of this temptation here, or that there that causes you to fall into sin. It's always something else. But never you.

James 1:14 (ESV)
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (emphasis added)

Everything begins with the desire of our own hearts, we must admit that in our effort to eradicate the sinful habits of our natural self. We cannot blame others or disclaim total responsibility for the sin we commit that grieves the Lord. We must put to death our own desire, and put on the desires of Christ.

Galatians 5:17 (ESV)
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Now, even though we cannot do anything without the grace of God and the working of the Spirit in our battle against the flesh, we play our own responsibility as well.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV)
.. Rather train yourself for godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also the life to come.

Paul exhorts Timothy to train himself for godliness. Like an athlete trains and conditions himself for the race, he has to restrict himself from certain things, as well as do some other things that is of value to bolster his chances of finishing the race. It requires effort on our part.

But is it easier? Another question I'd like to raise is, while it is easier to talk about being good, which is more worth pursuing?

Being "good" in the moral sense is always hard. Of course, we would take to court our sinful nature. It is naturally bad, evil, corrupted. Obviously being "bad" is what we are naturally inclined to do. Why then, do we keep on pursuing "goodness" instead of giving in to temptations and just let nature do as it is?

CS Lewis said something worth meditating on; "The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you". What does my conscience demand of me? Every single time I'm tempted to sin, to look with lust, to say curse words, my conscience immediately reprimands me like a schoolmaster. I know this is wrong and sinful, why then do I still keep on doing it?

That's why I would like to supersede my previous statement by adding this ; Being good is hard, but being bad is even harder. It is harder simply because our consciences won't allow us to. We won't want to face what consequences there are, we frustrate our conscience that has been awakened with knowledge of the truth, and the spirit convicts us of our act of disobedience.

While a most times we have a deep rage for the crimes of evil the world, we become hypocrites when it comes to dealing with issues relating to our own heart. When our conscience attacks us, we are quick to respond, "It's not my fault to look at her lustfully when she dresses that way!". If an evil act is committed, aren't we quick to demand justice be served to the offender? Aren't we quick to condemn and demand punishment? Yet look at us when it comes to our own act of evil against God!

How this works out in your walk with God, I think can only be up to you. I would only add, pursue godliness and take every measure possible to prevent you from sinning against God. (Psalm 119:9-11)

It is not easy, and I am journeying with you in this momentary passage on earth before we see our eternal joy and source of our satisfaction in heaven. I will exhort you to pursue joy, to the fullest, in the source of the deepest and most enduring satisfaction that is in Jesus Christ.

New at the shelf.

It feels great shopping for things that you don't really need. In actuality, these are books I do need however its gotta join the list of ever growing un-read books. Latest count : 7. Here's what I added to my shelf today.

1. ESV Thinline bible - For easy portability.

2. Just do something by Kevin DeYoung - A liberating way to discover God's will.

3. Unceasing worship by Harold Best - Recommended by Mark Driscoll as the ultimate worship book, so I should get it.

4. Prayer and the Voice of God by Philip Jensen and Tony Payne - Read "Guidance and the Voice of God" written by them, thought it was good so I'll try this other title.

5. Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando - Title's a giveaway, but really it is for every Christian leader to read before doing ministry. Of course, praise by John Piper sold me out.

6. A Simple Christianity by John Macarthur - Nuff said.

7. True Worship by Vaughan Roberts - Read this at my cousin's place. Simple but crucial truths on being true worshipers.

Soul food. Yums. :)

30 Years Ago Today: How God Called John Piper to Become a Pastor

By Justin Taylor (original here)

In May of 1979 John Piper had completed his sixth year of teaching biblical studies at Bethel College (Saint Paul, MN) and was due for a sabbatical in the fall. In every class Piper had encountered students who sought to discount his Calvinistic interpretation of Romans 9. So he had one aim for his eight-month leave: “to study Romans 9 and write a book on it that would settle, in my own mind, the meaning of these verses.” Or put differently, “to analyze God’s words so closely and construe them so carefully that I could write a book that would be compelling and stand the test of time.”

The book–which Richard Muller would call “the most compelling and forceful exposition of Romans 9:1-23 I have ever seen”–was published four years later by Baker as The Justification of God.

But God had more designs for this sabbatical than the production of a book. He would use this time to call Piper away from being a professor to become a pastor.

Piper enjoyed college teaching in many ways. In addition to teaching through a number of New Testament books using an exegetical methodology called arcing, Piper was seeing the lives of some of his students transformed. He even saw some students converted in his NT History classes. And he was also involved at his local church, teaching a rapidly growing young-adults class at Olivet Baptist Church in Crystal, MN. Students unable to take his classes at Bethel (due to enrollment caps) were coming to hear him teach Sunday School.

But during his sabbatical a new desire was emerging: “to see the word of God applied across a broader range of problems in people’s lives and a broader range of ages.” In other words, he increasing longed “to address a flock week after week and try to draw them in . . . to an experience of God that gives them more joy in him than they have in anything else and thus magnifies Christ.” And he found that in studying the majestic, free, and sovereign God of Romans 9 day after day his “analysis merged into worship.”

The decisive night of wrestling was on Monday, October 14, 1979—30 years ago today. His wife and two young sons were asleep. But Piper was up past midnight, writing in his journal, recording the direction God was irresistibly drawing him to.

The journal entry for that evening begins in this way:

I am closer tonight to actually deciding to resign at Bethel and take a pastorate than I have ever been. . . .

The urge is almost overwhelming. It takes this form: I am enthralled by the reality of God and the power of his Word to create authentic people.

In effect the Lord was saying to him:

I will not simply be analyzed; I will be adored.

I will not simply be pondered; I will be proclaimed.

My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized; it is to be heralded.

It is not grist for the mill of controversy; it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will.

The calling to preach and pastor had become irresistible.

Bethel was operated by the Baptist General Conference, which had its roots in Swedish Pietism. Piper sought the counsel of Dick Turnwall, Executive Minister of the Minnesota Baptist Conference, and they met together in Turnwall’s office just a mile or so down the road from Bethel. Piper had a number of counts against him as a pastoral candidate: he was young, had no pastoral experience, had intentionally skipped all of the practical courses in seminary–and had no Swedish heritage. But Turnwall encouraged him to fill out a ministerial form, and Piper sent it to Warren Magnuson, General Secretary of the denomination. And then he waited.

Bethlehem Baptist Church, located in downtown Minneapolis, had been searching for a pastor since the retirement of Bruce Fleming. It was originally known as the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis in 1871, but had moved to English services by 1930.

By 1980 it was an aging congregation: of the 750 members, 279 were over the age of 65, and 108 of those were over the age of 80.

Turnwall put in a call to Marvin Anderson, chairman of the church and a history professor at Bethel Seminary, to inform him of Piper’s availability as a candidate for pastor.

Two members of the search committee were sent to observe Piper’s Sunday School class. They reported back to the rest of the committee that Bethlehem may have just found their new pastor.

Anderson called Piper, and on Friday, December 7, John and Noël met with the search committee at the Andersons’ home in Shoreview, MN, along with other members of the search committee and their spouses: Char Ransom, Marlene Johnson, Olive Nelson, Ozzie (Floyd) Nelson, Jim Backlin, Rollin Erickson, and Clarence Ohman (chairman of the deacon board). The following Wednesday Noël would give birth to their third son.

After meeting with Piper two or three times a week for a month, he became Bethlehem’s candidate.

At some point in the process John had told his father, Bill Piper, about his sense of God’s calling. A 55-year-old itinerant evangelist, Dr. Piper had been preaching the gospel for 40 years and had been in countless churches throughout the United States. He knew both the promise and the perils that would await a pastor. So he wrote his son a two-page letter in response, seeking to make sure the call was genuine and that his son was realistic, not idealistic, in his expectations. Here is an excerpt:

Now I want you to remember a few things about the pastorate. Being a pastor today involves more than merely teaching and preaching. You’ll be the comforter of the fatherless and the widow. You’ll counsel constantly with those whose homes and hearts are broken. You’ll have to handle divorce problems and a thousand marital situations. You’ll have to exhort and advise young people involved in sordid and illicit sex, with drugs and violence. You’ll have to visit the hospitals, the shut-ins, the elderly. A mountain of problems will be laid on your shoulders and at your doorstep.

And then there’s the heartache of ministering to a weak and carnal and worldly, apathetic group of professing Christians, very few of whom will be found trustworthy and dependable.

Then there a hundred administrative responsibilities as pastor. You’re the generator and sometimes the janitor. The church will look to you for guidance in building programs, church growth, youth activities, outreach, extra services, etc. You’ll be called upon to arbitrate all kinds of problems. At times you will feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. Many pastors have broken under the strain.

If the Lord has called you, these things will not deter nor dismay you. But I wanted you to know the whole picture. As in all of our Lord’s work there will be a thousand compensations. You’ll see that people trust Christ as Savior and Lord. You’ll see these grow in the knowledge of Christ and his Word. You’ll witness saints enabled by your preaching to face all manner of tests. You’ll see God at work in human lives, and there is no joy comparable to this. Just ask yourself, son, if you are prepared not only to preach and teach, but also to weep over men’s souls, to care for the sick and dying, and to bear the burdens carried today by the saints of God.

No matter what, I’ll back you all the way with my encouragement and prayers.

On January 27, 1980, John Piper was presented to the congregation as a candidate to become their pastor. You can listen online to his 32-minute sermon from that morning, which he preached on Philippians 1:12-14, 19-26. He closed the sermon with application to his own calling:

Right now in my own life, I stand on the brink of a professional change. I really love my job at Bethel College. It is very rewarding. When I see students out there who are in my 1 Corinthians class, it makes me very glad.

One of the ways God has said to me “Move Piper,” is this: when I read Philippians 1:19-26, there is in me a tremendous longing. Last October it became an irresistible longing to be an instrument in God’s hands to fulfill these goals in a local church.

At this point in my life I say, and I believe God is saying to me, “The potential, Piper, for magnifying me is greater now in the pastorate than in the professorship.” That’s why the move. When I become a pastor, I am going to have one all-encompassing goal, a very simple goal, that in nothing I might be ashamed but that in everything I might magnify Christ whether by life or by death. To that end, I aim at three things.

1. I will aim to love Christ with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength. Because when I die in the midst of my ministry and say farewell to a beloved flock and a cherished family, I want to be able to believe that it is gain. And in my dying I want to be able to bear witness to a church that Christ is great indeed and worthy of all our trust.
2. While I live and minister, my goal is going to be to make the people glad in God. Woe to the pastor who uses his position to hammer year after year in chiseling out a hard sour people! He has forgotten his calling. “I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your advancement and your joy of faith.”
3. Since joy comes from faith, and faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God, it will have to be my main goal–my tremendously fulfilling and joyful goal–to feed that flock the Word of God every week, week in and week out. I will pray that Jesus’ words will become fulfilled in my words. The banner of every sermon I preach will be this: “My words I have spoken to you in order that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11).

That evening Piper delivered a 20-minute testimony of sorts, designed to introduce himself to the people by explaining the major influencers in his life–mainly his father and mother, but also formative teachers like Clyde Kilby and Daniel Fuller.

The people of Bethlehem voted soon after, and elected John Piper to be their thirteenth pastor. In June the Pipers and their three boys moved to Minneapolis, buying a house within a half mile of the church. And on July 13 he preached his installation sermon, The Wisdom of Men and the Power of God, from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Among the words that this young shepherd delivered to his aging flock were these:

I come to you as your pastor today with weaknesses (which you will learn soon enough) and in much fear and trembling. Not that I distrust the power and promise of God but that I distrust myself. Not so much that I will fail—as the world counts failure—but that I might succeed in my own strength and wisdom and so fail as God counts failure.

Years later Piper recounted a moment from his early days at Bethlehem:

. . . I stood in front of the glassed-in case of “pastors’ pictures” in the second-floor hallway of the “B” building. I was a brand new pastor. I looked at the two longest pastorates in Bethlehem’s 109-year history and thought, “Maybe God would keep me faithful long enough to be here that long.”

God, in his sovereign kindness, has answered that prayer.

I thank God that he has kept John Piper faithful, and I pray that he would continue to do so until Christ returns or Christ calls him home.

Thank you, Lord, for the decisive calling you did in his heart, 30 years ago this evening.