Cultivating Joy

Have you heard the expression 'cultivating joy' before? Me neither. It was quite a new concept, however it is something I need reminding of.

What is it and how do I remind myself?

When the disciples returned to Jesus after a successful ministry trip and reported excitedly, "Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name!" Jesus responded, "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Jesus isn't minimizing the joy from ministry success. But He was drawing their attention away from that to a joy that takes priority over the experience of spiritual power. This is the joy that comes from the gospel, the gospel that writes our names in heaven.

How do you remind yourself?

By preaching the gospel to yourself. By doing this it there will be a pronounced joy, an infectious joy, a consistent joy.


I desire to be consistent for my family. Sometimes (too often) I allow circumstances to dictate my mood. So because I missed my favorite program, or dinner was not what I would have chosen, or the neighbor made a careless comment, or the kids are needing my attention but I am trying to accomplish something... the list goes on and on... but, I allow these things to "ruin" my day.

Do you do this?


Brothers, like nothing else, the gospel creates joy; it's both the source and the object of our joy. You see it's the gospel alone that allows us to obey the instruction from the Lord to "serve the Lord with gladness". Joy is a command. One of my hero's says, "You may be working hard and serving the Lord faithfully, but if you aren't serving with gladness, you aren't serving Him appropriately or representing Him accurately".

Let me ask you - are you someone who's consistently joyful and continually aware that "the joy of the Lord is your strength"? Or have you forgotten? Do others see you to be someone who's burdened, busy, and easily bothered?

I took my wife out for tea the other night and we discussed exactly this. When I listened to my wife's honest appraisal of me, I was alarmed. I look burdened, busy and bothered. How does this reflect my joy of the gospel?

Men, it is important to keep preaching to ourself every day - The gospel! Be careful though... your joy might be contagious...

Cultivate joy in your families!

What's at the Core?

"Life's most important Truth Can Be the Easiest to Forget"

Think for a moment - what defines you? What's really the main thing in your life?

How would you answer this question?

... now check out 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 -

Brother's you don't need a new truth; you need to guard the one truth...

Celebrating with your Children

Today I was so humbled & tickled with my children. One of the reasons for my lack of blogging in the past few days is because we have been really busy as a family. We have had a guest staying with us from USA. What a privilege this has been for us, I might add.

Well today as I was watching my kids outside, I was discussing with my wife how wonderfully blessed we are. I was reminding myself and Meg how wonderfully well behaved the kids were while our guest was with us. I was then reminded of the many times, not just when a guest is with us that our kids do the right thing - but it goes unnoticed, unappreciated, without complement & overlooked. Oh, but if they mess up! I have the tendency to be all over them.

As I was telling this to Meg, I thought, I must call them in to thank them and tell them how proud I am of them.

My wife as well thanked them and told them that we should do something to celebrate their obedience and godliness. So we sent them off to come up with three suggestions on how mum and dad could bless them... here is what they came back with...


1) Caleb - Kids are boss for the day (within reason)
2) Abby - Family picnic
3) Noah - Sleepover with cousins
4) Beth - McDonald's
5) Bella - Boys go pick out video & we make popcorn

Then together they all asked that: Mum has another baby!
After giggling and shock - Meg and I are planning on how to show our appreciation to these gift's that God has entrusted us with...

I hope you will take the time to shower your praise on your wife and children when you see them growing in Godliness! Truly this is worth celebrating!
pictures found here

6 verses from James...

We have not finished going through the book of James... We were up to chapter 3, verse 13. The last discussion was on the tongue and how powerful this muscle is. How have you been doing with what comes out of your mouth? Are you using it for good or for harm?

We have a friend visiting from the states. She was telling us last night, how she has noticed the harmful effect father's words can have on the children. Not just the words that are spoken, but the tone and attitude demonstrated toward the children's mother,and how that models for the children how they speak to their mother. Her insight was confronting and helpful.

What a fresh reminder dad's, to rethink how we speak to our wife. If you don't know - ask your child - they will tell you. My son is gracious and helpful in giving me an update of his observations. Just ask your child, "how do you hear me speak to your mother?" Then, shut-up and don't defend - but listen! - Oh it will serve you well! Trust me brother!

Moving on to James 3:13-18

These next six verses are going to take us back to the theme of wisdom (3:13-18), contrasting godly wisdom with what is false and insisting on true wisdom as being pure and peace loving.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Can you see the contrast of godly wisdom and what is false?

Brother it is going to effect your family if you are harboring bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart... you know how I know? Because I was like this. I was harboring bitter envy and selfish ambition. It effected the way that I loved my wife and viewed my children. Instead of enjoying them, I became self absorbed. It was all about me! Instead of making it all about God first.

Wisdom that comes from heaven is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Does these traits exude from your life? They can't if you are focused on you.

Being a husband and a father is about others... Being a child of God is placing God first - not yourself!

Others will know you are a Christian by your love for others - because those who don't follow Christ are pleasing themselves first...

2 Perfections - Justification and Sanctification

I love the grace of God in the ministry of C.H. Spurgeon... Have I said that before? The guy is one incredibly gifted man.

I read this reading the other night and thought of the fathers and husbands who may read this blog. My thought was that this may be very encouraging to you, as you labor in the Lord, serving your wife and child(ren). I do pray that you will find great encouragement from this and then share it with your wife and children too...

This is taken from Spurgeon's 'Morning & Evening' daily readings.

'Made perfect' Hebrews 12:23











Recollect that there are two kinds of perfection which
the Christian needs - the perfection of justification in
the person of Jesus, and the perfection of sanctification
wrought in him by the Holy Spirit. At present,
corruption yet remains even in the breasts of the
regenerate - experience soon teaches us this. Within
us are still lusts and evil imaginations. But I rejoice to
know that the day is coming when God shall finish the
work which He has begun: and He shall present my
soul, not only perfect in Christ, but perfect through
the Spirit, without spot or blemish, or any such thing.
Can it be true that this poor sinful heart of mine is
to become holy even as God is holy? Can it be that
this spirit, which often cries, 'O wretched man that
I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this sin
and death?' shall get rid of sin and death - that I shall
have no evil things to vex my ears, and no unholy
thoughts to disturb my peace? Oh, happy hour! may
it be hastened! When I cross the Jordan, the work of
sanctification will be finished; but not till that moment
shall I even claim perfection in myself. Then my spirit
shall have its last baptism in the Holy Spirit's fire.
Methinks I long to die to receive that last and final
purification which shall usher me into heaven. Not
an angel more pure that I shall be, for I shall be able
to say, in double sense, 'I am clean', through Jesus'
blood, and through the Spirit's work. Oh, how should
we extol the power of the Holy Ghost in thus making
us fit to stand before our father in heaven! Yet let not
the hope of perfection hereafter make us content with
imperfection now. If it does this, our hope cannot be
genuine; for a good hope is a purifying thing, even
now. The work of grace must be abiding in us now or it
cannot be perfected then. Let us pray to 'be filled with
the Spirit', that we may bring forth increasingly the
fruits of righteousness.

Amen & Amen!!!

Epistemological Issue - WHAT???

Have you ever thought about how we should respond to cultural crisis of truth? In theological terms this equates to 'the epistemological issue'.

So, for a few hundred years, thanks to the Enlightenment, an agreement was reached (mostly) that truth - spoken in words that substantially corresponded to reality - does in fact exist and can be known. However if human response is unaided, it was understood, that was objective truth. Now lets jump forward a few hundred years, post modernism has reviewed and criticized this set of assumptions, arguing that we are not objective in our pursuit of knowledge, but rather interpreters of information through our own personal experiences, self-interests, emotions, cultural prejudices, language limitations, and relational communities. Post modernism claims that objectivity is arrogant and leads to conflict between communities with differing opinions as to where the truth lies. They see this arrogance in objective truth, in part, explaining why many of the injustices and wars of the modern era. Alarming as this observation is, their response is of more concern. The post modernist would like us to replace objective truth with a more humbly "tolerant" subjective pluarlism.

How must we respond?

Let me offer 3 suggestions.

1. We affirm that the words of Scripture are true, because they are God's statements, and they correspond to reality even though our knowledge of those truths is always necessarily incomplete.

2. We affirm that truth is conveyed in Scripture. Scripture conveys God's will and mind to us so as to change us into his likeness.

3. We affirm that truth is not only a theoretical correspondence but also a covenantal relationship. That is to say, if we only speak of truth as propositional, it weakens our appreciation of the incarnate Son as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the communicative power of narrative and story, and the importance of truth as living truly in correspondence to God.

Brothers - there is truth! OBJECTIVE truth... let's not let the boundary markers be moved... 2+2 does in fact = 4!

I know this is a bit deep and may be hard to understand, however I think it is important to wrestle with these theological issues. Truly this is not the final word on the subject. However I believe these sort of topics sharpen us to minister to our kids who are going to be facing this philosophy of post modernism. I think as well, dealing with these issues assists us in recognizing other thoughts being presented on TV and how they are reaching and influencing our wife's thinking and our mother in laws thinkings and our sisters and sister-n laws...

We need to not be afraid of deep theological issues, but we do need to tread humbly and prayerfully.

Greed is a Serious Matter...

Last night Caleb and I had our weekly catch up... We spoke about the serious matter of greed. We talked about the way it prevents a man from enjoying what he already possesses and can leave him discontented. Bob Schultz helped us do this in his book, 'Created to Work'.

Did you know that greed blinds a man's understanding?

The worst consequence is that a greedy man loses his awareness of God's presence.

Suppose your mate Bill has a car. For over a year he has enjoyed the efficiency of this vehicle. Last week however he went and visited his brother in law Luke. Luke had just purchased a new car which is the latest Holden model with all the extras. Now every time Bill sits in his Ford he thinks about Luke's Holden. The tendency to focus on what we don't possess prevents us from enjoying what we do.

Or imagine... It's the last afternoon of hunting season. While spotting through his scope, the hunter spies a prey. Moving his gun until the cross-hairs centre on the sure kill, he senses disappointment that this youngster should become his fall harvest. However, that's all he's seen and it's probably his last chance for any meat.

After the well-placed shot, he lowers his scope. A movement catches his eye on the right. Jerking his head toward it, the hunter sees a large, 5-pt buck bound into the trees.

This can be the way that greed works. Intently focused on something in the distance, we become blind to what is nearby. If the hunter would have removed his eye from the limited scope for a moment and looked around, he might have seen an option he didn't know existed. Greed darkens a man's understanding.

The Bible tells us that, one evening King David focused on a woman named Bathsheba. Now if he'd had put down his scope and looked around him, he might have enjoyed a walk with his wife Abigail. But that is not what he did. No, he kept his focus on a wife he didn't have. David's one-track mind led him away from the path of understanding and wisdom, into the path of stealing, lying, and murder. His coveting heart removed him from the joy of God's presence. After being confronted by the prophet Nathan, David came back to his senses, he begged God, in Psalms 51, not to cast him away from His presence but to restore the joy of his salvation. Of all the harm greed brings to a man, the loss of sensing God's presence is the worst.

Greed always thinks that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. The greedy man doesn't enjoy what he already owns, because his heart is on things just out of his reach.

Caleb and I were able to confess and repent of our own sin of greed and recognizing the tendency within us, to feast out eyes on the things that are not ours. We asked God that we would be men who are grateful for what we have.

Truly greed is a serious matter - and of all the harm greed brings to a man, the loss of sensing God's presence is truly the worst! This must be what hell will be like!

John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

A mate of mine sent me this Youtube a couple of days ago and I just watched it. All I could do was thank God for the ministry of this man John Piper. I love the way he confronts untruth's head-on... No mucking around!

Let me warn you... This is confronting and well said. I hope you will watch this brief truth and alter your thinking if you have become subject to the lie of the enemy. More importantly, teach your wife and children about this ... We must be on guard!!!

Meg's Miscellaneous Monday Mentions

Welcome to another glorious week! I thought I would point you toward the topic of modesty this week. I know, I know.... this subject may have been written about and alluded to, ad nauseum... however, I think it is always something that us girls need to be aware of, and consistently assessing our wardrobes in light of godliness and modest dress.

Awhile ago I sent out an email to a bunch of friends, exhorting them to examine their attire, and possibly that of their daughters', too. I came across this very challenging and blunt article that addresses the way we dress, and what this may do to our brothers in Christ. As I shared with my friends, I was personally challenged by this, as I find it can be easy to assume that no man is looking at this overweight, aging mother of 6, even if my bra strap or cleavage is showing... nothing appealing there folks! But I guess I should be more aware that too much skin showing, or a hint of underwear, can still be enough to cause my brother to stumble (as hard as that may be, since I no longer see myself as a youthful beauty, capable of tempting any man to look twice!!! LOL!!!)

CJ Mahaney has written a new book called 'Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World' (Crossway, Sept. 2008). Here are 7 excerpts from his book, which I found incredibly helpful and insightful into the whole issue of modesty as Christians and within the church. Take some time to read them and seek the Lord in prayer as to whether you, and possibly your daughters, are already being 'helpful' to your brothers in Christ, or whether you may need to go shopping for something not so tight or revealing.

Cj's wife, Carolyn Mahaney, along with their daughters have written an excellent article they have called 'Modesty Heart Check'. You can find it here and here. Be warned though girls! This is direct, challenging and may be confronting on a practical level!

Another helpful post I came across is from Dan over at Pyromaniacs (yes, this is a Godly website!). He gives some very blunt and insightful comments about modesty from a 'brothers' perspective. He talks candidly about the affect us women can have on men by the way we choose to dress. He doesn't blame the way a woman dresses for the sin in a mans' heart, but he does rightly point out that we often do not do our brothers in the church any favours by putting the temptation of skin in front of their faces! You can read his post here.

Lastly is a great article written by Mary K. Mohler titled, "Modeling Modesty." More biblical, as well as practical help, for women in the challenging area of modesty. Read her full article here.

Bless you all as you continue to glorify the Lord in all areas of your life...including your attire! Have a great week!

Psalms 23 - In Aussie Lingo...

God is the Station Owner,
And I am just one of the sheep.
He musters me down to the lucerne flats,
And feeds me there all week.

When I am feeling poorly,
And at something less than my peek,
He leads me to the restfulness,
Of a coolabah shaded creek.

He teaches me not to break away,
Not to be a loner;
He teaches me to stick with His mob,
And acknowledge Him as my Owner.








Even when the droughts are bad,
And I cross the Desert of Death,
God is close beside me,
So close I can feel His Breath.

God is the one who holds the map,
That gives me my direction,
And God is the one who guarantees,
Provision for my protection.








Although there are dingos in the hills,
And the paddocks are full of snakes,
God serves up a barbecue,
Of beautiful T-bone steaks!

His patience and compassion,
And forgiveness fail me never;
And I'll live with Him in the Homestead,
Beyond the end of forever,


Poem: by Kel Richards
The Aussie Bible
(Well bits of it, anyway!)

Pressure of Deadlines

I am not sure what your schedule is like but mine is crazy and hectic at the moment. I have alot of things that need to be handed in and alot of things that need to be prepared.

How do you get when pressure is on? Do you listen to yourself or preach to yourself? Do you try to do it all in your own strength? Do you become short with your wife? Do you grouch at the children?

Yesterday I was feeling like it was all going to blow up in my face. I was thinking I was never going to get it all done.

This is what I did. I went upstairs and closed my office door and laid my head on my desk and said, "Lord, I am going to fumble this soon. But I know you brought order out of chaos when you calmed the storm, when you ordered the world into existence. Please Lord bring order to my thinking. I then lifted my head off the desk and read Philippians 3: 1-21 and was humbled and grateful for the reminder...

Can I encourage you today. When you are overwhelmed by what needs to "get" done. Remember as CJ Mahaney says, "only God has ever got His "to do" list done. I like this because it puts my thinking in perspective. It is all about Him!!! I am here to make much of Him!!! Even under pressure, my wife and children will recall their dad either being a Godly dad or ... a jerk?

Press on toward the Goal....

Apology

I am sorry - but I am trying to get essay's done!!!

I will hopefully return to blogging by the end of the week....

Have a great weekend!!!