All services are cancelled for tomorrow. Stay home, stay warm, and stay safe. Enjoy the day with your family. The Newcomer’s Lunch has been rescheduled for next Sunday.

Taking advantage of a quiet house, I’m at home today, working on Sunday’s message. Take a look at what just walked across our back yard.

----

Al Mohler reviews The Shack on his blog today. I read the novel back at the end of 2008 and posted about it here. I thought Mohler’s review was worth posting about because of the greater concern he raises:

It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals – and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe... We desperately need a theological recovery that can only come from practicing biblical discernment.

I’d encourage you to read the entire review for yourself, but I think Mohler raises a valid concern. It hits me squarely between the eyes, both as a pastor, and as a father. I think it goes beyond merely teaching the Bible (that’s a given – or at least, it had better be). I think it also involves teaching people how to think biblically.

I’m not talking about merely filling our heads with more Bible knowledge. The Pharisees had an abundance of knowledge, but completely missed Christ.

I’m talking about the ability to evaluate everything through the lens of Scripture. A great example of this would be the way Jesus responded to Satan’s temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4). He met each and every temptation with Scripture – “It is written...” Now obviously, in order for us to respond with Scripture, we must first know Scripture. And in order to know Scripture, we have to study it, which brings us back around to the concern being voiced by Mohler.

By the way, this is one of the reasons why our youth pastor is taking our teens through a study of the great doctrinal themes of Scripture. He started in Genesis and is working his way through Scripture, showing them how everything in the Bible ultimately points to Jesus. I love it! I’m equally stoked about the fact that our teens are loving it! They are having some dynamic discussions each week.

Some might be tempted think, “You’re teaching Bible doctrine to teenagers? Shouldn’t you be doing something more practical? Yeah, they need the Bible, but not DOCTRINE.”

Paul wouldn’t agree. Neither would Luke. Neither would Jude. Neither would Jesus.

I appreciate you, Tim, and I’m proud of you! Thanks for loving our kids enough to feed them the Word! You’re making a difference!

Mohler concludes:

The popularity of this book among evangelicals can only be explained by a lack of basic theological knowledge among us – a failure even to understand the Gospel of Christ. The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine.

What do you think? God, through the prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge (4:6). Can discernment survive without doctrine?

Tim Tebow will be appearing in a commercial during this year’s Super Bowl, and the 30-second ad has raised the ire of some who are demanding that it be censored or not shown.

What is the ad promoting? A soft-drink? Football? A pitch for one of Tebow’s favorite sports shoes?

No. He’s just glad he’s alive, and wants to say so.

Who could possibly be offended about that? The National Organization of Women.

The theme of the commercial is “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.” A Washington Times article reported that the Tebows agreed to participate because “the issue of life is one they feel strongly about.” As a result, the ad is widely expected to focus on Mrs. Tebow’s pregnancy with Tim, when she was encouraged by doctors to abort him.

The fact that groups like NOW are objecting to a pro-life ad is not surprising.

But what is surprising is the ridiculously illogical statement by Terry O’Neill, the president of the National Organization of Women, who said she had respect for the private choices made by women such as Pam Tebow but condemned the ad as “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning.”

“That’s not being respectful of other people’s lives,” O’Neill said. “It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else’s.”

Say what???

What about the lives of those still in the womb? Do they warrant respect?

“Hell is a real place and real people really do go there.”

I made that statement in yesterday’s message on Jonah 3, emphasizing the fact that God’s forgiveness through Christ is a ‘limited time offer’ – that we do do not have forever to turn to Him.

While I didn’t receive any push back from any of you at CC, I realize that the topic of hell isn’t a very popular doctrine today. In fact, there are a number of places where, if you were to announce ahead of time that you were going to be teaching on the doctrine of hell, you could probably plan to meet in a phone booth. That would provide ample space for the amount of people who would be interested in coming.

But regardless of whether it’s popular or not, the fact remains: Hell is a real place and real people really do go there.

Randy Alcorn tackled the subject in a recent blog post, pointing out that Jesus spoke more about Hell than anyone else in all of Scripture. . . and that if you dismiss hell, then you dismiss Jesus.

Now obviously, the good news is nobody HAS to go!

I’ll never forget the story told about Vice President Calvin Coolidge, when he was presiding over the Senate. After one particularly bitter debate on the floor, one Senator angrily told another to, “Go straight to hell!”

The offended Senator complained to Coolidge as the presiding officer, and Cal looked up from the book he had been leafing through while listening to the debate. “I’ve been looking through the rule book,” he said. “You don’t have to go.”

That’s the absolute truth – nobody has to go. Jesus died in our place on the cross, making peace through His blood, so that we could experience forgiveness. Want to hear it straight from Him? Look here.

Now if you know that, and have experienced that, praise God! But along with being thankful, I hope you’re also intentional. If we Christians truly believe everything the Scriptures teach about hell, then we are we doing about it?

The following clip has been circulating around the web for quite some time, but even if you’ve seen it, it’s worth a second look. Penn Gillette is not a Christian evangelist – far from it. But his words in this clip are haunting: “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them that?”

Pachelbel’s “Loose” Canon by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet - Enjoy!

Tomorrow marks the thirty-seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton – two court decisions that legalized abortion in the United States. Since that time over 52 million children have been aborted in this country. An easy number to read, but a hard one to truly comprehend. What if the tables were turned?

Suppose, in the encounter between doctor and child [in an abortion], the child won half of the time, and killed the doctor in self-defense – something he would have every right to do. Very few doctors would perform abortions. They perform them now only because of their absolute power over a small, fragile, helpless victim.
– Stephen D. Schwartz, The Moral Question of Abortion

I realize that abortion is one of the most divisive and polarizing social issues of our time. People on both sides of the issue have very strong convictions and emotions. But here’s the key issue in the abortion debate. In a compassionate society, no one, male or female, has the right to harm an innocent person.

That’s the key issue in the entire debate. Once all the political posturing and angry rhetoric has faded, we’re still left with a key question: Is the unborn child a living person?

If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. . . Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (I Tim. 4:6, 15-16)

Jesus’ words to Peter were simple and direct: “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)

David Nienhuis has written a thought provoking article that not only addresses why that is so important, but also what happens when we (pastors) don’t.

If you don’t have time read the entire article, check out Justin Taylor’s excellent synopsis.

Of all the songs that we sing at Christ’s Church, this is one of my favorites. I like it musically. I love it lyrically. It’s about as Scripturally centered as it gets. Check out this moving video from Central Christian Church. Well done!

By now most everyone has seen the news reports of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti this week.

Want to help? Along with standing in the gap through prayer, if you are looking for a legitimate place to donate, check out this list of charities at Desiring God.

Mark Rogers gives ten practical ways we can be an encouragement to the missionaries we support. Great post!

I was excited about being able to announce that the elders are recommending that Jason Dove be set apart to the eldership at Christ’s Church. I’m even more excited about the congregation making it a matter of prayer throughout the month of January. I appreciated Jason be willing to share what God had been impressing upon his heart after spending several months reflecting and praying about his desire to serve.

As I shared yesterday, along with being biblically qualified, when considering a man for the office of elder, at Christ’s Church we look for three things:
Read More...