Why Ministry is a Better Investment than Blue Chip Stocks

Investment gurus always advise whoever wants to listen to invest in blue chip stocks because they are reliable stocks in a volatile market and will deliver solid returns year after year to investors. But there is an investment that has a far greater probability of higher return: Ministry.

Fulfilling our ministry in obedient gratitude to the Lord is a better investment than blue chip stocks because:

1. The return of ministry is eternal; it goes beyond this life.
Meanwhile, the return of blue chips is limited to this life. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matt 6:19-20)

2. The return of ministry in the afterlife knows no limit
Ministry does help us to enlarge our capacity to receive a never-ending joy that flows from God in heaven. The more we serve God, the bigger the joy we experience in heaven. Each drop of sweat, tear, and (even) blood counts. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt 5:11)

3. Ministry has eternal consequences: heaven and hell.
Blue-chips only have temporal consequences while enslave us. "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.. fulfill your ministry" (2 Tim 4:1-4). Those we serve will either end up in heaven or hell. If we preach anything but Christ (and that includes philosophy, psychology, and everything that satisfies our itching ears), the hearers will end up in hell. For non-preachers, your ministry also has hellish consequences. Mahatma Gandhi remained a Hindu because he was denied entry by ushers at a church in London. To which he replied "If you have a caste system in Christianity, I might as well remain a Hindu"

4. Ministry is 'the good fight'
Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead will also give the crown of righteousness to those who, like Paul, have fought a good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith (2 Tim 4). Paul did not refer to the way he fought, but that he has chosen a good fight. The good fight. And that is serving Christ Jesus. Others like Demas chose a different fight, building up the kingdom of the world.

FI Time: Soap for the Heart

Our family group in the church recently started a new bible discussion series on parenting Instructing a Child's Heart written by Margy and Tedd Tripp. We discussed the first sub-topic on Saturday entitled "Life is a Classroom" in which the Tripps talked about the importance of giving formative instruction consistently in every single opportunity that we have with our children, not only in formal settings (Sunday School, family worship). The Tripps also highlighted the need to differentiate between "formative instruction" and "corrective discipline", something which I found immensely helpful. Here is the most relevant quote from their book (p. 20)

Don't confuse formation instruction with corrective discipline. Formative instruction should be happening all the time. Discipline should be applied only when behavior needs to be corrected. If the only time we instruct is when our children need discipline, our children will not listen to our instruction for fear of the discipline. They will also interpret discipline through the culture's view of discipline - as abusive, dictatorial, a violation of personal rights, archaic, and fanatic.

In the ensuing discussion among ten sets of parents, we found that indeed the instructions we give to our kids are often given when there is a need to correct a behavior. "Hey, stop doing that. Taking someone's toy is wrong. You'd better return it to him now or else you will be punished later at home." In that statement, the instruction is buried behind the warning, and can be easily ignored because the child's attention is focused on the avoidance or fear of punishment.

Hence, the main lesson we learned from the first session was the importance of finding or, better yet, creating teachable moments through daily life occurrences. That implies two things: (1) parents need to spend quality time with our kids during which those formative instructions can be imparted, and (2) parents need to be rooted in the word of God so they are capable of imparting those shaping instructions.

I went away from that meeting with a keener sense of such teachable moment. The next day (ie., today) I found myself washing our car with my seven-year old daughter at a nearby petrol station. I cleaned the outside and she helped me with the car interior. She proudly showed me that the parts she cleaned were sparkling afterwards. On the way home, I had a hunch that this could be an "FI time" (Formative Instruction) time. What happened next is the following exchange:

Me: You know, Tif, we clean our dirty car with soap and water.

Tif: Yeah, dad, and our car is shiny now, especially the inside.

Me: But if our hearts are dirty, we cannot clean it with soap and water.

Tif: Dirty hearts?

Me: You know when you envy, when you are greedy, when you do things that sadden God's hearts. We can't clean that dirty heart with soap, right?

TIf: (giggling...) Of course not, dad.

Me: We need a special soap to clean our dirty hearts. That special soap is God. When we come to God, he will forgive our sins and give us a new heart. That's why David prayed to God "Create in me a clean heart, O God"

Tif: So we can come to God to get our hearts cleaned?

Me: Yeah, anytime.

... then we arrived home (in my heart, I thanked the Lord for the opportunity He gave me and looked forward to the next FI time)

Beauty Lost

We thank you, O God, for revealing Your Son through the life of Leah
The ugly duckling who went through her life of endless disappointments
Thrown in by her deceitful dad to be a substitute-bride for a man
Whose heart is always attached not to her but her beautiful sister

Unlovely and unloved, she tried with all her might to be loved
Bearing children for her husband, hoping he would love her
Praying daily 'If only my husband would love me as he would my sister'
Only to be ignored over and over again by her husband

Until one day her self-hated soul is touched with the Gospel of grace
When she understands that what matters is God's love for her
When she is chosen to be the Messianic seed despite her performance
So she can stop chasing after others' love, approval, and attention

It no longer matters how other people see her, her weak eyes and all
Because You, O Lord, love her as a Bridegroom loves His beautiful bride
The God of heavens chose the despised, the ugly, the rejected
What a story, what a mystery!

Until we realize that we were Leahs.
Unlovely because of our sin-ridden souls
Unloved by the world no matter how hard we try
But Lord, You love us and You make us lovely

Because Christ Jesus, Your Son, who is beautiful beyond description
Came to us in human form with "no beauty that we should desire him"
So that we who who are unlovely are made beautiful in Your eyes.
Christ lost His majestic beauty so that our ugliness is covered by His beauty

As Your heavenly bride, remind us each day O Lord
You didn't die for us because we are worthy
But because you died for us, we are made worthy
Our worth and lives rest secured in You

As Your heavenly bride, teach us each day O Lord
To never seek our happiness from this world nor praises from people
For not only will we be chasing disappointment after disappointment
But because we now know You alone are our happiness and praise

The Crucible: Sunday 2 Aug 2009 @ ICC

The key to contentment is worship

Paul Tripp blogged these paragraphs on contentment that is worth reading and re-reading:

Why do we all seem to want more?
Why is it so hard for us to accept less?
Why do we get haunted by bigger and better?
Why is it so difficult to be satisfied?
Why it is so hard to be content?

Maybe it's a better job, maybe it's a more succulent steak, maybe it's a nicer boss, maybe it's a prettier girlfriend, maybe it's a nicer car, maybe it's a more luxurious condo, maybe it's a better vacation than last year, or maybe it is as little as a better cup of coffee than yesterday's, but the spiritual energies of your life can be consumed by working your way up. What do I mean by working your way up? I mean that, in reality, you are living in a state of constant discontent. Yes, you are thankful for the joy of the moment, but you do not have your head down in prayerful thanks. No, your head is up and you eyes are scanning for the next bigger, better, more satisfying thing. When you are discontent, you are always in someway working your way up the ladder of personally satisfiying delights. You're not really thankful for or committed to what you have because in your heart you think that there must be something better out there and so you are on the hunt.

What is the solution to the "working your way up the ladder" hunt all about? It is about IDENTITY and WORSHIP. When I begin to humbly accept who I am as a sinner, when I honestly face the fact the my deepest problem in life exists inside of me and not outside of me, and when I begin to grasp the reality that God sent his Son to free me from my biggest problem - me, then I will quit working my way up. Why? Because I will be so filled with gratitude that the one thing I desperately needed, God freely gave me in his Son, Christ Jesus. What is this one thing? It is the thing in life that I could not do for myself, yet I cannot live without. By an act of his grace, God has freed me from my bondage to me. He has freed me from my addiction to having me at the center of my universe. He has freed me from the ravenous and unsatisfiable appetite of sin, so that I may begin to experience true personal satifaction where it can only be found - in worship of him. He has broken the power of this addiction over me so that I can be increasingly free where I live everyday.

The key to getting off the ladder and experiencing true contentment is not having more or learning to live with less. The key to contentment is worship. It is only when my heart is satified because of what I have been given in Christ and so much more delighted with God's glory than in the possibilty of possessing the next glorious physical thing, that I will leave the hunt.

Why Submission to Christ is Hard

The following Christian folk story from South India about a boy who loved to play marble aptly captures the inclination of our hearts, which make it difficult to completely make it captive under Christ:

The boy regularly walked through his neighborhood with a pocketful of his best marbles, hoping to find opponents to play against. One marble in particular, his special blue marble, had won him many matches.

During one walk he encountered a young girl who was eating a bag of chocolate candy. Though the boy's first love was marbles, he had a weakness for chocolates. As he stood there interacting with the young girl, his salivary glands and the rumbling in his stomach became uncontrollable, and he thought to himself, I have got to get my hands on those chocolates.

Concocting a plan, he asked the girl, "How about I give you all these marbles for those chocolates?" She replied, "Sounds fair to me."

He put his hand in his pocket, searching for the distinguishing cracks on the surface of the blue marble. Once he identified the blue marble with his finger tip, he carefully pushed it to the bottom of his pocket and pulled out all the other marbles.

As he handed the marbles to the girl in exchange for the chocolate, the boy thought his plan was a success and turned to walk away. As he began to eat the candy, he suddenly turned to the girl and asked, "Hey, did you give me all the chocolates?"

Our fallen nature persuades us to posture ourselves in the same deceptive and defiant attitude as the boy in this story. We want everything the kingdom of God has to offer. We want to have a secure sense of God's presence, we want all our prayers to be answered, we want to "feel close" to Jesus, we want to flourish in the riches of God's glory—we want it all. But we are unwilling to give up everything for it. Many times there is a "blue marble" in our lives that we seem unwilling to offer to the control of Christ. Until we can fully subjugate ourselves to God's will, our participation in God's kingdom will be limited.

Source: Christopher L. Heuertz, Simple Spirituality (IVP, 2008), pp. 116-117; Samuel T. Kamaleson, "Mangoes and Marbles," Decision magazine (January 1978)

The girl nobody wanted

My upcoming sermon this Sunday. Title credit goes to 'Jesus Storybook Bible'

Why Tweeter is Uncool

I read the stats some time ago that adoption of Tweeter in the world is very slow in comparison to Facebook. And those 90% of those who tweet very rarely do so, at a rate of just once a month. But I didn't know the reason why until I read an article (or a research note, as stated) written by a 15-yr old intern at Morgan Stanley on teenagers' media habits (television, internet, gaming, music, etc.).

The note got traction from many clients of Morgan Stanley who obviously are hungry with any fresh insight into the market so they can achieve a breakthrough with their products or services. Here is a snapshot of the research note:

Facebook is popular as one can interact with friends on a wide scale. On the other hand, teenagers do not use twitter. Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they release that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit). In addition, they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their ‘tweets’ are pointless.

You can read the whole report here.

The works of thy hands

A beautiful prayer by Augustine, cited by Calvin in Institutes (3.17.14)

I do not say to the Lord,
Despise not the works of my hands;
I have sought the Lord with my hands, and have not been deceived.
But I commend not the works of my hands,
for I fear that when thou examinest them thou wilt find more faults than merits.

This only I say, this asks this desire,
Despise not the works of thy hands.
See in me thy work, not mine.
If thou sees mine, thou condemnest;
if thou sees thine own, thou crownest.
Whatever good works I have are of thee.

HT: Justin Taylor

Leadership Seminar at GKY Pluit

If you happen to be in Jakarta 2-4 July, I will be giving a series of talk on leadership at GKY Pluit. The series is entitled "Servant Leaders for Christ". The multimedia team at GKY Pluit created this seminar promo clip that details the titles of each talk. For lack of better name, the clip is called Clip Test 3 :-)

But I do hope to see you there!

Strategic Inflection Points

I thought readers of this blog who are not familiar with this oft-quoted buzzword can benefit from the explanation given from the very person credited with the phrase, Andy Grove:

...a strategic inflection point is a time in the life of a business when its fundamentals are about to change. That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end.

Strategic inflection points can be caused by technological change but they are more than technological change. They can be caused by competitors but they are more than just competition. They are full-scale changes in the way business is conducted, so that simply adopting new technology or fighting the competition as you used to may be insufficient. They build up force so insidiously that you may have a hard time even putting a finger on what has changed, yet you know that something has. Let's not mince words: A strategic inflection point can be deadly when unattended to. Companies that begin a decline as a result of its changes rarely recover their previous greatness.

But strategic inflection points do not always lead to disaster. When the way business is being conducted changes, it creates opportunities for players who are adept at operating in the new way. This can apply to newcomers or to incumbents, for whom a strategic inflection point may mean an opportunity for a new period of growth.

You can be the subject of a strategic inflection point but you can also be the cause of one.

As you may have guessed, this idea can be well applied to our personal lives and any organization we are associated with. For many of us, we are the subjects of our strategic inflection points (translation: we are forced to change ourselves because of some outside factors). A better strategy is to of course reengineer for ourselves a strategic inflection point from time to time, to ensure that we do not live our lives in a complacent manner.

Grove discussed in his book the fiasco at Intel in 1994 when CNN ran a story on the design error in the Pentium chip Intel made. He however turned the situation to his advantage by responding swiftly to restore public trust and making himself vulnerable to the external factors in order to anticipate them (a process he called "constructive confrontation). Again, this is a quality that is worth adopting perhaps.

I can think of a few people in the Bible who experienced strategic inflection points. Abraham is a main case in point. When the call of God came to him in the land of Ur, the old man who was about to just enjoy retirement had to drop everything he had and accomplished, and follow the faith-shattering call to an uncertain territory. The rest of course is history, without which there is no Messiah for people of all nations.

Have you had any strategic inflection point lately?

Couples Retreat [in Indonesian]

“HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH”
Liputan Couples Retreat
Indonesian Christian Church (ICC)
5-7 Juni 2009, Lyrebird Park, Yellingbo, VIC

“Hal nomer satu yang dibutuhkan oleh suami adalah pemenuhan kebutuhan seksual”, demikian jelas Pdt Nyoman Widiantara, pakar Marriage Enrichment, di tengah sesi “Seks itu Indah” dalam Couples Retreat yang diadakan oleh Indonesian Christian Church (ICC), 5-7 Juni 2009 di Yellingbo, VIC. Mendengar penjelasan tersebut, para suami terlihat tersipu malu namun secara perlahan mengangguk setuju.

Pak Nyoman lalu melanjutkan: “Tidak heran kalau salah satu faktor penyebab pertengkaran suami-istri bahkan keretakan rumah tangga bersumber dari suami yang sering ditolak oleh istri. Banyak pasangan yang lupa bahwa seks itu anugerah Tuhan yang baik yang kita perlu nikmati dalam konteks pernikahan. Istri jangan menjadikan itu alat untuk mengontrol suami.” Pembahasan tesrebut mengundang banyak pertanyaan seru, antara lain: “Kalau begitu, sebaiknya intensitas itu-nya berapa sering?”

Dengan sesi-sesi yang sangat relevan, praktis, dan biblikal seperti diatas, setiap pasangan yang ikut dalam retreat diperlengkapi dengan firman Tuhan dan aplikasi praktis untuk membangun rumah iman yang kokoh. Waktu retreat yang hanya 2 malam 3 hari itu terasa berjalan begitu cepat karena begitu seru topik-topik yang dibicarakan. Para peserta dapat menikmati setiap sesi dengan serius tapi santai, tanpa harus repot menjaga anak karena ada dua orang pemuda gereja ICC yang berbaik hati melayani selama retreat membawakan Kids Program yang sangat menarik.

Keunikan retreat ini adalah adanya sesi-sesi terpisah antara suami dan istri. Sesi untuk suami dipimpin Pdt Nyoman, dan sesi untuk istri dipimpin oleh Ev. Ade Widiantara, istri Pdt Nyoman. Yang lebih unik (atau malah wajar ya…), sesi untuk istri selalu berakhir molor. Alasannya? Saking banyaknya keluhan istri terhadap para suami. Hehehe… Para istri di ICC setuju bahwa pria adalah makhluk kompleks, jauh lebih kompleks dibanding wanita. Anda setuju?

Berikut beberapa contoh point yang dibahas dan didiskusikan bersama dalam sesi-sesi retreat:

1. Allah telah menetapkan struktur keluarga yang sehat demi kebahagiaan kita, yaitu Allah – Suami – Istri – Anak. Banyak keluarga bermasalah karena struktur ini dilanggar. Istri berperan sebagai kepala keluarga, menggantikan suami, karena macam-macam alasan: istri lebih kuat finansial, istri terbiasa menjadi pemimpin bagi adik-adiknya di keluarganya dulu sehingga suami pun sekarang dipimpin, dst. (Tidak heran banyak suami menjadi anggota ISTI, Ikatan Suami Takut Istri…hehehe). Kita lalu membahas mengapa pelanggaran struktur tersebut akan menyebabkan problema rumah tangga, dan bagaimana mengatasinya.

2. Kita perlu mengenali bahasa kasih pasangan kita karena Yesus Kristus memakai bahasa kasih yang berbeda-beda pula untuk berelasi dengan kita manusia ciptaan-Nya. Seringkali yang terjadi, misalnya, seorang suami berpikir ia menunjukkan cintanya dengan memberi sentuhan fisik dan hadiah barang, namun yang dibutuhkan istri bukan itu semua, karena bahasa kasihnya adalah kata-kata pujian dan afirmasi. Alhasil, cekcok yang tak perlu…

3. Resep pernikahan itu bukan soal masalah cinta tok, karena cinta itu mudah luntur. Hari ini survey menunjukkan bahwa perceraian banyak terjadi justru dikalangan pasangan muda yang menikah dibawah 5 tahun. Alasannya: “Abis, sudah tidak cinta lagi!” Pernikahan adalah soal memelihara perjanjian. Pernikahan Kristen itu adalah bagai papan reklame kasih Kristus terhadap gereja-Nya. Suami bersikap seperti Kristus yang terus mengasihi dan rela berkorban bagi gereja, mempelai wanita-Nya. Istri bersikap seperti gereja yang hormat dan tunduk kepada Kristus, kepala dari gereja.

Dan masih banyak point berharga yang lain. Sepulang dari retreat ini, seluruh pasangan yang semakin akrab itu meneguhkan komitmen mereka untuk terus bertumbuh melalui Family Fellowship ICC. Follow-up Camp diadakan dengan topik bahasan “Mezbah Keluarga” yang hari ini semakin jarang dilakukan oleh keluarga-keluarga Kristen.

Melalui Family Fellowship, pembinaan Keluarga ICC di tahun 2009 ini akan berfokus pada dua tema besar: Marriage dan Parenting. Materi kurikulum berupa buku, DVD, dan workbook yang berbobot telah disiapkan untuk menolong setiap pasangan. Demikian juga program Marriage Mentoring yang akan dijalankan untuk menolong setiap pasangan muda memiliki pernikahan dan keluarga yang kokoh di dalam Kristus.**

Preparing to Teach the Scripture

One of the scariest texts in the Bible, at least for me personally, is James 3:1. It says, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." Many fail for various reasons, but of all those possible reasons, one which stands out has to do with our mere laziness. The flesh is unwilling to spend hours to study the word and plunge into the technical details of the text in question. This applies to preachers in particular, but also Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and anyone involved in any Scripture teaching capacity within or outside the church.

This is why I am grateful for Tony Reinke who has provided a long list of 15things to help us do our exegetical homework properly and responsibly.

I reckon if we do this properly, it will take at least 7-10 hours minimum to prepare any given text in the Scripture. Click on the URL above to read the explanation, which includes links to the books and websites mentioned in the list. But here is the list:

1. Commentaries. What commentaries are available on my passage? I’ll begin with the most obvious. If you are a pastor you should have several biblical commentaries at hand. Technical exegetical commentaries are a great resource to better understand the original languages. Expositional and devotional commentaries will also help out. For example, on the epistle to the Ephesians I would consult Peter O’Brien (exegetical), Martyn Lloyd-Jones (expositional), and John Stott (devotional). BestCommentaries is an excellent website to find the best commentaries.

2. Grammar and syntax. What grammatical and syntactical particularities exist in my passage? I have just enough Greek to find my way around the more technical NT commentaries. But I have also discovered that Greek textbooks can provide a lot of help when studying a particular passage. Daniel Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics references thousands of NT passages, pointing to a host of grammatical anomalies that I might otherwise overlook.

3. Biblical theology. Where along the continuum of God’s unfolding plan of redemption does my passage sit? Very often in exegetical preparation I consult the scriptural indexes to the works of Geerhardus Vos, and especially his classic work Biblical Theology. Vos will help you see the development of Scripture. It’s rarely possible to understand a text of scripture without first understanding where it fits in the biblical storyline. This is the work of biblical theology.

4. Systematic theology. Does this passage play an important role in defining a particular doctrine? Consult the scriptural index in Calvin’s Institutes, Wayne Grudem, John Murray, Herman Bavinck, Concise Reformed Dogmatics, John Frame’s The Doctrine of God and The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. Every couple of months or so I watch this video by Dr Derek Thomas to be reminded that when systematic theology is done well, you can preach it. Keep one eye on systematic theology as you study scripture verse by verse, and you may be surprised at how much doctrinal ground you can cover from the pulpit.

5. Creeds. Does my passage supply the biblical support for a particular doctrine defined and defended in the classic reformed confessions? Here I will consult the scriptural index of Reformed Confessions Harmonized by Beeke and Ferguson. I am surprised at the tonnage of biblical references underpinning the reformed confessions. Identify how your text has been used in church history. This discovery may shed light on the historical importance of your text, or open up new topical avenues for further study.

6. Apologetics. Does my passage help defend the Christian faith or inform the Church’s engagement of a fallen world? In seeking to engage non-Christian thought with scripture, it is useful to know which passages are most helpful in the dialogues and discussions. When studying a passage take a look at the scriptural index in books by guys like Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, and Scott Oliphint and check if your text has been used and how.

7. Biblical counseling. Does this passage play an important role in any of my biblical counseling resources? Consult the scriptural index in CCEF books along with an electronic search of the CD-Rom version of The Journal of Biblical Counseling 1977-2005. In my research I heavily weigh any references to my text in solid biblical counseling resources. Guys like Powlison, Paul and Tedd Tripp, and Jay Adams will hold your hand and help you understand certain texts in light of marriage, parenting, specific sin struggles, and idols of the heart.

8. Ethics. Does this passage play a role in the study of biblical ethics? Consult the index in Joachim Douma, John Frame’s Doctrine of the Christian Life, and John Murray’s Principles of Conduct. What contemporary ethical issues does this passage address? Euthanasia, abortion, stem cell research, divorce, capitol punishment, pornography, corporate greed, etc.

9. Spurgeon. What did Spurgeon say about this text? While Spurgeon is no model of careful exegesis, he is wise, applicable, cross-centered, and quotable. You can find a list of his sermons arranged by biblical text here. And you can buy the complete works of Spurgeon on CD-Rom for about $20. Apart from flowers for your wife, there is no better reason to slap down an Andrew Jackson.

10. The Puritans. Have any of the primary Puritan authors preached on this passage? Consult Robert P. Martin’s A Guide to the Puritans and the PCA website of Puritan resources. Because of their trusted exegetical integrity, and because their complete works include a detailed scriptural index, I will individually consult the Works of John Owen, Thomas Goodwin, and Thomas Manton. I consult about a dozen Puritans, a list of which can be found in my Puritan Study series I developed a while back.

11. Jonathan Edwards. Where has Edwards developed my text in his theology, books, and sermons? The new Works of Edwards Online website produced by Yale make a search of scriptural references a breeze (note the “Scripture Lookup” feature). And the resource is completely free. Try it for yourself.

12. Single-topic books. Is my text referenced in a topical book or monograph in my library? Here is where flipping through the scriptural index in any number of topical books will come in handy. Flip through the index in books by J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, D.A. Carson, John Piper, John MacArthur, Jerry Bridges, John Stott, etc. I think Knowing God by J.I. Packer could be quoted in half of all the sermons you could preach. Collect 10-30 topical books you really appreciate and use them in researching a particular text.

13. Audio messages. Are audio messages available from respected preachers on my text? A wonderful, but often-untapped resource for exegetical research, are the thousands of free MP3 audio files available online. The Gospel Coalition has a wonderful collection of sermons all organized by scripture reference. As you are likely aware men like John MacArthur and John Piper have produced a wealth of sermons that are easy to locate. Occasionally you will find some gems at SermonAudio or Monergism.

14. Christian classics. What did Augustine or Chrysostom say about my text? Check out the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website. You can run a nifty little scriptural passage search of all their resources here. Always worth a look.

15. Google. For fun, throw a “hail Mary” and run a search string on your particular passage. You will not always find exegetical gems—but sometimes you will. Google search your text, say, “John 1:1-18” and see what you find. Also try the same search string in Google Books. It’s impossible to know what you will find—or if what you find will be worthy of your time to read—but it’s worth a shot.

Church Ads

Our latest church ads which appear in the local Indo magazine in Melbourne:

Why Leaders Fail

Zenger and Folkman (2009) in the June edition of Harvard Business Review found from their study of top Fortune 500 leaders who were fired and hundreds of ineffective leaders that the two have similar flaws that cause them to fall from their throne. I guess these ten characteristics are nothing new, but they confirm previous findings which show these seemingly trivial and oft-overlooked characteristics do count:

1. Lack energy and enthusiasm
2. Accept their own mediocre performance
3. Lack clear vision and direction
4. Have poor judgment
5. Don’t collaborate
6. Don’t walk the talk
7. Resist new ideas
8. Don’t learn from mistakes
9. Lack interpersonal skills
10. Fail to develop others

Transformed in a Community

“Our transformation is worked out within
the family of God. This is not
necessarily the simpler way:
being involved with other people can be
inefficient, complicated, and time consuming.

So many things can go wrong in relationships. But this is why community is such a BIG part of God’s plan to
transform us into the image of Christ…

As isolated individuals, we cannot reach the level of
maturity that God has designed for us. This fullness happens
as we live in a loving, redemptive community with one another,
as we struggle together, and
as we grow together.”


Paul Tripp, How Christ Changes Us By His Grace, Journal of Biblical Counseling, Spring 2005

Go on, in the name of God

The following powerful letters were addresseed to William Wilberforce in the midst of his struggle over a decision to throw his life into a long fight against slavery. Truly a radical decision. These letters signified the importance of mentoring, and more importantly of a God-assigned means to confirm His call in the lives of His servants. I wish we have more people doing these to today's young Christians.

The first letter, written in a faltering hand, is one of John Wesleys last messages since the following day, February 25 1791, Wesley sank into a coma and never recovered, dying on March 2. Wilberforce marked the letter "Wesley's last words"

The second letter was written by John Newton, a converted slave trader who later wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace. He was the person who influenced Wilberforce not to leave the parliament and become a full-time minister

February 24, 1791

Dear Sir,
Unless the divine power has raised you to be as Athanasius contra mundum [Athanasius against the world], I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? 0 be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it...

That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley

--

July 21, 1796

My very dear Sir,

It is true that you live in the midst of difficulties and snares, and you need a double guard of watchfulness and prayer. But since you know both your need of help, and where to look for it, I may say to you as Darius to Daniel, "Thy God whom thou servest continually is able to preserve and deliver you.'

Daniel, likewise, was a public man, and in critical circumstances: but he trusted in the Lord, was faithful in his department, and therefore, though he had enemies they could not prevail against him.

Indeed the great point for our comfort in life is to have a well grounded persuasion that we are, where, all things considered, we ought to be. Then it is no great matter whether we are in public or in private life, in a city or a village, in a palace or a cottage....

I am your very affectionate, and much obliged,
John Newton

---
The letters were reproduced in Os Guiness' Entrepreneurs of life: faith and the venture of purposeful living (2001, Colorado Springs: NavPress, p. 84)

Question to Ask Your Kids

It is amazing how much we can learn about ourselves and others, including our kids, by asking the right questions. Justin Taylor posted the following questions attributed to Rick Gamache of Sovereign Grace Fellowship. The ones I particularly like are in bold-faced, and I plan to use them on a regular basis as suggested.

How are your devotions?
What is God teaching you?
In your own words, what is the gospel?
Is there a specific sin you’re aware of that you need my help defeating?
Are you more aware of my encouragement or my criticism?
What’s daddy most passionate about?
Do I act the same at church as I do when I’m at home?
Are you aware of my love for you?
Is there any way I’ve sinned against you that I’ve not repented of?
Do you have any observations for me?
How am I doing as a dad?
How have Sunday’s sermons impacted you?
Does my relationship with mom make you excited to be married?

Meet Google Wave

Question: Which presentation at the Google I/O Conference 2009 in San Fransisco two weeks ago that was received with thunderous standing ovation?

Answer: Google Wave

The Age reports:

Dubbed Wave, it's the brainchild of Danish-born and now Sydney-based brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen. It targets email, the internet's dominant communications platform.

As any user will tell you, email has its downsides. There's spam: 90 per cent of email traffic is now classified as unsolicited junk mail. There are emails which just disappear into the ether. There are long threads of replied to and forwarded emails where it is impossibly difficult to work out who said what when.

Wave, say the Rasmussen brothers, is what email would be if it was invented today. It brings multiple communication tools including instant messaging, blogs, wikis and even Twitter under one roof and also combines file and document sharing.

Watch the 1 hr 20 min presentation video below, and be waved!

This One for Movie-Lovers

I love watching movies, hollywood or otherwise. Before I had kids, I went to cinema quite often with my wife, but those moments have long gone. But I still watch movies in DVDs. To me the ones that stand out are those that depicts the various sides of human hearts. At times I wonder though how does a Christian should approach a film? John Frame gave a list of questions to that end. He wrote a piece in the past on this subject which you can read here.

I know this is a long list, but if we apply these before and during our movie-wathing sessions, I think we can get a max benefit out of the movie. Hence, we don't just wear a consumer hat, but also an analyser hat. I have started trying that.

1.Who wrote the film? Who produced it? Who directed it? Do we know through the writings and previous work of these people anything about their philosophy of life? The previous works of actors are also important. Actors contribute much to the quality of a film, little to its fundamental conception. But actors do tend to sign on to projects with which they have some ideological affinity (assuming financial rewards are not otherwise determinative). Mel Gibson almost never takes on films with a heavy sexual element; Mickey Rourke almost always does. The presence of certain actors, granting that they sometimes go "against type," can tell you something about the message of a film.

2.Is it well-made, aesthetically? Are the production and acting values of high quality? These factors may have little to do with the "message." But they do tend to determine the extent of the film's cultural impact, and that is important for our purposes. If a film is well-made, it can have a large impact upon the culture for good or ill. (Of course some bad films also have a major impact!)

3.Is it honest, true to its own position? This is another mark of "quality." Generally speaking, an honest film, regardless of its point of view, will have a larger cultural impact than one which blunts its points.

4.What kind of film is it? Fantasy? Biography? Realistic drama? Comedy? Obviously each film must be judged according to its purpose and genre. We don't demand of a fantasy the kind of historical accuracy we demand of a supposedly literal biography.

5.What is the world view of the film? Is it theistic or atheistic? Christian or non-Christian? If non-Christian, is its main thrust relativistic or dogmatic? How does it employ the theme of "equality?" Is there any role for providence, for God? Is the film pessimistic or optimistic? Does the action move in deterministic fashion, or is there a significant role for human choice?

6.What is the plot? What problems do the characters face? Can these problems be correlated in some way with the Fall of mankind in Adam? Does the film in effect deny the Fall, or does it affirm it in some way?

7.Are the problems soluble? If so, how? What methods are available to the characters so that they can find the answers they need?

8.What is the moral stance of the film? Is the film relativistic, dogmatic, or both in some combination? What are its attitudes toward sex, family, human life, property, truth, heart-attitudes? What is the source of moral norms, if any? Does justice prevail?

9.In comedy, what is it that is funny? What are the typical incongruities? Who is the butt of the jokes? (Christians? traditional values? the wicked? the righteous? God? Satan?) Is the humor anarchic? Is it rationality gone awry? Is it bitter or gentle? Does it rely on caricatures? If so, of whom?

10.Are there allusions to historical events, literary works, other films, famous people, Scripture, etc. that would give us some idea where the filmmakers are coming from? We should remember, of course, that allusions may be negative, positive, ironic, or merely decorative. A biblical allusion does not necessarily indicate acceptance of biblical values.

11.What are the chief images of the film? Is there anything interesting about the lighting, the camera angles, the sound, the timing which would reinforce a particular theme? Are there significant symbols?

12.Are there any explicit religious themes? Christ-figures? Does the film express significant attitudes toward Christ, the clergy, or the church? Does it distort Christianity or present it at its worst? Or does it present it with some insight and/or sympathy? Does it recognize the element of personal piety in people's lives? There are exceptions. If so, does it approve or disapprove of it? What about Satan, the demons, the occult? Does the film recognize their activity in some way? Is the devil taken seriously? If so, how is he dealt with?