Justin Taylor posts the content of a three-question interview with John Piper about his new book Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ. You can read it here.

This just in, as a dear friend of mine would say.

Desiring God has just released preliminary info on its next pastor’s conference in 2010. You can check it out for yourself here.

Pastor John will do one of his biographies again, this time on C. S. Lewis. Sweet. Come quickly, February in Minneapolis!

I continue to savor Jesus through the devotional tool called Tabletalk magazine published by Ligonier Ministries and R. C. Sproul. My thanks to SD for his persistent nudges in this beneficial direction.

Today’s Coram Deo (Living before the face of God) exhortation from 1 Tim. 5:2 is this:

Sexual immorality is a sin that causes the church to be slandered, so men and women alike should take care never to get into a situation where the propriety of a relationship can be legitimately questioned. Let us do what we can to promote chastity within the church. We are to be the light of the world, whose love for one another is a beacon of hope to our fallen culture. Mutual respect between all ages and sexes in the church is essential to fulfilling this task.

You may order your own subscription to Tabletalk here.

I highly commend the resource to you for promoting your own sacred romance with Jesus.

William Gurnall for July 21:

This is godliness that triumphs–when the Christian can carve contentment out of God’s providence, no matter what dish it sets before him.

What is that secret of contentment whether the dish is one of abundance or need? Paul leaves no doubt in Phil. 4:13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Oh for grace today to experience a godliness that triumphs!

Here is a tidbit from the preface to entice you should a need in this area or any other “rapid bodily experience” tend to enslave.

Addictions are ultimately a disorder of worship. Will we worship ourselves and our own desires or will we worship the true God? Through this lens, all Scripture comes alive for the addict. . . . since all Scripture addresses our fundamental disorder of worship, all Scripture is rich with application for the addict (p. xvi).

I wish I possessed a tool like this in the heyday of my battle with sexual addiction. If you fight the same or similar foes, see that you include this weapon in your arsenal for warfare.

I’m a fan and user of Global Prayer Digest. I commend it to you for your daily use.

Check it out at http://www.global-prayer-digest.org/.

Every tribe, tongue, nation, and people group for King Jesus!

Goodbye. It’s a difficult word, a difficult task, particularly when you love the ones to whom you say it.

Paul experienced much of this with the Ephesian elders after his message at Miletus in Acts 20. Here’s how Luke describes the scene in vv. 36-38.

And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

OGC said farewell to three choice families this morning. They have fellowshipped with us these past four years while the godly men involved finished their graduate degrees at RTS. They are princes to the man. Choice servants. I/we will miss them and their families dearly.

Among my consolations is that I may see their faces again. If not in this life, surely in the kingdom to come.

Jay, Justin, Graham, what a joy, what a privilege. You make me want to be a better pastor. May the Lord richly bless your efforts for Him in the new vineyards of service to which He now takes you. And may you be able to say with Paul some day, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:7).

I love you. If you ever need me, I am a phone call away. Grace and peace be with you.

William Gurnall writes this in the entry for July 19 entitled Do Not Neglect Worship:

Maybe you do not receive as much enlightenment as you want when you seek God in public services. Let me ask you this–what kind of communion do you have with Him in secret. Here is a hole wide enough to lose everything you get in public, if you do not repair it.

Seek God’s goals. God has two purposes in worship. First, He intends for us to honor Him as sovereign Lord. And second, worship is the way He communicates His presence and blessings to His children.

And so I pray:

Dear Father in Heaven, make us fervent seekers of Jesus in private and public. Let there be honor, presence and blessing in our corporate worship this day. In Jesus name, Amen.

Lots of things. Building things. Money things. Pastoral care things. Mercy ministry things. Missions things. The list can seem almost endless.

There is a lot of talk going on lately about a huge question. Should we build a building? Answer – we don’t know. I don’t know. Do I long for it? Absolutely. Do I think it is wise at this time? Again, I am not sure. We aren’t sure. There are too many unknowns.

Well why then do we have a building committee with subcommittees and why are we doing site clearing and why are we giving reports every third Sunday about building? Because we are believing God that He may indeed want us to move ahead in 2010 and we want to be ready if He gives us the green light.

But understand this. WE HAVE NOT DECIDED TO GO AHEAD WITH THE PROJECT! The costs incurred right now are minimal to position ourselves for the future. The heavy money gets spent when we break ground, do site work/excavation, pour a slab and erect walls. Nobody knows if God wants us to commit to that extent at this point.

As the elders said in our congregational meeting last March, we’re working off a bare bones budget and monitoring our income/expense flow very carefully throughout the summer with a view to making a decision this fall about God’s timing in pushing ahead with a building effort. We plan to discuss this fully with the flock at our next congregational meeting during the 9:30 hour on the last Sunday in August.

None of us wants to do anything stupid and all of us refuse to forge ahead without significant buy in from the congregation on the project.

So again, I say to you, pray with us for the wisdom of God as to how to proceed and when to proceed given this dreadful economy and our ongoing need for a place to call home. And pray especially for the discernment to tell the difference between what constitutes genuine faith, rank presumption, and/or blatant unbelief.

And may we examine our hearts to see that our stewardship of resources includes adequate giving to our local church, for as you no doubt know, to date we are behind by some $11,500 in our giving. That’s not a lot, relatively speaking, but it’s enough to get our attention as to what God might say to us about building if the deficit persists.

If you’re wondering where the image at the top of the blog comes from I can tell you. I took this picture at Desiring God’s annual pastor’s conference last February. I head up there each year for a dose of Christian Hedonism to feed my soul and fill my tank for another year of ministry.

I tried to get a picture of a little plant from Nancy’s garden to work, but that just didn’t seem to fit the bill. I found this image from a time of prayer at the conference. Late bloomers like me need more than anybody (or so it feels that way to me) to get on their knees and rely on Jesus for His help if we have any hope at all to serve Him for His glory and others’ joy (John 15:5).