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).

The old gospel tune went like this: “Give me that ole time religion, give me that ole time religion, give me that ole time religion, it’s good enough for me.”

James speaks of a kind of religion good enough for God. “Religion that is pure and undefiled BEFORE GOD, THE FATHER, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27, emphasis added). The only brand of religion good enough for you and me ought to be the kind that God judges with superlatives like “pure” and “undefiled.”

The writer leaves no doubt. Two things mark religion good enough for God: merciful treatment towards the down and out and godly behavior unstained by worldliness and sin.

The down and out include orphans and widows – those who have lost their normal means of family support and now left to themselves. We are to VISIT them. That doesn’t just mean drop by the orphanage or house and say hello. It means to bring to bear resources and help that contribute to the alleviation of their misery. The same concept occurs in the Old Testament when it says God visits His people with salvation (Psalm 106:4). The term “visit” has massive implications for a robust Christianity that moves into the lives of those the world often deems as insignificant and unworthy of attention.

I have been praying for some time now that the Lord would open the door to practice some measure of this brand of priceless religion with my neighbor across the street. Darlene lost her husband to cancer a couple of years back. Months ago OGC offered to paint her house as a mercy ministry project. It didn’t work out at the time, but recently she asked me if the offer still stood. I checked with the leadership team at our last meeting and they assured me it did. Here’s is a picture of her place.

It desperately needs a paint job. My vision is to “visit” this house with an extreme makeover cosmetically speaking in two to three weeks time. I intend to canvas the neighborhood for volunteers so that some of them will prep and paint along side some of the good folks from OGC.

More details will follow in this blog and our church e-news.

May the Lord allow us to let our light shine before others, so that they might see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16).

Actually, I prefer the term particular redemption to describe the efficacious work of Christ on the cross whose actual design was indeed to save those whom the Father elects to eternal life.

Can rap music serve as a means of grace to teach this truth? Indeed it can! Imagine that? Now I like two rap tunes. Never in a thousand years would I have imagined it could be so. I HATE rap, at least the worldly version. But this stuff, man, it’s blowing my 56 year old pastoral mind.

My thanks for deacon extraordinaire JG for calling this to my attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYV_It9du-I

Not long ago I got a summons for federal jury duty. The possibility of having to report for service spanned a two week period of time. The government did not even require me to come in at all the first week of eligibility. My “luck,” however, ran out with the beginning of week two. Show up downtown on Monday at 9 AM in a coat and tie, the message said. And so I did.

Actually, strange as it might sound, I really don’t mind doing my civic duty in this regard. I have served on a county jury in the past. It was an armed robbery case that lasted an entire week. It was a fascinating experience. No, I can’t really afford the time away from my responsibilities any more than most other folks, but I have maintained that part of the stewardship of citizenship, like paying taxes, involves answering the jury duty call when it comes (Rom. 13:7).

I am grateful to live in a republic where the rule of law protects its citizenry. I would certainly want responsible folks serving on a jury for me if, God forbid, the time would come that I should need one. So I reported to the courthouse with a sense of civic pride compelling my availability for service and a certain positive anticipation that I might actually get chosen to serve.

After orientation about forty of us got ushered into the judge’s courtroom. She briefed us on the nature of the case and the anticipated time it might take to try it. Then began the arduous process called voir dire for almost three hours. She peppered us with question after question related to our past, legal experiences, relatives in law enforcement, etc., all with a view to determining which of us might be at all compromised in terms of sitting on the jury with impartial perspectives about the proceedings.

Finally the judge consulted with the attorneys to arrive at a list of twelve names and two alternates. One by one they were read. My name was not on the list. I was not chosen. I and the rest of us not deemed ideal for the task got sent home.

On the one hand, I felt relieved. I would be able to attend to my pastoral duties for the week without much interruption. On the other hand, I felt disappointed, even rejected, passed over, slighted, dissed (as my sons would say), shelved. They didn’t want me. In spite of the fact that the judge went to great lengths to assure us that not being selected meant none of those things, I still felt them. I drove away with a twinge of self pity and smug arrogance about how they missed the boat on having what would have proven to be a first-rate juror. No doubt my pride had something to do with the sovereignty of God in seeing to the fact that they didn’t pick Dr. Curtis Heffelfinger for service. They did ask for educational background and I did tell them I held an earned doctorate from RTS, Orlando. Mine was the only terminal degree in the bunch. Surely that had to count for something.

It didn’t. I don’t. Not in jury duty, not in life, not in eternity. I can’t say that I’ve come away with any profound insights about the doctrine of election from my federal jury duty snub. I’ve just come away more grateful than ever that God chose me, not for a jury, but for salvation from my sin and judgment that surely would have left me in the fires of hell for eternity had He not intervened by His grace. The words of Paul have been my refrain with renewed enthusiasm and gratitude. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Eph. 1:3-4).

I’ll take rejection by a gazillion judges for jury duty if I can possess the selection of the Judge of the universe that makes me His beloved child and delivers me from the wrath rightly due me for my rebellion and sin. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! He chose us not on the basis of works we had done but by His purpose and grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began (1 Tim. 1:9). Again, I say, we say, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

May we never ever lose our wonder that the grace of Jesus would single us out and make us His own merely for the praise of His glorious grace!