Conviction and Confession: Scripture

In the ongoing and painful process of sanctification God often cuts deep. His Spirit does not care for our most precious sins; He goes after them with a special tenacity. The past twenty four hours have seen one of my precious sins targetted by that tenacious and persistent Spirit.

Last night I had the opportunity to pray with someone who desperately needed truth, Scriptural truth. While praying for her I found myself scrambling for Scripture to challenge the lies that she believed. Verses would float to mind and float right back out.

It was painfully convicting, that my Scripture knowledge is glaringly lacking. On the way home I confessed to Amanda that I felt like a soldier without a sword in the throws of battle.

In response I have resolved to finish the books I am reading; to refrain from beginning any new books; and focus intensely and primarily on Scripture this year. Book reading is a big part of my life. I find much of my identity, joy and growth in reading. As is often the case with idolatry, it is a good thing that has taken far too prominent a position in my life.

This was further driven home, ironically, by a Spurgeon sermon I listened to whilst brushing my wife's hair today. He preached,

'LET US CONSTANTLY READ THE SCRIPTURES. Let us read them, I would say, in preference to other books. There is a great, deal of reading nowadays, and a great deal of that is a kind of chaff-cutting, and nothing more. Why, even in religious newspapers and magazines they cannot command readers and make them pay, so they say, unless they include a religious novel. People’s minds must be in a queer state, when they can relish nothing but these whipped creams, and juvenile syllabubs. If they were robust and healthy, with a good appetite for divine things, they would demand something far more solid and satisfying. You will never grow sturdy men and women on such poor stuff as that: you may rear lackadaisical imitations; but the thinking soul with something in it, the Christian woman who serves God and is a true helper to the Christian ministry, the young man who is fired with the longing to proclaim Christ and win souls to him, must have stronger nutriments than this, that modern religious journalism ladles out so plentifully! Oh! my brethren and sisters, read the Bible, read the Bible’; and these things that enfeeble, will lose all their attraction for you.

If the worldling must have these things, let him; but if you have a soul that is above rubbish, and has been accustomed to live on great, solid verities and substantial truths, you scarcely need that I should say, "Search the Scriptures diligently, and your joy shall spread and deepen."

Be this your happy confession,-

“Lord, I have made thy Word my choice,
My lasting heritage;
There shall my noblest powers rejoice
My warmest thoughts engage.”

We say further, prefer the Scriptures even to all religious books. We say this of the best book, and sermons. We do our best to teach you God’s truth: but we are, like gold-beaters, we get a little bit of truth, and we hammer it out so thin. Some of us are mighty hands at this, and can make a tiny fragment of truth-gold cover an acre of talk. But the best, of us, those who really do seek to bring out the doctrines of grace and love, are but poor workers at it. Read the Bible more, and do not care so much about us. If my sermons kept people from reading the Bible for themselves, I would like to see the whole stock in a blaze and burned to ashes’. But if they serve as finger-posts, pointing to the Scriptures and saying, “Read this, and this, and this;” then I am thankful to have printed them. But if they keep you from your Bibles, burn them, burn them, burn them. Do not let them overlay the Scriptures, but lie beneath them, for that is their proper place. Keep you first, to God’s revealed Word.

Let me here say, that when you read the Bible, remember there are several ways of doing it. There is the superficial reading: being satisfied with the mere letter of it. There is, however, a diving into it, a going deep down into the soul of it. Read it in natural sections. What would Milton’s “Paradise, Lost “ be if you only read one line a day, and began at the middle and went back to the first line? You would never understand his meaning thus. Read the Bible through. Read Johns gospel: not a bit of John and then a snippet of Mark, but read John through, and find out what John is at. Remember that Matthew-, though he speaks of the same Savior as Mark, yet he does it not in the same style, nor for the same purpose; as he. There is a very distinct purpose in each gospel. Matthew tells of Jesus, the King; the parables he records all hold references to the King. “Then shall the kingdom, of heaven be likened,” Mark show us Christ as the Servant devoted and tireless in his activity of loving toil; Luke as the Man Christ Jesus, full of human tenderness and sympathy, and his parables begin “A certain man.” John reveals to us Christ in his true Deity and God-head; and gloriously does he preface it, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Get a hold of what the books mean, and may the Holy Spirit to show you the aim of each writer’-the one book, and that studied, not scampered through, and you shall stand firm where others fall.'

Spurgeon, C. H., 'How To Become Full of Joy'. 1865.

How merciful God is that He would convict me of my very idolatry whilst indulging in it.

I do not mean to say that none should read Spurgeon - or any other excellent Christian author - but if Scripture has taken a back seat in your study and life then you are most likely guilty of similar idolatry.

I am resolved, that 2010 will be a year bathed in Scripture. Thank you for your conviction and forgiveness Lord.

Calvin on Unity

Commentary on Ephesians 4:2

'On the subject of unity, humility is the first step... Whence come quarrels, insults, and reproaches? Come they not from this, that every one carries his love of himself, and his regard to his own interests, to excess?'

A Preacher's Prayer

My Master God,
I am desired to preach today,
but go weak and needy to my task;
Yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth,
that an honest testimony might be borne for thee;
Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,
with heart uplifted for grace and unction.
Present to my view things pertinent to my subject,
with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency,
a feeling sense of the things I preach,
and grace to apply them to men’s consciences.
Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,
and let me not gloat in pride over my performance.
Help me to offer a testimony for thyself,
and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting thy mercy.
Give me freedom to open the sorrows of thy people,
and to set before them comforting considerations.
Attend with power the truth preached,
and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.
May thy people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,
and help me to use the strongest arguments
drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,
that men might be made holy.

I myself need thy support, comfort, strength, holiness,
that I might be a pure channel of thy grace,
and be able to do something for thee;
Give me then refreshment among thy people,
and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,
or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,
or be harsh in treating of Christ’s death, its design and end,
from lack of warmth and fervency.
And keep me in tune with thee as I do this work.
Amen.

-The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Advance 09 Audio and Pictures

We're back in B.C. now and all the audio is available now thanks to Desiring God. I'm including some photos from the conference taken by Gabriel Boone. Be sure to check out the rest of photos on flickr. I've put a few stars besides the ones I'd recommend first. Enjoy.

Mark Driscoll - "What Is the Church?"
Mark Driscoll - "Ministry Idolatry"

John Piper - "Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 1" *****
John Piper - "Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 2" *****

Ed Stetzer - "Keys to Understanding the Church and Kingdom"

Matt Chandler - "Preaching the Gospel to the De-churched" *****

Tyler Jones - "The Resurgence of the Church"

Bryan Chappell - "Communicating the Gospel Through Preaching"

J. D. Greear - "Planting Is for Wimps: Revitalizing a Church Around the Gospel"

Eric Mason - "The Ultimate Shepherd"

Danny Akin - "Marks of a Healthy Community of Faith" *****

Chandler, Driscoll, and Chappell - Q&A Session

Piper, Driscoll, Greear, and Stetzer - Q&A Session

'It Was Like Drinking From A Fire Hydrant'

After weeks of anticipation since Amanda and I spontaneously decided, 'we need to be there!' after watching the Advance09 teaser on youtube it's now over. What a stunning few days. One of the fascinating things to watch was how this generation of 'New Reformers' *cringe*, or whatever you want to call us, utilizes the internet. The hashtag '#advance09' was one of the top trending tweets over the conference and I've been told that 'Matt Chandler' made it way up the rankings too. Of course there was the usual liveblogging, but 'tweeting' really has changed things. I don't have an iPhone or net compatable phone of any type yet so I had to get home to see what people had been tweeting. What a useful tool this has been to share notes, or more accurately, short moments of brilliance. Here are a few examples from only the most recent twenty of the hundreds, probably thousands, of tweets from the conference.

teamallred Piper: 'Missions' is not being invited. If there's someone to invite you, it's not a mission field. #advance09

jaysonwhelpley Driscoll: Evangelicals are blind to the idol of family. Don't worship family; worship God as a family. #advance09 - @PiperTravel

sistrbride RT @ggrobinson #advance09 orthodoxy + orthopraxy -love = the death of the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7). Matt Chandler

danwadams RT @PiperTravel: Piper: Missions is not the ultimate goal of God and history; worship is. #advance09

myklf RT @NationsBeGlad: Piper - Don't let your theology get in the way of the Bible. #Advance09 (via @lovebrokethru) GREAT!

You may not be immediately struck by the usefulness of Twitter, but in this context it's certainly been helpful for sharing notes.

Now, to the conference itself. The title of this blog post was featured multiple times on different men and women's twitter streams. I have to agree. These three days really have been 'drinking from a fire hydrant'. The sheer amount of wisdom made it almost impossible to remember anything once the day was done. I tried to shoot vlogs (video blogs) at the end of each day but found myself just friend and unable to remember much at all. It will be necessary to listen to all of the messages again taking notes. I knew this might be the case, so during the messages themselves I just sat there, soaking it in, allowing them to affect me. I'm not ashamed to admit that when Piper spoke of the glory of God, or when Chandler hit hard, there were a few tears of both joy and repentance in my eyes.

Once I've had more time to relisten and reprocess maybe I'll post some thoughts, but I don't think you'll really care. I wouldn't waste time reading my thoughts about the messages before listening to them yourself.

PLEASE VISIT the Advance 09 messages to listen for yourself. If you're pressed for time, I'd recommend Chandler's first, Akin's second, and - if you're feeling brave enough - endulge in both of Piper's messages. That said, all of the messages, without exception, were excellent.

On a personal note, Amanda and I are now sitting, well, she's sleeping, in Raleigh-Durham International waiting for the next flight to Seattle via Atlanta. We were supposed to stay until Wednesday, arriving back on the Thursday, but we simply did not enjoy the Carolinas (North and South) at all. Our experience was rather disappointing unfortunately. We have saved our money for months to take this vacation so it's a shame that we're now having to spend it on early flights home. But we'd rather cut our loses now rather than waste any more of it down here. Maybe we'll take a night or two in Tofino or Whistler if we've got any of our savings left by the time we get home. We're obviously very disappointed, and quite upset, but it's been a good lesson to learn. It's very difficult to have a good holiday anywhere else when you have some of the most beautiful places in the world in your backyard.

Signing Out,
Tired But Thankful Dave


QUESTIONS FOR YOU (Use the Comments Section Below): What do you think about Twitter? Any recommendations for a relaxing break next time we can afford to go anywhere? What did you think of the Advance09 messages?