To all those in Ekklesia521 (and whoever may be interested):
This coming Friday (and for every Friday after that for the next few months), we will be going through a new curriculum put out by Desiring God ministries (resource ministry of Pastor John Piper) titled Your Word is Truth: A Study for Youth on Seeing All of Life Through the Truth of Scripture.
Here is the goal of this new curriculum, as stated by Desiring God ministries.
The goal of this study is that, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the authoritative Truth of the Bible might be understood and embraced so students may see and interpret all of life through the Truth of Scripture.
I am really excited to go through this new curriculum for several reasons (some of which include):
This is the first time using a curriculum which I feel comfortable with theologically.
The content is absolutely relevant and necessary (especially for those of us who are seniors and will go off to college next year).
This curriculum is designed differently than any of the other small groups curricula that we’ve tried at GFC. The format will be one which will integrate (in the same lesson) lecture and small group activities.
Multi-media files included.
Our Friday night meeting will start promptly at 8 PM. Please make sure to be on time; bring your Bibles and something to write with.
One last thing: Every lesson in this curriculum loosely builds on the previous lesson. And so, it is imperative that you try to make it every Friday.
Recently, I came across this video interview and thought it would be helpful to share with regards to how we are to read God’s Word.
Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey Church in St. Louis asks Dr. Bryan Chappell, president of Covenant Theological Seminary, the question: “How can I see the Gospel through the Law?” In other words, “How do I see Jesus being displayed in a commandment like ‘Do not steal’? Is this commandment given to show me primarily what Imust do – or to show me primarily what Jesus has done?”
Though this question is asked in regards to how preachers are to preach God’s Word, it is absolutely helpful in how we approach God’s Word on a daily basis in our devotionals.
“I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to his Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions. It is easy to use the phrase ‘God’s will for my life’ as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It’s much less demanding to think about God’s will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It’s safer to commit to following him someday instead of this day. To be honest I believe part of the desire to ‘know God’s will for my life’ is birthed in fear and results in paralysis.” (120)
“God wants us to listen to his Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day, as difficult and as stretching moments arise, and in the midst of the mundane. My hope is that instead of searching for ‘God’s will for my life,’ each of us would learn to seek hard after ‘the Spirit’s leading in my life today.’” (120)
“The Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is not someone we can just call on when we want a little extra power in our lives. Jesus Christ did not die in order to follow us. He died and rose again so that we could forget everything else and follow him to the cross, to true Life.” (122)
In what areas of your life right now is it evident that you are not obeying His Spirit? I would encourage us all to write them down and repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of those sins, and then asking God to supply you with the strength that only He can supply “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).
Just listened to a sermon by Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, titled Slowing the Pendulum Swing. In it, he unpacks what it means to “walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time” (Colossians 4:5). He makes the point that, oftentimes, the Bible does not say much with regards to how Christians are to practically engage the culture that we are in (e.g. school, family, friends, etc.) with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Am I to be just like my non-Christian friends and do whatever they do so that they don’t think I’m some kind of religious freak?”
“Am I to hang out with them, but just not do the ‘bad stuff’? If that’s the case, then what exactly are the ‘bad stuff’?”
“Am I to not hang out with my non-Christian friends at all? But then, if I do that, how can I reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”
These are a few questions that may or may not arise when we start thinking about exactly how we, as sinners saved by grace, are to relate to non-Christians whom the Bible clear commands us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with.
To help us out, Matt Chandler referenced in his sermon a list of 11 questions to ask ourselves before we decide to engage culture – especially when it involves doing something the Bible doesn’t explicitly call out as sin.
This list of 11 questions comes from Mark Driscoll‘s book titled, Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out – a book I would highly recommend to all thoughtful Christians on how we are to – well… reach out without selling out. Below is the list of 11 questions:
Is it beneficial to me personally and to the gospel generally? (1 Cor. 6:12)
Will I lose self-control and be mastered by what I participate in? (1 Cor. 6:12)
Will I be doing this in the presence of someone who I know will fall into sin as a result? (1 Cor. 8:9-10)
Is it a violation of the laws of my city, state, or nation? (Rom. 13:1-7)
If I fail to do this, will I lose opportunities to share the gospel? (1 Cor. 10:27-30)
Can I do this with a clear conscience? (Acts 24:16)
Am I convinced that this is what God desires for me to do? (Rom. 13:5)
Does my participation proceed from my faith in Jesus Christ? (Rom. 14:23)
Am I doing this to help other people, or am I just being selfish? (1 Cor. 10:24)
Can I do this in a way that glorifies God? (1 Cor. 10:31-33)
Am I following the example of Jesus Christ to help save sinners? (1 Cor. 10:33-11:1)
From what I’ve noticed not only in my own life, but also through the lives of other men (and I would say especially so in Korean-American men), most guys fall into either one of two categories: (1) cowardly,whereby they constantly passively abdicate their responsibility to even take responsibility (you know who you are) or (2) chauvinistic, always trying to prove their masculinity by being an oppressive meathead (you know who you are).
The Bible defines biblical masculinity (or manhood) as embodying neither of these two options, but rather, it is one in which, in view of what Christ did for us – namely, taking responsibility for our sins – we take on responsibility not only for ourselves, but also for those we love. In the words of Mark Driscoll:
The key is to understand the Gospel. The perfect man is Jesus. The man who we were supposed to be like is Jesus. Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, comes into human history to live life as the perfect man—God-man to be sure, but perfect man nonetheless.
Men, you and I need to take our cue for masculinity from Jesus. The key to masculinity is this: Jesus takes responsibility for himself (he works a job), and he also takes responsibility for me. The cross is where Jesus substituted himself and died in my place for my sins. My sins are my fault—not Jesus’ fault—but Jesus has made them his responsibility.
This is the essence of the Gospel. If you understand this, it will change how you view masculinity.
Here is a list of links to the 29 short blog posts on the subject. My challenge to all of those in Ekklesia521 – guys (in particular) and girls (in order that you may know what to look for in a future husband) – is to read and reflect on one blogpost a day for the next month.
Esquire magazine subtitled one issue “How to be a Man”, and then proceeded to say that there were in fact no guides to manhood. Subsequently, Deacon Nick didn’t learn much about manhood from Esquire.
The Rise of the Omega Male, Deacon Nick. True, no one was arguing that characters in Judd Apatow movies were any paragons of manhood in the first place.
There was one tongue-in-cheek post we tagged with biblical manhood that confused some people. Word to the wise: Cupcakes are not mentioned in the Bible, so any mention of them on the blog would necessarily not be serious.
What I’ve Learned About Being a Man in Christ. The West Seattle men are all about identity, community, submitting to authority, riding bikes to tell people about Jesus in the late ’60s, and Bible stories about fish.
Again, here’s the link to the page of all the links.
Just listened to a sermon by Matt Chandler, pastor of 
