How do you start a fight? PURSUE HOLINESS!: Intro

Introduction:
Chuck, the “Iceman” Liddell has been honing his skills since he was twelve years old. At the age of twelve he took up martial arts and at fourteen he started wrestling and kickboxing. He has aggressively learned and practiced these arts for more than twenty years making him one the greatest strikers of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He holds several titles, one of which is the UFC light heavyweight championship, and he continues to train and fight even at the age of 38.

Throughout the Pastoral Epistles, Paul instructs Timothy to engage in the fight of faith with “Iceman”-like tenacity. Paul exhorts him to, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Tim. 6:11)

These exhortations were due to the recent corruption within the church of Ephesus. This corruption was stimulated by the internal rise of false teachers. Therefore it was necessary for Paul to personally instruct Timothy in order that they might once again establish quality leadership within church of Ephesus that could withstand the continual onslaught of Satan’s devices.


“Satan loves to sail with the wind and to suit men’s temptations to the conditions and inclinations. If they be in prosperity, he will tempt them to deny God (Prov. 30:9); if they be in adversity, he will tempt them to distrust God; if their knowledge be weak, he will tempt them to have low thought of God; if their conscience be tender, he will tempt to scrupulosity; if large, to carnal security; if bold-spirited, he will tempt to presumption; if timorous, to desperation; if flexible, to inconstancy; if still, to impenitency.” (Brooks, 16)


“Take heed to yourselves, because the tempter will more ply you with his temptations then other men. If you will be the leaders against the prince of darkness, he will spare you no further than God restraineth him. He beareth the greatest malice to those that are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. As he hated Christ more than any of us, because he is the General of the field, the Captains of our salvation, doth more than all the world besides against his kingdom; so doth he hate the leaders under him, more than the common soldiers: he knows what a rout he may make among them, if the leaders fall before their eyes.” (Baxter,74)

How do you start a fight? PURSUE HOLINESS!

This is a project that I have done for school. I will be posting a lesson every so many days. Here's an intro. as to what it is about.

Are you one who has a desire to enter "ministry"? If so, you have probably been given books on leadership or teaching and have been encouraged to leave your present church for the sake of a good Bible education at a college or seminary in which you will or have learned all of the tools of exegesis, the intricacies of theology and all the what-works-administrative-procedures of the church. But how often does a church, college or seminary strive to prepared your heart for the task of an overseer.

Although many pastor's can effectively feed the souls of their people, countless pastor's have fallen because they don't know how to guard and feed their own souls. This short curriculum is geared to address the needs of future leaders who have been able to acquire the head knowledge for ministry but perhaps have neglected their own heart in the process.

This short curriculum seeks to address the qualifications of an overseer from 1 Timothy 3. A short explanation of the qualifications will be given, and then there will be questions which seek to arouse you senses to the ever-raging fight that is at work in every believer.

So join the Fight Club, and lets start a fight by pursuing holiness not just with our heads but with our hearts!

Here is the mediography that will be noted throughout the lessons:

Anyabwile, Thabiti. "Pure Church." Blog Spot. December 14, 2007. http://purechurch.blogspot.com/2007/10/finding-reliable-men-1.html#links (accessed August 26, 2008).

Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2007.

Bridges, Charles. The Christian Ministry. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1980.

Brooks, Thomas. Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000.

Carson, D. A. A Call to Spiritual Reformation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992.

Harvey, Dave. Am I Called? Discerning the Summons to Ministry. Gaithersburg, MD: Sovereign Grace Ministries, 2005.

—. Missiology: Entering the Field of the Lord. Gaitherburg, MD: Sovereign Grace Ministries, 2006.

Ryken, Phillip. 1 Timothy. Phillipsburg, NJ: PandR Publishing, 2007.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Lectures to My Students. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978.

Re:Lit | Porn Again Christian | by Mark Driscoll

Re:Lit Porn Again Christian by Mark Driscoll

Guys, this will probably be worth reading. I will attempt to give a short over view of each chapter as they are sent out.

Yet another inspiration:

Here's a MUST SEE Video! (a Tear Jerker, Kleenex Required) - A funny movie is a click away

This has become all too real recently. We have some friends from MN who lost their baby boy last week. We just cannot understand the ways of God. He gives and he takes away, 'blessed be the name of the Lord'.

I can't help but think of Luke 13 where Christ doesn't give an answer to 'why these things happen'. He simply points the audience to the frailty of their own life and pleads with them to take every advantage of the Gospel.

Entrust the lives of those who have past on to God's keeping and seek to live out the remainder of your life in the benefits of the Gospel for God's glory and for your good.

Jeff and Amy, we are praying that God's grace will be magnified in your loss!

Inspiration: Matt Chandler, you can add this to your list

Be Inspired......Nick Vujicic (life Without Limbs) - The top video clips of the week are here

An excerpt from Jim Hamilton: The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman

Genesis 3:15 in the New Testament

We can be confi dent of several allusions
to Gen 3:15 in the NT. For instance, in Luke
10:18–19 we read, “[Jesus] said to them, “I
was beholding Satan falling as lightning
from heaven. Behold, I have given to you
the authority to tread upon snakes and
scorpions,90 and upon all the power of the
one who is at enmity.”91 Luke 10 portrays
Jesus telling his disciples that they will
tread upon snakes and overcome the
enemy, and in Rom 16:20, as noted above,
Paul tells the Romans that God will soon
crush Satan under their feet.92 Earlier in
Romans, Paul wrote that “the creation
was subjected to futility . . . in hope” (Rom
8:20). If, as most commentators think, the
subjection to futility in view is the curse
of Gen 3, the corresponding hope would
appear to be the promise of one who
would defeat the serpent in Gen 3:15.93
The scene in Rev 12 is also surely
infl uenced by Gen 3:15.94 As a woman is
giving birth to her seed (12:1–2), a dragon
appears hoping to devour the child
(12:3–4). Clearly there is enmity between
the seed of the woman and the snake.
She gives birth to a male child, who is
identifi ed as a scion of David through an
allusion to Ps 2, and child and mother are
supernaturally protected from the dragon
(12:5–6). The dragon is thrown down to
earth after a battle in heaven (12:7–12),
whereupon he again pursues the woman
and her seed (12:13). They again benefi t
from divine protection (12:14–16), so the
dragon leaves off pursuit of the singular
seed that he might make war on the rest of
the collective seed of the woman—those
who obey God and hold to the testimony
of Jesus (12:17).95 In Rev 13:3 we read of
a beast with a head that seems to have a
mortal wound, and as Beale comments,
“Such a wound on the head of the grand
. .
43
nemesis of God’s people refl ects Gen. 3:15,
especially when seen together with Rev.
12:17.”96
Alexander, Schreiner, and Wifall have
rightly noted other passages in the NT
that incorporate imagery from Gen 3:15.
These texts mainly describe the enemies
of the seed of the woman (or in some
cases, “all things”) being placed under his
feet (Matt 22:44 and parallels; Acts 2:35; 1
Cor 15:25; Eph 1:20–22; Heb 2:5–9, 14–15;
10:13).97 Wifall also notes the relevance
of the fact that Jesus is named as being
born of (i.e., the seed of) the woman (Gal
4:4) and the seed of David (Rom 1:3; 2
Tim 2:8).98

Conclusion
I began this study with the suggestion
that if we adopt the hypothesis that the
Old Testament is a messianic document,
written from a messianic perspective, to
sustain a messianic hope, we might fi nd
that the interpretive methods employed
by the authors of the NT are legitimate
hermeneutical moves that we can imitate
today. This hypothesis would work
under the assumption that in the Bible’s
metanarrative,99 from the moment God
uttered his judgment against the serpent,
the seed of the woman (the collective of
those who trust God) were hoping for the
seed of the woman (the man who would
achieve the ultimate victory over the
serpent).100 If the books of the Bible were
written by and for a remnant of people
hoping for the coming of this person, we
would expect to fi nd in these texts various
resonations of this promise of God. I have
argued that we do, in fact, fi nd imagery
from Gen 3:15 in many texts across both
testaments. We have seen the seed of the
woman crushing the head(s) of the seed
of the serpent, we have seen shattered
enemies, trampled enemies, dust eating
defeated enemies, and smashed serpents.
I fi nd this evidence compelling. Hopefully
others will as well, even if they do
not entirely agree with the thesis that the
OT is, through and through, a messianic
document. There are no doubt those who
will remain unpersuaded. We do not yet
see all things under his feet. May that day
come soon.101

John 8:1-11 A Merciful Gospel

It is amazing to me that the overt-self-righeousness of the Pharisees is no different than the covert sinful inclinations of my heart. I judge others on behalf of my own self-righteousness rather than viewing them through the lens of the Gospel which not only shows me their need but it also humbles me to see my own sin. The Gospel humbles me to help those in sin rather than judging them and yet my heart is so deceptive that I will often use the Gospel as a spring board to judge others against my own self-righteousness. As a result I make the Gospel cliche to those who are hurting in sin. The Gospel becomes a token of abuse rather than the light and life of mankind.

The amazing conclusion to this passage is Christ's authority. Those who seemed to have authority or the right to condemn were baffled by Christ. Christ does not condemn her! He had every right to condemn her. He gave her life. He gave her existence. He made her in His image. He graced her with life and provision. And she casts it away and perverts God's gracious intentions just as I do when I judge other upon my self-righteousness. Yet oh- how wonderful!- the Gospel is a merciful reality. It is merciful beyond our understanding, for God uses sin sinlessly to magnify his Son in the Gospel. He is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, for the sake of his ultimate enjoyment in magnifying himself through the Gospel. This is surely Trinitarian Joy!

Inspiration: by Matt Chandler

It has been my experience that inspirations are brief, sporadic and rare. By inspiration I mean those moments where our souls are stimulated to a high level of feeling, thinking and doing. I love those brief, sporadic and rare moments. I am addicted to the vitality I have, the love I feel, and the clarity of thought that occurs when I am inspired. I have tried for years to pay attention to these moments, to dig into them, excavate them, and figure them out. What is it that inspires me? Who is it? What stirs my affection…for my wife? For my children? For life in general? This to me is one of the major ideas that demand an answer. To solve this arduous riddle means more energy, richer life, deeper relationships and greater self-awareness.
Several years ago I started applying this line of thought to my relationship with Christ. Instead of asking myself what inspired me to be a good man (what’s that anyway?) I started asking what stirs my affections for Christ. What, when I’m doing it, when I’m around it or dwelling on it creates in me a greater hunger for, passion for and worship of Christ and His mission? The first list was a strange one. It looked something like this:
Early mornings and hot coffee
The writings of John Owen (at the time it was The Mortification of Sin)
Listening to Lauren sing
Walks through graveyards (I know this is weird but it reminded me of mortality)
The book of Hebrews
Robust dialogue on ecclesiology or missiology
Sermons by John Piper
Angst-filled music
I also wrestled with and paid attention to what robbed me of affection for Christ. What, when I was doing it or spending time around it created in me an unhealthy love for this world? The first list was a strange one because the majority of things that robbed me of zeal for Christ and His mission were morally neutral things. It looked something like this:
Watching too much TV and spending too much time online
Staying up late for no reason
Following sports too closely
Being physically lazy
Empty conversations (talking for hours about nothing)
Idleness
For the last few years I have updated this list often. In fact it has changed quite a bit. I want to pay attention to life. I want to be keyed in to what feeds my zeal for our great God and King and what kills that zeal. My hope is that I could flood my life with Christ-exalting, worship-creating things and avoid anything that would rob me of that.
What inspires you? Better yet, what stirs your affections for Christ, truth and holiness? If we can fill our lives with the things that stir our affections and avoid and flee those things that rob us of inspiration, we have a better shot at dwelling deeply. What and who inspires you? Stirs you? What presses you into holy places? What robs you of joy and vitality? What robs you of your affection for Christ and holiness?