A Response to Evangelical Feminism

Evangelical feminism has had a profound impact on the Church. In this book, 22 men and women commit their talents to produce the most thorough response yet to evangelical feminism. The writers identify their view as complementarian rather than “traditional” or “hierarchical.” The book combines systematic argumentation with popular application and deals with all the main passages of Scripture brought forward in this controversy. An important and informative book for those concerned with the fundamental questions of the relationship between men and women in home, church and society.

Download this book (PDF).

www.whokilledgod.com

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on what the church is for:

The primary task of the Church is not to educate man, is not to heal him physically or psychologically…. I will go further; it is not even to make him good. These are things that accompany salvation; and when the Church performs her true task she does incidentally educate men and give them knowledge and information…she does make them good and better than they were. But my point is that those are not her primary objectives. Her primary purpose is not any of these; it is rather to put man into the right relationship with God, to reconcile man to God. (Preaching & Preachers, 30)

3. The New Calvinism

ILLUSTRATION BY LORENZO PETRANTONI FOR TIME; CALVIN: POPPERFOTO / GETTY

Many suns, showers, and frosts, pass upon it before it comes to perfection. And in winter, when it seems to be dead—it is gathering strength at the root.

Be humble, watchful, and diligent in the means, and endeavor to look through all, and fix your eye upon Jesus—and all shall be well. “

—John Newton, Letters of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth: 2007)

I am really enjoying Keller!!!

“The gospel, by telling us Jesus died for us, is also really insulting. It tells us that we are so wicked that only the death of the Son of God could save us. This offends the modern cult of self-expression and the popular belief in the innate goodness of humanity.”

- Timothy Keller, The Message of Romans (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2.

F.  Free and Formed

A.  Assembled and Alone

D.  Desperate and Delighted

E.  Explosive and Extended

S.  Spontaneous and Scheduled

Ryle begins the book by explaining the biblical command to train up children in the way they should go. He says people rarely followed this command during his day and this failure was a serious omission. Many parents act like hypocrites. They can quickly point out wrong in the parenting decisions of others, but fail to recognize their own shortcomings. Ryle understands parenting to be one area in which we all desperately need the insight of other believers. Our own judgment proves far to flimsy and our own prejudices far to strong.

The bulk of the book is made up of sixteen hints about the right training of children. Ryle expresses the purpose of his book by saying, “Be very sure, if you would train children for heaven, they are hints that ought not to be lightly set aside.” (p. 3) Considering that this book was written in the 1800’s, the hints which Ryle gives are supremely beneficial, even to today’s reader.

Sound theology forms the foundation for the hints offered. For example, the first hint offered tells the reader; “If you would train your children rightly, train them in the way they should go, and not in the way that they would.” (p. 3) By pointing out the difference between should and would, Ryle highlights the natural bent of man to sin. Parenting must operate within the framework of a biblical view of sin. Children must be trained in the pattern of life in which they should go, because if left to the way in which they would go, they would plunge deeper and deeper into sin.

The placing of this hint first shows us the importance of understanding the doctrine of depravity and how it will affect our parenting. Raising children to the glory of God cannot be something done haphazardly. Because children are born already walking on the road to destruction, our parenting must be done with purposeful passion to point them toward the cross.

Ryle goes on to give fifteen more hints which can each be meditated on and applied in a variety of ways. Here are some of the other hints which are given throughout The Duties of Parents. Hint number three says, “Train your children with an abiding persuasion on your mind that much depends upon you.” (p. 6) Number seven instructs, “Train them to habits of diligence, and regularly about public means of grace.” (p. 14) And hint number nine says, “Train them to a habit of obedience.” (p. 19) Ryle gives each hint, explains what each one means, then challenges parents to practice the principle he has just expounded.

The Duties of Parents provides basic but timeless instruction to parents seeking to walk in obedience to the Lord. I believe this small book will stimulate parents to remember what they are responsible to be doing in the process of raising children. Ryle states each hint simply and profoundly in a way which will capture the attention and encourage obedience. Here are some instructive quotes from the book:

“As a minister, I cannot help remarking that there is hardly any subject about which people seem so tenacious as they are about their children. I have sometimes been perfectly astonished at the slowness of sensible Christian parents to allow that their own children are in fault, or deserve blame. There are not a few persons to whom I would far rather speak about their own sins, than tell them their children had done anything wrong.” (p. 2)

“Remember children are born with a decided bias towards evil, and therefore if you let them choose for themselves, they are certain to choose wrong.” (p. 3)

“Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys, these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily, these are the clues you must follow if you would find the way to his heart.” (p. 4)

“Try hard to keep up a hold on your child’s affections. It is a dangerous thing to make your children afraid of you.” (p. 6)

“We depend, in a vast measure, on those who bring us up. We get from them a colour, a taste, a bias which cling to us more or less all our lives.” (p. 7)

“Precious, no doubt, are these little ones in your eyes; but if you love them, think often of their souls.” (p. 8 )

“Idleness is the devil’s best friend.” (p. 22)

“Instruction, and advice, and commands, will profit little, unless they are backed up by the pattern of your own life. Your children will never believe you are in earnest, and really wish them to obey you, so long as your actions contradict your counsel.” (p. 30)

Which Are You?
The key is to discover whether you are more naturally a contemplative or an activist and then work on your area of weakness. In my years as a pastor I have found that most of us lean heavily toward the contemplative or the active disciplines at the expense of the other. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for people to read about Jesus in their Bible and only see His contemplative or activist scenes at the expense of seeing the healthy tension that Jesus lived in. As a result, when a contemplative thinks of Jesus they are prone to imagine Him sitting alone in the wilderness and silently reading Scripture and praying. Conversely, when an activist thinks of Jesus they are prone to imagine Him performing miracles, preaching, and casting out demons, never sitting down or taking a day off. The truth is that Jesus practiced every contemplative discipline and every active discipline (with the exception of lovemaking). To follow in His example means we must follow in His entire example.

Active Disciplines
Study
Fellowship
Speaking
Teaching
Activism
Work
Lovemaking
Evangelism
Service
Feasting

Contemplative Disciplines
Solitude
Silence
Meditation
Prayer
Sabbath
Chastity
Worship
Journaling
Fasting

Part 1

Listen         Read

Part 2

Listen         Read

Listen            Read

Listen             Read

Listen          Read

Listen         Read

Listen       Read

You may Download it HERE .

There are many articles in this packet from Desiring God.

We will keep you up to date on the plans for our next baptism.

Have a great weekend,

Eric

“Monday is Martin Luther King day. I encourage all pastors and Sunday School teachers to make something of it this weekend. It may be too late to preach on racial and ethnic issues, if you have not already planned to. But it is not too late, if you read this on Saturday, to plan to simply take note of the day and speak a word of exhortation to your people concerning their hearts in matters of race and ethnicity. None of us. None of us is without need for help in the purification of our hearts in the way we feel and think about other ethnic groups. Your people need help.

The point of this weekend is not to celebrate all that MLK was. You need not belabor his sins. The point is to lift up some magnificent things he stood for and some necessary and amazing achievements of the civil rights era in which he was a key leader. We are Christians and can see these things in the light of providence and the gospel. Let everything point to Christ and him crucified. Consider Revelation 5:9 if you wonder whether ethnic diversity and ethnic harmony are Jesus-blood issues.

All you have to do to find some good word from MLK is Google his name. His “I have a dream” speech has some powerful lines. He dreams that some day his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.” That cry is as important today globally and locally as it was in 1963.

In my judgment the “I have a dream” speech was not the apex of King’s eloquence. That is reserved for certain passages in “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” (April 16, 1963). Here is the most powerful word from King I have ever read:

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

You need not have all the answers. You need not be democrat or republican. You need not think things are as bad as they were or as good as they could be. What you need to do is press the issue of ethnic ill-will on the consciences of your people in the name of Jesus, who came to us when we were more alien to him than anyone has ever been to us.

God give you courage and grace.

Oasis, pray that God will deal graciously in our own hearts and help us become more like Christ as we seek to see racial barriers fall to the ground.

In His Grace,

Eric

Listen To Savior

Eric

We used Bethlehem Baptist’s scripture reading plan. We wanted to pass this along to you in case you would like to join us.

Scripture Reading Plan

Bookmark for 1st Half of Year

Bookmarks for 2nd Half of Year

Regardless, of whether you use this tool, may God continually bless you by His grace in your reading of His word.

Eric

Eternal and yet born of a woman.

Almighty, and yet nursing at a woman’s breast.

Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms.

Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“That man should be made in God’s image is a wonder,

but that God should be made in man’s image is a greater wonder.

That the Ancient of Days would be born.

That He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle?”

-Thomas Watson

“Man’s Maker was made man

that the Bread might be hungry,

the Fountain thirst,

the Light sleep,

the Way be tired from the journey;

that Strength might be made weak,

that Life might die.

–Augustine

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

and we have seen his glory,

glory as of the only Son from the Father,

full of grace and truth.”

(John 1:14)

Merry Christmas,

Eric

Thank you to all who were able to come and be a part of serving our community! Also Thank you to Crystal’s Coffee for welcoming us and serving up wonderful coffee and hot chocolate to us.

For those of you who were unable to  make it , we started our evening at Crystal’s Coffee for a hot beverages and a quick warm up for our voices. We then proceeded to Hyde Park to sing to those who live there. We then proceeded to the trailer park on Black Dog Alley. We hand out several Free Turkey Coupons and have already received a few calls.

We will deliver the Turkeys, Friday or Saturday. Please pray that God will do amazing things during our visit and that hearts will be open. Pray for discernment and wisdom for us. We are excited to serve these people in this way and pray the doors will remain open for the Gospel, not just during this Christmas season, but throughout the year.

We are open to ideas on how to continue to minister to these people.

I look forward to sharing more with you on Sunday.

God bless,

Eric

By Thabiti Anyabwile

The greatest need in the world today is the gospel. It is the greatest need of the world because men, women, and children are perishing without a vital knowledge of God through the good news of his Savior Son Jesus.

The greatest need in the church today is the gospel. The gospel is not only news for a perishing world, it is the message that forms, sustains, and animates the church. Apart from the gospel, the church has nothing to say—nothing to say that cannot be said by some other human agency. The gospel distinguishes the church from the world, defines her message and mission in the world, and steels her people against the fiery darts of the evil one and the false allurements of sin. The gospel is absolutely vital to a vibrant, joyous, persevering, hopeful and healthy Christian and Christian church. So essential is the gospel to the Christian life that we need to be saturated in it in order to be healthy church members.

How then does one immerse oneself in the gospel? What path might lead to greater spiritual health?

1. KNOW THE GOSPEL

The first order of business is to know the gospel. This seems such an obvious statement that stating it can feel silly. But, in point of fact, many professing and believing Christians possess a shallow understanding of the gospel as a result of years of hearing short “gospel presentations” tacked onto the ends of sermons. Still others who know the message of Christ find themselves awkward and incapable of sharing the good news clearly with family and friends. Taking steps to be sure we know the gospel with some clarity and depth, then, is a necessary first step.

It’s helpful to rule out some ideas frequently presented as the gospel. The gospel is not simply that (i) we are okay, (ii) God is love, (iii) Jesus wants to be our friends; or that (iv) we should live right.[1] Neither is the gospel simply that all our problems will be fixed if we follow Jesus or that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. All of these ideas may be true in some sense, but only in a partial sense and never as a solely sufficient statement of what the gospel is.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is literally “good news.” As news it contains statements of fact and truths derived from those facts. As good news the gospel holds out hope based upon promises from God and grounded in the historical facts and truths that vindicate those promises.

The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ is that God the Father, who is holy and righteous in all his ways, is angry with sinners and will punish sin. Man, who disobeys the rule of God, is alienated from the love of God and in danger of an eternal and agonizing condemnation at the hands of God. But God, who is also rich in mercy, because of his great love, sent his eternal Son born by the virgin Mary, to die as a ransom and a substitute for the sins of rebellious people. And now, through the perfect obedience of the Son of God and his willing death on the cross as payment for our sins, all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, following him as Savior and Lord, will be saved from the wrath of God to come, declared just in his sight, have eternal life, and receive the Spirit of God as a foretaste of the glories of heaven with God himself.

It is this message—briefly stated here—that we must imbibe and delight in if we are to be healthy church members.

By John MacArthur)

The Church Is the Most Precious Reality on Earth

There’s a third biblical reason I love the church: It is the most precious thing on this earth — more precious than silver, or gold, or any other earthly commodity.

How precious is the church? It demanded the highest price ever paid for anything. “You have been bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). What price? “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet, 1:18-19). Acts 20:28 refers to “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

The church is so precious that the Son was willing to suffer the agonies of the cross and die in obedience to the Father so that this eternal love gift could become a reality. The apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians of this great reality: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9). That verse has nothing to do with earthly riches or material things. Christ was rich as God is rich — rich in glory (cf. John 17:5). Neither is the poverty spoken of an earthly poverty. Christ divested Himself of His glory. He went from sovereign supernatural deity, to taking upon Himself the form of a servant — and ultimately to a death on the cross in which all the force of divine wrath was poured out upon Him (Col. 2:6-8).

So the precious value of the church is seen here in the price that was paid, when the One who was as rich as God in fullness of glory, became as poor as someone alienated from God (cf. Matt. 27:46).

And, to return to the point of 2 Corinthians 8:9, Christ did this so that we might become rich. His dying made us heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). In other words, in giving up His heavenly riches, Christ made it possible for the church to share in those riches. That makes the church the most precious thing on earth.

The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problem of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself, ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been repressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you’. Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have but little experience.The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’–what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’–instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet priase Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures, pp. 20-21; emphasis added.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
A Divine and Supernatural Light
His Farewell Sermon of 1750

http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php

Tom Wells on controversy: “It is the unhappy lot of any man who cares a fig for truth to be called on to engage in controversy. He may embrace it as a purse of gold or despise it as a putrefying sore, but he can no more escape it than he can escape the atmosphere or the common cold. In a fallen world, truth and controversy are bedfellows. . . . A man may spend valuable time bemoaning that fact, but what is needed is a way to come to terms with it as a godly man, a way to carry on controversy with a minimum amount of damage to his opponent and to the interested bystander and the maximum amount of good to the cause of God and truth.”

Wells’s main points are that in controversy, we must do the following:

• show respect for the persons with whom you differ
• give your opponent accurate definitions of your key ideas
• when in doubt, put an orthodox construction on your opponent’s words
• suspect a man’s judgment before you suspect his sincerity
• be ready to believe that the truth is larger than you have understood it to be

 From J. C. Ryle:

Controversy in religion is a hateful thing.
It is hard enough to fight the devil,
the world, and the flesh,
without private differences in our own camp—
But there is one thing
which is even worse than controversy,
and that is false doctrine tolerated,
allowed, and permitted without
protest or molestation …
Three things there are which men
never ought to trifle with:
a little poison,
a little false doctrine,
and a little sin.

I also want to share a necessary clarification from our prayer time. My words may have caused some to be confused about the role of sin as it pertains to our issues of fear, low-self esteem, self-doubt, etc…  My heart was to impress on you the incredible gift that God has bestowed in every believer, to offer encouragement and hope. I am confident that our Lord heard that plea and graciously responded. However, in attempting to focus on issues of self-worth, I spoke as if these feelings are not related to sin. The Scriptures are clear that the existence of fear, self-doubt, and the like are rooted in sin. To ignore the promises of God is to deny His sovereignty and to declare our feelings above His truth (Phil 4:6-9). Please forgive any misunderstanding.

To think of self-doubts and fears as sin may be a difficult concept for some. The beauty of this perspective is God’s provision for healing. As we confess these feelings that are not from him, we empty ourselves to be filled by His Holy Spirit. We are reminded that His Spirit is not one of fear and self-doubt, but one of power, love, and discipline (2Tim 1:7). It is our sovereign Lord who has opened our hearts, but it is our job to empty out the junk that prevents His filling. This morning was just a taste of what He can do during any prayer time, individual or corporate. I look forward to sharing more “filling times” with all of you.

Pastor Robb

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ESV

Walk with the King today and be a Blessing,
Eric

Thursday, May 03, 2007
This Evening’s Meditation
C. H. Spurgeon

——————————————————————————–

“A very present help.”—Psalm 46:1.
COVENANT blessings are not meant to be looked at only, but to be appropriated. Even our Lord Jesus is given to us for our present use. Believer, thou dost not make use of Christ as thou oughtest to do. When thou art in trouble, why dost thou not tell Him all thy grief? Has He not a sympathizing heart, and can He not comfort and relieve thee? No, thou art going about to all thy friends, save thy best Friend, and telling thy tale everywhere except into the bosom of thy Lord. Art thou burdened with this day’s sins? Here is a fountain filled with blood: use it, saint, use it. Has a sense of guilt returned upon thee? The pardoning grace of Jesus may be proved again and again. Come to Him at once for cleansing. Dost thou deplore thy weakness? He is thy strength: why not lean upon Him? Dost thou feel naked? Come hither, soul; put on the robe of Jesus’ righteousness. Stand not looking at it, but wear it. Strip off thine own righteousness, and thine own fears too: put on the fair white linen, for it was meant to wear. Dost thou feel thyself sick? Pull the night-bell of prayer, and call up the Beloved Physician! He will give the cordial that will revive thee. Thou art poor, but then thou hast “a kinsman, a mighty man of wealth.” What! wilt thou not go to Him, and ask Him to give thee of His abundance, when He has given thee this promise, that thou shalt be joint heir with Him, and has made over all that He is and all that He has to be thine? There is nothing Christ dislikes more than for His people to make a show-thing of Him, and not to use Him. He loves to be employed by us. The more burdens we put on His shoulders, the more precious will He be to us.

“Let us be simple with Him, then,
Not backward, stiff, or cold,
As though our Bethlehem could be
What Sinai was of old.”

——————————————————————————–

Where: Kentucky International Convention Center

Speakers: Al Moehler, John Piper, CJ Mahaney, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, RC Sproul,  John Mac Arthur

Together 4 the Gospel Website       

Register Here

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend T4G- 06. It was an incredible blessing and I look forward to attending next year!

Eric

“Fill me up to overflowing, and pour me out”

In His Grace,
Eric

21 Ways to Minister to Those Who Are Suffering
By: Dr. John Piper

1. Pray. Ask God for his help for you and for those you want to minister to. Ask him for wisdom and compassion and strength and a word fitly chosen. Ask that those who are suffering would look to God as their help and hope and healing and strength. Ask that he would make your mouth a fountain of life.

2. Feel and express empathy with those most hurt by this great evil and loss; weep with those who weep.

3. Feel and express compassion because of the tragic circumstances of so many loved ones and friends who have lost more than they could ever estimate.

4. Take time and touch, if you can, and give tender care to the wounded in body and soul.

5. Hold out the promise that God will sustain and help those who cast themselves on him for mercy and trust in his grace. He will strengthen you for the impossible days ahead in spite of all darkness.

6. Affirm that Jesus Christ tasted hostility from men and knew what it was to be unjustly tortured and abandoned, and to endure overwhelming loss, and then be killed, so that he is now a sympathetic mediator for us with God.

7. Declare that this murder was a great evil, and that God’s wrath is greatly kindled by the wanton destruction of human life created in his image.

8. Acknowledge that God has permitted a great outbreak of sin against his revealed will, and that we do not know all the reasons why he would permit such a thing now, when it was in his power to stop it.

9. Express the truth that Satan is a massive reality in the universe that conspires with our own sin and flesh and the world to hurt people and to move people to hurt others, but stress that Satan is within and under the control of God.

10. Express that these terrorists rebelled against the revealed will of God and did not love God or trust him or find in God their refuge and strength and treasure, but scorned his ways and his Person.

11. Since rebellion against God was at the root of this act of murder, let us all fear such rebellion in our own hearts, and turn from it, and embrace the grace of God in Christ, and renounce the very impulses that caused this tragedy.

12. Point the living to the momentous issues of sin and repentance in our own hearts and the urgent need to get right with God through his merciful provision of forgiveness in Christ, so that a worse fate than death will not overtake us.

13. Remember that even those who trust in Christ may be cut down like these thousands who were in New York and Washington, but that does not mean they have been abandoned by God or not loved by God even in those agonizing hours of suffering. God’s love conquers even through calamity.

14. Mingle heart-wrenching weeping with unbreakable confidence in the goodness and sovereignty of God who rules over and through the sin and the plans of rebellious people.

15. Trust God for his ability to do the humanly impossible, and bring you through this nightmare and, in some inscrutable way, bring good out of it.

16. Explain, when the time is right, and they have the wherewithal to think clearly that one of the mysteries of God’s greatness is that he ordains that some things come to pass which he forbids and disapproves of.

17. Express your personal cherishing of the sovereignty of God as the ground of all your hope as you face the human impossibilities of life. The very fulfillment of the New Covenant promises of our salvation and preservation hang on God’s sovereignty over rebellious human wills.

18. Count God your only lasting treasure, because he is the only sure and stable thing in the universe.

19. Remind everyone that to live is Christ and to die is gain.

20. Pray that God would incline their hearts to his word, open their eyes to his wonders, unite their hearts to fear him, and satisfy them with his love.

21. At the right time sound the trumpet that all this good news is meant by God to free us for radical, sacrificial service for the salvation of men and the glory of Christ. Help them see that one message of all this misery is to show us that life is short and fragile and followed by eternity, and small, man-centered ambitions are tragic.

In His Grace,
Eric

Friday, April 13, 2007, 3:00:04 AM | Pulpit Magazine
(By John MacArthur)
In Ephesians 6:4, Paul writes, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” In our series these last two weeks, we’ve looked at both discipline (specifically, spanking) and instruction (specifically, evangelism). Today, we will look at the command to not provoke.

To “provoke . . . to anger” suggests a repeated, ongoing pattern of treatment that gradually builds up a deep–seated anger and resentment that boils over in outward hostility.
Such treatment is usually not intended to provoke anger. Here are eight ways in which parents can provoke their children to anger:

1) Well–meaning overprotection is a common cause of resentment in children. Parents who smother their children, overly restrict where they can go and what they can do, never trust them to do things on their own, and continually question their judgment build a barrier between themselves and their children—usually under the delusion that they are building a closer relationship. Children need careful guidance and certain restrictions, but they are individual human beings in their own right and must learn to make decisions on their own, commensurate with their age and maturity. Their wills can be guided but they cannot be controlled.

2) Another common cause of provoking children to anger is favoritism. Isaac favored Esau over Jacob and Rebekah preferred Jacob over Esau. That dual and conflicting favoritism not only caused great trouble for the immediate family but has continued to have repercussions in the conflicts between the descendants of Jacob and Esau until our present day! For parents to compare their children with each other, especially in the children’s presence, can be devastating to the child who is less talented or favored. He will tend to become discouraged, resentful, withdrawn, and bitter.
Favoritism by parents generally leads to favoritism among the children themselves, who pick up the practice from their parents. They will favor one brother or sister over the others and will often favor one parent over the other.

3) A third way parents provoke their children is by pushing achievement beyond reasonable bounds. A child can be so pressured to achieve that he is virtually destroyed. He quickly learns that nothing he does is sufficient to please his parents. No sooner does he accomplish one goal than he is challenged to accomplish something better. Fathers who fantasize their own achievements through the athletic skills of their sons, or mothers who fantasize a glamorous career through the lives of their daughters prostitute their responsibility as parents.
I once visited a young woman who was confined to a padded cell and was in a state of catatonic shock. She was a Christian and had been raised in a Christian family, but her mother had ceaselessly pushed her to be the most popular, beautiful, and successful girl in school. She became head cheerleader, homecoming queen, and later a model. But the pressure to excel became too great and she had a complete mental collapse. After she was eventually released from the hospital, she went back into the same artificial and demanding environment. When again she found she could not cope, she committed suicide. She had summed up her frustration when she told me one day, “I don’t care what it is I do, it never satisfies my mother.”

4) A fourth way children are provoked is by discouragement. A child who is never complimented or encouraged by his parents is destined for trouble. If he is always told what is wrong with him and never what is right, he will soon lose hope and become convinced that he is incapable of doing anything right. At that point he has no reason even to try. Parents can always find something that a child genuinely does well, and they should show appreciation for it. A child needs approval and encouragement in things that are good every bit as much as he needs correction in things that are not.

5) A fifth way provocation occurs is by parents’ failing to sacrifice for their children and making them feel unwanted. Children who are made to feel that they are an intrusion, that they are always in the way and interfere with the plans and happiness of the parents, cannot help becoming resentful. To such children the parents themselves will eventually become unwanted and an intrusion on the children’s plans and happiness.

6) A sixth form of provocation comes from failing to let children grow up at a normal pace. Chiding them for always acting childish, even when what they do is perfectly normal and harmless, does not contribute to their maturity but rather helps confirm them in their childishness.

7) A seventh way of angering children is that of using love as a tool of reward or punishment—granting it when a child is good and withdrawing it when he is bad. Often the practice is unconscious, but a child can sense if a parent cares for him less when is he disobedient than when he behaves. That is not how God loves and is not the way he intends human parents to love. God disciplines His children just as much out of love as He blesses them. “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines” (Heb. 12:6). Because it is so easy to punish out of anger and resentment, parents should take special care to let their children know they love them when discipline is given.

8. An eighth way to provoke children is by physical and verbal abuse. Battered children are a growing tragedy today. Even Christian parents—fathers especially—sometimes overreact and spank their children much harder than necessary. Proper physical discipline is not a matter of exerting superior authority and strength, but of correcting in love and reasonableness. Children are also abused verbally. A parent can as easily overpower a child with words as with physical force. Putting him down with superior arguments or sarcasm can inflict serious harm, and provokes him to anger and resentment. It is amazing that we sometimes say things to our children that we would not think of saying to anyone else—for fear of ruining our reputation!

In closing, consider the confession of one Christian father,
My family’s all grown and the kids are all gone. But if I had to do it all over again, this is what I would do. I would love my wife more in front of my children. I would laugh with my children more—at our mistakes and our joys. I would listen more, even to the littlest child. I would be more honest about my own weaknesses, never pretending perfection. I would pray differently for my family; instead of focusing on them, I’d focus on me. I would do more things together with my children. I would encourage them more and bestow more praise. I would pay more attention to little things, like deeds and words of thoughtfulness. And then, finally, if I had to do it all over again, I would share God more intimately with my family; every ordinary thing that happened in every ordinary day I would use to direct them to God.
(Today’s article adapted from John’s commentary on Ephesians, published by Moody.)

To put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my Substitute, I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if he did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me. If He did not deal with my sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me. There is no other possibility.
–Leon Morris

In His Grace,
Eric