Mercy Swimming

Silence and Solitude with the Puritans

December 14, 2009 at 6:31 pm | In Devotion, the gospel | Leave a Comment
Tags: The Puritans

Last Monday, I had the opportunity to get away for an entire day of silence and solitude–away from computers, cell phones, television, radio, etc. It was extremely refreshing and long overdue. Lord willing I hope this will become a monthly routine for me. In case you are curious, some of this was instigated by a series of posts by C.J. Mahaney and Mark Driscoll.

I would like to share one element of my time with you. I began be reading over my personal journal and reflecting on 2009 as a whole. Some of that was very encouraging and some not so much. Recently, in my own personal devotional time I’ve been reading through some Puritan prayers in a book called The Valley of Vision. Last week I was on page 134 at a prayer entitled “The Deeps.” The Lord moved. Here’s the prayer (with some updated language):

Lord Jesus,

Give me a deeper repentance,
a horror of sin,
a dread of its approach;

Help me chastely to flee it,
and jealously to resolve that my heart
shall be yours alone.

Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in you,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of yourself,
as Savior, Master, Lord and King.

Give me a deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in your Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from you.

Plough deep in me, great Lord,
heavenly Husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until you alone are seen in me,
your beauty golden like summer harvest,
your fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no Master but you,
no law but your will,
no delight but yourself,
no wealth but that you give,
no good but that you bless,
no peace but that you bestow,

I am nothing but that you make me,
I have nothing but that I receive from you,
I can be nothing but that grace alone adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing
with living water.

I think this really sums up my day of prayer and reflection. Plough deep in me Lord! This was really a challenge (turning off all electronics and spending time in seclusion), but it was really worth it. I’ll be commenting more on what I learned from my time, about myself, the Lord and his church.

Merry Christmas!

An Evidence of Grace: Brothers Who Can Preach!

December 8, 2009 at 7:03 pm | In Sermon Audio, The Local Church | Leave a Comment

Yesterday I spent some significant time outlining some evidences of God’s grace in my life. I’ll say more about my day of Silence and Solitude in a future post.

One of the evidences of God’s grace in our church is that we have a good group of men who are gifted as preachers and teachers (not counting the guys on staff). I was reminded again of this grace this past Sunday at Redeemer as Chris Pope brought the Word from 1 Peter 1:3-9. I highly recommend that you listen to this excellent message entitled Living Hope and Unspeakable Joy. You can listen here.

Praise God for His abundant grace to the Church!

The Fiery Trial of Popularity

November 17, 2009 at 7:39 pm | In Biographies | 1 Comment

Lord willing I will be preaching on the life of George Whitefield on the last Sunday of December at Redeemer. Preaching a biographical sermon on one of the cherished Saints of old is my attempt to stir the souls of God’s people into a fresh awareness of our need for Christ each new year. In preparation I’m reading Arnold Dallimore’s biography, George Whitefield.

Whitefield was perhaps the most popular preacher of our time. It was not a big deal for him to preach to 10,000 people outdoors. People flocked to him in London so much that he could not even walk in the streets. How did he handle this trial of prosperity?

“The tide of popularity began to run very high. In a short time I could no longer walk on foot, but was constrained to go in a coach from place to place, to avoid the hosannas of the multitude. They grew quite extravagant in their applause, and had it not been for my compassionate High Priest, popularity would have destroyed me. I used to plead with him to take me by the hand and lead me unhurt through this fiery furnace. He heard my request and gave me to see the vanity of all commendations but his own.” (Dallimore, pg 29)

May the Lord lead us through this next year seeking His commendation alone.

How Do I Know God Exists?

November 10, 2009 at 3:32 pm | In Evangelism, Theology and Culture | Leave a Comment
Tags: God

A very thoughtful and provoking response below by Dr. D.A. Carson:

more about "How Do I Know God Exists? ", posted with vodpod

(HT: Mike G. Smith via facebook)

New 9 Marks E-Journal is Out!

November 3, 2009 at 2:37 am | In The Local Church, the gospel | Leave a Comment
Tags: 9 Marks

Here’s Jonathan Leeman’s introduction of this issue:

Church discipline is one place where everything in a church’s life collides. Theory and practice collide. The doctrines of God, sin, judgment, redemption, and eschatology collide. Sometimes personalities collide. And, hopefully, sin and grace collide.

This means that practicing discipline well requires good pastoral and theological sensibilities. So we’re devoting a second eJournal in a row to the topic, both to exercise our own sensibilities and yours. Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert provide counsel on what to do before you practice discipline. Matt Schmucker, both in his new article and in the one from the archives, offers advice on dealing with the non-attenders. Stephen Matteucci considers the importance of the one or two witnesses in Matthew 18. And I tackle the question of whether a member can resign his or her membership in order to avoid discipline altogether.

Finally, several pastors recall lessons they’ve learned the hard way in the forum, where Bob Johnson states the conclusion of the matter well: discipline in a church should be as normal and regular as preaching, teaching, and evangelism. That’s a tough idea to accept, and one more reason we think it’s worth coming back to this issue yet again. May Christ’s bride be made ready.

Read the whole thing here.

A Modern Day Eutychus

October 29, 2009 at 6:30 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Acts 20:7-12:

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.