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| As I was visiting Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile's blog Pure Church I found a series of articles he did a couple of years ago called "When Witnessing To a Muslim." In light of our recent Forge discussion I thought some of you might find the advise as helpful as I did. Being a former Muslin, Pastor Anyabwile brings more than speculation to the discussion.
Here are the links:
When Witnessing to Muslims...
Know the Gospel
Renounce Fear
Defend the Bible
Get Personal
Get to Jesus (1)
Get to Jesus (2)
Be Hospitable
Remember
IX Marks ministry has an audio interview with Pastor Anyabwile called "The Gospel and Islam" that you can listen to as well. And, you can hear his testimony here.
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| For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth. 2 Timothy 4:3-4
I have heard this verse read and preached numerous times, and it was always talking about someone else. "Those" people who were going to church to be entertained not to worship; more interested in the anecdotes and stories than doctrine. It couldn't be talking about me; I want to hear the truth. My church preaches about sin and wrath and the cross. Paul was surely talking about someone else.
But this Sunday, for a brief moment I became one of those more concerned about what I wanted to hear and I stopped and asked myself if I wasn't just like them. For those of you not at Temple Baptist this past Sunday, we had Pastor Bruce Roeder from Grace Community Church in Milwaukee preaching and when I saw his title and passage, my first reaction was "We just had a sermon on this recently. Do we need it again so soon?" But as Bruce preached, it became evident to me it was something I needed to hear again. And I wasn't the only one. People in both my small groups remarked that it was timely and challenging. Here's the link to the sermon so you can hear for yourself.
But my initial reaction disturbed me. As soon as I realized what I had done, my conscience accused me of just wanting my ears tickled, or perhaps more accurately, my brain. I enjoy thinking about new concepts and views, contemplating the implications and seeing how they fit with or challenge what I already believe. I don't think there is anything wrong with doing this, but it appears I sometimes desire something new to the exclusion of what I consider old or already adequately considered.
I considered other areas, particularly what I read. Tim Challies had some good help to become a better reader, but one area he didn't mention was to reread good books. This is something I used to do regularly, but have recently not practiced. There are some books that have been so profitable the third and fourth times through, even more so than the latest book that I just had to read first. Too often my reaction to yet another book on a subject like grace is the same as that to the sermon I thought I didn't need. Been there, done that. Even worse if it's a book I've already read.
I concluded that there are some things I need to hear repeatedly and won't unless I am more deliberate in including them in my reading and sermon intake. Books that immediately came to mind are Don Whitney's "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life", A.W. Tozers "The Pursuit of God" and John Bunyans "Pilgrim's Progress." These are a few of the books that have been blessings when read multiple times. I have not read "The Pursuit of God" in probably ten years now, when that was one I read at least once a year so that will be the first I reread.
What are some of the books that you reread and sermons that you listen to again? Please leave answers in the comments.
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| What goes through your mind when you hear an athlete mention God in a post-game interview? Do only winners give glory to God? If God helped one team win, does that mean He helped the other team lose?
Watching players after the game brings these questions to mind. Some post-game interviews are downright embarrassing when the athlete talks about God. I appreciate what they are trying to do, but I do wonder what impression that has on unbelievers.
But a Christian must wrestle with how sports, both viewing and playing fits into their walk with God. I have always wanted to do more thinking on this and for the most part have not taken the time and just resolved not to let sports become too important to me and take up too much of my time. There's a new book out that claims to deal with this subject and Lord willing I am going to read it soon. I supposed I have to get it first, but that's a minor detail. The book is called Game Day for the Glory of God by Stephen Altrogge. I'll let you know how it is when I read it, but in the meantime, what are some questions you have related to the subject of sports and the Christian. By the way, God is obviously not a Cubs fan, in case you were wondering.
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| Being a Brewers fan, dislike of Albert Pujols come a little too easily. What he has done on the field along with some comments he has made about the Brewers has made it too easy to root for him to do poorly. I will still prefer he go 0-4 every time against the Brewers, but I can't help but wish him success if it helps him achieve his goals as outlined on his website. He was recently nominated for a Clemente award which is given to MLB players based upon their involvement in their community. He has established a foundation that supports families with children with Down's syndrome. He has a daughter with Down's so this foundation is very important to him. On his website he gives his testimony as well as a statement of faith. I am sure we might have some doctrinal differences (and until he is traded to the American League some baseball differences), but I can't help but commit myself to praying for Albert as a brother in Christ when I see him or something about him in the future.
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| Here's a quote from A.W. Tozer's "The Pursuit of God" that caught my attention.
"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they would possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship."
At first look it made perfect sense, so I wanted to consider it more. We have to be careful when we are using analogies. Does the tuning of different pianos correlate to the unity of believers? I think it does. We are all individuals, but as we come together God desires unity just as when instruments come together; they must all be properly tuned so as to avoid dissonance. This harmonizes with what Paul was commanding in Philippians 2:2. He tells them "make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." They are to be in tune with one another. Surely Paul did not desire them to come up with this standard of unity themselves. I can only imagine the disunity that would arise if scripture had stopped there and we were left to come up with the same mind, love, spirit and purpose ourselves. We would probably have nearly as many different standards as we do believers. But Paul goes on in vs. 5 to show us the standard is Jesus. As we learned in our sermons on humility, our portrait is Christ Jesus. We are to have the mind, love, spirit and purpose of Jesus. We need to tune our lives to Him, pursuing Christlikesness not solely as an end, but also as a means to pursuing unity. True unity will occur as we are unified in Christ. This seems to me to be a good thing as pursuing unity now becomes an objective goal as I measure myself against Christ, instead of a subjective mess as we stumble and argue for what unity is.
May the Lord protect us from seeking a "unity" that would turn our eyes from God.
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