When Arminianism Fails

One of my classmates pastors a small church. He rejects Calvinism, though I don't know why. I do know that makes him an exception at our seminary, but that also gives me hope for the areas where I differ from the company line.

At any rate, he has expressed some frustration over his congregation's lack of spiritual movement. He prepares his messages and preaches the truth to them. He stands by the Word of God in preaching and counseling. Why isn't it moving mountains?

My suggestion to him was that he cannot do God's job. No matter how clever we are, no matter how much Scripture we quote, no matter how many times we meet with someone, only the Holy Spirit can really change hearts. I think it is more of an issue of prayer than anything. We need to trust that God wants to be glorified and it is up to Him to grant someone a heart of genuine repentance.

I have often heard Mark Driscoll say that in evangelism we should sleep like a Calvinist. We need to evangelize, but we also need to trust God's sovereignty as well.

Climbing Hills

I have a couple of fairly hilly routes near my house. There is one that I run fairly regularly (1-2 times/week) that is 3.44 miles and it usually takes me about 28:30 to run it. I'm not sure why, but yesterday was a serious struggle. It may be because I have put on a couple of pounds through careless eating. It may also be because it is now warmer in the mornings.

At any rate, a lot of thoughts go through my head as I fight to climb the hills. I try to make it an act of worship and think about some inspiring praise & worship songs as I climb. But, to be honest, sometimes I think of Rocky training montages. What red-blooded American man isn't inspired to see Rocky doing all kinds of feats of strength as he prepares for the big match?

When I think of running and hills, I tend to think of this:



In particular, the part where he has the log on his shoulders and he is going through two feet of snow. That's how I feel sometimes.

What really struck me yesterday was how much this reminds me of Christ. I think of Him carrying the beam on His back as He climbed Calvary. He couldn't make it because of the beating that He suffered, so someone was called in to help.

John 19:16-17 ESV
(16) So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,
(17) and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

Matthew 27:32 ESV
(32) As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.

This is a little different than Rocky, isn't it? Rocky always guts it out and succeeds in his training. However, there are usually some stumbles along the way too, right?

One thing is certainly the same. Both are victors at the end. Maybe it's stretching things a bit to call Rocky a messianic figure, but there are certainly parallels.

Anyhow, thinking of Christ climbing that hill for my sake certainly helped me to suck it up and make it up the little hill I had to climb. Thinking about this makes me want to go back to California and take another crack at the fire trails. At the very least, I'm going to get a chance to tackle the beach next week.

Tired

As you know, I've started doing some journaling when I do my morning devotions. Many mornings I have some great ideas for a blog entry, but they don't stick around for when I actually have the time to write. I may have to do some shuffling in the morning or at least take the time to write down some good notes for later. It feels like I'm always up against the wall for having to go out running.

Today has been a lot of activity with church, a picnic, getting a car inspected and lubricated, and making granola and fudge. The good news is that we're more ready for the beach trip. The bad news is that I'm very tired.

More good news is that I have been keeping up on my Greek NT reading, though I've been cheating a little bit. I've been reading 1 John, which we did at the end of my first year. The language is pretty simple, but it's still good review. Got to keep at it!

Some Tozer

Preaching: Starving at the Father's Table

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, 
son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, 
Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." 
--John 21:15

There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the 
principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem 
satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, 
strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest 
Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives. They 
minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a 
longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy.

I trust I speak in charity, but the lack in our pulpits is real. 
Milton's terrible sentence applies to our day as accurately as it 
did to his: "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." It is a 
solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's 
children starving while actually seated at the Father's table.   
The Pursuit of God, 8.

"Lord, I trust I'm not being critical, but it seems to me that 
there are more and more churches where people are starving at 
the Father's table. I sense the lack in our pulpits of which Tozer 
speaks, and pray that You might bring a refreshing. Amen."

I feel like this sometimes at our church.  It is a sober reminder of what I don't want to have happen at any church where I may get to preach.

Grand Theft Auto

I have described Grand Theft Auto III as the best and the worst game I have ever played. I got through the first section of the game and realized that I just couldn't go on. However, I was thoroughly impressed with the "sandbox" world where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted. Want to do the missions? Then do the missions. Want to go on a rampage and just kill people? Then do that. Want to steal fancy cars and do crazy jumping stunts? You can do that too. What really impressed me was how you could get health back by picking up a prostitute, parking in a back alley, and then having sex. What impressed me further was that you could get your money back by then killing her and retrieving it.

Al Molher made a great post today about GTA IV. This quote from one of the game designers is fantastic:

"If you let your child play this game, you're a bad parent."

I don't think a lot of Christian parents really understand what happens in this game. Unfortunately, some probably do and just don't care.