vassal of the King

The analogies between my daughter’s heart condition and the spiritual condition of every human being are here defined. Just as my daughter was born with a bad heart, so every human being who is born into this world has a spiritually corrupt heart. Just as my daughter needs surgery performed on her heart so as to spare her life, so it is with every human. Every person needs spiritual surgery performed on one’s heart so that one can really spiritually live. Just as my daughter needs someone outside of her to accomplish this new heart-surgery in her, so every sinner needs someone outside of himself to accomplish this heart-surgery which results in regeneration. Just as my daughter now is in the NICU being so tenderly, constantly, and frequently attended to, we know that without surgery that fixes the problem, all this work by the NICU doctors would all be for naught. So it is with our spiritual conditions. Sinners can try to attend to themselves with such care, frequency, fervency

Born at 2:16am on Friday, October 29th, Tikvah Hadassah Kirkland entered the world weighing in at 7lbs 13oz. She is stable and doing well in the NICU as her heart-surgery is scheduled for Wednesday (more updates to follow). Thanks for your prayers! Soli Deo gloria .

A timely reminder from J.C. Ryle: "I charge my readers to remember this. Stand fast on old principles. Do not forsake the old paths. Let nothing tempt you to believe that multiplication of forms and ceremonies, constant reading of liturgical services, or frequent communions, will ever do so much good to souls as the powerful, fiery, fervent preaching of God's Word. Daily services without sermons may gratify and edify a few handfuls of believers, but they will never reach, draw, attract, or arrest the great mass of mankind. If men want to do good to the multitude, if they want to reach their hearts and consciences, they must walk in the steps of Wycliffe, Latimer, Luther, Chrysostom, and St. Paul. They must attack them through their ears; they must blow the trumpet of the everlasting Gospel loud and long; they must preach the Word !" JC Ryle, Light from Old Times , 7-8.

From David Peterson: "Throughout the Bible, acceptable worship means approaching or engaging with God on the terms that he proposes and in the manner that he makes possible. It involves honouring, serving and respecting him, abandoning any loyalty or devotion that hinders an exclusive relationship with him. Although some of Scripture's terms for worship may refer to specific gestures of homage, rituals or priestly ministrations, worship is more fundamentally faith expressing itself in obedience and adoration. Consequently, in both Testaments it is often shown to be a personal and moral fellowship with God relevant to every sphere of life." From Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship , 283.

Here's a helpful visual of how the building up of the saints happens when we minister to one another: From: David Peterson, Engaging with God , 221.

Good reminder from David Peterson in his book Engaging with God : " An engagement with God through Christ is now the only way to offer the worship that is due to Him " (187, emphasis added).

This gets my bones burnin' to preach. Another leading characteristic of Whitefield’s preaching was his tremendous earnestness. One poor uneducated man said of him, that “he preached like a lion.” He succeeded in showing people that he at least believed all he was saying, and that his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, were bent on making them believe it too. His sermons were not like the morning and evening gun at Portsmouth, a kind of formal discharge, fired off as a matter of course, that disturbs nobody. They were all life and fire. There was no getting away from them. Sleep was next to impossible. You must listen whether you liked it or not. There was a holy violence about him which firmly took your attention by storm. You were fairly carried off your legs by his energy before you had time to consider what you would do. This, we may be sure, was one secret of his success. We must convince men that we are in earnest ourselves if we want to be believed. The difference betwe

Today God blessed me with being with my 3rd Street Heralds team today which I thoroughly enjoy. Today there were many who preached God's Word and God's gospel to a lot of people walking on the Promenade. Here is a link of my John 3 sermon, thanks to Living Waters Ministry . At about the 18:00 minute mark, some opposition arises.

Promoting false theology is not new. Rob Bell is following the step of many throughout history who deny the unpopular and hard-to-swallow doctrines of Scripture. The doctrine Bell denies is the eternal, conscious, torment by God upon all the unbelieving in the Lake of Fire forever. He has a second book coming out; it's actually a sequel to Love Wins . This one is called The Love Wins Companion . Should be out 11/15/2011. You should be alert of Bell & his belief on hell — through it is by no means new; but he is quite popular. To rebut his position, I give two Scriptures from the book of Revelation: Revelation 14:9-11 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the

Elizabeth and I trust the Lord with our daughter's heart condition and fully acknowledge that God will do whatever will bring Him the most glory — whether that be in her life or in her death. We are praying for wisdom as the surgeons will perform open-heart surgery in the first few days after the birth, but we desire to trust the Lord and rest upon His unchanging goodness. Pray with us for her life, yes. But pray with us more importantly for God to be glorified in this whole situation with Tikvah and TGA (=Transposition of the Great Arteries). Her due date is Thursday, October 27th. We'll try to post updates here on the blog & on facebook. Thanks so much for your prayers! My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope (תִּקְוָה) is from Him (Ps 62:5). Soli Deo gloria .

Read this letter that James Smith—pastor in the 19th century—penned this letter that is well worth your read. It is called Letter to an Unsaved Friend . Dear unsaved friend, Could you please read the following carefully, and then sign it--if you agree to it. I am resolved to persevere in sin, and follow the maxims and customs of those around me--though it costs me the loss of my soul, and exposes me to everlasting damnation. I am resolved to reject the Son of God--I will not embrace Him as my Savior, or have Him reign over me. I am resolved that I will not accept the pardon which God presents to me in the gospel, though it cost Jesus His life to procure it--and I know I must eternally perish without it. I am determined not to submit to God's way of salvation, and I consent to be lost forever! I have made up my mind, that I will never consent to receive a free salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ--I will not have it! I am resolved . . . to reject God's message, to dare Hi

From AW Tozer: "Has it ever occurred to you that 100 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 each one must individually bow. So 100 worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship."

Heading to downtown LA An awesome night of talking, Q&A, food, and more food! The greatest part of my week—by far—has been my date night with my beautiful wife, Elizabeth.

Here's a good one by D.A. Carson: " Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so. This side of the Fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that God has graciously made. While all true worship is God-centered, Christian worship is no less Christ-centered. Empowered by the Spirit and in line with the stipulations of the new covenant, it manifests itself in all our living, finding its impulse in the gospel, which restores our relationship with our Redeemer-God and therefore also with our fellow image-bearers, our co-worshippers. Such worship therefore manifests itself both in adoration and in action, both in the individual believer and in corporate worship , which is worship offered up in the context of the body of believers, who strive to align all the forms of their devout ascription of all worth to God with the panoply

Martin Bucer prayed in 1537: " Almighty, gracious Father, forasmuch as our whole salvation depends upon our true understanding of your Holy Word, grant to all of us that our hearts, being freed from worldly affairs, may hear and apprehend your Holy Word with all diligence and faith, that we may rightly understand your gracious will, cherish it, and live by it with all earnestness, to you praise and honor; through our Lord Jesus Christ. " (from Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship , 206). Let's be reminded that when we read, study, preach, or teach God's Word, we are all in need of the Spirit's grace to understand the meaning of the text & to apply it accurately to our lives.

I preached 1 Peter 3:7 last night and have never had as many men come up to me afterwards and talk. Amazing how God works. And amazing that this is such a dire need in our culture today. Ever wonder what it means to be a godly man & a godly husband? What does God require of you? The world doesn't have the answers? Our own sinful & corrupt hearts don't have the answers? Men's Magazine doesn't have the answers. But God's Word does have the answers! Listen to the sermon here . 1 Peter 3:7 — You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

Yes that's right. The Scriptures directly connect biblical husbanding to spiritual living. If the husband is not performing his duty in glorifying God by honoring and learning his wife, then according to 1 Peter 3:7 his prayers are "cut off" or "hindered." 1 Peter 3:7 — You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. Tonight I have the privilege to open God's Word again at the Bible Tabernacle and I'm very excited but greatly convicted at the same time to exposit this text. Here we learn that it is impossible to have a vibrant spiritual life while neglecting one's marital life. We are called to learn our wives (and 'keep learning' them!), to honor our wives, and to follow Christ as we lead our wives so that our prayers are not hindered. Very sobering; very true; ver

Exodus 34:6-7: ‏ וַיַּעֲבֹ֨ר יְהוָ֥ה ׀ עַל־פָּנָיו֮ וַיִּקְרָא֒ יְהוָ֣ה ׀ יְהוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן אֶ֥רֶךְ אַפַּ֖יִם וְרַב־חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת ( And the Lord passed by before him and He called out: 'The LORD, the LORD, a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abundant in covenant-love and truth.') We often see in our New Testaments the phrase "just as it is written" that recalls an OT text that the NT author cites. But let's not forget that the OT writers were just as saturated in the Word as well. Another fascinating study is to see how the OT uses the OT. I'm preaching on Ps 117 this Sunday and a phrase occurs there that clearly refers back to Ex 34:6-7. A number of important truths can be spoken of regarding this excellent text: 1) The Lord declares His own character in Ex 34:6-7. It is not another telling us about God; these are the words of the LORD about Himself. 2) The Lord is a compassionate God . He is compassionate towards those who

What I learned from my PhD oral examination. After being interrogated for 4 hours and 15 minutes, I sat down and reflected on a few lessons God taught me in this process. Here are a few of them: 1. I am not humble. I went into the exam terrified, afraid, mortified, and scared. Period. But I felt prepared. I had studied for months and been reading the list of required books for years (literally). But I went into the exam feeling as though I could handle myself alright and that I knew the basic gist of many of the issues. But that all changed after I updated them about my ministry plans at the beginning of the examination time! They asked question after question that were hard, difficult, and mind-stretching. After pontificating for a few minutes and they quickly ascertained that a particular issue was a weak spot for me, they would take that issue a step farther and ask a similar question that relates to the previous issue that I struggled my way through. At the end of the four hour exa

"Canonicity is determined by God. A book is not inspired because men make it canonical; it is canonical because God inspired it. ... Canonicity is determined or established authoritatively by God; it is merely discovered by man." —Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible , revised and expanded edition (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1986), 221. Excellent!

Please intercede in prayer for me as I undergo my oral examination this week for my PhD program. I have four hours of question and answer with three professors. Pray that God would bring the things to mind that I've studied these last months. Thanks so much praying for me!