Thursday, August 13, 2009

Sleepy, "Lazy" Teenagers?

By Dr. Joseph J. Horton

“During the summer most teens get more sleep, staying up later and sleeping much later than they do during the school year. Are teens simply being lazy during the summer?” In “Sleepy, ‘Lazy’ Teenagers?” (702 words), associate professor of psychology at Grove City College and contributing scholar with The Center for Vision & Values— Dr. Joseph J. Horton—sums up the latest sleep research which reveals, “Being a morning person is not … an indication of moral superiority. It reflects one’s biology.” “The physiology of typical teens leads them to be night owls. This tendency to stay up late and sleep late is very resistant to change.” Citing a pilot study conducted with his colleagues at Grove City College, Dr. Horton validates the conclusions of a sleep-research pioneer, which suggest “that the students did not have a sleep disorder; they were simply sleep deprived. Teens may appear to have problems with sleep because we force a schedule on them that is not suited to their physiological cycles.”

Click here.

Let's Make Some Autumn Resolutions

By John Piper

God approves of New Year’s resolutions. And mid-year, and three-quarters-year, and monthly, and weekly, and daily resolutions. Any and all resolutions for good have God’s approval—if we resolve by faith in Jesus.

I would like to encourage you to make some autumn resolutions. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Well, the examined life is not worth living either if the examination produces no resolutions. What examination and experience teach us is that the unplanned life settles into fruitless routine. The drifting life—the coasting, que-sera-sera, unreflective life—tends to be a wasted life.

The opposite of this is self-examination—life-examination, routine-examination, schedule-examination, heart-examination—followed by “resolves for good.” That’s what I encourage you to do. Here’s why I think God will be pleased when you do this by faith in Jesus.
Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12,

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ

I find this extremely encouraging. Paul prays for us—and I pray for you even as I write this—that God will “fulfill every resolve for good” that we have. This means that it is good to have resolves. God approves of it. It also means that our resolving is important, but that God’s enabling us to “fulfill” the resolves is crucial. Paul wouldn’t pray if God’s help weren’t needed. “The heart of man plans [resolves!] his way, but the Lord establishes [fulfills!] his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

But it matters how we resolve. When Paul says, “every resolve for good and every work of faith,” he is not describing two different acts. He is describing one act in two ways. It is a “resolve for good” because we will it. It is a “work of faith” because we depend on Jesus to give us power to fulfill it. That’s how we resolve—by faith in Jesus.

So Paul says that the fulfilling of the resolve is “by his power.” That’s what we are depending on. That’s what we are looking for when we resolve. We are looking to Jesus who promised to be with us and help us. “I know that through . . . the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance” (Philippians 1:19).

This explains the words “so that” in Paul’s prayer: “...so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.” When you resolve something good and trust in the power of Jesus to help you do it, then “the name of our Lord Jesus is glorified.” If you depend on your willpower, your name will be glorified.

So Christian resolutions are different from the world’s resolutions. We believe that by grace alone we have been “called”—that is, captured by the truth and beauty of Christ. We resolve things not to make God be for us, but because he is already for us—that’s what his call makes plain. He opens our eyes to see and trust Christ. He shows us, in the cross, that he is totally for us. All our resolves are to walk more worthily of this calling.

They are faith resolves—faith that we are loved and called and justified. And faith that therefore Jesus will help us do what we resolve to do. When we resolve like that, the name of our Lord Jesus is magnified.

So pause sometime soon. Pause and examine your life this autumn. Examine what is missing that should be there. What is there that should be removed? What new dreams for ministry might you venture? What new habits do you want to build into your Fall schedule?

Remember: God will be pleased with new resolves for good if you resolve by faith in Jesus. I am praying for you “that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.”


Seeking to glorify the Lord Jesus with you,

Pastor John

HT: DG

How Fail Went From Verb to Interjection

The New York Times, in a pop culture primer, tells how the word "Fail!" went from being a verb to being an interjection as in "A conservative blog posts an image of a United States-Russian diplomatic agreement with the president's name spelled 'Barak Obama' and calls it "White House Spellcheck FAIL."

Click here for the article


HT: Challies

Matthew Henry's Method for Prayer Online for Free

This is a most welcome development. Ligon Duncan and others have taken Matthew Henry's classic Method for Prayer, updated the language (including the ESV instead of KJV) and put the whole thing online for free.

You can use this biblically saturated resource in numerous ways:
(1) Read the book online.
(2) Follow the thread of a keyword through different parts of the book.
(3) Work through the heart of the book via daily devotional emails.
(4) Take advantage of the Index and Table of Contents.
(5) Perform your own search of the book's contents.
(6) Other features of this website.

I highly recommend checking it out and bookmarking it! There are few other resources as helpful for learning how to pray God's Word back to him

I haven't read this work through yet, but from my perusing, it seems to be a wonderful resource on helping believers build godly prayer lives and practices, a trend which is lacking to the detriment of the American church. I know I'll be using it.

Pass it on.

HT: JT

Monday, August 10, 2009

Amen

by Andy Naselli

Douglas Wilson suggests three senses in which the Bible uses the word "amen":
covenant oath
benediction
doxology


Here's how David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 11: To God’s Glory [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 289-90) reflects on Paul's doxological use of amen in Romans 11:36 (concluding his third and final sermon on Romans 11:33-36):

So I put to you a final question. Having gone through this mighty revelation of doctrine, having followed the mighty demonstration of the great Apostle right away through to chapter 11 verse 32, having listened to the Apostle's doxology where he ends by saying, 'To whom be glory for ever and ever . . .' do you say 'Amen' to this?

What does this 'Amen' mean? It means that you confess that you are nothing, that you confess that you are a vile hell-deserving sinner, that you acknowledge gladly that you are what you are solely by the grace of God; that you have ceased to defend yourself, you have ceased to try to excuse yourself, you have ceased to try to justify yourself in any way whatsoever. I go further; that you have ceased to try to pit your mind against God's way. Are you still arguing against election? If you are you have not said your 'Amen' to all this. Do not forget the mighty demonstration of chapters 9-11. The purpose of God according to election! Are you still standing up and putting your mind and your opinion against it? If so you are not saying your 'Amen' to this great doxology. The man who says his 'Amen' is the man who says, I am nothing, He is all. I know nothing, I can do nothing, I have nothing. I am simply a vile sinner, I owe all things to the grace and the glory and the mercy of God and I give it Him. I give it Him with my lips, I confess Him, I say I am nothing, I say it is all of Him—I do it by my life. I am ready to say what Paul says, not only here but again to the Corinthians: 'Of him (of God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, him that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.' And I say 'Amen' to it. What can we say? There is nothing to say except what the Apostle says: 'To whom be glory for ever'!

[HT: JT]

Randy Alcorn: Taking Charge of the TV

Randy Alcorn has some helpful thoughts about taking charge of the television. You do not have to agree with all of it to benefit from his advice. (For instance, I do not watch TV, only the occasional movie or sports game). But, I imagine that many friends find their tube-viewing detrimentally in excess, so perhaps this advice from Alcorn will be useful. And lest we (I) be too cocky, social networking has taken the throne of excess use in my generation's life, so here is a link to an earlier article I posted about using social-networking time in a worthwhile way:

Redeeming Social Life Online: Click Here to check out some provoking thoughts on a Christian's approach to Facebook. I'm not sure how I feel about all it's nuances, but it certainly is something to ponder.

Redeeming Time: Speaking of which, here is an insight into ways to redeem that which we all have a tendency to waste: time.

Here are Alcorn's points (but click through to read his reasons):

1. Keep track of how much time you spend watching.
2. Decide in advance how much TV to watch per week.
3. Use a schedule to choose programs for the week--then stick to your choices.
4. Keep your television unplugged, store it in a closet, and/or put it in a remote part of the house (prevents mindless flip-on).
5. Periodically "fast" from television for a week or a month. Notice the "cold turkey" effects. (Avoids addiction, reminds you of all that can be done when TV off).
6. Choose programs that uplift rather than undermine biblical values.
7. Use the "off" switch freely. If it's wrong and you keep watching, you're saying "I approve." (Unless it doesn't present temptation and you're critically analyzing it).
8. Use the channel changer frequently.
9. Watch and discuss programs together as a family--to avoid passivity and develop active moral discernment through interaction. (Avoid the second TV set that splits the family and leaves children unsupervised).
10. Don't allow young children to choose their own programs--that's the parent's responsibility.
11. Don't use television as a baby sitter.
12. Spend an hour reading Scripture, a Christian book or magazine, or doing a ministry for each hour you watch TV.
13. Consider dropping cable, Showtime, HBO, or any other service that you determine is importing ungodliness or temptation into your home.
14. If you find you can't control it--or you're tired of the battle--get rid of your television.

[HT: Josh Harris]

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Winding Down

And so summer is thundering to a close, whether I like it or not.

Camp Judson's summer season has ended. I'm glad to be done with the kids--frankly, I'm drained and exhausted. But, I'm bittersweet because I know I didn't minister to the kids to the best of my ability and I didn't do by job to the best of my ability, and I didn't enjoy the place where I grew up and thought of as my home as much as I could; I was faithless many times. Yet God is faithful despite my faithlessness (thanks Westminster Confession and Lord's Supper at Hillcrest this past Sunday for that power reminder of truth).

As I write this, I'm sitting in the Tech Booth at the Youth Temple in Ocean Grove, NJ working as the Technical Director for the Leadership Summit sponsored by Willowcreek Church. Ocean Grove is one of the satellite sites for this summit and our job is to synchronize the satellite feed of all activities in Chicago and broadcast them on the big screen here on the East Coast. Honestly, this has been fun and fresh volunteer work with some of my very best friends mixed in with a vacation at a seaside resort. I haven't the highest opinion of Willowcreek or much of contemporary/pop-evangelicalism and I have mixed feelings on Tim Keller (who is speaking at the moment) and his programs-oriented style. All the same, he is the only Reformed preacher this Summit is broadcasting, and he is a man with a love and passion for the gospel "from whom much wisdom can be gleaned," according to Ligon Duncan. And if it's good enough for Ligon Duncan, it's good enough for me.

Plus, I get to wear a headset, namebadge, and operate a lot of fun looking control panels with lots of blinking lights and buttons. Worthwhile? I think so.

Soon, I will return to the haven of academia and Christendom which I love. I'm excited; there's much to be done and much to consider and much to tackle. I've got plenty of hesitation, not the least of which is serving in an RA capacity, learning Greek, taking over a conference, securing funds, participating in a small government, planning life, changing churches and denominations and doing all the aforementioned well.

Grace, anyone? Praise God it abounds from Him.

Still need to finish that silly paper from May Intersession. Too bad one can't drive and type at the same time.