I don't remember how I came across @jrvassar from @apostlesNYC or why I started to follow him on twitter, but I am glad I did it. Pastor Vassar's preaching engages you in a way that gives you the feeling that he's talking directly and only to you. I recently listened to a brief series of his and I highly recommend it. Here are the titles:
1-Marriage and Men
2-Gospel, Community, and Mission
3-Marriage and Women
4-Intentional Singleness
5-Gospel parenting.
Showing posts with label Biblical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biblical. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Suffering
I'm here once again, preparing for the wonderfully terrifying task of preaching. The topic I hit this time is "suffering", which is a massive undertaking, so first of all, pray for me. I've been immersing myself into the Sovereignty of God over whatsoever comes to pass and his goodness in all that He does and, although I'm not going to deal with the aspect of biblical manhood in the prospect of suffering or in the midst of suffering, I cannot help but have some thoughts crossing my mind. So I'll blog a little bit in my break.
I really think that one of the most important things Christians have to do is to have a good, solid, TRUE theology of suffering. We have to know our God and his providence. We gotta know him and we gotta know him well. I also think that men have a moral responsibility to have that theology as tight as possible, just as much as we have to have a life insurance policy, for example. If we can have a life insurance policy and we don't, I actually believe it to be sin. We men are called by God to lead, protect and provide and I think that a good life insurance policy hits all three corners of our call directly or indirectly. In the same way, a true, solid theology of suffering will carry us through the sure afflictions of our lifetime. To know our God deeply in your mind and heart will allow you to suffer well. Therefore you'll will lead your family in godliness through the storms of life by word and example. A biblical theology of suffering, will protect your flock ( be it your church or family) during those times when we are most tempted to doubt God's love for his children and the reality of our faith. It arms them against the enemies of their souls trying to snatch their faith, their affections for Christ. It also provides to those lead and protected by you, with the stability they need in their leader. To have a solid theology of suffering that has no connection between knowledge and behavior does no good to you nor to them but if your theology is strongly connected, it will generate a sense of security, enabling those under your care to submit to you out of joy not fear. All we have to do to experience suffering is to live long enough. It will come. Our Lord has said " In the world you will have tribulations..." We have to prepare before it happens so when it does, our God is magnified and his banner flies high as we stand strong in the joy of the Lord.
"There is no sweeter fellowship than the fellowship of suffering."
John Piper
(Paraphrased. T4G '08)
I really think that one of the most important things Christians have to do is to have a good, solid, TRUE theology of suffering. We have to know our God and his providence. We gotta know him and we gotta know him well. I also think that men have a moral responsibility to have that theology as tight as possible, just as much as we have to have a life insurance policy, for example. If we can have a life insurance policy and we don't, I actually believe it to be sin. We men are called by God to lead, protect and provide and I think that a good life insurance policy hits all three corners of our call directly or indirectly. In the same way, a true, solid theology of suffering will carry us through the sure afflictions of our lifetime. To know our God deeply in your mind and heart will allow you to suffer well. Therefore you'll will lead your family in godliness through the storms of life by word and example. A biblical theology of suffering, will protect your flock ( be it your church or family) during those times when we are most tempted to doubt God's love for his children and the reality of our faith. It arms them against the enemies of their souls trying to snatch their faith, their affections for Christ. It also provides to those lead and protected by you, with the stability they need in their leader. To have a solid theology of suffering that has no connection between knowledge and behavior does no good to you nor to them but if your theology is strongly connected, it will generate a sense of security, enabling those under your care to submit to you out of joy not fear. All we have to do to experience suffering is to live long enough. It will come. Our Lord has said " In the world you will have tribulations..." We have to prepare before it happens so when it does, our God is magnified and his banner flies high as we stand strong in the joy of the Lord.
"There is no sweeter fellowship than the fellowship of suffering."
John Piper
(Paraphrased. T4G '08)
Monday, January 26, 2009
He fought "The Law" and he won.
Vítor Belfort put a stamp on Matt "The Law" Lindland. It was very impressive to see something that had never happened before. Lindland is the definition of a tough guy. The man is an accomplished Olympic wrestler and a top notch MMA fighter. He has fought the likes of "Rampage" Jackson and Fedor and neither of them could put him to sleep. Vitor did. I am not sure "The phenom" is back yet because, although impressive, it was a very short fight and I wonder how he would deal with Matt's smell, toughness and meanness after the 10th minute. Anyway, congratulations to brother Belfort and the best of luck to brother Lindland as heals up from the fight.
Sokoudju is going to have to figure something out because he doesn't look very dangerous right now. Babalu slowly applied the choke and the "African assassin" did nothing. Inexperience on the ground? Poor conditioning? Can't really tell but he's gotta do something. He has the stars of no less than Team Quest behind him so it shouldn't be hard to figure it out. Barnett is mean! What he did with Gilbert should be against the law. I really liked Minotoro's showing. Hopefully he'll be on the main card next time.
The WEC event was very, very good in my opinion. Little Evil has nothing to be ashamed of. Urijah is a beast and it could have happened to either of them. Now, to me, the star of the night was Jose Aldo. I was impressed. Killer leg kicks reminded me of he "Pitbull".
Anyway, this was a weekend packed with good MMA and the coming one is no different. I'm looking forward to it. In the meantime we'll keep talking about biblical manhood as I have a couple of interesting things coming up.
Until next time.
Sokoudju is going to have to figure something out because he doesn't look very dangerous right now. Babalu slowly applied the choke and the "African assassin" did nothing. Inexperience on the ground? Poor conditioning? Can't really tell but he's gotta do something. He has the stars of no less than Team Quest behind him so it shouldn't be hard to figure it out. Barnett is mean! What he did with Gilbert should be against the law. I really liked Minotoro's showing. Hopefully he'll be on the main card next time.
The WEC event was very, very good in my opinion. Little Evil has nothing to be ashamed of. Urijah is a beast and it could have happened to either of them. Now, to me, the star of the night was Jose Aldo. I was impressed. Killer leg kicks reminded me of he "Pitbull".
Anyway, this was a weekend packed with good MMA and the coming one is no different. I'm looking forward to it. In the meantime we'll keep talking about biblical manhood as I have a couple of interesting things coming up.
Until next time.
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