Tag: gospel

His text:

Hebrews 13:4

1. Make your marriage a priority

Loving your wife shapes your character for choices you will make in your ministry.

Bruce said he and his wife  uniterrupted conversation when we come home from work, 2 nights will be at home, Friday are together, 2 retreats a year just as a couple,

 

lover second, leader first.  God did not love you with a kind of love that put you first. His love is first about his own glory first.   God's love is a kind of love that CREATES value in us, not SEEKS value in us.

 

2. See marriage as God's grace to you for spiritual formation

quotes Gary Thomas -"what if God created marriage to make us holy, not happy."

Before sin: characteristics of marriage:

naked ,not ashamed, completely known, unconditionally accepted

After sin:

hiding ,blaming,  

Where the Gospel is alive:

Truth, Grace

Keep your marriage bed undeflied. We have reduced sex to less than it is. Sex in marriage should bring glory to God.  Sex is a worshipful thing and we should do it regularly.

quotes Tripp. "you drag the quality of the relationship into the marriage bed"

I struggle with lust most often when my plans have been thwarted.  Lust lives in the neighborhood of violence not in the neighborhood of nurturing.

The law won't change your heart, but it will show you glory. It will protect you.

Bruce's fence of protection.. no girlfriends, no time alone with a woman, no conversation w a woman your wife warned you about, pray for protection.

 

His text:  I Peter 2

¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Below are some paraphrased quotes (i cant type fast enough to be verbatim)

 "Why does character matter?  

The biggest threat is not Islamic terrorism, the economic downturn, or whatever is on the news etc. It is the war waged against our souls.

Character is not essential for building a big church, so people will like you, but because the glory of God is at stake.

Are you aware, have you thought about, taken steps to fight this battle?

We don't have to slavishly yield to the passions of our flesh.  If the passions of our flesh is waging war against our soul, then we best wage war against those passions.

Searching God's word for the truth counter to what our passions demand. With the Spirit's help we can refuse to engage in the desires of our flesh.

Some of us are hyper-conscientious. We are aware of the war raging against our souls but are discouraged and doubting our salvation.  While waging battle, we shouldnt be paralyzed.

It would be hard to identify 1 sin that came out of your heart that didn't first enter your eyes.

The barometer we should acknowledge is the question, has Jesus become just average. Has the lustre been lost?

Quotes Piper "cultivate the mindset of exiles."

Peter is not advocating "cultural isolation". We are not told to hunker down, separate ourselves, and wait for the rapture."  Peter was not an American fundamentalist.

God not only drives those passions from us, He replaces them with Himself.

Inner character always has a missional orientation.

"the day of visitation" normally thought of that last day.  Storms sees the day of visitation as that time when the Spirit enables your character to glorify God to others here and now.

When I preach, are eyes riveted to how I do it, my gestures, how I present it, or to the beauty of Christ?

Character may cost you having "numbers" (big church) and as Peter said, you will still be spoken of as an evildoer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is day 1 of the Acts29 bootcamp hosted by my church The Village in Flower Mound.  I am only attending today for exploratory purposes.  Those who stay through tomorrow are those who are planting in the near future. Church planting is a very exciting but difficult road and maybe only 10% of newly planted churches survive.  I hope to be challenged, edified, and inspired for the Gospel today which is really why I am here.

I will be live blogging from the array of messages today. The schedule for today is as follows:

1. “The Church Planter’s Character” – Sam Storms 
2. “The Church Planter’s Marriage” – Bruce Wesley 
3. “The Church Planter’s Mission” – Matt Carter
4. "The Church Planter’s Message” – Matt Chandler

The Last session will be at 7:00 pm with my pastor is open to the public.  If interested, come on out, but if you do, be sure to get here at least an hour before because this will fill up fast.

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