Jojo Agot

Spurgeon on Affliction

Spurgeon on Affliction:

It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity. (Christian History, Issue 29, Vol. 10, No. 1, 25)

I dare say the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness… Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library. (An All Round Ministry)

God Owns All Places

I was thinking of Tacloban when I read this from Jared Wilson’s Gospel Deeps:

God owns all places, let’s not forget. “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence,” Abraham Kuyper reminds us, “over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

It is easy to lose heart among the ruins of any place, but there’s a heritage here, a history, even if to see it we must go all the way back before the fall to when God said this place was “good.”

From the Interwebs (03/12/14)

When Your Words Cry “Wolf”

Thank you Barnabas Piper for putting these into words:

Every day we read headlines offering us “essential”, “incredible”, or “unbelievable” something-or-other. If a description of anything doesn’t include a superlative it’s good for nothing. But what happens when we run out of superlatives and absolutes (if we haven’t already)? If everything is amazing nothing is. By definition, not everything can be the best or worst. If every piece of advice is essential and we can’t live without those life hacks, well we should just give up now; life is hopeless.

3 Ways Expository Preaching Combats Biblical Illiteracy

What can preachers do to address Biblical illiteracy in our churches? Eric McKiddie offers three reasons why expository preaching helps solve this problem.

Christians are decreasingly able to take what they know from the Bible and assimilate it into a thoroughly biblical worldview. Especially with folks under the age of thirty, a relativistic way of thinking is the default. Far too often someone reads the Bible or learns something in church, and naturally assimilates it into their secular worldview.

Continue reading From the Interwebs (03/12/14)

Why I Serve in Tacloban City

tac This is the concluding part of the email I sent to Pastor Gilbert about the ministry in Tacloban City:

Thank you for the opportunity to serve here. It’s difficult but I also see the beauty of doing ministry with only the bare essentials: no fanfare, no floodlights, no modern contraptions, no hype, just the gospel and the people. When I saw the people’s reaction yesterday after the preaching of the Word, I saw the surpassing beauty of the gospel placed side by side with human suffering. It was a glorious ruin, it was beauty rising out of the ashes, it was powerful. Pastor Kix preached “Who Do You Say I Am?” and concluded with these words: Continue reading Why I Serve in Tacloban City

Is Christ Enough?

Jared C. Wilson:

One of the problems I have with all the “chase your dreams!” cheerleading from Christian leaders is not because I begrudge anyone wanting to achieve their dreams, but because I don’t think we readily see how easy it is to conflate our dream-chasing with God’s will in Christ.

You know, it’s possible that God’s plan for us is littleness. His plan for us may be personal failure. It’s possible that when another door closes, it’s not because he plans to open a window but because he plans to have the building fall down on you. The question we must ask ourselves is this: Will Christ be enough?

From the Interwebs (02/21/14)

The Never Ending Need to Multiply Volunteers

This coming weekend, Victory Metro Manila will have its annual volunteer weekend. Ed Stetzer’s blog post is timely:

Most pastors of churches want their churches to grow, and they recruit volunteers to enable it. They’re surprised, however, how quickly the demand for more rears its ugly head on the heels of victory. We get new volunteers and then we need new volunteers. So we get new volunteers, and then we need more new volunteers. It never goes away. If you want success, you better be prepared for the cycle that comes with it.

What Pastors Owe Their People

Daniel Darling:

Preaching styles do differ, but it’s hard to argue the unmistakeable responsibility of pastors to take the whole counsel of God and preach it faithfully. To not give our people spiritual food, to not share with them the “all the things I have commanded you” is to commit spiritual malpractice. It’s to intentionally leave our people spiritually malnourished.

Continue reading From the Interwebs (02/21/14)