I'm reading Arnold Dallimore's two-volume biography of George Whitefield, the great evangelist of the 18th century revival. I was deeply stirred by a paragraph in one of the opening chapters in which Dallimore shares that the "mission" of the book is driven by the profound conviction that the great need of our day is to see "a mighty evangelical revival such as that which was experienced two hundred years ago" and the prayer that God will "raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ." He continues with these words:

"And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be 'fools for Christ's sake', who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labour and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth's accolades, but to win the Master's approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness 'signs and wonders following' in the transformation of multitudes of human lives." (page 16)

I am praying for myself, for the men of my church and for fellow-pastors across the country that God will make us men like this.

Recently I preached a message from 1 Peter 5:1-5 which exhorts elders to "shepherd the flock of God that is among you." If you're not a pastor, you might think that this passage of scripture has very little to say to you. But that would be a mistake. This section of God's word has something important to say to every Christian. It tells us how Jesus cares for and guides us as his people. It describes the kind of pastors that we should pray for. And it tells us how church members and church leaders should relate to each other so that God will give our churches more grace.

I think the key truth of 1 Peter 5:1-5 is that a church can only survive and thrive if it accepts God's pattern for humble leadership and humble followership. The main points of the message were:

1. The Pastor's Calling: To Shepherd God's Flock
2. How Pastors Should Lead: Willingly, Eagerly and By Example
3. The Responsibility of Church Members: Be Subject
4. The Essential Characteristic for All of Us: Humility

If you'd like to you can listen to the sermon online here.

Our church is hosting the Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference November 2-4, 2010. This year the main session speakers are C.J. Mahaney, Dave Harvey, Jeff Purswell, Kevin DeYoung, Bob Donohue and John Loftness. If you serve in ministry, I'm sure you'll be encouraged by this time of teaching and worship and hope you can join us. Here's the conference information page.

Thought much lately about how the world will end? I'm working my way through a series of lectures by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger on amillennialism. Monergism is giving away for free a CD of his lectures and sermons. The mp3 CD includes Riddlebarger's 16-part lecture series on Amillennialism 101 as well as his 32-part sermon series on the book of Revelation. They only ask that you cover the cost of shipping. You can also download the messages from Dr. Riddlebarger's blog.

(Via Justin Taylor)

Like Incense/Sometimes by Step - by Hillsong A Beautiful Exchange
Reign In Us - by Starfield I Will Go
We Crown You - by Fee Hope Rising
Our God - by Chris Tomlin Passion Awakening
Hear us From Heaven - by Jared Anderson Where To Begin

At night I've been reading my kids a biography of Charles Spurgeon by Christian Timothy George. It's in the Trailblazers series for children published by Christian Focus. They have biographies of great saints from Church history ranging from Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin to Bill Bright and Martyn Lloyd Jones (you can see the full list here). I'm impressed by the books that Christian Focus is putting out. If you have children, be sure to check them out.

"On some high moor, across which at night hyenas howl, when you meet him, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, armed, leaning on his staff, and looking out over his scattered sheep, every one one on his heart, you understand why the shepherd of Judea sprang to the front in his people's history; why they gave his name to their king, and made him the symbol of Providence; why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice."
(G.A. Smith, quoted in Shepherds After My Own Heart by Timothy Laniak)

Lord willing, our pastoral team along with some members of our church will be attending the Gospel Coalition 2011 National Conference April 12-14 in Chicago, IL. The theme of the main sessions is "Preaching Jesus and the Gospel from the Old Testament." The speakers include Tim Keller, Nancy Guthrie, Matt Chandler, Alastair Begg, Mike Bullmore, Paige Benton Brown, Don Carson and about 43 other men and women (here's the whole list.) Read the conference overview.

I'm looking forward to speaking at this year's Peacemaker Conference. It's theme is forgiveness--as Colossians 3:13b says, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." I'll be speaking Thursday night, preaching a message called, "Forgiven to Forgive." After me is a lineup of wise and gifted speakers: Chris Brauns, Thabiti Anyabwile, Bishop Efriam Tendero and Ken Sande, president of Peacemaker Ministries. If you're in the area, consider coming. This is a conference that will help many.

This past Sunday I preached from 1 Peter 4:12-19, a passage that tells Christians not to be surprised by fiery trials that come upon us to test us. I asked five questions of the text:

1. What are fiery trials?
2. Why shouldn't I be surprised by trials?
3. Why should I rejoice in trials?
4. How do trials relate to the "judgment beginning with God's household"?
5. How do I entrust my soul to God in the midst of trials?

If you're experiencing suffering in some form, I pray this message encourages you. You can listen online or download the message here.

I preached a message last Sunday from 1 Peter 4:7-11 called "Pray Love Serve." God's Spirit is really hitting me hard with the priority of self-control for the sake of prayer. 1 Peter 4:7 says, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers." (ESV)

People who know that the end is imminent are acutely concerned with keeping a clear line of communication with God. They are dependent on God and they express this in prayer. And prayer is such a priority, they don't want anything to distract from or hinder their prayer.

Verse 7 can also be translated, "be self-controlled and sober-minded so that you can pray" (NIV). Wayne Grudem says the idea conveyed is "so that you can pray more effectively, more appropriately."

What I'm seeing is that many things--even good things-- can draw my heart away from a spirit of prayer. A lack of self-control and sober-mindedness kills prayer.

So if you and I aren't able to say "no" to and control our own desires, prayer will get pushed out of our lives. What feels good and what is easy and immediate will always take precedent. If we don't actively cultivate a watchful, sober mind, we lose our spiritual awareness and sense of need for God and prayer falls by the wayside.

What does it look like for you to cultivate self-control and sober-mindedness so that your prayer life is more effective? I'd like to hear if there are any ways that God has led you in this area. What hinders prayer? How do you exercise self-control and cultivate a sober-mind so that you can pray more effectively? How has God met you as a result?

And if you can, please pray for me and the people of my church that God will help us to grow in being people given to prayer.

I asked you to vote on which chapter to give away from Dug Down Deep and you chose chapter 11, "Humble Orthodoxy." So here it is. You can read it online, download it and print it. I'd love to hear what you think of the content. (You can also read chapter 1, "My Rumspringa" here.) And if you can, please help me share this on Facebook, Twitter or your blog. You can embed it and easily share it here.

Dug Down Deep Chapt. 11-Humble Orthodoxy by Joshua Harris

The following video by Bobby Shook is based on a quote from page 225 of the Humble Orthodoxy chapter:

DugDownDeep_Shook.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Grief over losing my mom hits me in unexpected moments. I can have stretches of time when I'm not weighed down by it, but then sadness surprises me. I'm learning that this is a normal part of the process. During this time I've been cared for and pastored by many members of my church. I'm so grateful for the many cards, notes and words reminding me of God's faithfulness. Not surprisingly, those who have walked through loss themselves, have the ability to speak into my life in a powerful way. Our friends Dave and Heather Castro suffered the loss of their daughter Alivia in November of 2008. They are people of strong faith who know what it means to trust God in the midst of deep, deep pain. Dave wrote me the following letter and I was so encouraged by it I asked if I could share it here. Thanks, Dave.

Hey, brother.

I know a loneliness that can accompany dark times like this ("No one has knowledge of a man's grief but himself; and a strange person has no part in his joy." Prov 14:10). Additionally, leading a family in these times can seem to leave no time for reflection and processing of the events yourself.  I have personally found that just moments with older brothers in the Lord or even spiritual "father figures" who have walked this road before me (versus my peers) have been the most helpful to my soul; my guard drops and melts a little and a release valve for grief appears for a moment. I pray that you might find comfort and fellowship in the dark season you are in.  
 
Often I have found that a passage of Scripture that serves me in a particular way, may not have the same deep effect on someone else. The Spirit is the life behind the illumination and comfort.
 
Should the Lord desire to use this particular passage of Scripture to serve you in the same way it served me, I would recommend Matthew 26. I don't know that there is any special reason for this particular Gospel writer's story of the Garden of Gethsemane, other than it happened to be where I landed, and it was a bit more detailed description of Jesus in his suffering.
 
During the dark times, I found re-visiting the suffering of the divine who became fully man comforts and "steels" at the same time. To become the fitting high priest, Jesus shared the flesh and blood, the psyche and emotions--including fear, but minus sin (Mk 14:33)-- of His brothers and sisters.
 
I camped out for several months in Matthew 26, particularly settling on his time in the Garden. The Incarnation never meant so much to me before.  I dove into it, found it was so much deeper and more meaningful than I had known.  I studied all of his pain I could find--loss, betrayal, temptation to doubt the Father's love. I found that I could gratefully say that Christ can empathize with my weakness and pain. This is comforting to me since he also has both the power to supernaturally comfort me and also to order events.  However, I also thought that somehow I had actually been better equipped to empathize with Him. I found such sweet fellowship with the Savior in that junction.   
 
There are no words I can say that can take the edge off of the pain.
 
Grieving with you.  Thank you for your friendship.  Heather and I will share in your tears this weekend and pray for you.
 
Dave