A challenge to my brothers and sisters in Christ (yes, that's YOU)

The NASB puts it this way:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

The NKJV:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

The NIV (which by the way, Mike much prefers we not use ;) ) has it in a way with which you may be more familiar:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Any way it goes, Philippians 2:3 results in us putting other people ahead of us in life. Dads putting wife and kids ahead of self, friends putting each other ahead of self, fishmongers putting vegetable guys ahead of themselves, and so on.

Here's what I'm putting on your plate as a challenge: pick a day this week and make a conscious effort to live all 24 hours according to this verse.

EXCEPT SUNDAY.

Y'all put on your Sunday best face that day anyway. Well...ok, you can choose Sunday, but it must be for 24 hours. That means you can't be all smiley-pretty-givey in church and when you hit the parking lot give a rude gesture to the guy who just cut you off in traffic on his way to the Steeler game (You didn't think I'd forget that post so quickly did you?).

Comment here or email to let us know how the day ends. I truly believe it'll be different from your normal day in more ways than you imagine.

(For an idea of how to do this, just do this when you get into a situation when your first reaction is to think me: think you instead.)

Man vs. God

We lose EVERY time . . . just in case that wasn't clear! AND no . . . this wasn't one of those "quickee" post-its. (though it WOULD work, huh?)

Psalm 118:8 - "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man".

DUH! Yet as I make that snide comment . . . I must look at the mirror of my LIFE and say I am as guilty as any other! WHAT A WISE, TRUE statement . . . TRUST IN GOD . . . not man!

John Calvin comments, as quoted in Spurgeon's "Treasury of David":

All make this acknowledgment, and yet, there is scarcely one among a hundred who is fully persuaded that God alone can afford him sufficient help. That man has attained a high rank among the faithful, who resting satisfied in God, never ceases to entertain a lively hope, even when he finds no help upon earth.

OK . . . did John Calvin read what I JUST POSTED above? We are a pathetic lot in this regard. Sure we might go along for awhile confident in God's ability, and our TRUST in it . . . but let the burner heat up ever so slightly and we begin to TRUST IN MAN.

AND YOU KNOW WHO IT IS WE TRUST IN MOST?? . . . OURSELVES!!

Oh, "I must have this thing"; "Imust make this income", etc., so instead of trusting God, we go out in our own confidence, and many times making bad decisions to try and get to these selfish goals.

The Psalm writer also says:

Psalm 48:6-7: Those who trust in their wealth, And boast in the multitude of their riches, 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him...

And the Proverb writer tells us:

Proverbs 23:4 - Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!

I stress on this, because this, I think is the biggest sin against what our Psalm 118:8 is talking about. It is NOT good to trust in anything but God, especially man . . . and yet we do and we do it most often, in my opinion, in ourselves.

But if we thought any other "man" were to not be a problem, we hear Spurgeon himself remind us:

It is better in all ways (to trust in the Lord), for first of all it is wiser: God is infinitely more able to help, and more likely to help, than man, and therefore prudence suggests that we put our confidence in Him above all others. It is also morally better to do so, for it is the duty of the creature to trust in the Creator. God has a claim upon His creatures' faith, He deserves to be trusted; and to place our reliance upn another rather than upon Himself, is a direct insult to His faithfulness.

May we actively, passively, awake or at rest, at home, church, work or play . . . TRUST IN GOD! . . . and not in man . . . or ourselves . . . EVER!!

How Great is Our God!?

Our Pastor, Darrin Wright, told a great story about not skimping on the BASICS . . . which I'll share at a later date . . . but that thought is right in line with today's MONDAY MEMORY VERSE.

Psalm 96:4 "For the Lord is great and greatly to be
praised; He is to be feared above all gods."

Makes me think of the great hymn, "How Great Thou Art". Why not look that up online or in the old hymnal you have lying around. AND . . . Chris Tomlin's recent "How Great is Our God", contemporary worship hymn . . . though SOLID in every way!

Blessings!

PS . . . check out John MacArthur's series . . . "How to Handle a Heretic". GOOD STUFF!
www.gty.org

the god of the city

Sunday in Pittsburgh is an amazing day. On this day you realize whose name is above every name for the whole area.

You hear the name spoken in Christian churches from the pulpits, Catholic congregations too, even Muslims and Jews on Sunday call out the name, it's nearly universal.

On the street the name is lifted up, in businesses, on buses and in cabs, on the street, on radio and television all speak the name and lift the banner high! Sunday is an incredible day for the name!

Jesus Christ? No. The Steelers are the focus of worship in Pittsburgh. In fact, it has been said that the Steelers are the god of Pittsburgh, except of course when the Penguins play. On Sunday you see so many people whose focus is not the joy and privileged of gathering with the saints. No, their conversation and even dress betrays the focus of their hearts.

The congregations, even the pastors, cannot wait until their true heroes take center stage. This isn't the team's fault. They can't force anyone to follow them. We follow those who have our hearts, and on Sunday in the pews the conversation is all about the game and it's ramifications.

See how many men and women will say "we" when referring to the team they follow and have never thought of using that term when it comes to the world wide body of Christ, our true family and the only "we" which will carry through eternity.

A word to my brothers and sisters in Christ here in the 'Burgh: you know your own heart and I'm not trying to tell you what your motives are. I am however, telling you that you are speaking loudly and clearly to the world and to other brothers and sisters who'd love to be focused on Christ with you on the Lord's Day and they don't want to have to shout over the football game to compete for your attention in praising and seeking almighty God.

I could share many stories. There's the brother in Christ who wanted to shorten his honeymoon for the chance to watch the Steelers in the Super Bowl on television at a sports bar on the way home. How 'bout the pastor who, on Sunday, tweets play by play of the whole game? Then there's the study group that changes schedule based on the Steelers post-season success or failure.

It isn't just Pittsburgh of course, the idolatry of sports has infected this whole country, and several others. What dominates your thoughts on the day you gather with the people of God?

Who is the god of your city?

cross-posted from Mark's blog

Apologies and Prayers

Greetings in the strong name of the Lord!

We at Bible Burgh would like to offer our sincere APOLOGY for the lack of posts this week, due to our work schedules AND Mark's seminary schedule. I can empathize with him. He's doing GREAT!

AND . . . we ask for your prayers for work and school . . . and show preparation.

THANKS! God Bless! Keep in the Word . . . for it is the ONLY thing to make men and women WISE and KNOWLEDGEABLE about the truths and greatness of our God and His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . . . AMEN!!

Rejoicing and Salvation for the Righteous!

MONDAY MEMORY VERSE (or 1/2 Verse!):

Psalm 118:15a:
The voice of rejoicing and salvation IS in the tents of the righteous.

WOW! Where does that leave the unbeliever?? They (as we once did) have a "FALSE" rejoicing because they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ; have NOT experienced the beauty and salvation grace of REGENERATION (a la John Piper; BASICS Conference 2009); and in NOTHING they do ... do they glorify God.

THE RIGHTEOUS, the SAVED, are the EXACT opposite! OUR voice sings and praises God for salvation . . . in that we rejoice . . . and daily . . . MAYBE "moment-by-moment"!

Blessings to the RIGHTEOUS . . . now go be a BLESSING "salvifically" to the unregenerate today!

Elders or "Board" People? - "POST"-it

I can't TELL you how frustrating it has been to be involved with churches, either as a member, or in doing ministry, ... and to see how much they end up being run like a "for profit", WORLDLY corporation.

John MacArthur, in his TITUS commentary on Titus 1:6, says:

God does not call all elders to be entrepreneurs, men who begin ministries and build them, nor does He call all elders to be producers, men who accomplish a great mount of work in the church, although those are worthy things. Neither does He call all of them to be managers, adept at mobilizing others in the Lord's service, although that, too, is a worthy thing.

The Lord DOES, however, call all elders to be godly leaders, men who by their exemplary lives as well as by their sound teaching and preaching set a pattern of virtue and devotion to the Lord for other believers to follow.

IN MY MIND ... the "Executive Pastor" distinction that now inhabits many congregations is ANOTHER step in the wrong direction . . . in "privatizing" the church.

WE ARE TO MAKE DISCIPLES . . . AMEN???

The FIVE Solas, Prayer and MORE . . .

. . . ON THE NEXT BIBLE BURGH . . .

We'll continue our reading/discussion from Ligonier Ministry's TABLE TALK Five Solas article . . . Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, in Christ Alone, through Scripture Alone, to the Glory of God Alone . . . AMEN!!

AND . . . we'll chat with Jay Sklar of Covenant Theological Seminary about Art and Soul 2009. He will be in Wheeling, WV at Vance church (www.vancechurch.org) with B.E. Taylor handling music September 26-27, 2009.

Jonathan Shirk returns from North Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church to talk about TEACHING our children well.

PLUS . . . grab a seat for Bible Burgh University, as RPTS Adjunct Professor, Rutledge Etheridge presents "Prayer and a Thankful Heart", in its entirety from the Pittsburgh Bible Conference 2009.

DON'T MISS a beat . . . but, by all means, just CATCH what'cha can of Bible Burgh . . . SUNDAY night, 9:00pm-11:00pm, on WORD FM 101.5.

"LISTEN LIVE" at www.wordfm.com . . .

Remember: after Tuesday you can download your very own copy of the program, free of charge, at this link!

BLESSINGS!!

Getting married?

I've read a number of books, Christian and non-, on marriage. I've heard a number of the radio "experts," real and supposed. I've heard a sermon or two on marriage. But there's one truth I think I've only seen alluded to in one place, and that was in C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. (Even that was in a connection other than the one I'm about to develop.)

But this truth leaps out at one from Bible verse after Bible verse. You'd think it'd be the first thing Christian marriage counselors would talk about. Yet, as far as I know, it never even comes up. I certainly never recall reading it in Christian counseling manuals.

What is it? I'll give you a few hints:

Go read this: you'll be glad you did!


also posted at MarkLaRoi.com

How much of Christ?

Thanks for your prayers Mike. Your support has just been incredible and I'm really appreciative. If y'all are praying for me (and I know you are), thank you too! ! I'll put up a post here with more of my thoughts on joining RPTS later, though I have touched on it at my blog.

In getting my head wrapped around a whole lot of new information I thought this post by Phil Johnson was appropos and might be of great interest:

...I am a member of the Fellowship of Reformed Evangelicals (FIRE). That organization has a very simple doctrinal statement that is Baptistic and Calvinistic but broad enough to include Sabbatarians and non-Sabbatarians; pre-, post-, and a-millennialists; congregationalist and elder-rule churches; and people of varying opinions on most secondary and tertiary doctrinal issues.

Four or five years ago a question arose within FIRE about the nature of the righteousness that is imputed to those who believe. Is it specifically Christ's righteousness, or is it the righteousness of God generally considered as an ethereal modality? Was Christ's perfect, lifelong obedience as a man born under the law (sometimes referred to as his "active obedience") any part of the righteousness that is imputed to us, or are we saved by His death on the cross ("passive obedience") alone?

Here's the link. Chime in y'all, and let us know what you think of this "Deeper Water" topic after reading the post!

THY Word IS Truth!!

As you probably could tell, the Monday Memory Verse has been "all over the place". I suppose that is OK . . . as LONG AS we are putting the Word of God in our hearts, right?

SO . . . my plan now . . . though it may see deviation from time to time . . . is to FOCUS on verses/sections of scripture . . . that talk about SCRIPTURE . . . sections that focus ON the Word of God.

AND THIS WEEK ... we start with Jesus Christ Himself:

John 17:17
Sanctify them by Your Truth, Thy Word is Truth".

Sometimes they'll be this short . . . other times a little longer . . . and hopefully, with a little organization and consistency, we'll memorize whole sections, like Psalm 1 and Psalm 19.

Blessings!! STAY IN THE WORD! . . . and DON'T MISS Bible Burgh University this next Sunday night (second hour of program)!!

P.S. . . . Keep our brother, Mark La Roi, in your prayers . . . he is FULL SCALE into seminary now at RPTS! Dive DEEP, brother!

This Sunday on Bible Burgh...

...join us as we hear from pastor Rut Etheridge on "Preaching and Young Pastors"... we've been telling you about the coming God Exposed conference and Pastor Mick McKinley of Guilford Baptist Church will give us some details on this exciting event...Are you familiar with the five Solas? Mike Howard shares from Ligonier Ministries Table Talk magazine the beginning of a series that will clear that up for you...Our LOGOS Interlude "Is Well"...it's the debut of "Bible Burgh University" as we hear from pastor Tom Lemmon host of the "Faith In Progress ministry program and pastor of Faith Community Church Lakeside from the Pittsburgh Bible Conference 2009!

9pm - 11pm Sunday night on WORD FM 101.5! . . . OR . . . LISTEN LIVE at www.wordfm.com . . .

Remember: after Tuesday you can download your very own copy of the program, free of charge, at this link!

"That the Bible MIGHT BE the Foundation for PITTSBURGH!"

Holiness Yesterday, Today and Forever!

Oswald Chambers is ALWAYS a good source of WISDOM . . . and it's STILL Wednesday ... so here is some WISDOM!

1 Peter 1:16

"Ye shall be holy, for I am holy".

Chambers tells us, under the title of "Destiny of Holiness":

"Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is. The
destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. Nowadays
we have far too many affinities, we are dissipated with them; right, good, noble
affinities which will yet have their fulfillment, but in the meantime God has to
atrophy them. The one thing that matters is whether a man will accept the
God Who will make him holy. At all costs a man must be rightly
related to God."

I like the repetitive idea of "continually restate to yourself". That works for a LOT of great Bible principles ... but especially for this idea of HOLINESS.

Oswald Chambers says later:

"God has one destined end for mankind, viz., holiness. His one aim is
the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing-machine (take
that Mr. Olsteen! :-) ) for men; He did not come to save men out of pity: He came
to save men because He had created them to be holy. The atonement means
that God can put me back into perfect union with Himself, without a shadow
between, through the Death of Jesus Christ."

LET US REMEMBER ... we were MADE to be holy . . . our sin KILLED that original design. BUT CHRIST has paved the way for/through a "re -brith" ... which HE grants ... and thus we can ONCE AGAIN be HOLY!

We have it in Christ IN POSITION. We need to FOCUS today and forever while on this earth in our PRACTICE!

Blessings,

Praise ... Mercy ... Truth ...

... make up TODAY'S Monday Memory Verse!

LET US MEMORIZE A WHOLE PSALM!!

Psalm 117

"O Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him, all ye people. For
His merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord."

Taking this from Spurgeon's "Treasury of David", we see the SHORTEST of the Psalms, but still just as POWERFUL and MAJESTIC as any other!

Spurgeon tells us:

"In Christ Jesus, God has shown mercy mixed with kindness, and that to the very
highest degree."

Many agree that this probably was used both as a beginning of the worship service AND as the ending . . . much like we would use a Doxology today.

May we use it in that way EACH and EVERY day ... when we WAKE and when we SLEEP ... as a beginning and an end to the "WORSHIP" that is each day . . . life given to us by our merciful and kind Creator / Savior God!!!

Blessings on this Labor Day 2009 . . .

On the NEXT Bible Burgh . . .

It's "REGENERATION" Sunday!!

You'll hear from the "classics" interviews, Rut Etheridge and Jonathan Watt of RPTS, talking about John 3 and "Regeneration" . . .

AND . . . we will Re-Air in its entirety John Piper's message on "Regeneration" from the BASICS Conference in Spring 2009 at Alistair Begg's Church in Cleveland, OH.

DON'T MISS "REGENERATION" Sunday . . . 9pm - 11pm Sunday night on WORD FM 101.5! . . . OR . . . LISTEN LIVE at www.wordfm.com . . .

Remember: after Tuesday you can download your very own copy of the program, free of charge, at this link!

"That the Bible MIGHT BE the Foundation for PITTSBURGH!"

Blessings!!

Titus, Pastor-Theologians and Ligonier Ministries!

It is quite interesting to me how sometimes the TRUE Christian community rallies around the important issues and, out of that, you see blogs, publications, on-air programs, etc., revolving together around a certain issue.

It seems like many are talking about Church Leadership and Organization . . . the Book of Titus!

We have been doing it . . . the Pyros have been a-bloggin' it . . . and NOW Ligonier Ministries, www.ligonier.org, will take the NEXT TWO MONTHS to go through the Book of Titus in their Table Talk magazine.

One of the articles is by Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist church in Cape Coral, FL, and a regular writer for Table Talk.

His intro statements in his article "Pastor-Theologians":

"Christ intends for His churches to be led by men who meet certain
qualifications. In his letters to Timothy and Titus, the apostle Paul
writes very plainly about what the elders of a church must be. The main concern is character."

He goes on to say...

"They must be men whose lives are exemplary in holiness. In addition to this, however, men who would shepherd God's flock must also be doctrinally sound. They must believe truth sincerely and be able to teach it clearly".

YES . . . he did say MEN.

We want to STRONGLY suggest you subscribe to Ligonier Ministry's TABLE TALK magazine and read these great articles and daily devotions.

MORE ON THIS DOWN THE ROAD here at the blog/website AND on Bible Burgh!!!

Zondervan to make revisions to NIV

Tremendous news!

Randy Stinson, president of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood said Tuesday afternoon that he is both grateful and hopeful after Zondervan announced earlier in the day that it will revise its New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible to correct the "mistake" it made in publishing the gender-neutral version of the NIV.

Evangelical scholars associated with CBMW were concerned with more than 3,000 changes that appeared in the TNIV when it was published in 2002, changes that flattened gender language, eliminating many references such as "son," "he," "him," "his," "father," and "brother," references that diverged from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.

Translators from Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society), admitted in a press conference announcing the new NIV that many concerns regarding the faithfulness of gender-neutral translations to the original languages were legitimate and that such translations had divided the evangelical community. In his comments, Biblica CEO Keith Danby referenced the gender-neutral NIVi, which was published in 1997 in the United Kingdom.

"It is very humble of Zondervan and Biblica to admit mistakes and acknowledge the controversy that they brought to the evangelical community over the past several years," Stinson said.

Read Randy Stinson's full response here.

Ligon Duncan responds.

Al Mohler's statement here.

I pray that this action would counter much of the harm done by the earlier decision. I am very glad they are doing this and like president Stinson, await the final result with hope.

update 9.3: Dan Phillips add some helpful insights and advice!

Dead Men Walking! - Conclusion

(Guest Post, Pastor Darrin Wright, First Baptist Church, Wheeling, WV)

Conclusion of Dead Men Walking, Ephesians 2:1-4

Vs. 4 But God…

George Whitefield compared this passage to Christ’s raising of Lazarus:

“Come, ye dead, Christless, unconverted sinners, come and see the place where they laid the body of the deceased Lazarus; behold him laid out, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, locked up and stinking in a dark cave, with a great stone placed on top of it. View him again and again; go nearer to him;

be not afraid; smell him. Ah! How he stinketh…Was he bound hand and foot with grave-clothes? So art thou bound hand and foot with thy corruptions: and as a stone was laid on the sepulcher, so is there a stone of unbelief upon thy stupid heart. Perhaps thou hast lain in this state, not only four days, but many years, stinking in God’s nostrils. And what is still more effecting, thou art as unable to raise thyself out of this loathsome, dead state, to a life of righteousness and true holiness, as ever
Lazarus was to raise himself from the cave in which he lay so long.

Thou mayest try the power of thy own boasted free will, and the force and energy of
moral persuasion and rational arguments,(which without all doubt have their proper place in religion); but all thy efforts exerted with never so much vigor, will prove fruitless and abortive, till that same Jesus who said Take away the stone, and cried Lazarus come forth, also quicken you.”

(Editor's Note: Thanks to Pastor Darrin for his biblical insight into one of the most profound sections of Scripture, Ephesians 2! We will hear more from him very soon!)