Something to Stand On this Christmas

 

Often around this time we reflect about the wonder of giving gifts.  The beauty of life.  The hope of human kind.  Those things are all good, but as I am sure that you know, they will never satisfy our deepest need.  Our true hearts cry for something real. For something more.  For something we can stand on.

Remember that this time of the year is not just about a baby.  I mean it is about a baby, but that is not all it’s about.  Contemplate the tiny hands of that baby and how when they got a little older, those hands held the grip of a hammer.  After all, His earthly father was a carpenter by trade, and more than likely, Jesus would have started to pick up some of those skills.  But don’t stop there either.

Think about the weight of that hammer.  Not the physical weight, but the meaning of what it did.  As He gripped it, do you wonder if He contemplated His future?  Did He contemplate the pain?  Did He remember you and me?  For it was not just a hammer that held His hands to the cross, but it was our sins.  It wasn’t just the nails, but it was our total defiance against a holy and righteous God.  For we were the ones who declared Him our enemy.

You see how this Christmas story is so much more than a baby.  So much more than a manger, barn, stars, hammer, nails and a cross.  It is all of those – but most importantly, it’s God giving Himself for His enemies.  Giving Himself for us.  As Jesus was growing up, teaching, living out the very Word of God in the flesh, He had His enemies in mind.  You and I.

This Christmas, don’t just stop at the babe in the manger.  Take it all in.  You need to.  For in the whole story of His life – His birth, life, death, resurrection, His kingly reign – this is where you and I can find true hope.  True peace.  Something to stand on for sure.   

Fiction Writer – True Believer; a conversation with suspense writer Terri Blackstock

Fiction Writer – True Believer

Take a heaping dose of the ability to twist a tale of intrigue and suspense, infuse it with the Gospel and cram it into one sweet, petite frame. That’s Terri Blackstock: part Novel-Writing-Powerhouse, all Dedicated Believer. Terri’s no stranger to the realities of living out authentic faith in a fallen world, but she’s learned the art of drawing on her own experiences to connect real people with a real Jesus. I chatted with her recently about all-things-Terri.

JOHN: From your bio I know that you grew up in a Christian home and eventually started writing romance novels. How did you get into that genre, and what eventually led to your transition into writing suspense?

Terri Blackstock: I became a Christian at age 14 and walked with Christ through my teen years. But when I was in my early 20s I started writing and was really trying to break into the publishing market. At the time, the market was really opening up for romance novels. I told myself going in that I would not write anything that would hurt my Christian conscience – I would write clean love stories. But what happened was that those stories didn’t sell. So eventually in order to sell, I compromised and began writing more and more stuff I had said I would never write. Finally over 13 years and (I think) 32 titles, I came to a place where I was spiritually bankrupt. I was very miserable and almost hoping that the publisher wouldn’t buy my next book (laughs) because I just felt this void. I knew that I wasn’t walking with Christ because what I was doing was pulling me away from Him and pulling other people away because I was creating stumbling blocks for them. I came to a place when I started praying about that and over a number of weeks and months I just felt very convicted to give this up. There was one day when I got down on my knees, repented of what I was writing and asked God to help me to never write anything else that didn’t glorify Him. So from that moment on I have been writing books with a Christian message and, I believe, using my gifts the way God intended me to use them in the first place.

JOHN: So did you walk away from romance at that point?

Terri: I did. I had some outstanding contracts I had to buy back – but that was a problem because I didn’t have the money at the time to pay the publishers back, but it turned out that they owed me more than I owed them, so it all worked out beautifully! It was almost like the moment that I made the decision and told God that I was going to surrender this last aspect of my life to Him, it’s as if He took me by the hand and led me the rest of the way, because doors started opening up into the Christian market. At that time I didn’t know anything about the Christian market, but what I did know was that I was tired of writing romance. I just wanted a clean break from that, so I didn’t want to write Christian romance. I was reading mostly suspense novels at the time so I thought, why don’t I try to write suspense and just see if the Christian readers like it? And they did. So Zondervan gave me a four book contract before I knew it and I’ve been writing for them ever since.

JOHN: So you wrote over 30 romance novels, wow. How many Christian novels have you written?

Terri: I think I’ve written about 40. I’m [somewhere] over 70 – sometimes I lose count because I have taken some of those earlier books and rewritten them, so I never know whether to count them a second time or not. I did extensive rewriting on those. Any of the books that you see from me that are romance novels; those are usually rewritten from my earlier days, but the suspense novels are all since I came to the Christian market.

JOHN: What a wonderful story. I’m wondering if you could talk a little about your book, Intervention, as it was particularly close to you. And were there any other books that were especially personal to you?

Terri: Well, the thing about Intervention is that it’s really about a mother who is trying to save her daughter from drugs. And that came out of my life because I have a daughter who has been struggling for years with drug addiction. When we got to a place where she felt that it was fine for me to write about it, I did. That was SO personal because I poured a lot of my experiences into that book and into the rest of that series… Disciple is the second book and Downfall, the 3^rd book will be out March 6^th I believe. I really think that there’s a little of me in every one of my books, because what I find happening when I’m writing is that I will come up with a plot and a story line and then God will do something in my life during the writing of that book, or He’ll deal with me in some way that I learn something and then I think that maybe I’m supposed to pass that on to my readers. Almost every book has that sort of event happen. I can’t say it’s always pleasant but sometimes I just really believe that God is working in a certain way in my life, so I wind up incorporating all that it into the plot. Then I know that the Holy Spirit uses [it] because I hear from readers that those books touch them in a personal way. So it’s not just me being smart enough to do that. It’s the Holy Spirit using what I give Him, multiplying it and making it into something He can use.

JOHN: Have you ever felt the need or had an opportunity to move outside of the book realm and share your testimony in a speaking venue?

Terri: I have done some speaking about it but [my daughter] is still struggling – she has her ups and downs like any person with addiction. Until I know that we have had this in our rear view for many years I just don’t think I would want to go on a speaking circuit. Ya know, my dream is to do that with her someday – to have her give her testimony would really give hope to families. But at this point we’re just not far enough out of it to be able to do that and I don’t want that kind of thing to wind up being her destruction – so I have been very protective about that. I do speak about it sometimes. It was a very hard thing to write about, it drags up all those memories. It was fiction, but very much of what is in the book really happened in our lives. So it’s a painful thing to write and talk about.

JOHN: Of course, and it’s good that you’re sensitive to what she needs first and foremost. Switching gears a little, your suspense books certainly have the ability to pull people in. Have you ever been so caught up in one of your own stories that you felt frightened? Did you ever scare yourself?

Terri: (laughs) Yes, that does happen. Ya know, I think one of the reasons I love writing suspense is because I am so easily frightened, and my mind always goes to the worst possible thing (laughs). Like, if I’m letting the cat out I’m thinking someone could grab the door – I’m always on alert for that kinda thing. When I was writing my book Predator, I was just learning social networking and I was alarmed at the number of people who were dumping so much personal information onto their Facebook and Twitter pages. So I wrote a book that would deliberately scare them to death and understand how dangerous this is. But I do have to say it scared me too (laughs), so I did make changes to the way I was posting things and pictures – the kinds of things that would give more information than I wanted to.

When I really decided to write [the book], I had been working in prison ministry for many years. And one of the girls from jail got out and posted on my Facebook wall how to reach her, what her number was, where she was living. And I just almost had a heart attack. Of all of the people who are so vulnerable – someone who just got out of jail. I quickly deleted it and sent her a message to please be careful and then I thought, ya know I’m just going to have to write a book about this (laughs), because that is really my way of communicating with people. When I’m passionate about something I’m able to convey it in a story and people really seem to get it. I did get lots of mail from people telling me that they’ve changed their habits. So hopefully it will save some lives.

JOHN: So are your family members fans of your books?

Terri: Well, my husband is one of those people that loves to read non-fiction, but when he reads fiction he falls asleep (laughs), so he only ‘reads’ my books through audio. That’s a good medium for him and he enjoys them that way. Two of my three kids don’t read anything I write (laughs), but one of them does so, ya know, what can you do? I think they grew up watching me do it and it’s kinda like knowing how the sausage is made. You just don’t have an appetite for it when you saw it all your life! (laughs)

JOHN: That’s a great – and painfully true – analogy. Haha. So what do you do when you want a break from writing?

Terri: Well, I am very active at church – I teach a precept class, Kay Arthur courses. I love that – I’ve been involved in that for years. I also lead a support group for parents of prodigals, so I’m busy at church a couple nights a week. I [also] love home decorating. When I have time and want to do something different it’s usually something related to my house or watching something on TV related to decorating, so I guess that would be my hobby.

JOHN: So you’re a Martha Stewart junkie?

Terri: Well, I like to watch what she does, but I’m not really that organized. I can’t pull it off myself, but I like to watch other people do it.

JOHN: So do you read?

Terri: I do read. It depends on what I’m writing at the time. When I’m writing a book I usually try not to read fiction because it interferes with my voice. I find myself writing the way that the other author is writing, so I mostly just read when I travel. But I love Christian fiction and I have favorites that I like to read. While I’m writing a book I’m usually reading non-fiction and doing research for that book.

JOHN: Do you want to recommend any authors you like?

Terri: Yeah! In the suspense genre for the Christian market, I love Brandilyn Collins, James ScottBell, Bill Myers, Colleen Coble, authors like that. In women’s fiction I love writers like Robin Lee Hatcher, Tamera Alexander, Angela Hunt, Mindy Clark – just a ton of them. You can find anything in the Christian market today that you can find in the general market. If you like science fiction, you can find that in the Christian stores. We’ve come a long way in the last 15 or 16 years that I’ve been in this market.

JOHN: For sure. Alright, really hard question next… Is it pumpkin spice latte or peppermint mocha that you most go for this time of year?

Terri: Ya know what? Neither one! I am a tea drinker. So I would probably go with an English breakfast tea or a hot chocolate, but I am not a coffee drinker. Anything that even tastes of coffee I am not interested in.

JOHN: Would you consider yourself to be a Southern belle?

Terri: Yeah definitely. Anyone who knows me I think would say that.

JOHN: Well, I’ve really appreciated this chat. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, Terri. You do a fantastic job and I’m excited about where you’re headed.

Terri: Thank you.

*Congratulations to Terri for earning a spot on the Library Journal’s Top Ten Best Books List of 2011 for Shadow in Serenity. What a great honor for a great author!

The Steps of Sanctification

Steps come in shapes and sizes.
There are spiral steps.

Steps made of cement.
Steps made of stone.
Some steps are tiny.
Some steps feel like there is football field span of space leading to the next one.

So it is with life as well.
There are baby steps.
There are toddler steps.
Teenager steps.
Young adult steps.
You get the picture.

All of life, we are taking steps.  Some that move us up and some that move us down.

In our walk with Christ, we hope to be moving in a direction that brings us closer to Him.  We do this through daily devotion. Through prayer.  Through worship.  Whatever it takes, as our hearts become and more submitted to His heart, we find that we are taking these steps.

Paul saw that to be true as well.  In Philippians 3:10 he outlines four basic steps for each student of Christ.

1. That we may know Him
2. That we may know the power of His resurrection
3. That we may share in His sufferings
4. That we may become like Him in His death

Keep in mind that this is timed process.  It's life.  It's a cause and effect process.  In other words, that more we grow in Christ (cause), the further along we will move along these steps (effect).

Which step are you on?

Bonhoeffer, Socrates and the State of the Church

Eric Metaxas

It’s rare to cross paths with someone whom you could consider a modern-day John the Baptist. But even casual conversation with Eric Metaxas quickly turns into a compelling, stirring call to holiness. Just like Bonhoeffer – the bestselling biography that Eric wrote about the revolutionary German pastor during Nazi Germany – his words ring with the passion of a man solely devoted to obedience and a desire to live righteously. I recently caught up with Eric about his take on the church, society and his newest book Socrates in the City.  


John: Before you became an author, you were involved in media and the arts community to some extent. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?


Eric Metaxas: Ever since I graduated from Yale in 1984 I have known that I wanted to be a writer and that’s what the Lord had for me. The only question was what was I going to write? I knew that I was a writer, one who hadn’t yet written anything that people would care or know about too much.


John: In Bonhoeffer we see a man filled with passion for Christ; even in how he interacted with the culture around him. Looking back at the time you were researching his life to write the book, do you feel like your life and relationship with Christ changed in the process?


Eric: Well, I think yes and no, but I’ll explain. I was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church – my dad is Greek, my mom’s German. So I grew up in the church but never really heard the Gospel. It was mostly a kind of cultural Christianity. I then went to Yale – an aggressively secular university – and lost whatever modicum of faith that I had brought with me. I was dramatically born again in the summer of 1988. And really, ever since then I have had a deep passion to serve God with my gifts as a writer and speaker. That’s always been a constant, [I think] because I came to faith later in life (I was saved around my 25th birthday). I’ve had this incredible passion ever since. The only thing that changed by writing Bonhoeffer is that in some ways it accelerated that and gave me a greater sense of urgency about speaking the truth, standing up for Christ in the culture, being less shy about it. I’ve never been particularly shy about it but it made me more bold and courageous because this is true, not just something I hope is true. It’s true! So it’s not that it awakened so much in me, but as I was writing it I realized there was no question, this [book] is going to speak to a lot of people who need to be affirmed, encouraged and inspired. There’s something about this man’s life that is profoundly inspiring to Christians. The funny thing is that I didn’t know so much that that would happen, but through the course of writing it became clear to me that that’s what God was doing.


John: So this type of passion was certainly sparked within you before the book, but did seeing someone who had similar passion make it resonate even stronger in you?


Eric: There’s no doubt about that. Writing the book was a personal agony on a number of levels for me. I had a keen sense that God had created and called me to write this book. I had a very (how do I put it…?) palpable feeling that this was part of what God had created me to do and He was with me while I was doing it.  I really sensed His presence, very, very strong in writing it.


John: You’ve commented before about that ‘sense of agony’ you felt in writing the book – what exactly does that mean? We’re also curious about what you think a revolutionary like Dietrich Bonhoeffer might have to say to the church today…


Eric: Well I think Bonhoeffer would have the same thing to say to the church today that the Lord would have to say to the church. Because, let’s face it, either the Lord is speaking through people like Bonhoeffer or who cares what Bonhoeffer has to say. While writing the book, what Bonhoeffer really helped me see is that, we the church will always get it wrong both ways. Not just one way. The liberal church is screwing up one way and the conservative church is screwing up another way. We’re all messing up. When I was writing it and still now, I’m stunned at the parallels. For example you think, how did the Holocaust happen, how did this German Christian nation allow this to happen? Part of it was because of liberal theology and then part of it was a kind of hyper-religious, pious, separatist Christian theology. I was amazed to see in Germany that the mainline protestant churches had pretty much stopped proclaiming the historical Gospel and that compromised them fundamentally. That’s a big part of what happened to the church in Germany then, and it’s a big part of what is happening in the church here today. It’s not that they’re just not preaching this, but we see that it cripples them from actually calling evil evil and dealing with [sin] in a Biblical way. But then, of course, are people on the other end of the theological spectrum who are religious but not disciples of Jesus Christ. In other words, they’re excited about having the right theology, but they can almost make an idol of it, neglecting the loving and gracious Gospel of Jesus. They’re almost worshiping theology more than worshiping Jesus Himself. You see this back to almost the first century. There was something about the nature of things then with the aggressive secular culture of national socialism trying to take over the church. And I think we see a parallel of that today, that the mainstream culture has become increasingly secular and increasingly bold in stepping onto territory that absolutely belongs to the church. The church has to see that and the church has to do something about it. I think that either the church doesn’t see or accommodate itself to that or just doesn’t respond in a Biblical way. The story of Bonhoeffer gives us a Biblical model of ‘how are we going to be disciples of Jesus Christ in the middle of a culture that is very counter to that idea?’


John: Without persecution here in the West, can we as followers of Jesus strive to pay the same cost of discipleship that Dietrich did?


Eric: That’s a great question. I don’t know… It doesn’t seem so. I think we’re on the verge of real persecution. Because I think that today, for example, if you hold a Biblical view of sexuality, you are now being branded as a bigot. Just a few years ago, you could still say I’m a Christian and this is what I believe, but now, that’s becoming more difficult. I think that serious Christians, as they were in Hitler’s time, are being marginalized. If you are willing to bow the knee to Baal, well, we’ll still pat you on the head and let you go to church, but if you seriously believe these things and are proclaiming these things even in a loving way, you’re going to be marginalized. It is going to become increasingly more difficult to function. And that seems to be happening with the same sex marriage issue, and it’s a bit startling to see it happening that way in our culture which has been so traditionally Christian in so many ways.


John: You talked a little about how government is encroaching on the church in the US and also how the American church is handing over certain areas of its functionality to the government. When you look at the church, what peeves you the most?


Eric: Well, I think there’s a kind of gutlessness. We’re quick to agree with all kinds of things that we should not agree with. We’re so afraid of being branded as intolerant that we’ve made too much peace. We haven’t been bold. There are people around the world suffering for their faith and we don’t even seem to be able to put up with people sneering at us. It gets our noses so out of joint that we just somehow cease to be salt and light. That level of gutlessness, cowardice (unfortunately nothing less than that) is the death of the church. You saw it in spades in Nazi Germany, people wanted to be a good national socialist and a Christian. They were uncomfortable realizing ‘national socialism is forcing me to choose between itself and being an actual Christian.’ Many people never made that choice, and if you don’t make that choice, you’ve made the choice. I see that happening here. People are afraid to take a stand on issues because they’re simply afraid of what people will think or what the New York Times will think. I think that’s why Bonhoeffer gives me hope, because he calls us to wake up and be the church. He says, if you don’t, terrible things will happen. In his day, terrible things did happen and in our day terrible things will too unless we repent and do what God called us to. It’s always what God has called His prophets to do, which is to speak His truth, to call the people of God to be the people of God. I have this crazy idea that in the story of Bonhoeffer, God would give us a second chance. He would say, the church did not heed the cry of my servant in the 1930s but maybe now you’ll hear his voice. In the same way, we applaud Isaiah and Jeremiah today but in their own day the people of God did not applaud them. I have a funny feeling that Bonhoeffer’s voice is crying out to our generation and that it really does hang in the balance. I would like to think that the church would be the Church and that somehow his story is an encouragement to us along those lines.


John: So on that note, if we, the church were faced with another Holocaust, do you think we would act in cowardice today?


Eric: Oh I think we’re acting in cowardice already. Any kind of tragedy is a holocaust. The abortion industry over the last 30 years is a kind of holocaust. You’ll never see the same thing twice because you’ll be smart enough to recognize it. It will always be different, it will always fool you. And that’s exactly what has happened. The breakdown of the family has led to a different kind of holocaust. How many Steven Jobs have been aborted? I mean, he himself was born to an unwed mother who gave him up for adoption. How many people like that don’t exist because we’ve fundamentally changed our view of these kinds of things? Yeah, I don’t see how we’re ever any different. People are people, but God asks every generation to step up, and to the extent that we do, we try to avoid it. We’re no different than the Germans in those days, we fool ourselves if we think we’re somehow morally superior to them.


John: Do you think that the church has lost its credibility on some of the most important topics?


Eric: I think we have allowed ourselves to be politicized to the point where we can sometimes sound shrill. I think that many have been cowed into silence and other people have been goaded into shrillness. Both are unbiblical. So you take your pick. We’re speaking up on important issues, but again I think it’s both. If you hate shrill political conservatives, it’s very easy to point the finger at them while you’re bowing your knee to Baal except in a different direction. I think it’s just easy to get it wrong either way. I don’t think that the devil really cares how we get it wrong, as long as we get it wrong, or keep our mouth shut. [The problem is] agreeing with our friends on everything, or being so shrill, partisan and uncivil that we marginalize ourselves, making it very easy for people to ignore what we have to say.


John: Ok so transitioning to a lighter note, Socrates in the City (laughs). Tell us a little bit about this book and how it relates to the public forum that it grew out of.


Eric: I have had the privilege of knowing some of the greatest thinkers and speakers in my time. I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing to bring some of these people [here] to New York to opine on the big questions? (Because this is not a place where you typically hear people talk from a Biblical world view.) But not in a church-y environment – in a fun environment, an expensive private club where there’s wine and hors d’oeuvres and piano music, so it’s a social event. What would happen if you brought Os Guiness or Chuck Colson or any number of brilliant, wonderful speakers into that environment? I thought it would bless the church because we need to have our minds fed and it would bless the unchurched because they’d have a safe place to hear about something from a different point of view – so [I thought] let’s see what happens. Frankly, we’ve been doing it now for 11 years – it’s been a smashing success. I can hardly tell you what these evenings are like, but most of them are really terrific. For years I’ve thought, we’ve got to get this into a book, some of these talks are just so great, how can we not put them in a book? My introductions [of the speakers] are intentionally fun and silly because I don’t want it to feel like an intellectual exercise, I want it to be fun exploring these big questions. And it really has been fun! The book, for me, is a dream come true because I get to share these evenings with anybody who can buy a book at the bookstore. They can suddenly participate in what we’ve been doing. I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. The reviews I’ve gotten so far from friends have been beyond what I really had hoped. I never meant for [the events] to be just for Manhattan or the people who come to them, but as the time passed I felt more and more like it was a crime that people couldn’t listen in on these things because some of them were so magical. So we picked 10 or 11 of the most representative ones and put them in a book. To me the event does translate onto the page, we edited it lightly so that you really kinda feel like you’re there as opposed to just reading a book. That to me is a big achievement. I’m really excited about it - it’s time for Socrates to go public. We’ve done events in Chicago and Dallas/Ft. Worth and we’re refurbishing our website so folks can actually watch the events on video. So it’s a new day for us. I really can’t contain my enthusiasm for this because I feel like we’ve been hiding it under a bushel.


John: In doing these interviews, do you find yourself disagreeing with any of the speakers?


Eric: Well I don’t normally do interviews, mostly it’s a lecture. I introduce them, they give a talk and then we have Q & A, which is a lot of fun. Absolutely most of the speakers would differ from me in one way or the other but it’s not about having people who agree with me on everything, it’s about having people bring a fresh perspective that’s generally something that you’re not going to hear in a place like Manhattan or on TV. So sure, we’ve had some, but never anything terribly significant. That’s kind of the nature of the open-ended aspect of it, where people can ask questions and argue, but it’s always done in a civil environment so that’s the fun of it. People can come up to the microphone and say ‘I disagree with this’ then force the speaker to defend him or herself.


John: On your own website you describe this book as including humor. You’ve participated in comedy throughout your life – even voicing a VeggieTales character. How do you transition from something that has more comedic value to something weighty like Bonhoeffer or these great ethical points of philosophy in Socrates? Is this all who Eric is?


Eric: Humor has always been a major part of my life, it’s how the Lord made me. We are all strange, complicated creatures. I was the editor of the humor magazine at Yale University when I was there, I’ve written humor for the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, obviously working for VeggieTales humor’s involved, it’s always both – it’s never either or. I think it’s the nature of life generally, but it’s also the nature of my life (laughs), such as it is.


John: So what do you to unplug?


Eric: (Pause) …That’s a good question. I don’t know… um, crash? Burn? Yeah, crash and burn would be the answer. I don’t think I’m really good at unwinding or unplugging. I think if you’re doing something you enjoy you don’t really need to, I mean, it’s fun in and of itself. I don’t collect stamps if that’s what you’re asking.


John: Family? Married?


Eric: My wife and I just celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Our daughter is 12 and goes to a tremendous Christian school right here in Manhattan, the Geneva Christian School. Without the school I don’t know if we’d be able to live here, it’s just fantastic. My wife runs the only evangelical crisis pregnancy center in New York City and they just celebrated their 15th anniversary also. So, I’m a family man living in New York City and I really do believe God called us to be here.


John: Eric, we are in awe that you took a few moments to talk with us today. We’re so grateful for Bonhoeffer. It is a great read.


Eric: Nothing pleases me more – you can only imagine how much that just blesses me. The Lord was with me and really had spoken to me that this was His book and that He would use it, I clung to that. It was really tough to write, then I had to switch publishers [in the process which] was a really horrible experience, but by God’s grace I found my way to Thomas Nelson and they have been tremendous. I don’t have time to tell you the details but trust me when I tell you there were really, genuinely miraculous aspects to the whole thing, so the fact that God is using it this way, it’s only proof that it is His book and nothing could really make me happier.


To learn more about Eric, his books or the click the Socrates in the City forum.

What to Look for in a Church

On occasion, there are posts from blogs I follow that greatly inspire me or help me think.  The post below, from Soul Food Media is most certainly one.

What to look for in a church

Posted 10/31/2011 | By: R W Glenn

1. Clarity on the gospel of grace. There are many counterfeits, not least the distortions of the gospel that make sin something you need to work off or blow off. Listen carefully for the comfort and the call of the gospel. First and foremost, listen for Jesus saying, "I do not condemn you." But keep listening for "Go and sin no more." The order is very important. The removal of condemnation comes before the call to obedience. But both need to be there for the church to preach the gospel.

2. Christ-centered preaching. You might have expected me to have said "expository preaching," but it is very possible to give an exposition of a text of Scripture without ever getting to Jesus Christ. This is especially true of preaching from the Old Testament. I don't remember who said this, but if the exposition of the Old Testament you're hearing wouldn't be thrown out of a synagogue, then the preacher isn't preaching Christ. Exposition of Scripture is the means by which we get to Jesus. But it is the means, not the end of preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3. Theologically informed public worship. Are the basic elements of worship present: public reading of Scripture, exhortation and teaching from Scripture, songs, prayers, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper? In addition to these basic elements, look for songs with lyrics that exalt Jesus Christ and deepen your appreciation for and understanding of the gospel of grace. I'm not saying that short songs like "I Love You, Lord," have no place in public worship, but what I am saying is that if the content of the songs for public worship as a whole are shallow, it should give you pause.

4. Hospitable people. If the gospel is really doing its work in a community of Christians, they will love strangers, and not in that smarmy, fake, "I'm-glad-you're-here-because-I'm-supposed-to-be-glad-you're-here" kind of way. I mean that you feel genuinely welcomed and loved by the people as you meet them and spend time worshipping with them.

5. Church discipline. Church discipline has gotten a bad wrap. The discipline of the church cannot be reduced to the final, punitive kind, but must include the formative type as well. Church discipline happens when the members of the church are willing to turn one another back to Jesus in loving calls to repentance, through encouragement in suffering, and exhortations to grow in grace.

6. Mercy for the poor. First John 3:17 says that if we who have the world's goods and behold our brother in need and close our hearts against him, we don't have the love of God in us. Thus it is a test of bona fide Christianity that the church cares for its poor. More than that, our care for the poor, though it should prioritize the believing community, should move beyond the church to the broader community: "Let us do good to all people, especially those who are of the household of the faith" (Gal 6:10).

7. Concern for the lost, evidenced by a church committed to personal evangelism. And by "committed to personal evangelism" I don't mean a church that has evangelistic programs, but that the people love their neighbors enough to tell them about Jesus. So look for a sincere interest in reaching the lost with the gospel of grace on the part of the pastors and the people in the pew, not as a notch in their belts, but because they are truly lovers of people as people, not as evangelistic prospects.

Four Phrases the Church Should Never Say

A pastor once told me that the following phrases should never be spoken by a church:

• I don't belong
• You don't belong
• I don't need you
• You don't need me

    For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

    For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

    The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

    Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.    

And I will show you a still more excellent way.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-31)

Reformation Day Saved Me From This Guy

If by chance, you are unfamiliar with Reformation Day, I want to encourage you to look it up and find out specifically what it is.  This site is probably a good place to start.

Truth be told, Reformation Day is a day to celebrate freedom.  The freedom from a particular religious organization or leader.  More importantly it was and is a proclamation of the free justification we have in the eyes of God.  Not a work-out-your-sin by doing great works, having great faith, giving more money, but purely by Christ doing great works for us.

Reformation Day stands for five freedoms.

• The freedom to open the Word of God and read it for ourselves. To know that we don't have to have someone interrupt into our language for us to understand it.  We can read the words of God and know them. We can know God through His word.  Scripture alone is our authority. We don't look to ours or anyone's experience.  Just the Word.
• The freedom to trust in Christ alone. To have Him be our ultimate Shepherd.  No man can rule us above or beside Christ, for He alone is our authority.  Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." (2 Cor. 3:5)
• As I stated above, I/we have been saved by the grace of God alone. There is no work for me to do to save myself.  If, essence, am dead at the bottom of the ocean before know Christ, how am I to revive myself if I am truly dead? Surely, it is the grace of Christ alone to breathe life into us first - reviving us.  Bring us to faith.
• Yes, faith alone. This faith is imputed to us because of the work of Christ. We are free to believe because of the power of God working in us. B. B. Warfield stated "It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ.... It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or in the nature of faith, but in the object of faith."
  
• So where does all of this bring us? To lay down our lives in worship.  Our only right response to declare that God alone be the glory. The psalmist write "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth." Ps. 19:1-4

Reformation Day is a day freedom from ourselves. 

Enjoy it.
You are free.