Weekly Links (1/14/2011)

by Stephen Rodgers

Hey everyone!  First of all, I just wanted to let you know that the Weekly Links are going to be a bit sparse this week.  Work has been rather exciting lately, and I haven’t had as much time as I normally do to scour the internet to bring you good stuff.  However, I did want to let you know about a few things you won’t want to miss…

  • First of all, I hope you didn’t miss any of the articles this week.  If you did, now would be a great time to review them, since we’re trying to bring material together in combinations that are helpful and timely to you.
  • For example, hot on the heels of Pastor Patrick’s article on reading your Bible, we’ve updated the Recommended Resources page with a list of Bible-reading plans!
  • Along those lines, I also found this GTY article entitled “An Unremarkable Faith” to be a great reminder of what God calls us to, first and foremost.
  • And it’s January, which means there’s a new edition of Tabletalk. This one focuses in on the New Testament epistles.

When work slows down, we’ll be back with more.  But for now, I’d simply challenge you to take the time you would have spent looking over those resources to do some thinking, some praying, and get your plan to read the Word in 2011 all sorted out.  That would be time well spent.

See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

Singles Life Update

by Abram Kim

Pastor Patrick started his Singles ministry this past fall by going the book of Colossians. This study on Friday nights has been a great follow-up to our Singles Retreat last March, when Pastor Nam Park of Immanuel Bible Church spoke four wonderful messages on the preeminence of Christ through Colossians. I remember that retreat being a tremendous blessing because Pastor Nam’s preaching magnified the person, character, and worth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the Singles group saw a clearer and greater image of God very God, Jesus Christ.

Pastor Patrick’s teachings from Colossians have likewise been a tremendous blessing for our Singles Ministry. This study, I believe, has renewed our passion to live in light of the preeminence of Christ. We just finished chapter 1 this past Friday. I’ll highlight a few key thoughts from the messages in the following paragraphs below. I pray you will learn what we have been learning as a Singles Ministry Friday nights, but more so that your view of who Christ is will become deeper and richer and fuller.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” (Col. 1:2)

Paul starts his letters with this standard greeting, and Pastor Patrick started out the Colossians series. We took a closer look at the author of letter, Paul, the apostle, Roman citizen, and Jew of Jews. We examined the audience of the letter, the saints, i.e., true Christians, who are faithful to Christ and are in the world but not of it. And lastly, we studied Paul’s standard greeting with its focus on the grace of God for Christians, and the peace Christians have in Christ alone.

“… hope laid up for you in heaven.” (Col. 1:5)

As true Christians, we must not get satisfied with the temporal things of this world (i.e., appetizers) but seek the eternal heavenly reward yet to come (i.e., great feast). This hope in future glory is secured above in heaven, and is the reason, purpose, and motivation of the Colossians’ faith and love. The hope of future glory ought to also motivate our lives for godly living today.

“firstborn of all creation… firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:15, 18)

Christ is the firstborn (beginning point), and therefore, the prototype of all of creation, as well as recreation. Christ was the means for creation when God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1-2). Christ is now also the means for the resurrection, for though He wasn’t the first to rise from the dead chronologically, He is the first to rise to never die again (1 Corinthians 15:20f.).

“Him we proclaim…”  (Col. 1:28)

Verse 28 and 29 are Pastor Patrick’s life verse for ministry. Here is the heart of Paul’s ministry summed up in three concise words. There is no other message but this one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a stumbling block (scandal) to Jews and folly (moronic) to Gentiles, but this is Paul’s one message in his preaching ministry (1 Corinthians 1:20f.). Therefore, the goal from the pulpit must be to know and love Jesus better, and not anything else like knowledge that puffs up or something that tickles our ears. Thank God this is the desire of our pulpit as well!

Living Theology #51 – Spiritual Gifts (part 2)

by Garrett Glende

We left off last week in 1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on the supremacy of love. We will spend a significant amount of time looking over some of the verses in this chapter, but that comes later. First, I just want to say a few things about spiritual gifts and the charismatic debate. It’s probably obvious to everyone that I’m no expert when it comes to these things and I’m not claiming to be. There are many godly men out there who disagree with me and who have done much more studying on the topic, so I don’t claim to have any sort of leg up on them when it comes to this either. However, I will say that God has given us all the same Bible’s and the same Holy Spirit – so at least we’re equal on that. I say this because I really don’t want to come off as the young guy who shoots down every theologian that he disagrees with. Trust me; it would be much easier to just avoid this whole issue all together. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t do much justice to this series if we could skip over anything remotely difficult, so we’ll continue to tackle each chapter as it comes. And with that, we’ll begin to take a look at some of the issues regarding the miraculous sign gifts and their presence (or lack thereof) today.

Going back to 1 Corinthians 13, we see that Paul emphasizes love because it is the only thing that will last forever. He writes in verses 8-13:

“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

This passage contains some of the clearest teaching on the cessation of the sign gifts, so it cannot be ignored. The crux of the argument centers on the interpretation of the word to teleion, translated in the English as “perfect.” It’s clear that these partial gifts will pass away, but it is not clear as to when exactly this will take place. All we can say for sure is that it will happen “when the perfect comes.” But precisely when is this? Grudem interprets “the perfect” to mean the second coming of Christ. He makes a connection between the time when the perfect comes and the refrains of “now…then…” statements in verse 12. The “then” statements would correspond to the time when the perfect comes. He interprets these verses to mean the second coming of Christ, asking, “When shall we see ‘face to face’? When shall we know ‘even as we have been known’? These events can only happen when the Lord returns.” Grudem believes that “the partial” refers to all of the revelatory and confirmatory gifts, not just knowledge and prophecy, arguing that “Paul also intended tongues to be included in the sense of verse 9 as among these activities that are imperfect, but omitted overly pedantic repetition for stylistic reasons…Paul could have listed more gifts here if he had wished.” With the second coming of Christ, Grudem argues, there will no longer be any need for these partial gifts because we will see fully.

While it definitely is the case that Paul considers the second advent of Christ to be a time when these gifts could pass away, he also suggests that it could happen sometime before then. An alternative interpretation to Grudem’s is found in Robert Thomas’ book titled Understanding Spiritual Gifts. Thomas asserts that instead of rendering the word to teleion as “perfect,” it should be translated “mature.” This interpretation is strengthened by the allusions to the maturation between childhood and manhood in verse 11 and the other occurrences of the phrase throughout the New Testament. In its other uses to teleion is found to mean “mature” rather than “perfect” (1 Cor. 14:20, Heb. 5:13-14, Eph. 4:13-14). These verses all speak of some sort of maturity within the body of believers, leading us to believe that this is something that Paul had in mind in 1 Cor. 13:10. Because Paul is not sure when Christ will return, he is convinced that the gifts could cease before then, specifically when the body of Christ is matured. Thomas notes that Paul was aware that sign gifts were given specially during periods of revelation, but were then followed by periods of silence and an absence of miraculous gifts. For example, the time when God spoke directly to the prophets was followed by a silence of 400 years. The Old Testament cannon was clearly closed as soon as this prophecy ceased, which was long before Christ was born. Thomas links this maturing of the Old Testament period to the early church period that Paul was experiencing. He writes:

“He was conscious that he was now in the midst of a new period during which God was speaking directly to His apostles and prophets, resulting in inspired utterances, part of which were taking their place alongside the Old Testament cannon as inspired Scripture. One possibility he foresaw was that this period of prophecy could come to its conclusion before the Second Advent of Christ just as the Old Testament prophecy had come to its conclusion four hundred years before the First Advent. Such a cessation would resemble the gradual development from childhood to manhood.”

I prefer this interpretation of 1 Cor. 13:8-13 because it incorporates a more accurate understanding of the original language, as well as weighing each verse in the passage appropriately. It’s obvious to me that the second coming of Christ would usher in an era where these gifts no longer exist, but at the same time it seems logical to allow for an earlier cessation, as Paul does in this passage. So the question to answer then is, “has this maturation taken place?” If we believe that God is no longer giving revelation and that the New Testament cannon is closed, then it would follow that the signs that accompany such revelation would have ceased upon its closing. The miraculous sign gifts (tongues, healing, miracles) were given to the apostles to prove that their teachings were from God. They existed to show the people exactly what kind of authority the apostles carried. However, upon the completion of the New Testament, the gifts were no longer necessary because the written word of God stood on its own authority. In fact, Peter calls this word something more sure than his own eyewitness account of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:19). It needs no accompaniment of signs and wonders.

This article is getting too long, so I applaud you if you’ve made it this far. However, there is one more issue that I’d like to address. Many people today insist that the charismatic gifts still exist today because they’ve had some sort of experience that convinced them of it. Whether it be speaking in tongues or witnessing a healing, they rely on what they have seen to inform their conclusions. I don’t mean to offend anyone when I ask this question, but how do you know that the “tongues” you’re speaking are really from God? Are they really serving their purpose (the edification of the body)? It’s not that I think these people are not sincere in their faith, but I do believe it is misguided and perhaps uninformed. We need to go back to what the Scriptures say about these issues and deal with them at a biblical level. We cannot first claim to know truth based on an emotional experience and then force that belief to fit what the Bible teaches. And this goes for anything in life, not just spiritual gifts. We should be sure to make the Bible our ultimate authority, not our own experience.

The purpose of this article was really just to give you a taste of what is out there to study. I only scratched the surface of the issue and in some ways feel like I’m not doing it justice. Nevertheless, I hope that this may spur you on to want to study your Bible’s more, not just to gain knowledge, but to have your life changed by the truth. There are plenty of good resources out there and I encourage you to take advantage of them. Yes, this will mean lots and lots of reading, unless you get a voice from heaven, of course.

Reading Your Bible in 2011

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Many people make it a resolution each New Year to read through their Bibles. Perhaps that is your resolution this year. And if you are like most individuals, even now in the month of January, you are already behind. Year after year, this resolution is made, and it seems year after year, the resolution is broken. I wanted to offer some thoughts to help you keep this resolution in 2011.

First, it is helpful to consider some not-so-helpful motives for reading your Bible:

  1. Please do not read your Bible because you think that God will do nice things for you if you do. God probably won’t miraculously make that Porsche appear on your driveway just because you read your Bible this year.
  2. Please do not read your Bible as if it is a chore that needs to get done. Reading your Bible should rank higher on your list of priorities than doing your dishes or washing your car. If all you are trying to do is to get to the end of the year to be able to say that you did it, that won’t benefit you much.
  3. Please do not read your Bible solely to impress an individual of the opposite gender. That is all I’m going to say about that.
  4. Please do not read your Bible because you think you are better than others and spiritually superior to them. That was always a pet peeve of mine when someone would ask (looking down their nose at me), “Did you read your Bible today?” just because they had read theirs that day.

I’m sure there are many more not-so-helpful motives for reading your Bible, but these were just a few that came to mind.

So, why should you read your Bible this year? Why put in the effort knowing that it gets difficult once you get past all the narrative sections? Why trudge through the Old Testament Law or Prophets? Why try to make it all the way to Revelation in such a short time? Here are a few reasons:

  1. By reading the Bible at that quick of a pace, you will not lose sight of the overall theme of the book. At a church like LBC where we listen to verse by verse exposition, sometimes it is easy to forget overarching themes. We can get so focused on details in the minutia that we miss how those details contribute to the whole message of a book.
  2. By reading the Bible in a year, you will see how the drama of the Bible unfolds from book to book. You’ll see how Genesis flows right into Exodus. You’ll see the connection between Deuteronomy and Joshua. You’ll sense the flow of narrative from the Gospels into Acts.
  3. By reading the Bible in a year, you’ll see how the different books of the Bible are interrelated. You’ll see the significance of the genealogy of Matthew 1 in light of the promises of the Old Testament. You’ll also see the familiarity of most of the book of Revelation because of what you read in the Old Testament prophets.
  4. By reading the Bible in a year, you’ll become familiar with portions of Scripture you’ve never read before. You’ll see exactly how encouraging Habakkuk is as well as how sad Lamentations is. You’ll walk through all the rich themes in the Psalms. Just think, you’ll crack open all the places in the Bible where the pages are still stuck together from the gild.
  5. By reading the Bible through each year, you can focus on various themes as you read. Perhaps the first time, you can do a study of the Messiah and focus on all the passages that speak of the coming Christ. Then the next year, you can do a study of God’s attributes. Maybe the year after that, you can study the ugliness of sin in the heart of man. There are so many great themes in the Bible that you will never be able to exhaust them all. In other words, you won’t be able to read through the Bible enough!
  6. By reading the Bible in a year, at least in 2011, you will be a doer of the Word and not merely a hearer only by putting your love for God and His truth into practice. You’ll support in your reading your confession of commitment to the Scriptures.

I’m sure there are many other great reasons for reading through the Bible in a year, but these are just a few to motivate you!

Still for most, it’s difficult to practically accomplish this goal. Most people are self-proclaimed non-readers. If this is you, here are some practical tips for reading through the Bible:

  1. Remember that you are reading the Bible – God’s Holy Word. Pray before you read that God would help you get the most out of your time in it. Try not to get in the habit of reading just to check off a box. In fact, read deliberately slowly to help ensure you catch the things you might have otherwise missed.
  2. Use a Bible reading plan to help you pace yourself. Professor Grant Horner of The Master’s College has a helpful Bible reading program that will walk you through several passages of Scripture from different genres at the same time so that you aren’t just reading the book cover to cover (that way you won’t spend a great number of days only in Leviticus or the Prophets, if this is helpful for you). I have a Bible reading plan that walks you through the books in a more chronological way so you can see the story of the Bible unfold chronologically rather than thematically.
  3. Break up the reading if necessary. My Bible has 1328 pages, so dividing that by 365 days, it comes down to a little over 3.6 pages a day. That doesn’t seem like a lot of reading to me, but for some people that is difficult to do in one sitting. If that’s the case for you, read half of it in the morning or midday, and read the rest in the evening.
  4. Prioritize your day. You don’t need to do this legalistically, but you can make your Bible reading a priority. One year, I devoted myself not to eat anything until I did my Bible reading for the day. This was easier for me since I do not typically eat breakfast. There were some days where I made an exception, but generally it helped me to be consistent. If you are reading something else (especially if it is not spiritual like the Twilight series or something like it), commit yourself not to read that before reading the Bible.
  5. Get accountability. It is often helpful to read together with someone. That way, not only can you hold each other accountable, but you can also share observations you’ve made or lessons you’ve learned. More importantly, you can walk through together how you will apply the Word to your lives. One idea would be to start a private blog together with your accountability partner where you both could record what you learned online.
  6. Find an undistracted time to read. This is sometimes the hardest thing to do. You want to read, but you can’t find a quiet minute to do it. For moms (who are typically busier than most), try to read after you put the kids down or while they take their naps. Instead of wasting time on Facebook or surfing the web to “unwind,” pray and read God’s Word.
  7. Buy a good reading Bible. It is helpful to purchase a translation that is easy to read but still faithful to the text. I would recommend the ESV translation because of its readability. For the same reason, I would generally discourage reading the KJV. Also, get a Bible that is portable. That way you can take it with you and read whenever it is convenient (e.g. waiting at the DMV, in the bathroom, on the bus, before class begins, on your lunch break, etc.).
  8. Remember that practice makes perfect. Many people tell me they are not readers. I typically respond by telling them there is little hope for them to be the men and women God wants them to be unless they develop this discipline. My high school English teacher once told me, “The best writers are often those who hate to write.” Reading, in the same way, is a discipline that can and should be cultivated. Get in the habit of reading and make it part of your daily routine. Before you know it, you won’t remember what life was like without it.
  9. Don’t quit. Some people get so far behind in their Bible reading plan that they throw up their arms, give up, and hope for better in the following year. I never really understood this. Why give up? Just pick up where you left off and keep going. Otherwise you will read Genesis every January and never make it to Kings. Just keep reading and whenever you finish, do it all again striving to be more consistent.

These things are written for your benefit and I hope you find it to be helpful. My purpose in writing is to cultivate in you a greater love and appreciation for God’s Word and a greater devotion to Him. Please understand that the majority of what I have written is in principle, not command. There are many ways to help an individual develop a discipline. These are merely some suggestions to help you accomplish your goal of reading the Bible in 2011.

“Best” of Beacon

by Stephen Rodgers

Given that I mentioned it in a previous post, a few people have asked what I meant by the “best of Beacon.” So I’ve decided that for today, I’ll pull back the curtain just a little to give you a glimpse of site statistics and how we use them here at the Beacon.

Site statistics are a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can provide valuable insight into your community. On the other hand, they can easily become an idol, and when you find yourself worshiping at the alter of almighty web traffic, you’ve gone too far.  By far, the most popular articles we’ve had are about marriage, former member Tia Han, and photography.  Someday perhaps, we’ll do an article that features taking pictures of Tia getting married, and our servers will simply melt from the traffic.  But it goes without saying that simply doing that so that we can be proud of our numbers would be wrong.  Very wrong.  Note to future editors: don’t do that. Seriously.  No.

So just to be clear, “Best of Beacon” might not be the best title (but given the alliteration, I couldn’t resist). However, for those who are curious, here are some of the top 7 lists of Beacon site stats…

Top 7 Posts

The overwhelming number of our readers seem to land on our home page and poke around to see what’s new.  I’m always a bit surprised how little direct traffic articles get, but considering that we’ve only been driving traffic to particular articles for a little while now, I shouldn’t be.  I am encouraged however, by how many people visit the site.  Once you get past the front page however, these were the most “popular” posts on the Beacon, at least as far as page count is concerned.

  1. Home Page
  2. LBC Ministry Overview
  3. Is Marriage In Your Future?
  4. Life After LBC #2 – Tia Han
  5. Photography Ministry
  6. You’re Not at a Conference
  7. What to Look for in a Church

Top 7 Searches

Did you know that when you search for something on your favorite search engine, then click on a link, the site you go to is able to capture the search term that you used to get there?  Whether you knew that or not, these are the most popular searches that people used to find the Beacon by searching on Google, Yahoo, etc.

I think that quite a few of them were sad that we were a church newsletter, and NOT a company that cleans churches.  And ironically enough, the search for “lighthouse bible church beacon” was a popular one, but not popular enough to make the top seven.

  1. “church cleaning ministry”
  2. “photography ministry”
  3. “knowability of god”
  4. “cleaning ministry”
  5. “pastor john kim”
  6. “thoughts for young men”
  7. “what is a convalescent home”

Top 7 Referrers

And last but not least, these are the top seven referring pages to the Beacon.  A referring page is just a place where your visitors come from.

So we obviously get a lot of traffic from people who are hanging around the church website(s) already.  We seem to get a big chunk from people emailing links to each other, finding older versions of the blogs that were combined into the new Beacon, people reading their RSS feeds, and Facebook.  What’s remarkable is that Facebook is in the #2 spot, and we’ve had our official Facebook presence for only a few months.  However, it was by analyzing the traffic patterns of our top referrers that we determined that creating a Facebook page might be the best way to to reach people with the Gospel.  We didn’t do it to become popular; we did it because we saw a need and an opportunity to tell people about Jesus.

  1. lighthousebc.com
  2. facebook.com
  3. mail.google.com
  4. google.com/reader
  5. shine-the-light.blogspot.com
  6. lighthousebc.com/media/sermonlist
  7. lbcbeacon.wordpress.com

Well, that’s all that we’re going to share for now.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour.  I also hope that perhaps this helped you find an article you missed, reconsider volunteering for a ministry, or encourage you to share the Beacon with someone today.  And just so that I send you away with a big smile on your face, this is the most popular picture that the Beacon has ever linked to.

No, that’s not Photo-shopped.  Yes, that’s exactly what you think it is.  And it’s still one of my all-time favorites as well.

Pro Rege

There Remaineth Therefore a Rest to the People of God

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Hebrews 4:9

How different will be the state of the believer in heaven from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, ‘Help me to serve Thee, O my God.’ If he be thoroughly active, he will have much labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his power, so that he will cry out, ‘I am not wearied of the labour, but I am wearied in it. ‘ Ah! Christian, the hot day of weariness lasts not for ever; the sun is nearing the horizon; it shall rise again with a brighter day than thou hast ever seen upon a land where they serve God day and night, and yet rest from their labours.

Here, rest is but partial, there, it is perfect. Here, the Christian is always unsettled; he feels that he has not yet attained. There, all are at rest; they have attained the summit of the mountain; they have ascended to the bosom of their God. Higher they cannot go. Ah, toil-worn labourer, only think when thou shalt rest for ever! Canst thou conceive it? It is a rest eternal; a rest that ‘remaineth.’ Here, my best joys bear ‘mortal’ on their brow; my fair flowers fade; my dainty cups are drained to dregs; my sweetest birds fall before Death’s arrows; my most pleasant days are shadowed into nights; and the flood-tides of my bliss subside into ebbs of sorrow; but there, everything is immortal; the harp abides unrusted, the crown unwithered, the eye undimmed, the voice unfaltering, the heart unwavering, and the immortal being is wholly absorbed in infinite delight. Happy day! happy! when mortality shall be swallowed up of life, and the Eternal Sabbath shall begin.

1.18a

Weekly Links (1/7/2011)

by Stephen Rodgers

Welcome back everyone!  I already said my “Merry Christmas,” so I guess this is “Happy New Year!”  Anyhow, we know that a lot of people are having a bit of a tough time getting back into work, school, etc. after the Christmas break, so I’ll just ease us back into the Weekly Links…

  • I know how much our church enjoys the writing of Paul Tripp, which I wholeheartedly understand and appreciate.  I also know that y’all seem to enjoy New Year’s resolutions…I never got that part.  But regardless, Mr. Tripp has a new article over at Desiring God that I think we’ll all love: Trading One Dramatic Resolution for 10,000 Little Ones. Enjoy!  (WEB)
  • Elder Mike Chon has recently been going through a series on Biblical decision-making. So this article from GTY on Decision Making to the Glory of God was both good and well-timed!  (WEB)
  • The free audio book from ChristianAudio for the month of January is Jerry Bridges’ The Pursuit of Holiness.  If you haven’t been in the habit of taking advantage of their free monthly book, this would be a great time to start!
  • Ligonier recently did a Q&A entitled “Ask RC Live.” If you’ve enjoyed RC Sproul’s material in the past, then I think you’ll enjoy this as well. (VIDEO)
  • This is a older article, but it’s a good one.  One of the authors of The Trellis and the Vine discusses various ways in which the “average” church goer has ministerial duties in “The Ministry of the Pew.” (WEB)
  • And last but not least, I thought this small devotional by John Stott is a great way to start the new year, as he reflects on “Thoughtful, Total Commitment.” (WEB)

See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

Recommended Resources

by Stephen Rodgers

Editor’s Note: Just because a source is recommended here does not indicate that every doctrine it professes reflects the beliefs of LBC or it’s leaders (if you are interested, you are welcome to read LBC’s Statement of Faith) or with each other.  Faithful men of God have held positions on secondary and tertiary issues that differ from our own, and we hold them no less Christian for doing so.  God calls Christians to love Him with their mind (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27) and to examine every teaching in light of the totality of Scripture (Acts 17:11).

Pro Rege

Guide to Recommended Resources

  1. Bible-Reading Plans
  2. Blogs
  3. Daily Devotionals
  4. Journals
  5. Preaching
  6. Sermons
  7. Shopping
  8. Software and Study

Bible-Reading Plans

This section is for various Bible-reading plans that you may wish to pursue in order to bring some order and method to your time in the Word.

  • First up is Professor Grant Horner’s Bible-Reading System. This is the plan that Pastor John mentioned during his recent visit.  It it more of a “life plan” than a “year plan.”  The idea is that you read 10 chapters a day, but never the same combination of chapters twice.  This allows you to become very familiar with where things are in Scripture, as well as see relationships between different parts of the Bible.
  • In terms of one-stop shopping for familiarizing yourself with various plans, it’s really hard to beat the collection of ESV plans. They offer 10 different plans in 5 different formats, and there’s even a podcast subscription for those of you who have joined the iCult (just kidding…mostly).
  • If that’s still not enough for you, then I would refer you to any or all of the following articles and posts…
  • The MacArthur Daily Bible is also available for free in a variety of formats.  I’ve used this plan before, and found it to work well.  Each day you have four small readings: One from the OT, one from Psalms, one from Proverbs, and one from the NT.
  • A number of years ago, I was really struggling with my Bible reading (and honestly, had been for several years at that point), and I took it upon myself to develop a plan that was so focused and forgiving (in terms of schedule) that I would have been ashamed to have failed.  It’s a very simple plan: really read one chapter from the NT every weekday, and use the weekends to catch up.  (It has the benefit of being mathematically elegant since 5/7 of 365 is 260, and there are 260 chapters in the NT). It gave me a renewed appreciation for the word, and a much deeper understanding of the NT to boot.
  • I would think that should be enough for most people.  I’ve personally really enjoyed Horner’s plan, although you do need to read his article to really understand his intentions in designing it.  I would encourage you to be familiar with the others and at least read the articles from DG and JT; they both provide some great links to background information and other resources.  And if you’re still raring to go, there are many other options as well.  (Seriously, there are a lot of options). But as Pastor Patrick wrote, the important thing is how you read the Word, not which plan you use.

Blogs

For anyone looking to fill their mind with great Christian content, I’ve compiled a “Top 10” list of blogs that you might want to start with.  Each of these writers (or groups of writers), consistently put out excellent content.  If there’s interest, perhaps we’ll expand this to a “Top 20” list in the future.  For now it’s just a list, but I’ll update this in the future with more information about each person/place.

And just to be safe, I’ve put these in alphabetical order so that no one can accuse me of favoritism.

  • 9Marks – 9Marks is the ministry of Mark Dever and friends.  They regularly post here on issues related to the church.  9Marks also puts out the excellent 9Marks eJournal.
  • Al Mohler – Al Mohler blogs several times a week with a focus on current events and cultural issues. Just reading him is guaranteed to make you smarter!  And if you’re interested, he has a couple of podcasts you might like as well.
  • Desiring God – This is the blog of John Piper and several other folks at his church.
  • Grace to You – This is the blog of John MacArthur and several other folks at his church. (Note: John MacArthur does not actually blog regularly here, but they routinely post excerpts from his books, articles, and sermons.  Occasionally he will pen a specific article as well).
  • Justin Taylor – Justin Taylor is the VP of Editorial at Crossway, and his blog (along with Tim Challies, see below) serves as a content clearinghouse for the Christian web.
  • Kevin DeYoung – Kevin DeYoung is a pastor and author.  4/5 days of the week, he posts though-provoking articles that make me jealous. 1/5 days of the week he posts a video about comedy or basketball.  Nobody’s perfect.
  • Pyromaniacs – Updated daily, this is a team blog by Phil Johnson, Dan Phillips, and Frank Turk. They are some of the most outspoken voices (who can actually support their statements Biblically) on the internet today, and you would do well to give them a read.
  • Russell Moore – Dr. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He also has a podcast you might enjoy.
  • Sovereign Grace (the CJ blog) – This is the blog of CJ Mahaney and several other folks at his church.
  • Tim Challies – And last but not least, Tim Challies is another great author and blogger who puts out a remarkable amount of high-quality content.

Daily Devotionals

This section is for various daily devotionals that you may wish to use to augment your study and understanding of the Word.

  • DA Carson has an online devotional entitled For the Love of God. For the Love of God is a daily devotional designed to walk a person through the Bible in a year while assisting the reader in discovering the riches of God’s Word. Originally published by Crossway Books (volume 1 in 1998 and volume 2 in 1999), this “blog” is really not a blog at all, but a free digital version of the devotional provided by TGC and Crossway.
  • John MacArthur has a number of online devotionals available, also based on some of his previously published works.  They are available for free, in a variety of formats (I prefer RSS myself):
  • Ray Ortlund has a bit of a mini-devotional blog. Each day, he typically posts a picture, and either a quote or a verse that illustrates a theological truth.
  • Charles Spurgeon wrote some fantastic devotional material as well.  The website for this is a bit strange (in a technical way; in a theological way they are AWESOME), but you can find the daily readings for both Faith’s Checkbook and Morning and Evening here.

Journals

Basically, these are like magazines on the internet. There’s a number of articles, usually centered around a theme, that come out on a scheduled basis. I should warn you that some are far more technical than others, and the length of the articles can vary widely from publication to publication.  But this is a fantastic way to challenge yourself to read wider and deeper at little-to-no cost.

  • 9Marks eJournal – As you know, 9Marks is an organization that mostly revolves around Mark Dever and his folk. Every two months or so, they put out a new collection of articles on a particular topic. Right now the topic is “Deacons,” but previous issues include topics like “Missions,” “Young Pastors,” and others. There’s also an archive where you can browse past issues.  And here on the Beacon, Stephen Rodgers created a topical index of all past issues of it as well, which is an easy way to find what you’re looking for.
  • Acts & Facts – An online journal from ICR dealing with scientific issues pertaining to the doctrine of creation.
  • Bibliotheca Sacra – DTS has published this journal for over 165 years.  Most of the articles require a subscription, but you can find an archive with some sample articles as well.
  • Christ on Campus Initiative – This is another TCG publication, and is relatively new but promising. They don’t have a lot of articles up yet, but some are quite good.  They focus in particular on issues and objections that collegians encounter on campus.
  • Creation Magazine and The Journal of Creation
  • CREDENDAagenda – This is the journal of Douglas Wilson and friends. They have several new articles each week, along with an archive of past printed issues.  Truthfully, the publication of new articles has slowed down significantly, but the archive has some real gems.
  • CredoMag
  • DBTS Journal – I can tell you this: if the books sitting on my shelf are any indication, anything by Doran is going to be excellent.
  • JBC – The Journal of Biblical Counseling has re-launched after a four-year hiatus.  Issues are free for the first month, and are then archived (and retrievable for a fee).
  • JBMW – The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) actually has a Journal on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (JBMW) and you can view past issues for free.  You have to wait 90 days after publication for it to be posted online, but that’s a small price to pay for good material.
  • JETS – What was once the Bulletin of the Evangelical Society has grown into one of the larger theological journals.  Their website also does a great job of letting you view and search for past articles.
  • Kategoria
  • Pulpit Magazine
  • Reformed Faith and Practice
  • RPTS Journal
  • SBTS Journal of Theology – SBTS (“Al Mohler’s Seminary”) has put all their back issues online for free!  Justin Taylor has some recommended articles to get you started. There are some amazing authors there: Carl Henry, Al Mohler, DA Carson, Mark Dever, John Piper, Douglas Moo…the list goes on and on.
  • Tabletalk – Ligonier Ministries is the ministry of RC Sproul and friends, so you’ll see articles from other notable folks like Joel Beeke, Tim Challies, and John MacArthur. For example, April’s edition dealt with the topic of changes in culture and technology. They also have an archive where you can check out past issues. They make a number of articles available for free, but to get access to everything, they’d like you to subscribe for a nominal fee. And here on the Beacon, Stephen Rodgers created a chronological index of several past issues of it as well, which is an easy (or at least easier) way to find what you’re looking for.
  • Themelios Journal – This is a TCG publication, which has been running strong since 1975! DA Carson is the editor, so expect good stuff. It can be a little hard to navigate, but very useful for finding gems. If you’re not sure where to start, here’s the latest issue, a list of some of the highlights, and a sample book review by Kevin DeYoung.
  • TMS Journal – The Master’s Seminary puts a portion of their student/faculty journal online for free.  They also publish an issue on a particular theme per year, so hit the link and see what you can find.  It’s a fantastic resource.
  • WTS Journal – Last but not least, Westminster Theological Seminary also publishes a portion of each issue (usually to articles) online for free.  They encourage you to buy a subscription (or a particular article for a nominal fee), but a good selection of sample articles can be read and downloaded for free.

Preaching

Originally I hadn’t anticipated this section, but I realized that there were a number of good resources out there for preaching that our church could benefit from.  After all, while Pastor Patrick handles the vast majority of Sunday morning sermons (for which we are grateful to him), there are others who step up when the need demands (such as our elders and staff).  So, here are some resources that they might find helpful.

  • Links for Expository Preaching – This isn’t exactly software (mostly it’s PDF files), but I wasn’t sure where else to put it.  Basically, it is a website devoted to providing links to free, online commentaries, notes, and resources.  And it’s broken down in a handy fashion by books of the New Testament.  If you have to preach regularly, or you are studying your way through a book of the Bible, you don’t want to miss this!
  • Preaching Christ in the Old Testament – TGC just recently launched a site dedicated to preaching Christ in OT passages.  They are continuing to add resources and articles even as this post is being written, so if that overlaps with your preaching, it’s a resource you might want to check out.
  • Recommended Commentaries – There are a couple of good lists of commentaries out there, particularly those at bestcommentaries.com and the list that Keith Mathison put together for Ligonier.  Bestcommentaries.com is particularly good, in that it often lets you save money on buying other commentary guides (such as the two excellent ones by Dr. Jim Rosscup).
  • Recommended Reading for Seminary – Here are some links to various recommended reading lists from several seminaries.  In alphabetical order they are: RTS (short list, long list), SBTS (Theology, Culture and Politics, Miscellaneous), TMS, WSCAL, and WTS.
  • Recommended Systematic Theologies – The aforementioned Keith Mathison also put together a list of recommended systematic theologies.  By and large, I also liked the list that C. Michael Patton put together as well.

Sermons

Didn’t get enough of the Gospel on Sunday? Good for you! Listed below are links to a LARGE libraries of available and trustworthy sermons freely available on the internet.

  • Christ Fellowship Baptist Church – And while he doesn’t blog (at least as far as I know), another fantastic place to get some sermons is from Steve Lawson’s church. The man has a distinctive voice and a distinctive style that really make his messages come alive. And he’s one of my favorite expositor’s to boot.
  • Desiring God – John Piper has 30+ years of sermons available here, as well as messages from innumerable conferences. And yes, they are organized, categorized, and have transcripts as well. Honestly, I don’t know what DG feeds their webfolks, but the speed, quality and sheer amount of material that they make available is staggering.
  • Grace to You – Another fabulous resource is what GCC affectionately calls “The Vault.” Here you will find 40 years (!) of sermons by John MacArthur, organized by title, scripture, date…if you can’t find something here to help you, then you’re just not looking hard enough. And the vast majority of the sermons have a transcript as well, so you can read them if you prefer that to listening.  John just recently finished preaching through the entire NT, so you’ll definitely want to drop by.
  • LBC Sermons – Our first stop is the sermon library at our very own church. Ever wish that you could be in two (or more!) Sunday School classes at the same time? Now you can be! As I update this article, there are 695 messages available.  The web team is adding and categorizing more sermons all the time, so if you don’t see something up there, ask Kyle or myself and we’ll try to track it down for you.
  • RefNet.fm – A free 24/7 internet radio station that streams sermons, teaching, music, and news.
  • Sovereign Grace – The folks at SG recently redid their archive, and now you can search by category, speaker, or topic.  You’ll find a number of sermons from Joshua Harris, CJ Mahaney, and notable guest speakers as well.

Shopping

There are a number of good places to get Christian resources from, and a number of them run special deals from time to time.  In my experience, here are some of the better places, along with a few you might not know about.  The short version is that if you’re trying to build your library, you should spend a little time understanding where the deals are.  That’s just a matter of good stewardship.

  • Amazon – Amazon does a good job of having consistently low prices.  They don’t usually have sales with significant markdown, but they’re a good place to start your search to know what a baseline price is.  And they offer free shipping on orders over $25.
  • Christianbook.com – Christianbook.com generally also has prices in line with Amazon or slightly higher, and they don’t give you much of a break on shipping.  However, where they really shine is their twice-a-week discounts (“Midweek Markdowns” are discounts from Tuesday to Thursday; “Fabulous Friday Specials” are discounts from Friday to Monday), their annual catalogs, the “slightly imperfect” section, and the occasional bulk item.  They also heavily discount older editions of books when new editions come out (which is a great way to pick up normally-pricey items like commentaries, at $3-$5 per book).  You can sign up to only receive email notices for their weekly specials as well.  I also like the way they let you run complicated filters to drill down to the products you’re interested in.
  • CVBBS – This is a store that Pastor Patrick likes.  From what I saw, they had some good clearance prices, but some of the other places (Amazon, Christianbook.com, WTS Books) seem to be about the same.  But it’s always good to compare, so I include them here.
  • GBI Store – Again, I hate to say it, but generally I’m not impressed with the prices at GBI.  They do have a sale section however, and I think that they let you pick up books from their bookstore at GCC to avoid shipping (at least they used to; if they still do this, then make friends with one of our seminarians; actually, make friends with them anyways).  Very occasionally they do have a good-to-great deal though, so I’d recommend signing up for their email list.  And on top of that, the once-a-year sale they do in conjunction with the Shepherd’s Conference is amazing (but you have to go onsite to get those prices).
  • Ligonier Store – Overall, I’m not thrilled with the prices at the Ligonier store, with one MAJOR exception.  Every Friday, they do something called $5 Friday where they select a number of resources that are sold for the flat rate of $5.  When they sell out, that’s it.  Depending on what they’re offering and how many copies you want, that can sometimes be a great opportunity, but do remember to watch out for shipping.
  • Scripture Truth Book Company – Again, Pastor Patrick has historically liked this site.  I’ve never used them, so I can’t comment much except to say that from the comparisons I did, you come out ahead at Amazon (it’s just nearly impossible for a smaller company to compete with the free shipping that Amazon offers).  But I’ve seen the occasional great deal there as well, so I include them here for you.
  • WTS Books – The Westminster bookstore normally has books around the same price as Amazon, although their shipping offers are not as beneficial for the consumer.  However, they do have current specials that occasionally are fantastic, a clearance section that is pretty good as well, and they have an “imperfect books” section where they sell discounted copies of books that have minor damage.  (I’ve been quite pleased with the imperfect books I’ve bought from them; generally the wear and tear was somewhere between minor and insignificant).

Software and Study

While there is a variety of Christian software available, I chose to highlight the following resources on the basis of my own personal experience with them, or on the strong recommendation of trusted friends, pastors, and/or colleagues.

  • Amazon.com – You’d be surprised how often that “look inside” feature comes in handy.
  • Biblegateway.com – I’m sure you’re probably already aware of this resource, but this is a handy website for grabbing multiple translations of verses quickly.  What you might not know is that they also have more robust search options for passage lookups, keyword searches, and even a topical index.  They are also the online home to the IVP commentaries, which is one of the few modern series available for free online. There’s some other tricks that you can do with the site, but that should get you started for now.
  • Biblestudytools.com
  • Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) – CCEL is basically an online library of a bunch of old Christian books.  That might not sound terribly interesting, but think about it…this means you can have the writings of Athanasius, Augustine, Calvin’s Commentaries, etc…all at your fingertips.  It can take a little bit of practice to get used to their web design, but once you figure it out, it’s a powerful tool to have in your arsenal.
  • CSNTM
  • e-Sword – My personal favorite Bible-study software, e-sword makes the ESV Bible freely available. Other study guides such as commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, and other translations of the Bible are available as well. Some require a small fee, but many are freely available. For ease of use, price, and value, I honestly believe this is the best software out there.  (Please note, not everyone agrees with me.  e-Sword has made some fantastic improvements lately, but in terms of having digital library support, it falls behind both Bibleworks and Logos, which are generally considered more serious resources…with a more serious price tag. Still, I think that most Christians would benefit from using this software…especially compared with not using any).
  • Faithlife Study Bible – I’m still evaluating this, but it’s worth mentioning.  I believe you can still sign up for free.
  • Google Books and Google Scholar
  • Kindle – No, I don’t mean the hardware.  The Kindle software (which is free) enables the reading of ebooks, and is available on an absolute slew of platforms (PC, Mac, phones, etc.).  Once you have the ability to read ebooks, you might be surprised how many are also free (although you have to hunt around a bit to find them).  Typically, anything that is in the public domain can often be found for free, so if you’re more interested in content than fancy formatting, this can be a great deal!  I’ve compiled a short list to get you started:
  • Libronix/Logos – If you have an ESV Bible, then you have qualified to download the ESV demo version of Libronix. It comes with the full ESV text, several other resources, and it is quite common for new resources to be made freely available (you’ll receive email notifications after you’ve registered). For example, a while back they gave away John MacArthur’s Study Guide to the book of Romans. It’s a bit more complicated to use than e-Sword, but it does give you access to material that e-Sword doesn’t. And since it’s free…why not have both?
  • Mongergism.com
  • The NET Bible – The NET Bible is a fascinating project.  Essentially it is a translation with all of the associated translation notes exposed to the public, and made available to the public for free.  They’ve upgraded their website several times recently, which means you have your choice of the web version, the classic learning environment, or the new learning environment.  I’m old-fashioned, so I prefer the classic version, but play around with them and figure out what works best for you. The parent site (Bible.org) also hosts a variety of articles that are worthy of your attention as well.
  • Online Commentaries – I would caution against only using older commentaries, but they’re a great place to start.
  • Online Seminary Classes – There are a number of places you can find these; iTunesU is an obvious resources (with great courses from places like WTS, RTS, Dallas, Biola, etc.) In fact, RTS puts their entire correspondance curriculum online! The Theological Resource Center is another winner.
  • Post-Reformation Digital Library
  • STEP Bible
  • The SWORD Project – The SWORD Project in many ways is similar to e-Sword (my understanding is that e-Sword is actually an offshoot of the project).  I include them here for several reasons: they are free, they are committed to providing their materials in multiple platforms, and they have certain resources that e-Sword is missing (for example, they have four Czech translations of the Bible, whereas e-Sword only has one (CBK), and it’s not a modern translation).  The packaging of the program isn’t quite as slick as e-Sword, but once you get used to it, it’s still very powerful.  In my opinion, this is one of the most-overlooked resources out there, and that’s unfortunate.

Qualification for Leadership (College)

by Emily Kuo

There is a plethora of books written on leadership, ranging from what makes you a good leader to ways to get people to follow you or ways to get people to do tasks for you. I know this because I was once myself buried beneath the pile of books about leadership. Before I became a believer, I had the great ambition to lead my high school class to foster “inclusion.” I wanted to abolish the social hierarchy in high school and close the gap between the popular kids and nerdy kids. That vision and pursuit today is now vain to me because I have a greater and eternal purpose to have the privilege to take part in God’s kingdom plan. As I have been called to serve on the leadership for our church’s college group, I am excited but at the same time feel and know that I am inadequate. I have the heart’s desire to serve the Lord in whatever way and capacity, but questions flood my mind. How do I know that I am ready? Or will I be effective? How do I know this is the ministry and place God has called me to serve? Studying over the “Qualification for Leadership” packet, my questions were answered and my ministry to serve the Lord in College Life was more affirmed. In sum, the qualifications for a leader are character qualities that every Christian should strive for after regardless of where God has called them.

“Those called into leadership are not necessarily called because of their ability but because of their character.” God commanded David to be prince over his people because he was a man that sought after God’s own heart (1Samuel 13:4). If a servant’s heart is completely surrendered to God and is in a continual pursuit to earnestly know Him and His will, the servant’s motives will be purified and the desire to cultivate character pleasing to God will be simply an aftermath or overflow. However, is the servant faithful? Has he proven himself? Or is it as Chris Mueller puts it, is it “a flash-in-the-pan sort of spiritual enthusiasm”? When I first became a believer, I had strong desires and was in continual euphoria. I was ready to share the gospel to any stranger I met. I couldn’t put the Bible down as I found gem after gem. And I couldn’t take my mind off the things of God. However, my faith was still weak. My convictions were shallow. And my character was inconsistent with the Word. I needed a lot of pruning and shaping of my character and faith. One of the character qualities for an elder is to that he is not a new convert. God’s ways are always wise, if I were to serve on leadership for College Life two or three years ago, I would have been puffed up and had the arrogant heart that God hates. Thankfully, over the years God has placed me in various trials to purify my faith and to shape my character. Indeed I can now see why Paul asks us to rejoice in our suffering, because it “…produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…” (Romans 5:3-4). Though some of the various trials sometimes felt heavier than I can handle or brought tears and pain to my soul, they were given because He loves me and with great purpose. Through the trials, He taught me humility. He taught me to depend on Him as He comforted me and was my hiding place and tower. He taught me faithfulness as He Himself was faithful to me. He taught me service that though in the midst of difficulty, my calling to serve and love my church family does not cease. And He taught me worship, for my heart sings to Him not because I know about Him but because I know Him as He’s proven Himself true in my life.

There is still A LOT more work to do in my life as I look at the character qualities that God expects of me. I am encouraged to see that His Spirit and truth has been sanctifying me but at the same time I am humbled and excited to know that “[H]e who began a good work in [me] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Therefore, in His grace and power, may I strive to be the woman He calls me to be, so that He may be most glorified. And may my service to Him be motivated by His love for me and a desire to “bring people into the kingdom of God and help them to grow in respect to their salvation.”

Living Theology #50 – Spiritual Gifts (part 1)

by Garrett Glende

We’ve now reached the 52nd chapter of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology so it goes without saying that there has been quite the variety of issues discussed thus far. Any time that you read something that addresses such a wide range of topics – everything from the authority of Scripture to the ordinance of baptism – you are bound to come across statements that you might not agree with. Such has been the case from time to time when reading and studying Grudem’s book. Nothing has jumped off the page as heretical or worth breaking any sort of fellowship over, but there are definitely some points that we disagree on. This dynamic presents somewhat of a challenge when it comes time to putting together an article on the chapter (mostly because I don’t like to disagree with much smarter people) and it’s happened again this week.

The issue of spiritual gifts within the church has been a hot topic in recent years beginning with the charismatic movement and the debate still stands today. It’s an issue that interests people because the different views seem so divided and it’s genuinely interesting to learn about the miraculous sign gifts. But this is not going to be the focus of today’s article. For now, we’ll just look into the basics of spiritual gifts and how we should view them in regards to our own roles within the body of Christ. Next week’s article will examine the more controversial topics, specifically regarding the cessation or continuation of certain gifts.

Grudem defines spiritual gifts as an “ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and used in any ministry of the church.” The main teaching on this topic is found in 1 Corinthians 12-14 so much of our time will be spent looking at passages from this section of Scripture. Paul makes it clear that the gifts “are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11). The Holy Spirit distributes these gifts for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, the church. Verse seven of the same chapter says that “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Paul goes on to describe the church as a body that has many members, all of which work together to make it stronger. One of the Holy Spirit’s roles in this process is that it has given a variety of abilities to all the members in order that this growth might take place. When all members are exercising their Spirit given gifts, then the body will function at its fullest potential, the way God intended it. We must remember this purpose of the gifts, because it will become important later when we look into the sign gifts and how they are viewed today.

There are a few different lists of gifts in the Bible, one of them being found in 1 Cor. 12:8-10: “For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” The above list is not exhaustive, but it shows us that there are surely a variety of abilities that the Spirit distributes (the other lists can be found in 1 Cor. 12:28, Eph. 4:11, and Rom. 12:6-8). It would not make sense for God to give us all the gift of teaching or else we would have no one to do administration. Likewise, He did not give us all the gift of administration because someone is needed to teach. We must note that there is nothing in us that affects what kind of gifts the Spirit gives us. The distribution of gifts is an entirely sovereign act of the Holy Spirit, “who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11).

I know that we’re just scratching the surface here, so I’m hoping that you’ll go study more on your own, but I do want to bring up a point of application. The whole reason why three chapters in 1 Corinthians are devoted to this issue is because the church that Paul was writing to was misusing their gifts and they were jealous of those who had flashier gifts than they did. It’s easy to condemn the Corinthians for such behavior, but I think the same thing goes on in our church today. There’s always a part of us that wishes we had a gift that would make us look godly – something that we could show off. We see others who have been gifted in these areas and we want what they already have. But this completely misses the point of the gifts in the first place! The person who’s gifted in teaching may not have the gift of encouragement or administration, but you might be! But people can even take pride in being the “humble” behind-the-scenes guy who rarely gets credit. Regardless of how we are gifted, we must remember that they must be used in love. Love is the “more excellent way” that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13. We can have all the flashy gifts in the world, but if we don’t have love then we’re nothing. Paul charges the church in Corinth to exercise their gifts with love and in a way that edifies the body. And we must use ours with love as well – because love is eternal and the gifts are not. I’d love to expand on that more, but I’d spoil next week’s article, so I’ll end it here.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)