So, I'm itching to know . . . Djibouti reader, please make yourself known

I have a regular reader from Djibouti, Africa (or at least someone who's internet IP goes through Djibouti). I don't know who this person is, but I'd love to know. Thanks!

"The Root of Joy" - Nehemiah 8:1-12

For the third Sunday of Advent, I preached a sermon on "The Root of Joy" from Nehemiah 8:1-12 at Hillcrest Reformed Church in Denver, Colorado. I personally was blown away by all the implications as they relate to Nehemiah 8:10's "the joy of the Lord [which He has toward us], this is our refuge/strength/stronghold/fortress."

Feel free to download the sermon audio: MP3 of "The Root of Joy"

Or for the pastors in the room, my chicken-scratchings manuscript is available here: Sermon Manuscript on Neh. 8:1-12

Roll-over!!

Big day for Caleb - he rolled over!! Twice over his left side and once over his right. He's getting to be a big boy!!

Hi to the Johnsons and a little family silliness

After dinner, we got a bit silly. We also took this time to say happy birthday to Aunt Heather and to express our desire to see the whole Johnson clan (Uncle Jase, Aunt Heather, and cousin Sayers) soon!

Aunt Heather reaches 30!!!

Today we celebrate 30 years of life for Aunt Heather (Matt's older sister). Heather received an early birthday present on Thanksgiving day, her first child Sayers MaryAnn Johnson. The pic is a bit old (her and husband Jase from Christmas last year).

Here are the 30 reasons we dropped in the mail to Heather on why we love her:

1. She is one of the most loyal people we know.

2. She consistently makes an effort to stay connected to us.

3. She is down-to-earth and practical.

4. She has a great, dry sense of humor.

5. She gives thoughtful gifts—especially the farm and animals, which are a definite favorite!

6. She is not afraid to say what she thinks.

7. She sure can keep a clean house. ;)

8. She appreciates beauty and art, and brings beauty wherever she goes.

9. She is a selfless mommy.

10. She tells great stories about growing up in the Proctor family. :)

11. She loves and respects her husband in a way that is inspiring to others.

12. She is a hard worker.

13. She is committed to the Proctor family as well as to her in-laws.

14. She makes some mean chocolate chip cookies!

15. She was kind to her little brother: driving him to school, not letting on that she could have still beat him up during high school, and just generally being seen in public with him.

16. She is a gracious hostess.

17. She is financially wise.

18. She has a generous heart.

19. She brings laughter to others through her keen sense of mis-direction. :)

20. She is a woman of honesty and integrity.

21. She is humble enough to admit vulnerabilities.

22. She is a great cook.

23. She loves her nephews!

24. She is a realist.

25. She is darn pretty.

26. She values good books and good movies, and likes to learn.

27. She helps carry on the fond memories of Grandma MaryAnn.

28. She is the kind of person that wants the best for other people.

29. She is a great listener.

30. She is a fabulous sister, sister-in-law, and aunt.

A Heavy Subject - Abortion in the News

Two articles from today are worth your time:

The first, "Just How Pro-Choice is America?" by Jennifer Senior in the New York magazine gives a thorough history of abortion in America since 1973. Though Senior advocates for abortion, her writing effectively demonstrates just how unsettled America really is about abortion.

The second is a review of this article by Southern Seminary president Albert Mohler: http://ow.ly/K02g

His closing words are worth being recalled:

By any measure, Jennifer Senior has written one of the most honest, revealing, insightful, and important articles on abortion to appear in recent history. At the same time, it is one of the most troubling. Once again, we are reminded that the American conscience is not settled on the issue of abortion. We should be thankful that recent events and cultural developments -- aided and abetted by technology -- have made a real difference, helping and forcing Americans to understand that abortion is the killing of a human life.

In a very real sense, we should be thankful that the American conscience remains unsettled on this issue. A good and honest conversation about the reality of abortion is one of the best means of serving the cause of life. Jennifer Senior's honest article can serve as an incredibly potent catalyst for such a conversation.

Caleb's 4-month check-up and then some

Today at Caleb's 4-month check-up, he weighed 16lbs. 4.5 oz. (76th %ile) and is 25 1/4 inches long (55th %ile). Chubby boy!! :) Unfortunately, he could still feel the shots through all those fat rolls on his thighs, but he only cried for a few seconds. Here are some pictures from this last weekend. We made Christmas cookies together on our Sabbath - very fun! Samuel was in charge of running the cookie cutters, remaking the dough into a ball after every round of cutting out cookies, and his personal favorite - sprinkles! Caleb was supervising.

Hope amidst great trials: a word from Matt Chandler

Matt Chandler is a young and gifted pastor who has gained a reputation as one of the leaders of my generation. But over the last 7 days, his life has been turned upside down. To make a long story short, he went under the knife today to remove a tumor from his brain. I encourage you to read the blog post he made this morning before heading to the hospital: http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/blog/hvpastor/?p=357

Here are some of his thoughts on today's surgery and the trial of the last 7 days:

Here are some of the things I am thankful for in no particular order:I am thankful for the thousands of you who have prayed and fasted for my health. It has brought far more tears to Lauren’s and my eyes to receive this kind of attention from the Church universal than this tumor has.

I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” Without this strong view of God’s sovereign will, I’m not sure how you don’t despair in circumstances like mine.

I am thankful for my wife Lauren. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

I am thankful for my children. Audrey the Beautiful, Reid the Valiant and Norah the Joyous. Being a daddy to these three is one of the greatest joys of my life.

The privilege of seeing and appreciating all of life through the grid of a heightened sense of my own mortality.

More than anything else I am grateful to my King Eternal, my Lord Immortal, for my God invisible. He alone is God. All Glory and Honor, Forever to You O God. I am overwhelmed in these moments by God Himself and the assurance of a future inheritance of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and where all things are made new (Hebrews 12).

Christ is All,
Matt Chandler

Fascinating Insight for Growing and Stagnating Churches . . .

1) For thriving/growing Churches: A church that is growing, adding new members, and seeing lives touched by the Gospel does not need a lot of change. Sadly, people get addicted to the seeming change (which is really just the dynamics of adding new people). So they hire an innovator pastor. But when the innovator pastor tries to turn the ship too hard and too fast, he effectively kills all the established momentum.

Solution: If you church is doing well, find an established, wise, and faithful pastor. Someone who is willing to embrace the existing vision and ministry philosophy.

2) For plateauing/shrinking Churches: A church that has experienced minimal growth if not totally stagnation and decline needs a new vision; thus, a new visionary. Someone needs to rattle the system and cause the ship to get moving again.

Solution: If a church is doing poorly, it's probably time to change everything (well, probably not everything but it may feel that way). Bring in an innovative person who has not been molded by established practices, but someone who will bring a fresh view of ministry to the congregation.


From an August 2009 interview with Pastor Mark Dever interviewing Australian Dean (fancy word for senior pastor of a large Anglican church) Philip Jensen. You can click the link below for to listen to the entire excellent interview.

http://media.9marks.org/podpress_trac/web/509/0/interview20091201-Jensen.mp3

The best email of the day (so far):

Dear Matt,

Dr. Danny Carroll, chair of your M.Div. orals committee, has reported that you have successfully completed both the oral and written components of the orals process, and has forwarded to me a hardcopy of your approved doctrine and ministry paper. Congratulations!

At the end of the semester, I will report to the Registrar’s Office that you have passed M.Div. orals, and they will officially post this result with other course grades shortly after the end of the semester.

Again, congratulations on this milestone and accomplishment.

Dr. W. David Buschart

Instructor of Record, M.Div. Orals, Fall 2009

C.S. Lewis on charitable giving - great advice

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give [that is, no set standard for every person]. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we ought to give. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, [homes, cars,] etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little." -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Solving the economic crisis--C.S. Lewis style

I came across this quote in my reading today and I wonder what my readers might think??

From C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, ca. 1942-1944:

Now another point. There is one bit of advice given to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at interest: and lending money at interest—what we call investment—is the basis of our whole system. Now it may not absolutely follow that we are wrong. Some people say that when Moses and Aristotle and the Christians agreed in forbidding interest (or "usury" as they called it), they could not foresee the joint stock company, and were only dunking of the private moneylender, and that, therefore, we need not bother about what they said. That is a question I cannot decide on. I am not an economist and I simply do not know whether the investment system is responsible for the state we are in or not This is where we want the Christian economist But I should not have been honest if I had not told you that three great civilisations had agreed (or so it seems at first sight) in condemning the very thing on which we have based our whole life.

Thanksgiving reading - "Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor"

I read D.A. Carson's book on his dad over my Thanksgiving break from Denver Seminary. It is entitled "Memoirs of An Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson." I recommend this book to seminarians, pastors, and for anyone who sits in the pew. It is a humbling reminder that ministry is hard. Pastors are not supposed to be like super-heroes, but rather more like faithful farmers putting in hours of labor that may yield a rich harvest or be destroyed by a storm in a moment.

On the last page, D.A. Carson summarizes his father's life:

"Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds . . . testify how much he loved them. He never wrote a book, but eh loved the Book. He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday's grace was never enough. He was not a farsighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. . . . His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition, but his children and grandchildren remember his laughter. Only rarely did he break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them. . . .

"When died, there we no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on television, no mention in Parliament, no attention paid by the nation. . . .

"But on the other side all teh trumpets sounded. Dad won entrance to the only throne room that matters, not because he was a good man or a great man--he was, after all, a most ordinary pastor--but because he was a forgiven man. And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.'"

Which Gospel is being preached by your word and deeds?

Check out this humbling article:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2009/11/24/the-new-gospel-a-call-for-discernment/

Thoughts on death at a tough time . . .

Having just celebrated the life and mourned the death of a family member, I was struck today by the words of another pastor on how we ought to do to prepare for our own death. These are sobering, but I believe true words.

I don't want you to go into final judgment. I've prayed and worked, even wept, that you would repent. But nobody forced you to sin, not even once were you forced; and nobody forced you to live your life defying God in the particular way you did it. I am not your judge, and for that I thank God. You answer to Someone a million times higher than I. You may be my father, my mother, my sister, my brother, or my child, but I defer the handling of your case to the Lord, who is the only one who can be trusted to do the right thing by you. God is no sadist. He orchestrated the murder of his own Son for you, so that you could be offered redemption. The suffering in your life that you blamed on God, would have been healed by God, if you had brought them to Him, but you refused. Instead, you used them as another excuse to live how you please. I've chosen my side. When the final judgment day comes, I won't feel any divided loyalties. I won't be happy for your judgment, but I won't be un-happy with my Lord, either. I recognize that you are individual living life in the sight of the God who made you for Himself, and I know that, in the end, you will have to stand before God as you, with me standing by and watching from the sidelines. -Pastor Jack Brooks

O, how I long for all my friends and family to put their faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. Death is the most sobering reality for every person because of our sin, but for those who embrace Christ as their Savior and Lord there is hope, rich abundant, eternal hope.

Grandma Teddy

We are in Cedar Rapids, IA celebrating the life and mourning the death of Grandma Teddy. Teddy had two daughters, Sue and Mary (Mary is married to Carrie's dad Steve). The last years of Teddy's life were spent never fully recovering from some mild strokes. I (Matt) never had the privilege of knowing Teddy in her prime, but she still had lots of wit whenever I talked to her!

We will miss her. If you'd like to see a short video that Carrie made in her honor click here to download a small file: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1531820/teddy.wmv

Monday is the funeral. Carrie will be accompanying her brother James on the piano while he sings Amazing Grace. And I have been asked to share a few words about her life and from the Word. We'd appreciate your prayers as we try to make this a special day for all present.

Here's Teddy's obituary: http://www.cedarmemorial.com/obituary/587476/teressa-j--protsman-cedar-rapids-iowa/ and her video tribute http://www.cedarmemorial.com/obituary/587476/teressa-j--protsman-cedar-rapids-iowa/tribute/

Quote of the Day - Mark Galli of Christianity Today

Whenever the Bible is read, a hush should come over us. We should be inching toward the edge of our seats, leaning forward, turning our best ear toward the speaker, fearful we'll miss a single word— the deeds and words and character of Almighty and Merciful God are being revealed! In a world of suffering and pain, of doubt and despair, of questions about the meaning and purpose of existence, we are about to hear of God's glory, forgiveness, mercy and love, of his intention for the world, of his promise to make it all good in the end, of the way to join his people, of the means to abide with him forever! And there we sit, tapping our feet, mentally telling the preacher to get on with it.

But if we take the trouble to listen, really listen, to that Word, we'll discover something else marvelous: that the One being revealed is as patient with us as we are impatient with his Word, and as enamored with us as we are bored with him. Ah yes, even more enamored.

Mark Galli is senior managing editor of Christianity Today and author of A Great and Terrible Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Attributes of God (Baker).

Full article: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/novemberweb-only/144-41.0.html

"What Are You Guarding?" - Sermon from November 1, 2009

We protect what we value, but what should we protect most of all?

I preached on this very question Sunday Nov. 1.

Check out and/or download my message: "What Are You Guarding?"

Also, I am looking for more constructive critique from my friends regarding my preaching. So if you feel comfortable giving me some honest feedback, it would be most appreciated. Feel free to email your comments or if you don't have my email, leave a comment with your email address and I will send it to you.

On a different note, I am one step closer to graduation. Monday afternoon Nov. 2, I successfully defended my theological beliefs before 2 professors at Denver Seminary (a requirement for all Master's of Divinity students). I was greatly humbled by this oral examination. They asked questions to which I had a difficult time answering and many that I simply did not know the answer. It was a great reminder that you can never stop learning. There is so much of the Bible I still have to learn.

Blessings to you!
-matt

How-ween

Here are some pics from the holiday Samuel refers to as "how-ween". He was Batman, if the picture isn't very clear (and is seen among a bunch of his super-hero friends!). Caleb just wore an orange little sleeper and bib that said "my first halloween". He did, however, smile for the camera for the first time. Very exciting! Also, there are some pics of Samuel painting our pumpkin and getting ready for church yesterday. He very much wanted to wear a tie just like his daddy.