Life By the Spirit (Adam Dolney - May, 2014)

You may have missed it the first time, but please don't miss it again. Below is the video presentation of our latest men's breakfast, where Adam Dolney shared the passage of scripture that he's been chewing on for quite some time. Listen and be blessed! #GrowOn


PILLARS Men's Breakfast - May 2014 with Adam Dolney from Alex Marquez on Vimeo.

God Uses Your Inability for His Glory

When God calls people he doesn't look at their usability. Instead, he looks at his ability to use their inability for his glory. #GrowOn
— Harbor Pillars (@harborccpillars) May 21, 2014

The Eternal Significance of Family Worship

"The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans; but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline.  See how the families of many professors are as dressy, as godless as the children of the non-religious!  How can we hope to see the Kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own sons and daughters?" | C. H. Spurgeon

Men, I'm going to ask you a challenging question? What are you doing to intentionally protect family worship in your home? 

It's interesting to me, to see that the trivialization of the Christian family was already an issue in England in the 1800's when C.H. Spurgeon penned the statement above. Sadly, when we look at our culture today, we can clearly see this generation suffers from the same indifference to the Christian family. The evidence of this in our own homes is clear; our family is being pulled in a hundred different directions while we watch in disbelief as the precious time we once shared together slips through our fingers. So again I'll ask you the question, what are you doing to intentionally protect family worship in your home?

We understand the importance of our responsibility to train our kids in holiness and even if we don't Proverbs 22:6 is a stern reminder of this responsibility. We understand that our primary duty as husbands and fathers is to shepherd our wives and children. But sometimes knowing the truth and living the truth seem so incompatible with one another.

My prayer for each of us is this; as the activities which pull our families apart begin to pick up and our kids want to be involved in more and more things...that we will do our part (as the shepherds of our home) to protect family worship and discipleship within our homes, at all costs. 

As men, we bear the primary responsibility of shepherding our children's hearts. No doubt, one of the roles of a shepherd is to provide for our children, but our responsibility doesn't end there. We can't simply say, "I put food on the table and a roof over their heads" and then check out on the other responsibilities of a shepherd. A faithful shepherd "protects" the flock God has entrusted to him. To me, this means that we must be intentional about our family worship and discipleship efforts in our home and we must also be willing to put a fence (read: defense) around these things in order that nothing (not even good things) gets in the way of them.

Take a look at an average week for your family. What are you investing the majority of your time into? Maybe it's soccer, baseball, yard work, dance, Scouts, or something else. Now don't get me wrong...these are not bad things in and of themselves...but like anything else, they can easily be distractions from what our primary investment should be as a family, namely, spiritual growth and discipleship. As we continue to let our family worship take a backseat to other activities, we must also recognize that we are still teaching our children something about God in this decision. The problem is, the lesson they are learning from us is that their time with God doesn't really matter that much. And when they leave the home and go to college or somewhere else...these lessons will begin to play out in their own lives and decisions. Homework or time with friends will take priority over the time they invest into their own spiritual growth. When our children grow up and have families of their own, the legacy we left them with in regards to family worship will no doubt play out in their own families. Are we teaching our children well? Are we leaving them a legacy that we can be proud of?

Gentlemen, please don't let this challenge fall on deaf ears. The reality is that laziness or indifference in this area of our shepherding responsibilities could easily have eternal consequences. One day we will give an account to God for how we chose to shepherd the children he placed under our watchcare and protection. So again I'll ask you this question; what are you doing to intentionally protect family worship in your home? Please take the time to honestly answer that question, before it's too late.


For His Glory,

Jason

The Primary Purpose of Marriage.

Self-Centered Regret vs. God-Centered Repentance

The Fear of the LORD - An Introduction

“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” | C.S. Lewis

There is much that can be said about the fear of the LORD. In fact, I would argue that there is much that should be said regarding this subject. Fearing God is something the Bible certainly isn't silent on, but unfortunately fear is a word that most people probably don't understand—in the biblical sense—and therefore view it in a negative light.

Try it some time. Ask a person for their definition of fear. For many people the idea or feeling that the word FEAR invokes in them will more than likely be negative. However, the Bible speaks candidly about our need to fear God, and passages like Proverbs 9:10 which says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom..." seem to give us the impression that fear is a good thing. 

"Fearing God...is the sobering recognition that He is not to be trifled with." | Daryl Wingerd

I'll be taking the next several blog posts to talk about this topic in greater detail. The hope is not only to help us reshape our understanding of FEAR from a biblical perspective, but it is also to show the beauty and blessings which come when, out of reverence for his glory, we choose to live with a healthy fear of the LORD.

Happy Reading.

Jason

Masked Men

Where you understand that God is aware of all of your sinful rebellion and has loved you anyway, you have been set free to not pretend you're more than you are. If you don't get Jesus, like you don't get that he knows, you don't get that all the thoughts of your mind, all the desires of your heart are known by him, and he loves you anyway…you don't get that…you will be forced to pretend you're more than you are, and that's exhausting. It's exhausting.

There's this weird thing that happens in church life, all churches everywhere, it doesn't take you long to put on the "clothes" of the church you worship at. You understand what I'm saying? I'm not talking about how we dress, because we're all over the map here. I'm saying it doesn't take long to go,

"Oh, I need to have my Bible. It probably needs to be in ESV. I need to have a journal, take some notes. I need to learn certain phrases: It's okay to not be okay, gospel-centered, worship, community service. I need to learn phrases. I need to learn at what part of the song we raise our hands. I need to learn…Do I pat my chest? When do I do the pat-chest thing?" 

Then to begin to mimic the actions of a congregation and, in so doing, to compare yourself spiritually with the Joneses to where you measure up, and where you feel you're not measuring up, you just pretend that you are, and so you tend to regurgitate truth rather than walk in it.

Source: Affections Matter - Matt Chandler

The Authority of Scripture Over Our Lives

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." | 2 Timothy 3:16-17

With those verses in mind, listen as Matt Chandler shares an always relevant truth from Acts 20:26-31:

People Desire Authentic...Not Counterfeit

"Deep down, we all desire authenticity. We may settle for counterfeit, but the illusion quickly wears off leaving us with little more than smoke and mirrors. Intentional efforts to be genuine, even if we don't look quite as polished as we'd like to, will always pay richer and longer-lasting dividends for ourselves and those who we are in relationship with." 

Some Thoughts on Holiness & Integrity

Question: "O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?" (Psalm 15:1)

Answer: "He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart..." (Psalm 15:2)

To many people, even some inside the church, talk like David's from Psalm 15 sounds legalistic and oppressive. However, for those who love God and therefore hate sin, it shouldn't. Christians are called, throughout scripture, to be holy as He is holy. Holiness is our pursuit. Holiness is our aim. It's what we're being saved for. God is setting us apart, for his glory, to be used for his holy purposes.

Pastor and author Sam Storms makes the following statement, 

"Obedience to the righteous commands of God is easy for those whose hearts have been gripped by grace and whose lives are empowered by grace (Dt. 30:11; Mt. 11:29-30; 1 Jn. 5:3)...David [in Psalm 15] is not talking about how to get saved. Rather, he is describing what it is to be saved. These moral declarations are not conditions for acceptance with God. They are the consequence of it. Thus, David is not talking about requirements for entrance into the kingdom on the part of those outside, but about enjoyment of the King on the part of those on the inside.

In His article, The Essence of Integrity, Storm continues:

Of what, then, does integrity consist? I've listed below what I regard as the ten foundational characteristics of a person with integrity. There may well be more than ten, but I cannot conceive of any less than ten.

1. A person of integrity fulfills his/her promises. Being true to one's word, especially when doing so is costly (in terms of money, convenience, physical welfare, etc.) is a core characteristic of integrity.

2. A person of integrity speaks the truth, is honest, and does not lie.

3. A person of integrity is a person of sincerity. That is to say, a person of integrity hates hypocrisy.

4. A person of integrity manifests a wholeness of character, including kindness, compassion, mercy, and gentleness.

5. A person of integrity is committed to the pursuit and maintenance of justice and fairness.

6. A person of integrity loves as, when, and what God loves.

7. A person of integrity is humble. He/she shuns pride and haughtiness.

8. A person of integrity is law-abiding. He/she plays by the rules, both in the Bible and the law of the land.

9. A person of integrity is fundamentally altruistic. That is to say, they are committed not simply to laws and rules but to people.

10. A person of integrity manifests a high degree of consistency. That is to say, he/she is not always changing the principles on the basis of which they live, unless compelled to do so by the Bible or rational persuasion.

On Church Leadership: Character & Natural Abilities

Many people will say, "if they are gifted leaders, let them be used," but Paul tells the church in (1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1), "let us first examine their character and then use their leadership gifts to bless the church." 

Why does it matter? Because, Paul understood rightly that a person's character paves the way for their natural abilities to be rightly used by God, for his glory. The measurement of a person's character as the qualification for leadership is essential, especially in the church. The chief end of the church is to glorify God and rightly display Christ's image for the world to see. God is literally making his appeal to the world, through his Church (2 Corinthians 5:16-20).

While the pragmatic approach to leadership cares more about a person's ability than their character, Paul instructs the church to care first about their character and then about their ability. Many gifted leaders have fallen from grace, due to moral failures, because the church failed to examine their character before setting them free to use their natural leadership abilities.

Instead of saying, "I want to be used by God in his church" try saying "I want to be the kind of person God can use in his church." 

Living Out God's Design (Matt & Lauren Chandler)