Faithful Discipleship

Live and Preach as a “Living Epistle”

masimdumisene — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:32:22 +0000

I enjoyed this post from Josh Mack. May there be more pastors who live and preach like this!

~Donovan

“A gospel-clinging wolf-man”

masimdumisene — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:25:52 +0000

Russell Moore received a question from a lady who had found out that her spouse to-be had “ongoing struggles with pornography.” She wasn’t sure what to do, or how to make sure the issue was sufficiently addressed. Moore’s response is excellent, and filled with great counsel for both women and men. Read it here.

True Leadership and Influence

masimdumisene — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:55:07 +0000

This is a good post by Justin Taylor, quoting D.A. Carson.

~Donovan

Attitude and Parenting

masimdumisene — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:31:33 +0000

This is a good post by Rick Holland – practical and gospel-centered.

“When is the last time someone confronted you in anger and your immediate response was something like, ‘Oh thank you, I am so motivated now to do better and try harder.’ Correction packaged in a bad attitude is not motivating, stimulating, or helpful.”

Read the rest.

HT: Tim Challies

The Legacy of Pastor Martin Holdt

masimdumisene — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:07:35 +0000

Martin Holdt went to be with the Lord recently. Well known for his faithful and passionate expository preaching and his leadership among the Reformed Baptists in South Africa, Martin Holdt was pastor of Constantia Park Baptist Church in Pretoria. To read a few reflections on his life, penned by his son, click here. I encourage you to do so.

~Donovan

Happy Calvinism: Living with your head in the heavens

masimdumisene — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:17:18 +0000

The full post this is John Piper excerpt is taken from is entitled, The Sovereign God of “Elfland” (Why Chesterton’s Anti-Calvinism Doesn’t Put Me Off). It’s all excellent, and I haven’t even read Chesterton (yet! :)). This extended quote exemplifies so much of what I love about John Piper: he lets the Bible say what it says – he believes it, and he lets it blow him away (as it should!). I love what he says here about Calvinism, and how we really should approach all theology:

“It is a great irony to me that Calvinists are stereotyped as logic-driven. For forty years my experience has been the opposite. The Calvinists I have known (English Puritans, Edwards, Newton, Spurgeon, Packer, Sproul) are not logic driven, but Bible-driven. It’s the challengers who bring their logic to the Bible and nullify text after text. Branches are lopped off by “logic,” not exegesis.

Who are the great enjoyers of paradox today? Who are the pastors and theologians who grab both horns of every biblical dilemma and swear to the God-Man: I will never let go of either.

Not the Calvinism-critics that I meet. They read of divine love, and say that predestination cannot be. They read of human choice and say the divine rule of all our steps cannot be. They read of human resistance, and say that irresistible grace cannot be. Who is logic-driven?

For forty years Calvinism has been, for me, a vision of life that embraces mystery more than any vision I know. It is not logic-driven. It is driven by a vision of the ineffable, galactic vastness of God’s Word.

Let’s be clear: It does not embrace contradiction. Chesterton and I both agree that true logic is the law of “Elfland.” “If the Ugly Sisters are older than Cinderella, it is (in an iron and awful sense) necessary that Cinderella is younger than the Ugly Sisters.” Neither God nor his word is self-contradictory. But paradoxes? Yes.

We happy Calvinists don’t claim to get the heavens into our heads. We try to get our heads into the heavens. We don’t claim comprehensive answers to revealed paradoxes. We believe. We try to understand. And we break out into song and poetry again and again.”

Reminding Ourselves of Truth

masimdumisene — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:21:56 +0000

A very practical blog post by John Piper.

Smaller, more realistic goals + a specific plan + faithfulness = more success

masimdumisene — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:07:36 +0000

I think there’s a lot of wisdom in this blog post by Stephen Altrogge, and I plan to implement it this new year.

Blessings…

~Donovan

When you feel fragile…

masimdumisene — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:18:46 +0000

This is a great post by John Piper.

HT: Kerry Drew

Church Growth

masimdumisene — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:37:29 +0000

When “church growth” is the subject of conversation the focus is often on growing in numbers – on becoming a bigger church. In this blog post, Josh Mack points out a few areas Scripture says churches should grow. Good things to consider.

Blessings…

Donovan