From One Degree to Another

Last Friday night at HomeWord, we continued looking at communication. One thing that emerged was the high and incredible challenge we have as new creations in Christ to speak in a way that distinctly glorifies Him. Paul David Tripp calls this a destination. In chapter 8 of his book War of Words, Tripp gives these steps to get to the destination of good communication…

1) Don’t give in to regret. – It is easy to be paralyzed by “if onlys”. We need to rest in sovereign wisdom and remember that God restores.

2) Embrace gospel hope. Grace superabounds where sin abounds. God hasn’t forsaken you and He’s working within us for His glory.

3) Examine your fruit. Humbly examine the harvest of words that pour out of your mouth.

4) Uncover your roots. It is out of the overflow of heart that the mouth speaks. It is not just circumstances but our hearts that control our words.

5) Seek forgiveness. We have 2 options. We can 1) confess our sins seeking forgiveness or we can get into 2) self-justification.

6) Freely grant forgiveness. There is a distinction between vertical, judicial forgiveness (handing it over to God) and horizontal, relational forgiveness (willing to forgive anyone coming seeking it). Both are needed in the restoration process.

7) Change the rules. Learn to cry “foul” when what needs to change that’s been forgiven reoccurs.

8) Look for opportunities. We need a solid change in perspective to live boldly.

9) Choose your words. Prov. 15:28 encourages us to be careful in the words we use. Our communcation, according to Tripp, should flow on 2 tracks 1) God’s glory, 2) neighbor’s good.

10) Confess your weakness. God came because we were weak. Humbly allow God’s power to be seen in your weakness.

11) Don’t give the Devil an opportunity. Tripp encourages 2 things to keep the devil immobilized… 1) courage of honesty, 2) humility of approachability. Tripp says this will render Satan useless in his tracks.

Embrace these tips as ways to have effective communication in your life.

Last night, our church had it annual Men/Boys Chili Feed. It was a great event and we had a great turn out. Our speakers were Jerry and Nate Humes. They did a great job pointing us to Galatians 5:22-23, 25-26 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

They encouraged us to think about INTENTIONAL ACTS OF RELATIONSHIP. In other words, we should look, in all of our relationships, for the fruit displayed (is it of the Spirit?), to whom was the fruit displayed, what was the intentional action pursued that led to that fruit, and what was the result.

This was a great challenge. The audio should be up soon on the church’s audio page.

I’ve posted previously about my anxious anticipation of John Piper’s new book, The Future of Justification. I ordered my copy from Desiring God and expect it any day.

My friend, Josh Seachris, has received a copy and he is enthusiastic about the introductory tone of the theological dialogue. Mathis has a post on how those of us less trained in theological discussions could benefit from this book, which might be a helpful post for you to read. At any rate, evidently you can browse it for free online (PDF). That might be a good place to start. More to come…

This week’s featured (free) audio resources comes as a gift from Sovereign Grace Ministries. As you may or may not know, they offer all their MP3 downloads for free without registration. This is an incredible gift of grace for those of us longing for sermon audio that glorifies God.

This particular message was recommended to me by my good friend, Joe Braden. It is from the 2005 Leadership Connference of Sovereign Grace. The message is entitled “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel In the Life of the Local Church” and is available to download with an outline available as well.

Often in church life, we verbalize an adherance to the Gospel but are often left scratching our heads as to how the Gospel relates to the life of a believer. Bullmore gives practical reasons why the centrality of the Gospel should be the lifeblood of the local church. I highly recommend you listen to this (more than once if possible).

Tim Challies is at it again, this month giving away some incredible audio resources. Check it out by clicking on the above banner, or register to win by clicking here.

This Friday night at HomeWord, we will continue looking at how communication can be enhanced by the power of the Gospel in our homes. In preparation for that this week (and realizing I needed a Marriage Monday post) I came across this wonderful study from Navpress entitled Building Bridges Not Walls by Jeff Rosenau. His helpful summary in the introduction is as follows:

Buiding bridges, not walls, is about:
– Communicating in ways that bear fruit for God’s glory
– Learning to become servants of God
– Living transformed lives
– Maturing in Christ by becoming other-minded rather than self-centered
– Remembering, above all else, our desperate need for Jesus Christ

Hopefully, you can join us as we seek to pursue these things and have our communication impacted. If not, be sure and look for the follow up post and audio next Monday.

I’m really excited about Paul David Tripp’s latest book: A Quest For More-Living For Something Bigger Than You. You can read Chapter 1 online.

HT: JT

In case you were wondering, it is only something like 196 days till the next Hollywood installment of the Chronicles of Narnia comes out. The movie is The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Watch this video on the web.

HT: Tony Reinke

For those of you who don’t know, Meg and I have found out we are expecting (a child) again. Here is the first picture we have (from Monday’s ultrasound). Our due date as of right now is June 8. We are excited and humbled that God would choose to grant this precious one to us. Meg was able to hear the heartbeat. I thought of entitling this blog “Like a bean in the skin of a pod” but thought that might be too weird. I love that verse that says, “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” Right now, our child is like the bean in the skin of a pod… Anyway, enough of me. Enjoy the picture. Oh, and if you want to send a note of encouragement to Meg, you can do it here.

Really enjoyed this article over at the Family Room on grace-directing questions by Merrit Anderson. He writes:

Here are a few potential grace-directing questions that you can ask yourself and your spouse when the temptation to stay sin-focused wants to linger around for too long:

What does the good news of the gospel have to say about your sin or trial? About the result and effects of Christ’s sacrifice for your sin? (Rom 5:6-8; 8:1)

What does the gospel seek to remind you about God’s plans for you? (Rom 8:28-29; Phil 1:6)

What does the gospel seek to tell us about practical help for right now so that change is possible? (Rom 6:22; Heb 4:15-16)

Questions like these are helpful in at least two ways:
First, these questions are good for encouraging your spouse to see and live in the mercy and grace of the gospel.
Second, these questions can provide clear indicators of where you can care for your spouse, if he or she is struggling to live in the good of the gospel.

Use these questions for helpful dialogue in your home.