Polished

So, I sat down at the computer tonight with a pulling desire to write. Maybe I am missing school a little too much. Regardless, I felt the need to get out some thoughts. So without further ado...
I received a book for Christmas entitled The Loveliness of Christ. This is a small book written by the Scottish Theologian, Samuel Rutherford. This book has already become one of my favorites. It consists of little excerpts from the letters of this great man. While the old English is a times a bit laborious to overcome, the reward for a little patient reading is quite great. Many of these quotes have struck me as quite profound. (E.g. "I have little, little of him; yet I long for more.""O! What I owe to the file, to the hammer, to the furnace of my Lord Jesus!")

"It's the Lord's kindness that He will take the scum off us in the fire. Who knows how needful winnowing is to us, and what dross we must want ere we enter into the kingdom of God? So narrow is the entry into heaven, that our knots, our bunches and lumps of pride, and self-love, and idol-love, and world-love must be hammered off us, that we may throng in, stooping low, and creeping through that narrow and thorny entry."

Certainly this was the most convicting of the passages I have read so far. Too often I find myself desiring to see the present affliction removed as quickly as possible. Rather, we should embrace our trials knowing that the Lord is using them to further polish us for His kingdom.

New Page

I am switching blog hosts to wordpress.com.
Future posts will appear at pfberner.wordpress.com.
Thanks
-this is me-

Previous Post

I must issue an apology for the previous post that has now been removed from this page. I wrote that out of frustration and anger, and it was those feelings and my own selfish prde that were clouding my view of the place to which God has called me. For those of you who read that post, I would ask your forgiveness for the negative tone that I communicated through my anger.
God has recently been teaching me a great deal about anger. Interestingly enough, He has used our dog and the wisdom of my wife to reveal to me that I struggle with this issue more than I would like to admit. Some of you may be reading this thinking that I must be the last one on earth to come to this conclusion about myself, and you are probably right. This morning I looked at a few verses dealing with the issue of anger:
Proverbs 14:29 "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly."
Proverbs 22:24,25 "Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself."
Colossians 3:8 "But now, you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth."
James 1:19,20 "This you know, my beloved bretheren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."
Needless to say, I was quite convicted after reading these verses.
So in case you were wondering where the last post went, it has been deleted.
-this is me-

Stress, Anxiety, and other Joy-Killers

Here are the events of the last two weeks. 1) Amanda and I got a new puppy who keeps us up at night and pees all over are carpet. 2) We discovered a leak in the hallway of our new apartment. 3) Maintenance proceeds to tell me they can't find anything wrong, so they are going to wait until it gets worse. 4) It gets worse 5) We begin experiencing problems with our electricity. 6) Maintenance comes back with plumbers who probably lack legal documentation. 7) These plumbers proceed to put a few holes in our hallway wall only to tell me they do not know what the problem is. 8) The plumbers return the next day with a jackhammer 7) After tearing up a little concrete beneath our carpet (which had been torn up in a section of the hallway) they discover it isn't the pipe they thought it was. 8) An epiphany hits one of them and they finally discover that the shower pan is cracked and needs to be replaced. 9) Great...at least they know what the problem is. 10) Problem...our shower is a tile shower. 11) As of right now there is a sheet-rock guy at the apartment patching holes in the laundry-room, hallway, and my closet. 12) At some point today the plumbers are to return to begin work on the shower.
To tell you the truth, this is really the first time that I have been able to laugh a little at the entire mess. Over the past couple of weeks I have been a total and complete stress case. Interestingly enough I have found this stress resulting from my own fear and worries about what will happen next. On Wednesday nights I have been going through the book of Daniel with our youth group. All throughout the book it is evident that the theme of Daniel is God's Sovereingty. In fact, I have challenged my students to yield their worries and anxieties to a God who is strong enough to preserve the lives of Daniel and his friends in life and death situations. Yet here I sit with my insides tied in triple and quadruple knots wondering and worrying about what will happen next. Am I even listening to the messages I am preaching?! God is sovereign, and He is faithful to His promise that He makes in Philippians 4 of providing the peace of God in place of our anxious thoughts. We just need to yield and get out of His way.

A faith that is firm

In preparing for an upcoming message, I recently stumbled across this quote:
"A faith that is firm does not fear to live in such a way that only God can be given the glory."
A profound quote in a world increasingly concerned with self-promotion. Sadly enough, even in my brief time in the ministry, I have encountered other ministry leaders who view their job as more of a competition than a humble answer to God's call. Essentially, this quote is saying that we are to live in such a way that whatever glory we do attract is immediately given to God. In ministry, this means that we are not there to grow our numbers at the cost of commitment to the Word of God. It means that we are not using the pulpit, or in my case music stand, as a platform to show-off our knowledge or draw attention to ourselves. This need for recognition is nothing more than an expose into our desperate insecurity in our relationship with Christ. We are not here doing this work for the praise of man. If we were, men like the apostle Paul would have given up at the first hint of opposition. I will be the first to admit that it is nice to be appreciated every once in a while. But if we are constantly seeking that reaffirmation from man, we are looking for our solace in the wrong place.
Our lives should not be driven by an insatiable desire to have our egos petted by others, but we should live as those driven only by the idea that what we are doing for the kingdom of God is bringing glory to Him, and Him alone. This is the difference between living a life out of the fear of man, and living a life spurred on by the awesome fear of our God.

Ministry Overview

The following is the overview I recently wrote for our our youth ministry at Dayspring. Call it my philosophy of youth ministry if you will...
Unfortunately, in many churches, the youth are pushed to the background as unimportant simply because of their age. However, 1 Timothy 4:12 says:
“let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” (NASB)
It is the belief of this church and this ministry that we are raising up future leaders of God’s church. These students are at a place in life that requires a different approach to ministry, and it is our goal to provide that. However, many youth ministries have taken this idea so far as to sacrifice foundational aspects of ministry. It is the belief of the Common Ground ministry that these students are fully capable of understanding the truths of Scripture. As such, our Sunday and Wednesday night meetings are centered on a significant time of expository study of the Word of God. Not only can these students understand the truths of Scripture, but they need to be exposed to them as well. Too many churches are watering-down the Word to the point that the wonderful truths of Scripture are being lost in translation. II Timothy 3:16 says:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (NASB)
This process of equipping should begin from the moment we become a believer. If our churches are going to continue to faithfully uphold the Word of God in the face of an increasingly hostile world, we must begin to equip the future leaders of those flocks. Romans 12:2 says:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (NASB)
This “renewing” is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit as we study and meditate upon the Word of God.
The current generation of middle and high school students are preparing to enter a world saturated with people desiring to undermine Christianity in whatever way they can. It is of utmost importance that our students are prepared for the battle they are about to enter. This ministry desires to see the students of Dayspring Christian Fellowship leave equipped with a solid foundation rooted in the Word of God, so that they might carry the banner of Christ into the world leaving a wake of new disciples of Christ as they go.

Your Input

I am preparing to begin a series with the youth group on ethics. As such, I would appreciate everyone's input on possible topics to cover during this series. We can assume the big ones (homosexuality, abortion, etc.) will be covered, but I would like your input on possible up and coming hottopics that are of concern to the youth of the next generation. Your input is appreciated.