This year I was blessed to have a schedule that allowed me to attend chapel at Southern Seminary quite frequently. I didn’t go to all of them, but I went to most of their services. I realize that I can’t say “best sermons” without qualifying it so here’s what I mean.

Right now, the semester is over and I’m thinking back over the last 4 months about those Tuesdays and Thursdays. Which of those services is still chiseling away at my ego, selfishness and unconcern for others. I know that the guy sitting right beside me could have a completely different list and think it is foolish to call any of these sermons “best of ‘09″ but I’m fine with that. However, it is my opinion that these sermons will work on you in many of the same ways they worked on me. So here are my top four.

4. Nick Moore April 23, 2009 Matthew 25:31-46.
This was the preaching award winner for Southern this semester and it gave him an opportunity to preach at the last chapel of the year. With a room full of fellow seminary students daydreaming about what they would do if they were preaching, he went about his business and appealed to a self-examination in our lives. 
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/category/chapel/spring-2009/

3. Hershael York, February 26, 2009 “I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It”
It was definately a sermon that was as entertaining as the title. After introducing his sermon by looking at a few pop culture icons that grew up as Christians, he moves on to discuss finishing well in the Christian life.
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/category/chapel/spring-2009/page/2/

2. Tim Beougher, February 24, 2009 “Compelled to Share” 1 Corinthians 9
In the best week of sermons, Dr. Beougher gave us what we’d expect from him, a passionate plea for evangelism. He looked at the life of the Apostle Paul and appealed to him as an example of evangelistic fervor.
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/category/chapel/spring-2009/page/2/

1. Russell Moore, March 10, 2009, Matthew 4:5-7
This sermon was very timely for me. Dr. Moore took a text that we wouldn’t normally preach from and gives some great advice on getting vindication. I believe that this sermon is still working on me the most in some of the things he would say. Dr. Moore could have had a few sermons on this list but to be fair to the others, he only got one .
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/category/chapel/spring-2009/page/2/

I just finished a book called “Same Kind of Different As Me.” I think this book has the potential to change my life. It is not filled with or discussions of the new covenant or deep Christology, it is just a book about serving Christ in a way that I think many of us would benefit from hearing. If you are the type of person that loves to study God’s Word then I think this book would help tremendously. I finished the book in three sittings, my wife finished it in two, it won’t take long to read. You’ll probably spend more time recommending it to others than reading the book. I don’t want to ruin the story for you so I’ll just give you the author (Ron Hall and Denver Moore) and the ISBN: 978-0-8499-1910-7. To make it even simpler, I’ll provide you with a link.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Same-Kind-of-Different-As-Me/Ron-Hall/e/9780849919107

Youth has a way of playing tricks on us. If you polled 100 teenagers, 90 of them would think it’s ridiculous that they have to wait to be 35 to be considered for president of the United States. If you polled 100 senior citizens, 90 of them would say that there is no way they should allow some 35 year-old kid to be running the country. It’s all a matter of perspective.

But the thing is, we usually don’t realize how foolish we are until we are removed from the situation. It’s the same concept whenever a teenage girl falls in love with some loser boy. No matter how many people try to talk sense into her, she rejects advice. It probably all makes sense in her mind…until a few years later when she is embarrassed that she was so foolish.

As dangerous as it is for young girls to be falling for fools, it is more dangerous for pulpits to be filled with young men before they are ready. We’ve probably all know one and some of us have been one. They are usually friendly on the surface but it doesn’t take long to feel the pride oozing out of them. No matter what kind of “humble language” he uses he is not able to cover it up. This guy was a superstar in his church youth group, always winning the Bible Trivia games. He was the one that everybody went to when the science teacher bashed creation. Now a church in desperate need of a pastor calls him to come and fill in, likes his sermon, calls him to be the pastor (probably at a discounted price) and ruins his ministry.

You can’t tell this kid anything anymore. Not only does he think he knows everything, but now he’s got about 30 people encouraging him each and every week that his sermons are helpful and they enjoy listening to him. Pride is a worthy adversary for all of us, this kid is toast.

What can we do for this kid and this church? It’s easy to say “You made your bed now lie in it,” but aren’t we glad Christ did not say that to us? Let’s paint the picture of the church. Let’s say it was a group of rural folks who were without a pastor for three years. A deacon was in charge of the services for that long and he did the best he could. He was a great deacon, but a lousy public speaker. After several months of enduring him, members of the church decided individually that they would take anybody that was willing to come.

The kid graduates high school and is planning on going into the ministry. He wants to go to college first but when this church asks him to come as pastor he decides it’s the Lord’s will and has the best of intentions. It was a marriage of a desperate church and a willing young man. Potentially this could be a great thing, but more often than not, the young man who has not learned the discipline it takes to study the Word for his soul’s sake will probably fall to temptation in some regards, even possibly immorality. The church will be left in shambles.

What can those of us who are outside of the situation and are looking at it clearly do? How can we help? We have to rescue the pastor. It wasn’t handled rightly even though it was done with the best of intentions. I understand the reasoning of the church and I understand the reasoning of the kid. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, me neither, but it’s still going on and we still have a problem.

My suggestion to this is for older pastors to be a shepherd to this kid. Go be his grandpa on things and just let him vent to you for a while. He won’t take your advice at first, but I don’t know of many pastors who will turn down an invitation for lunch. Just sit with him and let him brag about his church and then ask to meet again next week. Make it a regular thing. You would take the time to rescue one soul from hell, take the time to rescue him and the church that he’s in charge of. He needs guidance, provide him with it.

Psalm 116:15   Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.

In the second temptation of Christ, Satan takes the Lord to the top of the Temple and says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…” He was tempting Christ to prove Himself as the Son of God, but our Lord did not have to vindicate Himself to Satan or to anyone else.

Today a hero to many passed away after a bout with cancer. He was a professor of Church History and Theology at Central Baptist College during my time there (2002-2006). I think I could fill up many pages giving you stories about his grace towards others and his passion for teaching the Word of God. Those were evident in his life but there was something much more attractive about his character.

I think that the verse that describes Dr. Mitchell the most is the first half of Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” The verse echoes a section from Isaiah which reads “For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed” (50:7).

To my shame, I was one of his worst students my freshman year; a cocky baseball player who had enough Bible to be wickedly dangerous. I signed up for a Dr. Mitchell class and had no idea that my life was about to change. Class period after class period he would present Scriptural truth to me and I would give him a look as if he were crazy. I would talk bad about him and felt justified in what I was doing.

The funny thing was, Dr. Mitchell could not care less about my bad opinion of him. He had learned and practiced Isaiah 2:22: Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils, for why should he be esteemed?” If he did happen to lose sleep over my comments and actions to him, they were only for my soul that needed to repent. There are no words to describe my indebtedness to him for this.

During the summer following my freshman year of college I became a Christian and it is clear that Dr. Mitchell’s teaching had the most impact on my soul. When I returned to school I began to talk with him like we were old friends and for the next three years I took great advantage of his counsel and wisdom. I learned how to ignore the attacks of others and see the heart behind those attacks. I felt like I gained a year of maturity after a ten minute talk with him sometimes.

Dr. Mitchell died this morning and the words of Isaiah 50:8-9 rings clearer for Him: “He who vindicates me is near; Who will contend with me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a case against me? Let Him draw near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; Who is he that condemns me?” Dr. Mitchell does not have to hear anymore harsh comments by freshman now. He no longer faces the temptation of Satan to speak up for himself either. He is at rest and his complete vindication is coming soon.  For those of us who have been touched by his life, Hebrews 13:7 gives instruction: Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

 NN

I feel that most people will struggle viewing ministry as an idol more so when they are out of ministry. We all have a tendency for the grass to be greener and all our problems to be solved when our life situation is different than what it is. So for a guy like me who is not serving at a church at the present time, I struggle with thinking that once I’m working at a church everything will be great and I will be satisfied. But ministry cannot satisfy our deepest longings, only Christ can.
The second post in this series deals with viewing ministry as a crutch and I feel that this happens right in the midst of ministry. When I was a youth minister preaching every Wednesday night and teaching every Sunday morning and night, I have to admit that I was much holier on Tuesday night than I was on Thursday night. Why? Because I’d much rather offend God with 3 days to make up for it than 24 hours before I would desperately need his help in preaching. Wow, can you believe I admitted to that?
While doing ministry I found it extremely difficult to serve God simply for the joy of serving God. I have to admit that many times my service to him was trying to win his favor. For me, ministry was not just a way to serve God, it was a way to keep myself disciplined.
The question I have for people like me who struggle with this, is how can you expect your people to serve for the glory of Christ if you’re only doing it because you know you have to face your people every week and don’t want to look like an idiot? Your people aren’t stupid and they will be able to see right through you. If you want to grow genuine Christians who serve for the glory of Christ, you must be a genuine Christian who serves for the glory of Christ.
I have to admit that I don’t necessarily think that extra carefulness when you approach the pulpit is a bad thing. We should strive for holiness at all times but a recognition that your words are in vain if the Spirit of the Lord doesn’t use them is healthy. The Bible teaches that we can grieve the Spirit and we do not want to do that before we ask for assistance in preaching. It’s like preparing for battle by unloading your guns.
There is an accountability that comes from a preaching ministry. But it should not be a crutch where it is the only thing keeping you faithful to Christ. Be careful that it does not become so.
NN

I feel like the Lord has taken me away from ministry over the last couple years and has taught me some things about it. I realize I’m no expert, but here are two things about ministry that I think ministers need to watch out for. I want to let you know from the start that I am using the word ministry as if it means a paid position at a church. It can be more or less than that, but that’s how I’m defining it.

1. Using Ministry as an idol.

I never felt like this while I was working at a church, and it truly might not have been an issue then. I don’t remember. But looking at my motives over the last few months, I think that it is evident that many preachers use ministry as if it is THE goal. This is incorrect. As many different interpretations of the Bible that there are, one thing is perfectly clear, Christ desires to be the Lord of your heart with nothing else challenging him for that spot.

I think the biggest challenge for ministers is to be pure in their motives. It is so easy to be the pastor of a church, youth pastor, music minister or whatever, and do all things for the glory of your own name. Do you enjoy being a pastor because it is what the Lord has called you to do, or do you enjoy it because once a week you get to be the center of attention? Don’t forget the Tower of Babel where humans built a tower in an attempt to make a name for themselves. This is a natural tendency for most of us.

One thing that I’ve realized that helps in this area is that I can only be so successful in terms of popularity. Let’s just say that I am blessed in a tremendous way and I become more prominent than John Piper or Billy Graham. What then? If my appetite is self-promotion, I’ll probably still be hungry.

It is much less sinful to just be a vessel for God’s working. We need to be willing to be a pastor of a megachurch in a metropolis and also willing to be a pastor in rural Arkansas (no offense…woo pig). Going even farther than that, we need to be willing to work in a factory if that be the case. I feel like I’m called to the ministry and can defend that call to others, but the Lord is allowed to do what He pleases. If He wants to call me and then only allow me to wash cars for a living, then He is free to do that for as long as He pleases.

Let us not forget who we are dealing with. Our Sovereign God took the life of Jim Elliot at a fairly young age. Who can imagine what could have been done if he were to win the Aucas and then return to America and head up the IMB? But the Lord took him. The Apostle Paul was the best preacher around and God had him in prison for years at some points in his life. God is able to do that. Finally, our One True Example in life, Christ, was the most godly 19 year old the world has ever seen, yet God kept Him silent for another 11 years.

The point of this post is to remind us that we are vessels. We’re nothing special apart from God. If we want to be used, stop making conditions for God.

The second half of this post will be posted soon.

NN

The Christian life is so simple in theory. Most of us learned the basics in a children’s Sunday school class when we were just kids. For those of you who came to Christ later in your life, you too learned the basics of the Christian duty in your early moments as a believer. Most of the time, if we have a problem in our lives we can save ourselves a trip to get council if we would go back to the basics of the Christian walk.
I’m talking about prayer and Bible study. It’s not the answer to every question, but those two things are foundational to growing in Christ…and all of us realize that. There’s nothing new here. You want to fight off temptation better, stay consistent in prayer and Bible study. You want to be more content with what you have, stay consistent in prayer and Bible study. You want to be more like Christ, stay consistent in prayer and Bible study.
But that simple thought that we’ve known from the beginning has brought on a new complexity when we are instructed to stay consistent with it. We know the what and we know the how, but we have trouble with the actual doing. I don’t think I’ll be able to cover both subjects today, but I wanted to share with you some thoughts that I’ve had about prayer and hope that it will be helpful to you in your walk with the Lord.
A couple years ago, some friends and I were able to sit down with Richard Owen Roberts and ask him some questions. Roberts is an older man of God who has spent his life studying revival and starting prayer meetings about revival. If you’ve ever heard him preach he reminds you of an Old Testament prophet that cares nothing about the opinions of people and truly wants to please the Lord. When he preaches, it is clear that he has spent much time with the Lord.
So a few years ago, we sat down and gave him a list of questions that we wanted answered. He was kind enough to answer all of them and one of the questions that I remember him answering, was “what has been your greatest struggle in the ministry?” This godly old man who had followed the Lord for years, said “prayer”.
I don’t know if that’s encouraging to you or discouraging, but thinking back on it makes me want to leap for joy. If this man who’s walked with the Lord for all his life still struggles to pray, that helps a brother like me who consistently struggles in prayer.
So I say all that, to make sure that you know that I’m not coming to you as if I’m a prayer-warrior. I’m a fellow prayer-struggler. I know what it’s like to pray as if God is face to face with me, and I know what it’s like to have your prayers feel so dead. I know what it’s like to pray with great faith and concentration for an hour, I know what it’s like to sit with my eyes closed daydreaming for an hour trying to pray. I know what it’s like to be in a prayer meeting with fellow brothers and want to hug everyone when you’re done. I know what it’s like to fall asleep in a prayer meeting.
There are few people in the world who can consistently sustain concentration for long amounts of time and I’m not one of them. So coming to you as a fellow prayer-struggler should benefit the majority of us.
The first text that I want us to look at is in Luke 18 at one of my favorite passages on prayer.
Luke 18:1-8 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, 2 saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. 3 “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ 4 “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; 7 now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8 “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
It is a fairly self-explanatory passage but we can still glean things from looking at it closer.
Vs. 1 gives the introduction and the meaning of the parable. Luke tells us what Christ intended to do by telling this story. He wanted to show his audience that at all times they should pray and not lose heart. This verse should be written upon your heart and put somewhere visible to you. I think Christ knew how quick we are to lose heart and gave us a parable like this to help us. We’ll be dealing with this subject a little more in a moment, but for now let’s move on to verse 2.
Vs. 2 –Christ gives us a picture of a ruler who cares nothing for religion and the opinion of God nor does he care about reputation and the opinions of men.
Vs. 3 gives us another character in the parable: A widow in his jurisdiction who is apparently having trouble with someone. Perhaps by saying that she was a widow, Christ wanted to portray a woman who was poor and defenseless against her enemies. This widow keeps coming to the judge asking for protection from her opponents, perhaps those trying to take advantage of her.
Vs. 4, The judge thinks about what’s going on. He thinks, “I don’t fear God. There is no higher power that is going to come and kill me if I rule unjustly.” He also thought, “I don’t care for this woman. Whether she lives or dies, I’m still the judge and my life will go on just fine.” He is a terribly selfish and self-centered man and Jesus lets the listeners know that this man is not going to help anyone else out based on their needs.
Vs. 5, but he will help others out to fulfill his own needs. He sees this woman as a nuisance to him and if he would just get rid of her, he would have more time to spend on other things. All this woman does is annoy him. So this judge answers the request of this poor widow and gives her the protection she seeks based on his own self-interest.
Vs. 6-8 Jesus says to pay attention to the ruling of the unrighteous judge: “Because she annoys me, I will answer.” Now if this unrighteous judge with no morals can answer a repetitive request, then how much more can a loving God? If this man will answer petitions that come to him from a stranger once a day, then will not God answer petitions that come from his children both day and night? Will God be outdone by man?
Another verse that gives me comfort and encouragement is Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
God has already given us His most prized possession through His Son. Do you think your request is too hard for Him or that He doesn’t love you enough to answer? Is His hand too weak to answer your petition? Is your family member too lost? Is your workplace too corrupt? Are your children beyond hope? No they are not…Then what’s the problem?

Obviously, we would all agree that the problem of prayer is on our end and not the Lord’s. We would do well to remember the instructions of Luke 18:1 –men ought always to pray and not lose heart. But, we’re so quick to lose heart aren’t we. And usually as soon as we lose heart, we lose our desire to pray and we either stop praying altogether, or we stop believing what we’re praying. We just pray to say that we’ve done it, we don’t really expect anything to happen.
I’ve had numerous conversations with friends that struggle with this. I cannot tell you how many times a friend will come to me and ask me advice and the story will go something like, “Nathan, what do you think I should do, my mom is wanting to come to church with me and I’m just not sure that she’ll understand what’s going on and I’m scared she’s just going to get frustrated and never come back.” Or “Nathan, my home church has asked me to join their staff as youth minister and I don’t know that I need to do this.”
In both cases I might ask, “what have your prayers been like or what are you praying for?” It almost never fails that their prayers are matching what’s going on. The first guy has been praying for his mom to be saved and come to church. The second guy has been praying that his home church would be more biblical and that he would have an opportunity to serve somewhere. I just wish that I were there to slap the boys in the back of the head and ask “do you not see God at work?”
They’ve been praying for God to act in these 2 areas and when He shows up they’re surprised. They beg for God to move and when He does, they think “what are you doing here?” Now it’s real easy to look at these guys and laugh at how foolish they are, but then we must come to realize that we have been that foolish as well.
We pray and expect nothing. I know that prayer is more than just requests, but God is pleased to answer our requests and commands us to bring requests to Him. Therefore, things that we ask in prayer are a big part of our prayer life.
We all hate legalism, or praying just to say we’ve done it, but more often than not, our prayers tend to go that direction. Our prayers have become just something we do at certain points in the day. We pray when we eat, before we sleep and while we read our Bibles. But if we don’t believe what we’re saying, then we’re shooting blanks. We’ve got our bow pointed to the heavens with no arrow in it. If you don’t believe what you’re praying, save your breath.
But this lack of faith is not something that people have just started struggling with. In Psalm 78, the Psalmist gives part of the history of the Hebrew children and in verses 21-22 he gives a noteworthy observation. After discussing some of the bickering in the wilderness by the Jewish children, the Psalmist says:
Psalm 78:21-22 21 Therefore the LORD heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, 22 Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation.
So we have the Lord getting angry with His own children because they did not believe Him or trust that He would deliver them. I don’t really know where any of you stand on how the Old and New Testaments interact with one another. Some of you might say that the Old Testament means nothing to us and some might say that we are to keep every aspect of the law.
No matter where you fit in between there, we can all agree that the Lord does not change and His attitude toward unbelief is still the same: God does not like it when He is not trusted…and we all know what that feels like don’t we. We have proven untrustworthy on occasion and we still hate when we are not trusted. God has proven faithful time and time again. He deserves our trust.
And it seems that no matter how faithful the Lord is, we never trust him for long amounts of time. Our faith goes up and down. Sunday afternoon we could charge hell with a water pistol and by Tuesday morning we’re struggling to read our Bibles. How inconsistent we are. We can witness the salvation of the Lord in a certain area of our lives (finances, salvation of a family member) and within a week can almost forget it even occurred.
I cannot tell you how many times I looked back in my journal and read about situations that I was in where I thought that there would be no end to darkness and read where and how God delivered me from them. And at the time when I looked back and read those journal entries, I had totally forgotten that dark time even occurred.
We’re so forgetful. Why did the Lord have memorials in the Old Testament? Why do we celebrate Christmas and Easter? The answer: because we’re so forgetful. We can forget some of the greatest high points in our lives and get lost in the fog of our present circumstances…and it’s been going on for ages. Take a look at Exodus 15 with me for a moment.
In Exodus 14:31 the Hebrew children have just witnessed the salvation of the Lord as they cross the Red Sea on dry land while it destroys the Egyptians just moments later. The Bible says, 31 When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.
Chapter 15 begins with a song that Moses and the children of Israel all sang. This wasn’t planned worship, this was spontaneous worship that came about because of God’s deliverance in their lives. 15:11 –Who is like You among the gods, O Lord, Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?” The song lasts from verse 1 to verse 21. I don’t think any of us would doubt their sincerity. But take a look at verses 22-24.
Exodus 15:22-24 22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
We want to look at them with this awestruck, dumbfounded look on our faces as if we’re asking them “what are you doing? You’ve just seen God move tons of water out of your way and then pour that amount of water on top of your enemies and you’re having trouble believing that God will give you a drink of water?”
I bring this up to give biblical proof for what I’m saying. We can very easily go from a sincere faith in God where we truly think that God will do anything for us to a sincere distrust in God where we think that He won’t do anything for us.
I think that our problem is easily seen in our prayer lives. I’ve listed a couple things that I do in prayers that are defense mechanisms. What I mean, is that these are things that I do in prayer to cover up the fact that I don’t believe God will answer my request. Perhaps I’ve prayed about them for too long and I’m just bogged down with continual praying for them, maybe I just doubt that God would care to answer, whatever, these are two things that I’ve caught myself doing over the years.
1. I use the words “May your will be done” as a way out.
That phrase is definitely a biblical phrase and Christ told us to pray this way. The problem is that I think we use it as a way out. For instance, if I pray for a new job and then add on the phrase, “may your will be done,” am I really being submissive or am I protecting my faith in God if I don’t get the job? It’s not a matter of words it’s a matter of motive.
Prayer is not just letting God know how we feel and accepting His sovereign plan. Prayer is pleading with the Lord to answer our request, but in those prayers being submissive to the Lord’s sovereign plan and there’s a huge difference. The first will lead to a dead prayer life that never sees anything answered and the second is a lively prayer life that will see many prayers answered.
2. I pray vague prayers.
I pray things that are so vague that I wouldn’t know if they were answered or not. For example, how about the prayer “be with Joe”. What did I just pray for? How am I going to know if the Lord was with Joe or not. I guess, God is with us all on a certain level so I can rest assured that the Lord was with him, but what was the point of that prayer?
Another one we might use, is “I pray that Joe would grow.” I think it’s a valid prayer and a valid desire for that person, but how are you going to know if it gets answered? How are you going to know when you can start praying for another area of Joe’s life? If you start praying that someone would grow, if you are going to be consistent with prayer, you will pray for that person your entire life because there is always room to grow.
Both of these things are just trying to cover up the fact that I don’t trust God to answer my prayers.
We live in such a quick-fix, microwave society where we feel that everything has to come at the press of a button. We don’t know what it’s like to ask and not get an answer immediately. We’re usually not consistent in prayer for long periods of time.
So What?
1. Write Luke 18:1 somewhere visible
You will forget this verse by the time you reach the parking lot tonight unless you write it down somewhere. Even if you memorize it, the verse will get lost in other verses you’ve memorized. So write it somewhere. The shower, your car steering wheel, your Bible; somewhere to remind you to pray and not lose heart. Remember the old widow who annoyed her judge to the point he gave into her request and remember that you serve a much more loving God.
2. Pray specifically
Be more intentional about what you’re praying. “Make your requests known to God.” What is your request? It helps me to write something down specifically where I can truly make my request known to the Lord. I use notecards. I’ve got a small box that I keep my notecards in and each notecard has a subject that I’m praying for written at the top.
Below that heading is about 3-5 specific, written requests that I have for that subject. Whenever one of those requests is fulfilled, I’ll make a note on the back of the card of how the Lord answered that request. If I run out of room, I’ll staple another card to it. It gives me a memorial box so I can remind myself that God is at work and He does answer prayers.
3. Don’t take unanswered prayers in stride.
When I say unanswered prayers, I mean prayers that did not get the answer we wanted. I don’t think that it’s good for us just to move on and forget about it. We need to respectfully and fearfully dwell on it. Seeking answers as to why this request that you had was not answered. We’ve got to get it out of our heads that unanswered prayers are the norm.
If you are a believer, you are a son of God and the Father has not even spared his own Son for you. Why would He not give you anything else? For some reason we get it in our heads that if we fall into sin the Lord will not hear us without some probationary period that we’re on until we prove we’re good again. Brothers, our relationship with God has never been based on how good we are. You are a son.
So when you feel that prayer is not answered go to the Lord and ask Him why the prayers you were praying were not answered the way that you wanted them to be. It’s not a “why not” like a 4 year old boy wanting to ride his bike in the road, it’s a “I don’t understand” like a 31 year old man to his elder father.
Stop accepting unanswered prayers as if they are normal. They are not.
In closing, remember the Gospel. We are sons and daughters of the coming King. We serve a God who has loved us, not based on anything that we have done, but according to His own Son who He crucified on a cross because of our sins. His love is unconditional no matter how many stones people throw at it. Approach the Throne like a son.

“Some are habitually on time, others are habitually late; no one can be on time all the time, and no one needs to be always late.  If five people have agreed to meet at a certain time and place, and one if fifteen minutes late, he has used up one hour in terms of manpower, for he has taken away fifteen minutes from each of the others against their will.  If they are wise, they will spend that time in reading or in some other useful way, but the latecomer ought not to presume on their good will if he can possibly help it.  He might have the boldness to think–or to say–that they need to learn patience, that they are to be anxious in nothing–all of which is true, but he is not the man to tell them that.  What he needs to remember, long before the appointment, is ‘rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way’ (Rom. 14:13); that he has no right to waste others’ time.

Of course, no one can keep the phone or the doorbell from ringing just before he leaves home, nor can he prophesy what will happen on the way; but it is always a good rule to start just a little earlier than you think you need to. 

Every Christian worker can discipline himself to be habitually on time, by careful management and foresight.  It relives other people of much anxiety, helps them not to waste time and thus makes life easier for them.  It is a matter of common honesty and Christian courtesy, and is in line with the in junction to ‘let all thing be done decently and in order’ (I Cor. 14:40). ”                               —-Elisabeth Elliot’s Father

I’m convinced.

6. A Christian yearns for spiritual knowledge.

Paul tells us in Philippians that he used to strive to be a good person and he claims he was more righteous in himself than anyone. He’s saying that to prove the point that no matter how righteous he was it wasn’t enough. He then says this in

Philippians 3:7-8  ⁷ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…

A Christian wants to know about this God who called them out of a life serving sin to a life serving God. Once a person is truly saved, nobody taps them on the shoulder and says, “you know what, it might be a good idea to read your Bible.” A Christian devours the Lord’s Word. Do you know why the Bible is boring to you? It might be because you are not a Christian.

It’s like if I were to give you a thousand-page book that was written by Abraham Lincoln and said, ‘this is a great book, I’d love it if you would read it.” You may try to read it, but let’s face it, not one of you cares enough about Abraham Lincoln to sit through a thousand pages reading about him. But let’s say you find out that he’s your great-great grandfather. Suddenly you have a desire to meet him. You are going to devour that book from cover to cover in order to find out all you can about him.

The Bible is boring to you because you have no desire to meet the Author. A Christian yearns for spiritual knowledge.

7. A Christian has purpose.

Colossians 1:28-29  ²⁸ We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.  ²⁹ For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

There’s one thing that really convicts me about lost people. Sometimes I feel sorrow that they are going to hell, sometimes I feel sorrow that God’s not getting the glory He deserves from them, but there are hardly any times that I remember thinking about the lost and not feeling much sadness because of how vain and pointless their lives are.

The other day I heard about a guy that I know who’s about 30 and has recently moved into an apartment with his sister who’s a few years older. They were both in and out of drugs but are clean now. They both work and that’s about it. When I heard of this I immediately thought about how pointless life was to them. There’s nothing. At thirty there’s a chance that neither will get married or have kids, they don’t have a house to their name and I can’t think of any reason they would want to live.

But what about the president of a huge company, is he living for anything either? He might make millions but in the end what will he have that my friends don’t have? Nothing…has it hit you yet that nothing in this life matters a bit outside of your relationship with God?

Solomon was the wisest man on earth and also the richest man on earth. He had hundreds of beautiful wives and had fame that stretched across the known world at that time and at the end of his life, guess what he said about all of it?

Ecclesiastes 12:8   “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

Solomon had everything we could want in this life and ended up saying that it was all pointless. If you live for anything outside of God you will come to the same conclusion. Only a Christian has true purpose in life.

8. A Christian knows that all power comes from God and because of that is a man of prayer.

In Mark 9 we have a story of a demon-possessed boy who’s father brings him to the disciples to be healed. The disciples can’t help the boy and crowds gather as Jesus comes off of a mountain. Jesus ends up healing the boy and after the crowd goes away the disciples ask Jesus why they were not able to heal the boy. The answer is found in

Mark 9:29  ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

Think about this. The disciples had seen Christ cast out demons before, they knew how He did it and could even recite the words that He said. But the power was not in His words, it was in the Spirit’s anointing of His words. Even the exact words of Christ are powerless if the Spirit’s blessing is not upon them.

When I preach, I try to put a lot of time into my sermons and really try to pack some great things into all of them. Sometimes I feel that I really did the best I could possibly do and like I just nailed it. Do you know what those sermons get…compliments. Do you know what Spirit blessed sermons get…converts.

A true Christian knows that even his best actions aren’t good enough to win anyone over to Christ. Because he knows that he is inadequate in himself he looks for help in another, specifically God. He knows what it means to cry out to God with tears. He knows what the word anguish means. A Christian is a man of prayer.

9. A Christian loves people.

Matthew 5:43-45 ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’  ⁴⁴ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

A Christian has a hard time hating people. I don’t think it would be accurate to say that it never happens, but that’s generally not the feelings that Christians have for others. A Christian knows that nothing separates him from the worst of sinners than the grace of God.

A Christian also loves that annoying guy that nobody likes. What separates you from him? “I take showers and I’m not annoying.” So you were blessed with people skills, he wasn’t and you’re going to hate him because of it. The only thing that separates you from him is the grace of God.

A Christian loves people.

10. A Christian desires for others to become Christians.

Romans 9:1-3   I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,  ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.  ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

Paul says that he has great sorrow and unceasing grief for the lost. Do you have that kind of burden or do you go most days without thinking any about the lost? A Christian has a burden that wants others to come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Let’s say you had cancer and were living in St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, TN. You live on a floor where there are nothing but other kids your age with cancer. They’re going through the same therapy that you are and you get pretty close to them. One night, while everyone else is asleep, you can’t get any rest so you turn on the TV.

As you’re watching, they have one of those breaking news flash things and some guy from ABC comes on and says that a laboratory in China today has announced that it has just found a cure for cancer and it will be ready for use in the next month. What do you think you’re reaction would be? You’re going to wake everyone else up and tell them.

I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but if you truly think that you have a cure that will save all of your dying friends, then you will have a great desire for them to know. A Christian desires others to become Christians.

So here are the 10 attributes that I’ve come up with, feel free to discuss.

What would make someone a Christian in your eyes? What would a person have to do to make you think that they were on their way to heaven? What actions would they have to be doing if they were going to prove to you that they were Christians?

There’s lot’s of answers you could give but I think that most of the answers would fit into one of two categories. We can see these two categories in Ephesians. The book breaks down in a very organized manner; chapters 1-3 deal with who God is and what He’s done to set a sinner free and to make him alive. I counted 22 times that Paul makes reference to something like this in these chapters.

In chapters 4-6, Paul deals with the Christian’s response to God’s goodness and gives us all these things we can do for the Lord because He has saved us. Chapter 4 opens up with “therefore I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that the God we just talked about called you to.” And from there goes on to give 70 instructions for holy living.

These are your two categories.

The Ephesians 1-3 kid is a guy who knows a lot about God. He’s got all the answers, he knows how to stump the evolution teacher, he understands the Bible, but his Christianity stops there. He’s not a very nice person. He’s promiscuous, he’s selfish, he reeks with arrogance. No one cares one bit how much he knows because no one likes him enough to talk to him for very long.

The Ephesians 4-6 kid is a guy who’s a nice guy. Everybody likes him, no one has anything bad to say about him and he’s earned it. He’s a guy who has kept his head on straight and he’s done others right. He’s outwardly humble and unselfish. On the outside, he’s a nicer person than most Christians.

But the reason he’s so nice has nothing to do with the Lord. He’s nice because the ladies like him. He follows the rules because he’s scared to get in trouble. He acts humbly because he’s built up this reputation and he can’t let that go, he likes who he is and he likes the kind of person he’s known as.

Neither one of these kids are Christians. The proud smart one is producing no evidence that he’s been changed by an all-powerful God. The nice humble one is simply mature enough to know that there are many benefits to being nice to people and even though he goes to church, God is no more real to him than Santa Clause.

A true Christian has right actions with right motivations. He has godly behavior and the reason he acts that way is because God has magnificently done great things for him. It’s not simply a knowledge of God that he uses to make fun of others. It’s not simply friendly behavior and a nice attitude. A Christian is a person who has been drastically changed in an unexplainable way by God.

What I’m going to do the next few posts is very dangerous. I’m going to give you 10 characteristics of a Christian. The reason that this is so dangerous is that some people will try to take this list and say, “all right, as long as I do what this list says, I will be a Christian.” That’s false. You could convince yourself that you are keeping this list with no fault and still remain unconverted.

So without any more delay, here’s the list that I’ve made.

1. A Christian is careful in his approach to God.

In our Sunday school class we just got through going over the Ten Commandments and reading how God used Moses. Moses was a man greatly used by God. He had led the nation of Israel out of the land of Egypt and ultimately to the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 32 you can read a song that Moses sang worshiping God. After the song is over God wants to speak to him and we read this in

Deuteronomy 32:48-52  The LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,  ⁴⁹ “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.  ⁵⁰ “Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,  ⁵¹ because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.  ⁵² “For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

So after 40 years of leading these people for God, Moses is punished for not treating God holy in the midst of His people. Reader take warning from that. God is not your homeboy. You can’t just approach him anyway you want to. He must be approached in reverence and Christians understand that.

To illustrate this point better, imagine a bunch of pastors at a pastor’s conference. The speaker is very good and very bold and he says this: “There are many of you here today that have no business being the shepherd of souls. You don’t have a clue how to run a biblical church.” Now a young wordling will get very upset at that and start defending himself. “Who are you to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing?”

But a Christian pastor will hang his head and say, “I know, I need to do better.”

The difference is that this man knows Who he is dealing with. God is not a god you can figure out and this man understands that. Because the other man has not seen God, he has a very high view of himself and is not careful about how he approaches God. He thinks: I’m approaching God, isn’t that good enough? So a Christian is careful in his approach to God.

2. A Christian loves Christ.

There can be doubt about this one.

Song of Solomon 3:4…When I found him whom my soul loves; I held on to him and would not let him go…

When a man sees the love of Christ specifically for him, his love for Christ will overwhelm him. How could he do anything else with his time but serve the One who gave up so much to come and love him? He is willing to be a slave to Christ for the rest of his life. He loves Christ and will live in gratitude to him for the rest of his days.

A Christian loves Christ and will stop at nothing to get Him. It’s like a merchant that’s looking for pearls and finds an extraordinary one. He will sell all that he has in order to buy that pearl. A Christian cannot be content without Christ. Thomas Watson said this

“What scorn and contempt they put on the Lord Jesus who prefer a damning pleasure before a saving Christ.”

What is your joy in this life? If Christ is not at the top of the list you need to be careful about claiming you’re a Christian. You might be a Christian who’s either young or struggling, but I wouldn’t boast too loudly that you know the Lord.  A Christian loves Christ.

3. A Christian pursues holiness as an act of worship.

Because a Christian loves Christ he strives to please him in every deed.

John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.

A Christian not only loves Christ with his lips, but he loves Christ also with his actions. A Christian longs to be more and more godly and less and less worldly.

It seems that most churches always present worship as if it is done only through singing songs. Most churches call the man who leads the hymns a worship leader. He’s not a worship leader, he’s the song director. Churches mess up when they do this because it portrays a picture to the congregation that the only time they can worship God is when they are singing songs.

If worship is showing love to God and love is manifested by obedience, I can worship the Lord in whatever I do and that is a more biblical time to worship.

1Cor 10:31 Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I’m going to do my homework for the glory of God, I’m going to wash dishes for the glory of God. I’m going to honor my Mother as a way of showing honor to God so that He may get glory. A Christian strives to be holy so that their actions might bring honor to God and He may be continually worshiped in their lives.

4. A Christian hates sin.

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Romans 7:24

Do you know who said these words? You would think that it would be someone like Hitler who finally saw all the pain he had caused. You might think it was Bin Laden who finally feels remorse for killing people. No it was Paul the apostle late in his ministry. He’d been walking with the Lord for probably close to 15 years and he says something like this.

There are two extremes we can believe about this and both are dangerously wrong. The first extreme is to think that Christians don’t sin. That will lead to legalism and hypocrisy. Legalism is when you think you do everything right and set up these rules that you think others have to keep in order to be right with God like you are. If they keep the rules, they’re a Christian in your book, but if they mess up on these man-made rules they’re not.

To think that Christians don’t sin would also lead to hypocrisy. If you’re claiming Christians don’t sin what are you going to say whenever you fall into sin? You would never say that you’re not a Christian so what you will do is make a new definition for sin and water it down so that it doesn’t touch you. You go blind to your sin and walk around calling others sinful while you can’t see any sin in yourself.

The other extreme would be to think that a Christian has no chance not to sin and because of this it gives you basically a license to do what you want because in your book, you can’t help it. You’ve gotten used to your sin and actually you’ve also grown quite fond of it.

A Christian has sin in his life and quite a bit of it. But he hates it. It makes him sick. He mourns that he sins, something a non-Christian knows nothing of. A non-Christian celebrates their sin, they don’t repent of it.

There is as much difference between sin in the wicked and the godly as between poison being in a serpent and in a man. Poison in a serpent is in its natural place and is delightful, but poison in a man’s body is offensive and he uses antidotes to expel it. –Thomas Watson

A Christian hates sin.

5. A Christian loves discipline.

Proverbs 3:12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

Usually that discipline we get is hated at first and the Bible even tells us that.

Hebrews 12:11   All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

It’s like the discipline of training for sports. Running and training is hardly ever enjoyable. However, once the training is over and you get to play in games you find that it was well worth it to be in shape.

When God disciplines us it shows us that he loves us. Picture it like this: Suppose a father is in the kitchen and sees his toddler son reach for a knife. If he loves his son he will discipline him and teach him not to play with knives. If he doesn’t love him he will let the boy play with the knife and probably end up hurting himself. When the Lord disciplines us, it proves that we are His children and that He loves us.

A Christian wants to please Christ so when he finds out that he is doing something that offends his Master he wants to know and he wants to change. Listen to Thomas Watson

A godly man loves the menaces of the Word. He knows there is love in every threat. God would not have us perish; he therefore mercifully threatens us, so that He may scare us from sin. God’s threats are like the buoy, which shows the rocks in the sea and threatens death to such as come near.

A Christian loves discipline.

These are half of the 10 attributes of a Christian that I’ve come up with and we’ll try to cover the others in the days to come.