Today is my lovely wife’s birthday.  Yesterday we left on a surprise trip to Destin and right now we are enjoying the beautiful beaches without the girls!  There are two great loves in my life–I love my Lord with all of my heart and I love my wife.  Kim is an amazing woman.  She came to Christ early in life and has run after Him all of her life. 

She is a woman after God’s heart.  She is the best wife a man could ever hope to have.  She is an incredible mother.  She is the best worship leader I have ever known.  She can sing, she can play the piano, she can teach, she can “bring home the bacon fry it up in the pan and never let me forget that I’m a man…”

OK, the last phrase was a little much, but I want to say thank you God for giving me Kim and I want to say thank you Kim for spending your life with me.  I love you and I want all of my friends to join me in saying Happy Birthday.

Do you ever need a little Keith Green?  This is a great song and a great way to get your week started.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MjE2yXJqvs

In the coming weeks we will talk a lot about our freedoms, but my friend Ray Pritchard’s blog recently reminded us that our Nation is in trouble.  Read the following article and pray for our leaders.

http://www.keepbelieving.com/blog/2009-6-26-jesus-not-welcome-in-pa-house/

R Kent Hughes’ chapter on the Discipline of Worship is tremendous.  At the close of that great chapter he shares the following check list to enable us to prepare for the Lord’s Day.

On Saturday

I have asked Christ to make me sensitive tomorrow to needs of people in the body who are hurting.

I have solved the Sunday clothes hassle by making sure that what I will wear is ready today.

I have spent time in confession so all will be right between myself and my Lord when we meet tomorrow.

I have determined to get to bed early so I will be refreshed and ready for church tomorrow.

I have planned on sustaining the delight of this time with Christ and his people by guarding against Sunday afternoon infringements.

On Sunday

I have gotten up in plenty of time so I will not feel rushed.

I have programmed my morning so I will not just arrive at church on time, but get there early.

I have eaten a good breakfast, so an empty stomach will not detract from my worship.

I have my Bible in hand plus a pen and paper for taking notes.

I have left for church with a great sense of expectancy because I know Christ will be there.

Are you ready to worship?

Yesterday two “famous” people died.  Farrah Faucet had battled cancer for a long time and her death came without any real shock, but the news of the unexpected death of Michael Jackson has the news media in a frenzy.  Why did he die?  What caused his death?  One article was entitled, “Michael Jackson’s Mysterious Medical Past.”

I will be the first to admit I was more interested in Farrah’s death than I was Michael’s.  I was one of thousands of young men who had her famous poster on his wall (I was not a believer and I didn’t know the significance of Philippians 4:8 at the time!) 

When Michael was really turning out the hits I was more into ACDC and Van Halen and in the later years his surgical misteps and his perverted behavior did nothing to change my view of him.  I know there were many who loved him and I pray that they will find the Lord through his death,  but I just wasn’t that big of a fan.

The reality of death hits us all.  If the Lord tarries we will all die.  It doesn’t matter if you are the King of Pop, the Queen of the red bathing suits, or the poorest of the poor you will one day die and meet your Maker.

When you read passages like Psalm 39:4-6 we understand the need to “Number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  (Psalm 90:12)  I don’t know the spiritual condition of either Michael or Farrah, but the fruit of their public  lives didn’t point to regeneration.  We will all die one day, but if we are children of God we will live even though we die!  All that really matters in the end is what we have done with Jesus.

As we approach the Lord’s Day I want to share a quote I found this week in R Kent Hughes book, Disciplines of a Godly Man.  It comes from Annie Dillard,

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the Catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions.  Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke?  Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?…It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets.  Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.  For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”

There is such a great focus on praying the “Sinner’s Prayer” in modern day evangelism.  It is interesting that there is no record of such a prayer in the NT.  Jesus’ call was never, “Come say this prayer…”  it was always, “Come follow me.” (page 233)

As I was studying this morning for next weeks sermon I came across a prayer in Robert Leighton’s commentary on 1 Peter.  This is what I would call a real sinners prayer.

“Lord, I am justly under the sentence of death.  If I fall under it, you are righteous, and I do know acknowledge this.  But if it seems good to you to save the vilest, most wretched of sinners, and to show great mercy in pardoning such a great debt, the higher will be the glory of that mercy.  However, I am resolved to wait until either you graciously receive me or absolutely reject me.  If you do the latter, I do not have a word to say against it; but because you are gracious, I hope that you will yet have mercy on me.” 

“THOU GREAT I AM,

Fill my mind with elevation and grandeur at the thought of a Being with whom one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,

A mighty God, who, admist the lapse of worlds, and the revolutions of empires, feels no variableness, but is glorious in immortality.

May I rejoice that, while men die, the Lord lives; that, while all creatures are broken reeds, empty cisterns, fading flowers, withering grass, He is the Rock of Ages, the Fountain of living waters.

Turn my heart from vanity, from dissatisfaction, from uncertainties of the present state, to an eternal interest in Christ.  Let me remember that life is short and unforeseen, and is only an opportunity for usefulness;

Give me a holy arvice to redeem the time, to awake at every call to charity and piety, so that I may feed the hungry, clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, reclaim the vicious, forgive the offender, diffuse the gospel, show neighborly love to all.

Let me live a life of self-distrust, dependence on Thyself, mortification, crucifixion, prayer.”  (Valley of Vision, p 190-191)

Yesterday I shared Paul’s command, but I want to confess that while I knew what Paul wanted me to do-I just didn’t know how to do it.  I justified not having a time of family worship because I had girls from the ages of 13 down to 5 and it was just too hard, we were too busy, and they were not that interested.  We taught them Bible verses, we talked about Jesus, and we went to church… All of that was true, but I knew deep down that I wasn’t fulfilling my calling as a father, as a husband, and as the spiritual leader in the home.

The Puritans saw the family as a little church that existed for the glory of God.  The father was the pastor of his church and the responsibility of their spiritual growth rested on his shoulders.  I knew that, but how could I actually do it?

I owe Art Azurida so much, because I listened to a series of sermons about the family that he preached and at the end of one of his sermons he made family worship so simple.  I will confess that we are not always as devoted to this process as we should be, but when we make the time to do it God blesses our family.

Mornings in our house are just not the time to try to get anything done.  We have found that the evening time works best for us.  Here is what we do.

First, we read a Psalm and sing.  Kim has a beautiful voice and this really helps, but we are also blessed with a musical family.  Hope brings her guitar and plays one or two songs and we sing along.  Sometimes Kim plays the piano and from time to time Hollie leads us in a song on her violin.  Your family may not have the musicians…sing a song or play a song and sing along.  Don’t let this keep you from doing the worship-singing works for us.

Second, we read a short passage from one of the Gospels and talk about how this applies to us.  It is amazing how God works this out to fit the need of the moment!  I get the girls to read a passage and then I lead them in the discussion.

Third, we do some catechism questions.  I have a Baptist Catechism that we use.  For example, question # 1, Who is the first and best of beings?  Answer-God.  Verse, Psalm 8:1.  Question # 2, What is the Chief End of Man?  Answer-To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Verse-1 Corinthians 10:31.  Our five year old gets this!  She can quote the verses so I know it can be done.

Finally, we pray together.  Sometimes we pray for lost friends, sometimes we pray for each other, sometimes we share requests and then pray silently. 

This doesn’t take long, but it works for us.  The number one rule is I have to teach myself not to stress over it.  The five year old isn’t going to sit still all of the time.  The older girls aren’t always going to be in the mood.  Friends will be there to spend the night and they can join us.  The most important thing is that we get together and worship God.  Fathers, will you join me in leading our families?

Over the years I have been convicted that I need to do more as a father in terms of leading my family in worship.  Paul commands, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)  What does that mean?

The phrase, “do not provoke your children to anger,” means we are not to goad them to resentment.  R Kent Hughes says we can do that through criticism, over strictness, irritability, inconsistency, or favoritism.  I have to admit I have been guilty of almost all of those at one time or another, but my heart’s desire is to be the father that my father was to me.

Paul says we are to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  Notice, he addresses this verse to the fathers.  Far too often we refer that job to the Church, to the Christian schools, or to the mother, but God has called us to do it.  “Bring them up” means we are to nourish and feed them.  It is the same word that you find in Ephesians 5:29.  The “discipline” Paul speaks of is a word that means we do everything that is necessary to give them the “instruction of the Lord.”  We are called to continually place the things of God before their minds. 

Tomorrow I want to talk about how we do that in our home, but for now I want to encourage you to remember that it is never too late to be the father God has called you to be.  I can promise you that you have sons and daughters who are dying for you to be the man God has called you to be regardless of how old they may be.