“Ephesians” Sermon Series on Identity by Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church: For about the last year and a half or so, I've been regularly listening to Mark Driscoll, whom I credit with discovering my Calvinistic side. Going to a Southern Baptist-run middle and high school, I became well versed in Arminianism (with a belief in eternal security rather than the idea that you can lose your salvation) and arguments refuting aspects of Calvinism. Some of my classmates came from a
Reformed theological background (our school was technically non-denominational), and in Bible and sometimes History class there were some serious debates over predestination, but ultimately I was never presented a complete picture of Calvinism and did not explore it on my own. What I’ve learned in the last couple years through Mark Driscoll and other sources, however, is that I actually agree with most tenets of Calvinism, and now consider myself, at minimum, an “Arminist” - i.e, Arminian-Calvinist, if there is such a thing, lol. I still need to study limited atonement some more in particular to figure out my position (in case you need a brief overview of Arminianism v. Calvinism, click
here, but note that I purposely did not link to anything else because the sources I would choose for more detail are biased one way or another).
Anyway, all this started in attempting to highlight that I think Mark Driscoll is a theologian, and I gain so much from listening to him. Not every pastor makes you feel like you are in Bible class – gaining in knowledge – though their sermons. While I wholeheartedly believe that applying what you learn is the most important step to take as a result of gaining biblical knowledge, understanding the doctrines of the faith is still critical because your theology directly impacts how you live.
Second Timothy 2:15 says, in part, that we are to study the Word of God so that we can know how to apply it rightly –not a command reserved just for theologians!
Whether you agree with Calvinism, Pastor Mark still presents core tenants of the faith that are not reserved for Calvinism. I highly recommend him (and you may not necessarily recognize what he says as Calvinism – but I do agree that he is distinctly Calvinist in his focus on our sin nature as totally depraved and salvation through the grace of God despite the fact that we in no way deserved it. However, his emphasis on salvation through grace also is central to
evangelical beliefs).
Okay, so now that I am finally saving the rest of that ramble for another time, I will get to recommending Driscoll’s series on Ephesians. It’s based on a recently released book he wrote titled,
Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ. As my pastor has put it, one of the greatest crises facing our world today (and, I add, particularly shaping youth) is a lack of understanding about our identity. For Christians, our true identity is found in Jesus Christ. This means that we are to allow Him to conform us to His likeness, and that we do not have to identify ourselves in ways that contradict Scripture despite the fact that the world tells us we do. In this 16-week series, Pastor Mark preaches on 15 awesome statements about our identities that should shape how we live:
I Am in Christ
I Am a Saint
I Am Blessed
I Am Appreciated
I Am Saved
I Am Reconciled
I Am Afflicted
I Am Heard
I Am Gifted
I Am New
I Am Forgiven
I Am Adopted
I Am Loved
I Am Fathered
I Am Rewarded
It also should be noted that, as you may know from listening to him, he does not mince words and I think can sometimes be on the confrontational side, but despite the fact that I may not agree with his approach or opinions all the time, I still respect his communication of deep spiritual truths as a teacher of The Word.
You can check out the Ephesians series here, or on iTunes, Mars Hill Church: Mark Driscoll or Marsh Hill Church Everything Audio; podcasts January 13 - May 5, 2013.
“God in the Mirror” Sermon Series by Pastor Miles McPherson, The Rock Church San Diego: Pastor Miles is another one of my favorites (and was very blessed to visit his church in San Diego recently). If Mark Driscoll is a theologian in a more common sense of the word, I consider Pastor Miles McPherson a practical theologian - he’s a master at breaking down deep theological concepts to express their everyday implications for both the saved and unsaved. For example, he often gives the definition of love as “helping someone else obey God.” To me that really provides a very good measure of whether my actions are genuinely loving or selfish.
“God in the Mirror” is another great sermon series on identity in which Pastor Miles explores characteristics humans possess as a result of being made in the image of God, and how to conform ourselves to our true identity. It also is based on his new book,
God in the Mirror. Throughout the six- week series he preaches on each of the following attributes of human identity using the acronym IMAGE (with an introduction to all for the first week):
Individually unique
Moral mirror [of God]
Authority to rule
God’s friend
Eternal
Last week’s sermon was on authority to rule, and there are two weeks left in the series.
Here’s a link, or access through iTunes, The Rock Church: Weekend Messages, Series “God in the Mirror.”
The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears by Mark Batterson, pastor of the DC-Based National Community Church (NCC): I highly recommend this book on the importance of fervent prayer. It peppers stories about the “true legend of Honi the Circle Maker, a first-century Jewish sage whose bold prayer ended a drought and saved a generation (see back cover) ” – with principles and real-life testimonies about the spiritual and physical results of praying without ceasing. The back cover of the book also notes a major principle covered in the book: “God honors Bold Prayers and Bold Prayers Honor God.”
“Circling” is a theme throughout the book emphasizing continuous prayer. In addition to the introduction, there are four main sections addressing different aspects of circling in prayer: Dream Big, Pray Hard, Think Long (on the importance of planning and praying long term or for future generations) and Keep Circling (about never ceasing prayer). A really cool aspect of the book is that many of the testimonies highlighted are about God at work through Batterson and NCC and reference various D.C. landmarks. Now if I ever pass them I will think about answered prayers and how God’s power is on display right here in our city.
I felt this book really summed up my personal journey with prayer and encouraged me to continue growing spiritually through pursuing prayer at increasingly deeper levels (although I do feel that based on some of the word choices Batterson and I probably have some theological differences that would cause me to characterize some of the principles in the book differently, I do not see these differences as diminishing the importance of checking out the book. I only note this in case you may feel the same when you start reading and wonder whether to continue reading; as I said, I still highly recommend!).
As I read
The Circle Maker, I spent time thinking about the relationship between prayer and God’s Word. At times I have gone through the motions of prayer without always comprehending its significance. I often fancy reading God’s Word because of its immediacy in telling us what God says, as it is God’s revealed word. By contrast, the result of prayer is not always an immediate word from God; we may pray for something for years without seeing God reveal the answer (although God does transform us in the process, but this is still gradual). While we may read God’s Word and it may take us time to understand what it’s saying about a particular issue and conform ourselves to what it says, we still can always be sure when we read it that God is revealing Himself to us.Yet the Bible and prayer are meant to go hand in hand.
God’s Word gives us the ability to continue praying even when an answer is years away – or may never be answered while we are on earth- by helping us meditate on the promises of God even when we haven’t seen them materialize in specific situations. Romans 15:4 (which I know I recite often:)) says of the Bible: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (NIV). The NLT translates the second sentence as “And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” The Word of God gives us encouragement for now as we pray for later.
The Word of God also tells us how to pray and what to pray for. I like this quote from nineteenth century theologian R.A. Torrey: “To pray 'the prayer of faith' we must first of all study our Bibles intensely that we may know the promises of God-- what they are, how large they are, how definite they are--and just exactly what is promised.”
The Circle Maker is an inspiring title that should encourage us to go to God both in prayer and Scripture, and not only about our biggest dreams and greatest fears, but also in everything!
Here's a link to
The Circle Maker.
Num num!
