Philip Ryken shares this powerful Luther quote at the Reformation21 blog today. Good stuff…

Luther said:

The ministers of the Gospel should be men who are not too easily affected by praise or criticism, but simply speak of the benefit and the glory of Christ and seek the salvation of souls. Whenever you are being praised, remember it is not you who is being praised but Christ, to whom all praise belongs. When you preach the Word of God in its purity and also live accordingly, it is not your own doing, but God’s doing. And when people praise you, they really mean to praise God in you. When you understand this–and you should because ‘what do you have that you did not recieve?’–you will not flatter yourself on the one hand and on the other hand you will not carry yourself with the thought of resigning from the ministry when you are insulted, reproached, or persecuted.

Our oldest is 15 today. As cliche as it sounds, it seems like just yesterday we brought Kevin home from the hospital.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? –Hebrews 12:9

Who would miss a grizzly Marine Corps drill instructor screaming in their face for the smallest slip-up? After a grueling three months of Marine boot camp served up by these technicians of pain I was certain I’d never miss my drill instructors.

Thirty days after graduation from boot camp I was experiencing my first Christmas away from home. My family was in Michigan—I was back in California for Infantry Training School.

Camp Pendleton, California, Christmas day, I was assigned guard duty–foot patrol, guarding empty Quonset huts, armed with a walkie-talkie and a nightstick. It was then that a wave of deep loneliness pushed over me—all I could think of was my family, how loved I was by them, how much I missed them and how much they were probably enjoying Christmas–without me.

But now I have eight children of my own and I understand that my parents were probably in more pain than I was. Having raised me to fear and serve God and having sheltered me from the world for 18 years I was now far from home and completely on my own in Southern California—far from their loving guidance and protection.

What I didn’t realize then was that the structure and rigorous discipline of boot camp and those surly drill instructors yelling in my face had given me a sense of security that I didn’t realize was there until I was all alone with no one to tell me what to do. And then while on patrol that lonely Christmas day afternoon my radio crackled to life with the melodious sound of the duty sergeant yelling at me to check in—my assignment was complete.

So now I try to teach my children that my instruction and discipline in their lives is good for them and that they should be thankful for this period of time in their lives. And those who study these things tell me that children actually prefer structure and discipline—somebody should tell my kids.

I also pastor a little country church of loving, obedient, God fearing people. And I’m constantly trying to teach them that there’s security and comfort, protection and guidance in loving and obeying God’s commands.

So I’d suggest to you, and I remind myself, that we not resent and resist the loving discipline of those who care for our lives. And when you feel like you’re all alone, remember, your heavenly Father loves you.

Reading…

This is a great statement from C. J. Mahaney on the servanthood modeled at the Shepherds conference last week.

John MacArthur, Dan Dumas, and the members of Grace Community Church put on a clinic in the art of serving. Though the preaching at the conference was outstanding, the example of servanthood (truly the fruit of expository preaching) was compelling. Every individual I encountered, from the first moment I arrived to my final moment at the conference, served with excellence–and not only excellence, but cheerfulness as well. The hundreds of members of Grace Community Church who took time off work in order to serve us were a compelling illustration and demonstration of the content of the preaching we heard. True greatness as biblically defined was on display each day of the conference.

Looks like Mahaney has a basketball team lined up for next year’s conference–seems confident he won’t have to take any of his own medicine.

Currently reading…

NASB MacArthur Study Bible available soon…

Currently reading…

Tim Challies and Doug McHone have the privilege of liveblogging the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference. I suggest you check out Tim and Doug’s blogs over the next few days for their perspective on the conference. Should be good–wish I could be there. Keynote speakers are John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, R.C. Sproul, Steven Lawson, Ligon Duncan and Mark Dever. Tim Challies says he’ll also be liveblogging the Together for the Gospel conference in April. Sounds like a nice gig.