Sermon Title: Remember, Repent; Repeat

Sermon Title: Remember, Repent; Repeat 

Let’s open up to the Book of Revelation chapter 2 reading verses 1-7: To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: “The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.” (** A quick note from Ch. 1 – the seven stars are the angels [or preachers] of the churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, which is now Modern Turkey.)

² “‘I [the Lord Jesus Christ] know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.  ³ I know you are patiently enduring and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.  ⁴ But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.  If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.  ⁶ Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  ⁷ He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

(Opening prayer)

Let’s bow & pray:  Father, for this group of believers I pray Paul’s prayers for his church in Ephesus. They are a people of faith in Christ, trusting in his work done for them for the forgiveness of their sins & they love the people of God dispersed as they are amongst various churches. I pray that you give them your Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they may know you more. I pray that by knowing you better & having your Spirit in them that the doors of their hearts are thrown open and that Your light and love spills out from them to others in the church and the church itself is unable to contain that love and it spills out from the church to the world at large. And that this may glorify the head of the church, Jesus Christ.

(Pause)

All-powerful Father, I pray today that you revive, reinvigorate & restore Calvary Baptist.  I pray that, according to your riches in mercy that you grant us (each) strength through the Spirit to repent of our failings.  I pray that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith & being therefore rooted & grounded in your love, I pray that we learn to love You more, to be bound closer as a fellowship & to share that love to a world that has lost the true meaning of love.  To you Lord, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask, to You be the glory of the Church on Earth and to Christ Jesus in all generations, forever & ever.  Amen.  (Adapted from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians from Eph. Chapters 1& 3)

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Well Calvary, I am happy to be with you once again. As we have been locked down in Genesis for a while, I thought we’d take a week off to jump to the other end, to the book of Revelation. Now Caitlyn, my oldest, loves the book of Revelation. When I told Caitlyn that I’d be preaching from the book of Revelation I think she imagined something like a scene from the cover of a hairband album. You know the kind I mean, someone Brian might listen to, like Stryper….an album cover with a dragon and a hero with a sword, a damsel in distress & a moon that turns to blood & all that symbolic craziness, but to be honest our passage today is pretty light on symbolism and I hope we find together that it is very practical for the church today.

I’d been thinking back to the birth of Christianity in Jerusalem described in Acts & its initial growth in Western Turkey where the these churches from Revelation chapters 2 & 3 come.  Jesus gives us some of his thoughts for the Church recorded in Scripture, words of encouragement and warnings.  In this list of 7 churches the 1 that I think is most relevant for us is Jesus’ warning to the Church of Ephesus.

Now God richly blessed the church of Ephesus, more than any other church in all of Christianity. Paul the great evangelist was its founder, young pastor Timothy from 1^st & 2^nd Timothy in the NT became the 1^st Bishop in Ephesus; Paul’s co-worker Tychicus was also there. The Apostle John (the author of our passage) ministered there and was in Ephesus when he was arrested by Emperor Domitian & exiled to Patmos, where this book was written.  Church History goes onto tell us that the Apostle John was released late in his life & he returned to Ephesus. It also tells us Jesus Christ’s own mother Mary lived near John & spent her last years in Ephesus. Now ladies….imagine that alone, going to bible study with the very Mother of Christ in attendance. Even other NT people like Apollos, Aquila, Priscilla and Mary Magdalene where thought to have visited or moved there as well. For at least a hundred years Ephesus was doctrinally steadfast & even home to some Early Church councils that denounced heresy and defended Christianity from false doctrine. And yet even this church needed to be called to repentance, from its Lord.  And that, Calvary, is a chilling lesson for us today.  How can we look to this passage, to this church & learn to mimic this Ephesian success without falling into this Ephesian error.  

(Pause)

So I’ve entitled this sermon Remember, Repent; Repeat (words taken from vs. 5)

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As many of you know, I am the father of 3 young girls, I often work late & admitting to my own shortcomings, I can easily get frustrated with them after a long day and recently I read this story, I’ll read to you its called…Forgetting the Things of 1^st Importance.

**edit, condense to describe not quote** A man came home from work late again, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old waiting for him at the door.

"How much money do you make an hour?"

"Well, that's none of your business. What makes you ask?"

"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour, dad?"

"Well, if you must know, I make $20.00 an hour."

Sad, the little boy replied "Oh.” Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I borrow $10.00 please?"

The father became angry. "If the only reason you wanted to know how much money I make is just so you can buy some silly toy or game, then march yourself straight to your room. And think about why you're being so selfish. I work late every day and I don't have time for such foolishness."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down mad fumed for a while. After a while, the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been too hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep son?" he asked quietly.

"No daddy, I'm awake.”

"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It's been a long day and I took my aggravation out on you. Here's that $10.00 you asked for, if you still want it."

The little boy sat up, beaming. “Thank you daddy,” he yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled up bills. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at the man. "Why did you want more money if you already had some? " the dad asked.

“Since you’ve been so busy lately with work; I just wanted to buy an hour of your time. Here's $20.”

(Pause)

Maybe not an especially Christian story, but for me, and I hope for you a gentle reminder in not Forgetting the things of 1^st Importance in our lives…something I think ties directly into our passage today.

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Point 1 – It is absolutely shocking the number of times Scripture warns us against false teachers, false doctrine, false gospels & even against false ideas of Christ. Recently I shared a news video on Facebook of a pastor along the gulf coast that was teaching his church he was Jesus Christ, not teaching the bible, not teaching about Christ but that he was Christ.

Now Calvary, we are a rare breed. I am nearing 30 yrs in and out of various churches & denominations and far & away I have never been apart of another church as theologically minded as ours. And take note, does Christ say, “Well doctrine divides, let’s ignore that” or “its deeds not creeds, right?” or “all you need is love, love, love is all you need”? No. Here in our short passage we get 2 sections where Jesus is championing theological acumen. He speaks of a church that knows its stuff and because of that can tell a rat when it sees one.

Let’s read Revelation 2: 2-3: “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are patiently endure and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.” And now verse 6: “Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

So who were the Nicolaitans? Theologians by and large say they were a sect that taught believers to eat food dedicated to false gods, encouraged sexual immorality & idolatry much like what happened over & over again in the OT with Israel’s history. A Church Father I like, Clement of Alexandria said, “The [Nicolaitans] abandoned themselves to pleasures like goats, leading a life of self-indulgence.” Their teachings perverted grace & replaced it with licentiousness.

Discerning truth from error in our passage then is seen as a good work, one that is done for the betterment of the believer, the good of the Church and the glory of God. So Calvary let me encourage you to continue in this good, godly pursuit of understanding scripture, Christian doctrine & even some church history. And if you are here and are not into Christian theology I can assure you of 1 point: you don’t love God!.......(Pause)…….If I claim to love my wife and yet I can’t even pick her out of a line-up, you know I’m not really that into her, right? Then friends, likewise you cannot continue from today going forward pretending to be “into” God but not desire to know Him more, to understand Him better, see how His presence has effected the lives of believers throughout time. If that is you, Remember our Lord’s words here, Repent of that error & Repeat often the works that would lead you to godliness.

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(Pause)

Point 2, (from verses 4 & 5) here we can see Jesus has been to business management school. I know cause I’ve got a business degree and one of the things they teach you is when you have a complaint against someone under you they will take that complaint better if you sandwich it between two compliments. So for example, hey Billy come into my office for a sec. You know, Billy, you’ve come into work on time for the last 6 months and that’s great! But you’ve been late all this week and we’re at the point where we need to write you up. Yet I don’t want to do that because you’re such a hard worker. What’s going on with you, lately? It’s called a Complaint Sandwich, feel free to use it on your spouses and kids they’ll love it. J So Jesus gives us the Ephesian Complaint sandwiched in between the two compliments about their vigorous confront against false teachers and false doctrine.

Read vs 4 & 5 - But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

*Passionate* In other words, Ephesus, what’s going on with you! You didn’t passively loose your love or fall out of love.  You abandoned, spurned; actively rejected the love & passion you once had for God! What's wrong with you?

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(Pause)

Now if you are taking notes this is the heart of the matter, here are 3 forms of Love that are meant to rule our lives as Christians & they are in order (the order is important). The order separates orthodoxy from heresy. 1^st Love for God ; 2^nd Love for the Brethren (other Christians); & finally 3^rd then we have love for the World. So we’ll dig a little deeper into each of those.

Love #1: what does it mean to love God?

1 = First, loving God requires knowing Him, and that knowledge begins with His Word. It may sound glib, but you have to know Him to love Him.

Let’s suppose a man is separated from his true love, she is beautiful & her name is Sandra and receives a letter from her. His first action will be to eagerly open the letter and pore over its contents. His love for her will naturally cause him to love her letter to him. The same is true with our love for God’s Word. Because we love the Author, we love His message to us. We hunger for it, we hold it close, and we hide its words in our hearts. Psalms 19 says its like this, its sweeter than honey to us & more desirable than gold.

2 = To love God is to put Him first. The number-one commandment is to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12). It’s an undivided love. God becomes our priority. If God becomes our priority, we wont let thinks like sin distract us from God.

3 = And finally, to love God is to want to please Him. Jesus tells us, “If you love me you will obey what I command” (John 14; 15; & 1 John 5). However, this is not a matter of merely following rules and chalking up good deeds. It is about having God’s love written indelibly on our hearts. We naturally wish to please those we love.

So Calvary, how are we doing loving God corporately? How are you doing loving God individually? Do you need to Remember Him & Repent?

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(Pause)

Love #2: "What does it mean to love one another, in Christian fellowship?"

The mystery and privilege that is Christian fellowship exists because of the unique relationship that exists between God the Father, God the Son & God the Spirit. Just as the trinity is unified we are to be unified. As iron sharpens iron, in true Christian fellowship Christians sharpen one another's faith and stir one another to exercise that faith in love and good works, for the glory of God.

In giving this command, Jesus did something the world had never seen before—He created a group identified by love. There are many types of groups in the world, and they identify themselves in any number of ways: by skin color, political party, musical preference or by sports team. But the church is to be unique. Jesus created a group whose identifying factor is supposed to be love. Love for God; Love for 1 anther & showing love for the world.

When we are to love fellow believers as Christ loves us. We give evidence that we are His disciples or followers of Christ. So again Calvary, how are you doing individually? Or how are we doing corporately? Do we need to Remember this call from the Lord and his Apostles and Repent & Return to the basics of being a Christian?

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(Pause)

Love #3: "What does it mean to love the World?"
What we often call the Golden Rule refers to a passage in (Matthew 7) “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus brilliantly condenses OT Law into this single principle, taken from Leviticus 19: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself; for I am the LORD.”

What is interesting to note about the Golden Rule is that no other religious or philosophical system matches it. Sometimes, liberals and sceptics attempt to explain away the uniqueness of the Golden Rule by saying it is a common ethic shared by all religions. This is simply not the case. Jesus’ command has a subtle, but very important, difference. I think a quick survey of the sayings of the Eastern religions will make this plain:

• Confucianism: "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you" (Analects 15:23)
• Hindusim: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you” (Mahabharata 5:1517)
• Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" (Udanavarga 5:18)

So the Eastern religions say, “Refrain from doing bad”; & yet Jesus calls us instead with, “Go out and do good!” The Eastern religions say it is enough to hold your negative behavior in check & Jesus says to look for ways to act positively in the world.

The command to love is what separates the Christian ethic from every other ethic in the world. In fact, the Bible’s championing of love includes the radical command to love even one’s enemies: to pray for them, to be struck & not strike back, even to provide for them if needed. Is this not what God did for us Calvary? Did he not seek us & provide for us when we still hated him. Did he not draw us, gift us faith, grant us repentance, save us & join us together? Shouldn’t we then show this kind of love to one another & overflow it with the world?

How about here, Calvary? How are you doing in loving the world? Anything you feel you are in need of Repenting of, Remembering the words of our Lord, or merely in need of Repeating this over and over again from now till the end of your days?

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(Pause)

As we wrap up let's think about this:

Do you cling to false teachers or false doctrines with their outlandish promises of prosperity? Do you know orthodoxy (or right-belief) well enough to weed out false doctrine from yourselves, your family, and your church? Are you loving God, loving those in the Church & extending that love to the world? Are we: Remembering, repenting; repeating! One of the Church Fathers I’ve been reading lately is John Chrysostom. He said this, “Since it is likely that, being men, they would sin every day, St. Paul consoles his hearers by saying ‘renew yourselves’ from day to day. Isn’t this what we do with our houses? We keep constantly repairing them as they wear old. You should do the same thing to yourself? Have you sinned today? Have you made your soul old? Then do not despair, do not despond, but Remember the Lord of our Salvation, trust now in his sacrifice done for you, renew your soul by repentance, and tears, and confession, and worship him by doing good things. And never cease from doing this.”
 

Calvary in this small message you can find every answer you have about the gospel & worship. The unbeliever will think he can justify himself by skipping God and the church and merely being good to others. The moralist will do good to others and be active in the church but still won’t need God cause he’s “good enough” in himself. Only the believer, the True Believer, will love God 1^st, use that love to begin merging his life with other believers and then still find room in his heart for those outside of the church. A Baptist hero of mine John Bunyan, he said this about extending love outside of the church, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone else who can never repay you.”

Let’s close in prayer: from Valley of Vision: Humility in Service

Lord Christ, you are the head of the church. I pray that we as your church humble ourselves and call out to you. I pray we repent when confronted by our sin, when we’ve turned cold against the needy & shunned those who’ve offended us. And having repented I pray that theses sins be buried under the tide of Jesus’ blood and we are filled to over-flow with an ocean of compassion, that the reign of love becomes our motivation, the law of love becomes the rule of our lives. O God of all grace, make us more thankful, more humble by your Spirit, cement us to faith in the blessed Lord immovable, may love entwine us with one another and the Spirit pervade every fiber of our lives and then send us out to make Him known to our fellow-men. Let us be found worthy workmen in the Lord, Father. Amen.

Balaam’s Donkey - family worship

The story of Balaam’s talking donkey is always a favorite with children. Use this free Bible lesson to help children learn more about listening to God’s directions.

Key Concept: God’s people need to be prepared to listen for direction from God, and carefully follow his lead. Memory Verse: Numbers 22:35 The Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

Learning Aims: Children will learn that it is always best to do things God’s way. Balaam was determined to do what God told him to do, but when one little obstacle got in his way he tried to do things his own way. Children will learn that when they are faced with an issue it is best to freeze and listen to God instead of doing things their own way. Children will learn that God will use whatever means necessary to get the attention of his people and show them what He needs them to do.

Introduce the Bible story: Say, The story of Balaam and Balaam’s talking donkey is in Numbers 22. Balaam was a prophet of the Lord. Balak, a leader of the Moabites, asked Balaam to come and make the Israelites leave their land, but God wanted Balaam to go to the Israelites and give them a message from God. Let’s see what happens to Balaam.

Read the Bible Story: Read Numbers 22:21-41 to the children.

Close the Lesson: Remind the children that God told Balaam to go and do only what God wanted him to do. We should listen for God’s guidance. Ask the children what they can do to listen for God’s guidance. Children should pray, read their Bible, attend Sunday School, etc. if they want to hear from God.

Balaam’s Donkey

²¹ Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. ²² But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. ²⁸ Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

²⁹ Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

³¹ Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

³² The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.^{[a] 33} The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

³⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. ³⁷ Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”

³⁸ “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”

³⁹ Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. ⁴¹ The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.

Matthew Henry on Christ walking amongst the candlestands (Rev 1-3)

Christ knows and observes their state; though in heaven, yet he walks in the midst of his churches on earth, observing what is wrong in them, and what they want. Christ keeps an account of every hour's work his servants do for him, and their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Christ is displeased with his people, when he sees them grow remiss and cold toward him. – Matthew Henry

John Bunyan on love for the World

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
― John Bunyan

John Chrysostom on Renewing the soul through Repentance

“Since it is likely that, being men, they would sin every day, St. Paul consoles his hearers by saying ‘renew yourselves’ from day to day. This is what we do with houses: we keep constantly repairing them as they wear old. You should do the same thing to yourself. Have you sinned today? Have you made your soul old? Do not despair, do not despond, but renew your soul by repentance, and tears, and Confession, and by doing good things. And never cease doing this.”
― John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom on Happiness

“Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward & learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude.”
― John Chrysostom

John Bunyan quote

“Man indeed is the most noble, by creation, of all the creatures in the visible World; but by sin he has made himself the most ignoble.”
― John Bunyan

John Chrysostom quote on the state of American Evangelicalism.

“It is this that ruins churches, that you do not seek to hear sermons that touch the heart, but sermons that will delight your ears with their intonation and the structure of their phrases, just as if you were listening to singers and lute-players. And we preachers humor your fancies, instead of trying to crush them. We act like a father who gives a sick child a cake or an ice, or something else that is merely nice to eat--just because he asks for it; and takes no pains to give him what is good for him; and then when the doctors blame him says, 'I could not bear to hear my child cry.' . . . That is what we do when we elaborate beautiful sentences, fine combinations and harmonies, to please and not to profit, to be admired and not to instruct, to delight and not to touch you, to go away with your applause in our ears, and not to better your conduct.”
― John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom quote

“The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt.”
― John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom quote

“The Holy Scriptures were not given
to us that we should enclose
them in books, but that we should
engrave them upon our hearts.”
― John Chrysostom

My Perspective on Tullian's Sin

My Perspective on Tullian's Sin

It has been very interesting to watch the fallout and discussions regarding the announcement, this past Sunday, that Tullian Tchividjian had resigned as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church after having admitted to an affair. One of the reasons it has been interesting to watch is because several weeks ago I had been brought into the circle of men and a few women who were briefed on why Tullian had taken a leave of absence nearly 10 weeks ago and what his plans were going to be moving forward. None of us were aware of Tullian's affair. But, all of us were aware of the turmoil of Tullian's life these past 10 weeks.

Last Thursday afternoon, I was informed of Tullian's moral failing and briefed about the pending announcement of his resignation and in an instant I experienced a profound moment of clarity that caused me to understand just how evil and tireless the devil is.

There are some who want to use the occasion of Tullian's sin to move the theological football down the field in the hopes of scoring some points. But, ultimately the folks doing that are short-sited and are missing much of the data that would be needed to make an informed assessment.

As one who has far more data to work with than many others, I must admit that the whole series of events leading up to last Sunday has shaken me to my core. The reason for this is simple. I just witnessed one of the most elaborate satanic schemes pulled off in modern history. The devil concocted the perfect plan to tempt a pastor to sin and the devil left nothing to chance.

The entire scenario from beginning to end was designed to take a pastor to the brink of what he could bear and then provide the perfect temptation in the midst of the turmoil that would then end his pastoral ministry while nationally dragging Christianity and Christ Himself through the mud.

The plan was perfect. It was executed flawlessly and the devil played Tullian and a whole lot of other people the way a concert violinist would play a Stradivarius. It was breathtaking to watch.

Now there is a man who is reeling from his sin and the sins committed against him. His family has had not one but two nuclear bombs tear them apart. An entire church has been thrown back on its heels and there are many people around the country and the globe who've had their faith shaken to the core by the news of Tullian's sin. Furthermore, Christianity itself has taken a hit. Christ's enemies have been given comfort and have viewed this whole affair as even more proof that Christianity is a crock just days before the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to make same-sex "marriage" the law of the land.

This was like a perfectly planned and orchestrated terrorist attack and all I see are a lot of dead and wounded bodies strewn everywhere.

When Jesus taught us to daily pray, "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one" He was not giving us empty words to mindlessly recite. The Apostle Peter put it this way, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

With Tullian's sin, and believe me when I say that just like Adam, Tullian is responsible for this whole mess, we've witnessed one of the most vicious "lion attacks" of our day. If Tullian Tchividjian wasn't safe from such an attack then no gospel preacher in the pastoral office is safe either.

"For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." - Ephesians 6:12

The work of caring for the wounded has only just begun and my prayer is that repentance, forgiveness of sins and reconciliation will win the day. But, thus far, I have seen very little that would give me hope along those lines and truth be told, I think I took some shrapnel in the blast.

χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη σοι,

Chris Rosebrough - of "fighting for the faith" podcast