Children are a blessing. When should a married couple consider starting a family or growing an even larger family? Should everyone have a “Fab Five” like myself and Grace?
Watch as I share how to navigate starting and growing your family with your spouse.
And if you have a question you’d like answered, email it to [email protected] today!
You know that studying the Bible together would be good for your family – but life keeps getting in the way.
It can be hard to make time to sit in the Word together, but the results are always worth it!
So get some tips from Grace and me on how you can figure out what works for you – and build habits to help you grow together in God’s Word.
John 1:22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
As the last of the Old Testament prophets, Jesus’ cousin John the Baptizer operated outside the system. He was not licensed by the government. He was not approved of by the religious leaders. He just started preaching outside and within a few months, upward of thousands of people had repented of their sins and been baptized. Curious who he was and by what authority he ministered, the religious leaders deployed a committee of guys in clean white shirts with name tags to investigate.
Ministry starts with anointing. That is, the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit at work in and through someone so that their character and ministry are godly. John was an anointed man. The angel Gabriel prophesied to John’s pregnant momma, Elizabeth, in Luke 1:15, “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.”
Think of the Holy Spirit’s anointing for ministry as God placing His hand on someone. This is exactly what is said of John the Baptizer in Luke 1:66: “For the Lord’s hand was with him.” In the New Testament, when someone is appointed to a leadership position in ministry, it is common to see other human leaders also lay hands on them. This shows that godly leaders confirm that God has already laid His hand on this person and so they are confirming God’s calling. The big idea is that God first anoints someone for ministry, and then leaders confirm that anointing and appoint them into leadership. Because John grew up in a ministry family with godly parents, this is what John’s parents had already done. Great problems happen in ministry when human beings appoint someone that God has not anointed. This is why the Bible says in 1 Timothy 5:22, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.”
Why?
Because God’s will and God’s timing are both important.
Have you ever rushed out ahead of God in an area of your life and ministry? In the future, how can you be sure of God’s will and God’s timing for your life?
How do we really come to understand ourselves? That question, perhaps more than any other, dominates our thinking as we use personality tests and other tools to discover the mystery that is me. There is a man named John the Baptizer whom Jesus called the greatest man who has ever lived. People tried to figure out who John was, and he said that the only way to really understand oneself is to first understand Jesus. In that day, like ours, many people were making the mistake of looking at themselves too much and looking at Jesus too little. If you want to understand who you are, the first thing you need to understand is who Jesus is.
Modeling a real faith for your kids is a tough job. You don’t want to wait for something to go wrong and then start telling your kids how much God loves them; it just won’t work.
It’s better to make God the center of your home life and your everyday routine and a normal part of your family conversations.
But that can be hard, too, especially if you didn’t grow up in a Christian home.
Watch as Grace and I discuss how you can bring God into your home life – and help your kids’ faith flourish!
If you have a question you’d like answered, email it to [email protected] today!
When I was younger, I loved playing baseball. I especially loved pitching. Today, as the father of three boys who all pitch, I love sitting under the sunny skies of Scottsdale, Arizona, watching my boys take the mound for year-round baseball.
If you know much about baseball, you know that there are multiple kinds of pitchers. Some are left handed, others are right handed. Some throw fast, others slow. Some can pitch many innings, others are only good for a few batters.
A good coach takes all the pitchers and puts them together into something called a bullpen. The coach then calls in each pitcher to meet the needs of a specific situation during the game. Why? Because a bullpen is far more effective than just one pitcher.
In life, you are a coach. What you need is a bullpen. This is more than a mentor. I believe that having a mentor is actually a myth. There is no one person who can help you get through every situation of your life. As you make plans for your life, it is good to assemble a bullpen of specialists – various people who are wise at finances, marriage, parenting, health, business, legal, theology, and so on, respectively. When you need them, you can then call them in to your life to help you get through whatever you are facing without wearing one person out to be there for you all the time.
The Bible speaks of this kind of a bullpen as wise counsel. Proverbs 13:20 says it this way, “Walk with the wise and become wise,” and Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Also, Proverbs 24:5–6 says, “The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength. Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.”
How can you benefit from wise counsel to help you make your plan for this year? To start, Proverbs 12:15 teaches us to listen and learn: “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” Here are some very practical things to consider to maximize your bullpen of wise counselors:
Prayerfully and carefully choose wise counsel
Formally schedule a time with them at their convenience
Show up prepared, with your questions and a way to write down what you learn
Listen and learn – do not say a lot
Ask them for any resources you could use for further study
Thank them
Pray for them before leaving
Act on their instruction
Send a follow-up thank you
At MarkDriscoll.org there is a special four-part series this month called Four Biblical Laws That Change Your Life, available for a gift of any amount. This brand-new content is a series of lectures and accompanying homework by Pastor Mark Driscoll to help you make this a godly and great year, by God’s grace.
When I was younger, I loved playing baseball. I especially loved pitching. Today, as the father of three boys who all pitch, I love sitting under the sunny skies of Scottsdale, Arizona, watching my boys take the mound for year-round baseball.
If you know much about baseball, you know that there are multiple kinds of pitchers. Some are left handed, others are right handed. Some throw fast, others slow. Some can pitch many innings, others are only good for a few batters.
A good coach takes all the pitchers and puts them together into something called a bullpen. The coach then calls in each pitcher to meet the needs of a specific situation during the game. Why? Because a bullpen is far more effective than just one pitcher.
In life, you are a coach. What you need is a bullpen. This is more than a mentor. I believe that having a mentor is actually a myth. There is no one person who can help you get through every situation of your life. As you make plans for your life, it is good to assemble a bullpen of specialists – various people who are wise at finances, marriage, parenting, health, business, legal, theology, and so on, respectively. When you need them, you can then call them in to your life to help you get through whatever you are facing without wearing one person out to be there for you all the time.
The Bible speaks of this kind of a bullpen as wise counsel. Proverbs 13:20 says it this way, “Walk with the wise and become wise,” and Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Also, Proverbs 24:5–6 says, “The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength. Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.”
How can you benefit from wise counsel to help you make your plan for this year? To start, Proverbs 12:15 teaches us to listen and learn: “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” Here are some very practical things to consider to maximize your bullpen of wise counselors:
Prayerfully and carefully choose wise counsel
Formally schedule a time with them at their convenience
Show up prepared, with your questions and a way to write down what you learn
Listen and learn – do not say a lot
Ask them for any resources you could use for further study
Thank them
Pray for them before leaving
Act on their instruction
Send a follow-up thank you
At MarkDriscoll.org there is a special four-part series this month called Four Biblical Laws That Change Your Life, available for a gift of any amount. This brand-new content is a series of lectures and accompanying homework by Pastor Mark Driscoll to help you make this a godly and great year, by God’s grace.
The country you live in has founding documents that guide the decisions that are made for its citizens. The business you work for has vision, mission, and strategic plan to provide clear goals that all resources are positioned to achieve. The sports team you play on has clear rules and a method by which a score is kept and a winner is pronounced. Unfortunately, many—if not most—people, don’t really have any of these sorts of plans for their personal life. As decisions and opportunities arise, we just do our best to make a good decision. The problem is that such decisions are often made in isolation from the rest of life.
Jesus speaks of this very problem in Luke 14:28–32:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.”
What Jesus is appealing to is the Law of Planning. As the old adage goes, when we fail to plan we plan to fail!
When it comes to making a plan for your life and family, it is helpful to start with your priorities. I believe the following is a good guideline for our priorities:
Relationship with God
Relationship with Spouse
Relationship with Children & Grandchildren
Work
Ministry
Hobby
Two things happen when we have our life out of alignment from God’s priorities for us. First, God gets jealous. God does not like it when something like our job overtakes Him as the priority in our life. Second, the people in our life become jealous because someone or something has taken their place. Jealousy is not always a bad thing. Sometimes, jealousy is simply how a person rightly feels when someone or something else has taken their place as a priority. To help guard against this, we need a plan for our life that considers our priorities.
One of the greatest planners in the Bible is a man named Nehemiah. The books of Nehemiah and Esther are largely devoted to him making and implementing a plan for the urban renewal of the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah did research, drew up specific construction and architecting plans, and had a budget, legal plan, public relations plan, security plan, travel plan, fundraising plan, business plan, ministry plan, and communications plan. Throughout the project, he prays, plans, and pivots. By praying, he gets his plan from God. In sharing his plan with others, he invites them to do their part in the plan. As circumstances changed, when needed, he pivoted from his plan.
This is a great example for you. Do you have a prayerful plan for your life?
At MarkDriscoll.org there is a special four-part series this month called Four Biblical Laws That Change Your Life, available for a gift of any amount. This brand-new content is a series of lectures and accompanying homework by Pastor Mark Driscoll to help you make this a godly and great year, by God’s grace.
Some years ago, I was travelling with someone during the winter. Our trip started in sunny Southern California, then continued on to windy and snowy Illinois. Unfortunately, my travelling partner was so excited about going to California that he forgot to pack for the winter weather in Illinois. I was humored when he was trying to hike over a snow bank with freezing feet because the only shoes he packed were flip-flops.
This is the law of seasons. The same God who made the natural world with seasons has also woven seasons into our life. When we do not pay attention to and honor the season, we end up making life more painful and difficult than it should be. This is what Proverbs 20:4 means: “Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.”
God wants your life, year after year starting this year, to be like a healthy tree that honors the seasons and flourishes. This is what Psalm 1:1–3 means:
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”
As we honor the seasons of life and dig our roots into healthy circumstances and relationships, our life becomes fruitful year after year.
When we fail to recognize that our entire life, and each year of our life, has seasons, we become confused and frustrated. Something that used to work, no longer works. What used to deliver positive results, no longer does. In this way, the flip-flops that were perfect for the summer become a problem in the winter.
How do you know when the season of your life is changing? Transition. When a major life transition comes, you are leaving one season and entering into another season of life. Consider your life. Have you recently experienced any of these seasonal transitions?
Divorce
Death of a Spouse
Death of Parent or Child
Relocation
Job/Career Change
Bankruptcy
Major Job Loss
Illness (Personal or a Close Family Member)
Empty Nest
If any of these transitions, or others like them, are part of your life, you need a plan for the next season of life, which we will consider in the next devotional entry.
At MarkDriscoll.org there is a special four-part series this month called Four Biblical Laws That Change Your Life, available for a gift of any amount. This brand-new content is a series of lectures and accompanying homework by Pastor Mark Driscoll to help you make this a godly and great year, by God’s grace.
Parenting – especially when you’re a Christian – is a big responsibility.
Not only do you have to get your kids through the day alive and in one piece, but you also want to help them know and love Jesus. In fact, that’s your most important job as a parent!
So check out some tips from Grace and me and learn how you can nurture your kids spiritually, and help them to grow in their faith this year.
Luke 1:18, 34
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”… And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
In considering the life of Mary, history, theologians, traditions, and agendas quickly set in. Some make far too much of Mary, and some make far too little of her.
Mary was not sinless (Luke 2:22). She did not remain a virgin forever (Matthew 1:24–25, 12:46). She is not a co-mediator or co-redeemer alongside Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). We’re to pray to our Creator and not to anyone He has created.
Just because some Christian traditions have elevated Mary to an unhealthy state, however, does not mean we cannot honor her. Mary should not be our object of faith, but she should be an example of faith, Martin Luther rightly said. Every man and woman should aspire to have faith like Mary’s. By the grace of God, we should aspire to love God, trust God, and serve Jesus like she did. We should long to have the same kind of heartfelt devotion and affection for Jesus as she did. Furthermore, she is an amazing example for everyone, especially young and single women, for what godly devotion looks like.
Small-town religious gossip can be brutal. Joseph married a single mom and adopted her son. Joseph had to deal with the fact that his boy was called illegitimate, his wife was called unfaithful, and he was called a fool for the rest of his life. He didn’t have to accept this fate. Joseph would have been well within his rights to abandon Mary – technically, he could have even sought to have her stoned to death for adultery. But God told Joseph to love Mary and raise the child, and that’s exactly what Joseph did.
Thanks to Joseph’s humble obedience, Jesus had a dad. And Matthew 1–2 provides more details about him. For you single men reading this, do not overlook the single mothers God places in front of you as a possible wife for your consideration. It is almost certain that when Joseph sat in his youth group with his friends and compiled a list of qualities he was looking for in a wife, the virgin Joseph did not include “pregnant” on his ideal list. Yet, there is no more godly and glorious woman, wife, and mother the world has ever known than Mary.
The elderly priest Zechariah met Gabriel with a question, and the angel responded by silencing the old man for nine months: “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years” (Luke 1:18). Mary met Gabriel with a question and received no such rebuke: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34).
What’s the difference? Mary’s question is about understanding, not unbelief. Mary doesn’t argue. She doesn’t disagree. She doesn’t try to explain to Gabriel where babies come from. She basically says, “I believe that can happen, how’s it going to work?” That’s a fair, honest question.
You can believe in Jesus – that He is God, that He died for your sins, that He rose for your salvation – and still have questions. Christianity is certainly big enough, and God is certainly mysterious enough, for questions. Anselm, an ancient theologian, spoke of faith seeking understanding. We believe, and we are trying to understand.
That’s the life of faith.
God can take an elderly woman like Elizabeth and open her womb. God can take a virgin like Mary and give her a son. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Do you believe that? Do you believe that it is not only true for Elizabeth, but also others including you?
God can create everything out of nothing. God can take on human flesh and enter into human history as the man Jesus Christ. God can atone for the sin of the world on a chunk of wood. God can rise from death. God can raise us from death. God can hear and answer prayer. God can take enemies and make them friends.
Nothing is impossible with God. That’s why Christians can be joyful and hopeful even amidst horror. That’s why we sing and pray. Our God is a God of the impossible.
Has God given you a script for your life that is different than the one you had in mind? How have you responded? How do you need to align yourself with His will for your life?
Providing for your family is your responsibility as a parent. So if a job comes up that pays well, you take it. Right?
But what if it means you’re away from home and on the road a lot?
Watch as Pastor Mark and Grace discuss the pressures of providing – and how you can make the best decision for your family.
Do you have a question you’d like answered? Send it to [email protected] today!