Joel Rockey's Bloglife, ministry, family...True and False ZealSomething to make you stop and think: Zeal is that pure and heavenly flame, True zeal is merciful and mild, While zeal for truth the Christian warms, True and False Zeal, by John Newton
Luther on the Law“Some will object that the Law is divine and holy. Let it be divine and holy. The Law has no right to tell me that I must be justified by it. The Law has the right to tell me that I should love God and my neighbor, that I should live in chastity, temperance, patience, etc. The Law has no right to tell me how I may be delivered from sin, death, and hell. It is the Gospel's business to tell me that. I must listen to the Gospel. It tells me, not what I must do, but what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has done for me.” Martin Luther, "Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians"
My Top 10 Books of 2011
This year was a great year for reading. My brother-in-law and I both set out to read 52 books, and thankfully we both accomplished that goal. As expected with reading over 52 books in a year, you are bound to read some great ones, some not so great ones, and some mediocre ones. Here is a list of the top ten books I read this year: If Satan took over your city...Recently I finished reading “Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids With the Love of Jesus” by Elyse Fitzpatrick. It was a fantastic book about Gospel-centered parenting and very helpful for a future dad like myself. While I hope to write a review on the book in the future, I wanted to share a thought provoking quote from Tullian Tchividjian’s forward in the book:
24 Things I Love About My Wife
It only seemed appropriate to share some wonderful things about my wife:
What is the Gospel?I saw this video and thought it was a great visual illustration of the Gospel. Enjoy!
Book Review: Holier than Thou
A good friend of mine loaned me this book a couple weeks ago and it was highly recommended by him. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. I know we often say that, but this book definitely kept my attention. Not because I was echoing "amen" the whole time, but because I felt like I was looking in a mirror as I read the convicting pages of this book. I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Caner had me in mind when he wrote this book. What Not to Say to a Pregnant WomanI recently came across this video and just had to share it. My wife and I are expecting our first baby girl this September, and this whole pregnancy journey has been a blast. But, as with every new experience, there are always challenges as well. 50 Random Acts of Kindness
This month our church is focusing on outreach and impacting our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our pastor has encouraged us to demonstrate the love of Christ by performing random acts of kindness, or more appropriately, deliberate acts of kindness.
"The best way to get our focus off of self is to focus on the needs of others." This list is a compilation of brainstorming, various ministry resources, and some online research. I hope that some of these will inspire us to get out of our comfort zone and show the love of Jesus.
Quality or Quantity?
It is often said that love can be spelled, "T-I-M-E"
The problem is that everyone is competing for our time. Our boss, spouse, kids, family, friends, and even our dog want us to give them our undivided attention.
But our time is limited, so we need to be careful how we manage this valuable commodity.
We all know that time is vital for any healthy relationship to grow, so how much time do we need to invest in a relationship? Should we focus on quality time or quantity time?
Stuck in a rut?
Have you ever found yourself in a rut? Whether it is spiritual, physical, or social, most of us have found ourselves going in circles more often than we would like. Call them ruts, call them times of discouragement, call them periods of apathy or indifference, or call it backsliding.
Whatever you end up calling it, recognize that these times can have a devastating effect on your ability to serve the Lord. So, what do you do in this situation?
I believe these following points are a great recipe to get out of a rut:
Water Your Marriage
I came across this quote earlier today, and I feel it is good advice for marriage relationships:
"If the grass is greener on the other side...water your lawn." Marriages are being attacked in our society like never before. Men are becoming discontent with their wives, and wives are feeling unsatisfied by their husbands. Why is this?
This discontentment stems from the fact that we are comparing our spouses to people we hardly know, people we work with, or people we may see on TV. What we fail to remember however is that this is warned against in Scripture. Practically speaking, there is no comparison! Not only do those people probably struggle with the same things that your spouse does, but that is exactly what leads to a "grass is always greener on the other side" mentality in our marriage.
Holden: Six Months with Jesus
Six months later, we may not have all the answers, but I do know this: Jesus is greater than the pain, Jesus is greater than the sadness, and Jesus is greater than our brokenness!
Revisiting the Classics
This year I am trying to read more than I ever have. I was inspired by my brother-in-law, Luke Miller, who has really helped me along the way.
So, as I've been been compiling my reading list for the year, I've noticed that there are some great classic Christian books that I've never read. (I was the guy who watched the cartoon version of "Pilgrim's Progress" growing up.)
This realization could not be better illustrated than by the following embarrassing conversation I had: The Love of God
Stop Asking for More
Would you still be satisfied?
10 Things I Love about Christmas
There are so many things I love about Christmas, but I decided to only list a few: 1. Celebrating the birth of Jesus
2. Spending time with family
3. Reflecting on God's goodness
Does Facebook Count?Facebook has become my main form of communication with friends and family, but does it really count as a quality contact? Does liking someone's status update really relieve us of our friendship duties? Can you relate to this? I can. Somewhere we lost the personal touch in our communication. Allow me to illustrate:
The Lord has blessed me with wonderful twin sisters, but sadly they live in Texas and I live 1,500 miles away in California. This makes it very difficult to stay connected. Ultimately, I have resorted to using Facebook as my only way of keeping in touch with them.
The Supremacy of Jesus ChristI enjoy reading, My Utmost for His Highest, along with my regular Bible reading schedule. Today's devotional for November 29th was especially good. This was too good not to share:
“He will glorify Me...” - John 16:14
The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
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