Gratitude

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Loving the Church...

A friend of mine was commenting recently on my love for the church. It put me in mind of when and where I learned that love.

It was twelve years ago at the church Rob Rayburn serves in Tacoma, Washington. After a year or two attending Faith Presbyterian, I’d begun to be drawn into the life of the community. In my private devotions, I’d been meditating on Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:18 and they were striking home. That’s where Paul prays that the Ephesians will know "what are the riches of the glory of [God’s] inheritance in the saints.” The saints are full of riches. This is the Church.

For me, these riches were no abstraction. They were the riches of patience, kindness, long-suffering, love, and on and on; riches in the people I took for granted each week. God had put those riches in them through His Spirit.

I had never had much respect for the men and women who made up the churches I'd been in, but now it became clear...


I think you want a wife...

(2008) I received a poem by e-mail this past week and asked its author if she would allow me to post it. The poem is a wonderfully conceived summary of the two paths women choose today. One ends in death, the other in life.

These past few days our home has been graced by my mother-in-law, Margaret West Taylor, who's visiting for the week. As I think about her sacrificial life, I also look around at other women of my own family and church and praise God for their godliness! It's hard to conceive of the full spectrum of leadership these women exert among the sons, brothers, pastors, elders, deacons, and husbands—let alone children and other women—as we watch them lose their lives.

Now then, the poem...


We need your help...

The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. (Galatians 6:6)

Hey Baylyblog readers! Would you please help us publicize Daddy Tried? Also the posts you read here on Baylyblog?

The Apostle Paul says those who are taught should share all good things with those who teach them. The good thing I'd like to ask of you is your help reaching the church with the difficult things we write on Baylyblog. Also the books we publish.

The most recent one is a book teaching Christian fatherhood titled Daddy Tried. John Frame isn’t a flatterer and he says...


Nat Hentoff: 1925-2016.

"Every atheist should be pro-life. Life is all we have."  - Nat Hentoff

Yesterday, Nat Hentoff died. He was 91. Brother David calls his passing "a real loss." Among many other things, Hentoff was a stalwart warrior against the slaughter of the unborn, newborn handicapped, feeble, and elderly. With Hentoff gone, who will take his place as a prophet against the bloodshed of the innocent in New York City?

Here's a BB tribute to Nat Hentoff we ran back in 2009. (Check out other BB posts that mention Hentoff.)

(The pic is a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters portrait from 2009. Hentoff is the bottom right, sitting, with the late David Baker, IU's own, standing directly behind.)

* * *

(January 5, 2009) Last week, Nat Hentoff was laid off at the (Greenwich) Village Voice. This brings an abrupt end to Hentoff's fifty year run there, appropriately and affectionately titled "Fifty Years of Pissing People Off" by fellow Voice columnist Allen Barra in his recent...


On the election: a prophet in our midst...

My brother-in-law, Jim Lingo, forwarded this to our family asking us all to watch it. Instead, I read the transcript evidently provided by a machine. The transcript is rough, but readers will be able to make the corrections and fill in the blanks. The sermon is preached by Pastor Tom Nelson of Denton Bible Church.

Back 2,000 years ago, John the Baptist was imprisoned for preaching against the incestous sexual perversion of the one holding political authority over him. The man's name was Herod and eventually Herod rewarded John's prophetic witness by cutting off his head.

While John was still in prison. Jesus, declared to the crowds that John the Baptist was not effeminate... 


Fully Funded!!! Just a couple days left to get your advance copy...

 

I'm pleased to announce that the Kickstarter for My Soul Among Lions's latest studio project (Psalms 11-20) is fully funded. We're so grateful to God and to every one of you who has chipped in to support the project. Many thanks!!!


Happy Birthday...

Today is my brother David's birthday. I thank our Heavenly Father for David. For two decades I have depended upon David for help in many difficult parts of work and life, and he has been faithful in his brotherhood. Happy birthday, dear brother.

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.  - Proverbs 17:17

 

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Thanksgiving to God on November 26, 2015...

On this Thanksgiving Day, let all who love Jesus Christ give thanks to the God above all gods, the Only true God, God Almighty Who is the Lord of Hosts.

[Thanksgiving for the lovingkindness of God
to all creation, but particularly to His People
who have placed their faith in His Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, and who live to please Him.]

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good...

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www.frame-poythress.org: Appreciating the work of Vern Poythress and John Frame...

Much of modern theology is written by scholars for scholars, but John Frame and Vern Poythress are churchmen. Most of their writing is written for the Church and can be understood by layman. John and Vern's academic credentials and the brains God gave them would have allowed them to live with their heads in the clouds. Instead, they humbled themselves and taught people like you and me. 

This is the reason we suggested to John and Vern that they allow us to put all their works online at no cost to their readers. When they agreed, Tim asked if I would design and manage the site—which I’ve done, now, for just over a decade. Back in 2005 when we began, the site was functional and ugly, and unknown. By the beginning of this year, we had migrated everything over to Wordpress (which made my upkeep of the site much easier) and were getting about 30,000 hits a month. This past February I handed off the management of the site to Mark Ward, who was recently hired by Logos Bible Software as a writer and theological instructor. Mark is also the designer of the tri-perspectival glasses and has taken the design of the site to the next level, and will continue to keep it up for the foreseeable future.

After ten years of serving John and Vern, I’ve been thinking about the ways their work has blessed us...


Please take time to thank Chris Atkins...

Yesterday was the last day of public service for Chris Atkins (Chris is at the mic) who served in the administrations of both Governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence, ending his service yesterday as Director of Indiana's Office of Management and Budget. Chris and his wife, Shallen, were at Clearnote during their years in Bloomington. Chris got his law degree at IU, and following work for a couple policy groups in D.C., Gov. Daniels brought him back to Indiana where Chris has faithfully served as one of our civil magistrates, presiding under two governors over conservative fiscal policies that have made our Hoosier state the envy of other states in our Union in terms of financial health, particularly long-run solvency.

As you know, yesterday was a brutal day for confessing Christians called to be civil magistrates and I thought it would be good for some of us to express our personal gratitude to Chris for his faithful service...


Six fruitful vines within their houses...

He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD! - Psalm 113:9

Because of joy, which is reason enough; and because of thanksgiving which this week is; and because of Scripture's close tie-in of a man's work as a pastor and his family; and because multiplication of family members is one of the most frequent promises of God to His people, as well as God's personal promise to me when I returned to him that night out in California; and because daughters raised by a misogynist and daughters-in-law married to men raised by a misogynist love to give themselves to stay-at-home-motherhood, pregnancy, adoption, and childrearing; and because testimony to His faithfulness is displayed and commanded throughout the Psalms; and because we just received another grandchild from God—Moses from Ethiopia; for all these reasons, and more, here are a couple pics...


Thank you, RC and Darby...

The weekend with RCJR and his loving daughter, Darby, was very good for us here at Clearnote Church, Bloomington. What joy to have a brother come alongside and put his shoulder to your plough.

We regret to say, despite every bit as much effort on our part to publicize his two talks on the slaughter of the unborn given on the campus of Indiana University as we gave Doug Wilson's talks on homosexuality a year ago, no one bothered to get mad or express the slightest disagreement. That's abortion today—utterly passé. No one but those who claim the Name Christian either love or speak up in behalf of the unborn.

RC preached Sunday morning on the solidarity of our Lord with His people in our suffering pointing particularly to Jesus' rebuke of Saul using the first-person pronoun, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4). Videos or recordings of some of the messages will be up soon. Keep watch here for their announcement.

I'm very grateful to Doug and Nancy (last year) and RC and Darby (this year) for strengthening us here in Bloomington by their faithful witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.


New Year 2013: one year closer to That Day...

At the end of this year of our Lord, 2012, David and I thank each of you who share in this Gospel witness with us, perfecting and correcting our arguments and bearing with us the yoke of giving an answer for the hope that is within us. We know you are not always pleased with us—especially me, I'm afraid—and we expect you often wish you could have edited our words before they were posted. Yet you love us and love covers our multitude of sins.

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Christ the Word dedicates new church-house...

CTW children on platformLast night I was able to attend the dedication of the new church-house of Christ the Word, and what a privilege it was!

After walking around the building singing, the children entered the sanctuary and went up onto the platform holding Bibles aloft as we sang praises to the Lord. After a minute of chaos as all the kids went down to find their parents, the service continued with a sermon by Pastor Dave (Max) Curell. Two men from outside the church were honored for their work: Mike Vrlenich who directed Christ the Word's capital campaign before moving to Naperville two years ago; and Mike Boles who served Christ the Word pro bono as general contractor. Christ the Word elder, Ben James Sr., led us in the prayer of dedication.

May God bless Christ the Word precisely as Ben James asked here in his prayer:


Go down to your local abortuary...

There are a number of reasons we love the Sprouls, most definitely including Vesta and RCJr. Here's another. Praise God for this faithful shepherd. (TB, w/thanks to Nate)


Honor to whom honor is due...

While we're on the subject of money...

Over the years countless times I've given thanks to God, but also to Dad and Mom Taylor (Ken Taylor and Margaret Taylor), for the way they handled the money God poured out on them.

One of the minority of privately held Evangelical publishers left standing today is Tyndale House Publishers and it's owned entirely by Mom Taylor now that her husband, Ken, passed away a few years ago. (Prior to his death, Dad owned 51% and Mom 49%. Sweet, huh?)

Tyndale House has published a number of best sellers and Dad held personal copyright on some of the best-selling books in the Evangelical publishing world including the Living Bible and The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. Then of course, Tyndale's goose that lay ten thousand golden eggs was Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series which reached sales (books and related merchandise) of over a billion dollars.

Add up the numbers and you'll see how high on the hog Dad and Mom could have lived and how much money they could have left their children...


Coming up Wednesday...

This Wednesday Baylyblog's new design will go live. To help with the transfer we'll be shutting down comments for a day or so, likely starting Tuesday evening. So if you run into problems commenting Tuesday night or Wednesday, please be patient.

The work that's gone into the new design has been heavy since we're not simply switching from one blogging software to another--TypePad to WordPress, for instance. Baylyblog is being transformed into a site running on the open source content management platform, Drupal.

There are a number of features this will allow, but search is the big winner...


You cannot serve God and wealth...

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. - Luke 16:13

Recently we've spent time on Guidestar downloading and reviewing IRS 990s filed by various Evangelical ministries including Ligonier, Grace to You, Grace to You/Masters College and SeminaryInsight for Living, and Desiring God.

Like accountants, our Internal Revenue Service holds to a high doctrine of original sin--much higher than today's Reformed pastors and congregants. Taking money and conflict of interest seriously, the IRS requires nonprofits to file Form 990 answering a whole host of questions the government believes should inform the giving of those inclined to support these ministries. Then the information collected through the 990 is made a matter of public record. Here are some of the questions...


Happy mother's day...

(TB: This post first ran on Baylyblog in 2004. It is a tribute to Mom Taylor and David's and my mother, Mary Lou Bayly. Both are mothers in Israel and we give thanks for them to our Heavenly Father. But of course, we also give thanks for our own wonderful wives! The tribute starts with a poem Dad wrote on the back of a Mother's Day card he gave to Mud just a couple years before his death. The reference to three and four at the end of the poem is Dad alluding to their three children who had already died and their four children who were still alive.) 

To M.L. (Mary Lou)

Mother’s Day, 1982

—to celebrate your creation of children

What a Holy Spirit calling:

To create an infant

within yourself

Your very inmost self—Nourish, protect, prepare

Then bring to birth

Nurse, feed

—run between stove and table in teenage—

Teach, discipline, hope, expect

Love

And all the while pray

with faith in God

Bring to safe harbor

through calm and storm

and monstrous waves

to wholeness

and useful life

on earth

in heaven

  That God should call

  three to live and serve there

  four to live and serve here

What a calling!

My mother-in-law studied for her degree in Home Economics during the late '30s and early '40s, graduating summa cum laude from Oregon State University. After marrying her childhood sweetheart, she gave birth to 10 children in 14 years. Her husband, engaged for most of the years when the family was young as editorial director of a religious publishing house, brought home low wages, so frugality was a necessity and the degree served this young mother and her family well.

Food preservation, hygiene, cooking, sewing, and home budgeting were part of the home ec curriculum and, along with the liberal arts training which came with every bachelor's degree at the time, these young women graduated with specialized training for their profession of choice--motherhood. Other women took similarly helpful majors in Elementary Education, Bible, Christian Education (my own mother's major), and Nursing.

Then came the frontal assault on housewifery and motherhood carried out largely by a new and powerful aristocracy...


Faithful are the wounds of a brother...

If you've not read Citizens' Arrest! Citizens' Arrest!, please read it first. Then this. (TB)

Here's a true story showing how important it is for pastors and elders to challenge one another's motives. Our session (elders board) had been working with a schismatic family of our church for years when MTW TE David Wegener came home on home assigment one year.

We have a policy that David is a pastor of our church when he's here. He'd served our congregation before leaving for Zambia and we have never wanted to lose his wisdom and counsel, as well as that of his wife, Terri, when they're in town. So David favors us with his presence when we have session meetings each month and he often gets into the yoke with us on some of our thornier pastoral matters. Terri teaches our women's groups and David preaches in worship and teaches in Clearnote Pastors College as often as he and Terri are not out deputizing at their supporting churches.

So this particular evening we were again discussing the latest schismatic behavior of this family and David had just gotten back in town and was present. He knew the family well, including that they were quite wealthy...