I've been on the lookout for a new Sermon on the Mount commentary lately. I have the standard Martyn Lloyd-Jones' and John Stott ones, but I picked up this one the other day:

While I'm waiting for it (even though it takes a while, I love free super-saver shipping from amazon.com), somebody clue me in... Have you read this one? It was only $8 and I figured anything by Chambers or Spurgeon is quality...

I'll let you know how it is when I get it next week! :)

In the last post in this series, I hit some of the essential points on why it’s important to have a life vision and focus.

Often times when we think of our “life calling”, we focus on our career or on our external circumstances, whether that be in the marketplace or in ministry. We are intently focused on thriving as a successful businessperson, a good mother or father, a good musician, or a successful pastor. Whether it be by others or ourselves, we are automatically defined as successful if we are good at these things.

Of course it’s not bad to focus on these things, but Jesus wanted to be clear that it was not to be our primary focus. Paul the apostle continually spoke to the early church encouraging them to focus on the things that mattered much more than the temporal things of life. Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) was so revolutionary to the hearers of the day because everything He said was in stark contrast to the teaching of the Pharisees and spiritual leaders of Israel. Jesus intentionally moved their focus from external issues to internal issues, from the hands and feet to the heart.  read more »

With the new year always comes traditional new resolutions and a fresh resolve to change something in our lives. In the same spirit, I’ve been taking a hard look once again at my life vision and goals and restructuring some of my schedule and priorities for 2008. This poll is a direct result of that looking... I thought it might be cool to start a series of posts on the practical points of a life vision and the process of setting goals to achieve them with the help of the Holy Spirit. In these first few posts, I want to provoke you to actually look at your life vision in a new light, or if you don’t have one, to get one and start running with it.

When you fall asleep at night, what do you dream of for your life? What is your ultimate life vision? Is it to be a great business person with a large home and a nice BMW? A great father or mother? A great preacher with a large church and a large impact on your city or region? You may be very surprised if you ask your friends or family this question because there are not very many people who have actually thought about a vision for their lives and where they want to be when they begin to get older. Many are content just to glide through life just hoping to make the best of every circumstance.

Even when “vision” and “goals” are mentioned in a normal conversation amongst believers, more often than not we begin to state our goals and our vision for ministry and impact. We’ve all had big dreams of a large ministry or a large business with a big following and great success. In fact, most of the body of Christ still has this big dream. That isn’t such a bad dream, but it cannot be the ultimate dream of our hearts.  read more »