This is part three of the "Preparing For Sunday" series.

It's 7:42 on a Sunday morning, the birds are chirping outside, and you don't have to be at church until 10:00 am. You crawl out of bed, slide your feet into a pair of slippers, and wander downstairs to make a cup of coffee. After making your cup of morning wake-up-juice, you grab the newspaper off the front porch and settle down to read the arts and entertainment section. From there you move casually to the sports section, the food section, and finally the obituaries. By this time it's 8:49 am, and you have just enough time to hop into the shower, grab an onion bagel (and some mints), and head for church. Worship starts at exactly 10:01 am, and it's at that point you have your first thought about God that day.

Sound familiar? I've been through that routine many times. The result is that I arrive at church unprepared to meet with God. My heart is distracted, my thoughts are scattered, and I never fully engage during the service. But there is an alternative. To properly prepare for Sunday, we must meet with God before we meet with God. To prepare our hearts for corporate worship, we must spend time in private worship. It's crucial that we spend time in God's word and in prayer before we leave for church. Why? Because the battle with sin begins the moment we step out of bed on Sunday morning.

Our sinful flesh doesn't like church. No, let me rephrase. Our flesh hates church. Our sinful flesh is opposed to everything that is good and spiritual, and will make every effort to stop us from encountering God on Sunday morning. Our sinful hearts will try to condemn us during worship, distract us during the preaching of God's word, and keep us from fellowship after the service. And so we must prepare for this battle by meeting with God in His word and prayer. We must have our hearts refreshed and focused even before we worship corporately.

And so friends, let us prepare for Sunday mornings. Let's avoid the temptation to check our email or read the headlines, and let's make a concerted effort to meet with God before we meet with God.

This is part two of the "Preparing For Sunday" series.

Nothing is worse than fighting to stay awake during a sermon. In terms of pure, unadulterated misery, it ranks right up there with poison ivy, sunburn, and listening to the band Petra (no offense to all you Petra fans). Your eyelids feel like they're being weighed down by dumb bells, and your head begins to droop, ever so slowly, until your chin touches your chest. Then you catch yourself dozing, your head snaps back into place, and you take a quick look around to make sure no one caught you sleeping. A friend of mine once said that if he's falling asleep in a sermon, he just lets himself go, then gets the CD. That might be wise advice.

But why is it that we often find ourselves fighting sleep on a Sunday morning? Why is it that we struggle to pay attention as God's sacred word is being preached? Because we don't make hearing God's word a priority. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Friends, we desperately need the word of God so that we might be taught, reproved, corrected, and trained in righteousness. We need to hear the sacred word of God preached by men who have been called by God. Our faith will flounder and falter if we are not regularly hearing the preaching of God's word. The battle against sin is won using the weapon of God's word, and we must be taught to how to wield the Word.

But the battle doesn't start on Sunday morning when we sit down to hear a sermon. The battle begins Saturday night when we choose to go to bed. Saturday night isn't a night to stay up late and watch movies or chat with friends. If we are to honor God and and pay close attention to His word, we must get sleep, and lots of it. God isn't honored when we simply show up to church and then zone out during the sermon. He's honored when we go to bed early so that we might be alert and ready to hear God's word.

I've failed in this area many times, but by the grace of God I desire to grow. Let us resolve to sleep early on Saturday night that we might treasure the word of God.

See if you can relate to the following scenario. It's Sunday morning and church starts at 10:00 am. Because I was out absurdly late the night before, I don't wake up until 9:00 am, which leaves me just enough time to take a shower, gulp down a cup of coffee, and eat breakfast before leaving for church. I arrive at church in a bad mood for two reasons. First, because I'm exhausted after the previous night's escapades, and second, because I got into a heated argument with a family member on the way to church.

The worship leader invites the congregation to enter into worship. Enter into worship? I'm ready to enter a boxing ring. By the second song I'm feeling really guilty about the argument and don't really feel like singing. Things don't go any better during the sermon. I'm distracted by the fact that the preacher keeps lifting his eyebrow in an odd manner. I begin a tally, and by the end of the sermon have counted 72 eyebrow lifts. It's only when the preacher concludes with prayer that I realize I didn't get a thing out of the sermon. I leave church feeling frustrated, discouraged, and ready for a nap. Unfortunately, I think this is a common experience for many of us.

Sunday is a sacred day. Not because it's the seventh day of the week or because observing the Sabbath will hasten the return of the Lord. Sunday is sacred because we get to sing corporate praises to God, fellowship with other believers, and above all else, hear the precious word of God preached. Yet how little we prepare for Sundays. In the Old Testament, the people of God prepared for sacred days, they consecrated themselves. There were special rituals of washing and cleansing that each person had to perform before being allowed to participate in the sacred day.

We're not bound by the same rituals and laws the Israelites were, but there are still ways we should be preparing for the sacred day of Sunday. There are certain things we can do to prepare our hearts for participation in corporate worship and listening to God's word. We can ready ourselves for the sacred day of Sunday.

For the next several days we will be looking at ways to prepare for Sunday, so as to receive maximum benefit from the Sunday meeting. By God's grace, we will grow in our love for the day of Sunday and grow our love for the church.

Some friends of mine were kind enough to interview me and my dad regarding our worship CD which was just released.

Read the interview with Tim Challies here. Read the interview with Bob Kauflin here.

The ladies over at Girl Talk were also kind to review the CD. You can read the review here.

I'm really honored that these folks cared enough to promote the CD on their blog. If you want to find out more about the CD you can go to the Sovereign Grace Ministries store. There you can buy the CD, watch a video interview with me and my dad, and see some various photos that were taken during the recording process.

I hope you enjoy it!

Now is your chance to voice your opinion:

If you could spend one day in the company of any living Christian, who would it be and why?

Post a comment in response!

As of July 13th, 2007, I have sent 269 emails. Some of them were profound, some of them were profoundly stupid. Through these emails I was able to encourage people, maintain friendships, mock close friends, tell my wife I love her, and communicate messages to large groups of people. I love email. I'm so grateful for it, and I honestly am not quite sure how I functioned without it. Did I ever get anything of value accomplished before email? Possibly, but not likely. Yes, I realize some of you despise email and would rather have major surgery than check your email, but not me. I love it.

Ponder for a moment the incredible blessing of technology, and especially the Internet. Because of the Internet, I can listen to every sermon ever given by John Piper, read a blog written by Bob Kauflin, and find out what it means when it feels like my stomach is about to explode (via WebMD). I can communicate quickly and efficiently via email, do international phone calls for free with Skype, and send pictures to my family. I can put money into my bank account, pay off my credit card, and give money to the poor through organizations like World Vision.

Isn't God kind to give us the gift of technology? Friends, right now you are experiencing the gift of technology. God did not have to give us this gift. There are millions of people throughout the world who don't have access to email or the internet, and in turn don't have access to the wonderful resources that we do. But we serve an extravagantly generous God, who, because of the cross, is eager to pour out blessings on us.

As you surf the web, or check your email, or read blogs, or edit digital photos, give thanks to the Lord for the wonderful gift of technology. Thank Him for giving you access to thousands of outstanding Christian resources via the web. Thank Him for giving you the convenience of sending email and the pleasure of reading the news online. We serve a kind God. Let us give thanks.

"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit..." - Titus 3:3-5

I have some incredible friends (you know who you are). I simply love spending time with these guys. We laugh together, we laugh at each other, we play video games together, we eat wings together, we encourage one another, we correct one another, we bear one another's burdens, and we experience true fellowship together. I treasure the friendship of each of these men. They are a gift to me.

But the truth is, apart from Christ's redemptive work in my life, I would not enjoy fellowship with these men. In fact, I would hate them, and they would hate me. I wouldn't want to be with them. There would be no sweet fellowship, no encouragement, no correction. Just hatred.

But oh how sweet is the power of the gospel. When Christ saved me, all my relationships changed. First and foremost, my relationship with God Himself changed. I was once an enemy of God, now I'm His beloved child. I was once a God hater, now I'm a God lover. I was under the furious wrath of God. Now I know nothing but love.

My relationships with others changed as well. The Spirit of God causes me to experience sweet, soul-satisfying fellowship with other Christians. Where as once I would have despised spending time with other Christians, now I long for it and treasure it. Prior to conversion, my sinful pride would have caused me to isolate myself from others. Now the Spirit of God moves me to bring others into my life. And to top it all off, God gives me friends who I absolutely love spending time with.

Isn't God kind to us? When was the last time that you thanked God for a specific friendship? When was the last time that you expressed your gratefulness to God for the people in your life? The next time you find yourself enjoying an evening with friends, pause for a moment and lift a prayer of gratitude to our generous God. We deserve Hell, instead He gave us friends.

I had a bad headache recently. You know the kind I'm talking about. You're head throbs, your temples pulse, and all you want to do is lay down on the couch. Headaches of this sort can be debilitating, forcing you to bed until the pain finally passes. Headaches are miserable.

But there is a wonderful little pill called Ibuprofen that does incredible things. Within hours of taking three Ibuprofen, my headache was gone, a distant memory of a less pleasurable time. And Ibuprofen is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the medicines available to me. At any given pharmacy I can purchase medicine that will relieve heartburn, prevent cuts from becoming infected, clear nasal congestion, help me sleep, keep me awake, reduce the length of a cold, kill a fever, and on and on. There is a medicine for virtually every sickness that I face.

Friends, medicine is a wonderful gift from an incredibly generous God. The truth is, we deserve pain. In fact, because of our sin, we deserve hell. God has no need to spare us from the pains that so often rack our bodies. We deserve our infections, and colds, and allergies, and headaches, and sore throats, and joint pains. Yet we serve an astonishingly kind and tender God who gives us medicine to relieve our pain. Oh what a blessing it is to take Tylenol! He doesn't owe us relief from our pain, yet in His generosity He supplies us with pain relievers.

The next time you take medicine, lift your heart in gratitude to the God who provided it. Thank Him for His incredible kindness and mercy in providing relief from pain. Each Ibuprofen you swallow is a gift from God.

In the summer of 2005 I saw the band Coldplay in concert, and it was the best concert I've ever seen. Coldplay is not a Christian band, and I don't endorse all their lyrics, but I love their music. God has given Chris Martin (lead singer, songwriter) the gift of melody and song. He has given Chris the ability to combine notes in ways that stir my heart and grip my emotions. Listening to Coldplay brings me much pleasure and serves as an inspiration for my songwriting as well. And listening to Coldplay is an opportunity for me to thank God for the glorious gift of music.

Friends, music is a gift from our extravagantly lavish God. Think of how music affects your life. When you hear a good song, you hum along, you bob your head, and you drum the beat on your steering wheel. You lift your voice in loud song as you accompany whatever music you are listening to at the time. A beautiful melody fills you with joy, a driving beat energizes you, a simple melody makes you smile.

Music connects us with other people. We love to talk about our favorite bands, to play music together, to go to concerts together, and in some cases, to do karaoke together. In church we sing our praises to God together with the other members of our church.

Our culture is obsessed with music. We listen to music on our iPod, our cell phone, our satellite radio, our internet radio, and our good old-fashioned radio. Yet how often do we give thanks to God for the gift of music? I honestly can't remember the last time I thanked God for the pleasure of listening to Coldplay, or David Crowder, or Mozart, or Matt Redman. God has been so kind to give me music, yet I thank Him so infrequently for that gift.

Friends, let us resolve to thank God for the gift of music. The next time you pop in your headphones, pause for a moment and lift thanks to the Giver of music. Rejoice in the gift of music and lift praise to the Author of all music.

Here are pictures of me and my speed machine...

I have a new hobby: scooter riding. And yes, I realize that I just revealed what an extraordinary dork I am. But I don't care. I love riding my new scooter. It's blue, shiny, has a 50cc engine, and tops out at 40 mph, if I've got a good tailwind. I love the feeling of the wind blowing in my face, the pavement sliding along beneath me, and the bugs pinging off my helmet. I love the fact that it costs me $3.08 to fill up with gas and will ride for a week on one tank. I love the fact that I wear a helmet that resembles something out of the movie "Spaceballs", only slightly larger. I love just riding with no particular destination. I love my hobby.

On a recent ride, I was reflecting on God's kindness to give me such a pleasurable hobby. I don't deserve the joy that I experience when riding my scooter. I don't deserve the feeling of pure pleasure that comes as I cruise around the countryside. My sins merit wrath, furious, holy, unending, miserable, wrath. With my first sin, I forfeited all rights to any pleasure and any joy.

And yet because of the cross, I can enjoy riding my scooter as a gift from my extravagantly generous Father. The cross brings me into a new, beautiful relationship with God, where He is my loving Father and I am His child. Before conversion, I could not enjoy scooter riding (or any other good thing) as a gift from my Father. But now, because the blood of Jesus reconciles me to God, I can enjoy my scooter, and all my other hobbies as precious gifts from a generous God.

What hobbies do you enjoy? Photography? Hiking? Movie watching? Writing? Do you enjoy your hobbies as gifts from the Father? Are you full of gratefulness to our incredibly generous God? He has given us hobbies to enjoy because He deeply love us. As you enjoy your hobby today, take time to thank the glorious God who gives such pleasure.

I'm trying to compile a list of free Christian Resources on the Web. This is a dynamic list, so feel free to add to it by posting a comment.

Desiring God has the majority of John Piper's books available online. Get them here.

Desiring God also has hundreds of dynamite sermons by Piper. Get them here.

All the messages from the New Attitude conference along with accompanying videos can be downloaded here.

Ravi Zacharias ministries has a wonderful collection of audio and video resources, including the Richard Dawkins and Alistair McGrath debates on the existence of God. Get them here.

Think you're smart? Try reading some Al Mohler articles.

You can read some of the giants of the Christian faith thanks to our friend Google.com. For example:
- Augustine
- John Bunyan
- Charles Spurgeon

Download free music from Sovereign Grace Ministries:
- Let Your Kingdom Come
- All I Really Need
- Across The Great Divide (remix)
- Hope Has Come

Download Dave Harvey's booklet on Missiology here, his booklet on church leadership here, his booklet on the call to ministry here, and C.J. Mahaney's booklet on election here.

Download "Why Small Groups" here, "How Can I Change" here, "This Great Salvation" here, "Disciplines for Life" here, and "The Rich Single Life" here.

Randy Alcorn has loads of free resources on the Eternal Perspective Ministries website. Get them all here.

The website LibriVox.org has many free audio books for download. A quick search showed John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, and G.K. Chesterton

I didn't even scratch the surface on the amount of free stuff out there. Please feel free to add to this list.

I'd like to implement a new feature: the weekend survey. The thing about a blog is that you only get to listen to me run my mouth. Well, I want to hear from you and get to know you better. So here is the weekend survey question:

If you could only own one book other than the Bible, what would it be?

Post a comment as a response.

Have you ever not been able to sleep? It's miserable. You lie awake in bed, watching the hours slide by, knowing that you're going to feel like a large piece of dirt in the morning. The next day you walk around in a semi-catatonic state, struggling to string together more than two coherent thoughts and guzzling coffee to keep from falling asleep at the keyboard. And things only get worse if you can't sleep the next night either.

The Bible talks about sleep. In Psalm 127:2 we read: " It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep." Sleep is a gift from a very kind God to undeserving sinners. Ponder for a moment the pleasures of sleep. How delightful it is to drift off into sleep after a hard day of work. How glorious it is to be refreshed and recharged after a full night of sleep. The health benefits of sleep are numerous and the dangers of neglecting sleep are many. Sleep also provides us with fresh perspective each morning. There are many times when I've gone to bed worried about a particular circumstance in my life. When I wake the next morning however, I find that my perspective has changed, and that what terrified me the night before no longer appears so ominous.

Friends, God is so kind to give us the gift of sleep. He bestows it upon us because He deeply loves us. Yet I often fall asleep without so much a word of thanks to the One who gives sleep. I slumber without a word of gratitude to the One who never slumbers. I want that to change. Will you seek to change with me? Before you fall asleep tonight, pause, and lift a prayer of thanks to God. Thank Him for the glorious gift of sleep, and then close your eyes for the glory of God.

My morning routine begins the same way every day. My alarm sounds at approximately 6:30 a.m., pulling me out of sweet dreamland and into the real world. Not wanting to wake my pregnant wife, I slap the alarm into silence and then struggle to open my eyes. The heaviness in my arms and legs makes me wonder for a few, brief moments if I was doing strenuous lifting in my sleep. Then I crawl out of bed and stumble my way into the shower. The shower helps wash the sleep from my brain, but my mind doesn't truly kick into gear until I take my first sip of coffee.

I love coffee. I love the beautiful brown color, the powerful, earthy aroma, and the semi-bitter taste of a well brewed cup. I love the feel of the hot liquid washing down my throat. I get much pleasure and joy from the simple act of drinking a cup of coffee. Yet how often do I thank God for the gift of coffee? He didn't need to give me coffee. He could have made everything bland and unexciting to the taste, but He didn't. In His kindness and creativity, He created coffee for the enjoyment of billions of people, including me. We serve an extravagantly generous God who loves to give extravagant gifts to those He created. Coffee is one of those gifts.

I have the opportunity to worship God with each cup of coffee that I drink. How? Colossians 3:17 makes it clear. It says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." We can drink coffee for the glory of God if our drinking is accompanied by thanksgiving to God. What a simple, yet profound thought. Each cup of coffee can be an occasion for worship and thanksgiving to God!

Let us give thanks to God today for the simple pleasure of drinking coffee. Or, if you're not a coffee fan, thank God for the other pleasures He allows you to enjoy. Let us give thanks for coffee, and orange juice, and bagels, and Frappucino's, and mocha lattes. In doing so, we will bring honor to God.

"Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep." - 127:1-2

I'm a go-get-'em kind of guy. Once I get an idea in my head, I want to take action, to start turning my idea into reality. I don't like waiting around for things to happen, I like making things happen. It also bothers me when someone responds to one of my ideas by saying, "Why don't you think and pray about it for a little bit?" I don't want to think or pray, I want to do! I guess that's why I'm a sucker for the book Getting Things Done, which revolves around the concept of identifying next action steps and moving projects forward. I'm sure that some of you can identify with me.

But as I've grown in the Lord I've started to notice some major, sinful flaws in my "go-getter" attitude. First, it fosters self-sufficiency. A failure to pray about decisions is evidence that I'm sinfully self-sufficient. It shows that I'm quite confident in my own ability to make wise decisions, and don't feel the need to appeal to God for wisdom. A lack of prayer shows that I'm supremely confident in my own ability to make and execute my plans. A lack of prayer is wicked and displeasing to the Lord. Second, the "go-getter" attitude can create a breeding ground for pride and arrogance. It leads to a "look at what I've accomplished" attitude. As a go-getter, I feel pride in the things that I've accomplished and the plans that I've made a reality.

How do we avoid these temptations? Psalm 127 makes it quite clear. God is pleased when we are dependent on him. He's pleased when we acknowledge our desperate need for Him. All success comes from the Lord, and therefore all praise should go to the Lord. Scripture informs us that unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain. Friend, what are you building in your life? A career? A family? A business? A marriage? The truth is, you will not succeed apart from God's power at work in your life.

Friends, let us seek to honor God by acknowledging our dependence on Him today. As you seek to build your family, or business, or career, or marriage, cry out to God for help. Honor Him by being dependent on Him.