Halloween and little cowboys

Judah's grandmama bought him a pretty sweet cowboy outfit for Halloween this year, so I thought I would share a few pictures from tonight.





I love it, every time we ask him to smile, this is what we get!

This was posted by my friend Martin, and I decided to duplicate his efforts here, as this is a powerful video and song that I think acts as a great reminder for us all, whatever your temptation.



"Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns.


It's a slow fade......when you give yourself away......(to satan).....


And do not give the devil a foothold [Eph 4:27]

Piper on fighting lust

"Suppose I am tempted to lust. Some sexual image comes into my mind and beckons me to pursue it. The way this temptation gets its power is by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier. No one sins out of a sense of duty, when what they really want is to do what’s right.

"So what should I do? Some people would say, “Remember God’s command to be holy (1 Peter 1:16), and exercise your will to obey because he is God!” But something crucial is missing from this advice, namely, faith in future grace . . .

How then do you fight lust by faith in future grace? When the temptation to lust comes, Romans 8:13 says, in effect, “If you kill it by the Spirit, you will live.” By the Spirit! What does that mean? Out of all the armor God gives us to fight Satan, only one piece is used for killing—the sword. It is called the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) . . . The Word of God cuts through the fog of Satan’s lies and shows me where true and lasting happiness is to be found. And so the Word helps me stop trusting in the potential of sin to make me happy. Instead the Word entices me to trust in God’s promises.

When faith has the upper hand in my heart I am satisfied with Christ and his promises. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “He who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). When my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can smell the steak sizzling on the grill."

John Piper, Future Grace (Sisters OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1995), 334.

(HT: Adrian Warnock)

One Point Calvinism

"According to J. I. Packer, Calvinism's five points really boil down to one significant claim that underlies all the others. Scott Thomas shared this on the Acts 29 blog:

"God saves sinners—and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedaling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen."

J. I. Packer, “Introductory Essay” to John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (London: Banner of Truth, 1959), 4-5."

(HT: Adrian Warnock)

Prophetic song for those who have lost a child

Jon Payne is the son of my pastor, Pete Payne, and he is the worship pastor at Sovereign Grace Church in Gilbert, Arizona. While leading worship at a recent conference, Jon sang a spontaneous and prophetic song directed at those who have lost children. I have not lost a child, though I have close friends who have. It is an unbearable agony and no matter how much it hurt me to walk with my friends and family who have experienced this, it doesn't compare to the pain and anguish that they have themselves experienced and continue to experience. I care deeply for these friends and loved ones, but my level of care doesn't compare with that of the Lord for them. The Lord's compassion is displayed in many different ways, and I am immensely grateful for the way that he uses his instruments such as Jon to minister to his people.



(HT: Worship Matters)

Friday frivolity

James 3: A Story

(HT: Desiring God Ministries)

Judah pictures!

It's been a while since I have sent out pictures of Judah, and with another kiddo on the way, I figure I need to get on it. So here's a very small photo run of our son's first 16 months...

Here he is at five days


3 months...


6 months...and one of his first experiences with solid food...


10 months, "look daddy, I broke the lock and found the cabinets!"


11 months, just kickin' it in my la-z-boy


It's my 1st birthday!


Chillin' at the splash park...(14 months old)



Swimming with daddy (15 months)


Cruising the back yard...


After the Cowboys lost...


Playing my "drum" in the front yard...(16 months)


And today, playing around in daddy's car...


Of course, the woman who makes this boy as fun and good looking as he is...


I am so very thankful for my wonderful wife and our wonderful kids. Judah is more fun every day and we can't wait to meet his little brother or sister on the way!!

We're also thankful for all the support we get from family, friends, and our church!

All our love,

the Mayfields

Don't Waste Your Life

"God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion."
--John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

"You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Every Person's life will end with a flat line. The beats of your heart are precious and few...and every one of them is a blood-bought gift of God. Don't waste them on petty pursuits and fleeting pleasures, where moth and rust destroy. Take part in the greatest cause in the world and the grandest story that will ever be: the exaltation of Christ in all things for the joy of all peoples."

"Only one life, 'twill soon be past;
Only what's done for Christ will last."

Gospel Coalition

There are always way more conferences each year than I could afford to go to, or even have the time, really. And this is no exception, the Gospel Coalition will be holding their second conference next April, and from some of the video previews, it looks to be very helpful. Now if I can just find that sponsor who will start sending me to conferences...

The soul winner

I have often thought about what distinguishes a preacher from a teacher, and I think Spurgeon was getting at the heart of it in his book, The Soul Winner:

"... to win a soul, it is necessary, not only to instruct our hearer, and make him know the truth, but to impress him so that he may feel it. A purely didactic ministry, which should always appeal to the understanding, and should leave the emotions untouched, would certainly be a limping ministry. "The legs of the lame are not equal," says Solomon; and the unequal legs of some ministries cripple them. We have seen such an one limping about with a long doctrinal leg, but a very short emotional leg. It is a horrible thing for a man to be so doctrinal that he can speak coolly of the doom of the wicked, so that, if he does not actually praise God for it, it costs him no anguish of heart to think of the ruin of millions of our race. This is horrible!

Charles SpurgeonI hate to hear the terrors of the Lord proclaimed by men whose hard visages, harsh tones, and unfeeling spirit betray a sort of doctrinal desiccation: all the milk of human kindness is dried out of them. Having no feeling himself, such a preacher creates none, and the people sit and listen while he keeps to dry, lifeless statements, until they come to value him for being "sound", and they themselves come to be sound, too; and I need not add, sound asleep also, or what life they have is spent in sniffing out heresy, and making earnest men offenders for a word. Into this spirit may we never be baptized!

Whatever I believe, or do not believe, the command to love my neighbour as myself still retains its claim upon me, and God forbid that any views or opinions should so contract my soul, and harden my heart as to make me forget this law of love! The love of God is first, but this by no means lessens the obligation of love to man; in fact, the first command includes the second.

We are to seek our neighbour's conversion because we love him, and we are to speak to him in loving terms God's loving gospel, because our heart desires his eternal good.

A sinner has a heart as well as a head; a sinner has emotions as well as thoughts; and we must appeal to both. A sinner will never be converted until his emotions are stirred. Unless he feels sorrow for sin, and unless he has some measure of joy in the reception of the Word, you cannot have much hope of him. The Truth must soak into the soul, and dye it with its own colour. The Word must be like a strong wind sweeping through the whole heart, and swaying the whole man, even as a field of ripening corn waves in the summer breeze. Religion without emotion is religion without life."

— C. H. Spurgeon

(HT: Adrian Warnock)