This title is well worth your time, effort, and talent.

QUOTATIONS FROM BATTLING UNBELIEF, by John Piper

Battling unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace means that we fight fire with fire.  We throw against the promises of sin the promises of God.  We take hold of some great promise God made about our future and say to a particular sin, ‘Match that!’  In this way we do what Paul says in Romans 8:13, ‘By the Spirit… put to death the deeds of the body.’  John Owen wrote a book on that verse and summed it up with, ‘Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.’ Page 16

Trusting God and being arrogant are opposites: ‘An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper’ (Proverbs 28:25, NASB).  That’s why Stephen Charnock said, ‘A proud faith is as much a contradiction as a humble devil.’  Page 38

… the heart of the biblical faith is coming to him for the satisfaction of all that God is for us in him [Jesus].  Page 38

Belief is not merely an agreement with the facts in the head; it is also an appetite for God in the heart, which fastens on Jesus for satisfaction.  Page 39

Every turning from God – for anything – presumes a kind of autonomy or independence that is the essence of pride.  Turning from God assumes  that one knows better than God.  Thus pride lies at the root of every turning from God.  It is the root of every act of distrust toward God.  Page 40

The itch of self-regard craves the scratch of self-approval.  That is, if we are getting our pleasure from feeling self-sufficient, we will not be satisfied without others’ seeing and applauding our self-sufficiency.  Hence Jesus’ description of the scribes and Pharisees: ‘They do all their deeds to be seen by others… [A]nd they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings  in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others’ (Matthew 23:507).  Page 49

The key to patience is faith in the future grace of God’s ‘glorious might’ to transform all our interruptions into rewards.

In other words, the strength of patience hangs on our capacity to believe that God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours.  This requires great faith in future grace, because the evidence is seldom evident.  Page 75

If you hold a grudge, you doubt the Judge.  Page 110

Lloyd-Jones believes this issue of preaching truth to ourselves about God’s future grace is all-important in overcoming spiritual depression.

“I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ‘ourselves’ to talk to us!  Do you realize what that means?  I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self.  Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical?  Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?  Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning.  You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.  Somebody is talking.  Who is talking to you?  Your self is talking to you.  Now [the psalmist's] treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself.  ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’  His soul had been depressing him, crushing him.  So he stands up and says:  ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you… Why art thou cast down? – what business have you to be disquieted?’… And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who he is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.  Then having done that, end on this great note:  defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.’”  Pages 126, 127

The final lesson of Gethsemane and Calvary and the book of the Psalms is that all the dark caves of despondency are really tunnels leading to the fields of joy – for those who don’t sit down in the dark and blow out the candle of faith in future grace.  Page 131

AMEN!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

Recently much has been transpiring in the blogging world of the Man of Spin.  While this has proved troublesome, the changes will result in some quality material for you.

The first piece of evidence are the following quotations that stood out for the Man of Spin when he read, Tim Keller’s, The Prodigal God, a title that you must visually digest!

To encourage you further, here are some little taste testers, and some notables that are definitely quotable, to this blogger, at least!

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day.  However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect.  The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avante-garde ones.  We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people.  The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church.  That can only mean one thing.  If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.  If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.  Pages 15, 16

To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother.  To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right.  Pharisees only repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their righteousness, too.  We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness – the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.  We must admit that we’ve put our ultimate hope and trust in things other than God, and that in both our wrongdoing and right doing we have been seeking to get around God or get control of God in order to get hold of other things.

It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord – lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness – that you are on the verge of understanding the gospel and becoming a Christian indeed.  When you realize that the antidote to being bad is not just being good, you are on the brink.  If you follow through, it will change everything: how you relate to God, self, others, the world, your work, your sins, your virtue.  It’s called the new birth because it’s so radical.  Pages 77, 78

The younger son gets a Pharisee for a brother instead.

But we do not.

By putting a flawed elder brother in the story, Jesus is inviting us to imagine and yearn for a true one.

And we have him.  Think of the kind of brother we need.  We need one who does not just go to the next country to find us but who will come all the way from heaven to earth.  We need one who is willing to pay not just a finite amount of money, but, at the infinite cost of his own life to bring us into God’s family, for our debt is so much greater.  Either as elder brothers or as younger brothers we have rebelled against the father.  We deserve alienation, isolation, and rejection.  The point of the parable is that forgiveness always involves a price – someone has to pay.  There was no way for the younger brother to return to the family unless the older brother bore the cost himself.  Our true elder paid our debt, on the cross, in our place.

There Jesus was stripped naked of his robe and dignity so that we could be clothed with a dignity and standing we don’t deserve.  On the cross Jesus was treated as an outcast so that we could be brought into God’s family freely by grace.  There Jesus drank the cup of eternal justice so that we might have the cup of the Father’s joy.  There was no other way for the heavenly Father to bring us in, except at the expense of our true elder brother.  Pages 84, 85

How can the inner workings of the heart be changed from a dynamic of fear and anger to that of love, joy, and gratitude?  Here is how.  You need to be moved by the sight of what it cost to bring you home.  The key difference between a Pharisee and a believer in Jesus is the inner-heart motivation.  Pharisees are bring good but out of a fear-fueled need to control God.  They don’t really trust him or love him.  To them God is an exacting boss, not a loving father.  Christians have seen something that has transformed their hearts toward God so they can finally love and rest in the Father.  Pages 85, 86

Jesus’s salvation is a feast, and therefore when we believe in and rest in his work for us, through the Holy Spirit he becomes real to our hearts.  His love is like honey, or like wine.  Rather than only believing he is loving, we can come to sense the reality, the beauty, and power of his love.  His love can become more real to you than the love of anyone else.  It can delight, galvanize, and console you.  That will lift you up and free you from fear like nothing else.

This makes all the difference.  If you are filled with shame and guilt, you do not merely need to believe in the abstract concept of God’s mercy.  You must sense, on the palate of the heart, as it were, the sweetness of his mercy.  Then you will know you are accepted.  If you are filled with worry and anxiety, you do not only need to believe that God is in control of history.  You must see, with the eyes of the heart, his dazzling majesty.  Then you will know he has things in hand.  Pages 108, 109

Jesus had not come to simply deliver one nation from political oppression, but to save all of us from sin, evil, and death itself.  He came to bring the human race Home.  Therefore he did not come in strength but in weakness.  He came and experienced the exile that we deserved.  He was expelled from the presence of the Father, he was thrust into the darkness, the uttermost despair of spiritual alienation – in our place.  He took upon himself the full curse of human rebellion, cosmic homelessness, so that we could be welcomed into our true home.  Pages 101, 102

The book of Genesis tells us that when God made this world he looked upon the physical creation and called it ‘good.’  He loves and cares for the material world.  The fact of Jesus’s resurrection and the promise of a new heavens and new earth show clearly that he still cares for it.  This world is not simply a theater for individual conversion narratives, to be discarded at the end when we all go to heaven.  No, the ultimate purpose of Jesus is not only individual salvation and pardon for sins but also the renewal of this world, the end of disease, poverty, injustice, violence, suffering, and death.  The climax of history is not a higher form of disembodied consciousness but a feast.  God made the world with all its colors, tastes, lights, sounds, with all its life-forms living in interdependent systems.  It is now marred, stained, and broken, and he will not rest until he has put it right.  Pages 110, 111

Christianity, therefore, is perhaps the most materialistic of the world’s faiths.  Jesus’s miracles were not so much violations of the natural order, but a restoration of the natural order.  God did not create a world with blindness, leprosy, hunger, and death in it.  Jesus’s miracles were signs that someday all these corruptions of his creation would be abolished.  Christians therefore can talk of saving the soul and of building social systems that deliver safe streets amd warm homes in the same sentence.  With integrity.

Jesus hates suffering, injustice, evil, and death so much, he came and experienced it to defeat it and, someday, to wipe the world clean of it.  Knowing all this, Christians cannot be passive about hunger, sickness, and injustice.  Karl Marx and others have charged that religion is ‘the opiate of the masses.’  That is, it is a sedative that makes people passive toward injustice, because there will be ‘pie in the sky bye and bye.’  That may be true of some religions that teach people that this material world is unimportant or illusory.  Christianity, however, teaches that God hates the suffering and oppression of this material world so much, he was willing to get involved in it and to fight against it.  Properly understood, Christianity is by no means the opiate of the people.  It’s more like the smelling salts.  Pages 112, 113

Religion operates on the principle of ‘I obey – therefore I am accepted by God.’  The basic operating principle of the gospel is ‘I am accepted by God through the word of Jesus Christ – therefore I obey.’… We must not think, however, that once believing it, the Christian is now finished with the gospel message.  A fundamental insight of Martin Luther’s was that ‘religion’ is the default mode of the human heart.  Your computer operates automatically in a default mode unless you deliberately tell it to do something else.  So Luther says that even after you are converted by the gospel your heart will go back to operating on other principles unless you deliberately, repeatedly set it to gospel-mode.

We habitually and instinctively look to other things besides God and his grace as our justification, hope, significance, and security.  We believe the gospel at one level, but at deeper levels we do not.  Human approval, professional success, power and influence, family and clan identity – all of these things serve as our heart’s ‘functional trust’ rather than what Christ has done, and as a result we continue to be driven to a great degree by fear, anger, and a lack of self-control.  You cannot change such things through mere willpower, through learning Biblical principles and trying to carry them out.  We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts.  We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting ans making it part of ourselves.  That is how we grow.  Pages 114, 115

The Gospel is therefore not just the ABC’s of the Christian life, but the A to Z of the Christian life.  Our problems arise largely because we don’t continually return to the gospel to work in it and live it out.  That is why Martin Luther wrote, ‘The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine… Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.’  Page 119

Some years ago I met a woman who began coming to Redeemer, the church where I am a minister.  She said that she had gone to a church growing up and she had always heard that God accepts us only if we are sufficiently good and ethical.  She had never heard the message she was now hearing, that we can be accepted by God by sheer grace through the work of Christ regardless of anything we do or have done.  She said, ‘That is a scary idea!  Oh, it’s good scary, but still scary.’

I was intrigued.  I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace?  She replied something like this: ‘If I was saved by my good works – then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through.  I would be like a taxpayer with rights.  I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life.  But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace – at God’s infinite cost – then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.’  Pages 120, 121

Get the Book!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

This is saying, here is the way you can tell whether you are a Christian or just a moral person … a Christian or a religious person. A real Christian is a person who says, “it is an absolute miracle that God’s loves me. “It’s just a miracle that I am a Christian.” This is actually an acid test; let me just lay it on you here at the end. There are two kinds of people that go to church: there’s religious people and real Christians. And the way you can tell the difference is that a Real Christian is somebody who sees everything that comes as a gift.  In other words a real Christian sees that you are totally in debt to God, but a religious person is someone who is working hard and making an effort and trying to be good, going to Bible studies and just saying “no” everywhere, and denying themselves a lot of pleasures, and so forth, and a religious person is someone who is trying to put God in their debt. That is the difference.  A religious person is someone who is trying to save themselves through their good works. A religious person is somebody who thinks they are putting God in their debt since they have tried so hard. A Christian is somebody who sees themselves as in God’s debt.

Here is the acid test: If you are a Christian you have a spirit of wonder that permeates your life. You are always saying “how miraculous”, “how interplanetary”, “how unreal”. You are always looking at yourself and saying, “me a Christian … incredible, miraculous, unbelievable, a joke!!! ” but a person who is trying to put God in their debt – there is none of that spirit of wonder at all.  For example, when you show up to get your paycheck.  I am assuming that most of you work hard for your money.  When you show up for your paycheck do you say “Ah, BEHOLD!!!, you’ve paid me, you’ve given me money!!! Oh!! Are you real?.” No, you don’t do that, you say “of course you paid me, I worked.”  If you ask a religious person who does not understand the grace of God. you say, “Are you a Christian?” They say “Of course I am a Christian, I have always been a Christian. Sure I am a Christian. ”  My friends, if you are a Christian there is no “sure” about it and there is no “of courseness” about it, not a bit.

The acid test is your spirit of wonder stays there even when things go bad.  You see when things go bad, when problems happen, here you can tell the difference between a moralist and a Christian.  A moralist says, “what good is all my religion, what good is going to God, I have tried hard to be a Christian, I am trying hard to be obedient to God, and what good is it? God owes me.” And you see you get mad. You say, “I have been trying hard and look what’s going on in my love life, look what’s going on in my career”, and you get bitter. Why? because God owes you.  But A Christian keeps that spirit of wonder.  A Christian may say “my career has not gone too well, my love life has not gone too well, it’s astonishing… Its amazing that God is as good as He is to me. Its all grace. Its all grace.  That spirit of wonder. That sense of being a miracle. That everything that comes to you being an absolute mercy. That is an acid test.  In fact, in some ways I have made a dichotomy that is unrealistic.  Christians, to the degree that you behold the free grace of God, to the degree that you meditate on it and you let it become a holy fire in your heart, to the degree you experience and behold the love of God, to that degree you are going to find that to difficulties you will be able to say “oh well, my Father must have a purpose here because He loves me, and besides that, He does not owe me a good life. He owes me a far worse life than I’ve got.” You can handle anything. And when good things come you will say “Behold! what a miracle”  And the very fact you can get up in the morning and say, “I am a Christian. Who would have thought it?” There is a spirit of wonder about you, and if you have lost that you are slipping back into moralism, you are slipping back into thinking “well I guess what it means to be a Christian is just to do.”

You can read the full portion of this text… HERE… which is a citation of one of Keller’s many sermons!

I would encourage you to make the most of both of these resources.

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: @scotthodge

An example where our Actions do speak louder than words!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

In what is a mostly helpful article, Prothero affirms and makes clear how the differing religious viewpoints and systems of this world teach and affirm incompatible concepts. In the Wikipedia of the man, it describes him, self-referentially so, as a “confused Christian” that is based on a quotation from this article in USA Today, which becomes clearer as the article opens the door to allowing each incompatible religion having its own sub-set of incompatible truth.  If such is indeed what Prothero is claiming, while such would seem to be philosophically untenable, it would, more importantly, also be theologically untrue!

We will get to this point shortly, but for now, here is how this piece is introduced, which nicely sets the tenor and tone…

At least since the first petals of the counterculture bloomed across Europe and the United States in the 1960s, it has been fashionable to affirm that all religions are beautiful and all are true. This claim, which reaches back to “All Religions Are One” (1795) by the English poet, printmaker, and prophet William Blake, is as odd as it is intriguing. No one argues that different economic systems or political regimes are one and the same. Capitalism and socialism are so self-evidently at odds that their differences hardly bear mentioning. The same goes for democracy and monarchy. Yet scholars continue to claim that religious rivals such as Hinduism and Islam, Judaism and Christianity are, by some miracle of the imagination, both essentially the same and basically good.

This view resounds in the echo chamber of popular culture, not least on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and in Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestseller, “Eat Pray Love,” where the world’s religions are described as rivers emptying into the ocean of God. Karen Armstrong, author of “A History of God,” has made a career out of emphasizing the commonalities of religion while eliding their differences. Even the Dalai Lama, who should know better, has gotten into the act, claiming that “all major religious traditions carry basically the same message.”

Of course, those who claim that the world’s religions are different paths up the same mountain do not deny the undeniable fact that they differ in some particulars. Obviously, Christians do not go on pilgrimage to Mecca, and Muslims do not practice baptism. Religious paths do diverge in dogma, rites, and institutions. To claim that all religions are basically the same, therefore, is not to deny the differences between a Buddhist who believes in no god, a Jew who believes in one God, and a Hindu who believes in many gods. It is to deny that those differences matter, however. From this perspective, whether God has a body (yes, say Mormons; no, say Muslims) or whether human beings have souls (yes, say Hindus; no, say Buddhists) is of no account because, as Hindu teacher Swami Sivananda writes, “The fundamentals or essentials of all religions are the same. There is difference only in the nonessentials.”

This is a lovely sentiment but it is untrue, disrespectful, and dangerous.

This opening piece is quite hopeful, and when I read the full article, I waitied for him to tie the piece together, by dealing with the implications of what he was stating which are thus:  If all these religious systems hold to truth claims that affirm contradictory concepts, realities, and worldviews, which are mutually exclusive and exclusionary… which ONE is correct.  For example, if the concept of sin as a human problem… period, is TRUE, which the Bible claims this is so [Rom 3:23; 5:12], then all those in the first Adam [insert: All the human race post Adam and Eve] have this problem, and affirming that other systems don’t ask these type of questions reality-begging, at best.

Now, it is also true that as a Professor of Religion, this might not be his stated goal or methodology, however, in light of the recent “sin” statements, this is fudging on the explicit implications, with the following words emblematic…

There is a long tradition of Christian thinkers who assume that salvation is the goal of all religions and then argue that only Christians can achieve this goal. Philosopher of religion Huston Smith, who grew up in China as a child of Methodist missionaries, rejected this argument but not its guiding assumption. “To claim salvation as the monopoly of any one religion,” he wrote, “is like claiming that God can be found in this room and not the next.” It might seem to be an admirable act of empathy to assert that Confucians and Buddhists can be saved. But this statement is confused to the core, since salvation is not something that either Confucians or Buddhists seek. Salvation is a Christian goal, and when Christians speak of it, they are speaking of being saved from sin. But Confucians and Buddhists do not believe in sin, so it makes no sense for them to try to be saved from it. And while Muslims and Jews do speak of sin of a sort, neither Islam nor Judaism describes salvation from sin as its aim. When a jailer asks the apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), he is asking not a generic human question but a specifically Christian one. So while it may seem to be an act of generosity to state that Confucians and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews can also be saved, this statement is actually an act of obfuscation. [Emphasis Mine]

While analytically what Prothero is stating is indeed so, is this not missing the point?

Once again, from a Biblical worldview, anyone or anything else that is asking “redemptive” questions and answering them through any other Avenue that does not venture through the “One Way” intersection signposted with “Jesus Christ… alone,” is proposing something false, untrue, and contradicts the scope of This revelatory truth claim.  Yes, it is true, these other religions are not asking the same questions, and they are not looking for exactly the same realities, but this perspective really only holds value if they all equally have validated truth, which means, while you can reject “Jesus,” “Buddha” will see you right!  Jesus claims this is not so!

If Christianity is true, by the very nature of the claims that it is making, all other claims are absolved!

Prothero is very helpful in showing why and how the different religious systems are incompatible, however, he fails to ask the really important question, which is this… What Does This Mean?

Jesus stated He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, with NO ONE, coming to the Father through any other means [John 14:6].  With these statements, Jesus was and is claiming that His is the system of reality that is really real, really true, and only right!  Subsequently, Peter also claimed, to those that claimed to have Moses as their father, that there is NO OTHER Name… Anywhere… that will solve the human problem and answer this condition.  Prothero affirms that this is specifically a Christian question, while the Word of God affirms that this is the UNIVERSALLY human answer.

This is not about forensic analysis, but forensic righteousness, solving our alien-ated issue of our perpetual enmity toward a holy Trinitarian Creator-God… Mutually Exclusive?  Heaven Yeah!

Yes, these are exclusive claims, but these are also exclusive claims that have the potential to include all others [John 3;16], with failure to understand this reality, resulting in a conceptual world that is truly misleading and dangerous… and we should add, the Word of God claims to be, eternally so!

Gotta Get Gospel – Now!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

Take a look…

You said, including sin?  For real?

Are you a wimpy Christian with a wimpy worldview?

While you are thinking about that, take a look at this…

Now, to put it all together, The Fatal Disobedience of Adam and the Triumphant Obedience of Christ… The Solution!

Do you recoil from all or any of this?  Why?

Stop the Noise and just answer this one question… Is it TRUE?

That is the first and ultimate question you need to ask and answer, and if it is true, and it is…. what really and ultimately must change in this equation is… YOU!

While this ANZAC Day, we are graciously experiencing the consequences of other peoples war-time sacrifice, you need to graciously experience the consequences of HIS war-time sacrifice, on the Cross… either in a cosmically radical way, but most definitely in a practically real manner that shapes your life after HIS mold!

There is not better time!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

However, without diminishing this perspective for one i-ota…

Consider this…

“The terrorised and troubled world exists to make a place for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to Suffer and Die”

“This is the world that God prepared for the suffering and death of His Son”

“The reason there is terror in the world is so that Christ could be terrorised”

“The reason there is trouble in the world is so that Christ could be troubled”

“The reason there is pain in the universe is so that Christ could feel pain”

“This world of suffering and death exists so that God could love like He could only love in this world”

Consider this…

The ultimate purpose of our pain and suffering is that it is in such a context that, not only do you and I make much of Christ, but we do so, in an ultimate way!

This life, and all of life, is Christological, from the cosmic beginnings, to our very personal end!

All of it!

Lest We Forget this also!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

]]> http://christiannews.co.nz/2010/anzac-day-the-ultimate-purpose-of-pain-and-suffering-in-the-world/feed/ 2 http://christiannews.co.nz/2010/want-something-free-an-e-book-on-the-holy-spirit-from-the-resurgence/ http://christiannews.co.nz/2010/want-something-free-an-e-book-on-the-holy-spirit-from-the-resurgence/#comments Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:17:43 +0000 Man of Spin http://christiannews.co.nz/?p=4918 The Resurgence is once again helping to resource Christians, without the said Christian having to find the resource to purchase the resource!  Yes, that means it is for FREE!

Here is how they describe this e-book by Winfield Bevins…

The Spirit plays an important role in personal salvation, church formation, and the general spread of the gospel. Without Him, it is impossible for individuals or the church to experience revival. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit has a distinct contribution to make in the contemporary church. The purpose of this study is to offer an introduction to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Learning more about the Holy Spirit will enable you to experience Him in a deeper way in your life.

Here are some endorsements…

“This is a great study on the Holy Spirit! It’s a resource I’m excited to get in the hands of Resurgence readers.” — Dr. Justin S. Holcomb, Academic Dean, Resurgence Training CenterAdjunct Professor, Reformed Theological Seminary

“Winfield’s Pocket Guide is a helpful introduction to the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. His generous use of Scripture, clear instruction, and concluding prayers make this ebook a unique blend of theology and devotion, a blend that invites the reader to know the Spirit. Great for new believers or Christians who are unfamiliar with the Spirit.” — Jonathan Dodson, Lead Pastor, Austin City Life,  Austin, TexasAuthor, Gospel-Centered Discipleship

Who is Winfield Bevins?…

Winfield Bevins is lead pastor of Church of the Outer Banks, which he planted in June of 2005. He is the author of Grow: Reproducing through Organic Discipleship and also writes for the Resurgence. He is completing a doctorate at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He lives in the Outer Banks with his wife Kay and two daughters Elizabeth and Anna Belle.

To find out more about Winfield and his writing, go to churchobx.com.

If you would like to download this resource, and why wouldn’t you… GO HERE!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: Zoecity

I put “does” in front of this headline, so you can make your choice from the quotation in question.  Therefore, without further posticulating [the morphing of postulating and gesticulating]… I know, this last word was worth the pain of reading alone.  Please, quote me, and while you are quoting me, let me quote another…

In an interview with Rabbi Noami Levy, the following took place…  claps of thunder, creating a foreboding and forewarning sense…

Rabbi Naomi Levy: I watched an interview you did with Larry King. I was so amazed when you said Jews can indeed go to heaven, and then I saw that you later took heat for it, and you rephrased yourself. Is it wrong to believe that people who don’t believe in Jesus have a place with God and have a place in heaven?

Pastor Joel Osteen: Sure. You know, to me it’s up to every person. I mean, what the Scripture teaches is that Jesus came so that we could have salvation through him.

NL: Your Scripture.

JO: Yeah, that’s true. So that’s why I don’t judge anybody else. … You know, I don’t believe in telling one group who can and can’t go to heaven. I believe that’s up to God.

NL: So do you think it’s possible that our God, the God of the universe, might have an equal plan for all good people?

JO: I believe that any of that is possible.

What the…?

From what I can perceive of the man, he has tended to maneuver in the mirth and mist, trading with slightly more-than-a-modicum of truth, but how can he justifiably go there?!

However, this final line is not even where the initial problem gets started.

Osteen fails to deal adequately with the details in Levy’s question.  Here are the words in her question…

So do you think it’s possible that our God, the God of the universe, might have an equal plan for all good people? [Emphasis Mine]

What do you think she means by this?

One could paraphrase in the following, all good people get the equal reward!  Call it Heaven, but biblically, this looks more like…

Whatever she means, Osteen should have at least been honest about the meta-narrative of the Bible, which starts great with Creation, until Man plays the fool, giving all subsequent human beings one Hell of a time!

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is only Good News when the backdrop is the Bad News to begin with, and while, Yes, such may result in this life being your best now, such only finds its contextual meaning when cached in a future eternal moment, far from Christ, and far worse than worse!

Compounding this point, by the works of the Law shall no flesh become justified [Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16], making it clear that man-made religion can not complete the deal, because of this very Bad News at the beginning!  Therefore, to gain the Good Standing is not within our personal prerogative or potential, which is why we must wait for Another!

Joel, by not challenging anything that Rabbi Levy was affirming, you were allowing this perspective to hold court, which is made explicit with your answer… Guilty

I believe that any of that is possible

Joel, how could you?!

How can you say that this is possible, when the Word of God says IT IS NOT!  When Peter and John stood before other Jewish individuals, many centuries ago, when they were confronted for the truth, they did so unequivocally, as Peter affirmed in the words recorded for our benefit in Acts 4:12, with the following…

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [Emphasis mine].

Are you getting a demonstrative and absolute impression from what Peter is affirming.  By all means, deny that this is the truth, but if you do so, please do not wear the cloak of historic Christianity, which is bound and gagged in, to, and through the Word that became Flesh… Alone. There is no other way, no other means, and no possible-maybe’s about it!  To claim otherwise, presents a cultural conformity to the Christian context, with an outward repudiation of its central message, which is Not the real thing!

These are His Words People!

If the Cross is removed, the message can only be therapeutic, as it cannot touch, reach, or resolve the real dilemma in humanity, which is the need for redemption from our cosmic rebellion!  If the Cross is removed, the real problem, which is YOU, is made the solution, as the means for resourcing the solution can only be personal, as it is removed from the realm of the God-made-flesh-divine-Deity.  The result being that the Cross is obliterated, man is capable, and God got it Wrong!  Think about this for a time!

From these spoken words by two individuals, which words are you going to take as Gospel, Joel’s or Jesus’ [John 14:6].  And, while we are at it, Poor Jesus, going through all that He did, when He could have remained that good moral teacher, freeing Himself from His dead end!

Tragically, taking both does not seem a biblically viable option!

What say you?

To help you in this regard, check out the destination where this piece was found, where you can read a fuller transcript of what Joel Osteen had to say, which can be found… HERE!

Say you piece, as I have said mine…

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

Have a think…

If Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That He Lay down His Life For His Friends. What Kind of Love is This, When This Man Rises From The Dead For His Friends, in the Future, to Follow?

If Jesus is the Cornerstone to the Truth of the Christian Message, then the Resurrection is the Cornerstone to the Truth Claims of Jesus Christ!

Do not Change the Truth to Suit You, allow the Truth to Change You. One will Lead You Into Sin, into Idolatry, the Other will Lead You Into Righteousness, into Christ-likeness!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

However, in a twist of providence, from a human frame of reference, time was not compliant, which meant that such did not seem like it was going to come to fruition.  This was until I noted a tweet byMatt Perman, who linked to a blog post, where Ben Terry had outlined these from go-to-wo, with such a post providing fodder for my sustenance to go the extra post, which now I can publish!

Therefore, in the following, I have added the Scriptural references that Piper starts each one of the famous 50 chapter with, which may provide you with the encouragement to scripturally reflect (Print this Out, for example) on the reasons why Jesus’ death-to-resurrection life, is the very reason for this Easter season!

50 REASONS WHY JESUS HAD TO DIE

1) To Absorb the Wrath of God

Galatians 3:13 – Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged u on a tree”

Romans 3:25 – whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

1 John 4:10 – In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

2) To Please His Heavenly Father

Isaiah 53:10 – Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Ephesians 5:2 – And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3) To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

Hebrews 5:8 – Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

Hebrews 2:10 – For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

4) To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead

Hebrews 13:20-21 - Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, (21) equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

5) To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace

Romans 5:7-8 – For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — (8) but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 –  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 1:7 – In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

6) To Show His Own Love for Us

Ephesians 5:2 – And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Galatians 2:20 –  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

7) To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us

Colossians 2:13 – And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Eight) To Become a Ransom for Many

Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

9) For the Forgiveness of Our Sins

Ephesians 1:7 – In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Matthew 26:28 – for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

10) To Provide the Basis for Our Justification

Romans 5:9 – Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Romans 3:24 – and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:28 – For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

11) To Complete the Obedience That Becomes Our Righteousness

Philippians 2:8 – And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Romans 5:19 – For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Philippians 3:9 – and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith —

12) To Take Away Our Condemnation

Romans 8:34 – Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

13) To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation

Galatians 5:11 – But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

Galatians 6:12 – It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

14) To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful

Mark 14:24 – And he said to them, “This is my h blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Jeremiah 32:40 – I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.

15) To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect

Hebrews 10:14 – For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Colossians 1:22 – he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

1 Corinthians 5:7 – Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

16) To Give Us a Clear Conscience

Hebrews 9:14 – how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

17) To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us

Romans 8:32 – He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

18) To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness

Isaiah 53:5 – But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

Matthew 8:16-17 – That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. (17) This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

19) To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him

John 3:16 –  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

20) To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age

Galatians 1:4 – who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

21) To Reconcile Us to God

Romans 5:10 – For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

22) To Bring Us to God

1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Ephesians 2:13 –  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

23) So That We Might Belong to Him

Romans 7:4 – Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (20) for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Acts 20:28 – Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

24) To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place

Hebrews 10:19 - Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

25) To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God

John 2:19-21 – And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” (20) He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” (21) And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

26) To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End and Become the Eternal High Priest

Hebrews 7:23-27 – The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, (24) but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. (25) Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives m to make intercession for them. (26) For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. (27) He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

Hebrews 9:24-26 – For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (25) Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, (26) for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Hebrews 10:11-12 - And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. (12) But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

27) To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest

Hebrews 4:15-16 – For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

28) To Free Us from the Futility of Our Ancestry

1 Peter 1:18-19 – knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

29) To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin

Revelation 1:5-6 – and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood (6) and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:12 – So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

30) That We Might Die to Sin and Live to Righteousness

1 Peter 2:24 –  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

31) So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God

Romans 7:4 – Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

32) To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves

2 Corinthians 5:15 – and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

33) To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting

Galatians 6:14 – But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

34) To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him

Galatians 2:20 –  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

35) To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning

Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

36) To Create a People Passionate for Good Works

Titus 2:14 – who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

37) To Call Us to Follow His Example of Lowliness and Costly Love

1 Peter 2:19-21 – For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. (20) For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. (21) For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, a leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Hebrews 12:3-4 – Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (4) In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Philippians 2:5-8 – Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (6) who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

38) To Create a Band of Crucified Followers

Luke 9:23 – And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.Matthew 10:38 – And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

39) To Free Us from Bondage to the Fear of Death

Hebrews 2:14-15 – Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, (15) and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

40) So That We Would Be with Him Immediately After Death

1 Thessalonians 5:10 - who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Philippians 1:21, 23 –  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain…  I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

2 Corinthians 5:8 – Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

41) To Secure Our Resurrection from the Dead

Romans 6:5 –  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Romans 8:11 –  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

2 Timothy 2:11 – The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

42) To Disarm the Rulers and Authorities

Colossians 2:14-15 – by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (15) He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

1 John 3:8 -  Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

43) To Unleash the Power of God in the Gospel

1 Corinthians 1:18 – For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

44) To Destroy the Hostility Between Races

Ephesians 2:14-16 – For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (15) by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, (16) and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

45) To Ransom People from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation

Revelation 5:9 – And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

46) To Gather All His Sheep from Around the World

John 11:51-52 – He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, (52) and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

John 10:16 - And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

47) To Rescue Us from Final Judgment

Hebrews 9:28 – so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

48) To Gain His Joy and Ours

Hebrews 12:2 – looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

49) So That He Would Be Crowned with Glory and Honor

Hebrews 2:9 - But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Philippians 2:7-9 – but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

Revelation 5:12 - saying with a loud voice, a “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

50) To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant by God for Good

Acts 4:27-28 – for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, (28) to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

The Story Continues…

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: Christianity.com

Just recently Bock has been Down Under… Mate!… where he was even at my, in North American lingua-franca, Alma Mater.

Here is a little about the man…

Dr. Darrell Bock is Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He also is Professor for Spiritual Development and Culture there. He is an Editor at Large for Christianity Today and is a Past President of the Evangelical Theological Society (2000-2001). He is the author of over twenty books and is a New York Times Best Selling author. He has been blogging on this site since May, 2006.

Name: Darrell L. Bock

Age: 53

Birthday: December 8

College: University of Texas

Graduate School: Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM); University of Aberdeen (PhD)

Major: New Testament

Position: Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary; Professor of Spiritual Development and Culture, Center for Christian Leadership

You can find this information and so much more, by visiting this page, on the blog named after the Bock… HERE!

While he was in the Land of Auz, Bock spent some time with the team at, The Center for Public Christianity, with the following video’s, for your edifying pleasure…

Bart Ehrman and the New Testament Documents

The Historical “Problems” of the New Testament

Paul vs Jesus

The Historical and Exalted Jesus

Always Informing, For the Always Reforming, From the Land of the Long White Cloud

Man of Spin

Or His words to that effect…

Oh, and don’t confuse the spelling of “resurrection” with the intellectually credible quotation by Tim “I Like Drinking His Kool-aid” Keller!

The following words, from the Cardiologist, are words that are worth your listening leisure, for the follower, and particularly, for those who are just looking… Potentiated!

THE “FAMOUS” FIVE CLAIMS

1) He was a Man who claimed to be God

2) He did what were apparently Miracles

3) He got the people closest to Him to believe He was God

4) After He was dead, many people saw Him Risen

5) Those people were so transformed that they spread the word of this, everywhere!

How do you credibly account for these things?

How do you honestly account for the data of Who He Is?

You gotta come up with something…

Bias-Free, or at least, with a self-acknowledged position, you may be asking for the first time… really… Who is this Jesus?

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

]]> http://christiannews.co.nz/2010/come-to-christianity-because-it-is-true/feed/ 2 http://christiannews.co.nz/2010/gospel-in-life-grace-changes-everything/ http://christiannews.co.nz/2010/gospel-in-life-grace-changes-everything/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:26:13 +0000 Man of Spin http://christiannews.co.nz/?p=4040 And all the faithful said, “Amen“… Well, maybe that was just the charismatics!  However, I am sure the cessationists at least thought about it!

A little bit of levity to introduce you to a resource that you need to tell your Pastor about, inform your Home Group leader forthwith… or here is a radical idea, such could be the fodder for you, O blog-aid drinker, to offer up your services, using this material, thereby just doing something!

Let me unload a little, providing you some more light on this resource… Here is how this is introduced on the homepage

“Sounds good“… I agree!

Now, if you are a fan-who-wouldn’t-mind-being-a-friend… stalker, then it will not surprise you that the front man for this production, is none other than… Tim “the cardiologist” Keller, and here is the man on a trailer… for the product, that is!

And, here is another video related to this resource…

To find out more information on this, where you can view and read through the whole context of this resource, where one can download a number of resources, which includes a number of audio messages, and finally, after taking another breath, where one can buy the thing, then, you will need to go… HERE!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: Justin Taylor

What or Whose ideas were preached from the pulpit this Sunday (assuming of course)?   Did you hear God speaking this weekend in corporate worship?

Yes, there the words were emanating from flesh and bones, but Whose message did he bring?  Okay, so it was funny, but was it faithful?!

When God’s Word is refrained, the purpose, perspective, and power from the Pulpit… is silenced!

When people come to hear the words of man, not God’s Word to man, the Source has been set aside and the glory has been put asunder!

Calling all Pastors and Preachers from Cape Reinga to the Bluff (from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island of NZ)… and to the “other” Ends of the Earth… Preach the Word,  by Day or by Night, from Week to Week, in Season to the Next (2 Tim. 4:2-3).  You are the Postman… so deliver the goods that have been entrusted to you!

Eloquent words may delight the ear, but only God’s “eloquent” Word can operate on the soul (Heb. 4:12-13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17)!

Preach the Word

To encourage you in this pursuit, here is a John Piper video making much of this pursuit.  Piper has affirmed the following words in the context of this video on Twitter…

I was standing by my father’s grave when I made this video about not wasting your pulpit

If you are attending corporate worship to Herald or be Heralded to, may you Preach with the words of Heaven exploding forth from your inner, or conversely, may you listen with the reality of a child, desperately hanging onto the Words of the Father…

Not One More Day…

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: The Gospel Coalition

He is a pretty well-known figure around the Evangelical traps, which should be elevated in the coming 12 months in a “Kiwi” context, as he is the key-note communicator at The Parachute Festival 20-11, which is a positive addition to some of the more fruity sorts that have presented their wares!  Also, joining him will be a side-kick, artist Chris Tomlin, who has produced a number of God-glorifying tracks that put the Saviour in the Spotlight!

Yes, we own material from both men, so we are reasonably familiar!

It is also probably true that many believers were already aware of this man, through the extensive collection of DVD messages one is able to purchase, with the subject matter of this post and another, probably rating as those that have taken the cake, and have devoured it!  Those reading this post in a US context may also know Giglio through the Passion Student Movement Conferences, which also includes some of the artists that Louie has been involved in producing.  Recently I also read that he was moving into the Pastorate, so Louie is a man about town!

In the most recent post of the Man of Spin, we viewed some amazing photos of this Earth, with such a post, an appropriate context-making addition, to this that will follow.

If you have not seen the Indescribable message on DVD before, then such will indeed be a new blessing for you.  These video’s have been sourced from YouTube, and if you would like a copy of your own… Please, Purchase One!!!

I would think that Louie would have some new material for Parachute this year, so I don’t believe I am stealing his thunder!

These are pretty potent, and are well worth your investment of time and bandwidth!

While this presentation is very good, I must admit, I found his next one even better!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

Although there seems to be conjecture of when these were taken, the beauty of our “privileged planet” is there for all to view!

Now where is New Zealand?  You mean we are not in the centre of this planetary photo?!

While our planet is a wonder to behold, as has been referenced, it is a pale blue dot in the Universe!

Take a look at this video, which will provide you some perspective…

Wooooo!

In the next couple of posts, we will look at a couple of resources that are Indescribable, affirming How Great is our God!

Stay Tuned…

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: Evangel, Mail Online, Weatherwatch

I have posted on this before in the context of parenting for the heart, and as it relates to the children of our youth, I was reminded of this again, very recently, in discussions with my son about the Christian life that affirmed to me, again, the significant importance of articulating the good news of the Gospel, which we must do again, and again… and then some more, as our hearts and our culture, can and often are, more attuned to replace the Gospel with religion, to replace the Gospel with Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism, of replacing the Good News of Gospel that elevates what God has done, through the finished work of Christ, and replace this with a message that is counterfeit to this reality!

You may be asking what is Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism?

Christian Smith, a Sociologist, who completed a study in the context of teenagers in the US, went on to co-author a title, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, where they downloaded the results of this study, the nature of this in practice, and coined this terminology as being reflective of this reality.

In another article, they summarise what this looks like with the following descriptive details…

1. A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.

2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.

5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

You can read the entire PDF article, by following this link… HERE!

If such does not read “PROBLEM”… then, you may need to move to Houston… or keep reading on, where the heat of the “Light” will be turned on, and remember, as the saying goes, the way to hell is paved with good intentions!

Albert Mohler, many moons ago, penned a piece, in light of this reality, which you will want to read or re-read, where there is much that is overtly significant as we think about the Gospel and our witnessing to it and of it… You can find this article… HERE!  Just as we need to keep glorying in the Gospel as the fulcrum of our faith, which is reflected in our proclamation-to-dissemination of it, the perspectives that Mohler affirms is something that we need to be re-reflecting on!

Dr. Michael S. Horton, from Westminster Seminary, California, has recently spoken on Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism, and its implications, which is embedded for your viewing…

In the final and following video message of this post, Matt Chandler does an excellent job of articulating the Gospel, not merely as a means for justification, but as the grounds for our growing sanctification, and the problem of our assumptions that are too-often left undeclared, which you should view soon-to-now.  Also, some in a New Zealand context, may have read much on CNNZ about Chandler’s cancer context, with such being an opportunity to hear his heralding…

Never Assume the Gospel… Proclaim it!  When we assume the Gospel, the result can be that we can very easily lose the Gospel, as a functional reality and practical fuel in and for the living of our lives.  This in turn affects our proclamation, thereby emasculating our commission!

The Gospel is Good News because there is bad news to begin with, the Gospel is light, because it is coming into the darkness.  Until the Lord comes, we need to remember that the lights are still off, and by grace He has called us to keep our candles-to-blow-torch on!

Assuming this is perfunctory will be pernicious!

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin

H/T: Resurgence, Justin Taylor

Randy Alcorn is a well-known and heavily publishing Christian author in both fiction and non-fiction contexts. Recently Alcorn posted the above question, going on to piece his own perspective on this point, which began with the following words… after the non-moving picture of the man…

First let me say that many sincere people believe in the Bible and also believe in an old earth. They do this via the gap theory or day age theory or some other means of interpretation.

Secondly, let me say that I am not certain about the age of the universe, the age of the earth, or when the first humans walked the earth. I have read very persuasive scientific arguments for an old earth, and have read some counterarguments that may have merit. I don’t feel qualified scientifically to make the judgment.

To read the meat of this post, which I am sure you are going to be desiring to do… Go HERE!

Do you agree?

For the Fame of His Name

Man of Spin