Francis Chan at the Desiring God 2010 Conference

Christian, take some time to check out this sermon! Watch it on this blog or go to DesiringGod to watch/listen/read ...

Get radical

Thief in the Night!

Two things are for certain: 1) Jesus WILL return, and 2) this movie is quite entertaining!



My pastor mentioned this movie from the pulpit, pointing out its enormous influence on evangelicalism and the way we view Revelation. He also said you can see it online and check out the cheesy acting and 'far out' outfits! So when Aimee had Sophia for the evening and Adriana was doing homework, I did what any good dad would do with his 4-yr-old and watched a movie about the end of the world.

We enjoyed the drama and the comedy (and awful singing) and had lots of discussion about what our new resurrected bodies will be like (force fields Myles, really?) He was pretty bummed that he can't take his 'monster guy' stuffed pillow with him to Heaven!

No matter what your view on end times (Christians disagree on the details/timing/sequence of the Second Coming, but agree that He will indeed return!), this is a helpful movie because we all need to examine our life view of eternity and we're all called to respond to the call to forsake our sin and give our life to Christ. I love the blood transfusion analogy (in the movie a guy gets bitten by a cobra--check it out!)

My pastor doesn't teach 'pre-tribulation rapture' so I can't endorse that view, but still, this is a fun movie to see and actually has a pretty good Gospel message! If you can get past the horrible short-shorts worn by shirtless MEN, you will be fine!

Video - The Gospel Song

A friend shared this video on FB. It's amazing! Beautiful animations describing Christ's substitution for sinners.



HT: Jason

What is the Bible About?

Great video featuring Tim Keller. Is the Bible a list of things God doesn't want us to do? I was stirred to worship Christ, who is written about in every page of the Bible.




HT: Erik

Can you be a Christian and be free from persecution?

A friend sent this video with the disclaimer: "This will jack you up." Indeed it did.



Three Scriptures come to mind.

• Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11)
  
• Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12)
• Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:31-33, cf Matthew 10:16-33)
  

Ask yourself what I'm asking myself right now. Am I willing to be persecuted for being a follower of Christ? If I'm not being persecuted now, why not? Sure, we live in America, but there are subtle forms of persecution that make us silent (i.e. the religion of 'tolerance'). Certainly we should not seek persecution, but what is hindering me from living a godly life in Christ Jesus which will ultimately lead to persecution? Should I not be more fearful of my Father in heaven than to be looked at sideways by someone who is offended by the Cross of Christ?

Completely Done song by Sovereign Grace

he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
(Ephesians 1:5 ESV)

I'm working on a post about the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory; hope to post here soon. In the meantime here is a song that has taken on increasing significance as I have studied Scripture that tells of the perfect, once for all, complete sacrifice of Christ. One that does not not require our effort in purging ourselves of sin in this life or in an intermediate state of torment after death.

Enjoy the video here complete with lyrics, which I will also post below. If that is not enough, Sovereign Grace makes the song available for a free download here.



What reason have I to doubt
Why would I dwell in fear
When all I have known is grace
My future in Christ is clear

My sins have been paid in full
There’s no condemnation here
I live in the good of this
My Father has brought me near
I’m leaving my fears behind me now

Chorus
The old is gone, the new has come
What You complete is completely done
We’re heirs with Christ, the victory won
What You complete is completely done

I don’t know what lies ahead
What if I fail again
You are my confidence
You’ll keep me to the end
I’m leaving my fears behind me now
from Sovereign Grace Worship

God is Love ... right?

The Bible makes this great affirmation: God is Love (1 John 4:8)! But as Tim Conway* points out in this short video, He is more than just loving and His love is greater than our human minds can comprehend. He is more glorious than that one aspect.

*Sorry, Carol Burnett fans, this is a different Tim Conway. This one preaches the Gospel at Grace Community Church in San Antonio, TX.

Slain Lamb

There is nothing, no one, more worthy of high and lofty words than Jesus Christ. So when I heard this 'song/sermon' I had to find a way to share it here. This video makes use of the 'Slain Lamb Outro' piece on the album Unpacked (download for free here), by iSix5.

Excerpts are taken from a sermon by Pastor Smedly Yates, a graduate of The Master's Seminary. Yates sermon, God Never Graduates from the Gospel, was preached at Grace Bible Church in Tempe, AZ on 3/7/2010.

This exalted view of Christ is central to the Scriptures. Tim Juhnke has been preaching through Revelation and his last two sermons have been a spiritual feast. From Revelation 5 we see this idea in The Investiture of the Lamb. Consider downloading Part 1 and Part 2.

Let us focus on the One who is both Lion and Lamb, and who will return to earth to judge the world.

Guarding the Gospel

This is some good preaching by Steve Lawson. The video is just a few pictures rotated, but the Truth in the sermon is powerful!



Give us some men who know the truth!

A video by Reddit Andrews on the wrath/love of God

Why does the Bible devote so much ink to God's wrath if God is a God of love? Reddit Andrews touches on that here on The Gospel Coaltion video page:

Does God Love Everybody the Same Way?

Someone at work asked me if God loves everyone equally, believers and unbelievers. I believe Scripture says no. While I can't begin to understand God's love and all it's facets, I do believe the Scripture is clear that God has a special love for His children.

It is important to remember that it comes down to the basis of that love. On what basis are we loved by God? Genuine believers are the ones who have been broken of their sin and seen their absolute unworthiness of God's love. You can't know grace or mercy if you think you are in any way deserving. Like we heard Wednesday night at FCC, Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9:1-13 (see 2 Sam 4:4), was a lowlife socially and the grandson of King David's enemy Saul. But because of his love for Jonathan, David sought him out and gave this social outcast (lame in both feet) a place at the royal table so he could feast with the King daily. In the same way, there is nothing loveable or adorable about me that would make God choose me and adopt me into His family. But to say that He loves those who reject him to the grave in the exact same way, ... that to me is not what Scripture teaches. This is especially chilling when I think that people I love and care may prove by their rejection of Christ, that they are not loved this way.

All mankind is born a rebel to the King and His enemy. We are born dead spiritually and need a miracle to be saved. God clearly has the power to raise us to life the way Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave (John 11:43-44). We put limits on God's sovereignty if we say that there are people in hell that He loved the same way as His own. Does this not say that He was not powerful enough to save them? We give ourselves too much credit if we say that there was something special about us that caught God's eye to save us.

Here is a short video of John Piper discussing this very thing. It is not comprehensive, but he goes to Scripture for an answer to this tough question.



Listen to Jesus words in the High Priestly prayer (John 17) and ask yourself if Jesus loves everyone the same way.

1When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

One final note. While God loves His sheep in a special saving way, there is one thing that is clear. We do not know who will ultimately become born again. We should never write anyone off as being hopeless. The Bible and experience (i.e. me!) gives a wealth of evidence that God can change the worst of sinners. Look no further than the apostle Paul (Acts 9:1-19)! He was dragging Christians away from their families and throwing them in prison for worshiping Christ, and this on the very day that Christ encountered him on the road to Damascus to change his heart and history forever. So this truth should not affect our evangelistic fervor. In fact quite the opposite. It is empowering to know that we don't have to win souls, God does that! We just have to be faithful to share the glorious truth of the Gospel and leave the results to God.

Persecution in Israel

On Sunday, our church heard a sermon from the letter to the Church at Philadelphia (not Pennsylvania) in Rev 3:7-13. Tim Juhnke also played a video along with the sermon. But like many churches, he didn't play a clip from a popular movie or something else to entertain us. This was more like an illustration that gave a very good idea of the kind of persecution that the church in Philadelphia was going through. Here is the video that was shared.

Messianic Jews (i.e. ethnic Jews who have believed in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God) are being persecuted for worshiping Christ in Israel.

Two things come to mind.

First, what is our reaction to our Jewish friends in Israel who are persecuting Christians? It goes without saying that we ought to pray for them. Jesus said to pray for those who persecute us (Matt 5:44). But what about evangelism? In this sermon, Tim speaks against John Hagee's dual covenant view. Hagee teaches that we do not need to evangelize Israel, just to bless them and God will bless us. But as Tim powerfully points out:

The only way a Jew will ever participate in the Kingdom of God is through their Messiah Jesus Christ. And if we love Israel, if we love the Jewish people, the greatest thing we can do for them is present to them their Savior Jesus Christ, for He alone is the entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Second, what kind of persecution are we willing to endure for the name of Christ? In fact, Paul says that "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim 3:12, emphasis mine)" Tim wondered what the impact would be to Faith Community Church if we had to walk through a mob of people screaming insults to get to worship Christ. What are we willing to risk for Christ?

T4G Video

Couldn't make it to T4G? They have made video available of all the speakers! Click here.

Music for you

Free music abounds, so I thought I would wrap these together into one post. I expect there is something for everyone ...

This is last minute (it's today), but if you enjoy listening to a master concert pianist, and live in the north part of KC, check out Andrew Sheffield do his thing TODAY! He is giving a free piano recital at 2:30pm at New Hope Church of the Nazarene, located on North Oak, just north of Briarcliff Road. Andrew has a gift for music and uses it to edify the body at FCC where her serves as worship leader.

Another gifted musician who needs more pub is Nathan Clark George. I talk about him often, and for good reason! He has now added a new free tune on his site. The music is great, but even better are the words. Here is the first verse:

All men are but mortal, all flesh fades like grass
Only through deaths portal to, eternal life we pass
This body here must perish, before it gains reward
Heavenly joys to cherish, for the ransomed of the Lord

Click here to see how he came up with the song, and download it for free!

As we travel the spectrum of musical styles, let's kick off our shoes and pick up a fiddle! I came across this delightful video in a google search for the Rolf Family (featured in this post).



Here is the official Rolf Family website. Devon, if you're reading, I suggest you add an 'Events' section to the site and fill it up with nearby venues!

Finally, slap on your ear goggles (headphones) on and pic up the mic. If you enjoy theology AND rap music, you can download a free album from iSix5 (short for Isaiah 6:5), from Grace Bible Church in Tempe, Arizona. If you're like me, and don't catch all the words, here are the lyrics. Good stuff, lots of Scripture, lots of theology, Christ-exalting. Here is a quick taste:

God Himself is guardin what He placed inside of me/
And His indwelling Spirit is constantly reminding me/
I was filled and sealed to let the flesh die to me/
Conforming to the image of Him, cuz I'm tryna see/
Less JG, that's why I am denying me/
I must decrease to increase His notoriety/

Thanks, Andrew B for that one!

Sorry polka fans, I have nothing for you.

**UPDATE! Devon pointed me to this newer video of the family performing at Silver Dollar City. Enjoy! **

John Piper videos

John Piper answers a couple of tough questions:

Hip Hop for Haiti

Hip Hop for Haiti concert featuring Lecrae, Flame, Json, DJ Essence, and DJ Official



HT: DesiringGod

Take a Swim in the God Pool

This is great ...


HT:Luke

What is the Gospel? by John Piper

HT:Jason

John Piper in prison!

OK, provocative title, but I have your attention, right? John Piper answers questions from the inmates in the Angola prison.



These guys ask some very good questions about eternal security, marriage, suicide, election and more. It's great to watch Piper's animated responses. Enjoy!
HT: Luke