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Education, Graduation and A Guest

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On Sunday, June 6, our special guest at Crestview will be Pat Nurre, who is a geologist and will be speaking on creation type issues. I was very excited and interested when I opened up the latest World Magazine and found an article entitled It’s The Pronouns, Stupid about religious expression at graduation with Pat Nurre, his wife Vicki and their daughter Kathryn. Evidently they took a case to the Supreme Court about religious expression at graduation. The article fills out the details. It’s a good read.

On Eschatology

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If thed lead eitorial from the latest Southern Baptist Journal of Theology is any indication of the issue itself, there is much help to be gained by its consumption. In this editorial, Thinking Biblically and Theologically about Eschatology, Stephen Wellum writes how we shouldn’t run from eschatology, as we often do for the wrong reasons. We should pursue it because:

In truth, eschatology, properly understood, is nothing more than a thorough study of God’s great act of redemption in Jesus the Christ. Eschatology, then, not only presents us with the Bible’s meta-narrative, it also unpacks how that grand story is centered in Jesus. How our Lord was not only anticipated and predicted in the OT, but how, in our Lord’s coming he has literally ushered in and inaugurated the “last days.” By his incarnation and life, supremely his death, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost, God’s promised plan of salvation has been accomplished, and now we await and anticipate the consummation of that plan in the glorious appearing of the King of kings and the Lord of lords (see Eph 1:9-10; Phil 2:6-11; Rev 4-5; 19:1-21). When eschatology is presented in this way, not only is it true to the Scripture, it is also able to move us to action, obedience, worship, and service. Such eschatology will never leave us merely satisfied with this world, but it will orient us towards the future where the church will rightly learn to cry afresh with the church of all ages, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20).

A Table of Contents is also available for a peak, but Wellum’s editorial is fantastic (and only 2 pages). Enjoy.

Free Kid’s CD – Jesus Came To Save Sinners

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Following Matt Chandler’s Twitter Feed, I came across this new worship project for children released Sunday. The Village Church (the church Chandler pastors) has done a project for kids entitled Jesus Came To Save Sinners. Best of all, this project is available as a free download on their site (or you can ITunes or Amazon it for a cost). Here’s their description of this project:

“Jesus Came to Save Sinners” contains five original songs that teach children about the character and nature of God and His plan to save sinners through Jesus Christ. These songs correspond with the five foundational truths – Jesus Came to Save Sinners, God is Good, God is in Charge of Everything, God Wants to Talk with Us, God Made Everything – taught each weekend in our preschool ministry, The Little Village. The mission and vision of The Little Village is “to partner with parents to build a firm spiritual foundation for their children.” Our hope is that these songs will be an effective tool in engaging your children with the truth of who God is as you endeavor to obey the biblical call to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

I would encourage you to take advantage of this amazing resource.

Praying for the Persecuted Church

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On Saturday, I received my latest edition of Voice of the Martyrs magazine, calling us to be praying for the needs of the persecuted church. There’s even an online map showing the areas of greatest need. Let’s pray for perseverance and boldness for Christians among these nations.

On a related note, David Platt does Secret Church which is one outlet for tapping the needs of the persecuted church. The website says:

When we think of “church” in America, we think of going to meet at a building, singing, praying and hearing a message from a Pastor or teacher. But in many places around the world, “church” meets in a home, an apartment, even in secret. These small groups of Christ-followers often meet for many hours in study, prayer and fellowship, as it is dangerous to travel to “church” and they want to make the most of their time together.

Secret Church is our “house church,” where we meet periodically for an intense time of Bible study–lasting 4-6 hours–and prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters across the globe. This is not for the uncommitted or faint at heart. But if you desire to know God more deeply through His Word, and know His Church more fully around the world, then please join us for Secret Church.

God will use this focused time of study to enrich our knowledge of His Word as we gain understanding of the state of His Church and our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. The objective of Secret Church is for you to pass along what you learn to others, so that you can make disciples of Christ–both locally and globally.

Check out the resources. But above all…PRAY!

Weekend Recap – Alive

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Today’s sermon, Alive, from Colossians 2:13-15 is now online. It was amazing, in this message to unfold what God has done to make us alive in Christ. My two applications from Charles Simeon were:
What a wonderful sight is the cross of Christ!
What folly it is to suffer ourselves to be diverted from it!

To put it simply, God has snatched us from death, cancelled our debts and vanquished our enemies in Christ. Is there really anything else?

Men’s Retreat Wrap Up – Good Fellowship/Teaching

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The Men’s Retreat is a wrap.

Last night, we went to Trotman’s Farm and were able to eat some great grilled animal (ok, just hot dogs, brats and hamburgers, but it was still grilled animal). We then watched Mark Driscoll’s sermon Marriage and Men and were greatly challenged. I developed application questions. From there we hung out by the fire.

Today, things got started with breakfast (some good Starbucks’ Espresso Roast, meat, eggs, pancakes, potatoes, etc.) Then, we did a team building activity aiming at showing how much more effective we can be as men when we receive the insight of others. It was a great weekend and really encouraging.

Ash on Preaching (5)

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Continuing my series of posts, appreciating Christopher Ash’s book The Priority of Preaching, here are two quotes from p.64 on why we need preaching:

Every Scripture calls us today in some manner to repent and believe afresh, for the Christian just as much as the non-Christian.

If teaching is like a signpost which explains clearly to us where we ought to go and how to go there, preaching is like a friendly but firm shove from behind to get us started on actually going there and to keep us moving.

I coupled these together so that the push mentioned in the bottom quote would have a context. But, what a picture this is and what grace from God to give us preaching for such a reason. I hope you are encouraged as you consider listening to God’s Word this coming Lord’s Day.

Weekend Preview – 5/9/10

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As we prepare for the Lord’s Day this weekend, we will be looking at Colossians 2:13-15 in the AM service (PM Services will be cancelled for Mother’s Day). The focus will be on how God has made us spiritually alive in Christ. Here’s an excellent quote from Peter O’Brien, NT Scholar extraordinaire, on the truth of this passage:

Christ is the One whom [the Colossians] received as Lord. Let them continue to live in Him, for He is the One in whom the entire fullness of the Godhead dwells, the One in whom they had been made full, the person in whom they have been incorporated in death, burial, resurrection. It is in Him they have been raised and given new life. What really matters, then, is Christ and Christ alone.

Well said. Plan coming to focus on all that really matters, then, this Lord’s Day.

Ash on Preaching (4)

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As I’ve mentioned Christopher Ash’s book The Priority of Preaching really affected me, so I am blogging some thoughts/quotes that stuck out to me. Another one is found on p.61:

We need repeated preaching, because by nature we will never repent and believe. We will ‘move on’ from the simple gospel of daily repentance, daily taking up the cross, daily faith, to a supposed higher life, a more sophisticated life, some kind of super-spiritual life in which repentance and faith are too ordinary and simple to be practiced. This is what will happen unless we sit under faithful preaching.

What really stuck out to me in this was how I need preaching. We don’t tend to think in those ways. Many of us think that our Bible reading is sufficient and what Ash is communicating here is that while that is good, the preached word wields a power that the Spirit uses to keep us centered in the things that really matter. I know I need this. I need sermons I am preparing to affect my heart so that I don’t keep up the same. We need preaching. It matters for our “todays”.