Amazed by a Pure and Elevated View of Christ

As you read throughthe Gospel of Mark, you noticed these words showing up again and again describing the way people responded to Jesus:
“amazed,”
“astounded,” 
“afraid,”
“terrified,”
“marveled.”

Think closely on these phrases:
“utterly astounded”
“astonished beyound measure.”

This Sunday morning at Bethel Grace we enter into the life of Christ . Mark will introduce us to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the prologue, he will line up five testimonies revealing to us the glory of who Jesus is and what he came to do.  I am praying that you will be amazed, astounded, and astonished at his glory and grace.

Jesus is our banner.  Pray He will be lifted high and draw all men to himself.

~Jeff

A smorgasboard from around the web

It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t had a chance to post anything. I have come across several good posts on-line though, and since I don’t know which to link to, here’s a smorgasboard of good stuff from around the web (as usual, I found most of this stuff thanks to Tim Challies and Justin Taylor!):

• John Piper wrote a thought-provoking post entitled, “Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies” . This post also includes a wonderful example of humbly confessing sin. 
• Keith and Kristen Getty have released a new album of modern, celtic-style hymns. Their lyrics are saturated with Scripture and their music is beautiful! You can listen to samples and/or order the CD here.
• Sovereign Grace Music has released another children’s album entitled, To Be Like Jesus. Read about it here.
• Tim Challies asked John Bell, pastor of New City Baptist Church in Toronto, to share about his experience sharing the gospel with the gay community in his city. It is well worth reading - to help us think biblically about homosexuality, and to help us in God-honoring evangelism and church life. There is also some very interesting discussion in the comments, especially involving a number of men who struggle with homosexuality but turn from it because of their commitment to Christ. Read this post here. 
• If you’re compiling a summer reading list, you might find these 2 posts from David Powlison to be of interest. Powlison is a bilical counselor, professor, and author, and he spent some time this week discussing some of his favorite literature with CJ Mahaney. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.  
• What does Kurt Warner, a Christian who plays quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, like most about being a professional football player? His very encouraging answer is here.   

Blessings…

~Donovan

Homosexuality and the Church

Al Mohler:

“The times demand Christian courage. These days, courage means that preachers and Christian leaders must set an agenda for biblical confrontation, and not shrink from dealing with the full range of issues related to homosexuality. We must talk about what the Bible teaches about gender–what it means to be a man or a woman. We must talk about God’s gift of sex and the covenant of marriage. And we must talk honestly about what homosexuality is, and why God has condemned this sin as an abomination in His sight…

…And yet, even as courage is required, the times call for another Christian virtue as well–compassion. The tragic fact is that every congregation is almost certain to include persons struggling with homosexual desire or even involved in homosexual acts. Outside the walls of the church, homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say, after we declare that homosexuality is a sin…

…We cannot settle for truth without love nor love without truth. The Gospel settles the issue once and for all. This great moral crisis is a Gospel crisis. The genuine Body of Christ will reveal itself by courageous compassion, and compassionate courage. We will see this realized only when men and women freed by God’s grace from bondage to homosexuality feel free to stand up in our churches and declare their testimony–and when we are ready to welcome them as fellow disciples. Millions of hurting people are waiting to see if we mean what we preach.”

You can read the whole article, “No Truth Without Love, No Love Without Truth”, here.

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

A few Easter-related posts

• Old Testament professor and author, Walter Kaiser, wrote a brief post explaining why we can properly speak of Jesus being in the tomb for 3 days. Read it here. (HT: Tim Challies)
• Justin Taylor references 1 Corinthians 5:7–”Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”, and points us to Todd Bolen’s explanation of why we should watch this graphic video of a passover lamb being slaughtered.
• Dan Philips references Justin’s post and the video, and dives into the theology of a sacrifice for sin found throughout Scripture. You can read his post, “A holy day — not a pretty day”, here.
• Last year we posted an article by John Piper on the results of the resurrection. You can read it here.

Blessings to you as you meditate on Christ’s sacrifice for you, and all that is your in Him.

~Donovan

Sunday’s Comin!

 

Good Friday is “good” because Sunday came. Jesus IS risen! He is risen indeed!!

~Donovan

HT: Mark Spicer

That’s Easter

These two short (less than 5 minute) videos are very well done. One of them addresses evidence for the resurrection, and the other addresses the significance of Easter in Christianity. Check them out here.

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

A powerful gospel illustration: Jesus wants the rose!

Matt Chandler gave this illustration in his message at a recent Desiring God conference:

 

The gospel is beautiful, isn’t it?

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

James MacDonald on Brian McLaren

James MacDonald:

“I do not view Brian as an ‘erring weaker brother,’ worthy of sympathy or olive branches, but rather as a dangerous false teacher who repackages mainline liberal theology. (Have the past 50 years not been adequate to see how liberal theology empties churches and damns souls?)

More dangerous still is that McLaren packages his false teaching and denials of Scripture as  solutions to some of the excesses currently plaguing evangelicalism—the danger being his winning over of young people who have legitimate complaints about the current church, but who lack the discernment to see that his solutions are often unbiblical even when his critiques are fair.”

In the rest of his blog post, James MacDonald explains why he believes McLaren is teaching error, and whay he believes it’s biblical to name such people publically. Read it here.

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

The Centrality of the Gospel

     

From an essay by D.A. Carson on “The Biblical Gospel” (in For Such a Time as This: Perspectives on Evangelicalism, Past, Present and Future, ed. Steve Brady and Harold Rowdon [London: Evangelical Alliance, 1986], p. 83):

Pundits have often noted that many in the Western world have become single-issue people. The church is not immune from such influences. The result is that many Christians assume the gospel (often, regrettably, some form of the ‘simple gospel’) but are passionate about something on the relative periphery: abortion, poverty, forms of worship, cultural decay, ecology, overpopulation, pornography, family breakdown, and much more. By labelling these complex subjects ‘relatively peripheral’ I open myself to attack from as many quarters as there are subjects on the list. For example, some of those whose every thought is shaded green will not be convinced that the ecological problems we face are peripheral to human survival. But I remain quite unrepentant. From a biblical-theological perspective, these challenges, as serious as they are, are reflections of the still deeper problem—our odious alienation from God. If we tackle these problems without tackling what is central, we are merely playing around with symptoms. This is no excuse for Christians not to get involved in these and many other issues. But it is to insist that where we get involved in such issues, many of which are explicitly laid upon us in scripture, we do so from the centre out, ie beginning with full-orbed gospel proclamation and witness and passion, and then, while acknowledging that no one can do everything, doing our ‘significant something’ to address the wretched entailments of sin in our world. The good news of Jesus Christ will never allow us to be smug and other-worldly in the face of suffering and evil. But what does it profit us to save the world from smog and damn our own souls? There are lots of ways of getting rid of pornography. For instance, one does not find much smut in Saudi Arabia. But one doesn’t find much of the gospel there, either.

The point is that in all our efforts to address painful and complex societal problems, we must do so from the centre, out of a profound passion for the gospel. This is for us both a creedal necessity and a strategic choice. It is a creedal necessity because this gospel alone prepares men and women for eternity, for meeting our Maker—and all problems are relativized in the contemplation of the cross, the final judgement, and eternity. It is a strategic choice because we are persuaded that the gospel, comprehensively preached in the power of the Spirit, will do more to transform men and women, not least their attitudes, than anything else in the world.

HT: Justin Taylor

In a similar vein, Carson makes these comments in “Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians” [Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic], pp26-27:

                         

The Gospel Coalition

Some of you may not know about The Gospel Coalition. Click here to see their website and watch an introductory video.