T4G Review Part 3

I know it has been 2 weeks since Together for the Gospel, but I still have some remaining thoughts. Honestly I am glad to still be chewing on what I heard and saw 2 weeks ago. It is so easy to have that conference "mountaintop" and then come back and become consumed with normal life and wonder where that feeling went for that reason I am glad to still be thinking and at times overwhelmed with what took place 2 weeks ago in Kentucky.

Thabiti Anyabwile was the 2nd speaker of the conference and needless to say was a paradigm breaker. Thabiti discussed how as a Christian we need to realize that there is no such thing as race. He preached from Genesis showing that all humans are genetically linked through Adam and therefore we cannot claim race differences. He said that we can claim ethnicity difference and in fact we should celebrate those much like we see them celebrated in Revelation. When one uses the word race though, more than not it is used to divide and show one group superior to another. This concept was new to many of us in that auditorium that night and one that I think left us all saying "That makes so much sense!" and then wondering where we go from here. A funny part of the night was when Thabiti did claim C. J. Mahaney and John Piper as having "Ghetto Passes" and being part of the brothers, I would like to claim C. J. and Piper as well as Driscoll and Anthony Bradley as having a "Barrio Pass" and being part Latino.

The night concluded with a nice stout and round table discussion with some of the staff of DSC.

Click here to listen to: Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church

Trust Him Here and Now

"God has been pleased to give his dear Son, his only-begotten Son, to die a
most dreadful death, not for righteous ones, but for sinners. Jesus Christ
came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. If you are a
sinner, you are the sort of person Christ came to save. If you are a lost
one, you are the sort of man that Jesus Christ came to seek. Let your present
sorrow comfort you, because it is an indication that you are the kind of
person that Christ will bless. Let your despair deliver you from despair, for
when you despair there is hope for you. When you can do nothing, God will do
everything. When you are empty of your own conceits, there is room for Christ
to enter your heart. When you are stripped, Christ's garments are provided
for you. When you are hungry, the bread that cometh down from heaven is
provided for you. When you are thirsty, the water of life is yours. Let this
broken-heartedness, this terror, this alarm, this faintness, this weakness of
yours, only lead you to say, "I am such as Christ invited to himself. I will
go to him, and if I perish, I will perish only there"; and if you trust
Jesus, you shall never perish, neither shall any pluck you out of his hand.
May you trust him here and now. Amen."

Charles Spurgeon

These Feet

These feet are under my care,
These feet are under my watch,
These feet are under my leadership,
These feet are dependant on me,
Where will these feet go one day?
What trials will these feet endure?
What trends, or systems will these feet folllow?
What pain will they walk into?
What joy will they run to?
Will they dance at weddings?
Will they run on a basketball court?
Will they feel the sand on a beach?
Will they stumble?

Oh Father keep them close to You,
Let these feet run to You,
Let them jump for joy in Your presence,
Let them stand firmly planted in Your Word.

Father allow me to follow hard after You,
I am weak and You are strong,
I am helpless, hold me up,
Allow me to follow hard after You,

That these feet would follow after me only as far as I follow after You!

Amen

Real Men of Genius

We salute the Mega Church Pastor today!!



Yes not nearly as good as the Bud commercials, but still pretty funny...

Props: Irish Calvinist

Awesome New Application

PicLens is an awesome find. Greg Qualls had a recommendation on his blog about this cool pic and video viewing app that you can add onto Firefox (Click Here for the Add On). I watched the YouTube video (Go to his post here to see it) and was sold. It is a very sweet and slick app and I add my recommendation to Mr. Quall's!!

Props: Greg Qualls aka The Beerean

Clarus 08 ReMix Video: D.A. Carson and Michael Horton

I did another video to preview our conference next week, if you live in NM, you better come and check it out!!!!!

Clarus 08: D.A. Carson and Michael Horton-Video Preview

Desert Springs Church's Annual Conference called Clarus is taking place on May 2nd thru the 4th. This conference looks to be pretty sweet, the speakers are D.A. Carson and Michael Horton.

Check out the preview video.

World Religion in 90 Seconds

Whatcha think?

Props: Shlog

T4G Review Part 2

The first session of the conference featured Ligon Duncan who is pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS. Lig discussed the utter importance of not abandoning systematic theology. I had never heard Lig talk live before and was very impressed by his presence. It was a good kick off to the conference for me and from then on I knew that this conference would challenge me and edify this young punk. I often get so caught up in the importance of t meta narratives that I sometimes easily lose sight of the systematic process of viewing scripture and understanding that scripture is clear and definitive on a number of subjects. Although I did not agree totally with Lig's initial talk for I felt that he was a little to far on the pedulum almost ruling out the importance of narrative altogether. This area was somewhat cleared up during the panel discussion that followed where Lig said that Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology are not at odds but are in fact friends of one another.

Besides the session one thing that struck me was the singing, Zach has a post on this, but it was breathtaking to hear 5000 mostly men singing to our Lord. It was a wonderful way to start the conference and it whet my appetite for what was to come.

Click Here for Lig's Message "Sound Doctrine - Essential to Faithful Pastoral Ministry"

Could The Kid from Growing Pains be Reformed??

This is a great video testimony of Kirk Cameron's coming to faith in Jesus Christ. It is well articulated and also has great commentary by John MacArthur (Me endorse MacArthur?? I know, crazy). I suggest you take 10 minutes and sit and watch this, it is edifying to the soul!



Props: The World From Our Window

The Latino Trio at T4G

Here is a rare picture of the Three Latino men of Desert Springs Church, Myself on the left, B-Lo in the middle and the Honduran Heart-throb Memo. Sorry ladies all three are taken, by lovely, sweet white ladies.

Thanks Z for taking the pic!

No Seriously What The !!???

Newsweek has highlighted a story about a new children's book about when mommy has a nose job, what the??? Having a 2 year old daughter, I weep over what pressures she will face to look "pretty". May I raise her with the knowledge (only God can give her believing knowledge) of the true beauty of the cross of Christ, that her esteem is found in the "primitive obscene" (as R.C. Sproul said this week at T4G) horror of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and there she is given a real, unchanging eternal beauty that is not about looks or new noses! This new children's book highlights what our culture says is "true beauty"...

Props: Josh Harris

A Cute Friday Video

I have a 6 week baby boy and a 2 year old and maybe that is why I appreciate this video so much.



Props: Out at Arch

ESV Study Bible Is Sweeeeeet!!!!

The new Batman movie? Harry Potter? Narnia?? No the most anticipated debut will be coming this fall with the ESV Study Bible! This past week while touring around the bookstore at T4G I got to look at touch the ESV Study Bible at the Crossway exhibit. It is an amazing bible, I will even go out on the limb and say just from the brief reading and look at the bible, it is going to be the most sought after and used Study Bible Ever! So many notes and colored maps and the ESV Translation there is not another Study Bible with these great strengths! I plan to get myself 2 one for home and one of the office, and also purchase one for the leaders of our college ministry when this bible comes out.


Click here for the ESV Study Bible Website.

For me there is another kicker to this all as well, many of the professors at Covenant Theological Seminary where I currently am enrolled are contributors to this great Study Bible, Dr. Sean Michael Lucas lists how Covenant is represented:

• 
  

• Jack Collins (Old Testament editor; Psalms; Song of Solomon; "Theology of the Old Testament"; "How the NT Quotes and Interprets the Old");
• Jay Sklar (Leviticus);
• Brian Aucker (Joel, Micah, Haggai);
• Hans Bayer (Mark);
• David Chapman (NT Archeology editor; Hebrews; "The Roman Empire and the Greco-Roman World"; "Archeology, Ancient History, and the Reliability of the NT"); and
• Greg Perry ("Old Testament Charts and Timelines").

It also has contributions by emeritus professor Bob Vasholz (Hosea) and current adjunct professors Ken Harris (Exodus; Proverbs) and Dan Doriani ("How to Interpret the Bible").

So yeah I am pretty amped for this Study Bible, and you should be too!

T4G Review Part 1

Well I have made it back to the 505 after a incredible, incredible week at Together for the Gospel in Louisville, KY. I did not blog at all while out there due to time, I felt for me that I really wanted to use all my waking time getting to know and converse with the people I came with along with some other friends I made on this trip, plus I am a wuss and need lots of sleep :). So this is my post T4G re-caps. Here is part 1.


The first highlighted portion of my trip was the Band of Blogger luncheon in the Hotel. This featured a couple hundred bloggers and was a panel discussion featuring Tim Challis, Abraham Piper, Thabiti Anyabwile and Phil Johnson. This was a cool experience because all these fellas blogs are on my Google reader and now I can put a face to the blog so that was neat. In a lot of ways their discussions were on topics that have been swirling around my head about blogging and this new form of communication. The best line was by Thabiti who said regarding what the essence of our blogs should be was really what the stain of our life should be that is, whatever we do writing or thinking it needs to be stained by the blood of the Cross. How true is that statement, and how horrible am I at living that statement out?

Overall the lunch was a good start to the conference, I still think some of us bloggers take ourselves too seriously and act like the Kingdom will not progress without our blog or our opinion being out to the whole world. The blog is truly the cult of the amateur and like all things has great aspects and not so great aspects. But may we who blog not forget Thabiti's exhortation of whatever we post may it be marked by the blood of the Cross!

Headed to Louisville for Together 4 The Gospel

Yep I will be flying out today with Zach, Greg, B-Lo and the rest of the DSC crew for a fun, deep weekend. I hope to do some updates while out there...

What the...??

In our Youth/College room at Church we have this flag off in the corner often it is hidden and put in a closet. It just seems kind of weird to me that there is a flag like this. It almost for me makes me think of the Crusades and days of forced conversion to Christianity (which often meant no real conversion). I am still not wise to all things Christian, at least as far as the sub-culture is concerned and I kinda like that. This however is something I could use some help on, where did this flag come from? Why do we have it? Should I wave it on flag day? Should I do a pledge to it, maybe recite a DC Talk song or something at it?

Anyone? Anyone?

American Idol Gets Their Praise On Re-Mix

Last night on "American Idol" the final 8 contestants sang "Shout to the Lord" like they did the previous night, this time however they did use the correct words. The first night they replaced "Jesus" with "Shepherd", they switched it back and last night was a cool God-Glorifying night. Whether you love the show or not, I am not a fan at all, it is a cool thing to see Jesus being sung to even if for the people it was more of a performance than anything else.

What's next Oprah confesses that Jesus is the only way?!? Yeah probably not.



Props: Think Christian

Lobo Basketball Banquet Prayer Request

I have been hit hard the past 5 days with the flu and have just today made it back to work and still do not feel 100% yet. The show goes on however. Tonight is the Lobo Basketball Banquet where season awards are handed out and boosters get to pretend they made the dunks with J.R. Giddens and the 3pt Shots with Chad Toppert. I am set to give the opening prayer for the dinner, please if you have a few seconds to spare this night, pray for me. I wrote out my prayer, so maybe pray that I do not pass out while praying or during any point of the night. I have been blessed to be part of the team in this small way and look forward to future involvement as well.

Tonight!!! Tonight!!!! It is Back!!!!

Bliss Apologizes

Former UNM Basketball Coach Dave Bliss this past week apologized and discussed his role in the scandal that rocked Baylor University. Bliss had been demonized in college basketball for his role, but as a former employee and still friend of Coach Bliss I saw a different man. I saw a man that loved his players and staff. I was also friends with Patrick Dennehey who was murdered while attending Baylor which then led into the scandal at Baylor and Bliss's dismissal from the university. Bliss could have just disappeared never to be seen again living a quite life. What is beautiful about this ugly mess is that he didn't, he has not swept this under the rug. He has shown some true repentance. This past week Coach Bliss spoke at the Athletes in Action at the Final Four:

"If I was sitting out there, I would say, how can someone who did some of the things I did ever show up at the Final Four, much less speak at it," Bliss said, speaking at a function for Athletes in Action, a Christian sports ministry.

"When you get past denial for a sin, you can cope with just about anything."

Bliss said pride and pressure led him to commit NCAA violations by making illegal payments, then try to cover them up after Carlton Dotson murdered Patrick Dennehy by urging others to portray the murder victim as a drug-dealer.

"The aspect of a cover-up is in so many sins. The aspect of my cover-up was so disgusting," said Bliss, who spoke with a Bible in his lap and cried and halted at points.

Click here for the LA Times Article

Love Darkness Rather Than Light

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

This is what this commercial made me think of...

Sup Yo!

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!!!

Helping the Homeless

So this has been a topic for our church, you can read Zach's blog about this here (Zach is our worship leader), you can read Parker's blog post here (Parker is our Pastoral Intern). Basically it comes down to the question of how do we as a church best serve the homeless and needy of our city? It is a question we have been wrestling with over the past 3 weeks or so as a gentleman has crossed our path in need and we have reached out to him. I think we can all collectively say we have dropped the ball in some areas, and we have done what seems is best in others. It seems though for many of us in Desert Springs Church, especially us younger punks, we are learning daily what it means to love and serve the orphan, widow and poor and needy. Some of what I, being a young punk learned was:

1. It is not black and white, it seems many of us keep coming back to a structure needed, a program or list of rules about what we do with these people. That does not seem biblical or really all that practical, sense every circumstance and person is unique. Structure is needed and just handing out cash and sending someone on their way is not showing biblical love, but there seems to be more gray than anything else.

2. We are inadequate at this task. It seems that a lot of us are beating ourselves up over what we did not do right with this gentleman and maybe it is more the fact that he was not converted and is not saved right now. We need to expect that when we help 10 maybe only 1 will return, much like Jesus healing the lepers. We learn from our mistakes that we made, and I made some with this gentleman, but we press on from there not gazing too long at our navel.

3. Helping people is never a question of whether one deserves the help or not. None of us deserve anything but Hell, and eternal punishment. We all are law breakers and rebels to our Holy King in Heaven, but have been given GRACE by God, not because we deserve, but because He loves. This wipes away our judgment of who is deserving of love. The question is not, do they deserve? The question is rather, how do I best love this person?

All in all I have learned a ton from this gentleman and our interaction with him. I hope to continue to learn for the rest of my life what it means to serve, love and live out the gospel.

What does your church do? What do you do in this task?