What Thales Leites Needs To Do To Win Tonight

Tonight at UFC 97 Anderson "Spider" Silva defends his middle weight belt against Thales Leites.No one is giving Leites much of a chance, including myself. Silva is almost unstoppable, and outside crazy once in a lifetime submissions he will not lose tonight. Want proof? Watch what this dude had to do to beat the "Spider" back in Pride.

Piper Interviews Chandler

From Desiring God, John Piper does a sit down 4 part interview with Matt Chandler.

After our pastors conference in February, John Piper sat down with Matt Chandler for a conversation that is now available in 4 parts.

• Part 1 - Chandler tells his story up to about 20 years old.
• Part 2 - More on Chandler's story, through becoming a pastor.
• Part 3 - Chandler's thoughts on being a pastor, a Calvinist, and a Complementarian.
• Part 4 - Chandler and Piper finish up with some advice for pastor.

Jesus Wants The Rose!!

Come from a jacked up home? Do you feel like sin has beaten the crap out of you? Do you feel broken inside? HEAR MATT CHANDLER, SOAK IN THIS VIDEO AND TRUTH!!!


Props: Z and Desiring God

Matt Chandler: A Missional Rebuke and Plea

If this quote from Matt Chandler's Easter Sermon does not encourage and devastate you all at once, read it again...

"Ladies how many bible studies are we going to do, I am just saying, can we maybe run some of the plays instead of just studying them? Men, how many bible studies we gonna do, how much you going to study before you start to play? I mean that’s what makes the thing so stupid down here. Everybody can talk it, nobody wants to engage anybody with it. Or at least very few of us do. Why? Well cause I have a lust issue. Well OK, submit to Christ, get in recovery, and live on mission, it will reveal all that stuff, it will be horrible, God will just rip it out of you and replace it with His grace and mercy, it will be awesome in the end. I mean if you’re waiting till you’re perfect to live life on mission you’re going to die without much mission. It’s coming! Do you get this? Do you get that 2000 years ago, in fact farther back than than He told Abram, “This is how it’s going down.” and it has stayed true to the line right up till now where a massive portion of Africa has become believers, a massive portion of China has become believers, South America blowing up with the gospel. The gospel is penetrating the world, do you know how this ends? With you and me in front of Him with the Kingdom of God, new heaven, new earth coming down, no more injustice, no more pain, no more sorrow, God’s redeemed, God’s elect, God’s Kingdom, Kingdom of God, established! Now do you think anybody is going to give a trash how much money you have right now? How much comfort you have right now? Who’s cool and who’s not? Who drove what and who didn’t? Who was well liked in the neighborhood and who wasn’t? You think ANY of that is going to matter? No one will care! But a lot of people will be embarrassed."

Matt is the lead pastor of The Village Church in Texas.

Click Here to Download the entire sermon, it is well worth your time!

All Dudes Watch This Now!

Working in college ministry has done one thing for sure, opened my eyes to the amount of little boys there are in their 20's who pretend to be men, Mark Driscoll hits the nail on the head.


Props: K.Moore

Resurrection Sermons

Over at Next they have posted some sermons dealing with the resurrection. Fitting since it is just after Easter. Also fitting because last night I preached about the resurrection to The Well.

So if you went to The Well and want more insight from dudes light-years ahead of me on the smart scale and gifted scale, check these sermons out!

Joshua Harris
The Resurrection and the Life
John 11:1-44

Sinclair Ferguson
Does the Resurrection Really Matter
1 Corinthians 15:1-20

D.A. Carson
Why Doubt the Resurrection - VIDEO
Why Doubt the Resurrection - AUDIO
John 20:24-31

Kevin DeYoung
Worthy Is The Scapegoat
Lev 16

C.J. Mahaney
Death Swallowed Up In Victory
1 Corinthians 15:17

Last, in the April Webzine we featured Rick Gamache’s crucifixion narrative. He read it at his church on Good Friday and, after listening to it, I can tell you that even if you’ve read it before it’s a different experience to hear him read it out loud. You can get the audio here.

Soak This Up!

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 on a tree." Galatians 3:13

"Our most merciful Father, seeing us to be oppressed and overwhelmed with the curse of the law . . . sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him all the sins of all men, saying, 'You be Peter that denier, Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor, David that adulterer, that sinner who ate the apple in Paradise, that thief who hung upon the cross, and briefly, you be the person who has committed the sins of all men. See therefore that you pay and satisfy for them.'"

Martin Luther, commenting on Galatians 3:13.

Props: Ray Ortlund Jr. (Yes the same Ray Ortlund Jr. that is coming to Clarus)

Sunday is Coming!!!

Props: Christians in Context

Tonight...

Tonight He ate and drank with His disciples...

Tonight He was betrayed by one of his friends...

Tonight He entered a garden, sorrowful almost to the point of death...

Tonight He sat before His Father and prayed...

Tonight His men slept as He wept...

Tonight He trembled before the cup He was about to drink...

Tonight He called out to His Father and was answered with silence...

Tonight He said “Not my will but yours”...

Tonight His Love would sustain...

He's My King, I Wonder If You Know Him

Here is a video we showed last night at The Well as we get ready for Easter.

That's My King! from Albert Martin on Vimeo.

Mercy Ministry v.s. Social Gospel-Keller, Carson and Piper

D.A. Carson, John Piper and Tim Keller have given us a series of conversations about various topics that can be watched over at The Gospel Coalition website. Below is the first episode dealing with how pastors and churches should handle the subject of mercy ministry.

John Piper's initial response is convicting and so true.

David Brooks: The End of Philosophy

David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, sees a change in the way we look at philosophy and evolution due to the fact that we are moral creatures who have absolute right and wrongs.

The rise and now dominance of this emotional approach to morality is an epochal change. It challenges all sorts of traditions. It challenges the bookish way philosophy is conceived by most people. It challenges the Talmudic tradition, with its hyper-rational scrutiny of texts. It challenges the new atheists, who see themselves involved in a war of reason against faith and who have an unwarranted faith in the power of pure reason and in the purity of their own reasoning.

Finally, it should also challenge the very scientists who study morality. They’re good at explaining how people make judgments about harm and fairness, but they still struggle to explain the feelings of awe, transcendence, patriotism, joy and self-sacrifice, which are not ancillary to most people’s moral experiences, but central. The evolutionary approach also leads many scientists to neglect the concept of individual responsibility and makes it hard for them to appreciate that most people struggle toward goodness, not as a means, but as an end in itself.

Click here for more from his NY Times Column

Community of Grace

Tim Chester over at Resurgence shares about how to develop and cultivate communities of grace, something we desperately need in American churches.

Here are the 7 marks that make a Community of Grace:

1. Make the connections

2. Welcome the mess

3. Stop pretending

4. Stop performing

5. Eat and drink with broken people

6. Give people time to change

7. Focus on the heart

Click here for detail of each one of these marks.

There Will Be A Day-Jeremy Camp

I have been battling a cold the past 3 days and it has no sign of relenting, so the thought of a day with no more sickness, even little annoying colds is pretty sweet!


Props: blog.worship.com

Espn Video of Tony's Dunks!

Props:ABQJournal.com

UNM Lobo Tony Danridge 09 Dunk Champ!

Check out these dunks from Tony D!

Twitterific

Yes I Twitter, but I also make fun of myself, so this video is perfect!



Props:Evangelical Outpost

Preach Dangerously!

Craig Groeschel:

Pastor, you are called to preach a dangerous message.

(Notice I didn’t say an “edgy” message. There is a big difference between dangerous and edgy.)

• Preaching the Gospel of Christ is offensive to men. If you’re being criticized for your sex talks and creative marketing and never for preaching Christ, something might be wrong with your preaching.
• Preaching God’s standards will make some people mad. If your sermons always make people feel better about themselves and you never confront their sin, they won’t likely see their need for a Savior.
• Preaching about the miraculous power of God stirs people up. If your typical message is five steps to a better life, you may be overlooking the one step of truly taking God at His word.

I pray our messages become more Spirit-filled, Scripture-packed, and God-annointed!

Humility and Grace, Camp and Driscoll

This post by Steve Camp made my day. Camp has been a vocal critique of Mark Driscoll. At times his commentary has crossed the line to just mean and vindictive (which he admits in this post). What is amazing is that recently Mark and Steve talked and seemed to have reconciled and allowed "love to cover" these differences. This is what the Kingdom is like, where people who do differ on open handed issues can reconcile to each other through humility and love because of a Greater Love already given to them. This is what makes the gospel so amazing in lives of such diverse people!

I encourage you to read this post by Steve Camp, here is a quick excerpt of how Camp starts off this post:

Some of you seeing me post another article about Mark Driscoll are expecting me to come out of the box swinging, prepared to challenge, do battle against, or slice and dice with some well versed clever sarcasm about Mark and his TV appearance. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but today that will not be happening.

Props: Acts 29

Praise Band Trailer

Movies like this is what made me hesitate when thinking through seeing "Fireproof". Fireproof was awesome and I encourage everyone to see it, a bit cheesy, but next to this movie it is like Dark Knight!



Props: Brent