Snakes are scary: Early 80's awesomeness

How do you top this?




And if you need more, here's the live version...




And he's still around, apparently on the club scene... (audio not great because it's live...in a club)

I'm a fan...

Adopt if God will let you. I realize that's a little dangerous, but I'm serious. Unless God says, "No," I think you should seriously consider it. I'm a fan.

Why I read this book...

I can't tell you how many times I've read The God You Can Know by Dan DeHaan.  I can tell you why I keep reading it and why we're reading it as a staff right now.

In justification we stand before God as sinners declared righteous after being accused.  In redemption the sinner stands before God as a slave and is granted freedom by a ransom.  In reconciliation the sinner stands before God as an enemy who becomes a friend.  In forgiveness the sinner stands before God as a debtor whose debt has been paid in full.  In sonship the sinner stands before God as a stranger who is made a son.

~ DeHaan, ch. 8 

That's worth thinking about...

Proud of my boy...

It's been a day (mostly in the good-kind-of-way).  I'm just now sitting down to sort through emails and get this blog out.  So I'll improvise and post a very cool video of my middle child going mutton bustin'.  For those of you who don't live in Texas, or even the south, you give a kid a helmet and tell him to hold on to a sheep.  Best part about it?  He won his heat!

Spending forever with God?

I'd like to follow up on the post from Friday about Rob Bell's forthcoming book.  No matter what he actually says in the book, what he questions, what conclusions he draws or refuses to draw, or how many books actually sell, there is a serious point to be made here.

I brought this up briefly in my earlier post.  Underneath every question about heaven, hell, eternal life, eternal damnation and all of that is another question.  It's a huge question - even bigger than what happens to you when you die.  Underneath the question about where a man or woman spends eternity (and how long he or she is in that place) is the question about how that man or woman becomes rightly related to the Creator God.

I propose this:  you do need saving from God's judgment.  He is holy and righteous.  We are neither.  He is morally and incorruptibly perfect.  We think perfect is a 10 or 27-0 or a 300 game or a hole-in-one.  He is sinless.  We are by nature and choice sinners.

Any and all judgment that we incur is rightly and justly deserved.  It's not that Jesus has to save us from God.  He has to save us from the judgment we deserve.  And He does so by giving His life in our place as a substitute, absorbing the blow of judgment, taking away our sin, and imputing to us His right-standing with God.

That last paragraph - that's the part we can't forget.  Heaven, hell, and a lot of other things take care of themselves when we get the Gospel right.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

Sermon Notes from Sunday 3.6.11

Here are the notes from this past Sunday's sermon on Communion as worship.  As usual, about midweek our website will be updated with these notes in PDF as well as the sermon audio.  Find all of that at sermons.heritagepark.org.  You should also be able to get sermon audio on iTunes.

Lean Forward

Part 3 – The Lord’s Supper

Mark 14.12-31

Summary Statements

• Worship is not a pursuit of feelings but a pursuit of God.
• Corporate worship needs to be safe, honest, and guided.
• There is no worship without sacrifice.

Communion as Worship

Hear the Message

• Substitute – the body of Christ is broken instead of us.
• Covenant – the blood of Christ purchases our forgiveness.

Examine Yourself

• Is there distance between you and God?
• Is there division between you and another?

Take the Meal

• When we eat, we remember what He has done for us.
• When we eat, we participate in relationship with Him.

Snakes are scary: Love wins?

I'm not sure if you have exposure to this guy Rob Bell.  He's creative.  He's a pastor.  He's a deep-thinker.  He has cool glasses.  And if what he's hinting at in this video is anything close to what his book actually espouses, he's also a heretic.  No, I haven't read the book.  Based on previous work, I assume he's going to reinterpret biblical passages more in line with 19th century theological liberalism and then couch it as being faithful.  So, if indeed he is doing what his video points to, let's call it heresy and be done with it.  It's not making us think.  It's not providing another option.  It's heresy.  The Bible calls us to identify it and rebuke it.

The scary part to me is that, along with this viewpoint, he's incredibly popular, shows up on the covers of evangelical magazines, and is revered by a lot of younger believers.  Watch the video, let me know what you think. 

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

Behind the discussion of heaven and hell is the question of how a person is justified before God, which he subtly points out in the video.  Don't ever forget that...

More living is Christ...

Here is the widow of the guy from the video yesterday.  Wow.

A Story | Tears of Hope from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

Wow (again).

Living is Christ, Dying is Gain

I can't think of a better representation of the truth of Paul's statement in Philippians 1.21.  I promise it's worth your 4:30.

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

Wow.

He stepped into eternity of 16 May 2010.  More on this tomorrow as I'll post the video of his widow after a year without her husband...

What to think about the Mideast...

It's actually an arrogant title for which I apologize.  I'm not telling you what to think.  I'm offering what I think.  I almost titled the post "What I think about the Mideast..." but it's just as arrogant:  why would you care what I think?

But on to the actual topic.

Egypt's in transition.  Libya seems to be in turmoil.  Tunisia is turned over.  Who's next?  What's next?  Who knows?

God does.

According to the Bible, God has "made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place..." (Acts 17.26).  He puts the beginning and the end on each country, republic, tyrant, president, king, and ruling party.  There is a time and place for everything.

I know there are two environments where the Gospel flourishes.  One is persecution.  The other is freedom.  And justice on a social scale, which pleases God, only flourishes in the latter.  So if the uprisings bring freedom, then Amen.

My prayer point and concern is that for societal freedom to really get its roots and flourish, you have to have religious freedom and media freedom.  Those are still up in the air.  But God knows.  So I'll pray.  I invite you to pray too.