Make Jesus Non-Ignorable

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Ray ortlund

From Ray Ortlund's sermon on mission from August 12th at Immanuel Church (emphasis his).

...we live in a city and in a world that ignores [Jesus]. Sometimes we ignore him. ... We are not happy that the real Jesus is still ignorable in our city and far beyond. We don’t accept that. We’re making it our church mission, and I am asking you today to make it your life mission, to make the real Jesus non-ignorable in our city and far beyond.

[...]

Every one of us can be involved, because this is not for spiritual high-achievers; this is for broken sinners. God’s power comes down on weak people. So, you’re the one he wants to use. What are you going to do for Jesus that just can’t be ignored? What are we going to do together that can’t be ignored? That purpose is going to take us beyond routine church life. Routine church can be ignored. And it is our mission to change that, which we means we need to change first. The more repentance the world sees in us, the more repentance we’ll see in the world.

Music Monday 8.27.12

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Music brain away

STREAMING

CHEAP

BURNING UP MY iPOD

Speak Dramatically...Because It's Real

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Pgeorge-whitefield

John Piper on George Whitefield and his dramatic preaching...

But the question is: Why was Whitefield “acting”? Why was he so full of action and drama? Was he, as Stout claims, “plying a religious trade”? Pursuing “spiritual fame”? Craving “respect and power”? Driven by “egotism”? Putting on “performances” and “integrating religious discourse into the emerging language of consumption”?

I think the most penetrating answer comes from something Whitefield himself said about acting in a sermon in London. In fact, I think it’s a key to understand the power of his preaching—and all preaching. James Lockington was present at this sermon and recorded this verbatim. Whitefield is speaking.

“I’ll tell you a story. The Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1675 was acquainted with Mr. Butterton the [actor]. One day the Archbishop . . . said to Butterton . . . ‘pray inform me Mr. Butterton, what is the reason you actors on stage can affect your congregations with speaking of things imaginary, as if they were real, while we in church speak of things real, which our congregations only receive as if they were imaginary?’ ‘Why my Lord,’ says Butterton, ‘the reason is very plain. We actors on stage speak of things imaginary, as if they were real and you in the pulpit speak of things real as if they were imaginary.’”

“Therefore,” added Whitefield, ‘I will bawl [shout loudly], I will not be a velvet-mouthed preacher.”

This means that there are three ways to speak. First, you can speak of an unreal, imaginary world as if it were real—that is what actors do in a play. Second, you can speak about a real world as if it were unreal—that is what half-hearted pastors do when they preach about glorious things in a way that says they are not as terrifying and wonderful as they are. And third is: You can speak about a real spiritual world as if it were wonderfully, terrifyingly, magnificently real (because it is).

Read or hear John Piper's entire bio of George Whitefield from the 2009 Desiring God Pastors' Conference.

Phriday is for Photos 8.24.12

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Elijah Desserts

I enjoy catching moments in which the mundane becomes interesting. This was a touristy spot in a touristy city with my touristy kid with a touristy dad with a touristy camera. But a mild post-processing filter plays with the light and makes it interesting to me.

Check all of my photography. If my photography is new to you, check out the 10 photos people have favorited most on my Flickr stream.

$2 Tuesdays | Workers for the Harvest Field

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2 dollar Tues

The Good Book Company has started $2 Tuesday deals. Check out all 5 $2 deals, including Bible studies, helps for preachers, and more. The one I'm most curious about is a book called Workers For The Harvest Field. Here's a description. Note the chapters and authors. Good stuff!
The Lord Jesus saw a vast harvest waiting to be gathered in but hardly any workers to do the job. So he issued an instruction to his followers: 'Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field' (Matthew 9:38).

That command still applies today. Although 2000 years of Christian witness have past, there are still millions in our world who have never even heard the name of Christ. Even in countries where many profess to be Christians there is great ignorance, and a spiritual great hunger - which only the Gospel of Christ can answer.

This book is an attempt to describe the nature of gospel ministry and to answer the questions that those who are considering it may have. The aim is not to persuade everyone that they should give up their present jobs and offer themselves as workers to churches and missionary organizations. We all have different gifts. But we should all be asking ourselves this question: 'What is it that I could do that would most bring glory to God through the spread of the gospel?' For some that will mean staying where they are, for others it will mean a significant change of direction.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Introduction (Vaughan Roberts)
  • Section 1: What is gospel ministry?
  • 1. What is Gospel Ministry? (Vaughan Roberts)
  • 2. The Character of Gospel Ministry (David Jackman)
  • 3. The Priority of Gospel Ministry (Richard Coekin)
  • Section 2: Varieties of gospel ministry
  • 4. The pastor-teacher (Andy Gemmill)
  • 5. The realities of being an evangelist (Roger Carswell)
  • 6. Church planters for the harvest field (Tim Chester)
  • 7. Gospel ministry overseas (Andy Lines)
  • 8. Cross-cultural ministry in the UK (Andrew Raynes)

Go pick up Workers For The Harvest Field or another $2 Tuesdays deal.

Before You Leave A Church

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Advice from Mark Dever (originally found here) on what to do before you leave a church and if you leave a church. Good advice that is rarely followed. (I may have listed some of these before, but saw them again at Challies.)

Before You Decide to Leave

  1. Pray.
  2. Let your current pastor know about your thinking before you move to another church or make your decision to relocate to another city. Ask for his counsel.
  3. Weigh your motives. Is your desire to leave because of sinful, personal conflict or disappointment? If it’s because of doctrinal reasons, are these doctrinal issues significant?
  4. Do everything within your power to reconcile any broken relationships.
  5. Be sure to consider all the “evidences of grace” you’ve seen in the church’s life—places where God’s work is evident. If you cannot see any evidences of God’s grace, you might want to examine your own heart once more (Matt. 7:3-5).
  6. Be humble. Recognize you don’t have all the facts and assess people and circumstances charitably (give them the benefit of the doubt).

If You Go

  1. Don’t divide the body.
  2. Take the utmost care not to sow discontent even among your closest friends. Remember, you don’t want anything to hinder their growth in grace in this church. Deny any desire to gossip (sometimes referred to as “venting” or “saying how you feel”).
  3. Pray for and bless the congregation and its leadership. Look for ways of doing this practically.
  4. If there has been hurt, then forgive—even as you have been forgiven.

Music Monday 8.20.12

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Gramophone-turntablist

STREAMING FREE

CHEAP

VIDEO - If you like Arcade Fire: The Suburbs (and you should, especially for $5.49!), here's a "Pop-Up Video" for the song "The Suburbs." Directed by Spike Jonze...

Lots-o-Links 8.17.12

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Some new, some I'm just getting to, but here are some links to check out...

Good Book Company Giveaway: Tim Challies is giving away a bunch of The Good Book Company Bible study guides. Great chance to get theologically solid studies by guys like Tim Chester, Justin Buzzard, and Mark Dever. Also, keep an eye out for $2 Tuesdays from The Good Book Company starting next week!

GCM Conference: Highly recommend the GCM Conference coming up in September in Huntsville. My Soma School experience has me in love with GCM and what it is working to do. Sign up!

Paul Tripp: 6 Traits of a Pastor In Awe of God (get your awe back) | "I counsel you to run now, run quickly, to your Father of awesome glory. Confess the offense of your boredom. Plead for eyes opened to the 360-degree, 24/7 display of glory to which you have been blind. Determine to spend a certain portion of every day in meditating on his glory. Cry out for the help of others. And remind yourself to be thankful for Jesus, who offers you his grace even at those moments when grace isn't nearly as gloriously valuable to you as it should be."

J.I. Packer: Advice to Aspiring Writers - 1. Go deep in personal worship. 2. Write to hit hearts. 3. Write from a sense of calling.

The Gospel Project is worth checking out, if you haven't already. Curriculum for kids, students, and adults. Exciting new resource from Ed Stetzer, Trevin Wax, & LifeWay.

1,000+ $5 Albums | My Faves

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Now that I'm back from vacation, I can highlight my favorite $5 albums out of Amazon's 1,000+ $5 albums for August. A bunch of good stuff!

Neil Young

Greatest Hits

Michael W. Smith (The Second Decade) | The Cars | ELO | Chicago | Ramones | The Doors | Kansas | Otis Redding | Johnny Cash | Poison | Van Halen | Alice In Chains | Heart (another, another) | REO Speedwagon | Elvis | MC Hammer | Bob Dylan | Drive-By Truckers | David Allen Coe | Crowded House | ZZ Top | Billie Holliday | Living Colour

While I Was Away...

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I was very isolated from my laptop on vacation (which lasted 2 weeks), but I did find stuff that looked interesting on my feed reader and my Twitter feed and then saved them for later. Here are a few things that caught my eye...

Wayfarer: The River

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If you like Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, or just like indie music and great melodies and harmonies, you should check out 5 free songs from Wayfarer below. I got one of those "Hey, can you check out our music" sort of emails, which I get a lot. Most of that stuff just doesn't work for me. This does. It really, really works.

Wayfarer creates "repurposed hymns and spiritual songs," or as Dan of Wayfarer told me, these are "old and beautiful lyrics, entirely re-written." All I know is that into my second listen through and I'm enjoying it enough to stop other important things to tell you about it. Download for free, right now...

New Books In The Mail

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A few new books worth checking out have found there way into my possession. I hope my readers will check them out...

Founders-whomever

From Founders Press, Whomever He Wills edited by Matthew Barrett & Tom Nettles. It has some outstanding authors who have written different essays, including a forward by Timothy George.

Here are just a few of the essays I'm looking forward to reading...

2. Total Depravity: A Biblical and Theological Examination by Mark DeVine

8. God’s Sovereignty Over Evil by Stephen J. Wellum

10. John Calvin’s Understanding of the Death of Christ by Thomas J. Nettles

13. The Glorious Impact of Calvinism upon Local Baptist Churches by Tom Hicks

Missofgod study

Founders Press has more info. Check it out.

Another book worth checking out is the Mission of God Study Bible (HCSB) edited by Ed Stetzer & Philip Nation. Been looking forward to this for some time, and it looks great. Contributors include good pastors and thinkers like Trevin Wax, Matt Chandler, Joe Thorn, Eric Mason, and Tullian Tchividjian.

Go read 7 reasons why I love the Mission of God Study Bible by Devin Maddox. Here are a couple...

  • Study for a Purpose: Mission
  • Portable Size
  • Dynamic Content Powered by Technology

This is a nice addition to the growing group of excellent study Bibles out there.

Unbelievable_gospelJonathan Dodson's new eBook, Unbelievable Gospel, is another one worth checking out. From their website...

Very often we find it difficult to share our faith. In the workplace, neighborhood, or social settings, talking about the gospel doesn’t come up naturally. “Jesus” isn't a topic that hits the neighborhood Google groups, flows naturally on coffee breaks, or crosses our lips in local pubs. But when it does, all too often what we have to say is simply unbelievable. Even the way we share the gospel is often unbelievable.  Are there actually good reasons for our hesitation in talking about Jesus? Despite what you might think, there are very good reasons for not talking about the gospel. In Unbelievable Gospel, Jonathan Dodson explores ways we shouldn't share the gospel as well as ways we could, to make the gospel more believable.

You can also see Desiring God's Helpful Quotes from The Unbelievable Gospel and reviews by Luma Simms, Tom Farr, and Greg Willson. Go buy Unbelievable Gospel.

Keller: It Takes Faith to Doubt

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From Tim Keller, part 2 of his posts on how the Gospel changes our apologetics...

...a gospel-shaped apologetic starts not with telling people what to believe, but by showing them their real problem. In this case we are showing secular people that they have less warrant for their faith assumptions than we do for ours. We need to show that it takes faith even to doubt.

[...]

There is a way of telling the gospel that makes people say, “I don’t believe it’s true, but I wish it were.” You have to get to the beauty of it, and then go back to the reasons for it. Only then, when you show that it takes more faith to doubt it than to believe it; when the things you see out there in the world are better explained by the Christian account of things than the secular account of things; and when they experience a community in which they actually do see Christianity embodied, in healthy Christian lives and solid Christian community, that many will believe.

Read all of How the Gospel Changes Our Apologetics, Part 2 (Part 1)