Enabled by God

It seems to be the default response of some churches. Whenever a young man displays some passion, knowledge of the Scriptures, and a heart for ministry his fate is sealed for the next few years of his life. According to the elders of the church, the only logical next step for the child is straight into the lecture halls of higher education. We are convinced God’s calling on the young man will somehow be moot without formal Greek and Hebrew training, church growth theories, and an Old Testament history survey all under the tutelage of Professor Unibrow.

I have some serious reservations with the merits of this mindset. Acts 4:13 has a way of hitting me like a dagger everytime I pride myself on what I know instead of Who I know.

On the other hand, I also have some reservations concerning those who scoff at and reject outright the benefits of any formal ministry training (usually a charismaniac leader dabbling in heresy). I guess I might need you guys to help me sort things out (enter “Question of the Week!”).

The most pressing question is this:

Is the knee-jerk seminary path for aspiring young ministers biblical?

I mean thoroughly and overtly biblical. Not some vague principle.

Is there a biblical command regarding the necessity of seminary training for young men who feel called to ministry?

If not, then:

What is the biblical model for training budding pastors and leaders in the church?

Bryan

It seems there has been another fallen angel sighting according to some in the cultural Christian music scene and a few message board “insiders.” This most recent scandal has come through the thriving ministry of a shining star in the rock/worship genre of contemporary Christian music. His work has consisted in leading passionate droves of young people in worship conferences across the globe; his singles have topped the CCM charts the past couple years; maybe most impressively, in just a short time, his music has entered the very fabric of the life of worship in many local church bodies.

If all allegations are true regarding the rumormongering, I trust his local church body is leading the process of church discipline. I don’t want to use this as an opportunity to break a potentially already bruised reed. The best we can do is pray that God will grant repentance, restoration and healing for all those in involved.

But God in His mercy can also use this incident as a profitable exhortation and rebuke. Not to the scandal ridden, but to us.

As counterintuitive as it should be, for those in cultural Christianity, mega-conference speakers and worship leaders hold highly coveted positions. For many, to reach the life of a touring headliner is the penultimate regarding success in “Christian terms.” Dare I say, it’s even a bit sexy to be that guy or girl (for the Beth Moore fans) on the marquee…for the glory of God of course.

It’s natural to want a ministry like a Chris Tomlin or a John Piper (I do!), but we must realize that with a spotlight comes a bull’s eye. Temptations and pitfalls of all sort increase exponentially as Christian leaders step into more prominent roles in ministry. Why don’t we have the platform they do? Why don’t we have a record contract or a book deal like them? God’s grace is why. We may not be able to handle such public success without letting worldly pride and the lusts of the flesh seep in and destroy our very souls. Would we sell out and defame the name of the eternal King in exchange for the addictive and temporary praise of man? God in His infinite mercy is protecting you from yourself.

We vex our mind praying for a future ministry like this high profile speaker/worship leader/theologian etc., while we should be praying to be more like Jesus right now to the person right next to us.

The guilty party in this situation is just a man. Flesh and bones and a fallen nature like ours. This speaks to our unhealthy propensity to put mere men on pedestals they can never live up to. We act like the anointing and movement of God somehow depends on their songs and their sermons. Scandals like this can sometimes be lucid reminders Who the only Grace giver is in our lives. There are no mighty men of God. Just broken vessels in need of His daily grace through Christ (Romans 7:24-25).

In the end, all men will fall prostrate at the mercy of Him who sits on the throne and dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16). It reminds me what the Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, wrote on his deathbed. Luther’s very last written words were this:

“Wir sind bettler. Hoc est verum.”
We are beggars. This is true.

Bryan

James 4: 13-15 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

These words given by James, although written around two millenniums ago, ring as true as ever. Often in society today we hear of people’s future plans, what they might do tomorrow, next week or perhaps even next year. Many Americans have their entire lives already mapped out down to the smallest details at a relatively young age. With another minute of life not assured these verses should strike a nerve in the believer. It is easy to apply this verse to our man centered ambitions, however, when it comes to our spiritual plans we often forget these words of wisdom. We plan out how to best serve our Lord and Savior but we don’t consult His will in the process. In the book of James, Christ’s brother clearly tells us of our error. I pray that our errors will turn into a learning experience and motivation for seeking His will in the future.

Who is James referring to in this section of verses?

I believe he is speaking to anyone who isn’t constantly searching God’s will for direction.  We are to begin by submitting ourselves immediately or “now.” Often as humans we rely on things that are not guaranteed. Tomorrow is not a foregone conclusion. That is why in chapter 1 James says that those who do not humble themselves and submit to the will of God will pass away even while he goes about his business. James describes people that counted life as a guarantee. The men say that they will go to such and such a city but their arrival is not guaranteed and is only certain if God wills. Next they expect to spend a year there. They also expect to be able to engage in business. The men never take into account that at any point the sovereign God could end their journey or ruin their business. Their final assumption is that they will make a profit not thinking that anything will prevent this. These men planned out their lives for the foreseeable future all the while not taking into account the unexpected. Our desires so often conflict with the will of God that we consider the outcome unexpected. So much so that one popular saying warns us to “expect the unexpected.”

Only God knows what will happen for certain. This is because God isn’t bound by the concept of time. He is eternally present. He dwells constantly in eternity past as the I AM yet is constantly in the present and knows the future as well. The course of human history is laid out before him like an open book. It is a good thing that only God knows what will take place in the future. If a man knows that he is to be happy in the future, he will be discontented until that period of time. On the other hand if a man knows he is to be sorrowful in the future, he will not be able to enjoy the present time. In this way it should comfort us that God knows the future and we don’t. In this sense ignorance truly is bliss.

Not only should our lack of knowledge about the future comfort us but it should also humble us. Our lives are short and our bodies frail. We are just a vapor in the halls of time. We plan every moment of our lives out beforehand. But without an effort God interrupts our plan for His perfect plan, whether it be by the death of a loved one or the loss of property, and all of a sudden our plans seem ruined. It is folly to believe that we can truly know the future, therefore we ought to humble ourselves before the Lord and earnestly search His ways.

After chastising those who aren’t searching God’s will, James presents the remedy for our problem by saying “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” It only makes sense to consult God about the future because he alone knows with certainty what will take place. He alone controls all that happens and nothing happens outside of the realm of divine determination. Jesus tells us that even the number of hairs on our head are numbered. Everything and everyone are regulated by God’s plan. But God seeks to help us out. He gives us a blueprint of his plan, his rules, and his regulations, in a book. The Bible perfectly lays out the will of God. That’s why Timothy says that it’s God breathed. He didn’t create us to just use our body, but to have a specific frame of mind. A mind that abides in Christ.

Our lives were created to bring Glory to the Lord and King. When we search His will and apply it to our lives it is pleasing to Him. Nothing in our lives is guaranteed apart from the will of God. They are as James says, “a vapor.” As believers in Jesus Christ we must do as He wills and do it in the time that He wills. Pray that He gives you the mind to search the scriptures. Pray that he gives you the desire to search His word that He gave us and apply its truths to your lives.

Anthony

Glenn Beck, the popular Fox News conservative conspiratist, is now aspiring to be a traveling revivalist. In his own words, Beck is seeking to spark another “Great Awakening”, similar to the pre-Constitution movement led by the English/colonial evangelist, George Whitefield, whose mass open air gospel meetings helped mold a culture and spark the American Revolution. Beck seems to be fond of drawing a comparison between his populist message and the Tea Party political tirades, with Whitefield’s biblical gospel and the greatest spiritual awakening this continent has ever seen. The “American Revival” events boast this in their advertisements:

“This event is unlike any other Glenn has ever undertaken—it’s a full day of Glenn Beck—he’s the explosive opener, the grand finale, and an integral part of every moment in-between.”

That rumbling in the distance is the sound of Whitefield’s portly 300 pound frame turning over in the grave.

Glenn Beck is a Mormon. George Whitefield was a Reformed revivalist who clinged to and preached the Protestant theology and biblical gospel Mormons now reject. In fact, the occult-practicing treasure-hunting founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, claimed all expressions of non-apostolic Christianity up to his point (1820) were direct abominations of God. That means the Great Awakening of the 1700s should be an abomination of God to the modern Mormon. At it’s most basic beginnings, Mormonism largely was birthed in order to directly contradict and renounce men like George Whitefield and the gospel they were preaching. To deny this, Beck is either ignorant of his own religion or knowingly masking it’s message for subversive reasons.

If this were just another political tour there would not be much to write home about from a Christian perspective. I share some of Beck’s concerns about the political direction of this country and it’s socialist leanings. But these meetings have a decidedly spiritual flavor to them, and Glenn’s keynote speech at the end of each one is nothing short of an universalistic altar call. It’s a call to unbiblical ecumenicalism, that we all unite under one general banner of God and forget any distinctives we may have so we can accomplish common political purposes. “We’re all Christians anyway,” Beck says.

To muddy the waters still, Beck delivered the commencement speech at Liberty University (Baptist) on May 16th amidst cheers and standing ovations. Much of it was about how he “endorses their faith.” There is no news as of yet whether Jerry Falwell’s 300 pound frame turned over in the grave as a result. Richter readings in Lynchburg have been stable.
Strangely, the LDS prophets and bicycle missionaries seem to be singing the same tune as Beck as of late. Maybe it’s the Mormon’s own brand of seeker-sensitive methodology.

Count me out.

The cockeyed beliefs that have sprung from the over-active imaginations of Joseph Smith and LDS’s subsequent prophets, are nothing less than doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1). Here are a few notable deviations of Mormonism from historical biblical Christianity:

In Mormonism, Jesus is a creation, the product of relations between god and his goddess wife who used to be people from another world (McConkie, Bruce, Mormon Doctrine, p. 192, 321, 516, 589). (Direct contradiction of Colossians 1:15-17)

Jesus is the literal spirit brother of the devil and of you and I (McConkie, p. 192, 589). (Direct contradiction of John 8:44)

God has a body of flesh and bones (Doctrine & Covenants 130:22) as does his wife and together they produce spirit offspring in heaven who inhabit human bodies on earth. (Direct contradiction of John 4:24)

The common Mormon creed goes, “As man is, God once was, as God is, man may become.” The cult of Mormonism is propagated by offering the same deceitful promise that Satan offered Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:4-5).

Much more could be written about the perverse teachings of the Mormon church but a blog format couldn’t begin to scratch the surface of it.

Certainly, adherents to The Church of LDS and other cults should be befriended, loved, and reached by Christians with the true gospel. But they should never be united with under the guise of Christian brotherhood or revival. Galatians 1:8 clearly displays how such false gospels should be treated. Even if it’s coming from a winsome, entertaining TV personality with attractive political views, we must be vigilant to contend for the faith once and for all entrusted to us by the saints (Jude 1:3).

For the love of the gospel, let George Whitefield’s body rest in peace.

Bryan

These days I often find myself spending more and more time contemplating exactly which political view fits the best with Christianity. I ponder whether the socialist path which our country is toiling towards is something that Christ would reward or condemn. Or if he would even care. I hear people discuss social justice and after ceasing to laugh, I try to understand how their title for what they have just defined could ever include the word “Justice.”

So how about it people. Does our government exist to correct perceived social injustices, or to guarantee that my God given rights are protected?

I love the previously beaten topic about whether Jesus would support the Health Care Bill or not. Sure, I believe we have a responsibility to take care of those in need, but we own that responsibility ourselves. We don’t need a government to treat us like a bunch of teenagers and spank us into shape. My previous thought stirs a painful realization that I am increasingly becoming aware of. In Matt 25:23 where the master says to his servant “Well done, good and faithful servant”, I have come to believe that it will be scarce if ever that similar words are uttered from the mouth of God towards any saint.

My point about the previous would be that between fuel, insurance and the loan payment each month, I ashamed to say how much my truck cost me each month. I could easily have purchased a far less expensive vehicle and used the money each month to help those in need.  I watch filth and feed my sin on a High Definition television that cost more than what some people earn at their jobs for two weeks of work. My dress shoes are way too expensive and a ham sandwich would have likely provided me with just as much nutritional gain as the $25.00 chunk of meat that I recently purchased for dinner at a grocery store. The rescue mission says that they can feed people a nice Thanksgiving dinner for about $2.00 a person. Most video games are about $65.00 these days.  Wow, over thirty hungry people could be feed with that money.  Sometimes I like to compare things I am about to buy to Ramen Noodles.  It helps me get a grasp on things sometimes. 

Do not misunderstand me; I am not advocating that we live like Quakers, but I am suggesting that it is far past time that we remove ourselves from our “expensive crap” surrounded thrones that we have put ourselves on. Recently my pastor spoke about how easy it is to push Christ to the back of the bus in our lives. This got me thinking about all the different things in life that I do this with. Daily, I beat myself up about my lack of fellowship with God. Nightly I decide to vegetate on the couch instead of reading his word. I always justify this because of my hard day in my cushy chair at work.

Another instance would be when 1000 supposed blood bought Christians make a move that any football player would be proud of in order to avoid a homeless person who is begging outside their church. That would never happen right, only twice that I know of in the last year at my church. Wow, we can’t wait to get to our favorite spot on the church pew. Man it feels good to settle into that pew on Sunday morning doesn’t it? It’s almost like pure ecstasy once you have made it there and survived past the offering plate. Thanks a lot Pastor for moving that anguish to the end of church. Now I can sulk in my disobedience all service long. 

Anyway, I digress.

So, back to Politics. What makes any person think that stealing from one person to give to another is right? Wait, I know, it’s that amendment to God’s law that says that sometimes stealing isn’t stealing if for the right reason. On another thought, I bet it’s hard to be a Christian and a liberal at the same time.  I would almost say that the two can’t coexist in the same life. It’s kind of like terrorism, not all Muslims are terrorist, but most all terrorists are Muslim. Well folks, not all Conservatives are Christian, but most Christians are Conservative.

I don’t want anything for nothing, and as long as I am able, I intend on earning my own way. However, don’t confuse the fact that there is everything in the world Christian about helping those in need but there is nothing Christian about stealing for any reason. Our current government is not some glorious Robin Hood saving the masses from the crusty old white guys.

All of these government program handouts are nothing more than “Bread and Games” given to blind the masses as to what is happening.

So let’s just keep burying Jesus beneath all our crap and keep on working our lives away to pay for it all. Let’s keep our church and state separated and our hands tied behind our back and Socialism will keep on screaming ahead. This land that was sought for the advancement of Christ will Surely become the largest persecutor of Christ that history has ever seen. Rome is going to burn if we keep playing with socialist matches. We came to America to escape what we are becoming, where do we go next?

If you are searching for something deeply thought provoking or edifying let me express my apologies in advance. I have nothing to offer lately other than random musings from life in general:

The older you get the fatter you stay. I used to be able to lose 10 pounds just by thinking about exercising, now it takes a boot-camp-from-hell exercise and diet experience.

My lack of practical mechanical skills around the house is embarrassing. If it’s more than switching out a light bulb I’m Googling it.

Marriage is the hardest thing you will ever do. It just is.

There’s this really great TV show on Nick Jr. called “Wonder Pets.” It features a talking baby duck, turtle, and hamster who come together as a super threesome to save all sorts of maligned baby animals. “What’s gonna work? TEAM WORK!”

If you don’t believe in demons it’s because you haven’t taught lower level math to 9th graders at a public school.

I’m beginning to see why Martin Luther spent hours a day in confession during his monastery years. When you begin to really check your motives for every little thing you do a dark and scary world opens up to you; Our hearts truly are what Jeremiah 17:9 says they are.

Facebook should block “Random” from being an album title choice when people post photo albums. If you meticulously selected each photo in advance it’s not random!

I don’t believe in isolationism, but I am becoming more convinced that the entire political process is impotent to wrought any significant positive change in America. Many Republican rah rah guys are just as loony and lost as Michael Moore. We need a revival of biblical proportions; not more bills, charismatic leaders, and empty party promises.

In case you just woke up from a coma, “TIM TEBOW WENT IN THE FIRST ROUND!”

I’m thinking about investing in a bubble making machine. My son loves them and my lungs aren’t what they used to be after 30 minutes of intense bubble action.

I quit coffee cold turkey two weeks ago and all of a sudden my body craves fried chicken. If you know a correlation between the two tell me.

I haven’t figured out if this is a gift or curse, but I wonder sometimes if my obsession with discernment leaves me missing out on rejoicing over authentic works of God in others lives.

I’m still thankful for Lamentations 3:22-23.

If you have any random thoughts or facts to share about yourself have at it.

Bryan

It seems I’ve immersed myself into a self-inflicted bog of busyness. Student recommendations, ungraded tests, unfiled taxes, unpaid bills, incomplete online courses, daily lesson plans, and bible study preparations beckon my waning mental capital all at once. It’s not necessarily a lack of time, but a lack of unction that concerns me. It’s the direct result of a pathological procrastination that is my own (un)doing. When Spring HS football swings into full force (I’m coaching) I fear an outright quagmire will threaten to form.

More importantly, a loving wife and growing boy rightly claim my emotional capital. Not to mention the dirty diapers, dinners, Dora episodes and daily chores the whole family experience naturally brings with it. But my wife and son are my only earthly joys, and whatever competes with them gets swiftly pushed to the back-burner.

In the midst of these times, God gets the leftover scraps that remain of me. It’s not a complete overstatement to say God is the One that occasionally gets pushed to the back-burner when the activity reaches a frenzied pace. And much to my shame, sometimes I will keep Him there….for days at a time.

At this point, you may have made an astute observation along the lines of, “Quit writing this post you fool! Get to work and get off here!” Fair enough. But Blogs, Facebook, Youtube, etc. are all microcosms of the greater problem. In the end, we only do what we really want to do.

Now I am always mindful of God in my daily life. I do pray everyday, even though they mostly feel like the obligatory type, hastily tacked on at the end of a bedtime ritual. I am always chewing on some biblical truth in my thoughts, or applying a principle in some theoretical way. But when I get busy, that mental exercise has much more to do with relating some deep truth to people, not relating deeply to God. My spiritual life is thus projected manward and not Godward. I strain Him and His word just enough to squeeze out some substance for others, and when I’m done, I’m done until it’s time for others to be fed again. Many times public depth is just the bandaid over the festering wound of personal superficiality.

Let’s be honest. We know when we have communed with the God who is our Father and the Son who is our Bridegroom. We know when we have been gripped by a holy and high calling, ruined before His Holiness, and melting before His mercy in the cross of Christ. I ache for that to be my one vision in life, where despondency, laziness, lust, and fear are blown away by a baptism of redeeming love.

We can’t read the Acts narrative and not be swept up into the supernatural movement of God, the boldness of mere men, the fervent prayer life of the members, and the exponential explosions of the word and church (Acts 12:24, 12:5). We can’t help but notice how our local bodies (and individual body) seem to lack all of those norms for the early church. My personal lack of zeal concerning all these things can be deeply discouraging. And answers that bring up distinct dispensational ages are not satisfactory for me.

I appreciate the glimpses of personal humanity Paul gives in places like Romans 7:14-25 and 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. The Chief of Wretches didn’t wallow in self, but saw it as a malady to wage war against. It compels me further down the narrow road, to fight the good fight against self and sin (2 Tim 4:7, Rom 8:13).

Much more than that, I appreciate the glimpses of the humanity of Christ. That God would take on the form of a servant (Phil 2:7), humble Himself to the point of dying for His undeserving enemies (Phil 2:8, Rom 5:8), and then assure them of His daily presence and power (Matt 28:20).

I love the way a minor prophet puts it. While most of his prophetic energy throughout his book has been spent asserting the pending judgment of God for Israel’s idolatry, Micah leaves his readers with this gracious string of pearls, precious to all who would treasure Christ (Micah 7:18-19):

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

God doesn’t just give mercy. God delights in giving you mercy. Like a father exulting over his blubberiing, wet, needy, newborn. It pleases Him, satisfies Him, gratifies Him in the deepest sense to express His mercy, even if that mercy highlights our own hardened deepseated iniquity. The cross shines higher and brighter with glory the more deeper it must plunge to forgive our depraved depths.

When our need of forgiveness is at it’s direst point, God delights in displaying His glorious sufficiency in feeling that need. If the cross speaks anything, it speaks to our utter depravity and inability to raise one finger to warrant God’s mercy or delight. As the only sufficient Giver of the mercy, He alone get’s the glory. And He delights in what gives Him the most glory. Because broken vessels of repentance and shame image forth the glories of His Son’s merciful and gracious sacrifice.

He really does delight to give us mercy. And He delights to cover us with the righteousness His mercy bought.

Where we see a wasteland of deserts and depravity residing within us, God sees the perfect precious blood of His dear Son and raging rivers of living water.

God delights in lavishing mercy on His remnant. Even those who are too busy, or lazy, or lustful, or fearful, or selfish, or depressed to see it or experience it this very moment. Even those who are prayerless and passionless. Praise God. It is His delight to give mercy to ones such as these.

Bryan

From the blog home of the indispensable Russell Moore (the man churns out thought provoking material like it’s child’s play), we have these penetrating “Question(s) of the Week” served up to us. Moore’s provocative queries are covering the health care media blitz, heightened populist fervor, and the proper Christian response to political craze and corruption:

Is it a problem that some of us who are tranquil as still water about biblical doctrine and ecclesial mission are red-faced about Nancy Pelosi and the talking heads on MSNBC? Is it a problem that some who haven’t shared the gospel with their neighbors in months or years are motivated to vent to strangers on the street about how scary national health care will be?

1. As Christians, is that a problem? Or should we spend a heap of our time and resources railing about political grievances instead of Gospel initiatives?

Russell goes on:

If we were half as outraged by our own sin and self-deception as we are by the follies of our political opponents, what would be the result? If we rejoiced as much that our names are written in heaven as we do about such trivialities as basketball brackets, what would be the result?

2. How much outrage do we express about our own fallenness and propensity towards all manner of wickedness and filth? Or do we hold a politician’s lies as a deeper wound to God’s honor than our own sins?

I’ve been guilty of venting to strangers and cracking more than one distasteful joke regarding Pelosi’s socialistic policies and surgical procedures.

Feel free to comment on any of the questions above.

Ouch, I think I need to go repent now….

Bryan

Who would of thought the resurrection of Jesus and teeny bopper idol worship could have gone together so well? Who is the innovative mind that saw it fit to merge the glam of the Jonas Brothers and gospel of Jesus Christ?

Well, we can thank the most notable “evangelical” in contemporary Christendom for granting us these precious gems. The effective dislodging of Billy Graham as “America’s Pastor” can only be owed to one purpose-driven seeker-sensitive leader: Rick Warren.

To commemorate Saddle Back Church’s 30th anniversary and, oh yeah, Easter, Warren rented out the Angel baseball stadium in Anaheim, California.

For this special Easter service, Warren saw it fit to recruit the Jonas Brothers, a pop band whose vast skill-set includes gyrating, back flipping, and crooning on stage before thousands of maniacally infatuated pre-teens. The Jonas Brothers are the flavor-of-the-month heart throbs for a lost youth culture, and any event they headline will surely be met with an overflowing cauldron of adulating adolescents. Apparently, when Warren is not reading John Piper or Jonathan Edwards, he’s watching the Disney channel to keep his finger on the heartbeat of prepubescent crushes. Miley Cyrus and her dad’s mullet probably cost too much. I’m not saying Warren only recruited the teenage trinity in order to attract crowds and publicity, I’m…well, actually that is exactly what I’m saying.

This is the timeless bait and switch gospel presentation seeker sensitive movements have always subscribed to.

Lure the masses in by exploiting their carnal desires (sexy boy bands who will be your Valentine), then discreetly slip the gospel in their cup at the near close of the event. You may have came for the Jonas Brothers, but get real, you actually have a chance for Jesus to be your boyfriend! This is the ungodly methodology of greasy used car salesman, or worse, date rapers. It may not be a boy band in most cases, but it usually is at least a raffle ticket, cool prizes, celebrity guest speaker, talented band, comfortable couches and a cup of coffee.

When you draw people with carnal means, you must keep them with carnal means. Years from now, we’ll wonder why there seems to be a mass exodus of college students leaving the church. One red flag may be when they claim they made their first profession of faith at a Jonas Brothers concert. The greater tragedy will be when church growth studies tell us the falling away is because of irrelevant discipleship techniques. And like clockwork the cultural landscape will be fertile for another Purpose Driven craze to befall a spiritually hemorrhaging American church.

Let’s be clear: The undiluted biblical gospel is supremely relevant for all peoples of all times. It alone is mighty to save and keep those who are gripped by it.

In contrast, the actions of seeker driven movements seem to treat Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life with God as an embarrassing afterthought. Their methods of desperation speak loud and clear to an unbelieving world: “The gospel is not sufficient!”

I did hear the testimony of one of the brothers. He mentioned his battle with diabetes, how he is pressing on in his life and music, and how he wants to be an encouragement to us in pressing on. There was not even a passing mention of Jesus, or a props to the “man upstairs” for that matter, just a Moralistic Therapeutic Deism humanism. The gospel of Jonas is this: Brother Kevin has gotten through some tough stuff, so you can too. No matter if you leave this place justified in your sin and under the eternal wrath of God.

I can’t directly vouch for the veracity of the gospel that was or wasn’t preached by Warren during the service, but I do know these words of wisdom were served from the preacher’s (er, pitcher’s) mound:
“Life is like baseball. We all get a few errors, we get some hits and definitely a lot of strikeouts.”

A lost life is not like baseball. Sin is not like a few errors. And hell is not like losing a game.

The gospel is not a sports metaphor or pop concert.

The gospel is life or death. Eternal life or eternal death.

This is the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4):

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Believe that, cling to that, share that.

Bryan

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for his good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”

Many, if not most, Christians can recite Romans 8:28 by heart. But in Christianity today I feel like this verse is thrown around way too lightly. Although this could be said about almost any verse in the bible (John 3:16, Jer. 29:11, etc…), Romans 8:28 is used as a justification as to why something in the past has happened. I know in the past I’ve used it when I couldn’t think of anything else to say. So often Christians drop the verse when a loved one passes, or someone loses a job, or a relationship ends. Not that the verse doesn’t not apply here, it most certainly does, but I think if this is the only time we use it then we lose much of the power of the truth that is communicated in this verse.

This verse shouldn’t make us shrug our shoulders in resignation for past grievances, but should spurn us on to the good works God has already prepared for us (Eph 2:10). This truth is meant for life and to instill confidence in believers. In our darkest hour do not despair for the Lord is working behind the scenes to bring about events that will glorify His name. God’s providence manifested in our lives should embolden us to persevere through difficult times. The hand of God is crafting out deeds into works for His glory. Augustine said that we face trials “to prove us and improve us.” So I implore you to go boldly in the name of God knowing that as believers He is working “for His good.”

Anthony