A couple nights ago, we went to mom and dad’s to hang out and have dinner.

Josiah had cut a couple of teeth and added some new baby babble and an army crawl to his bag of tricks since they had last seen him, so we went and had some catfish and played some boccie ball and let them get a little ‘grandson fix’.

Sometime around 9:00, the following conversation took place:

Dad: So, I’ve been reading through Romans.

Me: Yeah? Good stuff?

Dad: Yeah… I tell you though, I think Paul says some pretty crazy stuff.

Me: Yeah? Like what? (I’m expecting him to talk about how Paul puts everyone under the curse of original sin in chapters 1-3)

Dad: Well, if I’m reading it correctly, he says that God rules over everything, to the extent that He even chooses who will accept His salvation. He wants to create a contrast, so that His salvation looks even more glorious. Paul seems to go out of his way to explain that God’s glory is His first priority, even above people.

Me: Oh, so you’re reading around chapter 8-10?

Dad: I guess. But that doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard at church. I’m gonna go find a good commentary so I can figure it out.

Yeah dad… you just might be on to something there…

What book/commentary would you recommend for him?

]]> http://www.therieslands.com/2009/07/17/bible-scripture-romans-reformed-predestinatio/feed/ 4 http://www.therieslands.com/2009/07/07/religion-saves-humor-mark-driscoll/ http://www.therieslands.com/2009/07/07/religion-saves-humor-mark-driscoll/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:14:09 +0000 Zack http://www.therieslands.com/?p=3671 I had a great time hearing all your thoughts on the birth control discussion last week!

Now it’s time to move on to chapter 2 of Religion Saves – And Nine Other Misconceptions.

In this chapter, pastor Mark Driscoll tackles the 8th most popular question:

Why do you make jokes about Mormon missionaries, homosexuals, trench coat wearers, single men, vegans, and emo kids, and then expect these groups of people to come to know God through those sermons?

Just like last time, I’ll write up a bit on the chapter, but before I do, I want to ask you:

When you think of the Bible, do you think of humor? Why or why not?

What is your favorite example of humor in the Bible?

Ready? Go…

I found it to be a good tool for exploring my thoughts and emotions, and also a good way to express them in a way that would make sense when looking back from the future.

I haven’t made time to sit down and try to think poetically in a while, but whenever I read John Piper’s poetry, it challenges me to make the time.

This poem, titled “Job, Part 4″, provides such amazing insight into the character of God, and stirs in me thoughts and emotions that this world keeps me so distracted from!

Have a look at this challenging turn of phrase, where Job is talking to his new daughter, Jemimah, at some point 7 years after the book of Job ends:

No, no, my child, to cleanse
An Upright heart of toxic stains
With searing irons is not like chains
Laid on the soul in penalty
For guile and crimes no one can see.
No, they were wrong. And kindly has
The Lord rebuked good Eliphaz,
And I have prayed for him, and all
is well. You see, their mind was small,
And they could not see painful times
Apart from dark and hidden crimes.
Beware, Jemimah, God is kind,
In ways that will not fit your mind.

The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom,

and whatever you get, get insight.

I know that a really random group of folks find their way here from time to time…

Some of y’all have been to various seminaries, or are even students now.

For a couple of years now, I’ve been trying to figure out what ot do with the nagging itch to take some seminary classes.

My dream is to plant a couple of churches and then go overseas and plant churches in un-reached nations, and it seems like some extra education would be helpful.

I’m not sure I want to put in the years to get a whole degree, but I would like to learn greek and take N.T. 1 and 2 and O.T. 1 and 2 and maybe a hermeneutics class or two…

God has gifted me with a work/family situation where I think I could pull off one class per semester, and, as it happens, there’s a pretty good seminary just a half-hour away in Wake Forest.

But here’s the thing: I checked out what it would cost, and since I’m not an ‘official’ Baptist, it would be right around $1,000 per class, which would be $3,000 – $4,000 a year, depending on how agresively I studied.

Given our mound of debt we’re trying to pay off, that’s out of the question…

But I know there has to be some help available.

I just know that someone, somewhere, donated a bunch of money and said, “I want this to go to someone who wants to understand the Gospel and the scriptures better and is committed to using it — all the way to the ends of the earth.”

I’m that guy!

So… I was wondering…

Does anybody know of some financial help available to take part-time seminary classes?

Any advice/thoughts/’yo momma’ jokes?

Thanks!

The last teaching in the series is called, “Kingdom: God Reigns“. In it, pastor Mark Driscoll teaches the entire book of Revelation in about an hour and 20 minutes.

On my way to work this morning, I listened to this teaching

…for the fourth time.

It’s that good

That powerful

That important

Check it out. You can listen to it or watch it for free on the Mars Hill website.

Lemme know what you think…

A complete library of the teachings is available under downloads at www.CCRaleighYouth.com

Here are mp3’s of the teachings from the past couple of weeks (It’s me on the 1st and 3rd, and Mike Davis on the 2nd and 4th):

• Acts 4:32-37 Generosity – Who’s stuff is it?
  
• Acts 4:32-5:7 Ananias and Sophira – God prunes
  
• Acts 5:1-12 Authenticity – Are you faking the funk?
  
• Acts 5:13-15 F.A.T. – Focussed, Available, Teachable

(I’d love to hear any feedback you might have)

This is from a pastor who is training to be an amateur ultimate fighter!

It starts like this:

As I write this blog, my body aches from the effects of training at a fight club with men who are much younger than I am. One of my toes is sprained, I think I broke my thumb, I have bruises on my face (which my wife is not fond of), and I tore a chunk of flesh completely off my big toe. None of these are injuries that would keep me from training, but they are very inconvenient and annoying! I made a comment about my aches and pains to one of the professional fighters after practice and he had a very interesting response. It was a bit unexpected, but it made me think. He said:

“There is an easy way to end your suffering: just stop training.”

As he walked away, he threw in, “See ya next Monday!” He knew that I am not about to stop because my goal is not to be pain-free. My goal is to be in shape and improving as a competitor. But his comments have caused me to think about suffering, so I want to share with you some training principles about suffering that you can apply to your life as a follower of Christ.

Read the whole thing here

I’m really looking forward to that day.

I quickly thought about some of Jesus’ last words, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

It really struck me because when I think of heaven, I think of being with Jesus.

That is heaven… just being in God’s presence.

I know heaven has more to it that we can find in the scriptures, but it’s all kind of icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.

But the more I thought about it, the more I was really blown away:

Those Extreme Home Makeover guys can put together a pretty sweet house in about a week.

God created the whole known world in less than a week.

…and He’s been building something for 2,000 years.

…for us!

And if the way I feel about greeting my son is any indication, He’s looking forward to us coming up to join Him!

If that doesn’t get you excited, then you’re probably a Tar Heel fan or something…

Several days ago,  I saw Los’ suggestion to check out this song, “Healer”. So I went to the link and heard the song, and watched the video about the story behind it.

And then I watched the performance of it.

…over and over and over again.

At the beginning of the song, the artist reads the first half of Isaiah 53 from The Message, and made more sense to me than it ever has.

Check it out:

1 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.

7-9 He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.

10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

11-12 Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

24^(AS) “But woe to you who are rich,^(AT) for you^(AU) have received your consolation.

25“Woe to you who are full now, for^(AV) you shall be hungry.

“Woe to^(AW) you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”

And I asked myself, “What’s fundamentally wrong with being rich?”

And I responded (to myself), “Because all rich people know some poor people, and that means that they are withholding their riches at the cost of their friends’ comfort and provision.”

And then I thought, “Well, most people seem to agree that all Americans are pretty much rich by the rest of the world’s standards. So, who are the poor people that we know?”

And then I thought, “Well, pretty much the rest of the world.”

And that’s kind of funny

…for about 5 seconds.

And then it’s disturbing and overwhelming.

I’m typing this on a computer that cost more than many people will make in the next 5 years.

What kind of steward am I being?

What kind of steward are you being?

For the first time in a while, I’m making some time to write something somewhat meaningful here.

It’s strange. Although these past couple of weeks have had me busier than ever (lots of driving back and forth between Greensboro and Creedmoor and working really hard to get up to speed at work, plus focussing a little bit more on church stuff), I seem to be experiencing more clarity than I have in a while.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s just ’cause of the John Mayer song. Actually, I hope not. (Isn’t the point of that song that as soon as you realize that you’re having a moment of clarity it’s too late, because that realization will take away the clarity?)

But I digress…

To be honest, it’s not nearly that complicated. I think the bottom line is that I’ve had at least 2 1/2 hours a day to sit in a car and think and listen to some fantastic teaching from guys like Mark Driscoll and Francis Chan. And at least equally importantly, God has been doing some amazing things in Stephanie’s life too. She might not even realize it, but she’s more beautiful than ever — in every way. I feel more encouraged and supported than ever, and that makes more difference than any woman will ever understand.

So, all that rambling because I want to ask for some feedback. I had a rare moment this week when a Bible story became completely new to me — the meaning and value for my life right now came through in a way it never has before.

In our ‘Spiritual Gifts’ Bible study that our men’s group is studying through at work, the author makes a point using the life of Moses, and he focusses specifically on the story from early in Moses’ life where he kills the Egyptian. The author challenged me to consider the question: “Why did Moses kill the Egyptian?”

It seems like a simple enough question, but the answer is powerful for me: I think Moses killed him because he was beginning to get a grip on God’s calling for his life. God put in Moses’ heart a burden for His people. Moses felt God’s compassion and righteous anger towards the conditions of the Israelites.

And before he probably realized that God had put this in his heart, and certainly before he consulted God about it, he did something rash and chalked it up to passion.

The result: a man died, and Moses spent 40 years hiding out in the wilderness.

And I got to thinking: Did it really have to be that way? If Moses had realized that his passion came from God, and asked God for direction on how to act, and then waited, could it have played out better? What if God was ready and willing to lead the people out in 1 year? What if those 40 extra years of toil and death that God’s people experienced weren’t necessary?

But then again, God is sovereign. Someone in our discussion put it this way: What if God planned for everything to happen just the way it did? What if He wanted Moses to go out to the wilderness so that He could mold him into the redeemer of His people that He wanted him to be?

This definitely seems reasonable. Think about all the people who spent time in the wilderness before God really fulfilled His calling in their lives. There’s Moses, David, Paul, John the Baptist… even Jesus it seems to some extent.

So all that leaves me in a funny place because I have such an overwhelming passion for God’s church. I seriously feel the Gospel like fire in my bones and everything in me screams to give my whole life to see the world changed by the Gospel. I want to spend my life being poured out for the Bride of Christ in America until She is a true reflection of Him, and truly cares about His bride around the world. And I try to wrap my head around the story about Moses, and how God seems to send His servants into long seasons of waiting where He prepares them, and I try to think about how that applies to me, and I just don’t know what to take away.

In the sermon I listened to this morning from Francis Chan, he said that in Uganda alone (I think — that part wasn’t clear), 43,000 children are orphaned every day, and 29,000 orphans die every day.

Every day.

Part of me fights God about that.

“What can You teach me in 5 or 10 years that is worth so many wasted lives?”

I know. It’s an audacious question to ask the Creator. I ask it respectfully. I know that I have so much to learn that I don’t even know how much I have to learn.

But what’s the balance in the meantime? How do I stir up the passions God has put in me and take full advantage of what’s available for me to do in THIS season, while simultaneously resting in God’s sovereignty and just waiting for His leadership?

I guess I already know what I would tell someone if they asked me those questions… but all the same, what do you think?

18Therefore, as one trespass^[a] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness^[b] leads to justification and life for^(E) all men. 19For as by the one man’s^(F) disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s^(G) obedience the many will be made righteous. 20Now^(H) the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased,^(I) grace abounded all the more, 21so that,^(J) as sin reigned in death,^(K) grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The talk was very interesting and certainly kept my attention. Rob even played highlight films of Larry Bird (a great basketball player from when I was a kid).

At one point during the talk — and I think you could reasonably say that this is the thesis of the message — Rob makes this statement:

“What if the cross was God’s way of asking, ‘What do I have to do for you to get along?’ ?”

At first I thought, “Wow, that’s powerful.”

But then, the more I thought about it, the more my eye brows went up…

what do you think?

He begins like this:

G. K. Chesterton was once asked what one book he’d take if he were stranded on an island. He said a book about shipbuilding.

Other than that, and the Bible… this is what I’d suggest you take: Tim Keller’s new The Reason for God.
If you read one book in your LIFETIME, THIS SHOULD BE IT. I know this sounds like I’m exaggerating, but this really is the absolute best book I’ve ever read at interpreting the Gospel for our culture.

He later goes on to write:

One depressing thing about reading this book is I realize how little many “evangelical” churches preach the actual Gospel (seems to me). I’m thinking even of those places that have high “conversion” numbers. People are moved to pray salvation, come-to-Jesus prayers and get baptized, but you don’t see a people falling in love with Jesus…

Ummm… yeah. I just said almost the exact same thing at Bible study Wednesday.

I believe I have identified that next book I’ll be looking to get.