www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYVj1FDq4hc

Mark Driscoll with six minutes on some fundamentals about Jesus.

The money quotes:

Spirituality without Jesus is Demonology.

You cannot -- you WILL NOT -- connect to God apart from Jesus.

Your sin NEEDS to be atoned for.

If you disagree with what  Mark says here, then I respect that. I respect you, and love you.

But you really do need to know this:

if what is said here offends you, then Jesus should offend you.

You need to know that.

If you are one of my many friends who thinks “Jesus is cool. To each his own, you know?” then you can’t possibly understand who Jesus is… who He claimed to be and why He said He came.

I beg you to open your Bible and read the Gospel of Mark.

It’ll take you about 30 minutes.

I think you will find that Jesus only offers to be

1) your Savior

or

2) your Judge

That’s it.

He loves you too much to let you marginalize Him.

Think about it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkNa6tLWrqk

In the past few years, my understanding of God and the Bible have changed dramatically.

In this 3-minute video, Tim Keller explains what I have been learning: The Bible isn’t about me. or you. It’s about Jesus.

The whole thing is about Jesus.

It isn’t about what God can do for you.

It isn’t about right and wrong.

It isn’t about good and evil, or a proper understanding of morality.

It isn’t just history.

It’s primarily about Jesus.

The WHOLE thing.

(If your pastor isn’t making the clear, do me a favor and kick him in the but.)

Derek Webb is one of the best musicians that you’ve probably never heard of.

He has a niche of followers who love his music and wrestle with his message, but I’ll bet that if you’re over 25 and reading this, then the name is new to you.

If that’s the case, do yourself a favor and go get one of his albums. Any one will do.

You don’t even have to risk spending your money on something that you may not like! Derek is actually the founder of NoiseTrade, where you can download an album for any price you’re willing pay, or for free if you’re willing to recommend it to five friends!

I’ve been enjoying Derek’s music since he came and performed at NC State several years ago. I remember sitting at Derr track and watching him — nothing but a mic, a guitar, an amp, and some pedals — introduce me to “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2…

A so-called ‘christian’ artist singing a U2 song that has nothing to do with Jesus.

Was this a mistake?

Were the Campus Crusade staff people scrambling to huddle up and figure out what to do?

And so began a long series of lessons that Derek Webb has been instrumental in my learning.

His music constantly challenges me to think rightly about the Church, culture, morality, and Jesus.

He has helped me love the difference between those four words, and their interrelation.

My new favorite song, from his last album (not his newest album), is called “This Too Shall Be Made Right“.

It’s a recongition that this earthly kingdom is broken, but that it won’t always be.

It’s a song of mourning and hope.

Reality and optimism.

One verse says:

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made right

I think of so many people I love when I hear those words.

Another verse says:

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right

Ouch!

This about what happened in Indonesia this week. And how much was that coffee you’re drinking?

You can read all the lyrics here.

Do you have a favorite Derek Webb song?

And with all that in mind, I’m curious about your thoughts and experiences.

Whether you go to church or not, whether you’re a christian or not, I’d love to have your thoughts!

(I’m playing with Google forms, so I’ll see what kind of cool ways it gives me to share the results w/ everyone!)

If the embedded form doesn’t appear below (after the break), then please use this link

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

The awesome folks at Crossway and RE:LIT were kind enough to select our dinky little blog here for a free copy of Mark Driscoll’s newest book, Religion Saves – And Nine Other Misconceptions.

One condition: I have to review it here and tell you what I think.

This is a lot like telling a kid that he can have a piece of candy, but only if he promises to eat it, so I’m quite happy to oblige.

The first thing you notice when you pick up the book is the excellent design. It’s a sturdy hard-copy with a knurled texture containing an intriguing graphic of a family walking out of a typical-looking church building… and they appear to be on fire. Part of the flame is the provacative title of the book: Religion Saves. This, of course, is the exact opposite of the message of the book.

The book is based on a really neat idea: pastor Mark explains in the introduction that upon reading through the book of 1 Corinthians, he noticed that a significant purpose of the letter is to address questions from the church in Corinth. And the more he thought about it, the more intrigued he was by the idea of preaching a series of sermons that are answers to questions from people today — questions specific to our time and culture. So, last year, Mars Hill opened up a portion of their website for a forum called ‘Ask Anything‘. Over a series of voting cycles, people all over the world were allowed to post questions: any questions. These were then widdled down to the 9 most popular questions through a voting process. In the end, 893 questions were asked, 5,524 comments were made, and 343,203 votes were cast.

The result was nine questions, and pastor Mark preached a sermon on each one in a series by the same name as this book. You can download the video and/or audio of each of these for free here. This book is basically another form of responding to those questions, with a chapter devoted to each one.

I plan to write a short post about each chapter as I go through the book, but let me end this first post with pastor Mark’s explanation of the title (from the introduction of the book):

Before we proceed, the title “Religion Saves” merits a bit of explanation. The one thread that weaves this book together is religion; many of the questions that made the top nine are highly religius in nature. Religious people are prone to go beyond the teaching of the Bible to argue for positions that are not clearly taught in Scripture. They are further prone to go beyond the biblical principles on these issues and seek to impose their method on others, as if they alone are truly biblical. Reigious people tend to have very strong and vocal opinions about the issues we will examine. In fact, religious people were often the most devoted voters for the questions that comprised the “Religion Saves” sermon series and this book.

…

Religious people mistakenly think that they are saving people from such things as a fruitless life, sinful sex, bad relationships, unholy humor, wayward churches, evil birth control, and what they call “strange fire.” However, religion never saved anyone, and religious answers to complex questions are simply misconceptions, which is why I have titled this book, “Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions.”

So as you can see, the purpose of this book — and of these chapter reviews — is not directed so much at non-believers as at the most religious of believers. This book isn’t so much an apologetic or a call to holier living as it is a call to repentance.

And with that in mind, I hope you’ll tune in, invite your friends, and let me know what you think as we go through this together!

]]> http://www.therieslands.com/2009/06/23/religion-saves-and-nine-other-misconceptions-mark-driscoll-review-intro/feed/ 3 http://www.therieslands.com/2009/05/20/true-evangelism/ http://www.therieslands.com/2009/05/20/true-evangelism/#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 10:48:24 +0000 Zack http://www.therieslands.com/?p=3479 I was home sick this Sunday morning, so while the family was at church, I was on the couch watching the church service from Wave Church in Virginia Beach. I had never heard of the church, but happened to click past a very fired-up dude with a cool Australian accent. I was honestly mostly just watching to see how far off-base his teaching would be, since most of the dudes on TV are not preaching the Gospel you’ll find in the Bible.

Anyways, the message ended up being pretty solid, and at one point, he used this video as an illustration.

The video is a 5-minute “Penn Speaks” bit, where ‘Penn’ of ‘Penn and Teller’ fame, describes an encounter he has with a Christian after a show.

Check it out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM

What do you think? Don’t we need more dudes like this?

What if this was the reputation that Christians shared all over our country and our world?

Let’s talk about it here. Why isn’t this the case? What needs to change?

(I’ll keep this post at the top of the blog for a little while)

I can’t wait to listen to the whole thing.

Listen to how he articulates some really powerful truths about how slippery the slope of idolatry can be:

Satan does not mind family values–as long as what you ultimately value is the family.

Satan does not mind social justice–as long as you see justice as most importantly social.

Satan does not tremble at a Christian worldview. He will let you have a Christian worldview as long as your ultimate goal is viewing the world.

He goes on to challenge pastors:

Satan doesn’t mind if you preach on the decrees of God with fervor and passion every single week–provided that you do not ever preach the gospel of the cross.

And homeschool moms:

Satan does not mind if you teach your children all the books of the Bible and all the Ten Commandments and all of the catechism–provided you do not teach them the gospel of a bloody cross.

He concludes:

He will let you get what it is that you want, no matter what it is–sanctity of marriage, environmental protection, orphan care, all of these good and wonderful things–he will allow you to gain those things provided you do not preach and proclaim and live through the power of a cross that cancels his power of condemnation.

He so fears the gospel of a Christ crucified and raised from the dead that he is willing to surrender his entire empire just to appease the threat of it.

It describes an article based on a section of the book Bono In Conversation, where Bono essentially witnesses to an interviewer.

I love this because it’s such a classic scenario, capturing the stereotypes and assumptions that so often blur our communication about the Gospel. This interviewer is working on the assumption that Christianity is for the feeble-minded, and that anyone who would accept the idea that God came into the world as a man and died for the sins of the human race must be a fool who hasn’t thought it out all the way.

And here’s Bono, the iconoclast of ‘cool’, explaining grace! And what’s more, he gently calls this dude onto the carpet and basically explains to him C.S. Lewis’ argument from Mere Christianity: you can’t be luke warm about Jesus. He is either The Messiah, or he was nuts and should be dismissed as a lunatic.

For all my friends who have wondered what it looks like to share the message of Jesus effectively and contextually, just have a look at this!

Check it out and then tell me what you think:

Is Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, a Christian? He says he is and writes about Christianity in his lyrics. Yet many people question whether Bono is “really” a Christian, due to his notoriously bad language, liberal politics, and rock star antics (though he has been faithfully married for 23 years). But in a new book of interviews, Bono in Conversation by Michka Assayas, Bono, though using some salty language, makes an explicit confession of faith.

The interviewer, Mr. Assayas, begins by asking Bono, Doesn’t he think “appalling things” happen when people become religious? Bono counters, “It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.”

The interviewer asks, What’s that? “At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics — in physical laws — every action is met by an equal or an opposite one,” explains Bono. “And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that…Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”

The interviewer asks, Like what? “That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge,” says Bono. “It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.”

Then the interviewer marvels, “The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.”

“The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death,” replies Bono. “It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.”

The interviewer marvels some more: “That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has His rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that farfetched?”

Bono comes back, “Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: ‘I’m the Messiah.’ I’m saying: ‘I am God incarnate’…So what you’re left with is either Christ was who He said He was — the Messiah — or a complete nutcase…The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that’s farfetched.”

What is most interesting in this exchange is the reaction of the interviewer, to whom Bono is, in effect, witnessing. This hip rock journalist starts by scorning what he thinks is Christianity. But it is as if he had never heard of grace, the atonement, the deity of Christ, the gospel. And he probably hadn’t. But when he hears what Christianity is actually all about, he is amazed.

She checked the chapel schedule at Southeastern and noticed that Mark Driscoll, one of my favorite Bible teachers, would be teaching yesterday.

Several weeks ago, she told me to ask for a half-day today, but wouldn’t tell me why.

Yesterday morning, while Josiah and his grandma were having fun, we went to hear him give a sermon he called, “9 Distinctions Between the Gospel and Religion”.

It rocked.

One of those messages where even though I probably could have spat out all the ideas, just hearing remembering the Truth of the Gospel was still really energizing and good for my perspective!

You can download it for free from the Southeaster Chapel website here.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think!

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…

Here’s an excerpt:

The Houston church’s connection to Hooters — a restaurant chain whose signature is waitresses in skimpy orange shorts and tight tank tops — goes back more than nine years to a time when Pastor Clint Reiff was serving the congregation as associate pastor.

“I met a waitress while we were both pumping gas at the Shell station. We started talking. She mentioned that she was exhausted after waiting tables, and it made it hard for her to come to church,”  Reiff recalled.

He gave her his business card and told her to call if she ever felt the need. Two days later, the restaurant’s manager called to invite the church staff and their spouses to dinner.

When Reiff said he’d check with the pastor and get back with him, the manager responded, “We’re just looking for answers like anyone else.”

“I didn’t know if he said it flippantly or not, but I said, ‘We’ll be there,’” Reiff said. “I’m not sure our pastor at the time really knew what he was saying ‘yes’ to, but he was supportive, and a few evenings later, we were there. As I recall, most of us sat with our heads down trying not to look up, but we survived that first meal,” he said.

What do you think?

…very interesting thoughts from someone I admire very much, but who doesn’t often say much on the topic.

Here’s a particularly interesting and insightful snippet:

Lastly, the fact that Jesus remains to this day an active evangelist is of great encouragement to me personally. It means that children who are aborted in the womb, those mentally incapable of understanding the gospel, and those people who have lived in times and places that missionaries did not visit are not necessarily beyond the hope of salvation. Indeed, Jesus could visit and save anyone anywhere because He remains The Evangelist.

You can read the whole thing here.

Any thoughts?

This is the message I want to spend the rest of my life communicating in every way that I can.

I daily beg Jesus to pay off our debts and give me a job where I can spend all day, every day proclaiming this message:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=moW_x1M-VaU

(ht: Zack)

This is an album that I have loved for a while, by one of my favorite artists. The song “A King and a Kingdom” has some of the best song-writing I’ve ever heard (and so pertinent today):

“There are two great lies that I’ve heard, ‘The day you eat the fruit of that tree you will not surely die.’ And that Jesus Christ is a white, middle-class republican, and if you want to be saved you have to learn to be like Him.”

Then there’s the pull-no-punches “A New Law” (video embedded at the bottom):

don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for
don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

—

don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice

don’t teach me about loving my enemies

don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law

If you’ve never heard of Derek, then this is your chance to get one of his best albums for free.
Just use the widget above and email 5 friends, or pay whatever you want, even if that’s nothing at all (but only for one week)
I found out about this with this email message:

greetings friends-
in recognition of this week’s events, we decided that it was only right to do our part in stirring the conversation of integrated political living. therefore, for one week only, i’m giving away my mockingbird album for free. again.

but this time there’s a bonus track. we’re including an audio recording (read by me) of a piece that i’ve written for patrol magazine called how shall we then vote? that i hope, along with this album, might rightfully complicate your political decision making process.

so starting immediately (but again, for only one week), you can get your free download of mockingbird with the how shall we then vote? bonus track HERE. i hope you enjoy it. and don’t forget to vote (if your conscience allows).
derek

Here’s the music video to “A New Law”:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr4DBnB7aNQ

I especially like #6:

6. Make sure the majority of your songs talk about what we do and feel rather than who God is and what he’s done.
Why clutter up our songs with clear, specific, and compelling descriptions of God’s character and works? Why not just emote and talk about how passionate we are? Because an emotional fire that has no doctrinal fuel dies about pretty quickly or ends up trying to feed on itself.

What is one worship song that you LOVE to sing? What is one worship song that drives you crazy?

For me, a worship song that I LOVE to sing is “From The Inside Out” by Hillsong United. We still don’t sing it at our church fellowship, which is beyond me, but it’s been on my iPod for at least 2 years and I still love it because it almost forces me to come alive with worshipful thoughts about God.

A worship song that I struggle with is “Above All”. Musically, it’s beautiful. And I believe that Michael W. Smith had pure desires when he wrote it. But to me, that song is depressing, and theologically incorrect. I’ll stop there, because everyone else I know really likes that song, and I don’t want to step on your toes. If you love that song, then more power to you!

Alright, so let’s have yours…
(ht: Zack N)