Podcast Pushing

I love podcasts. One might say that I am addicted to podcasts. With the current iPod touch software, you can listen to podcasts at 2x speed, and I listen to about 3 or 4 hours of podcasts a day during down time at work. If you consider that I’m listening at 2x speed, you could reasonably say that I consume 6 to 8 hours worth of material throughout a normal day! That being said, I think it would be helpful for me to review, summarize or recommend materials on this blog for the up-building of the church and to just keep my own thoughts organized. I would encourage you to consider whether it is worth your time to download and listen to these resources. If so, you may find PodShifter a useful tool for speeding up the podcasts.

Timothy Tennent: Introduction to Buddhism (20 Episodes)

At the time of this recording, Dr. Timmothy Tennent is lecturing at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Tennent is an expert on world religions, and has many years of missionary experience in Buddhist parts of Asia. This 20-lesson series will help you develop a working understanding of Buddhism in such a way that you will really begin to understand your own faith better and understand the worldviews that Buddhist people hold.  Unlike much material in the realm of apologetics, his lectures are not just a box of arguments against Buddhism, but really a comprehensive introduction to the doctrinal evolution and practice of Buddhism as a whole. The tone is academic and engaging for me as a Christian yet I would feel entirely comfortable giving them to a Buddhist. These lectures are highly recommended.

Timothy Tennent: Introduction to Islam (24 Episodes)

Like his Introduction to Buddhism, Dr. Tennent’s 24-lesson Introduction to Islam will help you develop a working understanding of Islam. As an Abrahamic religion, Islam shares a similar worldview to Christianity and Judaism and thus requires much less lecture time than the Buddhism lectures to explain how Muslims view the world. While far from being sympathetic to Islam, Dr. Tennent avoids widespread misconceptions about Islam (especially radical Islam) without sparing them criticism where criticism is due. He does expose some historical facts that can be the dagger-to-the-heart of the Islamic religion, but his process is far more systematic and composed than simply shooting down the religion. It is crucial as Christians that we understand other religions before we consider debating them if we are remotely interested in seeing them consider the gospel of Jesus. Highly Recommended.

John Piper: Pastoral Theology (9 mini-classes ranging from 3 to 11 episodes per class)

Most people who know me know that I am a fan of all things Piper. This lecture series is no different. If you are a Piper veteran, you have probably have heard most of this considering the the topics are fairly standard John Piper: Christian Hedonism, Future Grace, Biblical Inerrancy, Sexual Complementarity, an so on. The real gem of this lecture series is the class on TULIP, or the five points of Calvinism. Piper goes point by point through the five points of Calvinism addressing them from scripture and addressing problem texts and defending them from common accusations with composure through scripture. I had problems with the mp3 tags not matching the lectures, so be careful when you download them to be organized.

D. A. Carson: The New Perspectives on Paul (iTunes only, 3 episodes)

D. A. Carson is a reformed, evangelical academic who you need to know about. He is a book writing machine (wikipedia reports he is at 57), and he is always well versed on contemporary issues and willing to write and speak about them. His lectures on the New Perspectives on Paul are no exception. The New Perspectives are a very complex, loosely connected series of academic perspectives about the teachings of the Apostle Paul that seek to reconsider whether Paul was addressing legalistic Judaism when he presents dichotomies of faith and works. The movement is extremely controversial because, unlike many liberal movements to redefine Paul, the New Perspectives are essentially a conservative movement arguing on the basis of scripture rather than undermining it. The ramifications of the New Perspectives will influence how justification is understood, and there are arguments floating around these circles for justification, at least partly, on the basis of works. The New Perspectives are finding their way into Calvinist circles with mixed responses. These lectures serve as a fine introduction to the perspectives and critical analysis of the assertions regarding Paul.

What is the Opposite of Legalism?

Done With Legalism!

When was the last time you heard someone call himself a legalist? Hardly anyone will ever describe himself as legalistic, but many Christians who go on to maturity recognize that they have behaved legalistically perhaps even more often than they broke commandments. It is much more natural to regulate behavior instead of find strength in the gospel through repentance and faith in Jesus and as a result, the refreshing, simple call to trust in the merits of Jesus crucified for you on the cross suddenly becomes a joy bigger than the national debt. At this point of the discussion, it is easy to feel done. Go, and be a legalist no more!

The Opposite of Wrong

In every issue of the Christian life, the opposite of wrong is just a different wrong. For example, charismatic acts a la Benny Hinn are false signs and miracles, but without any theology of miracles, we would be deists, the atonement would be impossible, and our faith would be futile.

What then is the opposite of legalistic discipline? Disordered, lazy worldliness, and license to sin. Judge for yourself which is worse.

A Third Way

Where then does the recovering legalist go? To Jesus of course (the Sunday School answer is always right)! But what does that look like considering that Jesus has ascended to heaven? We can’t see or touch Jesus, or talk to him and hear words back. How do we encounter Jesus here on earth? Answer: through the means of grace.

The Meansa Wha?

The means of grace are ways that God has established for delivering grace to you. Consider Isaiah 55:1.

Isaiah 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

We see the grace in the, “without money and without price.” These are free gifts of grace, not works, but notice that you still have to eat. If you thirst and hunger and come to the waters, but you don’t eat, you will remain hungry. The means of grace are the ways that we eat the free food. Do not equate the calls to thirst, come, buy, and eat with dead works to please God, but rather as means that God has provided to acquire more and more and more grace to satisfy more and more of your hungers and thirsts and to help you to bear good fruit.

Give Me Grace!

Ok, so what are the means of grace? Where do we find them? In the Bible, of course.

• Crying out to the Lord from your trouble. (Psalm 107 – Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.)
• Confession of sins to God (1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)
• Confession of sins to one another (James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.)
• Through the exchange of spiritual gifts in church (1 Peter 4:10 – As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace)
• Hearing the gospel with faith (Galatians 3:5-6 – Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?)
• Hearing the word of God (Acts 20:32 – And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.)
• Being acquainted with the sacred writings (2 Timothy 3:15 – …and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.)
• Giving to the needy (2 Corinthians 9:7-8 – Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.)
• Eating the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:26 – For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.)

These were the results of a very brief survey of the Bible, and are by no means a comprehensive list, but they serve as a menu of appetizers in the feast of grace. Glut yourself on God, and bring a friend… or an enemy.

What You Need to Know About Tiger Woods’ Affairs

Nothing.

Book Giveaway!

Do yourself and check out this book giveaway!

http://sbcvoices.com/kicking-off-2010-right-100-book-giveaway

There are three books available and all three are books that I plan on buying if I don’t win. These books are:

Institutes of the Christian Religion

A Christian classic that is nearly 500 years old.

The Meaning of the Pentateuch

Recommended by John Piper as one of the best books ever written on the subject.

The Trellis and the Vine

Received rave reviews from nearly ever source that reviewed it. It seems to be contributing something new and insightful to the discussion of Christian ministry.

The Pain of Temptation

Learn or Burn
Sin is a serious thing. Sin damns people to Hell. The scariest thing about Hell is not the pain, but the length of the sentence. Five minutes in Hell would, by far, outdo any pains you have ever felt, yet the true pain could never be fully understood because it does not come coupled with the utter hopelessness of knowing that there is not a chance in Hell that you will ever get out. Literally, a billion years in, you will not be one minute closer to the end.

Yes, sin is a serious, serious thing. Naturally, forgiveness must be more serious. As agonizing as Hell is, the promise of eternal life in the New Heavens and the New Earth will far surpass it in pleasures forevermore.

A Missionary’s Fear
The truest of missionaries have always felt the weight of the wrath with which God will righteously impose on sinners, and have been informed by their Bibles that the words contained within have the power to rescue sinners on account of Jesus’ own suffering.

With God in their hearts and on their lips, they have proclaimed the law of God in order to convict people of their sins, and the gospel of Jesus Christ that they may find forgiveness and reconciliation. Tragically, multitudes feel unaffected by the law, with no desire to repent, while others will be on the verge of despair in utter self-hatred. We poor souls under despair need the comforting words of Jesus to announce to us, “Brothers, your sins are forgiven.”

Learning Suffering
There is a subtle legalism in the Church that has implicitly exchanged the condemnation of actual sins for the condemnation of those tempted to sin. A quick-worded preacher may miss this nuance and unwittingly preach against temptation, bringing more pain to the law-beaten man.

Hebrews 2
17 Therefore [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Temptation yields suffering―even to Jesus. Jesus did not come to thunder in anger against your temptation, but he experienced the full weight of it so that he could help us in temptation joining them in pilgrimage to Jesus who is able to help us. Therefore, we ought all become a lot more sensitive to those suffering under temptation.

How many insensitive, blunt remarks have been lobbed at the porn addicted teenager searching for help? As a Church, sometimes we forget that sin takes the form of a disease, in that it not only kills, but it also hurts. Certainly, sin must be preached against in order for the gospel to be of any tangible value, but not to the exclusion of empathy and compassion. A doctor with any sense of decency would not announce his patient’s positive cancer results without some measure of pain in his voice.

If you have no compassion for those who are being tempted, you probably have not suffered enough under temptation, meaning that you yield to it before it is strong enough to drive you to suffer. To you who cannot sympathize, gain some new resolve. Let the law cut you, let your excuses, justifications, and explanations be severed from you, and just let yourself bleed for long enough to drive you to Jesus. Fight your own sins, and find your temptations to be harder than you ever knew, and sympathize with your brothers.

May we all pray, “And lead us not into temptation,” with as much burden as we petition, “but deliver us from evil.” Join with me in suffering under temptation in the arms of Jesus who is able to sympathize with our suffering, and to help us in the midst of it.

Personal Announcement

As you may have noticed, the blog has been very quiet lately. Much of this silence reflects the fact that I am back in school and have been lacking time to write, but more importantly though, I am getting married December 27, 2009 to Hallie Clara Parker, the love of my life! Needless to say, there will be a lot to do before then, and so I expect the blog to remain fairly quiet. This is not to say that I have forgotten or abandoned this blog, since in fact, I have been jotting down ideas as they come and plan on becoming more regular with my posts. It has always been my prayer that this blog would be educational, edifying, and sanctifying, and so long as I believe there is ministry potential, I plan to continue blogging. To my subscribers and loyal readers: please bear with me through this joyful but busy season and pray for me and my wife to be. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some good reading, why not follow some of the links on my sidebar? If you want to go the book route, here are a few personal recommendations:

When Helping Hurts

Spectacular Sins

The Bible

Matthew 2, Part 2: Herod’s Damned Faith

Matthew 2
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

A Faithless King

King Herod is technically king of the Jews, but the Jews are a conquered people, under the possession of the Romans. King Herod had real power, but he was still under Caesar. He is analogous to King Saul, the faithless King of Israel, ready to be replaced by King David, except in this case, Jesus is the God-king on the throne of David. Just like Saul, Herod gets violent when his power is threatened. By the end of his life, Saul was in direct rebellion against God, not just David. So also, we see by his actions that Herod is in rebellion against God as well. He is not merely concerned that a man take his place in power, he is concerned that the Messiah of God is going to take away his power, which is why he consults the chief priests and the scribes about him. Herod is in a weird position. He believes the prophecy is reliable enough to find the Messiah, yet he hates him and somehow he believes that he can thwart God’s plan. We must approach Herod soberly by discovering that there is a kind of faith that does not save. Namely the faith that believes facts about God to be true, but hates and suppresses them rather than marveling and submitting to them.

Kingdom Showdown

Despite the fact that the chief priests and the scribes would be seeking to put Jesus to death in about thirty years, they are not ignorant of who Jesus is. The scribes and priests are experts with the scriptures and we see upon Herod’s inquiry that they have correctly interpreted the prophecies concerning Jesus. They knew that the Christ was to come from Bethlehem in Judea, the city of king David, yet because of their jealousy, the grand majority of them will never repent and believe in him. Likewise, Herod is terrified of Jesus, since he considers him a threat to his power. He is so arrogant, rebellious, and cowardly that he is willing to commit mass infanticide just to ensure that God’s kingdom would not come. Yet we see that God was sovereign even over Herod’s sin. What Herod did in efforts to undermine the power of God, God ordained to confirm it. Through Herod’s sin of infanticide the purpose of God was vindicated, fulfilling three more prophecies. First, because Herod sought to kill the children, God told Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt to fulfill Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Secondly, the infanticide itself fulfilled Jeremiah 31:15. Rachel, as wife of Jacob, a.k.a. Israel, represents the mother of the nation of Israel, who is Abraham’s son. The death of young Israeli children by the sword of Herod occurred to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy. Finally, the ongoing threat of Herod’s son, Archelaus, confirmed a third prophecy concerning the Messiah, that he would be called a Nazarene. Therefore, we need not be afraid of tyrants, human rights criminals, or any people in the world because we know that God’s purposes will come to fruition, and that no human kingdom can prevent the kingdom of God coming to earth.

Providence, Part 2

Even though God worked in spite of Herod’s sin to confirm Jesus’ kingdom, Herod was still held guilty and died in rebellion. God ordained his death just right to fulfill the third prophecy about Jesus being a Nazarene. Conversely, divine providence served for the deliverance of God’s faithful. God gave Joseph dreams as guidance to deliver not only Jesus, but also his family. The magi likewise were saved by believing God according to the same kinds of dreams. This runs parallel to our understanding of salvation by faith. Those who believe in Jesus are delivered from their sins and the devil’s slavery. We want to have faith in Jesus Christ, but yet again we must test the stripe of our faith in him. Do we believe the facts and prophecies about Jesus are true but consider it bad news? If so we will have Herod-like faith, we will believe the facts about Jesus bit be disturbed and threatened, and actually try in vain to quench the kingdom of God. But if we have faith like Joseph or the magi, the facts we believe about God will lead us to joy.

Matthew 2, Part 1: Who Are the Magi?

Matthew 2
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Intentional Evangelists

Some time after Jesus’ birth we see wise men, literally, magi, showing up to worship Jesus. We don’t know much about them since they show up only in Matthew’s gospel, but since Matthew bothered to mention them, we know that they must be significant. There are trillions of things that the gospel authors could have written concerning Jesus, but they were extremely selective about which details they recount. They did not record Jesus’ first haircut, the way that he learned to read, his first words, or how old he was when he began to walk. In fact, only in Luke’s gospel do we hear anything about Jesus’ childhood at all, and in that case, just a single event when he was 12. John ends his gospel saying that were everything about Jesus recorded, the whole world could not contain all of the books. Therefore, whatever details the evangelists do record are recorded intentionally and hold significance. The gospel authors are not merely telling you what you should believe, but they are arguing their points, and therefore they omit details that are not important and narrate details that are. Therefore, despite what we do not know about the magi, we know that they are significant to the point that Matthew wants to make, and we should ask, “Why?”

Why Magi?

To build off of the study of chapter 1, we remember that we saw a few of Matthew’s goals: that you would see Jesus as the God-king on David’s throne, to see Jesus as the nation-blessing offspring of Abraham, to see Jesus as the savior from sins, and to see God’s plan throughout history come to fruition in Jesus Christ. As it turns out, the appearance of the magi are consistent with Matthew’s goals from chapter 1. For most of us, our knowledge of the magi comes from nativity scenes or Christmas carols, rather than the Bible. For example, we do not know that there were three magi, nor are we told that they are kings. Furthermore, the magi probably didn’t even show up the night that Jesus was born, for one, since the passage does not say that, but also we see in verse 10 the wise men visited Jesus at a house, though Jesus was born in a manger. The magi are not just another cute addition to a nativity scene, but rather they reinforce Matthew’s previous points. First, we see that the magi believe that Jesus is the God-king, just as was prophesied to come in the line of David. For the magi to march up to king Herod and ask for a king baby to worship is a gutsy move. They know that men are to worship and serve God alone, so they must believe that Jesus is God. Second, we know that the opinions of the magi concerning Jesus were from God, because they were drawn to Jerusalem, and then Bethlehem, by a supernatural astrological event given by God as a sign. Third, the magi are from another country, and have come to worship the king of the Jews. Certainly Matthew must be connecting God’s covenant with Abraham to bless all of the nations to Jesus’ birth, because Jesus was first recognized as king of the Jews not by the Jews, but by gentiles from the east.

Matthew 1, Part 2: Jesus’ Genealogy and Birth

In case you missed it, check part 1.

Generations = Plan of God

Continuing with Jesus’ genealogy, notice that in Matthew 1:17, he divides it into three sets of 14 generations, with a “big deal event” figure-heading the 14 generation breaks. Matthew is using this pattern to show you God’s long term plan for salvation found in Jesus Christ. To be technical, in Jewish genealogies, some generations can be skipped, just as we saw in verse 1 with Jesus to David to Abraham. Likewise, there are a few generations that Matthew skips, but overall he intentionally takes note of the sets of 14 generations. This is probably because salvation was not an afterthought, but the plan right from the beginning, so God has been involved in these generations to bring salvation to pass.

Matthew vs. Luke: Political vs. Biological?

If you look closely at Matthew 1 and Luke 3, the two places where Jesus’ genealogy is recorded, you’ll notice two interesting things. First, the two accounts are not identical. Second, Luke traces back to Adam, while Matthew traces back to Abraham. Why the difference? Is there a contradiction? The big picture answer comes from the perspective that the gospel evangelists came from: Matthew was political, Luke was biological. Matthew wanted to emphasize the relationship of Jesus’ genealogy to his place as king and nation-blesser. Luke was emphasizing the humanness of Jesus, by tracing him back to Adam. We know that Luke was a physician who therefore understood the human body, but Matthew was a tax collector, an employee of the Roman empire, so he understood the politics of genealogies. Due to Jewish laws about adoption and remarriage, it is entirely possible for there to be discrepancies in genealogies based on one taking into account things like adoption and remarriage and another remaining strictly biological.

Christmas in September

Matthew 1

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The Sexually-Active Mary?

The first thing to note is that the Holy Spirit caused Mary to become pregnant, but he did not have sex with Mary. One way we can be sure of this, to put it simply, is that she is the virgin Mary. If the Holy Spirit had sex with her, she would not be a virgin. There are three deal-breaker reasons why Mary’s virginity is important. First, if Mary were not a virgin, then it would appear that Jesus began to exist when he was born, even though Jesus said he was God before Abraham existed (John 8:58), that he was in the beginning with God (John 1:1), that Jesus was the stone from which the Israelites drank from in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:4), and more. For Mary to be sexually active would imply that Jesus was beginning when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The second reason Mary’s virginity is important is that if Jesus were born naturally, he would have been born with original sin, and therefore would not be the perfect sacrifice he needed to be to fulfill the angel’s description of Jesus’ mission statement: he will save people from their sins. The third reason Mary’s virginity is crucial is that if Mary was not a virgin, then Isaiah 7, the verses the angel quoted to Joseph, would be yet unfulfilled, and scripture would be proven to be false, and God would be a liar. If you weren’t a Jew or didn’t know the Old Testament, the angel’s words are the first place you would hear about the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus. Notice though, that the angel did not say that Jesus would teach them a new way to live or give them new commandments. The angel announced the premier purpose for God to send Jesus into the world: to save sinners. Many predecessors of Jesus gave new laws and new ways of life to God’s people, but none of them could do what Jesus would do: save his people from their sins.

What is Betrothal?

Since Mary was in fact a virgin, she had not yet had sex with Joseph. Since that’s the case, even though Joseph is described as her husband, Mary is actually betrothed to him. Betrothal is similar to what we call engagement, but it is strong enough to require a divorce to break it and for Joseph to bear the title of husband.

Immanuel H. Christ

Finally, what about the name? There is a superficial sense in which we could say that the Bible is contradicting itself by saying that Jesus would be named Immanuel when he ends up being called Jesus, but Matthew openly records the angel’s words, so obviously if he considered this a problem, he wouldn’t defeat his own argument by placing the angel’s words right next to his own. The point of the name Jesus (which means, “God saves”) is to elaborate on Immanuel (which means, “God with us”). God is with us, because God saves. If in your mind you have a version of Jesus who does not save people from their sins, your Jesus should be named something like “Muhammad” instead. Muhammad came and gave his people new rules to follow and enforce them on the world with violence. Jesus came and received our violence to pay for our disobedience to God’s rules.

Spring Revival – A Guest Post by Hallie Parker

There’s a spring rain a-brewing; the wind’s blowing in a sweet smell.
All the flowers striving, blooming; the petals blowing off of the ground.
He’s reviving. He’s reviving all the life that’s been hid in grey.
He says it’s time for the sun, it’s time for a new day.

Go grab your neighbor; we will gather at the river deep in the woods.
He is teaching of new mercies; He is teaching that He is good.
The spring rain will come and move us as a river into the town.
All the people rejoicing, singing, what a glorious sound!
Can you hear each one proclaiming new life, death ran away.
No more fear, shame, or sadness. There’s a king who’s kindly fully paid.
The Holy Spirit’s fallin’ on the heads of His beautiful Bride.
We will rise on his wings, we’ll fly beside him as we cry!
Holy, Holy is the Father who reigns up above.
Holy, Holy is the Man who died and rose in love.
Holy, Holy is the Spirit living in each of us.

It is time that we move, that we faithfully fulfill our purpose.
To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the cold and confused
To visit prisons, care for widows, bring freedom to those who’re abused
To bring comfort to the ones who are facing death for their faith
To be light and salt to a world that’s eaten by hate.

Holy, Holy is the Father who reigns up above.
Holy, Holy is the Man who died and rose in love.