Here is Shai at the 2009 Worship God conference in Maryland (I have included the lyrics also)..

Here are the lyrics:

It’s the greatest story ever told.

A God pursues foes whose hearts turned cold.

The greatest story ever told.

Restoring all that the enemy stole.

The greatest story ever told.

The glory of Christ is the goal, behold.

The greatest story ever told.

It’s the greatest.

Alright check it: let’s go back in time, brethren. Divine lessons always keep your mind guessing. The glory of the Triune God is what I’m stressing. The origin of humankind was fine. Blessings were plenteous. God is amazingly generous. Crazy benefits in a state of innocence. God told the man what he could taste was limited. Not long after came our nemesis in Genesis. He scammed well, man fell, damned to hell. The whole human race—he represented it. Fooled by the serpent, man through his work, woman through birth—even the earth ruled by the curses. But instead of a wake immediately. God said her Seed would be the One to crush the head of the snake. Yo, wait what is this? Whoa, a gracious gift! In Jehovah’s faithfulness He clothed their nakedness. This was so they would know their Savior’s kiss and bliss. But first, many growing pains exist suffering in the worst form, ugly deeds. Eve’s firstborn seed made his brother bleed. Indeed things got progressively worse. Every section of the earth is been affected by the curse. And though God’s judgments against sin were gory, praise the Lord! It’s not the end of the story.

Next scene: man’s sin was extreme. God gets steamed, man gets creamed. The Lord is so Holy that He drowned them in the water. Fire in the valley of slaughter – Sodom and Gomorrah. But at the same time, He’s so gracious and patient that from one man He created a whole nation. Eventually enslaved by the mentally depraved, they cried out to the only One with the strength that He could save. He brought them out with signs and wonders – satisfied their hunger. Then He appeared on Mount Sinai in thunder. Where He laid down the law for God-ruled government. Commonly referred to as the Mosaic covenant. Sin was imputed. So for man to know he’s unrighteous, God instituted animal sacrifices. This was to show our constant need for atonement. And when it came to sin, the Lord would never condone it. And when His people disobeyed and went astray, He raised up prophets and kings to lead them in the way. But they would get foul with their idolatry—wet and wild prophecy—send them into exile. To take their punishment like a grown man. Then with His own hand He placed them back in their homeland. And while in their forefather’s land they dwelt, they awaited the arrival of Emmanuel.

After 400 silent years filled with sighs and tears. In Bethlehem the Messiah appears. God in the flesh—Second Person of the Trinity. At thirty begins His earthly ministry. Baffling cats with accurate, exact facts and back-to-back miraculous acts. A stumbling block to the self righteous. But the humbled—His flock, said “There’s no one else like this.” He came from heaven to awake the numb. Demonstrated His power over nature, son. A foretaste of the Kingdom and the age to come. But the reason He came was to pay the sum for the depths of our wickedness, our wretched sinfulness. Bless His magnificence! He is perfect and innocent. Yet He was wrecked and His death. He predicted it. Next He was stretched, paid a debt that was infinite. He said that He finished it. Resurrected so the elect would be the recipients of its benefits. Through faith and penitence we get to be intimate. His grace is heaven sent, it never diminishes. Now the Holy Spirit indwelling is the evidence for heaven’s future residents who truly represent Jesus, the Author, Producer, Director, and Star of a story that will never, ever end!

(HT: JT)

…

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And really, the shamefully attractive lure here for our first parents is the prospective of becoming god (Gen. 3.5).  But what they did not know was that pleasure is fleeting and artificial apart from God.

Instead of eating the sweet fruit of freedom, fulfillment, and joy, they shattered their teeth on the demonic irony of self-worship.

They wanted freedom but became enslaved

They hoped to live but they died

They wanted enjoyment but they got heartache

They pursued wisdom but became fools

They wanted pride but became ashamed

They wanted progress but went backwards

They wanted to be free from rules but became enslaved to a ruthless master.

Oh the devestation wrought in misplaced desire.  Idolatry kills us and claimed Christ.  But thanks be to God that while he was bitten by the serpent he did indeed crush his head (Gen. 3.15)!

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More from Keller on this book:

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Cain killed his brother because he was jealous of him before the Lord.  His own glory was eclipsed by the glory and pleasure of God.  The requisite judgment ran downhill upon him and he was crushed.  He could not bear it.

Likewise I have felt the word of the LORD thunder and bring intimidation through my conscience.  Furthermore, I have heard it with clarity through the Word of God, the Scriptures.  While sitting under the unescapable shadow of divine displeasure and judgment you have no choice but to just put your hands up in frustration, declaring impotency and defeat: “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”  For truly if it was my time to open wide and drink down the cup of holy displeasure for my sin then I would truly be quoting Cain.

However, in God’s kind and merciful providence he has provided.  He sent his beloved Son to obediently offer up an acceptable sacrifice on my behalf.  The Lord Jesus is his brother’s keeper indeed.  The greater Abel’s blood speaks a better word (Heb. 12.24). Upon the cross he bore the unbearable punishment for me.  The good shepherd, the true ‘keeper of the sheep’ offered up a perfect sacrifice for such a rebel as me who was a  poor ‘worker of the ground’ (Gen. 4.2).

I am humbled and refreshed this morning that while my offering was self-centered, works based idolatry; Jesus offered perfection perfectly for me; and he remains accepted.  And the curse remains dealt with.

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For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4.6)

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Jer 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.

Here is Osteen on Fox and Friends this am:

He actually almost said something there.

The new book It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God’s Favor is out.  But it is basically recycled Osteen anchored in the current economic crisis. 

Osteen leads people away from Scripture as the sure guide, away from Christ as the sure Savior, and away from heaven as the sure hope.  Instead he leads people to trust in their dreams, be their own savior, and make this heaven.  Our desires are inerrant and our potential is unbinding.  The amount of subjective hot air that this guy blows into each sentence is amazing.

In terms of Jesus, there is little difference between what he does and Oprah.  Oprah denies Christ’s claims to be the only Savior, Sovereign, and Sufficient One.  Osteen sends Jesus to the bench and then drops the subjective Osteen eclipse on him as he prances around with his flowing mullet and detached subjective platitudes that weigh in at a combined 3 ounces.

One of the most biblically indefensible and frankly, staggering issues here is that he actually subtitles the book as a manual for ‘increasing in God’s favor.’

Um…I thought that was Jesus’ job.

The Bible makes it clear that we have neither the means nor the inclination to achieve God’s favor.  We all are categorized as rebels and sinners by the God of the Bible (Rom. 3.10-13; Rom. 5.10; Eph. 2.1).  The BEST we could do amounts to an unmentionable sanitary rag (Is. 64.6).

Instead it was Jesus’ job to earn, provide, and keep God’s favor.  It is Jesus who is the substitute who lived and died for sinners.  He is the one who makes an angry God propitious or favorable (Rom. 3.25).  There is no other way to experience the favor of a holy, just, righteous, good God apart from Jesus (Acts 4.12; 1 Tim. 2.5).

Osteen’s shtick is nothing more than good old legalism.  Earn and keep God’s favor by what you do and think.  We should all feel somewhat empowered and important, we are now our own Savior!  We should also feel the weight of God’s displeasure since this creed is actually anathamitized in the Bible (Gal. 1.6, 9).  Ironically this actually undermines Osteen’s book.

The title is fitting: It’s Your Time.  Right now it is my time to give it a thumbs down.  And Mr Osteen, It’s Your Time to go away.  And take your Jesus denying, legalistic, hopeless, broken, tired, Oprah-cloning message with you.

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The first is Sproul’s commentary on the book of Romans.  It is from the St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary Series.  In this series we are given the sermons from the Reformed leader in this most helpful epistle.  As you would expect the strength of this commentary is not in its technical contributions but rather its clear teaching and explanation of the passage.  No doubt this would be a fantastic partner to some of the more technical works from guys like Moo, Murray, or Morris.

I really like what Sinclair Ferguson said in his endorsement of the book:

The St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary will be welcomed throughout the world. It promises to have all R. C.’s hallmarks: clarity and liveliness, humor and pathos, always expressed in application to the mind, will, and affections. R. C.’s ability to focus on the ‘the big picture,’ his genius of never saying too much, leaving his hearers satisfied yet wanting more, never making the Word dull, are all present in these expositions. They are his gift to the wider church.

Copies are available at Westminster or Amazon.

Secondly, Crossway has just re-released the book Defending your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics.  Again the strength of this book will be Sproul’s knack for making difficult concepts clear.  Although I personally would be more presuppositional in my apologetic approach I find myself richly blessed with how Dr Sproul works through logic, reason, and faith.

Here is an excerpt from the backcover:

There is a widespread belief that reason and faith are incompatible and opposed to each other. Faith is viewed as subjective, emotional, a crutch for those who find the real world too hard. Though many of the world’s finest minds hold this view, the Bible teaches that it is the fool who says there is no God.

Dr. R. C. Sproul clearly and simply argues that at its core Christianity is rational. He focuses on defending the basic truth claims for two of the most crucial issues of apologetics: God’s existence and the Bible’s authority.

Copies are available at Westminster or Amazon.

Both books leave you thankful for the large footprint that Dr Sproul has left upon the church in his lifetime!

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