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Walking Through the Valley of Vision

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:16:00 +0000

In the second and last part of this series I will be sharing the reading plan that I use for one part of my prayer life. The Valley of Vision is a great blessing that we have from some Godly men in our past and is a great aid to help our prayer life. Use this and I hope it will help you grow in your prayer life and communion with God!

The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers, and one of the most helpful and refreshing resources on prayer I have found. It’s one of two or three books on prayer that I regularly recommend to people who want to grow in the discipline. I have benefitted from reading and praying through the book so much over the years I wanted to find a way to maximize its usefulness, and get the most out of it for my own spiritual growth. So, a couple years ago I developed a schedule and rhythm for my personal use of the Valley of Vision.

I rearranged the prayers into 3 daily readings, five days a week, and scheduled them to be read/prayed at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm Monday through Friday. This method took me through the entire Valley of Vision in 13 weeks, only repeating two prayers one time.

To stay on top of the discipline I used the calendar/alarm feature on my phone to alert me when it was time to pray (otherwise I would forget), and with those alerts I would stop whatever I was doing, pull out the Valley of Vision, spend a moment in prayer with the assigned reading, and then return to work. If I was in a meeting, I would excuse myself, step outside or even hit the washroom, and meet with God. Occasionally I found myself in a situation where I simply had to wait before I could get away, but most of the time I could slip away without a problem.

I found that when using this schedule, my days were rich with an awareness of God’s grace, and I was encouraged me to look to God throughout the day in a new way. I looked forward to these appointments/interruptions and my prayer life is better because of it.

I thought others might benefit from the exercise, so I asked Brian Malcolm to design a printable version for download. He was able to fit the entire schedule onto one page so you can easily print it and tuck or tape it inside your own copy of the Valley of Vision. He has created versions for the leather bound edition, as well as the paperback (page numbers and sizes are different).

You should consider this guide and approach to prayer as one tool to help you seek God and maintain a posture of prayer throughout the day. It should not be the totality of your prayer life. Think of this as a means of fueling your meditation on Scripture, dependency on the gospel, and exercise of faith in and love for Jesus. I have used this schedule a few times now and have been richly rewarded. I hope it’s a blessing to you as well.

To download the Walking Through The Valley of Vision prayer guide head over to its dedicated page here.

If you don’t already have one, you can order your copy of The Valley of Vision here (leather), or here (paperback).

Thanks to Joe Thorn for his time to create a plan for saints to grow!
http://www.joethorn.net/2010/09/30/walking-through-the-valley/

Bible Reading Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:13:00 +0000

As Christians we are called to be growing in our sanctification and holiness and are also called to walk by the Spirit. The only way this can be done is by growing closer to the Lord. In order for this end result to happen, 2 things must take place. Christians are to be reading Scripture everyday. Matthew 4.4 says, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” This is important because the only way to know about who God is, is by reading scripture. Paul also tells us that we are able to not sin. How is this possible? Christians are to be walking in the Spirit. While in Prayer and in Scripture daily, your minds are continually set on the things above. Thus creating a strength from God to help you overcome and confront sin.

Because these two keys, Scripture and prayer, are so important in the Christian life I would like to share with you some tools that have helped me grow in my walk and hope that you all may benefit from then as well. The first one will be the Bible reading plan that I use. If this sounds complicated or you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I would be more then willing to help you get going on this amazing journey. This reading plan has been wonderful and I see scripture more and more, which allows me to see how so much of scripture is Christ centered. Enjoy!

Bible Reading Plan

Click the above link above for the reading plan.

Monday Morning Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:03:00 +0000

James White on Chapter 4 of "Love Wins"

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:59:00 +0000

For those who are interested in a scholarly review of Rob Bell's book, James White is taking the heart of Love Wins (chapter 4) and breaks it down. James White is a well known Reformed Apologist and uses his skills to show where Rob Bell is in error.

Day of Rapture: May 21, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Has time finally come to an end here on earth? Is Christ coming tomorrow to judge the living and the dead? Well according to Harold Camping The Church Age ended on May 21, 1988 and the Tribulation began that day. Between May 21, 1988 and September 6, 1994, the first six years of the Tribulation, almost no one was saved. On September 6, 1994, God began to pour out His Spirit. This will result in a great end time harvest of souls during the last years of the Tribulation. Since the Tribulation will last 8,400 days or 23 years, dating from May 21, 1988, the Rapture will occur on May 21, 2011. Those left behind will be judged by Jesus for a period of five months, until October 21, 2011, at which time the world will come to an end. So, is the end coming in 2011? Here is an article that Albert Mohler has written on this situation:

Harold Camping is now warning the world that the Day of Judgment will begin at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. The 89-year-old founder of Family Radio has made such pronouncements before, most recently in 1994. He now says that he simply miscalculated then, but he is absolutely certain that he has the right calculation now. You have been warned.

Actually, millions of people in America have been warned through Camping’s radio program and by means of the more than 1,200 billboards his ministry has put up across the nation. According to press reports, Family Radio has put up 2,000 billboards in other nations, as well.

Camping is no stranger to controversy, but this one has caught national and international attention. He was wrong before, but this time he is absolutely certain that he is right. As he told New York magazine:

“God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. There’s nothing in the Bible that God has ever prophesied — there’s many things that he prophesied would happen and they always have happened — but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.”

If you know the Bible and this statement confuses you, you are in good company. Harold Camping believes that God has revealed to him the exact dates of biblical events and the timeline of the judgment. He says that God revealed some “exquisite proof” that enabled him to determine a “finished product” timeline that ends on May 21, this coming Saturday.

As Michael S. Rosenwald of The Washington Post explains, Camping “says he came up with the very precise date of May 21 through a mathematical calculation that would probably crash Google’s computers.” Further, Camping’s mathematical formula “involves, among other things, the dates of floods, the signals of numbers in the Bible, multiplication, addition and subtraction thereof.” As many have noted, the math seems to make sense only to Harold Camping.

Yet, in a strange way, this just serves to affirm Camping in his teaching. On his website he states:
However, it was not until a very few years ago that the accurate knowledge of the entire timeline of history was revealed to true believers by God from the Bible. This timeline extends all the way to the end of time. During these past several years God has been revealing a great many truths, which have been completely hidden in the Bible until this time when we are so near the end of the world.
These “true believers” turn out to be Harold Camping and his disciples. Others, even professing Christians, will be in big trouble when Saturday comes, he believes.

The Christian church has seen this kind of false teaching before. William Miller and his Adventist followers (known, surely enough, as Millerites) believed that Christ would return on March 21, 1844. In the 1970s, popular Christian preachers and writers predicted that Christ would return on various dates now long in the past. All this is embarrassing enough, but now we have the teachings of Harold Camping to deal with. Given the public controversy, many people are wondering how Christians should think about his claims.

First, Christ specifically admonished his disciples not to claim such knowledge. In Acts 1:7, Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” In Matthew 24:36, Christ taught similarly: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

To state the case plainly, these two verses explicitly forbid Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times. Jesus clearly taught that the Father has not revealed such dates and timing, but has reserved that knowledge for himself. It is an act of incredible presumptuousness to claim that a human knows such a date, or has determined God’s timing by any means.

Second, the Bible does not contain hidden codes that we are to find and decipher. The Bible has been given to us in order that we might know the truth, and the truth is clearly revealed in its pages. We are not to look for hidden patterns of words, numbers, dates, or anything else. The Bible’s message is plain and requires no mathematical computation for its understanding. The claim that one has found a hidden code or system in the Bible is an insult to the Bible as the Word of God.

Third, Christians are indeed to be looking for Christ to return and seeking to be found faithful when Christ comes. We are not to draw a line in history and set a date, but we are to be about the Father’s business, sharing the Gospel and living faithful Christian lives. We are not to sit on rooftops like the Millerites, waiting for Christ’s return. We are to be busy doing what Christ has commanded us to do.
In Hebrews 9:28, we are taught that Christ will come a second time “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” That is the faithful Christian response to the New Testament teachings about Christ’s coming. The church is not to be arrogantly setting dates, but instead to be eagerly waiting for him. Of that we can be truly certain.

For more information on this issue take a look at Robert Godfrey’s five-part blog series:
1. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 1
2. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 2
3. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 3
4. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 4
5. The End of the World According to Harold Camping: Part 5

http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/05/16/the-end-is-near-the-false-teaching-of-harold-camping/

Monday Morning Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Tue, 17 May 2011 00:05:00 +0000

For all of you Basketball/Sports Fans, you will enjoy this. Sho Baraka did awesome with all the sports references! Great stuff, hope you all enjoy!

Praying With Humility

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Sun, 15 May 2011 07:03:00 +0000

I am currently reading the complete works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer and a few nights ago I was reading the section called Prayer and Humility and there was a quote that really caught my attention and wanted to share it with you all.

"To be clothed with humility is to be clothed with a praying garment. Humility is just feeling little because we are little. Humility is realizing our unworthiness because we are unworthy, the feeling and declaring ourselves sinners because we are sinners. Kneeling suits us very well as the physical posture of prayer because it speaks of humility."

All I Have Is Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:10:00 +0000

DeYoung Discussess Osama Bin Laden

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:57:00 +0000

"Christians are already beginning to weigh in on the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Not surprisingly, Justin Taylor has a quick roundup of the first couple of internet volleys–both of which are very good. I’m sure there is more serious reflection to come. But since I’m a blogger, I’ll do what bloggers do, and that’s add my thoughts to the mix.

There are really two questions to answer: 1) Did Osama bin Laden deserve to die? 2) Did those who killed him have authority to do so? I believe the answer to both those questions is yes. Consequently, his death was a matter of justice for which we can be grateful.

1. Did Osama bin Laden deserve to die? Genesis 9:6 suggests he did: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Capital punishment for murder is not an assault on the image of God, but a defense of it. It is because human life is so precious, that the taking of human life needs to be punished so severely. The principle of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, wound for wound” (Exod. 21:23-25) was not a matter cruel and unusual punishment, but of controlled retribution as a means of protecting the community and valuing the dignity of human life.

At this point, some earnest Christian will object, “But we will all deserve to die. If God should mark my iniquities, I would be a goner too.” The objection makes sense on one level. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). And yet, even with this doctrine of total depravity the Bible never acts as if everyone deserves to die physically right now. Some have deserved immediate death, so God killed Nadab and Abihu and struck down Uzzah and inflicted judgment on the Egyptians, Amorites, Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, and Babylonians. We all deserve condemnation apart from God’s grace, but some deserve death now because some sins are worse than others and some sinners commit more egregious sins.

It is one of the half-truths of our day that every sin is the same in God’s eyes. On the one hand, every sin renders us liable to God’s judgment (James 2:10). On the other hand, not every bit of iniquity is equally offensive. Some sins are high-handed. Some are premeditated. Some are slip ups. Some are habitual. Some are contrary to nature. The Law did not demand the same penalty for every infraction. Neither did Jesus (Matt. 10:15). We do not promote the glory of the gospel by pretending that no one is more righteous or more wicked than anybody else. Some sins so destroy the image of God that those who commit them deserve destruction.

2. Did those who killed Osama bin Laden have the authority to do so? Only God has the authority to take human life. But God has ordained that he should exercise that right through the power of the state. Romans 13:4 says the governing authorities are God’s servants to do good, “but if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” The Navy SEALs that raided bin Laden’s compound did not violate the sixth commandment because, as the Heidelberg Catechism says, “Prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword” (Q/A 105). Surely, this was an instance where the U.S. military, by killing bin Laden, was acting in an effort to prevent more American citizens from being murdered.

Obviously, Jesus condemned private retaliation, vigilante justice, and hatred (Matt. 5:38-48). But there is no indication the Gospels mean to overturn the centuries long Jewish understanding that some warfare was justified. When soldiers asked John the Baptist what they needed to do to repent, he could have easily said, “Resign from the evil Roman army. You can’t be a soldier and a part of the new people of God.” But instead he said, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14). Jesus went so far as to hold up a Centurion as a model of faith (Luke 7:6). It reminds me of G.K. Chesterton’s quip: “There is nothing that throws any particular light on Christ’s attitude toward organized warfare, except that he seems to be rather fond of Roman soldiers.”

In the end, though there are mixed emotions from last night’s announcement, at least one of the attitudes should be thankfulness for the bravery of the men who, with proper authority in a just cause, killed a man who deserved to die. I thought President Obama’s remarks last night struck the right tone. There was a sense of gratitude without gloating. The dominant theme was justice. In our every day lives in this squishy pomo world, we have a hard time with justice. As a nation we feel sorry for people better than we feel joy over justice. But sometimes we need to be reminded that we live in a moral universe where actions have consequences. And when deathly consequences are merited by despicable actions, we should be glad the world is working as God designed."

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/

Monday Morning Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:52:00 +0000

Rob Bell again Justin? Really? Well before you ask these questions to yourself, this post is different...its Monday morning! I understand that the things Rob is saying are not in line with scripture and can be very dangerous to the faith. Well, here is something that might keep you from going crazy with Rob Bell's hip black-framed glasses, bad theology, and his very emotional-thought-provoking questions.

Robbed Hell - C.A.S.T. Pearls Presents from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

A New President, Trapped and Blinded

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:48:00 +0000

I shared this awhile ago and It deserves to be brought back. John Piper nails it on the head. As Christians in a culture that allows abortion, we must stand up for what we believe in. This is an opportunity for God's people to stand up and pray. We should not stay quiet. We have been called to love our neighbors and our neighbors include these woman who are having abortions and even the doctors performing them. Lets make an effort to not forgot to pray for these people and pray in such a way that the Lord would save them according to his good purpose of his will.

It's a magnificent thing: The only newly-originating life in the universe that comes in the image of God is Man. The only newly-originating life in the universe that lasts forever is Man.

This is an awesome thing.

And, as everyone knows, that reverence is not shared by our new President, over whom we have rejoiced.

He is trapped and blind in a culture of deceit. On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, he released this statement,

We are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.

To which I say:

* No, Mr. President, you are not protecting women; you are authorizing the destruction of 500,000 little women every year.
* No, Mr. President, you are not protecting reproductive freedom; you are authorizing the destruction of freedom for one million little human beings every year.
* No, Mr. President, killing our children is killing our children no matter how many times you call it a private family matter. You may say it is a private family matter over and over and over, and still they are dead. And we killed them. And you, would have it remain legal.

Mr. President, some of us wept for joy at your inauguration. And we pledge that we will pray for you.

We have hope in our sovereign God.

You can listen to the whole sermon by clicking here!

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/no-mr-president-killing-is-killing-no-matter-what-we-call-it

Creative Gospel Presentation With Paint!

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:17:00 +0000

“Christ Alone”– First Book about Rob Bell’s “Love Wins”

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:08:00 +0000

As most of you who have been reading my blog you have seen a lot of talk about Rob Bell's new controversial book Love Wins. Not long after Rob Bell published his book, Mike Wittmer was quick to defend a biblical orthodox view concerning Rob Bells New Book. With a preface from Micheal Horton, this looks like a very interesting read. You can purchase the book here and in the mean time here is Micheal Horton's preface to the book Christ Alone!

Hell has had a surprisingly prominent place in the popular imagination of cultures and religions around the world. In Christianity, too, writers and painters have produced speculative travelogues of the place of everlasting judgment. The biblical references are frightening enough, but in the vividly detailed imagery of Dante, Hieronymus Bosch, and Billy Sunday, there is a strange fascination with hell.
Hell has never functioned as a central dogma in historic Christianity. While acknowledging that everlasting punishment is clearly taught in Scripture, most Christians would say that it’s not their favorite subject. Yet the reality of hell is one of those convictions that are inseparable from a wider web of beliefs. Not all rejections of hell follow the same logic, but they all challenge orthodox views concerning God’s attributes, the person and work of Christ, and sin and redemption. And the version with the longest pedigree can be traced from Origen in the early third century to Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and his theological heirs. It’s a trajectory best summarized in H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic description of Protestant liberalism: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross” (Niebuhr, 1959, p. 193).

Taking for granted that Christians today know the grammar, much less the logic, of Christian faith, we now have a generation that questions its premises and conclusions. It’s neither pastorally responsible nor persuasive to dismiss these questions simply by invoking settled dogmas. We have to return to the Scriptures, examining the relevant passages for ourselves, in order to join the orthodox consensus as participants rather than mere spectators.

Rob Bell’s Love Wins has sparked remarkable controversy. Of course, he’s not the first evangelical to have challenged traditional Christian teaching on hell. Nevertheless, for a variety of reasons—not the least being his knack at popular communication—his book has attracted media hype as well as stern dismissals.

That’s exactly why I’m delighted with Michael Wittmer’s Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s “Love Wins.” The current controversy will fade away as quickly as it burst on the scene, but the widespread doubts to which Bell gave voice are deeper and wider than we probably imagine. So in a sense, he gave us a wake-up call and Michael Wittmer has answered it. Although he engages with Love Wins directly, Wittmer’s case is just as relevant for the many other expressions of Bell’s thesis that we are sure to encounter in coming years.

Offering more light than heat, Christ Alone appreciates the attractiveness of Bell’s questions and conclusions. Avoiding caricature and personal attack, he carefully evaluates Bell’s interpretations of Scripture. It’s not a careless diatribe against a book, but filled with pastoral wisdom for perennial questions. For example, he does not offer easy answers to the problem of evil: “Better to believe that God is all-powerful and all-loving and wrestle with evil than to weaken one aspect of God to make room for evil” (p. 14). Wittmer shares Bell’s critique of “Platonized” versions of heaven. Yet here, as elsewhere, Wittmer points beyond false choices to a lush biblical landscape.

A close and sympathetic reader, Wittmer explains the senses in which Rob Bell’s argument is and isn’t universalist and how he follows Origen (emphasizing the human will) over Barth (emphasizing divine grace) in his account. Along the way, Christ Alone is peppered with thought-provoking statements. If Bell’s account of God, sin, and salvation is accurate, then what makes the gospel surprising?

Something more than what the average pagan already believes? Furthermore, “Why would a God who ‘loves’ enough to empty hell want to frighten people now with numerous warnings that sound like hell lasts forever?” (p. 22). Wouldn’t that be a kind of sadistic deity, if in fact he has no intention of actually doing what he warns us about? Yet the chief insights of the book are found in Wittmer’s careful and simple (though not simplistic) interpretation of the relevant passages in Scripture.

A good critique must be charitable as well as corrective. The views of others must be represented fairly, in terms that the other person would recognize as his or her own. Such opposing views must be stated in terms of what the proponent actually says, and not in terms of what one thinks they must say even thought they don’t. Further, a good critique targets the actual content of the arguments that are public, not personal character and motives that remain hidden. Finally, a good critique not only tears down bad arguments, but builds a positive case. On all of these points, Christ Alone scores high marks, in my view. So let’s avoid hand-wringing lamentations and follow Michael Wittmer’s lead, making the most of the current controversy to deepen our own understanding of what we believe and why we believe it.

Michael S. Horton, Ph.D.
J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

http://www.christalonebook.com/preface/

Morning With Spurgeon

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:41:00 +0000

This mornings devotions from Morning and Evening was very good and I would like to share it with you all today!

"This do in remembrance of Me."—1 Corinthians 11:24.

T seems then, that Christians may forget Christ! There could be no need for this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas! too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb, and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should forget that gracious Saviour; but, if startling to the ear, it is, alas! too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget Him who never forgot us! Forget Him who poured His blood forth for our sins! Forget Him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us, that we suffer Him to be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night. He whom we should make the abiding tenant of our memories is but a visitor therein. The cross where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Does not your conscience say that this is true? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of Him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should fix your eye steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things which takes away the soul from Christ. While memory too well preserves a poisonous weed, it suffereth the rose of Sharon to wither. Let us charge ourselves to bind a heavenly forget-me-not about our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and, whatever else we let slip, let us hold fast to Him.

Monday Morning Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:15:00 +0000

I had to do it...bringing back season 9 with pants on the ground! This cracks me up every time!

Christianity or Atheism?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 22:50:00 +0000

On Friday April 1st, a few of my good friends Vocab Malone and Jeff Durbin were on the panel to debate two local atheists from Arizona on the topic of: What makes more sense: Christianity or Atheism. This was not the first time they have debated. You could spot them on Mill Ave defending the faith against these fellow atheists. The Lord had blessed this night and the turnout was so amazing they live streamed the debate because every seat was packed.

You can listen to the whole debate here and see photo's here.

Continue to pray for our dear brothers that the Lord would continue to give them the strength and boldness to share the gospel to the lost in this fallen world and also pray for the two atheists (Omar and Sean) that the Lord would change their hearts of stone and that they would repent and put their trust in the only God who reigns yesterday, today, and forever!

Free John Piper Book On the Cross!

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:16:00 +0000

I am excited to announce that our dear brothers and sisters at Desiring God have kindly provided John Piper's book Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die for free. This book explains:

"The most important question of the twenty-first century is: Why did Jesus Christ suffer so much? But we will never see this importance if we fail to go beyond human cause. The ultimate answer to the question, Who crucified Jesus? is: God did. It is a staggering thought. Jesus was his Son. And the suffering was unsurpassed. But the whole message of the Bible leads to this conclusion."

To download this great resource on the Atonement and Death of Christ click here!

That's My King!

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Today is a very important day. Today is the Day the savior of the world, Jesus Christ, was crucified for the sins of the world. You might know this day as "Good" Friday but you might be asking why it is called "Good?" Jesus lived a perfect life yet he suffered a punishment for an offense that Jesus was not guilty of. This story can be found in Matthew 27.

Pilate gave the crowd a choice to either pick Jesus to be released or a man named Barabbas who was accused of theft and murder. The crowed picked Barabbas to be released and said about Jesus, "Let him be crucified." Then Pilate delivered up Jesus to the crowed to be put to death and Pilate washed his hands and said, "I am innocent of this mans blood."

The soldiers then stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him with a crown of thorns mocking him about being the "King of the Jews." They then began to spit on him and striking him. After beating him almost to death, they put a cross on Jesus' back and made Him carry it outside the gates of the city...The soldiers then put Jesus on the cross and nailed Him to it through his hands and feet. The sixth hour came and darkness fell upon the earth and God the Father forsook His only Son. Jesus then said "It is finished" and then lifted up his spirit. They then buried Jesus in a new tomb in a garden.

This is a very graphic account of what happened to Jesus and it sounds like anything but "Good." But we soon find out that Jesus did not stay dead but three days later He rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God defeating death. You see, Jesus did not deserve this punishment but he bore this wrath from God that whoever should believe in Him would not parish but have everlasting life.

What the Roman soldiers did was not good in any way but the results of Christ’s death are very good! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

This is amazing news and how loving is God that He would slaughter His only Son that sinners who diverse that punishment may be saved. Christ is so amazing! Here is a video that gives a little taste of the amazingness of Jesus Christ who is now in glory with the Father!

That's My King! from Albert Martin on Vimeo.

The Cross - Good Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:33:00 +0000

Today is Good Friday, the day our Lord and Savior bore the wrath we all deserved on the cross and made everlasting life possible. On the cross, Jesus Christ suffered for our sake and now offers salvation to all those who believe in Him! There are two songs that have really hit home with me and it explains the reality of the cross. Here is a dear brother named Shai Linne with two songs from his album "The Atonement."

There’s something you gotta see, journey with me
It’s approximately 30 A.D.
In the land of Israel- the city of Jerusalem
But on the outside there’s screams and loud cries
Through faith, this scene can be seen without eyes
The mean shout lies and seem to sound wise
As we inch through the crowd, we need to be cautious
A Roman execution, men on three crosses
But all the focus is on the one in the center
The gate closes behind you- no one can enter
The sight you behold is so odd, you’re stunned
The man hanging on the cross is God the Son
12 noon, it’s pitch-black because the sunshine’s lacking
Your minds can’t fathom this divine transaction
As slowly the sound becomes mostly drowned
You realize that you’re standing on holy ground

Bridge

So forever will I tell
In three hours, Christ suffered more than any sinner ever will in hell (4x)

Chorus

It’s where we see Your holiness- at the cross
We see that You’re controlling this- at the cross
We see how You feel about sin- at the cross
Your unfathomable love for men- at the cross
It’s where we see Your sovereignty- at the cross
We see our idolatry- at the cross
We know that there’s a judgment day- from the cross
May we never take our eyes away- from the cross

Verse 2

We’re now in the realm of the sublime and profound
With God at the helm it’s about to go down
The Father’s wrath precise will blast and slice
The priceless Master Christ as a sacrifice
Willingly, He’s under the curse
To be treated as if the Son was the worst scum of the earth
The scene is the craziest
Jesus being treated as if He is the shadiest atheist
How is it the Messiah is in the fiery pit
As if He was a wicked liar with twisted desires?
The One who’s sinless and just
Punished as if He was promiscuous and mischievous with vicious lust
The source of all godly pleasure
Tormented as if He was a foul investor or child molestor
How could He be bruised like He was a goodie two-shoes
who doesn’t think that she needs the good news?
He’s perfect in love and wisdom
But He’s suffering as if He constructed the corrupt justice system
We should mourn at the backdrop
Jesus torn like He’s on the corner with crack rock with porn on His laptop
What is this, kid? His gifts are infinite
But He’s hit with licks for religious hypocrites
He’s the Light, but being treated like
He’s the seedy type who likes to beat His wife
He’s treated like a rapist, treated like a slanderer
Treated like a racist or maybe a philanderer
Jesus being penalized like He had sin inside
Filled with inner pride while committing genocide
I could write for a billion years and still can’t name
All of the sins placed on the Lamb slain
But know this: the main thing the cross demonstrated
The glory and the holiness of God vindicated

This story starts at the climax, we find that time's lapsed- don't mind that
It's kind of like a night cap filled with divine acts
We zoom in the lens on Christ's agony on the garden
Doomed for His friends- His tragedy for our pardon
Foreseeing the Father's cup of wrath has Him stifled and weak
He's sweating blood with His disciples asleep
The Prince of Peace knows the beef shall increase
Since the thief approaches with the soldiers and the chief priests
His arrest is not just- neither is the trial
While Jesus is being treated foul, He sees Peter's denial
He's sent to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate
The violence of humanity at its finest

So now He stands before the crowd doomed to die
An angry mob who's yelling out "crucify"
The way they treat the Lord of glory is debased and it's foul
But you miss the point if you don't see your face in the crowd

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there? Were you there? (4x)
Man, sometimes it causes me to tremble
Yo, sometimes it causes me to tremble

This story starts at the climax, we find that time's lapsed- don't mind that
It's kind of like a night cap filled with divine acts
We zoom in the lens on Christ's agony in the garden
Doomed for His friends- it had to be for the pardon
And delivery from misery of kids who speak wickedly
Sinfully, inwardly slick with the iniquity
We see disciples sleep and mock today with a lot to say
But we do the same thing when we don't watch and pray
Like Judas, we sell Christ out to get the treasure
Whether it's the cheddar or forbidden pleasure
Like the chief priests, we want Christ to surrender
But we want Him out the way when He doesn't fit our agenda
Like Peter, we have misplaced, fleshly confidence
But we'll deny the Lord when faced with deadly consequence
Like Herod, we're curious about Christ because He's famous
But we quickly get bored with Him when He doesn't entertain us
Like Pilate, we see Christ and find nothing wrong with Him
But when the world chooses the wicked, we go right along with them
Despite His kindness, we seek to do our Maker violence
The fallenness of humanity at its finest

So now He stands before the crowd doomed to die
An angry mob who's yelling out "crucify"
The way they treat the Lord of glory is debased and it's foul
But you miss the point if you don't see your face in the crowd
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there? Were you there? (4x)
Man, sometimes it causes me to tremble
Yo, sometimes it causes me to tremble

This story starts at the climax, we find that time's lapsed- don't mind that
It's kind of like a night cap filled with divine acts
We zoom in the lens on Christ's agony on the garden
Doomed for His friends- His tragedy for our pardon
Foreseeing the Father's cup of wrath- it has Him stifled and weak
He's sweating blood with His disciples asleep
The Prince of Peace knows the beef shall increase
Since the thief approaches with the soldiers and the chief priests
His arrest is not just- neither is the trial
While Jesus is being treated foul, he sees Peter's denial
He's sent to Pilate, to Herod, back to Pilate
The violence of humanity at its finest
So now He stands before the crowd doomed to die
An angry mob who's yelling out "crucify"
The way we treat the Lord of glory is debased and it's foul
Ashamed, I bow because I see my face in the crowd

Paul Trip on "Bad Language"

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:03:00 +0000

Paul Tripp has done a fantastic job talking about how we should use language and explains the battle of words and that we are not to be legalistic but use words to build one another up! If you are very sensitive to culturally "bad words," watch this with discretion but i do believe this video is very edifying and hope that this will bless you all.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4.29

God is Both Loving and Wrathful?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:13:00 +0000

Here is the first hymn that I heard when I became a Christian and to this day this hymn really hits home and describes the Christian faith so well. This hymn, in a sense, is the gospel!

There is something that has been around for a while now and has crept into Christianity. It is this idea that God is ALL love, or to the other extreme, God is ALL anger/wrathful. To hold on to one or the other misses the point and it is taking away from God and who He really is.

Is God Love? Absolutely. Is Got angry and show His wrath? Absolutely. God is both of these and in order to have one of these you must have the other. God also has more then these two attributes. Not only is He loving and wrathful, but he is also just, sovereign, merciful, all powerful and much more. We have to be careful not to take away or limit the attributes of God. In this hymn, Gods Love and His wrath are both present and working out for good. We as humans have all fallen short of the glory of God and have sinned against Him continually. Because of the state that we are in, in order for God to be a just God He must punish sin. We should all be crushed because we are unable to stand before a Holy God. But God loved us so much that He sent Christ to live a perfect and obedient life and then bore our sin on the cross that we could be free from the wrath of God through faith in Christ the Son. The cross and the suffering of Christ on our behalf really shows the true love of God and I believe this hymn hits these points perfectly.

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulder
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Michael Horton and The Gospel Commission

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:37:00 +0000

I just picked up Michael Horton's new book and after this book review from Bobby Jamieson (who is assistant editor for 9Marks), I am very excited to read it! Hope you enjoy!

Michael Horton, The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), 320 pages, $19.99.

Are evangelicals being distracted by mission creep? That is, are we allowing lots of other good things to creep in and crowd out the central task Jesus sends the church into the world to do?

On the one hand, the rising groundswell of interest in social and cultural engagement among many evangelicals likely reflects the flowering of a robust biblical view of creation and the Bible’s command to love our neighbor. And many Christians are engaging these issues in a way that keeps the message of the gospel front and center in their lives and in the lives of local churches.

On the other hand, many voices insist that if the church as church is not engaging (insert favored social problem or cultural activity here), then it’s not fulfilling its mission. Such critics assert that evangelical churches are too preoccupied with “member maintenance” to pay attention to the real mission of Jesus among the poor, in the inner cities, and in the places where culture is made.

A whole lot of theological issues are wrapped up in this concern: the definition of the gospel; the distinction between the church as a “gathered” institution and the church as a “scattered” organism; the nature of the inaugurated kingdom of God and its implications for the present age; and, not least, the contours and scope of the mission Jesus gives to his church.

An Expansive Theological Exposition of the Great Commission
Driven by the concern that evangelicals are in fact being distracted by mission creep, Westminster California theologian Michael Horton has addressed these issues and more in his new book The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples. At its heart, this book is an expansive theological exposition of the “Great Commission” of Matthew 28:18-20. Along the way, in addition to the issues mentioned above, Horton engages with cultural pluralism, theological inclusivism, and a number of influential facets of evangelical piety and practice that he finds to be troublesome.

Horton’s thesis is summed up in one sentence early on: “The central point of this book is that there is no mission without the church and no church without the mission” (14). Over against those who would denigrate the church’s regular ministry of “Word and sacrament” as a hindrance to mission or as an irrelevant sideshow, Horton argues that the church’s regular means of grace are at the very heart of Jesus’ missional mandate. Therefore, the church is a missionary institution by nature and calling.

A Radically Church-Shaped Vision for Disciple-Making
In other words, Horton argues for a radically church-shaped vision for disciple-making. In my estimation, this is a timely, biblical corrective to evangelicals’ general neglect of the institutional church and to the particular way that recent “missional” emphases have sometimes tended to denigrate the institutional church’s ministry. This church-shaped vision comes to fruition in chapters six and seven, in which Horton unpacks how the church’s ministry of preaching, teaching, administering the sacraments, and practicing discipline fulfills Christ’s mandate to make disciples of all nations.

Further, Horton’s view of the church’s mission is grounded on a lush depiction of the Bible’s teaching on the kingdom of God. In chapter two, “Exodus and Conquest: The Gospel and the Kingdom,” Horton expounds the gospel as the eschatological exodus and conquest that secures our salvation and brings the age to come crashing into the present, opening up a “crevice” between the ages in which the gospel is proclaimed to all nations.

Thus, this book contains Horton’s answer to current debates about the relationship between gospel and kingdom, and it’s a compelling one. Building upon careful exegetical and biblical-theological work, Horton argues that “Jesus’s proclamation of the kingdom is identical to Paul’s proclamation of the gospel of justification” (75). Further, “The kingdom of God in this present phase is primarily audible, not visible. We hear the opening and shutting of the kingdom’s gates through the proclamation of the gospel, in the sacraments, and in discipline” (67). In the same vein, “Only if we hold in slight esteem the forgiveness of sins, rebirth into the new creation, justification, sanctification, and the communion of saints can we fail to revel in these present realities of Christ’s reign” (68).

Horton’s thesis that “the kingdom is the gospel and the gospel is the kingdom” (79) displays the many facets of the gospel in all their gleaming, soul-stirring radiance. Further, Horton offers a robustly biblical account of the kingdom of God that precisely details those aspects of the kingdom that are inaugurated in the present age and those that await the last day for their realization. With these theological convictions at its core, Horton’s blueprint for the church’s mission preserves the primacy of the proclamation of the gospel and the church’s mandate to make disciples.

Building on this work, in chapter eight Horton has a clarifying and, I would argue, largely satisfying discussion of the relationship between “the Great Commission and the Great Commandment”—that is, the relationship between evangelism and social justice. Horton proposes that the way to fulfill both mandates is for the church as an institution to devote itself to proclaiming the gospel and making disciples, which equips individual Christians to fulfill both commissions in their “myriad callings in the world” (231). Then, in chapter nine, Horton addresses the touchy issue of mission creep, analyzing several “dichotomies that distort the Great Commission and distract us from the strategies that Christ gave us” (252 ff.). Similar to his Westminster California colleague David VanDrunen’s work in his recent book Living in God’s Two Kingdoms (Crossway, 2010), Horton carefully argues for the unique, biblically circumscribed role of the local church as an institution. This is a crucial theological guardrail for preserving the church’s faithfulness to our Master’s marching orders.

A Valuable, Substantive, and Clarifying Contribution
I’ve spent most of my time letting Horton do the talking because I think that this book makes a valuable, substantive, and clarifying contribution to the current evangelical discussion about mission, and I want his arguments to be heard.

Horton’s theological work on gospel and kingdom is clarifying and pointedly edifying. Moreover, he glories in the inauguration of the kingdom of God and the hope of the restoration of all things while carefully guarding against an over-realized eschatology. His massive emphasis on the centrality of the institutional church in fulfilling the Great Commission is a much-needed rallying cry. He muscles out room for the church as institution and then points out that this is how we must fulfill the Great Commission because this—the local church—is the means Jesus established for carrying out his mission on earth. And Horton carefully deprograms several common misconceptions that keep evangelicals from rightly understanding and carrying out the Great Commission. Among these are a consumeristic understanding of contextualization (114-132), the idea that we “live the gospel” (266-285), the claim that the institutional dimensions of the church are inimical to mission (285-290), and a misconstrual of the relationship between the church and the kingdom (290-293).

I have to register a few representative disagreements for the sake of conscience, but these by no means vitiate the book’s value. At times, Horton’s claims about what is representatively “evangelical” strike me as somewhat tendentious. I was not persuaded by his polemic for infant baptism. I don’t think he gets the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day quite right. And I’d raise questions about some of his language about the sacraments.

But in all of this, I appreciate that Horton is fleshing out a biblical vision for mission in the muscles and ligaments of the institutional church. Horton is dead right that the local church is at the heart of the Great Commission, and that the Great Commission provides us with “the message, mandate, and methods that Christ has ordained for his continuing mission in the world” (20). I hope that Horton’s example of displaying this churchly vision for mission within his own convictional and confessional framework will inspire many evangelicals to do the same.

This book is theologically rich and carefully critical. It throbs with a missionary heartbeat. Reading it will both instruct and inspire you to go and make disciples of all nations.

http://tgcreviews.com/reviews/the-gospel-commission/

Abort Abortion

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:16:00 +0000

I saw this video and was a very helpful Reformed/Christian view on the topic of abortion. R.C. Sproul has a very good perspective and hope it is edifying for you and starts to make you think about such an issue that is growing so fast in our culture today!

R.C. Sproul Discusses the Issue of Abortion from Ligonier on Vimeo.

Monday Morning Humor

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:27:00 +0000

So I have to give credit to Kevin DeYoung on doing a section called Monday morning humor but I could not resist putting up this video. If you know me, when I laugh it is very hard for me to stop. We all need a little humor so...enjoy!

Staying Faithful To The Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Bond) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 05:27:00 +0000

We must stay faithful to the gospel and to not change it to tickle mans ears and make them feel good! We cannot water the gospel down or it no longer becomes the gospel Josh Moody has done a fantastic job. Here is an interview by Justin Taylor talking about Josh Moody's new book!

"These expositions are clear, well-organized, exegetically careful, and theologically faithful. They're also filled with good illustrations, personal application, and a proper dose of British wit. These qualities make for very good preaching and a very good book."- Kevin DeYoung

Justin Taylor Interview: Josh Moody, "No Other Gospel" from Crossway on Vimeo.