New C.J. Mahaney Videos

Now this is a real treat. Sovereign Grace Ministries has just uploaded several new C.J. Mahaney videos to their Vimeo page. If you're not familiar with him, please watch just one of these videos.

Do Not Love the World
1 John 2:12–17
New Attitude
January 3, 2002

Sovereign Grace
Ephesians 1:4
Sovereign Grace Small Group Leaders Conference
November 14, 2002

Only One Gospel
Galatians 1:1–5
Covenant Life Church
December 8, 2002

Interrogating the Legalist Within
Galatians 3:1–5
Covenant Life Church
February 9, 2003

Cravings and Conflict
James 4:1–2
Covenant Life Church
March 21, 2004

The Morning After
Psalm 33
Covenant Life Church
October 31, 2004

Encourage
Ephesians 4:29
Covenant Life Church
December 12, 2004

Different by Design, Session 2
1 Timothy 3:14–16
Different by Design Conference
January 31, 2005

The Cross: A Meditation on Jesus's Atoning Death
Isaiah 53
New Attitude Conference
May 29, 2006 The Assessment That Matters
1 Corinthians 3:18–4:5
Covenant Life Church
October 22, 2006

Deflating the Puffed Up Church
1 Corinthians 4:6–13
Covenant Life Church
November 5, 2006

Trinitarian Pastoral Ministry
2 Corinthians 13:14
Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference
April 13, 2007

The Idol Factory
Exodus 20:1–3
New Attitude Conference
May 27, 2007

Discern How to Apply
James 1:22
New Attitude Conference
May 29, 2007

The Cup
Mark 14:22–42
Covenant Fellowship
October 21, 2007

Who's Really at Work?
Philippians 2:12–13
The Pursuit
November 10, 2007

Q&A on Biblical Masculinity
The Pursuit
November 10, 2007

A Warning Label
1 Corinthians 2:6–16
Sovereign Grace Church
February 3, 2008

Pastoral Character and Loving People
1 Corinthians 1:1–9
Resurgence: Text & Context Conference
February 25, 2008

Death Swallowed Up in Victory
1 Corinthians 15:17
Covenant Life Church
March 23, 2008

Sustaining a Pastor's Soul
Philippians 1:3–8
Together for the Gospel
April 17, 2008

The Troubled Soul
Psalm 42
New Attitude Conference
May 25, 2008

Knowing God as Father
Galatians 4:1–7
Resolved Conference
June 17, 2008

The Scream of the Damned
Mark 15
Resolved Conference
June 16, 2008

Hidden in Plain Sight
1 Corinthians 1:1–9
Straight Up Conference
October 7, 2008

Q&A with James MacDonald
Straight Up Conference
October 7, 2008

Extravagant Devotion
Mark 14:1–11
20/20 Collegiate Conference
February 6, 2009

Death
Mark 15:33–39
Next Conference
May 25, 2009

A Gospel-Centered Reader

Timmy Brister has an excellent collection of articles, essays, and sermons all categorized under the topic, "Gospel-Centered."

Thanks to: Justin Taylor

Doug Wilson on Brian McLaren & Ramadan

I was dumbfounded when I read this post by Pastor Doug Wilson. Apparently, Brian McLaren has decided to observe the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. That's a pretty dangerous creek to paddle down Mr. McLaren.

Mark Driscoll Preaches at the Crystal Cathedral

Mark Driscoll just recently made an appearance on the "Hour of Power" at Crystal Cathedral. His sermon was basically a condensed version of his book, Vintage Jesus. Well worth your time. Watch the video here.

FYI, this is probably the only time you will ever see Mark Driscoll wearing a suit while preaching.

Piper on the Tornado, the Lutherans, & Homosexuality

John Piper has set the blogosphere ablaze with his recent post entitled, The Tornado, the Lutherans, and Homosexuality. It has caused so much ruckus that he has written a follow-up to this post to ensure that his readers do not misconstrue his words. You can also read CBMW, TheResurgence, Christianity Today, and Justin Taylor's comments on and support for Piper's posts. If you have not heard about the tornado that struck during the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's national convention, here's an eyewitnesses account of the calamity.

On a day when no severe weather was predicted or expected...a tornado forms, baffling the weather experts—most saying they’ve never seen anything like it. It happens right in the city. The city: Minneapolis.

The tornado happens on a Wednesday...during the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's national convention in the Minneapolis Convention Center. The convention is using Central Lutheran across the street as its church. The church has set up tents around it’s building for this purpose.

Piper notes the schedule of what was to occur during the 5th session of ELCA's convention.

Date: Wednesday, August 19
Time: 2PM
Title: "Consideration: Proposed Social Statement on Human Sexuality"
Description: Whether practicing homosexuality should disqualify someone from pastoral ministry.

The eyewitness then continues his account of the tornado.

This curious tornado touches down just south of downtown and follows 35W straight towards the city center. It crosses I94. It is now downtown.

The time: 2PM.

The first buildings on the downtown side of I94 are the Minneapolis Convention Center and Central Lutheran. The tornado severely damages the convention center roof, shreds the tents, breaks off the steeple of Central Lutheran, splits what’s left of the steeple in two...and then lifts.

Did this tornado just by chance hit the church that the ELCA was meeting at, at the exact moment of the beginning of their meeting? Looks more like design than coincidence to me. Or was this tornado sent by God as judgment upon the ELCA? They did, in fact, eventually pass the proposed social statement on human sexuality, which allows practicing homosexual pastors. Or was this tornado a warning sent not only to the ELCA, but also to everyone who hears of this phenomenon? With more wisdom than I have, Dr. Piper reminds us all of Luke 13:4-5.

“Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Therefore, we would be wise to take this event as an opportunity to repent of our own sins, lest we be judged and find ourselves outside the Cross of Christ.

Fight to the Death & the City Is Your Own

I have just begun reading The Christian in Complete Armor by William Gurnall. The whole book is a call to arm yourself in the battle that is the Christian life. I've only read the first 18 pages, but I can already feel God using the words of Mr. Gurnall to revive the Christian soldier within. Here is one passage that has affected as of late.

As part of Christ's army, you march in the ranks of gallant spirits. Every one of your fellow soldiers is the child of a King. Some, like you, are in the midst of the battle, besieged on every side by affliction and temptation. Others, after many assaults, repulses, and rallyings of their faith, are already standing upon the wall of heaven as conquerors. From there they look down and urge you, their comrades on earth, to march up the hill after them. This is their cry: 'Fight to the death and the City is your own, as now it is ours! For the waging of a few days' conflict, you will be rewarded with heaven's glory. One moment of this celestial joy will dry up all your tears, heal all your wounds, and erase the sharpness of the fight with the joy of your permanent victory.'

Preach Christ or Go Home

At Miscellanies, Tony Reinke has posted six of his favorite Spurgeon quotes about preaching Christ & Him crucified. Here's my favorite by far.

The motto of all true servants of God must be, “We preach Christ; and him crucified.” A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching. [Exposition of Acts 13:13-49 published in 1904]

Thanks to: Tony Reinke

A New Look

With the help of my better half, Pondering Christ & His Cross has a new look. Enjoy!

A Scriptural Critique of Infant Baptism

A few weeks ago, the issue of infant baptism came up in a discussion Misha & I were having with a couple of our friends. I understood what infant baptism was but had never learned how many Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Lutherans had come to justify it through the lens of Scripture. They wisely pointed me to a message given by John MacArthur entitled A Scriptural Critique of Infant Baptism. In it, Pastor MacArthur gives a fair & evenhanded explanation and critique of the issue and the biblical texts surrounding it.

I recommend this message to anyone who is wanting to learn more about infant baptism, whether or not they believe it is biblical.

Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ by John Piper

William Tyndale's driving passion was to see the Bible translated into the English language so that any England might finally be able to read it themselves. He was betrayed by a friend, tortured, and burned for it. John G. Paton set his hopes of bringing the Gospel to a tribe of cannibals on the island of Tanna on November 5, 1858. Four months later, the fever claimed the lives of his wife and newborn son. Four years later, he was driven off the island with no Gospel fruit to show in the lives of the cannibals. Adoniram Judson set out to bring Christ to Burma no matter what it cost. It cost him the lives of two of his wives, seven children, and many colleagues. These men suffered greatly for the spread of the Gospel to the nations. And John Piper has given them a voice so that we might listen and follow suite.

There are few books that I cry through. The Bible is one. The Misery of Job & the Mercy of God is another. And this one. There is something about seeing the glory of Christ displayed through extreme suffering for the sake of his body that makes me sob like a dad on his daughter's wedding day. That is one of the purposes of this book. Not the crying, but the inspiration "to live radically for Christ" given through the lives of others who suffered well. And I have to say, for me, this purpose was met.

Dr. Piper has wisely split this book into three sections: Bible, biography, & exhortation. Before diving into the lives of Tyndale, Paton, and Judson, he first lays a theological groundwork from Colossians 1:24 that under-girds the lives of these three men.

"God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of his people. God really means for the body of Christ, the church, to experience some of the suffering he experienced so that when we proclaim the cross as the way to life, people will see the marks of the cross in us and feel the loves of the cross from us. Our calling is to make the afflictions of Christ real for people by the afflictions we experience by bringing them the message of salvation."

Once Piper has laid this foundation from the Bible, he shows what it looks like through the lives of Tyndale, Paton, and Judson. Take one example of extreme suffering for the cause of the Gospel from the life of Adoniram Judson. During his mission work in Burma, Judson "was dragged from his home... and put in prison. His feet were fettered [chained], and at night a long horizontal bamboo pole was lowered and passed between the fettered legs and hoisted up until only the shoulders and heads of the prisoners rested on the ground... Almost a year later, [he] was suddenly moved to a more distant village prison, gaunt, with hollow eyes, dressed in rags, crippled from the torture." Yet, through this extreme act of suffering, Judson was eventually released and continued in his mission to Burma for 25 more years. Stories such as this fill the pages of this book.

First Bible, then biography, and lastly... exhortation. You cannot read this book and not feel summoned to live in radical obedience to Christ. Piper calls us to "resolve to set our faces like flint on the path of obedience and never turn back. And with a full grasp of the possible cost before us, and with full courage because of Christ, let us walk softly to every unreached people that remains", including the people across your street.

Though I realize that the scope of Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ is limited and my praise of this book is a resounding "Yes!", I wish Pastor John would have expounded upon one point in the book. Reading through the book, it seems like Dr. Piper is saying that only suffering in missions to the foreign world counts as costly and radical. What does that say to the average Joe in Podunk, ND who is not called to the mission field in India? God has not called all to missions overseas. However, he has called all to missions wherever you might be, and he has called all to obedience. This is what Piper is getting at on page 107. "Your calling is radical obedience for the glory of Christ right where you are." Therefore, though Joe's suffering through obedience may seem less in magnitude than Judson's, it is no less glorifying to God. I am not saying Piper does not believe this. In fact, it was Piper who taught me that all suffering, no matter the venue, when done in obedience to Christ, is equally Christ-exalting. I just wanted to hear a little more of it.

Despite this minor criticism, I cannot recommend this book any higher. It is a wake-up call to any lukewarm Christian and a summons to those who are ready to go in the name of the Gospel.

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Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ is the fifth book in the Swans Are Not Silent series by John Piper. For those who are not familiar with this series, each book contains three biographies of a figure from church history and tells their story. Short but powerful, these books are a great way to learn from the lives of others who have gone before us in the name of Christ. Other books in this series (which I would highly recommend to you) are The Legacy of Sovereign Joy, The Hidden Smile of God, Contending for Our All, and The Roots of Endurance.

Stand Close to the Cross of Jesus!

I found this quote from the blog, Of First Importance. May it cause you to want to stand as close to the cross of Christ as possible.

"Once more heed the exhortation- stand close to the cross of Jesus! It is the most accessible and precious spot this side of heaven- the most solemn and awesome one this side of eternity. It is the focus of divine love, sympathy, and power. Stand by it in suffering, in persecution, in temptation. Stand by it in the brightness of prosperity and in the gloom of adversity. Shrink not from its offence, humiliation, and woe. Defend it when scorned, despised, and denied. Stand up for Jesus and the gospel of Jesus. Oh, whatever you do, or whatever you endure, be loyal to Christ’s cross. Go to it in trouble, repair to it in weakness, cling to it in danger, hide beneath it when the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you. Near to the cross, you are near a Father’s heart, a Savior’s side."

– Octavius Winslow, The Foot of the Cross

Thanks to: Of First Importance

Current Affairs

Tony Jones Denies Original Sin: Kevin DeYoung, coauthor of Why We're Not Emergent, has some interesting reflections on Tony Jones' recent denial of original sin.

Interview with William Young: Listen to this interview done with the author of the popular Christian fiction book, The Shack. You might find it startling to know which Christian doctrine Mr. Young denies.

Collision: Watch pastor/theologian Doug Wilson debate the truth of Christianity against world-renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens.

The Truth About Angels & Demons: Compiled by Westminster Theological Seminary, this helpful website divides fact from fiction in Dan Brown's sequel to the popular Da Vinci Code, entitled Angels & Demons.

Does Global Christianity Equal American Christianity?: In his recent work, The New Shape of World Christianity, historian Mark Noll carefully answers the question, "How has American Christianity shaped Christianity around the globe.

Monday Morning Resources

Where to Start Reading: Monergism.com has 40 suggestions of where you should start reading. Reading levels range from beginner to advanced. Rest assured, these books are "theologically sound and devotionally enriching.

Top Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible: Thanks goes out to Keith Mathison from Ligonier Ministries who put together this list of the top 5 commentaries on every book of the Bible.

Codex Sinaiticus Project: This is awesome! Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten over 1600 years ago and "contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament." The Codex Sinaiticus Project has made available the entire manuscript in digital form. Check it out for yourself.

Basic Christian Doctrine: Here is a great resource if you are looking to brush up on your basic theology. Be sure to bookmark this page and come back to it when you have questions about theology.

On Disciplined Reading: John Burkett at Between the Times blog has a 5 part blog series on how to maintain disciplined reading. This is definitely worth your time if you are wanting to learn how to keep up with your Christian studies.

Resources on Suffering

Death Is Not Dying by Rachel Barkley: Rachel Barkley, at the young age of 37, has gone on to be with her Lord and Savior. This is her testimony of God's grace and goodness to her in the midst of life-ending cancer.

Theology of Suffering and Suffering for the Sake of... by Joni Eareckson Tada: Besides Jesus Christ, there is no other person I can think of who gives me hope in suffering like Mrs. Tada. Her unwavering testimony of God's goodness to her in the aftermath of a diving accident that left her a quadriplegic helps prepare me for my own suffering. These messages are of her testimony and her theology of suffering. If you know little of nothing of Joni, read her bio.

Making Sense of Suffering by D.A. Carson: For thorough, biblical, theological, and pastoral insights into suffering and how to make sense of it, these four messages (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, & Part 4) are most highly recommended. There are few people who can carefully tread the murky waters of suffering. Don Carson is one of them.

An Interview with Terry Stauffer: Terry Stauffer pastors Edson Baptist church in Edson, Alberta. On September 28, 2008, his precious daughter was murdered soon after she left for a short walk. Tim Challies has taken the time to interview Pastor Stauffer about what has sustained him through his daughter's death.

Suffering with a Smile by Tullian Tchividjian: Seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Or just plain sadistic. But, "the Gospel makes it possible to suffer with a smile because in Christ, all that we need we have.