"What Do You Love About Jesus?"

A re-made soul: Living in a Christ-driven revolution that speaks a mercy-filled message: What we love about Christ

My friend Catherine has a remarkable memory! I will allow her to explain...

We gathered at Grace Church yesterday. As our last song before our prayer time, we sang "My Jesus, I love thee". When I was singing this song, I regretted in my own heart how much I haven't loved Christ in such a way and to such an extent that He deserves.

Before prayer, Pastor Paul asked us to answer this, I would say, timely question—after we sang that song and before Easter. 'What do we love about Jesus?'

The exercise was a great way for us to delight in the Lord Jesus together both in our hearts and as His Church and His body. So I will try to recall as many answers I had heard from my brothers and sister last night as I can remember here.

Click over to her blog to read her list and increase your delight in Jesus!

Relentless Evangelism

Jesus is remarkable.

As you read through John 6, two things stick out. First, Jesus always tells people what they need to hear, not what they think they need to know! I love the way He carefully re-directs conversations to the main thing – Himself. But the other thing you will notice is that Jesus does this with friend and foe alike. While it is true that He sometimes spoke in parables so that His enemies would not understand, in John 6 He speaks plainly so that they will grasp the Gospel message.

I like to think of this as relentless evangelism... and it is an encouragement to my heart. In pluralistic Canada, if you eventually get brave enough to say the name “Jesus” out loud (and not as a cuss word) that is offense enough. But if the one you evangelize asks you to stop, or to not bring up the subject again, then it becomes the equivalent of high treason if you do! “Bad enough you talked to me about Jesus once – don’t do it twice!”

Of course, this is nothing new. And with all the family gatherings and such over the Easter weekend, I think it is good to remember that Jesus was never ashamed of Himself or of His gospel. In fact, as you read John 6 you hear Him preaching His deity, God’s foreordination, election, effectual calling and the resurrection – to His enemies! And in the midst of that theological lesson He looks them in the eye and says, “Believe on Me! Look on Me! Receive Me! Come to Me! Feed on Me! And live!”

So, don’t be afraid to be cordially relentless in your evangelism this weekend. No future saint will scold you for your perseverance!

Age of sexual consent raised to 16

Today's Family News

TFN reported a few days ago on a bit of good news that seemed to be missed by most of the secular press - the age of sexual consent was raised from 14 to 16 years of age.

From a speech by the Honourable Terry Stratton:

"Honourable senators, this was an issue that attracted considerable comment before your committee, so I wish to be very clear about what these reforms do and do not propose. They do propose to protect 14- and 15-year-olds against adult sexual predators. They do not prevent 14- and 15-year-olds from engaging in consensual sexual activity with peers. The reforms put the onus on the adult, the person who is five or more years older than the 14- or 15-year-old, who is seeking to engage in sexual activity with that young person."

One small step in the right direction to protecting our kids.

The Liberation of Restraint

The fuel of the sexual liberation movement was the promise of a freedom that would lead to pleasure. Restricting oneself to one sexual partner in a marriage covenant was considered an unnecessary restraint that robbed us of pleasure. True pleasure is found in doing whatever I want with whoever I want – or such the logic went.

The billions of dollars in monthly credit card debt expose the same philosophy in personal economics. Unbridled spending leads to happiness, does it not? I need what is being offered if I am to be truly happy so I will buy now what I do not have money to purchase.

The same principle is evident all over our society – in marriages, computer use, job place ethics, and disasters like the subprime lending crash in the USA.

Most importantly, the principle of throwing off all restraint is evident in our own hearts, when Christians sin and live for the glory of self above all else.

The truth is that restraint leads to freedom. And the abandonment of self-control leads to the worst slavery of all.

Sexually, there is no greater freedom than that enjoyed between a loving husband and wife. No comparisons, shared diseases to mask or false expectations – just a growing freedom to know and be known.

Monetarily, there is no greater freedom than living within one’s means. Rather than the guilt and remorse of owning a garage (or “storage unit”) filled with non-lifegiving toys, the Christian who carefully spends less money than he earns is free indeed.

Spiritually, we know the same. Denying self and putting sin to death by the Spirit leads to spiritual freedom “and that abundantly!”

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the obvious since our enemy is constantly washing the world with his lies – godly restraint leads to true freedom. Only the Devil will tell you otherwise.

Together for the Gospel (in Canada!)

Together for the Gospel (in Canada!)

Tim announces our gathering for Canadians attending T4G!

Will we see you there?

Preacher Idol 2008!

Preacher Idol 2008!

Drew Marshall, a local radio host has initiated the inevitable: Preacher Idol. A competition based on the wildly successful American Idol franchise now seen in many countries across the world.

Knowing the title alone would cause a stir, Drew defends his game this way:

"If you're a Canadian Evangelical Christian who is theologically afraid, embarrassingly politically correct, and lacking any sense of fun or a capacity to engage culture, then YES, this is a very bad thing for you to be involved with. But if you're a pastor and you are scared of being involved with Preacher Idol, primarily because of the use of the word "idol"?? It must be tough to be so hemmed in by - donor based - pay check ministry! Please don't succumb to the politically correct insanity of pandering to the potential "squeaky wheel gets the grease" conservative power brokers in your church?"

Well.

Last time I checked the Lord had quite a few negative things to say about idolatry that did not involve conservative power brokers. Strangely, it is the exposure of "pulpit idolatry" that Marshall promotes as one of the contest goals. I would suggest he is going about it in a remarkbly backwards fashion!

A quick glance of the website reveals Marshall has little respect for preaching. And the fact that 4 of the 5 finalists are women confirms this.

It is not Preacher Idol that will fix the noise of "preachers, [who] week after week, somehow succeed in taking the most amazing and dynamic book in the world and slaughtering it with 45-minute diatribes leaving the congregation salivating at the thought of lunch at the local Swiss Chalet or Mandarin!"

What Marshall needs is to hear some real preaching. May I suggest John Piper? Or the young man that preached at my church tonight!

Bob Kauflin Sings Differently Than Me - Even Though We Worship the Same God

My friend Bob Kauflin has been posting some videos of a recent worship service over on Worship Matters blog. I have really enjoyed watching these for one big reason.

The underlying Biblical principles that we tried to address at last week’s Worship in Song Conference (audio here) are all there in what Bob is doing, however the way they work themselves out in his context is remarkably different than ours. A worship service at Grace Fellowship Church is going to “feel” a lot different than one at Covenant Life Church.

But there is a beauty in that; it reflects the diversity of Christ’s church.

And I think it sounds a warning to those who condemn anything that is not like them. Before we write off those who are different from us, we ought to think through what the Bible actually says that addresses the differences... not just listen to our yelling preferences.

Similarly, we ought to try and observe how many things we do alike, before we isolate those areas where we are different. I do not understand 1 Corinthians 14 in the same way Bob and the SGM folks do. One or both of us are wrong... but this is a secondary matter. And when it comes to secondary matters, the Scriptures give us much instruction on how to lovingly disagree (see Romans 14-15).

Cudo’s to Bob for posting, and for showing how they evaluate services in order to make them even better in the future.

[And I must add, if anything challenged my thinking on the Spirit’s ongoing prophetic work, it was Bob’s spontaneous song. I couldn’t write a song like that with two weeks and a tuned guitar! Although four years of classical training and 20 years leading corporate singing might help a bit. :-) ]

Hair

Having taken sufficient ribbing for my decreased follicle count, I thought it fitting to enlighten pastors with the first name IAN that there was a day when I had more hair on my head than my current dog. This should serve as an example that life under the sun leads the way of all the earth and those who giggle, "Go up, thou baldhead, go up!" ought look over their shoulder for carnivorous bears.

[Update: How about that Picasa? Photo is fixed.]

Moses Was a Druggie? I Think Not...

Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher - Yahoo! Canada News

Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has cleared up everything... or else he was back using ayahuasca when he wrote this article for the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

In the article, Shanon relays his conclusion that the only explanation for what Moses was doing on Mt. Sinai was mind-altering drugs he must have nibbled off of a nearby Acacia tree. Nothing like a little bark between your teeth.

This is profoundly silly for so many reasons, but I offer one. There is not a single example of mind-altering substances enhancing the thinking of the user except in the perception of the user. That Moses could get high on bark, then pen the Ten Commandments is about as ludicrous a proposition as I have ever heard.

Benny Shanon has had his two minutes of fame. Unfortunately for him, all it has done is shown that his summer in the Amazon ingesting psychotropic plants may have done more damage than he was aware.

Worship in Song Conference - Audio Available

The audio recordings for Worship in Song are available here.

Just remember, they are free... and you get what you pay for!