PVC Instrument

Hello Blog,

Sorry it's been a little while since I've written. I promise, a more meaningful post is coming quite soon. As soon as time allows and inspiration's light bulb flickers on.

For today, though, you have to see this video. If you haven't already, it's worth watching all the way through. This kid is a high schooler and he built this instrument on his own. Pretty amazing talent!

Moralistic Theraputic Deism

This is a good interview that puts its finger on the pulse of the "new religion" of America. The religious concept itself isn't at all new (in fact, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were Deists), but the way it is sweeping the United States is striking. It has been perpetuated by the media and the social norms during the past few decades, certainly, but the roots reach back over two centuries.

Take a few minutes to watch:



So, what do you think? Do you identify with what he describes in the interview? Or are you in agreement with him? Or complete disagreement? Post a comment and let me know what you think. I'd love to open this up for some dialogue.

And, if you're interested in hearing more about this and how it makes our charge for evangelism even more urgent, take a listen to the excellent sermon my pastor gave on the subject last Sunday: "Evangelism in Light of the Truth of the Gospel"

Jesus, the True and Better

We spent an hour yesterday morning in our Bible study at church going through the book of Matthew. The only thing we studied out of the book were the specific Old Testament prophecies it records that Jesus fulfilled. I plan to do a post on that someday. 

It reminded me, though, of a quote Pastor Michael used in one of his sermons, "The Purpose of the Big 12 [Minor Prophets]," he preached a couple of weeks ago. In the sermon, he quoted from a 2006 sermon by Tim Keller. The quote, to me, is a powerful (and extremely brief and non-exhaustive) summation of the general foreshadowing of Jesus Christ that God accomplished in the Old Testament. It speaks to me about God's sovereignty. The OT is not just a collection of stories about God's chosen people, Israel. (Speaking of sovereign, God choosing the nation of Israel is a pretty sweet argument for election, but I won't go into that now.) The OT was orchestrated by a powerful and sovereign God to point like a flashing arrow towards the coming life and sacrifice of the Anointed One, Jesus Christ.

Check this out: 

-   Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed (credited) to us (his people).

·  Jesus is the true and better Able who though innocently slain has blood now that does not cry out for our condemnation but for our acquittal.

·  Jesus is the true and better Abraham who full of God left the comfortable to go out into the void to create a new people of God.

·  Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was offered but not just offered up on the mount but, was truly sacrificed.  God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because did not withhold your son, your only son from me.  Now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your only Son, whom you love, from us.”

·  Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow for us so that we could receive wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

·  Jesus is the true and better Joseph who sits at the right hand of the king and forgives those who betrayed him and uses his power to save them. 

·  Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

· Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who being struck with the rod of God’s justice now gives us water in the desert.

· Jesus is the true and better Job with truly innocent suffering who now intercedes for us and saves his ignorant friends.

· Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes the people’s victory because they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

· Jesus is the true and better Ester who didn’t just risk loosing an earthly palace but lost the ultimate heavenly palace and didn’t just risk his life but gave his life to save his people.

· Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

· Jesus is the real rock of Moses, he is the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect.

·  He is the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread—the Bible is really not about you is it?  It is about Jesus Christ!

Chris Johnson and Simon Estes

Chris Johnson, our worship minister at Grand Avenue, directed a concert for a Habitat for Humanity benefit at Cornerstone. The choir consisted of 200 singers from Ames, Ballard, Collins-Maxwell, Colo-Nesco, Gilbert, Nevada, and Roland-Story High Schools along with the choir from Grand Avenue Baptist Church, and Simon Estes.

Check out a photo slide show from the Des Moines Register:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=D2&Dato=20101010&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=10100801&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr%3D1&ref=nf

Oops...

I recently posted about a movie I saw called "Outsourced." I loved the movie, and still recommend it for the reasons I listed in that post.

You might remember that I was also excited for the new TV show, based on the movie, starting soon on NBC. Well, that show premiered tonight and I watched it with great anticipation.

But, it was awful.

If you took time out of your day to watch that show because I recommended the movie, I'm sorry. We both wasted half an hour of our lives. The acting was poor, the writing was lame, and it was tacky-- just like I feared.

If you saw the TV show, don't let it stop you from watching the movie. And if you haven't seen the movie yet, give it a watch and let me know what you think.

Big Hit

Have you seen this video?! If you watched the ISU vs. Iowa football game, you probably did (they showed it during the game). Even so, it's worth a blog post.

They give football players mo-peds at the University of Iowa. Josh Koeppel, the second-string center on the team, was driving his in Iowa City a couple of days before the game against Iowa State. The dashboard camera on a police car caught this video of Koeppel going through an intersection. The incredible thing: he wasn't injured. Not at all. They did a full-body MRI, and found nothing out of the ordinary. He even got in the game against ISU a few days later.

(P.S. Watch his shoe fly in the air!)

God is More Astounding Than OK Go

To find out why OK Go is astounding, check out my last post.

To find out one small reason why God is infinitely more astounding than OK Go, keep reading.

Remember this post about Sam taking me to Half-Price Books? We bought six of John Piper's Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die (also titled The Passion of Jesus Christ). That was just enough, plus one extra, for each of the high school guys in our youth group to have a copy to work through during our 6:30am Thursday morning Bible studies we are starting this week. (I ask for your prayers for that, by the way!)

I thought we would try going through the book (we're also studying Hebrews) with just the guys. If it was good, I'd buy a few more copies and have Sam lead the girls through it, too. When I mentioned this off hand to our pastor, he said he had a few more copies he could give me so the girls could start studying it right away. Unfortunately, his copies plus my copies left me four copies short of what we needed for everyone to get one.

For the last two weeks, I've been looking for cheap copies online but I haven't been able to find them in bulk for a reasonable price. As I continued searching for cheap copies, I felt increasingly convicted that we need to be studying this book as an entire youth group. I kept feeling like God wanted to use this book to change my heart and my view of Him, as well has the hearts of the students in the youth group. But I still didn't have enough books, and our study starts in less than a week.

Yesterday, God blew me away. After youth group, Sam and I walked over to the main church building for congregational meeting. As we came around the south corner of the building, a woman from the church got out of her car and walked up to us.

"Do you have any use for these in the youth group?" she asked me, as she handed me FOUR copies of Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die by John Piper!!!

My jaw hung open for several seconds.

"How did you know we needed those?" I asked her.

She explained that she had no idea we needed them. In fact, she found them on a bookshelf in her home and decided to bring them to the church library where they would get some use.

"I was just going to give them to the library," she told us, "if you two hadn't come around the corner just as I was getting out of my car, I never would have thought to ask if you could use them!"

It's not astounding that the Creator of the Universe is astounding. That makes sense. Of course He is astounding. He defines astounding. He knows us and our needs. And He provides for them, big or small, according to His perfect timing and will.

God is on board with this Bible study. In truth, He is the one leading it. Please pray for me and for Sam that we will be blessed with insight and humility as God leads us to unpack the truths in Hebrews to our high schoolers. Pray also for the kids, that their hearts will be like soft clay in the Potter's hands.

Finally, praise God for His provision in the tiny details of our lives and our ministries. May He be glorified above all things in both.