To graphically illustrate that we, those who have been redeemed by Christ and put their hope and trust in Him, are the Church.

(via Sojourn Church)

Darrin Patrick writes:

We live in a world full of males who have prolonged their adolescence.

They are neither boys nor men. They live suspended between childhood and adulthood, between growing up and being a grown-up.

Let’s call this kind of male Ban, a hybrid of both man and boy. This kind of male is everywhere, including the church and even vocational ministry.

Neither Boys Nor Men

Ban is a frightening reality in the church, but he is the best thing that ever happened to the video game and porn industries.

• Half of American males between the ages of 18 to 34 play video games every day—for almost 3 hours.
• The average video game buyer is 35 years old.
• Every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography, 28,258 Internet users view pornography, and 372 Internet users type adult search terms into search engines.
• To no one’s surprise, men make up nearly 75% of Internet pornography traffic.

He continues…

I have a son, Drew, and because of my keen awareness of and pastoral interaction with Bans, I know that my work is cut out for me when it comes to raising a godly man. I recently wrote a little prayer that reflects the kind of men we need. Drew and I pray this prayer together almost every night, for him and for me.

“God, make me a man with thick skin and a soft heart. Make me a man who is tough and tender. Make me tough so I can handle life. Make me tender so I can love people. God, make me a man.”

The Man, the Message, the Mission

The lack of godly men in our world is now a cultural crisis. We are not going to solve the problem by ignoring Ban and hoping that he eventually grows up. We are not going to solve the problem by encouraging women to take up the slack.

We might solve the problem by modeling biblical manhood and calling adult boys to forsake their youthful lusts and become the men that God is calling them to be.

We have Bans in our city, our neighborhoods, our churches, and our families. Ban needs godly men and women to show him that there is more to life than what he is currently experiencing. Ban needs to be more than just a male. He needs to be becoming God’s man who is being transformed by God’s gospel message and is wholeheartedly pursuing God’s mission.

R.C. Sproul’s answer may surprise you:

It is common to say that hell is the absence of God. Such statements are motivated in large part by the dread of even contemplating what hell is like. We try often to soften that blow and find a euphemism to skirt around it.

We need to realize that those who are in hell desire nothing more than the absence of God. They didn’t want to be in God’s presence during their earthly lives, and they certainly don’t want Him near when they’re in hell.The worst thing about hell is the presence of God there.

When we use the imagery of the Old Testament in an attempt to understand the forsakenness of the lost, we are not speaking of the idea of the departure of God or the absence of God in the sense that He ceases to be omnipresent. Rather, it’s a way of describing the withdrawal of God in terms of His redemptive blessing.

It is the absence of the light of His countenance. It is the presence of the frown of His countenance.

It is the absence of the blessedness of His unveiled glory that is a delight to the souls of those who love Him, but it is the presence of the darkness of judgment.

Hell reflects the presence of God in His mode of judgment, in His exercise of wrath, and that’s what everyone would like to escape.

I think that’s why we get confused. There is withdrawal in terms of the blessing of the radical nearness of God. His benefits can be removed far from us, and that’s what this language is calling attention to.

—R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2007), pp. 157-158; my emphasis.

(via JT)

Many college students are heading back to their beloved universities this week, and I cannot help but ask the age-old question that has plagued the church for years:

“What is it with college kids and the church?”

As someone who has recently graduated from college, it still dumbfounds me as to how there is a great disconnect between college kids and their involvement in the church. Even during my time at the University of Georgia, I never grasped the importance of being a member in a local church.  I remember numerous people instructing me the importance of finding a church, but the key problem was that I didn’t understand why I needed to be until later down the road.

In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly.

Why is this?

In large, I believe that most college students grow up in ungospel-centered churches that are failing to equip the people of the church.  Therefore, once they reach college they have a misunderstanding of what a church is and isn’t causing a reaction where they either quit church or unconsciously create their own student-led church with other college students by calling it “their community” and “ministry”.

Rapidly growing in the college scene is more and more kids getting involved in non-church based “parachurch” evangelistic organizations that usually replaces their activity in a church.  I myself was even involved in these type of ministries and I love their mission for reaching people with the Gospel of Christ, but these ministries cannot be your church.  Many of our parachurch evangelistic mission organizations perhaps unconsciously encourage a situation in which meaningful involvement in local congregations is next to impossible.  However, the Bible makes it very clear that as followers of Christ we are told to be active members of a local church.  Jesus established the church to be a public, earthly institution that would mark out, affirm, and oversee those who profess to believe in him (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:15-20).

We must remember that parachurches were established because the church was not doing their job.  Therefore, many college kids do not hold a high view of the church and see their evangelistic mission separate from the ministry of the local church or worse they see their “parachurch” as their “church”.  What you find in most parachurches are college kids from many different backgrounds, with many different doctrine beliefs, teaching many different doctrines of the Bible, under no real pastoral leadership to equip them and because of this there are those doing ministry that do not have a foundation of what is the gospel.  If you are actively involved with Wesley, BCM, Younglife, RUF, Social Activism, Campus Crusades, Greek Life Outreaches, and you avoid active membership of a church since you view your parachurch as your “community” then I plead with you to reevaluate the importance of the local church!

Attending church on Sunday morning is not being an active member of a church.  After many conversations with college students most give the excuse of not being a member of a local church, because they are a member of a church back home.  In response to that, I have come to the conclusion that four years is a long time. Four years of your life will be spent at college, if not more.  Most people fail after a year of a long-distance relationship in dating since the relationship becomes stagnant and they stop growing in the relationship, therefore, what makes you think you will grow by having a long-distance relationship with your church.  You need a local family church.

Looking back on my college experience and all the church hopping and parachurch ministries I became involved in doing, I would say the biggest mistake was not being actively involved and committing to a local church family immediately after arriving in Athens, GA.  Later I discovered through helpful books that the ministry of the local church serves to focus us on what is important –The gospel–We are all in need of teaching, shepherding, and accountability from the people of the church to help us stay on track. By ourselves we are too easily deceived and distracted from the thing in life that is of first importance, God.  The local church is a stabilizing and protective force. It helps us to grow up so that we can move steadily in one direction, the right direction, bearing gospel fruit with our lives. Therefore, membership to a local church should have the utmost importance to all believers.

For those of you who are actively searching for a local church to serve and to be part of a church family then I highly encourage you to make sure that the church you decide to partner with is made up of these nine characteristics of a true local church:

1.  Preaching

2.  Biblical Theology

3.  The Gospel

4.  Conversion

5.  Evangelism

6.  Membership

7.  Discipline

8. Discipleship

9.  Leadership

(via Mark Dever. For more detailed info visit  9 Marks)

Some great sites to find gospel-centered churches in your area consist of the Gospel Coalition Directory and Acts 29 Network.  Also, I highly recommend for those college students at the University of Georgia to consider checking out Christ Community Church!  A great gospel-centered church with a passion for God, the Gospel, community, and an active missional church!

I pray for the college students across the states to fall in love with God’s people that make up the church and actively commit to being an active part of a local church that you may consider your family.

I got no beach time this summer. Wavves keeps the dream alive though with this rad song. Love it.

Future Acts29 church planter, Carlos Griego, is currently up in Seattle for their ReTrain program for future leaders.  Part of a current assignment was to go out into the city of Seattle to talk to some people for the sake of learning about the culture.  After that experience he wrote this post about why Mark Driscoll is the right guy to be leading a church in Seattle that seeks to reach that dark city.

He writes:

“Talking to some people in Seattle a few things hit me about understanding Pastor Mark and Mars Hill.

1. Mark Driscoll is the right guy for this city. His personality, his blunt way of speaking, now make sense in new ways. Simply put, it fits, he fits. A soft spoken, “seeker sensitive” pastor would be eaten alive here, would not be able to stand boldly, and would eventually either move to a “safer” location or compromise in deadly ways. Mark’s boldness is not done for “coolness” sake like many may think, it is done because that is what it takes to reach this city. I think I understood that, but not till today had that reality become so visible.

2. Mark Driscoll needs our prayers not our critiques. I get it, Pastor Mark has said things that make people sigh or shake their heads. He does things that more conservative pastors in other contexts don’t understand. He is a bit “edgy” for the reformed camp and his thoughts on contextualization are somewhat scandalous. Spending 2 days in this city has reaffirmed something I thought, but now understand in a real way, Pastor Mark is not the “cool”, “hip”, “relevant” pastor in the eyes of many in Seattle. He is the fundamentalist, women oppressing, leader of the intolerant Mars Hill Church. He is obviously not, he is just faithful to the Bible.

Mark is in a war, he is on the front-lines. He is passionate about the Biblical view of man and woman, God’s Glory, calling out idols, and telling people about Jesus. He is taking shots a plenty from the people of Seattle. He is standing boldly in the face of fierce opposition. He trusts and follows Jesus. He is an under-shepherd who puts himself between his people and fierce wolves. He takes a beating.

At the end of the day, whether you totally agree with Mark on some minor issues or not, the truth is, he needs your prayers not your arrows. He is already taking shots from most of the city, that hate him, hate the church and hate Jesus, he doesn’t need it from his brothers and sisters.

Pastor Mark is not perfect, I realize this, so I am not trying to put him on a pedestal. Just in proper perspective of who he is, and how he is working to see his city transformed by the gospel.

The battles Mars Hill and Pastor Mark are fighting are the ones we should be too. Instead of taking shots at Pastor Mark, let’s take shots at Satan through the power of God, as we go and preach and work to transform OUR city, OUR neighborhoods with the gospel. Let’s learn from Mark, and see the mission of God as more important and more critical than whether we agree with how Driscoll reaches his city. Most of our lawns and gardens are dry and dead cause we have spent all our time looking and being critical at how he tends his.

Spending a day in downtown Seattle talking to random people, walking around and seeing the idols of the city will put you on your knees for Pastor Mark. So maybe before you run to the blog to type another anti-Driscoll post, take some time to think about Seattle, and ask if maybe what he is doing is for a greater cause, the greatest cause, the glory and name of Jesus. I believe it is, and after today, I truly appreciate and thank God even moreso for Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church.”

I am very grateful for Mark Driscoll and his passion for spreading the gospel amongst the people in Seattle and beyond. Continue to pray for these guys in the Re:Train program and Mars Hill Church.

Every Christian struggles with the reality of this question. The aim of that question has never been to deny that God wants us to be happy. He does. The aim has been to help people relocate the bottom of their joy—the decisive foundation of their joy—from self to God. Therefore, our happiness is found in Chrst for his glory. Mark Altrogge posted today great insight into this question, “God Wants Me To Be Happy Doesn’t He?”

Well, yes and no.

In an ultimate sense, yes.

All God does is for his glory and our joy. So God has our ultimate happiness in him in mind as he works in our lives to make us like Christ.

But in an immediate sense, not always.

He wants us to be holy, rather than happy.  He wants us to be obedient and trust him, rather than fulfill our every immediate desire.

Years ago, a woman in our church started dating a divorced man.  When I questioned him he told me he’d divorced his wife against her wishes.  There had been no adultery and she had not remarried.  In other words, he was not free to remarry.

They visited a number of other pastors until they found one who told them what they wanted to hear.  I got a call from him.  He was planning to marry them.  When I told him they weren’t free to be married, he said, “But God wants them to be happy, doesn’t he?”

“God wants them to be obedient,” I said.

Sin makes us “happy” for a season.

God is opposed to this kind of “happiness.”  God wants us to be happy in him, by obeying him. Often we must crucify our flesh – which will squeal and scream, “This doesn’t make me happy!”  The same Savior who said, “I give you my joy,” also said, “Take up your cross and deny yourself.” Self-denial, not self-gratification, is the way to joy.

God wants us to experience maximum happiness in him – which comes from obeying his Word, though it cost us everything in this world.

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4

In Andrew Peterson’s song, “In the Night My Hope Lives On,” he has turned Romans 15:4 into poetry and put it to music that will stir the soul.

The song is on the new album, Counting Stars. There’s a nice write-up on the album over at Andrew-Peterson.com.

In the Night My Hope Lives On
by Andrew Peterson

I am weary with the pain of Jacob’s wrestling
In the darkness with the Fear, in the darkness with the Fear
But he met the morning wounded with a blessing
So in the night my hope lives on

When Elisha woke surrounded by the forces
Of the enemies of God, the enemies of God
He saw the hills aflame with angels on their horses
So in the night my hope lives on

I see the slave that toils beneath the yoke unyielding
And I can hear the captive groan, hear the captive groan
For some hand to stay the whip his foe is wielding
Still in the night my hope lives on

I see the armies of the enemy approaching
And the people driven, trembling, to the shore
But a doorway through the waters now is opening
So in the night my hope lives on

Like the son who thought he’d gone beyond forgiveness,
Too ashamed to life his head–but if he could lift his head
He would see his father running from a distance
In the night my hope lives on

I can see the crowd of men retreating
As he stands between the woman and their stones
And if mercy in his holy heart is beating
Then in the night my hope lives on

I remember how they scorned the son of Mary
He was gentle as a lamb, gentle as a lamb
He was beaten, he was crucified, and buried
And in the night, my hope was gone

But the rulers of the earth could not control Him
They did not take his life–he laid it down
All the chains of death could never hope to hold him
So in the night my hope lives on

I can see the Son of Man descending
And the sword He swings is brighter than the dawn
And the gates of Hell will never stand against him
So in the night my hope lives on

(via Jim Hamilton)

created by UK artist Sean Izaakse

Via: Term Life Insurance

Weezer’s next CD, their eigth LP, is a tribute to the ABC television series LOST. The musical group has ramed their upcoming Album “Hurley” and the album cover is simply a close-up photo of actor Jorge Garcia who plays Hugo “Hurley” Reyes in the series.  Here is the album cover:

But don’t get oo excited Lost fans, the music on the album is not inspired by the show. Rivers Cuomo admits that he only recently started watching the series, and has only made it through season two. Cuomo says he was “really nervous” hanging out with Hurley/Jorge recently, because he “didn’t want to hear something about how it all resolves, or overhear anyone else talking about it.” Still cool none the less.

The new CD, Hurley, will hit stores on September 14th 2010.

I think we can all agree that our society is one that is driven by style and trends.  However, can we as christians survive in this market without compromising our true beliefs? Should the church allow herself to be driven by styles and trends or should the church even be considered cool?  Question after question arises when we begin to think about Christianity and cool.

For years people have strived to be consider “cool” or “hip”.  It is so interesting to think that we as people are so attracted to and desirous of that which is considered “cool”.  In the book, Hipster Christianity, Brett Mccracken examines how exactly does the search and adoption of coolness affects our lives and the church. I have just begun reading Mccracken’s book and I find it extremely interesting and challenging at considering the churches role in a hipster culture.

Mccracken provides some hard questions to consider when examining church and culture:

If it is true our chulture today is most effectively reached through the channels of cool, does this mean Christianity’s message must be styled as such?

What does this look like, and are any alternatives available?

How does the Christian navigate in this climate of cool?

How can followers of Christ be significant  or relevant in this culture without reducing the faith to an easy-to-swallow, hip-friendly phenomenon?

Is the church’s future helped or hindered by assimilation to cultural whims and fads?

Do non-Christians find Christianity more relevant or less relevant when it looks pretty much the same as the secular culture?

To what extent are humans drawn to Christ by the way or style in which Christ is presented to them? And to what extent does our answer to that question fuel our various allocated energies with respect to spreading the gospel?

Are we to let the message speak for itself or must we adapt and package the Gospel for a specific context?

The search and adoption of coolness affects people’s lives.   This is just the reality. People have desires to be fashionable, hip, stylish, and ahead of their peers, but is this something the church should promote?  And that is the questions that we must wrestle with: Is Christianity naturally cool in today’s culture? Thus far, Mccracken has done a phenomenal job exploring these questions. Here is a little taste from Mccracken’s book:

“Are people attracted to and desirous of Christianity on its own accord?  Or must it be cool in the much more insidious, countercultural idea: perhaps Christianity is hopelessly unhip, maybe even the anticool.  What if it turns out that Christianity’s endurance comes from the fact that it is, has been, and continues to be the antithesis and antidote to the intoxicating and exhausting drive in our human nature for cool? Im not saying this is the right answer; just that this book is about weighing the options.”

If interested in reading more about Hipster Christianity be on the look out for more post from me pointing out some key highlights or purchasing the book HERE.

Here are some excerpts from chapter 12 of Paul David Tripp’s What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010).

1. What is love?

Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.

2. What does love look like in marriage?

• Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of your husband or wife without impatience or anger.
• Love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward your spouse, while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
• Love is the daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
• Love is being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding, and being more committed to unity and love than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.
• Love is a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
• Love means being willing, when confronted by your spouse, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
• Love is a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to your husband or wife is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
• Love is being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged but to look for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
• Love is being a good student of your spouse, looking for his physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support him as he carries it, or encourage him along the way.
• Love means being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the problems that you face as a couple, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
• Love is always being willing to ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
• Love is recognizing the high value of trust in a marriage and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
• Love is speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack your spouse’s character or assault his or her intelligence.
• Love is being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt your spouse into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
• Love is being unwilling to ask your spouse to be the source of your identity, meaning and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of his or hers.
• Love is the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a husband or a wife.
• Love is a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your marriage.
• Love is staying faithful to your commitment to treat your spouse with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when he or she doesn’t seem to deserve it or is unwilling to reciprocate.
• Love is the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of your marriage without asking anything in return or using your sacrifices to place your spouse in your debt.
• Love is being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm your marriage, hurt your husband or wife, or weaken the bond of trust between you.
• Love is refusing to be self-focused or demanding but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
• Love is daily admitting to yourself, your spouse, and God that you are not able to love this way without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.
• Love is a specific commitment of the heart to a specific person that causes you to give yourself to a specific lifestyle of care that requires you to be willing to make sacrifices that have that person’s good in view.

3. What should this description of love do to us?

This realization should give you pause and then spur you to action: it is impossible for any of us to love as has been described. The bar is simply too high. The requirements are simply too great. None of us has what it takes to reach this standard. This description of love in action has left me humbled and grieved. It has faced me once again with my tendency to name as love things that are not love. It has forced me to admit how self-focused and self-absorbed I actually am. It has reminded me that when it comes to love, I am not an expert. No, I am poor, weak, and needy.

Jesus died not only so that we would have forgiveness for not loving as we should, but also so that we would have the desire, wisdom, and power to love as we should.

Jesus suffered in love so that in your struggle to love you would never, ever be alone. As you give yourself to love, he showers you with his love, so that you would never be without what you need to love.