Tag Archive - Bible

Remembering Wyatt Mitchell – A Year Later

December 8, 2011 in Ben Terry with 2 Comments

wyatt Remembering Wyatt Mitchell A Year Later

A year ago today, a close friend and brother, Wyatt Mitchell, passed away after years of battling cancer. In these past couple of weeks I began reflecting on death and the beauty of salvation in Christ as I remember the testimony and life that Wyatt lived.

It is a joy to celebrate the life of Wyatt since he is one who was faithful to loving God, to loving his wife, and to proclaiming the gospel. And I’m reminded of these truths that Wyatt’s physical body may be dead, but he will never see death since his public testimony of salvation in Christ preaches that he is alive and with Christ in heaven!

Remember what John tells us,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24

Believers on Jesus have passed already from death to life.

They have now already an eternal life. Eternal life cannot—cannot by definition—end.

Believers do not see death. Do not taste death.

Our bodies die. They lie—looking like they are sleeping, which is why the New Testament sometimes calls death falling asleep—they lie in the grave until the last trumpet. “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 CORINTHIANS 15:52).

But when our bodies die, we do not die. We have passed from death to life. Eternal life. Unbroken, unending life.

What that means is this: When we were born again, we received the gift of life. Spiritual life (JOHN 3:6–8). When we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive (EPHESIANS 2:4–5). This new life is eternal life. In this new spiritual life, we are able to fellowship with God, know God, experience God, speak with God, hear from God through his word, sense the love of God shed abroad in our hearts (ROMANS 5:5). This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

This fellowship that we enjoy with God cannot be ended. It cannot be broken. It is eternal.

When our bodies die, we do not experience any break in our fellowship with God through Christ. Our fellowship, in fact, in that instant is perfected (HEBREWS 12:23). The life we have with Christ in God today, because of the new birth, will never end. We will not see the end of it. And we will not taste the end of it. Because there is no end of it.

But without even knowing it, I see how my fear of death is a slave master binding me with invisible ropes, confining me to small, safe, innocuous, self-centered ways of life. Wyatt had no fear of death and he saw the importance of proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers with no fear.

As I reflect on Wyatt’s life and death, my prayer is that I too will embrace this truth that in Christ I will never see death and that I am freed by grace to live boldly for Christ proclaiming the good news of the gospel.

Awesome Bible Designs – Jim LePage

November 15, 2011 in Ben Terry with 10 Comments

This project by Jim LePage is nothing short of amazing.

Here are a few examples of what he’s done

Revelation 988 570x712 Awesome Bible Designs Jim LePage

 Word Joshua1 570x712 Awesome Bible Designs Jim LePage

Word Job1 570x712 Awesome Bible Designs Jim LePage

Word 8x10 02 Exodus1 570x712 Awesome Bible Designs Jim LePage

(via)

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Shane Hipps Defends Rob Bells View On Hell

November 3, 2011 in Ben Terry with 4 Comments

is HELL dead rob bell 570x296 Shane Hipps Defends Rob Bells View On Hell

Bell on Hell

Rob Bell has been the center of controversy since the release of his book earlier this year and then when he announced he would be stepping down as the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church.

Shane Hipps who has been a close friend to Rob Bell and is now the lead pastor at Mars Hill has recently spoken in support of Bell’s stance on hell. It should be no surprise that Hipps supports Bell’s view, but if anything it reveals the great concern and sadness about the pastoral leadership of Mars Hill Bible Church.

Read an excerpt of what Hipps had to say:

“As a Christian who believes in the Bible and Jesus, I have found the intensity and certainty of the debate all very bizarre. It’s strange that so much passion and ink has been spilled over something that is all speculation.

Here’s what I mean: If you died, took pictures, and came back to life again, then you would know with certainty what happens after death. Of course, you would only know what happens to you, not everyone else. But if you haven’t died, you can only speculate about what happens to you and everyone else.

This speculation is perfectly fine. As long as we recognize these are only our beliefs. And beliefs by nature are not certain; they are faith based assumptions. That’s what makes them beliefs. Once you can prove them, they are no longer beliefs; they become a kind of knowing. And the funny thing is once you know, you don’t need to debate anymore.

I have never died, so I don’t have a theological position on heaven or hell. I can only entertain theological possibilities. There is a big difference.”

This is far from the truth of the Scriptures, and its sad to see a pastoral leader distort the message of the Bible.

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From The Garden To The City – Technology and Redemption

October 19, 2011 in Ben Terry with 0 Comments

photo 570x570 From The Garden To The City Technology and Redemption

From The Garden To The City - John Dyer

[This was a guest post I did for ChurchM.ag Blog Tour]

Redemption is….

Conquering evil, restoring the world, uniting all things, beautifying the elect, and glorifying the Godhead: This is what God aimed at in his great work of redemption.

So we can rejoice in the fact that redemption is a beautiful thing.

And we rejoice in God’s work of redemption in Christ’s death on the cross whereby God cancelled the debt of our sin, appeased his holy wrath against us, and won for us all the benefits of salvation.

Therefore, as believers saved by the grace of God we are now transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to no longer live a life that seeks our fame, but we live to see God’s name glorified and praised above all names.

Now why would I start a book review on technology by defining redemption?

Because I believe it is important to identify that Christ’s death on the cross was to save sinners and not technology. However, I do believe that John Dyer rightly argues that God and Christians can redeem the use of technology in a manner that glorifies God. And for that I am greatly thankful for not only this chapter, but this entire book by John Dyer.

Now in this chapter on “Redemption”, Dyer returns to examining the biblical story by explaining how technology’s tendencies and value systems are sometimes used by God to move forward his redemptive purposes. He provides three familiar examples from Scripture for support: Noah’s ark, the Tower of Babel, and the giving of the Law to Moses.

The story of Noah building an ark is a prime example used by Dyer to demonstrate God’s decision to use technology as a means to save Noah and his family from the floodwaters of God’s wrath.  I was shocked when reading Dyers analysis because I never saw this relation before between technology and the ark. I began to see Dyer as a tour guide now pointing out the details in the story that are often overlooked. And along the way Dyer shares valuable insight about the big picture of what God is doing.

The second biblical story discussed is the Tower of Babel. Here we see how people abuse the use of technology. Dyer states,

“In Genesis 11, we find the human race again rejecting God’s plan for them in favor of technological achievement. Rather than using their creative powers to honor God as Noah did, the people of Babel wanted to bring glory to themselves.”

Dyer provides a solid biblical example of how people have taken God’s gifts, like technology, and have perverted and abused the use of them. Because technology is a gift from God it should direct us and point us to worshipping God, but instead we have allowed it to draw us away from God through our misuse.

Lastly, Dyer discusses the importance of the giving of the Law to Moses. In this section, Dyer argues the power of the medium of communication and media. The technology of writing is a powerful tool that Dyer explains to be a powerful medium that God uses to spread his authoritative message.

What Dyer does really well in these famous biblical stories is point out these questions of what is technology, how is it used, and for what purposes is it used. In addition, Dyer provides a solid theological understanding of how God works through the use of technology for redemptive purposes.

As a seminary student at Southern Seminary and the IT Director at Sojourn Community Church, I found this chapter and this entire book to be a great theological and practical resource for me to think hard about the redeeming and corrupting power of technology within the context of the church and my own life.

Technology will continue to advance and become a huge part of our lives. And I believe more people within the seminaries and churches need to seriously consider taking the time to better understand the effects of technology on our lives and our faith.

The reality is technology was created by God and is used by God, therefore, the church must focus on how to faithfully use God’s good gift of technology in a God-glorifying way.

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Mark Driscoll LoveLife Conference – Athens, GA

October 7, 2011 in Ben Terry with 0 Comments

Screen Shot 2011 10 07 at 1.16.21 PM 570x321 Mark Driscoll LoveLife Conference Athens, GA

Mark Driscoll - LoveLife Conference

Not able to make it to make it to Athens, GA for the LoveLife conference with Mark Driscoll?

Don’t worry we’ve got you covered.

On October 8th, I will be blogging after each session posting notes and pictures from the conference on my site and over at Christ Community Church’s blog.  At the conference, Mark Driscoll will be speaking on what the Bible says about a biblical love life by providing the biblical truth about sex, friendship and living life together.

Driscoll and his wife have recently finished writing a book together on this subject titled, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together so Driscoll is well equipped to discuss a biblical view on how God has designed marriage.

Here in Athens, GA, there has already been quite a buzz about the event. The atheist community has been protesting for days about Mark Driscoll coming to preach on a biblical view of marriage.

So the prayer here in Athens has been to continue living out the mission of God by loving all the people in the city and being bold with lovingly share the gospel of Jesus Christ that God would save many.

In addition, you can follow @LoveLifeAthens and me on Twitter for more updates of whats happening here in Athens, GA during the event.

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