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Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, [14] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. [15] Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it [16] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Third Day’s new album Revelation is set to release on July 29th.
If you are interested in what other Christian music is set to release, click here.
Here’s a link to a video one of the youth made from the Baltimore Blast Faith Night.
I want to recommend a sermon series by John Piper. This is the first sermon of the series. It is directed for parents and youth however it will be beneficial for all ages. I’m looking forward to hearing these after I catch up on all the T4G messages.
You can click the link here.
Here is the link for a catechism for young children. It is an introduction to the the Westminster shorter catechism.
They have posted the audio from the first day of the Together 4 the Gospel conference. If you want a live blog update on the conference check out Tim Challes’ blog. I had the opportunity to attend last year and really enjoyed the conference and teaching. I’m appreciative they posted these since I was unable to attend the conference this year.
I trust you will enjoy the teaching.
Are you looking for a new study Bible? Well, you can pre-order one and you will receive it in October 2008.
ESV Study Bible
List of Features – 25000+ Notes, Over 40 Color Illustrations, Over 200 Full-Color Maps, 200+ Charts, 80,000 Cross-References, and Over 100 Articles and Introductions
The ESV Study Bible was created to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way—to understand the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality. To accomplish this, the ESV Study Bible combines the best and most recent evangelical Christian scholarship with the highly regarded ESV Bible text. The result is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published—with more than 2,750 pages of extensive, accessible Bible resources.
With completely new notes, maps, illustrations, charts, timelines, and articles, the ESV Study Bible was created by an outstanding team of 93 evangelical Christian scholars and teachers. In addition to the 757,000 words of the ESV Bible itself, the notes and resources of the ESV Study Bible comprise an additional 1.1 million words of insightful explanation and teaching—equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource library all contained in one volume.
The contributors to this Bible are some of today’s finest scholars,
Wayne Grudem, John Piper, J.I Packer, and Thomas Schreiner to name a few. Check out the complete contributor list on the site.
I’m looking forward to it.
Here’s the opening song from Thursday night, This time they sang it with the original words saying My Jesus. It was surprising but I’m thankful they did. Like yesterday, my hope and prayer is that we will use this as opportunity for evangelism. May God give us boldness to preach Him and Him crucified to those who need to hear the truth.
If you did not get to watch American Idol last night. The last song of the night. I was shocked to hear Shout the Lord by Darlene Zschech. It was interesting to note they changed the words from My Jesus, to My Shepherd keeping rest of the song’s integrity in tact. Now, the skeptic in me says see they aren’t acknowledging Christ. Thus turning the song into an inspirational love song about themselves like they did with Mercy Me’s I Can Only Imagine a couple years back. However, one should be impressed with the fact that it was shared on such a large stage and audience. I believe this gives Christians a great opportunity to share the Gospel with those who need to hear the truth.
Since we have been studying the Truth Project by Focus on the Family on Wednesday’s Nights, one of our church members sent an email with these encouraging and thought provoking words about it,
“No Joke! American Idol ended tonight with the contestants belting out Shout
to the Lord (by Hillsong). I’m going to side with the Apostle Paul on this.
I don’t care necessarily why they did it, I care that Christ was proclaimed
in song. All 30 plus million that watched tonight heard that nothing matters
more than Jesus being Lord of their life. All of the tragedy that was shown
tonight was ended with the last line of the song, “nothing compares to the
promise I have in you.”
It would been a great ending had they not followed up with the Ben Stiller
bit after they went off the air.
Considering our topic tonight during the Truth Project in seems apropos.
Here is the fallen man and the redeemed man in contrast. One bowing to the
Almighty, the other bowing the knee to self. At least from the Christian
Worldview they have a reason to give back. If the unregenerate was
consistent with their worldview they shouldn’t care about starving children.
It’s just natural selection working itself out. I am thankful, however, that
they do borrow from our worldview on this one.
What would happen if His Church “stood in the gap”? What would happen if we
boldly and unashamedly proclaimed the good news? What would happen if God’s
people came out of hiding and tore down the inconsistent and unbiblical wordviews of the unregenerate? Imagine the miracles we would all see. More importantly, imagine how God would be glorified.
I don’t know about you guys, but I often feel more like the servant who hid
his talent than I feel like the servants who double their talents. May God
grant us all a passion for the lost, a passion for proclaiming the Gospel no
matter what it cost us. May He grant us the courage to stand even if we are
the only ones standing. The reality is that we are never alone. By His power
and for His Glory we stand and proclaim the good news of salvation to a lost
world. May He grant us the strength to endure until our final breath or His
return in Glory. If our final breath comes before he returns, may He pass on
this passion and courage from generation to generation until His return.
This is my prayer for myself. This is my prayer for TCC.”
