Grace Unmeasured

Just a few lyrics from a song by Bob Kauflin called Grace Unmeasured,

"Grace paid for my sins
and brought me to life
Grace clothes me with power
To do what is right
Grace will lead me to Heaven
Where I'll see your face
And never cease
To thank you for your grace"

"Grace unending
All my days
You'll give me strength
To run this race
And when my years on earth
Are through. The praise
Will all belong to you"

God's Greater Good in Our Sacrifice

A few weeks ago I took the Bible Class at Stonepark and used the text of Philippians ch 1. One of the parts in the chapter that stood out in particular for me was the verses 12-14 where it says, "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."
Even though this had an impact on me it wasn't until last night that I seen how this can be true. I was reading through "Suffering and the Sovereignty of God" Piper & Taylor eds. and came across the story of a young missionary called Chet Bitterman who worked for Wycliffe Bible Translators in Colombia. A group of Colombian guerrillas wanted Wycliffe out of the country and took Chet hostage and threatened to kill him if they didn't leave. After being held hostage for 7 weeks Chet was killed by his captors.
The year after Chet was killed the amount of applications that Wycliffe got for overseas translators doubled. I found this story of God's grace and brilliance just incredible.
All I can think is "How Great is Our God."

Humourous Quote

"If he met a beautiful young girl wearing glasses, no makeup, and an indie-rock T-shirt, reading Calvin's Institutes, he probably ask her to "court.""

Ted Kluck. Why Were Not Emergent pg 99.

Recommended Read Nos. 2

Another book I got to read while on holiday was this one. I heard about this book on Joshua Harris' blog. Given the subject matter it was put on my must read list.

When I began to read this I wasn't too sure of what to expect. The two authors take every other chapter writing about their views of the "emergent church". And this style does help. Kevin being a Pastor writes from a pastoral point of view, while Ted writes from a journalistic perspective. The reason that this helps is that after you read a more theological essay (Kevin) you can then meditate over it while reading a lighter one (Ted).

The two guys do come at this with a very even handed perspective. They prove so many people in the "emergent church" wrong from a biblical stand point without being too scathing.

My favourite chapter of the whole book was "Chapter 9- Jesus: Bring of Peace, Bearer of Wrath." by Kevin. For a person looking to find out about the "emergent church" this is a must read. It is biblically based and God, Christ and Cross centred.

Recommended Read Nos.1

I was going to try and start this recommendation off with a quote from this book but I found it difficult to pick up one particular quote that would encapsulate the whole book. The fact is this book needs to be read as a whole.
The only thing I can attempt to say that would sum up this whole book is that God saves and God is glorious.
Given the subject matter you would think it would be a celebration of two people in particular; John Piper and Jonathan Edwards. It doesn't, it highlights Piper and Edwards as being used by God for God's glory but the whole book is about God.
A good book for anyone to be encouraged to see that God is all sovereign and also shows that true Calvinism does birth a thirst for evangelism.

John Owen Website

Just came across a website on John Owen here. The site features essays on his teachings and believes. This seems to be a great resource and if you challenge yourselves to read John Owen's stuff and not let the complexities put you off then you will find it very rewarding.
I thought this was a great quote and a great challenge about our view of the christian life and sin,

"Your state is not at all to be measured by the opposition that sin makes to you, but by the opposition you make to it." John Owen

Cracker Own Goal

Try explaining this.