If you read this blog, you probably read several Mark-Driscoll-loving blogs, so this video will no doubt be spamming your feed-reader. It's Drisoll on the latest episode of Nightline.
Nothing proves my selfishness more than driving to Wal-Mart at 11:00pm to buy a pregnancy test and thinking about how a baby could screw up all the plans I have made for myself in the next few years.
Some mornings when I wake up I am sickened; my depravity is so apparent I am on the verge of crying or throwing up.
But the more vivid my sin, the greater God's grace is magnified. It extends to the far reaches of my rebellion and continues on for miles.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
At the opening inaugural event on Sunday, Bishop Robinson prayed,
"Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be 'fixed' anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah."
Robinson then went on to spell out that his messiah consists of "freedom from mere tolerance" and a "a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences..."
With the day close at hand, I have for you three noteworthy items concerning the appointment of Bishop Gene Robinson by Barack Obama to pray at the inauguration ceremony.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Open your arms wide and embrace a new blogger to our blommunity (blogging community?). My good friend and reciprocal best man, Jeremy, began his blog, Sufficient Grace, last Thursday. Take a look. And don't forget to subscribe.
The manliness of a man is often determined by the amount of pain that man has endured.
By that standard, Jesus Christ is the manliest man ever.
Unfortunately, we have been pumped full of "the drag-queen Jesus images that portray him with long, flowing, feathered hair, perfect teeth, and soft-skin, draped in a comfortable dress accessorized by matching open-toed sandals and handbag" as Mark Driscoll puts it (Vintage Jesus, pg 31). That Jesus would run from pain.
However, the real Jesus was willing endured the full effects of the wrath of God--the most painful pain know to man--for each individual in history that the Father gave to Him. A dose of this pain is unbearable for any individual and is enough to kill an individual for eternity, but Jesus endured it for many and it could not hold Him for 72 hours.
That's manly.
Someday soon my tongue will tell
Of Earth made black, each tree fell'd,
Nothing seen but endless mire,
All consumed by holy fire.
The heaving ground, void of mirth,
An iminenet child birth.
The moon ceased to be the same,
Shower'd the ground with crimson rain;
The sun had fall'n from the sky,
In the fiery lake it died.
From above, a mighty sword
Drawn and weilded by my Lord.
Moving swiftly down He cut
All the wicked in their glut,
But passing o'er those He wrote
In His book, whom have His coat
Of righteousness giv'n that day
A Pure, Holy Lamb was slain.
Then a beast who prowl'd the land,
The blood of saints on his hands;
Suicidal, on he pressed,
Rank with death and human flesh.
Then my Lord took heed of him
Tearing children limb from limb.
Silence; then into His chest
Drew the deepest of all breaths.
The murderer could not fend
'Cause the exhale was his end.
And then looking side to side
I stood amidst His blameless bride
Chosen before time began
In line with His perfect plan.
A boy's cancer was remiss,
His mom's blind eyes witnessed it.
The lame man ran as he pleased,
His wife had no heart disease.
Pain had ended, sorrow ceased;
No one suffered in the least.
Then my Lord whose back was striped,
With His pierced hands tears were wiped
Away from those He called home
Whose lives were saved with His own.
It's quite common for people to say, "Oh, I am jealous" when someone they come in contact with has an experience they wish they could have. Unfortunately it seems Christians make this statement as much as non-Christians.
In Galatians Paul gives a list of works of the flesh. Embedded in the list is jealousy.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
