Over at our friend Tullian Tchividjian’s (cha-vi-jin) blog, he informed us that the church where he serves as pastor is no longing having separate but equal morning worship services.  As of yesterday, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church did away with two services (one traditional and the other contemporary), and now will join those serves together and the two have become one.  Amen!

This unnecessary and even detrimental trend toward the segregation of the ages or styles in our worship service smacks of worldly, humanistic thinking.  It puts an emphasis on maintaining a certain genre and style over maintaining the unity and centrality of the gospel.  Tullian hit the nail right on the head when he wrote:

“You see, when we separate people according to something as trivial as musical preferences, we evidence a fundamental failure to comprehend the heart of the gospel. We’re not only feeding toxic tribalism; we’re also saying the gospel can’t successfully bring these two different groups together. It’s a declaration of doubt about the unifying power of God’s gospel. Generational appeal in worship is an admission that the gospel is powerless to join together what man has separated.”

Furthermore, we deny ourselves the privilege and even responsibility of growing in grace as we appreciate the expression of the gospel in ways biblical, yet perhaps beyond our preference.  In biblical Christianity and corporate worship there is room – there must be room – for something old and something new, so long as all things are true.

Today we rejoice with Coral Ridge and we give thanks to Holy Spirit for His delight in taking the two and making them one.  Might more churches caught in this malaise of worldliness forsake it and give testimony to the incomparable, motive-changing, self-sacrificing, heart-unifying power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Earlier this year, I saw the movie Blind Side.  It was an entertaining movie.  Then I read the book and realized that the movie while entertaining was not accurate and did not capture the depth of the book at all.  Years ago I saw the movie Mississippi Burning, a movie about the murders of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney in Mississippi in 1964.  I really liked that movie.  However, while on vacation I finished listening to Freedom Summer:  The Savage Season that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy.  Though the movie was not based on this book, the movie was based upon the historical accounts of the murders.  Listening to Freedom Summer reminded me that movies are never a sufficient place to learn history.  This book put the movie to shame.

For example, the movie makes the FBI out to be heroes in investigating the murders of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney.  The book, however, accurately depicts the FBI as disinterested bystanders until the heat was turned up on them by President Johnson and those involved in Freedom Summer.  What was Freedom Summer?  It was the summer of 1964 when determined college students from around the country went to Mississippi and helped to change life in Mississippi, and in all these United States.  Are you familiar with SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)?  Do you know Bob Moses, James Forman, Fanny Lou Hamer, or Dave Dennis?  These are just a few of the names involved in Freedom Summer.  Read the book and discover more.

I can not recommend this book higher.  Not only will you learn about the tragic and yet historical year of 1964, but you will also be moved by the writing and storytelling of Bruce Watson.  As someone has said, “This book is full of history and yet reads like a thriller.”

Watch Bob Moses here discussing Freedom Summer:

We just got back from vacation, and there is much to blog about.  The books I read, the people I saw, the places we went, and the of course the excitement of the wife and kids.  But before I get to all that, I do want to share with you what is one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me.

As you know, recently my wife and I spent a week in Switzerland sharing the gospel with our brothers and sisters with the International Baptist Convention.  It was a wonderful week of gospel preaching, singing, and fellowship, as well as an opportunity to take in the beauty of the Swiss Alps.  Upon our return, however, the gospel we seek to preach was visibly demonstrated to us.  While we were away our East Point Church family arranged for our downstairs storage area to be transformed into an office for yours truly.  In one week’s time they transformed an unfinished storage space into a comfortable and inviting place for study and ministry.  When I saw it I stood amazed.  It is truly a space that love built.  It reminds me of the difference the gospel makes in creating a community where service is joy. Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

Here is a video of pictures taken during the process:

Here is a picture taken today as I am working to get organized:

O the joy of shelving books!

By God’s grace we will take up the subject of the will of God this Sunday.  Here are a couple of good thoughts from Kevin DeYoung’s book on the topic; Just Do Something, A liberating approach to finding God’s will.

“Worry about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief, an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God.”

“We have little longing left for our reward in the next life because we’ve come to expect such rewarding experiences in this life.”

“He (God) wants you to buy a house that will make you holy. If you marry, he wants you to get married so you can be holy.  He wants you to have a job that will help you grow in holiness.  Count on it:  God’s will is always your sanctification.  He has set you and me apart that we would grow to be more like Christ.”

I suggest getting the book, you won’t be disappointed.

As I have said in previous posts, I have a great appreciated for the gospel-centered, gospel-applying ministry of Paul Tripp.  Both in his writing and speaking he gives the priority to the work of Christ and impact that should have on all of life.  Today I tripped upon Tripp writing about the nowism of the gospel.  In other words, the gospel has immediate and satisfying implications for life right here and right now that many (too many) of us are not living upon and rejoicing in.

According to Tripp, here are at least four critical aspects to the nowism of the gospel:

1. Grace will decimate what you think of you, while it gives you a security of identity you’ve never had.
2. Grace will expose your deepest sins of heart, while it covers every failure with the blood of Jesus.
3. Grace will make you face how weak you are, while it blesses you with power beyond your ability to calculate.
4. Grace will take control out of your hands, while it blesses you with the care of One who plan is unshakable and perfect in every way.

These and other reasons is why we seek to preach the gospel right now.  There is an immediacy to the gospel that not only makes it relevant, but even indispensable to the Christian life.  You can read the context and Tripp’s explanation here.

(HT:JT)

In preparation for this week’s sermon, I was reading Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods and came across this passage on rejoicing and repentance:

Rejoicing and repentance must go together.  Repentance without rejoicing will lead to despair.  Rejoicing without repentance is shallow and will only provide passing inspiration instead of deep change.  Indeed, it is when we rejoice over Jesus’ sacrificial love for us most fully that, paradoxically, we are most truly convicted of our sin.  When we repent out of fear of consequences, we are not really sorry for the sin, but for ourselves.  Fear-based repentance (“I’d better change or God will get me”) is really self-pity.  In fear-based repentance, we don’t learn to hate the sin for itself, and it doesn’t lose its attractive power.  We learn only to refrain from it for our own sake.  But when we rejoice over God’s sacrificial, suffering love for us – seeing what it cost him to save us from sin – we learn to hate the sin for what it is.  We see what the sin cost God.  What most assures us of God’s unconditional love (Jesus’s costly death) is what that most convicts us of the evil of sin.  Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves.  Joy based repentance makes us hate the sin.

Jeremy Taylor is one of our worship leaders at EPC.  He is also one of my new neighbors since he moved to East Point less than 2 months ago.  Jeremy is not only gifted, but teachable, humble, and passionate about worship.  Here is his interpretation of one of my favorites, Give Me Jesus.  Can’t wait to sing this in worship together.

Man, I Love This!

Home from Switzerland and the fellowship of the International Baptist Conference.  A great time in the Lord as we were able to make new friends and see the work of the Lord in His church around the world.  Being able to preach God’s word and to encourage brothers and sisters serving on foreign soil was truly an encouragement to me.  Also, sharing the platform with Stuart McAllister was a joy. Great getting to know this brother and co-laborer in the gospel.  Being able to do it with the Alps as our backdrop was truly inspiring. And having my wife with me was just grace upon grace.  God truly was good to us!  Praying the brothers and sisters of IBC were as encouraged as we were.

Here are a couple of my favorite videos from the week.  One is from a morning worship service led by Jerry Chambers and his family.  The other is a trip on the train from Brienz to Interlaken.  From in the mountain, to breathtaking scenery coming out of the mountainside, to back into the mountain.  Awesome – in the truest sense of the word!

We don’t like to boast too much, but we can’t help but let people know from time to time that our Father did this…

and this…

and this…

and this!

Seeing the Alps for the first time reminds me that God’s glory and power are constantly and gloriously on display all around us.  God shouts of his majesty in all the wonders of nature.  His revelation of himself is unmistakable.  And yet his most gracious pronouncement of his glory to the world came in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It reminds me that God speaks in the air and the breeze;

the water and the trees;

the birds and the bees;

but in Christ Jesus He surpasses all of these.