ByFaith Magazine has an interview with me on our book Glory Road.  The interview was conducted by Richard Doster, editor of the magazine.  Like me, he was encouraged by the stories of the men in the book and had a few questions he hoped would expand the book’s exposure and the importance of the discussion.  The interview begins:

Why is it important that we know how these 10 black men came to the Reformed faith?

I think it’s important to know how God’s work of grace has occurred in the lives of those who are outside our normal sphere of influence. It is encouraging to know that God’s grace and salvation are being marvelously and wonderfully experienced outside our normal circles. A lot of us have a myopic view of Christianity and our own faith. To be encouraged, to know that God is at work in the hearts of men and women whose lives may not look exactly like ours—and yet whose faith and confession is the same—that should offer a sense of encouragement. And it should offer a challenge to get involved in what God is doing, even outside our normal areas of operation.

(read more)

Once again we are growing in our excitement for the New Life Annual Conference in Chicago (actually it’s in Vernon Hills, but you get the idea).  This year’s theme is In Christ Alone:  The Supremacy of Christ in the Book of Hebrews.  Every year New Life proves to be a blessing of fellowship, challenge, and encouragement from the Word of God.  I will have monthly postings reminding us of the conference in hopes that as many of you as possible will make plans to be in attendance.  The conference is free, and yet the Word is fed to us with five-star quality.  The folks at New Life Fellowship Church do a wonderful job in hosting this event.  It is on my schedule every year, and once again I can’t wait.

I am making my way quickly through John Piper’s little book A Sweet & Bitter Providence:  Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God. I actually bought the book for my wife because I know that her mentor and she recently completed a study of Ruth.  I just thought I should read it first and make sure Piper would not be misleading my wife in anyway .

As you can see from the subtitle, the book is about the sovereignty of God as it is worked out in the lives of those contained in the book of Ruth.  Here is an except from the book as Piper illustrates the sovereignty of God and how trusting God’s providence leads to a healthy, worshipful Christian perspective and life:

A Sovereign Bullet

For example, on April 20, 2001, the Peruvian Air Force shot down a missionary plane, mistaking it for a drug courier. In the plane were the pilot Kevin Donaldson and a missionary family, Jim and Veronica Bowers and their two children, seven-month-old Charity and six-year-old Cory. Veronica had Charity in her lap sitting in the back 28 of the Cessna 185. As the bullets sprayed the plane, one of them entered Veronica’s back and passed through her and into her daughter. Both died. The pilot, with shat­tered knees, crash-landed the plane in a river, and the other three survived.

Seven days later at the memorial service in Fruitport, Michigan, Jim Bowers gave his testimony and explained why the sovereignty of God in the deaths of his wife and daughter was the rock under his feet.

Most of all I want to thank God. He’s a sovereign God. I’m finding that out more now. . . . Some of you might ask, “Why thank God?” . . . Could this really be God’s plan for Roni and Charity; God’s plan for Cory and me and our family? I’d like to tell you why I believe so.

He goes on to give fifteen reasons. In that context, he says, “Roni and Charity were instantly killed by the same bullet. (Would you say that’s a stray bullet?) And it didn’t reach Kevin, who was right in front of Charity; it stayed in Charity. That was a sovereign bullet.”

­

But what about the Peruvian fighter pilots? Didn’t they have wills? Didn’t they make mistakes or, perhaps, even sin against an innocent missionary family? Jim Bowers said,

“Those people who did that simply were used by God. Whether you want to believe it or not. I believe it. They were used by Him, by God, to accomplish His purpose in this, maybe similar to the Roman soldiers whom God used to put Christ on the cross.”

We will see from the story of Ruth and from the cross of Christ that in this life our hope in the next depends on God’s reign over all things. It may be hard to embrace when the pain is great, but far worse would be the weak­ness of God and his inability to stop the blowing of the wind and the flight of a bullet.

The following is told of Mahatma Gandhi:

Mahatma Gandhi is fasting to protest the riot killings that followed the partition that created Hindu India and Moslem Pakistan in 1947. A fellow Hindu approaches to confess a great wrong. “I killed a child,” says the distraught man. “I smashed his head against a wall.” “Why?” asks the Mahatma (Hindu for “Great Soul”). “They killed my boy. The Moslems killed my son.” “I know a way out of hell,” says Gandhi. “Find a child, a little boy whose mother and father have been killed, and raise him as your own. Only be sure he is a Moslem–and that you raise him as one.”

Nothing weighs more heavy on the conscience than guilt.  It keeps us up at night.  It robs us of our appetite.  It makes our days long and our nights short.  In fact it drove Judas to self-destruction (Matt. 27:1-4).  When the man comes to Gandhi it is evident that guilt is weighing heavy on him.  So terrible is it that Gandhi refers to it as “hell,” and thus offers the man a way for his conscience to be released from his abyss. Yet Gandhi’s way is no way at all.

This man was infected with sin that no about of good deeds could cure.  He needed the deep lasting cleansing that comes only from the person and work of Christ – specifically His blood.

Hebrews 9:14 reminds us that the blood of Christ purifies our consciences from dead works to the praise and worship of the living God.  Unfortunately Gandhi instructed the man to perform dead works – works that promote self-righteousness and vindication but does not purify the conscience in the sight of God.

The work that needs to take place for the liberty and washing of the conscience is not work done with my our hands.  It is the work of Christ on our behalf.  When the guilt of my sin weighs me down, it is not my blood and sweat that needs to be applied, but the blood and sweat of Jesus.

Ernest Hemingway once wrote to his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald concerning heaven:

To me heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on nine different floors.

Hemingway lived a most hedonistic life.  And that his assessment of heaven is carnal and fleshly should not surprise us.  The Bible says, “For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh” (Rom. 8:5).  Sadly, Hemingway’s heaven is nothing more than a place on earth.

However, his statement does challenge me to assess my view of heaven.  Do I view heaven as a place where I will find all my earthly pleasures met?  Do I think of heaven as a reality where I am living at the height of human imagination?  Or do I see it as the place where all my pleasures are completed in the beauty and glory of Christ?

If heaven is anything it is intimacy with Christ; where I know him even as he knows me.  It is a place where my rapture is in his glory and my redeemed mind is fixed on the wonders and beauty of the Redeemer.  I long for heaven, not because I will have a fishery to myself or houses populated with servants.  But because I will have Christ and Christ will have me.

Well, the brothers did it again!

We met this past Saturday for another Choppin it Up session and it was everything we anticipated and more.  I have said it before, but I never tire of saying it.  The men of East Point Church are an indispensable encouragement to me.  God has been pleased to bring to our fellowship men who desire to know the truth and apply it to life.  And though at times the truth is hard, they do not shy away from it and the need to keep each other accountable to it.  This was never more on display than this weekend when we took up the hard and yet glorious topic of Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage.

The conversation was serious and sober.  The food was equally unforgettable.  There was the whole range of emotions as we shared and challenged each other to see marriage, divorce, and remarriage as the Scriptures see them.  I have looked at these issues for years and yet I can honestly say that I have never been more edified, encouraged, or challenged on these issues as I was this past weekend.   There was differences of opinions and challenges to interpretations.  There were passionate pleas and hopeful encouragements.  And yet in the end, the brothers who sharpened each other did so with a mind toward the gospel and the knowledge that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.  I love these brothers because they remind me that the gospel trumps it all!

Can’t wait for the next one!!

Have you ever been asked, “Which do you want first, the good news or the bad?”  None of us wants to hear bad news.  We want lives free from discord.  We want a world where nothing happens but that which continually enhances our smiles.  The only tears we want to cry are tears of joy.  We want relationships that do nothing but bring happiness and laughter to our lives.  As children, we want parents to do whatever we ask; and as parents we want children to do the same.  The reality, however, is never quite so neat.

It seems like some part of everyday is met with bad news.  Whether it is earthquakes in diverse places; or war deaths on foreign soil; or a flat tire when you are already late for work; or a leaking roof; or a delayed flight; or a suspended child, life inevitably comes with its share of bad news.  The question is not how do we avoid the bad news, the question is how do we respond to it.  What will be our response to the next time we hear bad news?

This morning I read a most encouraging and even challenging word from God.  In Psalm 112:5-7 God says:

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice.  For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.  He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.

The proper response to bad news is a heart that is firmly trusting in the Lord.  This is the result of a person who deals righteously with people and seeks the honor of God at all times.  This is possible because the person knows that the bad news, just like the good news, ultimately comes from God and if I can trust and praise Him in the good news, I can do the same in the bad.

Today you may be faced with some bad news.  You may have faced it last night. I want to commend to you the trust of the Lord.  Fear not the bad news.  No matter how bad the news, the good news, even the gospel of Jesus Christ, is always greater still.

On Thursday evenings in Bible Study, we have been studying Discipleship.  We are using the book by Stephen Smallman entitled The Walk.  In the chapter The Call to Salvation and Discipleship, Smallman writes:  “By itself the gospel is only words – true and wonderful words, but only words.”

The truth of this statement is jaw-slapping.  It is a wake up call to all who would preach that our words don’t actually have any power in themselves.  No matter how eloquent or clever, insightful or passionate, our proclamation of the gospel must be accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit if they are going to be heard and responded to in faith.  Smallman goes on to remind us that the gospel proclamation changes people “because the Holy Spirit pressess the truth of the gospel into hearts in a way that transform from within.”

Today, I am encouraged all the more to preach the gospel without gimmicks or apology because I know that the Holy Spirit can and at His sovereign pleasure will cause blinded eyes to see and deaf ears to hear the glory that is salvation through Jesus Christ alone.  I pray that it would please God to accompany our preaching with the Spirit of His power for the salvation and joy of His people.  (See 1Thes. 4-10 and 2Thes. 2:13-15).

Congratulations is due to our fair (no pun intended) city.  Atlanta has been dubbed “the gayest city in America.” To those of us who have lived here for any length of time, this is not a surprise.  The gay community in Atlanta is visible, vocal, and vigilant.  They are politically active and well organized.  Their voice is heard among the power structures of politics and business.  Atlanta has long been known by those in the know as a hub for gay and lesbian activity, business, and nightlife.  For those outside of the south, this may seem to be a shocker.  The southeast is the heart of the bible-belt, and conservative politics and morality generally rules.  However, Atlanta is the exception.

While it lies in the heart of the Bible-belt, and church billboards align the skyline almost as frequently as Coke does, Atlanta remains an international, progressive, and liberal city.  Not only is the politics liberal, but so too are the churches.  True gospel centered, Christ-exalting churches are relatively few.  Most churches are either caught up the liberal hermeneutic of the health and wealth doctrines, the liberalism of the social gospel, or general liberal ecumenism.  The sad reality is that while people in Atlanta will go to church on any given weekend, the churches that are being attended most are woefully lacking gospel proclamation.  To this end, I commend us to pray.

Pray that the gospel would have inroads not just to the lost Gay community, but even to the lost liberalism that is the vast majority of the churches.  Pray for us as we seek to remain faithful and not fall prey to the compromise that so easily can beset us.  Whether it realizes it or not, Atlanta desperately needs the gospel.  The gayest city in the world is also one of the most religious, and sadly one of the most lost.

Yesterday the sermon was from Eph. 2:11-17.  This portion of Scripture reminds us of the importance of remembering who we once were and what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.  In preparation for the message, I recalled this passage from C.J. Mahaney in the book Living the Cross-Centered Life:

I’ve lived in the same part of Maryland since I was a boy.  Hardly a month goes by that I’m not reminded of who I once was.  Before God saved me from His righteous wrath in 1972, I, too, was a blasphemer.  I lived for myself and my own pleasure.  I lived in rebellion against God and mocked those who followed Him.  I spent my high school and college years deeply immersed in the drug culture.  Sometimes, late at night, my friends and I would seek out quiet, isolated places where we could come down safely from drug highs.  On more than a few occasions it was a D.C monument.  Other times a peaceful street under thick, deep trees.  Or even the terminal of what was then a little used airport called Dulles, where the doors stayed open long after the day’s flights had ceased and we could move through the nearly deserted canyon of a building.  Someday soon I’ll be near one of those places again, and the memories will flood back in.  I’ll remember what I once was…and reminded of all I’ve received and experienced since then.  Often my eyes fill with tears at the memories of my foolishness and sin.  And in the same instant, my heart will be filled with an unspeakable, holy joy.  By the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, I’ve been forgiven of the countless sins I’ve committed.