Where the Wild Things Aren’t

I haven’t seen the movie, but I really like Russell Moore’s take on it. Here’s his conclusion.

Where the Wild Things Are isn’t going to be a classic movie the way it is a classic book. But the Christian discomfort with wildness will be with us for a while. And it’s the reason too many of our children find Maurice Sendak more realistic than Sunday school.

Too many of our Bible study curricula for children declaw the Bible, excising all the snakes and dragons and wildness. We reduce the Bible to a set of ethical guidelines and a text on how gentle and kind Jesus is. The problem is, our kids know there are monsters out there. God put that awareness in them. They’re looking for a sheep-herding dragon-slayer, the One who can put all the wild things under His feet.

Read the whole thing.

Songs of Redemption Project

I’m super pumped to announce that I’ll be in the studio this week recording a  6 song EP. The songs include…

• “There is a Fountain” (William Cowper)
• “He is Risen!” (Eric Schumacher)
• “Come Lord Jesus to Redeem Us” (Gary Parrett)
• “Upon this Mount (Isaiah 25:6-9) (Gary Parrett)
• “Look Ye Saints the Sight is Glorious”(Thomas Kelly)
• “Christ is Coming! Let Creation” (John R. MacDuff)

Each of these songs build the theme of Redemption from Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to our waiting for his return and our celebration of his return. This is an exciting project not only for me but also for our music team, our church and Jesus’ Church everywhere because the end result will be more Truth-saturated music in the ears, hearts and minds of many!

Lead09 Audio Available Online

The audio and video for Lead09 is being uploaded this week, here. God is advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ through his Church, scattered throughout New England!

Lead09 Conference Starts Today

Lead ‘09 begins today! And I can’t wait for the first session to start!

Together, men and women from Maine, New England and beyond will be exploring the themes of Gospel, Community and Mission.   This two-day conference is a call to each of us and our churches to take Jesus seriously–to radically reshape our lives around the gospel word so that we can truly be his gospel community on God’s mission.

Please pray that God will use this conference to exalt Jesus in the lives of all who attend and in the churches they represent. May God bring a great awakening of gospel renewal in New England!

Here’s Friday’s schedule…

Friday – October 9

* 12:30 : Welcome

* 12:40 : Gathered Worship

* 01:00 : Tim Chester – Session #1 Making God’s people the heart of God’s mission – Is our gospel too small? Too individualistic? The Bible’s story of salvation puts community at the heart of God’s mission. The church is part of our identity as Christians.

* 03:00 : Tim Chester -  Session #2 Community as lifestyle – How can we live as a community – sharing lives, sharing decisions, sharing struggles?

* 05:00 : Jonathan Dodson. Session #3 What is the Gospel? The Three Dimensions – this will be a biblical-theological examination of the Doctrinal, Personal, & Social dimensions of the Gospel.

* 06:30 : Dinner

* 08:00 : Breakout Sessions –

1. Too Busy for Mission?: Tim Chester
2. Becoming a Missional Leader: Jonathan Dodson
3. Gospel, Community, Mission & Orphan? Bill Legere
   
4. The Shift: Our experience in re-churching the church: Mark Gedicks

Here’s the full schedule. Hope to see you there!

The Gospel and the Prayerless Soul

Again we exhort the believer—guard against the least declension in prayer; let the first unfavorable symptom that appears alarm you, go to the Lord in your worst frames; stay not from Him until you get a good one. Satan’s grand argument to keep a soul from prayer is—”Go not with that cold and insensible frame; go not with that hard and sinful heart; stay until you are more fit to approach God!” and listening to this specious reasoning, many poor, distressed, burdened, longing souls have been kept from the throne of grace, and consequently from all comfort and consolation. But the gospel says—”Go in your very worst frames;” Christ says—”Come just as you are;” and every promise and every example but encourages the soul to repair to the cross, whatever be its frame or condition.

–Octavius Winslow, Evening Thoughts:Daily Walking With God, October 5

“By Thy Mercy” New Acoustic CD by Indelible Grace

One of my favorite sources of music for not only gathered worship but also driving down the road is Indelible Grace. And the cool news is that they just released a new, acoustic CD, “By Thy Mercy”! The men and women of Indelible Grace take old, forgotten and oft times neglected hymns and write new arrangements and melodies. You can be sure all their songs are truth-saturated, God-centered, and Christ-exalting.

You can check it out here at AmazonMP3.

You can preview the 10 tracks, too:

1. By Thy Mercy [feat. Matthew Smith]
2. Jesus Lord We Look To Thee [feat. Jason Feller]
3. A Prayer For The Broken Hearted [feat. Chelsey Scott]
4. Rock Of Ages When The Day Seems Long [feat. Mp Jones]
5. Greater Than Our Hearts [feat. Matthew Smith]
6. Salvation To The Lamb [feat. Emily Deloach]
7. Hallelujah Praise Jehovah [feat. Jeremy Casella]
8. Great God From Thee [feat. Andrew Osenga]
9. My God My Father Blissful Name [feat. Justin Smith]
10. Lo The Storms Of Life Are Breaking [feat. Sandra McCracken]

HT Vit Z

What is Satan’s Strategy?

It is Satan’s great effort to keep you from Jesus. By holding up to your view a false picture of His character, from which everything loving, winning, inviting, and attractive is excluded, by suggesting wrong views of His work, in which everything gloomy, contracted, and repulsive is foisted upon the mind; by assailing the atonement, questioning the compassion, and limiting the grace of Christ, he would persuade you that in that heart which bled on Calvary there is no room for you, and that upon that work which received the Father’s seal there is not breadth sufficient for you to stand. All his endeavors are directed, and all his assaults are shaped, with a view to keep your soul back from Christ. It is thus he seeks to vent his wrath upon the Savior, and his malignity upon you.
–Octavius Winslow, Morning Thoughts, August 18

A Book I Want to Read

My buddy, Bob, is reviewing a book that I can’t wait to get into–Jared Wilson’s Your Jesus is Too Safe.

Admit it–You are a Glory Thief!

Lasting change takes place when people are not only shocked by the evil in their world, but by the degree to which they have lived as glory thieves, demanding for themselves what belongs only to the Lord.

–Paul Tripp, Instruments in theRedeemer’s Hands, p. 226.

Fight Clubs Book Now Available!

I am pumped to announce that my good friend, Jonathan Dodson, has just released his book Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship! I strongly believe that God is going to use this book to help many men and women to fight sin and trust the Savior–through the gospel, without legalism or license, as a community, by the power of the Spirit, for the glory of God.

Here’s Jonathan in his own words…

My first book, Fight Clubs: Gospel-centered Discipleship, is now available free online and by print-on-demand. This book has been a process. My adult years as a struggling disciple of Jesus have shaped this book. From my failures in college to my successes in ministry, following Jesus has been both difficult and rewarding. Sufferings, temptations, and personal sin can be a beating. The gospel of grace uplifting. I thank God that He fights for me, for us, in the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ!

This book was written for the church, for disciples who struggle to follow Jesus well. It’s intended to equip you to fight the fight of faith in the power of the gospel, and to do so as Jesus intended, in community. My hope is that it will strengthen your resolve to fight the good fight of faith well (1 Tim 6:12), and in the strength that God provides (1 Pet 4:11). I hope it helpfully dismantles legalistic and loose patterns of discipleship and frees you to follow Jesus by grace. May it inspire you with the rich gospel motivations God has given us in the Son and the Spirit to follow hard after God!

Download the book

Buy the book