The Gospel for those Broken by the Church

There are some messages that are memorable in its impact on me in a very special way, one is CJ Mahaneys "Grace & Legalism" further down on this blog site and another one, "The Gospel for those Broken by the Church" by Rod Rosenblat. We can all relate to the often subtle and even blatant moralism and impossible expectation of the church on our Christian lives and the guilt of our failure as Christians. Dr. Rosenblatt addresses this head on. If you have the time I can promise you, you will be encouraged, built up and have a deeper understanding of the hope you have in our Saviors Death on the Cross.

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt on "The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church" from Faith Lutheran Church on Vimeo.

Addicted to the Gospel

Tullian Tchividjian - Addicted to the Gospel from Jack Graham on Vimeo.

Uganda

My daughter Taylor and her Friend Jenna have just arrived back from three weeks in Uganda with Terril and Amber Scherock who work with Wycliffe Bible Translators and are currently working with the Ike tribe to put their language into a written form so they can have the Bible in their own language. I was to say the least selfishly anxious over my daughter going on this trip especially because my memories of Uganda are from the 70's and the brutal dictator Idi Amine, but the Lord did potect them and they had a great experience and a taste of frontier mission life something I never had. Thank you for all your peayers and I will be posting pictures as she put them out.

Please pray for my daughter Taylor, she will be going to Uganda Africa in December to work with Terril and Amber Schrock, Wycliffe Translators http://schrockandawe.blogspot.com/ if you would like to help her fiancially please e mail me at staff2rock@gmail.com and I will send you contact information. She is going through her church Four Oaks Community Church http://www.fouroakschurch.com/ in Tallahassee Fl.

Thessaloniki, Greece Riots

Please pray for my son Michael and his cousin Jessica as they and a team of young people from their Church "The Dwelling Place" are ministering in Thessaloniki Greece, where there was rioting last night. We are still waiting to hear word.
Update: All is well in Thessaloniki, the kids continue to share the hope of the Gospel and are getting good responses, please continue to pray for them.

Dug Down Deep

I read a pretty good book recently, "Dug Down Deep," by Joshua Harris. Although it seems to be geared towards teens and young adults who have been raised in the church and have heard the Gospel their whole lives, anyone will benefit greatly from this book. He addresses those nagging questions like: if I'm a Christian why am I still struggling with sin, really, why did Jesus have to die such a cruel death, and what are the true ramifications of a proper understanding of the Gospel. In chapter 9 he deals with the Charismatic issues which many in the "New Reformed Movement" or "New Calvinists Movement" embrace to a certain degree, this will be interesting for my Charismatic Friends and family, Joshua says he does pray in tongues but does not believe in a second filling of the Holy Spirit but we all receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon conversion and may experience many fillings through out our lives which I would agree with. I also appreciate his honesty and his ability to communicate essential doctrinal and theological truths in way that wont make your eyes glaze over. This is a book that I will be getting my own teen and young adult children to read.

Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters

The Discipline of Grace

"The Gospel is not the most important message in all of history, it is the only essential message in all of history."
Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." "What does it mean to believe in Jesus, that is what is it we are to believe? We are to believe that as the son of God, clothed in our humanity, He lived a perfect life and then died on the cross for our sins. This message is called the Gospel, that is the good news about Jesus....all who put their trust in Jesus are justified freely by Gods grace."

"We are counted in Gods sight as perfectly obeying the law of God...we must keep in mind that our justification by God is based solely on the meritorious work of Christ and our union with Him. That is, God see us legally as so connected with Christ that what He did, we did. When he lived a life of perfect obedience, it is as if we lived a life of perfect obedience. When He died on the cross to satisfy the just demands of God's law, it is just as if we had died on that cross... these are objective truths; that is, they are true whether we grasp them or not. So often, however, we find it difficult to believe them. Because of our frequent failures before God, we do feel under condemnation, we do not feel God is for us but really surly must be against us, we do think He is bringing charges against us. At such times we must preach the Gospel to ourselves. We must review what God has declared to be true about our justification in Christ."

"To live by the Gospel we must firmly grasp the fact that Christ's life and death are ours by virtue of our union with Him."

Quotes from Jerry Bridges's book "Discipline of Grace"

The Discipline of Grace, Updated Edition I intentionally keep the focus of this site on the Gospel- the good news that Jesus died for our sins; for one reason it continues to astound me, that He would choose me to be one of His adopted children in light of my continued failures in His sight, but also, the key to renewing and reforming our minds is the power of repetition, as Martin Luther said,"We must continually pound the Gospel into our heads." This book will do that and do it well!

Joshua Harris Blog

Grace & Legalism

"Legalism Involves- Seeking to achieve forgiveness from God, acceptance by God and Justification before God through our obedience to God." C.J. Mahaney

C.J. Mahaney condenses sound theological and spiritual truth in this message in a way that is clearly understood. An understanding of Grace and Legalism is fundamental to our Christian life although we will never completely overcome the plague of legalism an understanding of it goes along way in helping. This message is a condensation of several messages he has been giving over the years and that I have really benefited from and has had a big impact on my view of the Gospel, and my introduction to reformed thought. This is the type of message that if listened to over and over several times will correct and reform your view of the Gospel. this is a free down load>> Enjoying Grace Detecting Legalism

All of Christ and His Blood Alone