Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Happy Birthday Johnny Cash
This impromptu jam session between Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash took place at Sun Studios on December 4, 1956. The famous foursome was referred to as The Million Dollar Quartet. I miss you Johnny, see you in heaven.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Muddy Waters - Long Distance Call
Crisp b&w footage from a performance at the 1968 Copenhagen Jazz Festival.
Muddy Waters - guitar & vocals,
'Pee Wee' Madison - guitar,
Otis Spann - piano,
Paul Oscher - harmonica,
Sonny Wimberley - bass,
S.P. Leary - drums
Friday, February 22, 2013
Jordan Turns 50 - You never Had Peace
Matt Smethurst in an excellent piece at TGC, on all the hoopla surrounding Michael Jordan turning 50:
"How can I find peace away from the game of basketball?" the aging legend asks.Read the article at TGC and follow the link to read the entire article by Wright Thompson. In anticipation of Jordan's 50th birthday, ESPN senior writer Wright Thompson spent some time with Number 23. The product is an Outside the Lines article titled "Michael Jordan Has Not Left the Building," a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into the mind of the man who revolutionized the world of sports. This is well worth reading and sharing with your son.
Michael, you never had peace. Triumph and fame, yes, but not peace. James Naismith invented a game that brought you a sense of purpose, of value, of calm. But it was only that—a sense, a counterfeit of the real thing. You will never find life outside the game for the same reason you never found life in it. It's not there.
The peace you seek isn't available on a basketball court or a golf course but on a little hill outside Jerusalem. There, Yahweh incarnate hung in the place of sinners—wannabe Yahwehs like you and like me.
You've gained the world and found it lacking, Mike. Don't lose your soul.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
What It Means To Be United To Christ
What characterizes the redemption of Christ holds true for the redemption of the believer. As the justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification of the former take place by and at his resurrection, so the justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification of the latter take place in his having been raised with Christ, that is, in his having been united to Christ as resurrected.--Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul's Soteriology (P&R, 1987), 130-31
This means, then, that despite a surface appearance to the contrary, Paul does not view the justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification of the believer as separate, distinct acts but as different facets or aspects of the one act of incorporation with the resurrected Christ.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
What Is the Bible?
Most people in churches nowadays have never read through the Bible even once; the older Christian habit of reading it from start to finish as a devotional discipline has virtually vanished. So in describing the Bible we start from scratch, assuming no prior knowledge.
The Bible consists of 66 separate pieces of writing, composed over something like a millennium and a half. The last 27 of them were written in a single generation: they comprise four narratives about Jesus called Gospels, an account of Christianity’s earliest days called the Acts of the Apostles, 21 pastoral letters from teachers with authority, and a final admonition to churches from the Lord Jesus himself, given partly by dictation and partly by vision. All these books speak of human life being supernaturally renovated through, in, with, under, from and for the once crucified, now glorified Son of God, who fills each writer’s horizon, receives his worship, and determines his mind-set at every point.
Through the books runs the claim that this Jesus fulfills promises, patterns and premonitions of blessings to come that are embodied in the 29 pre-Christian books. These are of three main types: history books, telling how God called and sought to educate the Jewish people, Abraham’s family, to worship, serve and enjoy him, and to be ready to welcome Jesus Christ when he appeared; prophetic books, recording oracular sermons from God conveyed by human messengers expressing threats, hopes and calls to faithfulness; and wisdom books which in response to God’s revelation show how to praise, pray, live, love, and cope with whatever may happen.
Christians name these two collections the Old and New Testament respectively. Testament means covenant commitment, and the Christian idea, learned from Paul, from the writer to the Hebrews, and from Jesus himself, is that God’s covenant commitment to his own people has had two editions. The first edition extended from Abraham to Christ; it was marked throughout by temporary features and many limitations, like a non-permanent shanty built of wood on massive concrete foundations. The second edition extends from Christ’s first coming to his return, and is the grand full-scale edifice for which the foundations were originally laid.
The writer to the Hebrews, following Jeremiah’s prophecy, calls this second superstructure the new covenant, and explains that through Christ, who is truly its heart, it provides a better priesthood, sacrifice, place of worship, range of promises and hope for the future than were known under its predecessor. Christians see Christ as the true center of reference in both Testaments, the Old always looking and pointing forward to him and the New proclaiming his past coming, his present life and ministry in and from heaven, and his future destiny at his return, and they hold that this is the key to true biblical interpretation.
Christians have maintained this since Christianity began.--J. I. Packer, Taking God Seriously: Vital Things We Need to Know (Crossway, 2013), 21-22
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
It Doesn't Matter
I walked in the sunshine with a scholar who
had effectively forfeited his prospects of academic advancement by
clashing with church dignitaries over the gospel of grace. 'But it
doesn't matter,' he said at length, 'for I've known God and they
haven't.'
--J. I. Packer, Knowing God,
The biggest trials I have gone through in my life have been over the gospel of grace. I have been personally attacked and endured many trials in the ministry, my character has been attacked, and I've lost count of the ways the enemy has tried to discourage me and get me to quit the ministry. I don't know the man Packer is talking but I certainly know exactly what he was talking about. What ever I have lost or forfeited doesn't matter because I know God and have entrusted my life to him and the gospel of grace. There is no other gospel, there is no other way of salvation. I can say with the apostle Paul I am what I am by the grace of God.
--J. I. Packer, Knowing God,
The biggest trials I have gone through in my life have been over the gospel of grace. I have been personally attacked and endured many trials in the ministry, my character has been attacked, and I've lost count of the ways the enemy has tried to discourage me and get me to quit the ministry. I don't know the man Packer is talking but I certainly know exactly what he was talking about. What ever I have lost or forfeited doesn't matter because I know God and have entrusted my life to him and the gospel of grace. There is no other gospel, there is no other way of salvation. I can say with the apostle Paul I am what I am by the grace of God.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Eric Clapton - Reconsider Baby - Tsunami Concert
Eric Clapton with Jools Holland at The Tsunami Relief Concert in Cardiff,2005
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
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