This Freedom Song is Marching On!

 There's another line in Chris Tomlin's song "White Flag", that has got me thinking of the Cross, the Gospel, and Scripture. The line is, I believe, is the 2nd prechorus of the song; which goes like this: This Freedom song is marching on! Now, what is the freedom song, I would strongly believe that it is the Gospel itself! Here are some passages of Scripture that come to mind when I here that line in the song:

"And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jeruselem, and the were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, the apostles.....Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word."~ Acts 8:2&4

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of  of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life."~ 2 Corinthians 2:14-16

"and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation,"~ Romans 15:20

"because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,"~ Colossians 1:5-6

 Yes this word of truth, the gospel, is being advanced to this day liberating those who are bound by the chains of their sin and depravity! It is "delivering people from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Christ." (Colossians 1:13). Yes, to this day this freedom song is marching on!

All I Need is Jesus

Take me to a place

That is new

And unfamiliar to me

That is fine

Because all I have

Is Christ

Take away my

My sight

My hearing

Or even the ability

To use

My arms and legs

That will be alright

Because all I have

Is Jesus

When darkness surrounds me

And my enemies

Have me against the wall

With no allies

Or friends beside me

That will be okay

Because all I have is Christ

If my family

And dear friends

Were to ever be taken

From me

And I left

As it may seem

All alone

I will have no worries

Because all I have

Is Jesus

Go ahead

Take anything

And everything from me

I will not

Lose heart

Or wallow in despair

For all I know

And all I have

Is Christ Jesus

My Savior & Lord

He's all I need

He's more than enough

He is sufficient

All satisfying

My treasure I've found

Hidden in the field

My reward

For fighting

The good fight

My prize

For finishing the race

Yes!

All I have is Christ

All I need is Jesus

We Lift High the Cross

Now I'm not too big on Chris Tomlin to be honest. I mean yes, there are songs of his that I enjoy like "Our God" and "Jesus Messiah", but he's not among the artist and bands that I love listening to. He's not among those who's next album I look forward to listening; though his recent song "White Flag" has got me putting it on repeat as I drive to work or church.
 White Flag was performed live at the 2012 Passion Conference down in Alanta, GA, but I didn't hear it until it first came on the radio. Oh my my1 Let me tell you! I'm definitely hooked on the song! It's not a deep theological song really, and that's one thing that really gets me hooked on a song. Yet, there are some songs that I like simply because of one line. Now with Chris Tomlin's White Flag, the whole song, to me, is sweet goodness, but there is one line that gets me. It's the bridge or.....refrain....whatever you wanna call it. It goes like this- "We lift the cross, lift it high, lift it high! ". What truth!
 I don't know if this is out of sync of the whole message of the song, but what I think about as that part of the song come up is the whole idea of what the body of Christ, the church, is all about. The Gospel.
 Yes, when you boil it down to its essence, we, the body of Christ, is all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

"Only let your manner be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel."- Philippians 1:27


 As the body of Christ, the church, the bride of Jesus, we are called to, not only individually, but also together to lift high the Cross, to advance the Gospel, to represent Jesus or Savior and Lord! To be sure that all we do as the body of Christ lifts high the Cross and serves as a means to advance the Gospel! All to the Glory of the Author of the Gospel!


http://youtu.be/e1jgD69WzMY

Powerful & Convicting: The Best Sermon on Missions Ever!

 This is the sermon that David Platt gave at T4G '12  (Together for the Gospel) in louisville, KY . Both John Piper and Ligon Duncan, who spoke at the conference as well said that it was the best and most powerful sermons on missions that they have ever heard, and I couldn't agree more. To me, it is one of the top 5 sermons I ever heard. So powerful and so convicting! For those who have a desire for mission, you "MUST" listen to this. Just take an hour out of your day to listen to it! It's that good!


Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions : Together for the Gospel

Nothing That My Hands Can Do

A Hymn by Horatius Bonar

VERSE 1
 There’s nothing that my hands can do
To save my guilty soul
I cannot cleanse my filthy stains
Or make my spirit whole
For nothing but the blood of Christ
Can all my sins erase
I dare not claim my righteousness
But hide within His grace
‘Tis Christ who saved me from the depths
God’s pardon I’ve received
I’m washed within His precious blood
My heart is sprinkled clean

VERSE 2
I’ll praise the God of holiness
Of justice, truth, and might
Who guides me by His mighty hand
To walk within His light
While Satan weaves his shallow lies
God speaks to me in love
Reminding me His only Son
Has bought me with His blood
And Christ dispels my every doubt
Through Him I am redeemed
I love because He loved me first
I live because He lives
VERSE 3
My life is but a fleeting sigh
A tear within the sea
But You are everlasting, Lord
And You’ve predestined me
To leave this fading world behind
Not fearing death will come
For then I’ll look on Jesus Christ
And to His arms I’ll run
And when I see Him face to face
What glory that will be
To look upon my Savior’s scars
And know they were for me

Growing Book List

 Earlier this week, Tues through Thurs I was down in Louisville, KY for a conference called Together for the Gospel. It's a biennial conference focused on.....the Gospel. Big name pastors and such spoke, like John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, David Platt, Mark Dever, Matt Chandler, and more. You can listen to the audios or watch the videos of all 9 main sessions here: http://t4g.org/
 One of the sweet things about the conference was a lot of free books! Now there were 2 bookstores at the conference. The Zero dollar bookstore was where you would get your free books at, and at the other bookstore you of course had to buy the books. Now you would think I would be content with all the free books I recieved, but....no I did buy some. So for those who asked here are all the ones I got, the free ones and the one's I bought:

The Gospel for Muslims by Thabiti Anyabwile

Health, Wealth, & Happiness (Has the Prosperity Gospel Overshadowed the Gospel of Christ) by David W. Jones & Russel S. Woodbridge

The Cross and Christian Ministry  by D.A. Carson

The Church (The Gospel Made Visible) by Mark Dever

What is the Mission of the Church? by Kevin DeYoung & Greg Glibert

The Pleasures of God by John Piper

How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home by Derek W.H Thomas

Fellowship with God by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Hudson Taylor (Gospel Pioneer to China) by Vance Christie

Turning to God by David F. Wells

Reformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by Carl Trueman

Church Membership by Jonathan Leeman

Preaching & Preachers by Martyn Llyod-Jones

The Cross of Christ by John Stott

Then there are ones that I got before the conference that I either am currently reading or have yet to read:

The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler w/ Jared Wilson

In My Place Condemned He Stood by J. I. Packer & Mark Dever

To the Golden Shore (The Life of Adoniram Judson) by Courtney Anderson

The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink

A God-Sized Vision by Collin Hansen & John Woodbridge

Reckless Adandon by  David Sitton

Think by John Piper

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

The Kingdom of God by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter

The Transforming Power of the Gospel by Jerry Bridges

George Whitefield by Arnold A. Dallimore

The Gospel Commission by Michael Horton


 I'm pretty sure I won't be buying anymore books this year. Yea, I'm set! Yet, I'm aiming to keep getting into the Sciptures. For all these other books are like appetizers, while God's Word is like the main course, more so, it's like a feast!

God Did Work

If someone were to ask me what happened when me and 2 friends were in Florida this past week, I'd respond: God did work, all for His glory!

It was sometime last fall when the idea for the trip came about. I was with one of my best friends, Austin, just hanging out when I brought up the idea of going on a trip sometime with some of the other guys we knew. So from then on we brainstormed and prayed about the trip; of where we would go and what we would do. I would say that a couple months past when we finally had it all roughly planned out. Leaving Saturday morning we would arrive in Birmingham, AL, after church on Sunday (which was at the Church at Brook Hill...David Platt) we would continue on down to Pensecola, Fl to our first camping spot, then Thurs morning we would head over to Niceville, Fl to another camping spot for the remainder of our time there. Our primary focus was to do as much as witnessing as possible!
Me, Austin, and Andrew (a friend of ours) were all set to go with just a week away. We bathed the trip in prayer before, and told other saints so that they could be praying as well. Yet, we were not aware of what the Lord had in the works for us!

He Worked Through Us

The places He lead us to for witnessing were: a mall in Birmingham, a beach in Pensecola, a mall in Pensecola, Pensecola State College, an outlet mall in Alabama.....I believe, and Panama City Beach. I know before the trip, one thing we prayed for was for the Lord to open door, and he definitely did! It may be safe for me to say that we've had around 100 gospel convos (that may be an exaggeration). The crazy thing is that The Lord led us into a lot really good convos where we saw Him working on the hearts of those we shared with! With those who professed Christ we still gave them law then Gospel, reminding them that it's not our works that save us (since we're not good enough), but its by repenting and trusting in Jesus who is good enough. We would then encourage them to read the book of 1 John whenever they had a chance to examine themselves to see if they're really in the faith. Then for those who didn't profess Christ, but were still open to talk and hear what we had to share (namely the Gospel), we would give them the law and then the Gospel.
Here's the crazy thing though! Of the three of us, only me and Austin had the most experience of doing contact evangelism (Andrew was still getting a hang of it), but we saw more fruit during our witnessing on the trip then when we first started doing contact evangelism a couple years ago. There were a lot people, as it seemed to us, who after talking with them seemed genuinely concerned about their eternal state, and were legitimate about getting into reading 1 John or John. Never in our years of doing contact evagelism have we seen so much fruit! It truly amazed us! Of course only time will tell what seeds we sown in the hearts of those who've heard the gospel will bear fruit! All we knew to do is to preach and pray, and let God do the rest!
Tyler was a guys we got to talk to (both me and Andrew). He professed Christ, and was really attentive to hearing what we had to share. I honestly can't remember all that we shared, and all that he shared, but I can say this that it was one of the best gospel convos I've had with someone! The day after we got back, me and Austin got a text from Andrew letting us know to be praying for Tyler who apparently called Andrew to talk and let him know that he read 1 John. Praise be to God! Be praying for him!
Overall I thank God not only letting me a part of that weekend of labor for advancing the Gospel and His Kingdom, but for using me a redeemed sinner, a weak, frail, finite being to make Him known in a lost and dying world, to be His ambassador (2 Cor 5:20). It's such a privilege, honor, and so humbling that He calls me to be His servant, His ambassador, a herald of the Gospel!


He Worked In Us
Months before the trip, I just felt like I was lukewarm. Meaning that I was lacking in zeal, passion, and joy for Christ and the Gospel. I did pray again and again for Him to reignite that passion within me, but nothing happened for the longest time. Was He delaying? No, He never delays; He answers in His timing. I've once heard it said that the 3 hardest words in American culture are: "Wait for Him". I couldn't agree any more! I wasn't expecting the Lord to wreck me on the trip, but I'm sure thankful He did!
So how did He do it? Well I wanna say He used a number of things, including the result of the gospel convos we had, but I would say it was mainly from a sermon we listened to while on the road. It was a sermon by a godly man who is a missionary in Uganda, in which he preached from Hebrews 12:1-2. Yes, these passages are ones that we've read before and are familiar with, but I love it when I hear a sermon on a familiar passage that the speaker will give new light to. Whether they say something about the passage that I never thought about or saw before, or helps me to understand the passage clearly that I never fully understood. Shannon Hurley, the guy who gave the sermon we listened to made this strong exhortation: "Don't be content in running the race at a slow and steady pace, you must run HARD!" At least it went something along those lines. I can't just look at others to see that their not running as hard as me. No! I must focus on running HARDER, "laying aside  every weight, and sin that so easily entangles..." and "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith".  I don't want to be content in running at slow and steady pace! I want to run HARD for HIim! Taking this life seriously, knowing that we're in the middle of a war! "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Eph 6:12).What that means to me is to cast aside all the things that were hindering me from running HARD, and setting my mind on the things above (Col 3:2), seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt 6:33), knowing as a soldier, that I shouldn't be caught up in civilian pursuits, since it's my aim to please Him (2 Tim 2:4)!  I want to have my mind set on Christ, on pleasing Him! To, everyday give all I have and am for the advancement of the Gospel, the advancement of the kingdom, the building of the church, all to His glory! So you can pretty much say that it was a slap in the face, with the Lord knocking sense into me, bringing me back to where I should be! I'm so thankful that He used this trip to reignite the passion in my heart for Him, the Gospel, and His kingdom! To Him be the glory!

 So yes, the trip was AWESOME! It was such a great testimony of His grace, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, and power! Yes! God did work!