The "I Am's" of Christ - 2.22 Summer Preaching Series

On Tuesday, June 13th, 2.22 began a summer series on "The 'I Am's' of Christ" from the gospel of John. The statements, and their respective chapters are as follows:

The Bread of Life - John 6
The Light of the World - John 8
The Sheep Gate - John 10
The Good Shepherd - John 10
The Resurrection and the Life - John 11
The Way, the Truth, and the Life - John 14
The True Vine - John 15
Before Abraham was, I AM - John 8

Throughout the summer, Lord willing, Pastor Jeff and several of our undershepherds will be covering each of these statements. You won't want to miss any of it!

Aaron began the series with an introduction and brief overview of the "I Am" statements. Practical, penetrating questions were asked regarding our love for and knowledge of Christ. It was suggested that the reason we don't love Christ as we ought is because we don't know Him as we ought. Christ's purpose in being known is so that He may display the glories of His Father. To know Christ is to know the Father (John 8:19). And what better place to get to know Christ - to see the glories of the Father - than in the gospels; particularly, John's gospel account.

Aaron read several excerpts from John Owen's classic work, "The Glory of Christ". He was reading the abridged, slightly modernized Puritan Paperback version. You can read the original work, online for free here. Also helpful resource might be R.C. Sproul's cd sermon series on the "I AM's" of Christ.

Other resources mentioned by Aaron were James White's paper on the "ego eimi", as well as the hymn "More Love to Thee" by Elizabeth Prentiss, and this lesser known hymn, "Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?" by Philip Doddridge.

Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?

Behold my heart and see;
And turn each cursèd idol out,
That dares to rival Thee.

Do not I love Thee, O my Lord?
Then let me nothing love;
Dead be my heart to every joy,
When Jesus cannot move.

Is not Thy Name melodious still
To mine attentive ear?
Doth not each pulse with pleasure bound
My Savior’s voice to hear?

Hast Thou a lamb in all Thy flock
I would disdain to feed?
Hast Thou a foe, before whose face
I fear Thy cause to plead?

Would not mine ardent spirit vie
With angels round the throne,
To execute Thy sacred will,
And make Thy glory known?

Would not my heart pour forth its blood
In honor of Thy Name?
And challenge the cold hand of death
To damp th’immortal flame?

Thou know’st I love Thee, dearest Lord,
But O, I long to soar
Far from the sphere of mortal joys,
And learn to love Thee more!

WWJW: Where Would Jesus Worship?

Audio from the Church Emergentcy Conference should be available soon, I'll post links as it becomes available. Also, check out the Pulpit Live graphic in the sidebar for some current articles on the emergent church.

And finally, did you attend the conference? If so, why don't you leave your remarks in the comments section...what did you learn & what were some of the highlights for you.

As he promised, here is the outline & Scripture references of Pastor Lance's concluding message:

The Church God Attends
Selected Scriptures

Introduction:

Within current church movements like the Emergent Church, the critical question could be asked, “What kind of church would God Himself actually attend today?” What would be the criteria that God would use to determine what local church, or movement of churches, to attend? In other words, how would the Lord Himself evaluate the current maze of ministry approaches within Protestant local churches in order to determine where He would attend and become involved? We are speaking somewhat tongue-in-cheek of course, for the question itself is somewhat humorous and provocative, but it does give us an opportunity to ask a question about current church philosophies of ministry and how Jesus would evaluate them. With so many different approaches on “how to do church,” as people often say, what is the proper criterion for choosing the right church or movement of churches to attend? How do you decide what church in which to become involved? How do you decide where to spend your time, effort, and energy? How do you decide these crucial matters? Well, in an age where many have been asking, “What would Jesus do?” I want to ask, “Where would Jesus attend church?” Here’s my answer:

1. Jesus attends the Churches who worship God in spirit and truth

· John 4:13-26
· Zechariah 7:4-14

2. Jesus attends Churches who Fear God and Esteem His Name

· Malachi 3:6-18

3. Jesus attends the Churches who Worship God by Faith

· Hebrews 11:6

4. Jesus attends the Churches who offer up their Worshipful Praise to His Name

· Hebrews 13:15
· Psalm 22:3, 22-23, 25
· Psalm 33:1

5. Jesus attends the Churches who Serve and Share with One Another

· Hebrews 13:16

6. Jesus attends Churches who Pursue God’s Will

· Hebrews 13:21
· Romans 12:2

7. Jesus attends Churches who lay their Lives down as Living Sacrifices

· Romans 12:1

8. Jesus attends Churches who Humbly and Fearfully revere God’s Word

· Isaiah 66:1-3
· Isaiah 48:17-19
· Jeremiah 6:16-19
· Jeremiah 8:4-9
· Nehemiah 8:1-3

9. Jesus attends Churches who acknowledge His rightful Headship

· Ephesians 5:22-30
· Matthew 18:15-20

10. Jesus attends Churches who make Him Preeminent

· Colossians 1:15-20

11. Jesus attends Churches who maintain Him as their First Love

· Revelation 2:2-5

12. Jesus attends Churches who are Faithful in Persecution

· Revelation 2:9-10

13. Jesus attends Churches who Stand Against False Teaching

· Revelation 2:14-16
· Revelation 2:19-23, 24-29

14. Jesus attends Churches who Continue in Good Works

· Revelation 3:1-3 (negative example)
· Revelation 3:8-12 (positive example)

15. Jesus attends Churches who Express their Utter Dependence upon Him

· Revelation 3:15-19

16. Jesus attends Churches who Cry out to Him for Help and Deliverance

· Psalm 17:1
· Psalm 55:1-2, 16-19, 22
· Psalm 142:5-7
· Psalm 130:1-2

17. Jesus attends Churches whose Pastors Faithfully Tend to the Flock

· Jeremiah 23:1-4
· Acts 28:28-32

18. Jesus attends Churches who offer up Sincere Testimonies and Prayers to God

· Psalm 66:16-20
· Psalm 5:1-3, 7, 12

19. Jesus attends Churches where Everyone’s Physical Needs are Being Met

· Acts 2:44-47
· Acts 4:32-37
· Acts 5:1-11

20. Jesus attends Churches whose Pattern most closely Follows the Early Church

· Acts 2:42-43
· James 1:22

21. Jesus attends Churches who Pursue Righteousness and who Seek the Comfort of the Lord

· Isaiah 51:1-8

22. Jesus attends Churches who flee from Sexuality Immorality

· Jeremiah 29:19-23
· 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

23. Jesus attends Churches who Refuse to Worship False Gods

· Daniel 3:8-30
· Daniel 6:10-28

24. Jesus attends Churches who are Committed to His Wisdom

· Proverbs 2:2
· Proverbs 8
· Colossians

25. Jesus attends Churches who are Faithful to Proclaim Him in their Witnessing/Mission

· Acts 16:11-15

Photos Emerging...

Here are just a few photos from the Church Emergentcy Conference. Click here to see more (additional photos addes 6-8-06!), or double click the slide show below.

As If...

I don't think that anyone from our group was able to make the New Attitude conference. So, here's some links to re-cap the even, as if you were there.

Adrian Warnock collected a few great quotes.

And here's the OFFICIAL Na blog, complete with re-caps, photos, and the Courtesy Ninjas.

Purchase the conference sessions on cd or mp3 here.

Like listening to podcasts? Try Napcast.

Na ninjas

Join us for 2.22 on Friday Nights!

Don't forget that 2.22 is meeting in the Activity Center on Friday evenings at 6:30pm!

*More pictures coming soon, when Aaron can remember the 2.22 Flickr account password!

down with the dc Talk

One of Jeff Crott's claims to fame is that he attended the same school with homeboys Toby McKeehan, Kevin Max Smith and Michael Tait - better known as dc Talk. I think they were even considering bringing Crotts on as a fourth member of the Talk, but they couldn't sell the concept of "Surfer Rap" to the record labels. That, and the fact that Crotts can't dance.

Just after I became a Christian, their album "Free At Last" came out & it was the first Christian album I ever bought (it was either that or Smitty's 10 year album, I can't remember). So I've been down with the dc Talk for quite some time now.

Well, looks like they have a new album coming out - but hang on, don't get excited and start tearin' down the walls - it's just another one of those 10-year-anniversary-tribute-albums performed by various Gotee Artists. They did something similar before, but it was just a re-release with a few bells & whistles- oh, and a bonus documentary/movie that was supposed to be released in the theatres, but for some reason - perhaps they were busy as a school boy makin' an "A" - it was never finished, so they decided to slap the unedited film on a dvd and sell it for the same price as a fully edited movie (I bought it).

I know it's normal for bands - dc Talk no exception - to do "Greatest Hits" albums. In fact, I snatched theirs up quick, fast in a hurry (their re-mix of "Say The Word" has got to be one of the best re-mixes I've ever heard). But another 10 year anniversary tribute to another old album? You'd almost think two things:

1) It's just a marketing tool to make some more money. But hey, you know that they're down wit the flow in the know on the go like a pro not for show 'cause they ain't in the biz for the dough or the me or the ray, all the dough's gotta stay 'cause they can't, no they can't, take it home anyway.
So it couldn't be that.

2) They don't have anything better for a new album. Even if DJ's don't play it.

I don't know...I really don't suspect either. After all, since their "temporary" breakup, Toby & Tait have had successful solo albums. Oh - and K Mart K Max too (just ask him). And I've never been dissappointed with anything new the group has come out with in the past.

All speculations aside, from what I've heard so far, it sounds pretty good.

Careful Little Links

Be careful little eyes what you see.
In a recent article, Al Mohler remembers the Darwinian display at the London Zoo almost a year ago.

Be careful little ears what you hear.
Justin Taylor introduces us to some new arrangements of some old hymns. Good Stuff.

Be careful little mouth what you say.
Phil Johnson offers his insight on using vulgar and profane language.

More on Modesty

Once again, our very own Todd Murray is gaining popularity with his thoughts about modesty at the wedding ceremony. But what's more important than Todd's "fame & fortune" :o) is that the message of modesty is being further discussed among Christians.

Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary, recently did a radio program on this very topic, and referred to Todd's admonition to brides about wedding day attire. You can read his current blog here, where you'll find links to the radio program, which you can download for free.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss has several wonderful resources on modesty for women, that you can find here. I'd encourage all of our ladies to either purchase the cd's or listen online to any of Nancy's series on modesty. She addresses the heart attitude of modesty first, then discusses (without being legalistic) issues of appropriate clothing. Great stuff!

And don't forget the Mahaney girls have been blogging about this already. Read it here.

Now, anytime anyone address the issue of modesty among women, there can be a tendency to think that women are the only problem. Well, without repeating what any of the speakers above have probably already said, let me just make these few points:

• Guys and girls are equally responsible in this area.
• Guys have the responsibility to avert their eyes and control their minds.
• Girls have an equal responsibility to avoid wearing and acting in ways that are tempting to men.
• It's as "simple" as that - no one (male or female) should do anything that would cause a fellow believer (male or femail) to stumble. Cf. Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8; 10:23-33; Philippians 2:1-4)

Perhaps this short quote from Richard Baxter (quoted by Nancy Leigh DeMoss in "The Look") says it best:

“And though it be their sin and vanity that is the cause [of lust], it is nevertheless your sin to be the unnecessary occasion…You must not lay a stumbling-block in their way, nor blow up the fire of their lust…You must walk among sinful persons as you would do with a candle among straw or gunpowder; or else you may see the flame which you did not foresee, when it is too late to quench it.”

*If this still seems like an one-sided attack against women, I'll be fair and post some resources for the guys soon. :o)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

A few photos from Friday night's Travs Game

Soaked in Blood and Singed with Fire

I received the following email from a dear brother:

I had the blessed privilege of attending the “Together for the Gospel” conference a week ago with others in our church. It was God-besotted, Christ-uplifting, and H.S. infused. I wanted to share with you some of John Piper’s message (all of the speakers were well-prepared and worth quoting, but Piper always has a way of waking me out of my consumerism mentality).

My prayer is that you are sitting under the kind of preaching that he is calling for and then living in light of it, or that you are that type of preacher yourself. The cross of Christ and the lake of fire; and we want a flippant, therapeutic, stand-up comic in our pulpit? God help us.

He included the following excerpt:

Preaching as Expository Exultation for the Glory of God
John Piper
Together for the Gospel Conference
Louisville, Kentucky

April 27, 2006

God did not ordain the cross of Christ or create the lake of fire3 in order to communicate the insignificance of belittling his glory. The death of the Son of God and the damnation of unrepentant human beings are the loudest shouts under heaven that God is infinitely holy, and sin is infinitely offensive, and wrath is infinitely just, and grace is infinitely precious, and our brief life—and the life of every person in your church and in your community—leads to everlasting joy or everlasting suffering. If our preaching does not carry the weight of these things to our people, what will? Veggie Tales? (Not in a million years) Radio? Television? Discussion groups? Emergent conversations?

God planned for his Son to be crucified (Revelation 13:8; 2 Timothy 1:9) and for hell to be terrible (Matthew 25:41) so that we would have the clearest witnesses possible to what is at stake when we preach. What gives preaching its seriousness is that the mantle of the preacher is soaked with the blood of Jesus and singed with fire of hell. That’s the mantle that turns mere talkers into preachers. Yet tragically some of the most prominent evangelical voices today diminish the horror of the cross and the horror of hell—the one stripped of its power to bear our punishment, and the other demythologized into self-dehumanization and the social miseries of this world.4

Oh that the rising generations would see that the world is not overrun with a sense of seriousness about God. There is no surplus in the church of a sense of God’s glory. There is no excess of earnestness in the church about heaven and hell and sin and salvation. And therefore the joy of many Christians is paper thin. By the millions people are amusing themselves to death with DVDs, and 107-inch TV screens, and games on their cell phones, and slapstick worship, while the spokesmen of a massive world religion write letters to the West in major publications saying, “The first thing we are calling you to is Islam . . . It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah’s Word and religion reign Supreme.”5 And then these spokesmen publicly bless suicide bombers who blow up children in front of Falafel shops and call it the way to paradise. This is the world in which we preach.

And yet incomprehensibly, in this Christ-diminishing, soul-destroying age, books and seminars and divinity schools and church growth specialists are bent on saying to young pastors, “Lighten up.” “Get funny.” “Do something amusing.” To this I ask, Where is the spirit of Jesus? “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:22). “Whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:44). “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). “Some of you they will put to death . . . But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:16-19).

Would the church growth counsel to Jesus be, “Lighten up, Jesus. Do something amusing.” And to the young pastor: “Whatever you do, young pastor, don’t be like the Jesus of the Gospels. Lighten up.” From my perspective, which feels very close to eternity these days, that message to pastors sounds increasingly insane.

You can read the entire sermon here.

Purchase audio from the conference here.

Get a play-by-play recap of the conference here.