My new employer: Desiring God

As of 5:30 PM today (CDT), I am now a part-time (With potential full-time opportunities) employee at the greatest place in the world, Desiring God.

Becky and I moved out here for two reasons: 1) INSIGHT, and 2) Desiring God. I finished the INSIGHT program last week, and now, by God’s grace, I work at DG.

I am excited for many future ministry opportunities at DG. I am thrilled to work with fellow Christian Hedonists as we spread a passion for the supremacy of Christ through resources and events.

May God be glorified and may his name be made much of through my ministry with DG.

What does a Missional Lifestyle look like?

Missional Living Is Unmistakable

The military is full of what’s known as “cultural Christians.” They have been to church; they have said a prayer; they have been baptized; they own a Bible. But apart from these few truths, no one would ever mistake them for a disciple of Jesus Christ.

So as a man who has been bought, redeemed, forgiven, and then given a mission, what does it look like to be a missional believer while serving in a job where you can’t call in sick if you have a migraine, take vacation whenever you feel like it, walk in and give your two-week notice, and are surrounded by enough porn to be considered on par with Primetime TV?

Read the rest here.

A God-intoxicated church

A good word from Martin Luther King Jr. on the early church in Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

The Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.”

Read the rest here.

The exemplary humility of Jesus

The kingdom of God assuredly had no beginning, and it will have no end: but because he was hid under a humble clothing of flesh, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and humbled himself (Phil. ii. 8), and laying aside the insignia of majesty, became obedient to the Father; and after undergoing this subjection was at length crowned with glory and honour (Heb. ii. 7), and exalted to supreme authority, that at his name every knee should bow (Phil. ii. 10); so at the end he will subject to the father both the name and the crown of glory, and whatever he received of the Father, that God may be all in all (I Cor. xv. 28).

John Calvin (Institutes, 2.14.3)

You just might be a Calvinist if…

I don’t usually pay attention to articles or blog posts that start out with, “You might be a _____ if you _____,” but I looked this one over and found myself in several of the “you might be’s.” Here are a few of my favorites:

You might be a Calvinist if:

If a free Bible has ever arrived in the mail to you from John MacArthur

If you have ever purchased 100 or more copies of the same John Piper book to hand out to random people you meet

If you have adjusted the default passage setting at www.biblegateway.org from “NIV” to “ESV”

If you have ever purposefully sung a different word in a hymn to conform to scripture

Without me giving last names, you still know who I’m referring to (I got most of these right):

John
John
John
John
John
Jonathan
John
John
John

You know what a Remonstrant is.

Wisdom: how do I get it?

Psalm 107:43:

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

I make this my daily goal. It will keep me out of trouble. It will make me look to Jesus. It will make me embrace the cross. It will make me run to the glorious gospel.

Ten blogs I look forward to the most

1. 22 Words

2. Ten Digit Lumber

3. Never Hoot Alone

4. Purgatorio

5. Fighter Verses

6. Desiring God

7. The Pipers

8. The Big Picture

9. Jumble Thrift Shop

10. Between Two Worlds

These are not necessarily in order, but these are the blogs that I look forward to reading. What are some of your favorites?

*update: My apologies to JTS for screwing up and calling them Jumbo Thrift Shop. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I bet you don’t even believe me that I enjoy the blog because I can’t even get their name right!

He is risen!

Mike Tong:

This was a post I wrote for Desiring God on March 3, 2009)

Each spring, we remember an event more ground-shaking than any other event in human history. We remember the incredible fulfillment of one man’s claim:

I lay down my life…. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. (John 10:17-18)

On Easter morning, Jesus did just that. Having laid down his life for his sheep, he took it back up. No ambulance, no doctors, no medicine.

Who is like our great Christ? Who has dared to claim what he claimed? Who could dare to do what he has already done—and for our great good!

I Hate That Music!

Bob Kauflin:

I’ve been musing recently about how we express our musical opinions. Why do we feel so strongly about songs, bands, and styles? And why do we draw conclusions so quickly? Someone plays a new song or band for us and we have an immediate response:

Nope. Don’t like it.

That stinks.

I can’t stand that kind of music.

You like that stuff?

Is there anything wrong with raving about the music/artists we love and being swift to trash those we despise?

If we’re Christians, yes. Let me suggest ten reasons why musical forbearance might be good for our souls.

Read the rest here.

(HT: Z)

A Long Way Gone

I am trying to incorporate different types of books into my reading schedule. I usually just read theological, biblical books. I’m not saying that’s the way it should be; I’m just saying that’s how it is.

So, last week, while flying to NC to visit family, I read A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. What an incredible, eye-opening read. I was captivated by what I was reading and I, honestly, couldn’t wait to turn the page.

I encourage you to go out and buy it, or if you are in the Minneapolis area I may let you borrow my copy.

There you have it.

In the next few days I am going to blog brief reviews of the two John Piper books I have read in the last couple of weeks.