Provocative Church

How can we worship a God who is immune to pain?

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

God isn't a distant God, as portrayed by other faiths such as Islam. Certainly it is true that God is transcendent (wholly other than His creation), but also God is immanent (near). Philippians 2:6-8

Listen to how Mark Driscoll discusses this..

"...the Spirit-filled perspective of Jesus allows us to remain Jesus-centered in our thinking, Spirit-led in our practice, and humble in our hardships. This is made possible when we realize that because being Spirit-filled means being like Jesus, such things as poverty, sickness, and hardship are not incompatible with living a Spirit- filled life. Indeed, the most perfectly Spirit-filled person who has ever lived, Jesus Christ, worked a simple job, lived a simple life, and died a painful death as a flat-broke, homeless man by the power of the Holy Spirit and in so doing perfectly and fully glorified God the Father and tasted pure joy.

Sadly, the Eastern religions see God as so detached and distant that God is in no way our savior, example, or power for new life. According to Islam, God cannot suffer, and so their scholars teach that the Holy Spirit left Jesus before he suffered on the cross as a mere man. However, one of my favorite Bible teachers, John Stott, asked a most pointed question in his book The Cross of Christ (which I would commend for your reading): “In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?”

-Mark Driscoll, Death By Love, p. 211

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. -Hebrews 4:14-16

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Two Free Online Resources

Monday, July 06, 2009

In celebrating John Calvin's 500th Birthday, two ministries are offering free resources to commemorate this event. You can see the video below for more details.

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Information Overload

Friday, June 26, 2009

Too much stuff, so little time. Here again is a lot of good material throughout the week that I've come across. I feel the need to share some of the good stuff with you since I don't have time to comment on it throughout the blog.

This stuff shows up in my Google RSS Reader throughout the week and I use the widget from my "shared items" in my Google Reader to post the most interesting information that I've gathered from the web. Enjoy some fun, entertaining and provocative reading. (my shared items have their own individual rss feed that you can subscribe to directly)

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Resisting Coming to The Cross

Monday, June 22, 2009

I was reading this from the blog, Cruciform Life and I wanted to pass it along to you in whole (but please visit his site and subscribe) with my thoughts because it also reflects my heart too often toward my beautiful Savior.

The reason that I resist coming to the cross because it reminds me that I’m a sinner. Imagine a conversation that might have occurred at the time before Christ.

“I wish I never sinned” said the Israelite at the head of the queue.

The others waiting to make their sacrifices nodded.

The priest narrowed his gaze. “Why do you wish you never sinned?”

The Israelite was amazed that the priest would ask. The answer was so obvious it hardly needed saying. “So I don’t have to keep returning to this altar.”

Sometimes my motivation for avoiding sin is not love for Christ but love for me. I don't want to repent, I don't want to have to acknowledge my sin, I don't want to humble myself, I much rather rest on my righteousness than Christ's mercy.

“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” - Jesus in Luke 5:32

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15

(ht: Cruciform Life)

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Reaching the Whole Person with the Whole Gospel

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Don Miller discusses how his church has tried to answer the question, “How do we bring the whole gospel to our community?”

(ht: Tony Stiff)

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Win a Copy of BibleWorks 8

Friday, June 12, 2009

Cal.vini.st First Anniversary Giveaway. Over the next month (June 12th – July 12th 2009) you have the opportunity to enter to win one of two major prizes.

Cal.vini.st has procured two copies of BibleWorks 8 as prizes — the premier software tool for original language exegesis of the Biblical text. Each copy of BibleWorks 8 is valued at $349 (US).

Click Here for details on how to enter

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Talks from the Advance Conference

You will want to check out these mp3s. A friend of mine went to this conference and reported back that God kicked his butt. I am looking forward to devouring these audio sessions.