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Almost two years ago, this funny video surfaced on the web.  This video very accurately depicts the certain value the Western Church tends to place upon the contemporary-relevant-trendy worship service.  I stumbled upon it again recently and thought I would share it for these two reasons:

1) It is hilarious!  On a personal level, this video gives me memories of when I began leading worship as a teenager in my youth group into my early college years.  Everything was about the look, the technique, and the style. 

2) Although this video is a good laugh, it is highly instructive.  There is a pressure in the culture to become like it for its own sake.  There is a cultural obligation to get an ‘upgrade’ for just about everything, and this obligatory mindset is injected within the worship service in a spirit of pragmatism.  While not all ‘upgrades’ are bad in themselves, we need to question why we do what we do as often as we can. 

As a worship leader, I am finding that nothing is more relevant, central, and contemporary than the cross of Christ in our worship services.  The cross is meant to engage the culture in which we live.  That is why the worship service is not a performance, but an engagement with the God of the universe that calls His children to draw near with fear and gladness through Jesus Christ.

The Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is talking about Jesus (Luke 24:13-27)

According to Scripture, Jesus started to explain to the disciples from the book of Moses concerning himself. Last time, we went from Creation to the tower of Babel. Today we will take a helicopter ride some of the rest of the Old Testament examples. Where is Jesus in the Old Testament, and where was he prophecied?

5 More Reasons why Christ Had to Die:

1. Adam and Eve: Adam and Eve sinned and then needed to be clothed. All manmade religions are like Adam and Eve's fig leaves. Clothing can cover their naked bodies but cannot cover their sinful hearts. Religion cannot cover the sinful heart, cannot forgive sin, can make no one right with God. Just like an animal had to die to clothe Adam and Eve, so Jesus had to die to clothe us.
2. Abraham's sacrifice of Issac: Abraham was commanded to offer up his son, Issac, a human being. Here, the sacrifice of a human being is foreshadowed. But before Abraham could sacrifice Issac, God provided an offering Himself (a ram). The picture of Issac later foreshdowed the burnt offering in the sacrificial system, or an offering that people needed to bring to appease God's anger, as a sacrifice for sins. Abraham called the place where this took place "Jehovah Jireh," which means "God will provide." (Genesis 22:14) Just as a ram died in Issac's place, so did God provide Jesus to die in our place. We procure this sacrifice by faith (Hebrews 11:19)
3. The Passover:The last plague upon Egypt was the death of the firstborn child. God said that if the Isrelites followed his word, they would be saved from this tragedy (Exodus 12:5-7,13). The way to be save your child was to offer a lamb, and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and the lintel of their house. Here is a picture of someone who, by faith, shed the blood of an animal and smeared the blood. The angel then would pass them over. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The tradition was then that a lamb would be sacrificed every year, at Passover, as a rememberance. When Jesus died, he died at the exact time, during Passover, when the Passover Lambs were killed (1 Corinthians 5:7).
4. The Ten Commandments: When the Ten Commandments were given, the Israelites thought it would be easy to obey them. But no one can obey the law perfectly. Indeed, the law of God was added to keep the knoweldge of sin before people (Romans 5:20). But the law never made anything perfect; that was not its purpose (Hebrews 7:18-19). The law could never give anyone righteousness equal to God's righteousness. But there is a type of righteousness totally unrelated to the law! (Romans 3:21-22,28). The law, then, is a "teacher" to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24), to show us that we are guilty before God. It was to point out our need of a savior and a sacrifice, in whom we would need to believe by faith.
5. He Died to Rise: Jesus all along died so that he could rise again (John 10:17-18). The resurrection of Jesus was sufficient as a sacrifice. The resurrection showed that Jesus was more than a man, but was God. His rising proved that God accepted the sacrifice that was offered. He needed to prove who he said he was, the Messiah of prophecy (1 Corinthians 15:4). He also needed to show that he conquered death for all believers. Death has lost its poisonous fangs for believers because of Christ! All people will be resurrected, either to life or to judgement.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your eternal Savior. You will also be resurrected from the dead someday! If you have faith in Christ, you will go to eternal glory with our Lord. Without saving faith, you will be resurrected to everlasting judgement.

Faith in Christ requires you to 1. Repent of your sin, 2. Believe in Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, and 3. Turn to Christ for forgiveness of your sins.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life! He is the Savior.

The best book I read last year was Notes From a Tilt-A-Whirl, by Nate Wilson.  This book is about you and me and the world (tilt-a-whirl) we live on, spinning through space at 67,000 mph.  Our story and the story of everyone who ever lived is really about one big story of redemption that includes laughter, evil, death, beauty, and the Hero we all ache for in a good story. 

But, how do you make sense of a world like ours filled with paradoxes?  Is there a purpose to all the madness and sin within and around us?  Yes, there is, and the purpose is surprisingly beautiful: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  Through Him were all things made. 

As I think about this book, here are 4 objective and subjective reasons why this was the best book I read last year.  It was…

1) Metaphysical (real).  The world we live on is like a tilt-a-whirl ride at a carnival.  While on a ride that spins in every direction, it seems chaotic but there is actually order—much like the spinning planets in our solar system and in the entire universe.  Like a play, we all enter the stage and there will come a day when we must exit the stage.  In a seemingly chaotic and short-lived life there are so many ‘notes’ to take and so many questions to ask.  Yet, you don’t have to know all the answers to every question.  In the spirit of Ecclesiastes, all that matters is what really matters.  All of creation groans for ultimate reality: the Redeemer.  Wilson has portrayed all of this and more, amazingly.    

2) Theological.  In a fresh way, Wilson deals with most of the questions relating to hell, the problem of evil, and chaos vs. order.  Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Hume, Lewis, Chesterton, Sartre, Donne, Tolstoy, and others are gathered in a round table discussion.  Jesus is at the head of the table.  His word and His cross speak louder than all the ideologies of the world.  Like a thriller, Wilson presents Christ unexpectedly with a shocking effect.  This is a book I would give to my lost friends or family members who are thinking through these things.     

3) Poetic.  This is a beautiful book because it is written as a novel but reads like a poem.  The use of literature, art, and philosophy are breathtaking and are reminiscent of C.S Lewis and Francis Schaeffer.  For all four seasons of the year, he has included four hiatus (“be still”) chapters that are purely reflective, provoking wonder and awe at the beauty of God’s spoken universe.  Wilson helps to awaken you to stand in awe of the reality that is and has been.   

4) Personal.  I feel like I read this book at the right time.  In a sense, this book saved me from a dull and sinful unbelieving heart to lay hold of God’s powerful will for my life.  Wilson has and still does help me to use all five senses to enjoy life and to magnify God.  Even in seasons of spiritual desertion, God has not forgotten me and is not blind towards my circumstances, or deaf to hear my prayers.  Reading this book not only helped me feel the weight of a transcendent God, but the weight of His sovereign love and providential care for me as an immanent God.

In the spirit of Good Friday and Easter, Wilson retells the story of redemption with triumph:

The last page approaches, reached only through trials and triumphs, tears and laughter.  The ending comes.  But God is too big for endings, too big to work with a single narrative arc.  This will be the end of Death, the end of a story that began in a garden and has played out in gardens ever since.

Let us bury Death in a garden, and seal the hole with a cross.  For Him there will be no Spring.

There is a rustling of impatience.  Anticipation.  Creation creaks and groans, tired of shadow, tired of Winter.

The sun comes.

The corn will see the morning.

The sun warms me, reminds me.

Be grateful, it says.  I have broken the Winter (89).    

Needless to say, get this book and read it dozens of times!

To continue to answer this question, we need to turn back to Genesis 3.

Another 4 reasons that Jesus had to die:

1. Because of what happened in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-4)
   • Adam and Eve fell into temptation; they saw what they wanted and they took it, plunging the whole human race into sin.
   • Even here, the very first prophecy of Christ's death is presented (Genesis 3:5).
   • What happened that day? 1. Man became lost. 2. Man became an enemy of God. 3. Man became alienated from God. 4. Man became a slave to Satan and sin. 5. Man became guilty before a holy God. 6. Man became a debtor with a huge price to pay for his sins (death). This encompasses physical and spiritual death. He could no longer respond to God.
   • The requirement of Jesus's death is foreshadowed by the fact that Adam and Eve's shame had to be covered by animals skins (shed blood) (Genesis 3:21)
2. Because of what happened to Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-5)
   • Cain wanted to worship his "own way" (Genesis 4:3). Cain's sacrifice of vegetables did not shed blood, which was required to atone for sin. He chose to worship his own way, instead of the way that God made!
   • Abel was righteous because he offered up a sacrifice of blood, which was a shadow of the true sacrifice for sin that was once for all offered, Christ.
3. Because of Noah (Genesis 6:1-8)
   • Noah was righteous because he did what the Lord said (Genesis 6:8), not his own heart, which was evil continually (Genesis 6:5).
   • The people of Noah's day were judged for their sin, and there was no way to escape. The same is true today.
   • The ark provides a picture of the only way to escape God's judgement (Genesis 6:9-14).
   • There is only one way to enter. There were not many entryways (only one way for salvation).
4. Because of Babel (Genesis 11:1-5)
   • Babel is the story of men who banded together to rebel against God.
   • As judgement, God confused their language and scattered the people.
   • As a result of confusion of languages, every people group has a different idea of how to get to God.
   • Christ's death and resurrection is the only basis for God forgiving sin. All other religions are systems of work; not of attaining grace.

Jesus's sacrifice is so perfect and so final and so sufficient that it put an end to all repetitive sacrifices forever. It gave to all who believe a permanent justification before God, now and forever.

Jesus's sacrifice as the only way to have your sins forgiven from God was the only plan from the beginning (Luke 24:46)!

A friend of mine literally placed this book in my lap at the right time.  It’s called, The Heart of a Servant Leader—another book by Jack Miller (1928-1996), and it instantly became one of my all-time favorite books!  Honestly, this was totally unexpected.  Who would want to read a book by someone named “Jack Miller”, right?  Yet, I have gained so much from Jack and still do now. 

This book is amazingly personal; I felt like a wise spiritual grandfather was right there mentoring me.  The reason why this book is so personal is because it is made up of letters Jack wrote to pastors, missionaries, interns, married couples, singles, and almost every other kind of person you will encounter in the gospel ministry.  The ministry dynamics of conflict, joy, suffering, hope, and spiritual warfare expressed on these pages is so real that anyone in ministry can identify with them.      

Yet, the most I have gained from these letters is the picture of warmth, humility, and transparency of a servant leader demonstrated by Jack himself.  His evident poverty of spirit will spill over into your life in such a way that grace will induce praise and dependency on God for the sake of the gospel.  In a repentant spirit, Jack writes,

One central conviction has come to me: it is that pride and self-centered ambition crowd the love of God out of my life.  Therefore, I constantly need to repent of pride and self-importance and to have the love of God as seen in the golden message of grace crowd out wicked stuff like self-importance.  I pray; I believe; Lord, help me with my unbelief (62)! 

I highly recommend this book, it is totally worth buying and reading every year.  Get it in our bookstore!   

Thanks again to the Ponzos, we've put up some really, really classic (from 1993-1994!) sermons from Revelation online. Here's what on tap:

1. 1993-05-30 Revelation 10:1-11 The Little Book.mp3
2. 1993-06-06 Revelation 11:1-13 The Two Witnesses.mp3
3. 1993-06-27 Revelation 12:1-7 War on Heaven and on Earth Part 1.mp3
4. 1993-07-11 Revelation 12:7-17 War in Heaven and on Earth Part 2.mp3
5. 1993-07-18 Revelation 13:1-10 The Diabolical Trio Part 1.mp3
6. 1993-09-05 Revelation 13:11-18 The Diabolical trio Part 2.mp3
7. 1993-09-05 Revelation 14 The Triumph of the Messiah.mp3
8. 1993-09-26 Revelation 15:1-8 The Why's of God's Wrath.mp3
9. 1993-11-21 Revelation 16 The 7 Bowls of God's Wrath.mp3
10. 1994-03-06 Revelation 20:1-10 The Second Coming and Millennial Reign of Christ.mp3
11. 1994-05-01 Revelation 21:1-8 All Things New.mp3
12. 1994-05-15 Revelation 21:10-27 Everything New.mp3
13. 1994-09-11 Revelation 22:13-21 The Beginning and the End.mp3
14. 1993-04-18 Revelation 8:1-13 The Seventh Seal
15. 1993-04-25 Revelation 9:1-21 Hell On Earth Part 1.mp3
16. 1993-05-02 Revelation 9:1-21 Hell On Earth Part 2.mp3

Go the sermons page and enjoy!

7 Reasons that Jesus Had to Die:

1. Because Jesus said so. (John 7:30) It was planned all along, and Jesus executed the plan only when it was the precise time to do so.
2. Because death was the only way to redeem us. (Gal 5:18-20) To redeem is to purchase, as in buying us in a slave market. We had to be redeemed from 1. sin, and 2. from the anger of God (John 3:36).
3. Because Jesus had to rescue us from the wages of our sin (Romans 6:23). Everyone who sins, even once, deserves death. "Death" here refers not just to physical death, but eternal separation from God (hell). In contrast, eternal life is God's "free gift."
4. Because Jesus had to remove our sin and guilt (Romans 3:20). We cannot remove our own guilt by ourselves. A thousand good deeds don't erase even one bad deed.
5. Because Jesus had to be our substitute and die in our place (2 Cor 5:21). The sinless became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God. Jesus suffered not only physical, but spiritial death for us. The just died for the unjust.
6. Because Jesus had reconcile us to God and remove our alienation from God (Romans 5:10).
7. Because Jesus had open the way to God (Mark 15:33). Jesus's death broke open the way to God for us! There's nothing else for you to do to have access to God, except to repent and believe the gospel.

Christ's death on the cross was a divine rescue mission.

Note: The most memorable quote of the message was one that Pastor Babij found on a road sign somewhere: "If there is a hell, when would you want someone to tell you how to avoid going there?"  I thought this was an awesome question to use to initiate a gospel conversation.