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easter week mix

Made this mix for a friend of mine here, and was pretty impressed by it. All songs talk directly about the Cross or the Resurrection, and are ordered accordingly. Some of the order may seem off, but I did that intentionally for my friend, who is new to the faith.

1. The Message of the Cross by Delirious
buy Delirious' spot-on early worship stuff on The Cutting Edge

2. The Hammer Holds by Bebo Norman
buy Bebo Norman's first major album, Ten Thousand Days

3. Thief by Third Day
buy their superior worship album, Offerings: A Worship Album

4. Who is This? by Sandra McCracken
buy Indelible Grace's fourth installment, Beams of Heaven

5. O Come and Mourn with Me A While by Jars of Clay
buy their hymn project, Redemption Songs

6. Man of Sorrows by Jill Phillips
buy her hymn project, Kingdom Come

7. Beautiful Scandelous Night by Smalltown Poets
buy the single

8. The Wonderful Cross by Chris Tomlin
buy the above-par collection from various artists, The Wonderful Cross

9. To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens
buy his lo-fi folk album Seven Swans

10. How Deep the Father's Love For Us by Nicole Nordeman
...from the same album as track #8

11. High Noon by Andrew Peterson
buy his superb album, Love and Thunder

12. Christ the Lord is Risen Today by Jill Phillips
....from the same album as track #6

13. In Christ Alone by Michelle Tumes
...from the same album as track #8

14. Mighty to Save by Laura Story
buy the single

15. Serve Hymn by Andrew Peterson
...from the same album as track #11

16. Nothing But the Blood by Page CXVI
download their hymns project

17. Before the Throne of God Above by Anathallo
download their hymns project

18. My Hope Is You by Third Day
...from the same album as track #2

19. Mighty is the Power of the Cross by Chris Tomlin
...from the same album as track #8

20. Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson
buy the best Christmas album ever made, Behold the Lamb of God

doing the work of God

In the strange lexicon that is Christian!speak, one of the phrases we like to use is "doing the work of God." It usually carries with it the pride and self-satisfaction of the one who speaks it. Here are some examples, on different levels:

Jane: Cheryl, you sang beautifully up there.
Cheryl: Oh, I'm just doing the work of God.

Mr. Jeffers: Sometimes, isn't your life stressful?
Pastor Gary: I suppose so, but it's worth the sacrifice for doing the work of God.

Newspaper: An ex-cop finds value in doing the work of God in inner cities

and, in some psychological thriller movies:
Serial Killer: I'm sorry, mister, but I have to do this. This is the work of God.
[shortly thereafter, "mister" dies]

Needless to say, we hear the term alot in both Flannery O'Connor novels and churches south of the Mason-Dixon Line. But what is the work of God, anyway? Is it really as ambiguous as we make it? Is it reserved for those in full-time ministry, or can a lay-person do it?

I'm still waist-deep in the fourth gospel, and that's where I get today's lesson from Scripture just for me, and consequently, for you as well.

Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (Jn. 6:29)

It's amazing how we complicate things. According to Christ, doing the work of God is believing in the One whom He sent. You'd think we'd be able to focus more on than than our programs, ministries, whathaveyou.

Paul got this concept, and in 1 Thess. 1:2-5, "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake."

Notice here the focus isn't on random tasks they're doing, but it's on salvation itself--"the work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ..." Who would have thought that if we focus on our salvation, we'll be doing the work of God. If we wrestle with it, meditate on it, we'll see fruit.

That's the random thought for tonight. One of many, rest assured.

even more links

I don't know. Maybe I've spent way too much time online this weekend. But here are some links and articles I met along the way.

Six Reasons to Believe that God is Really There
For those of you too lazy to read Tim Keller's awesome book, The Reason for God.

Seven Signs of a Genuine Ministry
Convicting.

Four Ways to Explain What Happened on the Cross
I read John Stott's Cross of Christ a couple of years ago, and it immediately became one of the twenty or so books I think every believer should read.

One of the Most Important Prayer Requests
Once more, Piper is right-on.

19 Worst Drive-Thru Foods in America
I'm making a sign up list for friends who want to take me to each of these places when I come home, by the way. I figure I'll eat the 19 worst ones first, and then go back for a second round of "better options."

Study the Bible Better

BiblicalStudies.org.uk

Free NT Online Courses from Atlantic Baptist University

Shai Linne: theo-centric hip-hop that's...not bad.
This is his blog. Make sure to read the lyrics to his CDs on the left-hand column. You'll learn something.

See Some Interesting Media

Cindy Winters, wife of slain Pastor Fred Winters, speaks love on the Today Show


An Israeli guy mixes amateur videos on YouTube

What If Starbucks Marketed Like A Church?

~ and the people who made the video

some links

Hey, I stumbled across lots of good blogging this week. Here are some links I found worthwhile.

Screwtape on the SBC

15 Gospel-Saturated Book Recommendations

Church Planting in the Post-Christian US

10 Ways You Can Truly Help the Homeless

5 people from very different denominational backgrounds answer the question What Is The Gospel?

The Baptist Renaissance March Madness Bracket (really, you should read it all)

what's going on with me.

I generally hesitate to talk too much about myself, because such talk is usually the product of some form of pride (which ranges from arrogance to self-pity). However, over a year into this gig, I've realized a couple things I figured you, as my supporters (in prayer, finance, and personal encouragement) should know. It hasn't been my aim to fool you all this time, but I really just think I wasn't aware until recently. So here's five confessions, ways you can pray.

1. I'm not good at what I do.

2. Turns out, I'm not only awkward in America, but I'm socially impaired here, too!

3. I am far too easily content with what I (do, and don't) accomplish.

4. I'm really clueless, a lot of the time.

5. The vision and creativity that I once had apparently didn't make the trip over.

I won't elaborate on these things, but I will give more background in general. On Sunday, I heard a sermon in which the speaker explained phases we have in life--hard places through which we are purified, desert places through which we see God better, and dark places through which we understand better.

It wasn't until last Sunday that I realized I'd been in a dark place for quite a long time (about a year and two months, to be exact). I don't say "dark place" to imply that I come home every day, depressed. The "dark place" to which I'm referring is a place where nothing is recognizable, and I can't even imagine what could be there. It's like there's some disconnect between my imagination (and thought life) and the horizon. In the States, I could look out and see great things, ways in which the Father would work. Here, there's nothing.

So those are my confessions. This entire time, I've searched for hours in the Word, but have yet to receive an idea, to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That's what I'll keep on doing, too. But please pray for these things to be reconciled, and so that I would have a greater grasp on how to glorify His name here.

A song I've been listening to (tongue-in-cheek) a lot the past couple of days is Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train." It's message is horrible, but the melody is really good, and it reminds me of a hopelessness that I don't have, even if some of the emotions are the same. :)

Here's a video of a French band covering it:

and we will be saved

I was studying John 3 the other day when I was redirected to Numbers 21:1-9. It's where Jesus explains in v. 14, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."

One of the reasons I enjoy the book of John so much is because of the pictures it paints about salvation. Light. Serpent. Vine. They're beautiful, and cut to the core. So to refresh my memory about why God sent the serpents, I turned back to Numbers and read, and was struck at how the Israelites must have felt once the snakes started attacking and they started to die from the lethal bites. Could you imagine, you're just living your normal sinful life, and to get you to repent, God sends snakes to bite your family members so that "many people of Israel [die]"? Your child dies, the elderly gentleman who taught you about the Holy book dies. Seeing bodies all around you from these snakes while fearing death yourself.

Something I rarely confide because it just shows how weird I really am, is that I sometimes have a recurring dream about snakes. When I say "snakes," I mean bunches. They're covering my floor like in Indiana Jones, and no matter where I go, there they are. When I think I am reaching for a knife, it turns out to be a snake. It's ridiculous and exhausting. Only, the good thing is that in my dreams, they never bite me. I don't know why. But when I read this text, I think of that dream, and wonder how the dream would change if my family and I were being bitten. I can't imagine it.

So the people of Israel turn to God, their only hope, and Moses makes the serpent so that every person who is bitten can look to it and live.

I don't know the circumstances of it--I don't know if there were ones who didn't look to it, or how long the snakes remained in the camp. I don't know how many people were saved by looking onto the serpent. But I do know that whoever placed his hope in it, would live.

In the same way, I look at the millions of people around me, haunted by family troubles, sicknesses that should be curable, economic problems, and fighting the corruption that runs rampant in this country. All of these are the consequences of sin, or resulting from the Fall. They experience these things, and they don't know what to do, so they live in fear and with a phrase of "I can only hope."

They can only hope, as they don't have a promise.

And while I'm studying all of this, I'm listening to Doug Burr's new album based on the psalms, The Shawl. If you like quiet folk music, or bearded singer-songwriters, or very difficult truths like the ones found in the psalms, you should get it. I'm reminded of one of the tracks based off Psalm 80:1-3 titled, "And We Will Be Saved" that goes something like:

O Give Ear, Shepherd of Israel
Thou dost lead Joseph like a flock, like a flock
Thou art enthroned above, the cherubim shine forth.
Shine forth. Shine forth.
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Thy power.
Stir up Thy power
Come to save us, come to save us
O God, restore us and cause Thy face to shine upon us
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved
And we will be saved