The Bracelets Are Now Available

The first batch of bracelets have now arrived and are available for you. In case you missed the last post that I spoke about these in, the bracelets are white in color. On the outside of the bracelet, it has "W.H.J.D.?" (What Has Jesus Done?) and a link to my Youtube page along with the logo for the Youtube channel. On the inside, it has "1Cor 15:1-8" and "...white as snow". They're adult size (approx 8 inches). If you'd like to read the reason I had these made, you may do that at this post.

As far as pricing goes, I decided to make these an even $2 which includes the cost of shipping. Here's the deal: I'm eating the cost on these. I'm not making a profit in the least at that price so if you'd like to donate more than that, it could potentially open it up to allow me to buy more of these and give them out to people. If you don't have the funds to get one but you'd still like one anyway, please let me know, and I'll get one out to you as quantities allow. I'm planning on going to Florida next week and would love to have a good batch of these to give out to people I meet there, but I simply can't handle the cost to have 100 or so of these made even at $2 a piece. If you'd like to donate more than the $2, you're more than welcomed to do so. Even if you don't want a bracelet, but you still want to donate some like some people have asked, that's fine.

Here's how purchasing will work: Click on the donate button below. Place the amount you're giving in the donate box. Next, in the comment box (and this is important), put this:

Quantity: [the quantity you desire]
Address: [your mailing address along with your name]

That's it. I will send you a confirmation email after I receive each request. I hope these prove to be profitable to God and furthers His Kingdom even if it is just even in a small increment. Who knows? Maybe He'll see fit to use it in a large way.

For those of you who would like to promote this and/or share it with your friends, I've created a page just for this reason. You can access it here. When some of you get yours in, if you'd like to send me a picture of you wearing it, I'd be happy to put it on that page as well.

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The Gospel Driven Life by Michael Horton

Just last night, I got my copy of The Gospel Driven Life in the mail from Amazon. The Gospel Driven Life is Michael Horton's latest book, and it's a sequel of sorts to his wonderfully received book Christless Christianity. I haven't finished the book in 18 hours yet, but the portion I have read is wonderful. I suggest you get this if you can. Here's a good summary of the book courtesy of the introduction from the downloadable first chapter:

"The goal of this book is to reorient our faith and practice as Christians and churches toward the gospel: that is, the announcement of God’s victory over sin and death in his Son, Jesus Christ. The first six chapters explore that breaking news from heaven, while the rest of the book focuses on the kind of community that this gospel generates in the world. It is not merely that there is a gospel and then a community made up of people who believe it; the gospel creates the kind of community that is even now an imperfect preview of the kingdom’s marriage feast that awaits us. The church is its own culture, not only with its distinct story and doctrine, but with its own “politics” and means. Consistent with the message that it proclaims, the church is receiving its life, identity, growth, and expansion from above rather than creating these for itself and from its own resources.
Distinguished from all religions, spiritualities, and philosophies
of life, the Christian faith is, at its heart, a gospel (meaning “Good
News”). The church originates, flourishes, and fulfills its mission as
that part of God’s world that has been redeemed and redefined by
this strange announcement that seems foolish and powerless to the
rest of the world. In other words, every believer—and the church
corporately—has passed from death to life by being made a recipient
of God’s activity.
Following from Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel
of the American Church, this book explores the greatest story ever
told and the surprising ways in which God is at work, gathering a
people for his feast in a fast-food world. With The Gospel-Driven
Life, we turn from the crisis to solutions, in the hope that we will see
a new reformation in the faith, practice, and witness of contemporary
Christianity.
The Good News is not just a series of facts to which we yield our
assent but a dramatic narrative that replots our identity. Think of
it in terms of a theatrical play. Each week we come to church with
our own scripts. If yours is anything like mine, it’s “the show about
nothing.” Yet God descends to give us a new script: a rich plot in
which our original character dies and is raised with the lead character.
Instead of trying to find a supporting role for God in our play, God
writes us into his script as part of a growing cast for his new world.
This script does not offer a blueprint for a new creation, if we will
only follow certain steps for realizing it. Instead, through this gospel
the Spirit sweeps us into the drama, into the new creation that has
already been inaugurated. No longer “in Adam,” under the reign of
sin and death, we are “in Christ.”
The book is divided into two sections: Looking Up, Looking Out
and Looking Around, Looking Ahead. I’ve chosen to use a number
of “news” metaphors in this book—“breaking news,” “front-page,”
“headlines”—to emphasize both the urgency of the gospel and the
surprising, unexpected means by which God communicates it to us.
We don’t find the truth about God, ourselves, or the world by looking
within, but by being drawn outside of ourselves. Having been
turned inside out, we look up in faith toward God and out toward our
neighbors in loving service and witness. Surprising news has a way of
focusing us on something “out there” in the real world rather than on
our own assumptions, experiences, and speculations. Only the Spirit,
working through the gospel, has this kind of power to bring about a new
creation in the midst of the old. Gradually, we discover that the world
outside is more interesting than the inner world of narcissistic preoccupation.
It is a liberation that we never expected, much less achieved
for ourselves. It’s a gift. It is the marriage supper that is promised in the
gospel and of which the Spirit gives us a foretaste in this present age.
While our consumer culture offers instant gratification in drive-thru
spiritualities, the gospel seats us at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, as the Triune God serves us with his heavenly gifts.
A new reformation requires both a change in our message and our
methods. It’s not only our beliefs, but our personal and corporate
practices, that must change. If our churches today are focused on our
action, piety, and world-transforming agendas, then the crying need
of our day is to recover the focus on Christ as the host and the meal
that delivers forgiveness, new life, and genuine transformation in a
world that is literally wasting away.
Like Christless Christianity, this book is written for a wide audience
of Christians who are burned out on hype and are looking for
hope. It especially targets younger laypeople, parents, and pastors
who want to see their own lives and their churches become more
gospel centered."

Here's a link to find out more about the book including places to purchase it and download the first chapter, and here's "the official" Lane's Blog seal of approval. :) :

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Do You Want a Bracelet?

Here are two pictures of a prototype of a bracelet I'm thinking about making available. It's a rough draft so to speak. On the front it says, "W.H.J.D.?" (What Has Jesus Done?). Underneath, on the inside, it says, "...white as snow" and "1Cor 15:1-8". On the bottom it has the icon to my blog along with the url to the Youtube page. You can see the two pictures of the outside of the bracelet below. Please let me know if you'd be interested in getting one if I get them made. I am going to get them in bulk so I need to know if there's interest before I get them.

Here's my reasoning for having these bracelets made:

I have one that I wear now that doesn't have the url on there. It just has "W.H.J.D.?" and "...white as snow." I've had it now for a week, and I've already had people ask me "why the "H"?" It's provided wonderful opportunity to explain the Gospel to them in a term of historical fact that we can trust instead of the imperative "WWJD?" that just leaves commands that one must do. It's the difference between good news and good advice. (HT: White Horse Inn) Believing in the good news saves a person. Believing in good advice doesn't. So that's the main drive in having these. I decided to include the url to the Youtube channel on the back so people can have a place they can reference people to hopefully hear more of the good news. Finally, I put the "...white as snow" and "1Cor 15:1-8" on the inside of the bracelet to remind us what Jesus has done in case we ever want to start working to our own works instead of the glorious salvation He merited for us on the Cross.

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BlogCast of the Week: Apologetics.com

This week's BlogCast of the Week is...

Apologetics.com

Apologetics.com is two things. One it is a website that is devoted to defending the faith against such things as secular philosophy. The other is a radio show that airs midnights PST on KKLA 99.5 FM Los Angeles. I've actually been on this show several times now with such guests as Doug Eaton, Dr. James White, and Pastor Kent Moorlach of Communion Presbyterian in CA. In fact, tomorrow night (Friday Sept. 3, 2009) at midnight PST, it's going to a Trinity Law School special edition episode! (Sort of.)

Actually, the dean of my lawschool, Donald McConnell, Doug Eaton, and myself will be on there without any of the normal hosts, Chris Neiswonger and Lindsay Brooks, to discuss the issue of "Christianity and the Law". If that's too late for you, don't worry. It's actually too late for me, too, but I'll find a way to stay awake. The podcast should be up soon, and I'll share it here when it is, Lord willing. If you'd wish to listen (and you have insomnia which might be the only reason someone on the east coast is up that late), you may go to the website, http://www.kkla.com , at midnight PST and listen in streaming. Please click the picture below to go to the Apologetics.com website in the meantime.

Also, here's one podcast I was on about a year ago discussing the Reformation with Doug Eaton and Kent Moorlach. The hosts were there as well (Neiswonger and Brooks).

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A Just God(Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

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