Scott Anderson took this pic last week at Bridal Falls, in the Columbia River Gorge (Oregon). It definitely has that “eucatastrophe” feel.

My brother David has collected a number of links to some helpful gospel-centered articles. Here are the article titles (he’s also provided excerpts from each):

What is the Gospel? by Scott Sauls
A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent
Gospel-Driven Sanctification by Jerry Bridges
Gospel-Driven Church by Richard Kaufmann
Gospel-Driven Church Planting by Steve Timmis
The Gospel and the City: San Francisco… by Fred Harell
Real Men and Women are Gospel-Driven by yours truly

Check them out here.

We got hit by a nice little Nor’easter this past Monday, April 16th. Even though I was a little disappointed that we had snow in the middle of April, the beauty it left behind was spectacular. I continue to be amazed at what God is able to do with a few snowflakes. I took these pics at my house while the snow was still comin’ down.

Click on the pics below for a better look at the beauty.

This is an excellent sermon by one of my colleagues, Professor David Shumaker, about living a gospel-centered life as an earthly citizen. He presents a compelling argument that Philippians 1:27 is about living our earthly citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel. He argues that Paul, and in the context, the gospel, will not allow us to consider withdrawal from society as a legitimate option. Rather, the command of Philippians 1:27 is that Christians would take the gospel public, that is, that believers would live it out within the public sector. You can download the sermon here. I hope to have the manuscript posted soon.

Note to Readers: I’ve not posted for two weeks now not only because we moved into another house this past weekend but also because it’s that time of the semester, namely, crunch time.

I had the privilege of teaching a class on the book of Hebrews last semester. Two things struck me as I taught the class: first, the writer’s unmatched concentrated focus on the doctrine of Christ’s continuing incarnation and, second, the contemporary church’s most unfortunate neglect of that doctrine. If the continuing incarnation of Jesus is a doctrine that you have not spent much time thinking about, let me encourage you to do two things. First, consider purchasing Gerrit Scott Dawson’s book Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ’s Continuing Incarnation. It will take you to that neglected treasure chest, open it up, and begin showing you some of the immense wealth it contains. Second (you should probably do this first), read Justin Buzzard’s interview with Gerrit about this subject. It’s a must read. Here’s an excerpt. Gerrit writes:

Losing the ascension cuts us off from the present work of Christ as our priest and intercessor. It cuts us off from the power of our hope—that one day our feeble bodies will be like his glorious body. It cuts us off from the downward pressure of the imminent return of Jesus—the same Jesus who ascended will return as judge and king. When I forget that, I can lose hope in the future or I can think that my actions have no ultimate consequences, or that what we do in this world or to this earth is not really important.

I’ve been thinking about the concept of “quiet time” lately and discussing it the past week with my Principles of Bible Study students. Here are a few resources that I think you’ll find helpful as you think about and engage in this practice.

Freedom from Quiet Time Guilt - This is a very thought-provoking article by Greg Johnson of the St. Louis Center for Christian Study.

A Basic Quiet Time Plan - This is a Bible study/Scripture meditation plan that I adapted from Tim Keller’s Preaching the Gospel in a Post-Modern World.

Psalm 62 Meditation - I wrote this example of the above quiet time plan. It’s even more basic.

I found this old video of me while cleaning out our attic this past week. It’s footage of me dunking back in 1990. The short video is called “come hop with me” and gave me a good laugh as I watched it. You can watch two short clips of it here (you’ll have to scroll down to the last two videos on the page).