It’s the Swagger Wagon
Toyota Rocked this Ad. Props
EMBED-Toyota Sienna – Swagger Wagon – Watch more free videos
Also, I think she’s way out of that dude’s league – which makes the ad even funnier
Comfort For God’s People
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,and cry to herthat her warfare is ended,that her iniquity is pardoned,that she has received from the Lord’s handdouble for all her sins.A voice cries:“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Every valley shall be lifted up,and every mountain and hill be made low;the uneven ground shall become level,and the rough places a plain.And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together,for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”(Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV)
Sermon Notes: 5.30.2010
This past Sunday Dr. Bruce Ware spoke at Sojourn about Beholding the Trinitarian God of Our Salvation. It was Trinity Sunday and the Sojourn Pastors asked him to come and speak about the Trinity.
Dr. Ware asked the question, “Have you learned to read your Bibles through Trinitarian Lenses?”
This is fundamentally a Hermeneutics question; “How-to” and “So-what”. By that I mean, he taught us to How to pay attention to the trinitarian language found in scripture, then he helped us understand its meaning.
One of the biggest “How-to” helps he mentioned was to identify the pronoun’s antecedents. If you work your way through Ephesians 1:1-14, you’ll start to see that each person of the Godhead has a particular role in salvation. Although this is not a comprehensive theology of the Trinity, it does begin to shed light on the doctrine of the trinity and why it was so important to the early church.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
(Ephesians 1:1-14 ESV)
Here are the notes on the Handout
- Contours of the Trinity – Eph 1:1-2
- Two themes that form the Pillars of the Trinitarian Formulation of the Early Church:
- Eph 1:1 – The Distinction Theme
- Eph 1:2 – The Equality Theme
- Two themes that form the Pillars of the Trinitarian Formulation of the Early Church:
- Salvation By Members of the Trinity – Eph 1:3-14
- The Grand Architect of the Salvation is the Father
- The Glorious Accomplishment of Salvation is through the Son
- The Gracious Application of Salvation is through the Spirit.
- Life Application
- Marvel at the beauty of the Triune God and of the Salvation that God, as Father, Son, and Spirit has accomplished
- Consider the Work of the Trinitarian Persons as one of rich harmony, Not simple unison, one in which there is a unity of work without sameness, and a diversity of Roles without discord
- Understand the intrinsic authority-submission structure within the relations of the very trinitarian persons themselves, and embrace the relevance to human life made in God’s image–Authority and submission in relationships of husbands and wives, church Leadership and Church members.
One of the more interesting things he mentioned during the sermon is the full trinitarian nature of verse three. Although the text does not mention the proper “Holy Spirit”, it does say “with every spiritual blessing.” Dr. Ware sees that as existential blessings from God through the Spirit so it does in-fact involve the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel For Muslims
Witnessing to a Muslim is intimidating. Not only do worldview’s clash, Muslim’s derive their truth from a different sacred source, of which, I’m unfamiliar. How can I persuade someone who has a sacred text, just like me, that my truth is true and there’s isn’t. I don’t know all the answers about the Bible, much less the Quran, so where do i start?
Thabiti Anyabwile in, The Gospel for Muslims, addresses the Christian who feels ill-equipped to effectively witness to a Muslim. First, He reminds us that the Gospel doesn’t change for muslims; the same gospel that saved you, saves your muslim friend. Throughout the book, Anyabwile recounts his own conversion from Islam and testifies to the power of the gospel.
In a popular colloquialism “sometimes our best defense is a good offense.”
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16 ESV)
The book is sectioned off into two main parts; The Gospel and As You Witness. He starts by reminding the reader that both Christianity and Islam are revealed religions and ultimate truth comes from a higher being; therefore, our main “focus should be on helping our muslim friends understand why they should humbly accept the bible” and believe its message. In fact, your Muslim friend has every reason to believe that the Bible is trustworthy because the Quran teaches that the Gospels, the Psalms and the Pentateuch are truth, and Allah even preserved the Quran’s transmission so that it is without errors so we have every reason to suggest the Bible to our Muslim friend.
Once the discussion comes to the Bible, we should make a be-line to Jesus. This is where the Quran and the Bible are mutually exclusive and Jesus claims to be God. Jesus’ divine proclamation and the unfolding revelation of the trinity call the Quran to terms.
The triune God is the only God who can redeem. Anywabwile works out the implications of the Gospel according to the Truine God as opposed to Islam’s Allah. One crucial aspect I noticed with Anywabwile’s tactic was the importance he placed on the trinity because many Muslim’s want to suggest that Christian’s and Muslim’s worship the same God, but this is not the case. Apart from God the Father designing salvation, the Son working out salvation, and the Spirit applying salvation, there is no reconciliation.
After Anywabwile applies the gospel to Muslims, he briefs the reader what on what remember while witnessing.
Here are a few:
Use the Local Church. Allow our muslim friend to experience Christian love and community.
Trust the Bible. A common accusation against christianity is that the Bible is full of contradictions, however, this is usually a vague accusation and when the supposed “contradictions” are read in context, an easy answer is usually available.
Be Hospitable. Use hospitality to witness to your muslim friend.
I’m really glad I read The Gospel for Muslims because most of the “world religion” classes that I have taken offer overviews of Islam, but never highlight the implications of the truth of the Gospel. This short little book reassures our confidence in the gospel’s power to save Muslims. We don’t need to be a “super-saint” in order to witness to Muslims, we just need to know our own gospel.
I think my wife is a Calvinist
You may have to turn the volume up a little, but it’s worth it.
His name is Brandon and we both attended North Greenville University at the same time. If you’re in the theological world at all, you’ll probably find this amusing. Hope you enjoy.
If you want to see what he’s up to now, Check out his blog