A good word from our friend, Kevin DeYoung:

For starters, it’s an attitude. It’s a demeanor where being Calvinist or paedobaptist or inerrantist (three things I am gladly) are put on like armor or wielded like weapons, when they are meant to be the warm glow of a Christian whose core radiates with love for Christ and the gospel. I believe in theological distinctives—I believe in them and I believe it is good to have them—but if the distinctives are not manifestly the flower of gospel root, the buds aren’t worth the blooming.

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That’s the question Dane Ortlund recently posed to the following:

• Greg Beale
• Dan Block
• Craig Blomberg
• Darrell Bock
• Mark Dever
• Kevin DeYoung
• John Frame
• Scott Hafemann
• David Helm
• Paul House
• Gordon Hugenberger
• Kent Hughes
• Andreas Kostenberger
• Phil Long
• Sean Lucas
• Ray Ortlund
• Grant Osborne
• George Robertson
• Leland Ryken
• Tom Schreiner
• Mark Seifrid
• Jay Sklar
• Erik Thoennes
• Doug Wilson
• Bob Yarbrough

You can read their answers here.

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The gospel is the story of God covering his naked enemies, bringing them to the wedding feast, and then marrying them rather than crushing them.

- Ed Welch, When People Are Big and God is Small (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1997), 34

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A worthy challenge from Timmy Brister:

In the summer of 2008, I came up with the crazy idea called a “memory moleskine.”  The goal was to memorize the book of Ephesians before the end of the year.  Since then, that Ephesian memory moleskine has resulted in 4,000+ people joining in.  With a number of people desiring to do it again, I pitched the idea of memorizing the book of Philippians beginning in the New Year.

Let’s face it. Memorizing Scripture can be a difficult discipline, especially memorizing long passages of Scripture.  In our fast-paced lives of multi-tasking with any number of things vying for our attention, there is a real danger for the Word of God to get squeezed out of our daily lives.  More than any other time, Christians need to partner together for the purpose of internalizing Scripture, encouraging one another to abide in the words of Christ, and remembering the weighty truths that center us in God’s work in our lives. To do this, a system for memorizing Scripture has been created called the memory moleskine.

Starting in 2011, I am beginning a project called P2R (Partnering to Remember).  The goal is to memorize the entire book of Philippians by Easter Sunday (April 24, 2011) through partnering with other believers using the memory moleskine.  Paul praised the church in Philippi for their partnership in advance of the Gospel, and in the spirit of that partnership, this project intends to bring Christians together for the deepening work of God’s Word in their lives.  Simply put, I believe we should partner to remember.

Using the Cahier moleskine, I have created a pocket-size notebook that provides a practical and accessible way to memorize Scripture.  Through collaboration with The Resurgence, a customized PDF has been created for you to download with a week-by-week outline for memorizing the book of Philippians in 16 weeks using the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible.  On one side of the moleskine you simply paste the week’s verses to memorize, and on the other side you write your reflections on the verses while indicating how many times you rehearsed them each day.  Included in this PDF are encouragements and helps to memorizing and retaining Scripture from Donald Whitney, Andy Davis, and John Piper.

The Cahier moleskine can be purchased either directly from Moleskine or from various bookstores such as Borders or Books-a-Million.  My hope is that many Christians will establish a rhythm of remembering God’s Word together through a system that helps access Scripture wherever you are.  So I encourage you to join me at the beginning of the New Year with a memory moleskine in your hand that God’s Word may be more treasured in your heart!

How to Make Your Own 2011 Philippians Memory Moleskine

1.  Purchase your own Cahier Moleskine (3.5×5.5 size)
2.  Download the PDF provided by the Resurgence
3.  Cut the weekly Scripture reading according to the border
4.  Use double-sided tape to paste the weekly section of verses
5.  Find someone who you can partner with for encouragement & accountability
6.  Jump in starting January 1, 2011!!!

From Craig Gross (who got it from Jay Denny) over at the XXX Church Blog:

26 Destructive Consequences Porn Viewing Has on a Man

The following destructive consequences are the result of a Christian man viewing pornography. The A to Z format covers the wide range of negative results that porn has on a man who is a follower of Jesus.

Alienates You From God. You no longer feel close to God. You don’t experience the power of God. You no longer have the joy of your salvation. 

Blinds You To The Consequences. It temporarily turns off your walk with God, your relationships with your wife, your children, and others. It blinds you to what is going to happen to you spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, vocationally, and relationally.

Creates Unrealistic Expectations. Men begin to think this is what every woman should look like and that this is what your relationships with your wife is to be like.

Distorts Your View Of Sex. It makes you believe that sex is solely for the pleasure of a man and that women are simply objects to be used rather than God’s creations to be honored and respected. 

Enough Is Never Enough. Pornography has an escalating effect. Like a drug you need more and more to satisfy the lust. It takes you further down a destructive path and further away from peace, joy, and healthy relationships.

Freedom Over What You Think And Do Is Lost. You become enslaved to your sinful thoughts which lead to sinful actions.

Guilt Comes Upon You After You Look At Porn, But The Guilt Is Not Enough To Prevent You From Doing It The Next Time. 

Healthy Sexuality Is Numbed Through Porn. Healthy sex is married sex only that includes regular sex, unselfish sex, and loving sex.

Isolates You And Makes You Feel You Are All Alone And Are The Only One Who Struggles With Porn And Lust.

Jeopardizes Your Relationship With Your Wife Or Future Wife (if you are single), Your Witness For Jesus Christ, And Everything In Your Life That Is Important To You. You Put It All On The Line For Pornography.

Keeps You In S Cycle Of Self Destructive Behavior. It may appear to medicate the pain in your life, but it only adds to the pain with more pain. Porn leads you to do things you never thought you would do. Sin will take you further than you want to go. It will keep you longer than you want to stay. And it will cost you more than you want to pay (Unknown Author).

Lust—Sexual Sinful Lust—Leads To Sexual Sinful Actions. Porn put in your mind is like putting fuel on the fire of wrong sexual desire resulting in destructive thoughts and actions. 

Masks The Real Wound You Are Seeking To Heal And Makes Things Worse.

Never A Neutral Experience. You cannot look at porn and not be affected by it. That experience is always inconsistent with God’s Word.

Objectifies Women. It makes them a sexual object. Porn hijacks a man’s ability to see an older woman as a mother figure, a same-aged woman as a sister figure, and a younger woman as a daughter figure.

Porn Initially Brings A Very Short-Lived Pleasure, Followed By Pain And More Pain

Quitting Becomes The Struggle Of A Lifetime. Once you allow porn in, there is a raging battle with Satan and your old nature to keep looking. Once you have allowed porn into your life, there will always be a battle. It is a winnable battle, but a daily battle.

Remains Imbedded In Your Mind Forever. Satan uses that image to replay in your mind to create a cycle of sinful lust again and to drive you back to looking at porn. You become bound to an image and a not a person.

Shame Enters Your Life. Guilt is feeling badly for something you have done, shame, however, is based on feeling badly about who you are. Pornography brings shame. God never brings shame. Satan always brings shame.

Trust Is Broken With The People You Love And Respect The Most. 

Unlocks The Door To Every Sexual Sin. Porn is a portal, a gateway that leads to nothing good and everything painful such as compulsive masturbation, affairs, dangerous sexual practices, visiting adult-oriented businesses, paying for sex, perverted sexual practices and sexual abuse.

Violates Women. How? You are putting your stamp of approval on an industry that degrades and dehumanizes women.

Wandering Eyes Toward Other Women are Invited.

Xtinguishes Truth. Pornography promotes lying. You lie to others, you lie to God, and you lie to yourself. You lie more to cover up past lies. You become a living lie.

Yokes You To An Image. You become bound and attached to the image instead of your wife or future wife if you are single.

Zips Your Lips To Praising God, Speaking About Your Faith, And Telling Others How They Can Experience God.

There is no other object of knowledge in the universe that exposes proud, man-exalting thinking like the cross does. Only humble, Christ-exalting thinking can survive in the presence of the cross. The effect of the cross on our thinking is not cut off thinking about God, but to confound boasting in the presence of God. The cross does not nullify thinking it purifies thinking.

- John Piper, The Life of the Mind & The Love of God

From DWYL (p. 38):

Since September 11, 2001, I have seen more clearly than ever how essential it is to exult explicitly in the excellence of Christ crucified for sinners and risen from the dead. Christ must be explicit in all our God-talk. It will not to, in this day of pluralism, to talk about the glory of God in vague ways. God without Christ is no God. And a no-God cannot save or satisfy the soul. Following a no-God—whatever his name or whatever his religion—will be a wasted life. God-in-Christ is the only true God and the only path to joy. Everything I have said so far must now be related to Christ. The old kitchen plaque comes back: “Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

To bring us to this highest and most durable of all pleasures, God made his Son, Jesus Christ, a bloody spectacle of blameless suffering and death. This is what is cost to rescue us from a wasted life. The eternal Son of God “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing.” He took “the form of a servant” and was born “in the likeness of men…He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Here’s a little write up I did over at the DG blog about this new musical experience called The Joy Eternal:

By God’s grace, there are now many places to look for theologically sound, reformed music. In my experience, however, I have found a great deal of this music to be lyrically stimulating while musically uncreative.

Kenneth Padgett, a friend of mine and a long-time fan of DG, has created a musical experience called The Joy Eternal.

The first song being released is called Finally Alive (based on Piper’s book with the same title):

Finally Alive

I was dead and depraved and I loved my sin
I was lifeless in the grave of hopelessness

But I’m Finally Alive
I’ve been made new
I’m satisfied in You
And these dead bones live
And this new heart beats
For You

You, in Your loving kindness healed my blindness and let me see.
Now I can see and savor, enjoy forever Your majesty!

I’m Finally Alive
I’ve been made new
I’m satisfied in You
And these dead bones live
And this new heart beats
For You

Kenneth is presently working on several more songs that will be releasing sometime soon as an EP. I have listened to some of the new songs and they are fantastic. I can’t wait for you guys to hear them.

Buy Finally Alive on iTunes / Amazon to support The Joy Eternal.
Join the Facebook group.
Follow The Joy Eternal on Twitter.

Kenneth Padgett is a member of Treasuring Christ Church in Raleigh, NC, which is a church plant of Bethlehem Baptist Church. He attends Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC.