Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ

The Holy Spirit is like a bodybuilder for the Body of Christ.
The Holy Spirit is like a bodybuilder for the Body of Christ.

The Rev. Mark D. Roberts has been blogging a series about spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ. For those of you unfamiliar with who he is, Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifacted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas.

About the series, Roberts writes: Little is more important for the health and growth of the body of Christ than the power of the Holy Spirit manifested in what we call spiritual gifts. Through such bits of grace, the Spirit builds the body of Christ. In fact, it wouldn’t be too far off the mark to say that the Holy Spirit is a bodybuilder. … Like a committed bodybuilder, the Spirit invests years–indeed, millennia–of effort to help the church grow to perfection. Of course ultimate perfection won’t come this side of the eschaton. But, in the meanwhile, the Spirit molds the church, using members of the church–people like you and me–in the process.

HT: Andrew Jackson

How to convert to digital TV

Here is a helpful commercial from our government on how to convert your TV set to digital when the digital conversion occurs next February:

Click on the image to view the commercial.
Click on the image to view the commercial.

New Christmas music: Ten Out Of Tenn

The collection of talented artists who make up Ten Out of Tenn have made a beautiful, fun holiday album. Click on the image to go to the iTunes Store link.
The collection of talented artists who make up Ten Out of Tenn have made a beautiful, fun holiday album.

I love Christmas albums. Just when you think you’ve heard them all something new and fresh comes along to bring a smile to your face. That’s what I like about Ten Out of Tenn and their new album “Christmas.” It’s like getting a box of assorted chocolates. It’s a new treat with each song, and there’s not a chocolate covered cherry in the bunch. (Sorry if those are your favorites! You can have mine.)

Ten Out of Tenn are a talented group of Nashville artists who have teamed up to record and tour together. There are a lot of good things going on in Nashville and it’s been a great idea to have these artists get more exposure for their work through this group.

What do we have here? Everything from the wistful “Cinnamon and Chocolate” by Butterfly Boucher to new takes on old classics (“O Holy Night” by Griffin House, “Little Drummer Boy” by Erin McCarley, “Silent Night” by Katie Herzig and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” by Matthew Perryman Jones). Those and the clear-eyed looks at the good and not-so-good parts of the holidays (“Raise The Tree” by Trent Dabbs, “Why Are Mommy and Daddy Fighting on Christmas” by K.S. Rhoads and “Christmas Time” by Andy Davis and “Sentimental Christmas” by Tyler James) make this an album that’s easily listenable time and again. It’s not bouncy but reflective, which gives the listener some credit for thinking.

And, of course, for a little spike in the holiday punch, there’s “Santa’s Lost His Mojo,” the most fun holiday song since “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.” Jeremy Lister gives it a bounce that will get any party swinging. It will be one song (although not the only one on this top-notch album) that will stick in your mind and merit repeat listens. If this were the kind of music playing in department stores I wouldn’t mind braving the crowds.

All said, this is the kind of compilation that makes you eager to hear the rest of the efforts by these fine artists. You can find this holiday treat at the iTunes Store.

Killing to spare the child?

Wesley J. Smith, who blogs at Secondhand Smoke, has recently resumed creating podcasts. You should be sure to check them out. He is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and has lent much wisdom to the debate about the value of human life.

This podcast, which he produced in 2007, talks about eugenic embryo screening, the idea that babies are screened before birth to identify — and sadly — eliminate those who have undesirable traits. How far will it go? You be surprised.

Click on the image to hear the podcast.
Click on the image to hear the podcast.

Not the Hobbit, but it’ll tide you over

No, I’m not talking about “Twilight” either. They’ve posted trailers for the next Pixar movie, “Up,” which will be out May 29, 2009. So, while we eagerly (anxiously for the purists, I suppose) await the release of “The Hobbit” movie in 2011, we can enjoy what should be another excellent Pixar feature.

In short: Eagerly awaiting a Savior, not a president

While many breathlessly await the ascendancy of Barack Obama, there’s this: the Indelible Grace folks have a collection of songs that focus on Jesus called “Your King Has Come.” While this may look to some like a bunch of songs focused on Christmas, it is actually much more.

.Your King Has Come

Looking forward with great rejoicing to a Savior, not a president

The Indelible Grace folks have a collection of songs that focus on Jesus called “Your King Has Come.” While this may look to some like a bunch of songs focused on Christmas, it is actually much more:

Your King Has Come is a collection of songs born out of a community of artists. From the contemplative opening chords of Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken’s “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” to Jeremy Casella’s awestruck “Joyful Fire” to Matthew Perryman Jones’ worshipful “O Holy Night,” the album represents the heartcry of the people of God. A cry of rejoicing because a baby has been born to save His people from their sins…and a cry of longing, wanting Him to return soon.

"Your King Has Come" is a collection of songs by Indelible Grace focused on the savior, Jesus Christ.

You can listen to full versions of five of the songs here.

Free John MacArthur sermons

You can now download the sermons of John MacArthur for free. For those who are unsure of who John MacArthur is, this is his bio from the Grace to You Web site:

Widely known for his thorough, candid approach to teaching God’s Word, John MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker, and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969. John and his wife, Patricia, have four grown children and fourteen grandchildren.

John’s pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. In addition to producing daily radio programs for nearly 2,000 English and Spanish radio outlets worldwide, Grace to You distributes books, software, audiotapes, and CDs by John MacArthur. In thirty-six years of ministry, Grace to You has distributed more than thirteen million CDs and audiotapes.

John is the president of The Master’s College and The Master’s Seminary, and he has written hundreds of books and study guides, each one thoroughly biblical and practical. Best-selling titles include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Coming, Ashamed of the Gospel, Twelve Ordinary Men, and The MacArthur Study Bible, a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Calling Mardy Gilyard

If Cincinnati wide receiver Mardy Gilyard is available, there are quite a few Nebraska football fans who could use a hug about now because the entire Oklahoma team is running over the Huskers in front of a national TV audience.

Reformation Day: Something worth celebrating on Oct. 31

While the great majority of you out there will consider this day Halloween (and it is), there also may be some of you who are aware that it is also Reformation Day which, in the grand scheme of things, is much more important and good to know.

What is Reformation Day? Well, from a point of strictly definition, it is:

Reformation Day is an important liturgical festival that is celebrated by Lutherans and Christians of many Protestant denominations.  It commemorates Dr. Martin Luther’s posting of his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517.  This act triggered the movement in world history known as the Reformation. While the historical date for the observance of Reformation is October 31st, most churches celebrate it on the last Sunday in October.

But more importantly, Reformation Day marks the rediscovery of the truth of the Gospel. As Herman Sasse puts it in “Here We Stand”:

It is not, therefore, the return to the Scriptures in itself which makes the Reformation of the sixteenth century one of the great and unique events of church history. The nature of the Reformation must be sought, rather, in the particular kind of return to the Bible….How often has the church been reformed ‘according to God’s Word’!…[T]he…Reformation, in its essential nature, is nothing else than a rediscovery of the gospel….

The rediscovery of the Scriptural truth concerning the justification of the sinner by grace alone, through faith alone, is nothing less than the rediscovery of the Gospel. For, if this truth is forgotten, the Gospel must be interpreted as a system of morals or as a theory of religious metaphysics. Consequently, this discovery constitutes the reformation of the church. It revealed once again that truth by which alone the church lives.

For the church does not live by morals, by the knowledge and observance of God’s law. Nor does it live by religion, by lofty experiences of the divine and an awareness of the mysteries of God. It lives solely by the forgiveness of sins. Hence reformation does not consist, as the late Middle Ages believed, and has even been believed in wide circles of the Protestant world, of an ethico-religious correction, of a moral quickening and a spiritual deepening throughout the church. It consists, rather, according to its own peculiar nature, of the revival of the preaching of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake….

The [Reformation] understanding of the Scriptures, we say, came as a result of this rediscovery of the Gospel. At all events, it has been the conviction of the [Reformation] that the sola scriptura is conditioned by the sola fide, that a real return to the Scriptures was made possible only by a new understanding of the Gospel. It is in this sense that the Apology to the Augsburg Confession speaks of Justification as “the chief topic of Christian doctrine…which is of especial service for the clear, correct understanding of the entire Holy Scriptures, and alone shows the way to the unspeakable treasure and right knowledge of Christ, and alone opens the door to the entire Bible.” This view alone guards against the false, legalistic conception of the Bible as a law-book ….[T]he Reformation was a renovation of the church brought about by the rediscovery and renewed proclamation of the pure doctrine of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins.