Camel Camp and William Cowper

Hey all, school year is almost done! So that means y'all should be signing up to go to Camel Camp June 5-10. It's going to be excellent, God willing. If you need details about it email Charlie, charlie@prepareministries.com.

I also thought I would flavor this blog entry with the lyrics from a couple of amazing hymns by William Cowper. He was a contemporary of John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace. Cowper greatly struggled throughout his life with believing that God loved him,and that God would save him. He had horrible bouts with depression, yet the words of these hymns has been encouraging saints even to our day.

God Moves in Mysterious Ways
God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will.

You fearful saints, fresh courage take;
the clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
in blessings on your head.

His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
and he will make it plain.

©Public Domain

There is a Fountain Filled With Blood
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine.

Book of Recommendation

I just want to begin this post by saying that if you can get your hands on any resources from C.J. Mahaney, I suggest you do so. Having said that, the book I am now going to recommend is Humility: True Greatness. Mahaney is both passionate and practical about cultivating humility, and exhorting us to seek greatness in God's sight, not according to our culture. The problem is the way to be great in our culture is absolutely at odds with how to be great before God. See Mark 10:32-45. Here is also a short handout from Mahaney on cultivating humility: handout

An Hour with George Mueller

Hey all, this is taken from the Eternal Perspectives Ministry website. It is very encouraging and edifiying. EPM-Mueller

The Gospel

Hey all, here are some links to some great thoughts about the meaning of the gospel. The first one is from C.J. Mahaney and the second from Mark Dever.
MahaneyOnTheGospel
DeverOnAtonement

Good Friday

Hey all, being that it is Good Friday, I am going to post a few quotes that I have come across in my personal reading lately concerning the cross of the Lord Jesus. These quotes come from a book titled The Suffering Saviour written by F.W. Krummacher. At the beginning of the book he writes the following:
O what wonders are we about to approach in our meditations! From the most appalling scene the world ever witnessed, a paradise of peace springs forth. From the most ignominous sufferings, we see the most glorious triumph emerge; and from the most dreadful of deaths, a divine and never-fading life arise!
May devotion, humbleness of mind, and child-like faith accompany us in our meditations, and penitential tears become our eye-salve!

Later in the first chapter, Krummacher considers how the disciples thought Jesus was just going to set up a political kingdom soon, and that there would not be suffering, only conquering. Clearly Jesus conquered and will conquer, but in quite a different way than they expected:
...the Lord takes His twelve disciples aside. He has matters of importance to disclose to them. Destined, as they were, to lay the foundations of His Church, they soon perceive His intention, and hang upon His lips with increasing eagerness. They probably reckon on some cheering intelligence, and expect to hear that the triumphant development of His kingdom is at hand. But what short-sightedness and simplicity do they display! O the mighty chasm which intervenes between their thoughts and God's thoughts! As though the restoration of fallen man were a thing of such easy accomplishment! As if sin had caused only a transient disturbance in the relations between God and man...

...His heart, under the impulse of love, is firmly and immutably bent on taking the way to the cross...

...No affectionate entreaty restrains Him in His course; no menace dictated by hatred deters Him from it. The bloodthirsty council has already assembled in Jerusalem, and is concocting its plan of treachery and murder. But the watchword of Jesus continues to be-"Behold we go up!" And though another Red Sea were foaming at His feet, and though a hundred deaths awaited Him, yet the only sentiment of His heart is-"We go up." For it is His Father's will, and the path to the great and ardently longed-for aim of the world's redemption. O what resignation, what obedience, what love to sinners is here exemplified by our adorable Immanuel!

Okay, there is one more paragraph I really want to include...I know this has gone a bit long, but I can't resist. And all these quotes are only from the first chapter of this book!

It is confessedly true that the eternal Father, by an almighty decree, might have annihilated the fallen race, in which sin had taken root, and thus have put an end to evil. But we were to live and not die. And thus He has not only caused the sin of man to act as a foil for the display of the full radiance of His attributes, and especially of His love, but has also by the offering up of His Son, provided a means of salvation by which we might attain to a much higher glory and relationship to God than we once possessed in our progenitor, or than we should ever have attained if we had not fallen. Our fall afforded Him the opportunity of showing that in the destruction of sin He could not only manifest His justice, but also glorify His mercy in remitting and forgiving sin, without infringing upon His righteousness.

Those thoughts are deep and definitely worth meditating upon. May God open our hearts to the full glory of His gospel this year!

Apologetic-type resources

Hey all, just wanted to link ya up with some great resources that will help us to be equipped to speak with people about our faith.

This first one is Lee Strobel's website, which is full of excellent short videos you can watch that will answer all kinds of great questions.
Lee Strobel

Next is Al Mohler's blog about the recently much publicized gospel of Judas.
Mohler Blog

And here is a short summary of false claims from Da Vinci code, and responses to them.
Short Da Vinci Response

Most important of all, let's seek to be conformed to the character and image of Jesus Christ and be constantly filled with His Spirit so that this world will see His glorious light. God's grace to you all

Leader's Retreat

This will be an update on this past weekend's leader's retreat. Praise God, it went very well. The Lord was incredibly gracious to us in every way. He blessed us with His sweet presence during our worship times. The main topic of discussion for the weekend was communication. Without going into too much detail, I will share one insight that Gary shared on communication that really struck me and I think is absolutely essential.

In the secular world, it is quite common to diagnose different personality types. This is to try and help conflicts among people who are working together. We have all probably experienced this. It is a good thing to do to understand ourselves and others. But there is a key issue that is missed in the secular world that we must understand. When there are troubles between people and conflicts erupt, often it is explained as occurring as a result of personality conflicts. This is a half truth. The real reasons such conflicts erupt is sin. That is what is essential for us to understand. Differing personalities are not the problem, sin is the problem. God gives us differences so that we can grow from each other, depend on each other, and be completed by each other. God gives us all different strengths and weaknesses so that we can function as a body that has all its different parts working together in perfect harmony. We should be around people who are different from us so that we can grow and become more complete in the areas that we are lacking. This is why men need women and women need men. This is why having different ethinicities in our group is a wonderful thing. This is why a 20 year old needs a 50 year old in their life and vice versa. It is a wonderful thing when we embrace each other's differences. All this said so that we understand that differing personalities in and of itself is not adequate explanation for why we are experiencing unhealthy conflict.

Since we all have a sin nature, there are some ugly characteristics attached to our differing personalities. That is why we have bad conflicts. We must begin to recognize the difference between something that is simply part of our personality, and something that is sin that stems off from our type of personality. We must cut off the sin part so that we can really experience full and healthy relationships. How do we cut off this sin part of our personality? The "sword of the spirit" must come and "divide soul and spirt." (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12) We must commune with God, and be constantly in His word so we can start to discern which parts of our personality are being infected by sin so that we can put that sin to death.

I will close with some of the verses we were given to meditate on regarding communication.

Jam 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

Eph 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Pro 10:19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Pro 12:18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Pro 15:4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Recommended Book

Hey all. Recommended book time. This week I am going to go with Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Though this sounds like something only seminary students might read, I highly recommend it for anyone. Grudem is incredibly Biblically sound, is very well-balanced between the theology of the head, the worship of the heart, and the power of the Holy Spirit. This book is a great way to know God better, and Grudem seeks to turn that knowledge into heart affection and worship. There is also a condensed version of this book known as Bible Doctrine. Grudem is one of the best Bible teachers I have ever read. So I hope some of you go through this book because I think it will be very edifiying. May God fill us with more knowledge of Him that leads us into more holy affections towards Him!

Prayer Request and Quote

Hey all. Posting this to ask for some prayer for our Prepare Ministries' leadership retreat this weekend for the leaders of the Mankato, Gustavus, and UofM (and I think from Marshall also) campuses. So please pray God would be at work to raise up effective leaders on the campuses so that His Name would be glorified through Prepare, and that Prepare would be given grace to raise up many disciples of Christ on the campuses.
Here is a quote I came across today at studylight.org
"Real prayer is communion with God, so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts, and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him." - Arthur W. Pink

Taking from the family

Hey all, here are some great blog posts from my cousin in California. He is a seminary student at Masters Seminary and always has some greatly encouraging and challenging thoughts to share.
Reality Check
What does it profit