It was great seeing some of you at the “Called to Evangelism” seminar today. I really enjoyed it and was helped by it.

I particularly liked these two quotations:

“Successful evangelism is simply taking initiative to share the Gospel, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God.”

“Doing evangelism is not about getting so much practice and expertise that you no longer have any fear. Rather it is learning to overcome fear and hesitation and reaching out anyway.”

What style of evangelism works best for you?
What part of the seminar was most helpful to you?
Did you complete your assignment at lunch?

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I include the following because it is tremendously encouraging, and I want to prepare you for the times when you face opposition or trial. And I want to show you a great example of what we mean when we talking about making the gospel real in our daily lives.

In today’s reading in For the Love of God, Volume 1, theologian D.A. Carson asks: “What does it mean for Christians to be “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37)?”

He answers his own question. Here are the highlights.

“First, the “us” to whom the apostle refers includes all Christians.

“Second, the actual evidence that they are “more than conquerors” is that they persevere regardless of all opposition… The glories of life will not finally seduce them; the terrors of death will not finally sway them; neither the pressures of the present nor the frustrations of the future will destroy them (8:38). Neither human powers nor anything else in all creation, not even all the powers of hell unleashed, can “separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:39).

“Third, as the last sentence already makes clear, that from which Christians cannot be finally separated is the “love of Christ” (8:35) or the love of God in Christ (8:39)… We are not simply acquitted, we are loved.

“Fourth, the guarantee that we shall prevail and persevere, and prove to be “more than conquerors” in this sense, is nothing other than the sovereign purposes of God (8:29-30), manifest in the death of his Son on our behalf (8:31-35). “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (8:32). No greater security is imaginable.”

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Marvin Olasky is the editor-in-chief of World Magazine. On the World blog, he recently invited people to send in the funniest names of towns they have lived in or run across. Here are some of the funniest ones (apparently, these are all real):

• Monkey’s Eyebrow, Arizona
• Yum Yum, Tennessee
• Hot Coffee, Mississippi
• Goobertown, Arkansas
• Tightwad, Missouri
• Big Ugly, West Virginia
• Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
• George, Washington

I didn’t see the next one mentioned, but I read once that a certain town changed its name to: Joe, Montana. If I remember correctly, they change the name to Joe every year during football season, and then change it back for the rest of the year.

What’s the funniest name of a town you’ve run across?

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Inspired by the Girl Talkers’ culinary posts, I thought it would be fun to share with you my recipe. (Notice that I said ‘my recipe,’ not ‘one of my recipes.’ That’s right, I only have one.)

See, I don’t cook. I can do the basics: cereal, Pop-Tarts, Ramen noodles, and all that. Microwave burritos - yeah, I can do that, too. But I don’t really cook. However, I have a recipe for Orange Julius. I’ve you’ve never been to an Orange Julius stand, it’s kind of like a Creamsicle-flavored shake. Yum! Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of a 12oz can of frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• A little bit of imitation vanilla extract
• 12 ice cubes

Put all of the above in a blender, mix until the ice cubes are all crushed. Makes about 4 glasses. Serve cold. If you leave it in the fridge for a while, it will start to separate; just stir it up! Enjoy!

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By my calculations, it is 179 hours, 8 minutes until the Youth Retreat begins. I can’t wait! We’re pretty busy around the office getting ready; please pray for us!

You’ll be getting a letter from me shortly with everything you need to know, but here are some basics. First, here is how you can prepare:

• Pray! You’ll be getting a card with someone else’s name on it. Please pray for that person! Pray that God will meet us by making His Word clear to us. Pray that He will grant conviction of sin. Pray that we’ll love the gospel more! Pray for the presence of the Spirit. Pray for Vince Hinders, Mark Mullery, Grant Layman, and myself as we prepare to speak.
• Come ready to reach out. Think ahead about how you can serve, encourage, and include people from our youth ministry you may not know.
• Pack wisely. Please plan ahead to serve others with your clothes: plan on bringing clothes that are modest and don’t draw undue attention to yourself. The pool at the retreat center will be closed, so you can leave your bathing suit at home.

Speaking of packing, here are some items we recommend you bring:

• Bible, notebook, pen
• Flip-flops or sandals for the shower
• Bug repellant
• Sleeping bags/bed linens (pillows are provided unless you prefer your own)
• Towel, soap, shampoo
• Sunglasses, Sunscreen
• Modest clothing
• Camouflage/grungy clothes (for outdoor events/paintball)
• Flashlight
• Small bills/change for the snack bar

Let’s go!

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Parents,
We started up the 2005-2006 Youth Ministry year with the Parents’ Meeting Saturday night. What a blast. I think this is the most important Youth (!) Meeting of the year, so I am particularly grateful for all the parents who were able to make it.

If you were out of town or otherwise unavailable, I am sending out a CD of the meeting. Please review it prior to the Retreat, if possible. Feel free to review it with your teens.

If you’re wondering what the special gift was, I gave out copies of the latest Journal of Biblical Counseling from the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF). If you don’t get the Journal, I’d recommend you give yourself an early Christmas present. The help that you will derive from this publication is more than worth the modest cost.

This particular issue is all about teens, and I am confident that it will be a tremendous resource to all the parents. If you weren’t at the Parent’s Meeting, I’ll be sending you a copy with your CD. Enjoy.

Parents, thanks again for your participation in and support of the Youth Ministry. I am so grateful to God for all of you.

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REMINDER: Evangelism Seminar. Saturday. 9am-3pm.

Jim Donohue is coming down from Covenant Fellowship Church outside Philly to serve us.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t find it particularly easy to steer conversations with unbelievers towards Jesus and the gospel. I’m looking forward to getting some help so that I can better obey Matthew 28:19-20:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Are you signed up? I know that some of you are - well done! For the rest, you should know that it’s not too late to sign up. Unless you’re out of town, plan on coming to this! If you’d like to sign up, call the church office and ask for Phoebe.

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For the Dads:
Do your teens play video games? Have they spent more than an hour in the last month gaming on the computer, X-Box, or GameBoy? Here is a resource to help you lead your household in this area with wisdom and conviction.

Yesterday, in his blog (”Video Games and the Lure of the Unreal“) and his commentary (”Video Games: The New Playgrounds of the Self“), Dr. Al Mohler takes a hard look at the contemporary videogaming scene. (I especially recommend the commentary.) I appreciate Dr. Mohler’s approach: he doesn’t suggest that Christians should not play video games. But he does appeal that we exercise wisdom and discernment, as we would in any other area.

Dr. Mohler references Christine Rosen’s essay, “Playgrounds of the Self” in The New Atlantis:

“Interestingly, Rosen begins her article by considering these games as an experiment in self-invention. Many of these new games involve deeply intensive role-playing and the creation of artificial selves. Given the vast number of hours many persons commit to playing these games, do they even know who they are anymore? Rosen notes: ‘We have created video games, the new playgrounds of the self. And while we worry, with good reason, about having our identities stolen by others, we ignore the great irony of our own mass identity theft–our own high-tech ways of inventing and reinventing the protean self, wherein the line between reality and virtual reality ultimately erodes and disappears.’ ”

The challenge with Dr. Mohler’s commentary is deciding which quotations to include here. There are so many that are worthy of consideration. The next one was most notable to me, as it reveals the tendency of video games to promote a desire to be God and to play God:

“As Christine Rosen sees it, ‘Improved hand-eye coordination is not the reason most people play video games. It is the opportunity to be someone else–someone else with limitless powers and absolute control.’ ”

But we know that there is only One who has “limitless powers and absolute control.”

“My glory I will not give to another.” Isaiah 48:11.

You’ll find a lot more insight in the article. Dads, if your teens are gaming, I recommend you make reading this article a priority.

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The verses I posted yesterday about Jesus Christ as our medatior reminded me of this explanation of the significance of Jesus’ intervention on our behalf. This is from page 46 of CJ’s Christ, Our Mediator:

“And what does Christ’s death mean for us–for all who turn from their sins and trust in this unique mediator?

“First, we have peace with God–the actual, objective reality of peace with Him, because His holy hostility against us has been spent against Christ instead.

“Second, we no longer face condemnation from God when our life on this earth is over. Every believer in Christ can know that the moment we pass from this world and stand before God the righteous Judge, the verdict to be announced in our case will be “not guilty,” by reason of the righteousness of Christ.

“With full assurance we can anticipate and even experience that verdict right now. Our lives here and now are transformed as we live today in the joyful light of that day.”

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If you are reading through the Bible in a year, this morning you may have read the priest Eli’s grave warning to his evil sons in 1 Samuel 2:25:

“If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”

Remember, in this case a mediator is someone who represents man before God, and pleads man’s case to God. Given the fallen condition of all humans, Eli realizes that we are in big trouble.

I wonder if David had these words in mind when he confessed to God in Psalm 51:4 that any sin against another man is really a sin against God:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…”

These two verses, taken together, present a pretty bleak picture of fallen humanity, since we have all have sinned God. But living as we do on this side of the cross of Christ, we know that there is great hope:

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Tim 2:5-6)

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