For those who went to New Attitude, welcome home! How was it? What did you enjoy most? How did God meet you?

For those who did not go to New Attitude, the messages are available as free downloads. Check out the New Attitude Flickr page if you want to see what it was like.

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Looked Upon (Lu for short) is the latest music offering by Sovereign Grace. Performed by the New Attitude band, led by Devon Kauflin (son of Bob), and produced by Jeremy White (Asleep in the Storm), this is a contemporary take on old hymns, with a couple original songs for good measure.

Here you’ll find new great arrangements of songs we already know and love (God Over All; Ransomed) as well as songs you may have never heard before. The theology these songs convey is powerful, the music original and rich. My favorites so far are the contemplative “My Lord I Did Not Choose You” and “All I Have Is Christ”. Where else do we get to sing of God’s electing grace and regenerating power in such lyrically compelling and musically rich ways?

The CD is available for download, and I’m sure we’ll have it in our bookstore soon.

If you’re interested, the New Attitude website features an interview in two parts with Devon and Jeremy. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

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At Manskool last Saturday, we spent some time talking about how to make the best use of the time this summer (remember, fellas: we are memorizing Ephesians 5:15-16 together!). I’m giving you these now so that you can start planning for the summer before it actually gets here; the guys came up with such a good list that I thought everyone might benefit from these:

• Pray. We need God’s help. He wants us to pray to him. Come on Saturday or Sunday mornings to pray for the church. Pray attention as you read Scripture, and write out Biblical prayers as models for you own. Keep a list in your Moleskine of those who need prayer. Pray for them!
• Read good books. Come to the Do Hard Things Book Club. But read more than just Do Hard Things. Funny thing about it is that Do Hard Things isn’t a hard book. So push yourself this summer to read something hard. Recommendations coming shortly.
• Memorize Scripture. It’s not as hard as you might think, especially if you decide to memorize a chapter of the Bible or even one of the shorter books. A pastor in Durham has put together a very helpful guide for the extended memorization of Scripture.
• No video games. Maybe no video games is a bit much, but how about less video games? What else could you do with that time? What could you do that will make a difference in 50, 500, or 5000 years?
• Work/serve. Get a job. If you’re too young, serve around the house. If you’re not sure what to do, ask.
• Watch John Piper on YouTube. Not just John Piper, of course. But listen to preaching. Review the Sunday message each week. Or listen to important sermons by other pastors, too.
• Fellowship. Do these things together with other Christians. When you’re talking, don’t talk about nothing (there is always more nothing to talk about). Instead, make a point of having God-centered conversations. Find out how God has been meeting your friends through his word.
• Care for/mentor your younger siblings. Make a difference. Don’t just tell them what to do. Show them.
• Work out. Go for a walk. Or a run. Or a ride.
• Prepare for next year. Vacation is just around the corner, but the next school year is just around the corner after that. Wise Christians don’t just slide into things, they prepare. How can you create a schedule for yourself this summer that will prepare you for the school year, positioning you to continue meeting with God, serving, spending time with family, etc.
• Create a schedule/plan. What do you want to do this summer? Write it down. Have your parents look at it and give you feedback. Good intentions alone will only get you a wasted summer. Write out a plan for the books you are going to read this summer; who you are going to pray for; what time you are going to go to bed and when you’ll get up; when, where, and how often you are going to meet with God; what times and in what ways you are going to ask for Dad and Mom’s help to grow in the Christian life; and so on.

To motivate you, a share this William Wilberforce quote, recently posted on the Desiring God blog:

Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a course of shapeless idleness. Its recreations constitute its chief business…amusements are multiplied, and combined, and varied, to fill up the void of a listless and languid life; and by the judicious use of these different resources, there is often a kind of sober settled plan of domestic dissipation, in which with all imaginable decency year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy. Even old age often finds us pacing in the same round of amusements which our early youth had tracked out.

What do you plan to do this summer to avoid shapeless idleness, the void of a listless and languid life, and unprofitable vacancy?

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New Attitude begins tomorrow.  Please be praying for the 100 or so members of our church who will be joining hundreds more in Louisville, Kentucky for the next few days.

Eric Simmons, who leads Na, recently asked people to pray for the following:

• safe travel for attendees
• conference speakers
• conference admin team
• community group and family group leaders
• pastors attending the conference

If you would like to follow along with what is happening at the conference, read the LiveBlog by pastor Justin Buzzard.

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I am always on the lookout for simple, concise, one-sentence definitions of the gospel. I think it is important to be able to explain the gospel in a clear, simple way. Of course, the best are in Scripture:

“…Christ died for our sins…” (1 Corinthians 15:3)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-26)

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this faith in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“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 Timothy 2:5-6)

I think my favorite definition outside Scripture is this one:

The Gospel is “the good news of salvation for hell-deserving sinners through the person and work of Jesus Christ.” Milton Vincent, The Gospel Primer.

Closer to home:

“God pardons & accepts me, a believing sinner, because Christ took my place.” Mark Mullery

Here’s a new one for my collection, that I got from pastor-blogger Thabiti Anyabwile:

“Jesus Christ, the Son of God crucified, is the Wisdom of God, by which the love of God can save sinners from the wrath of God, and all the while uphold and demonstrate the righteousness of God.” John Piper, “Conversion to Christ: The Making of a Christian Hedonist,” Matthew 13:44-46.

What about you? Got a favorite I should add to my collection?

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I’m sure you’ve heard Muzak before. But I doubt you’ve ever listened to it.

Muzak is the company that churns out that cheesy department store and elevator music. Generally speaking, Muzak means songs from the 80s and 90s, played on a lame synthesizer, with no words. It immediately becomes part of the bland background of a shopping experience, the aural version of gray floor tiles and fluorescent lights. If you notice Muzak at all, it is because some melody is vaguely familiar. After briefly locating the melody your attention quickly returns to the topic at hand. Muzak is not captivating, it is not moving, it is not life-changing.

Has the gospel turned into Muzak for you?

This thought occurred to me as we sung “O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing” on Sunday:

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease;
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life and health and peace.

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
he sets the prisoner free:
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.

But what if the gospel isn’t music to you? What if the name of Jesus—who He is and what He’s done—has turned into Muzak? You know this has happened if, like Muzak, you hear it, but don’t really listen to it. That’s a problem.

John Piper explains how to transform Muzak into the music of true worship:

“There are always two parts to true worship. There is seeing God and there is savoring God. You can’t separate these. You must see him to savor him. And if you don’t savor him when you see him, you insult him. In true worship, there is always understanding with the mind and there is always feeling in the heart. Understanding must always be the foundation of feeling, or all we have is baseless emotionalism. But understanding of God that doesn’t give rise to feeling for God becomes mere intellectualism and deadness. This is why the Bible continually calls us to think and consider and meditate, on the one hand, and to rejoice and fear and mourn and delight and hope and be glad, on the other hand. Both are essential for worship.” John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, 10.

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Three years ago today, I wrote my first post for the five15 blog.  We weren’t even called five15 then!  In three years, I’ve written more than 1000 posts, y’all have posted thousands of comments, and we’ve had visitors from more than 50 countries.

Thanks for reading.

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Today is Nicole’s birthday! I love her like crazy!

I won’t tell you how many years, but please join me in wishing her a happy birthday…

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Six of our Seniors responded to my invitation to say something to five15, commenting on what they learned and how God met them during their high school years, and challenging us to live for Christ. These were so good, that I want you to be able to read and review them again. Enjoy:

Jonny:

Whoa, this is crazy. I never thought I would be at my last five15 meeting… Man I am so old! If you had told me 4 years ago that I would be standing up here, telling you all how God has changed me through five15, I probably would have thought that you were crazy. But now, thanks to God’s grace, that is exactly where I find myself.

There are so many ways that five15 has impacted and changed my life. The biggest being my conversion and baptism two years ago. But another one being my outlook on friends. Before I started coming to youth meetings, friends, to me, were just the people that I had the most fun with. But now thanks to Steve’s faithful preaching, I realize that are a gift from God. And that a good friend isn’t just one that you have a good time with, it’s more importantly the friend who will challenge you in your faith. He, or she, is the one who won’t stand by and watch you stumble into sin, but will catch you and try to, with scripture, put you back on solid ground.

Proverbs 13:20 says “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Thanks to five15, and Steve, I now walk with the wise.

So if I could exhort you to one thing it would be this; find a friend. A friend that will preach the gospel to you everyday, and will catch you when you fall.

Liane:

Looking back on high school, I can’t believe how fast it went by. Because it’s such a busy season of life, I think it can be easy to miss the unique opportunities God has given us as teenagers. I know that I missed out on some of these while I was in high school, and I want to encourage you all to look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of your time (Eph. 5:15-16).

First, the opportunity to press into God by reading His Word. Like people always say, you have more free time now than you ever will again. Make reading your Bible a priority every day. Not only will His words become a joy and the delight of your heart (Jer. 15:16), but you will discover the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord (Phil. 3:8), the only One who truly satisfies.

Second, the opportunity to seek your parents’ wisdom. In my self-sufficiency, I often tried to deal with my problems on my own (which never really worked), instead of seeking help from God and my parents. At the end of my junior year, God mercifully revealed to me my prideful attitude. I repented of this sin and, by His grace, have seen change in this area over the last year. Although there is still much room for growth, I can already see the blessings resulting from seeking my parents’ guidance. At this point in my life where many big changes and weighty decisions lie ahead, I am so grateful that I can go to them for practical and gospel-centered counsel. I would encourage you guys to take advantage of your parents’ wisdom now, while you are still living at home and it is easily accessible. Confess your sin to them honestly and invite their input humbly, remembering that God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5).

Third, the opportunity to reach out to others. My dad always encouraged us to reach out to kids who seemed lonely or were new, and the five15 challenge also served as a helpful reminder. Although this is so contrary to our culture and our own nature, stepping outside your comfort zone to reach out to others makes a loud statement about who you are living for.

Your time in five15 will go fast; enjoy it and make the most of it!

Caroline:

The middle and high school years are very influential in our lives. Some of the most prevalent influences which shape who we become are our relationships. Who we emulate says a lot about what we value. I urge you to make your relationship with God of first importance. Seek to grow in godliness now while you have the faithful help of your parents and pastors around you.

Cultivate your relationships with God and your family and then seek to promote biblical fellowship with your peers. A truly lasting and meaningful friendship is one that is rooted in a love for Christ. When you remember to count others as more significant then yourself, you avoid foolishness and empty relationships in which you’re looking only to what you can gain; be it popularity or just a good time. Think about how you can help your friends by reminding them of the Gospel and pointing them continually to Christ.

I know you’ve heard it a lot before but, remember 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” So, take this wonderful opportunity to begin living for Christ; living a life that brings glory to God for sending his Son as a ransom for us, who only deserve His wrath.

How do you cultivate growth in godliness? Begin by remembering that your salvation did not come to you by anything you did. Salvation comes through repentance and faith in Christ’s work on the cross. Immerse yourself in God’s word everyday and welcome correction, remembering that it is a gift to keep you from harm.

Joseph:

I started attending five15 at the beginning of eighth grade. I knew that, Lord willing, I had five long years ahead of me – half of middle school and all of high school. It seemed like an eternity then. However, it went by a whole lot faster than I expected. You’ve probably heard something to this effect – of how time just flies – from older friends, siblings and parents.

Well, believe it or not, it’s actually true. I’m not saying middle and high schools were a breeze; not at all. Getting through them was pretty tough at times – both academically and socially.

But think of it this way. If you’re not there already, you’ll definitely be in high school by next fall. Pretty soon after that, you’ll be an upper classman. Then, a senior, an eighth-semester senior, and then graduated. While there is certainly a lot to look forward to in these times ahead, I would urge you not to get too far down the road just yet. Enjoy, saver, and be content in whatever season you find yourself.
Moreover, I would counsel you to make the most of the time you have. Don’t wait until later to start living for God fully or killing sin decisively, but get passionate for the Lord and His kingdom now. In the words of Ecclesiastes, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth.”

Personally, I’ve found it easy to get preoccupied with my mundane, day-to-day business. I forget to center the entirety of my existence on God, and procrastinate (usually unintentionally) in confronting the sin still prevalent in my life. I’ve found the best answer for such situations is having strong quiet times – involving prayerful meditation on scripture – and then continuing to direct my thoughts and emotions towards God throughout the day; as Brother Laurence said, to “continually practice the presence of God.”

Looking back, I wish I had pursued these practices sooner and more aggressively. I constantly found myself thinking there would be time in the future to grow. But waiting until later is a waste – a waste of both time and opportunity.

These few years in five15 really do count for something. Don’t let yourself drift, but “press on to know the Lord.” During this season, remember the words in Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near….”

Hannah:

My family started attending Sovereign Grace when I was eleven years old. My sinful nature told me that people had to introduce themselves to me if I was to get friends, not vice versa. I acquired very few friends that way, and I was feeling very left out. Even after becoming a Christian in seventh grade, my next few years were spent selfishly spending time only with those I knew or wanted to know.

When the five15 Challenge was proposed, my first thoughts were adamantly against it. I wish I could tell you I was all for it, having remembered how others had reached out to me and wanting to do the same. I wish I had been willing to do it simply to please God. Instead, my thoughts went more like this: What?!? Meet new people? Step outside my comfort zone? You have to be kidding me!

Thankfully, God worked on my heart, using my dad specifically. My dad would talk to my brother and I on the drive to five15, reminding us that we were to meet new people for God’s glory. It was another way to live not for ourselves but for God – just like 2 Corinthians 5:15 states. Having prepared our hearts, he expected us to fulfill the challenge. He used the drive home to ask us about who we had met. If we had failed to meet anyone, he would kindly ask us why not and how we could do better next time. It wasn’t long before I began to look forward to fulfilling the challenge.

I will not say it is now natural for me to go up to a perfect stranger and introduce myself, but it has gotten easier only because I know I am honoring God if I do so. I have learned that you can make so many more friends if you are the one going up to people and initiating the conversation. Two of the greatest parts about the challenge are that we do not have to do it alone and we do not have to limit it to five15. Meeting the few we do not know at Five15 simply sets us up for situations where we will be one of the new people – such as when we move up into Crossroads. I praise God for teaching me this important lesson.

Gabe:

What I have to say is really very simple. It’s something I always knew per se, but something God has been really drilling into my head over the past while. It has strongly impacted the way I try to grow in godliness, the way I pray, the way I sing to God and more. It’s this: There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus. No matter how huge of a sinner I am or you are, if we’re in Christ—no condemnation.

But I’m well acquainted with the feelings of condemnation. Like when I’ve just sinned in some grievous way for probably the five thousandth time and my conscience is screaming and when I read God’s Word and it points the finger at me and calls me the sinner that I know I am and I know there is no way God can be pleased with me, ‘cause I’ve heard Him calling me to repent in this area and here I’ve fallen again and I can’t seem to change and it just seems like an endless cycle of sin and “Are you actually telling me that God really loves me?” I have spat in God’s face and trampled His glory by my disobedience again and again.

But what God’s word says is that the reason I’m secure in my salvation and in God’s love and favor on my life is because Jesus Christ is secure before the Father, not because my deeds deserve it. Romans 5:6 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” What it comes down to is I’m an evil sinner who has profaned God’s glory, but Jesus Christ is greater than me and all of my sin. What He did for me on the cross, bearing God’s wrath, covers all my sin. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace…”

So now the condemnation that I feel when I sin isn’t real condemnation before God but the devil trying to get me to doubt God. God doesn’t judge me based on my works anymore but by Jesus’ works. If my feelings are telling me I’m too sinful to be saved or to be loved by God, they’re lying. Condemnation is something I need to repent from! Trusting God and believing in His promises means there is no condemnation if I have accepted God’s gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ. God has not given me the authority to condemn myself. God has reserved that for Himself and He has already proclaimed that there is no condemnation for me simply because I have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation.

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