2009 Legacy Conference Fever EP3: Yummy For My Tummy

Sean John gives a briefing on whats going down in Chicago at the Legacy conference before we head out there! And he advices you to kick it like you frick it... or not. Check it out here!

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the conference these ways:

Follow J. Coll and me on Twitter, and stay updated on Legacy:
http://twitter.com/jcoll116
http://twitter.com/urbancalvinist

Keep checking out my blog for Legacy briefings:
http://www.urbancalvinist.com

2009 Legacy Conference Fever EP2: World Baseball Classic

J. Coll enlightens me that we are going to Chicago for the Legacy conference... well why should I ruin his talk for you? Check it out right here!

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the conference these ways:

Follow J. Coll and me on Twitter, and stay updated on Legacy:
http://twitter.com/jcoll116
http://twitter.com/urbancalvinist

Keep checking out my blog for Legacy briefings:
http://www.urbancalvinist.com

2009 Legacy Conference Fever EP1: Happy Mothers Day

July 29th, 2009. 1:50 PM. J.Coll and I on the road -
Here's a shoutout from your boy J. Coll as I kick it with him!

Follow J. Coll and me on Twitter, and stay updated on Legacy:
http://twitter.com/jcoll116
http://twitter.com/urbancalvinist

Keep checking out my blog for Legacy briefings:
http://www.urbancalvinist.com

The Legacy Fever Begins! Stay Updated

July 29th, 2009. 12:11 AM. Packed. Almost.

As you all may know, from July 30 to Aug 1, Legacy (the reformed urban hip hop conference) is gonna go down in Chi-town at Moody Bible Institute! Being a part of Eleos Urbana, you can bet we're all doped up about going there!

Now, what kind of pals would we be if we didn't share the fever along with you all? So, in that heart, J. Coll and myself of Eleos Urbana will be trying to capture video, take snapshots, blog and tweet as much as we can during the course of the conference and the time preceding it as it unfolds, so you guys can get a taste, a feel, of what it's like to be there!

So friends, make sure you guys keep up with the hype as we bring it to you as fast as we can! You can do that through these ways:

Follow J. Coll and me on Twitter, and stay updated:
http://twitter.com/jcoll116
http://twitter.com/urbancalvinist

Keep checking out my blog for Legacy briefings:
http://www.urbancalvinist.com/

Hope you guys benefit from our meager effort! Feel free to share with anyone interested. Glory be to God alone!

Sean John

Smoking Spiritualized

This was shared to me by a godly believer when enjoying (but not indulging in) smoking a good cigar. Written by Ralph Erskine.

LAW:

This Indian weed now wither'd quite,
'Tho' green at noon, cut down at night,
Shows thy decay;
All flesh is hay.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The pipe so lily-like and weak,
Does thus thy mortal state bespeak.
Thou art ev'n such,
Gone with a touch.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the smoke ascends on high,
Then thou behold'st the vanity
Of worldly stuff,
Gone with a puff.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the pipe grows foul within,
Think on thy soul defil'd with sin;
For then the fire,
It does require.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And seest the ashes cast away;
Then to thyself thou mayest say
That to the dust
Return thou must.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

GRACE:

Was this small plant for thee cut down?
So was the plant of great renown;
Which mercy sends
For nobler ends.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Doth juice medicinal proceed
From such a naughty foreign weed?
Then what's the pow'r
Of Jesse's flow'r?
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The promise, like the pipe, inlays,
And by the mouth of faith conveys
What virtue flows
From Sharon's rose.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

In vain th' unlighted pipe you blow;
Your pains in inward means are so,
'Till heav'nly fire
Thy heart inspire.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The smoke, like burning incense tow'rs
So should a praying heart of yours,
With ardent cries,
Surmount the skies.
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The Legacy Hip Hop Conference!

I cant wait for the Legacy Hip Hop Conference going down in Chicago in less than a week! I'm hopefully gonna be meeting all the stars of reformed hip hop: Lecrae, Trip Lee, my friend Flame, Sho Baraka, Tedashii, Shai Linne, Json, Blair Wingo, and so many more! Not to mention Paul "Preacher" Washer is going to be there too! Here is a preview of what it's gonna be like.

Lord willing, I am planning to vlog (video blog that is, for the tech-unsavvy) the whole conference which runs from July 30th to August 1st. I'm excited to go there, and I hope that above everything else, I would come to enjoy God more.

For those of you that still wanna make it, but haven't registered - online registration is still open, but not for long!
Online registration ends at midnight July 26, so click here to register now!

To God be the glory alone!

Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words

While there are some of us that are rash, there are too many of us that are chickified. Are we repenting? Why not?

I had taken the time to listen to Mark Driscoll on "How Sharp the Edge? Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words". It was truly convicting and has left me understanding the duty of the discerning Christian in a more helpful way. I found it so encouraging that I wanted to put it up on here. Watch it here.
Soli Deo Gloria!

Noah Wasn't a Righteous Man

If you grew up in the church, you probably don't know this.
Discover the truth.

Mindfully: Why GTA Rocks

If you know anything about video gaming (I do), you'll know the Grand Theft Auto games have been one of the most popular and the most controversial games out there in the past decade. Why? Two main reasons, I think:

1. Depravity: We are really really bad and jacked up people, all of us. Yeah. that includes Mother Theresa and Gandhi too. As a result, we cant help but see the thrill of sins (like killing, driving retarded, prostitution, extramarital sex, drunkenness and the sort) in the video game. It explores a side of us we often wouldn't act out because of our own innate pride ("atleast I dont do that is real life!").

2. Infiltrating Culture: This is the reason GTA interests me. As one observes the evolution of the GTA games throughout the years, they will be able to see that the games get better at tapping into the backbone of the culture it is selling itself to. You just have to walk aimlessly around in the game, and you will notice the attention to detail when it comes to relating of our (urban) culture today.

Now, lets turn to Jesus: the most famous person ever. When it comes to depravity, it is the complete anti-thesis of his perfection. Jesus was the all perfect all good God-man. Though he was accused of various sins by the religious people of his time, he committed no sin. So in this point, Jesus and GTA is at odds.

On infiltrating culture, Jesus was the perfect standard. Jesus left his home in heaven on the side of God the father, and came to this earth as a man and lived as a poor homeless carpenter with complete humility. Though he was the counter-cultural rebel of his time (and if you think about it he still is), he hung out with the "worst" people of his time in the streets including hookers, poor, and corrupt government officials. So, in this thought, we can draw a lot of parallels between Jesus and the genius behind the GTA games.

Finally, GTA is successful for a good and a bad reason. I play it sometimes too, to be honest! (Not everyone who plays it becomes a criminal mind, but at the same time individual discretion is recommended.) What we need to do to be effective for Jesus in our world today is to redeem the world around us, to use everything to proclaim Jesus' fame. Let's stand strong against the depravity that the world so loves, and instead give the good news of free grace of Jesus, like Jesus did: infiltrating culture.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (Jesus prays for his people, John 17:14-15)

Have Mercy, My Sin's Ever Before Me

Do you find yourself grieving over your sin at times? I am currently grieving over my indwelling sin... and have sorrow over it. Killing sin is hard. And it leaves me hurt often. But as Paul says in his letter to the Corinthian church, we Christians are to come to godly sorrow: not because God will be mad at us because of our wrongs; but because through our sin we are turning our backs away continuously over the very one that came and live and died for us while we were his enemies. And I share this meditation in this spirit.

I find it comforting at discouraging times like this to meditate on the promises of God as He has spoken in His word, the bible. At this time, I meditate on Psalm 51. This is one among various songs written by David, a king at the time, to God. Yep, this is the same guy who as a younger kid killed Goliath with a few pebbles, that you learned about in Sunday school.

We have to consider the context in which David wrote this song. David writes this sorrowful song after being called out of his sins by another godly guy: in a nutshell, David commits adultery with a woman, and then kills the woman's husband so that he doesn't have to face his sin. (And the way he goes about it is just wrong too.)

In other words, the same dude who killed a giant of an enemy because of God's power, is the same guy who committed adultery and murder, which is against the purity of God. What does this show? That ALL humans are jacked up people: sinners. There is no good person besides the God-man Jesus Christ. All our favorite Bible heroes, but for Jesus, were all bad people.

Now one may ask, where is the hope in David's story for my grief now? In this fact alone: Jesus came and lived on earth the perfect life we should have lived as children of God, and died on a cross the death we should have died, for becoming enemies of God, and rose again, defeating our sin, so now through Jesus and his sacrifice, we can be dressed in the perfection of Jesus - and be loved as if we were perfect like Jesus. What greater love can there be for a guy as jacked up as David, or one even worse - ME?

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. (Ps 51:1-3)

This is the good news. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. This is the promise I am absorbing strength and conviction now. God is a god of mercy: he is faithful to forgive if we turn away from our own ways, and seek joy in knowing God. And this I share with you, Christian or not, to keep close to your hearts, so we may know and keep knowing more about the great grace of our good God. That's what this is all about: it's all about Jesus.

Your sin, your guilt, your grief, may be ever before you. Don't leave it there. Let Jesus take it for you. Trust him with it. He's friend, comforter, savior of us jacked up sinners. Don't hesitate.

What Is Preaching?

What is preaching? Does the way the Bible is preached affect the growth and depth of a church? Is it possible to preach truths of the Bible and still not bring God the glory? What helps Christians grow more, topical sermons on practical issues or expository sermons on books of the Bible, verse-by verse?

I am sharing this for us Christians (including myself) to assess carefully what kind of teaching we are sitting under, and what it is leading us to live like, in the light of eternity. We are here to bring God the most glory. Are we doing that with the preaching we are worshiping God with?

If I'm not wrong, Bethlehem Baptist church, which John Piper is a pastor of, is going through and studying the book of John. Here is Piper on "What is Preaching?" as he preaches on John 3:14-18.

James 1:22

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

John Calvin, Year 500: Still Hot, Still Hated

Portrait of Calvin (a small and concise biography) only $2 today (July 10, 2009). Get it now!

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice. (John Calvin)

All because he was focused on the glory of God alone.

“I am eager for people to know Calvin not because he was without flaws, or because he was the most influential theologian of the last 500 years (which he was), or because he shaped Western culture (which he did), but because he took the Bible so seriously, and because what he saw on every page was the majesty of God and the glory of Christ."(John Piper, Foreword of Portrait of Calvin)

Today, July 10th, 2009, marks the 500th birthday of John Calvin. This French theologian still is as hot and as hated, if not even more so today, as the time he was on earth. This often misuderstood and negatively viewed man is still remembered today in the hearts of many, including mine, because of his understanding and teaching of the blazing view of the glory and the sovereignty of God. Love him or hate him, John Calvin was what apostle Paul, Athanasius, or any prophet from the Bible was: a faithful servant in a fallen world. And as a result, there exists a controversy of Calvin and what he taught. No sinner naturally wants to be stolen of their authority to do anything worthwhile by an all-sovereign God. It doesn't surprise me that there are many even among Christians, who deny the teaching of the Bible (which John Calvin esteemed as most important), just because of this truth.

A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. (Calvin)

Desiring God ministries says this of John Calvin: Calvin's words and life point beyond himself to where the crucified and risen Christ sits at the right hand of God. Before he died, he saw to it that there should be no posthumous canonization. He left orders that he should be buried in an unmarked grave. So his death and burial were of one piece with his life. Calvin bent all his energies in life and death to making Jesus Christ alone great, and making that greatness visible.

No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief. (Calvin)

Prominent pastor and evangelical Sam Storms talks about some reasons why Calvin is controvertial. He is going to speak in this year's Desiring God national conference. Click here to watch the video.

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us - as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray. (Calvin)

Finally, nothing I have shared here brings justice to the life and words of John Calvin, and his commitment to the glory of God. I recommend you to go read Portrait of Calvin, which is on sale for only $2 today. Open up your minds to John Calvin, and you will see yourself opening yourself to the blazing center of the glory of God.

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. (Calvin)

Soli Deo Gloria!

MAKE WAR

Christians, let's MAKE WAR.Here is the Make War music video, by Tedashii and featuring Flame as well.
This is a song that deeply convicts me, because often, I am quick to find satisfaction from my lust, my pride, and in general my old sinful self. Do we as Christians MAKE WAR? Because we are called to, as am I. Let us all help one another fight the good fight against sin so that we may find joy in Jesus.

Thanks to my Jesus fam, who help me strive to make war everyday im my walk. I praise God for it.

The Baby In My Womb Leaped For Joy!

Many of you may have seen the video I posted a couple of months ago on here, called "No, Mr. President" where leading Christian evangelical pastor and theologian John Piper called out Barack Obama on the evil of abortion. Now here is the full message from which the clip was derived: The Baby In My Womb Leaped For Joy. If you're a Christian, strengthen your convictions by watching this - or reform your mind to look at the issue biblically if you haven't. And if you're not into Jesus, still recommend you to watch it to understand to a level of how and why its not a debatable issue for Bible-believing Christians.

The aim of this message is to awaken and intensify your joyful, grateful reverence for the gift of human life from conception to eternity. The beginning of human life is a magnificent thing. There is nothing else like it. (Piper)

Watch it here. Share with friends, family and others when possible.

Jesus vs Religion

Hate religion. Love Jesus.
The difference between Jesus and religion explained by pastor Mark Driscoll.



Jesus is the only one that'll matter for you 100 years from now.
Turn from your man made religion, and turn to Jesus.

Judging Like Jesus

OK, probably the first thing you're thinking whether you're a Bible Belt Christian kid or you think you know all about Jesus while you're probably nowhere near the truth: Dont judge me, Jesus said not to! You can't judge me!

And to that, I present to you - Judging, like Jesus.



Mark Driscoll preaches on 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Like Seattle, the city of Corinth had a long history of gender confusion and sexual perversion. In a spirit of ‘tolerance’ the perversion of their culture had seeped into the Corinthian church. In response Paul rebukes them harshly by telling them to be judgemental of those in the church rather than judging those who are not Christians.

Judge - but judge biblically. Like Jesus. For Jesus.