October 29, 2008
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” -1 Corinthians 6.18
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” -Matthew 5.27-28
Over the past several weeks Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA has been releasing chapters in a free online book entitled Porn-Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation, and in light of previous posts concerning this issue (most notably here) I figured that I would provide a link for you guys to his site.
This is a really interesting project. Of course it contains some of the typical (controversial) Driscoll-esque rawness to it, but the substance of this work is a very pointed and convicting look at how we (mostly men) use and abuse pornography and lust in our attempts to fill some sort of dangerous, sinful desires in our flesh. I think of all the people out there Mark Driscoll does a superb job of making you feel not the least bit okay with your sexual sin (candy-coating sin is not a strong suit for him).
Here are a couple of quotes from the piece:
In creation, we see the wise pattern that for every man his standard of beauty is not to be objectified, but rather it should simply be his wife. This means that if a man has a tall, skinny red-headed wife then that is sexy for him, and if his neighbor has a short, curvy brunette wife then that is sexy for him. Pornographic lust exists to elicit coveting and dissatisfaction that no woman can satisfy because she cannot be tall and short, endowed and waifish, black and white, young and old, like the harem laid out in pornography. (from Chapter 4, A Practical Theology of Pornographic Lust).
And,
Indeed, our God is Lord over all of our lives and helpful for the practical matters of what to do with our mouth, hands, and genitals. As God’s men, we do not pursue this redemption and holiness solely for ourselves but also for God’s mission to save and redeem the sea of lost men around us who are their own god and sin with their mouth, hands, and genitals. (from Chapter 6, Manly Men)
Again, I do want to warn that this work is a little rough around the edges and so if you don’t like being shocked by very direct imagery of the outworking of sexual sin you may want to avoid this. However, if you can handle the writing style I think that you will find this text to be a great resource for yourself either as a personal help or as a guide for helping others dealing with sexual immorality.
Porn-Again Christian by Mark Driscoll
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Mark Driscoll, Observations | Tagged: Lust, Mark Driscoll, Porn, Pornography, Sex, Sexual Immorality | 
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Posted by Todd Burus
September 29, 2008
“With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” -James 3.9
This past weekend I had the blessing of being in Minneapolis, MN for the 2008 version of John Piper’s Desiring God National Conference. This years topic was The Power of Words and the Wonder of God and included as speakers John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Sinclair Ferguson, and Paul David Tripp. There was also musical worship and a couple of Panel Discussions, alongside massive Christian fellowship, which all added up to a supremely joyous three days.
On a personal note, by an act of providence, though I was traveling by myself, I wound up encountering a couple of guys from my hometown that I had served in church with and was able to spend a great deal of time over the weekend with them. I was also able to meet up with several other Christians, particularly some who roam around in the blogosphere.
The message shared in the conference itself was fantastic. All of the speakers really challenged us on how we use words in our life, if we are using them in effect to focus people on the Gospel or if our use of words is more likely to lead people to sin. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson looked at how difficult mastering the tongue is through the passage in James 3, giving the illustration that what comes out the mouth reveals what’s inside the heart. Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Ministries shared how music can biblically accentuate our words. Mark Driscoll addressed using hard words and sometimes controversial words. Paul Tripp explored the use of words and how no words are neutral, they either give life or give death. And Pastor Piper closed it all up with a look at how words can be used in a biblically eloquent way and practically what doing this may accomplish.
To me, the biggest takeaway that I got was my need to work on being less harsh in the words I use, something which appears more in my day-to-day vocal interactions with people around me than it does here on the net, and so I want to be more conscious of that.
I have composed a review of Mark Driscoll’s message which should be available shortly as a guest write-in on the Ignite UK Pastor’s Blog. As well, all of the conference messages are available in various media formats at the Desiring God website.
I would highly recommend trying to attend a Desiring God conference in the future. I know that in listening to past conferences I had become aware of how impactful they could be and the experience of being there certainly did not disappoint. The title of next years conference is With Calvin in the Theater of God, which I’m sure will have an all-star lineup of speakers. Check it out if you can.
(UPDATE: Here is the link to the review posted on the Ignite UK Pastor’s Blog.)
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John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Observations, Sermons | Tagged: Conference, Desiring God, James, John Piper, Language, Mark Driscoll, Words | 
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Posted by Todd Burus
July 13, 2008
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” -John 1.14
I have to admit, I am addicted to listening to sermons and conference messages through my iTunes. However, with so many great resources available (and certainly a number of not so great ones as well) it would be a shame if Christians in the 21st century did not take advantage of this wonderful blessing.
That said, the most recent conference I listened to was the 2008 NYC Dwell Conference which was put on this past April by the Acts 29 church planting network featuring the likes of Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, D.A. Carson, and others. In my opinion, each one of the messages presented was a home run. Because of this I wanted to share with you guys the link to where you may download the lectures yourselves, so that hopefully you can be as blessed by it as I was.
Two messages in particular which I would recommend are the one by Eric Mason of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA, entitled “Dwelling Incarnationally,” and the one by Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, entitled “Dwelling in the Gospel.” Both of these presentations cover very important and pertinent topics, especially with keeping in mind the popular movements making their way through emerging church culture right now. These two guys give solid, biblical arguments for their positions and offer intelligent criticism and commentary on ways that we are dealing with these topics incorrectly in the church right now.
Please, if you can make the time I would strongly suggest listening to what was said at this conference and has been recorded for our further edification.
2008 NYC Dwell Conference Multimedia
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Calvinism, Emerging Church, Mark Driscoll, Sermons | Tagged: Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Sermons, Acts 29, Dwell, NYC, Ed Stetzer, D.A. Carson, Eric Mason, Redeemer | 
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Posted by Todd Burus
April 18, 2008
“In the more modern churches, the triumph of the resurrected Jesus was stressed to emphasize victory…. What they overlooked was the incarnation of Jesus…. This oversight allowed people to triumphantly parade their victory over sin and sinners but failed to call them to humbly incarnate as missionaries in culture to effectively reach lost people.
Conversely, many other churches more akin to the so-called postmodern churches focused almost exclusively on vegetable-munching hippie Christ’s humble incarnation in culture to hang out with sinful lost people…. What is lacking, however, is the understanding that when we next see Jesus, he will not appear as a humble, marginalized Galilean peasant. Rather, we will see the exalted, tattooed King of Kings coming with fire blazing in his eyes and a sword launching from his mouth, with which to make war upon the unrepentant.” -Mark Driscoll, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. (pp.42-43)
The above quote by Mark Driscoll is one which I believe points out a major theological flaw that is unrealized in both the modern evangelical and the postmodern emerging churches, that being the need to balance the incarnation of Christ along with the exaltation of Christ. As Driscoll further details in his sermon from John Piper’s National Conference in 2006 (linked below), it is this issue which leads to the two common stereotypes of these opposing camps: the evangelicals as being holier-than-though thought nazi’s who rain condemnation on all that is sinful in the world, and the emergents as limp-wristed pacifists who live a little too liberally to actually be saved.
Moreover, I believe this omission is the cause of other major problems which Christians in America face today and which I have tried to address in prior posts. In the evangelical camp I belive that this glorious triumphalism leads to a teaching of works justification and their legalism towards sin. As for the emergents, I feel that their underemphasis on Christ’s exaltation leads to the acceptance of multiple means of salvation and a deadly theological misunderstanding of what Christ achieved on the cross.
I encourage you to analyze this yourself and see where you fall. We are called to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, but in order to do that we must make sure that we are also loving all of the Lord as well.
Mark Driscoll- “The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World”
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Posted by Todd Burus
March 23, 2008
“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” -John 10:17-18
“Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” -John 20:6-9
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” -1 Corinthians 15:17
“God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” -Acts 2:24
“And was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” -Romans 1:4
“Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” -Romans 4:25
As a non-believer looking in at Christianity it would not be much of a stretch to think that the most important part of Christianity is what we celebrate at Christmas. That is the holiday full of decorations and presents and songs and movies. And yes, the coming of God in the form of man was a glorious thing, but the reason it was so wonderful is specifically for what was accomplished 33 years later in the event we celebrate by Easter.
It is with Easter that we remember and rejoice at the resurrection of Christ. The same Christ who three days earlier gave up his life on the cross in order to pay the penalty of our sins, now takes his life back up to show that death no longer has hold. It is because of this that we are able, as it says above, to be justified, or made clean and righteous before God. This is important because unless we are righteous we have no hope of living eternally in the presence of the Holy God. As the apostle Paul says, if Christ were not raised then we are totally hopeless. However, knowing that he has been resurrected we should celebrate all the more, for this is the only power which can free us from our sins!
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?- Mark Driscoll
In Christ Alone- Newsboys
No Comments » | Mark Driscoll, Observations, Sermons | Tagged: Jesus, Mark Driscoll, The Resurrection | Permalink
Posted by Todd Burus
March 21, 2008
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” -1 Peter 2:24
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” -1 Peter 3:18
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” -Leviticus 17:11
“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” - Hebrews 9:22
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” -1 John 4:10
On this day, that which we celebrate as Good Friday, the day that we placed Jesus Christ upon the Cross to die our death so that we may live, I wanted to just share with you two pieces which I have gone to in order to place this day in perspective for myself. The first is a sermon by Mark Driscoll describing the Day of Atonement and how it is a picture of Christ’s sacrifice for us. The second is a song by Johnny Cash about the wonderful meaning of the blood that was shed for us on the Cross. I pray that you may take these and listen to them as you reflect upon the central importance of this day for everything that we believe and that the crucifixion is not just a flippant event for us speak vainly about, but was instead a brutal day of agony for the only one who was righteous in order that we may be forgiven of our horrible lives.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5
The Day of Atonement- Mark Driscoll
Redemption- Johnny Cash
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Posted by Todd Burus
March 5, 2008
One of the biggest waves in Christianity today is the rise of what is called the “emerging church.” These are churches which attempt to connect with the culture through conducting services and teaching theology which is relevant to the mindset of modern young Americans. A number of large and growing churches fall into this category, such as Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill in Seattle and Erwin McManus’ Mosaic in Pasadena, CA.
However there are some inside of the emerging church movement whose attempts to connect with the culture lead to gross Biblical negligence. They begin to equivocate and compromise on certain unbecoming doctrines, such as the status of homosexuality as a sin, the existence of Hell, or God’s knowledge and control of the future. This includes teachers such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, both of whom have successful books on the market to go along with the megachurches they pastor.
What I have included below is a link to a recent message from Mark Driscoll concerning the specific trends and beliefs of those who have been given the label of emerging. I found this to be a very enlightening survey of the prominent American pastors and what they are truly teaching in the pulpits and book pages that are influencing the rising generation of young Christians. I believe that this is a worthwhile listen for anyone interested in current trends of the American church. Enjoy!
Mark Driscoll- Mars Hill Church and the Emerging Church
4 Comments | Emerging Church, Mark Driscoll, Sermons | Tagged: Brian McLaren, Emergent Church, Emerging Church, Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell | Permalink
Posted by Todd Burus
February 21, 2008
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” - 2 Corinthians 7:10
In continuing with the idea of living revolutionary Christianity out in our accountability I think it is important to focus a little more on repentance. I recently listened to Pastor MarkDriscoll give a sermon on Nehemiah 9, a passage which sees the Levitical priests stand before the recently reunited Jerusalem and confess the sins of the people to God. In this message Driscoll spent some time discussing four types of false repentance. Thus, because I believe it’s important, and because God convicted me so clearly of the false repentance which I often make, I want to share thesebriefly with you.
The first type of false repentance is mere repentance. This is the type of repentance in which you know what you did was sin, you know you should confess it before God and seek His forgiveness, and yet inside you really have no brokenness or desire to change. This would be typified by doing all of the things in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (above) except for the part on “turning from (your) wicked ways.” This is certainly the false repentance which I am most guilty of. It is the repentance I find myself in when I get stuck in the trap of complacency and arrogance concerning my eternal security. It’s the mindset which says, “I know that I am saved forever, solely through the work of the Father and not of my own obedience, so it’s really no big deal if I continue doing this thing I know I’m not really supposed to do.” (Note: it is a big deal because God still commands us to be obedient after our regeneration!).
The second type is worldly sorrow. This is most certainly the type of false repentance being decried in 2 Corinthians 7:10. We see this when someone has an emotional breakdown in response to their sin, and in doing so make their show of repentance a point of pride instead of a true act of turning from sin. This seems to fall in line with the other admonitions which Christ gives in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), where he repeatedly calls out the religious for doing acts of obedience in aflashy manner, seeking to have their rewards on earth.
The third form of false repentance we encounter is self-righteousness. This form of false repentance manifests itself in our desire to seek repentance for others sins, but not necessarily our own. This is what Jesus described in Luke 6:41 as pointing out the speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the log in your own.
The final type of false repentance enumerated we wish to enumerate is religious repentance. In religious repentance you are exercising repentance in attempt to avoid punishment or retribution from God. We can see this come about because we misinterpret the meaning of fearing God. Instead of fearing God in a manner of humble and obedient reverence, we fear God as a cosmic bully who is always seeking to injure us for the sins we commit. In doing this we fail to make notice of the fact that God’s wrath was satisfied in Christ’s death upon the cross (1 John 4:10). Through Christ’s role as the propitiation for our sins we no longer bear the punishment of God in our own lives for the sins we commit, and thus have no reason to repent out of fright. This is one of the great significances of the cross, and we cheapen Christ’s sacrifice so much by failing to get this point.
As revolutionary Christians we must have a revolutionary view of repentance. We must recognize false repentance and flee from it, and we must seek to have repentance which is a true inner-brokenness over our sins, an internal sorrow over our disobedience to the God who loves us and is so gracious, and a peace knowing that God has been and will be faithful to forgive us through the death of His son.
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Posted by Todd Burus
February 17, 2008
In my recent listenings I came across this sermon from Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill, Seattle) in which he describes the means of how we are supposed to fight the battle of revolutionary Christianity. Thus, I wanted to share this with all of you, as I feel he puts it much better than I ever could. Enjoy!
Mark Driscoll- “Air War and Ground War”
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Posted by Todd Burus
December 29, 2007
I just wanted to share with all of you this sermon which I listened to online last night. It is by Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington and it will completely change the way you view what Jesus’ death on the cross must have been like. I have never heard a pastor speak with so much explicit detail on the true nature of crucifixion. It even puts the imagery from The Passion movie in the backseat.
I want to note, the sermon is fairly long, takes about 9 minutes to really get going, and from the middle on he deals with issues that are prevalent doctrinally in the modern church, but from 9 minutes in until about 40 minutes in, Driscoll gives a pretty intense commentary on what exactly crucifixion was and why Jesus’ death in this manner is a big deal. Also, it is fairly graphic in it’s imagery so I would suggest being prepared for that (and probably not eating while you listen).
In all, I really think that listening to this message will give you a whole new perspective on Jesus’ actual death and the severe price that he paid so that we may be reunited with the Father in Heaven. Enjoy!
Mark Driscoll- Death by Love: Reflections on the Cross
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Posted by Todd Burus
