The Gospel hurts worse than having a leprous heart.  I know that in the end it hurts far worse to have a heart deadened to God.  But this side of redemption having a heart sensitive to the Spirit and fighting sin hurts.  It hurts when the gospel rips idols out of my heart.  It hurts when I am fully exposed.  It hurts when the gospel will not allow me to hide (from God or neighbor).  It hurts when the gospel makes me face things I would rather not.  The gospel hurts. 

Leprosy on the other hand—you don’t feel a thing.  Of course this means that you are also deadened to beauty.  You cannot really feel kisses.  You cannot really feel a warm embrace.  Sunsets are ignored.  Food tastes bland.  Life feels dull.  But leprosy doesn’t hurt; or at least it doesn’t appear to at the moment. 

So do I believe Jesus enough to let the gospel hurt?  Or will I try to put on a leprous heart?

I am sure that you already know this but you can watch a live feed of this year’s conference here: 2009 National Conference

This year’s theme is Entrusted with the Gospel: Living the Vision of 2 Timothy.  Pretty solid keynote speakers this year.  Here is the schedule (CST) of the speakers: 

April 21st

Tim Keller 2:00

John Piper 4:00

Phil Ryken 7:00

Mark Driscoll 8:00

April 22nd

K. Edward Copeland 9:30 AM

Bryan Chapell 11:00 AM

Ajith Fernando 7:00 PM

April 23rd

Ligon Duncan 9:30 AM

D.A. Carson 11:00 AM

The full schedule is available here.  I am not sure how the live feed will work during the Workshops. 

A little known web gem is that Themelios (the journal now operated by The Gospel Coalition) is available free of charge.  Check out back issues, here.  This morning, while reading through some back issues, I came across this quote by C. Rene Padilla:

“If Christian preaching is often regarded as obsolete, the solution is not to adapt the message to the mood of the day, but to let preaching be molded by the Word of God.  It is at this point that preachers for whom relevance is the most basic consideration in preaching are frequently mistaken—they fail to see the link between relevance in preaching and faithfulness to the gospel.  It is only in the degree in which preaching is allowed to be an instrument of God’s Word that men and women can receive it as a word from beyond, breaking into the human situation and acting with saving power.  There is nothing more irrelevant than a message that simply mirrors man’s myths and ideologies!”

John MacArthur confronts explicit teaching on Song of Solomon. (AKA Mark Driscoll) Read part 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The more I read the writings of Kevin DeYoung the more I appreciate him. He has begun a series (that is almost finished) on our high places. In these he is focusing on our idolatrous blind spots. Read The lack of Psalm singing, Worldliness in entertainment, The idol of youth, and Our lack of church discipline. Part 5 should be up some time within the next day or so.

Did Christ Have Gray Hair? Turns out your answer is more important than you think…

Great words from Dr. Moore: The Devil is a Boring Preacher: The High Stakes of Dull Sermons. Here is an excerpt: “If lost people don’t like your message because they’re hostile to the gospel, you’re in good company. But if you’re boring the people of God with the Word of God, something has gone seriously awry. It may be that you preach just like the devil, and that you don’t even know it.”

It sure is sad that Piper is defiling himself by having such conferences as this: Advance ‘09. UPDATE: I apologize for not being initially clear--I'm being silly by saying Piper is defiling himself by having such a conference as this. I think Advance '09 will be awesome. I even would love to attend--but will probably not be able to. So, sorry if anyone misunderstood and thinks I'm hating on the Advance conference.

Nathan White wonders why we have “altars”…I’ve wondered the same thing.

JT points us to an interview with Paul Tripp about marriage.

This is powerful:

Cardboard Stories from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

HT: Jared

No doubt you have heard the phrase: “if you had been the only person on earth Jesus would have still died for you”.  If you want you can discuss the validity of this claim.  However, I would prefer that you answer two questions:

1) How is such a statement helpful?

2) How might such a statement be harmful?

Thanks.  I am working on something and really need your help with answering this .

This is a very interesting post by Tony Kummer.  Last week Thom Rainer conducted a “straw poll” where he sent out this question on Twitter:  “What do you think when you hear Southern Baptist?”  Tony put together a Wordle to capture the answers:

Read more at SBC Voices, Timmy Brister’s blog, or Thom Rainer’s original post. 

In case you are not familiar with Wordle, the size of the word indicates its frequency.  A few things leap out at me. 

1) Southern Baptist are seen as legalistic.  This could legitimately be legalism or it could be perceived legalism by those that are repulsed by holiness.  Sadly, I think it is legitimately legalism.  If it were perceived legalism then I don’t think you would see “Disney, boycott, tradition, and controlling as big (or bigger) than Jesus. 

2) Jesus is smaller than Pharisees.  And I think, sadly, this could be a tad accurate.  Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves”.  If we had some of their sermons and Wordled them I think missions would be large…right alongside Law.  Perhaps Southern Baptist are still very big on missions—lets just hope that it is to proclaim the grace and redemption of Jesus. 

3) Maybe…just maybe…the reason why Jesus is not bigger is because denominationalism is more in line with a fallen world than a redeemed one.  Maybe …just maybe…Jesus is not bigger because our mission is to create more Southern Baptists and our goal is to preserve a Baptist Identity more than passionate followers of Jesus.  Maybe…just maybe…Jesus is not bigger because our fellowship is more centered around Fried Chicken than the Gospel.