Concert - Gungor (Langley BC - March 14, 2012)

Gungor is returning to Langley Wednesday March 14th!

Tickets have gone on sale ($21 regular admission, $31 for Q&A with Michael Gungor and early admission) and can be purchased at North Langley Community Church.

I saw them here last year and it was AMAZING. This will be the THIRD time I've seen Gungor live in less than a year!

G&P

- Andrew

Quote - Sermons, Books, and the Scriptures

Good sermons and good books are of excellent use, but yet they can serve no other end but that we practise the plain doctrines of scripture.
~ Jeremy Taylor

[(source) / image via Google search]

Quote - G.K. Chesterton on the Mystery of God

The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ~ G.K. Chesterton

I don't know why, but this mindset makes me sleep easy. I find no greater peace when I stop trying to figure out God and just let Him be God.

[via RELEVANT / image via Google search]



G&P
- Andrew


 

Concert - Switchfoot (Vancouver BC May 27 2012)

Switchfoot is coming back to Vancouver Sunday May 27, 2012 and will be playing at the Commodore Ballroom.

Tickets go on sale February 17th. No word yet on an opening band or cost.

Information as it is released will be available at their tour page.

G&P

- Andrew

Concert - Passion 2012 (Vancouver BC)

Passion is returning to Vancouver on Friday March 23rd.

Tickets are 10 bucks until February 23rd, $15 after that.

Expect Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin,  Kristian Stanfill, and David Crowder (!!!!!)

This a gathering for young adults (and their leaders) from around the province. For more info, check out Passion 2012.

G&P

- Andrew

Video - New Creation Has Already Begun (Rob Bell)

Great little sermon clip from Rob Bell on the Gospel of John and Creation.

Jesus' resurrection begins the new creation.

Jesus is the new Monday.

[via the Pangea Blog]

G&P

- Andrew

Youth & Culture - Is OK to Pray for Your Team to Win?

Superbowl MVP Eli Manning (image via Google search)

Coming off the heels of a memorable Super Bowl - and a season where Tebow-mania was sweeping the nation - this question is ever so timely: does God answer our prayers when we pray for our team to win?

Josh Graves gets it right with his answer. I just love his response as he invites us to remember the heart of Jesus:

Here’s my short answer. Based on Christian scripture and practical experience, the purpose of prayer is for God to win. Not for you to win. Or your favorite team.

God’s probably not concerned with who wins the Super Bowl. God’s consumed by working on behalf of the usher who can’t figure out how to pay his chemo bill. Or the player going through a divorce. Or the assistant coach who lost his son to suicide. Or the trainer wrestling a gambling addiction. Or the recent immigrant, trying to pay one more bill by cleaning up the confetti that falls in Lucas Oil stadium.

God sees the whole stadium, not the final score.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this game or any other game.

It also doesn’t mean you can’t pray for your team. Because God is a father, God likes to hear from us—whatever the reason, even if our prayers might be childlike in nature.

 Just don’t fall into the trap of assuming that your prayers are God’s prayers. Even if that’s your heart’s desire.

Wow. That's some good stuff. Solid perspective on the things that matter.

No matter how where you land on this question or seriously you take it, it's a great conversation starter with your students.

[via Jesus Creed]

G&P

- Andrew

Peter Enns - The Evolution of Adam (Book Reviews)

This book may be 2012's Love Wins.  So get in on the conversation.

Lots of digital ink has been used this week to discuss the release of Peter Enns' The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins. Here are some of the reviews that I have read:

• Kurt Willems at the Pangea Blog (check out his list of Christian leaders who have expressed an openness to evolution, including Billy Graham and CS Lewis)
• RJS at Jesus Creed (1, 2)
• Rachel Held Evans

For a whole lot more, go to The Brazos Blog. It's worth checking out Peter's response on why he wrote the book.

I agree whole-heartedly that the Bible never intended to be a scientific book. Yet, I do feel that it aspires - by the author's intent and God's direction - to be a historically and theological accurate composition. Even this is a tricky statement since it must be understood within the various genres found in the Bible. For example, how should songs, poems, and parables be determined to be historically and theologically accurate? We grade and evalulate each portion and genre of the Bible according to it's form and intent.

I'm not sympathetic to the theistic evolution view. I don't believe that God used evolutionary means to bring humanity into the world - though I believe he could if He wanted to, does that make sense? For me - whether the starting point is a cell or a hairy, dump, standing-upright mammal - it all comes down to being made in the image of God. 

At what point - if evolution be true - did the soul enter the human condition? At what point did God breath into humanity, making it the pinnacle of creation, utterly unique to all that came before it? 

Because I can't past this fundamental truth - that we are made in God's image - I'm unable to concede to evolution. 

But this is more than just an evolution vs creation debate: it's myth vs historical fact, early composition vs post-exilic, and much more.

That all said, I really want to buy this book. I'm eager to learn, eager to engage in the conversation, to listen and to reply.

--------------------

I don’t think that there’s any conflict at all between science today and the Scriptures. I think we have misinterpreted the Scriptures many times and we’ve tried to make the Scriptures say things that they weren’t meant to say, and I think we have made a mistake by thinking the Bible is a scientific book. The Bible is not a book of science. The Bible is a book of Redemption, and of course, I accept the Creation story. I believe that God created man, and whether it came by an evolutionary process and at a certain point He took this person or being and made him a living soul or not, does not change the fact that God did create man… whichever way God did it makes no difference as to what man is and man’s relationship to God. ~ Billy Graham in “Doubt and Certainties” (1964)

(source)

G&P

- Andrew