Horselake Mountain Road Report

Good news Wenatchee MTBers: As of today, Horselake Mountain road is ridable to the meadow and beyond. Between the second gate and the meadow there is one small patch of snow that is not rideable going up. But everything is rideable coming down. The bottom of "Suspended in Paradise" looks dry, but I didn't ride up the trail. Enjoy!

Priceless...

One season's pass at Mission Ridge: $299. Spending time with your beautiful daughter on the slopes: Priceless.

God Saves Sinners

"God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of the Father and Son by renewing.

Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.

Sinners - men as God find them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, blind, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot.

God Saves Sinners - Sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory forever, amen!" (J.I. Packer)

HT: Jeff Brewer

Go for the Gold!

"We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together His glory and our good. We glorify him by promoting our own salvation. It is a glory to God to have multitudes of converts; now, his design of free grace takes, and God has the glory of his mercy; so that, while we are endeavoring our salvation, we are honoring God.

What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory.

Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, you will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away?

So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified." (Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity, pp. 13-14)

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Unsafe Deity

"The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus for claiming that he was able to destroy the temple and rebuild it. To them, that was equivalent to claiming God’s power, and had to be blasphemy. Surely Jesus didn’t have that kind of power – never mind that he had spent several years very publicly giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and raising the dead.

But there’s a deeper trial going on. The God of Israel comes to Israel, and Israel puts him on trial. They condemn God incarnate on the basis of true testimony – his claim to be able to destroy and rebuild the temple. Jesus really claims such power, and he really has it. But the Sanhedrin doesn’t want such a God, a God who commits the blasphemy of destroying and rebuilding temples.

They want a god of guarantees, whose entire reason for being is to ensure that their temple will stand and keep standing, no matter what. Like all pagans, they want a god who ensures the persistence of the past, not a God who breaks down to make a new future. For them, a God who destroys and raises up is a blasphemous God.

That’s what Sanhedrins of every age long for: a god who sanctions their tradition. They will always send a God who kicks over their little monuments to the cross." (Peter J. Leithart in Cornerstone)

Like a Hammer

Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)



"We live in a society where the value of words has been greatly diminished. We often talk about 'mere words.' Actually, words can bring life and death. Words are powerful. They can steal hope away, and they can give it back again. God's Word brings his resurrecting power.

The spoken word was not despised in Bible times. Rather, scholars suggest that ordinary words were highly valued. 'In Old Testament times, the word was regarded as being alive, and so was portrayed as being sent out of the heart (mind/brain,/mouth) of a living person, to leap to the goal at which it was directed. Then, when it arrived, it did the work of the speaker who had sent it forth, for it conveyed the power of the speaker to change the heart or the mind of the hearer of the word.'

True Christians place a very high value on words, even if we live in a world that prefers to value image. Apologist Ravi Zacharias is credited with saying, 'In the beginning was the Word, not video.' Jesus, the Son of God is described as the Word. God could hardly express His high view of words in a stronger way than that."

(Adrian Warnock quoting George Angus Fulton Knight, Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything)

Stuff Christians Like

I've only listened to the first hour or so, but I can already recommend this audio book to you. And here's why:

It's funny, sarcastic and witty. (Note: Christian wit and sarcasm are the very best when the wielder of such employs them to poke fun at himself and the particular branch of the Church of which he is a card-carrying member.)

It's read by the author.

It makes fun of us Christians in a way that exposes issues that need to be dealt with (i.e. owned, confessed and repented of) without being preachy and condescending.

It's free (so even if you don't like it, you can still say that you "got your money's worth.")

Warning: I was listening to this on a run this morning and was almost incapacitated by the "Shelf-elf versus the Wisemen" section.

You can download the book here. Enjoy.

WWSP? (What Would Spurgeon Preach?)

The evangelistic preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon was unusually blessed. Tens of thousands were converted to Jesus Christ as a result of Spurgeon's Gospel declarations.

But consider this: In the published sermons of "the Prince of Preachers" he references the resurrection of Jesus 7,260 times (an average of twice per sermon.) Which begs at least three questions:

Does modern preaching have a similar emphasis? (I think not.)

Does modern preaching produce a similar result? (I think not.)

Is it time to rethink the evangelistic importance of preaching the cross and the resurrection of Jesus? (I think so.)

He is risen! (He is risen indeed!)

The Way to Great Grace

(Acts 4:33) And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.



Jesus' disciples did not speak about witnessing the same way we Christians do today. We talk about "being witnesses", they talked about "being witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ." We talk about "witnessing", they talked about "witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Question: When is the last time that you bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus? When is the last time you told someone (who does not already believe in Jesus) about Jesus' bodily resurrection from the grave 2000 years ago?

And note the wonderful result of their bearing "testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus": great grace was upon them all.

Let no one who is not consistently telling others about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ complain about a lack of grace in their church or family. Let us rather give ourselves to the means that God has promised to bless, namely, many simple, gladsome retellings of the Easter story throughout the year.

"An Inseparable Unity"

(Romans 4:24–25) It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.



"By his death sin was taken away, by his resurrection righteousness was renewed and restored. For how could he by dying have freed us from death, if he had yielded to its power? How could he have obtained the victory for us, if he had fallen in the contest? Our salvation may be thus divided between the death and resurrection of Christ: by the former sin was abolished and death annihilated; by the latter righteousness was restored and life revived, the power and efficacy of the former being still bestowed upon us by means of the latter." (John Calvin)


"He did not say, he was handed over for our justification and rose, for the sake of our sins. In his being handed over sin is mentioned; in his resurrection justice is mentioned. Therefore let sin die, and let justice rise." (St. Augustine)


"That is, delivered for our offenses, and raised again that he might see to the application of his sufferings to our justification, and that he might plead them for our justifying." (Jonathan Edwards)


"For Paul, the death and resurrection of Christ belong together, and the former without the latter would be of little significance. Therefore he rarely thinks of one without the other." (Tremper Longman and David Garland)


"Sadly, there are those who err in emphasizing either the crucifixion or the resurrection of Jesus at the expense of the other. Some preach only the cross and its result of forgiveness of sin and justification. Without preaching the resurrection of Jesus as well, Christians are prone to overlook the mission of Jesus and the new life he has for them on the earth. They tend to see Christian life as little more than going to church to soak in teaching until they get to heaven. This is the perennial error of Christian fundamentalism.

Conversely, there are others who preach only the new kingdom life that Jesus offers through his resurrection. These Christians excel at helping the poor and handing out hugs and muffins, but fail at repenting of personal sin and calling others to repent of personal sin so that they might be forgiven and reconciled to God through Jesus. This is the perennial error of Christian liberalism." (Mark Driscoll)


"Let us remember, therefore, that when [in Scripture] death only is mentioned, everything peculiar to the resurrection is at the same time included, and that there is like a synecdoche [a figure of speech in which a word usually used to refer to a part of something is used to refer to the whole] in the term resurrection, as often as it is used apart from death, everything peculiar to death being included." (John Calvin)


"It is, moreover, of the greatest importance to see the significance of Christ's death and resurrection, which are the center of Paul's proclamation, as an inseparable unity; and particularly to keep in view how the significance of Christ's resurrection is determined by that of his death, and vice versa." (Herman Ridderbos)

Jesus Makes All Things New

He is risen! Here is a little Resurrection Morning music. Enjoy!

For You, Little Child...

Eva's baptism at The King's Congregation, Boise, ID


At the conclusion of our baptism ceremony, if the recipient of the water is young enough to be carried in my arms, I take them out into the congregation while the congregation says to them (see interspersed below):

"For you, little child, Jesus Christ has come, he has fought, he has suffered."



"For you he entered the shadow of Gethsemane and the horror of Calvary."



"For you he uttered the cry, 'It is finished!'"



"For you he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and there he intercedes — for you, little child, even though you do not know it."



"But in this way the word of the Gospel becomes true. 'We love him, because he first loved us.'"

Sloughs of Grace

(Ecclesiastes 11:1-2) Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

Most merciful God, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are Your ways higher than ours. You are perfect, but You are no perfectionist; You are just and merciful and neither at the expense of the other; You demand everything of us, and everything You demand You are pleased to give us freely as a gift. Forgive us dear Lord…

For unlike You we are the very picture of miserliness, stinginess and greed. The love, blessing and joy that You share within the holy Trinity is continually spilling out onto others. You are the ultimate “cheerful giver” and are always and only too glad to give, even at great cost to Yourself. But unlike You, we have not “cast our bread upon the waters.” Fearing want and deprivation, we have hoarded divine blessings to ourselves. And doubting the inexhaustible abundance of Your supply we have determined to stockpile and accumulate, rather than pass-on and allocate the mercies, gifts and provisions that You daily pour into our lives. Lord have mercy upon us…

And hear us now as we confess our particular sins to You...

Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted

My favorite Good Friday song is an old hymn entitled Stricken, Smitten and Afficted. You can listen to my version of it here. Alleluia, what a Savior!

Unto the Hills...

Good news: The road at the top of Number 2 Canyon is rideable to the second gate. And if the warm weather holds, the road past the second gate (which accesses some of the most beautiful hill-country in all of Washington) could be rideable in a couple of weeks.



For the record, my longing for the hills is entirely biblical. As the psalmist pined and then penned, "Unto the hills I lift my longing eyes..." (Psalm 121:1).

Pedal Driven (a Bike-umentary)

The Shadow of the Cross

Several years ago, during family worship, we read through Elisabeth Elliot's biography of Amy Carmichael entitled, A Chance to Die. Shortly afterward I wrote and recorded this chorus entitled, The Shadow of the Cross, which you can listen to here.

(HT: Brittany Johnson)

No, Mr. President...

The "we wept for joy at your inauguration Mr. President" excepted, this is a powerful and sobering video. May God have mercy on our blood-stained nation.



(HT: Josh McPherson)

A Prophet One of Your Own...

Here is the well-known atheist Christopher Hitchens' scathing statement regarding the Roman Catholic Church's refusal to deal adequately with it's awful and ongoing child-abuse problem:

"The happiness and the health of countless children was systematically destroyed by men who could count on their clerical bosses to shield them from legal retribution and, it seems, even from moral condemnation. A bit of 'therapy' or a swift change of locale was the worst that most of them had to fear.

Almost every week, I go and debate with spokesmen of religious faith. Invariably and without exception, they inform me that without a belief in supernatural authority I would have no basis for my morality. Yet here is an ancient Christian church that deals in awful certainties when it comes to outright condemnation of sins like divorce, abortion, contraception, and homosexuality between consenting adults. For these offenses there is no forgiveness, and moral absolutism is invoked. Yet let the subject be the rape and torture of defenseless children, and at once every kind of wiggle room and excuse-making is invoked. What can one say of a church that finds so much latitude for a crime so ghastly that no morally normal person can even think of it without shuddering?"

Here are three thoughts regarding Hitchens' statement:

1) Hitchens is absolutely right regarding both the horrific nature of child abuse and the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholics' handling of the matter.

2) Regardless of what the RC hierarchy does to bring these sins into the light, take responsibility for them and make restitution to the victims, these sexual sins will continue in some form or another until the RC Church allows its priests God's provision for coping with sexual desire: marriage.

3) In typical Hitchens fashion, he is railing with all the certitude and righteous indignation of someone who actually has an authoritative and universally binding standard of morality, when in fact he has nothing of the kind. "Hypocrisy", you say Mr. Hitchens? As always, "It takes one to know one."

Please join me in praying that Mr. Hitchens will someday find the same divine forgiveness for his hypocrisy that we Christian hypocrites found (and find daily) at the foot of Jesus' cross.

Some Day, One Helmet

I've been bugging my pastor-friend, Josh, to "get out of the study and into the woods." It looks like he finally took my advice.