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Music

First up: Did y’all know Mavis Staples was still singing?  Came across this piece at Mockingbird.  Check it out.

Also, Justin Taylor has a good interview with holy hip hop artist Flame.  Check it out.  In related news: We’re still reviewing Justin’s application for a ghetto card.  He’s making good progress with his interviews with Flame and Trip Lee.  But the suburban khaki factor is still quite high.  Stay tuned for further details.

Islam

A warm “thank you” to Gallifant.com for their kind review of The Gospel for Muslims.  Can I just say how encouraged I am that the Lord has taken my years of prodigal and idolatrous wandering and appears to be making them useful for the gospel and the kingdom.  Praise the Lord for His love for prodigals!

While we’re  on the subject of Islam and Muslims, this brief read puts us back on the right track: Islam, Fear, and the Gospel’s Demands.  The opening paragraphs:

I have a friend who works in a country where Islamic law governs life. The small house church he had established was in the hands of national leadership, and he was not present when the religious police broke in and arrested the entire church, sentencing all of the men to prison.

One day soon after, an angry mob assembled at the local mosque and marched toward my friend’s home. He gathered his wife and children together, locked the doors, shuttered the windows, and went upstairs. His wife shook in fear as they prayed together, asking for deliverance and praying for those who were marching down the street toward them. The shouts and insults against Christians grew as the mob drew closer to their home.

The Gospel

A worthwhile read: “Justification by Faith and Racism.”  A snippet:

I was deeply disturbed when several years ago I visited an American friend of mine in the South. He had recently been offered the senior pastorship of a white church that was located in what had recently become an African-American neighborhood. He told the elders of this church that he would only accept the position if they consented to move the church to a new white majority area. I quizzed him on this as to how he as a Christian minister could be so racially partisan. His response was that, realistically, it would be impossible to grow a predominantly white church in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. I understood the complexities of his context, but I was still dissatisfied with the theology that undergirded it and even more disappointed that a friend of mine whom I knew to be a godly man would act so pragmatically. Even 50 years after the end of legal segregation, Christians in the USA still struggle with race issues. Not simply in the work place, in schools, or in politics, but in churches that confess the name of Christ as Lord. I cannot claim immunity from racial prejudices in my own country Australia where we have our own tragic and haunted history of racial discrimination against the indigenous Australians. But the persistence of racism in churches that profess to live as citizens of heaven and as servants of Christ is a sign of our unfaithfulness and disobedience.

I want to suggest that one of the best resources for confronting racism in the Christian church is the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith.

Amen.  Read the article to find out why.  (HT: Z)

Pastoral Ministry

How do you shepherd a Christian brother being sued by a non-Christian?  Brian Croft with some brief thoughts.

From the DG Blog: Martin Lloyd-Jones Trust has made available for free nine new sermons Lloyd-Jones preached in Pensacola in 1969.  From the website:

These are truly excellent sermons. ‘Prayer’ seems a slightly unusual start to the series, but ‘The Acid Test’ is powerful, ‘A Picture of the Church’ is hard-hitting, ‘The Problem of Evangelism’ is a real gem, and from my point-of-view ‘How Shall We Escape?’ might be more appropriately titled: ‘So Great a Salvation’ – it’s a great sermon on a great salvation.

Health

This is not encouraging.  Not even a little bit: “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” from Time Magazine.  Now I’m even less motivated to take that walk today.  (HT: Z)

I was just telling my wife that I need some time off.  Then Challies links to this:

David Murray comments on a recent article from the New York Times. “Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could.”

But I am glad to receive one more justification for not owning a cell phone!

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