Live From The Desiring God Conference

Friday Night
6:36-Registered for the conference and got a free book!


All attendants got a free copy of John Piper's Think. "It's your ticket in". Best ticket ever :)


So far I've met a friend and fellow blogger, and made friends with the good people at The Gospel for OC. I can't wait to see their coverage of this event. If you're following along, there's after party tomorrow as well.


7:08- The event should have started, but we're still waiting for people to make it. The place is definitely getting packed.


7:11-Rick Warren is up front shaking hands. That was random.


7:13- I should add that the event is very diverse. Lot's of Asians, Hispanic, White, Young, Old, Geek, Chic, etc... It truly is good to worship God with so many people from many backgrounds.

7:24-"You look like Franklin Graham, but better looking" Rick Warren said that to my Pastor. It's true, he does look like Franklin Graham.


7:34-Finally starting. Scott Anderson has given a great welcome.


8:05-Great time of worship. Now, Rick Warren is giving an introduction to tonight's message, and an encouragement to follow the leaders in our lives.


8:07 -Dr. Piper takes the state. Rick Warren is much bigger than him.


8:12-Why does he do this? Because it makes him happy. There are truth's that are just strong enough to still our boat when it is being rocked by things going on in the world. What is the origin of the book Desiring God? It was born out of the moral issue of being happy. At least it's in the Bible, so his back is covered.


8:14 The problem of motivation became a problem. Paul writes that it is good to be alone and living for other's. But he wanted to get married and be a minister. I want, I want, I want, I can't stop wanting. Human beings were made to want.


8:16 John PIper just started singing "Wouldn't it be nice" by the Beach Boys :) That is how he was feeling when he was engaged.


8:18 5 Steps
 1. God and what motivates him
      -How my wants relates to his wants.
      -God is into being God. He has no one to report to but himself.
 2. He bids all of us to join him in the goal that he be glorified.
 3. The most important discovery: God is most glorified in me, when I am most satisfied in him.
     -This is the banner that must fly over our lives.
 4. The implications: We should devote our lives to being happy....in God.
    -We must maximize our joy.
   -Love is like a high pressure zone, that just wants to fill massive pockets of joylessness.
  -It must expand to other people.
 5. This is the only path to radical love for other people.


8:39- What drives God as the cross? Christ took on God’s wrath to show God’s righteousness. There is a link between sin and glory. People lack the glory of God.

It is God’s unwavering commitment to uphold the value of his glory. He didn’t sweep sin away, he dumped it on his son. Every day I wake up and say I’m not in hell, it’s a good day where I belong.

God does everything to display the infinite value of his Glory.

8:43 We are asked by God to join him in this goal. 1 Peter 4:11 Let him who serves, serve in the strength that God supplies, so that in everything GOd may get the glory.  Be the receiver. We do the good works, God get's the glory.

8:59 -point 3: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

It’s called desiring god, not arriving at joy in god, this isn’t finished sanctification, this is war. Don’t think any of your teachers is Jesus, none of us measure up to what we preach. John Piper

The Trinity: The nature of the Trinity is a reason for why God has designed us so that he is most satisfied in us when we are most satisfied in him.


They are 3 divine persons, one essence (appreciate the difficulty). The father has always had an image of himself, he’s always known himself, this knowledge is so full of all he is, that this self known is a fully divine person. The energy and love that flows between father and son (each with divine perfections) carries in it him, all he is, and a third person is there, The Spirit. So at the heart of God’s being is God knowing and God enjoying.



When he made us, he made our souls with two main capacities, the capacity to know and feel. What about will? The capacity to will and feel are the same.

9:07- God is glorified not only by his glories being seen, but in their being rejoiced in-Jonathan Edwards.

Phil 1:20-23  Why would death be gain? When he’s about to lose everything, and all he gets is Jesus. He’s losing everything but HIM.

9:19 -C.S. Lewis was a sceptic at 29. God’s constant command for us to praise him, is like an old woman wanting complements. Matthew 10:34-39 Some people would see Jesus’s words as an egomaniac.

Piper uses an ad for granola bars to make a point. Two people at the top of the mountain, “you never felt more alive, you never felt more insignificant”. Who are they marketing to? Do people like to feel insignificant? WHy do they go to the grand canyon, to feel big? Here’s the ad http://bit.ly/jECQ8f

Lewis realized that we praise what is praiseworthy. God is ultimately praiseworthy.

11:43 -Final Update
Wow, what a day! Dr. Piper has a lot of energy and passion for the message of joy in God. I'm really glad I got to meet some old friends, and made some new ones. Keep checking here and at twitter.com/frankfusion for my updates tomorrow.

So what should Rick Warren pray?

 

So in light of Rick Warrens controversial invitation to speak at Barrack Obama's inaguration, there has been a lot on line for and against  his appearance. I have to admit, I'm somewhat mixed on this. Should he go there in the spirit of praying for those in authority (or for your enemy!) in light of Romans 13? And what about the equally difficult position of asking a Holy God to bless a man who is pro-choice, for embryonic stem cell research, and gay rights (though not gay marriage it would seem)? Here's pastor (I think) Beth Quick's thoughts on Warren being there (honest I might add):

And then on the other hand, as I've been reflecting, I wonder: I consider not allowing gay and lesbian persons to marry, or restrictions on adoption, or restrictions in the church on ordination, etc., to be oppressive human rights violations. Injustices. Inequalities that are wrong. What if Obama had chosen someone to pray at his inauguration who supported other violations of human rights? I find it harder to answer these questions. If John McCain had been elected, and chosen a pastor to pray who had racist views, would that be ok? Many people shy away from a comparison between racism and heterosexism, but I don't think the analogy is inaccurate. And so I'm just not sure, not sure what 'slot' to put my disagreement with Rick Warren in.

 Her response is telling for two reasons. She obviously differs with Warren's views, but isn't entirely put off with him there. But her difficulty is that he is a heterosexist (it seems very implied). Her pos tis very honest, and she wonders where all the hoopla was when both Obama and McCain met with Warren earlier this year.

The second response comes from Todd Dreher of Crunchy Con Blog. Funny to be sure.

Pastor Rick Warren, who favors civil unions but not full marriage rights, is actually a moderate in this debate. That means two-thirds of all Americans with an opinion on the subject are against same-sex marriage. Yet Rick Warren is somehow too extreme to pray at the Inaugural? Somebody's living in a bubble, and it ain't Rick Warren.

Joseph Farrah of World NEt Daily has this to say (and worth thining about)

Barack Obama is opposed to any and all restrictions on the killing of unborn children and has pledged to work against the few that remain. In fact, as a state legislator in Illinois, he pushed a law that would require the killing of babies born alive after unsuccessful abortions.
I would hope you, a pastor of the gospel of Jesus Christ, would also call that evil.
I’m trying to imagine Jesus giving an invocation at the inauguration of such a man. I think you will agree, it’s unimaginable.
So why are you ready, willing and eager to do this thing?

So what say you? Should he or shouldn't he? What would YOUU DO IN THIS SITUATION? What do I think you ask? I think............to be continued. 

When being relevant isn't enough

From Carl Trueman at Reformation21. This is in response to the huge stir- up Barrack Obama has caused by inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inaguration.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that the day is probably not far off when those who regard homosexual practice as wrong will be consistently presented as the moral, cultural and intellectual equivalents of white supremacists.  Al Mohler (who seems to have spent the whole week writing or speaking on the issues of Lisa Miller and Rick Warren) has pointed out that this issue is set to shatter any possibility of traditional, biblical Christians being considered cool.   You can have the hippest soul patch in town, and quote Coldplay lyrics till the cows come home; but oppose homosexuality and the only television program interested in having you appear will soon be The Jerry Springer Show when the audience has become bored of baiting the Klan crazies.  Indeed, evangelicals will be the new freaks.

 I have been thinking over the last year on Christianity and culture. D.A. Carson poses a very interesting question in his book on the subject. Paraphrasing it, the question is this: would C.S. Lewis have been the way he was had he been raised in the killing fields of Cambodia instead of England? Why that matters to this issue is that no matter how comfortable we are in this culture, it's changing. A changing culture will require us move differently. Trueman believes we have  a few options.
1. We could give into the cultural impetus to accept a lifestyle that is un-biblical (which some have done). I should add, that just because we don't accept said lifestyle does not  mean we can't be friends, nice or have to ignore those who are gay (If we did how would we witness to them?).
2. Completely demonize people who are gay and reduce them to a concept, a label or their orientation alone-like these people do (I might add, this is horrible). As Trueman says, people are more complex than that. 

So what do we do? I would suggest we pray and love our neighbors. In tough times, Peter had these words:

13Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
 --1 Peter3:15-17

"Above my paygrade" Obama biffs it at Saddleback

The line that may well haunt Barrack Obama for the rest of his campaign, according to The Corner, the blog for national Review Online. Blogger Mark Hemingway writes:

When asked "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?," McCain answered "At the moment of conception." Obama's answer here was flaming-dirigible bad:

Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade.

That spectacularly inept metaphor is going to haunt Obama throughout the rest of the campaign. News flash: There's not a job on the planet above the pay grade of the President of the United States. If you can't solve every problem and are humble about it, that's fine — but you can't get away with being unsure about the most defining moral issue in politics. Of course, he didn't put down the shovel:

But let me speak more generally about the issue of abortion. Because this is something, obviously, the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue. And So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue is not paying attention.

So after completely hedging on the question and declining to give a specific answer — he wants to speak "more generally" about the issue? And, lo and behold, speak more generally he does: "I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue." In related news, Obama is also "absolutely convinced" that the sky is blue, water is wet and puppies are adorable. None of this, however, tells me a thing about his judgment and moral worldview.

McCain's answer is a bit more revealing and forthcoming:



McCain, I believe had something more to offer. When asked whom they would turn to for help, Obama started off with his wife and grandmother. Great answers, if you're running for Miss USA. For the job of PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES experience counts. McCain began with General Petraus, A Democratic Senator John Lewis and the former CEO of Ebay Meg Whitman.

In the comments section of the article, this stood out to me:

In the first fifteen minutes, McCain had established a moral seriousness stemming from his conduct in Vietnam as a POW and his long-time as a national leader that Obama can't match. Throughout the rest of the night, he brought up Iraq, al Qaeda, and the Georgia crisis, when Obama was more inward-looking. McCain sounded like a potential commander-in-chief, Obama more like a potential friend. This is not to say, again, that Obama was not impressive. But the skills he showed tonight—the thoughtfulness and verbal dexterity—were those of a very talented memoirist, which, of course, he is.

Byron York also points out that one of the key factors that stood out last night was: EXPERIENCE! Yes folks, it still counts. He writes,

John McCain has lived a much bigger life than Barack Obama. That’s not a slam at Obama; McCain has lived a much bigger life than most people. But it still made Obama look small in comparison. McCain was the clear winner of the night.

I could go on with a few other things that got my thinking. But I think this gave McCain chance to show his experience, his war record, and even get to show his more human side. It will be interesting to see how this Forum affects the polls in the next few days.