The Friday Five

1. Music: Take The World, But Give Me Jesus by Ascend The Hill. This is a great, relatively unknown album featuring contemporary arrangements of some classic hymns. The difficulty in updating classic hymns is that it's really easy to end up with a hymn that doesn't sound like itself. However, Ascend The Hill manages to create a really good album, even when they stretch the boundaries of what we would expect from hymns. I especially like that they took on some of the more doctrinally rich hymns from the 2000 years of history the church has to work with.
2. Book: Lords Of The Sith by Paul Kemp. Everybody knows I love Star Wars. However, I haven't been one to read the books over the years. However, it's a little more manageable now that Disney & Lucasfilm scrapped the old "expanded universe" in favor of creating a new canon with more continuity. Now to the real reason why this book is great & why I'd recommend it to even a fan who typically only watches the movies: Vader. The book is primarily about the relationship between Darth Vader & the Emperor. On top of that it feels like a Star Wars movie. It's action-packed while also being very character driven. I don't read a whole lot of stuff just for fun or entertainment, but this one was great. I finished it in a couple of sittings. Pro-tip: Read it while listening to the soundtrack of any of the Star Wars movies. It will bring it to life even more as you find your reading syncing up with John Williams' score.
3. Social Media: ParentCue On Instagram. ParentCue comes to you from the people at Orange, some of the leaders in family ministry content for churches. ParentCue, as you might expect, is directed at parents. Their Instagram account is one of my favorite's to follow.
4. Quote. "When I count other people's blessings, I tend to lose sight of mine." Andy Stanley
5. Bible Study Resource: Blue Letter Bible. This site is one of my go to study helps for both personal study & sermon prep. Blue Letter Bible has tons of translations, linguistic helps, & commentaries. It's user friendly, & you don't have to have a PhD to navigate it & find it useful, even the linguistic sections that focus on the Greek & Hebrew. If you're looking to go a little deeper with some of your studies, this is a resource I'd recommend to anyone.

The Friday Five

I'm back this week with a quick Friday Five after a busy few weeks. So here we go. Hope you enjoy.

1. Music: Poets & Saints by All Sons & Daughters. All Sons & Daughters has a new album coming out in September that you can pre-order now & receive a couple of tracks now. I was able to get a free download of one of those songs, "I Surrender," about a month ago. This is going to be a great album. I'm a huge fan of everything I've ever heard from All Sons & Daughters, & I'd encourage you to go ahead & make plans to check this one out.
2. Book: Exalting Jesus In 1st & 2nd Kings. This book is part of the Christ-Centered Exposition series led by David Platt, Danny Akin, & Tony Merida. Too often when we read through Scripture, especially the Old Testament, we're not reading it through the lens of Jesus or the lens of the Gospel. As a result, we develop a Christ-less interpretation. It's an inadvertent mistake, but it's a real one & an easy one to make. These books may sound scholarly but the team does a great job of making these works easy to ready & accessible for just about anybody.
3. Blog Post: 7 Things Church Guests Are Telling Us. This is a great little post from Thom Rainer that those of us in church leadership or who are actively involved in a local church need to read. Too often we let things slide because we take them for granted & forget to see through the eyes of a newcomer or first time guest. As a result, we create an uncertain or uncomfortable environment for our guests, & I don't know about you, but I tend to avoid uncertain & uncomfortable environments. The same is true of our guests. 
4. Quote. "We want to be known as men & women who love Jesus more than we love our freedoms." -Matt Chandler
5. Nerd Corner: Star Wars Celebration 2016 on YouTube. This weekend the center of the Star Wars universe is London. The folks over at Disney & Lucasfilm host their own huge conference every year to promote upcoming properties like the new Rogue One film or the upcoming season of Star Wars: Rebels. It's also a place where fans get to meet some of the actors & creators of the Star Wars universe. This weekend you can take a look at some of the panel conversations from Celebration through Star Wars YouTube Channel. They're airing the Rogue One panel, the Rebels panel, & panels featuring some of the big stars of Star Wars like Mark Hamill & Carrie Fisher. Not only can you watch these panels live, but they're going to keep these panels up on their YouTube page to view later. This is a great opportunity for uber-Star Wars nerds to hear about the upcoming films, shows, & books without having to spend thousands of dollars to spend the weekend in London.

The Friday Five

This week's Friday Five focuses on bluegrass icon Ralph Stanley who passed away yesterday at 89. Here are 5 songs/performances that you should check out.

1. Pretty Polly. As great a singer as Ralph has always been, I actually preferred his voice as he got older. There was just something about a little age that made his tenor voice even more powerful. This performance with Patty Loveless from several years back is an instant classic.
2. White Dove. This one dates back to Ralph's days with his brother Carter in the Stanley Brothers. The Stanley Brothers are in my opinion the embodiment of the "high lonesome sound" in bluegrass, & nobody does death songs better than the Stanley Brothers. White Dove is one of their classics & features Ralph's legendary high harmonies
3. Dickson County Breakdown. Ralph wasn't just an incredible singer. He was also a banjo pioneer. Although overshadowed by Earl Scruggs, Ralph was no slouch. Ralph had a tone that was distinctly his, & Dickson County Breakdown is a great tune featuring his playing.
4. Glory Land: The Stanley Brothers were also known doing great Gospel songs, many times a capella. Glory Land is one of many great tunes. This version is from a show in 1983 & starts around 30:40.
5. Little Maggie. Even though it may be a little predictable, you can't have a list of Ralph Stanley greatness without Little Maggie. When I hear the name Ralph Stanley, this is usually the first song I think of. If you're unfamiliar with Ralph Stanley or the Stanley Brothers in general, this song needs to be your introduction.

BONUS: Sweetheart of Mine Can't You Hear Me Calling with Bill Monroe. Here's a clip with arguably the two most important vocalists in the history of bluegrass.

The Friday Five

This week's Friday Five focuses on great documentaries that music lovers have to check out. Most of these are available online either through Netflix or another provider.

1. Muscle Shoals. Some of the best music ever produced was recorded in a sleepy north Alabama
   town on the Tennessee River. This documentary tells the story of the musicians who played & the giant genius that is Rick Hall, founder of Fame Recording Studio. You'll be shocked at how much incredible stuff came out of this little town.
2. Winding Stream. I literally found this one on Netflix yesterday. It recounts the story & impact of the Carter Family on American music. If you don't know who the Carter Family is, you should be ashamed of yourself, & you need to educate yourself immediately.
3. The Wrecking Crew. While great hits were being recorded in Muscle Shoals, there was another hit factory on the west coast. There a group of musicians were creating some of the biggest pop classics of all time. This is the story of those musicians. Again, you'll be amazed at how much great music was made by a relatively small group of musicians.
   
4. History Of The Eagles: Bottom line: This is one of the best music documentaries ever. But you better set aside some time. It's around 3 hours long, but it's the good, bad, & ugly behind one of the most iconic bands in American music.
5. Carol King: Natural Woman. Great documentary focusing in on the life & music of one of the most important songwriters of all time. Yes, you get a lot of focus on Tapestry, but you also find out that she wrote seemingly every hit you ever heard, while also seeing what was going on in her life during those years. Great stuff from PBS>

Feast or Famine?

“The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His Presence.” -A.W. Tower

This weekend we continued our series "I Am" as one of our deacons shared a message from John 6 as Jesus says, "I am the bread of life..." As we examined the passage & its implications, I thought of this quote. The world is dying in its sin and too many have never heard the message of the Gospel from the Church. At the same time, too many congregations are dying and closing their doors because they've forgotten the message & ministry of the Gospel.

As Jesus invited people to come and feed on the Bread of Life. He not only promised that this Bread would give them life, real spiritual life, but He also showed Himself to be the sustainer of that life. He is the Source & the Sustainer. The Gospel is what bring us to life in Christ, & it's the Gospel that transforms us to live as Christ. But somehow too many of us have forgotten this. So our salvation becomes an event rather than a way of life. The Gospel becomes something that happened to us at a particular moment rather than the very life blood of our existent. And along the way, in a very slow, subtle, unintentional way, we forget the Gospel. As Jesus said in Revelation 2, we forget our first love. As we forget our first love, we also forget to do what we did at first, namely pursue Jesus & pursue the lost. So in the end we not only neglect the Gospel, we end up neglecting the Great Commission.

As a result, the world begins to starve for the knowledge of God because the vehicle for that message of God's loving, gracious pursuit of sinners has been starving for God's presence. When we stop walking in the Gospel, it won't be long before we stop sharing the Gospel. 

"Consistently & Faithfully Following Jesus Means 

Continually & Faithfully Feasting On Jesus."

How are we supposed to feed on Jesus? Let me share a couple of verses to guide us. John 1:17 says that "the Word became flesh & dwelt among us." The eternal, preexistent Word of God, the very Word of creation, the very Word of revelation, put on flesh & lived among us, & His name was Jesus. So again, how do we feed on Jesus? We feed on Jesus by feeding on the Word because He is the Word. Then what? Well, let's consider what Ezekiel 3:1 says. In this verse God commands His prophet to eat the word & then speak the word. Sound familiar? It should. As believers we consume the Bread of Life, Jesus. He gives us life & salvation. As we experience the work of Christ, we're moved to advance that Good News of life, hope, & salvation in Christ. We consume the Word, then we speak the Word so that Jesus is magnified & lives are saved. If we want the world to have knowledge of God & therefore live, we must feast on Christ & His word so that we're moved by the Gospel to advance the Gospel. 

So let me ask you, are you in a season of feast or famine? If you're feasting, is it leading to action? Are you eating the word & speaking the word? If you're in a season of famine, come back to the table. Jesus has invited you to come & dine so that you will never have to hunger or thirst again.