Coldplay Thanks Fans With Free Live CD

It is no wonder this band has such loyal fans!

From Rolling Stone:

Starting with their May 15th show in West Palm Beach, Florida, Coldplay will give all fans that attend a gig on their North American Viva la Vida summer tour a free live album, the band revealed on its Website. Fans who aren’t holding tickets to any of those performances can get the nine-song collection,LeftRightLeftRightLeft, as a free download on the band’s official Website starting May 15th. Physical copies of the album will only be available at Coldplay’s concerts, however. The live album culls performances from several cities during the band’s last year of touring and will be available only during its summer tour, which runs until August 9th.

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I Want The Whole Gospel

From James MacDonald:

I Want the Whole Gospel

Every single ounce of truth; give it to me straight just like it is in the Bible.

I want the whole gospel:
Don’t dilute the living water—it might not quench my thirsty soul.

I want the whole gospel:
Turn on the light of Jesus Christ and don’t shield my view—I need every beam of His radiant glory to dispel the darkness in me.

I want the whole gospel:
Don’t block the door, or I might not get through.

I want the whole gospel:
I need an accurate map to the narrow road, because only a few are finding it.

I want the whole gospel:
Because I am wholly lost, God’s verdict is wholly just, and my damnation is wholly certain.
My heart is wholly depraved and my sin is wholly mine.
My efforts are wholly futile and my escapes are wholly hopeless.
I need a whole Savior, whose whole suffering, wholly satisfies a holy God.

Please, please don’t cut the corners. It’s appointed unto man once to die and I have to be sure I get it right.

I have to have the whole gospel—give it to me straight. Nothing else will do!

Yes…God help us, let’s give the whole gospel.

Big News From City On A Hill

City on a Hill today announced some rather big news. City on a Hill's Lead Pastor Dave Bruskas is a dear friend, and I am really excited for them. In the coming school year The Well looks forward to teaming up with City on a Hill which will be a Mars Hill campus to reach UNM and CNM in new and exciting ways.

Greater things are yet to be done...

From Mars Hills Blog:

At today’s services, Pastor Mark is making a few significant announcements, including news of multiple Mars Hill pastors preparing to start new churches, and multiple new Mars Hill campuses in the works. The latter includes our first out-of-state campus in New Mexico.

This summer, City on a Hill Church in Albuquerque will become a Mars Hill campus. We will partner together in an effort to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus. Over the past three months, the Executive Elders of Mars Hill and the pastors of City on a Hill have spent many hours in discussion, prayer, and study in order to reach this unanimous decision.

Dave Bruskas is the lead pastor at City on a Hill, which has been a part of the Acts 29 Networksince 2007. He is a proven, seasoned pastor and a gifted teacher. He is a loving husband, and a devoted father to his four daughters. Dave will be the Albuquerque campus pastor and serve as a regional director for both Acts 29 and Mars Hill, starting new campuses, starting new churches, and continuing to lead the local congregation.

The transition from City on a Hill to Mars Hill Church will be official in the next few months, and the new campus will celebrate its grand opening this fall. In the meantime, the local leadership will help shepherd the congregation through the transition, and Mars Hill pastors will spend some time onsite to provide training and fellowship as we get better acquainted with this new extension of our church family (for example, Tim Smith, our lead worship pastor, will visit next weekend, and Pastor Mark will preach live at City on a Hill on May 24).

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Albuquerque, and the work God has called them to lead in their city and region. We are encouraged by their faithfulness to the local mission, and it is an honor to come alongside them in the cause of the gospel.

As we follow Jesus across state lines, none of us know quite what to expect. But we trust him, we love him, and we want people to know him. We are incredibly excited to see him bring unity and fruit within the body of Christ, and salvation and new life throughout the world.

Visit MarsHillGlobal.com and subscribe to the newsletter for more updates related to new campuses, training opportunities, and resources to serve the greater church

Click here to learn more about Mars Hill Church.

Sam Storms Talk 1 @ Clarus 09

Sam Storms’s 1st talk at Clarus 09 was basically a brief summary of Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections.

Storms who is a Edwards scholar and admitted that few if any of us have seen a revival like the one that Edwards went through. He said this is good and bad. Bad cause we do long to experience this. Good because of the theological messiness that this type of revial comes with.

Storms then asked, What is true Religion, what is essential to the Christian life?

The answer is found in 1 Peter 1:8

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,”

An inexpressible joy, devoted to Christ is the quintessential thing to mark true Christianity. One of the best determining factors of the presence of such religion is when suffering is present. Suffering like nothing else truly exposes the state of our soul. It is hard to be a hypocrite when you are in pain.

When faith passes through the furnace of suffering what is left?

True faith that Peter talks about in vs. 8 has three characteristics:

1. Loving Jesus
2. Trusting Jesus
3. Enjoying Jesus

You cannot have one of these without the others. This is an all for nothing deal.

Storms then shared that what Peter ultimately invisions is a joy that human words cannot do justice or find the capacity to articulate.

This is more than just emotions that can be awakened by everything and anything. This is affections that are tied directly to the heart and one’s response to Biblical Truth.

Storms then asked a great question.

Does the reality of the intensity of these affections frighten us? If so, how do we think about heaven then?

Finally Storms pointed to the most passionate and affectionate person, Jesus. His affections were intense and full of fire and passion.

This is why we sing, “singing Truth ignites a forest fire of love, of hatred of sin, of affection for truth, of acknowledgement of power and mercy”

And every bit of it all is revolving around, Jesus!

Ray Ortlund Jr. Talk 1 @ Clarus 09

The first talk of Clarus 09 was given by Ray Ortlund Jr.. Ortlund went over Psalm 1 and helped to identify what makes up True Spirituality.

Ortlund started off asking the questions: Delighting in Truth, is it Biblical? Does it matter?

Ortlund then proceeded to go on to tell how indeed it does matter. How delighting in God cannot be separated from the gospel. By going through Psalm 1 Ortlund showed that the righteous man was the one who delighted in the law of the Lord. He emphasized 3 keywords in the Psalm.

1. Blessed. This is a congratulatory view, it is a Biblical High Five. This man in Psalm 1 has had his spiritual vision purified. Even in the face of scoffers and sinners he stands firm and delights in God and nothing else. This man is saying no to a lot, so he can say yes to God. That is why the Psalm calls him Blessed.
2. Delight. This raises the bar and lowers it. I raises it by showing there is no such thing as half-hearted Christianity. God wants our full delight, our full devotion, not just a moderate acknowledgement. God made the Bible clear on this point. God made the Bible in simple language so we would delight in Him as He has revealed Himself to us.
3. Therefore. Before the word “therefore” in vs. 5 the psalmist is speaking in present tense. Following “therefore” the psalmist now looks toward eternity future. This is where the Psalm turns to show where the wicked and righteous will end up. Delight determines destiny. What we enjoy, matters now, it will matter forever. What we enjoy reveals the deepest reality in us that has been wrought in us by the Holy Spirit and will matter forever. When dark things about God enter our mind we need to talk about them.

Ortlund then asked us. Can we identify with this righteous man and his delight. His delight not in the law, but in the law of the Lord. In other words is there an aliveness in us that will never die. Will we desire this taste of delight, that in reality, ultimate reality is just a foretaste of heaven?

C.J. Mahaney: Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

From CBMW:

Our motivation for biblical manhood and womanhood in marriage is the gospel.

I am convinced that the complementarian position will strengthen the church in her God given-role to proclaim and protect the gospel. And the most effective apologetic for the complementarian position (apart from Scripture) is marriages, families, and singles who radiate the beauty and wisdom of God's plan for men and women.

Biblical manhood and womanhood is the life-transforming effect of the gospel on full display. When a church teaches, practices, and honors gender distinctions determined by our good and wise God, the gospel will advance. But this will only happen where there are humble and courageous pastors who lead every member and ministry of the church by personal example and with strategic pastoring.

Yet here's my concern: It is all too easy for us as pastors to affirm biblical manhood and womanhood and to contend humbly for the complementarian position, and yet still fail to intentionally and consistently apply this body of teaching to our lives and to our churches. Pastors must not only proclaim truth but practice truth.

Read the rest of this great post here.

The Meaning of Life According to Jonathan Edwards

During the DSC Clarus luncheon Ray Ortlund Jr. shared this quote from George Mardsen’s biography of Jonathan Edwards aptly titled “Jonathan Edwards: A Life” as one that has stuck with him in profound ways.

“In the Edwardses’ world, the meaning of life was found in intense loves, including earthly loves.” (pg. 497)

The next line says:

“Yet as overwhelming as earthly affections might be, they were supposed to have their true value only when subordinated to heavenly and eternal loves.” (pg. 497)

You mean old, dead theologians understood emotion and love, in intense ways??

Who would’ve thought?

For more on this, check out Clarus' other speaker Sam Storm's book "Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards's 'Religious Affections'"