I don’t know if you’ve ever tried the ESV translation of the Bible, but it’s great and heralded as one of the best “word-for-word literal translations” available.  All of the current Builders teachers primarily teach out of it, in fact.  In October, Crossway will publish the brand new ESV study Bible.  It promises to be a very useful study tool to help read and understand the Holy Word of God.  I was just surfing the ol’ internet tonight, and I found a cool 35% discount on pre-ordering the ESV study Bible via Sovereign Grace Ministries.  AND, it helps send men to Pastors College.  If you’re interested, check it out here.

As I’ve read the news over the past week or so, I am blown away by the magnitude of just two natural disasters, the cyclone in Myanmar and the recent earthquake in China. Upwards of 100,000 people may have perished in Myanmar, and many more surely will as aid is very slowly being given. Multiple tens of thousands have died in China. In one city alone, over 18,000 people were buried. This is enormous suffering and loss of human life. So many bad things happen in this world. People get diagnosed with cancer every day. Babies die. Children starve to death. It’s not hard to see how the Preacher declared, “Vanity of vanities…all is vanity.”

When I stop to consider these atrocities, I can’t help but ask the question, why? Why should things be this way and not better? Why couldn’t we live in a world without natural disasters, starvation, sickness, and disease? The answer, I think, is astounding and difficult. The answer to the why is sin. Because our first father sinned, the curse of the Almighty fell upon all creation. That which was very good was damned by God. Sin is so awful in the sight of God that He pronounced His divine anathema on created order.

As awful as that sounds, there is great beauty in this pronouncement as well. In Romans 8:20, Paul puts it this way, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope…” Our wonderful God didn’t just damn us and leave us be. The curse came that we might see the futility of sin…the emptiness of sin…the horror of sin. It came that we might be directed to God and look to Jesus for our deliverance from the futility of this world.  That is the hope that the curse is to bring about, the hope of deliverance, the hope of Jesus.

John Piper puts it this way in a sermon that I highly recommend that you listen to with 45 minutes of free time: The meaning of all misery in the world is that sin is horrific. All natural evil is a statement about the horror of moral evil. If you see a suffering in the world that is unspeakably horrible, let it make you shudder at how unspeakably horrible sin is and how unspeakably holy God is, which sin falls short of.

So, when we look around and see awful pain and suffering, we ought to be reminded of the vileness of sin, the pain that it brings, the utter futility of it and also have our minds directed to the blessed hope that is in Jesus for all who are believing. No longer is life itself futile, for we have a mighty hope!

The news is out; the”economic stimulus” money from the U.S. Treasury Department has started flowing. Most of us will be receiving between $300 and $600 per person, meant to be used to boost our ailing economy and spur it on toward growth and away from the dreaded r-word…recession.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got an email from my bank on Saturday telling me I’d already been credited with my tax rebate. I’ve been mulling over what to do with said rebate for a few months now. My thoughts have gone something like this: I have some debt that I could pay down, but that wouldn’t really spur the economy on very much. Being a good citizen, it would be a much better idea for me to dump this money back into the economy. Translation: I should go buy some toys! Think of the fun I could have with an unexpected $300-$600! Or, I could be a little more practical and put that money into our wedding fund (I’m finding that weddings, surprisingly, can cost a lot). That would still spur on the economy AND it would help me out. Or maybe I could do a a little of both.

Recently, however, my thinking about finances, mammon (see Matt. 6:24), and the Kingdom have been challenged, particularly and practically in regards to the economic stimulus rebate (read this for some of Piper’s thoughts). As I look around and observe, as I am wont to do at times but not often enough, I see many needs/opportunities that could be helped by my rebate money. I find that it is interesting and telling though that for some time, I have already been clinging tightly to my rebate money as though that blessing is just meant to bring me more fun and pleasure. Truthfully, I’ve spent hardly any time since Congress passed the bill thinking about what Kingdom work could be accomplished with the extra bonus money. It is entirely on top of my regular earnings. It’s unbudgeted money, and my budget wouldn’t be hurt in the slightest if I didn’t spend a dime of it on myself. And yet I want to spend it all on myself. I may not worship at the feet of mammon (or maybe I do), but I certainly give him deference far too often.

I don’t write this trying to make anyone feel like they have to give all or even some of their rebate money away in order to be a good Christian. I don’t think that’s true at all. Maybe you need some things around the house. Maybe you’ve got home or car repairs that need to be done or diapers to buy. Maybe you do want to buy something fun. Or maybe you need some time away with your spouse or by yourself.

I think those things are just fine to do. I would challenge everyone to be intentional, however. Take some time to think, pray, and discuss with a friend or spouse the best use for your rebate. Be intentional about where you put that money. God can be glorified with it whether you spend it on vacation, donate it to charity, or do a little of both. Think it through. Below, I’ve listed a few possible venues for how our rebates could be used for Kingdom stimulus. Please reply in the comments with any more ideas you have.

• Sponsor a child for a year (or two)
• Invite your neighbors over for dinner
• Buy and donate supplies for VBS
• Donate to the Grace fund
• Give to the KSBC general fund (our giving is under budget for the year, so far)
• Donate to Ben & Janet’s adoption fund
• Support Tonya Small
• Give to the Vess’ relocation fund
• Find a widow/someone in need around KSBC and help them out
• Donate to Trinity Mission
• Donate to Bibles Unbound (sending the Scriptures to closed/persecuted countries)
• Donate to World Vision’s Myanmar cyclone relief

We just got back from the Together for the Gospel conference. It was fantastic. I highly recommend you check out some of the messages. I cannot more highly commend to you R.C. Sproul’s sermon regarding the nature of Christ’s curse-bearing and John Piper’s sermon on radical Christian sacrifice in view of the supremacy of Christ. Take an hour or two and learn from these men who love Jesus and the Word. I came away loving Jesus more, and I hope you will too. http://www.t4g.org/resources/

We now have a group on Facebook. I found a few of you but if I missed someone or if you’ve signed up recently, add yourself to the KSBC Builders ABF.

My dad called me on Wednesday night shortly after the I-35W bridge spanning the Mississippi river in Minneapolis, MN collapsed (see some of the pictures), sending people and cars into the river below. Being from MN, having lived in the area of 35W for 4 years, having driven over the bridge countless times, and having friends that still live in the area, I’ve been keenly interested in the story.

At this time, it looks as though there are five confirmed fatalities, and many injuries. It seems so often that after a tragedy like this, people look to God, sometimes for the first time. I’m sure we all know people who started thinking of eternity in light of the events of 9-11. In fact, one of my close friends came to faith as a result of going to church after the attacks.

It also seems, sadly, that in light of such events, some people see God as being very cruel for causing/allowing “innocent” people to die suddenly. One man was quoted as saying, “God can be so cruel sometimes”. Read the CNN article here. For those who don’t see and understand that the great mercies of God that are new each morning (Lam. 3:22-23), it would seem a cruel happening. For those of us who are redeemed, however, occurrences such as these should point us to the mercy and love of the LORD. Each of us is deserving of a wrath poured out thousands of billions of times more fierce than a bridge collapsing, terrorist attacks, or school shootings. Yet the LORD forbears day after day, giving sinners time to repent.

I was particularly touched by this thought while reading a short note that Pastor John Piper wrote shortly after the events (Bethlehem Baptist is within sight of the bridge). I recommend that we all take time to read it and ponder the mercy, love, and forbearance of our God. I also urge everyone to pray for the Minneapolis community. I would guess that there are many people looking to God today, with one attitude or another, for the first time in a long while. Pray that the Spirit would do a work and bring them to repentance by the great kindness of God (Rom. 2:4).

I hate to disappoint all of our avid readers with this, but we won’t have normal ABF next week. Rather, there will be a combined ABF in the sanctuary. Tim Depue, the associate pastoral candidate, will be teaching. The Depues will be here all next weekend. The Kossuth leadership has provided several venues for us to get to know them and ask any questions we may have for them. I strongly urge everyone to get involved in this process by praying, looking over Tim’s resume and his answers to our questions, and then attending at least one of the events planned for next weekend. The details and Tim’s information can be found on the church web site. It would behoove us to critically evaluate his answers in light of the Scripture (both his doctrine and also his fitness for the role of pastor). Some suggested reading is I Timothy 3:1-7, II Timothy 2:15, and Titus 1:5-2:2.

On a side note, the next Sunday, we’ll be discussing the end of Paul’s life, the growth of the early church, how we got to where we are today, the state of the Church, with a special emphasis on our brothers and sisters around the world who experience persecution for the sake of the Name daily (or at least face the possibility of it much more so than we do). Following will be a four week miniseries on studying the Bible, and then a nice somewhat longer stay in the book of Revelation. Soli Deo gloria!

For those of you that like looking at pictures of the places in Acts (and other biblical places too) that we’ve been studying, you can check out this web site. This is a collection of thousands of pictures that one of my Bethel profs has put together with pictures from Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. It’s pretty cool and also has some good information about all the places/pictures. For an added bonus, click here.

I just listened to a really great Piper sermon about the work of the Word in our lives. I highly recommend this to anyone. If you don’t have time to listen to it, you can also read the synopsis. Check it out here.

Also, for a wonderful compilation of sermon clips along with some great music (i.e. from the Braveheart soundtrack) that should stir and quicken the spirit, check out the Revival Hymn. I love this thing!

This is on the main ksbc.net site, but I figured I’d post it here too since Ben and Joel are a part of our class.

Our very own Joel Brovont and Ben Whipple recorded their performance of Philip Bliss’ Hallelujah, What a Savior for all to enjoy. Listen Now!