Death and the Gospel

Somehow we seem to have lost touch with the fact that we’re dying. I don’t know how this happens. It is the one thing in life that is absolutely guaranteed: we will die. Yet, we tend to live as if our days will last forever. We make money, buy big houses, buy new cars, watch our big screen televisions and whisper to ourselves that death is long way off…that we should eat, drink, and be merry, and pretend that life will continue on forever. That we are able to trick ourselves like this – to blind ourselves to our impending demise – is one of our strangest capacities. For death is all around us. Our friends and loved ones pass away. The evening news is filled with the reality. And if we’re still and quiet, we can feel ourselves getting older…heading toward death. How is it that we are able hide our eyes from this?

GravesEnd Podcast #2 – Money For Nothing

In this podcast Justin and Tim draw comparison’s between the Gospel of Corporate Culture v. the Gospel of Jesus. Corporate Culture practices a gospel of exclusion that only allows those who are able to measure up to company standards. Meanwhile, the Gospel of Jesus calls precisely those who cannot possibly begin to measure up.

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Repentance and the Fruit of Sanctification

Tim Melton expounds on the meaning of Galatians 5:6 – “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

In this sermon, Tim covers a lot of ground, explaining the differences between Justification and Sanctification and how repentance functions in regard to each. Especially focusing on Repentance in Sanctification, we see that genuine faith in Christ should result in a deep expression of the Love of Christ. Fruit that is not loving, is not the fruit of Christ, but rather the fruit of Self-effort which only serves to make us “look better” as Christians. Sanctifying Repentance does not deal with God’s Wrath – that was already addressed in Justification. Instead, Repentance in the life of the believer deals with Our Wrath toward God and Others. The fruit of this Sanctifying Repentance is the reception and bearing out of the glorious love of Christ.

Click Below to see Powerpoint Slides.

Maybe the Flobots can Preach?

One evening while enjoying a beer with my good friend and fellow pastor Justin Woodall, I heard a song come over the sound system at Beef O’ Brady’s. It was “Handlebars” by the Flobots. At the time I’d never heard of them, but I immediately liked the hard driving rap and, as I caught bits and pieces of the lyrical content, I felt that the song was saying something important. Later, Justin and I downloaded the song and “wow”. What a powerful message. We were blown away.

Just to be clear, Justin and I are pastors, on staff at Surfside Presbyterian Church. Not only do we love Surfside Pres, but more broadly, we love the Church of Jesus Christ. That is why we are in the ministry. That is why I personally have been in the ministry for 20 years and why Justin works as a Pastor of Student Ministry. We LOVE the church. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!! In fact, we love the church so much that we want her to be what Christ has called her to be – His body made manifest upon the earth. We long to see the Church operate, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the hands and feet and mouth of Christ.

Crazy Bill: The Gerasene Demoniac Revisited – a poem by Tim Melton

In Mark 5:1-20 we have the beautiful and horrific account of Jesus’ love for a man who is possessed by a band of demons that defiantly refer to themselves as “legion”. Out of all the stories in the Bible, I feel most kinship with this one. Like the Gerasene Demoniac, Jesus has rescued me – a crazed, exiled, sweaty toothed, mad man. He has called me from the grave, given me a new name, a new life, and a new hope. Daily, he cleans me, dresses me, clothes me, and he puts me in my right mind. My love for this account and my identification with it, eventually led me to poetically revisit the passage from the perspective of the madman – whom I refer to as William. Because I feel that poetry is better heard than read, I recorded the poem with an instrumental soundtrack (nod to Braveheart). You can read the poem simply clicking the link below. Enjoy.

GravesEnd Podcast #1 – The Flobots can Preach

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Justin Woodall and Tim Melton discuss the song “Handlebars” by the Flobots and examine the notion that the Gospel may often be better preached by secular artists than by the Church. It seems that the Church’s purpose of proclaiming the Gospel has been slowly subverted by political agenda, advertising, deconstruction, and theological wrangling. Is God using secular “ministries” to shame the Church into action? Should a hip/hop band from Denver be better than the Church at proclaiming the Gospel and loving the poor and needy?

The Gospel is not a Gun – Part 2

The following video clip is from the movie, “Saved”…

Hilary Faye: Mary, turn away from Satan. Jesus, he loves you.
Mary: You don’t know the first thing about love.
Hilary Faye: [ throws a Bible at Mary] I am FILLED with Christ’s love! You are just jealous of my success in the Lord.
Mary: [ Mary holds up the Bible] This is not a weapon! You idiot

Like I’ve said before…The Gospel is not a Gun.

Click here or on pic to see video

I don’t want to be a Professional Pastor

“If I, even for a moment, accept my culture’s definition of me, I am rendered harmless.” – Eugene Peterson, Contemplative Pastor, p.15

Over the last year, I have been feeling more and more called to church planting. This ‘call’ has been discomforting to say the least. I have never struggled more, prayed more, read more, whined more, or yelled at God more than I have over the past year. As I continue this struggle with God, I have examined several possible avenues and options. I continue to look first at my own denomination – the PCA – to decide whether this would be the direction of God’s leading. Last week, I went to our quarterly Presbytery meeting where several young men were being examined to become pastors. What I witnessed was no different than what I have witnessed before. The whole affair is like a cross between a “geeked-up” fraternal hazing and really bad episode of Jeopardy. The pastoral contestant stands up in front of his “brothers” in Christ – brothers who generally don’t know him or know anything about him – who then fire questions at him that supposedly examine his theological credibility.

Question: What is the proper Ordo Salutis? (Insert Jeopardy Theme here)