Last night our church youth had a “Bigger and Better” scavenger hunt. Two teams were given a penny each and had to go door to door asking, “Do you have anything bigger and better than this?” Items continually get traded up. It’s always entertaining to see what groups bring back. Back in the 90’s when we were in campus ministry at Tennessee-Martin we had a group bring back a satellite dish- the big as six golf umbrellas sized dish. It helped that many of our students, largely from west Tennessee, all had pick-ups.

The winning team last night brought back a working, color, 27 inch TV (and an oar). The second place team (remember, only two teams total) brought back a lawnmower and a powered scooter- both items need a touch of repair but look great.

The good news is that these items left with the youth director and are not adding to my collection of junk in the garage.

I’ve been whining to Connie this week that I wished I could have attended the “Together for the Gospel” conference (that goes by the cool abbreviation “T4G”) being held in Louisville, KY. Speakers include Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, R.C. Sproul, John Macarthur, John Piper, Thabiti Anyabwile, and C.J. Mahaney. This conference includes some great book giveaways and is geared toward those in ministry.

I was thrilled to discover that you can download free mp3’s of the conference messages here. Looks like some really good stuff.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Chris Larson posted this helpful and convicting article (originally published in Tabletalk magazine) by Rick Phillips over at the Ligonier Ministries blog:

“What the Needy Need”

You see “proclaiming and living the gospel” on our church sign, on our worship folders, and on our letterhead. This, hopefully, captures what we hope is the emphasis of Houston Lake Presbyterian Church.

Recently I heard the comment made that the gospel is not what you do, because it is the proclamation of good news to be believed. When a herald came and announced the good news of victory in the ancient world (the origin of the word for “gospel”) it was a message to be believed and celebrated, you didn’t “do” anything. I wholeheartedly agree with that. We don’t “do” the gospel in that sense. It is a declaration that through Christ reconciliation with the Father has been accomplished and that by faith we are credited with the perfect record of God’s Son and so are declared righteous in God’s sight and are thus adopted as God’s sons and daughters.

Ok, then why do we have “living the gospel” in our motto? We live the gospel when we live out the implications of it. We live out the gospel when we respond to God’s mercy in Christ and live different lives (Rom. 12:1). We live out the gospel when we forsake our idols in favor of the well that never runs dry provided in Christ. We live out the gospel when we recognize our desperate need for God’s mercy and so treat others with mercy, kindness, and patience. We live out the gospel when we use this “gospel logic”.

I hope this helps. I believe that anyone who attends HLPC with any frequency will quickly see that we are committed to the gospel of God’s grace. Grace is what motivates and changes. We don’t earn God’s favor or else the term “grace” is robbed of meaning.

When we say live the gospel we mean live according to its truth and that truth changes everything. We don’t do the gospel but we do live in light of it and that’s what we’re after.