Pray that The Lord will raise up a generation of pastors to reach these worldly cities in order to populate His heavenly city.

“And I saw,” he says, “a great city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, but neither shall there be any more pain: because the former things have passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” This city is said to come down out of heaven, because the grace with which God formed it is of heaven. Wherefore He says to it by Isaiah, “I am the Lord that formed thee.” It is indeed descended from heaven from its commencement, since its citizens during the course of this world grow by the grace of God, which cometh down from above through the laver of regeneration in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. But by God’s final judgment, which shall be administered by His Son Jesus Christ, there shall by God’s grace be manifested a glory so pervading and so new, that no vestige of what is old shall remain; for even our bodies shall pass from their old corruption and mortality to new incorruption and immortality.

This post is sponsored by Accordance Bible Software. Learn more about Accordance here.

The Book:

No matter what trials you face, looking at those circumstances from God’s perspective will give you a supernatural peace. Authors T. W. Hunt and Melana Hunt Munroe introduce this new point of view by focusing on God and His attributes, the Trinity, and spiritual growth.

The Author:

Dr. T. W. Hunt is a noted teacher, speaker, and author. He received a BA from Ouachita Baptist University and an MA and PhD from the University of North Texas. He has served on the faculty of the Oklahoma College for Women, the Spanish Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Melana Hunt Monroe has a BS from Texas Christian University in education. She lectures and teaches in homeschool communities across the country.

The Giveaway:

Enter the giveaway by filling out this simple form and captcha below. Giveaway closes on Sunday night May 26 at 11:59pm. The winner will be contacted Monday morning. Only one entry per person please.

Please sign me up for this week’s book giveaway:

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View-Worthy is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares these view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the previous day. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers or blogs to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

Disclaimer: This post provides valuable information on Piper’s controversial tweet and the conversation around that tweet. This blogger does not agree with the view of Rachel Evans. This simply serves as a means for people to understand the context around Desiring God’s post regarding the tweet.

New Post: “The abusive theology of ‘deserved’ tragedy…” buff.ly/16MEQKQ

— Rachel Held Evans (@rachelheldevans) May 21, 2013

“@johnpiper: Those deleted tweets. dsr.gd/10QCxCm”

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 23, 2013

Rachel Held Evans denies the cat — ow.ly/liSPe

— Douglas Wilson (@douglaswils) May 22, 2013

View-Worthy is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares these view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the previous day. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers or blogs to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

Ryrie on How to Find Your Spiritual Gift jtcoch.com/17zHUtX via @cripplegateblog and @jarbitro

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 17, 2013

John Piper and Mark Driscoll Talked Me Off the Bridge jtcoch.com/17zGOyi via @tgc and @jaredcwilson

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 16, 2013

Partnering with Parents as You Mentor Teenagers jtcoch.com/17zFXO8 via @projecttgm

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 16, 2013

The Book:

Today’s students long for a rich, meaningful faith. They want something more than a moral code and therapeutic worship that leaves them unsatisfied and uninspired. Speaker, author, and evangelism professor Alvin L. Reid reveals a key to capturing students’ hearts for life: a missional youth ministry. Through practical teaching and powerful application tools, discover how giving teens a grander purpose and vision and encouraging them to see all of life as a mission field transforms their faith, their lives, and the world.

The Author:

Alvin L. Reid is a professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as a popular speaker and author. He has written numerous books on student ministry, evangelism, missional Christianity, and spiritual awakenings. Two of his books are Raising the Bar: Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium and Convergent Church: Missional Worshipers in an Emerging Culture.

The Giveaway:

Enter the giveaway by filling out this simple form and captcha below. Giveaway closes on Sunday night May 19 at 11:59pm. The winner will be contacted Monday morning. Only one entry per person please.

Please sign me up for this week’s book giveaway:

The Kind of Preaching God Blesses | Challies Dot Com jtcoch.com/14nV356) via @challies

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 16, 2013

How to love people well | The Resurgence jtcoch.com/12uT6np via @theresurgence

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 16, 2013

When the Real King Emerges jtcoch.com/14nT40t via @jaredcwilson

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 15, 2013

Yet, many Christians are not aware of this valuable resource. Not only this but they are not familiar with who to follow on platforms such as Twitter or to subscribe to via e-mail or their RSS Reader like Feedly.The purpose of this series is to identify and interview exceptional Christian Bloggers in order to introduce people to their blogging ministry. I hope you enjoy this series. We will continue it throughout the summer, so please stay tuned. You’re going to meet some markedly gifted people who have a passion to share God’s truth and God’s gospel through this unique digital platform.

Obviously, for this series to be successful I need your help. Please share with others about this series. I’m just preaching to the choir if regular blog readers catch on to this series. Tell your friends about this series by word of mouth. Help them create a twitter account or have a feedly RSS reader account. And yes! Retweet. Like. Subscribe. Share. Help others discover this digital treasure trove of bloggers who serve the Church via this medium.

These interviews will post each Thursday during the coming weeks. We’ve already got an excellent lineup of bloggers who are participating in the series. Below is the current schedule, which we will be updating as the queue of bloggers develops.

Discovering Christian Bloggers Interview Schedule:
May 9 – Aaron Armstrong
May 16 – Trevin Wax
May 23 – Stephen Altrogge
May 30 – Mike Leake
June 6 – Gloria Furman

Today’s Featured Blogger:

Gospel-centered, mission-driven evangelical insights for church leaders

2. How did your blogging ministry begin?

I started blogging in seminary, just writing daily on a number of topics I found interesting. It started out as a hobby. A couple years later, I was challenged to make it more of a ministry, so I shifted my mindset to serving the people reading my blog every day.

3. What is the most meaningful post that  you have written and why? 

I’m not sure I can point to one post in particular that is meaningful to me. There are too many, and the variety of the posts is so strong. I think the post I wrote after my grandfather died is one that means a lot to me personally. It’s an attempt to grieve in a distinctly Christian manner. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2012/01/31/tears-and-laughter/

4. What is the most popular post that you have written? Why do you think it gained such extensive readership?

How I Wish the Homosexuality Debate Would Go. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2011/10/18/how-i-wish-the-homosexuality-debate-would-go/

There are lots of Christians who are unsatisfied with how the debate over homosexuality is going in society – both with how the discussion is framed and how we seem unable to respond graciously and yet with truth and conviction. This was an attempt to do that – stay tethered to the Bible, bring the discussion back to the gospel and repentance, and yet show grace to those who struggle. Needless to say, it resonated with people.

5. What has been your inspiration to write? Why have you been inspired to write?

When Dying is Gain via @samuel_storms, jtcoch.com/17q8eH2

(Reconciling) Kindness and Justice via @erikraymond jtcoch.com/11A52Yn

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 14, 2013

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 14, 2013

Logic by Poythress via @reformation21, jtcoch.com/10mKpv3

— Joey Cochran (@joeycochran) May 14, 2013

My children were busy inside playing. They had just raided our hall closet for jackets. I don’t know why but now that it is finally Spring in Tulsa my kids want it to be winter again. I opened the front door to retrieve the coats from the floor and to get the ones on their person so that I could return them to the closet. Wrong move, especially when you have a two-year old boy.

Asher did an end run around me deftly. I did not hear or see his movements. I turned around just in time to see him reach into the paint can with his entire left hand. Can you imagine it? A two-year old with a hand dripping with light grey paint.

I instantly cried, “No!” I’m not sure if it was the kind of “No!” like, “You’re in trouble!” or the kind of “No!” that indicated my anguish. It was likely a little of both. All I know is that Asher looked at his hand and started to panic. Again, I don’t know if he was scared because of my cry or because he just realized that his hand was entirely covered in paint.

That’s not the worse part. Next, because of fear, he just started flailing his paint smothered hand wildly. Have you ever seen Jackson Pollock at work? He’s that famous artist that does paint art by splashing it and flinging it on canvas. Apparently you don’t have to have a paintbrush or sponges to be successful at this art form. You merely have to have five digits on a hand.

Thankfully my son’s canvas was not the front door that I was about to put the last coat of paint on or the trim or any other part of the home. No. The canvas was the human shield named Joey. I wrapped him up in my arms, comforted him, and took him immediately to the outdoor faucet. I quickly but gently washed off his little hands. He was quite frightened by the whole ordeal.

We salvaged his jeans and shoes but his shirt and my shirt saw the bottom of the trash can that day. At the end of the day as I tucked him into bed I reminded the two of us that we are disobedient sinners and we need the gospel.

“Little man. I love you. I’m sorry I got upset today. I’m also sorry that you got your hand covered in paint. I know that was frightening. You had no idea what would happen when you stuck your little hand in the paint can, but now I’m sure you know the consequence. Please don’t put your hand where it doesn’t belong,” I said, suddenly realizing the gospel implications.”Dude. Here’s the deal. We all do things we are not supposed to do. When we do these things, it gets really messy. Just like with the paint today. Then we take the messiness and get it all over others. Fortunately God sent His only son to take on all the messiness. He’s the target of the mess. In the midst of it all Jesus wraps us up in His arms and washes our hands clean of the mess.”

Okay, so I know that a two-year old likely will not catch everything I said, but I will say this. As I shared this with him, he said, “Oh. Oh!” a whole lot. He also started looking at that left hand of his like he was visualizing the messy paint all over his hand again. Then he started picking at the dried paint still on his fingernails.

We never know how much they understand at this young age, but it is never too young to remind little people of the wonder of the gospel. In addition, it reminds us of God’s relentless love for His children and how the gospel propels us to requite that love.