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Author Archives: barrydean

This is dedicated to my Rib

That’s right, my Rib. Rib is the nickname of my wife Robin of almost sixteen years. I called covenant her that in reference to the wife of the very first man.

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gen. 2:22)

Lately I have also liked the nickname to a command for husbands found in a passage in Ephesians 5:28 & 29.

28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

So rib fits this verse as well. For my rib is from my flesh and naturally I would love my own flesh. But this hasn’t been the case always with my Rib. I have not loved my Rib as I love my own body. I have not loved her as Christ loves His body, the Church. So this is a confession and dedication of sorts. I know, as husbands, it is a struggle against our flesh to love our wives in this way. It seems to me that I have allowed selfishness and passivity to reign more in my life than my love for my wife. I can look around and see some of the consequences for that sin. Some of those consequences may not show up until later in my life. But God and His wonderful grace continues to provide me with new eyes to see, and new ears to hear. In His rich mercy and grace, and through my sanctification, He has filled me with a new sense of love for my Rib. Through sermons, articles, and scripture reading, God’s gentle nudging has been making it very clear that I have not been pursuing the kind of love that Christ has for His bride, the Church. That brings me here.
Today I am dedicating the rest of what God provides as my life to pursuing that kind of love for my Rib. I am promising to love her as Christ loves His Church. I am promising that no matter what comes our way that I will love her as I do my own body. I know that my flesh and Satan will try to tear this covenant apart as they have tried in the past, but I will cling to Christ and His strength and not my own. For I have no strength without Him.

Soli Deo Gloria

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on March 9, 2008 in covenant, marriage, Rib, wife

Another Puritan quote – John Flavel

06 Mar

Last month I posted something about “snuffing the rooster”, the rooster playing the downer role of “guilt”. The article from TheResurgence stated how modern spirituality deals with guilt. It teaches us that we can take a pill, or go to see our therapist about this nasty thing we call guilt. Basically sweeping it under the rug. The article concluded that we need to deal with that guilt. As a believer in Christ the guilt stems from an undealt with sin. The pill is confess and repent. For the unbeliever the therapy is only found in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on the cross. Today I found another quote from a Puritan, John Flavel, that hits this topic of guilt like only the Puritans can.

Guilt is to danger, what fire is to gunpowder; a man need not fear to walk among many barrels of powder, if he have no fire about him.

If we do not deal with the guilt in a biblical way then we carry it around and ignite off volatile things in our path. Hiding it under the surface or masking it will not prevent the explosion that is imminent. Take your burden of guilt to the cross and leave it there. Do not pick it up again. I am of course preaching that to myself.

Soli Deo Gloria

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on March 6, 2008 in guilt, John Flavel, Puritan, quotes

Music Review Tuesday – Black Stone Cherry

04 Mar

In a state more known for it’s famous horse race, baseball bats, and Blue Grass music comes a band that is blazing it’s own trail in rock music. Black Stone Cherry is from Edmonton, Kentucky and was formed in June of 2001. Edmonton is also home of the country music group Kentucky Headhunters who have more in common with the band than just sharing the same hometown. The band’s drummer John Fred Young’s father and uncle are members of the country rock band. Other Black Stone Cherry band members include Chris Robertson (vocals/guitar), Ben Wells (guitar/vocals), Jon Lawhon (bass/vocals). Their musical style is reminiscent of Southern rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Blackfoot with a heavier sound more like Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society. Their song writing tells tales of moonshiners, rain wizards, and families dealing with loved ones who go off to war. The band sounds familiar to some degree and yet it is hard to pigeon-hole them into a single genre. I would call it Southern, hard rock, butt kickin’ , alternative, anti-grunge. Let’s give it a listen.

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Posted by barrydean on March 4, 2008 in Black Stone Cherry, Music Review

The substitutionary death of Jesus Christ

03 Mar

Sunday morning Senior Pastor Patrick Abendroth delivered a profound sermon on the importance of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross. We were continuing in our verse by verse study of Matthew. Just how important is the substititionary death of Christ? We started by looking at 1 Corinthians 1:18:

The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are persishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.

So how important is it to you? Is it the power of God, or is it just foolishness and unimportant? The perfect lamb of God met the righteouness of God at the moment in time. Pat went on preach about the two cries of Jesus on the cross that say it all about everything. The cries are found in Matthew 27:45-50. Please listen to the incredible sermon linked below and see if it isn’t just astounding to you as well.

Forsaken By God

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Posted by barrydean on March 3, 2008 in cross, death, forsaken, Forsaken by God, Jesus Christ, Matthew 27, Patrick Abendroth, substitutionary

For when you need that boost

28 Feb

Thanks to our friends at TBNN. Take a close look at the Active Ingredients. I think the same stuff can be provided in an extreme energy drink like NOS. Right Pat?

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on February 28, 2008 in Christian satire, spiritual boost, TBNN

What do you ask yourself when preparing to preach?

27 Feb

I am not a preacher, nor do I play one on TV. But I think I do know something about the subject, having listened to, and spoken with so many talented and God-gifted men in my life. I believe I can recognize good, God-centered, Christ uplifting, scripture breathing preaching when I hear it. I am also a believer in Jesus Christ, He is my Savior and Lord. With that said, I would like to mention the responses by Mark Driscoll to the question above. This comes to us from TheResurgence web site.

1. What does the scripture say?
2. What does this mean?
3. How or why do we resist it?
a. What will be the objections to this truth?
4. How does this apply to our missions?

I would like to focus this writing on point number three. What Driscoll says in his elaboration of this point is that preachers should prepare for the resistance of the heart. He mentions that Romans 1 teaches that:

our heart has a propensity to suppress the truth so that we might continue in the unrighteousness of our deeds

So part of the preparation would include looking at your own heart and how it may wish to resist this biblical truth. This point of preparation or even the consideration of it is very rare in the pulpit of the church today. I have heard many preach as if they are trying to cater to the propensity of the heart, or tickle the proverbial ear. Driscoll shares how the Puritan preachers of old used to prepare with objections to the resistance of the heart and apologetically defend the truth being proclaimed in scripture. This is good stuff. Mark Driscoll elaborates more on these points so I have included the video of his response below.

What do you ask yourself when preparing to preach?

photo credit

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on February 27, 2008 in Mark Driscoll, Preaching, preaching assumptions, preaching preparation, Romans

Music Review Tuesday – Chevelle

26 Feb

Do you remember where you were when you first heard the song “Point #1” by Chevelle, this weeks highlight band for Music Review Tuesday? I remember where I was. I was sitting in our living room with our kids watching “Ten Most Wanted“, a video request program on TVU. TVU is a 24 hour Christian music video channel on Sky Angel satellite. The song was debuting on “Ten Most Wanted”. My boys and I like their kind of music, so when the song had finished we all looked at each other and kind of head banged and smiled in approval. Chevelle was originally formed in 1995 by three brothers, Pete, Sam, and Joe Loeffler from Grayslake, Illinois. Their musical genre vacillates between alternative metal, hard rock, and post-grunge. The band name was conceived from the name of the boys’ father’s favorite automobile, the Chevrolet Chevelle.

The album I am reviewing is “Vena Sera” which was released on April 3rd of 2007. The album title is latin amd translates to “vein liquid” which, according to Pete Loeffler, represents the blood Chevelle put into making this album. This album is the first one recorded with new bassist and brother-law Dean Bernardini. (For more on the departure of the youngest Loeffler, go to the Wikipedia site.) The album debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200, and sold 62,000 copies in the first week of release. The first track “Antisaint” roars out of the headphones with some neat minor chords, and has a really cool guitar riff with a nice, hard driving bass presence. This bass sound is pronounced throughout the album. The next track is “Brainiac”. This song has a nice, pure driving snare drum beat that drives the song with the signature guitar rhythms of Pete Loeffler. Track number three is “Saferwaters” and the most melodic song on the record which is saying quite a lot because most of the Chevelle songs have an impressive melodic tone. The chorus sings:

That world is calling
So I’m crawling back to sea
Against the surge of waves that
Held us in that ancient grip beneath
Retreat to safer waters

The next song is called “Well Enough Alone“. It is about the events surrounding the departure of former bassist and brother Joe Loeffler. The song begins with a heavy sigh which I believe signifies the frustration experienced by the band through the ordeal. The song is very well done and is your typical hard, melodic Chevelle staple song. It rocks!!

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Posted by barrydean on February 26, 2008 in Chevelle, Music Review, Ten Most Wanted, TVU, Vena Sera

Modern day Nineveh’s

22 Feb

Do you live in a modern day Nineveh? Perhaps you might, according to Forbes magazine. Dr. Albert Mohler just posted an interesting article to his blog site on the subject of the most sinful cities in America. I was grateful to see that Omaha and Wahoo didn’t make the list. Although I think Wahoo might give a run at the most bars per population, if they had a category for that. Check out the article and see how the list was derived and see if your city made the list.

America’s most sinful cities?

Snuff the rooster

20 Feb

Someone once said that there is a song for everything, and for everything there is a song. There could be some truth to that. When I read the following article by Peter Jones over at TheResurgence about how our society, and even the church deal with sin and guilt, the chorus lyrics to this old Alice In Chains song came screaming back:

Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain’t gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain’t gonna die

Please link to the article by Peter Jones and let me know what you think about how we try to “kill that rooster”.

Will someone please kill that rooster?

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on February 20, 2008 in Alice in Chains, emergent, guilt, Peter Jones, sin, theraputic Christianity

Music Review Tuesday – Matchbox Twenty

18 Feb

Much like the song title to their new single “How Far We’ve Come”, Matchbox Twenty has been through it’s share of changes and highs and lows. From the release of it’s debut album that sold more than 12 million copies in the U.S. alone to losing friendships and band mates to creative differences. The band has been resilient over the 12 years they have been recording. They have amassed many dedicated fans and wooed many musical critics with their musical diversity. Only the band members themselves know if the band will continue. Two of it’s original members Rob Thomas and Paul Doucette are basically responsible for the making of the first CD and six new original songs on the two CD release that I am reviewing today. Thomas and Doucette got together in New York to iron out how to fix their friendship and not so much worry about the band. About this same time their record label Atlantic Records asked for a greatest hits record. The combination of the friendship reunion and the greatest hits birthed the newest album from Matchbox Twenty.

“Exile On Mainstream” is the name of their new album. It was released on October 7th, 2007. The album is a two CD set with CD one containing six new original songs and CD two containing 11 of their greatest hits. The six new songs kind of vacillate between rock and folk as you progress through them. The band has sort of reinvented themselves with this new release. The first song “How Far We’ve Come” has been getting quite a lot of air play on college and modern hit radio stations. It is definitely a recognizable Matchbox Twenty song. The lyrics to the song are quite reflective:

I think it turned ten o’clock but I don’t really know
And I can’t remember caring for an hour or so
Started crying and I couldn’t stop myself
I started running but there’s no where to run to
I sat down on the street took a look at myself
Said where you going man you know the world is headed for hell
Say your goodbyes if you’ve got someone you can say goodbye to

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