John Berridge wrote:
Run, John., and work, the law commands,
Yet finds me neither feet nor hands;
But, sweeter news the gospel brings,
It bids me fly, and lends me wings.
(Source: The Salt-Cellars, Vol. 1, page 234, by C.H. Spurgeon)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
A gospel-centered reader
Timmy Brister has a collection of gospel-centered resources at Provocations and Pantings. Below is his list. Let him know if you can think of more. Also, Michael Spencer at Internet Monk has a post titled "I’m a Little Confused About Being “Gospel-Centered” in which he asks nine questions with the aim to clarify what people mean by "gospel-centered."
1. Gospel Coalition Foundation Documents
2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration
3. Together for the Gospel Statement (PDF)
4. The Centrality of the Gospel by Tim Keller (PDF)
5. The Biblical Gospel by D.A. Carson (PDF)
6. Gospel-Driven Sanctification by Jerry Bridges (PDF)
7. The Transforming Power of the Gospel – Steve Childers (PDF)
8. The Gospel and the Poor by Tim Keller (PDF)
9. Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson (PDF)
10. The Gospel Centered Life by Bob Thune (study)
11. Gospel-Centered Ministry by Tim Keller (PDF)
12. How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself by David Fairchild (Sermon MSS)
13. The Gospel: Key to Change by Tim Keller (PDF)
14. God Strengthens Us by the Gospel by John Piper
15. Advancing the Gospel in the 21st Century Part 2 by Tim Keller
16. Gospel-Centered Preaching by Steve Childers (not online)
17. Gospel Christianity (1.0) (2.0) (3.0) by Tim Keller (studies)
18. The Gospel in Its Many Forms by Tim Keller
19. How Does the Gospel Save Believers? (Part 2) (Part 3) by John Piper
20. Gospel-Centered by Joe Thorn
21. Being the Church in Our Culture by Tim Keller (PDF)
22. Preach the Gospel to Yourself by Tim Challies
23. What Do I Mean by a Gospel-Driven Life? (Part 2 Part 3) by John Fonville
24. The Gospel-Driven Life by Harry Reeder III
1. Gospel Coalition Foundation Documents
2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration
3. Together for the Gospel Statement (PDF)
4. The Centrality of the Gospel by Tim Keller (PDF)
5. The Biblical Gospel by D.A. Carson (PDF)
6. Gospel-Driven Sanctification by Jerry Bridges (PDF)
7. The Transforming Power of the Gospel – Steve Childers (PDF)
8. The Gospel and the Poor by Tim Keller (PDF)
9. Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson (PDF)
10. The Gospel Centered Life by Bob Thune (study)
11. Gospel-Centered Ministry by Tim Keller (PDF)
12. How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself by David Fairchild (Sermon MSS)
13. The Gospel: Key to Change by Tim Keller (PDF)
14. God Strengthens Us by the Gospel by John Piper
15. Advancing the Gospel in the 21st Century Part 2 by Tim Keller
16. Gospel-Centered Preaching by Steve Childers (not online)
17. Gospel Christianity (1.0) (2.0) (3.0) by Tim Keller (studies)
18. The Gospel in Its Many Forms by Tim Keller
19. How Does the Gospel Save Believers? (Part 2) (Part 3) by John Piper
20. Gospel-Centered by Joe Thorn
21. Being the Church in Our Culture by Tim Keller (PDF)
22. Preach the Gospel to Yourself by Tim Challies
23. What Do I Mean by a Gospel-Driven Life? (Part 2 Part 3) by John Fonville
24. The Gospel-Driven Life by Harry Reeder III
Trinitarian heresy 101
Michael Patton gives basic principles of what the doctrine of the Trinity is (e.g., Christians believe in one God, i.e., one essence, who eternally exists in three separate persons, all of whom are equal.) and shoots down illustrations about what it is not at his post at Parchment and Pen titled “The Trinity is like 3-in-1 shampoo” ... and other stupid statements."
He made the “Trinitarianism Heresy Test Chart” below with the following notes:
He also provided the following chart -- called the “Shield of the Trinity” -- to help describe the Trinity, and said, "It is always best to remember that the Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and the Son is God, but they are not each other.
He made the “Trinitarianism Heresy Test Chart” below with the following notes:
- If equality is denied, on the opposite side it points to subordinationalism.
- If diversity is denied, the result is modalism.
- If unity is denied, the result is tritheism (or polytheism —many gods).
He also provided the following chart -- called the “Shield of the Trinity” -- to help describe the Trinity, and said, "It is always best to remember that the Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and the Son is God, but they are not each other.
Read the entire post.
Making Bible reading simple
Stephen Altrogge:
Have you ever gotten lost while reading your Bible? You’re wandering through Judges, and as you’re reading about bloody sacrifices, bloodier battles, and a long-haired strong man killing hundred of Philistines with a jaw bone, you suddenly realize, I have no idea what this means for me today. What do ram sacrifices, the sun going backwards, and a long line of oddly named judges, have to do with budgets, disciplining your children, and spending eight hours in a cubicle? I’ve been there, and frankly, it can be pretty discouraging.
Let me give you two simple questions to ask when you’re reading Scripture and feeling lost. These questions came directly from a sermon by a man named Mike Bullmore. The questions are:
What Does This Passage Tell Me About God?
At times we forget the obvious: the Bible is all about God. Every passage points to God, revealing something about his character, his desires, or his actions. The OT sacrifices tell me that God is holy and that he takes sin seriously. The Psalms tell me that God is sovereign, and yet he’s also an intensely personal. In every book of the Bible, the glory of God bursts through and the story of salvation is unfolded. So when you feel lost, step back a moment and ask, Where is God in this picture? What work is he doing in this scene? How does this passage point to God’s saving work in Christ? Where’s the glory, and where’s the story?
What Does This Passage Tell Me About Myself?
For each revelation of God there is an appropriate response from us. His majesty calls us to humbly worship him, His goodness compels us to thank him. His commands require obedience, which in turn leads us to ask him for the grace to obey. The Bible isn’t simply information to be digested, it requires a heartfelt response. So as you read, ask yourself, How should I respond to what I just read? Is there a command I must obey, a sin I must repent of, or a blessing for which I should be grateful?
I find these questions to be tremendously helpful, and they have a simplifying effect on my devotional life. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t dive deep into Scripture, or read commentaries, or do word studies. Those are all wonderful tools. But ultimately Scripture is the story of God revealing himself to and redeeming sinners. When we keep that in mind, things get much simpler.
Have you ever gotten lost while reading your Bible? You’re wandering through Judges, and as you’re reading about bloody sacrifices, bloodier battles, and a long-haired strong man killing hundred of Philistines with a jaw bone, you suddenly realize, I have no idea what this means for me today. What do ram sacrifices, the sun going backwards, and a long line of oddly named judges, have to do with budgets, disciplining your children, and spending eight hours in a cubicle? I’ve been there, and frankly, it can be pretty discouraging.
Let me give you two simple questions to ask when you’re reading Scripture and feeling lost. These questions came directly from a sermon by a man named Mike Bullmore. The questions are:
What Does This Passage Tell Me About God?
At times we forget the obvious: the Bible is all about God. Every passage points to God, revealing something about his character, his desires, or his actions. The OT sacrifices tell me that God is holy and that he takes sin seriously. The Psalms tell me that God is sovereign, and yet he’s also an intensely personal. In every book of the Bible, the glory of God bursts through and the story of salvation is unfolded. So when you feel lost, step back a moment and ask, Where is God in this picture? What work is he doing in this scene? How does this passage point to God’s saving work in Christ? Where’s the glory, and where’s the story?
What Does This Passage Tell Me About Myself?
For each revelation of God there is an appropriate response from us. His majesty calls us to humbly worship him, His goodness compels us to thank him. His commands require obedience, which in turn leads us to ask him for the grace to obey. The Bible isn’t simply information to be digested, it requires a heartfelt response. So as you read, ask yourself, How should I respond to what I just read? Is there a command I must obey, a sin I must repent of, or a blessing for which I should be grateful?
I find these questions to be tremendously helpful, and they have a simplifying effect on my devotional life. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t dive deep into Scripture, or read commentaries, or do word studies. Those are all wonderful tools. But ultimately Scripture is the story of God revealing himself to and redeeming sinners. When we keep that in mind, things get much simpler.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Theological studies toolbar
From Michael Patton at Parchment and Pen:
I have designed a theological toolbar to lead you to all the best and most trustworthy sites on the web.
Included:
I have designed a theological toolbar to lead you to all the best and most trustworthy sites on the web.
Included:
- Online Bibles Sites
- Bible Study Software
- Christian History
- Theological Sites
- Built in MP3 with the entire Theology Program fed into it.
- Easy to access RSS feed to the must read Theological Blogs (P&P included of course)
- Google search engine
- and more…
It is very clean. Check it out.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
A life of thankful discontentment
“The Christian life should be a state of thankful discontentment or joyful dissatisfaction! We live every day thankful for the amazing grace that fundamentally changes our lives, but we should not be satisfied. Why not? Because, when we look at ourselves honestly, we have to admit that there is still need for personal growth and change. We are not yet all that we could be in Christ. We are thankful for the many things in our lives that would not be there without His grace, but we should not settle for partial inheritance. We should want nothing less than all that is ours in Christ! In this sense, God does not want us to be content with less than what He wants for us. He calls us to continue to wrestle, meditate, look, consider, resist, submit, follow, and pray until we have been completely transformed into His likeness.”
- Paul David Tripp & Timothy S. Lane, “How Christ Changes Us By His Grace” in The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Spring 2005), 20.
HT: Of First Importance
- Paul David Tripp & Timothy S. Lane, “How Christ Changes Us By His Grace” in The Journal of Biblical Counseling (Spring 2005), 20.
HT: Of First Importance
Building faith by preaching Christ
“Faith is not built by preaching introspectively (constantly challenging people to question whether they have faith); faith is not built by preaching moralistically (which has exactly the opposite effect of focusing attention on the self rather than on Christ, in whom our faith is placed); faith is not built by joining the culture wars and taking potshots at what is wrong with our culture. Faith is built by careful, thorough exposition of the person, character, and work of Christ….
We feed on Christ himself, and we do so not by some physical eating of his body, but through faith in the Christ proclaimed in Word and sacrament. These four alternatives [moralism, how-to, introspection, and social gospel] have left much of the evangelical and Reformed church malnourished. People know what they ought to do, but they are dispirited and lethargic, without the vision, drive, or impetus to live with and for Christ. And the reason for this dispirited condition is that the pulpit is largely silent about Christ. He is mentioned only as an afterthought or appendage to a sermon; in many churches, he is never proclaimed as the central point of a sermon, and surely not on a regular, weekly basis.”
—T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers (P&R 2009) pp. 75—76, 88—89.
HT: Miscellanies
We feed on Christ himself, and we do so not by some physical eating of his body, but through faith in the Christ proclaimed in Word and sacrament. These four alternatives [moralism, how-to, introspection, and social gospel] have left much of the evangelical and Reformed church malnourished. People know what they ought to do, but they are dispirited and lethargic, without the vision, drive, or impetus to live with and for Christ. And the reason for this dispirited condition is that the pulpit is largely silent about Christ. He is mentioned only as an afterthought or appendage to a sermon; in many churches, he is never proclaimed as the central point of a sermon, and surely not on a regular, weekly basis.”
—T. David Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers (P&R 2009) pp. 75—76, 88—89.
HT: Miscellanies
Justification by resurrection
From Tony Reinke at Miscellanies:
Paul writes in Romans 4:25 that Jesus was “delivered up for [διά] our trespasses and raised for [διά] our justification.” A stunning statement that locates our justification in the resurrection of Christ.
On this passage Geerhardus Vos (1862—1949) wrote:
“… it remains worth observing, that the Apostle has incorporated this idea of the resurrection in his forensic sceme. It seems a pity that in the more prominent associations of our Easter observance so little place has been left to it [the forensic]. The Pauline remembrance of the supreme fact, so significant for redemption from sin, and the modern-Christian celebration of the feast have gradually become two quite different things. Who at the present time thinks of Easter as intended and adapted to fill the soul with a new jubilant assurance of the forgiveness of sin as the guarantee of the inheritance of eternal life?” [The Pauline Eschatology (P&R 1930/1994) p. 153]
Paul writes in Romans 4:25 that Jesus was “delivered up for [διά] our trespasses and raised for [διά] our justification.” A stunning statement that locates our justification in the resurrection of Christ.
On this passage Geerhardus Vos (1862—1949) wrote:
“… it remains worth observing, that the Apostle has incorporated this idea of the resurrection in his forensic sceme. It seems a pity that in the more prominent associations of our Easter observance so little place has been left to it [the forensic]. The Pauline remembrance of the supreme fact, so significant for redemption from sin, and the modern-Christian celebration of the feast have gradually become two quite different things. Who at the present time thinks of Easter as intended and adapted to fill the soul with a new jubilant assurance of the forgiveness of sin as the guarantee of the inheritance of eternal life?” [The Pauline Eschatology (P&R 1930/1994) p. 153]
Monday, August 24, 2009
Your prayer is a beggar
A quote by Paul Miller from A Praying Life:
Imagine that your prayer is a poorly dressed beggar reeking of alcohol and body odor, stumbling toward the palace of the great king. You have become your prayer. As you shuffle toward the barred gate, the guards stiffen. Your smell has preceded you. You stammer out a message for the great king: “I want to see the king.” Your words are barely intelligible, but you whisper one final word, “Jesus. I come in the name of Jesus.”
At the name of Jesus, as if by magic, the palace comes alive. The guards snap to attention, bowing low in front of you. Lights come on, and the door flies open. You are ushered into the palace and down a long hallway in to the throne room of the great king, who comes running to you and wraps you in his arms.
The name of Jesus gives my prayers royal access. They get through. Jesus isn’t just the Savior of my soul. He’s also the Savior of my prayers. My prayers come before the throne of God as the prayers of Jesus. “Asking in Jesus’ name” isn’t another thing I have to get right so my prayers are perfect. It is one more gift of God because my prayers are so imperfect.
HT: The Blazing Center
Imagine that your prayer is a poorly dressed beggar reeking of alcohol and body odor, stumbling toward the palace of the great king. You have become your prayer. As you shuffle toward the barred gate, the guards stiffen. Your smell has preceded you. You stammer out a message for the great king: “I want to see the king.” Your words are barely intelligible, but you whisper one final word, “Jesus. I come in the name of Jesus.”
At the name of Jesus, as if by magic, the palace comes alive. The guards snap to attention, bowing low in front of you. Lights come on, and the door flies open. You are ushered into the palace and down a long hallway in to the throne room of the great king, who comes running to you and wraps you in his arms.
The name of Jesus gives my prayers royal access. They get through. Jesus isn’t just the Savior of my soul. He’s also the Savior of my prayers. My prayers come before the throne of God as the prayers of Jesus. “Asking in Jesus’ name” isn’t another thing I have to get right so my prayers are perfect. It is one more gift of God because my prayers are so imperfect.
HT: The Blazing Center
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The more you see Jesus
“The more I see of Jesus, the more He opens to me His loving heart, the deeper is my sorrow for sin. I lie down in the dust of His feet closer than ever I did before. I can truly say I abhor myself in dust and ashes before Him. My heart seems ready to melt into contrition in view of the ten thousand thousand sins, willful and aggravating, that I have committed against Him, who loved me with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness drew me to Himself.” - Mary Winslow
HT: Of First Importance
HT: Of First Importance
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Pre-publications at Logos.com worth considering
For those who have Logos Bible Software, the as-of-right-now pre-publications are worth considering. And if you don't have one of the Logos software base products, I recommend you consider getting one (e.g., Scholar's Library - regular, silver or gold).
- Tyndale Commentaries CD-ROM (49 Vols.)
- Reformed Dogmatics, by Herman Bavinck (4 Vols.)
- An Exegetical Commentary: Revelation (2 Vols.)
- ESV Study Bible
- Christian Origins and the Question of God Series, by N. T. Wright (Vols. 1–3)
- The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (NICOT/NICNT 40 Vols.)
- Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon
- Calvin 500 Collection (108 Vols.)
- Themelios (99 Issues)
- The Church of Christ (2 Vols.) [DOWNLOAD]
- Louis Berkhof Collection (14 Vols.)
- Mark Driscoll Sermon Archive
- Welwyn Commentary Series (49 Vols.)
- Charles Spurgeon Collection (87 Vols.)
- William G. T. Shedd Collection (13 Vols.)
- Christian History & Biography Magazine (Issues 1–99)
- Philip Schaff Collection (21 Vols.)
- Douglas Wilson Collection (17 Vols.)
- The Complete Works of Thomas Manton (22 Vols.)
- Baker Theology Collection (11 Vols.)
- Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics (4 Vols.)
- Focus on the Bible Commentaries (32 Vols.)
- A. A. Hodge Collection (10 Vols.)
- Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, English and Latin Bundle (30 Vols.)
- The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter (23 Vols.)
- The Works of Richard Sibbes (7 Vols.)
- The Works of Thomas Goodwin (12 Vols.)
- Systematic Theology: Biblical and Historical by Robert Culver
Questions to ask when preparing for marriage
What are some good questions to ask when preparing for marriage? Check out John Piper's list at the Desiring God Blog: Questions to Ask When Preparing for Marriage. The questions are listed under the following 10 sections:
1. Theology
2. Worship and Devotion
3. Husband and Wife
4. Children
5. Lifestyle
6. Entertainment
7. Conflict
8. Work
9. Friends
10. Health and Sickness
1. Theology
2. Worship and Devotion
3. Husband and Wife
4. Children
5. Lifestyle
6. Entertainment
7. Conflict
8. Work
9. Friends
10. Health and Sickness
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