Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Gospel

The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily the message of God's saving grace through Jesus Christ, with everything in Scripture before the cross pointing to God's redemptive work and everything after the cross--including our sanctification--flowing from that work. ~ Jerry Bridges

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Tension

When I experience tension I have found myself being more and more comforted in hearing the Gospel preached. Here is the link to a wonderful sermon from John Piper on John 4.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Want to Get Published?

Two interesting posts from Kevin DeYoung on getting your book published (Part 1 and Part 2).

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The God Who Walks

I am reading through a new book written by Andrew Miller called God Stories. It is an examination of Scripture placing the gospel in the center of everything. It has already spoken to me through the first three chapters.

Have you ever noticed that God is a God of walking? Quoting Miller “Jesus walked over 750 miles during his three years in ministry”. Throughout the Old Testament God walks with his people, whether it’s Job, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, or Elijah.

I think for myself my most powerful memories of experiencing Christ has been on walks. Many times it is me walking alone working through the trials of life or the difficulties that sin has caused in my life. These walks of restoration have served as a refreshment to my soul. Do yourself a favor today and go on a walk with the creator of the universe because he is a God of walking.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Training in Righteousness

No idea if this makes sense, wrote it at midnight, but wanted to post it either way:

Trained in Righteousness

The righteousness of God is our place, our position, achieved for us by the work of Jesus on the cross. There is no hope for us as men in due course to solve this equation by our own means. We puzzle over these moments in life where we believe our control mitigates a response that is worthy of the cross, yet in the end all is hopeless. When we truly achieve an understanding that the only worth is the cross itself then we can begin to unravel what being trained in righteousness really means. It is then from this place that we can begin to see outpourings.

Instead most would like to move straight towards works in their understanding of this training. One might say, “Perhaps I can suggest a course in right living to achieve what the Christ was like, hoping to give a piece of the cross back.” Even this will fall short and probably not promote what we hope to be accomplished, namely a likeness to the cross. However, if we count this training as a step in the direction of understanding the cross, the love of Christ as it were, the beginning and the end, and the center; we can have a different focus.

This focus moves us towards a representation of the cross in our lives that does not merely attempt to match it in a works oriented way but instead as an identification of the image upon which we hope to emulate. This emulation is an important word because it suggests that we are attempting to identify with something that we can not become, so we can concede that the outcome won’t be perfect therefore being burdened by an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. Yet, at the same time we acknowledge that ability to be like the one enough to attempt to join him in his death.

The good news is that we do attain this perfection at a spiritual level, even though we do not understand the complete truth that resides within us. It is locked away in the mystery that is our hearts. This heart can only be accessed through a deciphering of the word and an activation of the spirit which can occur through the power of prayer. This then leads to the outpouring of action. Thus one can conclude that being trained in righteousness, walking in the spirit, are accomplished by a meditation upon the word, and seeking out that truth that is inside of us versus “getting to work” and really manhandling the change of specific behaviors one at a time.

Friday, July 10, 2009

The Lie of Moralism

Matt Chandler kicks the ball and puts it straight through the goal post.

Tim Keller on The Key to Change Through The Gospel

A pastor friend pointed me towards this article by Tim Keller "The Gospel - Key to Change". In the second point of the article Keller gives me something to reflect upon for my own life:

"the Father accepts us in Christ and treats us as if we had done all that Jesus has done (cf. Col 3:2a). But this also means Christ’s life comes into us by the Spirit and shapes us into a new kind of person. The gospel is not just a truth about us that we affirm with our minds, it is also a reality we must experience in our hearts and souls."


Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Top Five Commentary List

A Top Five Commentary list is provided on the Ligonier Ministries written by Tim Challis. The list contains a listing of five commentaries per book of the Bible. Challis also gives some insight into each commentary chosen as well as a list of runner up books. Very helpful list.

Francis Chan

Love this!!!

Another Reason to Blog

When I find things I like and I need to find them easy this is a good place to go. I suppose I could bookmark them, but that is not quite as fun because I get too many bookmarks. So here is a great listing of books from the Unashamed Workman blog that I like. Click Here


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

What is the Gospel? -- RC Sproul

I was reading through some sites trying to get a clear simple articulation of the Gospel and was encouraged by these words from RC Sproul.

Monday, July 6, 2009

PCA Deacon Issue

Here are the two articles from Tim Keller and Ligon Duncan on the ByFaith site. If you would like to hear the men discuss the issue at the General Assembly 2009 you may do so be clicking here.My beloved denomination had decided not to form a committee to discuss the issue further. If you want to read some conversation about this decision you can read the comments on this article.

The Necklace of God (1 Peter 1:3-5)



Mercy, Hope, Inheritance, God's Power, Faith, and Salvation are the words used by Peter at the beginning of his letter to the churches in Asia Minor. He uses these words and is drawn to worship because of them. He treats these words like a quarry and draws his listeners to begin mining from the riches of God that he has lavished on us. I am encouraged greatly by the words of Spurgeon who reflected on the great mines of 1 Peter 1:3-5:

In these three verses we have a string of pearls, a necklace of diamonds, a cabinet of jewels—no, the comparisons are poor—we have something far better than all the riches of the earth can ever typify. You have here the heritage of the chosen of God. Your heritage, Beloved, your own peculiar portion if you belong to Christ this day. ~ Charles Spurgeon