I voted for Charlie Crist reluctantly. He opponent was even more liberal that this so-called Republican. For some reason, he has the affections of the RNC (though perhaps this has changed with Michael Steele’s ascendency as GOP chairman today). But Florida has suffered under his leadership.
Take this case in point- like a good neighbor, State [...]
Archive for January, 2009
Considering Gov. Crist
Posted in Current Events, Economics, Government, tagged Gov. Crist, jobs, property insurance, State Farm on January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Considering God’s Mercy
Posted in Bible, Christian Living, tagged faith, grace, humility, mercy, misery on January 28, 2009 | 2 Comments »
This week I started reading Luke. Part way through chapter 1 I decided to take the slow road instead of my typical 3 chapters/day. I was struck by a few things that day and didn’t want to lose sight of them by thinking I needed to finish the chapter (or 3!).
What struck me the last [...]
Considering a Gospel Primer
Posted in Books, Christian Living, Justification, Theology, tagged C.J. Mahaney, Christian Living, gospel, Horatio Bonar, Justification, sanctification on January 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve done a few posts on A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love by Milton Vincent already. This would be my review of this great little book. As the title indicates, the focus on the book is on the gospel for Christians. In the final part- Surprised by the [...]
Considering A Proverbs Driven Life Part 3
Posted in Books, Christian Living, Current Events, tagged deficit spending, foolishness, generosity, greed, investments, lottery, money, stock market, tithes, wealth, wisdom on January 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
You might be asking, “what happened to part 2?” Part 1 was mistakenly saved as a draft instead of published, so Considering Proverbs and Work is actually part 2 of my review of A Proverbs Driven Life by Anthony Selvaggio. Did you catch that? Do you care?
The third part of the book addresses wealth. His [...]
Considering Luther on Galatians 2
Posted in Biblical Theology, Justification, Martin Luther, Theology, tagged false gospel, Galatians, gospel, Justification, Martin Luther, righteousness, self-righteousness on January 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve got to stuff all of Galatians 2 into one sermon. Oh the madness and folly of it all! One of my favorite works on Galatians is Luther’s commentary. I don’t agree with all he says, but there are some great things in there. He had … a way with words. Let’s see some of [...]
Considering A Proverbs Driven Life, Part 1
Posted in Bible, Books, Christian Living, Counseling, Evangelism, Marriage, Ministry, tagged gospel, relationships, wealth, wisdom, words, Work on January 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I consider Proverbs to be “preventative grace”. It was initially written to prepare young men for adulthood by providing practical wisdom. It was to help them avoid the pitfalls of life’s choices rather than get out of them. So, when I saw Anthony Selvaggio’s A Proverbs Driven Life, I was interested. When I was offered [...]
Considering Troubled Teens
Posted in Books, Counseling, Family, Ministry, tagged Counseling, Family, Ministry, teens on January 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
There is a new book out, Get Outta My Face: How to Reach Angry, Unmovtivated Teens with Biblical Counsel by Rick Horne, that offers assistance to families, ministers and counselors. WTS Books has this book for 65% off , an introductory price of $4.88, until January 24, 2009 at noon. Then it will be the customary [...]
Considering Proverbs About Work
Posted in Atonement, Books, Christian Living, Work, tagged grace, greed, honesty, integrity, laziness, Proverbs, Work on January 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The second main section of Anthony Selvaggio’s book A Proverbs Driven Life addresses work- work as divine calling & working with integrity. Both of these are important subjects in our day and culture.
Let’s not think simply about “job” because we work when we clean up the house, do laundry, mow the law or take on [...]
Considering Gospel Boldness
Posted in Books, Christian Living, Counseling, Evangelism, Ministry, tagged boldness, Counseling, fear of God, fear of man, gospel, Ministry, Prayer on January 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In Galatians 1-2 one of the dominant themes is the fear of man. Paul, in lovingly yet boldly confronting the Galatians, and exposing the false teachers was living in the fear of God rather than the fear of man. He was not accomodating the gospel to please anyone, recognizing the divine origin of that gospel.
On [...]
Considering Responsibility and Control
Posted in Christian Living, Tim Keller, pastoral search committees, tagged faith, Faithfulness, God's sovereignty, grace, Prayer, responsibility, trials on January 21, 2009 | 2 Comments »
My friend, the Jollyblogger, has been commenting on his unexpected journey as a cancer patient. He says some very good things about what he has learned and the difficulty he has experienced.
One thing he mentions is the realization that so much is out of your hands. We like to think we are control of large [...]
Considering Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics Part 2
Posted in Biblical Theology, Books, Hermeneutics, Theology, tagged sanctification, grace, Tim Keller, Justification, Graeme Goldsworthy, Hermeneutics, Richard Lovelace, Aquinas, allegory, typology on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The second section of Graeme Goldworthy’s book Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics focuses on Challenges to Evangelical Hermeneutics. In this section he is essentially tracing the history of biblical interpretation with an eye to the way the gospel has been eclipsed in various times and methods.
This is no easy matter to accomplish since we are talking 2,000 years [...]
Considering the Doghouse
Posted in Humor, Marriage on January 19, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Here is a very creative, lengthy commercial. Enjoy- and don’t take it too seriously guys.
While watching it with CavWife, I commented “you’d be excited about that gift.” Her response, “Looks like a Dyson!” Some women are practical, but some want the big romance gift. Guys, know your wives. But, they can [...]
Considering Counseling
Posted in Counseling, tagged Counseling, emotions, practice, small groups, theory, thoughts on January 17, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I was pondering counseling yesterday. It was a nice, quiet morning at the house. I was considering why I was foolish enough to not pursue a license after getting my Master of Arts in Counseling. I was single at the time, and it would have been easy to spend my day off seeing clients. Such [...]
Considering Our Sinful Nature
Posted in Books, Christian Living, tagged gospel, Indwelling sin, renewal, Richard Lovelace, sanctification, temptation on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Read this great bit this morning from A Gospel Primer for Christians. It reminds me of much that John Piper and Samuel Storms have said, echoing the words of Edwards, Calvin and others. Plenty to consider here.
Though saved, I am daily beset by a sinful flesh that always craves those things that are contrary to [...]
Considering Biblical Interpretation
Posted in Hermeneutics, tagged Richard Pratt, Graeme Goldsworthy, R.C. Sproul, John Stott, Vern Poythress, Hermeneutics, Tremper Longman, literary criticism, bible interpretation on January 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Hermeneutics is one of those words that people shut down upon hearing. It is just the science of interpretation.
Here are some of the best books I’ve read about how to interpret the Bible:
Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation by Graeme Goldsworthy. I’m just about done with Part 2 of the book. The [...]
Considering the Red Sox’ Moves
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Big Papi, Brad Penny, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, John Smoltz, Mark Kotsay, Mike Lowell, prospects, Red Sox, Rocco Baldelli on January 10, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The Red Sox have signed a bunch of people to 1-year deals. In the last few days they have reached agreements with pitchers Brad Penny, John Smoltz and Takashi Saito. They have also signed OF Rocco Baldelli and OF/1B Mark Kotsay. All but Kotsay are coming off seasons in which they have had injury or [...]
Considering John Crowder
Posted in Current Events, Humor, tagged heretics, John Crowder, revivalism on January 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I hesitate to put this up. I’m torn for 2 reasons.
1. This is very funny.
2. This is intensely sad.
In isolation, it is funny. But since this seriously misrepresents Christianity, it is intensely sad. Here’s some of the chicanery going on in the name of Jesus (maybe, might just be money). This is proof positive of [...]
Preaching the Gospel to Yourself with Luther
Posted in Books, Christian Living, Martin Luther, tagged accusations, Atonement, Christ Jesus, Martin Luther, preaching the gospel to yourself, resurrection, Satan on January 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In my prep for the beginning of Galatians, I read this in Luther’s commentary:
“Let us therefore arm ourselves with these and like verses of the Holy Scripture, that we may be able to answer the devil (accusing us, and saying: You are a sinner, and therefore you are damned) in this sort: “Christ has given [...]
Considering Why Pastors are Fired
Posted in Ministry, tagged conflict, Ministry, resistance to change, search committees on January 6, 2009 | 7 Comments »
I got this from a Pastor Finder e-mail that I received today. I thought it was interesting. The reasons are in reverse order (least to most common).
Church was in conflict when the pastor arrived. Pastors can arrive at a new church to find remaining unresolved and deeply painful conflict. This conflict will not end when [...]
Considering Resources on Galatians
Posted in Biblical Theology, Books, John Calvin, Justification, Martin Luther, Preaching, tagged community, freedom, grace, John Calvin, John Stott, Justification, Leon Morris, Martin Luther, Philip Ryken on January 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m excited to be studying Galatians for the next 3 months. It is a controversial book these days- particularly in the dispute over the meaning of justification. I take the historical, Reformed Protestant view as espoused in the Westminter Confession of Faith where we are declared righteous because God imputes Jesus’ righteousness to us. Anyway, [...]