Considering The Heart of Prayer

Jerram Barrs strikes again!  His book The Heart of Evangelism is a fantastic look at evangelism that truly gets to the heart of the matter.  He brings the same humble, gracious style to the subject of prayer with The Heart of Prayer: What Jesus Teaches Us.  He addresses topics that often seem to be guilt-inducing.  [...]

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Considering the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Here are some of the quotes I ran across as I looked at this parable.  The parable is simple, yet humbling in so many ways.  It exposes our tendency toward self-righteousness, and points to God’s incredible disposition towards mercy toward the humble.
From Turning Your World Upside Down by Richard Phillips
“Pride is one of the greatest [...]

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Considering My New Box o’ Books

With a slight let up in work, I can get to work on the new box of books that just arrived from the Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore.  Here’s what I got:

Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart by John Ensor.  I thought this was a book on sanctification.  Oppps, it is about marriage.  I [...]

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Considering Books on the Spirit

This Sunday I’ll be preaching on the Spirit’s work in sanctification out of Galatians 5.  I wish I had more time this week to thumb thru some of the great books I have on this work of the Spirit, and the Spirit of this gracious work.
Here are my favs:

Keep in Step with the Spirit by [...]

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Considering Books on Adoption

This week’s text in Galatians focuses on adoption, God’s adoption of sinners as His sons as a result of Jesus’ work of redemption for us.  J.I. Packer comments that you can’t really understand Christianity unless you understand adoption.  John Calvin says you aren’t really a Christian unless, by the work of the Spirit, you call [...]

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Piper’s Finally Alive Available

Yes, John Piper has another new book out (I’m already behind).  It is called Finally Alive, and it explores the biblical doctrine of regeneration, being born again.  This is a much needed book since there is so much misunderstanding about what it means, and how it radically affects our lives.
You can look at sample pages.
Not [...]

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Considering A Proverbs Driven Life Part 4

In the fourth section of A Proverbs-Driven Life author Anthony Selvaggio addresses friends.  Proverbs has much to say about friends and their influence upon our lives (and us upon them as well).
Most of us have had a sketchy track record with friends.  I know I did before I became a Christian.  I lived in a [...]

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Considering Churches and the Financial Crunch

With the shrinkage of the for-profit sector, the not-for-profit sector will see a similar contraction.  Churches are one of the not-for-proft organizations that will be hit hard.  The government should take a lesson from other not-for-profits and cut back rather than trying to raise taxes and spend even more.  These cycles come, but governments seem to [...]

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Considering God’s Mercy

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 [...]

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Considering a Gospel Primer

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 [...]

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Considering A Proverbs Driven Life Part 3

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 [...]

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Considering A Proverbs Driven Life, Part 1

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 [...]

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Considering Proverbs About Work

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 [...]

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Considering Gospel Boldness

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 [...]

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Considering Responsibility and Control

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 [...]

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Considering Our Sinful Nature

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 [...]

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Preaching the Gospel to Yourself with Luther

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 [...]

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Considering Gospel Humility

I was pondering this from A Gospel Primer for Christians yesterday.
“According to Scripture, God deliberately designed the gospel in such a way as to strip me of pride and leave me without any grounds for boasting in myself whatsoever.  This is actually a wonderful mercy from God, for pride is at the root of all [...]

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Considering My Gospel Siblings

I’m reading my brother-in-law’s copy of A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent.  It should be read slowly as I’m discovering.  That way you can meditate on the greatness of the gospel and its connection to our lives today.  Vincent reminds us that the gospel is for Christians- we never outgrow our need for the [...]

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Considering Money and Missions

As part of his chapter on Worldliness in Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges talks about money and how Christians use it.  First, let’s see his definition of worldliness.
“Worldliness means accepting the values, mores, and practices of the nice, but unbelieving, society around us without discerning whether or not thos values, mores, and practices are biblical.”
Pretty good [...]

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