By Greg Gibson
Prevent Divorce by Believing the Gospel
“I once confronted a ‘Christian’ couple who were getting a divorce with this: Have you ever considered being Christlike and forgiving your spouse? But you don’t know what they have done! What about not being a unmerciful servant and forgiving the smaller debt of your spouse in light of the insurmountable debt you had cancelled in Christ on your behalf? But you just do not know Mike! How about expressing your new nature in Christ? What about the love of God poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit that was given to us? What about the new heart? What about the circumcised heart? What about love, joy patience, goodness, gentleness…etc. Why is your supposedly circumcised heart so hard? Why can you not forgive and allow Christ to do a miracle in your life/marriage? Why won’t you die to yourself? You can’t express the nature of Christ towards your spouse?…Why is that? I have a very good idea. We don’t believe the Gospel. Thats it. Our churches are packed full of people who do not believe the Gospel…If you can’t do that a home, you definitely can’t do that in the church.” Divorce and the Gospel by Lionel Woods
How to Live With an Ugly Wife
“It is said that she never provided him a sit-down meal at their home…When he returned home at night, he was not able to be in the same room with his wife because he would get a tongue-lashing, so he went to his study. But his wife controlled the coal bin and the oil for the lamp, allowing him no fire to warm himself or oil to light his lamp…Once, when the local Presbyterian pastors were gathered, a toast was offered for the wives of the pastors. The man offering the toast turned to Fraser and said, probably with a knowing smile, ‘You’ll want to offer a toast to your wife as well, James?’ “So I will and so I should,’ said Fraser. ‘For my wife has been better to me than all of yours put together!’ ‘How so?’ they asked, with their mouths agape. ‘My wife has driven me to my knees seven times a day, and that is more than any of your wives have done for you!’” Making the Best of an Ugly Wife by Jim Eliff
God Is Saving Thousands of Muslims
“Many Muslims are hungry for the gospel and thousands are coming to Christ every month. In the most recent issue of Mission Frontiers, David Taylor describes a few of these developments: In Iran, a strong underground church movement continues to emerge with thousands of house fellowships multiplying throughout the country. Surveys in the country indicate that Christian satellite broadcasting in Farsi, which began in the year 2000, is being viewed by well over half the population. Equally impressive are the results of radio and satellite broadcasting throughout the Arab world. One ministry, SAT7, has a regular audience of 8.5 million people. In North Africa, the Berbers are responding to the gospel in massive numbers, with one movement among the Kabyle encompassing several hundred thousand believers.” Open Doors in the Muslim World by Mark Rogers
The 50 Worst Countries for Christian Persecution
“The World Watch List (WWL) is a ranking of 50 countries where persecution of Christians for religious reasons is worst.”
1. North Korea
2. Iran
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Somalia
5. Maldives
World Watch List by Open Doors
Adding Jesus, Subtracting Idols
“Accepting Jesus” is not just adding Jesus. It is also subtracting the idols. What does it mean to “accept Jesus”? by Ray Ortlund
How to Become a Liberal Pastor by Seeking the Praise of Men
“Other pastors, having started as evangelicals, become liberal. It’s not that they begin to deny the Formula of Chalcedon or the Nicene Creed. It’s not that they reject the bodily resurrection of Christ or the virgin birth. It’s simply that, over the course of their ministry, sound doctrine increasingly takes a back seat to effective practice and the demands of a growing budget. Hard truths are replaced by happy thoughts, tips for a successful life, and programs designed to attract crowds whose content is devoted to making those crowds feel loved and accepted…No, I’m a pastor who loves Jesus because he’s God Incarnate and who loves the gospel because it’s true, regardless of how my life turns out. But I’m also a pastor at risk of becoming a liberal, because I don’t just love God. I also love the sheep. And I love myself. And it’s those two loves, wrongly focused, that tempt me down a gospel-denying path. LOVING THE SHEEP MORE THAN THE GOOD SHEPHERD” How to Become a Liberal Without Attending Harvard Divinity School by Michael Lawrence of 9Marks
Preaching Is Counseling
“What is interesting is that Scripture says very little about the kind of one-to-one application of the Word which biblical counseling represents; rather, the focus in the New Testament (and, indeed, in the Old) is upon the Word of God coming to the people as a whole and impacting the community of believers as a whole…does the rise in biblical counseling, and the growth in the number of biblical counselors, signal a crisis in confidence, not simply in the pulpit, but in the Word of God to achieve its purpose? Now, do not misunderstand me: I am not saying that counseling has no place, nor small group; but surely, if the biblical pattern is representative of healthy church life, then 95 percent of the problems addressed by counseling should actually be addressed and solved by simply proclaiming the perennial Word of God. Is it perhaps the case that fewer people would need counseling if more people actually listened prayerfully to what their pastors were telling them from the pulpit every Sunday morning?” The Therapy of the Word by Carl Trueman
Book Review: Depression, A Stubborn Darkness by Ed Welch
“There are three fundamental failures in Welch’s approach to depression. The first is that Welch does not seem to understand what depression is…The second failure is Welch’s misunderstanding of what causes depression…The third failure of the book should then be obvious. With no fundamental understanding of what depression is, or what causes it, we could hardly expect to find real answers or solutions and Welch offers none.” Book Review: Depression, A Stubborn Darkness by Donn Arms
55 Questions for Prospective Pastors
“It is not uncommon for a pastor to be opposed by the very people who at first enthusiastically promoted him. Why? Often it is because only surface communication took place between the potential pastor and the congregation before he assumed his position in the church. In our day it is possible for a pastor to be chosen for a church with almost no serious questions being asked, much less any doctrinal questions. This should never be the case. We suggest that churches seek the most complete dialogue possible about matters of doctrine, practice, and lifestyle. If the church fails to do so, the prospective pastor should call for it. This procedure protects both pastor and church.” Questions for a Prospective Pastor by Jim Eliff and Don Whitney
Outline of Packer’s “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God”
“The aim is to dispel the suspicion that belief in the absolute sovereignty of God hinders evangelism and to show that it actually strengthens evangelism…The book divides logically into four chapters. (See the outline of the book below.)” Summary and Outline of J. I. Packer’s “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God” by Andy Naselli
Finding Christ in the Pentatech
“To all pastors and serious readers of the Old Testament—geek, uber geek, under geek, no geek—if you graduated from high school and know the word meaning, sell your latest Piper or Driscoll book and buy Sailhamer,” Piper blogged. “There is nothing like it. It will rock your world. You will never read the Pentateuch the same again.”…Backed by these endorsements, Sailhamer’s 610-page tome on the Bible’s first five books briefly broke into the top 100 in Amazon.com’s sales rankings…I take the view that the whole of the Pentateuch is about Christ, but that doesn’t mean that Christ is in the whole Pentateuch. Finding Christ in the Pentateuch means learning to see him when he is there rather than trying to see when he is not there. I like to tell my students that we don’t need to spiritualize the Old Testament to find Christ, but we do need to read it with spiritual eyes…I’ve found that if you show someone that Christ is really there in the Pentateuch and the Old Testament, they will come back to see more—not merely because they have come to revere the Pentateuch as a foundational book, but more importantly because they want to see more of Jesus…All the evangelism we read about in the book of Acts was the result of the gospel they proclaimed from the pages of the “Old Testament.” Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch by Colin Hansen (HT: JT)
An Inconsistent Postmodern Architect
“He said, ‘This is America’s first postmodern building.’ I was startled for a moment and I said, ‘What is a postmodern building?’ He said, ‘Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.’ I said, ‘So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?’ He said, ‘That is correct.’ I said, ‘Did he do the same with the foundation?’ All of a sudden there was silence.” Postmodern Architecture by Ravi Zacharias via Justin Taylor
Edited 2/3/10
