On Signing Bibles

I have never quite grasped why people have other people sign their Bibles and I’m not talking about the presented to and by portion.  I guess I can understand the whole “heroes of the faith” collection of signatures but maybe it’s me but I don’t see any spiritual value or any value at all in this exercise.  Of course there may be a season of joy if someone like Al Mohler were to sign my Bible (not that he would and not that I would ask him or anyone) but I would be much more comfortable and I am sure he would too if he signed something he actually wrote.  Signatures imply ownership and authorship.  As if anyone is worthy to sign Scripture…

Below is an account Josh Gelatt mentions regarding J.I. Packer:

After I had my book [Knowing God] signed, many more pressed him. He signed books as he answered questions. The insight he provided into the Puritans in those few minutes still have a lasting impact on me. During the conversation, a young man (my age) approached Packer with a newly purchased ESV Bible (of which Packer was a general editor). Excitedly, he asked Packer to sign it and handed it to him. For a few moments Packer held the Bible in his hands, and quietly returned it to the young man. He said, “Son, this is God’s book. If you want it signed you will need to ask him.”

(HT: ESV)

Discernment in Your Daily Life and Discerning Your Doctrine

A Sad Time in My Life

The most anticipated conference this year and I will be missing it the second time around. I will actually be in Louisville from April 10th – 14th and when does the conference start – APRIL 15th! Hopefully next time…

If you haven’t heard the sermons from a couple of years ago.  Sovereign Grace Ministries has graciously provided them for free here.

Helping Kids Love Missions

Tia, a volunteer with Desiring God’s International Outreach department has posted 10 Ways to Help Kids Love Missions on the Desiring God Blog.  Below is 6-9.  Click here for the whole thing.

6. Take risks as a family. There are ways to live life which help children grasp the reality that discomfort and suffering are normal and rewarding parts of the Christian experience. Volunteer at a rescue mission; house a single mother; move to the inner-city.

7. Affirm and nurture qualities in your children which could serve them on the mission field. As your children grow in knowledge and skill, encourage them to think about how they could use their gifts in missions work. Then, if God says, “go,” release them to go!

8. Teach your children to be world Christians. Don’t expose them to only the American perspective on news and realities around the world. Go out of your way to make them more aware than the average American Christian about geography, world history, and the plights and perspectives of people across the globe.

9. Read missionary prayer letters to your children. Ask them questions about the content and look up facts about the missionaries’ location on the Internet.

Bringing about Conceptual Categories

As we think seriously about contextualizing the message of the Bible, let’s remember that we must also labor to bring about, in the minds of our listeners, conceptual categories that may be missing from their mental framework. If we only use the thought structures they already have, some crucial biblical truths will remain unintelligible, no matter how much contextualizing we do. This work of concept creation is harder than contextualization, but just as important.  -John Piper

(HT: DG)

Recommended Books on Cultural Engagement

John Mark Reynolds a professor at Biola University and founder and director of the Torrey Honors Institute has offered some suggestions on books for cultural engagement. 

John Reynolds:

I am often asked for a few fairly-easy to read books that would give a traditional Christian insight into how to do cultural analysis or “cultural apologetics” of the sort pioneered by Francis Schaeffer.

Since some of Schaeffer’s heirs are coy about their support for both the traditional Christianity and the culture of life he defended, it falls on the rest of us to give what help we can.

Here is a list that is distinctly “middle brow.” Books that made the list do not require much expertise on the part of the reader before he or she can plunge into learning. In some cases I passed on well known books for more obscure works that a reader might have missed, though some works like Abolition of Man are too important not to include.

“Abolition of Man” (Lewis)

“Descent into Hell” (Williams)

“On Fairy Stories” (Tolkien)

“Closing of the American Mind” (Bloom)

“Christianity and the Nature of Science” (Moreland)

“How Now Should We Live” (Pearcey and Colson)

“Liberty or Equality” (von Kuehnelt-Leddihn)

“The City and Man” (Strauss)

“Heaven the Hearts Deepest Longing” (Kreeft)

“Reason in the Balance” (Johnson)

“For the Life of the World” (Schmemann)

“The Birth of the Modern World” (Johnson)

“A Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy” (Schaeffer)

(HT: JT)

Patristics For Busy Pastors

J. Ligon Duncan III pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS and adjunct professor at Reformed Theological Seminary was recently interviewed by Tony Reinke on “Patristics for Busy Pastors.”  Duncan a scholar on patrology received his from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1995. 

Download the full interview MP3 (14.4 MB).

Click here for the outline.

A Proper Approach to Worship

I have just been learning within the past five years what it means to worship God through song.  How as believers should we in particular approach congregational worship?  A worship pastor once told me that worship is a dialogue between a forgiven people and a holy God.  Therefore in light of who we are dialoging with in this context it should drive a proper response of the heart.  That is a fitting state of the heart whereby godly affections are evoked.  The reason this is so important is because congregational worship is and should be a prep for the primacy of the Word.  In other words worship primes the heart to hear the words of God spoken through scripture.

Below are some helpful way that I have found beneficial in my approach to worship:

• Exam your heart to find what struggles you wish to overcome and bring them before the Lord.
• Focus on the attributes and characteristics of God: holy, forgiving, kind, merciful, patient, gracious, slow to anger, his severity, etc.
• Know that God’s promises are still true regardless of how you feel that day.
• Focus on the changelessness of God.  Realize that our faith is not in proportion to His.
• Discern the difference between thanksgiving and praise.  We are naturally better at giving thanks than at giving praise.  Praise is one of the foundations of worship as seen throughout the Psalms.
• Realize that our ultimate problem has been resolved, namely we are no longer enemies of God.  Bask in the kindness and grace of our Lord.
• Realize that Jesus is now for you.

Adrian Warnock recently interviewed worship lead and song writer Stuart Townend.  Townend gives some insightful thoughts on “what makes a worship song good.”  I have posted a portion of the interview below.  Click here for the whole thing.

Adrian

What makes a worship song good?

Stuart

Having focused on the cross of Christ, it’s important to ask, “What does that mean for me? What’s the foundation of life?” It’s not just, “How does it make me feel?” Rather, it should be—“What is the unchanging truth about my life based on the unchanging truth about God and what he has done? What has God said about me or us or the Church?” Those things are unchanging truths that don’t depend on whether I am having a good time or a bad time. They are about me, but they are really about God and what God has done in me. Worship is not just about singing songs that make me feel better. In the middle of whatever I am facing, God is with me. Worship should be exciting, but founded on the truth of the gospel. Our feelings are a by-product of the glorious truth we are celebrating.

(HT: Titus2Talk)