John Piper: “Turn off the Television”

I have to admit that I have to keep myself in check and have repentented of this in the past when it comes to the time I put in watching television (this including Fox News) as if I couldn’t live without it.  Although watching television in and of itself is not sinful if we are honest with ourselves most of what is coming out of the tube these days I would question may have no lasting benefit to the kingdom of God.  Is what is on TV spuring you on to love Christ more?  Is it helpful in your engagement with culture and other worldviews from an evangelistic standpoint?  Is it replacing your time in Scripture, prayer, and meditation?  All this under the umbrella of glorifying God.  These are just a few questions we might need to ask ourselves.

Below John Piper gives his take on television seeing that he hasn’t ever had one in his house.  The quote below was taken from “Preaching as Worship: Meditations on Expository Exultation” (Trinity Journal 16 [1995]: 29–-45).

John Piper:

It is not necessary for relevance. And it is a deadly place to rest the mind. Its pervasive banality, sexual innuendo, and God-ignoring values have no ennobling effects on the preacher’s soul. It kills the spirit. It drives God away. It quenches prayer. It blanks out the Bible. It cheapens the soul. It destroys spiritual power. It defiles almost everything. I have taught and preached for twenty years now and never owned a television. It is unnecessary for most of you, and it is spiritually deadly for all of you.

(HT: Andy Naselli)

Job

Most know John Piper for his gift of preaching and from reading his books. Little do most know that John Piper is a gifted poet. I once heard John Piper say that one of the reasons he has a love and appreciation for poetry is that it helps him bridge the chasm between the glorious realities of truth in scripture and the affections of his heart. This trailer is for the newly illustrated version of his book Job.

Desiring God will be having their regional conference this year in Austin, TX (Oct. 17-18). The conference is titled Job: When the Righteous Suffer. I am assuming that the audio is available so if are not able to attend the conference you can check back at Desiring God. Suffering is inevitable in the Christian life (Phil 1:29). Although I have not purchased my copy yet I am sure this will be a blessing to you as well as the audio from the conference once it is made available.

(HT: JT)

Desiring God:

Job lost everything: his wealth, his health, and his ten children. All swept away in one satanic storm. Reduced to a heap of flesh, ashes, and tears—rebuked by friends and jeered by strangers—righteous Job wrestled over the purpose and presence of God in the midst of unbearable pain.

With moving illustrations by Christopher Koelle, John Piper unfolds the story of Job in beautiful, compassionate poetry and revels in God’s sovereign and surprisingly joyful purposes in allowing exquisite suffering in the lives of his saints. An uplifting book, especially for those experiencing great suffering and loss.

Lost in the Middle: Mid-Life Crisis and the Grace of God

Publisher: Shepherd Press
Author: Tripp, Paul David
ISBN-10: 0972304681 | ISBN-13: 9780972304689
Binding: Paperback
List Price: $15.95

(HT: JT)

Quest for More

Publisher: New Growth Press
Author: Tripp, Paul David
ISBN-10: 0978556747 | ISBN-13: 9780978556747
Binding: Paperback
List Price: $17.99

D.A. Carson in Five Trends on the Church Today

Below are five trends in the church that trouble him which he elaborated on at a luncheon just before this year’s Desiring God National Conference. You can check out the whole post at ACTS 29.

1. It is important to observe contradictory trends.

2. Current evangelical fragments are moving into a new phase — into polarized “clumps.”

3. The most dangerous trends in any age are the trends that most people do not see.

4. There is a trend in our churches to be consumed by social concern.

5. There is a trend in our churches to emphasize discipleship over the gospel.

(HT: Challies)

Tim Challies reviews Death By Love

Tim Challies:

What makes Death by Love so different from his other books is what makes it good. Driscoll holds his tongue, refusing to bring his trademark humor to this book. In this case it is a very good thing as the subject demands a serious tone. Driscoll looks at real-life crises and offers biblical wisdom and hope. While I have struggled in the past to recommend Driscoll’s books, I have little hesitation in recommending this one.

Read the whole post here.

Dave Ramsey on the Economic Crisis

Dave Ramsey:

Over the past month, we’ve witnessed the largest bankruptcy in history, the stock market dropping like a rock, and the talking heads on TV freaking out that the world is coming to an end. I’m here to tell you the truth—we’re going to make it. We’re going to be fine. Take a chill pill.

This month I’ve compiled some of the most-asked questions I’ve gotten recently from you:

Are we okay, Dave?

Definitely. Remember Enron and WorldCom in the recent years? We survived that. But much worse than all this was the financial crisis of the ‘80s – S&L collapse and 1,000 bank failures in 2 years. We’re nowhere near this type of thing; that was probably 50 to 100 times worse than all of this.

What does all of this come back to?

Greedy banks financing homes to broke people. It all seemed to work okay in their minds when the economy was booming, but when the economy slowed a little bit broke people quit paying on their subprime mortgages. DUH. No wonder they went out of business. Stupid decisions.

Is there anything we can do to fix this bailout mess?

YES! Here’s a quick summary: Companies that had billions in subprime loans were feeling the effects of their stupid decision to make those loans in the first place, and practically gave them away for pennies on the dollar. But since no one wants these loans, and they’ve had to mark them down to market value, it has frozen the market. If we temporarily change the rule that forces companies to do that, that will free the market up.

This is an absolutely huge deal, and it involves everyone getting in touch with their congressperson before we spend hundreds of billions of dollars that we don’t need to! Learn more

Will the collapse of businesses and banks affect me?

No, not unless you work there. Thousands of stock brokers on Wall Street have lost their jobs in the past few weeks, but that happens in other industries across the country in good and bad times. This time it just happened in NYC where all the national news media is so they made a big deal of it.

(HT: Z)

What Makes Bad Tunes Bad…

(HT: 22 Words)

Porn Again Christian

Mark Driscoll is releasing a free booklet centering on pornography and masturbation. As many of you know Driscoll has a way of communicating truth that is both shrewd and edifying. This will be yet again an interesting read from Driscoll. Stay tuned as he will be releasing it piece by piece. You can check it out here.

Mark Driscoll:

What started as a handful of guys has now grown to a large church that is half single and half married, half male and half female. We have thousands of single men ages eighteen to thirty-four who call Mars Hill home, which is a miracle since we are in one of the least churched cities in our nation and statistically the least likely city in the nation where these guys would attend church. Most of them are new Christians who meet Jesus while in sexual sin of every sort and are fighting to get dominion over their pants.

To help these guys, some years ago I sat down and in one day wrote a small booklet about male sexuality that we published in-house. Since then we have gone through thousands of copies and literally cannot keep it in stock. I asked some Christian publishers if they wanted it, and they said it was too hot to handle and so they declined.

So, I decided to just put it online and give it away for free. The book has had a small amount of editing and rewriting since its original version. We’ll give it away at the Resurgence a bit at a time in conjunction with the Song of Songs series I am preaching titled “The Peasant Princess.” Once the entire book has been put online, it will then be posted as a file that guys around the world can download and read on their computer, forward to their friends, or print copies of to hand out as they like.

I hope this thing goes nuts and hundreds of thousands of guys read it.

In closing, I want to say two things. One, a lot of folks will not like the content or tone of this book and I love them and wish them well. You get what you pay for and this is free. Two, a lot of young guys (and some older guys too) tell me they have been helped by this content and if God uses it to help some guys I would be overjoyed with that. So, let the critics fire away and I’ll gladly take the shots for the guys who are walking wounded in an effort to help them get their shield up and sword sharpened.

Until we see Jesus,
Pastor Mark Driscoll

(HT: Z)

ABC News comes to Southern Seminary

In light of Sarah Palin’s nomination as John McCain’s running mate there have been questions raised concerning roles of women in leadership.  ABC News gets Southern’s take on things here.  The segment isn’t long at all unfortunately but based on what Dr. Mohler reported and what is shown in the video we did well.

(HT: Al Mohler)

Piper on the Benefits of Christian Eloquence

John Piper has given 5 benefits of Christian eloquence at this years Desiring God National Conference.

DG Blog:

1. Eloquence—that is, artistic, surprising, provocative, or aesthetically pleasing language—may keep people awake and focused because they find it interesting for reasons they can’t articulate.

2. Eloquence may bring an adversarial mind into greater sympathy with the speaker.

3. Eloquence may have an awakening effect on a person’s heart and mind short of regeneration, but still important in awakening in them emotional sensitivity to beautiful things.

4. Certain kinds of eloquence (cadence, parallelism, meter, rhyme, assonance, consonance) may not only add interest, but also increase impact by helping the memory.

5. The beauty of eloquence can join with the beauty of truth and increase the power of your words.

Desiring God National Conference Audio and Video (2008)

This year’s Desiring God National Conference titled The Power of Words and the Wonder of God is now available in audio and video through Desiring God here.  Below are the video’s from the conference.  I have only heard snippets of the panel discussion and am looking forward to listening to the rest of the talks in particular Sinclair Ferguson’s exposition on James 3:1-12.

DG Blog:

• Sinclair Ferguson – “The Tongue, the Bridle, and the Blessing“
• Driscoll, Ferguson, Piper – Friday Panel Discussion
• Bob Kauflin – “Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?“
• Mark Driscoll – “How Sharp the Edge: Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words“
• Daniel Taylor – “The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours“
• Kauflin, Piper, Taylor, Tripp – Saturday Panel Discussion
• Paul Tripp – “War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God’s Sake“
• John Piper – “Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross“

John Piper Stylin’ and Profilin’

20 Resolutions from the book of James

Below are 20 resolutions with an Edwards twist from Sinclair Ferguson’s talk on the tongue.  You can listen and watch his sermon from the Desiring God Conference here.  You will surely be blessed!

DG Blog:

1. I resolve to ask God for wisdom to speak out of a single-minded devotion to him. (1:5)

2. I resolve to boast only in the exultation I receive in Jesus Christ and also in the humiliation I receive for Jesus Christ. (1:9-10)

3. I resolve to set a watch over my mouth. (1:13)

4. I resolve to be constantly quick to hear and slow to speak. (1:19)

5. I resolve to learn the gospel way of speaking to both rich and poor. (2:1-4)

6. I resolve to speak in the present consciousness of my final judgment. (2:12)

7. I resolve never to stand on anyone’s face with the words I employ. (2:16)

8. I resolve never to claim as reality in my life what I do not truly experience. (3:14)

9. I resolve to resist quarrelsome words as evidence of a bad heart that needs to be mortified. (4:1)

10. I resolve never to speak decided evil against another out of a heart of antagonism. (4:11)

11. I resolve never to boast in anything but what I will accomplish. (4:13)

12. I resolve to speak as one subject to the providences of God. (4:15)

13. I resolve never to grumble. The judge is at the door. (5:9)

14. I resolve never to allow anything but total integrity in everything I say. (5:12)

15. I resolve to speak to God in prayer whenever I suffer. (5:13)

16. I resolve to sing praises to God whenever I’m cheerful. (5:14)

17. I resolve to ask for the prayers of others when I’m in need. (5:14)

18. I resolve to confess it whenever I have failed. (5:15)

19. I resolve to pray with others for one another whenever I am together with them. (5:15)

20. I resolve to speak words of restoration when I see another wander. (5:19)

Evangelism Linebacker

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

Timeline of Fetal Growth

Stand to Reason:

GE, which developed the 4D ultrasound imaging technology, has a website of images that follow the timeline of the unborn’s development from six weeks to birth.  It’s a fantastic window into the womb to see the human being, bring to life the formerly unseen, at stake in abortion.  These pictures are worth 1000 words, but use the words as well to explain the value of these children.

Kirk Cameron only has lips for his wife.

I have always admired Mike Seaver I mean Kirk Cameron for his boldness to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his quick wit during television interviews.  Kirk Cameron was recently on the Today Show discussing and promoting the new movie “Fireproof” due out today (9/26/2008).  In this interview he briefly discusses why he won’t kiss anyone beside his wife even on screen.

Electronic Drum Shirt

Worship leaders….don’t even think about it (J/k).

(HT: Neatorama)

Why Driscoll loves John Piper

Below are four reasons why Mark Driscoll loves John Piper.  Click here to read the entire post.  If you have not seen the video of Driscoll interviewing Piper you can check it out at the bottom of the Resurgence post.

1. He is the most passionate guy I think have ever met.
2. He does not seem to really care about his approval ratings.
3. He has a father’s heart.
4. By not trying to be cool…he’s cool.

Upcoming books from Crossway

Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods
Mark Driscoll, Gerry Breshears (Expected January 31, 2009)

Price: $19.99 (Hardcover)

Crossway:

Defines a biblical church as one that properly balances the eternal truths of Scripture with timely, relevant methods designed to engage the culture.

The book in the popular Re:Lit series picks up where Vintage Jesus leaves off, beginning with a focus on the person and work of Jesus and then exploring the confessional, experiential, and missional aspects of his church. This study grows out of the vintage concept of taking timeless truths from Scripture—truths about church leadership, preaching, baptism, communion, and more—and blending them with aspects of contemporary culture, such as multi-campus churches and the latest forms of technology, to reach people with the gospel.

While Vintage Church is helpful for pastors and church leaders, it is the kind of book you could hand to someone who has questions about ecclesiology but finds the very term ecclesiology intimidating. The authors put forth twelve practical questions about church doctrine and answer them in clear, biblical language that lay people and new believers can understand.

The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority
G. K. Beale  (Expected November 30, 2008)

Price: $20.00 (Trade Paperback)

Crossway:

Examines recent postmodern efforts to redefine the traditional evangelical view of scriptural authority and counters with sound logic that supports inerrancy.

Due to recent popular challenges to evangelical doctrine, biblical inerrancy is a topic receiving an increasing amount of attention among theologians and other scholars. Here G. K. Beale attempts vigorously and even-handedly to examine the writings of one leading postmodernist, Peter Enns, whose writings challenge biblical authority. In support of inerrancy, Beale presents his own set of challenges to the postmodern suppositions of Enns and others.

How can the Bible be historically inaccurate while still serving as the authoritative word on morality and salvation? Beale concludes that it cannot, and his work will aid all who support biblical inerrancy in defending their position against postmodern attacks. This is an issue that affects the entire body of Christ.

Is Rome the True Church?: A Consideration of the Roman Catholic Claim
Norman L. Geisler, Joshua M. Betancourt (Expected November 30, 2008)

 Price: $17.99 (Trade Paperback)

Crossway:

A major critical analysis of the Roman Catholic Church’s exclusive claim of infallibility.

In 2007 the president of the Evangelical Theological Society converted to Roman Catholicism. His conversion and subsequent resignation stirred up questions that always swirl around such high-profile conversions: Why do some Protestants become Catholics? Is Roman Catholicism a false church? Which church is the true church?

Norman Geisler and Joshua Betancourt answer these questions in Is Rome the True Church?, a major critical analysis of the Roman church’s claim to being the only true church. Since this claim is the most fundamental of all Catholic dogmas—all other doctrines being based on it—the whole of the Roman system stands or falls here. The authors explain and critique the Roman church’s biblical, historical, theological, and philosophical arguments on behalf of its claim, digging into the best primary and secondary Catholic sources on the subject. This book has answers for students, thoughtful evangelicals, and anyone interested in Roman Catholicism.

John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God (Foreword by Gerald L. Bray)
John Piper  (Expected December 31, 2008)

 Price: $7.99 (Trade Paperback)

Crossway:

John Piper fires readers’ passion for the centrality and supremacy of God by unfolding Calvin’s exemplary zeal for the glory of God.

God rests all too lightly on the church’s mind in our time. Consequently, the self-saturation of his people has made God and his glory auxiliary, and his majesty has all but disappeared from the modern evangelical world.

John Calvin saw a similar thing in his day, and it was at the root of his quarrel with Rome. Nothing mattered more to Calvin than the centrality, supremacy, and majesty of the glory of God. His aim, he wrote, was to “set before [man], as the prime motive of his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God”—a fitting banner over all of the great Reformer’s life and work. “The essential meaning of Calvin’s life and preaching,” writes John Piper, “is that he recovered and embodied a passion for the absolute reality and majesty of God. Such is the aim and burden of this book as well.”

As Piper concisely unfolds this predominant theme in Calvin’s life, he seeks to fire every Christian’s passion for the centrality and supremacy of God, so that God’s self-identification in Exodus 3 as “I am who I am” becomes the sun in our solar system too.

 

 

The Awe Factor Of God – Francis Chan

1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [2]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

-Psalm 8

John Piper – Should God Forgive a Child Molester?

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
-Romans 3:21-26

Derek Thomas, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Ligon Duncan

(HT: Reformation21)

Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Fall 2008)

The Fall edition of the JBMW is now available in print and will be soon be made available online coming January 1, 2009.  If you are not familiar with the JBMW this journal will surely be worth your attention.  The JBMW deals specifically with the issues of Biblical manhood and womanhood drawing out applications for daily life within the church and work as well as dealing with some of the more controversial topics within the gender debate.  As a service to the church the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has made all past editions available free of charge online.  Below are the articles now available online. (HT: Genderblog)

• “Editorial: A High Profile Conversion to Egalitarianism” by Denny Burk

• “How Shall We Speak of God? Seven Reasons Why We Cannot Call God Mother” by Randy L. Stinson and Christopher W. Cowan

• “Defenders of Women” by Susan Hunt

• “Answering Lottie Moon’s Cry: A Call for Dialogue on the Role of Women in Missions” by David Kotter

• “Is This Good News for Women? A Review of Carolyn Custis James, The Gospel of Ruth” by Jennifer J. Naselli

JBMW (Fall 2008) Index:

Editorial	Denny Burk
Raunch Culture Rip-Off	Carolyn McCulley
How Shall We Speak of God? Seven Reasons Why We Cannot Call God “Mother”	Randy L. Stinson and Christopher W. Cowan
Defenders of Women	Susan Hunt
Answering Lottie Moon’s Cry	David Kotter
What’s at Stake: “It’s Hermeneutics!”	Margaret Köstenberger
Equal in Essence, Distinct in Roles	Bruce A. Ware
Complementarianism and Eschatology: Engaging Gordon Fee’s “New Creation” Egalitarianism	Everett Berry
The Power of a Consecrated Life Lived Out in The Ministry of Miss Lottie Moon (Romans 12:1)	Daniel L. Akin
Is This Good News for Women?	Jennifer J. Naselli
What Are Little Boys Made of?	Christopher W. Cowan
Sliding the Slippery Slope	Robert E. Sagers
Getting to the Heart of Manhood and Womanhood	James K. Dew Jr.
How to Discern a Lie	Lorie Looney Keene

Trevin Wax interviews Justin Taylor on the ESV Study Bible

Justin Taylor:

Perhaps of interest to some: I explain a bit about how we chose the contributors, go into some detail on the map and the NASA program that formed the basis for them, etc. Oh, and there’s a bonus picture of Wayne Grudem holding a print-out of the page proofs!

Part 1

Part 2

ESV Study Bible Panel Discussion

Lifeway Research examines hot issues within SBC

Lifeway has just posted an article dealing with some of the more interesting issues surrounding Southern Baptist Life.  Below is an excerpt from the article.

Lifeway:

New research into several questions that often dominate Southern Baptist debates – from the rise of Calvinism and prevalence of elders in congregations to speaking in tongues and baptism practices – offers some hard numbers to inform those discussions.

LifeWay Research, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, conducted the study in spring 2008 among a representative sample of 778 Southern Baptist pastors.

The issues in question – and the results uncovered by the survey, show that Southern Baptists have strong opinions in several areas.

Concern about Calvinism

LifeWay Research has previously reported a sharp rise in the number of self-identified five-point Calvinists among recent seminary graduates. In a related question, LifeWay Research asked Southern Baptist pastors if they were “concerned” about this increase, asking them to agree or disagree with the statement, “The rise of Calvinism among recent seminary graduates concerns me.”

Among Southern Baptist pastors, 27 percent strongly agreed and another 36 percent somewhat agreed with the statement indicating that they were “concerned.” Sixteen percent strongly disagreed with the statement and another 17 percent somewhat disagreed. The remaining 5 percent indicated they “don’t know.”

(HT: Ed Stetzer)

Tag Team: Piper and Carson on the Pastor as Scholar and The Scholar as Pastor

DG Blog:

Don Carson is a pastoral scholar. John Piper is a scholarly pastor.

Next Spring they will team up to address the topic “The Pastor as Scholar, and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry with John Piper and D.A. Carson.”

The event is scheduled for April 23, 2009, sponsored by the Henry Center at TEDS, and hosted by Park Community Church in Chicago. And it’s free!

Those attending The Gospel Coalition conference April 21-23, 2009, in the Chicago area may want to consider staying an extra night for this unique gathering.

What is human freedom? Are human beings free?

Here Ligon Duncan’s answer here.

Boogie down Christians….

So I’m sure most of you have seen these videos but I thought it would be nice to add these to the Crimson Window files.  As a former bboy and dancer the gentleman in the first video is not as bad as most people make him out to be in fact he probably has more moves than most people in the church today not that anyone would want those moves.  Is there anyone willing to admit they tried these moves after watching this video?

I have no comments about the second video…