The Valley of Vision (02/28/09 - 10 Comments)
Many weekends I like to post a prayer from that collection of Puritan prayers called The Valley of Vision. I do this because I need to learn to pray and because I know there is much I can learn from this book. Though it is not an instruction manual, there is a sense in which is serves in just that way. Most of us (perhaps all of us) learn to pray by imitating others. And...
Free Stuff Fridays (02/27/09 - 5 Comments)
This week's sponsor is Crossway Books. Crossway is offering five prizes, each of which will include three books by Sam Storms: More Precious than Gold, Hope of Glory and To the One Who Conquers. These are the three titles in a series of devotional books. One focuses on Colossians, one on Revelation 2-3 and the other on the Psalms. In More Precious Than Gold, Storms combines years of life experience and his biblical and...
Friday Miscellania (02/27/09 - 11 Comments)
I was just opening up my blogging software to begin writing today's article when I got interrupted by a Home Depot truck. After our basement got flooded a couple of weeks ago, we decided (after having the crack in the foundation repaired) to replace the old, ugly carpet with hardwood. We ordered everything from Home Depot and the delivery turned up this morning. The truck couldn't maneuver to the front of our house, so had...
Reading Classics Together (02/26/09 - 14 Comments)
I posted this last Thursday but wanted to offer this as another reminder... It is time to think about the next classic book of the Christian faith that we will be reading together. The impetus for this project was the simple realization that, though many Christians want to read through the classics of the faith, few of us have the motivation to actually make it happen. This program allows us to read them together, providing...
Random Thoughts on Reading (02/26/09 - 18 Comments)
As you might imagine, I receive a good deal of email from people who read this site. Probably the most common questions I receive (other than those mentioning The Shack) deal with books and reading. I guess I've established a reputation as a bookworm and people often ask just how I find time to read all these books, what books I recommend, and whether I've developed a system to help me retain information. Every now...
Snapshots & Screenshots (02/25/09 - 23 Comments)
I have written a lot of articles through the past 6+ years of blogging. Within all of the "every day" have been a few that I consider favorites--articles that, for one reason or another, stick with me even months or years later. I've often thought about collecting some of those together and allowing this to serve as a kind of introduction to the site. I finally had opportunity to do just that. And so I...
The One True God (02/24/09 - 8 Comments)
It is a question I am asked a lot: what Bible study curriculum do you recommend? I rarely know what to say. There are so many of them available; time would fail me to collect, examine and review them all. I was interested, then, to see that Paul Washer is releasing a new edition of The One True God, a title first released several years ago. It is published by Granted Ministries Press. No less...
Like Love (02/23/09 - 42 Comments)
I've been to my share of conferences in the past few years and quite a few of these have been geared toward pastors. There's a phenomenon I've noticed at the beginning of these events. In many cases these conferences are an opportunity for old friends to reconnect. Many times pastors have been attending the same conference year after year and have met new friends there or have reconnected with old friends from their college or...
Evening Praise (02/22/09 - 5 Comments)
It was a long but beautiful day today. I spent just about all of it, from beginning to end, with God's people--time spent with them worshiping God, time spent with them in fellowship. Early this morning I had hoped to post a prayer from the Valley of Vision but time got away from me. It seems even more appropriate to do so now, with the day drawing to a close. Here is "Evening Praise," a...
Humbly Rejoicing in the Goodness of Others (02/21/09 - 14 Comments)
As I read John Piper's book Finally Alive I came across a lot of godly wisdom. But there was one quote that, more than the others, jumped out at me. I thought I'd share it with you today... ***** This is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did...
Free Stuff Fridays (02/20/09 - 3 Comments)
This week Evangelical Press, celebrating the opening of their US store, is offering five copies of Fearless Pilgrim: The Life and Times of John Bunyan. You may recognize the title from a review I wrote just a couple of weeks ago. I said there that "This is a fantastic biography--one that is well-written and nicely paced. It could so easily have bogged down through discussions of Bunyan's voluminous writings, but Cook does an excellent...
Reading the Next Classic Together (And More!) (02/20/09 - 45 Comments)
I am going to address two topics in this post, so be sure to read long enough to catch both of them. In just a moment I want to tell you about the next classic book of the Christian faith that we will be reading together. But first, I want to announce a special reading project that I'll be leading. The Cross He Bore Easter is fast approaching and I think it would be both...
Is Smoking Sinful? (02/19/09 - 104 Comments)
Years ago I was standing in the foyer of the church I attended at that time and a person who was new to the church came to me and, rather quietly, asked "What do you guys believe about smoking? Is it okay to smoke in this church?" I laughed a little, not because it was a stupid question but because the church had people from such a great diversity of backgrounds. We had heaps...
Retreat! (02/18/09 - 20 Comments)
This weekend I spoke at a youth retreat in Northern Michigan. I won't get more specific than that because, well, I can't. I followed some vans full of teenagers from Flint and stopped where they stopped, about an hour and a half north. We settled in at this rather nice little Christian camp in what appeared to be 175 acres situated right in the middle of nowhere. It was an ideal spot for a...
Book Review - Finally Alive by John Piper (02/17/09 - 29 Comments)
As I read the final page of Finally Alive I realized that I had found a new favorite book by John Piper. Those who have read my reviews of some of his previous titles know that while I greatly enjoy Piper's ministry and am indebted to him in many ways, I have not always found his books easy to read. Yet I read Finally Alive with relish, enjoying it from the first page to the...
The Tactics Blog Tour (02/16/09 - 45 Comments)
Greg Koukl is setting out on a blog tour to support his new book Tactics (you can read my review of it right here). I agreed to participate, asking one question of my own and asking one question on behalf of another person. Here is what we asked and how Greg answered. There are many "traditional" apologetic manuals available to us, perhaps the foremost of which is Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Such books seem...
Memorize Scripture With Us! (02/15/09 - 5 Comments)
A couple of months ago I began an effort to memorize Scripture with other people who read this site. My initial projection of having thirty people interested in participating was quickly shattered and there are now more than 1100 participating. Those who have been participating from the beginning have now memorized Psalm 8, Psalm 103 and Romans 12. Speaking personally I can say that the time I've spent committing Scripture to memory has been profoundly...
A Failure to Think (02/14/09 - 20 Comments)
In John Stott's little book Your Mind Matters I found this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He was commenting on Matthew 6:30 in his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount and offered a great critique to those who feel that faith and thinking are opposites; that a person who has faith is a person who refuses to use his mind. Instead, says Lloyd-Jones, a person who exercises faith must use his mind. Faith according to...
Free Stuff Fridays (02/13/09 - 5 Comments)
This week Ligonier Ministries is offering 50 (count 'em 50!) prizes. Each of the 50 (!) winners will be given a year-long subscription to Tabletalk Magazine (or a subscription for a friend, neighbor, family member if the winner happens to already be a subscriber). Tabletalk is a tool that helps you grow in your knowledge of God and in your love for His Son and His people. Each month is packed with more than...
Friday Miscellania (02/13/09 - 29 Comments)
I am about to hit the road for what marks the beginning of a busy spring conference season. This evening I'll be speaking at a church in Mt. Morris, Michigan and will then travel with the youth to some kind of a retreat center. I'll be speaking to them five times over the weekend, covering issues related to discernment. I covet your prayers as I seek to minister effectively to these young people! Before I...
Theology-ology (02/12/09 - 19 Comments)
Theology remains something of a bad word in Christian circles. I'd believe that the success of a book like The Shack has proven this to us yet again. Many people seem eager to embrace some form of Christian spirituality but have little desire or love for theology. Theology is linked in people's minds with frigid, dead religion that cares more about principles and matters of the head than deeds and matters of the heart. It...
A Portrayal of Calvinism (02/11/09 - 53 Comments)
As you may know, I decided to read through both of the Finding God in The Shack books released this month (two books, two authors, one title). Last week I reviewed the first of these (see: Finding God in the Shack (1)) and in a day or two I will review the second. But first, I wanted to share a few quotes from the book. It is not lost on me that the majority of...
Book Review - Tactics (02/10/09 - 24 Comments)
I have a bit of an aversion to books on apologetics. I don't know exactly why this is, but it may be that many of them seem to teach methods of defending the faith that either manipulate or bludgeon. Somehow grace and apologetics do not seem to go together as they ought. So it was with perhaps just a bit of reluctance that I began reading Gregory Koukl's Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your...
The Christian Lover II: Dispatches from the Digital Age (02/09/09 - 12 Comments)
A couple of weeks ago I reviewed The Christian Lover by Michael Haykin, a collection of historical love letters sent from one Christian lover to another. Despite feeling like a bit of a voyeur, spying on private communications, I enjoyed reading these letters, and highly recommended the book. But it got me thinking about my relationship with my wife and whether she and I will leave behind any such tangible evidence of our love for...
25 Stupendously Boring Things You Didn't Want to Know About Me (02/08/09 - 36 Comments)
There is some "25-Things" meme making its way around Facebook (and, from there, to the web beyond). I've been tagged a whole bunch of times. It has, after all, apparently been completed some five million times. Such memes are not really my thing. Some people take these things way too seriously and offer facts that, in other context, would be terribly humiliating. And yet they are kind of fine. I'll take a different approach. Here...
Spiritual Gravitas (02/07/09 - 7 Comments)
I really enjoying reading David Wells' books (the theologian, that is, not the pitcher). His four (or five) volume series that began with No Place for Truth and ended with Above All Earthly Pow'rs (or The Courage To Be Protestant) is a modern day classic. There is lots of great content to mine from them. Here is something he wrote in Above All Earthly Pow'rs. He reflected on the events of September 11 and the...
Free Stuff Fridays (02/06/09 - 17 Comments)
We're going to try something new around here. For the next few weeks, at least, I'm going to make Fridays a giveaway day. Check in Friday mornings and there will be something to win. Today I'm giving away five copies of a great little book on John Calvin (courtesy of Reformation Heritage Books). "In this attractive volume, Simonetta Carr introduces young readers to the life, thought, and work of one of the most famous Reformers...
Greg Koukl on Theistic Evolution (02/06/09 - 77 Comments)
I've been reading through Gregory Koukl's new book Tactics (check back on Tuesday for a review) and came to a brief section dealing with theistic evolution. Theistic evolution is all the rage within Christian circles today and I thought it may be worth discussing the logic he uses to refute it. I'd be interested in your thoughts on it. Here's Koukl: ***** Some people suggest that God used evolution to design the world. They are...
Finding God in The Shack (I) (02/05/09 - 37 Comments)
I mark this review as Finding God in The Shack I because this month will see the release of two books by two authors but with only one title between them. Both books look to the overwhelming success of William Young's The Shack, evaluate it, and seek to answer its critics. As one of those critics, and as one whose review has been read hundreds of thousands of times, I have some interest in the...
A Further Word on Freedom (02/04/09 - 13 Comments)
On Monday I wrote about freedom and offered a pretty weak effort, I think. It's been a tough few days around here with everyone except me being sick at one time or another (and mostly all at the same time) and I fear that my article on Monday reflected a lack of attention. There is one thing I had wanted to say on Monday that I somehow did not quite communicate. I'm going to take...
Get Outta My Face! (02/03/09 - 10 Comments)
I have spent the last thirteen years of my life trying to forget my teenage years. It's not that these years were really so bad and it's not like I went through a period of utter rebellion as do so many teens (for which I give thanks to God). It's more that I had little joy in these years and felt that I was mostly just putting in time as I waited to grow up....
Ray Comfort on Responding to Atheists (02/02/09 - 14 Comments)
Ray Comfort is setting out on a blog tour to support his new book You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make him Think. Knowing that many of the readers of this site are admirer's of Comfort, I decided to participate. I solicited questions from readers and here is one that Comfort was eager to respond to. I often respond to the questions/arguments posed by atheists not so much because I think...
Freedom Comes (02/02/09 - 11 Comments)
At my church last night I preached a message that was part of a series we are doing on various points of theology. The topic I had to address was biblical manhood and womanhood. It's something of an uncomfortable topic to have to preach and one we, as Christians, are too often intimidated by. I sought in this message to emphasize the freedom and the delight in God that come to us when we understand...
Like News from a Far Country (02/01/09 - 9 Comments)
This morning I stumbled across the first few pages of Alexander Strauch's Leading with Love. He begins this book by telling a story from the life of Dwight L. Moody. He tells of a time that the evangelist Henry Moorhouse was asked to preach at Moody's church every night for a week. To everyone's surprise, Moorhouse preached seven consecutive sermons on John 3:16, preaching on God's love from Genesis to Revelation. Moody's son recorded the...
