Another smorgasboard from around the web

There are a number of posts I’d link to link to, so here’s another “Smorgasboard” post. Once again, I found most of this stuff thanks to Tim Challies and Justin Taylor!

• Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck wrote the widely appreciated Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, and they’ve just released Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. The duo were also recently given an opportunity to wrote a column for the Washington Post entitled, Church: Love It, Don’t Leave It.
• The Youth Small Groups have been going through Crazy Love by Francis Chan. During the month of July, this excellent book is available as a free audio book from ChristianAudio.com (download it here). Other resources associated with this book include free introductory videos to each chapter (available here), and a DVD of videos that are helpful for encouraging group discussion based on each chapter (available here).
• Ligonier Ministries Blog: “Over the course of several months, Keith Mathison put together a list of his top 5 commentaries for each book of the Bible.” For links to Mathison’s recommended commentaries on each book of the Bible, click here. (Another great resource on good commentaries can be found here).
• On a personal note: In my opinion, rugby is the greatest sport on earth! : ) The South African national team, the Springboks, is currently playing a series against the British and Irish Lions (the very best of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) – a team that is only put together once every 4 years. Well, South Africa have won the first 2 matches! There is 1 more game this Saturday…  For an awesome piece of play, click here and start watching from about 45 seconds into the video…

Blessings…

~Donovan

A smorgasboard from around the web

It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t had a chance to post anything. I have come across several good posts on-line though, and since I don’t know which to link to, here’s a smorgasboard of good stuff from around the web (as usual, I found most of this stuff thanks to Tim Challies and Justin Taylor!):

• John Piper wrote a thought-provoking post entitled, “Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies” . This post also includes a wonderful example of humbly confessing sin. 
• Keith and Kristen Getty have released a new album of modern, celtic-style hymns. Their lyrics are saturated with Scripture and their music is beautiful! You can listen to samples and/or order the CD here.
• Sovereign Grace Music has released another children’s album entitled, To Be Like Jesus. Read about it here.
• Tim Challies asked John Bell, pastor of New City Baptist Church in Toronto, to share about his experience sharing the gospel with the gay community in his city. It is well worth reading - to help us think biblically about homosexuality, and to help us in God-honoring evangelism and church life. There is also some very interesting discussion in the comments, especially involving a number of men who struggle with homosexuality but turn from it because of their commitment to Christ. Read this post here. 
• If you’re compiling a summer reading list, you might find these 2 posts from David Powlison to be of interest. Powlison is a bilical counselor, professor, and author, and he spent some time this week discussing some of his favorite literature with CJ Mahaney. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.  
• What does Kurt Warner, a Christian who plays quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, like most about being a professional football player? His very encouraging answer is here.   

Blessings…

~Donovan

Adopted For Life Book Review

Russel Moore’s much anticipated  and widely endorsed book, “Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches“, has just been released.

 Tim Challies:

It might be easy to write off a book like this one, assuming that it only has relevance to families who are actually considering adopting a child. But Moore’s ambition goes beyond asking young families to adopt orphaned children. “In this book I want to call us all to consider how encouraging adoption—whether we adopt or whether we help others adopt—can help us peer into the ancient mystery of our faith in Christ and can help us restore the fracturing unity and the atrophied mission of our congregation.” As Moore explains, “The gospel of Jesus Christ means our families and churches ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans close to home and around the world.” It is the gospel that calls us to adopt but it is also the gospel that teaches us how to understand adoption. In fact, “as we become more adoption-friendly, we’ll be better able to understand the gospel.” And so this book is for anyone and everyone.

Read Tim Challies’ full review here.

I’ve ordered a copy and look forward to reading it.

~Donovan

Homosexuality and the Church

Al Mohler:

“The times demand Christian courage. These days, courage means that preachers and Christian leaders must set an agenda for biblical confrontation, and not shrink from dealing with the full range of issues related to homosexuality. We must talk about what the Bible teaches about gender–what it means to be a man or a woman. We must talk about God’s gift of sex and the covenant of marriage. And we must talk honestly about what homosexuality is, and why God has condemned this sin as an abomination in His sight…

…And yet, even as courage is required, the times call for another Christian virtue as well–compassion. The tragic fact is that every congregation is almost certain to include persons struggling with homosexual desire or even involved in homosexual acts. Outside the walls of the church, homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say, after we declare that homosexuality is a sin…

…We cannot settle for truth without love nor love without truth. The Gospel settles the issue once and for all. This great moral crisis is a Gospel crisis. The genuine Body of Christ will reveal itself by courageous compassion, and compassionate courage. We will see this realized only when men and women freed by God’s grace from bondage to homosexuality feel free to stand up in our churches and declare their testimony–and when we are ready to welcome them as fellow disciples. Millions of hurting people are waiting to see if we mean what we preach.”

You can read the whole article, “No Truth Without Love, No Love Without Truth”, here.

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

Biblical Guidelines for Loving Each Other Amid Differences

John Piper recently exhorted his pastoral staff towards unity and love amid differences. He boiled his meesage down to a brief blog post, giving 6 points of excellent, biblical counsel that are applicable to all Christians seeking to live in the unity Christ calls us to. Read it here.

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

Why Children’s Ministry?

Ministry-to-Children.com lists 68 Reasons Why Children’s Ministry Matters (click to see the full list). Click on the links below to see the reasons given in specific categories: 

• 14 Ways Children’s Ministry Helps Kids
  
• 8 Ways Children’s Ministry Helps Families
  
• 24 Ways Children’s Ministry Helps The Church
  
• 8 Ways Children’s Ministry Helps Everyone
  
• 14 Ways Children’s Ministry Helps Kid’s Learn

Of course, some points are better than others, but it’s a list well worth reading through. Let’s be faithful in nurturing the next generation, that they may know the supremacy of Christ and walk in the truth.

~Donovan

Loving Christians who struggle with homosexuality

We’re all different. This is seen in our strengths: one is athletic, one is “artsy”, and another is mathematical. One is “task oriented” and another is “people oriented.” And it is seen in our greatest struggles: one is prone to anger, one has to fight off laziness, one struggles with strong temptation to alcoholism, one has a difficult time with gossip, one fears man and longs for the praise of his peers, another struggles with lust, and another, with homosexuality… None of these tendencies make the related behaviors excusable. Sin is sin. But the born again Christian is commited to repentance – to turning from sin and pursuing the life God has called us to…

This article, written by a Christian who struggles with same sex desires but is committed to battling them, is well worth the read. Don’t be put off by his terminology – when he refers to “homosexual Christians” he’s referring to people like himself, who struggle, but are commited to turning from those sinful desires. As he explains in his article, these people, like all of us, need the church: the loving, supporting, faithful, compassionate help of other Christians. Will we be that for each other? We must! It is what God calls us to.   

Read the article here.

 ~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

Shepherds’ Conference Audio for free!

The Shepherd’s Conference is an annual conference for pastors and elders, hosted by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. All audio from previous Shepherds’ Conference sessions and seminars are now free to download! This is a wealth of resources! Click here.

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

What is 9Marks?

The ministry of 9Marks is very familiar to the men of our church who were a part of Men’s groups this year. They read the book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church together. This video gives a helpful overview of this ministry, it’s aims, and the resources (many of which are free) that it provides: 

    

See the latest free 9Marks e-journal here.

Visit their website here.

Is a woman VP biblical?

Below, you’ll find links to a few blog posts addressing this issue, and they are good food for thought… My goal in this post is to get us thinking about much more than whether or not Palin can biblically be a VP… My hope is that we’ll think rigorously through what the Bible has to say about God’s design for men and women – something that is immensely practical for each of us. Other weighty questions arise too – such as the authority of Scripture, how to rightly interpret Scripture, and how to rightly look to Scripture in questions about “gray areas”…

A little “glossary” help before you read the posts below: A “Complementarian” is a Christian who believes that God created men and women as equal in dignity and value, but designed, and intended by God, to fulfill different roles. This is the position of our church. An “Egalitarian” is a Christian who believes there should be no distinction between men’s and women’s roles.     

Click on the links below to read these posts (if you only have time to read one post, read the one by Al Mohler):

• “Palin Can Serve Family and Country”  by Al Mohler

Click here.

• “Does Sarah Palin Present a Dilemma for Complementarians?”

By David Kotter, for the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Click here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

I will post a few thoughts of my own soon.

~Donovan