How about this incredibly tiny picture? Many people have no idea of the market out there for mini-books. That's right...full length books with incredibly small print at a great price!! Not really, this is just the picture I found first. I bought this book on recommendation by Mark Dever at the Together for the Gospel conference. It turned out to be a good buy. This has some of the best stuff on evangelism that I have ever read.

Most books on evangelism are method-centered; that is, written by some author claiming that they have the best step-by-step way to present the gospel to a person. However, as Will Metzger says in this book, if we evangelize according to a man's method, we have lost focus. His source for how to evangelize is the Bible and one can easily tell that his presentation of the information inside the book is fruit resulting from years and years of application and experience. Another reason I enjoyed the book is because he calls his book "the whole gospel to the whole person", an idea much needed in our evangelism today as we fall short in preaching a complete gospel or in relating to real people. It is practical, sympathetic, and most importantly - it's true. The main theme of the book is that we must understand the gospel. Largely, the church today is preaching a false, ineffective, and deficient (implied by "false") gospel. The church has turned the gospel into an echo of man's worth, rather than a demonstration of God's holiness, righteousness, and love. Metzger also does a great job of making evangelism less mechanical and job-like, and shows it more as what it really is - an overflow of worship.

Sorry for the lame picture from Amazon. I could not find a good one of this book anywhere. So, click as you might, you can not "search inside" this book from this site. However, I finished this book tonight and I loved it. About two months ago I realized that I had heard the term "imputation" but never knew what it meant. Turns out, the meaning of the imputation of Christ's righteousness is a central element to the gospel we preach. Imputation sounds like one of those unintelligible theological terms that scare people away, however understanding what the term is trying to communicate is a must. In a nutshell, imputation means that a Christian has no righteousness in and of himself, but that by faith God credits (or imputes) Christ's righteousness to his account and he is declared not guilty (justified) before the throne. The book unpacks much more (MUCH MORE) of the meat concerning this issue.

This is Piper's response to an article written by Dr. Robert Gundry who claims that the imputation of Christ's righteousness is unbiblical and should be abandoned by the church. The book is an exegetical defense of this doctrine, so there is some Greek stuff involved; however, I know ABSOLUTELY NO GREEK and I could understand it adequately enough to enjoy the book. It's short, thick, and was a great help for me in understanding why we must defend and contend for the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness.

Love: The Most Tired Word Ever

I was thinking and praying today about love. And I noticed a serious problem; that is, the word in itself has close to no affect on me when it is said in certain contexts. Even when I use the word in certain ways, it has lost much of its meaning. And as I thought, I considered that I am probably not the only person that this has happened to or is happening to. If one ponders the many ways the word love is used in our culture, it has no meaning in and of itself. We use it for everything: "I love ESPN." "I love tacos." "Olive Garden's chicken parmesan...oh, I love it." "I love Will Ferrell's humor." "I love my wife." "I love Jesus." "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." How do these all go together? Perhaps we can add more phrases to the list: "We should stop talking about sin so much, I mean...aren't we supposed to love?" "Church discipline seems like such an unloving thing to do." "We don't focus on the negative here at our church, we focus on love." Indeed, these are things we have all heard from different places. So I ask, then, what is this love so often spoken of? What is its place in our descriptive vocabulary? If I can tell my fiancee that I love her, yet I can also love other, seemingly unimportant things such as a garbage disposal, what am I actually communicating? What, I ask, is love?

One could cut to the chase and quickly say, "Well, the Bible says God is love. So...there's your answer." I do not deny that truth. God is the ultimate definer of love. I bow to that and accept it fully. However, is it not also true that unbelievers (and professing Christians) press that same verse (1 John 4:8) into the faces of Christians who desire to preach the truth? Yes - I'll answer my own question - it is true. Obviously there is a difference in meaning when different people say the exact same thing. So we must get objective with our meaning of love. Therefore, we will look at how "God is love" to see what love actually is.

The apostle John, the same brother who wrote the aforementioned verse, also wrote this in John 3:36 - "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him." How can this apostle write these two different verses? He seems to be indecisive on his views of God. Is he loving John, or does he have wrath upon those who don't believe in him? Which is it? This is a must-answer question. For in the world's definition of love, these verses can not exist together, because the world's definition of love exalts man and claims that love is "making much of someone". That is, you are loving when you exalt someone and feed their self-esteem. This is why people get angry with Jesus in the Bible when he confronts sin. But Jesus is clear in John 3:36 that the wrath of God remains upon those who do not believe his Son. My...what an unloving statement. To think that a loving God would be so exclusive!

Yet, it is the most loving thing God can ever do to say such things. It is God's goal to be glorified. His ultimate goal in everything is that he would be lifted high for the world to see and be enthralled with. "How is this love and not vanity?" It would indeed be unloving, if there was something more enjoyable and enthralling than God. However, since there is not, and God reigns over the universe as supremely righteous, holy, beautiful, majestic, powerful, and enjoyable...and he seeks to reveal himself to us that we might worship him...THEN, is he not loving in that he is merely inviting us to behold him as our greatest treasure? How, I ask, is this not love? If God were to give us everything on earth and promote our self-esteem to infinitely high levels, therefore belittling himself (the greatest treasure)...would he not be the most sinister, evil, and cruel being in the cosmos? More yet, would he not be an idolater? Therefore, when God says, "If you do not believe in my Son, my wrath abides on you and I will send you to burn for eternity," as a means to reveal to us his position as God - the righteous judge - then he is infinitely loving in that he ferociously seeks for us to leave lesser pleasures and enjoy him instead. Thus, he receives all the glory by our treasuring him. And his love is amplified in that he does this in the midst of our being blind to his beauty, by slaying his own Son to atone for our rebellion.

Conclusion: "Love is living, striving, desiring, and suffering so that others will be enthralled with what is eternally satisfying; namely, the Son of God - Jesus Christ." (<--not my own quote) Love is tired in our culture, but - Biblically defined - it is most alive.

An Unshakable Promise

To deny the election of the saints, would be to deny certain promises of God that a Christian can not live without. The Lord revealed this to me in John 6:37,39 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out...And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day." I think many people are uncomfortable with the idea of election, because it is so utterly outside of man's power and man's control that it scares the life out of us - and rightfully so - therefore some try and just not read the parts of the Bible that deal with this teaching. However, looking at this verse (and the rest of the Bible) I think it's clear that if there is no election, then there is no promise that we will be raised up on the last day. Jesus speaks very pointedly here about God's will. And his will is that Jesus redeem those he has been given, and raise them up on the last day. However, if there is no election (thus removing "those whom Jesus has been given"), then how can there be those whom he will "raise up on the last day"? They go hand in hand; the promise of being raised on the last day is made out of the framework of election. Our coming to God is contingent upon him giving us to the Son. We are a chosen priesthood; unconditionally, and completely apart from our works, before the foundation of the world. We need not fear this in such a way that we try and salvage our imaginary "autonomy", but fear it in such a way that we bow to the Father and rejoice in the promises of the Son.

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES

It's over folks!! The Lord has provided...and my time here at A&M has come to a close. As of 12:20 my grades were posted and my heart is at ease. I do not boast whatsoever in this, for whatever I have, I have received...not earned. The Lord gets glory for graduation!

I am posting this from my palm pilot to see if it actually works...kinda nerdy...nonetheless it's still neato.

Finish...just...ahead...

Like my man Pietri Dorando above, I am close to the end. I took my last test today and am merely waiting until the grades come out tomorrow night. There is one class I feel a bit sketchy about (please pray), but I should be good. So here's to Pietri, for I know what it feels like to have wobbly legs as I come to the finish line. Keep going Pietri, keep going...

Amen Mark Driscoll...Amen

Coming Soon...

School is done Wednesday for me, which means two things: 1) Find a job or jobs and 2) Read for pleasure. Therefore, my wonderful friend Zach Bowden suggested that himself, myself, and Jon Estes' self do a blog correspondence/discussion over four books by David Wells: No Place for Truth, Above all Earthly Pow'rs, God in the Wasteland, and Losing our Virtue. We'll be starting with No Place for Truth (pictured above) and hopefully having thoughtful things to write down about what ol' Wells has to say. I believe the books are all about evangelicalism, culture, and post-modernism...which I am interested in. That is the dealio yo (words I'm sure will not appear in Wells' books), so look for it to start in the next couple of weeks (Lord willing - not spoken as a good luck charm).

Yep...I Read It

Well, I read my first book on marriage. It was a short one...but I had to start small. Mahaney does a great job going through the Song of Solomon and giving sound, Biblical, God-exalting teaching on sex, romance, and the glory of God (hence the title). I recommend it, though it is for husbands, to unmarried guys who still have a few months till the wedding because it is not explicit or detailed in the actual act of sex, but merely gives Biblical teaching on why it exists and what God thinks about it. Also, he spends most of the book talking about his main theme: "Touch her mind and her heart before you touch her body." This was a great subject to read about and it shamed me even in the current, unmarried way I pursue Bethan. There are so many things that men can do, in or out of marriage, to touch the mind and heart of their better halves. Mahaney gets practical and realistic, and the best part is...he celebrates all of it! Pursuing your betrothed, or your wife are Biblical mandates and I found this short read (106 pgs.) to be convicting, helpful, and motivational.

Spurgeon: A New Biography

I just finished this last night. As for how good it was, well...I couldn't put it down really. I read it in six days, which is by no means fast for some people; however, for myself - during finals - it is quite the quick read. The author, Arnold Dallimore, also writes a monstrous two-volume bio on George Whitefield, and I believe he also has a two-volume on Spurgeon too. But I picked up this condensed (240 pg.) version at the Together for the Gospel conference bookstore.

The man had quite an exciting life, exciting in the way that he submitted himself to the Lord in everything. I don't know that I've heard of a more full life outside Biblical characters. The man was pastor of a 4,000 member church by age 28 or so, he ran an orphanage, a widow's home, and a pastor-training school. He published a sermon for mass distribution each week, wrote and edited a magazine every month, preached ten times a week, and still sat down to answer an average of 500 letters per week (before computers and ball-point pens). I do not believe we should try and do what he did. I don't know of anyone who could actually handle that load (Al Mohler....?). Nonetheless, he contended for and preached the faith once for all delivered to the saints and did it with passion and zeal. If you get a chance, read the book (maybe even the whole two-volumes). I think we can glean so much from his genuineness.

At Together for the Gospel they announced the 2006 Desiring God conference: Above All Earthly Powers. They also showed the trailer for this conference and it sent chills up my spine. Check it our here. It's absolutely phenomenal. I want to go real bad...if the Lord permits. I do believe this one is co-ed too! The speakers are John Piper, David Wells (Gordon-Conwell Theological), Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church, Seattle), Voddie Bauchum, D.A. Carson (Trinity Evangelical), and Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian). They will be addressing issues of culture in the ministry...should be amazing.

Thought I'd post a sweet picture from the last day of the conference. From left to right: Matt (a brother from Ohio), Adam, Bret, Me, Jon, Kurt (a brother from California). Matt knows Adam through his fiancee up in "The Buckeye State". Kurt was sovereignly brought to the conference alone which made him available for us to sit with each night and visit with him about life in general. He is the father of two boys (and a girl on the way) and a great husband to his wife. He shared much wisdom about marriage and I ask you all to pray for him as he spreads the gospel out in California.