god

NPM2016 - God's Grandeur

Especially for my Christian friends, the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins is a great place to go for devotional poetry. And it serves as a nice bridge toward enjoying poetry for Christians who only know the poetry of hymns. Also listen.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Worldviews & Whirlwinds

I'm fascinated by a couple of new titles for sale at WTSbooks.com. In particular, the description of What's Your Worldview...

How do you view the world?
It's a big question. And how you answer is one of the most important things about you.

Not sure what you'd say? Join James Anderson on an interactive journey of discovery aimed at helping you understand and evaluate the options when it comes to identifying your worldview. Cast in the mold of a classic “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, What's Your Worldview? will guide you toward finding intellectually satisfying answers to life's biggest questions—equipping you to think carefully about not only what you believe but why you believe it and how it impacts the rest of your life.

Endorsements by D.A. Carson, John Frame and others.

 

Tim Keller endorses David Wells' new book, God in the Whirlwind...

In this important book, David Wells begins the process of bringing his influential critique of late modern culture and the church down into practice. Here we have a ‘practical theology’ for conducting the church’s life based on the reality of a God of ‘Holy-love.’ This particular way of understanding and preaching the doctrine of God, Wells believes, protects the church from either being co-opted by the culture or becoming a ghettoized subculture. Decades of teaching theology is boiled down here into accessible, practical chapters. I’m glad to recommend this volume.

Stephen King on God

King crop

Stephen King wrote one of my favorite books on writing called On Writing. His take on adverbs clearly has stuck with me. He has also written a popular book here or there. Terry Gross' interview of King on Fresh Air yesterday was really good, including a bunch of quotes worth checking out. Here's a great example. You should go listen to the whole thing.

I choose to believe it. ... I mean, there's no downside to that. If you say, 'Well, OK, I don't believe in God. There's no evidence of God,' then you're missing the stars in the sky and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design. But, at the same time, there's a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, 'Well, if this is God's plan, it's very peculiar,' and you have to wonder about that guy's personality — the big guy's personality. And the thing is — I may have told you last time that I believe in God — what I'm saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts and I refuse to be pinned down to something that I said 10 or 12 years ago. I'm totally inconsistent.

Chronic Suffering & Christian Hope

This is outstanding on "Longing for Wholeness." It's spot on for what my family is experiencing at the moment, and has been experiencing the last few years. Mark Talbot is apparently writing a book on profound suffering titled When the Stars Disappear. I look forward to buying that book, that has been his labor for years now, in light of this excellent teaching from Talbot at the Desiring God's Works of God Conference. Please watch or go listen to/download the audio. (via JT)

Longing for Wholeness: Chronic Suffering and Christian Hope from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Lots-o-Links 8.17.12

Web link

Some new, some I'm just getting to, but here are some links to check out...

Good Book Company Giveaway: Tim Challies is giving away a bunch of The Good Book Company Bible study guides. Great chance to get theologically solid studies by guys like Tim Chester, Justin Buzzard, and Mark Dever. Also, keep an eye out for $2 Tuesdays from The Good Book Company starting next week!

GCM Conference: Highly recommend the GCM Conference coming up in September in Huntsville. My Soma School experience has me in love with GCM and what it is working to do. Sign up!

Paul Tripp: 6 Traits of a Pastor In Awe of God (get your awe back) | "I counsel you to run now, run quickly, to your Father of awesome glory. Confess the offense of your boredom. Plead for eyes opened to the 360-degree, 24/7 display of glory to which you have been blind. Determine to spend a certain portion of every day in meditating on his glory. Cry out for the help of others. And remind yourself to be thankful for Jesus, who offers you his grace even at those moments when grace isn't nearly as gloriously valuable to you as it should be."

J.I. Packer: Advice to Aspiring Writers - 1. Go deep in personal worship. 2. Write to hit hearts. 3. Write from a sense of calling.

The Gospel Project is worth checking out, if you haven't already. Curriculum for kids, students, and adults. Exciting new resource from Ed Stetzer, Trevin Wax, & LifeWay.

Keller: OT & Charge of Inconsistency

Tk

Once you grant the main premise of the Bible—about the surpassing significance of Christ and his salvation—then all the various parts of the Bible make sense. Because of Christ, the ceremonial law is repealed. Because of Christ the church is no longer a nation-state imposing civil penalties. It all falls into place. However, if you reject the idea of Christ as Son of God and Savior, then, of course, the Bible is at best a mish-mash containing some inspiration and wisdom, but most of it would have to be rejected as foolish or erroneous.

Tim Keller - "Old Testament Law & the Charge of Inconsistency"

Molly & Chiari Update 4.12.12

Molly profile pic

Update 4.13: Molly slept terrible last night. Terrible. She is exhausted. She saw her neurologist today. He is trying to manage her sleep, or lack thereof, and we have no idea whether it will work. Nothing has helped so far. We should know in a couple days. I'm not sure I've seen her this frustrated over her health since 2008. Thanks for continued prayers.

-----

Brief update (4.12): Molly had about 5 better days in a row after some significant time off of her part-time job at the school and a lot of rest. Still not great, but better. More functional in daily life. Some of her brain fog issues have gone away for the most part, though she has remained easily exhausted.

The last two days things have turned worse again. She's barely sleeping, and we can't figure out why. We assume it's making symptoms much worse. It's been linked to times of increased symptoms in the past. I'm taking her to her neurologist tomorrow morning in the hope he'll take this another step and figure out what, if anything, can be done.

We are hoping for answers soon. We are praying for God's help and healing, and for her to continue to place all of her hope in Christ when circumstances at times feel hopeless.

Huge Discount on Pursuing God

23

From Jim Elliff and Christian Communicators Worldwide...

We want to partner with you in evangelism next year by offering one of our most popular books very close to our cost.

[...]

Our New edition of Pursuing God, Lowest Price Ever plus Free Shipping
(by 10s, 100s or case only)
10 pack  $27.50 ea (reg $40)
100 pack 275.00 ea (reg $310)
Prices good up to Dec 31 midnight.

I've reviewed Pursuing God and recommend it. Grab a bunch! And check out the online discussion guide.

Keller | Preaching in a Secular Culture

Keller preachingFrom Tim Keller's new article, "Preaching in a Secular Culture," on some practices for preaching to secular people...

  • Solve all problems with the gospel
  • Beware of assumptions
  • Engage in apologetics
  • Provide applications for both parties
  • Be authentic
  • Be conscious of alienating language
  • Expect, and respect, doubt
  • Address the wider community
  • Draw on cultural references
  • Read across the spectrum

For more on these 10 practices and a lot more on preaching in a secular culture, go read the whole article.

Signs You Haven't Experienced Gospel Wakefulness

GwakeFrom Jared Wilson's new book, Gospel Wakefulness, here are 11 signs (pgs 72-73) you haven't experienced gospel wakefulness...

  1. The gospel doesn't interest you--or it does, but not as much as other religious subjects.
  2. You take nearly everything personally.
  3. You frequently worry about what other people think.
  4. You treat inconveniences like minor (or major) tragedies.
  5. You are impatient with people.
  6. In general, you have trouble seeing the fruit of the Spirit in your life (Gal 5:22-23).
  7. The Word of God holds little interest.
  8. You have great difficulty forgiving.
  9. You are told frequently by a spouse, close friend, or other family members that you are too "clingy" or too controlling. 
  10. You think someone besides yourself is the worst sinner you know.
  11. The idea of gospel centrality makes no sense to you.

Blaspheme Your Idols

Dear john cropped

Gospel wakened people feel swept off their feet by their romancing God. (If you're a man, and this sort of "church as feminine" language bothers you, you will have to get over it. This is how God draws our character. You will have to nail your machismo to the cross and stop thinking you're more of a man than your Groom.) When the power of the gospel saps the power of idols from our veins, when we have really tasted and seen that the Lord is good, we are so smitten we can't help but ditch every back door Johnny we ever messed around with. How pathetic they are! And how pathetic we were for ever giving in to their two-bit come-ons.

A bride joined to her groom forsakes all others. She writes the spiritual equivalent of Dear John letters to her idols. When God's love captivates you, you go around spurning all your other lovers. I call this "blaspheming" your idols.

Blaspheme them. Tell them they have no appeal to you anymore. Tell them you don't need their damage, their pain, their anti-glories. Tell them you have no desires to use and abuse them anymore. Tell them your heart, mind, soul, and strength belong wholly to God now. And then don't speak as a love to them ever again. Sinful relationships must end.

From Jared Wilson's Gospel Wakefulness, p 70, bold emphasis mine.

Manchester Orchestra | "Simple Math"

New Manchester Orchestra album, Simple Math, comes out on May 10th. Here's their first song and title track, "Simple Math." I LOVED their last album, Mean Everything to Nothing. The first video is really pretty cool. The second, I may even like better with lyrics. Interview with Andy Hull, including some thoughts on his pastor-family and a little on how God influenced the album.

What if I was wrong, and no one cared to mention.
What if it was true, and all we thought was right was wrong.
Simple math, the truth cannot be fractioned.