Archive | July, 2011

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat

By on July 30, 2011 in Music

We sang this song a few times in church in recent months and I wanted to put the lyrics in front of us all so we can read through them and reflect upon the magnitude of them. If you want a good version of this song to download you can find that through The Gospel Coalition Site recorded by Sojourn.

This song was originally penned by Isaac Newton in 1779 and is a reflection on Psalm 32:5-7. Read through and reflect on these words.

Approach my soul, the mercy seat
Where Holy One and helpless meet
There fall before my Judges’ feet
Thy promise is my only plea, O God

Send wings to lift the clutch of sin
You who dwell between the cherubim
From war without and fear within
Relieve the grief from the shoulders of crumbling men

O God—Pour out your mercy to me
My God, Oh what striking love to bleed.

Fashion my heart in your alchemy
With the brass to front the devil’s perjury
And surefire grace my Jesus speaks
I must. I will. I do believe. O Lord.

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Interview with Carl Trueman on his book “Reformation”

By on July 25, 2011 in Announcement, Book Review, Interview

Earlier I posted a new book review on the book Reformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. | Janet Mefferd just interviewed Trueman about the book on her radio program. If you want to listen to Trueman talk about the book, which you should, go take a listen here.

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Book Review | “Reformation” by Carl Trueman

By on July 25, 2011 in Book Review, Books

Trueman, Carl. Reformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Edinburgh: Christian Focus, 2011. 127 pages | $10.99. |

This short work by Carl Trueman is a great little summary of the reformation and some of its application. Carl Trueman is a professor of historical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, PA. Prior to coming to WTS in 2001 he was the senior lecturer in church history at the University of Aberdeen, where he also earned his Ph.D.

This book is actually a reprint of the same work previously published in the UK when Trueman was still at Aberdeen. The content of the book is derived from a series of lectures he did at the Evangelical Theological College of Wales in 2000. It is simply structured, with only four small chapters: (1) The Pearl of Great Price; (2) Meeting the Man of Sorrows; (3) The Oracles of God; and (4) Blessed Assurance.

Trueman’s wit shines through the pages as he addresses each of the topics in the chapters. The key Trueman is arguing for is that the “Reformers are as relevant today—and is applicable to situations today—as they were in the sixteenth century” (12-13). One of the ways he demonstrates this statement is to make theology the driving force, not morality. There certainly were issues of morality that required the reformation, however, the reason the reformation happened, Trueman demonstrates, is based upon theology.

Throughout the book, Trueman primarily examines aspects of Luther and Calvin. He occasionally will draw conclusions based upon others; however, the bulk of his work surrounds Luther and Calvin. The centrality of Christ to life and to the narrative of the Scripture are what propagate throughout Trueman’s work. One of the practical ways in which Trueman demonstrates the Reformation today is with this statement:

Yet if the Reformers’ claim that Christ is the centre of the Bible and that the whole Bible tells one story, that of God’s grace in Christ, then no sermon worthy of the name Christian can possibly omit speaking of Christ, wherever the chosen text may be taken from, Old or New Testament. God-centered sermons must by definition be Christ-centred sermons if they are to contain even a drop of grace. Worship songs and prayers should be the same, focusing not on ourselves or our needs, however important they may be, but on Christ.

One of the peculiarities to note about this book is that it is written in English…British English to be exact. Though it is 100% understandable, the differences in the spelling of some words will occasionally throw the novice reader off for a moment. The book overall is a great book for the lay person in the pew who desires to know a bit more about the Reformation and how it still even applies to them today. It is a worthy of anyone’s time.

FTC Rhetoric: I do not receive payment for my book reviews. I do sometimes receive free review and giveaway copies from authors, publishers, and publicists. My first responsibility is to my readers, therefore, I am committed to honest reviews.

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Reilly (the Band)

By on July 23, 2011 in Music

It has been a while since I have introduced any music on the blog, so let me take that opportunity right now to tell you about a cool indie group out of Philadelphia called Reilly. They are fresh in my mind because I took Michelle to see them last night in Green Bay at  Cup O’ Joy.

They have a unique sound that blends styles of alternative and rock music with dueling violins. In fact, the violins are probably my favorite part. The husband and wife duo of Dan and Noele on the violin are fantastic to watch and listen to. John Reilly, the bands vocal lead and front man, has a great sound and is very dynamic on stage.

If you haven’t heard of Reilly before then I would encourage you to check out some of their music. they have three albums out and they are all fantastic. You can get the best deal by ordering from their website, however, you can also get their latest album the cheapest on Amazon.

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The NIV 2011 and 1 Timothy 2:12

By on July 20, 2011 in Current Events, Theology

I have been reading in the new updated NIV more and more recently. I have enjoyed the change from the ESV, since I have been reading that for about 10 years now. There is much about the ease of reading the NIV that it is to be commended for. I appreciate their translation objectives and goals and all the much more since recently reading Fee and Stauss’ How to Choose a Translation for All it’s Worth. However, there are still places in which a translation agenda seems to bleed through. This is certainly only perceived  since I don’t know any of these people personally nor any motivations, but when I consider the translation of 1 Timothy 2:12 it leaves me scratching my head.

The ESV translated 1 Timothy 2:12 as,

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”

The NIV 2011 translates 1 Timothy 2:12 as,

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet.”

Now at first glance the translations appear to be strikingly similar. However, under closer examination you can see where the ESV translated the Greek word αὐθεντεῖν as “exercise authority” and the NIV translates this word as “assume authority.” These two phrases are not even close to one another. One of the complications in translating this word is that it is only used here in the New Testament, meaning, there are no other texts to compare it to.

Upon investigating some more into the meaning of αὐθεντέω I am more and more convinced that the ESV has it right and the NIV is wrong. Throughout early Christian literature the word is understood to mean “give orders to” or “dictate to” (BDAG, 150). Other sources say it has the understanding of “rule” (EDNT), “control” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages), and “domineer” (Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament). Nothing I looked at gave any impression that it meant anything close to “assume authority.”

There are some others out there that have written on this and I would encourage you to look at them. According to Jim Hamilton, Denny Burk’s post is worthy of attention. He provides a great chart that gives the NIV translations of 1 Timothy 2:12 through the revisions of the NIV. Doug Moo (one of the translators of the NIV) even chimes in with a comment.

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Youth Groups? | Divided the Movie

By on July 15, 2011 in Culture, Video, Youth Ministry

A friend of mine sent me a link this morning to a new video he thought aligned well with what I am trying to promote through my site…he was right. A young Christian filmmaker just released a video called “Divided the Movie,” which  is about the unbiblical aspects happening in many youth ministries around the country and why young people are leaving the church. Not long ago Ken Ham and Britt Beemer did a study and wrote a book called Already Gone: Why our kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it. I read the book and wasn’t as shocked as I should have been after reading it. This documentary seems like a follow up to that book (notice I said “seems,” not “is”). There are some  positives to the documentary and there are some weaknesses. Let me share with you first what I think are the positive takeaways from the documentary:

  1. There were many things identified as to why kids are leaving the church, most of which were identified in Ham and Beemer’s book, but need more promotion.
  2. The focus of ministry should be drawn away from program oriented youth group, back to the mandate of the family, specifically fathers.
  3. Strong focus is placed upon there being no Scriptural mandate that a church have a youth group or a youth ministry.
  4. Strong focus is placed upon the mandate of the family to train up their children. Parents simply need to lead their children and disciple them.

Now here are some of the weaknesses:

  1. Rock music is labeled as worldly, dogmatically. (It is pretty obvious the main guy of the movie is from a pretty conservative upbringing)
  2. It appears, though is probably not what was desired, that non-christians are rock concert going, believes the earth is old, or believes in evolution. Now I am by every means a young earth guy, but to present these stereotypes as people not being Christians is dishonest.
  3. Frequently the Bible is spoken of and frequently in terms of how youth ministry is not biblical and how the family aspect of ministry is (all positive by the way), but rarely is actual Scripture used or quoted. It could have been more powerful with the actual reading of the Word.

So the obvious question about youth ministry is then, “what about the unchurched kid?” Who is going to reach him if there is no youth group or youth ministry. To answer this question we have to go back and answer the fundamental question of why the church exists? Fundamentally I believe the church exists to equip the saints (believers). The church exists to equip it’s people for evangelism, missions, family living, discipleship, etc. So who will reach the unchurched kid? We all can! When you meet unchurched kids you take them in and teach them and treat them as one of your own.

There certainly is plenty more that could be said and I’ll leave that for another time or for things to come up in the comments. If you are interested I would encourage you to check out the video from their site. The video is free to watch until September.

HT: Byron Aynes

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Counseling One Another

By on July 14, 2011 in Counseling

Every so often I want to draw my readers to new resources and today I want to point you to a great new biblical counseling blog, Counseling One Another. Counseling One Another is run by my pastor friend Paul Tautges. Paul has been the pastor of Immanuel Bible Church in Sheybogan, WI for almost 20 years. He is the father of 10 children, passionate about counseling, an author, and teaches regularly in a variety of graduate programs.

One of the things I appreciate about Paul is his passion for the Word and his passion to help people. Since Paul teaches in the graduate program where I work, the Lord has given us occasion to work together for a couple of years. I commend Paul’s blog and books to you and I hope that you are served as well by them as I have been.

Paul was recently interviewed by Tim Challies and David Murray. You can get that interview here.

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Concealed Carry Comes to Wisconsin…Finally!

By on July 11, 2011 in Culture, Video

And now a personal rant…

Well it has finally happened—the Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has signed into law that citizens of the state of Wisconsin can conceal a weapon provided they are issued a permit to do so. This has been a long time coming for the state of Wisconsin since it was only one of two states that did not have a law allowing it (Illinois as the other) and one many of our legislators have been working on for 16 years.

When I moved here from Pennsylvania not carrying a handgun was something I had to adjust to. In Pennsylvania I carried it on my hip everywhere. Many people might ask why that is necessary…well the reasons are numerous.

  1. The constitution of the United States guarantees me this right based upon the second amendment.
  2. Self-defense…It is a God given right to be able to defend yourself and your family (for more on this see Uncle Ted at the end of this post).
  3. Piece of mind…because you just never know what sort of situation you will find yourself in.

A lot of people, whom I would say are uninformed, typically have some rebuttal along the lines of how many more guns are going to be on the street and how it will only drive crime rates up. In an editorial of the Green Bay Press Gazette they summarized this mentality well by saying:

The criminal is always going to have the gun; they’re never going to get a permit for it…But law abiding citizens now have the opportunity to legally get a permit and will be able to protect themselves in a situation that may arise (in a way) that they haven’t been able to do in the past.

As of right now there are still plenty of unknowns; where can you not carry, how does one get a permit, to what extent is training required, etc. A few things we do know; (1) Wisconsin is going to be a “shall issue” state, meaning that if the person applying is not a felon or mentally incapacitated then the state must issue a permit and (2) the law officially goes into effect on November 1 (happy birthday to me). I’ll be heading to an NRA meeting toward the end of the month to learn more about how the new law is going to go into effect.

The new law is not perfect, most aren’t. Ideally there would be no permit required. Vermont, as liberal as that state is, is to my knowledge the only state that doesn’t require permits to carry a concealed weapon. For more on the mentality of the second amendment and permits I leave you with a video from Uncle Ted.

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Help Me Name My Blog/Website!

By on July 9, 2011 in Announcement

The the last seven months or so I have simply used my name as the name of the blog…I’m thinking it is time to change it up. I’m thinking that with an actual name it will be easier to communicate what I am all about. So this is where you, the reader, come in. I am perhaps one of the least creative guys I know so I need help. What’s in it for you? I’m glad you asked!

If someone suggests a name that I take I will reward them with a $25 Westminister Bookstore gift certificate. Here are the ground rules:

  1. It can be either in English or mean something awesome in Latin.
  2. It should be something that helps communicate what my blog is all about…informing and equipping the church.
  3. It should not be the name of another website and ideally the domain will be available (you can check availability at checkddomain.com)
  4. To make a suggestion simply leave a comment below.
  5. I’ll leave this open for a week or so and hopefully get an awesome name by then!

If I get a few awesome names I might put it to a vote!

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A Sermon without Christ…

By on July 9, 2011 in Christ, Preaching, Theology

As I sit in my office wrapping up my preparation to preach tomorrow I came across this gem:

The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and Him crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.

Those are the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon from 1876. What a reminder of the stewardship of the gospel that we must proclaim.

HT: Trevin Wax

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