The Resurrection in Your Life (Luke 24, Acts 1-2)

As Christians we understand the death of Jesus, that Jesus died for our sins. But often we may not understand or know how to apply the resurrection of Christ to our own lives. In his book, The Resurrection in Your life, Mike McKinley, author and pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church, explains how the resurrection profoundly affected and completely transformed the lives of the first Christians as recorded in Luke 24 and Acts 1-2. The book expounds on the power of the resurrection by the work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel. Just as it did in the first church in the first century, it is able to do so today as well.

The author explains the text of Scripture about the resurrection in a way that is easy to read and understand.

The Resurrection in Your Life is based on 10 sermons that the author had preached.

Salt, Light and Cities on Hills (Book Review)

"Salt, Light and Cities on Hills: Evangelism, Social Action and the Church -- How Do They Relate to Each Other?" by Melvin Tucker succinctly addresses the two sides, two expressions, two manifestations, or two applications of the gospel: evangelism and social action. Historically, churches have generally emphasized or predominantly practiced one side, often at the expense of the other by minimizing or neglecting its importance.

Though this is a rather broad generalization, so-called "conservative" churches incline toward evangelism, while so-called "liberal" churches incline toward social action. Churches that emphasize preaching and the importance of Scripture and the Bible (generally traditional conservative churches) incline toward evangelism, while churches that emphasize living out one's faith (generally emergent or liberal churches) incline toward social action. Thus, there tends to be discipleship churches and activist churches. Yet, as Tucker repeatedly points out--using history and exegesis of various biblical texts--the church should be doing both.

Persuasive Preaching

Persuasive Preaching: A Biblical and Practical Guide to the Effective Use of Persuasion by R. Larry Overstreet is a helpful book for preachers, pastors, and ministers of the gospel. It is not an easy read but more like a textbook with much interaction with the Greek. But I enjoyed reading it and found it useful and practical as a bivocational preacher. It prompted me to think seriously about persuasion, and to reassess how I am to preach and teach and communicate Scripture by using persuasion biblically. This book has 4 logical parts moving from issues, need for, theology of, and how to regarding persuasive preaching:

1. Issues Facing Persuasive Preaching.
2. Biblical Basis of Persuasive Preaching.
3. Structuring Persuasive Messages.
4. Pertinent Applications in Persuasive Preaching.

What is persuasion? "Persuasion aims at change. It may be change of belief, change of attitude, or change of behavior, but change is the goal." Overstreet makes a very strong case for the utmost importance of persuasion in preaching. Preaching that was geared toward some change was the norm in the past. But persuasion in preaching has been replaced by a more reflective and contemplative style of preaching where the congregation may simply feel informed but not feel challenged or motivated by the sermon. Overstreet encourages the return to persuasion in preaching that would lead to positive change in the congregation.

Preaching By Ear

I love this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who teaches or preaches.

As one who began preaching with some regularity only a few years ago I realized rather soon that preparing and writing out a sermon during one's private study in a room is quite different from preaching the sermon before a live audience. The written sermon should be primarily for reading and study, while the preached sermon is for the listening audience, which is live. The author, Dave McClellen, explained this important difference by exploring the art and science of orality from the ancient masters Augustine, Plato, Aristotle and Quintilian. McClellan also explained Preaching by Ear in two introductory videos on youtube: Preach By Ear - What's the problem (2 min) and Preach By Ear - Beginnings (5 min).

Having attended a church for over three decades where the sermon is always read from a written script, I subjectively sensed some limitation without knowing exactly how to explain why. A few years ago, I began experimenting with preaching extemporaneously, and found it to be far more fulfilling and organic for me. McClellan's book helped confirm my suspicions that extemporaneous preaching enables you to connect with your congregation in the moment with unlimited flexibility and vulnerability. On the other hand, reading a prepared script to a live audience is "safer," but more limiting and less able to connect with the audience in the ever changing moment. At least, this was my own experience when I preached by reading from a script with little or hardly any deviation from it.

The Christmas Promise

The premise of The Christmas Promise is simple and clear: God keeps his promise. This core truth is repeatedly emphasized. This Christmas story begins with a promise. Long ago God made a promise and He kept His promise. We and our children need to know that God is trustworthy. God is worthy of our trust because He keeps His promises. This story illustrates how God can be trusted to keep His word.

The book also explains how God promised to provide a king, a new king, and a rescuing king, and a forever king, who was confirmed by God's special messengers. By following the messengers' instructions, their words always came true. As in Matthew's Gospel, men who followed a bright star on a long journey saw how the message was true. God indeed keeps His promises. We can always trust God, even today. Many pages were illustrated with sketches of kings, both old and modern from around the world: Chinese, English, a Pharaoh, a modern president. Kings have authority and leadership so that this newly born king is someone we can trust and follow without fear.

A Vine Ripened Life

Stanley D. Gale, senior minister of The Reformed Presbyterian Church, West Chester, Pennsylvania, explains the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) in his book, A Vine Ripened Life. After two introductory chapters that encourages us to remain in the vine by abiding in Christ, Gale expounds in a chapter each on each of these nine virtues and finally concludes with humility and grace:

1. Fruit of the Vine (Jn 15:5).
2. My Father, the Gardener (Jn 15:1-2).
3. No Ordinary Love (1 Jn 4:9-12).
4. Joy Inexpressible (1 Pet 1:6-8).
5. Peace Beyond Understanding (Phil 4:6-7).
6. The Leaven of Patience (Col 1:9-11).
7. Not-So-Random Kindness (Eph 2:4-7).
8. Gracious Goodness (Gal 6:6-12).
9. A Great Faithfulness (Lk 16:10-12).
10. Gentle Strength (Mt 11:28-30).
11. Self-Control or Willpower (2 Tim 1:7-9).
12. Potent Humility (Jas 4:6, 10).
13. Grace Grown (Tit 2:11-14).

How Can I Be Sure

In a fallen world under God's curse and judgment and subject to Satan, doubt is to be expected, even and perhaps especially after one becomes a Christian. Former University of Birmingham Professor, John Stevens, assure us that doubts and questions about faith are not necessarily bad. Drawing from his personal encounters with various believers, he looks at such questions as:

1. What is doubt?
2. Why is doubt dangerous?
3. What do I have to believe to be a Christian?
4. How can I overcome doubt as a Christian?
5. How can I develop a confident faith?

• Conclusion: From doubt to faith.

I love the quotes in this book:

• "The art of doubting is easy, for it is an ability that is born with us." Martin Luther.

Victory Through The Lamb: A Guide to Revelation in Plain Language

Jesus is called the lamb 29 times in Revelation.

Revelation made easy. Reading or studying Revelation has always felt daunting and overwhelming to many Christians. But Mark Wilson has written "a guide to Revelation in plain language," as the title states. In the non-technical language of non-seminarians, Wilson explains Revelation's many intriguing mysteries, which is so characteristic of apocalyptic literature. Most of the confusing signs, symbols and varied imagery of Revelation find its origins from the Old Testament. Victory Through The Lamb is readable, understandable and insightful, even for those who have not previously read or studied Revelation.

Martyrdom. Each and every chapter begins with a martyr account, followed by Wilson's own English translation of the Greek text of Revelation. The martyr stories are gut wrenching, in particular the recent martyrdom of three Christians in eastern Turkey in the city of Malatya on April 18, 2007. This shocked Turkey's small Christian community as well as many Turkish citizens. Wilson and his wife have lived in Turkey since 2004 and were able to attend their funeral, together with many other Christians from around Turkey. The vivid stories of these and earlier martyrdoms set the mood of the reader into the correct frame of mind for understanding and interpreting Revelation.

Healed at Last: Separating Biblical Truth from Myth

Scott Blackwell, the author, was stricken with meningitis at age three. As a result, he suffered serious health issues, the most noticeable being that he walks with a severe limp. He addresses the apparent conflict between the God who is able to heal a stricken person of diseases and ailments, yet often does not do so physically, as God did not with him. Yet Scott declares without a doubt that God has indeed healed him profoundly and wholly through Christ, even if God did not heal him physically. Reading his book reminds me of the often passionate dichotomy and disagreement between Charismatics (God can and does heal today) and Cessationists (God no longer heals people today as in the time of Jesus and Acts). Scott writes a balanced biblical account between these two sometimes extreme positions that disses the other side.

Several people, noticing his limp in church, have said to him, "Do you know you can be healed, really healed?" to which Scott responded, "Yes, I've been really healed." He does not say this facetiously but truly means it.

Though a KING, He Wore not a Throne, but Carried a CROSS Unto Death

A new book, King’s Cross (Feb 2011) is adapted from sermons that Tim Keller, senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, has preached from the Gospel of Mark. The book is neatly organized into 2 parts, corresponding to the Gospel of Mark’s 2 symmetrical halves or acts:

1. his identity as King over all things (Mark chap 1-8)
   
2. his purpose in dying on the cross (Mark chap 9-16)

Hence the catchy title from its 2 parts (“The King” and “The Cross”), each part consisting of 9 chapters, with each chapter focusing on a particular theme by exploring a selective key part of the story told in Mark’s Gospel, explaining the background, illustrating the main point, and applying it for readers. So the book retains the essential elements of good preaching. (But a handful of well-known passages aren’t addressed in detail in the book.)

I hope to blog on each chapter as I read them. Here are a few random quotes from the book:

"In Jesus we find infinite majesty yet complete humility, perfect justice yet boundless grace, absolute sovereignty yet utter submission, all-sufficiency in himself yet entire trust and dependence on God." 155

"If (Jesus) were only a king on a throne, you’d submit to him just because you have to. But he’s a king who went to the cross for you. Therefore you can submit to him out of love and trust." 107

"The best way I can put it is that, before the change (of the Bible coming alive), I poured over the Bible, questioning and analyzing it. But after the change it was as if the Bible, or maybe Someone through the Bible, began poring over me, questioning and analyzing me." xv

"Though as a youth I had believed that the Bible was the Word of the Lord, I had not personally met the Lord of the Word." xvi

For reference, these are the verses in Mark’s Gospel explained by Keller in each chapter of King’s Cross:

Part 1: THE KING: The Identity of Jesus

1) The Dance (Mark 1:1-4, 9-11, 12-13): Creation (Gen 1:1-3) and redemption (beginning with Jesus' baptism - Mark 1:9-11) are both products of a Trinity.
2) The Call (Mark 1:14-15, 16-20, 21-22, 29-31): Gospel vs. advice. You can't have a relationship with Jesus unless he calls you. Jesus' authority (root word author) is not derived. Follow the thread (George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin).
3) The Healing (Mark 1:35-38, 2:1-5, 5-8, 8-12): After prayer Jesus decided to leave. He was more interested in the quality of the people's response than in the quantity of the crowd. Your sins are forgiven.
4) The Rest (Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-6): Lord of the Sabbath.
5) The Power (Mark 4:35-38, 39-41, 38-41)
6) The Waiting (Mark 5:21-22, 22-24, 24-26, 27-30, 30-33, 35-36, 37-40, 40-42)
7) The Stain (Mark 7:1-5, 14-16, 17-19, 20-23, 43-48)
8) The Approach (Mark 7:24-26, 26-27, 28-30, 31-37)
9) The Turn (Mark 8:27-30, 31-32, 34-9:1)

Part 2: THE CROSS: The Purpose of Jesus

10) The Mountain (Mark 9:2-8, 9-13, 14-18, 19-29)
11) The Trap (Mark 10:17-22, 23-25, 24-27, 28, 29-31, 32-33, 34)
12) The Ransom (Mark 8:31-32, 9:30-31, 10:32-34, 45, 35-36, 37-38, 38-45)
13) The Temple (Mark 11:1-10; Zech 9:9; Mark 11:11-12, 15-18, 12-14)
14) The Feast (Mark 14:12-16, 22-25, 23-25; Isa 53:6-7, 12; Luke 22:19; Mark 14:22)
15) The Cup (Mark 14:32-26)
16) The Sword (Luke 6:20-22, 24-26; Mark 14:43-46, 46-49, 48-52)
17) The End (Mark 14:53-59, 60-62, 62-65, 15:1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 20-24; Ps 22:7, 14, 16-18; Mark 15:25-33, 33-34; Isa 13:9-13; Amos 8:7-10; Mark 15:35-39)
18) The Beginning (Mark 15:37-43, 44-47, 16:1-3, 3-7; Luke 24:36-46; Ps 22:20-21. 24, 27-29, 31; John 11:25-26; 1 Thes 4:14; 1 Cor 15:13-19)

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