Category: Recommended

yep, I recommend this link, article or whatever it is

George and the Revolution

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Barna, not Washington. Crossing over the church door, not the Delaware. Revolution? Unfortunately that is what George Barna is calling for in his new book, Revolution.

Joe Thorn does a good job reviewing the book over on his blog Words of Grace. He agrees with some of Barna’s valid criticisms of the church today, but does not conclude with him that the best response for concerned Christians is to cut and run. His review is short and penetrates to the problem this book presents to those respect the Bible and its teaching concerning the local church.

Words on Grace

~ fundyreformed

Pastor John Samson over at Reformation Theology Blog has much to say on grace, when reviewing John Piper’s book Future Grace. This is more than a review, it is an exultation in God’s free grace.

He says,

“God’s grace is a huge subject with many facets to it. Grace has meaning only when mankind is seen as fallen, unworthy of salvation, and fully deserving of eternal wrath. It is precisely because people today have lost sight of the depths of human corruption and sin that they think so little of divine grace. Grace is not “amazing grace” to them, but merely “boring grace.” “….”Grace is seen in this – while we were wretches; while we were sinners, shaking our fists at God, hating God, defying God in thought, word and deed – every single one of us; God did something ridiculous – paying an outlandish and scandalous price to redeem us (the blood of His beloved Son). This was not because He calculated it all out and thought it was a good investment on His part; that we were “worth it.” No, God was motivated by His radical, amazing, abundant and all conquering love alone, as He set about saving a people for Himself. There was nothing of intrinsic worth in the creatures He redeemed. Any worth we had was entirely borrowed from the God who made us in His image.”….

“Grace is sovereign and free. Although God is gracious in His eternal being, He need not be gracious or shower His grace upon anyone. Think about it – though many angels had fallen into sin, no plan was ever initiated to rescue even one of these angels from the fierce wrath of God. Yet, the angels of God surrounding the throne are still singing “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.” In the heavenly courts, there is not even a hint of injustice in any of this. Why? Because God is never obligated to show mercy to any of His creatures. No injustice takes place when justice is administrated! If God was ever obliged to show mercy, we would not be speaking of mercy at all, but of justice.”….

“Since grace is a gift, no work is to be performed, no offering made, to repay God for His favor. The biblical response to grace received is faith to receive yet more.”….

“”Future Grace” is a rich book, and one to read more than once. Though the book is about grace, it is, in reality, a book about holiness… a grace-empowered holiness. It includes practical chapters on how faith in future grace defeats anxiety, pride, shame, lust and despondency. People will very much identify with the issues that are raised and connect with the biblical remedies found in trusting the future grace of God. I recommend the book highly.”

[Read it all]

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy

~ Bob Hayton

I have long been fascinated by C.S. Lewis’ fiction, especially his Space Trilogy. I came across an excellent and succinct review by Eric Costa, over on Monergism’s blog Reformation Theology. Read the review, and then read the books!

“It may seem strange that I am writing a review of The Space Trilogy, by C. S. Lewis. It’s a review of a trilogy instead of just one book. It’s fiction (scientifiction, even!) instead of heavy propositional theology. What does this have to do with the Reformation Theology blog? It will probably take me the whole review to be able to answer that one (if I can).

I grew up loving to read science fiction and fantasy like The Chronicles of Narnia. I read them over and over again, even though I wasn’t a Christian and had no idea about the great symbolism involved. But I hadn’t read The Space Trilogy. There may have been one time I tried, but it was beyond me. It’s definitely for adults with good vocabularies, preferably with some knowledge of latin, the classics, and ancient mythologies. And for those who know the Gospel well.

It may be difficult for me to boil down the content of the whole trilogy in a review and keep it of readable length, but here goes!”

[Read on…]

A 21st Century Retelling of Pilgrim's Progress

~ fundyreformed

I ran across an excellent short story spun off of John Bunyan’s masterpiece Pilgrim’s Progress. The story opens your eyes to how potentially damaging the emphasis extreme fundamentalists put on keeping standards really is.

John Bunyan’s original work is filled with truth concerning the Christian life. And what is missing from his work is the modern popular understanding (especially in some fundamentalist circles) that Christian should have received a “get out of jail free card” upon going thru the Wicket Gate and looking on Mt Calvary’s cross. Instead he is given spiritual weapons (along with help from the Holy Spirit) with which to persevere against many deceptive sins which present the real possibility of making permanent shipwreck of his faith, and derailing his trip to the Celestial City.

This story will make you think, and is well worth your time.

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

The Advance of God’s Kingdom

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

I have posted here the power point presentations used in a close pastor friend’s recent 10 week series on “The Advance of the Kingdom”. This is really a fantastic presentation focusing on God’s plan in creation and salvation as expressed in the Biblical covenants. It is really a presentation of Covenant Theology 101. The presentation is well done, and you can get the gist of his messages just from the power point slides.

This presentation really encourages us with the glory of God’s salvation and His progressive revelation of the greatness of the gospel. I encourage you to check this out, and see for yourself how Biblical the essence of Covenant Theology really is.

Here are links to the power point files for each of the 10 parts to the presentation.

the-advance-of-the-kingdom

the-kingdom-and-the-covenant

the-covenant-of-creation

the-coveant-of-adam

the-covenant-of-noah

the-covenant-of-abraham

the-covenant-of-moses

the-covenant-of-david

the-covenant-of-christ

conclusion

(Note: these were originally used in conjunction with the Sunday morning sermon, so there is some review in the individual parts. Also, if you don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint, sometimes you at least have PowerPoint viewer, or you can download Open Office.org’s software which can read .ppt files.)