To reach the world we have to be unlike the world

Kent Hughes on the need for Christians to live holy lives, lives which abstain from the passions of the flesh:

It is possible, then, for a believer to be distressed by the world while willfully clinging to the world. (Kindle Location 102-103)

It is possible for believing people like us who are truly distressed by the course of this world to live lives that are so profoundly influenced by culture that Sodom is reborn in the lives of those we love the most. (Kindle Locations 127-128)

A worldly church cannot and will not reach the world. The church must be distinct from the world to reach the world. We must set ourselves apart to God if we hope to reach the world. In a word, the only hope for us and the lost world is a holy church. (Kindle Locations 161-162)

We cannot be like the nations and at the same time a light to the nations.  (Kindle Location 316)

Hughes, Kent R. (2003-04-16). Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life. Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.

 

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Mornings: best time to do first things first

David Mathis discusses a new book that documents what successful people do before breakfast, but then he goes on to answer the question of what it might look like for Christians to make the most of our mornings.

This article is worth reading whether you are up before the sun or you don’t rise until the crack of noon as well as for those who fall somewhere in between.

David writes,”When you think of “doing first things first,” consider going deep in the Scriptures, scouring them for fresh glimpses of Jesus, and daily rehearsing their central message — the gospel — that is always for the Christian “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

As you begin a new week, take a few moments to look at “First Things: Making the Most of Your Morning.”

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Are your prayers fiery?

If someone were to describe your prayers, what word would they use? Would fiery be one of the top five words that would come to mind.

Jeremy Walker in The Brokenhearted Evangelist  has some exhortation for how we can keep our prayers fiery:

How do we keep our prayers fiery? By engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Satan’s hosts, for those who are yet under his dominion. Why do we keep our spiritual weapons sharp? So that we can fight. How do we learn how to use those weapons? When we engage with lost men. Where are our graces brought to their highest pitch and exercised to their greatest degree? It is often when we are locked in mortal combat for the salvation of a soul. Where are our minds fired with holy truth so that we begin to understand, to press, and to be in earnest? When are our hearts most ablaze with love for Jesus Christ? When, in short, are we most alive as Christians? With the possible exception of the gatherings of the saints for worshiping God, it is when we are involved in the life business of the redeemed men and women of Jesus Christ, engaging with transgressors and seeking their salvation for the glory of God in Jesus Christ. There is little that so elevates us—that so engages the totality of our redeemed humanity—as the holy cut and thrust of evangelism. Nothing so casts us upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Nothing so reminds us of our need and sends us in desperation to God for increased measures of His Spirit as the reality of wrestling for souls.

HT: Challies

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Marking up your Bible

I have been looking at some of the Bibles I had while I was growing up and noticed that I used to mark them up and write in them a lot more.  In recent years I have migrated to more electronic versions of the Bible so I don’t mark up my hard copy so much as I once did.  But    I think it might be a good idea to do that more.

I know that those who are in Precepts Bible Studies have learned a system to mark up their Bibles or at least the portion of Scripture they are studying. It really helps you analyze a text and make connections well.

Jim Hamilton, a professor at Southern Seminary shares his practice.  He begins:

Do you have a system for marking your Bible as you study? Over the years, I’ve found that if I want to layer reading upon reading and go deeper each time, it helps me to mark my Bible and build on my earlier study notes.

As I read the Bible, I try to make note of repeated words, resumed themes, quotations of earlier passages, and other key ideas. But I don’t want simply to see them and move on. I want to highlight them. This helps me recall connections I’ve seen, and helps me find those key ideas later. Whenever I want an uninfluenced, fresh reading of a Bible passage, I use an unmarked copy.

I try to read large chunks of Bible all at one sitting, whole books if possible, and thoroughly mark them up as I go. Doing this book after book brings out the interconnectedness of individual books and the thick intertextuality of each book of the Bible with all the others.

So, here’s what I like to do when marking my Bible.

Keep reading to learn how he does it.  Quite a system he has.

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Re-ignite your passion for God’s Word

Have you grown irregular in your intake of God’s Word? Has your reading become stale? Predictable? A thing to check off every day?  Or are you not engaging in the Word and worse you don’t even feel that badly about it?  Dave Jenkins shares 11 ways to reignite your passion for the Bible.  Here’s the list, but please read his article to get more of each suggestion:

1. Grow in a love relationship with the Author of Scripture
2. Develop a personal relationship with God
3. Approach your Bible reading with worshipful awe
4. Consider it an amazing privilege to read and study the Scripture
5. Develop a real interest as you read a portion of Scripture
6. Ask the Lord to give you true joy as you read the Scriptures
7. Find a quiet place and time to spend quality time reading the Scripture
8. Begin your time in the Bible with prayer
9. Examine the Bible portion carefully and prayerfully
10. Determine to read for spiritual benefit from the Lord
11. Always remember that you are seeking to know God’s will and obey it.

Are there other ways you have found helpful to keep your passion for God’s Word growing? 

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The first thing to know about God!

“The first thing, and in one sense the only thing, we need to know about God is that he is Lord. Surely no name, no description of God, is more central to Scripture than this.”

~John Frame~ The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, New Jersey; P&R Publishing; 2002) Chapter 2: The Lord

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