Partnering to Remember: Philippians

Great Idea here from Timmy Brister:

Let’s face it. Memorizing Scripture can be a difficult discipline, especially memorizing long passages of Scripture.  In our fast-paced lives of multi-tasking with any number of things vying for our attention, there is a real danger for the Word of God to get squeezed out of our daily lives.  More than any other time, Christians need to partner together for the purpose of internalizing Scripture, encouraging one another to abide in the words of Christ, and remembering the weighty truths that center us in God’s work in our lives. To do this, a system for memorizing Scripture has been created called the memory moleskine.

Starting in 2011, I am beginning a project called P2R (Partnering to Remember).  The goal is to memorize the entire book of Philippians by Easter Sunday (April 24, 2011) through partnering with other believers using the memory moleskine.  Paul praised the church in Philippi for their partnership in advance of the Gospel, and in the spirit of that partnership, this project intends to bring Christians together for the deepening work of God’s Word in their lives.  Simply put, I believe we should partner to remember.

Using the Cahier moleskine, I have created a pocket-size notebook that provides a practical and accessible way to memorize Scripture.  Through collaboration with The Resurgence, a customized PDF has been created for you to download with a week-by-week outline for memorizing the book of Philippians in 16 weeks using the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible.  On one side of the moleskine you simply paste the week’s verses to memorize, and on the other side you write your reflections on the verses while indicating how many times you rehearsed them each day.  Included in this PDF are encouragements and helps to memorizing and retaining Scripture from Donald Whitney, Andy Davis, and John Piper.

How to Make Your Own 2011 Philippians Memory Moleskine

1.  Purchase your own Cahier Moleskine (3.5×5.5 size) - or a suitable alternative
2.  Download the PDF provided by the Resurgence
3.  Cut the weekly Scripture reading according to the border
4.  Use double-sided tape to paste the weekly section of verses
5.  Find someone who you can partner with for encouragement & accountability
6.  Jump in starting January 1, 2011!!!

I'm in!  How about you?

Love in the Truth.

Not A Calvinist Church!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z via Crummy Church Signs

Do Whatever You Want!

John MacArthur on the will of God - "You delight in the Lord and do whatever you want".



Love in the Truth.

HT / Challies

Just for Fun

Remember the old TV shows you - or at least I - used to watch?  I still find myself humming the theme songs.  Well, check them out with a little twist!  Pretty sweet, me thinks.

Magnum P.I.:


Hawaii Five-O (this one is sweet!):


Knight Rider:



Hunter:


That's it for now.  The one this guy has for "CHiPs" is pretty sweet as well, but it wouldn't let me embed.

Love in the Truth.

How Not To Listen To Sermons

John Newton:

“As a hearer, you have a right to try all doctrines by the word of God; and it is your duty so to do. Faithful ministers will remind you of this: they will not wish to hold you in an implicit and blind obedience to what they say, upon their own authority, nor desire that you should follow them farther than they have the Scripture for their warrant. They would not be lords over your conscience, but helpers of your joy. Prize this Gospel liberty, which sets you free from the doctrines and commandments of men; but do not abuse it to the purposes of pride and self.”

Then Newton explains how not to listen to sermons:

“There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence. To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them; a bar at which few escape censure, from judges at once so severe and inconsistent.”

Excellent balance.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Sean Crowe via Tony Reinke

If you Can't Beat Em...

That one made me really laugh out loud!  I wonder if the wife will let me do this one year?

Love in the Truth.

HT / Kevin DeYoung

What Does the Word Mean To You?

How often do we - how often do I - neglect this great "weapon in {our} hands?"

"The month that you had set, the day that you had set, has come to pass today. Oh my Father, my Father, the Promise that you gave Simeon that he would see Jesus Christ and hold Him in his arms before he died. I also have been waiting under that same promise, O God. You looked at all the different languages and chose which ones will be put into Your Word. You thought that we should see Your Word in our language. Today, the day you had chosen for this to be fulfilled, has come to pass. You have placed it here in our land. And for all this, O God, I give You praise."

Love in the Truth.

HT / Challies

Review: What is a Healthy Church / Member

What is a Healthy Church, IX Marks, Mark Dever:

This is a smaller work based on the larger Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.  The book is very easy to read and it's size makes it an easy, essential read for every church member.  It is concise, convicting and completely biblical unpacking of the statement, "If you call yourself a Christian but you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, I worry that you might be going to hell."  Dever makes this statement right off the start in chapter one and then takes the rest of the book to explain it.  I had that quote as my facebook status for a day...the results were...well you can imagine!  It is meant to both shock and induce thought. 

In the book, Dever outlines what a healthy church is in the first four chapters or part one, the essential marks of a healthy church in part two, and the important marks of a healthy church in part three.  For those that don't want to take the time to read the larger (and better IMHO) Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, this is your solution.  This is more for the church member than the pastor - "You and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible for what your church becomes, not your pastors or other leaders - you."  Do you want to know if your church is healthy - biblically healthy - read this book!

What is a Healthy Church Member, IX Marks, Thabiti Anyabwile:

This is the companion work to the above mentioned What is a Healthy Church.  In an age when sheep are hopping from church to church looking to tickle their ears, this is a much needed book.  It dove tails nicely to its companion with the focus shifting from the corporate to the individual.  These days it seems there is a lot of people doing a lot of talking about what is wrong with the Church corporately.  Finally there is a book that helps us to realize the main problem with the church is staring each of us in the face when we look in a mirror!

Indeed, the truth hurts, and not just sometimes - most of the time.  All ten chapters are a spiritual kick in the pants to help wake the sleeper in all of us.  Everywhere you look today people want to be called "a community", "missional", pretty much anything but a church.  Most, however, don't know what that is supposed to look like biblically.  This book says Don Carson, "closes the gap."  "The health of the local church (missional community) depends on the willingness of its members to inspect their hearts, correct their thinking, and apply their hands to the work of the ministry." This one is for everyone!

As a side note, this is really another must for all the men out there.  As Anyabwile states in his dedication of the book, "for the church that lives in my home."

Love in the Truth.

New Design...Help!

For those of you that stop in from time to time you'll notice the new design of "Love in the Truth."  You will also no doubt notice a few bugs here and there.  Please bear with me as I try to figure it out myself - I am technologically inept!  That said, feel free to offer any help you can.  Such as...the link to the twitter account - I don't know how to make it work.  And the "undefined" comment bubbles are a mystery to me as well.  Also, feel free to let me know what you think.

Love in the Truth.

Who's the Seeker?

Love in the Truth

HT / Eddie Eddings

The Diverse Excellencies of Christ

From John Piper's 2008 T4G Conference message.

Christ is supreme because:

He is God's final revelation
He is the heir of all things
He is the creator of the world
He is the radiance of God's glory
He is the exact imprint of God's nature
He upholds the universe by the word of His power
He made purification for sins
He sits at the right hand of the Majesty
He is God enthroned forever with the scepter of uprightness
He is worshiped by angels
His rule will have no end
His joy is above all other things in the universe
He took on human flesh
He was crowned with glory and honor because of his suffering
He was the founder of our salvation
He was made perfect in all of his obedience by his suffering
He destroyed the one who had the power of death
He delivered us from the bondage of fear
He is a merciful and faithful high priest
He made propitiation for sins
He is sympathetic because of His own trials
He never sinned
He offered up loud cries and tears with reverent fear and God heard him
He became the source of eternal salvation
He holds His priesthood by virtue of an indestructible life
He appears in the presence of God on our behalf
He will come a second time to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Jared Wilson

I Love...

Love in the Truth.

HT / Set Apart - Brain Molloy

Calvinist Pick-up Lines

Nothing says "I love you" like reformed theology!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

STAY Informed & PRAY Informed

These are those of whom the world is not worthy!

STAY informed and PRAY informed!

www.persecution.org

Love in the Truth.

What is the Gospel?

What is the message of the gospel?

That the greatest good (God) offers the greatest action (love) to the greatest need (wrath-owed sinners) by sending the greatest treasure (Jesus) in the greatest invitation (to everyone) into the greatest life (everlasting).

How is this not exciting?

One fear we must put aside in our quest for greater gospel-centrality is that it will not preach week to week. The enemy and our own flesh will test our commitment with the "plausible argument" (Col. 2:4) that the gospel will just sound so one-note. We are tempted to think the repetition will have the unintended effect of boring people or making the gospel appear routine and commonplace.

But the gospel is resilient. It is miraculously versatile. It proves itself every day for those awake to it. Because it is the antidote for all sin of all people, power effectual for every type of person no matter their background or circumstance, it is God's might to save every millisecond and therefore every Sunday.

When we "get" the gospel for what it really is -- the power to save, the most thrilling news there could be, the declaration that God's Son died for us and then came back to life! to be the risen Lord and supreme King of the universe, not just the entry fee for heaven but the currency for all of life -- we revel in the new creation it unleashes in its wake at every turn. We never get tired of hearing it. It's the new song that never gets old. "Play it again, play it again!" we will cry.

Gospel wakened people have been given the strength enough to exult in the beautiful monotony of the gospel.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Jared Wilson - taken from two posts

Jungle Warfare: A Review

Before coming to Christ, and for a period after, my life was in sales - Retail sales to be specific.  It was...(insert colourful adjective here)!  Ask anyone in sales, and retail sales in particular, and they will tell you their pain - in great detail!

Jungle Warfare: A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales can best be described as a helpful devotional  tool for Christians working in the secular world.  I chose to review this book precisely because of my past experience.  I wanted to know if this would have been a helpful resource for me "in the jungle".

First the good...

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised at the focus of the book. The author, Christopher Cunningham, seemed to try at least to keep the gospel in the forefront of most chapters.  I like this!  Although using his grand-dad's Basic Field Manual on Jungle Warfare, may seem odd at first, it worked for the most part.  It served to reveal the very real spiritual war every Christian fights every day.  I liked this too.

The not-so-good...

For me, the book - although somewhat gospel-focused - was a little too much focused on what God can do for me as opposed to what He has done for me.  I am willing to concede that that was not necessarily the author's intent, however, ultimately the gospel is God-centred and not man-centred.  This seemed to me to be a little too much centred on me.  It had an "everything is going to be OK" flavour to it.  There were many references to scripture, but many were from substandard translations like the Message.

The conclusion...

Would this book have helped me?  As a new convert, the short answer is yes.  That said, I would be hesitant to recommend this book, simply because there are - in my opinion - better options out there for the Christian in the world.  How about as a mature believer?  The subtitle says it all, "basic".  

Love in the Truth.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

The God Who Is There

The Gospel Coalition is pleased to announce free audio and HD video downloads are now available for Don Carson’s 14-part overview of the Bible titled, “The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story.” This evangelistic series was delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis in February 2009. Its goal is to explain the entire storyline of the Bible. 

Please note, in order to download the HD video, you need to create/login to your Vimeo account.

Love in the Truth.