tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52762253856727722412024-03-13T07:10:50.665-04:00Faith Firmly Rootedhelping. Christians. GROW.RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-690128974382054402013-10-15T21:45:00.000-04:002013-10-15T21:45:00.334-04:00A Long Overdue UpdateHey Readers,<br />
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I have had some email messages from folks encouraging me to get back into the swing of writing on here. Here's the deal:<br />
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1) <b>My current job seems much more important and its demands have made the thought of writing seem like a joke of a priority...especially considering a few other things:</b><br />
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2) <b>That so few people comment on blogs.</b> Seriously. Think about this. Even the best blogs in cyberspace can struggle to muster comments. The number of people who read a blog post seems to far outweigh the number of comments. For someone on the fence about making time to write; a lack of comments really isn't a good motivator. Just sayin'. I read a lot of blogs and articles and I can count on one hand how many times I've actually commented.<br />
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3) <b>That the blogosphere seems to have changed as I see it. </b> The best bloggers have gotten better. They either do it full time for income, share the writing load with multiple people, or utilize ghost writers. Let's face it...for those of us in the ministry world who haven't delegated EVERYTHING away to someone else, there's a ton of work to be done constantly. I marvel sometimes at the proficiency with which certain people can be pastoring or serving in a significant ministry role (or four) and yet are doing 12 other things with excellence. It's fairly obvious and known that many individuals within the Christian world are fine letting other people do their work for them and then taking the credit. Secretaries, interns, students, underlings, and ghost-writers make certain folks look very busy. Some prominent pastors have people write their sermons for them, convert their sermons to books or bible studies, check their emails, answer their phone calls, <strike>wipe their</strike>...er, nevermind. But unless I could bring myself to do some of those things ethically, and if I felt good about manipulating people, or if I thought it appropriate to use my administrative assistant to help me do stuff not directly related to my role and the church, maybe I'd write more. Know what I mean? That ain't me. I'm still a purist in this regard.<br />
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4) <b>I have found several ways to personally disciple multiple individuals from a long distance away. </b>Being that one of the major reasons I started this blog was to assist with the discipleship of several people who happened to live far from me, I have found an increasing number of exciting and robust resources with lots of dedicated workers sustaining them that can accomplish the same purpose.<br />
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5) <b>And finally, I just really find Twitter a lot more effective. </b> Twitter is micro-blogging. A while back, I was doing some thinking. I thought, "Man....Does anyone
actually blog anymore? Ever since I started using Twitter, blogging seems so ancient. Let's face it...With increasingly limited time, I don't care to read a blog nearly as much as I would a Tweet. That said, I've been on Twitter for the last year and a half or so and have found it to be quicker for me and for readers. I can say what I need to say and get to the point so much faster. People don't have to comment or reply, they can just favorite or retweet with one click. <br />
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<b>So...what I am saying is that for right now, I am utilizing Twitter RATHER than this blog. For now anyway. Something could change, but that's the way it stands right now. </b><br />
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<b>You can Follow Me on Twitter here:</b> <a href="https://twitter.com/RC_Wilkins" target="_blank">@RC_Wilkins</a>.RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-8059628733061131642012-07-17T18:00:00.000-04:002012-07-18T00:38:49.351-04:00Spiritual Growth - Whose Job is it Anyway?As a minister of discipleship within a local church, I can relate many stories of people finding a Bible Study within our church, plugging in, and beginning to grow deep roots in God's word and in their relationship with Christ.<br />
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For others, finding the right Bible study can be a challenge. Here are some things to keep in mind about that.<br />
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Ask yourself: <em>Whose job is it to see that I grow spiritually?</em><br />
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Here are the most common answers to such a question.<br />
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1. It is my pastor's job</h3>
Yes and no on this one. Your pastor is entrusted with shepherding and spiritual caring for the "flock" that God has placed under his stewardship. However, if all you do is come to church, sing some songs, and listen to a sermon once a week, you might or might not actually ever begin to grow spiritually. Most every pastor (and virtually every pastor worth listening to) would agree that if you really want to start growing spiritually, you'll need to be involving yourself with other believers in Bible study and prayer. Do you know what statistics are showing to be the number one proven way for churchgoers to begin growing spiritually is? It is simply this: Prayerfully study the Bible when you are not at church! Your pastor can't force you to do that, but he can certainly influence and encourage you to do so.<br />
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2. It is my church's job (or my discipleship pastor's job)</h3>
Yes and no on this one. Your church (and your discipleship pastor if you have one) are like your pastor in that they are entrusted with overseeing and facilitating the spiritual development of those God has placed under their stewardship. However, as much as they labor to assist in people's spiritual growth and make it easy for them, sometimes it doesn't seem to happen. I occasionally receive complaints from people that they are not growing spiritually...some of whom are deeply involved in a Bible study. I know...it is a head scratcher. But even though your church and your ministers strive hard to help you grow spiritually, the job is partly your responsibility as well. Do you show up to church ready to listen and learn? Do you attend a Bible study at your church expecting to hear God speak to you through the scripture? Or are you waiting for just the right Bible study to come along with just the right people with just the right teacher? You might be waiting a long time. <br />
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3. It is MY job</h3>
This might be getting close to the right answer. It's almost there. As we said before, you should absolutely take responsibilty for your own spiritual growth. Don't let obstacles deter you from it. Your pastor will try to influence and the church should provide avenues for spiritual growth, but nothing is stopping you from picking the Bible up or praying. Every day, spend time in prayer and Bible study. Don't let your spiritual growth rise or fall on a Bible study teacher or whether you can manage to squeeze in time for a small group during the week on top of serving and worshipping. Take ownership of your spiritual development. Make it your priority. Rearrange your schedule and priorities if you must. See if you can let God have your heart every single moment of every single day whether you are at church or not, whether you are reading the Bible or doing anything under the sun! And yet, the responsibility doesn't rest on you alone...<br />
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4. It is God's job</h3>
Here's a very important truth. God desires that you grow spiritually. And He is orchestrating it behind the scenes in countless ways - through the experiences He allows you, through the relationships you have, through the sermons you hear, prayers you pray, conversations you have, etc. Even when you think you are not growing spiritually, God might strongly disagree. Watch and pray for eyes to see how He is growing you and stretching your faith even in ways you might not see at first glance. Write them down if you need to. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="text Phil-2-12">Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, </span><span class="text Phil-2-13" id="en-NIV-29405">for it is God who works in you <sup class="crossreference" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29405W" title="See cross-reference W">W</a>)"></sup> to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)</span></span></blockquote>
Notice that there are two things at "work". We are continuing to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The idea is that we strive to live in obedience to God and live for Him. But the second "work" is God's work. And it is a different tense. This is a completed work that is already finished. Someone once said, "We are in the process of becoming who God already sees us as." Christ saved us. We are in the process of living like it and in the process of being saved. (The big word for the process is <em>sanctification</em>...we are in the process of being <em>sanctified</em> or <em>made holy</em> or <em>set apart.</em>) We do our everything to grow spiritually, knowing that it is ultimately God alone who brings it about in our lives, in His own ways and in His own timing and He who started the work in us will be faithful to complete it...and this is so certain that He already HAS completed it! <br />
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Whose job is spiritual growth anyway? YES...your pastor and your church play a part. YES...you are accountable for your own spiritual growth. YES and most emphatically...God grants it, He does it, He gets the job done in His people's lives. <br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-39948630340587314342012-06-29T23:40:00.000-04:002012-06-29T23:43:57.267-04:00What Does Your Before and After Look Like?I've lost some weight recently. And it has caused me to want to ask the question: What does <em>your</em> before and after picture look like?<br />
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No, I am not talking about an actual photo or your physical appearance. What I am really asking is this: <br />
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What has changed about you since the day Jesus Christ came into your life?</h4>
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Don't rush to keep reading. Look back at the question. <br />
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Make a list. Here's how:<br />
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Make two columns on a sheet of paper. Label the left column "BC" and label the right column "AC". ("Before Christ" and "After Christ", silly!)<br />
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In the left colum, answer the question: <em>Who were you long before you knew Jesus Christ or invited Him into your life?</em> Write down a description or some descriptive words that come to mind. If some characteristics were more dominant than others, bold them or underline them.<br />
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Now, <em>when you embraced Jesus as your Lord and Savior, what changed?</em> In the left column, cross off the things that no longer described you. If something didn't go away, but has diminished considerably, draw an arrow next to it pointing either up or down (up could mean that you've given that area to God; down could simply mean that it has decreased).<br />
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Now, <em>what are you like today?</em> Write down some things that describe you in the right column.<br />
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When you complete that little exercise, what did you find? For some, it is a drastic difference to see the two columns. It is a humbling and liberating exercise to see it on paper. You feel stirred to worship and thank God for the work He has done. I hope that is you. <br />
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But not everyone has that story. Many confessing Christians today would go through that exercise and struggle. They might not be able to recall who they were before Christ. They might feel strange that the column on the left was not riddled with "bad stuff." They might feel guilt that the right side and left side are actually fairly similar.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I2mph9hOx_I/T-5xlP2vQWI/AAAAAAAAAIo/G5Cb6mZouIY/s1600/struggle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I2mph9hOx_I/T-5xlP2vQWI/AAAAAAAAAIo/G5Cb6mZouIY/s320/struggle.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<strong>Many confessing Christians today would have </strong></div>
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<strong>trouble describing how Christ has changed them.</strong></div>
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What does that mean?<br />
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There are a ton of potential reasons. It may be a mixture of several reasons or be entirely too complicated to put into words. But let me encourage you...<br />
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<ol>
<li>Sometimes God changes us gradually and not all at once. Be patient as He continues to work in your life. Trust His hand even when you cannot see it or feel it.</li>
<li>Don't get discouraged if you don't have a terrible pre-Christian past. Thank God for it! Not all Christians went from "terrible person" to "perfect person" by the world's standards; but spiritually speaking, <em>any </em>person who gives their life to Christ goes from "dead" to "alive", from "wicked and condemned" to "forgiven"...even those that were "good people."</li>
<li>Finally, some may need to sober up to the reality that part of the reason that your "chart" might not look right might be the result of a lack of discipleship. Your spiritual growth stopped the day it was supposed to start. There are tons of people who make decisions to trust Christ who fail to mature or grow in their relationship with God. Sometimes this is the fault of a minstry, sometimes it is the fault of the individual, and sometimes there is no real blame upon anyone. Whatever the case, there is ALWAYS today and tomorrow. Ask yourself: <em>What am I doing to grow in my walk with Christ? Have I cheated myself out of a deeper relationship with God? How can I give more of me to Jesus? </em>Commit to giving Him even more influence, even more control, even more of you. Give God fertile soil to work with in your life so that you can be firmly rooted and ready to grow.</li>
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-23483397752275360912012-05-17T18:00:00.000-04:002012-05-19T15:09:22.955-04:00The Main Thing...is to Keep the Main Thing the Main ThingYou make your choices and your choices make you. Why miss out on what God desires for you? Make sure that Jesus Christ is driving behind the wheel of your life...your drive will be difficult but beautiful. It will be a rush of joy not to mention an unfathomably awesome final destination! The best is always yet to come for the Christian.<br />
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The Main Thing...is to Keep Christ Central and Foremost. All else is folly.<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-82652522947941626102012-05-04T15:00:00.001-04:002012-05-04T15:00:02.245-04:00Al Mohler on ReadingSince I never quite finished up <a href="http://faithfirmlyrooted.blogspot.com/search/label/Reading" target="_blank">a series of posts</a> that I had been doing on reading some time ago, I figured today's post could loop back around to add some more thoughts to the subject. And this time, you don't have to take my word for it alone. Just watch this video.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ofJ8QIcg0bQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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At one point, Dr. Mohler says we won't start growing until we start reading. I don't think he meant that there were no ways to grow spiritually without reading. (i.e. I doubt if Dr. Mohler is going to tell a blind person who can't read Braille that they are just sore out of luck and can't hope to grow spiritually since they can't read.)<br />
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What do you think? Did you agree/disagree with anything?<br />
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-RCW<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-39881593167707966162012-04-26T22:28:00.000-04:002012-04-26T22:28:24.848-04:00Learning from Christians Past - the PuritansHave you ever heard of the Puritans? Most of us hear them slandered at some point early in our gradeschool studies of American History. If you are a Christian, you need to know that the Puritans <em>in actuality</em> have a lot to teach us...even if we've sometimes gasped at the strictness of their piety.<br />
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A couple of great resources you might want to check out are:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Valley-Vision-Collection-Devotions/dp/B0021GROG4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334673478&sr=8-2" target="_blank">The Valley of Vision</a> - This resource is basically a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. Arthur Bennet put them together after combing through the writings and journals of people like John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, Isaac Watts, Charles Spurgeon, and others.<br />
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<span id="btAsinTitle"><span id="btAsinTitle"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quest-Godliness-Puritan-Vision-Christian/dp/1433515814/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b" target="_blank">A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life</a> by J.I. Packer.</span></span><br />
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Also noteworthy:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Worldly-Saints-Puritans-They-Really/dp/0310325013/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b" target="_blank">Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were</a> by Leland Ryken.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Devoted-Life-Invitation-Classics/dp/0830827943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334672945&sr=8-1#_" target="_blank">The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics</a>. This title says it all. <br />
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I'll give you an example of a Puritan prayer from Valley of Vision entitled "Spiritual Growth"<br />
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<em>O THOU MOST HIGH, </em><br />
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<em>In the way of thy appointment I am waiting for thee,</em><br />
<em>My desire is to thy name,</em><br />
<em>My mind to remembrance of thee.</em><br />
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<em>I am a sinner, but not insensible of my state.</em><br />
<em>My iniquities are great and numberless, </em><br />
<em>but thou art adequate to my relief, </em><br />
<em>for thou art rich in mercy;</em><br />
<em>the blood of thy Son can cleanse from all sin;</em><br />
<em>the agency of thy Spirit can subdue</em><br />
<em>my most powerful lusts.</em><br />
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<em>Give me a tender, wakeful conscience</em><br />
<em>that can smite and torment me when I sin.</em><br />
<em>May I be consistent in conversation and conduct, </em><br />
<em>the same alone as in company, </em><br />
<em>in prosperity and adversity,</em><br />
<em>accepting all thy commandments as right, </em><br />
<em>and hating every false way.</em><br />
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<em>May I never be satisfied with my present spiritual progress, </em><br />
<em>but to faith add virtue, knowledge, temperance, </em><br />
<em>godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.</em><br />
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<em>May I never neglect </em><br />
<em>what is necessary to constitute Christian character,</em><br />
<em>and needful to complete it.</em><br />
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<em>May I cultivate the expedient,</em><br />
<em>develop the lovely, adorn the gospel,</em><br />
<em>recommend the religion of Jesus,</em><br />
<em>accomodate myself to thy providence.</em><br />
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<em>Keep me from sinking or sinning in the evil day;</em><br />
<em>Help me to carry into ordinary life</em><br />
<em>portions of divine truth</em><br />
<em>and use them on suitable occasions, so that</em><br />
<em>its doctrines may inform,</em><br />
<em>its warnings caution,</em><br />
<em>its rules guide,</em><br />
<em>its promises comfort me.</em><br />
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The language and word choices may not be all that current for our context today; but surely the heart of the prayer is as relevant and appropriate for our context today as ever.<br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-53285101418080185042012-04-20T09:40:00.000-04:002012-04-26T22:25:02.287-04:00A Word About Commentaries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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People trying to grow in their Christian faith are sometimes astonished to find out about books they never knew existed. Commentaries. Some are even surprised to find out about study Bibles.<br />
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So here's a little bit of info on both.<br />
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For new believers or even non-believers, a great study Bible is the Quest Study Bible. I believe it uses the NIV 1984 translation and is a great recommendation even if it is expensive. [Speaking of translations, that is another blog entry altogether...much too lengthy for this post.]<br />
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Back to the subject, a great study Bible is often the first discovery to delight that of the Christian trying to grow and understand the Bible. <br />
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Some of the best study Bibles include the ESV Study Bible, the HCSB Study Bible, the Reformation Study Bible, the John MacArthur Study Bible, the NIV Starting Point Study Bible, the Quest Study Bible, and especially unique is the Life Application Study Bible.<br />
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But it may surprise some people to learn that there are some even more technical books available that pastors will consult. Granted, these resources are just one of the many tools in the toolbelt of a skilled Bible teacher, but virtually any pastor worth listening to will have consulted a commentary or three before or after studying a particular passage of scripture. <br />
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Now before you rush out to google "commentaries" (that might not be the most helpful thing to do) you ought to know a few things.<br />
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<li>First, <strong>be aware that there are different types of commentaries</strong>. The <em>basic</em> types are: devotional commentaries, homiletical commentaries, and critical commentaries. I favor the critical ones, but sometimes more practical pastors of the less geeky bent will favor a homiletical commentary of some type. (Homiletics is the fancy word for preaching and preparing sermons.) Even more practical and therefore perhaps more "average-Joe-friendly" are the devotional commentaries which in some ways are only one step away from a study Bible. P.S. - "Critical" commentaries aren't necessarily commentaries that are "critical" of the Bible. It simply means that they are more technical and apply rigorous study, reason, and explanation in their treatment of a text. They can sometimes be heavily footnoted and can leave Greek & Hebrew words completely un-transliterated for the English reader. Looking for an example of each? </li>
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=warren+wiersbe+be+series&tag=mh0b-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=63018111&ref=pd_sl_15jrn6hxsk_e" target="_blank">Warren Wiersbe's Be Series</a> is something I would probably consider a devotional commentary.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.christianbook.com/matthew-henry-commentary-classic-updated-language/matthew-henry/9780310253990/pd/253990?item_code=WW&netp_id=792748&event=ESRCQ&view=details" target="_blank">Matthew Henry's Commentary</a> is an age old classic homiletical commentary.</li>
<li>One of my favorite series of critical commentaries is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_International_Commentary_on_the_New_Testament" target="_blank">NICNT</a> series</li>
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I've given you the basic types, but know that there are also other kinds of commentaries <br />
such as the Bible Backgrounds commentaries done by <a href="http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=1405" target="_blank">IVP</a> and <a href="http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310255727&QueryStringSite=Zondervan" target="_blank">Zondervan</a>. (Both of <br />
which relied on one of my favorite professors during my time at Wheaton...<a href="http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Authors/Author.htm?ContributorID=WaltonJ&QueryStringSite=Zondervan" target="_blank">John Walton</a>.) <br />
I expect that many different types of commentaries will continue to come into existence.<br />
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2. Next, it's vital to know that <strong>not all commentaries are created equal</strong>. In fact, I'd go so far <br />
as to ask your pastor or education pastor at your local church what kind of commentaries <br />
are worth consulting and which ones aren't. Sometimes people write commentaries <br />
who are actually coming to the text with a foundational worldview that is entirely different <br />
than what one might consider Christian. You could very easily find commentaries on the <br />
Bible written by those that seek to undermine the Bible's authority or credibility in their <br />
research. There are great resources and reviews to consult as well such as those by DA <br />
Carson (<a href="http://www.christianbook.com/new-testament-commentary-survey-sixth-edition/d-a-carson/9780801031243/pd/031249?event=CF" target="_blank">NT</a>) and Tremper Longman III (<a href="http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?isbn=0801031230&event=AFF&p=1141273" target="_blank">OT</a>). <a href="http://bestcommentaries.com/" target="_blank">This</a> relatively new website seems fairly <br />
interesting too.<br />
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3. Third, <strong>it is generally best to consult commentaries only AFTER studying the passage </strong><br />
<strong> a </strong><strong>great deal for yourself</strong>. I can't stress this enough. Use the commentaries to <em>check</em> your <br />
work, not to <em>do</em> all your work.<br />
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4. Fourth, <strong>resist the urge to buy a set</strong>...especially if you are not training for the ministry. <br />
If you teach a Sunday school class, chances are there's probably no need to invest <br />
that much money into a complete critical commentary series. Besides, it is much wiser <br />
to buy individual commentaries on each book than purchasing an entire set. If you are a <br />
layman, a quality <a href="http://www.christianbook.com/new-bible-commentary-21st-century-edition/9780830814428/pd/1442?event=1013ONE|766820|1013" target="_blank">one-volume Bible commentary</a> should suffice, but if you simply must <br />
have a complete set, perhaps the <a href="http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=2979" target="_blank">Tyndale Series</a> is best.<br />
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5. Finally, remember that you might be able to acquire 2 or 3 commentary sets just by <br />
purchasing <strong>Bible software</strong>. They may not be that great, but they might be all you need.<br />
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I could certainly write a lot more on this subject. And I may. For now, this ought to be enough to chew on and read without getting bored. :)<br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-25405619136593334992012-03-30T06:00:00.001-04:002012-03-30T06:00:14.740-04:00Spiritual Self Examination 2 - What Gets First Place in Your Life?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">[The current topic relates back to <a href="http://faithfirmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2009/08/self-examination.html">a previous post I made a long time ago</a>.]<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What would it take to make your spiritual life your number one priority?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For many of us, the question is almost offensive. I've even heard it asked, <em>"How would your life look differently if you <em>really</em> began to obey God's word and live it out as though it were true?"</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The question may be offensive, but it is one we must daily ask ourselves if we want to take Jesus' words seriously. For real...what's your #1? Do you seek Christ, knowing Him, honoring Him, knowing His will and doing it above <i>everything</i> else? Do it and you'll find that everything else suddenly comes into focus, priorities find their proper place, and things are rightly aligned. Jesus spoke of this when he said:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Mt. 6:33</span></b></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"<span class="woj" style="background-color: white;">The most important [commandment],”</span><span style="background-color: white;"> answered Jesus, </span><span class="woj" style="background-color: white;">“is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.<sup class="footnote" style="vertical-align: top;" value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-24703a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]"></sup></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="woj" style="background-color: white;">Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’" Mk 12:29-30</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></b></blockquote><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spiritual self-examination is so very Biblical. When was the last time you did a spiritual pulse-check? Don't wait 'til your life is already wrecked to give God first place. A great starting point is Psalm 119.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Get alone somehow with God today and pray this prayer: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Search me, Oh God and know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me into the way everlasting..." (Ps. 119)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-RCW</span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-7454257349550530412012-03-27T05:00:00.002-04:002012-03-27T05:00:01.604-04:00What's Your Plan for Making Disciples?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus told his disciples and -- by extension -- us in Matthew 28:19-20: </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="woj" style="background-color: white;">"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="woj" style="background-color: white;">and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." </span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The main instruction that Jesus gave His followers was to make disciples. (Go is actually a participle and could even be translated "as you go" or "while going" or "when you go.")</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, here is my primary question. If you consider yourself a follower of Christ, how are you involving yourself in making disciples? Is that a job reserved for pastors? Is that a job reserved for the spiritually elite? By no means! Making disciples ought to be the business of every true follower of Christ.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what is stopping you? There are plenty of possible inhibitors. Here are some biggies:</span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Popular Inhibitor #1 - <b>Maybe you have no concept of what "making disciples" looks like in a 21st century context.</b> That's okay. If you are wondering whether Jesus wants you to wear sandals and a toga, speak in thees and thous and ask 12 random people to follow you around day and night, you've got the wrong mental picture. The next time you are at church, ask your discipleship pastor how you personally can get involved making disciples. You might teach a class, you might mentor a young believer, you might serve within the church, or facilitate some curriculum with a small group. Making disciples means creating more followers of Jesus and helping His existing followers follow Him more closely. Believe it or not -- anybody who is following Jesus can do those things. </span></li>
</ul><div><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Popular Inhibitor #2 - <b>Do you trust in church programs to make disciples? </b> Making disciples is surely the job of the local church. If churches aren't focused on making disciples, they probably shouldn't exist. But who <i>is </i>the local church but YOU? The church is primarily <i>people</i> and <i>not</i> a building or institution. One close friend of mine came to a realization in his late twenties that devastated him. He came to me one day and said, "I can't believe that I wasted all these years expecting <i>my local church</i> to take primary responsibility for making disciples when all along it is <i>my</i> responsibility!" It took this friend of mine stumbling onto <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0830810870/ref=asc_df_08308108701952878?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=0830810870&hvpos=none&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=436375328190919078&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=" target="_blank">this great book</a> to learn that he could make disciples in his own time in his own way. Today, he would tell you that the rewards just keep on multiplying as people he has discipled are now discipling others. </span></li>
</ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Popular Inhibitor #3 - You might be thinking, "<b>It might feel awkward.</b> <b> How do I get started and just start making disciples?</b> I can't just stroll up to someone and say, 'Sit down while I teach you to follow Jesus.' Worse still: 'Will you be my disciple?'" You are right...either of those approaches would make for a pretty awkward start. The place to start is to begin praying, listening, and watching. Ask God to point you to the people he wants you to influence. Pay attention to those in your life who need a better grasp of how to follow Christ. Look for opportunities to communicate your faith and even teach it to others. Do that long enough, and you won't be asking for more opportunities, you'll be having to ask God to help you <i>choose</i> which options to take to make disciples most effectively. </span></li>
</ul></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">May God bless you in your efforts and grow you as you aid others in following Christ more closely. Email me if you need help! More on this to come...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-RCW</span><br />
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</span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-84549374597380356452012-03-15T06:00:00.021-04:002012-03-15T06:00:02.972-04:00Is it Your Serve?One of the things that gets talked about the least when it comes to discipleship is the importance of service. <br />
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It's surely a very important thing to begin your walk with Christ by reading the Bible and spending time in prayer and devotion with God, etc. Yet, sometimes putting your faith <i>into</i> <i>action</i> becomes an enormous catalyst for spiritual growth.<br />
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I once heard someone say, "I'm so tired of coming to church and having <i>responsibilities</i>...I just want to go back to when I could show up, sit, get fed, and leave." I've been there too. But honestly? Would that not be a step backward? Sure, there are times when God may be calling us to rest and retreat from the work (Jesus went to the mountainside alone to pray with good regularity throughout his ministry). But God also demands that we not simply acquire knowledge about Him and never put it into practice. What God reveals to you He intends for you to share with others. <br />
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I've been around a lot of Christian academic types. I love them. I resonate with them. But it broke my heart that time and again the seminary students who knew the most were quite often the students who served the least. (Many of them wouldn't even attend church!) God didn't mean for you to soak up truths like a sponge. Once you start growing, you had better start serving. And for some people, they would say that they really didn't start growing <i>until</i> they started serving.<br />
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Get your hands dirty doing work for God. Feed the hungry. Donate your time and energy. Set up some chairs or tables at church. Visit a shut-in. Offer to fold or stuff some newsletters. Scrub a toilet for Jesus. Coach an Upward team. Teach 3 year olds in the nursery. The next time a minister asks you to help with something, do something crazy and just say yes. Better yet, go ask your church leaders where you can help and maybe even use your spiritual gifts. American churches are generally plagued by a lack of volunteers. Why? It's because everyone wants to receive from church, but nobody wants to give. Our consumer-driven culture has caused our churches to be full of consumer-minded Christians. Don't be part of the problem. Be a part of the solution. Get in the game...for God's sake!<br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-53004067528730543832012-03-09T06:00:00.007-05:002012-03-09T06:00:14.376-05:00Augustine and Reading (Part 3 of 3)<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last year, I was doing <a href="http://faithfirmlyrooted.blogspot.com/search/label/Reading" target="_blank">a series of entries on reading</a>. Several entries were about Augustine and Reading. Here's another installment. Just read Augustine's Egyptian Gold Analogy. It can be found in both <em>De Doctrina Christiana</em> (In English that title means <em>On Christian Doctrine</em> or <em>Teaching Christianity</em>) as well as <em>The Confessions.</em> In it, Augustine shares an analogy that allows us to answer the question "Is there some sort of value for Christians to read pagan works or works that are written either by non-believers or from a non-Christian perspective. He writes:</span><br />
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<blockquote><line><span style="font-family: inherit;">If those, however, who are called philosophers happen to have said anything that is true, agreeable to our faith, the Platonists above all, <strong>not only should we not be afraid of them, but we should even claim back for our own use what they have said, as from its unjust possessors</strong>. It is like the Egyptians, who not only had idols and heavy burdens, which the people of Israel abominated and fled from, but also vessels and ornaments of gold and silver, and fine raiment, which the people secretly appropriated for their own, and indeed better use as they went forth from Egypt; and this not on their own initiative, but on God’s instructions, with the Egyptians unwittingly lending them things they were not themselves making good use of. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the same way, while the heathen certainly have counterfeit and superstitious fictions in all their teachings, and the heavy burdens of entirely unnecessary labor, which everyone of us must abominate and shun as we go forth from the company of the heathen under the leadership of Christ, their teachings also contain liberal disciplines which are more suited to the service of the truth, as well as a number of most useful ethical principles, and some true things are to be found among them about worshiping only the one God. All this is like their gold and silver, and not something they instituted themselves, but something which they mined, so to say, from the ore of divine providence, veins of which are everywhere to be found. <strong>As they for their part make perverse and unjust use of it in the service of demons, so Christians for theirs ought, when they separate themselves in spirit from their hapless company, to take these things away from them for proper use of preaching the gospel</strong>. Their fine raiment too, meaning, that is, what are indeed their human institutions, but still ones that are suitable for human society, which we cannot do without in this life, are things that it will be lawful to take over and convert to Christian use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So what does it mean? Click </span><a href="http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/institute_handouts/augustine/egyptian_gold.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">this link</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> for some great insights from Dr. Naugle of Dallas Baptist University distributed at his summer institute in Christian scholarship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a Christian, don't be afraid to read a different perspective. Read Oscar Wilde or a Hindu text or The Celestine Prophecy. You'll find falsehoods. But you might find something useful and true as well. Search for the truth as for gold and silver, harvest it wherever it may be found, sanctify it unto God, and put it in service to Christ--for it is there that it finds its true value.</span><br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-65254675483668774392012-02-25T18:00:00.000-05:002012-02-25T16:54:03.227-05:00Spiritual Physicians & Care for the SoulMany people will go to a doctor and pay lots of money for the doctor to cure them. This merely cures the body. And yet, many people refuse to admit an ailment of the soul, would never pay money for a cure, and remain spiritually sick. <br />
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Jesus = <u>THE</u> Ultimate Soul Physician.<br />
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Pastors & Ministers & Churches = Physician's Assistants. <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Hint: How do you measure how good they are? By how well they connect you to the doctor Himself...There are plenty of them who should be sued for malpractice too.)</span><br />
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As a minister myself, part of my job is helping people shed spiritual ailments. I am not the doctor, but I know Him. Have you been to the office lately to get a soul checkup?<br />
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Perhaps you are in the office all the time, but you've yet to take your prescriptions and yet to ever really meet the Doctor. Sitting in a church doesn't heal you spiritually any more than entering a doctor's office and sitting in the waiting room makes you physically well...in fact, you might just get sicker in the waiting room! Make sure that you are connecting with Jesus personally and reading His words, taking His prescriptions, obeying His counsel...in church and outside of it. It is nearly impossible to meet the Doctor truly and remain the same when you leave.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #f9fdff; color: #001320; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell." - Jesus (Mt. 10:28)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Jesus said to them, 'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are </span><span style="background-color: white;">sick</span><span style="background-color: white;">; I did not come to call the righteous, but the sin-sick.'" - Jesus (Mk. 2:17)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">-RCW</span></span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-28578571225116407762012-02-17T06:00:00.011-05:002012-02-17T06:00:14.671-05:00Don't Take the Bible (or Christians past) for Granted<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes people are surprised to find out that we don't have the original manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. Don't be alarmed. The sheer amount of the manuscripts we do have exceeds all other ancient documents hundreds of times over. We have over 5,000 manuscripts that attest to what the originals said, giving us overwhelming confidence that the Greek New Testament of today is accurate, trustworthy, and reliable. It is the Greek New Testament that is then translated into English for various publishers of the Bible, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Part of the reason why we don't have the original manuscripts? Persecution. During the Roman persecutions of Christians, Christians would frequently be killed for their faith in Christ. There were several options for a person to prove they weren't a Christian and thereby escape martyrdom. They would need to denounce Christ, but they could also win favor by turning over other Christians (particularly Christian leaders) or even manuscripts of the scriptures. Many did so. Here's just one ancient manuscript that tells us about it.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">All these things were fulfilled in us, when we saw with our own eyes the houses of prayer thrown down to the very foundations, and the Divine and Sacred Scriptures committed to the flames in the midst of the market-places, and the shepherds of the <!--k38-->churches<!--k31--> basely hidden here and there, and some of them captured ignominiously, and mocked by their enemies. (Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Book 8, Chapter 2)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a Christian, don't forget that people have died, risked their lives, and toiled relentlessly so that you could have the Bible...the book that you and I many times casually neglect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." ~Deut. 6:6-9 </span><br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-36869115881624873812012-02-09T07:00:00.002-05:002012-02-10T11:03:37.088-05:00The Wisdom & Discipline of Silence<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 21px; line-height: 27px;">Sometimes in our attempts to conjure profundities, we just sound foolish. Sometimes silence speaks the most wisdom. </span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-60956943727408831532012-02-03T06:00:00.001-05:002012-02-03T06:00:01.103-05:00Back in the Swing of Things...With Marriage & Parenting?<strong><u>YES, I HAVE SOME SPLAININ' TO DO</u></strong><br />
So it has definitely been a while since my last post...(abou<span style="color: #666666;">t</span> 10 months to be exact!) I really don't like making excuses and never have...It's a nasty habit to break if you start getting comfortable or used to doing it.<br />
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Nevertheless, I will say that for the past few months, things have been very trying within my household...My wife went into labor just hours after my last post in March of 2011. We now have a beautiful baby girl and my life has certainly never been the same. <br />
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I also navigated a transition in ministry (that's minister talk for "After 9 to 18 gut-wrenching months of soul-searching and intense prayer, I got a new assignment from God"), relocated my family about 1,000 miles away from where we were, began a new job (still working in the area of adult discipleship for a church), and celebrated my 30th birthday as well! <br />
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But all of this change, pain, prayer, upheaval, and adjusting has been a tremendous positive. And as a new dad, I am overwhelmed by the transformation that having a child makes. The birth of my daughter has transformed who I am. Here's why. Let the one with ears to hear -- hear:<br />
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<strong><u>MARRIAGE MEANS THAT MY DISCIPLESHIP IS ALL AT ONCE EASIER, HARDER, & OF GREATER CONSEQUENCE...</u></strong><br />
As a follower of Christ, we are called to daily deny our self, take up the instrument of our torturous death, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). When a follower of Christ gets married, it is as though God reveals three things.<br />
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At first, God seems to make it easier to obey Him and die to self. After all, a married person has a more routine daily need to deny themselves. This is simply natural to any good marriage...You have to take into consideration the interests of another and compromise sometimes because it's not all about you anymore. It's now about 2 people together laying aside their own agendas to be one. It's such an immediate necessity, that it should be easier, right? Wrong.<br />
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Soon enough, we realize that God (and our spouse!) is challenging us. What was seemingly going to be easier turns out to be very difficult. God has designed marriage as a <em>process</em> by which we are forced to lean more greatly upon His wisdom, relying less and less on our own ability. In other words, God designed marriage to make you more like Him. Our selfishness is quite often exposed and we can fail both God and our spouse rather frequently. <br />
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Finally, unless we surrender our selfishness, our marriage is going to suffer. In fact, our marriage could be a wreck until we sacrifice our selfishness. Once wed to another, your spiritual life (or lack thereof) now effects someone else greatly every single day.<br />
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<strong><u>...BUT PARENTHOOD MEANS AN EVEN <em>GREATER</em> CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP</u></strong><br />
The day you become a father--which, by the way, is the day your honey finds out she is prego and not simply the day your child is born--everything changes again. You are called to an even greater amount of surrender to God. It is SO not about you any longer. In fact, it couldn't be any less about you. "Children change a marriage" to be sure...I read that book. They also change a person. For the Christ-follower, parenthood is just an even more serious call to die to self, take up the cross daily, and follow the Master.<br />
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God has given me a daughter and entrusted her care to my wife and me. Thanks, Jesus, for making it both easier and harder to drop my selfishness, deny my self, and follow after you more closely. After all, the stakes just keep getting higher. <br />
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Keep me broken, Lord. Amen.<br />
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-RCW <br />
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P.S. Yes, I know I failed miserably to accomplish my goal of blogging more in 2011. But in my defense, the lack of comments on the site doesn't exactly display a great amount of disappointment from anyone! ;) Lordwilling, there will be more writing forthcoming in 2012.RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-73776960392789049872011-03-31T07:30:00.008-04:002011-03-31T07:30:01.248-04:00New LifeI hope you are enjoying the recent series of posts regarding reading and learning as a part of healthy growth in the Christian faith. If you are, I hate to break it to you, but this entry is only minimally related to that topic.<br />
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My wife is about 2 weeks from her due date. We are welcoming our first child into this world in just a handful of days. It's truly a wonderful, scary, and exciting time. And although I did read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Dad-Spiritual-Emotional-Practical/dp/0976035731?ie=UTF8&tag=faith0ce-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">a great book</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=faith0ce-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0976035731" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> in the early months that helped me tremendously to process the reality that I was going to be a dad, my emotions (as well as my wife's) have been all over the place. <br />
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But aside from my wife and I's own prayerful anxiety about bringing a daughter into this world, the real story is --- well, our daughter. In less than a couple of weeks, a <i>new</i> life will emerge from <i>our</i> lives. She will be --- all at once --- her mother and me. This new bundle of joy is going to be welcomed into our family and is going to experience real life! What a miracle!<br />
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But here is what I have been thinking of today... What if my daughter never grew? What if we fed her and loved her and did everything we could to help her develop as she ought, and she simply wouldn't grow? God forbid it, but would that not be awful? It would be an unbelievable abnormality that would very likely put her life itself in serious jeopardy.<br />
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But the gripping fact is that Christians do the same thing all the time. And frequently, churches don't do much to help. A person might make a decision, walk an aisle, check a box, or pray a prayer...in some way he or she accepts Jesus Christ and enters into new life in Christ. Hooray! We have a new creation! A spiritual infant has been "born again" into God's family! (Is this not the very Biblical metaphor that Jesus used?) What an amazing miracle! And yet, <i>most</i> will stagnate. <i>Most</i> will not grow. <i>Most</i> will remain spiritual babes. <i>Most</i> will seldom nourish themselves with the scriptures, pray, or serve God with any consistency. Worse still, a few weeks, months, or years may pass so that being still infants in Christ, they begin to wonder why their life isn't all that much different. They may even seriously question their original decision or feel duped by those that offered them this "new life" in Christ. It happens ALL.....THE.......TIME. <br />
<br />
I personally work for a church. If I were to summarize my role there, I'd say my job is to help Christian adults grow and develop in their faith. Would it surprise you if I told you that <i>I</i> tend to desire the spiritual growth of those adults far more than <i>they</i> desire it? (This is not a slam to the church I work at...it is simply a statement of the actuality that faces <i>most</i> congregations in the U.S.). <br />
<br />
So how can you start growing? Here's a great starting point:<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Get a good Bible. Read it regularly, take notes, write down what you learn and what questions you have, even underline and memorize the verses that strike you as worth memorizing.</li>
<li>Ask God to help you grow, believe that He'll bring it about, and desire it more than anything else.</li>
<li>Plug into an authentic Biblical community that strives to help you spiritually develop. Get to know a few committed Christians within that community that you can tell are serious about their relationship with God and live it out in all they do. </li>
<li>Begin to use and even leverage your natural abilities, skills, gifts, possessions, time, finances, and your whole self to be a part of spreading the good news about Christ and living out your faith with everything God gives you. In short, serve God and be a steward of what He's given you so that you might bring Him glory. </li>
</ol>If you already feel like you've done the above, check yourself. Ask yourself these tough questions and answer honestly:<br />
<ol><li>When was the last time I spent time reading my Bible? Am I faithfully involved in personal Bible study and time alone with God? Have I read any spiritually nourishing material lately?</li>
<li>How much time do I spend in prayer? Do I talk to God about everything? Do I talk to God throughout the day? Or do I simply reserve prayer for before meals, at church, before bed, etc.? When I do pray, do I just ask him for stuff I want, or do I actually have a real relationship with Him that goes beyond that type of interaction?</li>
<li> Is my church committed to seeing me grow spiritually? Do they care as much about turning me into a faithful and authentic follower of Christ as they do about seeing new people pray the same prayer I did to receive Christ? Have I sought and found Biblical community within my local church? Have I involved myself with other believers and developed strong relationships there or have I been passive and retreated from being known by others? Is the Biblical community I am involved with at church really serious about growing or are we just a social group that seems stuck and apathetic?</li>
<li>Finally, how am I serving and being a steward? Am I giving faithfully of my time, talents, money, and energy to see God's rule and reign in the hearts and lives of others? Or am I holding back and sitting on the sidelines? What more could I be doing to further God's work in my church, in my community, and in my world?</li>
<li>If people followed me around all day every day for a month, would my life clearly tell them that I am a follower of Christ who reflects who He is?</li>
</ol><br />
-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-66748491391492164392011-03-18T01:15:00.005-04:002011-03-18T01:15:00.554-04:00Speaking of "Tolle Lege"...<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">For those of you who have been enjoying my material lately about the connection between <i>reading</i> and <i>discipleship</i> – that is, between <i>learning</i> and <i>growing</i> as a Christian—I will take the liberty of telling you about some other resources out there.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For starters, you might be interested in <a href="http://tollelege.wordpress.com/">this</a> very insightful blog that I have just discovered and enjoy. (You might find that the material there at Tolle Lege resonates with the material here on Faith Firmly Rooted.) </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For the ambitious who might be wanting some sort of personal learning experience or perhaps desiring to get to know other Christians who highly value learning, I highly recommend the Paideia / University Honors Program Conference at Dallas Baptist University that is happening on April 1-2, 2011. The theme this year for the conference is: "Tolle, Lege, Tolle, Lege – Pick it up and read: On Books and Reading.” (Click <a href="http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/index.asp">here</a> for details.)* The keynote speaker this year is Byron Borger, who operates <a href="http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/">Hearts and Minds Books</a>. Who knows…the conference could open you up to a whole new world you did not know existed! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess I can summarize this entire blog entry really briefly…If you are digging my recent posts, you might also like:</div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://tollelege.wordpress.com/">This</a> blog</li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/index.asp">This</a> Conference on April 1-2 in Dallas at one of my alma maters</li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/">This</a> bookstore / blog</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Happy reading, learning, and growing!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">-RCW</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">*</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>This conference is put together by a couple of my favorite former professors, who also happen to be wholehearted advocates of the benefits of reading widely and deeply both inside and outside of scripture on account of how it can spiritually shape us. As for the conference itself, if you don’t know what to expect from the conference, imagine the following: A bunch of people who take Christian faith and learning seriously coming together for a time of worship, a keynote speaker talking twice on the conference theme of “Reading Books” especially as it pertains to Christian life, then getting to attend breakout sessions where papers will be presented on a wide array of themes (including the conference theme) by the various Christian intellectuals who are in attendance. Personally, it is killing me that I can’t be at the conference this year, but I highly encourage you to go if you are interested… just maybe give Dr. Naugle a heads up that you plan to attend. </span> </div>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-81624870986932403222011-03-16T19:37:00.002-04:002011-03-16T19:37:00.217-04:00Augustine and Reading (Part 2) - Tolle Lege<b><u><i>A Brief Review</i></u></b> <br />
In my last post, I mentioned Augustine and how reading was instrumental in his own coming to faith in Jesus Christ as his own Savior and Lord (or to call those roles something less familiar - his Rescuer and his King).<br />
<br />
<br />
I mentioned how at first, Augustine had turned his back on God (and that according to his own acknowledgement, this had resulted in part from reading authors like Cicero. Apparently, Augustine's self-serving ego and arrogance inflated as he acquired knowledge from them). But later, Augustine was brought by God to pick up a book by Cicero that is now lost to antiquity...Cicero's <i>Hortensius</i>, which was essentially a work that praised and encouraged people toward the discipline of philosophy, since philosophy is by its very etymology and definition <i>the love of wisdom</i>. Suddenly, Augustine found within himself a desire to know real wisdom, to be taught truth, to personally love wisdom intensely enough to pursue it as a prize. Augustine also said that he knew that to acquire real wisdom, he would have to travel in the direction of understanding the scriptures that he had grown up with, but had eventually neglected and scorned. As Paul stated, in his letter to the Colossians, Augustine was well aware that "in Christ <span class="versetext" id="col2-3" style="display: inline;"> are <span class="strongs">hidden</span> <span class="strongs">all</span> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5276225385672772241&postID=8162487098693240322" name="1"></a>the <span class="strongs">treasures</span> of <span class="strongs">wisdom</span> and <span class="strongs">knowledge</span>" (2:3). </span>Or to state it yet another way, Augustine knew deep within himself that to get to truth, he would have to be moved closer toward The Truth, Christ Himself, the God of the Bible, Ultimate Reality. <br />
<br />
<b><u><i>More to the Story</i></u></b><br />
But I also mentioned that there was more to the story. There is a second major way that Augustine's conversion was tied to the discipline of reading.* He tells us of it in Book VIII of his <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-Augustine/dp/0199537828?ie=UTF8&tag=faith0ce-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Confessions</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=faith0ce-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0199537828" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />.</i><br />
<br />
<ul>Through a continual lifelong series of events and experiences--an experience reading Cicero in the midst of his very rigorous academic pursuits, encounters with Christians, exposure to the scriptures, through the constant prayers of his faithful Christian mother, through the influence of Ambrose, and much more--Augustine reached a personal crisis of sorts. He had to wrestle with his will. He was divided within himself. On the one hand, he wanted to retain his own selfish pleasures and ungodly habits. On the other hand, he was increasingly unable to resist the persistent calling of God unto Himself. </ul><ul> Eventually, Augustine claims that God allowed him to see himself clearly and become aware of his own sinful and wicked condition. Distraught, Augustine retreats to a garden and the tears start pouring. As Augustine pours his heart out to God in agony, he asks the Lord how long he will be torn between belief and unbelief, how long will he remain a miserable slave to his own evil desires. </ul><ul>But I can summarize no longer. Augustine must share it with you himself:<ul> </ul><ul>As I was saying this and weeping in the bitter agony of my heart, suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house chanting as if it might be a boy or a girl (I do not know which), saying and repeating over and over again 'Pick up and read, pick up and read.' At once my countenance changed...I checked the flood of tears and stood up. I interpreted it solely solely as a divine command to me to open the book...So I hurried back to the place where...I had put down the book of the apostle when I had got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eyes lit: 'Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts' (Rom. 13:13-14). </ul><ul> </ul><ul>I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled [VIII.XII].** </ul></ul><ul></ul><ul></ul>The Latin phrase "Tolle Lege, Tolle Lege" (Take up, Read! Take up, Read!) continues to resound for those who would seek to know Christ and follow after him. <br />
<br />
-RCW<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">*</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Certainly there were other ways that reading influenced his conversion and faith. For example, Augustine speaks of he and his friends' experiences watching (and intruding upon) Ambrose's very disciplined reading habits. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">**</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Translation is Chadwick's.</span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-31535524003561759962011-03-11T07:38:00.002-05:002011-03-11T07:38:00.753-05:00Augustine and Reading (Part 1)I mentioned previously that several early Christians had a more positive opinion than Tertullian did concerning the value of reading both inside <i>and outside</i> of scripture.<br />
<br />
For one of the most amazing and influential Christians, <a href="http://www.theopedia.com/Augustine">St. Augustine</a>, reading was a key that God used to bring about his conversion. In Augustine's famous <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-Augustine/dp/0199537828?ie=UTF8&tag=faith0ce-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Confessions</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=faith0ce-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0199537828" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></i> (a classic work in literature, philosophy, theology, spirituality, and Christianity), Augustine cites several ways that reading influenced his spirituality and even his conversion to Christianity. <br />
<ul>Augustine explains that even though reading Cicero had originally helped to push him away from God, he had been living apart from God and living entirely for himself until reading Cicero pushed him to return to God...<ul> </ul><ul>In the ordinary course of study, I fell upon a certain book of Cicero, whose speech almost all admire, not so his heart. This book of his contains an exhortation to philosophy, and is called <i>Hortensius</i>*. But this book altered my affections, and turned my prayers to Thyself, O Lord; and made me have other purposes and desires. Suddenly every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardour in my heart. I began to rise up and return to you. [<i>Confessions</i>, III. IV].**</ul><ul> </ul><ul></ul>He continues: </ul><ul><ul>My God, how I burned, how I burned with longing to leave earthly things and fly back to you. I did not know what you were doing with me. For "with you is wisdom" (Job 12:13, 16)...This book [Cicero's <i>Hortensius</i>] kindled my love for it [wisdom]. There are some people who use philosophy to lead people astray...That text is a clear demonstration of the salutary admonition given by your Spirit through your good and devoted servant (Paul): "See that no one deceives you by philosophy and vain seduction following human tradition; following the elements of this world and not following Christ, in him dwells all the fullness of divinity in bodily form" (Col. 2:8-9). At that time, as you know...I did not yet know these words of the apostle. Nevertheless, the one thing that delighted me in Cicero's exhortation was the advice "not to study one particular sect, but to love and seek and pursue and hold fast and strongly embrace wisdom itself, wherever found". [ibid.]</ul><ul></ul><ul></ul></ul><ul>And yet, Augustine explains that that Cicero's book couldn't entirely grip him because it failed to mention Christ, whom he almost innately knew to be the real source of truth. He "therefore decided to give attention to the holy scriptures and to find out what they were like" [ibid, III.V].</ul><ul>Augustine's story gets better and involves more about reading...But I will have to continue his story in the next entry. </ul><br />
<br />
-RCW<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">*</span>One of my biggest disappointments in life is that we don't really have an existing copy of Cicero's <i>Hortensius</i>, which was basically an "Exhortation to Philosophy." All we have are small fragments that give us a general idea of its outline. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">**</span>My translation is mostly that of Henry Chadwick and only minimally from Edward Pusey's. </span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-61318357835729084832011-03-07T06:00:00.001-05:002011-03-11T01:22:10.061-05:00Francis Bacon on ReadingOne of my many favorite philosophers is Francis Bacon...<span style="font-size: small;">*</span><br />
<br />
Bacon had some pretty sound advice when it comes to reading. You can find it in his essay "Of Studies":<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention...</span> <br />
<br />
In layman's language, Bacon is saying:<br />
<br />
<u>Don't read a book...</u><br />
<ul><li>simply to prove it wrong. <span style="font-size: small;">[He wasn't really talking about the Bible, but many skeptics read the Bible this way...with their conclusions already deeply fixed in their mind before they've read a single word.]</span> </li>
</ul><ul><li>thinking it or its author is beyond error. [Again, he wasn't really talking about the Bible, but many people do read it this way**...and I'm not entirely sure that Bacon would have had a problem with it though I'm definitely no Francis Bacon expert.] </li>
</ul><ul><li>just to have something to talk about with others. [These people are annoying...especially since they rarely choose anything worthwhile to read. I don't think Francis Bacon would think of People magazine or Cosmo as "reading" or "studies" if you're wondering.]</li>
</ul> Instead, Bacon suggests that we read a book in order that we might weigh and consider what it <br />
is saying. Read a book with your brain turned on, using your critical thinking skills -- not distrusting<br />
the book, nor being overly trusting of the book to the point of naivety. <br />
<br />
Many Christians I know (and tragically, even some pastors) have far too much trouble even knowing how to discern what is a <i>good</i> book from what is in all reality <i>not</i>. I have personally lamented that the problem with America is not that we <i>can't</i> read, it is that we <i>don't</i> read. And even the people who do read, too often don't read anything worthwhile. <br />
<br />
Thoughts? Comments? <br />
<br />
-RCW<br />
<br />
* <span style="font-size: x-small;">I mostly enjoy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Counsels-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0192838024?ie=UTF8&tag=faith0ce-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Bacon's essays</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=faith0ce-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0192838024" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> and am much less fond of his idealistic modernist belief that science and technology could ultimately create a Utopian society. The twentieth century, postmodernism, and human experience have since well-refuted that fanciful notion [although Biblical wisdom had refuted the idea ages before]. If you want to understand modernity and my last couple of sentences a little bit better, read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Vision-Shaping-Christian-World/dp/0877849730?ie=UTF8&tag=faith0ce-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">this</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=faith0ce-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0877849730" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> book. As for Bacon, I know for certain that he was a theist, and I think to a lesser extent some people conclude he was a Christian. And if you're wondering, No, I don't believe he's any relation to <a href="http://thetoplistonline.com/images/Top-Movies-Of-Kevin-Bacon.jpg"><i>Kevin</i> Bacon</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">** </span>I have no problem with people reading the Bible this way provided they also at some point recognize that while the Bible is a divine book, the Bible didn't magically float down from heaven. God didn't bypass the humanity of the human writers, their circumstances, their language, their personalities, their brains, their emotions, or the like when He inspired them to write. But this blog entry is not really meant to be about Biblical inerrancy, infallibility, inspiration, etc.</span>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-17295638602588457542011-03-05T07:30:00.002-05:002011-03-05T07:30:01.534-05:00Spilling the Beans...and Starting with Tertullian<div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, I had better just spit it out.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Some of you have contacted me to let me know that you are waiting on me to finish my thought.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">:)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">What I plan to do from time to time this year is to post some great quotes occasionally from books I have read.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Some of these might be books written by penned by Christians.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Some might not be penned by Christians.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> All of them will be interesting.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> All of them will encourage us to grow in our Christian faith.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tertullian was an early Christian who—even though he was well-versed in the pagan literature of his surrounding world—scorned the notion that such literature had any benefit for Christians. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> His famous question was “What has A</span><span style="font-size: small;">thens to do with Jerusalem?”</span><span style="font-size: small;"> His question anticipated a definite answer: <i>Nothing</i>.*</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But some other early figures in the history of Christianity took a different position.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> I’ll tell you about them very soon.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">In some ways, the question for us to ponder might be: What’s my attitude toward books, movies, or music that is not “Christian”? Do they have anything to offer me? Is there anything redeemable in them? It probably isn’t hard to guess my position, but don’t think Tertullian was <i>completely</i> off target.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">-RCW</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* There is certainly need to take Tertullian's words within their context and remember that in particular he was speaking not against learning, but mainly against heretical philosophical systems and speculations that lacked any real standard for resolving disputes. One website, <a href="http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/">www.earlychurch.org.uk</a>, has a helpful explanation (and defense) of Tertullian <a href="http://www.earlychurch.org.uk/tertullian.php">here</a>. </span></span></div>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-62634116941650524502011-02-08T19:30:00.001-05:002011-02-08T19:30:00.818-05:00Reading and Christian DiscipleshipIn my last entry, I shared that this year I hope to blog more frequently than I did last year…but I’m still not getting crazy with 1 post per day or anything. To help me blog more, I have a plan that I believe most of you will appreciate. And it has to do with a time long ago and a land far away...Africa in fact! It involves 2 cities in particular -- Alexandria and the city formerly known as Hippo -- along with a few of those cities' noteworthy locals. Curious yet? <br />
<br />
To get you started thinking about this subject, let me ask you a question: <br />
<br />
Do you think that it is beneficial to a person’s growth as a Christian to read:<br />
<br />
A) Christian books <b><u>and</u> </b>non-Christian books <u><b>and</b></u> the Bible <br />
<br />
B) Just Christian books <u><b>and</b></u> the Bible<br />
<br />
C) <u><b>Just</b></u> the Bible<br />
<br />
[or]<br />
<br />
D) Reading isn’t important at all in the growth of a Christian<br />
<br />
<br />
You may choose only one. Why did you answer the way you did?<br />
<br />
-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-6964949097167106752011-01-28T02:48:00.001-05:002011-01-28T02:49:48.743-05:00A New Idea For Blogging More this Year (Part 1)You might have noticed I haven't written for a while. I could explain all the reasons, but I bet most of the people who read this blog have some idea why it's been a while. One of the many reasons is that it can be challenging at times to write on a consistent basis. For example, it's always been comical to me to see how many people (including many pastors) got a blog or a twitter when blogs and twitters were all the rage...and couldn't manage to blog or tweet regularly enough to keep anyone's interest. It takes work! Everybody wants to have their own television show, but ask anybody who hosts one and they'll tell you that sometimes it gets pretty draining, monotonous, and challenging. New material is due almost daily for those shows! Thank God I have never made any sort of foolish commitment on this site like saying I would post every day, etc. <br />
<br />
But while I have not made any sort of formal, stated commitment to post a certain number of entries per year or anything, I have to admit that I was a little dissatisfied with last year's output. That's why this year I have a little new wrinkle...a new idea for spurring everyone onward in their growth as a follower of Christ.<br />
<br />
So what's the new idea? Stay tuned....You'll see. And I'm pretty sure you'll really dig it...or at least all the cool peeps will. :) <br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-53449939641323430742010-09-29T01:05:00.001-04:002010-09-29T01:05:01.548-04:00"Hearing From God" Gone Wrong - On Revelation<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A good while back, someone contacted me about her close friend. She hadn't seen this friend in a while. This friend of hers had some very strange ideas about what God was telling them and it seemed to involve the book of Revelation as well. This friend of hers claimed that God was giving her a special word or message that was very personal. The message was also pretty un-biblical. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Here are some excerpts from my response....</span></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">It sounds like she is in grave trouble in her spiritual life because of a certain misunderstanding not about the <b><i><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">book</span></i></b> of Revelation, but about <b><i><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">how God provides</span></i></b> revelation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><b><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">HEARING FROM GOD<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">There is a certain emphasis in churches on how we should have a close interaction with God, that we should hear His voice, that we can know Him deeply, personally, and intimately, that we should listen to His voice and obey His commands, etc. These are wholesome teachings, but can be very dangerous if they are not given some clarification. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><b><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">“HEARING FROM GOD” GONE WRONG<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What many people slide into-- (and incidentally this happens especially in the charismatic/Pentecostal churches, small Baptist churches, churches where the pastor lacks education, or where people have isolated themselves from their local church)---is a belief that God is revealing things and speaking to them even though the instructions have little relation to the Bible (God’s authoritative word). The following is a bold statement that some people might object to, but the real truth is that <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">God won’t communicate something to us that can’t be supported, found, understood, or concluded from the Bible.</span></b> That means that “the voice” inside many people’s heads might or might not be God. For a good example of "hearing from God" gone wrong, take a look at the book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Uncommon-Dialogue-Book/dp/0399142789?ie=UTF8&tag=faith0ce-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Conversations With God</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=faith0ce-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0399142789" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> </i>by Neale Donald Walsh. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">God has revealed Himself through His word. If in the practice of “hearing God” we neglect the Scriptures, many things can get distorted by ourselves or even by the enemy. A general knowledge of scripture can sometimes be more harmful to someone than none at all in cases like this. To hear from God accurately, we need to have spent hours absorbing His words and infusing the entire Bible’s wealth of content into our very soul and minds until it becomes second nature...until it informs all of our thinking. Only then can our thinking or “hearing” be remotely close to what God desires. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">God has already given to mankind all of the revelation that we need to have...Nature itself leads us to contemplate Him and believe He exists, Jesus came to earth as the fullest revelation from God, and the Bible makes clear exactly who He is and what He desires from us. We don’t need any special experiences beyond what God has already given us in nature </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">(known as God's <i>general</i> revelation)</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">, in Christ, and in the Bible (the last two comprising God's <i>specific</i> or <i>special</i> revelation). We don’t need a fresh personal word that gives us goosebumps, we don’t need a secret word from God that He has only given to <i><span style="font-style: italic;">us</span></i>, etc. There is a reason that the canon of scripture is considered to be <i><span style="font-style: italic;">closed</span></i>. We're not going to add any more books to the Bible because it is a finished and complete book with no need of addition. In fact, God warns of adding or subtracting from His words within the scriptures themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><b><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">THE DANGERS INVOLVED<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">There is very great danger in this erroneous understanding of how God reveals Himself. This is how many cults get started, this is how scriptures get twisted, and this is also a way that many people develop or encourage their own mental or psychological disorders, etc. This friend of yours has a great need above all to know that God’s word is actually in contradiction to some of the things she is claiming...She also needs to know that God’s word has to have a central place in her “hearing from God”, and that she absolutely cannot be a lone ranger – without the love of Christian community, there is an even greater chance of destruction in your friend’s life. A church family provides a balance and a protection against this sort of isolation and this sort of misunderstanding about Biblical revelation. For myself, if I ever start to have bizarre experiences with God that other Christians around me or throughout Christian history have not experienced, I would be very concerned. (This also happens to be a good rule of thumb for Bible interpretation as well...If you have a bizarre interpretation that nobody has ever shared with you, or that nobody in the entire history of Biblical interpretation has arrived at, you are potentially entirely misguided in your interpretation and probably need to seek a better understanding of the passage.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><b><u><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold;">OTHER CONTRIBUTING OR RESULTING FACTORS<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Sometimes depression, anxiety, fear, and severed relationships can wound a person to where they isolate themselves from church and situations in someone’s personal life can contribute to the problem as well. Sometimes charismatic television evangelists encourage the problem as well by practicing this same spiritualizing and experience-driven understanding of God’s revelation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><u><b>SOME RESOURCES</b></u></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p>I came across a couple of excellent books the other day as I was browsing some new titles and IVP (Inter-Varsity Press) has these great ones of the topic of hearing from God.<u><b><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">God Talk by Ruth A. Tucker ISBN: 978-0-8308-3331-3</span></span> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=faith0ce-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0830833315&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hearing God by Dallas Willard ISBN: 978-0-8308-2226-3 </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=faith0ce-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0830822267&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">-RCW</span></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://reformedperspectives.org/newfiles/rf_white/rf_white.doesGodspeaktoday.pdf" title="http://reformedperspectives.org/newfiles/rf_white/rf_white.doesGodspeaktoday.pdf">Here</a> is an article that may be boring, but touches on the very subject that I discussed about how God speaks to us today. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div>RCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5276225385672772241.post-67721474574200635952010-07-12T22:00:00.002-04:002010-07-12T22:00:00.329-04:00An Elementary Lesson... My Identity in ChristOne of the very first basic lessons I ever learned in my walk with Christ was at an early age. I was fortunate to learn it early, but it seems that at certain periods of my life I have had to force myself to relearn it... <br />
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Of what am I speaking? I am speaking about <b><i>my identity in Christ</i></b>. <br />
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It is a huge concept and yet such a simple one at the same time. When I gave my life to Christ, I became His own. I became His child. I became a new creation fashioned in His likeness. I became set apart and content in Him. I became happy with me because of who He was and who He was making me. I began to draw my self-worth from Him alone...and He values me more than anyone ever could value me! <br />
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But don't take it from me alone. This foundational truth is hammered home in Scripture. Ephesians chapters 1 through 3 are a great read on the subject, but if you're in a hurry, here are a few verses.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. [Eph. 2:1-10]</span><br />
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The question “Who Am I?” is both theoretical and philosophical as well as practical and deeply personal. It is a question that everyone deals with throughout the entire course of their lifetime. For the believer, it is a wonderful truth that –- no matter what the world's categories may say about us, whatever we may be feeling about our own self worth (good or bad), whatever we might think about who we are –- all other “identities” get placed at the feet of the Lord. It is Him we depend upon to properly understand our selves, our personality, our emotions, our feelings, our habits, our gifts, our skills, our desires, our ambitions, and everything else about ourselves. It is God who defines us and not we who define us.<br />
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Today, examine the Bible for yourself and ask God to remind you that you are his child. Ask God to remind you this day of your worth, His love for you, your satisfaction in Him, your trust in Him, and your contentment in who He is...and in who you are.<br />
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-RCWRCWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053115509945489571noreply@blogger.com0