After posting my blog for today, I learned that Ligonier is selling 60 teaching courses for 50% off. The link is here.
We made liberal use of these series during the summer months to give our teachers a break, but they can be used in small groups and for your own personal edification.
You can purchase audio alone, video alone, or DVD in most cases. I highly recommend you check out what’s available and stock up.
There’s some good reading in the articles below. I hope that you will find them helpful.
Ligonier published an article from the late (and greatly missed) R.C. Sproul on “Accepting ‘No’ As God’s Will.” His comments on prayer are helpful.
Kevin DeYoung writes about God’s existence, presenting the doctrine in less than 500 words. This is a helpful summary and starting point for study.
This is not from a Christian site, but “15 Effortless Memorization Tricks to Remember Anything” may come in handy. I include it this week because I didn’t want to forget. (I know. Corny.)
Colin Adams writes “The Eleven Commandments for Long Winded Preachers.” Not that any of us need that, but we might have a friend who . . .
How are Christians to deal with the various purity laws in the OT? Some of them get thrown in our face when discussing the Bible’s teaching on sexuality. Here’s a helpful article by Peter Leithart.
This article on handling disagreement has a host of applications.
If you’re looking for a helpful conference to attend, The Institute for Expository Preaching with Steven Lawson would be worth considering. Details here.
Tim Challies reviews a new book by Jared Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan. Read it here.
Ministry can become task-driven, but it needs to be people-driven. Here’s an article by Nicholas Batzig on loving the people God has put under our care.
In our Sunday pastoral prayer, we used to pray for a specific nation where Christians are persecuted. Joe Carter tells us where Christians are most likely to face danger.
Sometimes we can preach on a specific sin and leave people feeling that there’s no hope. John Sloan talks about this in relation to abortion.
John Muhlfeld writes in the Tabletalk magazine about Encouraging Men in Ministry. There are so many ways in which this can be applied. Read it and ask God to bring someone specific to mind.
Finally – and I might be the first Christian blogger to break this news – cartoon genius Gary Larson has a website where he displays some of his previous work from The Far Side and promises some new material. Oh joy!!!
Have a good week!
The sports world was rocked a bit this week by the penalties imposed by Major League Baseball on the Houston Astros. If you’re a baseball fan, you know what happened. If you’re not, you can go to MLB.com and read all about it.
In short, the Astros employed some dirty tricks in order to gain an advantage (in other words, they cheated). As a consequence, the general manager and manager were both suspended for a year by Major League Baseball. Then they were fired by the team’s owner. This has also affected the jobs of two other men who were the managers of other teams. Both of these men were involved in the cheating scandal when they were with the Houston team.
I don’t believe that these are bad men. But their poor decisions are going to have a long-term impact. It is possible that none of them will find work within professional baseball again. Their reputations have been tarnished. And we tend to have long memories when it comes to the misbehavior of public figures, whether they be athletes, musicians, actors, or politicians. Or pastors.
It takes time to build a good reputation. But it takes a second to lose it. An angry outburst, a moment of dishonesty, the exposure of a moral failure, and what was formerly a good reputation is gone.
When I was starting out in ministry I was told of a pastor in a smaller town who had reached a handshake agreement with a car dealer to buy a car for a certain price. The next day, when the pastor went to complete the purchase, the dealer reneged. The pastor, in a moment of pique, flattened him. In fact, he sent him flying through the plate glass window in the front of his dealership. That moment cost that pastor his ministry in that town.
When we read the qualifications of elders and deacons in Timothy and Titus (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1), notice how many of the qualities that qualify a man for ministry have to do with reputation including the very direct statement in 1 Timothy 3:7 that an elder/pastor needs to be a person with a good reputation among those outside the church. Having a good reputation is why Paul told Timothy to “Pay close attention to your life” (1 Timothy 4:16a, CSB)
D.L. Moody said, “If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.” But “taking care” of our character is something that requires disciplined determination. As I said, it takes time to build a good reputation, but only a second to lose it.
As a baseball fan, I was disappointed to hear what had taken place, and saddened for the men whose lives have been affected by these bad decisions. But as a Christian, I’ve grieved more when a fellow pastor has torpedoed his ministry.
If you are younger and/or new to a church, work on building a solid reputation. Continue to build godly character and have a servant’s heart. Our goal is not to be people-pleasers. But a good reputation is foundational to an effective and trustworthy ministry.
We were watching a video by R.C. Sproul during a Sunday School class and something caught my eye. On the wall behind the podium was a picture. It was a painting of a man from biblical times scattering seed on a field.
I made a mental note to look online to see if I could find a copy. I found something similar, put it on my list, and my wife, Laura, got it for me for Christmas. Until my retirement it sat in a prominent place in my office, reminding me often that that’s what we do. If you’re a pastor reading this, it’s what you do, too.
You know the very familiar statement from 1 Corinthians 3. Speaking of his own ministry, Paul writes: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6, ESV).
There are two significant ideas in this passage. The first is that those who minister are involved in planting and watering. Sunday-by Sunday as you teach or preach (and counsel, and converse, and pray, and lead), you plant and water, plant and water. You sow the seed of God’s word in the lives of people, planting precious truths in their hearts, and you water by reviewing those truths and teaching supporting truths.
But that’s all you can do. Which leads to the second point of significance, Paul’s statement that God gives the growth.
To confuse our role with God’s is disastrous. No matter how we try, we cannot bring forth growth, because we can’t change the hearts of our people. That is a supernatural activity that we have no ability to perform. So pastors and teachers need to content themselves with doing what they can do and with leaving God’s work to God.
Understanding it is not up to us to produce growth is both frustrating and liberating. The frustration comes from a natural desire to see our ministry have an impact on the lives of our listeners. When growth is not visible, or when it seems that the ground is dry and hard, it can be discouraging. But it can also be a point of temptation.
I believe it was because Paul understood this very basic dynamic that he would later write: “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word . . . (2 Corinthians 4:1-2a, ESV).
We may tend to think of a slick TV evangelist when we read that, but it is an easy trap to fall into. If pastors don’t understand and accept the difference between what they do and what God does, some may try to manipulate their hearers through guilt or emotionalism in order to see visible results. It’s a mix of pragmatism and bad theology that is a dead end.
That’s why this truth as liberating. Knowing that the results are in God’s hands and not in your hands or my hands frees us from approaching preaching and teaching as if it all depends on us. That is good news for pastors.
Look, I had Sundays where preaching was frustrating. Sometimes I left my office on Saturday thinking I had a decent sermon, only to go over it on Sunday morning and think it was deficient. Sometimes I wasn’t happy with the way I delivered it. And I will admit there were times when I would have liked to have seen my people have a collective “AHA!” moment that inspired them to new levels of understanding and sanctification. Instead, they responded like they did every Sunday. They listened well, but no one stood up and said, “Please don’t stop preaching!” and no one got to their feet and said, “My life is now forever changed!” Whatever “growth” was accomplished was invisible to me. But my job was to plant, water, pull out some weeds. And trust that God would do his work.
And that’s why I wanted that picture. I wanted a constant reminder of the part I played in the spiritual work that would take place on Sunday mornings. And in doing so, I was reminded that my very ordinary sermons could be used by an extraordinary God to do something substantial in the lives of my people.
There’s some good reading in the articles below. I hope that you will find them helpful.
First, WTSBooks is having a sale on their staff favorites from the last decade. Books are about half price in most cases. Some might be good for the book table, but you may want to treat yourself.
David Mathis writes about the significance of praying in Jesus’ name. This is one that is worth sharing.
Kathryn Butler encourages us to “Point Kids to the Gospel Through Great Books.” Yes, kids can still read books.
Erik Raymond writes about praying for our church family. Here’s one definitely worth sharing with your people.
Scott Hubbard shares a helpful article on what it looks like for the fruit of the Spirit to be in our lives.
David Gunderson tells us “Why You Need Sermons That Don’t Directly Apply to You.” Share this!!! Lots of copies!!
Here’s a video/transcript by Tim Challies on “How Should We Think about Technology as Christians?” Tim writes about this periodically and has some helpful insights.
This is another share-worthy article. Your people may encounter wrong ideas about the Bible that sometimes sound plausible. This will strengthen and educate them.
Kevin DeYoung asks and answers the question, “What Is Preaching (And Who Does It)?” Anything Kevin writes is worth reading.
Here’s one more from Tim Challies that challenges us to be reading.
John Piper writes about praying according to the will of God. Another one for the literature table.
This article, from a secular website, talks about some helpful planning and productivity principles.
For any of you who are church planters, here is a helpful article on patience in church planting. Actually, this is a helpful article for all pastors.
Have a great week!
Perhaps the most important characteristic of a book table that people actually use is giving them biblically solid books that relate to their lives. The books and booklets that I pointed to on Wednesday will fulfill that objective. Not only that, their low cost will allow you to provide resources on a wide variety of topics.
As helpful as these smaller and less-expensive books are, there are some more traditional books (meaning a bit longer and a bit more expensive) that are close to being “musts.”
As I said on Wednesday, any list of recommended books is hard, considering how many really good titles are available. But through the years I’ve come across some titles that I think should be widely read.
What I’ve done is break the list down into categories, listing one to three titles for different groups of people or different situations. I hope that this will be helpful as you select good reading material for your people.
For Those Who Hurt and Those Who Help
For Parents and Partners
For Men
For Women
For Anyone Desiring Spiritual Growth
Let me start with a couple of classics:
Let me add a few devotional books:
There are dozens of other books that I looked through and put a number on my list. Perhaps I’ll share them at some point. But these books cover a variety of topics and add to whatever you can get from CCEF, Ligonier (Sproul), and Cruciform Press.
So get started. Again, your people are reading something. Give them some good things to read!
I don’t want to beat the proverbial deceased equine, but I do want to write one or two more posts advocating that you consider having a book table in your church. If you wonder why that’s important there are a couple of reasons. First, your people probably don’t read Christian books. Second, if they do read Christian books, they’re likely not very good ones. A book table supports what they are hearing from the pulpit and points them in good directions.
To refresh, I have suggested that you have 10-12 photocopied articles on a table for your people to take. There’s virtually no expense in that. Change the ones that haven’t been taken after a month or two so the table stays fresh. From time to time refer to an article in your preaching and have enough copies for most of your people to take one.
If that’s all you can do, it will still be a help. But most churches can do a bit more. We operated on a $500 per year budget, and if you realize that each book sold replenishes the fund, you can refresh your book table often enough. If your budget is especially tight, limit yourself to the excellent booklets or mini-books published by the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF). Log on to Westminster Seminary’s bookstore and search for “CCEF.” Many are discounted, but some have to be bought in packs of 5.
I also should have mentioned three other low-cost sources. Tim Challies is one of the founders of Cruciform Press, and you’ll find some very helpful titles here. In addition, the Gospel Coalition has produced some helpful booklets that you can find here. Whereas the CCEF and Cruciform booklets tend to address life issues, the Gospel Coalition titles are about doctrine. But don’t shy away from them! It’s a good opportunity for you to introduce your people to reading sound theology. Finally, R.C. Sproul has a series called “Crucial Questions.” These low-cost booklets address both Christian living and doctrine.
Between these sources you could spend less than $250 and put two or three copies of 20 different titles on your table. Why not take a look at what’s available from those publishers? I hope you’ll see that even if you are in a smaller church, having a table with good resources is within your reach.
On Friday I plan to suggest some other books that I think are must-reads for your people. Making any kind of a list of recommended books is hard, but there’s blessing in that. We have a wealth of very good books worth reading.
Consider how much your people take in from TV, news, the internet, and other reading. Compare that with the time they spend feeding their spiritual lives. If like most pastors you’re concerned about the disparity that exists, here’s a way of making some progress. So again, don’t discount this as a way to helping your people grow.
Have a good week!
