$5 Books

Attention all, every book on the Desiring God online store will be $5 between June 27-28.

No limits.

Tips for Reading Scripture

I wrote this as a brief guide for our Community Group's Summer Bible Studies.

I used an interview with Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seattle by Preaching Todaycalled Reflections on Preaching and the overview of the first mark of of a Healthy Church as articulated by 9Marks Ministries

Enjoy!!

Observe
Questions to ask:
"What does the text say?"
"How is Jesus the Hero of this Text?"

To observe the text we need to spend time in the Text and not in Commentaries. The best way to do this without knowing the original languages is to read the passages in different translations. Parallel Bibles are a great tool at this point.
I recommend the Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible; which contains NKJV, ESV, NLT, and The MESSAGE.

Interpret
Questions to ask:
"What does the text mean?"
"How is Jesus the Hero of this Text?"

Here you are just synthesizing your observations, discovering principles, drawing conclusions, and seeking to discover what claim the text lays on your life. This is the point to pull out the resources. God has gifted us first with the printing press and now with the internet. It is now easier than ever to see and hear how Leaders, past and present, have interpreted the text. Some great resources are John Glynn's Commentary and Reference Survey and this site to find free books written by many old geezers.

Apply
Questions to ask:
"How do we resist the meaning of this text?"

Here we are assuming that we will not simply embrace God’s truth. We attempt to predict what objections would be raised by unbelievers and then how will answer them. Here is will cross references will help so that we can see what other passages have to say.

"Why does the meaning of this text matter?"
"What does the text mean for me?"

Here is where we connect everything we have observed to a missional purpose for our lives, families, church and ultimately God’s glory. Driscoll notes that with this, he often connects the Scripture to the character of God, nature of the gospel, the mission of the church, and the quality of lives. Look for concrete ways to obey the claim of the text on your life.

Summer Bible Study

Ok, so now it is officially summer and the men of the Community Group are officially reading through Genesis. The biggest reason why I wanted to read through the last half of the first book of the Bible is that in it we hear the accounts of the family of men that God hand picked and used to establish his Kingdom. There is so much that we can learn from these men, but my desire is that we can all walk away with a better understanding of what it means to be a Godly Man.

1 Timothy 3:1-7

1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

In the ESV, 1 Timothy 3 has been titled Qualification for Overseers, but I think that this falsely gives men the assumption that if they do not seek to be an Elder of a church then they should not be concerned with what Paul is saying hear. However, what if we understood these qualifications as extending to all men. Look how Paul puts it, "If anyone aspires to the office...he desires a noble task." ANYONE, that you and me, guys. Why are these qualifications for overseers? Because they are those things that make any man noble, therefore they should be exemplified especially by the elders of our church.

Why am I talking about 1 Timothy 3 in regards to us reading Genesis? Let's think about it, the Jews found their conduct for life from Pentateuch. So, when Paul writes about God's qualifications for the Elders of His church, he is going to be drawing all of them from those men on who God began to build his Kingdom.

If we seek to be Godly men, let's learn from these men of old, and see what God has in store of us in Genesis.

Anybody out there want to join us?

Help me build my Library.

Just click on the any link that I have to a book and I can earn points to the Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore . (Or you could just click on the link). I guess I should encourage everyone to buy something from them as well.

Thanks.

Please Pray

So recently, my nearly full 40 gig ipod crashed. That's right, every time you push a button a message appears on the screen which reads, "www.apple.com/ipod/support" or something like that. Anyway's, let's just say that it sucks.

Also, please pray that the Lord will provide me with a new Job. It's not that I am unhappy at my current job. I could go into detail, and I won't, but it pretty much has to do with the goals that Kristin and I have set for the future. I have put my resume on line for an Assistant Store Manager for Starbucks.
My current manager has an interview this week for a Store Manager for Starbucks and if that goes well there is a chance that he would bring me on as the Assistant. Nothing is certain,, but I pray for God to allow for this to happen.

If it does or if it doesn't, Praise be to Him who is good.