eatbible

If you are reading this blog, you probably go to church.  Great. If not, you’re welcome at mine. But how integral is the church in your week? Month? Day? Year? I don’t mean the church service.  When I say church, I am not saying ‘the service’ that occurs on Sunday morning, but the community.  The body of people that are gathering with you to worship the Triune God, rejoice in the person and work of Christ and be equipped for ministry by the ministering of the Word of God.

How integral is the community in your life?

You may even be apart of another gathering outside of Sunday morning, maybe a community group, a small group, a men’s or women’s group, maybe an generation/age specific group (high school/college/singles/ etc…); but consider, how involved are you in those peoples life and they in yours?

Are you in a distant community? You are close but not close.  Are you in a dysfunctional community? You meet with people, but it’s not working the way God intended? This would be a Dystantfunctional Community.

In my quick readings of the book of Acts, you can see that the Believers did not meet just once or twice a week.  But they met every day, and real ministry (not just coffee or gossip) occurred. They were not only close, but healthy.

• “And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.” Acts 2:46.  They were in each others homes all the time. This is incredibly rare in our day and age.
• “No one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own…There was not a needy person among them.” Acts 4:32-37. The really practiced “mi casa es su casa.” No one had need.
• Concerning the apostles ministry, “Every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” Acts 5:42. I love this because,  you can tell from the text there were enough people at the temple every day for the apostles to preach to and the believers were having the apostles in their homes to preach to them about Jesus.  When’s the last time you invited a pastor over to teach about Jesus in your home? If someone in my church called and said, “Hey Jeff, were gonna have a some bbq tomorrow and some friends over, could you come and talk about Jesus?” I’d be there with bells on.
• “…widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” Acts 6:1. Amazing!  There was a ministry that happened every single day. People were getting, to use a phrase from Paul Helbig, ‘eyeball to eyeball’ to meet needs of  their brothers and sisters.

Americans are very independent people.  Our country was established on rebellion and independence.  We don’t like control, we don’t like to watched.  Good grief, people are complaining about full body scanners at airports for safety reasons.  Part of our problem is that our society and culture is moving farther and farther away from a cohesive family unit.  When is the last time you and your whole family sat and ate breakfast and dinner together, not in front of the TV?  It’s not a sin to not do so, but it might be telling of how we are practices are changing.  We are Christians before we are Americans.

What has gotten us away from the kind of practice that we see in the early church?  Now, I’m not advocating for communal living or even that we have to have a Bible study everyday, not that that would be bad, I think it would be great actually. There should at least be some face to face, eyeball to eyeball interaction with fellow believers. We are a community, not a club.  We should examine our current practice, and see if we need to make some changes.  So, what got us here?

In the book, Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, they give a great metaphor that helps reveal some of the issues of a dystantfunctional community.  Some Christians view the church as another ball that gets juggled in their life.  There is the work ball, kids activities ball, gym ball, marriage ball etc…and all of these items require time and attention and some take precedence over others at time.  The problem, however, is that the Christian community (the church), is treated like another ball, and gets juggled around and even loses out at times.  The local church, the community, is apart of our identity in Christ, and sits at the center of everything we do.  This shift in thinking, would do wonders for our communities.

Far too many believers are in Dystantfunctional Communities and they go undiagonosed. Tomorrow, signs of a Dystantfunctional Community.

Douglas Wilson is one of my favorite men to listen to and read.  I’ll be reading this book in the coming weeks and really look forward to what it has to offer.

Look back on 2009 for a second. Not the blur or glob of the year, but YOUR 2009.  What were your favorite parts, events or whatever of 2009?

Here is mine, in no special order…

1. Ivy’s 1st Birthday. (1st Picture is from the day she was born)

2. 2nd Wedding Anniversary.

3. Started Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)

4. Transferred out of DTS and got accepted to Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS).

5. Witnessed Alex Philips and his mom get baptized. If you don’t know Alex’s story…see video below.

6. My theology of savoring Jesus in the whole Bible grew more and more (John 5:39, Luke 24:27).

7. I learned how to grill an amazing steak.

8. I got an iPhone.

9. We started watching House.

10.  Met some good guys through Acts29 and other Networks for gospel work.

11. Great community.

12. Went to Red Lion, PA to hang with Greg and Corinne Hortman

That’s all I’ve got so far, I can’t recall anything else. I’m sure I’ll be putting some update here soon. So what about you? Using the comment area below, let us know what were your favorite moments of 2009.

“I always give God the glory….”

Get R.C. Sproul’s book, Who is Jesus?, for a donation for any amount until January 10th.

Click HERE

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Excerpt from, Islamic Christianophobia, an article from the Wall Street Journal…

In Egypt, seven Coptic Christians were murdered yesterday by a Muslim gunman as they filed out of a midnight mass in the southern town of Nag Hamadi. In Pakistan, more than 100 Christian homes were ransacked by a Muslim mob last July in the village of Bahmaniwala. In Iraq that same month, seven Christian churches were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul in the space of three days.

This article goes on to talk about the 10 countries that persecute Christians the most.  Laos is one of them. I will be working with the Tai Yuan people group in Thailand this Summer , and some of the Tai Yuan live in Laos as well.  Our prayer is that they would be reached and endure the persecution.

In light of the sermon I recently preached on persecution, I’d encourage you to read this article and to pray. It goes briefly details the persecution that Christians are facing in Muslim countries. In some countries, the law calls for death if you leave Islam. Our brothers and sisters around the world need our prayers. May they be delivered  from this evil (2 Thess 3:1-2) and feel the blessing of God (Matthew 5:10-12, 1 Peter 4:12-19).

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

For a limited time (as long as they are in stock), WTS Books will be selling John Stott’s, Basic Christianity, for $3!!!

Shipping will cost $4, so you’ll actually be paying $7, but still a great deal!  However, if you are thinking about getting more than one book and if you spend over $35, shipping will be only $1!!!

CLICK ON THE COVER TO SEE THE DETAILS…

Here are some other titles that you should have, if you don’t have them already, that will get you to $35 so you can get $1 shipping.

- Westminster Shorter Catechism ($.60) - great book to keep in your bag.

- The Valley of Vision: Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions ($9.60) – I read one of these almost every morning, great stuff to get into my heart and mind.

- A Praying Life by Paul Miller ($9.74) - Best book on prayer I have read and my favorite book for 2009.

- Just Do Something by Kevin Deyoung ($7.69) - “What is God’s will for my life? What does He want me to do?” You’ve probably asked this question, or know someone who has (or still is).  Get Deyoung’s book on the will of God, I found it to be wonderful.

- The Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen ($5.40) – This is by far in my top 5 books of all time. Owen’s work has been very instrumental in my pursuit of holiness and reliance on the Spirit.

If you get all of these, your grand total is: $37.03! Including $1 shipping!  If you don’t want some of the books I listed or already have them, find what suits your fancy and enjoy!

Note:  Even if you click on these links you are helping me great free books. I am a blog partner with WTSbooks, so help me out and click on the links.  : )

It is no surprise when it comes to news networks, which one I watch.   Fox. I like Fox News, not just because I am a republican, but some of the anchors are pretty funny and actually know what they are talking about.  Neil Cavuto is a stud.

My favorite anchor is no longer has a show on Fox, but makes appearances from time to time, Brit Hume. Hume is a brilliant man and he is also a man that follows and loves Jesus Christ.  In some ways, Hume reminds me of Al Mohler. When Brit left Fox News, he said he was going to do this…

I certainly want to pursue my faith more ardently than I have done. I’m not claiming it’s impossible to do when you work in this business. I was kind of a nominal Christian for the longest time. When my son died (by suicide in 1998), I came to Christ in a way that was very meaningful to me. If a person is a Christian and tries to face up to the implications of what you say you believe, it’s a pretty big thing. If you do it part time, you’re not really living it.

From another interview:

And since my son died, I have been, really, I felt rescued by God and by Christ. I have an intense desire to pursue that more ardently and have it be a bigger part of my life than it has been.

When asked how that will translate, Hume responded, “It’ll translate into Bible study.”

Lately, with the scandal of Tiger Woods, Hume made some amazing statements about what Tiger Woods really needs.  Hume boldly and accurately said, “Tiger needs Christ.”  Amen.

Check out this video with Bill O’Reilly, as a follow up interview to what he said earlier in the week (original statement included in video).

You might be thinking after reading the title of this post: If I have a Bible, don’t I own it?  Yes and no…so maybe. Technically yes, but practically, maybe not. We’ll cover this tomorrow, but you should also get a good Bible. Get a good one!!?  Aren’t all Bible’s good Bibles!?  Yes and no…so maybe.  Let me explain.

Own Your Bible!

A lot of people have Bibles, but they don’t make it their own.  I think it is a helpful practice to make your Bible, your Bible.  Here is the first step..

1. Write your name it!!!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a forgotten Bible either at church, a coffee shop or at the college etc…that has no name it! How is this even possible!?  How do you forget to do this? Every time I get a Bible, that is the very first thing I do.  So please, if you haven’t written your name in your Bible yet, do so now. I’ll wait.

2. Start Writing In It

This is hard barrier for some people to break. There is a special reverence that some people have towards their Bibles, and I get that.  But I would encourage you to underline in your Bible. It’s not a sin to write in your Bible, God’s cool with it. Here is how it helps me in various ways.

- I can find things faster.  If I looking for something I read that morning that really hit me, I’ll underline it.  Chances are, that I will be referencing that verse or chunk sometime later in the day or that week. It’s nice when you are showing a friend something that challenged and you know exactly where it is.  Maybe months later, I am trying to find that spot in Acts where Barnabas is called a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, but I can’t find it and I don’t have access to the internet to find it.  But, since I underlined it, I have a visual idea of where it is on the page.

- It helps me to think.  When I am underlining, I am doing more than underlining. Usually I will find themes within chapters and I want to tie them together, so I can see the progression of the author.  I like to write summaries next to some paragraphs and maybe one sentence statements that may convict or encourage me in ministry and my walk.  Circling key words and repeated phrases have been invaluable to my reading and studying of the word.

- It helps me remember things.  Writing in my Bible, whether circling, underlining, paraphrasing or even making my own cross-references seems to improve my retention of what I read that day.   I’ll be able to visualize what I wrote/underlined and be able to recall that much faster for my own heart or to encourage someone else.  We should write in our Bibles not just for our own benefit, but also for our friends, so we can encourage them.

Next steps

Get a Good Pen

Now, please whatever you do, get a good pen if you are going to start writing in your Bible.  Don’t use a regular old ball point pen.  It’s too fat.  Unless you have the steadiness of a marine sniper, you will inevitably cross out whole words or lines by underlining.

I usually use two/three pens when I writing in my Bible.

- Micron 005 Black -  This pen has a super small tip and is great for getting in between verses to underline and even write my comments.  You can get it at hobby lobby or another arts and crafts store.

-  The Sharpie Fine Tip Retractable Pen – This pen is a little bit thicker and writes really well.  I enjoy writing in my journal with this pen and don’t mind using it in my Bible either.

Zebra F-301 (red and black) – I have both the red and black zebra pens.  I like these pens as they are compact, write well and are really durable.  I like to have a red pen in conjunction with the black, just to mix it up sometimes, or if I start taking a bunch of notes on a certain passage.

What is great about all of these pens (depending on your Bible’s pages), neither one of them bleed through!

So, get a good pen, get your Bible, start reading and start writing.  Make your Bible…your Bible.  It might be good for some to get a new Bible, a really good (not necessarily in quality of content, but in quality of construction) Bible that will last for a long time. You want to get a Bible that will be your good friend for many years to come.  More on that tomorrow.

JUST FOR KICKS

Here is what Jonathan Edwards’ Bible looked like.  He not only wrote it in, but he made his own wide margin Bible.

Here is the sermon that I preached this past Sunday at Redeemer on the promise from Jesus, that Christians will be persecuted.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

John 15:18-16:4 (ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

16:1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.