How's Your Preparation Going?

This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it.

--Richard Baxter

(12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691)

Book Review: Setting Our Sights on Heaven

Title:  Setting Our Sights on Heaven - Why it is Hard and Why it's Worth It

Author: Paul D. Wolfe
First Copy Right:  2011
Type of Book:  Paperback
General Subject:  Christian Living
Price:  $18.00
ISBN:  978-1-84871-143-3

The purpose of Wolfe in writing this book lies in the fact that most people who expect to go to heaven one day fail to "set their sights" on heaven consistently in their everyday experience. Wolfe wrote this book to delineate the challenges that hinder setting our sights on heaven and the rewards that such an exercise can produce. After explaining to his children where he would be in the year 2084 in response to their questioning, it donned on him (based upon the year of his birth) that he would be long in heaven by that time. Wolfe stated that this "raised for me once again the issue of heavenly-mindedness." Wolfe asserts that Christians are to be a heavenly-minded people.
However, it has been Wolfe's experience that most Christians are not heavenly minded. As a matter of fact, he states that many are simply oblivious to their future eternal residence. Wolfe writes this book in two parts - part one to explain and identify the "world to come." In part two he writes about "the cure for what ails us," in other words, whey we struggle to be heavenly-minded, and what one can do about it.


The theme of Setting Our Sights on Heaven is what the bible's teaching is about heaven and the fact that we are to be heavenly-minded. The thesis of this book is that Christians ought to think about heaven as those who long for it and who are destined for it.


Wolfe has combined both exposition and argumentation in order to develop his thesis. Wolfe uses both explanation and analysis to present to the reader a clear road map as to why Christians are to think much about heaven. At the same time Wolfe is skilled at using the technique of argumentation to make his points clear, concise, and cohesive. The reader is not left to guess or wonder about what Wolfe is trying to say or what point he is making as he develops his thesis. Wolfe is very precise in his explanation and argumentation.


Setting Our Sights on Heaven is a very interesting book. Wolfe has the ability to capture the attention of the reader at the outset of picking up the book and holding the reader's attention throughout the book.Wolfe is extremely accurate in his proposition, his exegesis of scriptural passages, and his offers of "proof." This is an important book for believers to read in order to be challenged biblically and not merely emotionally to become people whose minds are fixed on their future heavenly abode. This book is an extremely valuable tool for today's believers and  they will find it to be extremely useful.


Paul Wolfe is an associate pastor at New Hope Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, VA. As a result he writes from a shepherd's perspective. He is an accomplished author having previously published My God is True! Lessons learned Along Cancer's Dark Road. The forward is written by Sinclair Ferguson. A recommendation is made by Alistair Begg.


Setting Our Sights on Heaven has a few footnotes peppered throughout various chapters. Their is no end note section nor bibliography. This book contains no index.


In summary, Setting Our Sights on Heaven is a very well written and useful book. It is my opinion that the content of this book has been well researched and offered in such a way to be both informative and inspirational. I found this book to be very challenging in my own life in regards to the question "are my sights set on heaven." Wolfe has been honest and direct as he has challenged the reader to assay his own heart in regards to this matter. Wolfe concludes with an example and quote from the great Puritan pastor Richard Baxter urging the reader to turn his/her thoughts from vain things to the study of eternity. The usage of this quote is very powerful and beneficial. I found Wolfe's summary in his final chapter to be both compelling and convincing. 


_______________________________________________________ 
I received a free copy of this book and nothing else from the publisher. The opinions and thoughts offered are mine and mine alone, and not those of the author, publisher, distributor or anyone else connected to this project.

Religious News - NIV Still for Sale

NASHVILLE – Complaints that the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) is inaccurate and too gender-inclusive are not going to stop one of the world's largest Christian resource producers from selling it.

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  The (Nashville) Tennessean file photo
  Nashville-based Lifeway Christian Resources voted unanimously to keep selling the NIV Bible, while making clear the company doesn't endorse it.

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The (Nashville) Tennessean file photo

Nashville-based Lifeway Christian Resources voted unanimously to keep selling the NIV Bible, while making clear the company doesn't endorse it.

That translation was criticized at the 2011 Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Phoenix. Church representatives there approved a resolution asking Nashville-based LifeWay Christian Resources — owned by the denomination — to take it off its shelves.

Critics said the translation, which was updated in 2011, is filled with errors when it comes to language about gender, using "brothers and sisters" instead of "brothers" and "they" instead of "he" for a single pronoun. That kind of approach undermines the authority of the Bible, they said. LifeWay's trustees disagreed.

After having a committee review the 2011 NIV, they voted unanimously this week to keep selling it, while making clear they don't endorse it.

"We do not believe the 2011 NIV rises to the level to where it should be pulled or censored or not carried in our retail chain," said Adam Greenway, a trustee who is senior associate dean of the Billy Graham School at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a statement.

That decision disappointed the Rev. Tim Overton of Halteman Village Baptist Church in Muncie, Ind. Overton wrote the resolution against the NIV that passed in Phoenix.

His resolution initially was rejected by the committee that vets resolutions before they are presented at the annual meeting. But he brought it to a floor vote, where it was approved.

Overton, like many other Southern Baptists, believes in verbal plenary inspiration — the idea that every word of the original texts of the Bible comes from God. Adding words to a translation undermines that belief, he said.

"If it says 'brother' and you say 'brothers and sisters,' you are adding to the Scriptures," he said.

Marty King, spokesman for LifeWay, said a committee of trustees reviewed the NIV to decide whether it was acceptable. Under Southern Baptist rules, he said, they were not required to comply with the resolution, and representatives at the annual meeting had inaccurate information about the translation.

"People thought this Bible used female language for God," he said. "It does not. We think that messengers voted without accurate information."

First published in 1978 and updated several times since, the NIV remains one of the best-selling Bibles in the United States.

A previous update that used inclusive language, known as the Today's New International Version, flopped after being published in 2002. That year, Southern Baptists passed a resolution asking LifeWay not to sell the Today's New International Version, and the retailer agreed.

The latest update is a better translation, said George Guthrie, Benjamin W. Perry Professor of the Bible at Union University, a Baptist school in Jackson, Tenn. Guthrie spoke to the LifeWay trustees at their meeting, saying that the NIV is a thought-for-thought translation, rather than a word-for-word translation. That's a common approach used by many translators.

Guthrie said that the Committee on Bible Translation, which produced the NIV, did a good job.

"The NIV is not perfect," he said. "But it is a good translation."

The LifeWay decision was welcome news to the NIV's translators. Douglas Moo, the Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., said he was confident that LifeWay would do the right thing and keep the NIV on the shelves.

"I am grateful for the decision, but there is a part of me that regrets that the decision needed to be made," he said.

Open Letter to Certain Critics

Open Letter to those who disagree and criticize John MacArthur for Publishing a MacArthur Study Bible using the New International Version translation (NIV)

This is my first ever open letter to anyone. Well, maybe it isn't a letter, it's more like a note. 

Well, maybe it isn't it a note, it's more like a paragraph. 

That's it, my first ever open paragraph!

For the record I do not like the NIV anymore than you do. However, who are you to criticize, condemn, or charge MacArthur with improper motives? So, I say to you:

When you pastor a single church for over 40 years, serve as an exemplary president of a bible college and seminary, teach the word of God expositionally for over 40 years, raise 4 children who love and serve the Lord, and maintain a pure and devoted marriage, without a hint of scandal, then you can do the following two things:

1) Criticize him

2)  Publish your own Study Bible using the translation of your choice 

Sincerely Yours,

Gregg Metcalf

Kelso, WA

Defining Discipleship

It is clear to me that in this day and age it have never been more important to have a working and biblical definition of the word disciple. More than ever it seems this term is being redefined or used in ways it was never meant.

The biblical term μαθητης (math-ay-tes’) means learner or pupil. We see this usage in many passages in the gospels. In one instance we see Christ make the statement that a "disciple" (pupil or learner) is not above or different than his "teacher." (Luke 6:4) We also see that conditions were placed on those who considered themselves to be disciples. (Luke 9:23) What is a disciple? What is a good working definition? Without adding a burden to this term or making it out to be something it is not, how are we to understand the term disciple?

A Disciple is one who is:


CONVERTED - A disciple is one who is following Christ. A disciple has surrendered to Jesus as both Savior and Lord. A disciple is one who says, "I know the Lord and Savior and I submit to Him as my authority." 


CHANGED - A disciple is one who is imitating Christ. Jesus said that we would know a tree by its fruit. (Matt 7:17-20) Jesus did not imply disciples would be known by perfect fruit; He meant by those who are growing and exhibiting the fruit of the Holy Spirit. As a disciple spends time following and imitating Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ changes us internally. Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, changes who a disciple is.


COMMITTED - A disciple is one who is serving Christ. Jesus saves disciples for a purpose. God's mission becomes the mission of each and every disciple. Disciples recognize that they are now responsible for be a part of the fulfillment of the great Commission. Disciples become those who make disciples who in turn make disciples. Disciples who make disciples who make disciples.


As a result, growing disciples experience real learning, experience real loving, and experience real living. A disciple learns to follow Christ, learns to imitate Christ, and learns to serve Christ

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Bibliography


Jim Putman, real-life discipleship (Colorado Springs: NAVPRESS), 2010
Leroy Eims, The Lost Art of Disciple Making, (Grand Rapids:  Zondervan Publishing House,) 1978
Robert E. Coleman, (The Master Plan of Discipleship, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), 1987

Daily Grace...

Tuesday

Love in the Truth

The Elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth…

(2 John 1)

The writer of this letter did not choose to conform to the standard practice of letter writers during the life and times of Christ. The writer did not identify himself in the beginning of this letter but simply chose the term “the Elder.” This self-designation only occurs in the two letters of John the Apostle.

We know three things about the time that this letter was written. First, the term elder was commonly used in the local churches to designate those who taught and governed the local church. Second, we know from tradition that John served with the elders in the church of Ephesus during the last 25 years of his life. Third, the writer used the definite article “the” and not the word “an.” Most theologians believe this establishes and indicates the unique position and authority of the writer. John, the last living apostle and disciple of Jesus Christ, as the elder writes with apostolic authority to this “elect lady” and “her children.”

There are two schools of thought as to the identity of this lady and her children. The first school of thought believes this to be a figurative use and reference. The thought is that the lady represents a local church that John is writing to and the children represent the individual members of the congregation. The second school of thought believes this to be a literal use and reference. They would hold that this is a specific woman that John knows and that the children are actual children that resulted from the union of this particular woman and her husband. This woman is probably a widow.

Regardless of the school of thought that you choose to go along with, it is John’s sentiment and confidence in the love and truth of Christ with which we are to gripped with. John has real and clear feelings of Christian love for this woman and her children. John stresses his personal feelings of love for her as a believer.

This love is not the word one would use for personal affection or friendship. It is the highest level of ethical love that is characteristic of God himself. Why does John love her so? What kind of love does he have?

It is a love that operates and emanates from the realm of “the truth.” This is the truth that is embodied in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. John’s love issues forth from the fact that both this lady, along with her children, and John have placed their faith in the divinely inspired truth which God revealed in the incarnate Christ. John loves this woman because both she and he have believed God’s message of reconciliation in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

John assures her that not only does he love her for this reason but all who know the Lord Jesus Christ in this manner loves her also. As believers we love all who are in Christ as evidenced by their walking in the truth, verse 4. You and I are to love believers with the love characterized by God because they are believers. This is why we can love in particular each believer in our own local churches. We love them not because they are lovable, lovely, or even loving, but because they too by virtue of believing the message of God revealed in Christ belong to God.

ASK YOURSELF

What effect does this passage have on your life? How do you view each and every member of your local body? What does this passage expose in your life about your “feelings” for every member? Do you love just a few, like those who love you or can benefit you? Do you love even the most difficult, not because they deserve it, but because they are God’s child also?

Should We Be Surprised?

On February 15, 2012, SI.Com (on line rendition of the print magazine, Sports Illustrated) released a story of drug use and drug arrests at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth Texas. SI.Com reported that some 17 students were arrested after authorities conducted a six month “sting.” Apparently this was reported as “especially embarrassing” because it included at least four members of the high profile football team.

I was asked “Could you write your thoughts on Christians & illegal recreational drug use and abuse. This is such a huge and "live" issue among Christian youth and adults today, just as "fornication" - sex outside of the context of marriage and "living together outside of marriage is, which I'd like to have you write your biblical thoughts on. This "sin of drug use" issue is even more in the forefront now because of the recent prime example of TCU's major drug bust.” Today I will offer my thoughts on this issue as requested. Do not be surprised if they are not what you would have expected.

The question at hand is, “Have so-called Christians became so much a part of the godless secular world today that there is no biblical "right" or "wrong" and are unholy nominal Christians at best?” I don’t think this is the right question. Quite frankly, if we chase the answer to this question or questions like it we won’t get anywhere near the problem.

I think the problem lies with this statement made by Chris Del Conte, “I expect our student-athletes to serve as ambassadors for the university and will not tolerate behavior that reflects poorly on TCU, the athletics department, our teams or other student-athletes within the department," athletic director Chris Del Conte said. "Our student-athletes are a microcosm of society and unfortunately that means some of our players reflect a culture that glorifies drugs and drug use. That mindset is not reflected by TCU nor will it be allowed within athletics."

The students, those that really are Christians are to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We must first start with this question, who says Texas Christian University is “Christian” and who says these students are Christians. Simply saying one is a Christian has never made anyone a Christian. Are these “Christians” who have become part of the godless secular world and have become “nominal” Christians at best? Or, are these individuals who have been deceived by the convoluted, re-defined, and false Christianity being hawked today?

True believers have put off the deeds of the flesh, make no provision for the flesh, have died to sin, walk worthy of their calling, and have set their mind on the things of the Spirit knowing that the things of the flesh lead to death.  It does not surprise me that we have such individuals who seem to have their feet in two camps, one the world, and one in some hope of a heaven which is administrated by a “god” of their own imagination. (Ephesians 4:22, Colossians 3:8-9, Romans 13:14, Romans 6:2, Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, Colossians 3:1)

I am not surprised by the lifestyle of today’s youth in particular who claim to be Christians and yet live like those who do not know our Lord and Savior. It is not the fault of Christianity or the gospel which is the power of God that transforms creatures of darkness into creatures who are being changed into God’s image. When you have a deceptive and bad presentation of the “gospel” and what defines modern Christianity, you reap a product that involves people remaining in a lifestyle that includes drugs, sex outside of marriage, alcohol abuse, and etc.

Let me say two things here quickly before you have a conniption fit. First, I realize that no one can truly know the heart of any individual. Only God can. Therefore, it is possible some of the students at TCU might be true believers. Second, I realize that true Christians do and often sin, some grossly. However, they do not sin continually as a way of life, nor do they live without the discipline of God upon their lives bringing them to repentance, restoration, and rejection of their sinful lifestyle.

I am never surprised when a blind man runs into a wall. He can’t see it. I am never surprised when a lost man lives like a lost man. I expect that. I am not surprised, although tremendously grieved, when I hear of individuals who have been offered a “Christianity” which is not biblical and the product is opposite of what we expect from the Scriptures.

We need to go back to the basics. We need to revisit the doctrine of conversion. Are we really dealing with believers? Are pastors of our so called evangelical bible churches really saved? Are the majority of people in the church today really saved? I think we are seeing a growing number of churches filling up more and more with tares rather than wheat. This is why churches are “life-less”, anemic, and seem to make no impact on the community around them.

What happened at TCU is tragic. What is happening to the church at large and believers in general is tragic. Let’s rid ourselves of this Charles Finney idea of “carnal” or “nominal” Christians and let’s get back to preaching the gospel of the bible. Let’s reintroduce Christianity to our churches and colleges.