Morning Links: Including NT Wright's New Book and Kindle Deals

Take a look at a few kindle deals that might be good for your summer reading list:

Surprised by Scripture by NT Wright You can pre-order Wright's new book on Scripture issues (Comes out in June) that will include: evolution, the ordination of women, and the environment. Sure to be controversial.  

Can I have Joy in My Life? and How Can I Develop A Christian Conscience. Two books from R.C. Sproul's crucial questions series. They're  free today!

Christians Get Depressed Too by David Murray (4.99) Dr. Murray is professor of OT at Puritan Seminary and his blog has been a great example of what a Christian teacher/blogger can be. His aim to help those struggling with depression is a great step forward for the church, and the reformed camp. 

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart by J.D. Greer (.99) Greer gives readers a look at what the Bible has to say about the assurance of salvation. It's been a hit for a while with good reason. 

Creature of the Word: The Jesus Centered Church (2.99) Matt Chandler and Co. are on a mission to show how the gospel impacts our ministry and how we do it.  

Broken Down House: Living Productively in a World Gone Bad by Paul David Tripp (1.99) Does sin affect our productivity? Tripp answers yes and shows how grace helps us to be productive and joyous even in our hectic world. 

God on Sex: The creators ideas about Love, Intimacy and Marriage by Daniel Akin (2.99) A Southern Baptist Pastor looks at what Scripture has to say about making whoopie! 

And now for some links:
 8 Lessons on Evangelism from Proverbs by David Murray I just mentioned Murray's book and blog and this is just another great example of his wisdom applied to evangelism.

Frozen is about sisterhood, not feminism My new favorite blog is Acculturated. It's dedicated to talking about virtue and vice in pop culture. This is a great look at the theme of sisterhood in the movie Frozen.

10 of the Best Free Apps for Ministry and Christian Living Baptist 21 gives you their list of great-FREE-resources.

Is Acts 17 About Adapting To Culture? Dr. Voddie Baucham Gives A Great Analysis

 If you have the time, take a listen to this great chapel Message by Dr. Voddie Baucham on this subject. His analysis leaves a lot to think about. 

$1 ESV Bible

                    
Justin Taylor, over at The Gospel Colition, is reporting the good news that Crossway is now selling a paperback ESV Bible for $1 (when bought in bulk). If your ministry needs to give away free Bibles, you may as well pay a good deal for a good bible. I personally use the ESV Study Bible, read it on-line, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a good Bible to read and study from. Check out the video below, and see why John Piper likes the ESV.

Who is Jesus? How would you answer that today?

Jesus asked his disciples the question, "Who do you say that I am?". He made it clear that a vague answer was not enough. A definite answer to that question was the only one that could be life changing. Over at Pastoralia, Pastor Jason Coker, has been having people blog on a project where people give an answer to that question. Specifically the questions are: Who is Jesus? what has he done? and why does it matter?  I'm glad to know that thousands of years later, this question is still seen as pivotal to where a person stands with God.
One of the contributors is Pastor Ben Sternke. I was very impressed with his answer. It was clear, biblical, and relevant in the best sense of the word. I have hope that churches can actually present a gospel message like this without making it formulaic, fake sounding or worse: boring.  I'd like to put it here in full with a minor critique after that.

Who is Jesus Christ? Wow, where to start. Jesus is a lot of things. First, I should say he was a man who caused quite a stir around 2,000 years ago by claiming that the God who created the entire cosmos was working through his life to save the world from itself, to make everything right.

Which sounds incredibly cliché, doesn’t it? It’s easy to find nutcases like that today. The thing about Jesus, though, was that he backed up his claims by making things right with unusual power and effectiveness: delivering people from sickness and psychological oppression, bringing freedom from guilt and shame, challenging injustice, and teaching people how to live well.

Ultimately this put him on a collision course with the religious and political authorities of his day, because they had stock in keeping people fearful and needy. But instead of fighting them, Jesus allowed them to torture and kill him. Even those closest to him didn’t understand this. Why not fight to stay alive? They thought it was over after that.

Hang with me, because here’s where the story gets crazy. He didn’t stay dead. A few days later he was alive again, in a totally new way, like he’d gone through death and out the other side. He had actually conquered death by his own death and through his resurrection opened the door for everyone to enter into a truly blessed life in God’s family.

We enter into that life by becoming an apprentice of Jesus. It might sound kooky, but you can actually know Jesus today. You can really be with him and he will teach you how to live a blessed life in God’s family, just like him.

Pretty unlikely story, huh? Yet I find myself living in it every day.

I hope you saw what I saw. It's something I could share with anyone I know.  My one concern is one of personal sin. I know he touched on basically anything any of us would (and discipleship has been on my mind a lot lately) but I think we can also forget that our sin placed Christ on that cross as well. As I put it in my response, "Not only did people one day put Christ on that Cross, I did. My sin, my own contribution to the worlds wrongs, put him on there. He died to actually forgive that. If I didn’t have that, I’d be completely lost". The Apostle Paul put it like this:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)

That the Lord died to forgive our sins is pivotal to the gospel message. Without the justification of our past, there is no hope for the future, with it, our whole world changes. I'm glad for the people out there who are making sure the gospel is getting out to the masses clearly. I look forward to seeing more good work from this project.  I'd also like to include some video of people answering the very question of who Jesus is.

The Creative Christian

Are you creative? Is that even important? I think more and more that we get set in our ways. We stop learning to think creatively, and give into the status quo. It's easy to do. But I think that as Christians, we should exercise the full creative abilities God has given us. Doing show, we show forth the very creativity that is in God. So, if you are in ministry (and if anyone needs to be creative it is someone in ministry) here are a few websites I've found helpful.
Boost your creativity with these pages:

http://www.innovatorstoolkit.com/download/ (free templates with 50+ exercises to stimulate your thinking-go get the book as well)

http://thebackofthenapkin.com (Read the book, visit the website for some free downloads)

http://lateralaction.com/ (cool blog with some fun creative ideas)

http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/ArticleDetails.asp?a=155 (a HUGE list of creative thinking websites-go here first)

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm (how to mind map)

http://www.mindmeister.com/ (mind mapping page)

http://www.text2mindmap.com/ (text based mind map-cool)

http://thinkinghow.com/ (more ideas)

http://lifehacker.com (Just plain fun)

I might add, that part of this post in inspired by an event that I will
be takng a part of. I'll be representing Let My People Read! and New Reformation. The event is known as Idea Camp A hybrid conference where the speakers will also be dialogging with the attendees. So it will be a sort of round table discussion as well as a Q and A session and networking meeting. Like I said, hybrid! I'm sure I won't agree with all the speakers, but I think that listening to other people will be helpful to my own thinking. Admission is free, just join the page and you are registered. Join in on the forums as well.

Martin Luther "The Devil can kiss my @$$"

In light of the fact that Mark Driscoll will be preaching at the Desiring God conference on harsh language (the theme is the power of words and the wonder of God) the good people at Contend Earnestly found some pretty interesting quotes by Martin Luther. Among them are:

Luther advised people to "tell the Devil to kiss my ____"

He repeatedly said that if the Pope should send him a command to appear before him: "I shall _____ upon his summons"

He said that the monks are "the lice placed by the devil on God Almighty's fur coat"

When trying to explain how far God is or is not the author of evil, he says: 'Semei wished to curse, and God immediately directed his curse against David. God says, "Curse him not and no one else." Just as if a man wishes to relieve himself I cannot prevent him, but should he wish to do so on the table here, then I should object and tell him to betake himself to the corner.'"

My all time favorite is his response to Rome about their use of Aristotle's thoughts on reason. Luther exclaimed, "Reason is a whore."

He also mentioned, "When I (the Pope-a--) bray, hee-haw, hee-haw, or relieve myself in the way of nature, they must take it all as articles of faith, i.e. Catholics."

His defense?

What think you of Paul? Was he abusive when he termed the enemies of the gospel dogs and seducers? Paul who, in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts, inveighs against a false prophet in this manner: "Oh, full of subtlety and all malice, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness." I pray you, good Spalatin, read me this riddle. A mind conscious of truth cannot always endure the obstinate and willfully blind enemies of truth. I see that all persons demand of me moderation, and especially those of my adversaries, who least exhibit it. If I am too warm, I am at least open and frank; in which respect I excel those who always smile, but murder.

You can go to Contend Earnestly to get their take on it. It's pretty good stuff. I might add that here is Mark Driscoll being interviewed on harsh language for the Upcoming Desiring God conference. ( I wish I could go!)


And John Piper on the subject as well.


Where do I stand? I agree with them. There is a way to go too far, and there is this spirit of not going far enough. So, to give an answer: Do I believe in hell? Hell Yeah!!!!