Dever’s statement to Acts 29

“Our differences are enough to separate some of my friends—your brothers and sisters in Christ—from you. And perhaps to separate them from me, now that I’m publicly speaking to you. And I don’t want to minimize either the sincerity or the seriousness of some of their concerns (things like: humor, worldliness, pragmatism, authority).

But I perceive some things in common which outweigh our differences—which the Lord Jesus shall soon enough compose between us, either by our maturing, or by His bringing us home. I long to work with those, and count it a privilege to work with those whom My Savior has purchased with His blood, and with whom I share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I perceive that we have in common the knowledge that God is glorified in sinners being reconciled to Him through Christ. This is not taught by other religions, nor clearly by the ancient Christian churches of the East, or by Rome, by liberal Protestant churches, by Mormons, the churches of Christ, or by groups of self-righteous, legalistic, moralistic Christians. And not only do we together affirm the exclusivity of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone—we agree on the sovereignty of God in life and salvation, the regenerate nature of church members, the importance of church membership and discipline, the baptism of believers alone, the priorities of expositional preaching, and evangelism, the importance of authority and a growing appreciation for the significance of complementarianism. These are not slight matters. And they only fire my desire to encourage you and cheer you on, until you cross that finish line that the Lord lays down for us.”

-Mark Dever, from his address “Church Planting Evangelism” at the Acts 29 Boot Camp in Chicago.

HT: 9Marks

… finds a good thing

In our home we regularly rise up and call my wife, Karalee, “blessed.” It’s biblical and usually happens at the close of our dinners (with increased frequency and volume after pizza). The kids and I raise our hands to the sky and yell, “BLESSED!!!” And then repeat several times and waive our hands as if we were all participating in the wave. Usually we cry out “BLESSED!” four times before being hushed.

I’m thinking of this practice because I’m reminded tonight of my precious wife of almost 10 years. Today Carolyn Mahaney wrote an encouraging little piece about my wife (and posted a picture of “my girls”). What a joy to find a wife who willingly relocates her home and family without complaint. What a precious wife! Thanks Carolyn for this post. I am reminded how infrequently I thank her. So Karalee (if you’re reading this and not changing a diaper), I owe you some “blesseds!”

I love you!

Tony
—————–

Related: Read Karalee’s past posts on TSS here.

Update

I try, but cannot imagine, a greater job in the world than following C.J. Mahaney and capturing his life and wisdom. Now about one month into the job I’m reminded of God’s grace (“no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”).

Through means of external coercion, today I posted at the Sovereign Grace Blog with a little tidbit about my current position and especially why I seek to emulate one nineteenth-century man, George Offor.

So this–to answer some of your comments–is why TSS has slowed a bit. But I’ll be back soon. Carl Trueman’s newest title is in the mail (and I’m never silent when reading Dr. Trueman). And coming up soon we will have a blog exclusive to announce some major news in the publishing world. Stay tuned.

Thanks again for your patience with this blog.

Blessings, blogopals!

Tony

Blank Bible featured in Seattle

Stephen Smith serves as both editor of the ESV blog and Crossway’s Director of Information Services. This past weekend he presented a lecture at the BibleTech08 conference in Seattle on “The ESV and Bible Usability.” In his presentation he cited the Blank Bible “phenomena” started right here on The Shepherd’s Scrapbook. In his presentation he says,

The typical physical features of a Bible are familiar: its type size, physical size, layout, and binding. Also important are any extra features in the Bible—from maps to notes to cross-references. But just as important are things that people do to customize their Bibles. Some people buy a cover for their Bibles; some people decide to re-cover their Bibles; and some people want so much more space for note-taking that they take a printed Bible, slice off the binding, insert empty sheets of paper between the Bible pages, and rebind their Bible more to their liking. The result is what’s called a “blank Bible.” A number of people have created these Bibles; I like to link to them from the ESV blog because it shows how people can get really invested in their Bibles. I get the feeling that we’d value our Bibles a lot more if we had to assemble and bind them ourselves.

You can read more of Stephen’s presentation here, and download a PDF copy of his presentation slides (see slide 31).

And of course you can see our very own Blank Bible Index to find information (and motivation) to create one of these Bibles for your own use and growth.

Happy slicing, punching, and binding!

T4G videos now avaliable

Ligonier has begun posting the videos (yes, videos!) from the Together for the Gospel 2006 conference. Click here. … T4G ‘08 is coming soon. More information here.

Why We’re Not Emergent by DeYoung and Kluck

I’ve already mentioned my anticipation for the forthcoming title, Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (Moody, 2008). This is another book in 2008 pastors should buy and read.

Mostly I love this book for its clear-headed critique of the distinctives of emergent theology. One excerpt really makes this point. In light of the postmodern revel for all things relative, DeYoung uses the Hindu story of the blind men and the elephant to make a critical point of contrast.

“We may all be, by nature, like blind men touching the elephant without knowing whether what we are feeling is a trunk, tail, or ear. But what if the elephant spoke and said ‘Quit calling me crocodile, or peacock, or paradox. I’m an elephant for crying out loud! That long thing is my trunk. That little frayed thing is my tail. That big floppy thing is my ear.’ And what if the elephant gave us ears to hear his voice and a mind to understand his message (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14-15)? Would our professed ignorance about the elephant and our unwillingness to make any confident assertions about his nature mean we were especially humble, or just deaf?

Because of the emerging church’s implied doctrine of God’s unknowability, the word ‘mystery,’ a perfectly good word in its own right, has become downright annoying. Let me be very clear: I don’t understand everything about God or the Bible. I don’t fully understand how God can be three in one. I don’t completely grasp how divine sovereignty works alongside human responsibility. The Christian faith is mysterious. But when we talk about Christianity, we don’t start with mystery. It’s some combination of pious confusion and intellectual laziness to claim that living in mystery is at the heart of Christianity” (37-38).

Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be is due out April 1st.

—————–

Related: This quote reminds me of Mark Dever’s words from the T4G blog: “The humility we want in our churches is to read the Bible and believe it–everything God has said, dogmatically, and humbly! It is not humble to be hesitant where God has been clear and plain.” Read more.

Young, Restless, and Reformed

Recently I had the honor of reading Collin Hansen’s Young, Restless, and Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey With the New Calvinists (Crossway). Hansen is an editor at Christianity Today. From my perspective, the book reads like the reader is riding shotgun as Collin travels around the country in search of discovering the far reaches of the emerging Calvinism so obvious among large groups of young Christian men and women.

The book does not set out to answer the question: “Where’d all the Calvinists come from?” But it does document the rise in a fascinating and engaging way and looks closely at the major figures and movements and how they shape the theology of the next generation of Calvinists.

Read it for the details. Read it to discover the influences among young folks. Read it it to hear stories of how individuals have been transformed by the doctrines of grace. Read it for the descriptive perception of the author. If you watch for new and excellent books, this one by Collin Hansen is a must-read coming your way in 2008. Due out April 30th from Crossway.

A new look for Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Hello from Maryland, to all you faithful (and very patient) TSS readers. Today I draw attention to a new edition of Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, which is perhaps the best written and most popular devotional in church history.

The new edition from Crossway appears in a multi-colored, Truetone (leather-like) cover. The editions break Spurgeon’s classic into two volumes, Morning by Morning and Evening by Evening. It’s nice to have two volumes since (as my wife noted) morning and evening reading are often completed in different areas.

As for the edited text of this version, the biblical texts are replaced with the ESV and the editing was completed by Alistair Begg who writes, “most of the changes are minor and will go largely undetected”. This edited version of the text was originally published in 2003 as one hardcover volume.

Overall, the volumes are very attractive and will make for a great gift idea for around $26.00. Consider snagging a set for your own devotional reading, too.

Here are some photographs of the unboxing to give you a glimpse of what to expect from the new Crossway edition. Click for larger views.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

New Attitude 2008

Each January I see promotions for the New Attitude conference and each June I hear stories of lives transformed at the conference. But to date I’ve never attended. Well that looks to be a string of defeats that will be coming to an end this year. And you should consider the conference and encourage the young folks in your churches to consider. It’s intended to minister to young adults and young couples. Everything you need to know about the conference can be found here. The conference runs between May 24-27 in Louisville and speakers include Piper, Mohler, Harris and Mahaney.