Grandpa Update

Well, the blood transfusion was long (9.5 hours!!!), but well worth it. It was a LONG day, but he's doing fine. He can't sleep right now because he rested all day at the hospital.

His surgery starts tomorrow (Friday 12/1) at 9am Pacific Standard Time. Please pray for him, for the surgeon, for the surgery, for the nurses, and that the tumor will be extractable and done so with no complications.

Also, we got to talk on the way home tonight from the hospital about the gospel. He surely knows he's a sinner (thinking his cancer is God getting him for his sins). Now, is just driving home the kindness of God, his need for a Savior and his need to turn from / repent of his sins and trust in Jesus, not himself or his own good works, for salvation.

That will be the topic of our ride to the hospital in the morning.

Thank you so much for your prayers. There is definite, obvious, visible improvement in his complexion, energy level, appetite and spirits. Thank you so much, and please keep it up--especially tomorrow at 9am PST.

Scripture & Depression (Jer 38)

Before I comment, read this short passage of Scripture from Jeremiah 38:1-5:

"Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, Thus says the LORD, 'He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as booty and stay alive.' Thus says the LORD, 'This city will certainly be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.'" Then the officials said to the king, "Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm." So King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you."

What were the words Jeremiah was speaking to them? In case we skimmed and missed it (like I do all the time), "Thus says the LORD" is stated twice in three verses so that we know the source of his words. The source of Jeremiah's words was God (cf. 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:19-21).

Now, why did the officials pass the death sentence on Jeremiah? What does it say? They wanted him dead for discouraging people!

So, what is an expected result of speaking God's Word? It's not the winning of friends, or the influencing of people. Here, it got Jeremiah public rejection because it discouraged people. No wonder so many churches avoid the Bible.

God's Word still does this to people today because God wounds before He heals.

The irony is that these words of "discouragement" were only for the well-being of the people, something they could not see because they were blinded to it by their feelings of discouragement. What about you?

Grandpa Update

I just spoke with my mom who interpreted the doctor speak from a few days ago for me.

She said the surgeon said the tumor is not inside his stomach, but outside his stomach.

This makes things tenuous because the surgeon said he may not be able to extract the tumor on Friday if its grown into and effecting other organs.

This information is meant to make our prayers more specific, and more fervent.

Happy in God

When Christian heroes write phrases like "this one thing I do," or "I make it my ambition," or "the most important thing I've learned," or "the key to my life," or "the meaning of life is," I sit up and take notice.

Well, in preparing for a lecture I'm about to give on George Mueller I came across this:

“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished” (George Mueller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealing with George Muller, Written by Himself, Jehovah Magnified. Addresses by George Muller Complete and Unabridged, 1:271).

...and...

“According to my judgment the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord's work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself! Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life. This has been my firm and settled condition for the last five and thirty years. For the first four years after my conversion I knew not its vast importance, but now after much experience I specially commend this point to the notice of my younger brethren and sisters in Christ: the secret of all true effectual service is joy in God, having experimental acquaintance and fellowship with God Himself" (Ibid., 2:730-731).

I need this. God, how I need to do this daily. I need to read the Bible with this goal in mind, taking what I read and making myself happy in God by them.

Thank God for encouragements and rebukes from dead friends.

Grandpa Update

My grandpa just got off the phone with his doctor who told him that the blood test he took just came back showing that he's anemic, meaning the iron is low in his blood.

This means he'll be admitted to the hospital tomorrow morning (Thursday) for a blood transfusion, which should take an hour or two.

Please continue to pray for him with this and his surgery on Friday. Thank you.

Rocky VI

Click here and learn, like I just did, that Sylvester Stallone got his inspiration for Rocky Balboa in the person of, are you ready for this, Jesus Christ!

Also, I had no idea Stallone, best known to my generation by his indestructibility and prolific body counts as John Rambo, claimed to be a Christian.

This makes me want to see Rocky VI now too.

However, is the point of mentioning things like Stallone being a Christian and the Nativity Story being blocked from the Chicago fair that it will make Christians want to see it?

As there's been a gradual blurring of the lines between news and advertising (if you want proof, watch CBS' 60 Minutes when Simon & Schuster has a new book [both are owned by Viacom] or LA's KABC 7 News when Disney [ABC's parent company] has a new movie) are these two stories really meant to be subtle forms of marketing?

Tradition vs. Scripture (Jer 35)

In Jeremiah 35 there is the fascinating story of the descendants of Jonadab the Rechabite who did not drink wine or build houses for themselves because "our father, commanded us, saying, 'You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever" (35:6).

God tells Jeremiah to bring them to the temple and give them wine (35:2). Now, God knows their oath, but He does this to visually and logically demonstrate the sin of the Jewish people at that time.

Watch how God responds when they refuse to drink wine: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Go and say the the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?" declares the Lord. 'These words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. But I have spoken to you again and again; yet you have not listened to Me'" (35:13-14).

Visually, God brings this group before His people to demonstrate to them what loyalty looks like. Logically, He argues that if these can obey the one-time-given command of a dead man, why can't all His people obey the commands of the living God given "again and again."

It is called an argument from the lesser to the greater--if they can obey the lesser command from the lesser person they have no excuse for disobeying the greater command from the greater person.

And, when they refuse to drink wine they are saying "No" to a direct command from God (cf. 35:2, 5). They are saying "No" because they've elevated a human tradition above God's word, God's command. In essence, they're saying "My loyalty to my forefather trumps my loyalty to God. God's authority over my life and thought takes a backseat to my human ancestor's authority over me."

They're finding their authority, their safety, their identity, their self-understanding in the words of a mere man, which forces them at the same time against finding their authority, safety, identity and self-understanding in the words of God.

What does God think of that? "Behold, I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer" (35:17).

Jesus put it this way when He, God in the flesh, gave God's opinion of elevating traditions above God when He pronounced judgment on the Pharisees by saying, "'This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men" (Mark 7:6-8).

In other words, it is no small matter to disregard God for the teachings of men. It brings His judgment when you do that.

Grandpa Update

UPDATE: We just got home from the doctor who told us he cannot move the surgery up any sooner. This is very disappointing, but what can you do?

He gave us best and worst case scenarios, which was both reassuring and quite scary.

Please pray that the doctor will be able to extract all the stomach tumor, that's it's not spread or attached to any vital organs, and that it will not spread any further.

Also, the surgery is at 9am this coming Friday, and he'll be in the hospital for at least a week.

Please please please continue to pray that the cancer does not spread, that his spirits stay up, and that God will mercifully work on his heart as well as see him through this.

All of us thank you.

...

My grandpa's condition is deteriorating rapidly.

He's in a lot of pain and his mickey mouse doctors are doing nothing. We are SO angry at them. When they saw he'd lost 25-35 pounds, they should have had the operation immediately. Why this is taking so long we are all baffled by.

Please pray that when we meet with the surgeon at 11am on Saturday that we'll be able to push the operation up. With the pain he's in, it is hard to think that he could last until next Friday, Dec. 1st.

Tomorrow morning will be my last meal for a while so please pray that I'll be focused and committed and fervent in prayer and fasting for his health, his salvation and his operation. Please be praying along those lines as well.

Grandpa Update

Please keep praying. My grandpa is getting increasingly weak and nauseous.

We're hoping they can schedule the surgery sooner than Dec. 1st because of his condition worsening, but so far no luck.

Also, he is taking to watching religious television, which is both bad (because of all the garbage on there) and good because occasionally they gospel is preached.

I've talked with him before about Christ and given him things to read, so please pray that I'll have just the right words to say at just the right time.

...

UPDATE: My grandpa just got off the phone with the doctor who said the cancer had spread to his liver. Please please please keep praying.

...

UPDATE: After doing some research, it seems liver cancer is quite treatable since it is a secondary, not primary, cancer in my grandpa. We'll know more on Saturday when we speak to the surgeon. Thank you for all your prayers and support. Please keep praying, please, please, please.

David Brainerd

There have been so many penetrating quotes in Jonathan Edward's The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, but so far my favorite is "Oh, the closest walk with God is the sweetest heaven that can be enjoyed on earth."

I remember praying, many many many times, "God I desperately want to have the closest relationship with you that is humanly possible while on earth. Please do what You must to make that a reality. Like Paul, I want to know you so badly (Phil 3:10)."

Sadly, I've lost sight of that singular passion as time has gone by, but listening to Brainerd's diary has rekindled that flame, even though that is a very difficult, challenging, convicting prayer to pray because God wants that from us too, so He'll seek to remove all that hinders the closeness of that relationship, which at times can be very painful.

Three parts of the whole audiobook is available for free download here.

You can listen to this particular quote in context at 1 minute and 26 seconds into the mp3 for part two.

I'm fighting Myself

In my reading of the enemy within I have had many insights; but the main one has been a better understanding of my sin. I've learned how cunning and smart my sin is. How when I fight it it changes tactics immediately to continue pursuing me. I learned it never rests, I've learned it is eternally greedy.

But all this time I thought my "it" was Satin himself. But after reading chp IV I learned "it" is my flesh. When the author spoke of how easy it was to watch a movie, but when he starts to pray his mind will wander, I saw it (because I have the same problem). My flesh that desires "innocent" food that I feed it also desires lust. The key to this is it's MY FLESH: not Satin feeding me lies, not me struggling w/sin.

This perspective scares me and confuses me more about Gods purpose in creating us. But most importantly I've learned: my battle isn't against Satin or even sin, but myself.

Christian Life - David Brainerd

If you workout or if you have a job where you can listen to an iPod, please click here and download the three mp3s on the Life of David Brainerd by Jonathan Edwards, which was Edward's most popular work. I've listened to all of part 2 and half of part 1 and I've been so impressed and humbled by what I've heard from his journals.

He puts in writing what I've felt and feel as a Christian who struggles with his own sin and his own desires to be more fully devoted to God than he is. He has an uncanny knack for examining, laying bare and diagnosing his own heart, a trait I wish I had. There is an honesty and transparency that's so refreshing in our 'holier-than-thou,' plastic, fake, 'happy-happy-joy-joy' churches.

You will do your heart a tremendous favor by listening to these mp3s.

Grandpa Update

My grandpa's endoscopy had enough on it that they want to operate immediately, even before doing the biopsy. He goes in tomorrow to find out more details, and make the appointment for surgery.

This is very scary. Please keep praying.

Grandpa Update

My grandpa went to the doctor today who told him there's an abnormal mass in his stomach, about the size of a grown man's fist, that needs to be looked at immediately.

So, he will see another doctor tomorrow who will examine the x-rays and reports, and schedule a time to put the scope down his throat to look at it, diagnose what it is, and then, hopefully, remove it with surgery.

Please keep praying for him, not only for his health, but also his that his spirits will remain upbeat. He is visibly lethargic in his speech and actions, and that's scary for me, who has always seen him as quite energetic with all his faculties fully functioning as an 78 year old man.

Thank you, and again, any tips / suggestions for helping him are greatly appreciated, if there's anyone out there reading this.

Nothing New in Evangelism

I'm reading Augustine's Confessions, and in chapter 6 he's talking about the steps he went through to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Click the post's title to read the quotes in chapter 5, paragraph 7.

First, he says "those men were not to be listened to who would say to me, 'How do you know that those Scriptures were imparted to mankind by the Spirit of the one and most true God?'" I found it interesting that this is the same issue being brought against Christians some 1600 years after Augustine. Nothing is new under the sun.

Also, for those who won't believe it unless they see it, think about this: "O Lord, little by little, with a gentle and most merciful hand, drawing and calming my heart, You persuaded me that, if I took into account the multitude of things I had never seen, nor been present when they were enacted—such as many of the events of secular history; and the numerous reports of places and cities which I had not seen; or such as my relations with many friends, or physicians, or with these men and those—that unless we should believe, we should do nothing at all in this life. Finally, I was impressed with what an unalterable assurance I believed which two people were my parents, though this was impossible for me to know otherwise than by hearsay."

I remember talking to a guy who told me "Until Jesus walks up to me and tells me Himself who He is, I will not believe in Him. It's just blind faith." I responded, "Are you going to get home tonight?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "How do you know?" He paused, and said, "You got me. I have faith that I'll get home tonight, but I don't know." I said, "Right, and your rejection of Christ is like sitting outside your car saying 'I don't know if I'm going to get home, so I'm not getting in.'"

There were at least two problems with this guy. First, he made the distinction between faith and knowledge, and second, he forgot that no one can function without exercising faith. History is impossible without faith. I have faith that places like Antarctica exists, and that the maps are true, even though I've never been there. I have faith that what my friends say about their lives are true, though I wasn't there. I have faith that my burger is beef, and not beef mixed with manure like the movie Fast Food Nation is going to show.

We can't live this life without faith, and we won't live in the next life without faith...in Christ alone, and not myself or any other "savior," to rescue me from God's holy wrath for my sins and usher me into heaven.

Please Pray for My Grandpa

I just spoke to my grandpa who told me his doctor called. He had performed a CT scan on Monday and wanted my grandpa to schedule an appointment because it's "abnormal and they need to talk."

He's lost 20-30 lbs. in the last few weeks because he's not hungry, and is now taking to sleeping a lot and forgetting stuff. All 3 of his siblings have died of cancer in the past 15 years (his only brother as early as August) so I know that's in his family.

The doctor wants him to make an immediate appointment with a gastro-endurologist (I think that's what they're called), so they can put a scope into his stomach and see what's going on.

My grandpa's name is Hoover Cox, and I know he's very worried it's cancer. Please pray for God's healing. Pray for a correct diagnosis, correct treatment, and skillful doctors to take care of him correctly, making no mistake that would make him worse not better.

Also, any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Chapter 3, The Enemy Within

"Sin can be like trick birthday candles: you blow them out and smile, thinking you have your wish; then your jaw drops as they burst into flames" (39).

I'm trying to learn that this side of heaven, I will never have any one sin beat because I will never have sin beat. I can weaken sin, but never kill it.

However, is this too fatalistic? Am I giving in, when it's time to fight, or is it a fight I can gain ground on, win a few battle, but never gain total victory?

You have to fight sin because there is such a strong drive to please God. You can't not fight because if you're a Christian you're driven to fight, but the lack of hope that's bred by knowing you're not going to win in this life, I guess, is meant to make heaven that much sweeter.

Paul was right. For so many reasons, one being no more sin, to die is gain (Phil 1:21).

However, I think part of my problem is that I've never really fought sin, and don't know how to if I wanted to. I am like those who received the book of Hebrews who in their struggle against sin, "have not yet resisted to the point of shedding [their] blood" (Heb 12:4).

Yep, never done that before, but what would it look like if I did? Not sinning means I get beat up? I don't know.

One thing I do know, I am not "careful" (Matt 16:6) when it comes to sin. I am not on my guard (Matt 16:6, Luke 12:15, 1 Cor 16:13, 2 Pet 3:17) against sin. I do not watch (Matt 26:41, Luke 12:15). I do not pray (Matt 26:41). I am not constantly on guard (Luke 12:15), standing firm (1 Cor 16:13), being strong (1 Cor 16:13).

That sounds like active, preemptive resistance, not a passive resistance until sin shows up. I need to learn this, so I've added an examination question to my journal. When I apply the passage I'm reading and meditating on to myself, I will now ask "What sins are you being tempted with? Be specific."

I hope this will help me preempt sin in myself.

Chapter 3 of The Enemy Within ends with this prayer "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps 139:23-24).

In all honesty, I'm afraid to pray this prayer because I'm afraid what God will reveal about me to myself. However, I need some courage. I need to suck it up and deal with what He shows me, and do what I need to do to address the sin in my heart.

Chapter 3, The Enemy Within

I'm back for more in chapter 3.

If what Lundgaard writes is true, that "we can't even know our own [hearts]" (36), than what hope do I have in winning the war against sin?

First, I have the Bible which is "able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb 4:12). If that is of no comfort to you, like it is no comfort to me at times, it is because you don't know it well enough to use the Bible on yourself.

Second, I have friends who are supposed to be calling me out when my heart is demonstrating itself in actions that dishonor God, and bring shame upon the witness of Christ through me. I'm praying for more friends like this.

To move on, I am the one who knows "secret communion with God is a feast for [my] soul, and [I] long for it--but [I] can't roll our of bed [one of my teachers in seminary called it 'Mind over Mattress'], or if [I] do, [my] mind zooms everywhere in the universe except to heaven" (37).

I hate this, and I don't know what to do about it except to push through it. I've taken to blogging to help me, and I've returned to journaling after a few years off in order to do that same. However, if I'm not disciplined it won't happen. And, I tend to shun discipline unless I have someone holding me accountable. That's what I need. More accountability.

Struggling to Believe

This entry from Augustine's Confessions is so helpful in understanding a person's journey to putting their full and complete trust / confidence in Christ, and the message of the Bible, to save them from their sins.

I've edited the full entry, so if you'd like to read the whole thing click here, and scroll down to chapter IV, paragraph 6. Augustine wrote:

"I was also glad that the old Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets were laid before me to be read, not now with an eye to what had seemed absurd in them when formerly I censured Your holy ones for thinking thus, when they actually did not think in that way. ... I found nothing in [Ambrose'] teachings that offended me, though I could not yet know for certain whether what he taught was true. For all this time I restrained my heart from assenting to anything, fearing to fall headlong into error. Instead, by this hanging in suspense, I was being strangled. For my desire was to be as certain of invisible things as I was that seven and three are ten. I was not so deranged as to believe that this could not be comprehended [like so many are today], but my desire was to have other things as clear as this ... But, just as it happens that a man who has tried a bad physician fears to trust himself with a good one, so it was with the health of my soul, which could not be healed except by believing. But lest it should believe falsehoods, it refused to be cured, resisting Your hand, who has prepared for us the medicines of faith and applied them to the maladies of the whole world, and endowed them with such great efficacy."

Think deeply about his experience, and how it relates to those you're trying to see the truth of the gospel.

The Best OT Commentaries (Pt 2)

Here's the rest of the OT Commentary list. If you want to know how it was compiled, check the archives for the NT Commentary post which explains it. What did I leave out? What should I put in and where? Let me know what you think.

Job
1. Andersen, Francis I. Job (TOTC)
2. Dhorme, Edouard. A Commentary on the Book of Job
3. Hartley, John E. The Book of Job (NICOT)

Psalms
1. Spurgeon, Charles. The Treasury of David
2. Leupold, Herbert. Exposition of the Psalms
3. Kidner, D. Psalms 1-72 and Psalms 73-150 (TOTC)
HM. Perowne, John. The Book of Psalms
HM. Wilson, Gerald. Psalms 1-72, vol. 1 (NIVAC)

Proverbs
1a. Kidner, Derek. Proverbs (TOTC)
1b. Bridges, Charles. An Exposition of Proverbs.
2. Garrett, Duane. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (NAC)

Ecclesiastes
1. Kidner, Derek. A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance
2a. Leupold, Herbert. Exposition of Ecclesiastes
2b. Eaton, M. Ecclesiastes (TOTC)
3. Hengstenberg, Ernst. Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon / Songs
1. Carr, G. Lloyd. Song of Songs (TOTC).
2a. Gledhill, Thomas. The Message of the Song of Songs (BST).
2b. Ironside, Henry. The Song of Solomon.
2c. Provan, Iain. Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (NIVAC)

Isaiah
1. Young, Edward. The Book of Isaiah (NICOT)
2. Motyer, J.A. The Prophecy of Isaiah
3a. Oswalt, John. Isaiah 1-39 & Isaiah 40-66 (NICOT) (2 vol.)
3b. Alexander, Joseph. Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah

Jeremiah
1. Thompson, J.A. The Book of Jeremiah (NICOT)
2a. Holladay, William L. Jeremiah, 2 vols (Herm)
2b. Jensen, Irving. Jeremiah: The Prophet of Judgment
2c. Laetsch, Theodore. Bible Commentary: Jeremiah
HM. Feinberg, Charles. Jeremiah, A Commentary

Lamentations
1. Hillers, Delbert R. Lamentations (AB)
2. Kaiser, Walter C. A Biblical Approach to Personal Suffering

Ezekiel
1. Feinberg, Charles. The Prophecy of Ezekiel.
2. Zimmerli, Walther. Ezekiel 1 and 2 (Herm).
3a. Duguid, Iain. Ezekiel (NIVAC)
3b. Block, Daniel. Ezekiel 1-24 & Ezekiel 25-48 (NICOT) (2 vol.)

Daniel
1a. Young, Edward. The Prophecy of Daniel: A Commentary
1b. Walvoord, John. Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation
2a. Wood, Leon. A Commentary on Daniel
2b. Montgomery, James. A ... Commentary on ... Daniel (ICC)
3. Goldingay, John. Daniel (WBC)

Hosea
1. Andersen & Freedman. Hosea (AB)
2a. Feinberg, Charles. Hosea: God’s Love for Israel
2b. Garrett, Duane. Hosea and Joel (NAC)
2c. Kidner, Derek. The Message of Hosea (BST)

Joel
1. Allen, Leslie. Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah (NICOT)
2. Finley, Thomas J. Joel, Amos, Obadiah (WEC)
3. Wolff, HW. Joel and Amos (Herm)
HM. Feinberg, Charles. Joel, Amos, and Obadiah
HM. See Hosea 2b.

Amos
1. Andersen & Freedman. Amos (AB)
2. Mays, James. Amos: A Commentary
3. See Joel 2 above

Obadiah
1. Baker, Alexander and Waltke. Obadiah, Jonah, Micah (TOTC)
2. Feinberg, Charles. Obadiah: Doom Upon Edom
3. Wolff, HW. Obadiah and Jonah

Jonah
1. See Obadiah 1 above
2. Feinberg, Charles. Jonah: God’s Love for All Nations
3a. Fairbairn, Patrick. Jonah: His Life, Character, and Mission
3b. Stuart, Doug. Jonah (WBC)

Micah
1a. See Obadiah 1 above
1b. Barker & Bailey. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (NAC)
2a. Andersen & Freedman. Micah (AB)
2b. Feinberg, Charles. Micah: Wrath Upon Samaria and Jerusalem

Nahum
1. Maier, Walter. The Book of Nahum
2a. Robertson, O Palmer. Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (NICOT)
2b. Baker, David. Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah (TOTC)
3a. Patterson, Robert. Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC)
3b. Feinberg, Charles. Nahum: Judgment on Nineveh

Habakkuk
1. Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. From Fear to Faith
2. Feinberg, Charles. Habakkuk: Problems of Faith
3a. See Nahum 3a above
3b. See Nahum 2a above

Zephaniah
1a. Feinberg, Charles. Zephaniah: The Day of the Lord
1b. See Nahum 2a above
1c. See Nahum 3a above

Haggai
1. Verhoef, Pieter. The Books of Haggai & Malachi (NICOT)
2a. Merrill, Eugene. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (WEC)
2b. Feinberg, Charles. Haggai: Rebuilding the Temple

Zechariah
1. Feinberg, Charles. Zechariah: God Remembers
2a. Unger, Merrill. Zechariah: Prophet of Messiah’s Glory
2b. Leupold, Herbert. Exposition of Zechariah

Malachi
1. Morgan, G. Campbell. Wherein Have We Robbed God?
2a. See Haggai 1 above
2b. Hill, Andrew. Malachi (AB)
3. Feinberg, Charles. Malachi: Formal Worship

Haggard Gay-Sex Scandal

If you haven't already heard about the tragic scandal revolving around Ted Haggard, please see the posts at hubmaier.blogspot.com with the same title as this one.

Though the evidence is starting look pretty bad for Haggard, let's hope it's not true.

UPDATE: It was true. Check the blog above for the story.

Battling Sin

That's been my biggest problem, I've been battling sin. As long as we think we have to fight it it has the upperhand. In chp2 of The Enemy Within the author makes an analogy of a rhino; who may be big and strong but has no real authority over us. I then saw sin under the analogy of a barking dog behind a fence. It can't touch me, but I still look everytime it barks, and I'm still scared it will get threw the fence (the fence it can't get threw).

Once we can accept sin has no authority (it's just a barking dog) the battle is over. Sin is deceiving us that it has power and not God. Jesus has already won the battle. Ohhh and don't be fooled and think you have to tame the dog, because then your still battling it (he's just fooled you to make you think you have the control). The truth is he will never stop barking, snarling, foaming at the mouth, and also pant for attention; but remember Jesus is the fence and he can't touch you.

So once you stop battling sin, then you have truly embraced what Jesus did for us. Remeber that doesn't mean it stopped barking, you just stopped battling.

If you are ever comfortable w/your status with sin worry, you will never win the battle; because Jesus already did.

I will conclude with what the author of chp 2 concluded w/ "if you don't find yourself ... day and night struggling against sin (hearing the bark) ... you should doubt if you are born of God at all.

Sin on the Inside

I was hit hard tonight by something Kris Lundgaard wrote in his great little book, The Enemy Within. This is my fourth time through the book, and I don't know why it had such a profound impact tonight, but it did.

He writes, "the better you know [indwelling sin], the more you will hate it; and to the length that you abhor it...you will grasp for grace against it" (33-34).

I understood the more I knew sin, the more I'd hate it, but I stopped there. It was a two-step process for me, instead of the three-step process of (1) knowing sin, (2) hating sin, and (3) the depth of my prayer for grace to fight my sin.

If I'm not praying for help against my sin, it's because I don't hate it enough. And, I don't hate it enough because I don't really know it like I should. Or, I don't hate it because I've made peace with my sin, and nobody fights what they're at peace with.

This is about praying against your sin and for grace as a preemptive strike before sin even shows up for battle.

Free Audiobook!!!

Click the title of the post above and you'll be taken to a site that gives free audiobooks away every month. This month's is Charles Spurgeon's, All of Grace.

Follow the directions and it's yours for free. So far, I've downloaded 2 or 3 free audiobooks, and a few free author interviews from this site since my friend Ivan told me about it in May. Enjoy!!!

Chapter 4, The Enemy Within (Pt 3)

To explain the illustrations from the previous The Enemy Within post, Lundgaard writes "Since [the flesh] resists everything about God, it resists every way we try to taste him and know him and love him. And the more something enables us to find God and feast on him, the more violently the flesh fights against it" (48).

The more I meditate on this idea, the more I see this dynamic playing itself out all day long. I enjoy sleep more than waking up 30 minutes early to read my Bible or an hour early to read and pray. When I get up, will I read my Bible or check my email? When I get in the car, will I listen to belligerent talk radio, or to a sermon on my iPod? Will I encourage my girlfriend and give her hope in the midst of her trials, or will she hide them from me because I'd be too harsh with her?

Now, if you're reading the things I struggle against my flesh with and you're thinking "He can't relate to me at all. I struggle with a porn addiction," or "I struggle with stealing from my boss," or fill-in the blank, please notice that though the sins might be different, they both come from the same heart that is struggling to do the right thing when the flesh is tempting them to stay away from God and what He wants. The same sinful heart is controlling both of us though the expressions are different.

He ends the chapter with this quote, and my prayer is that I'd hate sin even half as much as Captain Ahab hated Moby Dick. Lundgaard changes Ahab's quote to reflect this sentiment when he writes "Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering flesh; to the last I grapple with thee; from heaven's heart I stab at thee; for love's sake I spit my last breath at thee" (48).

Illustrating the Christian Life

I read this illustration by John Bunyan today and it nailed me right between the eyes with "That's the perfect illustration for struggling with sin in the Christian life." Here it is. Tell me what you think. If you want to read the full sermon, click here or the title of this post above.

Of the person that truly wants spiritual maturity (which he pictures as coming to Christ) Bunyan writes, you are "like the man that would ride full gallop, whose horse will hardly trot! Now, the desire of his mind is not to be judged of by the slow pace of the dull [horse] he rides on, but by the hitching, and kicking, and spurring, as he sits on his back. Thy flesh is like this dull [horse]; it will not gallop after Christ; it will be backward, though thy soul and heaven lie at stake" (from the sermon Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ).

Oh, I feel like that man all the time! My heart beats to be like Christ yet my life is not. The "horse" of spiritual maturity doesn't seem backward. A lot of times I wonder if it isn't dead.

The Forehead of a Prostitute (Jer 3:3)

I was doing my daily Bible reading this morning when I read this verse: "Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been on spring rain. Yet you had a harlot's forehead; you refused to be ashamed" (Jer 3:3).

God judged His people for their sins (especially idolatry), and in the original covenant He said one of the ways He'd judge them is by making "your sky like iron and your earth like bronze" (Lev 26:19). By withholding rain, it was a clear sign that their sins had brought them under God's judgment. And, the second half of Jer 3:3 strongly implies this was a sign they understood.

However, in spite of understanding and receiving God's judgment, God says they "refused to be ashamed." Why? Because they "had a harlot's forehead." What a stunning word picture!

The first time a prostitute works, there is guilt (we feel guilty because we are guilty) for the kind of business she's in. She strongly and deeply feels the pangs of conscience, but as time goes by, and she continues working, the judgment her conscience brings to bear upon her gets softer and softer. In the end, the same actions that brought mountains of shame bring no shame at all.

This is the danger every Christian faces when it comes to their sin. When God disciplines us we don't want Him to say of us what He said of them "In vain I have struck your sons; they accepted no chastening" (Jer 2:30). Be ashamed of your sin, accept His discipline. Don't develop the forehead of a harlot.

Chapter 4, The Enemy Within (Pt 2)

This is the fourth time I've read this book, and there has been no more helpful teaching to fight sin than this section. I pray it will open your eyes to one of sin's strategies as it did mine.

"The flesh has chosen quite an enemy: it is "enmity with God." Sometimes we think of the flesh as our enemy; but it only hates us because God is in us: "The flesh wars against the Spirit in us" (Galatians 5:17). Which is easier: to sit with a bucket of butter-soaked popcorn and watch Tom Cruise on the big screen for two hours, or kneel and pray for five minutes? Tom Cruise wins hands down, because there is literally no competition. What the flesh hates is God, so it resists anything that smacks of God--especially communion with him. The flesh can curl up by your side and watch mindless movies all night long. But let even the barest thought of meditations flutter into your mind, and the flesh goes to Red Alert. Before you get past "Our Father," your eyes, which were glued to the screen, now sag in sleepiness [like mine are suddenly doing as I write this], and your attention, which was so fixed on the plot, now zips around the universe faster than the Starship Enterprise. The flesh's hatred of god explains a lot" (46).

Today, instead of reading my Bible before going to work, I went online to check my email and my blogs, and before I knew it, it was time to go. I tried to make up for it by listening to 1 and 2 Timothy on my iPod, but that's just not the same. I need to be more cognizant of my flesh's desire to keep me from communion with God, and I need to learn to hate it's desire so that I can fight it ruthlessly.