Rick Holland: Resolved 2008 Countdown (IV)

There are 7 days left until the Resolved 2008 Conference. And I’m getting excited. Sorry I haven’t posted everyday. I’ve been busy.

Rick Holland is the guy that started the Resolved conference. His favorite dead guy is Jonathan Edwards. Rick Holland has a desire to see God build up another generation with a passion for His glory. He is the Senor Associate Pastor at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is Pastor. He is also the college pastor there. The website for his college group is www.crossroadsministry.net. I really don’t know much about this guy. He hasn’t written any books. You can find his sermons on the college groups website for free download. There are also excellent resources on there. I look forward to seeing all the Speakers at the conference.

Reading Update
I haven’t had a chance to read very much. I got a sermon by Sam Storms last night that is about Jonathan Edwards View of Heaven. It was from the A God Entranced Vision of All Things Conference held in 2003 at John Piper’s Church.
Not sure when my shipment is supposed to show up with the books I ordered. I’m making 100 MP3 CD’s of last years conference audio to give out at the conference this year. I hope I can make them all before next week.
I probably should try to read more in Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven. That is what I’m going to do today until next week.

 

Pastor Piper and the Psalms

John Piper just started a new series on the Psalms. Last Sunday, June 1, was the second sermon in the series. I have only listened to the first one and it made an impact on me. Highly recommended. You can listen to the first two sermons.

Songs That Shape the Heart and Mind
Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God, Part 1
Psalm 1
May 25, 2008

Spiritual Depression in the Psalms
Psalms: Thinking and Feeling with God, Part 2
Psalm 42
June 1, 2008

I’ll update more posts as they come out.

 

John MacArthur: Resolved 2008 Countdown (III)

Looking forward to Resolved. Again I hope that God moves on that place, saves many and gives a passion for Himself to those who are already called. Resolved in is 10 days.

Another Speaker that is going to be at Resolved is John MacArthur. John MacArthur grew up in a Christian family but didn’t surrender his life to Christ until he was in his early twenties I believe. After he surrendered His life to Christ, he became a full time evangelist. He has been preaching to the same congregation, Grace Community Church, for about forty years. I believe he is president of both the Master’s Seminary and the Master’s College. He also has a Ministry called Grace To You. It is on the radio and television. It is his church that Resolved is being sponsored by. Pray for John MacArthur as he prepares for Resolved.

Reading Update
I’m still working my way through Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I only got to read one Chapter. I plan on reading a few more today. The last chapter I read (chapter 5) is about the Present Heaven. The place we go after we die and before the resurrection with and living on the New Earth.
I’m still waiting for Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between. The place I purchased it online show that the shipment’s status is “Being Shipped” which means it hasn’t shipped yet. I hope it ships today. It’s based on eastern standard time. I missed it by ordering 15 mins late. I hope it gets here on time so I have time to check it out before the conference.

Thats about it. I plan on making an Index for this and other Resolved posts. I just haven’t done it yet.
The first post of the countdown has the links to the two books I mentioned and others that would help inform your minds before Resolved.

God Bless,
Mark

 

John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

Not that long ago I was reading Jonathan Aiken’s biography of John Newton, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace. I finished it a while back but I didn’t give myself the time to write a review.

Jonathan Aiken has done a good job with this Biography. It covers Newton’s entire life. As Michael Leake states in his review A Great Sinner with a Great Savior, Aiken “did not have at its center the magnificent work of Jesus Christ.” I agree but I was also coming to the book to learn about John Newton. Leake was ready for someone to make that comment because he also wrote: “Newton was the main character when it should have been Jesus. Because of this we miss discovering what it was that made Newton tick.” (I’ll link to the review later) He has a good point. It made me want to learn more about John Newton. I did buy more about John Newton (Life of John Newton by Josiah Bull and Letters Of John Newton both on Banner of Truth Trust) and I hope that those cause me to seek more of His Savior Jesus Christ who is my Savior.

Besides that the book was good. As I said it covered his whole life. It covered his whole life from all aspects. I recommend it but it shouldn’t be your only book about Newton. The book included some pictures in the middle of the book and it also included a bibliography, source notes and an index.

This review probably isn’t that good. I never have reviewed a book before but I hope my reviews get better.

You can find more reviews on Amazon. Click Here. You can also find the rest of Michael Leake’s review there.

Remember to read biographies of past Saints. That is suggested in the Bible in Hebrews (13:7)
For His Glory,
Mark

 

John Piper: Resolved 2008 Countdown (II)

Some may notice I skipped a day. I did it on purpose. I don’t want to explain why. Skipping a Day just made it easier.

So there are 11 days left until Resolved. 11 some might say? Yes. The rest of today. Tomorrow and all the days until Friday the 13. Then also that Friday because Resolved doesn’t really start until 8:00 that night. We have to go through almost that whole day until then.

For the next six days (today included) I’m going to write about something about the speakers. Today I’ve decided to write about John Piper. His ministry is about spreading a passion for Jesus Christ to all peoples. Last year he spoke on God is the Gospel and having compassion for men’s souls. It was awsome to listen to that man last year. His ministry is Desiring God. You can find his speaker information and a little video clip of Him from last year at the Resolved site, www.resolved.org. When you get there, click on 2008 Info, then speakers, then John Piper and thats it. I would suggest listening to God is the Gospel. You can find the version from the conference here along with the other message he preached at Resolved 07. You can also find the God is the Gospel Regional Conference. The Resolved version is the compact version.

Reading Update
In A God-Entranced Vision of All Things, I have read as far as I believe God has wanted me to read. I read the first two parts (A Life and Legacy of Edwards and Lessons from Edwards’s Life and Thought). I didn’t read that last section (Expositions of Edwards’s Major Theological Works) because for this conference I’m trying prepare for Heaven and Hell and those three works they exposit are not about Heaven and Hell. I plan on finishing the book, if not re-reading it, but for now I’m stopping. I was reading it because I wanted to get to know a little about the guy who the conference was centered around.
I’m now working my way through Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I just started. I got through the first section (Realizing Our Destiny) of that which contains the first four chapters. I’m glad he wrote that people are not automatically going to Heaven. That actually we are destined for Hell because of our sin and only those that repent of their sin and believe on Christ to save them will be saved. I’m glad he brought that up at the very beginning of the book.
The next book Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between: remember in the last post of the countdown I said I let a friend borrow it. I decided to let him have it so he could always refer back to it. I also decided to buy a new one so I hope that it comes before Resolved so I can at least start reading but if it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter because I get to hear about Heaven (and Hell) at the conference. It is about Jonathan Edwards vision of living in Heaven on Earth.

The previous countdown post has links to all of these books as well as other places to buy them. The link will open in a new window.

Looking forward to seeing some there.
For His Glory,
Mark

 

Leaving Christ(ianity) – A Christian Epidemic

Michael Patton posted about the Wave of people leaving Christianity. It’s title is the exact title of this post. I suggest people really should read it. I posted “my story” as a comment. It is comment 150.

Click here to go to the Post and click here to go to my comment.

This is my story related to the post.
The first step towards “leaving Christianity” is the step of doubt. His form of doubt is asking questions. I had my questions answered. My struggle was a doubt of my salvation. I’m glad I had other Brothers to help me during my doubting stage. I was doubting whether I was elect or not and I got to the point of just wanting to know if I was elect or not until I brought it up to a pastor. I didn’t care at that point if I was going to Heaven or Hell, I was that much of a struggle to me. I just wanted to know if I was elect. I’m glad the brother (pastor) corrected me first off that I don’t want to go to Hell. He also gave me scripture to read (James) and told me to pray. He also told me to stop focusing on myself, which is what I was looking at and seeing my sinfulness, and He told me to Focus on Christ. He also told me to just believe. In my case it was okay because not doubting is the opposite of believing and faith. It is a lack of faith and belief. I now see what I need to be doing is Mortifying my sin, desiring Christ and defeat the desire to sin with the infinite pleasure of knowing Christ, Remembering Christ is much better than any sin. Keep the blog up.

Here is another blog similar to my case, The Bridge Called Doubt.

For His Glory, Boast Only in the Cross of Christ my friends.

 

Countdown to Resolved 2008

I’m so excited about going to Resolved. I hope God does a big work there both in my heart and in the heart of others. Today is June 1 which means there are only 12 more days after this until Resolved.

To prepare for Resolved I’ve been working on reading A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards. It was a book based off a conference of the same title in October of 2003 hosted by Desiring God about Jonathan Edwards. The link is to it’s page on Desiring God. It can be bought at a less than retail price there or you can download the PDF e-book for free from Desiring God by clicking here or you an buy it from Crossway for full price and get a free PDF e-book if you buy it with a credit card online. To do that click here.

A God-Entranced Vision of All Things is getting me familiar with the man who the Resolved conference is following the footsteps of. I also plan within the next two weeks to read Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I suggest it be read by every Christian. It probably can’t be read by most people in two weeks though. If you are going to purchase it, I would suggest buying it from Alcorn’s Ministry to support it. I’m not going to have time to read a biography of Jonathan Edwards, but oh well. God-Entranced gives me a taste of all sides of Edwards.

If anyone wants a short thing to look at before Resolved, I suggest Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between. I was going to read it but I let my friend borrow it. The link is to it’s page on Crossway, but it can be purchased from Amazon or Westminster Seminary Bookstore.
Other Books I suggest that can be quick. Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper and Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die by John Piper.

One more suggestion. If you want this conference to affect you a lot, focus on the Gospel. Listen to last years conference and the year before that and the first year. They all focus on the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is still time to sign up for the conference. The website is www.resolved.org

Again Here is the Promotional Video:

Here are a couple of Books:

	A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards
	Heaven
	Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between
	Jonathan Edwards: A Life
	Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography
	Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ
	Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
	The Wrath of Almighty God: (Jonathan Edwards on God’s Judgment Against Sinners) (Great Awakening Writings (1725-1760))
	The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader
	The Salvation of Souls: Nine Previously Unpublished Sermons on the Call of Ministry and the Gospel by Jonathan Edwards

Enjoy!
For His Glory,
Mark

 

Jonathan Edwards

I found the biography I had written on Jonathan Edwards for a class last semester. I thought it might be nice to post it here. Jonathan Edwards was a Man after God’s Own Heart.

Jonathan Edwards was a “philosopher, theologian, preacher, historian, and scientist” (Stickel.) during the 1700s in America. The World Book Encyclopedia even calls him a “revivalist” (Noll.) He was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, on 5 October 1703, as the only son to his parents Timothy Edwards and Esther Stoddard Edwards (Stickel.) Yet he had ten other sisters.
Edwards was taught by his father for his younger years of education. He lived in East Windsor until he left, at age 13, for a college education at Connecticut’s Collegiate School which changed its name to Yale College while he is there and is now known as Yale University. He graduated at 17 (Noll.) in 1720 from Yale College. And stayed at Yale for two years between 1724 and 1726 and “was a tutor” (Jonathan Edwards).

He came to know Christ at 17. Even though he grew up in a pastors home he had not become a Born-again Christian by the work of the Holy Spirit. He had not been regenerated by God until after he graduated from college. A year later after his conversion, he decided to live for the Glory of God. At age 18 and 19 he wrote out 70 revolutions that he was going to live by for the rest of his life. Lawson states that “they were like a spiritual compass for his soul. They would point him to Christ. He would read these resolutions once a week …, at the end of each month …, [and] at the end of each year for the rest of his life” (Lawson).

He became an associate pastor at the church in Northampton, Massachusetts, under his grandfather. When his grandfather “died in 1792, Edwards became chief pastor” (Noll) or senior pastor of the church. After getting the chief pastorate at the church, the Great Awakening began. In the 1730s He preached multiple sermons and started causing revivals (Stickel). All the revivals in the 1730s and 1740s became known as the Great Awakening. One of His most famous sermons was “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

In 1750 Jonathan Edwards was kicked from the church in Nothampton. As Chris Armstrong put it, the “ejection of Jonathan Edwards by his Northampton congregation was [messy because] … it involved the greatest theologian in American history–the central figure of the Great Awakening” (Armstrong). He opposed the view of his grandfather about the Lords Supper be taken by anyone. He view was not that and he said that “only those who publicly professed their conversion experience would be admitted to the Lord’s Supper” (Rosenmeier). And for that he was dismissed. He then became a missionary to the local Indian tribe. “Two months [before] he died of fever resulting from a smallpox inoculation,” he was made president of the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton and that is where he is buried (Rosenmeier).

He was a great man that worked for other people. He cared about people and did not worry about what people thought about him. He was a godly, pious man who was devoted to Christ (Lawson). This man is one of my heros.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Chris. “Preacher in the hands of an angry church: Jonathan Edwards’s church kicked him out after 23 years of ministry, but the crisis proved his greatness was not merely intellectual. (Integrity and Ethics).” Leadership (Carol Stream, IL) 24.1 (Wntr 2003): 52(3). General Reference Center Gold. Gale. SAN JOSE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM. 1 Nov. 2007 <http://0-find.galegroup.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org:80/itx/start.do?prodId=GRGM>.

Lawson, Steve. “Session 1” “Resolved Conference 2005.” 2005. 1 Nov. 2007

<http://www.gracechurch.org/Resolved/AudioChoice.asp> (Past Audio. Must have a log in and pay $2.00 for it.)

“Jonathan Edwards.” Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings. 1 Nov. 2007

<http://www.puritansermons.com/bio/bioedwar.htm>.

Noll, Mark A. “Edwards, Jonathan.” World Book Online Reference Center. 2007. San Jose Public Library System. 1 Nov. 2007 <http://0-www.worldbookonline.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org:80/wb/Article?id=ar174620>.

Rosenmeier, Jesper. “Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758).” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Suzanne M. Bourgoin. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 17 vols.Student Resource Center – Gold. Thomson Gale. SAN JOSE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM. 1 Nov. 2007 <http://0-find.galegroup.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org:80/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GBRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EK1631001992&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=sjpllib&version=1.0>.

Stickel, George W. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 270: American Philosophers Before 1950. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Philip B. Dematteis, Saint Leo University, and Leemon B. McHenry, California State University, Northridge. Gale Group, 2002. pp. 89-102. San Jose Public Library System. 1 Nov. 2007 < http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org/servlet/LitRC?YBE=A.D.&locID=sjpllib&srchtp=advathr&c=1&NR=Edwards+Jonathan&ai=U13702038&docNum=H1200011065&bConts=15023&vrsn=3&OP=contains&YDE=A.D.&DYQ=is&ca=1&ste=6&BYQ=is&tab=1&tbst=arp&n=10&GD=any>.

 

And The Violent Take It By Force

This is a post of requested prayer.
Lately I haven’t been feeling a desire for Christ, God, the Bible, to mortify sin. I’ve been struggling. I’ve been praying for God to give me a desire for Himself and His Son. A Desire for His Word. I have been praying and repenting. Asking for the Holy Spirit. I know that God must give me a desire for these things yet I still haven’t been feeling a desire for them. I don’t think it was an on the spot thing but slowly happening.
I was thinking about 20 minutes ago and I was thought, what do I do just give up and see what happens, and right at that point the part of the verse that says “the violent take it by force” popped into my head. Then I thought to myself, thats right. This isn’t a time to give up. It’s a time to take the Kingdom of Heaven by force. I must fight to get in. It isn’t a thing of going with the flow but living against the world. My natural tenancy is to Hate God and to love the world. I must fight that. I must fight the world, the flesh and the devil.
I’m not giving up. I’m fighting. I have been asking God to pull me up, no matter the cost. No matter how long it takes. I want Him to revive my heart so I desire Him and want to seek Him.
I believe it was the Holy Spirit that caused that verse to pop into my head and I thank God for His Kindness. I believe God is behind this. I believe He wants me to fight for my sanctification.

I know I can’t do this alone. I need people by my side to help me. I need people to pray for me and help me fight. It’s time to fight to enter the kingdom and time to crucify the world and it’s desires.

 

‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

So I found this Hymn and decided I would like to share it. I found it in my hymnal when I picked it up and said to myself, “This is one of the best gifts God has given me.

I randomly opened it up and found a “Worship Sequence.” It pointed me to ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. I started reading it and liked it so much I gave it my own melody. I did find it online in the Cyber Hymnal which I will quote to at the end of the post.

‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
TEXT: Louisa M. R. Snead
MUSIC: William J. Kirkpatrick

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

Refrain

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Refrain

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

Refrain

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

Refrain

You can hear find the lyrics and listen to it on the Cyber Hymnal.

Notice the last line of the refrain. That is really what caught my attention. I’ve been lacking Faith in Christ lately and I believe it is because I’ve been looking at myself instead of looking to Him. I would ask for prayer that I would focus more on my Savior, Jesus, than I would on myself. Thanks all.

For His Glory,
Mark