I think I share this guys’ love for books. Stephen offers a few suggestions for C.J. Mahaney’s challenge to master a short list of gospel-centered books. I particularly appreciated his suggestion to talk about the books we read with others…this means we have to be reading the same books as our friends. I would appreciate any advice on how to go about doing this, it’s difficult for folks to commit to reading the exact same book at the exact same time on the exact same schedule. Any help?

I received an email today asking for a screenshot of the ESV on the Kindle, I figured it has been a while since I’ve posted on my beloved Kindle so here it is.

Text Size

I’ve taken screenshots of the ESV at different text sizes. It’s interesting to note that only the book’s text size changes when you increase/decrease the font size; the navigation menus do not. This is something to consider if you are planning on using the Kindle for its ability to increase the font size, you will have to keep in mind that the menus will stay the same size no matter what you do to the font size. Click on the thumbnails for a larger view:

Text size 1

Text size 2

Text size 3

Text size 4

Text size 5

Text size 6

Text size 6 with navigation menu open

You’ll also notice that as you increase the text size, you increase the line height spacing which really cuts down on the number of verses you can display on one page.

Contrast

The contrast in these screenshots is not representative of the actual Kindle. The Kindle’s screen looks more like a newspaper with a light gray background and black text. I’ve used the Kindle for hours at a time in typical room lighting and never had any issues with eye strain though.

Awkward Navigation

After using this thing for a few months I’m still not able to look up passages as fast as I can with a paper Bible. It is fine for jumping around during a sermon or class but if you are studying something in depth, you’ll probably end up using ol’ faithful. For me the benefits are still the same:

• full text search
• having lots of books on one device
• plenty of good content available
• ability to take notes with a keyboard
• free internet access!

I found a site with a good description and a tool to help aid in the memorization of long texts. Basically, you write out the text once and then plug the text into a converter that will give you the first letter of every word. Reading over the first letters seems to be a good way to help in your memorization though I can’t say this has worked for me yet (I just found it today!).

A definition first from the 9Marks website:

Expositional Preaching - a sermon which takes the point of the text as the point of the sermon

Kind of short but it gets the point across if you have never heard of expositional preaching. I would think most people are familiar with topical preaching, where the preacher picks a topic, loving your neighbor for example, and then finds supporting verses in the Bible that back up his argument. Expository preaching differs in that the preacher picks a text and then opens up the meaning of that text for the duration of the sermon. We have an early example of this in Nehemiah 8 when Ezra read through the Law from early morning until midday and gave sense to the reading so that the people could understand (verse 8). So topical preaching would answer the question what does God’s word have to say about xyz and expository preaching would answer the question what does God’s word say?

The pastor at my family’s church is difficult to categorize but he is typically textual (he begins with a text but that text is not always his main point). A few weeks back his Easter sermon (audio/video) was an exposition of Luke 24 (The road to Emmaus). I have heard so many people say how great a sermon it was over the past few weeks. It was a great sermon no doubt, but I suspect the reason for all the buzz is that we really love expository preaching and here’s why I think that:

1. Not from man, but God - Nehemiah 8:8 said they read from the Law of God. When a preacher opens up a text his hearers know that they are hearing from God’s word and not just a topic. They know that for the next 30-60 minutes they will be hearing what God has to say.
2. Digging down, not across - usually in a topical sermon, the preacher needs multiple references to make his point. You’ll typically bounce from place to place in the Bible without really dwelling on any one particular text. Expository preaching parks you on one text for the majority of the sermon, it says in Neh. 8:3 that they read from morning until midday, that’s a long time to be in the word. When the sermon is finished, you have spent all that time in one spot, pondering what God is saying and digging deeper into one text rather than skimming the surface of a few.
3. Fellowship in the word - next time you’re listening to a sermon, listen for a phrase like “and then it says in verse 3…” and watch the congregation. You’ll see a wave of heads drop down in unison to look down at their Bibles and see what the next verse says. It’s a great sight. But the best part is knowing that you’re all reading the same text, struggling through it, questioning its meaning and application for your lives. Neh. 8:1 tells us that the people gathered as one man in the square to hear the reading of the word of God. They were unified in their desire to hear the word and later on (verse 17) they were unified in their application of it.
4. Great worship results - after hearing the word, the people went away to eat, to drink, to celebrate a great festival because they understood the words which had been made known to them (verse 12). The word convicts, it pierces, it breaks down pride, it divides but it in the end it always brings about worship. The people mourned first (verse 9) but were soon brought to a place of thankfulness and joy in God. We thank God for His word and the wisdom and truth found in it.
5. Application is given - in verse 14 it says they found written in the Law what they should do. When we spend time searching through a passage, the application of it to our lives is easily found. There is no question as to the application when it comes directly from the text and no outside source.

Topical and textual preaching are necessary for the growth of the body and have their place on Sunday mornings. Expository preaching has such an impact and lasting effect because of the length and breadth spent directly in God’s word, searching for its meaning and application for our lives.

I’d like to hear from you, do you prefer one type of preaching over another? Is it important one way or another? Would you add to my list of 5 reasons? Thanks!

John MacArthur’s personal claim is that he is committed to expository preaching and is one of the finest expositors of God’s word today if you would like to hear more.

The other day I posted an attempt at humor, drawing some scientific research into the free-will debate. Apparently Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert cartoon, picked up on that same research as well. His blog is alive with all types of comments with people drawing similar conclusions on this research and relating it to Calvinism.

This is not the first comic strip artist to attempt theology though:

Thanks Justin Taylor for being the first Google hit for this cartoon…

Together for the Gospel is going on right now in Louisville, KY. You can check out Tim Challies’ liveblogging of the event or wait for the talks to be posted on the T4G blog. This years’ speakers will be Ligon Duncan, Thabiti Anyabwile, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, RC Sproul, Al Mohler, John Piper and CJ Mahaney. Enjoy!

“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” 1 Timothy 1:3-11

There is a doctrine that is in accordance with the gospel and a teaching that is not. Jesus entrusted this teaching to the apostles to spread to the entire world (Matt. 28:20) and the other came about as a result of speculating and guessing. How do you tell the difference? How do you know what to listen to? One simple test is this: is it in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God? Teaching in accordance with the gospel will always be Christ-centered, Christ-exalting, Christ-loving, and Christ-glorifying. It will never add to the gospel or take away from it; proper doctrine is drawn from the gospel.

“And there they continued to preach the gospel” - Acts 14:7

Each Tuesday a different reflection on the gospel and its continual effect on our lives

In Christian circles, this debate has been going on for centuries. Both sides of the discussion bring plenty of Scripture references that prove, in their minds, that man does or does not have free-will. But neither side has ever brought in an argument from science….until now. Apparently a team of scientists was able to show that the brain has already made up its mind before the will even begins to think about the decision it has to make. From the article:

“The outcome of a decision is shaped very strongly by brain activity much earlier than the point in time when you feel to be making a decision.”

This was kind of a neat experiment. They put a few subjects in an MRI scanner and told them to randomly, whenever they felt like it, press a button in either their left or right hand. They scanned the areas of the brain that dealt with decision making and were able to form patterns and “predict” which button they were going to press with 60% accuracy up to 10 seconds before they actually pressed the button. So, I suppose anything better than 50% was good enough for them to say that the brain is working and affecting your will long before you feel like your will has kicked in and you make a decision and hence we don’t have free-will.

Fuel for Calvinists? Shame for Arminians? Not likely.

I stumbled upon Theodore Hildebrandt’s faculty website at Gordon College and was blown away by the list of great references he has there. Of particular interest to me right now are these short animated videos for studying NT Greek. Thank you Dr. Hildebrandt!

D.A. Carson spoke, along with Steve Lawson and Tim Challies, at the Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology. These are from back in February but I just now got around to listening to them. (HT: Andy Naselli)

• Keeping Up with the Conversation - D.A. Carson
• The Power of the Gospel - Steve Lawson
• The Gospel and Postmodern Minds  - D.A. Carson
• Bring the Book! - Steve Lawson
• Loving God With Your Mind - Tim Challies
• We Preach Christ Crucified - D.A. Carson
• The God Who Helps - D.A. Carson

I was particularly helped by Carson’s We Preach Christ Crucified which outlined the gospel very well.

Also, if I may, I’d just like to point out what a blessing it is for me to have sermons/lectures/conference audio to listen to while I’m in the car. I’m sure everyone has their methods for doing this but here is how I go about it, hopefully this encourages you to make good use of your time sitting in traffic:

1. Get yourself an MP3 player and a cassette adapter for your car stereo, it doesn’t have to be an iPod, any device will do
2. Find some preachers/teachers you enjoy listening to and download them to your computer (try here, here, or here for some help)
3. Create a playlist on your computer and call it “unheard sermons” add all the sermons you downloaded to that playlist
4. Sync your MP3 player with your computer and select your unheard sermons playlist next time you hop in your car
5. As you listen to sermons remove them from your playlist so that you know which ones you’ve listened to in the past
6. As you download more sermons, be sure to add them to the end of the list so that you don’t skip any

Please let me know if you have found a different or better way of doing this, I’d love to hear of better methods!