Top Commentaries on every book of the Bible

This list, compiled by Keith Mathison, may come in handy.

(HT:  Challies)

 

2 Posts for Pastors or understanding pastors

First read this post titled Why are pastors so needy? (HT:  Matt via facebook)

Then go read my friend Ken’s post Every pastor needs a pastor

 

Driscoll on Idolatry

In Mark Driscoll’s talk “Ministry Idolatry” at the Advance 09 Conference in early June, he spoke of our idolatry in this way:

We take a good thing, make it a God thing, and that’s a bad thing.

All of the audio for this conference can be found here.  I have listened to many of the messages and have been convicted, challenged, and comforted by what I have heard.

(HT:  Ken for recommending these messages)

 

John Piper on Movies & TV

There is much to commend in this brief article by John Piper:   Why I Don’t Have A Television and Rarely Go to Movies.  Even if we should disagree or have different practices.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

 

Justification Primer

From Christianity Today…

Article and link to the primer (pdf file) can be found here.

 

Odds & Ends

1.  Finally got around to updating some of the information on the blog, particularly with reference to my location & position here at North Hills Church in Meridianville, AL.

2.  I like the creativity of someone to suggest that William & Mary change their mascot to an Asparagus

The asparagus stalk supporter notes that if served with cheese, the vegetable represents the school colors.

Maybe this has already been thought of but the Aspargus mascot could be called Asparaguy.

3.  World Magazine named the ESV Study Bible the book of the year in their recent books issue.  I certainly have enjoyed it.

4.  I also enjoyed listening to Mosaic Whispers (a coed a capella group out of Washington University in St. Louis) on youtube.  (HT:  JT)

5.  I may get back to more regular blogging one of these days.  Not making any promises…

 

If you need to smile today…

This is just good rain delay college baseball tournament fun…

HT:  Georgia Sports Blog

 

Maybe it’s me…

I just have trouble getting excited about a pastor’s statement regarding the growth of his church in a difficult locale:

Does frozen ground necessarily imply hardened hearts? Not if a charismatic congregation in Connecticut is any indication. This thriving assembly is challenging the notion that churches in New England won’t grow beyond a few hundred members.

Faith Church in New Milford, Conn., is growing 25 percent annually, and today has roughly 2,000 members in a region considered one of the most difficult to evangelize in the U.S. “People are people, and the gospel is the gospel no matter where it is preached,” said Faith Church pastor Frank Santora, 37. “My message is, ‘With Christ on your side, you can win in life and you can overcome.’”

I hope there is more to the message than that and I wonder how that message would “preach” in Communist China or in Saudi Arabia.

 

Public Service Announcement: HMU Operations Relocation

The operations hub of the Help My Unbelief blog has officially relocated to the great city of Huntsville, Alabama.  Permanent housing should be secured tomorrow morning and many ruminations will culminate and emanate from North Hills Church.

At this point, you may be wondering how I can substantiate these claim of greatness for a city that I can call home for all of about six hours at this point.  Well, you don’t have to take my word for it…

Kiplinger has released a rankings of the top ten cities in the US:

Today, many cities are relying on government programs, universities and stalwart industries, such as health care, to bolster employment in a weak economy. Those factors appeared frequently when we assembled candidates for our 2009 Best Cities list, which focuses on places that have stable employment plus the talent to create new, well-paying positions. A robust job market makes these cities safe havens during the recession and will give them a head start toward growth when the recovery takes off.

Guess who is number one?  That’s right…Huntsville.   Needless to say, this was encouraging for us to read and we are excited about our new community, house, & church.  You’ll also be glad to know that another one of my favorite towns ranked number 5…Athens, GA.

 

World’s Best Visual Illusions

From The American Institute of Physics & Inside Science New Service:

The three best visual illusions in the world were chosen at a gathering last weekend of neuroscientists and psychologists at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Florida.

The winning entry, from a Bucknell University professor, may help explain why curve balls in baseball are so tricky to hit.

Click on the link above to see the visual illusions.  As a fan of baseball, I found this very interesting.

(HT:  Chris, my brother)

 

April Book(s?)

Apparently another casualty of our current lives (see previous post)  is the lack of reading and/or my inability to remember or write down what I finished reading.  As it is, here is the one book that I have written down that I finished reading:

• The Mystery of the Holy Spirit by RC Sproul:  this book was used in a brief sunday school class.  This is standard Sproul, making difficult topics accessible and understandable, without shying away from difficult topics or ideas.  Helpful book and definitely recommended, though personally I may prefer Sinclair Ferguson’s more in depth The Holy Spirit.

Not sure if I read something else or haven’t been reading as much.

 

Bad Blogger!

I’m a bad blogger…

If you know us, you know the past few months have been interesting to say the least as we work on transitioning down to Huntsville, Alabama so that I can begin a new position (sr. pastor) at North Hills Church (PCA) in Meridianville, Alabama.  Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the past month:

• A disappointing near sale of our house over Easter weekend
• A house hunting trip to AL
• An amazing, even better than we could have imagined, sale of our house the weekend after Easter (we closed on May 1)
• Getting a contract finalized on a house in Meridianville and all of the related phone calls, emails, etc… that have gone along with that.
• Packing up our house…still working on that…
• Packing up my office (27 boxes of books and notebooks)
• Replacing the a/c on both of our cars
• Lydia’s work computer dying, mine on the fritz (they couldn’t figure out what was wrong when I took it in recently…and the problems continue!)
• Taking our cat to the vet and not being certain of his health (it didn’t look good for a day or two, but he’s better now).
• Saying goodbye to our church family here at Calvary in Norfolk, VA – we had a farewell on May 3rd.  I preached that Sunday as well and did my last youth group meeting.  It was an incredibly encouraging and exhausting day.
• Contemplating leaving a place that has really been home (we weren’t just passing through)  to us for the past five years.

I have probably forgotten a few things and intentionally left out some more personal matters that have been a part of the fabric of our lives recently.

Next up:

• packing our worldly belongings on a trailer (this coming monday, May 18)
• leaving town on Thursday, May 21 and traveling to Atlanta
• Saturday, May 23 attending a high school youth group reunion
• spending time with family
• traveling to Huntsville on Tuesday and closing on our new home on Wednesday
• starting work on June 1, installation service on June 7th.

 

Matt Chandler: “Jesus want the rose!”

Here’s a video of Matt Chandler at the recent Desiring God Conference on the point of the Gospel.  You must listen to this: