How We Speak

God is very interested in how we speak, not just what we say but also with the way and manner in which words cross our lips.


Here's a couple of examples:


Colossians 4:5-6
"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

Ephesians 4:15
"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ..."



It's difficult to read these and not feel the cry of:

"Set a gaurd over my lips that i should not (even when defending or proclaiming truth) be angry, harsh, proud, or simply a 'wingnut.'
Help me to glorify you with words spoken in overflowing, intentional tones of love that are rooted in grace."

Understanding the Bible - Vigorous Effort that depends on the Spirit of God

Grant R. Osbourne, in 'The Hermeneutical Spiral' gives a great overview of the relationship between our effort in study/preaching with our dependence upon the Spirit. Though primarily speaking to pastors my guess is that these principles are true for everyone who reads the Bible and seeks to share the Gospel.



First he tells us of our dependence:

"The sermon must be forged in a spirit of dependence and devotion, that the strength may be of the Spirit rather than of the flesh. The effects of the gospel are entirely the result of the Spirit rather than of our skill."


Next he tells us that, although the Spirit aids us we are responsible to study hard

"While the Spirit enables the reader to gain insight into the Word, he does not provide that information for the reader. We still must utilize our rational capacity to draw inferences from the data..."


"The Spirit makes it possible for the reader to use every faculty to discern the Word and apply it"


He continues reminding us of the task and reminds us of influences that may shape our understanding:

"On difficult passages we must use every tool we can muster, but we still will often read a text the way our experience and theological proclivities dictate."


And he reminds us of the great hope we have when we share the Gospel:

"... the triune Godhead is incorporated within our ministry of the Word and empowers us as we share its message."



[The Hermeneutical Spiral by Grant R. Osborne page 453-454]

Invest in Younger Men

The Resurgence says every man should watch this . . .

"Church Planter" by Darrin Patrick from Crossway on Vimeo.

HT:Crossway

Purchasing a Bible ~ Give

My last post was about buying Bibles for yourself. But there is something amiss if i left it there!

Countless people in the world do not have a Bible, nor access, nor even the means to acquire one. This is tragic!

Why not consider the donation of Bibles to those without.
Why not consider a friend or family member who you could prayerfully give one to.

Many organizations welcome Bibles, old & new. Why not donate?

Purchasing a Bible - Advice

In purchasing a Bible i would recommend a few things.

First: the purchase of a good Study Bible.
I'd go for the hardback which is often cheaper. I recommend this because quite often a study Bible is rather large to be carrying around as your main Bible. But they are extremely helpful (i talked about this a few days ago)
The money would be best going into the following point or to global missions (your choice).

Second: spend the money on a Bible with high quality binding.
I've purchased Bibles before only to have the binding loosen and come apart within weeks of purchase. A well bound Bible from somewhere like Allan's is definitely worth it in the long run and should last you for life.


Other aspects to consider:
Do you want a wide margin for notes?
Is the text block easy on your eyes or straining to them?
Paper quality; this comes to play when taking notes (i recommend 'pigma micron 005 pens).
Which translation will best reveal the original intent and be of most benefit in knowing God? (Take your time & look into them).
Check out the Bible Design Blog for reviews etc.


What advice would you give?

From Milk To Meat - Studying Scripture

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

(Hebrews 5:12-14 ESV)

Mike Hubbard brings these verses to our modern day church culture when he says:

"We really have a church culture . . . of people, who, the mindset is 'I'm gonna come sit on Sunday and I'm gonna listen someone bottle feed me and then we'll go on with our lives and that'll be enough for the week."


He counters this with stirring and challenging words:

"We really have to reach a point where we're not reliant on others . . . You have to come to the point where YOU rightly handle the Word of Truth."



Listen the whole sermon here

Recommending Study Bibles

Study Bibles are of huge help in understanding the Bible. They help us with background knowledge, context, historical and archaeological notes etc which all build to grant us a better understanding of the authors original intent.

My first Study Bible was a NKJV Macarthur Study Bible
(now available in ESV) which i used for many years before the *ESVSB landed in the reformed, evangelical world. Recently i've been enjoying the Reformation Study Bible which  is also very very helpful.

Probably my choice amongst these is the ESVSB, & not just because its size gives it multi purposes (eg step stool for Jake).


Which SB do you use?




*Study notes are not inspired and so, whilst being a great help they must also assessed by the whole of Scripture.
Discernment is required when reading anything, and the same applies to even the best of Study Bibles.


You can purchase any of these (or many others) at Inspire Books & Gifts, or by clicking the links above.

Rambling Thought Concerning Psalms

Longman and Dillard in their Introduction to the Old Testament write:


"The piety and devotional mood that permeate the psalms and that find their origin in an intense personal relationship with God strike a responsive chord among modern men and women."

(page237)

This is certainly a true statement. But as i've considered it (most of yesterday) that phrase of " . . . an intense relationship with God . . ." has troubled me.
I'm asking whether it's enough to be moved by something written by someone else who was in this type of relationship with God. Sure we may be moved by it, we may even pray or sing the psalms to God, and these are great and noble things; but i think the challenge goes deeper.

Surely the focus falls on our own relationship with God. Are we moved because of the piety and devotional mood, or because we are intensely involved with Jesus and these are expressions we can empathise with and use as our own?

The BBCU

The BBCU is an important part of our daily communication.
It is especially important when it comes to the gossiping about, or slagging of someone else.

We may spend ten minutes ripping to shreds a persons character, skills, style, actions and words etc. Then perform a BBCU such as "He's a good fella" or "He does a good work"

BBCU means 'Back-Bite Cover-Up'

Any gossiping slanderer is primarily on the attack as they send a tirade of words in an assault against someone (who is most likely not even there). Of the few weapons of defence used by us in slander we usually perform a Back-Bite Cover-Up; not as means of salvaging the persons reputation, but of protecting our own. The BBCU is all about having our listeners go away thinking that our last words were complimentary and we had a balanced assessment of the target.

The BBCU is an attempt to draw attention away from the sins of our mouth which have poured forth in the moments before. It is a 'tap-on' at the end to make us look less like a back-biting, gossiping, slanderous, sinner who's state is probably worse than the one who we focussed our attack on.


Why am i writing a post about it? I don't really know . . . it's a practice among some of my friends to point out BBCU's as we use them and i guess it's made it easy to spot in other areas.
Watch out for them, and i guess more importantly we should set guard over our own lips so that we don't speak words that gossip or lead to a BBCU.

What BBCU phrases can you think of?

Grace in Grace out

"For God giveth no man his grace, that he should let it lie still and do no good withal; but that he should increase it, and multiply it, with lending it to other, and with open declaring of it with the outward works provoke and draw other to God."

William Tyndale