Books: My Wishlist and My Recommendations from 2008

a)

Well, I've shared with you my gamer wishlist, my rassling wishlist, and now I've updated my wishlist with my young-theology-nerd wishlist. I'm expecting that this will be the best Christmas yet.

b)

This was an even better year for reading for me, and I think I read books that really shaped my thinking. Here are some that I recommend.


John Macarthur - Here's the thing: this brother is faithful to the Bible, he believes in the Bible, and he loves the Bible. I have learned so much from him because of his steadfast commitment to the Word. So much more could be said about the Evangelistic impact of his Church, his love for his flock, and his work in training up men to train up men all around the world, but what I am most thankful for learning this: what I need more of is the transforming power of God's Word.


Please believe me, his sermons are all available online now. Pick a passage and see if he does not expand your understanding and, as a result, enable you to see its application to your life. Get his books too.


Here's other stuff I read this year that I highly recommend:


The Holiness of God - RC Sproul

This book will make you treasure and thirst for His Holiness in your life.

Eric Liddell: Pure Gold - David McCasland

This book was a surprisingly enjoyable and inspiring biography of a real hero: a man of integrity and a man who practiced good stewardship of God's gifts.

The Roman Catholic Controversy - James R. White

So very few people are aware of the real divide between Evangelicals and Catholics. I have personally seen that this produces an environment where the unprepared are won by the intellectual vigor and devoutness of Catholic apologists, and in the process rejecting the precious truths of Scripture Alone and Faith Alone. We must be more prepared. For the most part, this is a very accessible and charitable survey of the major issues, written by a scholar who has had sharpened his arguments through public scholarly debate.

Anyways, I read more books, but I think anyone could benefit from these books, not just people like me who like books.

c)

Merry Christmas :)!

Is Your Preacher Preaching the Gospel?, The Showstopper, and The Universal Presence

a)

Are you aware that if you move to my city and want to find a Church, you can read or listen to dozens of sermons by different pastors in the area thanks to the information Megazord that is the internet? As I reflected on this, I thought it would be a really cool idea to contrast and compare the preachers in my area as to how they preached the Gospel.

However, I have given up on that for a few reasons, not least of which is that I think its belittling to the Church to have a consumer’s guide to Churches. However, I think parts of my plan are still helpful. Go to your Church’s website, find the most obviously “Gospel”-sermon, and as you read or listen to it, ask the following questions:

1. Do they communicate that the sufficient and supreme source of Christ’s Truth is the Bible?
2. Do they make God bigger than man?
3. Do they explain Sin?
4. Do they explain Christ's death?
5. His righteousness?
6. His Resurrection?
7. His offer of eternal life?
8. Forgiveness of sins?
9. The need for repentence?
10. Faith?
11. New birth?
12. Lordship?
13. Heaven?

Now, I want to make some things clear:
i) I am not saying that you can base your opinion of a Church on one sermon
ii) I am not saying that you can base your opinion of a Church on the sermon in general
iii) I am not saying that you can base your opinion of a Church on the Pastor
iv) I am not saying that all those elements must be present for a full Gospel presentation
v) I am not saying that you cannot be saved unless all of those elements are present

Now, let me be clear as to why I think this has value.
i) If someone has a lot of these elements missing in an explicit Gospel presentation, they're preaching a false Gospel
ii) If someone preaches a false Gospel, it’s worthy of God’s curse (Galatians 1:9)
iii) If the Pastor doesn’t preach the Gospel, there’s a good chance the congregation doesn’t know it.
iv) If the congregation doesn’t know it, there’s a good chance that there’s a lot of goats thinking they are sheep. Which makes you wonder if you can even call it a Church at all (a Church is a body of Saints, not goats)

Well, there are many more reasons to be worried, but point is the Bible is clear as to the primary importance of the Gospel (1 Cor 15:3), and we should make sure we are going to Churches that uphold its purity.

b)

I updated my wishlist, brother!

c)

I am still reading AW Tozer’s The Pursuit of God. I don’t think everything in it is commendable, as Tozer occassional borrows from ninteenth-century Catholic mystics instead of the Word of God, resulting in some unbiblical ideas being presented. However, he was a expositor of the Word, and often has some very powerful insights.

Something that has struck me recently is his discussion of God’s omnipresence and his immanance, His being right here, right now. I know I don’t live or pray or talk about others as if it were true. I hope I will grow in this area. Here is Tozer’s prayer:

O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things. The world has been too much with me. Thou hast been here and I knew it not. I have been blind to Thy presence. Open my eyes that I may behold Thee in and around me. For Christ’s sake, Amen.

May that be our prayer as well.

Wishlist, 3 New Things, 5 Things I don't know

a.

Well, I was very sad to not be included in my Church's secret santa this year. But I saw their wishlists online, and thought I could at least create my own list. So, here is list #1, this will give you guys lots of time to order and wrap it so I can receive it next year.

b.

Three things I have started getting into recently:
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - good times
- Professional Wrestling - well, I liked wrestling before, but it is more of a rediscovery. Good times.
- Most embarassing... I have started reading the Harry Potter books. That is all I will say about that.

c.

Five things I'm not sure about but would like to know more about:

1. Definite/Limited Atonement - This is the "L" in the infamous Calvinist "TULIP". Its also probably the most misunderstood of the five. I'm not sure where I stand.

2. The role of psychology in Church counselling - Well, I have had my beef with psychology, especially after it nearly bored me to death in my first year of university. Can we be reconciled and maybe even have a profitable relationship? I don't think I would be the kind to say that we can't learn anything from psychology, or that its all a fraud, but hasn't the Church had all it needs to battle against sin and hurt before psychology? Can psychology add something that the Bible and the Holy Spirit can't supply? I'm still not sure.

3. The role of the believer in the battle against poverty

4. The process of becoming born again - is it in stages? Can someone almost have saving faith? How can someone be almost regenerate? Can someone be further down the "process" of being a "seeker"?

5. Do I really know what it means to be filled with the Spirit?

If I knew what to think about these five issues, I'd be helped a lot. However, so much research and meditation and Holy Living from past and present saints is available to us. I have strong confidence that though I don't know right now, I can find answers.