Justin Taylor's Blog, page 319

Am I Really a Christian?

Mike McKinley's new book (in the 9Marks series) is entitled Am I Really A Christian?.

You can read the table of contents and the introduction online.

Some commendations:

"There can be no more important question than 'Am I really a Christian?' and Mike McKinley helps us answer it with great skill. He manages to challenge nominal Christians while comforting genuine believers. McKinley's writing is accessible, engaging, and simple without ever being simplistic. I particularly appreciate the way he encourages us to explore this crucial question in the context of a Christian community. If you're not sure where you stand before God, or you know someone who's not sure, then this is the book for you."

—Tim Chester

"Can any question in life be as important as knowing whether you are right with God, whether you are going to Heaven or Hell? I'm quite sure that every person now in eternity—with not a single exception among the billions there—would affirm the urgency and priority of pursuing the answer to such a question. That's why, if you have any uncertainties about the answer for your own situation, you should read this book. Some day, on a day as real as the one in which you entered the world, as real as the one in which you are reading these words, you will enter another world. There you will remain forever. Are you ready? If not, this book will help you understand how the Bible says to prepare."

—Donald S. Whitney

"Simple, piercing, winsome, practical, honest, direct and pastoral. If you know anyone questioning their conversion (or who should be questioning!), get this book!"

—Dave Harvey

Dane Ortlund recently interviewed Mike McKinley about the book:

What Does It Mean to Act Like a Man?

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. . . . If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. . . . My love be with you all in Christ Jesus." —1 Cor. 16:13, 14, 22, 24

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her . . . In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. . . . . Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."—Eph. 5:25-33

A Nice Little Introduction to This Blog

John Bunyan:

If thou findest me short in things, impute that to my love of brevity.

If thou findest me besides the truth in aught [any respect], impute that to my infirmity.

But if thou findest anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on thee and me.

Yours to serve you with what little I have.

—John Bunyan, Note to Reader, "Saved by Grace," in The Works of John Bunyan, 1:336.

HT: Tony Reinke

Who Will Receive the Crown?

"Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."

—2 Timothy 4:8

"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."

—James 1:12

(My view would be that the golden crown of life/glory/righteousness is referring to one "crown" and that this has to do with final salvation not rewards.)

How Do You Identify Future Pastors in Your Local Congregations? Am I Called?

The book-length resource I'd point to in answer to the first question is Brian Croft's Test, Train, Affirm, and Send Into Ministry: Recovering the Local Church's Responsibility in the External Call.

The best book I know of for potential or prospective pastors and leaders is Dave Harvey's forthcoming Am I Called? The Summons to Pastoral Ministry, with a foreword by Matt Chandler.

And here's a new 10-minute TGC video with David Helm, Mike Bullmore, and Bryan Chapell talking about how to identify such leaders:

For more of Harvey's perspective, see the following discussion:

How Do You Identify Future Pastors in Your Local Congregations?

The book-length resource I'd point to in answer to that question is Brian Croft's Test, Train, Affirm, and Send Into Ministry: Recovering the Local Church's Responsibility in the External Call.

The best book I know of for potential or prospective pastors and leaders is Dave Harvey's forthcoming Am I Called? The Summons to Pastoral Ministry, with a foreword by Matt Chandler.

And here's a new 10-minute TGC video with David Helm, Mike Bullmore, and Bryan Chapell talking about how to identify such leaders:

Motherhood and Mission Fields

Rachel Jankovich, author of Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches:

If you are a Christian woman who loves the Lord, the gospel is important to you. It is easy to become discouraged, thinking that the work you are doing does not matter much. If you were really doing something for Christ you would be out there, somewhere else, doing it. Even if you have a great perspective on your role in the kingdom, it is easy to lose sight of it in the mismatched socks, in the morning sickness, in the dirty dishes. It is easy to confuse intrigue with value, and begin viewing yourself as the least valuable part of the Church.

There are a number of ways in which mothers need to study their own roles, and begin to see them, not as boring and inconsequential, but as home, the headwaters of missions.

Another excerpt:

It is easy to think you have a heart for orphans on the other side of the world, but if you spend your time at home resenting the imposition your children are on you, you do not. You cannot have a heart for the gospel and a fussiness about your life at the same time. You will never make any difference there if you cannot be at peace here. You cannot have a heart for missions, but not for the people around you. A true love of the gospel overflows and overpowers. It will be in everything you do, however drab, however simple, however repetitive.

You can read the whole thing here.

See also Jani Ortlund's "For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt, and Seasons of Life".

The Dalai Lama Walks into a Pizza Shop…

Awkward:

HT: Denny Burk

Last-Minute Father's Day Gifts or Summer Reading Ideas

I know the subject could sound a bit morbid, but it so happens that next to our bed this past month have been some books on assassination attempts on two American presidents. The books cover short spans, slices really, of American history, but the events are significant and the books are meticulously researched and conveyed in a page-turning way.

James Swanson's Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse is a sequel of sorts to his fantastic Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (probably the best historical narrative I've read). In the follow-up book, Swanson traces the final journeys of the two Presidents—Lincoln and Davis—in April of 1865.

Surprisingly, the latter book does not contain mere repeats of the earlier material. Swanson explains how he did this in an interview with Amazon:

I needed to return to the assassination, but I did not want to repeat material from Manhunt. I solved that problem by, like a film director, shifting the camera and pointing it in a different direction. In Manhunt, my camera captured every moment of action inside Ford's Theatre. In Bloody Crimes, that camera never sets foot inside Ford's, but instead takes position inside the Petersen House, capturing the assassination through fresh eyes, those of the boarders who lived there and the visitors who descended upon it. In Manhunt, once Lincoln was dead, he ceased to be a principal character in the book. In Bloody Crimes, though Lincoln is dead, he remains a vital character until the end.

(There are also Young Adult—grades 5 and up—versions of these two books: Chasing Lincoln's Killer and Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis.)

The other book is Del Quentin Wilber's Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan.

Here's a description:

On March 30, 1981, President Reagan walked out of a hotel in Washington, D.C., and was shot by a would-be assassin. For years, few people knew the truth about how close the president came to dying, and no one has ever written a detailed narrative of that harrowing day. Now, drawing on exclusive new interviews, Del Quentin Wilber tells the electrifying story of a moment when the nation faced a terrifying crisis. With cinematic clarity, we see the Secret Service agent whose fast reflexes saved the president's life; the brilliant surgeons who operated on Reagan as he was losing half his blood; and the small group of White House officials frantically trying to determine whether the country was under attack. Most especially, we encounter the man code-named Rawhide, a leader of uncommon grace who inspired affection and awe in everyone who worked with him.

Ronald Reagan was the only serving U.S. president to survive being shot in an assassination attempt. In Rawhide Down, the story of that perilous day—a day of chaos, crisis, prayer, heroism, and hope—is brought to life as never before.

Trevin Wax has highlighted some of the ways in which Reagan used his trademark humor—even when his life was on the line—as he interacted with those seeking to avoid a successful assassination. (To his wife: "Honey, I forgot to duck." To his surgeons: "I hope you all are Republicans!")

We learn about John Hinckley and get to read his disturbed love notes and hear his phone calls to the young actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley expected that he would be killed on the spot by the Secret Service but that Jodie would finally be impressed.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is that Wilber was given access to secret tape recordings made in the White House that day by National Security Advisor Richard Allen. With Vice President George H.W. Bush en route back to the White House but with poor communication technology, Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously declared in a news conference, "As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the Vice President and in close touch with him." Now we can essentially "hear" for ourselves the tension that led up to this moment and followed from it. I found it a fascinating book from start to finish.

Below are a couple of videos that tie into the books if you want more information.

International Church Planting

The latest 9Marks interview is with Mack Stiles and Dave Furman: "Two founders of a bustling new church plant in the United Arab Emirates discuss how to create a culture for church planting, how to leave the sending church, and other lessons for new planters."