Why I switched to ESV

You may have noticed a change in the Bible I preach from. That's because, after testing the Holman Christian Standard Bible for almost a year, I've finally decided to go with the ESV.

This was a tough decision. I grew to love the accuracy and freshness of the HCSB, its translation of doulos as 'slave,' and its innovative bullet note system. But at the end of the day, the HCSB is simply too different from its cousins in the Tyndale tradition like ESV, NASB, and NKJV.

I could tell that people who came to church with another translation were having a hard time tracking with me as I preached from the Holman. And some verses that I've memorized over the years sound radically different in the HCSB. Plus, it has a few quirks like alternating between "Christ" and "Messiah" (e.g. Eph. 2:13) and the awkward phraseology "this is the Lord's declaration" (Jer. 31:31 et al).

The ESV has clearly grown in popularity among evangelicals, particularly those in the "Young, Restless, and Reformed" movement (thanks in large part to John Piper). It is accurate and elegant, and is becoming the predominant translation of my generation. It still sounds a bit antiquated at times, but much less than the KJV or even the NASB. Some of its advantages are its widespread availability, great study Bibles like the MacArthur Study Bible and ESV Study Bible, and its full integration with Logos Bible Software.

I still like the Holman Bible and expect to refer to it often in my teaching. But after a year of experimentation, I've joined the masses and will do all of my teaching and personal Bible study out of the ESV. Already, the feedback has been positive, and I'm relieved to finally settle down and begin marking up my new friend, an ESV Large Print Calfskin Bible.

Q&A Sunday

Today I spent my sermon time fielding questions from the church family. This is always a rich time as we tackle different personal and doctrinal issues and attempt to bring God's Word to bear on them.

The audio has now been uploaded to our podcast. (Click here to listen).

Here are the questions and at what point they are addressed:

0:00     Introduction & Prayer
7:00     Is my wayward child a Christian?
13:35   Can Christians be demon-possessed?
16:30   How do I treat my atheist brothers who are ridiculing me? 
25:30   My brother is obsessed with conspiracy theories.
            What should I do?
33:20   How do we reconcile God's sovereignty with
            human responsibility?
41:00   Why don't we have revival meetings today?

One Flesh: God's design for marriage

First Corinthians 7 contains one of the most detailed treatments of marriage found anywhere in the Bible. At church this morning, we concluded a five-part series on the subject, after taking some "detours" along the way to look at singleness, divorce and remarriage, contentment, and discipleship as slavery to Christ, plus two weeks while I was at the hospital to care for Natalie.

But here are the links for all five messages side-by-side. They really stand alone as an independent series.

Part 1: Purity
Marriage is one of God's antidotes to lust and sexual immorality

Part 2: Pleasure
God commands a husband and wife to be united in heart, mind, and body, and to bring pleasure to one another. (No audio available, but here is the link to the full transcript)

Part 3: Permanence
God instructs a believing husband and wife to stick together, through thick and thin.

Part 4: Permanence, cont.
Even when one spouse is an unbeliever, God still calls the believing spouse to remain faithful for the good of the home

Part 5: Perspective
This life is a short journey, so travel light. Even the best of marriages needs to keep an eternal perspective.

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At the beginning of the new year, when we launched into this series, I asked our congregation the following questions. Why not ask them for yourself, then listen to what 1 Corinthians 7 has to say:

• On a scale of 1-10 how strong would I rate my love for my spouse when I first got engaged and married? How strong is it now? Do I think this is God’s will for our marriage?
• Have I learned to tune out my spouse when they speak?
• Am I ever critical of my husband or wife when I’m around friends?
• Is our marriage relationship nothing more than a contractual obligation, just two roommates sharing the same roof?
• Have I entertained, even for one moment, the thought of divorce?
• Because of my spouse’s lack of attention, have I begun to seek emotional, relational, or sexual fulfillment in someone else?
• Do I see my spouse as someone who mainly exists to love and help and serve me, or someone God wants me to love and help and serve? In other words, is our marriage primarily self-centered or God-centered and others-oriented?
• As I’ve listed these questions, have I been thinking to myself, “I sure wish my husband or wife is listening right now,” or have I been examining my own heart?

One flesh: God's design for sex in marriage

Last Sunday morning, I preached on a delicate subject, but one pastors cannot be silent on: sexual intimacy in marriage. I did my best to be discreet and appropriate for a broad audience, yet not shy away from what the Bible teaches on this subject. We had some recording problems, so I thought I'd attach the full manuscript below...

“One Flesh: God’s Design for Marriage, Part Two”

1 Corinthians 7:3-6

Pastor Stephen Jones

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Introduction
You’ve probably heard of Corrie Ten Boom. She and her family were Christians living in Holland during World War II, and are best known for hiding Jews from the Nazis. Eventually, her family was taken to a concentration camp, where her sister and father both died. I highly recommend her book The Hiding Place, which you can find in our church library. It's a beautiful story of God's providence in the midst of chaos and suffering.

In that book, she recounts the train rides she would sometimes take with her dad – a time she always cherished.

Oftentimes I would use the trip home to bring up things that were troubling me, since anything I asked at home was promptly answered by the aunts. Once – I must have been ten or eleven – I asked Father about a poem we had read as school the winter before. One line had described ‘a young man whose face was not shadowed by sexsin.’ I had been far too shy to ask the teacher what it meant, and Mama had blushed scarlet when I consulted her. In those days just after the turn of the century, sex was never discussed, even at home. So the line had stuck in my head. ‘Sex,’ I was pretty sure, meant whether you were a boy or a girl, and ‘sin’ made Tante Jans very angry, but what the two together meant I could not imagine. And so, seated next to Father in the train compartment, I suddenly asked, ‘Father, what is sexsin?’
He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor.
‘Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?’ he said.
I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
‘It’s too heavy,’ I said.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It’s the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.’
And I was satisfied. More than satisfied – wonderfully at peace. There were answers to this and all my hard questions – for now I was content to leave them in my father’s keeping.

Certainly, there is some knowledge too heavy for children to bear. But eventually, we have a duty to discuss with both children and adults what God says on every matter of life, including physical intimacy and marital relations. We dare not let the world do all the talking and set the moral standards in this area.

This morning, we’re going to have such a discussion. We are studying through the book of 1 Corinthians, and this morning, we arrive at chapter 7 verse 3, where Paul teaches on the subject of sex. Because of this, our conversation this morning will be somewhat explicit, though I plan to go no further than the Scriptures themselves.

It’s not my intent to shock you, or to talk dirty, or to make you feel uncomfortable in any way. But I do have a responsibility to preach the whole council of God, and believe God could use this text in a mighty way to teach our singles what they need to prepare for, to strengthen the marriages in our church, and even to heal any marriages who are hurting and broken right now.

I’ll tell you up front, this is a message for mature audiences. I’m thinking teenage and older. If your children are listening with you this morning, I’ll let you decide if your children are mature enough to listen. If you are hesitant at all, you may want to listen for yourself first, then share the recording with them later. We have a children’s church program going on right now over in Bldg. C, and you’re more than welcome to take your children over there -- even if they’re above grade school level. This is totally a parental decision. None of us will judge you for stepping out. I want you to do whatever you think is best.

The passage

For the rest of us, please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, if you haven’t done so already. You’ll remember that last week, we began a sermon series on chapter 7 which I’ve entitled “One Flesh: God’s design for marriage.” We were challenged to make a New Year’s Resolution before God to improve our marriages in 2011. We looked briefly at the theme of purity. That is, one of the purposes of marriage, and reasons why it is good for many to get married, is to remain sexually pure, not giving into the temptation of sexual sin. You’ll notice that again as I begin reading in verse 1...

1 Corinthians 7:1–9 (HCSB) About the things you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have relations with a woman.” But because of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. A wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband does. Equally, a husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife does. Do not deprive one another—except when you agree, for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all people were just like me. But each has his own gift from God, one this and another that. I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am. But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your Word this morning, and that it speaks to every matter of life and godliness. Help us, as Your Word says, to put to death whatever is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Help us put away all anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from our mouths. Help us put off the old man with his practices, and fully put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of our Creator. Let us approach Your Word this morning not with a morbid curiosity for what is sinful, but with a sincere desire to know You better and more fully serve our spouse. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

This morning, we move on to our second theme of marriage, which is pleasure. The text I have read just makes clear that God has designed for a husband and wife to be united in heart, mind, and yes, even in body. There are two points to our outline. First, we’ll look at the exhortation in verses 3-5. Then we’ll close by seeing one exception, in verses 5-6.

The Exhortation: Please Your Mate (vv. 3-5a)

God’s Word teaches that one of the main purposes of marriage is for a husband or wife to bring pleasure to one another. God intends for you to love your spouse by taking a genuine interest in their desires and stepping out of your own comfort zone, so to speak, to serve them, meet their needs, and express selfless love to them.

This is true in every area of live, but particularly here in the area of sex. You have a duty before God to have sex together. Paul says this in several different ways.

In verse 3, Paul says, that a husband is to “fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.” It is very clear that Paul is speaking of sex within marriage. God commands a husband and wife to know each other in the fullest sense of the word and enjoy physical intimacy. But Paul goes on.

In verse 4, Paul states, “A wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband does.” Paul very quickly follows this statement up, lest we think a woman is somehow to be a doormat or be barked at, but saying, “Equally, a husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife does.”

In short, your spouse now has authority over your body. When you exchanged marriage vows, you gave up all personal rights and demands. When I said “I do” to my wife, I was saying I no longer have authority over my decisions. I no longer have authority over my finances. I no longer have authority over the color scheme in our house. I no longer have authority over my goals and ambitions in life. And I no longer have authority over my body. That has been given over to my wife.

In marriage, God now intends for your body to be a source of pleasure for your spouse. It would be wrong for you to demand sex from your spouse, because your body is no longer your own. But it would be equally wrong for you to withhold sex from your spouse. You must each be mindful of the needs and desires of the other. I believe this is the principle Paul teaches over in Ephesians 5 as well, where husbands use their God-given authority to love and serve their wives, and wives respond by showing submission and respect to their husbands.

In verse five, Paul gives this exhortation one more time. “Do not deprive one another,” he says. Or we could literally translate it, “Stop depriving one another!” since that is apparently what some of the Corinthians were doing, thinking it was somehow more spiritual to abstain from sex between husband and wife. But Paul says just the opposite. It’s not more spiritual. It’s actually sinful!

Paul concludes this verse by saying, even if you pause momentarily for prayer, you are to come together again; otherwise, Satan may take advantage of this moment of weakness, and tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

From these verses, we learn that sex between a husband and wife is not merely an option. It is not a suggestion. It is not a necessary evil to create offspring. It is a good thing, and it is a duty. But it is more than a duty. It is intended by God to be a privilege, a joy, and a pleasure!

Supporting Scriptures

Let’s look at a few other Scriptures that teach on this subject.

In Genesis 2:23, right after God has created a wife for Adam, he declares with his pulse pounding, “This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man!” Shortly after, it says that they “became one flesh” and that they were “naked, yet felt no shame.” God created Adam to need Eve, and Eve to perfectly complement Adam. In every way, they were to be united together and enjoy complete intimacy. This was God’s design.

In Proverbs 5, God says that men are to “Drink water from your own cistern, water flowing from your own well…Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful fawn— let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever” (vv. 15, 18-19). Notice the words that describe our marital duty: drink, blessed, pleasure, satisfy, be lost in her love. The one flesh sexual union is to satisfy and bring mutual pleasure to both husband and wife, and as we saw last week, is a great preventative to sexual immorality.

But without a doubt, the Bible’s most exhaustive treatment of this subject is found in the book called the Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs. I firmly reject the idea that this is an allegory of the relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church. No, this should be taken at face value. It is a beautiful love letter between Solomon and his bride, the Shulamite (6:13). It is every bit as inspired by God as any other part of the Scriptures. Listen to these words, the sexual overtones, how they describe one another’s bodies, the use of all the senses, and the holy delight between a husband and wife…

Song of Solomon 4:1–7 How beautiful you are, my darling. How very beautiful! Behind your veil, your eyes are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from washing, each one having a twin, and not one missing. Your lips are like a scarlet cord, and your mouth is lovely. Behind your veil, your brow is like a slice of pomegranate. Your neck is like the tower of David, constructed in layers. A thousand bucklers are hung on it— all of them shields of warriors. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies. Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. You are absolutely beautiful, my darling, with no imperfection in you.

Song of Solomon 5:1–2 I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. [And now, the narrator steps in, who is likely God Himself bride and bridegroom to enjoy one another.] Eat, friends! Drink, be intoxicated with love!

Song of Solomon 7:6–13 [The husband begins] How beautiful you are and how pleasant, my love, with such delights! Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit. I said, “I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit.” May your breasts be like clusters of grapes, and the fragrance of your breath like apricots. Your mouth is like fine wine— flowing smoothly for my love gliding past my lips and teeth! [Then the wife responds] I belong to my love, and his desire is for me. Come, my love, let’s go to the field; let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms. Let’s go early to the vineyards; let’s see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our doors is every delicacy— new as well as old. I have treasured them up for you, my love.

Application

I hope you can see from 1 Corinthians 7 and these supporting texts that sex in marriage is intended by God to be pure, passionate, pleasing, intoxicating, and exclusive. I assure you, it is far more satisfying than any kinds of sex this world has to offer. Young people, don’t let the world pawn its cheap wares off on you! God’s design of pure sex between a husband and wife is so much more fulfilling.

How should a husband and wife apply this biblical truth? Dr. Ed Wheat, in his excellent book Intended for Pleasure, says, “The union of marriage frees the couple to enjoy their bodies in whatever ways are most pleasing, provided that both are being pleased. Without restrictions (other than selfish acts that hurt the partner or evoke distaste), the couple should feel free to experiment and to ‘know’ each other in the most intimate sense possible. Love involves close bodily contact and the pleasure of seeing, touching, and enjoying all the senses. Let this be your guide in love play” (p. 82)

One of these things this means is that a husband and wife must understand their spouse’s physiological differences. As they say, “men are from Mars, and women are from Venus.” In reality, all of us are from Earth, but God clearly created man and woman to be different and complementary. One of the ways men and women are different is in their sexuality. They respond differently. They get excited differently. They have different desires and expectations. One person described a woman’s body like a crockpot, slowly heating up, while a man’s body is more like a microwave, excited and heated almost instantly! We must be learners of our spouse and see how we can bring them maximum pleasure.

I’ve included in your handout this morning an application section, which I would strongly urge you to use this week.

If you are married, then take a deep breath, pray for courage and loving honesty, and then set aside a couple hours to ask your spouse these questions:

• Non-sexual: What’s something I’ve done in the past month that encouraged you? That irritated you? What are some free activities you enjoy doing together? Activities that cost money? What concerns do you have that I seem uninterested in? (It’s important to start with questions like these, because our sexual relationship tends to mirror the overall health and communication of our marriage in other areas)
• Sexual: How satisfied are you with our sexual relationship? How often would you like to have marital relations? What words, touches, and positions do you enjoy the most? What do you enjoy the least? What could I do both before bed and in bed to bring you greater pleasure?

If single, be careful not to spend too much time fantasizing over these questions. Tuck them away for the time when God may give you a spouse. And take time to ask, what is your duty to God right now regarding sex? (We will unpack the subject of singleness together next week)

If you’d like to learn more about this subject and how you can grow to serve your spouse and bring them pleasure, here are some recommended resources:

• Intended for Pleasure, by Dr. Ed Wheat and his wife Gaye. This is probably the single best volume on the subject, written by a biblical counselor who is also a family physician. The pastor who did our premarital counseling advised us to look through this book the week before we got married.
• Intimate Issues, by Linda Dillow & Lorraine Pintus. This book takes the subject from a female perspective, helping a wife to better understand her body and how to love her husband.
• God on Sex, by Daniel Akin, who is President of Southeaster Theological Seminary. This is an exposition through the Song of Solomon with many helpful principles and lighthearted moments.
• Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God, by C.J. Mahaney. This is probably the shortest of the four books, and is geared toward the husband, helping him put sex in a bigger perspective and learning better how to love and romance his wife.

Now, some of you may be asking, what about medical issues (during/after pregnancy, bodies age and hormones change, medication you’re taking, always tired)? This will make it more difficult to serve your spouse. But it does not remove your responsibility to know their desires and meet their needs. Don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor and seek professional medical help too.

What if my spouse doesn’t want to talk? Pray for them. Be gentle and patient. Maybe wait a week or two, then graciously bring up the subject. Maybe say something like, “Honey, do you remember that sermon we heard a couple weeks ago on sex? We still haven’t had a chance to discuss it, and I’d really appreciate if we could. I want to know how I can love and serve you better, and for you to know how you can help me.”

Two of the most difficult areas of communication in a marriage are money and sex. I’ve tried to break the ice and breach the subject today, so please take advantage of this and discuss the issue together.

The Exception: Prayer for a Moment (5b-6)

We’ve established that physical oneness and sexual intimacy is a duty between husband and wife. God’s design is for a husband to please his wife, and for a wife to please her husband. In our closing moments, let’s look at the one exception Paul gives.

1 Corinthians 7:5 “Do not deprive one another – except when you agree, for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
There may be a time when it is better to abstain from sex, but notice that it is only by mutual consent, and it is only very temporary in nature. This is not a command, but an option. It may be the ‘concession’ Paul refers to in verse 6.

There are certain occasions in life, for the sake of repentance of devotion to Christ, when it is appropriate to give up certain earthly pleasures. This could be “fasting” from food, drink, some other pleasure, or even sex.
What this might look like practically, is agreeing for a week that you will not have sexual relations, but instead will use that time for praying. It would probably even be best to do that praying together. But then, at the end of that time, you promptly come back together, with a renewed love and anticipation of your time together.

Notice what reasons are NOT okay to abstain from sex. It is not because you are too tired. Or because you don’t feel like it. And certainly not as a bargaining chip to get something you want, or to punish your spouse for something they did. The only legitimate reason to abstain from sex is for a momentary time of greater devotion to God.

Conclusion

God has designed for a husband and wife to be united in heart, mind, and body. God created sex, and it is only pure and satisfying when done His way.

God created the anatomy of a male and female to be different and complementary. He created man and woman so they would perfectly fit together respond to one another, enjoy one another, and become one flesh in the truest sense of the word.

In 2011, may we improve our marriages by loving our spouse and serving their unique physical and sexual needs, for the glory of God and for greater unity in our marriages.

A little plug for The Master's Seminary

Pastoral ministry brings new and exciting challenges every day, but I've never regretted my time at The Master's Seminary. My four years in their MDiv program laid an important foundation in theology, preaching, pastoral skills, Christian character, Bible survey, and biblical languages.

One incoming student recently wrote:

I want to attend The Master's Seminary because I know that God has called me to become a pastor and I feel the heavy responsibility to teach the word of God accurately and without compromise. I have looked at other seminaries and talked with alumni from those schools. The common theme among the other seminaries was that they had a curriculum that was broadly focused to prepare the student for many jobs in ministry, but they did not offer a theological education that focused on teaching the Word of God and preparing men to preach it. I want to attend TMS because I feel it will prepare me to know and teach the Bible and fulfill my ministry goal of becoming a pastor/teacher in a local church.

I used the TMS website to locate and contact alumni of TMS and asked them to honestly tell me how they felt the school had prepared them for the positions of ministry that God has currently placed them in. The response was very positive and each former student that I talked with said that they felt that God had used their time at TMS to prepare them theologically and spiritually for the work of the ministry and, without exception, each asked if they could pray with me about God's direction in my life. That was the type of answer I was looking for and the kind of minister I want to become.

I couldn't agree more. Master's has a high academic standard and their MDiv program specializes in one thing: producing teachers and preachers of God's Word.

But is the cost too high? It may not be easy, but when God places a call on your life, you can be assured He will provide the means to obey it. And you may be encouraged by this chart:

There are several great seminaries out there today, but if you're looking for a place to get thoroughly equipped for pastoral ministry, I cannot recommend The Master's Seminary highly enough.

The Joy of Giving

A young boy, setting out for church one Sunday morning, was given two nickels: one for the offering plate and one for himself. As he rambled down the street, he played with the coins. One of them slipped out of his hand, rolled away, and suddenly disappeared into the sewer drain. The boy stared down through the grate in disbelief, then sighed, "Well, there goes the Lord's nickel."

When money is tight, it's easy to give God the short end of the stick. But in the process, we miss out on the tremendous joy of giving. Over the past five weeks, I've been preaching through 2 Corinthians 8-9 on the subject of financial stewardship. We concluded the series last Sunday, and our church is now beginning a season of prayer and practical financial planning.

No one would deny these are tough economic times. I don't know yet how the Lord is going to meet our church's needs, but this much I know: God is faithful and promises to bless those who give generously to His work. I'm thankful for this opportunity to cast myself at God's feet and see how He's going to provide.

Here are links to the messages in our series. May the Lord use His Word to create a passion for His glory and an eagerness to give toward the needs of His church.

The Joy of Giving, Pt. 1 (2 Cor. 8:1-6)
Theme: joyful giving begins with total surrender to God 

The Joy of Giving, Pt. 2 (2 Cor. 8:7-15)
Theme: joyful giving is a natural response to Christ's great gift to us

The Joy of Giving, Pt. 3 (2 Cor. 8:16-24)
Theme: joyful giving must be managed with integrity 

The Joy of Giving, Pt. 4 (2 Cor. 9)
Theme: joyful giving invests generously in God's kingdom work 

The Joy of Giving, Pt. 5 (2 Cor. 9)
Theme: joyful giving is a voluntary act of faith and love

Blessed are the Broken and Gentle

Many thanks to Bret Capranica for filling the pulpit and feeding our flock the two weeks my family was on vacation.

I heard a lot of positive feedback from his sermons. His second week, Bret preached an entire message on one verse. One person remarked, "he went deep, but it didn't feel deep." I can think of no greater compliment. What a gift to plumb the depths of God's Word without becoming confusing and esoteric in the process.

Here are links to his two messages, both taken from the Sermon on the Mount. I am looking forward to listening to them myself!

Values of the Ultimately Satisfied: Brokenness 
(Matt. 5:1-3)

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Values of the Ultimately Satisfied:Gentleness 
(Matt. 5:5)

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No Monday sermons

Friends, there are no Monday sermons.

I've heard this advice from pastors in the past, and it rings painfully true this afternoon. Whether I like it or not, Sunday is a-comin' like a freight train, and I've got to get ready. I can't postpone my studies and my sermon until Monday. I've got to stand up at the pulpit tomorrow morning and had better have a word from the Lord.

This has been a very strange week. Heidi was up most of Sunday night with a fever and vomiting, most likely due to heat exhaustion. Monday and Tuesday, we made a quick trip to Fresno and back for our second SBC Open Forum (I hope to write more about this next week). Wednesday was fairly uneventful. But Thursday night I came down with either food poisoning or a flu bug, which kept me in the bathroom much of the night. Friday, I spent almost the whole day in bed recuperating. Today, I'm finally getting back to normal.

So now, it's time to study and get ready to preach tomorrow. There are no Monday sermons.

Pastor arrested for so-called "hate speech"

Al Mohler wrote an important piece this morning on the British pastor arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin. This may be a harbinger of things to come on both sides of the Atlantic. His conclusion:

We are witnessing the constriction of Christian speech and the criminalizing of Christian ministry. The Bible clearly condemns homosexual behaviors, and the Christian church has been clear about this teaching for twenty centuries. But now, the statement that homosexuality is a sin can land a preacher in jail.

We will soon learn which nations truly believe in religious liberty and freedom of speech. Cases like this are inevitable when the logic of hate speech and special rights for “sexual minorities” prevails.

You can read the whole thing here.

What is the right response to all this? Fear? No. Anger? No. Political and legal recourse? Perhaps. But most importantly, we must be a people of prayer and steadfast faith. I cannot help but think of Hebrews 12:3-4, "For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin."

Quick survey: how long do you prepare?

If you are a Sunday School teacher or small group leader, could you take this quick survey for me? On average, how much time do you spend each week preparing for your lesson?

I will be teaching a seminar at Equipped for Excellence this Saturday, April 17, called "How to Study and Interpret the Bible." I would like to know how much time teachers spend on average, so I can recommend how to split that time up into the different stages of lesson prep.

After you take the survey, you can see the results of what others have said.

How long do you study?

In April, I'll be teaching a seminar at the Equipped for Excellence teacher training conference in Riverside. The theme of my seminar is "How to Study and Interpret the Bible."

As part of my research, I thought I'd find out how long the average person prepares for their Sunday School or small group lesson. The length obviously will obviously vary depending on age group, curriculum, etc. But a ballpark idea would be helpful.

Would you mind taking this brief poll? Your answer will help me craft a suggested schedule for how to study and prepare a lesson from start to finish. Thanks.

Restoring old photos of Israel

In his latest newsletter, Todd Bolen explains the painstaking process of restoring old photos to create the 8-volume American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. It’s a fascinating project that really makes you appreciate the end result. Here’s his full article…

Shortly after producing a collection of modern-day photographs in the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands (initially released in January 2000), I began work on a supplementary collection that would peel back the recent layers of time to reveal the sites of the Holy Land before the changes brought by modernization.  The initial fruit of this work was the release of 8 volumes of Historic Views of the Holy Land in November 2004.

About that same time, I learned that the Library of Congress was digitizing the G. Eric and Edith Matson Negatives.  Between 1966 and 1981, Eric Matson and his beneficiary donated this collection to the Library of Congress. But public access was limited and costly until 2004, when the first negatives were scanned and made available online, a huge job in itself!  In browsing through these photographs, I quickly realized two things.  First, these photos would be extremely useful to teachers and researchers of Palestine and the surrounding areas.  Second, the collection could be greatly improved in a number of ways.

The Kazneh (Treasury) at Petra, damaged stereographic image

The first step in the process that culminated in this published collection was downloading all of the online images, which were made available in three sizes. The medium size was 1024 pixels wide.  This is too small if 1) the photo is damaged; 2) the photo is a stereographic image; 3) one wanted to enlarge a particular portion; or 4) one desired to print the image.  The large size was a much higher resolution (e.g., 5200 x 3600 pixels), but these were in tif format, which meant the file sizes were so large that they were impractical for regular use.  At 25-70 MB each in size, these images would take a long time to download and quickly fill up hard drives.  To make this the best collection possible, I downloaded all of the tif files and converted them to jpg format, thus retaining the highest resolution, but at a more manageable file size.

The next step was to identify each image as accurately as possible.  Some of the images would be immediately recognizable to a recent visitor to Israel, but many are difficult to identify even for long-time residents.  To expedite the process, Tony Garland, with helpful advice from staff at the Library of Congress, created a script so that all of the descriptive information for the photos on the Library of Congress website could be accessed in a personal database.  Seth Rodriquez, now finishing his PhD dissertation, went through all of the images and wrote a short, descriptive filename for each one.  Andrei Tsvirinko then copied the names from the database to the jpg image itself.  All of the steps described here are simple enough in themselves, but repeating them 14,000 times requires great perseverance!

The next step in the process was cropping the photos.  Many images are stereographs, that is, nearly identical side-by-side images which, when viewed through a stereoscope, appear as a single, three-dimensional image.  Other photographs had tape marks, water damage, or other blemishes which were best removed by cropping.  At a later stage, some photos were cropped to alter the orientation from vertical to horizontal, thus creating a more compact view for computer use and eliminating extensive stretches of sky or earth (see example below). Other adjustments were required for photos that had been scanned in mirror-image or were uploaded upside-down.

Sidon castle, stereographic image, before cropping

Sidon castle, after cropping and adjustments

At this point, I began sorting the images into categories.  It was necessary to accomplish this step early in the process because of the numerous duplicates and near-duplicates in the collection.  An important contribution, therefore, of this edition over the online collection is its selection of the best images and its logical arrangement of them (either geographically or topically).

City of David, 1900-1920, before and after cropping

Along the way, numerous corrections and refinements were made to the descriptions provided by the photographers of the American Colony and Eric Matson photo services.  Some images were misidentified in the photographers' notes, some were labeled only generally, and some bore names no longer in use today.  In other cases, we were able to correct or improve upon the supplied dates and identify images that were presented in mirror image.

One of the most time-consuming tasks of this project was the removal of blemishes from the images.  Some of the negatives are over 100 years old, and time, transport, and storage have taken their toll on the material.  Since the goal of this project was to provide "teaching quality" images, larger specks and markings were removed, though smaller blemishes may still be visible when magnified. In some cases, the damage was so great that it was impossible to restore the image.  Other adjustments were made to photos for brightness, contrast, and color.

Old City of Jerusalem, before and after restoration (enlarge for detail)

The creation of PowerPoint presentations with the images serves several purposes.  First, unlike jpg files, slides in a PowerPoint file can be arranged in sequential order, and usually I have organized these following a natural tour route.  As many will use these photographs in presentations, having the images already properly sized and placed in PowerPoint makes it quick and easy to copy slides from one presentation to another.

Second, explanatory notes or relevant quotations can be "attached" to the photograph by means of the "speaker's notes" section in PowerPoint (see screenshot).  Many of the photographs in these volumes are now accompanied by quotations from 19th century explorers, travelers, and writers.  (The Jerusalem volume is annotated with original notes by Tom Powers.) Yuliya Molitvenik spent hundreds of hours reading old books and rare journals in search of choice descriptive statements.  These were usually written before the photos were taken (in the early 20th century), but they provide additional insight into the sites and scenes depicted in the photographs.  Sometimes the quotations describe details that precisely match what is in the photo, and other times they may provide a different "picture."  The quotations come from the best available sources of the day, and are valuable in their own right.  

Ultimately, we believe this collection has been improved through editing, organization, corrections, and the addition of supplemental quotations. Its superior resolution, format, and presentation will make it easy to use.

How to do inductive Bible study

Have you ever wondered how to study the Bible for yourself, or how to write your own study for teaching others? One of the best ways to prepare a Bible lesson is through inductive Bible Study.

Inductive Bible Study is the process of examining a specific passage in the Bible and then drawing general conclusions. It's looking at the individual words, phrases, and units of thought, and then developing the doctrines, principles, and applications that naturally flow out of the text.

The opposite of Inductive Bible Study is Deductive Bible Study, which starts with a general truth, and then tries to find particular verses that teach or illustrate that truth. As a general rule, expository preaching is more inductive, while topical preaching is more deductive.

As our church moves toward a more inductive approach to Bible Study in our "Life Group" Sunday School classes, our teachers have been learning how to prepare and lead an Inductive Bible Study. It's a process that is quite rewarding because it forces us to immerse ourselves in the text and listen directly to God. We learn to rely on the Holy Spirit and not depend too much on other study tools, which can become a crutch.

Inductive Bible Study can be done by approaching the text with 6 kinds of questions. The first three are observation, meaning, and doctrine questions. Here's a diagram I made to illustrate:

Observation questions ask, "What does the text say?" Meaning questions ask, "What does the text mean?" Doctrine questions ask, "Where else does the Bible explain this truth, and what does this text teach us about Christ?"

Let's take Psalm 119:105 for example. The text says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Sample observation questions: What's the main theme of this verse? Read 10 verses before and 10 verses after. What seems to be the recurring theme of this chapter? Whose word is spoken of here? Do we know who is speaking? What two metaphors describe the Word in v. 105?

Sample meaning questions: What does the psalmist mean by the "word?" What other words are used in the context to describe the "word"? Is the psalmist speaking literally or figuratively? Taken as poetic parallels, what do the "lamp" and "light" metaphors mean? What do "feet" and "path" refer to?

Sample doctrinal questions: What main doctrine is discussed in this verse? Look up Ps. 119:1; Prov. 6:23; 2 Peter 1:19. Explain how they relate to Psalm 119:105. How does this verse point us to the gospel of Jesus?

The dotted line in my diagram points straight from the text to the heart. This represents the application phase. After studying the text, it's time to move toward application, asking a series of principle, application, and implementation questions. I'll discuss these kinds of questions in a future post.

Never too early to teach gender roles

Courtney Reissig has a good article over at the CBMW blog today. Even Sunday School teachers need to begin instilling within boys and girls an appreciation for their distinct identity and roles as male and female.

When we walk down the halls of our church we need to know that the authority of the Bible is at stake in our Sunday school classrooms. What we teach the next generation about God should include what he says about who he made them to be. When you are teaching the creation story to children, I encourage you not to gloss over the fact that there is a man and a woman being created by God with different roles to play. When you are closing your time with your class, you can teach the little ones to thank God that he made them as little boys and little girls—and that these genders are not interchangeable. If you are a parent, you can be working even now to train your little boys to protect little girls, not react against them. And you can teach your little girls that it is good that they want to play with dolls and help in the house—and someday they will help in their own house and take care of real babies, even if they are single.

The little ones in our classrooms, while precious and fun, are all in their hearts opposed to God's design for them. Therefore, manhood and womanhood is not simply a topic to be discussed at the seminary level, or even the adult Sunday school class level. It must start earlier. We have the great privilege of teaching the next generation the truths of God. And it starts in your nursery.

The world certainly wastes no time in pushing their own humanistic, egalitarian agenda. Will the church faithfully rise up for the truth and celebrate God's glorious call for our future men and women?

Doing the word

We all know God’s command in James 1 to “prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” But often, doing the word is not as easy as it sounds. It’s so easy for me to “look myself in the mirror” as James says, but then walk away, forgetting what I’ve seen. Collectively, it’s easy for us to hear God’s Word on Sundays, nod our heads in agreement, close our Bibles, go our separate ways, start another busy week, forget what we heard, and never take any specific course of action.

I would like to do a better job of providing tools for our church to apply God’s Word in our lives. Michael Fabarez, in his book, Preaching That Changes Lives, says to pastors, “We must do all that we can to assist our people in acting upon the truth we dispense. Therefore, it behooves us to design and supply tools that will assist them in this process. Providing your congregation with a few useful aids for application is well worth your time and effort” (p. 175).

So, today I've begun my attempt to help us better act on the truth. I will be writing a weekly note called “Doing the Word," which I will either hand out on Sunday or email out early in the week. I will try to briefly summarize Sunday’s message and then offer a few practical application questions. These questions could be discussed as a family or used in private reflection and prayer. I hope you find them edifying.

===============

On Sunday, we studied John 17:13-19, asking what is the Christians’ relationship to this world, and discovering the crucial role of the Word of God. There were three points:

1. We are SEPARATE from the world (vv. 14, 16)
2. We are SENT into the world (v. 18)
   
3. We are SANCTIFIED by the Word (vv. 17-19)

Here are some thought and discussion questions, which I shared during the sermon:

• Am I being increasingly sanctified from the world by the Word? How is progress evident in my life?
  
• Which “wrong approach” to the world do I tend to take? Withdrawing myself from it? Conforming to it? Trying to moralize it?
  
• Am I taking my commission to the world seriously? Who has God specifically brought into my life to reach?
• Do I see the dangers of the world? Where am I most susceptible to worldly influences?
• Since God’s Word is true, am I truly devoting myself to it in my personal walk? My family? The church? How could I do better?
  

(Sunday’s sermon has been uploaded to our podcast site and is now available for free download or to listen online.)

May God help us apply His Word this week in our hearts, in our words, and in our actions.

Hannukah video

Last Sunday night, I taught on the Rise of the Maccabees as we continue our study through the Intertestamental Period.

Here's the Hannukah video I mentioned during the lesson (and which I could not get to play on Sunday night!). It gives a great little overview of the Jewish holiday, including its origin and modern elements that have been added.

According to John 10:22-23, Jesus himself took part in this festival, which celebrated the re-dedication of the temple in 165 BC.

Fun and easy game ideas

We're making final plans for a Children's Ministry Appreciation Lunch and Training Workshop tomorrow afternoon and want to create a fun, relaxed atmosphere by playing a few games and handing out prizes.

Here are some free resources that might help you with your next Sunday School class or Teacher Training event:

• Crossword puzzles. Quickly create your very own crossword puzzles with clues.

• Bingo cards. Make a word list and this site will randomize and print bingo cards.

• Bible trivia. Try one of these Bible trivia games which can be printed in HTML format.
  

• Word searches. Just type in all the words you want hidden. Or, if you own Logos Bible Software, you can make word searches from any Bible passage by using the Word Find tool.

Have fun, be creative, and try out some of the other games found at Puzzlemaker!

Photo credit: chipgriffin

Special offer from Modern Parables

Modern Parables is a great video series that retells the parables of Jesus through 21st century dramatizations. Each video is about 15 minutes long and is supplemented by Bible Study material. Their videos are creative and high-quality, and their curriculum is theologically conservative. It would be a great resource for any Sunday School or small group. You can view one of their trailers here.

The company has just announced a special offer for foreign missionaries and prison ministry directors:
As former missionaries ourselves, we realize these two groups are especially underfunded and under-resourced. For a limited time therefore we are donating to prison ministries and missionaries operating outside the U.S. a complete set of Modern Parables digital downloads for free. We have set up a page that enables ministries to request a free download of the $99 digital set. Please forward this email to friends you know who work in these important ministry areas. Or click here to request a set now.

Note: you will need a high-speed connection to download the videos.

A sermonless church

What would happen if we removed the sermon from our weekly order of service? We could add a couple more songs in its place, maybe throw in a skit or some other artistic demonstration, have more time for prayer and fellowship, and still get out early.

To many, a sermonless church may sound like a good idea. It would make the service shorter, more entertaining, and probably more appealing to unbelievers. It would give pastors more time during the week for planning, programs, and visitation. But in so doing, the church would kill itself. A sermonless church is like a rootless tree. It will eventually dry up and rot because it has lost its source of spiritual nourishment.

Of course, most churches do not omit the sermon, but rather shorten it, simplify it, or approach it in such a way that it has lost its centrality within our worship. Many church members have even learned to "tune out" at this point in the service.

My friend Bret Capranica offers a good list today of what happens when preaching loses its place of centrality within the life of the local church:

• Personal intake of Scripture becomes tiresome

• Personal prayer becomes little more than religious day-dreaming

• An atmosphere of worship gives way to a craving for entertainment

• Truth is replaced with preferences

• Discipleship is dismissed by the cult of personal excitement

• Culture becomes central

• Creativity becomes a mantra

• Personal desires become dominant

• Tradition becomes foundational

• Counseling becomes, at worst, psychological, and at best merely conservative Dr. Laura-type of advice or simply relational

• Fellowship becomes superficial

• Unity becomes merely relational

• Missions becomes nothing more than temporal societal betterment

• The gospel becomes self-help

• Discipleship becomes nothing more than a mere decision

All this will be true because people, for people’s sake, become the focus and God becomes a servant to their own lust for centrality (2 Timothy 4:1-4) – our thoughts are no longer tethered to what God has systematically revealed to us about Himself. In the end, people are not best served where they are most prized.

When expository preaching is not central in our life:

• We ultimately and over time won’t feel fed, satisfied, fulfilled

• The grass will always look greener in another ministerial field

  …because ultimately, God, truth, and His glory is not what we crave. Or perhaps we are misinterpreting our cravings and feeding them with the wrong things.

When expository preaching is not central in the church’s life

• It will give way to the whims of culture

• It will be replaced by the mystical

• It will be sapped of true spiritual power

• It will be shallow in terms of spiritual depth

• It will be empty of the Glory and majesty of God

The pastor or teacher who fails to feed his flock regularly is doing them a tremendous disservice, slowly starving them to death.

For a recent message I preached on How to Listen to a Sermon and get the most out of God's word, you can listen to my podcast here.

Photo credit: ConspiracyofHappiness

The preacher's character

With Ted Haggard back in the media spotlight, we should all pause to take heed of ourselves lest we too stumble (1 Cor. 10:12).

Mark well these words from 19th century pastor and professor Robert L. Dabney about the preacher and his character...

Without a sacred weight of character, the most splendid rhetoric will win only a short-lived applause; with it, the plainest scriptural instructions are eloquent to win souls. Eloquence may dazzle and please; holiness of life convinces...No counterfeit will avail [in the pulpit], but the living faith and spirituality which are cultivated at the throne of grace, in the chambers of the afflicted and dying, and by the study of God's word. (Evangelical Eloquence, pp. 263-68)