Monthly Archives: March 2015

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A Faithful Friend

M'Cheyne

Some years ago I heard John Piper recount recount the genesis for his love affair with Jonathan Edwards. He said, “One of my seminary professors suggested to us back in 1970 that we find one great and godly teacher in the history of the church and make him a lifelong companion. That’s what Edwards has become for me. It’s hard to overestimate what he has meant to me theologically and personally in my vision of God and my love for Christ.”

Upon hearing that advice I immediately set about finding a “lifelong companion” from church history.

A Whimsical Purchase

For quite a while it seemed as though Edwards would be my own historical mentor.  It all began with George Marsden’s Jonathan Edwards: A Life, a ravishing account that still may be the best biography I’ve ever read. Marsden, for me, was the gateway into further Edwards study—study I found unusually captivating. So many aspects of his life and ministry invigorated my soul: his ruthless devotion to God, warmth in cherishing God’s sweetness and beauty, unmatched theological profundity, and faithful labor in his home. And so it was from 2007-2010 that Edwards was my homeboy.

Yet something happened in the summer of 2010 that shifted my focus from the Northampton man; on a whim I purchased The Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne by Andrew Bonar. My life has, quite literally, never been the same.

They’d Weep Just Looking at Him

I first came across the name of M’Cheyne in 2007 when I read Martyn Lloyd-Jones Preaching and Preachers. The Doctor said,

You remember what was said of the saintly Robert Murray McCheyne of Scotland in the last century. It is said that when he appeared in the pulpit, even before he had uttered a single word, people would begin to weep silently. Why? Because of this very element of seriousness. The very sight of the man gave the impression that he had come from the presence of god and he was to deliver a message from God to them. That is what had such an effect upon people even before he had opened his mouth. We forget this element at our peril, and at great cost to our listeners.

I thought to myself, “Now that’s saintly seriousness worth pursuing.” At Lloyd-Jones’ prompting, later in Preaching and Preachers, I took up M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan. While I was, in some way, with M’Cheyne every day, I knew little about his story and ministry. These were the years of Edwards fandom and fervor after all. So I picked up Bonar’s work on Mr. M’Cheyne to inform my ignorance and I dare say my “Lifetime Companion/Historical Mentor” instantaneously shifted from Edwards to the young Scotsman.

I think the best way to describe the quick change was M’Cheyne’s ordinaryness. Edwards is called “the greatest American thinker” for a reason—his intellect is otherworldly. Any personal aspirations to be like Edwards could only get so far because there will ever be anyone like Edwards. M’Cheyne, however, had no extraordinary gifts. Yes, he was a fantastic student who ardently loved poetry and the classics, but such characteristics were hardly unique in Scotland at the time. He was in the gospel ministry for only seven years before he died unseasonably young. So what then does M’Cheyne have to offer? Here’s my best answer: M’Cheyne models ordinary ministry set aflame by extraordinary devotion to Christ.

I want to be like that.

Passion Overflowing

To read M’Cheyne is to read the soul of a man inflamed with love for Christ. His twin passions were evangelism and holiness; not unlike our Savior’s heartbeat. He stoked the flame of love for Christ through earnest commitment to the word and prayer. I’ve yet to hear anyone encounter M’Cheyne without sensing a challenge from his white-hot intensity toward and love for Christ.

In his introduction to Owen’s The Mortification of Sin J.I. Packer recounts how Keswick theology had made him frantic in the pursuit of holiness. “And then (thank God),” Packer writes, “[I] was given an old clergyman’s library, and in it was an uncut set of Owen, and I cut the pages of volume VI more or less at random, and read Owen on mortification—and God used what the old Puritan had written three centuries before to sort me out.”

I can sympathize with the need for spiritual sorting. At key occasions in my life and ministry over the last five years God has used M’Cheyne to sort me out. It’s no overstatement to say that on at least two occasions M’Cheyne saved my ministerial soul.

That’s what a lifelong companion does.

Do you have one?

If so, fantastic. Immerse yourself in that person’s life until it’s hard to separate his thoughts from your own. If you don’t have a historical mentor, choose wisely . . . and patiently. It may take you years to find one, but you’ll know it when he or she arrives, for they will likely sort you out with power and ease. That’s what friends are for.

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Thinking, Listening, Fighting

1 John Podcast

In all the soccer of my youth I had no small number coaches who employed a particular tactic to assess whether or not any of us were practicing on our own: they would look at the wear and tear on the ball we brought each week. The more wear and tear the more likely it was the player was doing hard work on his own time to increase his skill. Devotion to the game would show on the ball itself.

Something similar happens with God’s word; devotion to the Bible will show in our lives. As we begin to close I want to think about a few ways in which 1 John ought to rub off on us, ought to show up in our life together. In our passage John is continually addressing the church—the pronouns are overwhelmingly plural. One of the great things about John’s repetitive teaching is that even though these things I’m about to mention come out of 4:1-6 they are found several other places in the book.

Living in the Truth of 1 John 4:1-6 Means an Authentic Church Will . . .

Think discerningly. This is the crux of John’s teaching on antichrists: “Don’t believe everything you hear, be discerning.” What is discernment” We can define it as: “the skill of understanding and applying God’s Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong.”1 The degree to which you are growing in understanding and applying God’s word will be the degree to which you are able to think discerningly. Where devotion to God’s word increases, discernment increases.

Now, I think we need to recognize “[t]here is a sickness behind this command: it makes me unteachable.” 2 Soon I’m weighing the teachings of anyone and everyone to a point where I become the final arbiter of truth. So how to we combat this? First, by remembering the command to think discerningly is a corporate command. Second . . .

Listen eagerly. John says in 4:6, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.” For us in the 21st century that means, “Whoever knows God, listens eagerly to his word.” The Bereans in Acts 17 are commended for their humble discernment and hear the key: “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

How is your eagerness to hear God’s word read, preached, and studied? If you aren’t devoted to listening to his word, how will you grow in discernment? John says, “How can you be sure you are a Christian?” Think discerningly, listen eagerly, and finally . . .

Fight confidently. We’ve said enough on this point, but lets settle our souls here. The cosmic battle we are in is primarily a war over truth. False teachers and antichrists abound, but we need not fear our position in the battle “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Faithful churches don’t believe everything they hear and fight for truth without fear. They are places where the Spirit of truth saturates their life together. And where the Spirit is moving we know joyful exultation in Christ will be growing. For the spirit of error distracts attention from Jesus, while the Spirit of truth empowers our souls to concentrate on the majesty of Christ. May God help us to live in the Spirit of Christ and so exult in the truth of Christ.

This post is adapted from my recent sermon, “The Love of Truth,” on 1 John 4:1-6.

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  1. Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. ↩
  2. Burge, 180. ↩
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The Judged, Not “The Judge”

“[A] God-centered focus of preaching will change [the listener’s] assessment of the preacher and the preaching. If people know they have encountered God, they do not praise the preacher. The focus stays on God. They no longer stand over the preacher as a judge of his sermon ‘performance.’ Though one moment they are the judge, the next they perceive that they are being judged. This perception should lead to a different diagnostic question in regard to preaching. The question will no longer be, ‘How was the sermon?’ because that question calls for the hearer to judge how the preacher did. Instead it will be, ‘How did your soul fare under the sermon?’ or ‘How did God address you in the sermon?’ – Jason Meyer, Preaching: A Biblical Theology, 246.

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Recent Reads

I love to read. By God’s grace I am a pretty fast reader; I usually read a couple books each week. I find it helpful to summarize my thoughts on each book and I offer those thoughts in the hope that you will be encouraged to either read or pass over the given title.

0801026326mReformed Dogmatics Vol. 1 by Herman Bavinck. One of my Endeavors for 2015 is to read through Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics. Volume 1 covers the matters of “Prolegomena,” which Bavinck breaks up into five parts: 1) Introduction to Dogmatics, 2) The History and Literature of Dogmatic Theology, 3) Foundations of Dogmatic Theology (Principia), 4) Revelation (Principium Externum), and 5) Faith (Principium Internum). The Dutch Doctor’s grasp of the relevant material is nothing short of astonishing. His immense, God-given ability in linguistics, history, theology, hermeneutics, and application shine through every section. I did get bogged down at various points, but that’s probably due to my having a more limited interest on some the volume’s subjects. The next volume is on “God and Creation” and I expect to be keenly engaged from start to finish.

TSSMThe Seven Storey Mountain: An Autobiography of Faith by Thomas Merton. For years I heard about The Seven Storey Mountain, but only now got around to reading it, and only because it’s required for a June seminar on “20th Century Spirituality.” Many have called it the best autobiography of faith since Augustine’s Confessions. Such sentiment is surely overstatement, yet one can’t deny the smashing worldwide influence Merton (d. 1915-1968) has had over the last seventy years or so. The power of Merton’s story doesn’t lie in its uniqueness—he was one of many who converted to Catholicism in search of peace and meaning. No, the force of Merton lies in his literary skill in relating to the common man. His autobiography is beautifully, hilariously, and masterfully written. I can’t remember the last book I read in which author’s skill in writing so consistently amazed me.

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m sympathetic to many aims of the monastic life. I love the solitude, simplicity, devotion, and earnest pursuit of God. So maybe I am unusually inclined to enjoy Merton’s autobiography—not for his conversion to Catholic faith and doctrine, but for his single-minded devotion in service to God.

TRDThe River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. I loved Candice Millard’s account of President James Garfield’s assassination in Destiny of the Republic. In that book she compellingly and insightfully retells famous stories of days gone by. Although her book on Roosevelt is not as strong as the one on Garfield, The River of Doubt is still is outstanding. After TR lost out on a third bid for the presidency he turned to explore one of the last unknown areas of the globe: the Amazon. In particular, a yet-to-be traveled body of water known as the River of Doubt. “Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunted its shadows; piranhas glided through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turned the river into a roiling cauldron.” And there TR nearly died. What a story! I can’t wait for Millard’s next book, on Churchill and the Boer War.

TLCThe Last Child by John Hart. Whenever I’m at a loss for what fiction book to read next I tend to gravitate towards Edgar Award winners. And so it was that John Hart’s The Last Child, winner of the 2010 Edgar for Best Novel, recently came into my home. Hart tells his tale is with profound earthiness and emotion. Johnny Merrimon, the titular last child, is a thirteen-year-old boy in search of his sister who went missing over a year ago. His investigation is full of hope, agony, and tension to boot. The publisher’s summary says, “Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith, The Last Child leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power.” I totally agree.

TAThe Accident by Chris Pavone. The Edgars are also responsible for my recent foray into the C.V. of Chris Pavone as his debut novel The Expats won the 2013 Edgar for Best Novel. I enjoyed his first offering enough to check out his second book and The Accident is no sophomore slump. The plot centers on an anonymous book manuscript that has the power to bring down some of the most powerful men in the world. The action develops quickly and spans the globe as some are interested in profiting off the book, while others will—literally and prosaically—stop at nothing to burn all evidence of the manuscript’s existence. I was freshly surprised at several different points, but the novel’s ending unfortunately doesn’t live up to the great tension Pavone succeeds in building. And what do they say about a book’s ending? It’s the first thing you remember. Maybe that’s why, a few weeks on since finishing The Accident, I think of it as something of a disappointment.

GPGood People by Marcus Sakey. My love for Sakey’s “Brilliance Saga” is admittedly rapturous. Only “The Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” interest me more. Since reading the first two Brilliance installments around the turn of the new year I’ve slowly been working my way through Sakey’s older novels. While they aren’t nearly as captivating as the Brilliance books, they are page turners nonetheless. Good People revolves around Tom and Anna Reed, who are confronted with an expected predicament. Upon finding their downstairs tenant dead they also discover $370,000 in cash laying around the kitchen. Will they take it or report it? They take it . . . and madness, of the hard-to-believe kind, ensues.

TDThe Descent by Tim Johnston. The press clippings sucked me in and probably created unrealistic expectations for Johnston’s debut novel. The Washington Post says, “The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly . . . Read this astonishing novel.” Vanity Fair exclaims, “Tim Johnston’s high-wire literary thriller . . . will leave you gasping.” If you’ve yet to hear of the genre, a “literary thriller” is a somewhat snarky label for thrillers written in creative, supposedly artistic prose. The Descent is full of surprises and occasional moments of splendor. On the whole, however, I found Johnston’s artistry will frustrating and obstructive.

Click here to find other entries in the Recent Reads series.

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Kindling Hearts in Preaching

Him We Proclaim

It is one of those elements in preaching that is seems to come solely through experience. It is better caught than taught. It has enormous potential to help or harm a sermon. What is it?

Tone.

Diagnosing A Nag

When I first began to preach I did so like many young preachers—zealously, but somewhat recklessly. I ascended to the sacred desk every six to eight weeks without many proper foundations in place. In fact, I was solidifying sermonic convictions on the spot. “Oh yeah,” I thought after one week, “Paul definitely has it right when he told the Colossians, ‘Pray that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.'” Later I befriended “main point preaching” and that always necessary tool named “Order.” Discriminatory application was light-going-off-in-your-head discovery which came about three years into somewhat regular preaching as an associate pastor. As these convictions fell into place I still had a nagging feeling as though I was missing out on something essential; a key convictional cog yet to be discovered.

Eventually I planted a church and started preaching every week. The unaddressed nag soon became a growing weight.

Something was missing and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Year One went into the books, Year Two said, “Adios,” and I’d yet to get my homiletical hands around diagnosing the nag that was becoming a drag.

Believe it or not, the diagnosis only came about five weeks ago: I had no articulated understanding of the tone I longed to have in preaching.

Maybe a helpful way to communicate the problem is to make it analogous to a problem I often have in sermon prep. It usually doesn’t take me long to get a proper sense of a passage’s meaning and message, but it can take me a while to adequately summarize it into a sentence. Until I get that sentence down I feel somewhat aimless. The same thing was happening with tone in preaching. I knew faithful preaching meant declaring God’s word with a variety of characteristics such as boldness (Eph. 6:20) and clarity (Col. 4:4). I just wasn’t able to get all those characteristics summarized into a cohesive definition of what tone ought to permeate faithful preaching.

So I hit the books to see what they’d say.

What the Masters Say

One afternoon I grabbed a handful of books on preaching from the study to analyze what they teach about tone. Not surprisingly, there is quite a bit of uniformity on the matter.

In Evangelical Eloquence R.L. Dabney says a good sermon as “evangelical tone. This is a gracious character, appropriate to the proclamation of that gospel where ‘mercy and truth meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other’ . . . to deliver evangelical matter in any other tone is inappropriate to the preacher’s attitude, as a ransomed sinner honored to become the herald of the law and of mercy to the lost.”

Spurgeon speaks about tone in a variety of ways, but it’s safe to say The Prince believes earnestness is it’s proper quality. In his lecture, “Earnestness: Its Marring and Maintenance,” Spurgeon writes, “If I were asked—What in a Christian minister is the most essential quality for securing success in [preaching]? I should reply, ‘earnestness’: and if I were asked a second or a third time, the conclusion that, as a rule, real success is proportionate to the preacher’s earnestness.”

John Stott, in Between Two Worlds, gives a somewhat sustained discourse on tone in the book’s last two chapters. It’s hard to summarize in a sentence, but you can hang his argument on these four pillars: sincerity, earnestness, courage, and humility.

In The Supremacy of God in Preaching John Piper commends Thomas Chalmers’ example of “blood-earnestness” and Spurgeon’s reverent solemnity. Piper’s personal thesis on tone is this: “Gravity and gladness should be woven together in the life and preaching of a pastor in such a way as to sober the careless soul and sweeten the burdens of the saints.”

Complete with anatomical figures for resonation and articulation, Haddon Robinson’s classic Biblical Preaching argues for a homiletical tone marked by diversity. He says, “Monopitch drones us to sleep or wears upon us like a child pounding on the same not on the piano.”

Bryan Chapell’s textbook Christ-Centered Preaching contains a useful discussion on “the attitudes”—or tones—of proper exposition. After taking into account all preaching terms found in sacred Scripture Chapell says, “Just as no one word captures all the dimensions of biblical preaching, so no one [tone] can reflect its many facets.” If there is a universal foundation for all preaching Chapell would settle on “a humble boldness.” He concludes, “Our tone should always resonate with the humility of one who speaks with authority under the authority of another.”

Tony Merida’s Faithful Preaching would agree with the aforementioned marks of boldness, sincerity, and humility. He adds a unique wrinkle when he encourages, “Speak with conversational tone like you would normally speak to another person . . . a conversational tone does not mean that you speak without pathos, of course. Even in a one-on-one conversation you still speak with emphasis, passion, and variety.”

In Preach Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert give five aspects of tone “we should desire in our sermons.” It must be: biblical, humble, clear, sober and serious, and “suffused with a joyful confidence.”

Finally, you have to love Jason Meyer’s lucid language on tone in his Preaching: A Biblical Theology. He writes, “[My] emphasis on heralding is on tone of the delivery. Preaching is not discussing or explaining something with the tone and tenor of a fireside chat. The ‘herald’ is the town crier that speaks with the forceful tone of ‘hear ye, hear ye.’ In other words, the herald made his proclamation with a rousing ‘attention-getting noise’ that could not be ignored.”

Bringing it All Together

I’d read many of those books years ago, but something finally clicked when I read the relevant sections in one sitting. Here now is how I’d articulate the tonal aim in preaching.

The Vertical Dimension: “Reverent Affection”

We must recognizethat we preach as God’s mouthpieces in God’s pulpit. We must therefore think, first and foremost, about the tonal quality required in our preaching before God.

For me, the phrase “reverent affection” best captures the fullness of a faithful preacher’s disposition before God. The Lord dwells in unapproachable light and blinding holiness, so levity and triviality must be banished when standing behind the sacred desk. To be entrusted with His infallible, inspired, living, active, powerful, and eternal word demands that our preaching must be done in a vibrant fear of God. We must preach with the full weight of reverence.

But we’d miss out on something if we stopped there. Yes, God dwells in unapproachable light, but through faith in Christ we can come to His shining throne with confidence! He calls us His children and sings over us with great delight. Our reverence must thus be married to a compelling, childlike love for the Father. This means amazement at God’s glory, delight in His mercy, and praise for His provision in Christ will be hallmarks in each sermon.

Our sermons need the winsome weight of “reverent affection.”

The Horizontal Dimension: “Urgent Love”

A preacher is a steward of God and shepherd of men. God intends our preaching to be ordinary way in which He saves sinners and sanctifies saints. What then should be the spiritual sense—the tone—in which we want to preach toward men? I believe it’s best summarize as “urgent love.”

We are in the wrong business if Spirit-wrought, heart-rending urgency isn’t consistently bubbling up in our exposition. Souls hang in the balance every time God’s word is preached. Aromas of life and death rise, and our Cornerstone will either comfort or crush. Faithful preachers want everyone who hears the sermon to experience Jesus’ living comfort. All of these realities mean urgency must come through each week. Let there be something of the Baptist in all our preaching, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Urgency can be a harsh sword if it isn’t also married with love. Faithful shepherds love the sheep and can’t help but saturate their sermons with expressions of tender care and warmth. To adapt the great apostle’s instruction in Colossians 3, we might say, “In all the sermonic elements put on love, which binds them together in perfect harmony.”

Spiritual Kindling

All his life Robert Murray M’Cheyne felt a yearning towards foreign missions. He loved to hear about God’s work among the nations. When his friend Alexander Duff returned from missionary work and spoke about God’s work in India M’Cheyne was in the audience and said, “[Duff] spoke with greater warmth and energy than ever. He kindles as he goes.”

That last little statement is why we should think hard about tone in preaching. Tone has spiritual power to kindle a flame for God as it goes. What kind of flame is your tone kindling? I hope my preaching is one that fans a consuming fire of reverent affection before God and urgent love towards men.

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To Your Superior

Church Unity

A couple months ago I read A.G. Sertillanges’ brilliant work, The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods and I found no shortage of takeaways. The one quote that’s yet to leave me has rather profound application to the pastoral landscape in America.

In the preface Sertillanges writes,

We are often taken in by the way in which the masters speak of one another. They attack one another unmercifully, but they are fully conscious of one another’s value, and they attack often unintentionally.

Yet it remains true that general progress needs peace and co-operation, and that it is greatly hindered by pettiness of mind. In the face of others’ superiority, there is only one honorable attitude: to be glad of it, and then it becomes our own joy, our own good fortune

In an evangelical culture where it’s commonplace to poke theological and philosophical holes in “superior” pastors and preachers, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we purposed to “be glad” of their superiority.

Might not that simple exhortation be a powerful means of “maintaining the spirit of unity in the bond of peace?”

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A Banner Year for Newton

john-newton

To know the life of John Newton is to know the sheer power of God’s grace.

From roughly the age of 10-30, the formative years of life, Newton lived on the sea actively working in the burgeoning slave trade. He was nearly killed several times, was himself a slave in Africa, and eventually God’s mercy found him out. On March 10, 1748 Newton wrote in his journal, “In a violent storm, my address was ‘Lord, have mercy.’ Oh it was mercy indeed, to save a wretch like me.”

From that conversion came a ministry that hasn’t stopped bearing fruit. His hymns are sung all across the world each week, his letters continue to offer a peculiar power in pastoral wisdom, and his sermons inspire a deeper love for Christ. Spurgeon said, “In few writers are Christian doctrine, experience and practice more happily balanced than in the author of these letters, and few write with more simplicity, piety and force.”

Praise God that 2015 is poised to a be banner publishing year for John Newton.

The Works Return

Screen Shot 2015-03-02 at 2.55.54 PMThe first noteworthy publication is Banner of Truth’s planned printing Newton’s works. The six-volume set originally put out by Banner in 1985 recently went out of print and the Trust has been quiet on when the new collection would come out. We still don’t know the publication date, but we do know sometime this year Banner will bring out a completely reformatted, four-volume set of Newton’s works. They say, “The text of this new four-volume edition of The Works of John Newton has been entirely reformatted, producing a clear and easily navigable set of documents for today’s reader.”

Here’s what the Trust has to say about this collection:

When John Newton, ex-sea captain and, as yet, unsuccessful candidate for the Church of England ministry, finished his first book (an autobiography) in 1762 there was no ready publisher. Any thought that he was destined to become one of the best known authors of his age would have been as fantastic as the last 37 years of his life. But in both cases the improbable came about. Becoming curate of Olney, a small village in the south of England, in 1764, Newton there laid his reputation as an evangelical writer, pre-eminently by his published letters and by the Olney Hymns (including ‘How Great the Name of Jesus Sounds, ‘Glorious things of Thee are spoken’ and ‘Amazing grace’). Before the end of his subsequent pastorate at St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807), his writings were prized around the world from America to Australia.

Newton has a firm place in the classics of Christian literature. While his style is strong and clear, it is the spiritual attractiveness and importance of his main themes which secure the permanent value of his writings. Most of his books came, unpremeditated, out of a need to help his congregation or individual hearers, and it is in practical helpfulness towards Christian living that he excels. If he is loved rather than admired, it is for this reason. Conformity to Christ is the one subject upon which his themes finally focus (‘It will not be a burden to me at the hour of death that I have thought too highly of Jesus, expected too much from Him myself, or laboured too much in commending and setting Him forth to others’). Not surprisingly, Alexander Whyte could write, ‘For myself, I keep John Newton on my selectest shelf of spiritual books: by far the best kind of books in the whole world of books.’

A Modern Synthesis

9781433539718This year also brings new volumes Crossway’s useful Theologians on the Christian Life series. One new addition is Tony Reinke’s work Newton on the Christian Life: To Live is Christ. The summary blurb tells the tale of Reinke’s book,

John Newton is best known as the slave trader turned hymn writer who penned the most popular English hymn in history: “Amazing Grace.” However, many Christians are less familiar with the decades he spent in relative obscurity, laboring as a “spiritual doctor” while pastoring small parishes in England. In the latest addition to Crossway’s growing Theologians on the Christian Life series, Tony Reinke introduces modern readers to Newton’s pastoral wisdom by leading them through the many sermons, hymns, and—most importantly—letters that he wrote over the course of his life. Considered by many to be one of the greatest letter writers of all time, Newton has valuable insights to offer modern Christians, especially when it comes to fusing together sound doctrine, lived experience, and godly practice.

Newton on the Christian Life is scheduled to drop on May 31st.

Set aside some book money this year and serve your soul with good Mr. Newton. Tolle lege!

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Preaching an Unbreakable Word

One of the best sermons at T4G 2014 was Kevin DeYoung’s “Never Spoke a Man Like This Before: Inerrancy, Evangelism and Christ’s Unbreakable Bible.” One of the most memorable parts of his message was when he shared Hughes Oliphant Old’s thoughts on John Macarthur’s preaching — with Macarthur in the audience.

Be encouraged from this testimony of Macarthur’s faithfulness and take heart from DeYoung’s concluding meditation on getting through to your congregation in the weekly sermon.