Category Archives: Pursuit of Godliness

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Recents 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.

Andrew BonarAndrew Bonar: Life and Diary.I recently reread Bonar’s edited volume on Robert Murray M’Cheyne and noticed on the dust jacket a commendation of Bonar’s own “Life and Remains.” The Church of England Newspaper proclaimed, “The whole volume is a devotional gem, far removed from the passing superficiality of many of its modern counterparts. Its very profundity and realism will help a disheartened Christian and revive the weary ministry.” I can testify to such sentiment. God used this window into Bonar’s soul mightily in my life. Like his great friend M’Cheyne, Bonar was convinced that “it is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus” and that “unholiness lies at the root of our little success.” Bonar has taught me much about humility, self-denial, and the primary of holy prayer. These are lessons I need to relearn daily and so I expect drink from Bonar’s diary with great frequency.

9781871676952mThe Soul-Winner: Advice on Effective Evangelism by Spurgeon. The Prince of Preachers would surely be at, or near, the top of any list ranking church history’s most effective evangelists. Winning souls was his passion and this volume aims to instill that passion in every Christian. The first six chapters contain lectures to his Pastor’s College students and these will be most valuable to pastors. The rest of the volume consists of various addresses or sermons on the titular topic delivered to Sunday-school teachers, open-air preachers, and church members of the Tabernacle. Spurgeon sparkles with typical pithiness and sound wisdom, and the two chapters on “Qualifications for Soul-Winning” ought to be required reading for every church leader. Highly recommended!

1590525086mThe Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. Alcorn’s thesis is simple when it comes to money: “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.” It’s all built on Matthew 13:44 and the man who finds a treasure hidden in a field and, in his joy, sells everything he has to purchase the field. So the book is simple and biblical. To those we must add, “Wise.” Over and over Alcorn deposits little nuggets of wisdom into the souls of his readers, such as, “My heart always goes where I put God’s money,” and, “Giving is the only antidote to materialism.” Not many “bestsellers” of the last decade are worth your investment, but The Treasure Principle is one of the few. I imagine every penny you spend on it will cause many more to stretch into eternity.

SilkwormThe Silkworm by Robert Galbraith. JK Rowling returns to detective work under her chosen pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. Just over one year ago Rowling introduced readers to Cormoran Strike, a private investigator who prowls the streets of London with tenacity and skill, in The Cuckoo’s Calling. That delightful page-tuner was made all the more interesting in that the reader was able to sense something of Rowling’s inner thoughts on celebrity and fame, as the novel’s central victim was a world renown model. The Silkworm is a satisfying continuation of the Srike series; the pages fly and this time we hear Rowling’s thoughts on authors and publishing. One Leonora Quine calls on Strike to find her husband, a somewhat famous author, whose gone missing. Owen Quine eventually turns up as the victim of a grotesque murder and Strike moves to ensuring the Mrs. Quine isn’t wrongly accused as his murderer. Quine’s last – and unpublished – work, Bombyx Mori, holds the all clues to his death. The ensuing investigation is engrossing.

The book is longer than it needs to be and the ending is anticlimactic, yet Rowling succeeds with aplomb in matters of character development and nuanced perspective. The Strike series will supposedly stretch to seven novels and I am eager for the third to drop.

Shadow of the WindThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I can’t remember the last fiction book I read that was as impressive a read as The Shadow of the Wind. The book begins in 1945 in Barcelona as a young boy named Daniel journeys to The Cemetary of Forgotten Books with his bookseller father. Daniel eventually chooses – mostly for its attractive binding – the eponymously titled ”The Shadow of the Wind,” by an obscure Spanish writer, Julián Carax. And little Daniel’s life changes forever. As one review says, “The main story is too zestfully convoluted to set out in any detail and allow space for the lush side stories that weave through it.” Suffice it to say, Daniel’s subsequent search for Carax is like a lovely Matryoshka doll filled with thrillingly tragedies and alluring victories. Although I uncovered the book’s twist almost from the outset, Zafon kept my attention with the dialogue – oh, the dialogue! The conversations regularly sing with almost perfect pitch. Stephen King sums it all up quite well, “This is one gorgeous read.”

Tolle lege!

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

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7 Qualifications for Soul-Winning

Spurgeon on Soul-Winning

Paul commanded young Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist.” Every gospel ministry ever since has labored under the shadow of such an awesome command.

Perhaps no minister has done so with as much visible success as The Prince of Preachers. Charles Spurgeon delighted in soul-winning, his 19th century phrase for “evangelism.” In one lecture to his pastoral college students he said, “Our main business, brethren, is to win souls . . . so we must know about souls, and how to win them for God.”

The lecture proceeds to outline seven “Qualifications for Soul-Winning Godward”; in other words, which qualifications would God naturally look for in His servants, which qualifications He would be likely to approve, and most likely to use. Let me repackage them here with choice comments from The Prince in the hopes they will stir your soul for successful soul-winning.

7 GODWARD QUALITIES FOR SOUL-WINNING

#1: A man who is to be a soul-winner must have holiness of character. No wise man would pour his wine into foul bottles; no kind and good parent would allow his children to go to see an immoral play; and God will not go to work with instruments which would compromise His own character. In God’s school, the teachers must be masters of the art of holiness.

Dear brethren, I do beg you to attach the highest importance to your own personal holiness. Do live unto God. If you do not, your Lord will not be with you; He will say of you as He said of the false prophets of old, “I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” You may preach very fine sermons, but if you are not yourselves holy, there will be no souls saved.

#2: He must have spiritual life to a high degree. You see, brethren, our work is, under God, to communicate life to others. Life must be communicated by a living instrument, and the man who is to communicate the life must have a great deal of it himself. You remember the words of Christ, “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,” that is, the Holy Spirit, when He dwells within a living child of God, afterwards rises out of the very midst of him as a fountain or a river, so that others may come and participate in the Spirit’s gracious influences.

#3: He must have a humble spirit. Certainly, the great God has a predilection for those who are humble. He loathes the proud; and whenever He sees the high and mighty, He passes them by; but whenever He finds the lowly in heart, He takes pleasure in exalting them. He delights especially in humility amongst His ministers.

In the matter of soul-winning, humility makes you feel that you are nothing and nobody, and that, if God gives you success in the work, you will be driven to ascribe to Him all the glory, for none of the credit of it could properly belong to you. If you do not have success, humility will lead you to blame your own folly and weakness, not God’s sovereignty. Why should God give blessing, and then let you run away with the glory of it? The glory of the salvation of souls belongs to Him, and to Him alone.

#4: He must have a living faith. If you have genuine faith in your call to the ministry, you will be ready, with Luther, to preach the gospel even while standing within the jaws of the leviathan, between his great teeth. You may depend upon it that souls are not saved by a minister who doubts; and the preaching of your doubts and your questions can never possibly decide a soul for Christ. You must have great faith in the Word of God if you are to be winners of souls to those who hear it.

That is the essential point, you must believe in God and in His gospel if you are to be a winner of souls; some other things may be omitted, but this matter of faith must never be.

#5: He must be characterized by thorough earnestness. The Lord Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem, and you will have to weep over sinners if they are to be saved through you. Dear brethren, do be earnest, put your whole soul into the work, or else give it up.

#6: He must have a great simplicity of heart. By simplicity of heart, I mean, that a man evidently goes into the ministry for the glory of God and the winning of souls, and nothing else. There are some men who would like to win souls and glorify God if it could be done with due regard to their own interests. If a man seeks to serve himself, to get honour to himself, instead of seeking to serve God and honour Him alone, the Lord Jehovah will not use that man.

#7: He must be completely surrendered to God. I mean surrender in this sense, that from this time you wish to think, not your own thoughts, but God’s thoughts; and that you determine to preach, not anything of your own invention, but God’s Word; and further, that you resolve not even to give out that truth in your own way, but in God’s way.

I am sure this self-surrender is one of the essential qualifications for a preacher who is to be a winner of souls. There is a something that must be said if you are to be the means of saving that man in the corner; woe unto you if you are not ready to say it, woe unto you if you are afraid to say it, woe unto you if you are ashamed to say it, woe unto you if you do not dare to say it lest somebody up in the gallery should say that you were too earnest, too enthusiastic, too zealous!

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3 Diaries Every Pastor Should Read

Pastors and Reading

Several years ago it was a normal practice to ask Christian friends to reflect upon what things stirred their affections for God.

It was always fun to see how, in God’s creative providence, there were several things which received almost universal mention: beholding God’s glory in creation, the power of music to move the soul, and stirring effect of spiritual conversation with godly brothers and sisters in Christ.

WHAT STIRS YOU TO HOLINESS?

One wrinkle I now add to the conversation started is this: “What things stir your soul to pursue holiness?” Having your affections stirred for God and soul stirred for holiness are not mutually exclusive realities, but they are distinct nonetheless.

You know what might just be the most common thing I’m told that stirs people to pursue holiness? Reading Christian biography and the journals of mighty saints.

There is a peculiar power in reading about God’s “oaks of righteousness” from centuries gone by. And the Bible actually tells us why. Philippians 3:17 says, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” Notice that Paul doesn’t merely say keep your eyes Christ or His apostles. He says, “Keep your eyes on anyone that follows the Christ-centered apostolic example.” Here then is a principle for life: wherever you see a life lived in the ­power of Christ, according to the word of Christ, for the glory of Christ, “keep your eyes on that life.”

And that’s exactly what we get to do with Christian biography and old diaries. You can check out my previous post to see my recommendations on “Biographies Every Pastor Should Read“, so let me today suggest three diaries that will encourage you unto holiness.

3 DIARIES EVERY PASTOR SHOULD READ

9780851519548The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd edited by Jonathan Edwards. In the mid-18th century David Brainerd took the gospel to various Indian tribes in New England. His self-denial, courage through suffering, and holiness of life were the stuff of legend. He eventually crossed paths with Jonathan Edwards and even died in the Edwards home of tuberculosis. After his death Edwards edited Brainerd’s diary and journal for publication, and it created a firestorm of mission activity. Brainerd’s short words inspired such missionaries as William Carey, Henry Martyn, Robert Morrison, David Livingstone, and Robert Murray M’Cheyne in the nineteenth century and Jim Elliot in the twentieth. Edwards wrote in his preface to the diary, “In twenty-nine years David Brainerd (1718-1747) made a deeper and more lasting impression on the world in which he lived than most men make in a long lifetime.”

EdwardsThe Diary of Jonathan Edwards.I will grant I am somewhat biased on this work. Few things have been as used to God to so immediately change my life as Edwards’ diary entries. No one has yet published the diary by itself, so you’ll have to either read it online or spend some precious pennies on Volume 1 of his collected works. You’ll never regret the purchase. It’s here you will discover his famous Resolutions and find your soul transfixed by his single-minded pursuit of godliness. Edwards’ diary paints a compelling picture about the role of God’s beauty and an eternal perspective in “striving for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

0851510841mMemoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne by Andrew Bonar. The circulation of this work underscores the timeless allure of M’Cheyne. First published in 1844, within twenty-five years it went through one hundred and sixteen English editions. In 1910 it was estimated that, including translations into other languages, not less than half a million copies were in circulation. M’Cheyne’s diary is not as long as the other two, but it is has an atomic force of pithy gravity. It’s here the reader is invited into the mind and “Personal Reformation” of a man so holy that people were known to weep at just the sight of his godly countenance.

Spurgeon, in a lecture to his pastoral students, said, “Read McChyene’s Memoir, read the whole of it, I cannot do you a better service than by recommending you to read it; there is no great freshness of though, there is nothing novel or striking in it, but as you read it, you must get good out of it, for you are conscious that it is the story of the life of a man who walked with God.”

Check out my past suggestions in the “3 Books Every Pastor Should Read” series here.

It’s a notable Scripture (Heb. 13:7) to show that the ministers of the Word should be eminent in their conversations every way, and that all those to whom they speak the Word of God should see in their conversations the beauty and excellency of the Word of God they speak to them, for people look at the lives of ministers as well as listen to their words. It is not good enough only to be a good man in the pulpit unless it is in the constant way of their conversations. – Jeremiah Burroughs

Gospel Conversation, 35.
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An Awful Weapon

mccheyneAlthough he only lived until the age of 29, Robert Murray M’Cheyne left a timeless collection of writings on which countless Christians have fed for over 150 years.

But his writings cannot compare to the holiness his life preached every week.

Undoubtedly the most pastorally encouraging and challenging book I’ve read in recent memory is David Beaty’s An All Surpassing Fellowship: Learning from Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Communion with God. In it he offers the following reflection:

M’Cheyne believed that ministers, especially, should pursue and give evidence of holy lives. To Rev. Dan Edwards, he wrote, ‘Remember you are God’s sword, – His instrument, – I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity of perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.’ To another pastor, he wrote, ‘Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two, your life preaches all the week.’

Dear pastor, give yourself to this study. Spend His energy (Col. 1:28) striving for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). That is what your people need more than anything else.

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May It Be So of Us

mccheyneRobert Murray M’Cheyne’s holy life was legendary in his century. Spurgeon counted him among the “best and holiest men,” and good Bishop Ryle listed him as one of the “holiest men of modern times.”

His holiness had a direct effect on the power of his preaching. John Shearer points this out in his work Old Time Revivals by saying,

M’Cheyne was himself his greatest sermon, and here is the secret of his success. He walked with God in the beauty of holiness. Our Lord’s presence seemed to envelop him, diffusing a holy aroma. His very manner, his bearing as if a man standing in God’s presence, was often the means of awakening indifferent sinners, so that men who could not remember a word he said found themselves with an unforgettable impression that God had drawn very near to them. – Quoted in Beaty, An All-Surpassing Fellowship, 27-28.

Pastor, pray and labor for this kind of holiness. May you shine and burn in the adornment of godliness when you ascend to the sacred desk this weekend.

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The Necessity of Dignity

Dignity in the Ministry 2

There is a prominent little word in the pastorals that gets little attention in modern discussion on ministry: dignity. In fact, the great apostle tells us that “dignity” ought to be not only the aim of every church officer, but every Christian as well.

THE UBIQUITY OF DIGNITY

To see the pervasiveness of dignity we need only look to how its commending and commanding in 1 Timothy:

  • Christians everywhere are commanded to pray for governing authorities so they may live a life of dignity that stretches into every sphere (1 Tim. 2:2).
  • Distinguishable dignity must characterize an elder’s life and ministry (1 Tim. 3:4-5).
  • Ditto for deacons; they gotta be dignified too (1 Tim. 3:8).
  • Dignity is as valuable a jewel for women as it is for men (1 Tim. 3:11).

THE GRAVITY OF DIGNITY

So, dignity is necessary, but what is it exactly? I suspect it’s a word most people would be able to spot, but few would be able to define. The Greek word Paul uses is σεμνότης (semnotes) and is synonymous with honor, gravity, or seriousness.1 Here then is my working definition of dignity:

Christian dignity is the moral and spiritual gravity attending reverent godliness.

If we understand the inherent seriousness of dignity we can understand why it’s a characteristic going the way of the dodo. We live in an evangelical climate that all too often completely reflects our broader culture, a culture that heralds youthfulness on an unprecedented scale. Look no further than recent the recent radio smash “We Are Young” where a man in his fourth decade of life celebrates youth that “sets the world on fire.” (If you need convincing of how much the secular youth culture drives contemporary evangelicalism check out Stephen Nichols incisive article on “Youth-Driven Culture.”)

Dignity has never been, nor will ever be, a flag waved on high by youth. Thus, whenever and wherever the church caves into culture’s celebration of youth we can expect dignity to gather dust in the corporate attic. It seems, to me at least, that it’s high time to dust off this glorious jewel and reclaim it as a requirement for pastoral ministry. For if we want our churches to be a dignified witness, and we should, we must begin with pastors dripping in dignity.

THE MINISTRY OF DIGNITY

This reclamation project must begin with a reorientation of our hearts and minds to the biblical reality that pastoral ministry is necessarily a dignified ministry. And a dignified ministry requires dignified men. Christ has entrusted His ministers with His mission and His means of grace. Dignity courses through our calling like blood flows through our veins. His mission is grave – life and death hang in the balance – so there must be a sense of gravity when we storm the mercy seat and ascend to the sacred desk. His meal of grace is one we offer in reverent faith lest we eat and drink God’s judgment.

Each week the pastor lifts up the Kings of Kings whose kingdom is not of this world so we dare not hold Him with common casualness. Charles Bridges is right to say, “The moment we permit ourselves to think lightly of the Christian Ministry, our right arm is withered; nothing but imbecility and relaxation remains.” He later says, “Dignity of character will thus correspond with dignity of station.” What then might a dignified character look like?

Consider this portrait of the late and great Samuel Miller of Princeton,

He seldom entered a house, or engaged in conversation, without dropping a word at least to comment the Savior. His sermons . . . were full of weighty gospel truth, and were delivered with great animation and unction. . . . His fidelity to souls; his watchfulness for opportunities of doing good; his practical wisdom; his prudent management of all his private affairs; his tender dealing with prejudice and passion; his guardedness against giving offense; his remarkable freedom from envy and jealousy; his large, disinterested benevolence; his liberality and unworldliness; the dignity of his manners . . . always commanding respect; his habitual cheerfulness; his whole consistent life and ministry, ‘forever the same’, were constantly conspicuous and most influential for good.2

That sure seems to be a life of moral and spiritual gravity attending reverent godliness. May God help us to cherish and aim for such dignity in the ministry.

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  1. See George Knight, in his “must be reckoned with” commentary on 1 Timothy, p. 161-162. ↩
  2. The Life of Samuel Miller, 84. ↩
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11 Christ-Saturated Resolutions

An Able and Faithful Ministry

Garretson’s An Able and Faithful Ministry continues to be a surprising feast for the soul. There is a warmth of piety in Samuel Miller’s life that’s beautiful to behold.

Garretson says, “The life of piety for which he was so well known was nurtured in the quiet recesses of his soul through Bible reading, prayer, the sacraments, Sabbath-keeping, and a lifetime of regular fasting.” To see the man’s earnest pursuit of godliness we turn to a diary entry on New Year’s Day 1832, in he wrote,

I would this day make a new and unreserved dedication of myself, with all I have and am, to Christ. I would resolve (Oh that I may have grace given me to make the resolution with unfeigned sincerity and humility, and to keep it faithfully) to be henceforth more devoted to Christ than I have ever yet been.

11 RESOLUTIONS

  1. To be more careful in improving my time than heretofore; and, for this purpose, to avoid all useless reading, and every kind of employment, which does not appear adapted to promote the Redeemer’s kingdom.
  2. To ask daily, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” and to seek to know my duty, whatever labor or self-denial it may cost me.
  3. To be still more careful than heretofore in regard to my diet; guarding against every kind of excess; and endeavoring to eat and drink, not to gratify the flesh, but to glorify God, and to prepare me more effectually and comfortably to do his work.
  4. That I will try to be more plain, faithful and pointed in all my preaching.
  5. That I will strive and pray to be enabled to make a more hallowed and salutary impression on the students of the Seminary. Alas, that I have not set them a more deeply spiritual example!
  6. That I will direct more attention than ever to the eternal interests of my children.
  7. That I will try to make every conversation, in which I shall engage, during the year on which I have entered, as useful as possible.
  8. That I will direct more attention than I have ever yet done to the precious cause of missions, foreign and domestic.
  9. That I will endeavor to profit more by the deeply spiritual and admirable example of my wife, (for the gift of whom I have reason forever to praise God,) during the coming year, than I have ever yet done.
  10. That I will hereafter, as God shall enable me, endeavor to make all my rides and journeys subservient to the best interests of my fellow men.
  11. That I will hereafter endeavor, in all things to regard myself as a consecrated man; as not my own; and as bound unreservedly and forever to be devoted to the glory of God.O thou God of all grace! Let not these resolutions be insincere or transient; but may they be adopted in the fear of the Lord, under a due sense of my own exceeding weakness, and with an humble dependence on they grace for strength to keep them! May the Holy Spirit help me! May thy grace fill my heart!

Two words come to mind: Stirring. Convicting. How about you?

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I Want to Live Like That

boston

To read the memoirs of Thomas Boston is to be struck by the earnestness with which one pastor pursued communion with God.

A typical entry in his Memoir reads like this: “Having allotted the morning entirely for prayer and meditation, some worldly thoughts crept in. . . . In the afternoon I somewhat recovered my forenoon’s loss.”  Vigorous in self-examination was he. One might say, “Don’t you think that kind of puritanical introspection is unhelpful?” Maybe. But I for one would love to see pastors today fall into the “Vigorous” category in their pursuit of God.

Beeke and Pederson say that, for Boston, personal organization was essential to the ministry, so he rose early each Monday morning and devoted hours to prayer and meditation. He was a man of regular prayer and fasting as he sought habitual communion with God. Evidently it didn’t take long for the public to notice his dedication to commune with God, for one biographer said,

When his congregation saw him enter the pulpit on the morning of the Lord’s day, they knew that they were looking into the face of one who had just come forth from intimate communion with God, and who at once was God’s ambassador and their friend.

I want to live like that.

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Choosing What is Excellent

Choosing Excellence

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” – Philippians 1:9-11

In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul offers a simple prayer  for the Philippians to pursue that which is excellent. If they abound in love they will be able to approve – or discern – what is excellent. The excellent things mentioned in 1:10 are nothing more than the ordinary elements of maturing Christian discipleship. DA Carson says, in his book A Call To Spiritual Reformation, that choosing these excellent things “reflect one’s entire value system, one’s entire set of priorities, one’s entire heart and mind.” Carson then goes on to offer practical examples of choosing excellence . . .

“What do you do with your time? How many hours a week do you spend with your children? Have you spent any time in the past two months witnessing to someone about the gospel? How much time have you spent watching television or in other forms of personal relaxation? Are you committed, in your use of time, to what is best?

“What have you read in the past six months? If you have found time for newspapers or magazines, a couple of whodunits, a novel or two or perhaps a trade journal, have you also found time for reading a commentary or some other Christian literature that will help you better understand the Bible or improve your spiritual discipline or broaden your horizons? Are you committed, in your reading habits, to what is best?

How are you relationships within your family? Do you pause now and then and reflectively think through what you can do to strengthen ties with your spouse and with your children?

Do you make time for personal prayer? For prayer meetings? Have you taken steps to improve in this regard?

How do you decide what to do with your money? Do you give a set percentage, say, 10 percent, of your income to the Lord’s work, however begrudgingly, and then regard the rest of your income as your own? Or do you regard yourself as the Lord’s steward, so that all the money you earn is ultimately his? Are you delighted when you find yourself able to put much more of your money into strategic ministry, simply because you love to invest in eternity?

Has your compassion deepened over the years, so that, far from becoming more cynical, you try to take concrete steps to serve those who have less than you do?

Is your reading and study of the Bible so improving your knowledge of God that your wholehearted worship of the Almighty grows in spontaneity, devotion, and joy?

At what points in your life do you cheerfully decide, for no other reason than that you are a Christian, to step outside your ‘comfort zone,’ living and serving in painful or difficult self-denial?

Behind your answers to all these questions are choices. The last thing I want to do is generate a load of guilt because of the choices constantly before us, choices we frequently fail to exploit for the glory of God . . . Feeling of guilt will not by themselves help us to make the right choices; they may simply increase our stress and resentments.

But if our love abounds more and more, shaped all the while by knowledge and moral insight, then these are the kinds of choices we will be wanted to make – and we will be wanting to make them well. They are the kinds of choices that cannot be made on the basis of mere law. They spring from a heart transformed by God’s grace.”

– DA Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers, 128-129.