Monthly Archive for December, 2007
Here are my notes for the OT classes I teach at STAC and the Bible Institute. It now includes my notes on the Wisdom Literature and Prophetic Books. There are some good charts, outlines, and basic info for most of the OT. The detail decreases consistently until I say almost nothing about the prophets, but there is still some helpful information. Enjoy.
John Piper’s wife almost died the other day! She bloged about it on his Desiring God Blog here. It moved me and reminded me of the importance of understanding the sovereignty of God not just for theology, but for sanity! Piper and his wife would cringe to see me write that I am closer than ever to admitting to myself, my church, and my students that I am in fact some kind of Arminian. Piper would cringe not because he knows me, but because he is deeply passionate about the sovereignty of God as he understands it from a Calvinist perspective. Whatever imperfect understanding I come to I feel it has to affirm that God’s hand not only influences and effects my life, but is essential to everything that happens in my life.
Without trying to pile texts in support of this idea, suffice it to say that it just smells like the Bible to understand that God really is in control and nothing that happens in my life is mere coincidence (or accident!). Yes, I’m responsible for my sin and so is everyone responsible for their sin. Am I ready to say that my sins and others sins are responsible for the course of history and the way world will ultimately turn out? No, I’m not. I attribute that to the finely tuned plan of God. Boy am I confused about this stuff, but God is certainly in control. About that there can be no question. Read Noel Piper’s brief account of her near death experience and reflect on how important it is to be able to say that God is in control.
(By the way. I’m certainly a Calvinist as far as Penal Substitution of the Atonement, Justification by Faith, and the Imputation of Christ’s Righteousness etc. are concerned!)
Why don’t people pray (i.e. you and me, believers in general)? It is because we believe deep down in our hearts that something else is more important, more interesting, more pleasurable, more fun, more pressing, more rewarding, more profitable, more delightful and more reasonable. We believe that some other activity—sleeping, working, watching, playing, drinking, fidgeting, laughing, talking, complaining, copulating, sinning, reading, exercising, web-surfing, drooling—is somehow more important and will bring about the sensations we desire. We believe in the end we will be more happy, joyful, satisfied, safe, secure, loved, lauded, lusted after, healthy, successful, sensible and sound than we would have been had we taken a moment to speak with and be spoken to by God. We don’t pray not because we don’t have spare moments in which to pray, but because we don’t really think that any good will come of it. True, we may in our minds believe that prayer is beneficial, and talking to God is a great privilege that Christ has purchased for us. Our hearts have not embraced reality and our lives go on much the way they always have. Our hearts have an insatiable desire to be amused and have not learned from our minds that God’s glory merits and rewards those who take time to gaze upon it.
Why don’t we pray? Idolatry. What do we do? Adultery. We play the harlot with things that for the most part are not evil in and of themselves. They become evil by letting our hearts neglect God’s presence for them because of the rewards we believe they offer us in return for our devotion.
Does our prayerlessness ultimately uncover our understanding of prayer? Yes, but more importantly it uncovers our true understanding and image of God! Prayer is talking to and listening to God. The idea that something would be more precious to us is not surprising, but is utterly inexplicable and indefensible.
Previously mentioned church-planting Yoda is speaking in Philadelphia on Friday December 14th. The event is free and I’m going to try my very hardest to go. If any of you Bible-institute guys are interested in going I’d be happy to take you in my sweet new Mini-van. Let me know.
Hey. Ed Stetzer, church-planting expert and master of all things missional, has a great blog entry about the Assemblies of God church planting movement. Check it out.
