In G.O.S.P.E.L. Horton attempts to take the street lingo he was used to in his days before Christ when he was a pusher, to communicate the gospel to those who come from a similar background. This book is written mainly for the urban dweller, the inner-city folk, who Horton identifies as having cultural roots in the church, but very little knowledge of the true hope that is in Christ. However, don’t expect this to be a watered down contextualized message. Though this book is small, it is meaty with a strong Biblically substantiated gospel message, that does not leave the reader wondering where Horton stands on issues like repentance and lordship.

The reason the title is spelled the way it is, is that Horton uses it as an acrostic: G–God’s Image, O–Open Fellowship, S–Sin Introduced, P–Penalty and Price, E–Enter Jesus  and L–Life Everlasting. In each chapter the author addresses these issues from Scripture interspersing it with what he calls Thebonics (Theological Ebonics) to flavor the truth with street language. Again, Horton never allows this to detract from the beauty of Scripture and the clear message of man’s sin and his need of repentance and faith. Each chapter also includes a rap that Horton wrote to coincide with the topic he is addressing. He also recorded an album which features each of these songs.

Not only does Horton tell the reader how they can be made right with God through Christ’s death and resurrection, but in a chapter called “What Now?” he also communicates how the reality of one’s conversion can only be known through a lifestyle that reflects what they’ve said they believed.

The most encouraging part about the book is every time I thought the author was going to concede a strong point, to aid in “not being offensive” to the urban dweller in presenting the gospel, he shocked me with solidly Biblical responses. For instance, Horton encourages the reader that skin color or style has nothing to do with the effectiveness of gospel communication in certain contexts, but reminds us that “the Holy Spirit is responsible for bringing regeneration to the sinner, not the church or our methods. Minorities in the inner city are in need of the same gospel that is preached to the white-collar CEO in the suburbs.”

It is because of this kind of balanced approach that I can highly recommend Damon Horton’s book to you, both as an encouragement to your heart, as well as an extended gospel tract.

This does not replace the church. We must be a part of a local assembly, showing humility by submitting ourselves to godly leadership and serving the body (Eph 4:1-16; Heb 13:17).

For the formal aspects of discipleship I would recommend you use something like Bruce Ware’s book Big Truths for Young Hearts. In it Dr. Ware does a great job of explaining the truths of Scripture in a down to earth and bite sized way. For you as parents, wanting to learn what it means to formally and informally instruct your children I recommend Shepherding Your Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. Tripp also has other volumes that are helpful in this area. Here is his Amazon page.

More than instruction to any of you who read this, this is a reminder to me of my responsibility as I seek to honor God through the rearing of my children. Parenting is a joyful, heart wrenching, complex, wonderful and exciting venture. I have enjoyed my 12+ years of it and it really does become more of a joy as the days go by. I know that there are always times when I wish I had done better and those time will still come. I know there were times when I was disappointed and that those times are still to come. If parenting has taught me one lesson over and over again, it is that if I can be disappointed in sin and be grieved over it when my kids continue in it, yet I love them still, and at that imperfectly; how much more does my Heavenly Father, who has loved me infinitely, though I know I can grieve him, continue to love me perfectly.

As a pastor this is a hard thing to admit. I’m thankful for the candid way my pastor has dealt with this reality and that I have learned to not only say this, but how God has allowed me to experience it as well. Yes, I know it comes as a shock, but I have let people down. In fact I hate to say it happens all the time. The reason we let people know this is because people tend to put pastors/elders on pedestals and to some degree there is cause for this to a certain degree. Elders are held to a higher accountability (1 Tim 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:1-4) and the congregation is held to a standard of conduct in regard to their leaders (Heb 13:17). So it’s understandable that when a pastor/elder disappoints a member of the flock that it can be a huge let down.

The question then is, “What do I do, as a pastor,  when I unintentionally let someone down?” We must do what the Scriptures tell us. We must humble ourselves (1 Pet. 3:8) and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with those whom we serve (Matt. 5:23-24).

This does several things. First, it puts actions to the words spoken about sometimes disappointing people unintentionally. If I am unwilling to admit that I am wrong or have done wrong, then I am a proud leader, who is not willing to serve the body rightly. Secondly, it allows me to be a “real person” to that other person and should hopefully take away the possible “pedestal” they have placed me on. Thirdly, it allows me to exhibit the kind of humility that Paul calls us to in Phil 2:3-11. Fourthly, it engenders trust between me and that person. Fifthly, it makes the next unintentional disappointment a little bit of a softer blow. Lastly, and most importantly, hopefully it points to our need of ultimate dependence on Christ and not men.

Understand, by these things I am not stating that pastors/elders should not do their best at fulfilling promises and everything that is included in shepherding the flock. This is a non-negotiable in the mind of Paul in Acts 20:28, as we see that it is the precious blood of Jesus that has purchased the flock we oversee. But their are times, even with the best of intentions and the hardest striving, that we will disappoint our flock.

Between Two Worlds by Justin Taylor – Justin just brings it all together. By this I mean Between Two Worlds is where a lot of the world of Evangelicalism is brought to the attention of the blogosphere. Justin is constantly updating and sharing bit and pieces from all over Evangelicalism. Very helpful for keeping up on what’s going on out there.

Dr. Ibex – Ideas by Dr. William Varner – Dr. V (as many affectionately call him) is professor of Bible and Greek at the Master’s College in Santa Clarita, CA. He is in my opinion one of the best unknown scholar’s in the U.S. It’s not that no one knows who he is, it is that not enough people know that he is there and that he is a tremendous scholar, theologian and pastor. Stop reading right now and get over to his blog and start reading. He has basically put his entire devotional commentary on the Psalms on his blog for free. He has led trips to Israel more than 42 times. Get his books and read them. Read what he reads and learn from what he learns from.

joethorn.net by (you guessed it) Joe Thorn – Joe and I went to Moody together and though we were only acquaintances there, I appreciate Joe’s humility and his love for Scripture and the Church. His book Note to Self needs to be on your shelf and the practice of it in your heart and life. His blog is a must for practical theological application in your life. He does add some personal stuff in there as well, which gives you insight into his love for his wife and children.

NT Resources by Dr. Rodney Decker – Rod Decker is professor of Greek and New Testament at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, PA. Because I am a wannabe Greek geek, I follow Dr. Decker’s blog. He has great insight into translations and their philosophies, as well as throwing out the occasional Greek controversy doozy.

Thoughts on Theology by Andy Naselli – Andy is the Research Manager for D.A. Carson and is a Adjunct Professor for several seminaries across the U.S. He often posts like Justin Taylor, bringing the best from around the evangelical web, with video interviews and book reviews, etc. Another great way of keeping up with all things Evangelical.

Counseling One Another by Dr. Paul Tautges – I first met Paul when he was teaching a different course than I was taking at my seminary this last year. Paul is a friend and a wonderfully humble pastor. He pastors Immanuel Bible Church in Sheboygan, WI. His insights into the world of Biblical Counseling, his thoughts on pastoral ministry and how to make application to one’s life as well as others is fantastic. Paul’s humble approach and helpful insights make this a must for any pastor’s reading. Paul is also the author of several book published by Day One. You can see these listed on his blog as well.

Practical Shepherding by Brian Croft – I met Brian briefly at Aubrundale Baptist Church (where he pastors), at the ordination of one of my former students, Josh Hayward. Brian provides rich insights into the life of the pastor as well as how the pastor can effectively shepherd his flock and his own family. Brian also has several books published through Day One that you can access through his blog.

Though this is not the exhaustive list of all I have in either my blogroll or my resources, these are the ones I will be monitoring closely in 2012.

One practical/ technical piece I would suggest on reading and keeping up with blogs, is to use either your browser’s or some other feed reader and Readability‘s browser plugin, which allows you to clean up a blog for easier reading as well as send articles to your Kindle.

What blogs will you keep up with in 2012?

This is how I recall the passage. It is probably a mix of translations from over the years, but I love to think about this. I love to reflect on it this time of year, because it is about an exchange. We love to exchange gifts at this time of year and we who are believers say it is to celebrate the coming of Christ. Indeed our worship should be directed in such ways. In this verse we see the humility of Christ, taking from us a “gift” that non one wants, while He gives us the “gift” that everyman desires, whether he recognizes it or not.

What is it that every man strives for? It is, at the end of the day, some form of righteousness. Some may not want to admit it, but all in all men want to be right with whatever is out there. Some have chosen to suppress this truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18–19), but all men know and will know fully the truth of God’s existence and His right to judge. Therefore men are trying to appease God (or a god) through means that will ultimately render them frustrated and certainly unrighteous before the eyes of God (though some will find self-righteousness good enough in their own minds)(Rom 1:32).

This striving, as has been intimated, is foolishness (Rom 3:10–18). We must recognize that all we can bring to God is our sin. Our feeble attempts at righteousness are worthless and our right standing with God must be founded on that which God can accept. This is none other than Jesus Christ, his blood and righteousness (Rom. 3:21–26).

Here we come to the place that we must recognize that it is Jesus who bore the sins of all who would believe and as our substitute He not only paid for our sins, but has also become our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). So at this time of year recognize the full weight of Phil. 2:5–8, the humility of Christ and what He did to pursue our justification and the glory of God. Let us honor Him rightly for the great exchange!

I thought of this today as I read about the death of Christopher Hitchens. I have a tendency to react in self righteousness. I have a tendency to say, “Well at least I’m not like…” I read an article by Dr. Moore that was helpful and it made me think further about my standing with God through Christ. Whether Hitchens is standing before God condemned or not, he and I have the same standing regardless, depending on what we did with the claims of Christ. That is I only stand rightly before God because Christ is my substitute. As Paul writes in 1 Cor. 1:26–29, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD” (NASB 95; emphasis mine).

This, my friends, says it all! I am nothing without Christ’s righteousness. The best I can bring to God is my sin and that makes me no better than Hitchens. His public affronts against God are more apparent, but my sins are no less offensive and deserving of judgement from an eternal perspective. Praise the Lord that Christ is the Righteous One, through whom sins can be forgiven! Therefore in the words of my younger, less mature self, “I am one less person who Satan can use!” We must submit to God and humbly accept that but for Christ, we are wretches who God graciously saves for His own glory and by the kind intention of His will (Eph. 1:5)! I can only boast in him!

The idea of a “judge” in the book of Judges is really not the point of the book. The proper understanding is probably more along the lines of deliver. The people of Israel needed a deliverer. They were caught in this pattern of disobedience, idolatry, spiritual adultery and then repentance and restoration after God delivered them. The problem is that once delivered the Israelites might live relatively well, until the “judge” died. Then it’s back to the same thing.

Usually Israel cried for deliverance because the consequence of their sin became unbearable. They were usually taken captive and made slaves. It  seems that true repentance was rarely the cause of their weeping and cry for mercy. However, the intended outcome of any deliverance should have been that they recognized the mercy of God and turn back to him and faithfully serve him. Again, this was not the case.

Before we quickly point the finger and accuse Israel of what seems to be complete and utter failure to recognize what was happening; let’s pause and consider the parallels to us. Israel did not deserve God’s mercy, they were acting like adulterers and enemies of God. Yet God sent deliverers to them. In the same way God sent his Deliverer at a time when we were His enemies (Rom. 5:8). Then once we are delivered we must recognize our tendency to fall back into sins, sins that we we abhor, but still sins that we commit (Rom 7:15–24a). Yet, we also know that Christ is our ultimate deliverer on the day when we our salvation is consummated (Rom. 7:24b–25)!

Praise the Lord that our Deliverer accomplished this work and will accomplish the final work on the day when we see him face to face (1 John 3:1-2). Let us also remember that those who have such a hope do not use grace as an occasion to sin, but strive to live pure lives (1 John 3:3); recognizing that when we do sin, we have an advocate with God the Father (1 John 2:1).

SDG

Some of you might be thinking, “Jason, I thought you’ve already taken Greek.” I did, about 16 years ago and unlike a bike, if you don’t use it regularly (read, translating from the original, not reverse engineering an English text), you loose it. I have retained vocabulary and some rules, but as I start to go through Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek, I realize how much I don’t remember and how poor my handle is on the English language. This is my ultimate downfall. If I had only paid closer attention in my English classes, I would probably not be having as hard of a time relearning what I barely learned in my undergrad Greek courses.

I am realizing though, I may never get the handle on it I’d like to. I may have to settle for scholarly pursuits in areas in which I have a greater aptitude. Maybe settle isn’t the best word, but a Greek scholar I may never be. I will trust that the way  God has wired me is what I should excel at. That doesn’t mean I won’t strive to get a handle on the basics of Greek and rely on men (thank God for them!) who are geniuses in Biblical languages.

“What about Hebrew?” you ask. Not touching that one for a while…

Outside of some very sad news we received last night (one of our elders youngest sisters passed away in a tragic scuba diving accident), the way God used the elders of New Community Church to come together to make some hard and last minute decisions about 2012 was awesome. Even the way God allowed us to all be together the moment we heard of our dear brother elder’s tragedy was providential!

It’s exciting to see the leadership get excited about things like budgets and how God has blessed us and what we need to do to cast the vision of ministry to the dear folks of our flock!

It’s hard to believe it has been eleven years since God brought us to St. Louis to be on staff at NCC. Though things are not always easy, I am thankful for the men whom I serve with who help bear each others burdens.