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Christianity and Words: Part 4 – Justin Taylor "> - Annotated If God is a God of words, and if Jesus and his gospel are inseparable, then how should we—those who seek to follow him—use our words?The book of Proverbs is an excellent place to start, giving pithy statements about what

Revived once more, the old Higher Life view of “abiding” in Christ has raised its head. Essentially, what it says is that if you “abide” (never exactly defined, but some sort of spiritual super-state of existence), then you will automatically receive all the blessings of sanctification instead of working for them by the power of the Spirit. A careful reading of the passage (esp., John 15:6) show that all who don’t abide (lit., “remain”—the passage is talking about eternal security—perseverance of the saints) will be sent to hell (thrown into the fire). If one does abide, he is urged to obey (notice how often the word “commandments” occurs in the passage).

Today Tim Challies posted an interview he and David Murray did with my brother Jeff regarding his Bible Conference ministry in Uganda and elsewhere (which I mentioned in this post). You can read Tim’s introduction and find a link to the 22-minute interview here.

Jeff so needs a European brogue.

Following is a brief paper by Dr. David Burgraff of the Shepherd’s Theological Seminary that contributes to the discussion of social responbility for Christians. It was presented as a workshop at the 2006 Leadership Conference in Lansdale, PA. This paper is particularly interesting because the author, a confirmed dispensationalist, addresses the hesitation of dispensationalists to engage in social work. It is posted here with permission of the author. I believe this is probably the only place you will find this paper online.

untitled "> - Annotated Actually, I would put it at the top of my list for a book to use with a new believer or someone who is showing real interest in Christianity – perhaps even one’s teen children.

A modern marketing technique is to target the sort of people that your church wants to reach. The young, upper middle class is a common group, for instance. Hardly hear of anyone targeting the feeble and decrepit, however (unless they’re the moneyed sort)!

Is this targeting a biblical strategy?

Consider Paul’s words,

I am a debtor both to Greeks and Barbarians, to the educated and to the ignorant.
                                                                           Romans 1:14

Sounds like if you asked him to do so, he’d go on to mention just about every other sort of person. And, as we shall see, that’s just what he did. Can’t see the apostle targeting a certain group—can you?

Here's the second installment on the books (other than Scripture) that have influenced me most—not necessarily my top recommendations, but in God's kind providence, the ones that shaped my understanding of the gospel, Scripture, and following Christ more than any others . . .