“Prayer is the very way God Himself has chosen for us to express our conscious need of Him and our humble dependence on Him.”
-John Stott

“He who prays as he ought, will endeavor to live as he prays”

-John Owen

“Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider.”
-John Piper

“Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life.”
-Johnathan Edwards

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
-Martin Luther

Let’s be truthful…

Many of us mask a lack of true holiness with pseudo intellect. We figure dropping names, quotes, and clever sayings is enough to allow us to avoid prayer. One of the hardest things for us to do is to hit our knees and lay our souls bare before the Father.  We pray trivial prayers so we can check the spiritual discipline box for the day.  We do not know what is means to travail during prayer (James 5:16).

We will pass up opportunities to pray for our own comfort. It is easier to flip on the TV, get on the Internet, or play video games than it is to pray. Right now there are some reading this who are trying to write off their lack of praying by saying they do not want to become “religious.” My argument is this, true prayer cannot be religious. You are humbling yourself by acknowledging you are not good enough to come before the God of the Universe. Once we understand it is only by His grace that we come before Him, we find out true prayer is never Pharisaical. The excuse is not a legalistic one, but a satanic one.

Want to see real change? Pray.

We claim we want to see God work in our communities and our churches become stronger, yet we fail to hit our knees. Often we sinfully enter neighborhoods and cities by trying to find out what it has to offer us. Is it safe? Are there fun activities and entertainment options available? Will I be close to my best friends?  If what we desire to reap from our communities is not there, we move elsewhere. A proper response would be to ask questions such as; how can I serve this community? How can I pray for my neighbors and co-workers? How can I spread God’s glory to the far corners of my city? Prayer is not just about changing ourselves, but about asking God to change others.

Praying is not just for ourselves.

It is a grave error to think prayer is simply for our spiritual maturity. While it is true we can and should pray to grow and strengthen our relationship with Jesus, it is also true that we are charged with praying for others. It is not so we can feel good about ourselves, but so we can see the work of God in the lives of others. We are to pray because we are God’s chosen instruments to spread His glory. Prayer is a strong gift we are given to accomplish this. It is not so God can bless us with things and amusements. It is so He can bless us with grace and mercy in both our lives and in the lives of those we pray for.

It is time we stopped acting foolish and immature when it comes to praying. We are only fooling ourselves.

-Don-

More than just a great author.

After I first discovered Stott’s works, I decided to do a little research on the man. Here is what I discovered:

• He was born in London in 1921 (as of this post he is 89 years old).
• He is the founder of John Stott Ministries which has a goal to educate Christians and train preachers (how freaking awesome is that!)
• He has written over 50 books, his latest was published in July of this year.
• He has been celibate his entire life.
• Stott believes in annihilationism (to be clear, Stott and I disagree on this doctrine).
• He enjoys bird watching.
• Stott was an Anglican preacher for over 60 years.
• He is a cessationist (something else we respectfully disagree on)

His influence on me.

Stott has an amazing intellect. His knowledge of the Scriptures is almost unprecedented in this day and age. When reading through his books, one knows they are reading the words of someone who cares deeply for the subject and pays its due diligence. Even though his intellect is far superior to most, you never feel as though you are reading over your head. Stott writes and preaches to the every-day-man (and woman) in a way they can understand without watering down the message.You never feel as though you are reading the words of a proud pharisee, but rather the words of a humble teacher.

The Cross of Christ

The book, originally published in 1986 continues to be a best seller (the 2006 edition is currently listed as a top ten Christian best seller on Amazon). With this work, Stott has challenged the way people have looked at the Cross for over 20 years and will continue to be highly regarded until Christ returns. One could argue this book is the pinnacle of Stott’s ministry. This book is regarded as one of the best treatments of the Crucifixion of all times.  Guys like J.I. Packer and Don Carson rave about Stott’s comprehensive look into atonement.

A living legend

While we know of some of the “big” names in Christianity, we often overlook the guys like John Stott. We all know the Rick Warrens, John Pipers, and Mark Driscolls due to their visibility on the Internet and in the media. Stott has somehow managed to remain obscure among most modern Evangelicals. My hope is that you will give Stott a chance. Head to your library and pick up one of his books and give it a read. If his words resonate with you the way they have with me, you will most likely try and get your hands on anything he has written that you can.

-Don-

This was the first time I have taken some kind of extended stay from writing. The funny part is, I did not really take a break. Instead, I wrote over at my other site and continued my role as a guest poster for Church IT. I guess my break was just from the world of You See Dry Bones.

And that’s OK.

Part of writing for a website that is different from writing a book is all the unwritten rules. You can go to countless blogs and websites for tips on having a better blog. Most of them will say things like, “keep it short, use lists, and be the expert in your niche.” Blogging about the Bible study, and the Old Testament in particular, does not lend itself to these rules very easily. Following these rules usually leads only to misunderstanding, which leads to arguments.

Finding my way back.

Over the last month I have experienced writers block. It is not that I had problems finding things to blog about, its that I did not know how to write about them. My free time has been on the low side for good reasons. This means the attempt to study for the purpose of writing has been low. I have been trying to find a way to combine the two in a way that is glorifying to God. Anyone in Bible-based academia should know, it is too easy to get bogged down in studying the Bible as purely and academic exercise.

My goals and priorities from here on out.

There area handful of things I would change about my writing if I could. One would be to follow through on what I write about. I often start a series or promise to revisit a topic later, yet never do. From here on out, I am going to make sure I either follow through with what I am doing, or make sure I do not make the empty, shallow promises which I so easily break.

I also plan to write articles which can appeal to a broader base of people than before. Much of what I write has only been interesting to those few who have an interest in the Old Testament. Writing daily to this target audience can wear one out. I would get frustrated at the lack of comments and interest generated by my posts. I will be doing this by including more articles on Bible study resources and more user friendly OT articles.

And we shall move forward from here.

I look forward to writing many posts for you from this point forward. I hope you enjoy reading them and most of all, I pray they bring glory to God above all else.

-Don-

Its good to be back to writing. Sometimes, you just need a break to re-ignite your spark.

-Don-

Hey all. Just wanted to let you know, I am taking the rest of June off. I will start posting again in July. Thanks for your continued support, and I cannot wait to be back to writing.  Until then, you can find me over at Church IT guest posting articles about all things tech for the one and only, John Saddington.

See you all in July.

-Don-

As you might know, we had a knew baby girl in early May. During that time, I also got a new job while being insanely busy at my old job. This has lead to a lack of posting. And that is a good thing.

I have struggled with approval.

It is no secret that I have wanted to be a professional writer. One of the reasons is, I love it. I like to write on topics ranging from the Bible to technology (if interested, check out Church IT, part of the 8bit Network). My main problem is, I want people to like me and approve of my work. Numbers are important to a writer because it means exposure, but I wanted numbers because it meant people like me. I would obsess over how many visitors and bounce rates on this site. If I was not seeing enough visitors, I would freak out and get upset. I was afraid people just did not like me.

This is sin.

My goal stopped being to give God glory, but to get more glory for myself. My site and my writing were / are my idol. God has thankfully ripped it away from me. In His grace, I still have the ability to write and I still have my site. However, he has taken up my time with many, many wonderful things, like my family and church community. It could have been much worse. God might have used tragedy to get my attention, but thankfully, He did not.

What do I do now?

I still have goals. I am studying the Old Testament as I originally planned, and I still want to help others study the OT. However, I have stopped submitting my site to places like Reddit and Digg. I am prayerfully considering what, if any, type of promotion this site should have. I am also making my writing schedule lighter by not posting everyday. As you might be able to tell by my many spelling and grammatical errors, sometimes I was writing just to have content. Instead, I want to write with greater care. I do not want my laziness and carelessness to be a stumbling block for someone trying to learn about God through His word. I also want to make sure I write in a way that is 100% factually correct and covers all bases. This is not to say I have intentionally mislead anyone in the past, but I have not always done a thorough fact check. For this, I apologize.

More is to come.

I believe it is within God’s will to continue to study the Bible and to share what I learn through this site. I just believe it is important to do this well and with excellence as to glorify God in my writing. For the handful of you who still follow on RSS, and who check out my site daily, thank you for the last few years of readership, and I pray that I can serve you better in the future.

Thanks and God bless.

-Don-

I was looking forward to reading a book on Bible doctrine from one of the most influential pastors of our time, Mark Driscoll. Mark pastors a church of around 10,000 people and founded the Acts 29 church planting network which has planted over 300 churches world-wide. He co-authors the book with seminary professor Dr. Gary Brashears.

The book’s appearance and construction is solid. Stitched binding and a hard cover make this book durable while the 1.5 inch line spacing works great for underlining and note taking. It seemed no matter how much I read it, the binding never “cracked.” If I were to grade the book on construction, it would be 5 stars. It looks beautiful.

Too bad I am not grading it on looks.

The content of the book is “OK.” I am in line with much of the doctrines inside the book. I am an “old earth, literal 6 days of creation” kind of guy. I am slightly charismatic in my beliefs about the gifts of the Spirit, and I am pretty orthodox in my thinking and beliefs. For the most part, I would recommend this book to anyone who had questions or was seeking to “go deeper” in their studies of theology.

But…

The material is dry, rehashed, and full of opinions.  As Driscoll does in this book, let me explain by making each of my critiques a point followed by summary.

• Dry – Drink a glass of water while reading this book. The material is predominately lifeless. It is the cold hard facts and nothing else. No pedagogical devices, no stories or allegories (that I remember), no humor and only a handful of exclamation points (which sometimes seemed out of place). Even “serious” theologians, like John Frame or Wayne Grudem, can be engaging.
• Rehashed - I knew going in the book was based on a sermon series Driscoll did a while ago. What I did not know is, at times, it would feel like reading the sermon manuscript. While the book contains a lot of new information (not included in the sermons), it feels “old.” If you have listened to any of Driscoll’s preaching, or read any of his books (he rips several paragraphs and a chart strait from Death by Love), you may be thinking to yourself, “I’ve heard / read this before…”
• Full of opinions - While the doctrine is pretty factual, sometimes Mark (or Gary) would put random opinions in the text. My favorite? Mark claims “Johnathan Edwards is the best American theologian of all time.” Never tells us why. Never backs up his claim. Never gives us examples of why he believes this unprovable “fact.” Driscoll also plays some semantic and word games with the text in Genesis to prove the existence of the Trinity. I believe there is enough evidence to prove this without having to attempt a substitution of Hebrew words.

Not all negative.

I do believe the book has some great things going for it. There are many facts backed up by quotes from other theologians (in truth, N.T. Wright should get credit for at least one entire chapter) who have been instrumental in my personal studies, like John Stott and Don (D.A.) Carson. I also loved the books dedication to many of the great theologians from the past generation or two who have played a key role in God’s plan to educate and teach. Of course, I enjoyed the unabashed truths the book proclaimed. I think the book is a good resource and deserves three stars. Honestly, if it was not so dry, and contained less rehashed information I would have rated it higher.

I would recommend this book for two readers: Those unfamiliar with Driscoll, and those who have been Christians for about a year.

-Don-

Kevin Vanhoozer is the editor of this book which is a compilation of essays about each book of the Old Testament (OT). Each essay is written by a different person who sticks somewhat to a similar pattern.  Every author tries to give you a historical look at the interpretation of the book and why it belongs in the canon of Scripture. While I read the book from cover-to-cover, it would work best as a resource for anyone studying the OT.

Kevin Vanhoozer sets the tone of the book early by writing a masterful introduction. His goal in compiling the book is not so one can simply become an intellectual giant, but so that one can learn more about God. In his view, which I strongly agree with, one must invest time learning about God (the practice of theology) in order to have a good relationship with Him. However, one must not think knowledge is where our relationship with God ends.

Strong points

• Each chapter follows a similar format which helps the reader know what to expect. While each author may adapt his style a little differently, the content layout remains the same.
• Each chapter looks to see how we can relate the OT books to the New Testament, specifically to Jesus.
• The book is highly readable. Each author writes in a manner I could describe as pastoral. The goal was to teach the reader, not impress them or bore them.
• The book is well researched. Most authors examine all angles of interpretation through the ages and give a decent bibliography at the end of each chapter.

Weak points

• The book assumed you knew either a) other authors and references, or b) what different theories (such as JPED) were.
• The book could stand another 100 pages or so. I felt some chapters could have been expanded to include more information. While a great overview, I think it could have gone a little deeper.
• I wish there would have been more talk of the archaeological records. I know, this point is a nitpick.
• I wanted to see a chapter written by Kevin Vanhoozer. After his remarkable work on the introduction, I was hoping he would contribute in other places.

My conclusion is, this is a great book and would benefit any library. This is not one of those books you would simply read once and pass on. You could return to it for information over and over again. I think it should be read by any serious Bible student as well as any casual Bible reader. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Good work.

-Don-

P.S. If you wish to purchase this book, you can do so here:Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey. Your purchase through this link helps support this website.

Thanks for stopping by. Had a great week of new visitors checking out the site. Welcome and I hope to see return!

Since it is the Friday of a very busy week (we had our first daughter, third kid, last week) I am going to leave you with some prior posts you might find interesting.

Have a great weekend and enjoy!

27 Million. The number of slaves in America.

Introduction to the weirdest book in Scripture; Ezekiel.

A call to end legalism in the reformed camp.

The most read post in the last month: The Gospel According to Esther.

See you all next week. Have a great weekend.

-Don-

Ever meet those guys who read from only one translation of the Bible because they believe it is a better translation than all the rest? Or they only listen to and read authors who support their particular viewpoint? Ever get in an argument over the style of music used in church (you know, only the hymns)? Have you ever noticed how they never seem to exert grace or mercy to their fellow brothers and sisters? It seems as though there is a generation of “Christians” who love to say they love Jesus, but fail to love others.

Drives ya’ nuts, don’t it?

This site hits that demographic. My most common readers are the ones I talk about above. They are around 26-years-old, male, read only the ESV, listen only to Driscoll or Piper, sing hymns only, and make up the majority of watch-bloggers and critics. I hate to say it, but these guys and girls are what we call the “reformed camp.”

The reformed camp are the people who believe much the same as I do. We love Jesus, believe the Gospel is central to everything, and cling to the Cross. We read John Piper, John Frame, John Calvin, John Owen, John Stott, and other guys named John…

We rail against the legalism of the past so we can subvert it with our own brand.

I am all for solid doctrine and good Biblical interpretation. I own a lot of good books by great, reformed authors. I believe it is imperative to study and learn correct theology. All that said, some of you out there act like a-holes. I’m serious. Let me give you some examples of the way you act like jackasses:

• My wife was looking up Richard Foster only to stumble onto sites criticizing him calling him a heretic. The site then launched into a critique of those “so-called-reformers” Driscoll and Piper for recommending a book written by him. You know, because the bloggers have it right. Foster is an evil heretic </sarcasm>
• Read a site claiming David Crowder may not be truly reformed (as if figuring this out is a matter of first importance!) because he sings about nature…I mean, nobody should be singing about how God is so amazing He created the world, should they? Psalm 19:1
• I found a site by “reformers” dedicated to making fun of people who proof text Scripture. While proof texting can be very bad, this site was merciless and even claimed the souls of those who proof text should be afraid of hell (yes, they used Jeremiah 29:11 as one example of proof texting). I guess they forgot Paul was the master at proof texting.
• Did you hear the one about John Piper and Rick Warren? I’m looking at you, Challies. Maybe you should change the name of your church. Grace Fellowship seems a little misleading…
• One site was stressing the need for proper doctrine while bashing any kind of kindness to the less fortunate because it would associate us too closely to the “church of Rob Bell and Bono.”
• Found a site slamming Dave Ramsey because he focuses too much of his time talking about money and because he misunderstands the tithe. I guess we should be upset because the Bible talks about money too much as well.
• I was rebuked on twitter because I dropped the “C-word” (crap). Wait until they find out I drink beer…

Can we get a clue, people?

It appears the reformed camp has become arrogant lately while jumping the fence into the pastures of legalism and satanism. We have stopped extending grace to others because of our arrogance and pride. Most of the guys I listen to and read (almost all reformed in their beliefs) stress things like grace and mercy. The BIBLE stresses similar things. It calls charity to those in need, specifically widows and orphans, true religion.

How about this? We repent and then press the power buttons on our computers for eight seconds, go outside and love our neighbors and spread the Gospel. Some of you are spending too much time contributing to the hate and over-all stupidity on the Internet. If you own a “watch-blog” I urge you to shut it down and invest in your community so your neighbors can learn about Jesus. Stop fighting your brothers because they like Matt Chandler and you don’t. Instead of combating the Church, turn your attention toward the gates of Hell.

I think you will like the results.

-Don-