“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-

You can check out some of my more “personal” posts over at my other blog, Who Is Don Dudley.

Thanks for sticking around and updating your RSS readers.

See you in a few!

-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-

Many people get caught up when trying to read through the Old Testament. While some of us just go plain batty while reading books like Leviticus (a book of instructions) or Numbers (the results of a census with some narrative). Others get completely screwed up because they lack some background information. Sometimes we miss things because we either a) have skipped books, thereby missing important information which is common knowledge to the OT authors later, or b) we have not carefully read or tried to understand the text. This article should serve as an overview of important things to know about the culture and background of some OT books.  These points should help you get a better grasp on the reading of the OT.

Please feel free to ask questions as these points are going to be brief and to the point. Here they are:

• The first five books reveal the history of the world, and the history of God’s covenant with His people. These books are called the Pentateuch (Pent-a-took) which means, “one book in five parts” or the Torah which is best translated as “instructions.” This group contains the laws and instructions for worship of God by His people as well as the introduction into God’s plan to redeem all people through His son, Jesus.
• Joshua is a book of both fulfilled promises (Israel enters the land God promised them) and broken promises (Israel fails to uphold their end of the Covenant). We should read each chapter with the understanding Israel is not always doing what is good and right. Even the hero, Joshua, makes plenty of mistakes.
• Judges is a dark book. It is a book foreshadowing the coming of a king (in this case, David) by presenting the case for such a need. While there are heroes in Judges, we must understand they were sinful men and not all of their actions should be taken as a model for our lives.
• Ruth is a book which shows us compassion, mercy, and grace as demonstrated by both God and the people involved. The book shows us God’s preservation of the family line of David and ultimately of King Jesus.
• 1-2 Samuel gives us an intro to Israel as an established nation under the rule of a king (first Saul, later David). While many great narratives are in these books, we should understand these books show the rebellious nature of man. They reject God by asking for a king. The first king fails to be a good ruler by rejecting God’s commands. By the time David is gearing up to be king, Israel is fracturing into two parties (the house of Israel and the house of Judah). While David’s son, Solomon, will restore these two houses briefly, the kingdom will be split into two sides by the end of his (Solomon) rule.
• 1-2 Kings and 1-2 Chronicles. When reading these books, one tends to get lost as there seem to be dozens of kings. While reading these books, it is important to remember Israel and Judah are two different, neighboring kingdoms. Judah goes through periods of repentance and worship of God, while Israel tends to reject God altogether.
• The Poetry / Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Job and Lamentations) are all writings which are godly contemplations and songs. Psalms should be thought of as the greatest poetry book or hymnal of all time. Proverbs contains much wisdom but should not be read as simply a “life manual.” We should seek to learn from it, but ultimately we should learn a need for godly wisdom over earthly wisdom. Son of Solomon is a debated book due to its graphic imagery and its intended meaning (see below) while Lamentations is a poetic book pleading for God to make wrong things write and repentance. Job introduces us to God’s sovereignty over all things, even the small details.
• Song of Solomon. Some read this as God’s love for Israel, individuals (I argue the individual interpretation is usually incorrect, or incorrectly understood), or the Church. Others see it as a man’s love for his wife, and vice-versa.  I think you should read it at face value (as two lovers) and then ask God to help you see where it might apply to other situations second.
• Nehemiah. This book tells us about Israel’s return to the land God promised them. The book gives an account of God’s grace and mercy to His people by letting them rebuild their city and His temple. By the end of the book, God’s people have rebelled again which drives Nehemiah to violence. Try not to get caught up in the long lists of people’s names. They may be hard to get through, but it is worth it.
• The Prophets. The rest of the OT is made up of Prophets. Many of the prophets were contemporaries and knew each other. These books are probably the most difficult to understand. Some use imagery which makes little sense to the reader (like Ezekiel and Daniel). Others are hard to understand because we have no grasp on the events the prophet is writing about. I would recommend getting a good OT survey (like this one: Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey) to help you understand the backgrounds. Also, don’t rush through them. Take your time, this is not a race.

I hope this helps. Like I said, all questions are welcome.

-Don-

PS. Due to time constraints, this article has not been proof read. Feel free to comment or email me to let me know of errors. Thanks!

And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. And he said to me,“Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.
(-Ezekiel 2:10-3:3)

Obedience taste better.

The calling of a Christian is not always a sweet one. There comes many times when we have to deliver bad news to people. This may include a rebuke of our brother and sister, or even the horrible news to a loved one that they are headed toward an eternity in hell. In the case of the prophet Ezekiel, he was to deliver the words of God’s judgment both past and future. Think about it. If you had to tell people the wrath of God was about to be poured out on them, how would you feel?

The outcome is public ridicule.

Today we are often faced with a more ambiguous form of Christianity. Those who are Christians are often boiled down to moralist, do-gooders, intolerant hate mongers, or part of a political party. The spectrum is huge, and includes many different opinions, almost none of them favorable. If a Christian takes a solid stand in this post-modern age, he or she will most likely be ridiculed and looked down on. If we call sin what it is, “sin,” there is a high likelihood we will be shunned, even among our brothers and sisters.

We must determine what is of greatest importance.

Ezekiel was given the command to eat a scroll with words of lamentation and warning (woe) from God. One might expect this scroll to taste as bitter as the words on it. Worse yet, people do not eat paper or parchment. A scroll is not expected to be pleasing to ones taste buds. It was not until he (Ezekiel) ate the scroll he found it had a pleasant taste. I think we, as Christians, will find the sweetest things on this side of heaven are obedience to the Lord even when it appears to be bitter.

Less thinking, more doing.

Many spend their days weighing out the “great mysteries” of the Bible and of Christianity. Their time is spent, and wasted, trying to determine some new philosophical bend on being a Christ follower instead of actually following Christ. This is the equivalence of a student who spends more time and energy trying to figure out how to cheat on a test rather than studying for it. The result is the same, failure.

Try it, you’ll like it.

If we are obedient to Christ and spend our time growing in knowledge and in love with Him, we will find our lives and callings fulfilled to their highest degree.  We will find the narrowest path to follow is the most wonderful to take. If we eat the scroll and heed the warnings and rebukes of a perfect God, rather than fear the scorn of sinful men, we will find the grandest reward of all upon our death. It will be Jesus welcoming us into eternity with the words “well done, good and faithful servant.” Those words will be the sweetest of all.

-Don-

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