Grace Baptist Church

Tim Keller on Fox News

Tim Keller has what looks to be an excellent new book on the life of Jesus Christ called King’s Cross.  Recently, he was interviewed on FoxNews about his new book and in particular the questions skeptics and unbelievers raise about the reliability of the gospel accounts and the attempts of re-making Jesus into their own liking.  I thought his answers were superb.

Labels: Cape Coral, FoxNews, Grace Baptist Church, Jesus, King's Cross, Tim Keller | posted by TimBrister at 11:56 pm | Categories: Books, Gospel, Jesus |

Give Them Grace

There have been a number of books in recent years that have helped shape parenting with the gospel, but according to Tullian Tchividjian the best book on gospel-centered parenting is about to be released this Spring.  Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse Fitzpatrick is that book.  Here’s a blurb from Crossway:

How are parents to raise children so they don’t become Pharisees (legalists) or prodigals (rebels)? It’s all about grace-filled, gospel-driven parenting, says the mother/daughter team of Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson. Christian parents, in their desire to raise godly children, can drift toward rule-centered discipline. There is, however, a far more effective method—a grace-motivated approach that begins with the glorious truth of God’s love for sinners.

In Give Them Grace, parents will learn how to connect the benefits of the cross—especially regeneration, adoption, and justification—to their children’s daily lives. Chapters address topics such as our inability to follow the law perfectly, God’s forgiveness and love displayed at the cross, and what true heart obedience looks like. Fitzpatrick and Thompson also discuss discipline, dealing with popular culture, and evangelism as a way of life. Parents will find this book a great resource for raising grace-filled, Jesus-loving kids.

The book is not schedule to release until May 31, 2011, but I have already captured some mini-excerpts via Twitter.  Here’s a sampling:

In the life of our regenerate children, the laws function is to show them what gospel-engendered gratitude looks like.

In the life of our unregenerate kids, the law is given for one reason; to crush their self-confidence and drive them to Christ.

Every way we try to make our kids good that isn’t rooted in the good news of Jesus Christ is damnable, crushing, Pharisee-producing law.

Even though our kids can’t & won’t obey God’s law we should teach it. When they say they can’t do it we agree & point them to our Savior.

Telling children 2 seek a right standing be4 God by being obedient 2 us, is drowning them in a ministry of death. Christ righteousness ALONE.

Parents, ask yourselves what percentage of time you spend declaring the rules and what percentage of time you spend reciting the Story.

The primary theme of what we teach our children shouldn’t be commands, but rather Jesus Christ and the work he has already done.

We long to be faithful parents but we rest in the truth that our faithfulness will not save our kids. Salvation belongs entirely to the Lord.

The good news of God’s grace is meant to permeate and transform every relationship we have, including the one with our children.

Instead of sharing the glorious liberating and life-changing truths of the gospel, we’ve taught our children that what God wants is morality.

The good news about Jesus obedience and shameful death is the only motif that will grant our children a heart to obey.

Our children need much less Veggie Tales and much more scandalous cross.

Grace, or the free favor that has been lavished on us thru Christ, ought to make our parenting radically different from what unbelievers do.

Forgetting all we know about the deadliness of relying on our own goodness, we teach our kids that Christianity is all about their behavior.

When we change the story of the Bible from the gospel of grace to a book of moralistic teaching like Aesop’s fables, things go wrong.

Christian children don’t need to learn to be “nice.” They need death & resurrection and a Savior who has gone before them as a faithful high priest, who was a child himself, and who lived perfectly and died in their place.”

What makes your parenting any different than a Mormon, or a moralistic atheist? Give your children Jesus today, give them grace.

I encourage you to get this book when it comes out!  It will help you love Jesus and communicate the gospel to your kids as a shepherd and caregiver of their soul.

Labels: Cape Coral, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Give Them Grace, Gospel-Centered, Grace Baptist Church, Parenting | posted by TimBrister at 1:43 pm | Categories: Books, Gospel, Parenting/Family |

How to Teach Your Children the Whole Story of the Bible

David Helm, author of a very helpful resource, The Big Picture Story Bible, recently spoke at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on the subject of teaching children the whole story of the Bible.  In his message, Helm explains how he came to write this helpful resource (we have been through it several times with our children). Check it out.

Labels: Cape Coral, David Helm, Grace Baptist Church, The Big Picture Story Bible | posted by TimBrister at 12:26 pm | Categories: Biblical Theology, Books, Parenting/Family |

Book Recommendation: The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety

During the “Ask the Pastor” time of discussion during Bible Study, the question of union with Christ was raised, at which time I mentioned a helpful little book called The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety: John Flavel’s Doctrine of Mystical Union with Christ by J. Stephen Yuille.  Dr. Yuille has mined the woks of John Flavel and presented a powerful summary of this fundamental doctrine from one of the most eminent Puritans of the 17th century, John Flavel.

Here’s the Table of Contents:

1.   The Covenant of Redemption
2.   The Basis of Union with Christ
3.   The Nature of Union with Christ
4.   The Act of Union with Christ
5.   The Blessings of Union with Christ
6.   The Fruit of Union with Christ
7.   The Evidence of Union with Christ
8.   The Suffering of Union with Christ
9.   The Joy of Union with Christ
10. The Practice of Union with Christ
11. The Hope of Union with Christ

Union with Christ was a central theological motif for John Calvin and many who followed in his train, not the least was such men as John Flavel and James P. Boyce.  In the introduction, Yuille provides a probing quote by Flavel in which he asks:

How transcendently glorious is the advancement of believers, by their union with the Lord of glory?  This also is an admirable and astonishing mystery; it is the highest dignity of which our nature is capable, to be hypostatically united; and the greatest glory of which our persons are capable is to be mystically united to this Lord of glory; to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.  O what is this!  Christian, dost thou know and believe all this, and thy heart not burn within thee in love to Christ? (4, emphasis original)

In a follow-up post, I refer to the research compiling a comprehensive listing of books and articles related to “union with Christ.”

Labels: John Flavel, Stephen Yuille, The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety, Union with Christ | posted by TimBrister at 6:24 pm | Categories: Books, Jesus, Recommended Reading, Resources, Theology |

15 Gospel-Saturated Book Recommendations

Continuing in our mini-series on gospel-saturated healthy church members, I want to direct you to some books that I’ve found very helpful to seeing, centering, and driving all of life around the gospel of Jesus Chirst.  Check them out!

1.  The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges
2.  Living the Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney
3.  A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent
4.  God Is the Gospel by John Piper
5.  The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C.J. Mahaney
6.  The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
7.  The Glory of God’s Grace–and How It Can Change Your Life by James Montgomery Boice
8.  The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor
9.  Gospel Conversation by Jeremiah Burroughs
10. The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington
11. Saved by Grace by Anthony Hoekema
12. Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis
13. The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett
14. The Cross of Christ by John Stott
15. The Goldsworthy Trilogy (Gospel & Kingdom; Gospel & Witness; Gospel & Revelation)

If there the gospel is the main thing in the Christian life (and it is), then it ought to occupy our greatest amount of time and energy in study.  The gospel is at the center of God’s heart and ought to be the center of our lives, and to make that happen, it must be read, believed, sung, rehearsed, applied, and shared with others in such a way it becomes as normal as breathing.  My hope is that directing you to these books will assist you in becoming gospel-saturated followers of Christ!

Labels: Books, Gospel, Gospel-Saturated, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 8:15 am | Categories: Books, Gospel, Resources, Sunday School Stuff |

Books on Biblical Theology

In my last post, I provided some links online that explain the study and discipline of Biblical Theology. Under our “Media” menu bar, there are lists of recommended reading, one of which has to do with Biblical Theology. I am, however, reordering them focusing on the “beginner” to the more “advanced” reading.  Here are some books you might want to check out, especially those in the first section.

“Beginner” Reading:

1.  According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible by Graeme Goldsworthy
2.  Life’s Big Questions: Six Major Themes Traced Through the Bible by Vaughan Roberts
3.  New Dictionary of Biblical Theology by IVP
4.  The Goldsworthy Trilogy by Graeme Goldsworthy
5.  God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible by Vaughan Roberts
6.  Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity by Scott Hafemann and Paul House
7.  Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments by Geerhardus Vos
8.  Biblical Theology: Retrospect & Prospect by Scott Hafemann

“Intermediate” Reading:

1.  Biblical Theology: The History of Theology from Adam to Christ by John Owen
2.  The God of Promise and the Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart of the Bible by Scott Hafemann
3.  The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen
4.  The Promise-Plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments by Walter Kaiser
5.  The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology by Charles Scobie
6 . The Christ of the Covenants by O. Palmer Robertson
7.  The Christ of the Prophets by O. Palmer Robertson

Labels: Biblical Theology, Books, Resources | posted by TimBrister at 8:05 am | Categories: Biblical Theology, Books, Sunday School Stuff |

Get Outta My Face - Book About Teens and the Gospel

One of the goals we seek to continue to provide on our blog is an ongoing list of resources to help you in your various roles and relationships in life as a follower of Christ, father, mother, minister, missionary, etc.  In all these various aspects of life, it is our desire for Christ to be honored and glorified in all we say and do.

Perhaps one of the most difficult times for parents is the teenage years of their children.  Having said that, there is a new book release that I would like to make you aware of.  It is entitled Get Outta My Face: How to Reach Angry, Unmotivated Teens with Biblical Counsel by Rick Horne.  Horne has years of experience turning around the lives of troubled teens with the gospel. You can get this book for a limited time for the introductory price of just $4.88 (65% off the list price).  Be sure to check it out.

For a preview, download the table of contents or chapter one of the book (PDFs).

Here are a some blurbs by a few authors you may be familiar with:

“Rick Horne has invested in teens his whole life. He has learned that he is more like them than unlike them. From years of first hand experience, he knows how to talk with them and his is not afraid of the tough ones. What you will read here is the wisdom of a man who has experienced the courage and hope that transforming grace can give to you and that hard teenager God has chosen for you to be near. This book is a call to action with biblical perspectives and practical steps that God can use to change the teenager and you as well.” - Paul David Tripp

says: “Rick Horne knows teens the kind that won’t talk and those that won’t stop talking. If you have a teenager, you need this book. In fact, don’t wait for the teen years! Arm yourself now with the timeless truths from this book that counsels moms and dads with gospel-hope for teenage trials.” - Dave Harvey, author of When Sinners Say “I Do”

Labels: Get Outta My Face, Parenting, Teenagers | posted by TimBrister at 8:56 am | Categories: Books, Parenting/Family |