Posts Tagged ‘Gospel’

Sale on The Gospel Commission

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Comments Posted on Apr 11, 2011 Last Updated Apr 11, 2011 Posted by Jeff Lash

I promise that I will eventually get around to posting more than book deals and such. However, Michael Horton’s new book The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples is on sale at Westminster Bookstore at 50% off your first copy and 40% off all additional copies. The sale runs through tomorrow so be sure to order your copies quickly. Horton is a solid theologian and clear writer so you will undoubtedly benefit from this book. Here’s a brief description:

Many churches in America today want to be powerful, relevant, and influential in personal and social transformation. A plethora of programs for outreach, discipleship, and spiritual disciplines are available at any bookstore and on countless websites. Yet what we need most is a renewed understanding of and commitment to the Great Commission. We assume that we already know the nature of this commission and the appropriate methods of carrying it out.

But Michael Horton contends that it too often becomes our mission instead of God’s. At a time when churches are zealously engaged in creating mission statements and strategic plans, he argues that we must ask ourselves anew whether we are ambassadors, following the script we’ve been given, or building our own kingdoms with our own blueprint.

Also…Westminster has extended the sale on Thriving at College until tomorrow. If you’re still interested in that book but missed the original deadline for the deal then here is your second chance.

 

Two Book Deal: You Can Change & What is the Gospel?

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Comments Posted on Mar 29, 2010 Last Updated Mar 29, 2010 Posted by Jeff Lash

Until April 1st, you can buy a copy of You Can Change by Tim Chester and What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert for one low price at Westminster Bookstore. Both books have gotten glowing reviews across the blogosphere. Below is an interview with each author as well as a one sentence summary of each book. Watch and then click over to Westminster to take advantage of this deal.

You Can Change by Tim Chester – “A practical, interactive, and solidly biblical book designed to help Christians in all stages of life to find victory over sin by focusing on what God has already done in us.”

What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert – “This newest addition to the IX Marks series presents a clear, straightforward statement of the gospel, the third mark of a healthy church.”

The Word 9.20.09

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Comments Posted on Sep 20, 2009 Last Updated Sep 20, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

The gospel is divisive. It requires our greatest and primary loyalty. We must love Christ more than we love the closest person to us on this earth. Our reward and hope for such loyalty is eternal life. No matter how isolated or persecuted we are because of the gospel, our eternity is secure in the hands of Christ.

Matthew 10:34-42 (ESV)

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

The Word 8.30.09

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Comments Posted on Aug 30, 2009 Last Updated Aug 30, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

Jesus tells his disciples that they are sent out as vulnerable sheep among a pack of wolves. In the previous verses, Jesus mentions that judgment befalls those people who reject the blessing and message of his disciples. The perspective is set on those who reject the message and the consequence for their rejection. Jesus shifts the focus onto his messengers. The world is made up of only two kinds of people: believers and nonbelievers. There are worshipers of Jesus and worshipers of everything else. Those who worship things other than Jesus have set themselves against Him in some form or fashion. The message of the gospel is bad news them. The gospel divides at the most profound levels. We should be prepared for persecution of any form. We should be wise and cunning in the way we live among the wolves and yet blameless in order to remain faithful to our Lord.

Matthew 10:16-23 (ESV)

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

The Gospel: Our Greatest Weapon Against Sin

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Comments Posted on Aug 11, 2009 Last Updated Aug 12, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

The Mortification of Sin by John OwenIn chapter 9 of The Mortification of Sin, John Owen lays out several symptoms of sin. It is dangerous for us when we have become callous to sin, seek to justify sin, experience sin’s success over our will (even if our bodies don’t comply), or allow sin to remain despite discipline. Our greatest weapon against such symptoms is the gospel. Killing our sin is only possible because of the Jesus on the cross. He shed his blood so that we might have victory over sin and death. Yet some people would attempt to apply the law to mortifying sin. In this case, sin would only be mortified by a certain set of obedient works. This case is not only sad but dangerous. As Owen says, “But now if a man be so under the power of his lust that he has nothing but law to oppose it with, if he cannot fight against it with gospel weapons, but deals with it altogether with hell and judgment, which are the proper arms of the law, it is most evident that sin has possessed itself of his will and affections to a very great prevalency and conquest.” (93-94) The law is powerless against sin. The law can only highlight sin. It cannot mortify or eliminate sin.

How can you recognize this scenario?

Try yourself by this also: When you are by sin driven to make a stand, so that you must either serve it and rush at the command of it into folly, like the horse into the battle, or make head against it to suppress it, what do you say to your soul? What do you expostulate with yourself? Is this all – “Hell will be the end of this course; vengeance will meet with me and find me out”? It is time for you to look about you; evil lies at the door [Gen. 4:7]. Paul’s main argument to evince that sin shall not have dominion over believers that they “are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). If your contendings against sin be all on legal accounts, from legal principles and motives, what assurance can you attain unto that sin shall not have dominion over you, which will be your ruin? (94)

The gospel is good news to all that believe. It has brought us liberation and continues to be our greatest weapon in the battle against sin. Employ it often.

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