David Mathis works for both Desiring God and Bethlehem Baptist Church as the Executive Pastoral Assistant for John Piper.

It’s been a busy spring for Pastor John.

Between two clusters of spring events, this year’s writing leave is an especially welcomed change of pace.

March and April took John to San Luis-Obispo for the Desiring God Regional Conference, to Wales for New Word Alive, and to Louisville for Together for the Gospel. All this in the midst of pastoring and bringing the new birth sermon series to a close.

After his leave, John is scheduled to begin a new sermon series, return to Louisville on Memorial Day to speak at New Attitude, and join a colloquium of pastors outside Chicago connected with The Gospel Coalition.

But for now: writing.

John wrote the following last week to ask for prayer from Bethlehem Baptist and Desiring God:

Dear praying friends,

For the next four weeks (April 22–May 22), I will be holed up working on a couple books, one on marriage and the other on regeneration. O how I need God’s help through your prayers. There is a world of difference between God-anointed work and just plain hard work. Thank you for praying for truth and wisdom and love and humility and penetrating, compelling expression. . . .

Leaning on grace through your prayers,

Pastor John

Here's a list of forthcoming books, some of which he is working on during this leave.

• History’s Most Spectacular Sin booklet (June, 2008)
• Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ (September, 2008)
• Rethinking Retirement: Finishing Life for the Glory of God (September, 2008)
• John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God (January, 2009)
• A book on Marriage (no title or publication date yet)
• A book on Regeneration (no title or publication date yet)

Please join us in praying that God would graciously anoint John Piper during this season of communing with God and writing for the joy of all peoples.

This week's sermon: "I'm Sending You to Open Their Eyes"

Only God can cause the new birth. Only God can open blind eyes and awaken the dead.

But he tasks his people with the impossible. He sends them to open the eyes of the spiritually blind.

How? What role can mere humans play in the new birth of others?

The New Testament is crystal clear: Telling the gospel. Gospel-telling is the essential means that God uses to bring about the new birth.

This final sermon in the series on new birth ends with ten practical encouragements for gospel-telling.

This week's sermon: "The New Birth Produces Love"

The new birth and love for others are deeply connected.

For one, God is the one who brings about the new birth. Those who are born of God have his nature in them, and his nature is love. Therefore, those who are born again love others like the one who bore them. It's in their DNA.

Secondly, God not only is love, but he has demonstrated his love in history by sending his Son to bear his just wrath for those who will believe in him. The love of God has triumphed over the wrath of God in the Son of God.

And this most magnificent manifestation of love is the gospel word that brings about the new birth and permeates the new life of the born again. Therefore, the born again love. The nature of God as love that is seen in the sending of his Son is the very nature that has been put in the born again as an internal impulse. Those who are born of God can't help but love others like the God who sent his Son for them.

How then do we love others? We don't despise the goodness we see in our brothers but commend it, and we give of ourselves—even at great cost—to meet others' needs.

This week's sermon: "No One Born of God Makes a Practice of Sinning"

Being born again doesn't mean being sinless. In fact, no Christian is sinless. That's why we have an Advocate in Jesus (1 John 2:1).

How then are the born again to deal with their sinfulness?

Many oscillate between two dangerous extremes. One extreme is presumption. We may slip into a lukewarm, careless frame of mind about our own sinfulness. We start to coast or to become indifferent to whether we are holy. We lose our vigilance against bad attitudes and behaviors—and start to settle in with sinful patterns of behavior.

The other extreme is despair. We may sink down in fear and discouragement that our righteousness, our love for people, and our fight against sin are just not good enough. Our conscience condemns us, and our deeds seem so imperfect that they could never prove that we are born again.

But there is redemptive power in God's word. By God's word and the work of his Spirit, the born-again person is awakened to the dangers of presumption and despair and flies to Jesus, our Advocate, for mercy and forgiveness and righteousness.

Embrace the warning and the comfort.

Sinclair Ferguson on why it's not enough only to receive the gospel "with joy":

Biblical teaching suggests that we truly respond to the message of the gospel only when our hearts experience both joy and sorrow. Even from a psychological point of view it is not possible for sinful men and women to rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting without knowing some kind of sorrow for what they are and have been. Similarly in developing Christian experience we cannot separate the rhythm of sorrow and joy which is so often stressed in the New Testament. Christians in this world are 'sorrowful, yet always rejoicing' (2 Cor. 6:10), but never one without the other—at least in this world. (The Christian Life, 176)

Matthew 13:20-21:

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

This Week's Sermon: Regeneration, Faith, Love: In That Order

First comes regeneration, the new birth. The Holy Spirit opens blind eyes to see the beauty of Jesus' person and work.

Regeneration causes faith—with no lapse in time. Faith is the seeing of Jesus with the once-blind eyes.

Then faith is the root of love. By faith the born-again heart first embraces Jesus as the one who has already loved others perfectly, and then from that grows the power to love others, as imperfect as that love will be.

The order of causality is crucial: new birth, then faith, then love.

Our ability to love others imperfectly is based on our assurance that in Christ we already love them perfectly. Even when we fail to love as we ought, Jesus' perfection stands before God in place of that failure.

Faith in Jesus, not love for people, is the way we enjoy our union with Christ. Faith must come first and be the root of love and be different from love. Otherwise, love will be destroyed.

This week’s sermon: "Everyone Who Has Been Born of God Overcomes the World: A Wide-Angle View of John’s First Letter"

The apostle John wrote his First Epistle to believers, with deceivers in their midst, to give them rock-solid confidence in their possession of eternal life as born-again children of God, so that they would not be drawn away after sin—all to the completion of his joy.

At the heart of John’s reason for writing was his desire to help his born-again readers know that they were born again—that they already had new, spiritual, eternal life.

In his letter, John gives eleven evidences of those who are born of God:
1. They keep God’s commandments (2:3-4; 3:24).
2. They walk as Christ walked (2:56).
3. They don’t hate others but love them (2:9; 3:14; 4:7-8, 20).
4. They don’t love the world (2:15).
5. They confess the Son and receive (have) him (2:23; 4:15; 5:12).
6. They practice righteousness (2:29).
7. They don’t make a practice of sinning (3:6, 9-10; 5:18).
8. They possess the Spirit of God (3:24; 4:13).
9. They listen submissively to the apostolic Word (4:6).
10. They believe that Jesus is the Christ (5:1).
11. They overcome the world (5:4).

These tests of the new birth are rigorous, but John does not mean for us to infer either that the born-again are perfect or that the born-again can loose their salvation. He affirms that “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1:8) that those who go out from us “were not of us” (2:19).

Those who are born again enjoy the dual comfort that they need not be perfect and that they will never ultimately fall away.

Last weekend was John Piper’s “Why We Believe the Bible” seminar for The Bethlehem Institute. Several in attendance asked that we make a few booklists available that Pastor Piper referred to during the seminar.

There are 3 categories:

• The formation of the canon
• The reliability of the New Testament
• Refuting the claims of some recent critics

We disagree with some of these scholars on other points of doctrine, however their work on the Bible makes us profoundly thankful for them.

The Canon of the New Testament

• Bruce, F. F. The Canon of Scripture
• Geisler, Norman and William Nix. A General Introduction to the Bible. Chicago: Moody, 1986.
• Harris, R. Laird. Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible
• Metzger, Bruce. The Canon of the New Testament
• The Origin of the Bible, Edited by Philip Comfort (Essays by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, and Carl F. H. Henry)
• Sailhamer, John H. How We Got the Bible
• Warfield, B. B. “The Formation of the Canon of the New Testament,” in The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible

The Reliability of the New Testament

• Barnett, Paul. Is the New Testament Reliable?
• Baukham, Richard. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels As Eyewitness Testimony
• Blomberg, Craig L. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
• Bruce, F. F. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?
• Roberts, Mark D. Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Responses to Recent Critics

• Bock, Darrell L. The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities
• Bock, Darrell L. and Daniel B. Wallace. Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture’s Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ
• Evans, Craig A. Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
• Jones, Timothy Paul. Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus”
• Witherington, Ben III. What Have They Done with Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History—Why We Can Trust the Bible
• Wright, N. T. Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity?

More on TBI Seminars

Pastor Piper normally teaches five of these weekend TBI seminars each year. They run from 7:00 to 9:00 on Friday night and then 9:00 to 12:00 on Saturday morning. If you’re in the Twin Cities area (or if you want to come from out of town, as some do), here are the dates (and a couple of the topics) for upcoming seminars:

• March 7-8, 2008 – TULIP, Part One
• March 14-15, 2008 – TULIP, Part Two
• September 12-13, 2008 – TBA
• November 7-8, 2008 – TBA
• January 16-17, 2009 – TBA
• April 3-4, 2009 – TBA

This week's sermon: "Faith: Unique and Fruitful Effect of the New Birth"

The new birth happens through the word—the gospel.

This gospel message is not a mantra. It does not aim to empty the mind through verbal sounds that have no verbal meaning.

Rather, the gospel word aims to fill the mind with clear and understandable content. The gospel is a mentally intelligible narration of the historical events concerning the person and work of Jesus for us.

The gospel is not mantra.

At the heart of Christianity is news. At its center is a story—the greatest story in history. A scandalous story which we modestly call the good news.

God himself causes us to believe this news by granting us the new birth.

There’s fresh snow on the ground today in Minneapolis. True, it’s more like a tundra than a desert, but it’s still nice to come across an oasis. Particularly one that’s inside and heated and has tons of discounted books specially selected for pastors!

Our conference bookstore opens today at 3 p.m. and we plan to have it open until 11 p.m. tonight, then all day tomorrow (7 a.m. – 11 p.m.) and much of Wednesday (7 a.m. – 1 p.m.). It’s located on the same level as the auditorium where the Conference will be centered.

To whet your appetite for some of the cool literary refreshment we hope to serve up at this pastors’ oasis, here’s a brief recommended list. (Note: These are priced to sell. We’re trying our best to remove as much financial barrier as possible to feeding your soul and strengthening your ministry.)

Since this is our Pastors Conference, we’ll begin with Preaching and the Ministry and finish with books by our keynote speaker, Don Carson.

Preaching and the Ministry

• The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges. This classic comes highly recommended by Sinclair Ferguson and C. J. Mahaney, two trusted guides.
• Him We Proclaim by Dennis Johnson. Wonderfully Christ-centered. Good for those looking for a new book on preaching that comes highly acclaimed.
• The Swans Are Not Silent Series by John Piper. Particularly poignant for pastors.

Theology

• The Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson. Solid, soul-sustaining food from a trusted shepherd.
• He Who Gives Life by Graham Cole. Cole teaches about the Holy Spirit while demonstrating how to do theology. Fine discussion of the concept of mystery, especially as it relates to the Trinity.
• The Church by Edmund Clowney. Written by a master of biblical theology, this book’s strength and scope are underplayed by its frank title. Clowney’s diagram of the church on page 209 (and the surrounding discussion) are extremely helpful.
• The Person of Christ by Donald Macleod. I love this book! I was riveted two summers ago and then again this Fall.
• The Doctrine of God by John Frame. If you sense the impulse to buy one larger book at the conference, this may be the one. Frame is superb on the doctrine of God. Three magnificent chapters on the Trinity at the end.
• Salvation Belongs to the Lord by Frame. The whole range of systematics, written with simplicity and straightfowardness but also with strengthen. Good resource for small groups and Sunday school classes.
• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. Newly recast. Special Conference rate.

Church History

• For Us and for Our Salvation by Stephen Nichols. Put mildly, Christology is essential to Christianity, and Nichols traces its development from Christ to Chalcedon with an impressive blend of brevity and depth.
• Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious by Christopher Catherwood. An insightful, and at times sporadic, gallop through church history with an honest and trustworthy guide.
• Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley. Easy to read but very broad in scope; a great way to get into church history.
• Revolutions in Worldview edited by Andrew Hoffecker. Two chapters alone—Frame on the Greek civilization and Vern Poythress on the New Testament worldview—make this a worthwhile acquisition.

Bible Helps

• An Introduction to the Old Testament by Tremper Longman and Ray Dillard. A significant reference tool for understanding the Old Testament.
• Can We Trust the Gospels? by Mark Roberts. Level-headed and convincing arguments from a man who’s rubbed shoulders with the most serious of critics.
• Old Testament Commentaries by Dale Ralph Davis. Davis is a preacher and models stirring Christ-centered exposition of the Old Testament.

Marriage

• Love That Lasts by Gary and Betsy Ricucci. Fine book on marriage from C. J. Mahaney’s sister and her husband. On special sale at the DG bookstore.

Carson Classics to Commend

• Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by Don Carson. A moving and deeply encouraging read, particularly for those with a pastor’s heart. As far as we know, our Conference Bookstore is the only place to get this new release until the end of February.
• Letters Along the Way by Carson and John Woodbridge. Bunyan-like fictional compilation of letters about the Christian life to a young Christian from his mentor. Somewhat analogous to being mentored by Carson via email. Okay, that’s a stretch, but it’s very good.
• Introduction to the New Testament by Carson and Doug Moo. A marvelous resource. Those already with it can testify to that. Those without it can get it at our discounted rate.
• Commentary on the Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament edited by Carson and Greg Beale. Newly published, sizeable resource for preachers. Normally $54.99. Only $29.99 at the Conference Bookstore.
• Gospel of John. I go back to this over and over again. I’ve learned to just keep it on my desk when reading through the Gospel of John during the last quarter of the year.
• The Cross and Christian Ministry. A relentless plea, via exposition, to keep the cross central and resist the subtle temptation to relegate the gospel to the periphery.
• Love in Hard Places and The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. If the phrase “love of God” has grown bland, let Carson help put gospel content back into this central Christian concept. Marked down to $8.49 each for these two during the Conference.

As usual, the bookstore has all Piper books at special rates, including DVDs for only $10 and his newest The Future of Justification for $6.99. We also have titles by our other speakers, Crawford Loritts (three books) and Greg Livingstone (Planting Churches in Muslim Cities).

See you at the oasis!

This week's sermon: "Through the Washing of Regeneration "

The new birth is a cosmic phenomenon.

It doesn't merely happen to individuals—glorious as that is. God promises to one day bring new birth to the whole universe. All creation will be reborn. The new birth experienced now by Christians is the first installment of this colossal new birth to come.

The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to Titus that the new birth experienced by Christians comes from God's kindness, God's philanthropy, and God's mercy—not from even our best deeds and motives.

This week's sermon: "Abortion: The Innocent Blood of Our Sons and Daughters"

The horrific sin of abortion has several sad parallels with the horrific sin of child sacrifice in the Old Testament.

Psalm 106 recounts the atrocity, sounding a tragic note that is all too familiar in our world three millennia later, and portrays the sin as 1) a sacrifice, 2) of the innocent blood, 3) of our sons and daughters, 4) to demons.

Last week, we posted a video of John Piper discussing "A Common Word," a letter to Christians from Muslim scholars, and expressing his disappointment with the response to it that over 300 Christian leaders signed.

In the video, John mentions that he has friends among those who signed. We contacted some of them to ask if they would be willing to provide their rationale.

Rick Love, former International Director for Frontiers, has responded. (Please note that this is his personal response, not representative of Frontiers.)

* * *

Why I Signed the Yale Response to “A Common Word”

By Rick Love

Thank you, John, for inviting me to respond to your recent comments on the Yale Response to the Common Word. I am honored. I pray for you often and continue to learn much from you (during a recent three-day spiritual retreat, I spent time reading and listening to your sermons).

After listening to your response, I realize that I too might have been disappointed by the Yale response if I had only read the two documents. However, I have just begun as a Post Doctoral Fellow at Yale (as a part of my sabbatical). In the providence of God, I have been led to work in the Yale Reconciliation Program to help facilitate their response to the Common Word.

I am writing a personal response using a Q&A format. I neither represent Frontiers, fellow signatories, nor Yale.

Q: Does a commitment to the Common Word dialogue mean that the signatories are renouncing evangelism?

A: The Yale response itself neither promotes nor renounces evangelism. It merely responds to an invitation to dialogue. The signatories of the Yale response represent a broad spectrum of Christian belief. Because of this, some signatories may perceive dialogue as a substitute for evangelism. I understand dialogue as the context for witness.

This is the beginning of a conversation (a number of dialogues are being planned). Lord willing, this conversation will lead to peacemaking and hopefully provide an opportunity to share the good news about Jesus cordially and graciously. The framers of the Yale response and I agree with the Lausanne Covenant: “Our Christian presence in the world is indispensable to evangelism, and so is that kind of dialogue whose purpose is to listen sensitively in order to understand. But evangelism itself is the proclamation of the historical, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord” (#4 The Nature of Evangelism).

Q: Shouldn’t the basis of our dialogue with Muslims center on the person and work of Christ rather than the command to love God and neighbor?

A: The Common Word and Yale response merely articulate the starting point for dialogue. The command to love God and neighbor provides a strong theological bridge that both parties can affirm. This is only a first step, but it is a big step.

What I said above is worthy repeating: I expect to bear witness graciously and cordially about Jesus Christ. I expect Muslims to bear witness to their own distinctive beliefs as well.

Q: Does the Qur’an really emphasize love as the Bible does? Is the description of Islam in the Common Word accurate?

A: It is true that I would not interpret Islam as it is described in the Common Word. I do not see love as being the heart of the message of the Qur’an. But who am I to tell Muslim leaders how to interpret their faith? If the Muslim leaders of the world want to put love at the center—as the touchstone of true religion—then we should be delighted. If love is the touchstone, then Jesus becomes irresistibly attractive. Furthermore, if the Muslim leaders of the world want to say to their fellow Muslims, “Your chief duty toward Christians is to love them,” we should be delighted. If the Muslim leaders want to say (as they do twice in their letter) that freedom of religion is important, we should be overjoyed.

Q: The Common Word asserts that love for God and neighbor is the common ground between Muslims and Christians. But is the Muslim understanding of love and the Christian understanding of love really the same?

A: There seems to be significant differences between Muslims and Christians regarding the meaning of love. But the best way to clarify these differences is through dialogue. It appears to me that the Qur’anic concept of God’s love is conditional, whereas the biblical concept of love is unconditional. Thus, there needs to be serious theological and exegetical reflection together on that question for us to move forward in any substantive way.

Q: The Yale Response seems to imply that Allah is the same God that Christians worship. Is this true?

A: I do not hesitate to refer to the God of the Bible as Allah, since Arab Christians before and after the birth of Islam use the term Allah to describe the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian and Muslim views of God are similar in that we both worship the one true God, creator of the heavens and the earth. We both believe this God will judge all peoples at the end of history. We both believe this God has sent His prophets into the world to guide His people. Christian and Muslim views of God differ primarily regarding the Fatherhood of God, the Trinity, and especially regarding the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I believe that Muslims worship the true God. But I also believe that their view of God falls short of His perfections and beauty as described in the Bible. Thus, I try to model my approach to Muslims after the apostle Paul who said to the Athenians: “What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:23).

Muslim background believers all over the world testify that they were previously worshiping God in ignorance and now they have come to know him in Jesus Christ.

Q: What do you hope to gain from this dialogue?

A: As noted in our response, peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians stand as one of the central challenges of this century. The Yale response and upcoming dialogues take seriously God’s admonition to us through Paul: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people” (Rom. 12:18).

Thus, in obedience to God, the pursuit of peace becomes a major focus of this dialogue. In addition, I pray that our Muslim neighbors will see the beauty of Jesus in us and learn more about Jesus from us.

Justin Taylor asks legal expert Robert George of Princeton, “Do you believe that Roe v. Wade will be overturned someday?” His answer:

Yes, I do. Just as Dred Scott v. Sanford, the infamous decision protecting slavery, eventually fell, Roe will someday fall. It will not fall due to a civil war, as Dred Scott did, but rather under the pressure of scientific facts and the conscience of the American people. The development of sonography is already making a huge difference in people's attitudes toward abortion. Moms and dads, and brothers and sisters, and grandmothers and grandfathers now observe the baby before he or she is born. We view the complex and beautiful life of the child in the womb, as if he or she were on television. Parents typically even name their baby while he or she is still in utero. It is no longer possible to believe that abortion is merely "removing some tissue." It is plain that abortion is the killing of a human being. The hard work and unceasing prayers of pro-life Americans have already saved many lives. Ultimately, they will result in the overturning of Roe and a regime of law far more protective of human life.

This week's sermon: Probability, Prejudice, and Christ

Everyday life depends on judgments of probability.

We must make generalizations all the time, from deciding what road to take to what to eat and drink.

Yet a fine line exists between probability judgments and sinful prejudice. Our corrupt hearts are prone to cloak sinful prejudice in the garb of seemingly legitimate generalizations.

May God help us to identify this sinful bent in all of us and kill it through faith in Jesus, who crossed the greatest possible chasm to reconcile us to himself.

This week's sermon: "Born Again Through the Living and Abiding Word"

The new birth does not bring temporary resuscitation. It gives indestructible, imperishable life—eternal life.

Those who are born again have the promise that all of life's worst troubles and pains work together for their everlasting good (Romans 8:28). Even when the spiritually reborn are persecuted and killed, not a hair on their eternal head will perish (Luke 21:18). The life of the new birth is eternal.

According to the apostle Peter, God gives the imperishable life of the new birth 1) through Jesus' ransoming blood, 2) through his resurrection and 3) through the call of the gospel, "the living and abiding word of God."

This week's sermon: "Receive with Meekness the Implanted Word"

The gospel is more like oxygen than kidneys.

James tells us that God caused us to be born again by "the word of truth"—the gospel (James 1:18). He then charges us to welcome the gospel that we've already welcomed—to "receive the implanted word" (James 1:21).

When we were born again, God planted the gospel in us. But not like kidneys. Kidneys are implanted in us, but we do not go on "receiving" them. They just sit there, hopefully doing their work, and we rarely think about them.

But the gospel is more like oxygen. It is already in us who are born again. And we should receive it. And keep receiving it. It is rooted and planted in us. It gives life, and in giving life it makes us breathe. And in breathing we receive oxygen.

This word of God—the gospel—stands at the center of the Bible. And when we come to the Bible, we come to receive God's word and to do so with meekness.

Don Carson’s forthcoming Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor is the most moving and inspiring book I’ve read in some time. Two things conspire to make this book a must-read for those with a pastoral heart: 1) Tom Carson’s honest and faithful life and insightful journal entries and 2) his son Don’s wise and soul-feeding narration.

Things weren’t easy for Tom Carson (1911-1992). Quebec was spiritually frigid in the 60s and 70s when he planted a church and preached week in and week out to twenty people. His journals are very honest. He wrestled with discouragement and seeming fruitlessness. But he persevered, staying the gospel course.

Don Carson clearly has a heart for today’s “ordinary pastors” who labor week in and week out and see little growth. They attend big conferences but aren’t the speakers. No one contacts them for radio or blog interviews. Few celebrate their fruitfulness. But they keep their nose to the gospel grind.

To provide the flavor of the book, nothing surpasses Don Carson’s memorable prose in these two extended quotes—one from the beginning, one from the end.

Some pastors, mightily endowed by God, are a remarkable gift to the church. They love their people, they handle Scripture well, they see many conversions, their ministries span generations, they understand their culture yet refuse to be domesticated by it, they are theologically robust and personally disciplined. ... Most of us, however, serve in more modest patches. Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands. They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth. They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching. Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins. They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situation or to their own shortcomings. Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on “successful” ministries. Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters, and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement, and, on the other, jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.

Most of us—let us be frank—are ordinary pastors.

Dad was one of them. This little book is a modest attempt to let the voice and ministry of one ordinary pastor be heard, for such servants have much to teach us.

* * *

Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people ... testify how much he loved them. He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book. He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday’s grace was never enough. He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators.” His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition, but his children and grandchildren remember his laughter. Only rarely did he break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them. He much preferred to avoid controversy than to stir things up, but his own commitments to historic confessionalism were unyielding, and in ethics he was a man of principle. His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive. He was not very good at putting people down, except on his prayer lists.

When he died, there were no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on the television, no mention in Parliament, no attention paid by the nation. In his hospital room there was no one by his bedside. There was only the quiet hiss of oxygen, vainly venting because he had stopped breathing and would never need it again.

But on the other side, all the trumpets sounded. Dad won entrance to the only throne-room that matters, not because he was a good man or a great man—he was, after all, a most ordinary pastor—but because he was a forgiven man. And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.”

God willing, Carson will speak about his father and our Father at our pastors conference, February 4-6.

This week's sermon: "Pray Like This: Hallowed Be Your Name"

Prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God.

It's for the private room, and it's for family, small gatherings, and worship services. Prayer is for everywhere all the time.

We pray because God tell us to and because it increases our joy. It is a staggeringly awesome privilege and it glorifies the Father and his Son.

In his model prayer, the first thing Jesus instructs us to ask the Father is to make his name hallowed. This is first, above all others.

The most central, supreme, and overarching concern in prayer is to plead with God that God would make his name supremely valuable in the minds and hearts of people.

Finally. Al Mohler has published his own book.

His forthcoming work Culture Shift is vintage Mohler—and that’s a very good thing.

Culture Shift is a compilation of twenty key posts from his blog that have been worked together to provide a coherent message on Christian cultural engagement, especially in the public political realm.

Mohler’s impetus for Christian engagement, stated with clarity several times in the book, is the greatest and second commandments. Christians first love God and then, flowing from that, love their neighbor. And loving your neighbor does not mean withdrawing but engaging and providing a Christian perspective and presence in the public arena for the glory of God and the good of others.

Mohler is very careful to never leave the gospel behind in all his culture talk. He explicitly comes back to the gospel and its advance and its essentiality in the whole process time and again.

The release date is January 15, but it's available now to pre-order.