Sometimes I think I read books just to read them and don’t significantly interact with them and learn from them. I also am averse to marking up books. No idea why, just never have done it. Here are some helpful tips on reading with a pen in hand

I litter books with my indecipherable scribbles for three specific reasons:

1. To highlight what I appreciate.
2. To notate content progression.
3. To critique what I don’t appreciate.

What helps me is reading books with people. I need to do that more.

Here’s Justin Taylor’s summary of Mortimer Adler’s classic, How to Read a Book

Stage 1: What Is the Book About as a Whole?

Rule 1. You must know what kind of book you are reading, and you should know this as early in the process as possible, preferably before you begin to read. / Classify the book according to kind and subject matter. (p. 60)

Rule 2. State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences (a short paragraph). State what the whole book is about with the utmost brevity. (pp. 75-76)

Rule 3. Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole. / Enumerate its major parts in their order and relation, and outline these parts as you have outlined the whole. (p. 76)

Rule 4. Find out what the author’s problems were. / Define the problem or problems the author has tried to solve. (p. 92)

Stage 2: What Is Being Said in Detail, and How?

Rule 5. Find the important words and through them come to terms with the author. / Come to terms with the author by interpreting his key words. (p. 98)

Rule 6: Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they contain. / Grasp the author’s leading propositions by dealing with his most important sentences. (p. 120)

Rule 7: Locate or construct the basic arguments in the book by finding them in the connections of sentences. / Know the author’s arguments, by finding them in, or constructing them out of, sequences of sentences. (p. 120)

Rule 8: Find out what the author’s solutions are. / Determine which of his problems the author has solved, and which he has not; and as to the latter, decide which the author knew he had failed to solve. (p. 135)

Stage 3: Is It True? What of It?

General Maxims of Intellectual Etiquette

Rule 9: You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, “I understand,” before you can say any one of the following things: “I agree,” or “I disagree,” or “I suspend judgment.” / Do not begin criticism until you have completed your outline and your interpretation of the book. (pp. 142-143)

Rule 10: When you disagree, do so reasonably, and not disputatiously or contentiously. (p. 145)

Rule 11: Respect the difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion, by giving reasons for any critical judgment you make. (p. 150)

Special Criteria for Points of Criticism

12. Show wherein the author is uninformed.

13. Show wherein the author is misinformed.

14. Show wherein the author is illogical.

15. Show wherein the author’s analysis or account is incomplete. [

From Scott Thomas, Acts 29 Director and Mars Hill Church Executive Elder

Part 1 – January 27, 2009

1. I would expose the gospel to the fullest extent as possible in every context, relationship, conflict and teaching.

I think very few people in the church truly understand the gospel, especially those who are religious. I think that few pastors truly understand the gospel. Galatians 2:14 suggest that there is a way of living that is contrary to the gospel. The centrality of the gospel drives all ministry and mission of the church.

2. I would connect with God as I connected with culture.

In our quest to be missionally engaged, hip and cool, I think we have lost the “edge” for a radical, passionate engagement with God. Connecting with culture is overrated; connecting with God is underrated.

Part 2 – January 28, 2009

3. I would focus on developing missional communities as expressions of the gospel in as many contexts as possible.

A missional community is a committed core of believers who live out the mission together in a specific area or to a particular people group by demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms and declaring the gospel to others—both those who believe it and those who are being exposed to it. This community is led by a team to shepherd, equip and organize a community on mission. This group is the church throughout the week. They identify, equip and send out new men to lead missional communities. Missional Communities operate unlike a Bible study and more like a family, a missionary team, a band of servants and eager learners.

4. I would focus on developing young men for the mission of Jesus.

The Heavenly Father delights in us as His sons and expressing this fact advances the gospel. We are accepted in spite of our sin through the person of Jesus and thus, we are reconciled to our Father. Jesus came to men and called them to follow; to leave their nets and to follow Him. Men are looking for others to lead them into a radical adventure of the gospel.

Part 3 – January 29, 2009

5. I would train leaders relentlessly

Once you have identified a man who can be a leader, what do we do? My friend, PJ Smyth, a church planter in South Africa showed me the progression of Titus as Paul mentored him into leadership.

1. In 2 Cor. 7:6-7, Titus was a friend who encouraged Paul in his work as a missionary. 2) The ministry of the Macedonians encouraged Titus
2. (2 Cor. 7:13-15). He grew in his affection for those laboring faithfully.
3. Titus was a faithful worker carrying out the wishes of Paul (2 Cor. 8:6). He was a faithful mule doing what Paul asked of him.
4. Titus developed a heart for the ministry and initiated ministry on his own (2 Cor. 8:16-17). He developed the same passion for the church as Paul. We need to applaud the aggressive nature of the men around us and not try to keep them as mules. They may snort and stomp and buck a little. Our job is to apply the gospel in the areas of their life that will make them useful stallions.
5. Paul says that Titus was a proven minister (2 Cor. 8:23 and 12:18).
6. Titus 1:4-5, Titus was the senior overseer to appoint elders throughout the island of Crete. His proven faithfulness and calling allowed him to pioneer works in a hostile environment.

I would not do much of anything else except to train leaders. I will let others do administration. Identifying, equipping and sending leaders are the jobs of the pastor who is committed to train leaders relentlessly. I would train leaders to lead and not to hold an office. We should not appoint leaders too quickly before they have earned the right to lead and are qualified.

At every sermon, we must call men to mission, to lead, to repent of their idols. We have to equip men to be good fathers, good husbands, and good men.

6. I would get a coach

According to a study by Leadership Network, only 68% of all church plants are still alive after four years. The odds of survivability increase 250% (2.5 times) when the planter receives some leadership development training. They reported that survival rate has doubled since implementing important systems such as assessment, training, and coaching.

Coaching is essential to empower others in the journey as they discover what God wants them to do and then doing it (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12). It gives them a prayer partner, accountability, feedback, perspective, encouragement, resources (ideas, content) and help with strategic planning.

7. I would enjoy the journey of church planting

We image the gospel as we display the grace of God in our lives and as we display grace toward others—even (especially) when they mess up. The gospel includes receiving the grace of God. We must apply this with our family, our “followers”, those in our churches who are our workers and especially the drama-queen worship team (kidding).

I often overlooked the evidences of grace in my life as a planter. I expected the best effort. That bled into my family. One evening when I was stressed and overly-complained about something, my oldest son asked me, “Dad, do you have a trip coming up soon?” My wife erupted with a contagious laugh and we appreciated the candidness of a son whose father was not displaying the evidences of grace.

As we exercise grace to others, we need to exercise toward ourselves as well. Our righteousness is not established through numbers of butts in a seat. We need to see the lives transformed and not the nickels and noses as necessary for our righteousness.

Scott Thomas’ Thoughts About Missional Church Planting

I am simply illustrating how we are prone to over-emphasis and am calling us to follow God’s mission instead of our own notion of cultural contextualization or missional living.   

• Connecting with culture is over-rated. Connecting with God is under-rated.
• Building a congregation is over-rated. Building the Kingdom is under-rated.
• Serving the church is over-rated. Serving the community is under-rated.
• Personal evangelism is over-rated. Communities on mission together is under-rated.
• Church strategic goals are over-rated. Holy Spirit guidance is under-rated.

The argument is often over whether a church is either relating to its culture or rejecting its culture (missional or non-missional). I think there is a third way. A missional church connects with culture and connects with God. It builds the Kingdom while building the local church. It serves the community where it resides while its congregants are served. Its focus is on engaging evangelism personally and in community with others and it fervently follows the Holy Spirit as it makes plans for the glory of God.

Ed Stetzer’s announcement of a new State of Church Planting report .

The study revealed four interesting current realities.

We’re Starting More Churches Than Ever

Though tracking the number of new churches is difficult because so many new churches are connected to and claimed by multiple partnering entities, Leadership Network says we are planting about 4,000 new churches a year. This is an all time high.

We Are Cooperating More Broadly

A second discovery from Leadership Network’s research shows that this generation’s church planting organizations display a heart of cooperation and resource. Free on-line tools abound–denominational training manuals, research papers, how-to articles, as well as audio and video training. This cooperation indicates an obvious “kingdom mentality” in the church planting community that expands beyond denomination or regional allegiances.

We Are Less Denominationally Governed and More Networked

At this point the most “successful church planting seems to be moving quickly from denominational structures to hands-on local churches and networks.” This does not mean Denominations are uninvolved. In fact church planting is on the rise within denominations. But the majority of successful church plants are plugged into networks, and even denominations are partnering with networks as they seek to establish new churches.

We Are Learning to Be More Evangelistically Effective

Today there is an increasing emphasis on systems that will produce better and more consistent results in church planting. These systems include recruitment, assessment, training, coaching, prayer, and funding.

All of this is good news, and as I said in the report, “I believe the intelligence and creativity exists within this generation of leaders to make a significant impact on reaching the unchurched in the U.S.” And yet, we are still waiting for a true church planting movement to rise up in North America.

The state of church planting in the U.S. is diverse, sophisticated, and yet by many measures stronger than ever. Yet, we have still not witnessed a true church planting movement to this date.

We need churches that are more concerned about pointing us to the multi-faceted splendor of Jesus Christ, than the innovative ways we can be the church through community or mission.

Amen. From Jonathan Dodson’s The 50/50 Gospel – II

From Colin Adams comes a new way to investigate a text. I need to start doing this.

A simple but astonishingly helpful ‘exercise’ I use during initial passage study is what I call 20 observations. The idea is simple. Take one verse of the text at a time and force yourself to make at least 20 observations of each verse, soley from the text.

The beginning observations might be easy enough. Eg:

1) ‘Paul’ wrote this letter.

2) Paul is ‘an apostle’: a commissioned representative/messenger

3) Paul is specifically an ‘apostle of Christ Jesus‘ .

Usually, however, the last 5 or so observations really force you to look at every possible aspect of the wording in the various translations. For example, this morning in my study of 1 Timothy 1:1 I made the following observation

18. The reference to “our Saviour” and “our hope” now draws Timothy in. Paul may be an apostle. Timothy does not have that authority. Yet Paul says, ‘Timothy, we are no different in this way: God is our Saviour and Christ Jesus is our hope.’ Paul and Timothy share a common author of salvation, and a common hope in the culmination of that salvation through Christ. (Possible Application: – You may not feel that you share in the same opportunities or the same giftedness as others within the church. But you share in the same Saviour. You have the same hope in Christ Jesus. That’s something we all have in common!)

Of course, if your passage is rather sizeable, you may need to limit yourself to maybe 5 observations per verse, or whatever number is appropriate. If you’re preaching a large narrative, however, you might still want to look for 15 to 20 observations from several key verses within the text.

From the conclusion of Phil Johnson’s excellent series of articles on Clarifying Calvinism (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

We’ve been taking note of five important truths implied in the eight words of 1 John 4:19 (“We love Him because He first loved us”). I alliterated the five implications of that text I highlighted for you, but if you simply give them slightly different names, they spell TULIP:

• The perverseness of our fallen state—that’s the doctrine of Total Depravity.
• The priority of God’s electing choice—that is the doctrine of Unconditional Election
• The particularity of His saving work—that, as we saw, entails the doctrine that is often called Limited Atonement.
• The power of His loving deliverance—that, once more, is the doctrine of Irresistible Grace.
• The perfection of His redemptive plan—that is nothing other than the doctrine of Perseverance.

You might be one of those people who doesn’t want to be referred to as a Calvinist or an Arminian. But the fact is, if you are a Christian at all, you do already affirm the fundamental principle in every one of those truths. You already know in your heart of hearts that you weren’t born again because you were morally superior to your unbelieving neighbors. You were worthy of God’s wrath just like them (Eph. 2:1 3). According to Ephesians 2:4-6, it was God who quickened you and showed you a special mercy—and that is why you are a believer. You already know that in your heart. You don’t really believe you summoned faith and came to Christ in your own power and by your own unaided free will. You don’t actually believe you are morally superior to people who don’t believe. You therefore must see, somewhere in your soul, that God has given you special grace that He has not necessarily shown everyone.

You also believe God is absolutely sovereign over all things. I know you do, because you lean on the promise of Romans 8:28. And that promise would mean nothing if God were not in control of every detail of everything that happens. If He is not in control of all things, how could He work all things together for good?

Furthermore, you pray for the lost, which means in your heart, you believe God is sovereign over their salvation. If you didn’t really believe He was sovereign in saving sinners, you’d quit praying for the lost and start doing everything you could to buttonhole people into the kingdom by hook or by crook, instead. But you know that would be folly. And you pray about other things, too, don’t you? You pray that God will change this person’s heart, or alter the circumstances of that problem. That’s pure Calvinism. When we go to God in prayer, we’re expressing faith in His sovereignty over the circumstances of our lives.

You even believe God operates sovereignly in the administration of all His providence. You say things like, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15)—because in your heart you believe that God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11), and nothing happens apart from His will.

Nothing is more biblical than these doctrines that are commonly labeled Calvinism. In a way, it is a shame they have been given an extrabiblical name, because these truths are the very essence of what Scripture teaches. The very gist of Calvinism is nowhere more clearly stated than in the simple words of our verse: “We love Him, because He first loved us.”

From Tim Chester on fasting

This completes my short series looking at fasting.

Should Christians fast?

Using a hunger for food to cultivate a hunger for God

And today …

How should we fast?

There are two dangers associated with fasting. The first danger is to deny that food is good. The Bible says food is a good gift from God and is to be received with enjoyment and thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

The second danger is to think we can earn merit with God through abstinence. Fasting does not earn God’s approval or blessing. It is not the Pharisee who fasts who goes home justified in the parable Jesus tells in Luke 18:12-14, but the sinner who cries out for mercy. ‘It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t miss out on anything if we don’t eat, and we don’t gain anything if we do.’ (1 Corinthians 8:8). Fasting, like other ascetic practices, cannot of itself restrain indulgence (Colossians 2:20-23). And fasting done for selfish gain which disregards other people is an abomination in God’s sight (Jeremiah 14:12; Zechariah 2:5; Isaiah 58:3).

John Piper says: ‘The question is not of earning or meriting or coercing anything from God. The question is: Having tasted the goodness of God in the gospel, how can I maximize my enjoyment of him, when every moment of my life I am tempted to make a god out of his good gifts?’ [1]

Since fasting is not in itself meritorious there is no ‘right way’ to fast. But it is good to stick to whatever you intend. The body suffers from a lack of water long before it suffers from a lack of food so you should normally continue to drink water during your fast. Do not eat a lot at the end of a longer fast. You could consider one of the following:

• a regular 24 hours fast – eat an evening meal one night and then break your fast with a light supper the following evening
• a regular day fast – eat an evening meal and break your fast with breakfast the day after next
• a fast for guidance – fast for a period leading up to a significant meeting or throughout a significant time together

When I attended Capital Hill Baptist for the 9Marks Weekender, I was stunned by the pastoral prayer. It felt like it went on forever, but then I was chastened by my desire for a shorter time of talking with our great God and Redeemer. Here are a set of posts about Capital Hill Baptist’s commitment to gospel-saturated and corporately-concerned prayer during their worship services

From Senior Pastor Mark Dever

At CHBC we often get comments on our 10 minute pastoral prayers. These prayers range from the needs of our congregation to praying for leaders in government and society to praying for other churches, and those who have gone out from us to praying for a number of different countries around the world, pressing problems they’re facing, and the growth of the gospel in these lands, and then praying for the character of Christians in America and for God to bless the preaching of His Word in specific ways in our congregation this morning. [From A Village Church with a Village God by mdever]

From Greg Gilbert, Senior Pastoral Assistant and soon-to-be elder

Mark, speaking of long prayers, I’d say, on average, probably 20 minutes of our service time here at CHBC is prayer. We usually have four of them:

1. Pastoral prayer, which you talk about below. Those are usually easily between 8-10 minutes.
2. Prayer of confession, in which someone leads us as a congregation in confessing our sin and God’s grace in Christ to forgive. Say 5 minutes for that one.P
3. Prayer of thanks, before the offering. 1-2 minutes
4. And then the Prayer of Praise, in which we simply praise and worship God for who he is and what he has done. No petitions in this one, just praise. (Mark says no “thanks,” either, though I have a hard time seeing the difference between praising God for what he’s done, and thanking him for it. At any rate…..)
5. 6, and 7) There could be two or three other prayers, too, if we’re celebrating the Lord’s Supper or Baptism during the morning service.

Many of our people comment on our prayers of praise. We usually have a member of the congregation give it, and we normally ask them to give some thought to it before they pray it publicly, even by writing it down. I prayed the prayer of praise this past Sunday, just after we’d finished singing “Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal!” Here’s what I prayed, more or less:

“Almighty God,

How we long for that day when you will bear us over those swollen waters, to stand there with millions upon millions of your people praising you and worshipping you for what you have done! But even here this morning, on this side of those rolling waters, we raise our voices in praise to you, the Lamb who was slain and who yet still sits on the throne of the universe.

O God, you have done wonderful things for us. You have made us able to sing about the farther shore and the harps eternal, to dream of the day when we’ll see you face to face, rather than to shrink in fear from that day. What an amazing thing it is, Lord, that our destiny–the destiny of rebels and sinners–is to be with you, in joy, for all eternity. That is testimony to nothing but your grace and your mercy.

Who are we, O Lord, to speak with such confidence about the rolling waters of death? Who are we to approach those waters and have any confidence at all, much less joy, about what lies on the other side of them? After all, we know our hearts. We know what sin resides there, and when we are honest with ourselves we know that what we deserve from you is to be declared, once and for all, guilty. The thought of death–and what comes after it–should not be the stuff of songs for us; it should be the stuff of terrified silence. And yet we sing, Lord, because we know that when we stand before you, it will be no longer as guilty and sinful, but as righteous and forgiven in Jesus Christ our Savior. It was your will to crush him, and cause him to suffer—not for any sin of his own, but for ours. He bore our sins, he made intercession for us, the transgressors, he suffered our punishment, and we were given his life. That, O God, is why we can so confidently look death in the face without fear and without flinching. It is because You have broken its power over us, stolen its victory, removed its sting.

Because of your Son Jesus, because of what he has done for us on the cross, we are no longer a people of death. We are a people of resurrection. Yes, God, we see death all around us. We experience it deeply and closely when those we love die. We know it in our own bodies as we grow older and weaker, and we will know it even more when our eyes close one day in death. But we also believe–and know–that Jesus our Lord died, and yet was raised to life again. And we know that when He returns, he will bring with him those who have died in him. One day, O Lord, one day soon, the Lord Jesus will himself come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet blast of God. And then we will rise again. We will be changed–in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, the mortal will be clothed with immortality, and once and for all, death will be swallowed up in victory. And so we will be with you, O Lord, forever.

That is why we praise you. That’s why we sing with the angels even now, “To him who sits on the throne, even to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion, forever and ever.” In Jesus name, Amen.”

From Greg Gilbert, with more examples of prayers from December 2, 2007 and December 9, 2007

This is how I should be praying for my pastor, and for my brothers in Christ who are pastors. From Ligon Duncan

1. That [your pastor] would know and love the living God, would have a saving interest in Christ, being purchased by His blood, and thus would be bound to the Lord by the indissoluble bond of the Holy Spirit.

2. That [your pastor] would know, embrace and ever more deeply understand the Gospel and be shaped by it in life and ministry.

3. That [your pastor] would be useful servant of the Lord, that he would know and love God’s word, God’s people, and God’s kingdom; that he would be used to build it up and so that it prevails even against Hell’s gates.

4. That [your pastor] would study, practice and teach the Word of the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

5. That [your pastor] would love to pray, because he loves to commune with his God, and that he would be a man of prayer, characteristically.

6. That [your pastor] would be ever dependent upon and filled with the Spirit; and that he would possess true Spiritual wisdom.

7. That [your pastor] would be holy unto the Lord. That his tongue and heart would be wholly God’s.

8. That [your pastor] would be kept from pride, and especially spiritual pride. That the Lord himself would be gracious to slay pride in him, and that your pastor would endeavor to always be putting pride to death, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

9. That God would give [your pastor] guidance as to where to focus his efforts in ministry.

10. That He would protect [your pastor] from himself, from the enemy of his soul, and from all earthly enemies.

11. That no decision which [your pastor] ever makes or desire that [your pastor] ever pursues would restrict his ability to pour his whole soul into the Gospel ministry.

12.That many would be converted and many built up under [your pastor]‘s ministry, to God’s glory alone.

13. That the Lord would bless [your pastor]‘s wife, [. . . ], with holiness and happiness, Gospel assurance and Gospel rest.

14. That God would make [your pastor] a decent husband and father.

15. That [your pastor] would be a good friend to his wife, and love her self-sacrificially,

16. That [your pastor] would be a good daddy to his children. That they would love God, their parents and the church.

17. That [your pastor] would be a testimony in the home so that his wife might be able to respect him when he is in the pulpit, and so that [your pastor] will be able to feed her soul, along with the rest of the congregation.