Service When You Are Not Serving

Al Hsu has provided a helpful reminder by asking and answering the question, "What do you do if you aspire to a position of service and get passed over?" Read it here.

Thanks to Milton Stanley at Transforming Sermons for pointing this out.

Proverbs 25:11: Right Words

Jason Hardin has a helpful challenge drawn from Proverbs 25:11. He offers simple questions to ask so that we might speak the right words at the right time.

• “Is what I am about to say appropriate?”
• “Does it fit the audience?”
• “Does it fit the situation?”
• “Does it fit the character of the One in whose footsteps I’m walking?”
• “If He were physically sitting right next to me, would these words still be the ‘right’ words?”

Six ways to Hinder Your Prayers

Tim Challies has a spiritually challenging post on six ways to hinder your prayers.

1. Selfish Motives

2. Turning Away From Scripture

3. Unforgiving Hearts

4. Family Discord

5. Unconfessed Sin

6. Doubt

Schreiner, New Testament Theology, and Gender Issues

The CBMW blog has a nice two-part posting on Tom Schreiner's recently published New Testament Theology particularly as it relates to gender issues here and here.

Heard Any Good Sermons Lately?

There is a fairly basic story related to sermon preparation on MinnPost.com. You can read it here.

Latest Issue of The Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of the Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest to those interested in Bible exposition include:

François Bovon

Luke the Theologian: Fifty-Five Years of Research (1950-2005)

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5690

Reviewed by Eric Noffke

 
John J. Collins

A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6007

Reviewed by Robin Gallaher Branch

 
Beverly Roberts Gaventa

Our Mother Saint Paul

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5972

Reviewed by Angela Standhartinger
 

Daniel M. Gurtner

The Torn Veil: Matthew's Exposition of the Death of Jesus

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6047

Reviewed by Tony Costa
 

Doug Ingram

Ambiguity in Ecclesiastes

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5268

Reviewed by Martin A. Shields
 

Othmar Keel

Die Geschichte Jerusalems und die Entstehung des Monotheismus

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6377

Reviewed by Ernst Axel Knauf
 

Martin O'Kane

Painting the Text: The Artist as Biblical Interpreter

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5999

Reviewed by Dan W. Clanton Jr.
 

John Piper

The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6378

Reviewed by Don Garlington
 

Lance Byron Richey

Roman Imperial Ideology and the Gospel of John

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6227

Reviewed by Warren Carter
 

Diane M. Sharon and Kathryn F. Kravitz, eds.

Bringing the Hidden to Light: The Process of Interpretation: Studies in Honor of Stephen A. Geller

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6105

Reviewed by Adele Berlin
 

Christopher J. H. Wright

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative

http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5615

Reviewed by Christopher N. Chandler

John Piper's Bethlehem Institute Moving Towards Accreditation of a College and Seminary

he Desiring God blog has announced plans to move The Bethlehem Institute in the direction of a accredited college and seminary which will offer a BA in Biblical Studies at the undergraduate level and a MA and MDiv at the seminary level. Stay tuned.

Preaching Hard Texts

The Expositionalogistix blog has a good post on the benefits and importance of preaching hard texts in the Bible. In sum, four reasons to preach hard texts are identified to which i would add a fifth.

1. Those texts are in the Scriptures!
2. For all the talk about our people despising authority, I believe they are looking for solid ground on which to stand.
3. People, especially Christians, long to be dealt with honestly.
4. People feel patronized when pastors fail to deal with a text or issue.
5. Hard texts challenge us spiritually and intellectually, forcing us to consider afresh God and the whole council of Scripture.