I don’t need a lot of things, I can get by with nothing
With all the blessings life can bring, I’ve always needed something
But I’ve got all I want when it comes to loving You
You’re my only reason, You’re my only Truth

You’re the hope that moves me to courage again
You’re the love that rescues me when the cold winds rage
And it’s so amazing cause that’s just how You are
And I can’t turn back now cause you’ve brought me too far

For I need You like water, like breath, like rain
I need You like mercy from Heaven’s gate
There’s a freedom in Your arms that carries me through
I need You

These are the books I’m reading for the Spring 2008 semester at Southern Seminary: Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a book review of

Carson, D. A., ed. Worship by the Book.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. 256 pp. $16.99.

Copyright © 2008 by Alex S. Leung. All rights reserved.

Introduction

What is worship? If worship in our daily lives means a consecrated lifestyle that aims to glorify God, how then should our corporate gatherings look like? And further, what makes our corporate gatherings any more worship than glorifying God in the other six days of the week? Worship by the Book is a compilation of essays that seeks to respond to such issues that concern today’s church. By looking back into the past to see how previous generations have done corporate worship aright, the authors look forward into the future to what biblical corporate worship should look like.

Edited by D. A. Carson (research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), this book incorporates a biblical theology of worship in the opening chapter by the editor, which is then followed by three application chapters written by pastors from differing denominational backgrounds who set out to show how they have applied the principles of such a theology of worship in the practices of their local church. In unveiling the varying practices of different church traditions, what arises from the pages is a portrait of what worship by the Book looks like. Read the rest of this entry »

I just received a letter in the mail from Good News Publishers - Crossway Books & Bibles, saying that all ETS members can receive a free, postage-paid hardcover copy of John Piper’s What Jesus Demands from the World.

Also, in conjunction with this offer, all other Crossway titles are 50% off (with free standard shipping on orders of $30 or more) until February 22, 2008!

So if you’re an ETS member, be sure to check your snail mailbox for your letter containing the hidden website and coupon code

The Church of Christ is continually presented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel.

Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is in the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.

–C. H. Spurgeon

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol.5 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1879), 41.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
-John 14:6

In this long-overdue concluding post on the 5 Paths to the Love of Your Life (ed. Alex Chediak, Th1nk Books, 2005), I want to draw our attention to some things that we can easily overlook while trying to decipher which “path” to take on this journey towards a life-long earthly companion.

At various times in our lives, things may not turn out the way we originally planned and more often than not we may be disappointed in God for that. In those times, we must trust in the LORD that He has sovereignly ordained every step in this earthly pilgrimage towards heaven, and have faith that everything we go through is for our good and for His glory. As His redeemed children, we can be assured that as we endure and persevere in these times of testing, we will be refined by the Holy Spirit’s fire and we will be all the more ready for Christ Jesus’ glorious return. After all He is the only Way, the only Truth and the Only Life — regardless of which path we may decide to take.

That being said, let us look back on the “five paths” that I have already reviewed:

• Path 1 (Lauren F. Winner): The Countercultural Path
• Path 2 (Douglas Wilson): The Courtship Path
• Path 3 (Rick Holland): The Guided Path
• Path 4 (Jonathan Lindvall): The Betrothal Path
• Part 5 (Jeramy & Jerusha Clark): The Purposeful Path

Common Ground

While each of the 5 paths may do dating or courtship differently, there are many areas of agreement between them (as noted in the concluding chapter). Each method places a priority on the role of families and social groups in the relationships of singles and couples. Each method is marriage minded and does not take lightly the importance of preparing for that covenant. Each method strives to be biblical and God-honoring, forsaking all worldly ideas of what a relationship should look like. With all these areas of agreement, how then is any good Christian supposed to discern which path to take? Read the rest of this entry »