An Echo of Christ, Lion and Lamb

Sir Ector, on seeing the dead Sir Launcelot:

Ah, Sir Launcelot! Thou wert never matched of none earthly knights' hands. Thou wert the meekest man that ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.

--Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur (1485), XXI: xii

Luther on Preaching

A young overwhelmed preacher complained to Luther that preaching was too heavy a burden for an inexperienced man like him and that he should have stayed in his former profession. Luther responded with words that, according to Roland Bainton, "Luther was constantly repeating to himself":

If Peter and Paul were here, they would scold you because you wish right off to be as accomplished as they. Crawling is something, even if one is unable to walk. Do your best. If you cannot preach an hour, then preach half an hour or a quarter of an hour. Do not try to imitate other people. Center on the shortest and simplest points, which are the very heart of the matter, and leave the rest to God. Look solely to his honor and not to applause. Pray that God will give you a mouth and to your audience ears. I can tell you preaching is not a work of man. Although I am old [he was 48] and experienced, I am afraid every time I have to preach. . . . So pray to God and leave all the rest to him. 

--Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Hendrickson, 1977), 361

Not Cheap: Free

My life is a witness to vulgar grace—a grace that amazes as it offends. . . . A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party, no ifs, ands, or buts. . . .

It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility.

--Brennan Manning, All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir (Cook, 2011), 193-94

Edwards on the Gospel in the Old Testament

From his History of the Work of Redemption:

Some are ready to look on the Old Testament as being, as it were, out of date and as if we in these days of the gospel had but little to do with it; which is a very great mistake, arising from want of observing the nature and design of the Old Testament, which if it was observed it would appear full of the gospel of Christ, and would in an excellent manner illustrate and confirm the glorious doctrines and promises of the New Testament. Those parts of the Old Testament which are commonly looked upon as containing the least divine instruction are, as it were, as mines and treasures of gospel knowledge, and the reason why they are thought to contain so little is because persons do but superficially read them. The treasures that are hid underneath are not observed.

--Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Yale edition, vol. 9, 290

He Knew the Heart of God for Sinners

HT: Eric Ortlund

Belief and the Human Brain

From the opening pages to a book I would love to take time I don't have to read:

In the 1970s, Sam Shoeman was diagnosed with liver cancer and told he had only months to live. A few months after his death, the autopsy revealed the doctors were wrong. He had only one small tumor still contained within the liver--not a life-threatening stage of cancer. Sam Shoeman did not die from liver cancer; he died from believing he was dying of liver cancer. Our beliefs change us mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Our brains are constantly in a state of flux; moment by moment new neurons are developing and new circuits are being laid down, new axons and dendrites are forming for the facilitating of new messages to the neurons. At the same time, unused connections are removed, dormant nerve tracks are pruned back and unused neurons are deleted. Incredibly, our beliefs, thoughts, behaviors, and even our diets change our bran structure, ultimately changing who we are.

 Throughout this book we will explore the amazing ability of our brains to adapt, change, and rewire based on the choices we make, the beliefs we hold, and the God we worship--as different "God-concepts" affect the brain differently. My goal with this book is to reveal God in the clearest way possible, to demonstrate how our belief in God changes us, and to display his methods on a practical level. 

--Timothy R. Jennings, The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life (InterVarsity, 2013), 11

Top Ten Ways to Make Your Preaching Clearer

Phil Campbell offers ten ways to make our preaching clearer (a la Col 4:2). Good stuff for all communicators--in an excellent book by the way. He expounds with a few paragraphs on each in the book.

1. The more you say, the less people will remember.

2. Make the 'big idea' shape everything you say.

3. Choose the shortest, most ordinary words you can.

4. Use short sentences.

5. Forget everything your English teacher taught you.

6. Am I repeating myself?  [as in, we should be]

7.  Translate narratives into the present tense.

8. The six-million-dollar secret of illustrating.  [namely, don't illustrate complex ideas but simple ones]

9. People love to hear about people.

10. Work towards your key text.

--Phil Campbell and Gary Millar, Saving Eutychus (Matthias Media, 2013), 50-61

A Nice Introduction to C. S. Lewis

From Asbury University.

Real Work

Luther: 

Workers with brawn are prone to despise workers with brain, such as city secretaries and schoolteachers. The soldier boasts that it is hard work to ride in armor and endure heat, frost, dust, and thirst. But I'd like to see a horseman who could sit the whole day and look into a book. It is no great trick to hang two legs over a horse. They say writing is just pushing a feather, but I notice that they hang swords on their hips and feathers in high honor on their hats. Writing occupies not just the fist or the foot while the rest of the body can be singing or jesting, but the whole man.

As for schoolteaching, it is so strenuous that no one ought to be bound to it for more than ten years. 

-Martin Luther, as quoted in Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Hendrickson, 1977), 235

Revival Is Christ Himself Seen and Felt