What Books Have Greatly Influenced Your Life & Thought?

As I was reading tonight, a curious thought crossed my mind. There is no other book that will ever be more influential to our lives as Christians than the Bible. That's why it is so important for us to stay rooted in the Word. However, other than Scripture, there are many other books that greatly influence our lives. I know what books besides the Bible have shaped my life. I'll share those in a later post.

My curious thought this evening was this... What books (other than the Bible) have greatly influenced your life and thought? I'm a curious guy. You can answer this question by leaving a comment on this post. If enough people reply, I might tally the replies and see what the "most influential book" among you all is.

That's NOT in the Bible

I thought that this was a helpful post for me. Michael Kelley has noted 4 different phrases we might think are in the Bible but actually aren't and ten to contradict the gospel. Here's his entire post below.

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There a lot of little phrases that we tend to think are in the Bible but really aren’t. In fact, in most of these cases, these phrases contradict the nature of the gospel. Instead of repeating these mantras, we’ve got to turn them on their heads as a way of preaching the gospel to ourselves every day:

Wrong: God helps those who help themselves.

Right: God helps those who know they cannot help themselves.

Wrong: This too shall pass.

Right: This might not pass. But God is faithful to uphold the weak.

Wrong: Cleanliness is next to godliness.

Right: Don’t worry so much about outward cleanliness; we’ve got bigger problems, namely the dirt of the heart.

Wrong: Jesus Christ is my personal savior.

Right: Jesus Christ has saved me, but He does not belong to me. I belong to Him. And though I am individually rescued, I’m not the only individual that hs been rescued. I have been saved into a family – a community of believers.

Does Theology Matter?

I don't want to answer this question at the moment. Instead, I'd like to let this excellent video answer it for you. However, let me contribute this to the answer. The word "theology" literally means "the study of God." Therefore, any time we answer the questions, "Who is God? What is He like? Who is Jesus?" we immediately become theologians. As a result, I think rephrasing the question above could shed some light on the answer. Does what we believe about God matter? Yes, yes, & yes!!

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Where to Quench Your Burning Thirst?

"Once my thirsty soul clamored for something to satisfy its wants; I hungered and I thirsted for righteousness; I looked to the heavens, but they were as brass, for an angry God seemed frowning on me; I looked to the earth, but it was as arid sand, and my good works had failed me. I had no righteousness of my own; all my wells were stopped up, and when the rulers dug the well with their staves, and sung, "Spring up, O well," still no water came. But I shall remember well, when my thirsty soul fainted within me, and God said, "Come here, sinner, I will show you where you may drink," and he showed me Christ on his cross, with his side pierced and his hands nailed. I thought I heard the expiring death shriek, "It is finished," and when I heard it, I saw a stream of water, at which I quenched my burning thirst; and here I am -

A monument of grace,
A sinner saved by blood;
The streams of love I trace
Up to that fountain - God;
And in his mighty breast I see
Eternal thoughts of love for me."

- An excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon entitled, "Christ - the Rock"

Treasuring Him Sermon Jam

If you've never heard of Sermon Jams, they are a ministry that take short clips of sermons and sets them to hip hop music. Makes for some pretty sweet sermons!

Davin Mark Seger

I'm sure most people who follow this blog already know that my wife was pregnant. Well no longer! On February 15, 2010 at 5:44PM, God gave us a son... Davin Mark Seger. Check out these cute pics.



His name (Davin Mark) means, "The beloved and warlike one." I'm one of those fathers who wants his children's names to mean something. So why "beloved" & "warlike"? "Beloved" because that is my constant prayer for him, that he would be one of God's beloved children. "Warlike" because he must be if he is to fight the good fight of the faith.

Here's my vision for my son. Because he is loved by God, he is a warrior for Christ.

Lord, would you make my vision complete?

Postmodern Architecture

Kudos to Justin Taylor for posting this. It's from an address by Ravi Zacharias.

I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.

How Firm a Foundation

I hope this old hymn encourages you. There is no stronger foundation you can stand on than Jesus.

Mark Driscoll's Sermon on Haiti

Seeker-Sensitive Generation Giving Birth to Emergent Church

In the editor's note of the January/February 2010 issue of the 9Marks eJournal, Jonathan Leeman suggests the following:

"It's often been suggested that the doctrinally aberrant Emergent church is a reaction to fundamentalism. This may be true for some individuals, but could it be that the Emergent church's doctrinal aberrations are more the result of an entire generation who grew up in doctrinally anemic seeker-sensitive churches?"

What do you think?

Video of a Drunken Squirrel

I'm posting this video mostly for my good friend, Kurt McConnell. He's a squirrel lover. Enjoy buddy!

Don't Read This at Work... You Might Cry

The following is a short article written by Al Mohler in the wake of Haiti. It is a moving story of love, adoption, and tragedy. Just don't read it at work. Seriously... You might cry.

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Adopted for Life... and Death by Al Mohler

Arno was inseparable from Mr. Penguin. The little Haitian boy was almost three years old, and the plush penguin with the word "love" inscribed upon it was his most treasured object. The orphan and his penguin were always seen together.

The boy has been given the penguin just after his birth. A Dutch couple was in the process of adopting him almost from the start of his life -- they had been matched to him when he was only two months old. The penguin represented a promise.

The process of adoption took two years -- the length of time considered adequate to determine that no living relatives might claim him. According to official estimates, there were over 50,000 parentless orphans in Haiti before the earthquake came and orphaned many thousands more.

Richard and Rowena Pet were the young Dutch couple who wanted so badly to be Arno's mother and father. They has struggled with infertility for years before deciding to adopt. As they awaited the adoption of Arno, Rowena became pregnant. Last August she gave birth to Jim, who was left in the care of relatives as Richard and Rowena flew to Haiti in January to claim Arno and complete the adoption process.

The story of Arno's adoption is movingly told by reporter David Charter of The Times [London]. As he reported, "Arno was shy at first but within 30 minutes of meeting his adoptive parents he reached for Rowena’s hand and took the Dutch couple on a tour of the orphanage in Port-au-Prince where he had spent most of his short life. He began to call them Mummy and Daddy."

Richard had shared their joy with a friend in an e-mail:

“We got to the orphanage feeling a bit strange. We went around a corner and immediately saw Arno walking towards us. He was OK until he was about half a meter away, but then he panicked. The woman from the orphanage helped out and half an hour later he took Rowena’s hand for the first time. I’m sorry but I can’t help crying at the moment as I type this. Arno has been showing us everything in the orphanage. He showed us an old car they have for the children to play on. He was holding a birthday card we sent for his second birthday.”

According to Charter, adoptive parents often stay at the Hotel Villa Therese in the Pétionville district of Port-au-Prince. That is where Richard and Rowena took Arno. That is where they were when the earthquake came. And that is where they died together.

David Charter tells the story, with comments by Chris Spaansen, the friend to whom Richard had sent the e-mail:

Dutch TV cameras were on hand during the frantic search by an international rescue team with members from the Netherlands, Britain and Canada. . . . Lying there amid the rubble was the unmistakable blue and yellow toy bird, Mr Penguin, marked with the word “Love”, that went everywhere with Arno. “That toy helped them to make their first contact with the little boy. It had a really special place in the family. It was a very emotional moment for all of us,” Spaansen says.

Then this:

What the cameras did not show were the three bodies, found intertwined together, as if Rowena and Richard had tried to put protective arms around Arno as the masonry began to fall. The disaster cruelly destroyed the new family, creating its own orphan back in the Netherlands. Jim, just five months old, will be brought up by Rowena’s sister, who already has her own three-year-old boy.

The bodies of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet were taken to the Netherlands together, just as they had been found together in the rubble of the Hotel Villa Therese. They had been a family for a few hours, but a family all the same. Arno had a tragically short life, but he ended that life in the arms of a mother and a father.

Who can read this account without heartbreak . . . and a heart warmed? Is there a heart so cold that it does not feel the pathos of this report, and sense the sentiment of this family's tragedy? At the same time, this is not a tragedy in the classic sense. The love of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet transcends tragedy. That is why The Times published this report, and why it stays with you so long after you read it.

Of course, for the Christian there is far more to this story. In the story of Arno Pet we find a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians:

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. [Galatians 4:4-7]

Adoption is perhaps the most powerful depiction of the Gospel found in the Bible. We are all orphans, born under the curse of sin. By the sheer grace and mercy of God, those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are adopted as sons. Redeemed sinners are adopted as sons "through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." [Ephesians 1:5-6]

Arno Pet began life as an orphan, but he ended life as a son. He was abandoned at his birth, but he died in the arms of his parents. He did not die as Arno, he died as Arno Pet.

In the rubble of the Hotel Villa Therese the film crew found the bodies of Richard and Rowena and Arno Pet. In that same rubble, we find a picture of the Gospel of Christ. He who has eyes to see, let him see.

Book Review: Holy Subversion

Around the first century BC, the Romans declared their emperors (Caesar's) as gods. The people gave them a status that is due to God alone. You either pledged allegiance to Caesar, or you faced punishment from him. Now, if you were a Christian living during the reign of one these Caesars, you had a decision to make. Pledge allegiance to Caesar, or pledge allegiance to Christ. According to Trevin Wax, this is what we must do today as Christians. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Caesars in this world, masquerading around as gods, demanding our allegiance. We, as Christians, must subvert them.

Trevin Wax, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Shelbyville, TN and blogger extraordinaire (TrevinWax.com), has partnered with Crossway and written his first book entitled, Holy Subversion. At it's core, this is a book on idolatry, and an excellent one at that. Trevin aptly unmasks six of America's most elusive idols (or Caesars), revealing the lie each would have you believe. Once the lie has been revealed, Trevin then demonstrates how to subvert (overthrow; cause to downfall) each Caesar so that we may continue in our quest of Christian discipleship. These six Caesars include:

1. The Caesar of Self
2. The Caesar of Success
3. The Caesar of Money
   
4. The Caesar of Leisure
   
5. The Caesar of Sex
   
6. The Caesar of Power
   

Holy Subversion is a quick and accessible read. However, don't let it's length or accessibility fool you. Trevin's message is powerful and a must-hear for this American generation. This is a generation of narcissistic, successful, wealthy, entertained, & sexual men and women. In one way or another, we are bowing down to one of these Caesars instead of our Creator. For me, the two most powerful chapters were Subverting Money and Subverting Leisure. They caused me to sit down and reflect on my allegiances in these areas of my life with a pen and a pad of paper.

Through Holy Subversion, Trevin is calling us to "reclaim the subversive nature of Christian discipleship." Reading this book will help you do that for the glory of Christ.

Buy it here.

Biblical Storyline: Water from the Rock (Exodus 17)

Exodus 17. Here's the scene. God has rescued his people out of slavery to Egypt and is leading them to the Promised Land. He has just promised to provide them manna from heaven for the duration of their travels through the wilderness so that they will not starve to death. Now, the Israelites are thirsty. They are thirsty and begin to grumble against Moses and, ultimately, God. Surprising, huh? God has just proven himself faithful to his people, yet they still believe that they would have been better off if they were left in Egypt. How quickly I can forget the God's faithfulness.

Despite the grumbling and unbelief, God is merciful. He tells Moses to take his staff and strike the rock at Horeb, which God himself will be standing on. Once Moses strikes the rock, God promises that water will flow from the rock to quench Israel's thirst. Needless to say, Moses does just this, God is faithful, and the people drink.

Here's the big picture... This is another pointer to Jesus, who is the greater and better water. Listen to the words of Paul as he gives us the inside scoop on what was happening in Exodus 17.

"For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." - 1 Cor 10:1-4

The Rock was Christ. Moses struck the rock and water flowed that quenched the thirst of God's people so that they would not perish. But Christ was struck on the cross for our sins, and from him flowed living water that gives everlasting life. One drink of him, and we will never thirst again.

"A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again." - John 4:7-13

Related posts:

Biblical Storyline: Bread from Heaven (Exodus 16)
An Anticipation Come to Fruition