Three Book Recommendations

I was recently looking thru my old posts and noticed there were a few that were still in draft form that I never posted.  This is one of them.  These are three books that I finished a short while ago, and I want to recommend them to you.  They are all outstanding.

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp is hands down the best book on parenting I have read yet.  The one thing I won't forget from it is Tripp's emphasis on going after the child's heart rather than the child's behavior.  If you go after their heart, the behavior will inevitably follow.

In God's Big Picture, Vaughan Roberts seeks the big picture of the entire bible.  His conviction is that the whole bible is telling one story, not lots of little stories all disconnected and such.  This book will help you when you are reading through books of the Bible like Leviticus and cannot fathom how in the world this relates to Jesus Christ.

And last but not least, Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.  This is not lay-down-on-the-couch-and-relax book.  Make no mistake about it, Voddie brings it hard.  He hits parents right between the eyes with conviction after conviction on their responsibility to "raise their kids in the way they should go."  It's not the job of a youth pastor, and it's not the job of a Christian school teacher.  It's the parent's job.  So do it.  That's the constant message of Mr. Baucham, and I commend it to you.

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

Biblical Storyline: Bread from Heaven

I'm still continuing to read slowly through the whole bible noting the the overarching story of the Bible. I'm currently in Exodus 18. The following few posts will be some reflections on what God has revealed to me this far through Scripture.

----------------------------------------------

Soon after God rescued his people from Egypt out of slavery, the Israelites began to grumble against Moses, Aaron, and, ultimately, God. They had little food to eat while traveling in the wilderness. "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full!" (Ex 16:3). Now remember... God had delivered his people out of the hands of the Egyptians. Would he not also provide food for their long journey to the Promised Land? Sadly, the Israelites had already forgotten all that God had done for them.

But God is merciful even when we sin against him. He replies, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you" (16:4). Every morning, God will rain down manna from heaven for his people to eat, and they are to gather only what they can eat for the day. By doing this and not gathering as much as possible for as long as possible, they are showing that they trust God to continue to provide food for them. And so it happened. God sent manna from heaven to his people so that they would not die as they traveled through the wilderness.

So what does this have to do with the overarching message of the bible? Skip ahead to John 6. The day after Jesus fed the 5000, he is stopped by the same crowd. After a short discourse, the crowd asks Jesus what sign he could give to prove he was sent by God. "What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus replied,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

To steal the phrase of Pastor Tim Keller, Jesus is the greater and better bread from heaven. The story of the manna from heaven during Israel's journey in the wilderness not only serves as a story of God's provision for and preservation of his people, but it also serves as a pointer to Christ. I believe God is saying, "Israel, I will rain down manna from heaven every morning for you eat so that you will not die of hunger. But there is a a greater and better manna coming. I will send him once, and if you take just one bite of this bread, you will never hunger again."

As I was reading through these passages, I created a comparison table of the manna in the Exodus and the true manna. Praise God for satisfying our hunger by giving us the true manna from heaven.

The Greatest Story Ever Told by Shai Linne

The whole biblical storyline of Christ in less than 4 minutes.



Thanks to: Tony Reinke