The Four P's of a Faithful Pastorate

Mark Dever preached a pastoral installation service Sunday for Del Ray Baptist Church. It is a great meditation on the calling of a pastor. In it, Dever addresses both the new pastor and the congregation.

To the new pastor, Dever gives 4 exhortations:
-Preaching (make this your primary task)
-Praying (pray all the time)
-Personal Discpling Relationships (do others good spiritually)
-Patience (lead in light of eternity)

To the congregation, Dever gives 3 exhortations around these things:
-Money (pay your pastor as much as you can)
-Marriage (care for the pastor's wife)
-Moderation (be moderate in your expectations of your new pastor)

Preach: Theology Meets Practice

I want to grow as a preacher. Therefore, I love books on preaching. So, when I saw that Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert wrote a book on preaching, I was excited.

It is a good book. The middle section on how to prepare a sermon is full of gold nuggets. You'll find all sorts of encouragements like this one:

"A pastorate is made up of a lot of sermons, and the fact is, most of those sermons are going to be singles rather than triples or home runs. But that's fine. If the Lord is so kind as to give you even a long string of singles, that's purely of His grace, and your congregation will benefit and grow from that. You score runs with a string of singles. So don't worry if you haven't hit a home run in a while--and if you hit one today, don't get cocky! Either way, go home, rest, thank God for the grace He gave you to teach and encourage His people again, take some time off, and then start the whole process over the next week. Our God is a good God, and week after week, sermon after sermon, He will give grace and strength and insight to the men who preach His Word."

Well, sometimes I don't even hit singles. Sometimes I'm hit by the pitch and take first base with a bit of a bruise.  Anyway, that's the kind of encouragement a preacher needs.

And, the conclusion to this book is fantastic. Dever and Gilbert both include a sermon manuscript peppered with comments and questions for each other about the sermon. I commend it to those who want to grow in their preaching. You can find more info about this book here.

Carson on Matthew

Mark Dever tweeted this about Carson's Matthew commentary:

"If I could only have one commentary in my library, it would be Don Carson's commentary on Matthew."

New Dever Books

Do you think either of these will be given away at T4G?

1. New Mark Dever book - A quick overview of the whole Bible (wow!).
2. New Mark Dever book - Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement (yes!).

The Trellis and the Vine

Mark Dever recommends a lot of books. However, I don't think I've ever heard him recommend a book as enthusiastically as The Trellis and the Vine. Dever says this is the most important book on church ministry (without qualification).

So, if you are in church ministry, you have to get this book. And, there is only one bookstore in America that you can get it from. You guessed it, WTS Books is the only place (along with the publisher).

And, they are offering a 50% off special for a very limited time. After this special, you will have to pay full price.

Follow the link to watch Mark Dever's recommendation and see endorsements from Al Mohler, Lig Duncan and others.

Another Christmas gift idea brought to you from the CROSS-eyed blog.

9 Reasons I'm Thankful for 9 Marks on 9-9-09

9 Marks is a ministry devoted to building churches that reflect the character of God. I was reminded today of some of the reasons I thank God for this ministry.

1. They love the gospel.
2. They love the church.
3. They make old-fashioned cool.
4. They genuinely serve ordinary pastors.
5. Their website is extremely helpful.
6. Their books are among the best on the nature of the church, purpose of the church, and healthy practices of the church.
7. Weekenders.
8. Interviews.
9. Mark Dever.

Piper's Recommended Books on Evangelism

In chapter 15 of Finally Alive, Piper gives these 3 recommendations for books on evangelism:

1. Will Metzger's Tell the Truth
2. JI Packers Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
3. Mark Dever's The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

What is a Healthy Church?

One of the most effective things (in terms of noticeable fruit) we have done at Christ Baptist Church is give away copies of Mark Dever's What is a Healthy Church. We gave copies to all our members and to everyone who visited us on a Sunday morning.

We are hearing that God is using the ideas in this book in other churches in our city. People are going back to their church and saying, "We should be doing this." That absolutely delights my heart. I long for more churches in Wilson to be pursuing Biblical health.

9 Marks sells these books for $5 each.

The Answer to Everything

I love this interview with Mark Dever (it was actually a phone conversation with several pastors). Excellent!

Here is my summary of it:

"Dr. Dever, what is discipleship in the local church?"

Dever: Preaching the gospel.

"Mark, what does Capitol Hill do to help people grow in Christ."

Dever: We preach the gospel every Sunday.

"Dr. Dever, the church is in crisis today, what should we do?"

Dever: We should preach the gospel.

"Mark, how do we reach unbelievers today?"

Dever: Preach the gospel.

"Mark, why has expository preaching not been practiced as much today?"

Dever: People try to rely on their own means instead of using God's means, which is preaching the gospel.

"Dr. Dever, the church minimizes theology today. How do we get people to love doctrine?"

Dever: Preach the gospel.

Christ-centered Means Cross-centered

In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement by JI Packer and Mark Dever is a great compilation of articles. This is a book to become familiar with and to return to again and again.

• Article 1 is called "The Heart of the Gospel" and is a discussion of the Biblical concept of propitiation (wrath-quenching sacrifice).

• Article 2 is called, "What did The Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution." This is a difficult article to navigate but extremely helpful in thinking through the essence of the atonement.

• Article 3 is called, "Nothing but the Blood" and deals with some of the more modern attacks on penal substitution. Dever explains why it is impossible to be too "atonement-centered."

• Article 4 is Packer's famous introduction to John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. This is a powerfully bold defense of Calvinism as the Biblical gospel. A must read!

• Lig Duncan has served us well by providing an annotated bibliography of books on the cross. This bibliography is worth the price of this book. I've already ordered a handful of books based on Lig's comments. Build a library of books on the atonement!

Breaking News Alert

In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement by Mark Dever and JI Packer is now available. Get it while it's hot!

At WTS Books you can read the endorsements, forward, preface, and introduction. Impressive lineup of endorsements!

Productive Day

Today was an incredibly productive day. It began with theology breakfast, discussing chapter 3 of The Discipline of Grace and the need to preach the gospel to ourselves. Tim, Jonathan, I (the elders of CBCW) drove to Wake Forest to the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. We went for 2 purposes: (1) to hear Dr. Mark Dever speak at chapel and (2) to spend some time praying, planning, and dreaming together.

One of the highlights of the day: Watching Mark Dever whip out the credit card to buy $478 worth of books from the LifeWay on campus. He allowed each one of the guys with him (mostly part of the internship at Capitol Hill Baptist) to pick out 2 books each. Generous!

T4G 2008 Message Titles

Here are the titles for the upcoming messages at Together for the Gospel:

Ligon Duncan: Sound Doctrine – Essential to Faithful Pastoral Ministry: A Joyful Defense and Declaration of the Necessity and Practicality of Systematic Theology for the Life of the Church
Thabiti Anyabwile: Bearing the Image: Identity, the Work of Christ, and the Church
John MacArthur: The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability
Mark Dever: Improving the Gospel: Exercises in Unbiblical Theology
R.C. Sproul: The Curse Motif of the Atonement
Albert Mohler: Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution
John Piper: How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice
C.J. Mahaney: Sustaining a Pastor's Soul (2 Cor. 3:4-6)

Here are my initial thoughts:
1. Wow.
2. How is that for pressure? For three months people are going to be blogging and discussing the title to the message you haven't even preached yet.
3. Just as I thought: They are going to go through the 9 Marks (In 2006 it was Expository Preaching).
4. Lig Duncan on Systematic Theology - The newest craze is Biblical Theology. Will Lig make a case for Systematic over Biblical theology?
5. Never heard it put that way: The doctrine of Absolute Inability (i.e. Total Depravity?).
6. Mark, let's don't improve the Gospel! I'm with you.
7. Sproul on the atonement. Hallelujah!
8. Mohler on substitution. Glory!
9. Piper on anything. Yes and Amen!
10. 2 Cor. 3:4-6 is going to be the most looked up passage in the Bible today. Our sufficiency is from God!!

(HT: Justin Taylor)

I'm Lovin' It!!!

Maybe they will be giving free copies of this book at Together for the Gospel. Can't Wait!!!

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

Mark Dever has a new book on Evangelism. If I had to use one word to describe it, it would be: Motivating.

At the risk of looking ignorant:
Can someone please explain to me what the cover is supposed to mean? Who is that pointing and what is he pointing at?

What is a Healthy Church?

What a gift from the pen (keyboard) of Mark Dever! What is a Healthy Church is a treasure to the body of Christ. In this small book (only about 120 pages), Dever helps us think through the right questions to ask regarding a healthy church. He explains from the Bible what a church is and what a church is not. He gives three “essential” marks of a healthy church and six “important” marks. He also has great advice for specific things to look for when looking for a church.

If you are a pastor, buy a bunch of copies of this book and give them out to members/visitors (9Marks sells them for $5 each!).

WTS Inventory Reduction Sale

Piper, Storms, Dever, etc. WTS is reducing their inventory by selling some books for super cheap (up to 60% off).
I highly recommend Sam Storms' new book, "Chosen For Life."
I don't recommend the DVD on infant baptism (Although I'm sure it is well done and informative).

Good Stuff From 9Marks

Here are few links to some very good material from 9Marks:

1. The new 9Marks newsletter is available online. It is all about the gospel.
2. Mark Dever on the first of 10 sources of the recent growth in Calvinism (C.H. Spurgeon)!
3. Thabiti Anyabwile on being a gospel-saturated church member.

Thabiti's counsel is worth outlining here:
1. Know the gospel.
2. Desire to hear the gospel/preach the gospel to yourself.
3. Take the gospel to its conclusion (God is the gospel).
4. Order your life around the gospel.
5. Share the gospel with others.
6. Guard the gospel.

He ends with some recommended reading.

Church Matters

The gang at 9Marks have started a new blog: Church Matters. With the growing number of blogs out there, this is one that should make its way to the top of the list.

Deliberate Church: Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed these short summaries of "The Deliberate Church." This is really a fantastic book that I have found to be very helpful. Every pastor and church leader should read and apply these principles.
If you have the book, pull it off the shelf and read the Conclusion. The conclusion itself is worth the price of the book. Here is my quick summary/outline of the Conclusion:

Conclusion (of the book)
The health of the local church is discerned in the direction of its gaze (2 Cor. 3:18).

A Godward-looking Church
“We want to build our churches in a way that makes this corporate captivation with Christ a normal part of our lives together.”
“The more clearly we present Christ’s person and work to our local churches, the more clearly we will come to reflect His glory together as if in a mirror.”

An Outward-looking Church
God is passionate about His glory. He desires for His glory to be seen and known by all the nations of the world.
-Other individuals
-Other churches
-Other countries