Edwards Summary

This past month I have read through a few of Edwards works.  I began with his sermon “God Glorified in Man’s Dependence” which I would recommend all Christians to indulge.  As far as Edward’s preaching and writing, it is very readable and straightforward.  He was twenty eight when he first preached it.  His basic purpose of the sermon is to demonstrate that desires to get the glory in salvation and how he accomplishes it.
The second sermon I digested was Edward’s, “The Reality of Spiritual Light” which he takes as his text Matthew 16:17.  This sermon is a little more pithy than the previous one mentioned but its main purpose is to illuminate what divine light is, how it is given by God and not man.  It is a decent sermon to digest in answering the issue of the only way people are given an understanding of who Jesus Christ is and come to salvation is through the Spirit alone.
My third reading of Edwards this month was his “Faithful Narrative of a Surprising Work of God”.  I have read this before while researching revival and revivalism in seminary.  It is a good eye witness and pastoral account of what passes for genuine and counterfeit revivals.  One section that is interesting is Edward’s encouragement of what amounts to small groups:
“I proposed to the young people that they should agree among themselves to spend the evenings after lectures in social religion and to that end divide themselves into several companies to meet in various parts of the town; which was accordingly done, and those meetings have been since continued, and the example imitated by elder people”
I finished off with “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” which as I mentioned in a previous post here (see Sunday, June 27, 2010).  A classic line from “Sinners” that gives you a flavor of the content is:
“The sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between Him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over to hell”.
Some of Edwards is difficult to read, I can’t imagine trying to preach in his style him in today’s world.  But he has given us much to think about God’s glory that is sorely lacking in today’s pulpits.  We are better for reading him.
Most of my interviews were not only taken from Edwards works but also Ian Murray’s “Jonathan Edwards: A Biography”, George Marsden’s Biography of Jonathan Edwards, a collection of essays on Edwards entitled “A God Enhanced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards”. 

“Evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the demands of the law, and the eternal consequences of evil.”  Studies on the Sermon on the Mount, pg. 235

Studnet's at Camp

 Pastor Dale, Shannon and several of our youth are at a Student life camp in Alabama. Please pray for them this week, their safety, their edification, and the speakers this week.

Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

If you were like me, you had to read this sermon in English literature.  Now I get to read it anytime I want.  If you have some time this is worth your while.  An incredible sermon that is rare in our day.  Often times this popular sermon is used as a wrong caricature for Edwards preaching and the New England Puritanism he emerged from, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Using this sermon to characterize all of Edwards preaching and ministry is like using “Jesus wept” to characterize the entire scope of our Lord’s time on earth.
The sermon itself has some interesting folklore.  Edwards originally preached the sermon a few months before it became famous in his own congregation where apparently it “bombed”.  He was traveling to Connecticut to listen to a sermon, and had “Sinners” in his satchel to edit it.  When he arrived at the church to listen to preaching, the scheduled preacher became ill.  Edwards was asked on the fly to preach a sermon, and the only one he had available was this unedited, ‘B’ sided sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.  He preached it and the rest is history.
You can read the entire sermon hear.

Family Worship

As a family read Romans 2:1-16 and note the following:
1. How many times the word ‘judge’ ‘judged’ or ‘judgment’ is used?
2. Who is doing the judging?
3. Who is being judging?
4. Why are they being judged?
5. With what are they being judged?
Pray that you and your family may escape the judgment of God as you look at God’s judgment in Christ.

Nuts and Bolts

Evidently in some parts of our country the U.S. Constitution needs a warning label.

In sports, the Big 12 becomes the Big 10 and the Big 10 becomes the Big 12.

At the recent Southern Baptist Convention (the denomination my fellowship is a part of) a resolution on family worship was passed by the messengers.  Here is the complete resolution:
WHEREAS, The Bible teaches the spiritual discipline of family worship for the glory of God, the strengthening of the church, and the spiritual nourishment of the family (Deuteronomy 6:1-18; Psalm 78:1-8; Ephesians 4-6); and

WHEREAS, Scripture pictures the Christian home as a place in which parents are instructed to teach and disciple their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:1-18; Ephesians 6:1-4); and

WHEREAS, Family worship has been a cherished Southern Baptist principle reflected in church covenants which have called believers “to maintain family and secret devotions” and “to religiously educate” their children; and

WHEREAS, In recent years, family worship has been emphasized in The Baptist Faith and Message, which states that “Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth”; and

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have launched major initiatives which have brought to the forefront the need for families to pray, read from the Bible, memorize scripture, and give praise to the Lord within their homes; and

WHEREAS, In 2009, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention included family worship as a key catalyst for a Great Commission resurgence calling on Southern Baptists “to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field”; and

WHEREAS, Family worship is integral to laying a foundation for multi-generational faithfulness to the gospel (Psalm 145:4) and a necessary complement for the strengthening of the local church to fulfill its commission (Matthew 28:18-20); and

WHEREAS, Family worship serves as an important preparation for the corporate worship of the local church on the Lord’s Day (Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 10:25); and

WHEREAS, In recent generations, the act of family worship has been neglected, evidenced by the breakdown of the family in our time; and

WHEREAS, The embracing of the spiritual discipline of family worship in the Christian home has the capacity to nurture stronger families, a stronger church, and a stronger nation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 15-16, 2010, encourage churches and families to rekindle the spiritual discipline of family worship; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we define family worship as the regular meeting together of a family for a time of prayer and Bible reading, which may include other activities such as scripture memorization, singing spiritual songs and hymns, and discussing biblical truth and Christian mission; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage families to cultivate not only structured times of worship together, but also ongoing intentional and informal conversations about the things of the Lord; and be it further

RESOLVED, That as we call families and churches to embrace family worship, we urge fathers particularly to fulfill their divinely mandated responsibility to lead their families toward spiritual maturity (Ephesians 5:22-6:4; Colossians 3:19-21); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage all parents to consider times of family worship to be an opportunity to introduce their children to the gospel, to train their children to seek the salvation of their friends and neighbors, and to pray for the nations; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage churches and families to make use of the many resources produced to aid in family worship; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and their pastors to promote family worship and encourage the families of their congregations to place the highest priority on embracing this foundational spiritual discipline for the well-being of families, the spread of the gospel, the making of disciples, and the glory of God.

For all you Chronicles of Narnia fans, the third installment, “The Voyage of Dawn Treader” will be released later this year.  You can watch the trailer here.

To the Garden we Go...

Here is a potted combination of annuals I put together.  There are two pots of the same kind of petunias, salvia, and rosemary.

Noah is helping me harvest some of our strawberries from our new bed.  We are now eating strawberries every day.

Around one side of our house, I put in a raised bed two years ago.  It always bears a good harvest of something.  I rotated crops in it throughout the season so the same vegetable doesn’t grow two straight. These pictures show Noah harvesting our snow peas.  They like all the other crops he picks never gets to the kitchen.  We are picking peas about every other day.  We have a windmill perched in the center of the bed which supports our pole beans.  To the left of the raised bed, you will notice our sacks filled with potatoes.