Reading about Jonathan Edwards has been a tremendous blessing to my spiritual and ministerial development. I wanted to recommend two books that I have read about Edwards, who is probably the most influential theologian that North America has produced. The first book is A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards (Library of Religious Biography Series), which I read this year on my Kindle and really enjoyed. As the title suggests, this book is short and sweet. The author tells the story of Jonathan Edward’s life and compares it to the life of Benjamin Franklin, which gives some interesting insights as you notice the contrast between these two men.

The second book I would like to recommend is Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography. I read this book in 2008, while I was suffering from insomnia during a hard time in the ministry there in Chia. This book is masterful! In my opinion this is one of the best biographies that has been written. I was encouraged during that time to see how Edwards was treated, in spite of his godliness. If he suffered at the hands of a congregation, we shouldn’t be surprised if we have to suffer at times too.

If you want a shorter book to understand the basics of the life of Jonathan Edwards I would recommend the first one, and if you want a more in depth look at his life I would recommend the second.

I’m preparing a sermon for tomorrow on gospel-centered parenting. I just ran across an article that really challenged my thinking. The author talks about how the gospel should change the way we react when our kids disobey. Are we centered on the law, or on the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Check it out at Preaching the Gospel to Our Kids: Pointing to Christ’s Substitution as Their Substitution

Photo courtesy of Ben McLeod

Proverbs for Kids from the Book

I don’t normally review children’s books because I don’t have a lot of exposure to them, but this book is an exception.  What do you read with your kids for their devotional time?  We have tried a number of different books, but this one has provided the most profitable instruction to this point.

Here’s an example of the text from one page (p. 63):

The Facts

[Imagine a nice cartoon here of Mr. Wisdom showing two boys where to build a tree fort.  In the background, B.A. (Bad Attitude) is pointing to a tree that will obviously not hold the fort up.]

Any enterprise is built by wise planning.  It becomes strong through common sense and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.  The fool is only fooling himself when he doesn’t care about the facts and therefore won’t face them.  What a shame–yes, how stupid!–to decide before knowing the facts!  So get the facts, at any price.

Proverbs 14:8 / 18:1, 2, 13 / 23:22, 23 / 24:3, 4

What do I like about this book?

• It is completely biblically based.  No fluffy stories with a Bible verse tacked on here.
• It challenges us as parents.  This book provides a summary of the main principles that come out of the Proverbs.  I actually think that adults benefit from this book as much as kids.
• It has cartoons.  What kid doesn’t like cartoons?  And especially when they challenge the kids to think about the Bible and their lives.  Each page has one cartoon that applies the principle from Proverbs.  The message of the cartoon requires thinking to understand.  This is where the learning takes place as the kids have to think about the cartoon and apply it to their lives.
• Each page is short in content but long in discussion-starting potential.  If we don’t have much time for our devotional we read only one page which takes about 3 minutes.  If we have more time, we read two pages and discuss them.  This can lead to 15 minute discussions of the teaching of Proverbs.

What might you not like about this book?

• The translation (paraphrase) of the Proverbs used at the back of the book is the Living Bible.  You may or may not like the Living Bible, but I personally don’t think it takes away from the book because you could read the proverbs from whatever translation you wanted when you reached the end of the book.
• It’s out of print, so you may struggle to find it in the future (but check out the Amazon link to see if it’s available).

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

I have begun to take notes about the books that I read. This is not a “review” per se, but rather my notes from the book. I hope that you find them profitable.

Core concepts:
The gospel should captivate our hearts and motivate us to share the good news with others.

Apologetics and personal testimony are not evangelism. Telling the good news is. We should consistently share with people the need to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

The sovereignty of God is a crucial doctrine in our understanding of evangelism. It guards us from discouragement and trying to force decisions.

Twelve steps to more faithfully evangelize:
pray, plan, accept the responsibility, understand it is our responsibility, be faithful, risk, prepare, look, love, fear God not man, stop excusing ourselves, consider what God has done in Christ

Key issues and questions:

Evangelism should be a part of the church culture.
How can we build evangelism into the culture at church?
How should I be spending my time each week in evangelism?
How can we train others in evangelism? It seems to me it has to be intentional and practical, not just a “program.”

We should constantly be growing in our evangelism.
What should I be doing on a daily basis to grow in evangelism?

Significant quotes:
“Simply put, we don’t pray for opportunities to share the gospel, so how surprised should we be when they don’t come?” (p. 24).

“Maybe we are too polite to be faithful to God in this area. Maybe we are more concerned about people’s response than God’s glory. Maybe we are more concerned about their feelings than God’s” (p. 25).

“If we would be more faithful in evangelism, we should fuel the flame of love toward God within us, and the flame of gratitude and of hope. A fire so inflamed by God will have no trouble igniting our tongue” (p. 29).

“According to the Bible, evangelism is simply telling the good news. It’s not making sure that the other person responds to it correctly” (p. 70).

“Certainly, we pastors sacrifice personal opportunities to do evangelism when we work full-time in ministry” (p. 118).