In 212 pages, John MacArthur sets out to present The Jesus You Can’t Ignore in response to the cries of Emergent theologians and pastors for conversation instead of conflict. MacArthur sets out to do this by means of highlighting Jesus’ interactions with the Pharisees throughout the Gospel accounts, laying down an odd blend of a systematic/biblical theology of conflict for truth. While I agree, in the main, with MacArthur’s aim to inspire and equip people with the knowledge that the defense of the Gospel is mandated by Scripture, MacArthur has some assumptions and “facts” that make his argument problematic.

The first problem is his understanding of Jewish sects. While it is typical to see the Sadducees, Essenes, Pharisees, and “Fourth Philosophy” as hard-and-fast categories with statements of faith and confessions that they respectively hold to, it’s important to recognize that these sects are much broader than today’s denominations. The Pharisees could well be compared to modern-day Protestantism in many respects, having several core beliefs and practices, but a broad diversity on interpreting and applying them. This necessarily makes his insistence on the nature of Jesus’ relationships to these groups questionable.

The second problem is his identifying the Pharisees as Jesus’ strongest opposition, even going so far as to identify “the scribes” in the Gospels as synonymous with Pharisees (a claim for which there is no Biblical or historical basis). A careful reading of Jesus’ interactions with the Pharisees, particularly as Luke portrays them, will show that his conflict with them is much more family-like. Jesus, like a Pharisee, argues with Pharisees, not as enemies, but as brothers. His conflict with the Sadducees/chief priests and scribes is much more pronounced, since they deny the Scriptures, deny the Living God, and live for their own power and glory.

Finally, MacArthur’s ecclesiology and history ultimately hurt his argument. Insisting that the ecumenical creeds that preserved the Gospel are shabby and unable to unite Christian, and imposing a standard that only reformed believers can uphold, and all the while insisting that’s all that Scripture and history have, ultimately discredits his goal. The Jesus we aren’t able to ignore said that the promised Holy Spirit would lead the Church into all truth, to be our Teacher. No one church or tradition has it all, and the reformers themselves acknowledged that only the invisible body of Christ contains all truth, as Jesus promised.

If you want to learn about conflict and its place in Christian discipleship, read the Gospels and Acts. Study the epistles. In fact, try putting a notebook together on how Jesus and the apostles confronted problems. Write down whether they were confronting a doctrinal or practical issue. Note whether they took it head on or handled it with subtlety. See where their correction was effective. The Jesus we can’t ignore died for us while we were still sinners and now reigns over all creation, and will one day make things new. The Jesus You Can’t Ignore isn’t effective at pointing us to him as much as it is to pointing to a subset of Christians who feel threatened by the world’s philosophies, and rather than putting their confidence in the Revelation of God, have taken up swords to fight with flesh and blood.

I come from a prophecy-heavy background. In my early teen years, my Bible notes were a collection of notes, maps, charts, lists, and cross-references for prophecies in Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Revelation attempting to understand the last days. Years later, after a great deal of studying Scripture in the original languages and contexts, and a lot of surrendering my pride and naivete, I can now look back on those days, thankful that God has brought me forward and shown me bigger plans than I had dreamed up for Him for the last days. While reading The Prophecy Answer Book by David Jeremiah, I can’t say I experienced the same relief. In fact, it sounded an awful lot like those notes and charts that I had made as a 13 year old.

Presented in a question-and-answer format, Dr. Jeremiah deals with theology surrounding current events (particularly Israel, oil, Islam), the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Antichrist, the Millennium and the New Heaven. Jeremiah’s perspective has echoes of historical dispensationalism and a heavy premillennialism, similar to what is presented by the  Left Behind novels of Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. On essentially every level of understanding Scripture, this book is unhelpful and, in many places, quite wrong. There is a way to study prophecy, and to understand what the Bible says about the last days, but this isn’t it.

I’ve had a tremendous experience as a ministry student at Geneva College, one that I feel has provided incredible training and preparation in so many aspects of pastoral ministry and caring for the local church. At the same time, however, I was definitely aware of some deficiencies, particularly in how to lead well on the administrative and elder side of things. Sticky Teams, a book I just picked up this weekend, has done a great deal to answer those deficiencies with sound pastoral wisdom and experience.

Larry Osborne is the pastor of North Coast Church in California and, for over twenty years, has provided vision, preaching and leadership for what was a struggling congregation when he was called to its pastorate. God has done some incredible things (which he shares) and taught him many things the hard way (which he shares) about the ins-and-outs of church leadership as pastors and elders seek to lead well in being united, in sticking to the mission, dealing with discipline, budget and policy issues, and more. Whether you are in ministry or planning on going into ministry, I would highly recommend this book to you as a continual source of wisdom and Gospel-driven insights.

What you are about to read is a “vision” of sorts I had one spring day in 2007 as I was praying in the woods. My prayer is that it would give you a sense of the feeling that was experienced by the touch of the Master, and the depth of our guilt. -DK

I opened my eyes once more. Sand-colored stones and dirt were all I could see. Sweat dribbled down from my forehead to my nose and dripped to the ground. The sun was moving upward toward its high place in the sky. Already the heat was unbearable but that did not matter. I took another step. I had to. The heavy weight on my shoulder demanded it. I breathed heavily.

But it wasn’t my breathing I heard. No, what resounded in my ears was shouting. Mocking cries. Tzelav oto! Tzelav! Tzelav Yeshua! Foreign, halting tongues shouted too: Hinnei! Melekh haYehudim! Hinnei! One foreigner with confidence announced above the hubbub: Yeshua hazeh; Melekh haYehudim! And on it went. How I wished that I were deaf! To not hear the torments of this mob would be a blessing of the Holy One, Blessed be He. It…

The weight shifted. The burden increased. Flesh came against my side. Time slowed. I was released from my thoughts and could only know him who was against my side. Shuddering in the wind, this man leaned against me, increasing the burden of the cross. Yes, that’s what I was carrying: a cross. They had forced me to carry this curse, this shame, for a prisoner they had refused to treat properly.

This prisoner…no, this was wrong. He was the innocent one. It was these soldiers, this crowd, the voice with authority who should be carrying a cross to their deaths right now. It was I who should do the same. Every ounce of my being wanted to repudiate this cross. I didn’t want this man to die. I wanted to help him, though. Yet, as I helped him, I knew that every step I helped him make was another step closer to his death – I was as responsible for his death as this mob who cried out for it.

Tears joined the sweat. How could this go on? We began to ascend the hill. I had to focus more intentionally on my steps to make sure I didn’t fall. If I fell, it would be more pain…more suffering for the man. Oh that I could see the man on the other side of the crossbeam!  I looked down at my feet and watched as sweat and tears fell to the ground. But then there was something else: blood. Blood fell from beside me, from the man I was leading to death. It fell upon my feet. A voice cried out in my heart: “You are clean.” I would have fallen but for the call of that authoritative voice: Repha! I could stand still. Sali, Adoni, sali. Then all vision faded.

Hebrew: Tzelav oto! Tzelav! Tzelav Yeshua! Crucify him! Crucify! Crucify Jesus!
Hinnei! Melekh haYehudim! Hinnei! Behold! The king of the Jews! Behold!
Yeshua hazeh; melekh haYehudim! This is Jesus; the king of the Jews!
Sali, Adoni, sali. Forgive me, my lord, forgive me.

The Liberating King has come! Repent and receive and so enter His Kingdom and the renewal of all things! These are biblical teachings. They are at the core of the Gospel and yet we so often miss the urgency of this message. Many times, this is due to the familiarity we have with the typical style of English Bible translations. Those involved with The Voice, however, are seeking to be true to the text and reflect the inherent creativity of the Spirit of God and the diversity of His ordained human authors, through whom He communicated to us.

In reading The Voice New Testament (for the purpose of this review, the Gospel of Matthew), I found in it a tremendous supplement and devotional translation that is, in the main, faithful to the text (a functional translation somewhere between NIV and The Message). It has many unique features to commend it and while I wouldn’t use it as a primary translation for serious study, I am, thus far, convinced that it would be beneficial for use by Christians in every stage of spiritual development. So, for what it sets out to do, I would give it a five star rating.

In today’s churches, where there is a surge in the calls for music ministers and worship leaders and a number of pastors and churches dealing with questions of what worship is and what it should look like, Dr. Vernon Whaley’s Called to Worship: The Biblical Foundations of Our Response to God’s Call may come as an answer to prayer for some. Literally deriving principles for worship from the books of Scripture, Whaley attempts to provide a “full-Scripture” framework for understanding worship. Does he succeed?

Dr. Whaley’s desire is commendable. His concept of how it should be done is also good. My sense, is, however, that this book is more influenced by his Baptist roots than an informed exegesis and understanding of Hebrew or Greek (there are a number of “errors” in the language references) Scriptures. This is not to say that his principles for worship are wrong, but they are wrongly derived. It would be my hope that some would benefit from this book and others, seeing its weaknesses, would write a more sound, exegetically-responsible biblical theology of worship. If you’re looking for valuable reading on worship, Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin would be my recommendation.

Fear defines much about us as human beings. We’re afraid of so many things: the consequences of sin; of ourselves; of what errors we might make; of finances, of catastrophe. It is a part of the human condition. It’s part of what Jesus came to defeat. That is precisely what Max Lucado sets out to confront in Fearless. Working through the nature of fear, and the different kinds of situations that we face fear as sinners, parents, people who aren’t in control, and victims of circumstance, Lucado points the reader again and again to Jesus and the power of this great Savior Who dealt with our sin – the very source of fear.

I very much admire the approach that Lucado takes in this book. This book is seasoned with grace, appropriate levels of humor and the ever-present reality of what our fallenness has done to us. He does well to tell the reader, certainly with a communicative charm, that if they are fearing, they are not giving Jesus His due and the attention and trust that He has shown conclusively and decisively that He deserves. This is a helpful resource for meditating on Jesus’ defeat of our fear.

How can I deal with sin that just sticks with me? How can I survive the tough times that come my direction? Why should I worry about my friend’s Christian walk? What’s the point of reading my Bible and praying regularly? Although these questions seem only loosely related, Mark Hall’s Your Own Jesus does a tremendous job of presenting the truth that everyone needs to be in a saving, enduring relationship with the God of the universe.

“God has no grandchildren” as the saying goes and Mark shows convincingly the need for believers to not depend on their parents, churches, friends, or books and music to be their source of experiencing Jesus. Believers need to be in their own intimate walk with the Savior Who bought them with His own blood and will bring good, lasting fruit into their lives. For anyone who considers themselves a disciple of Jesus, this book is highly recommended as a helpful resource as you pursue Christ and get to know the One and Only Jesus Christ.