Not all devotionals, just some. And this is in the introduction to his devotional.

Devotional guides tend to offer short, personal readings from the Bible, sometimes only a verse or two, followed by several paragraphs of edifying exposition. Doubtless they provide personal help for believers with private needs, fears, and hopes. But they do not provide the framework of what the Bible says—the “plotline” or “story line”—the big picture that makes sense of all the little bits of the Bible. Wrongly used, such devotional guides may ultimately engender the profoundly wrong-headed view that God exists to sort out my problems; they may foster profoundly mistaken interpretations of some Scriptures, simply because the handful of passages they treat are no longer placed within the framework of the big picture, which is gradually fading from view. Only systematic and repeated reading of the whole Bible can meet these challenges.

This is the type of devotional reading I used to do, although I never did the self-help types. But for periods of time I’m embarrassed to say, this was the only Scripture I would take in each day in addition to reviewing memorized Scripture.

His devotionals go along with the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan. So the emphasis is on reading the Bible with a comment from him instead of the other way around. You can find a blog devoted to this devotional and also download PDFs of both devotionals for free (and use Calibre to convert them into eBooks if you’d like).

Carson’s For the Love of God Blog

Below is the start of a Bible reading plan I have in mind. But it won’t just keep going from there–it will change as it goes on.

Professor Horner’s plan has you read ten chapters in 10 different books a day. Other plans have you read different genres every day. Two complaints about Prof. Horner’s plan is that it’s a little long and it jumps around so much. Both of these things have their advantages however. What I’ve done to help with that is to do eight chapters a day and to read continuously through books of the Bible, at least at first.

After the Pentateuch and Psalms are read through once, I’d like to mix the history in with chronological Psalms etc. This helps in learning the history better and knowing why David wrote some of his Psalms.

A Proverb a day is read for one month and the next month a chapter of Acts will be read once a day and they will alternate, instead of one of each a day like Prof. Horner’s.

A Psalm a day is read, at least the first time through, and I have it last in case someone wants to meditate on it or pray through it.

Mark is read first in the New Testament to get the basic gospel read. Then it goes in chronological order for a while except for Acts. Later in the New Testament I will alternate Matthew and Luke with Hebrews and the letters of John and then do the gospel of John and Revelation last. Maybe.

This is all I have worked out. As I go through there will certainly be some problem spots and things to work out.

What do you think? Any suggestions? If anyone steals my idea I will hunt them down and make them listen to the Gaithers (gathered around the piano) or Stryper, whichever is worse, for 24 hours straight.

This may be my last post for a while so I’ll give you time to look at it.

001.__Gen 1-3 __Mark 1-3 __Prov 1 __Ps 1-2
002.__Gen 4-6 __Mark 4-6 __Prov 2 __Ps 3
003.__Gen 7-9 __Mark 7-9 __Prov 3 __Ps 4
004.__Gen 10-12 __Mark 10-12 __Prov 4 __Ps 5
005.__Gen 13-15 __Mark 13-16 __ Prov 5 __Ps 6
006.__Gen 16-18 __James 1-3 __ Prov 6 __Ps 7
007.__Gen 19-21 __James 4-5 __ Prov 7 __Ps 8
008.__Gen 22-24 __Gal 1-3 __ Prov 8 __Ps 9
009.__Gen 25-27 __Gal 3-6 __ Prov 9 __Ps 10
010.__Gen 28-30 __1 Thess 1-3 __ Prov 10 __Ps 11
011.__Gen 31-33 __1 Thess 4-5 __ Prov 11 __Ps 12
012.__Gen 34-36 __2 Thess 1-3 __ Prov 12 __Ps 13
013.__Gen 37-39 __1 Cor 1-3 __ Prov 13 __Ps 14
014.__Gen 40-42 __1 Cor 4-6 __ Prov 14 __Ps 15
015.__Gen 43-45 __1 Cor 7-9 __ Prov 15 __Ps 16
016.__Gen 46-48 __1 Cor 10-12 __ Prov 16 __Ps 17
017.__Gen 49-50 __1 Cor 13-16 __ Prov 17 __Ps 18
018.__Exo 1-3 __2 Cor 1-3 __ Prov 18 __Ps 19
019.__Exo 4-6 __2 Cor 4-6 __ Prov 19 __Ps 20
020.__Exo 7-9 __2 Cor 7-9 __ Prov 20 __Ps 21
021.__Exo 10-12 __2 Cor 10-13 __ Prov 21 __Ps 22
022.__Exo 13-15 __Rom 1-3 __ Prov 22 __Ps 23
023.__Exo 16-18 __Rom 4-6 __ Prov 23 __Ps 24
024.__Exo 19-21 __Rom 7-9 __ Prov 24 __Ps 25
025.__Exo 22-24 __Rom 10-12 __ Prov 25 __Ps 26
026.__Exo 25-27 __Rom 13-16 __ Prov 26 __Ps 27
027.__Exo 28-29 __Col 1-4 __ Prov 27 __Ps 28
028.__Exo 30-34 __Phlm __ Prov 28 __Ps 29
029.__Exo 35-38 __Eph 1-3 __ Prov 29 __Ps 30
030.__Exo 39-40 __Eph 4-6 __ Prov 30 __Ps 31
031.__Lev 1-3 __Phil 1-3 __ Prov 31 __Ps 32
031.__Lev 4-6 __Phil 4 __ Acts 1 __Ps 33

© Jeff at Scripture Zealot

I can’t find any politicking or anything political in a societal sense in the New Testament yet I read people writing about how Jesus was political. Maybe their definition of political is different than mine.

Here is part of the description of David Black’s (yes, our dear Greek professor and blogger friend) book, Christian Archy.

In Christian Archy, Dr. David Alan Black examines the New Testament to find the truly radical and all-encompassing claims of God’s kingdom. In doing so, he discovers that the character of this kingdom is widely different from what is commonly contemplated today. Its glory is revealed only through suffering[—]a point that Jesus’ disciples, then and now, have been slow to understand. This truth has tremendous implications for church life. The kingdom of God is in no way imperialistic. It has no political ambitions. It conquers not by force but by love. It is this humble characteristic of the kingdom that is a stumbling block to so many today. Christ’s claim to our total allegiance is one we seek to avoid at all costs. But there is only one way to victory and peace, and that is the way of the Lamb.

Top 5 Must Read Books
Recommended By: Terry Delaney, Tim Challies Owen Strachan, Trevin Wax, Timmy Brister

I read the last two which were great, have the first one which I’ve wanted to read very badly forever it seems, have two other books similar to the Spiritual Disciplines book (I wonder how many people that will scare off) and want to acquire the Stott book. I’ve read others of Stott and Sproul that I liked a lot. I think it’s a great list even if I’ve only read two.

Review: Nancy Guthrie. Be Still, My Soul: Embracing God’s Purpose and Provision in Suffering.

I didn’t realize this was a collaborative effort with contributors such as Tim Keller, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, D.A. Carson, Joni Eareckson Tada and more. I already had this on my list but it just went higher.

Be Still, My Soul: Embracing God’s Purpose and Provision in Suffering

Andy Naselli shows (I hate the word share) us how he organizes his library using Zotero. For now it’s a Firefox plugin but will eventually be a full fledged desktop program. It’s funded at George Mason University so I would hope it’s here to stay. Even if you don’t use Zotero, you may get some tips from what he says.

When reading a book or commentary I often write a term at the top of the page if it’s something described well that I want to refer to later. But it doesn’t do much good to write these things there and not know where they are. Unfortunately I didn’t keep track of these so I have one commentary from each book of the NT except two and plenty of other books with stuff written at the top that I haven’t recorded. I was going to use a Wiki I set up but I think I will use Zotero. I’ve already entered all my books by dragging the title from Library Thing into Zotero which is in the bottom part of the browser screen. At only 95 books this didn’t take too long. I wasn’t sure how else to export and import.

So I have a start. I may use Tags for those subjects in Zotero and keep track of them that way. It has very good tools for notation and notes. But I really should keep the Wiki up too for other things. There’s just too much to do.

HT: Between Two Worlds

http://www.puritanlibrary.com/

Here is an answer I found to my last post. You will find loads of e-books in epub and Kindle format in addition to books in print, other web sites etc. here. In a way I wish I wasn’t studying Proverbs and the Old Testament right now so I could dig into all these great free books on my $38 reading device (an old Nokia 770 from someone on eBay).

Also see:
Who Were the Puritans?

Does anyone have a source for good Puritan e-books or have any recommendations for good Puritan books that are free online–legally of course? I bought a Nokia 770 for $38 on eBay. It can read PDF and all the standard generic e-book formats. (No Kindle, iPhone apps, Droid etc.) I downloaded The Pursuit of God by Tozier (not a Puritan), my favorite Christian living book ever in e-book format and it’s great. I found The Art of Divine Contentment and a few others by Watson and also Religious Affections and others by Edwards* in PDF format. I would like to know about other recommendations you would have. I’d especially like an e-book format because I love the reader on this device but PDF is OK too.

If Puritan were a denomination that’s what I’d be.

*I realize he’s a second generation Puritan.

Our friend Louis let’s us know about a book called Good News for Anxious Christians and he writes about Romans 8:6 as an interesting example in the book. (I commented there.) On the book publisher’s page you can read a PDF sample and find the table of contents which I’ve listed below. Most of these are things I’ve come to believe in the last few years. It looks like it may be an excellent book.

Introduction: Why Trying to Be Christian Makes Us Anxious

Conclusion: How the Gospel of Christ Is Good for Us
——
Hint: Read The Ten Commandments, Proverbs, Jesus and Paul along with the whole Bible to read what you do have to do (you know that already) and don’t add any general principles to them. Check what people say and what makes you feel guilty with what the Bible says or doesn’t say. It takes more work but it’s better than just listening to human ideas that have been passed down which may or may not be Biblical. Do we need another reformation? I do, and my About page lays out what I’ve been doing.

I don’t usually write about what reviews I’ll be doing until I actually do them. What’s the point in wasting the time writing about what I’ll be reviewing and then post again when I review it? But I so much want to be like everyone else and be a cool and famous biblioblogger so I’ll try it this one time. If anyone can tell me why this is a good thing let me know.

Soon I hope to review Ryken’s Bible Handbook. This has been very helpful.

I’ve been eyeing a book called Helpful Truth in Past Places: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Counselling (their spelling). I thought I’d write to the publisher, Christian Focus, and they wrote right back telling me they’d be happy to send a review copy. I’d like to see if what’s written in the book can be applied individually to the reader in addition to a counselor.

I’ve got to start posting more again. I know all of you have been crying yourselves to sleep every day that there isn’t a post here.

I’m going to follow Jason’s post on Fall Reading. At the same time, I’m considering combining my Scripture Zealot 2 and Suffering Christians blogs. Both of those have more personal things in them so I’m not sure. In Scripture Zealot 2 I often write about what I’m reading and studying in case I want to look back and see when I read what. So it may be better to keep it separate. I don’t know.

I’m getting near the end of finishing reading the Old Testament using NLT’s 24/7 chronological Bible, reading ahead a little. From then on HCSB will be my main Bible while using NLT quite a bit still. I’m going to be sad when I’m done. Obviously I can read it again, but I like what I learned and the process I went through and that will never be the same again. Of course, the next time may be even better.

I’m concentrating on the OT this year and because of having surgery and spending a lot of time sleeping because of medication I’ll be going at least through the first three months of next year too.

We’re going to be studying Proverbs in our small group starting next month. We will be using a NavPress study guide which is pretty good as those awful things go. I used that as an excuse to buy a two volume commentary by Waltke. I wanted to read through it while doing the study, but the study guide is more topical than going through it in the order it’s in. So I don’t know how that will work and if I’ll read the whole two volumes or just refer to parts. The introduction itself, which takes up about a fifth of the first long(er) volume, should be very good.

Then I have Haggai Zechariah Macachi by Evangelical Press which they sent me just to be nice because I reviewed How To Enjoy Your Bible. I will review that one too.

After that I’ll go through Creation and Blessing which is a commentary/exposition of Genesis and Handbook of the Pentateuch.

Then finally Finding Jesus in the Old Testament which I’m really looking forward to because I love reading anything about Jesus.

I also have Isaiah by Moyter but I’m afraid I’ll only use that for reference.

Depending on how much I can read each day, I’m guessing it will take well into next year. Then I’ll go back to reading commentaries on Luke and Acts and I have read one commentary for each book of the NT.

I just got done reading How Long O Lord by D.A. Carson which is a good theological way of looking at suffering, compatibilism and God’s providence. I will be posting a lot of quotes from that.

I’d like to read Randy Alcorn’s book on suffering, If God Is Good. I wrote to the publisher requesting a review copy and haven’t heard anything so I’m not sure if I should buy it yet. For you reviewers, maybe you know that limbo.

I’m behind on Greek vocabulary because of surgery and am trying to get that back before I get back into going through Black’s beginning book. I feel like I forgot everything. I may just read through the book from the beginning yet again to where I am which is a little more than half-way through.

I’ll stop there. More to come on these things I hope.

I wrote a post called Professor Horner’s Bible Reading Plan. Tim Challies just wrote an encouraging post titled Ten Chapters Per Day if you’re interested in reading more about it.

I was planning on starting this next year but I think I would like to start it when my Greek learning has slowed down and I’m mainly reading Greek along with something to help me through it and when I’m done concentrating on the OT for now. I’m thinking second half of next year to 2012.

I want to write a post about what I’m reading this summer even if just for me to look back on. Since it’s so short and boring I’ll combine it with what’s going on with surgery.

I’ve mentioned that I’m concentrating on the Old Testament this year. It’s been great. God is showing me a lot of things about how much He hates sin, what He’s willing to do for His people, how much He’s on our side and how He takes it upon Himself to bring us [back] to Him.

My extra reading and working on Greek has been pathetic. I’m sleeping worse and worse and sleeping a lot during the day. I’ve also had a renewed interest in photography and have been spending too much time on that, possibly to get my mind off of things. But I should be reading to do that.

Right now I’m reading Ryken’s Bible Handbook which is excellent. The chapter on Job is worth the whole book. I will be reviewing that and Unburdened, a book about worry, both from Tyndale, sometime this summer, God willing. (Is that a record for number of commas in a sentence?)

However, I will be having surgery on my back this Wednesday the 30th. It’s a double fusion L4 to S1 with laminectomy and removing scar tissue from my last surgery. This is much more major than my previous surgery which was a microdiscectomy. If you’d like to pray for me even just once I’d appreciate it. Please pray for the spiritual stuff as much or more than the physical as I mentioned in the previous post.

I know from last time it’s difficult to read anything that required much concentration when taking pain killers and being in pain, partly because I’m in a state of half sleep most of the time anyway. Being as tired as I normally am, adding medication will make it that much worse.

I’d also like to read and review a small commentary on Haggai Zechariah Malachi from EP Press and read Handbook on the Pentateuch, Creation and Blessing, a commentary on Genesis, Finding Jesus in the Old Testament and a few articles. I probably won’t get all that done this year.

As far as learning Greek, I’d like to get back up to speed on that too. I’ve been keeping up with the vocabulary and I went through the workbook up to this point, but lately I haven’t been moving ahead very much in the Black book.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I love the book of Colossians and there are and will be quite a few more commentaries coming out on this. Someday after I’ve done some other things like looking further into the OT and reading more of Calvin I’d like to study Colossians as in-depth as I can.

If you’re interested and haven’t seen it, here is a review by Review by David Schrock at The Gospel Coalition Reviews of a commentary/exposition of Colossians and Philemon by Michael F. Bird

I’m still a little dizzy about the back surgery thing and haven’t been posting as much lately.

I want to write a thank you post to Evangelical Press. I heard about the book How to Enjoy Your Bible and requested a review copy. I hadn’t dealt with them so I didn’t know how it would go. They were glad to send me a copy and I wrote a review here.

Then a few weeks later I got a box with a bunch of books from them. I felt like a kid on his birthday. I received Happiness of Heaven by Roberts, Heading for Heaven by Ryle (I’m a fan of his and haven’t even read any of his books yet), True Love by Renihan, Fire From Heaven by Cook, Seven Steps to Glory by Allred and Haggai Zechariah Malachi by Duguid.

I know I’m not obligated to review these since I didn’t request them but I will end up reviewing at least one or two of them. I’m especially glad to have the commentary on the last three books of the Bible since my OT material is so sparse. When I’m done reading through the OT I plan on reading that book and reviewing it (unless I’m having back surgery or something awful). I’m sure at some point I’ll read the Ryle book too.

Then they sent me another box a few weeks later. This had Dealing with Dawkins by Blanchard, Every Word Counts (there’s that scary inerrant theme again) by Barnes, and Anne Bradstreet, Pilgrim and Poet by Faith Cook which my wife has already read.

I didn’t realize they have books tailored to my preferences even if I might not read every single one of them.

So I want to say thank you to them for being so kind to me and let you know about the review or two this summer (which you will have totally forgotten about by then).

Book reviews will be sparse for quite a while, not that you’re waiting for them from me with bated breath. Whatever that means. I’m sure it’s better than baited breath.

The next review will be Ryken’s Bible Handbook from Tyndale which I was very happy to receive even though I had another book waiting for review. (Thanks Laura) I’m reading this along with the Old Testament. This means I won’t be reviewing it until the summer. I normally review books within 6-8 weeks after requesting them and I always review books requested, otherwise I would consider it stealing. I will skim the NT portion and then write a review. I hope they don’t mind me waiting that long. I’ve found the book extremely helpful and interesting.

Another post on books and reviews coming up.

For some reason I had about $11 of eBay bucks that had to be used today. I’ve got enough books for a while but couldn’t think of anything else I needed. So I looked through my Amazon wish list and found The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter which has been mentioned a lot on blogs and is highly praised. The cost with shipping was $14.89 and I only had to pay $2.60. Did I do good? What do you think of this book?

WaterBrook Multnomah books is offering the first chapter of the book Radical by David Platt. It talks about how the seeker sensitive movement is not Biblical and how different Jesus was when on earth compared to those churches that try to soft peddle the Gospel. I think David Pratt explains these things extremely well and will be a real eye opener for some. He later talks about what our response to the Gospel should be and how we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He also talks about the cost of not being a disciple.

You can read the first chapter online (PDF file). There is a web site devoted to the book here:
www.radicalthebook.com

You can also request a free companion booklet called The Radical Question here.

Excerpt:

Consider Mark 10, another time a potential follower showed up. Here was a guy who was young, rich, intelligent, and influential. He was a prime prospect, to say the least. Not only that, but he was eager and ready to go. He came running up to Jesus, bowed at his feet, and said, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

If we were in Jesus’ shoes, we probably would be thinking this
is our chance. A simple “Pray this prayer, sign this card, bow your
head, and repeat after me,” and this guy is in. Then think about
what a guy like this with all his influence and prestige can do. We
can get him on the circuit. He can start sharing his testimony,
signing books, raising money for the cause. This one is a nobrainer—we have to get him in.

Unfortunately, Jesus didn’t have the personal evangelism
books we have today that tell us how to draw the net and close the sale. Instead Jesus told him one thing: “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

What was he thinking? Jesus had committed the classic blunder of letting the big fish get away. The cost was too high.

Yet the kind of abandonment Jesus asked of the rich young man is at the core of Jesus’ invitation throughout the Gospels.

TGC Reviews

I took pictures of my library and thought I’d show them to you. The picture you see below–that’s it. My whole library fits on one shelving unit consisting of five shelves other than some fiction books and a few others I really don’t like that are on another shelf.

On this post by Nick Norelli I have the smallest amount of books of all the people who responded. Nick said, “I don’t know how you do it. I think everyone who owns over a thousand books should send one to you as well.” I agree.

If you could help a poor (not really, relatively) boy out, please buy your Amazon stuff through the search box at the right. I will be putting a Westminster link there also.

However, I love my library and I’m very thankful for it. In a way this is a lot of money. I used to get all my books from the library but then was able to very slowly buy some books.

I disabled clicking directly on an image because it doesn’t work well in this case. Click on the link below it to see a HUGE one. (Be sure your browser isn’t resizing them to make them smaller.) If you’re on dial-up it will take a very long time. Comments below.

HUGE image

This is the whole thing. I couldn’t shoot it straight on because our couch is in the way and with my bad back there’s no way I could move it. When I’m lying down on the couch most of the day I can see the top half of it. I often look at it and remember some of the things I’ve read in many of them.

HUGE image

The bottom shelf is Bibles and a few books on reading the Bible. I wish I would have taken a picture of just the bottom shelf. Many of these are on or under the coffee table where I have access to them when I’m reading. I put those few here for the picture. The HCSB Illustrated is my primary Bible and the NLT Mosaic is my secondary. Many of the pew Bibles are under the coffee table.

The next shelf up is Calvin and Calvinism, then Philip Yancey (I’m sure he’s thrilled about that), then some odds and ends, then Greek and exegesis.

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The next two shelves are the reference section. Only the librarian can get these for you and you can’t check them out. I have one commentary for every book of the New Testament. My Old Testament material is severely lacking. The study Bibles are here because I only use them for reference. They are valuable because of not having much else in the area of OT material. I’ve read all of the commentaries all the way through except Luke and Acts which I plan to do next year.

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The top shelf has my favorite ‘regular’ books on my favorite subjects. I’ve read at least 2/3 of them. The other 1/3 will keep me busy between the other things I read and study.

There you have it–my beloved little library.

One more below just for the fun of it.

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