Greek & Hebrew Reader’s Bible
John Dyer, who I am not familiar with, created this online Greek and Hebrew Bible . . . for free! It reminds of Zhubert.com, but it also has Hebrew and not just Greek like Zhubert. If you mouse over words you can get a quick dictionary definition of the word and also case information. This site looks perfect for someone getting started in Greek!

Believin’ Stephen
Now I just recently heard Believin’ Stephen for the first time. This is Timothy Brindles little brother. If you aren’t familiar with Tim, you should be. Believin’ Stephen just recently released 19 tracks titled The Perseverance MixTape which you can down for FREE right here. The songs don’t seem to conform to an overarching theme that well, but overall I am liking it and looking forward to what else comes out of Believin’ Stephen.

BestCommentaries.com
I noticed this site floating around in the blogosphere before, but never got around to checking it out until today. The site looks fantastic – content wise that is, the design is another story. ;) The Unashamed Workmen has a short review of the site.

Founders Ministry has a short review of the book which begins with:

Ours is the age of instant gratification and the quick fix. Even Christians have succumbed to the spirit of the times. We want to attain that state frequently referred to as “victorious Christian living” by simply going to a retreat or walking down an aisle.

Don Whitney’s book comes as a much needed corrective to this kind of thinking. It reminds us that Christianity is not easy, and if we expect to produce robust Christian character we must get back to what former generations of Christians knew and what we have all but forgotten–discipline.

If you prefer actual books you can grab the book on Amazon too.

We are called to set our minds on heavenly things, take our thoughts captive, submit to the truth of the Word, and keep our minds set steadfastly on God (see Colossians 3:1, 2 Cor. 10:5, Isaiah 26:3). In other words , our focus is to be on the eternal–heaven, Christ, and the kingdom of God. We are choked from fruitfulness when we become consumed with the cares of this temporary world, and in particular, the deceifulness of riches. Many Christians are more convinced of the reality of their daily problems than the reality of their God. We will never be fruitful for the Savior if we fail to look past our surface-level, earthly cares to see the heavenly reality beneath.
-The Worries of This Life

Benton’s piece de resistance is this circular argument: Unless solid Christian seek out, populate, and serve “little and very local” churches, the light of the gospel may go out in those areas. However, small churches can hold out the offer of the gospel in an authentic, small-scale way that bigger churches cannot: “Everyone needs to become a Christian and local churches are the God-ordained means of holding out the Word of life to the community.”

I think that sounds crazy. Why not say “Unless solid Christian seek out, populate, and serve mega churches, the light of the gospel may go out in those areas.” Just as true isn’t it? But it goes on and I see some balance:

You may be asking at this point, “Is it wrong to attend a large church?” Not usually, not always, and not necessarily. As Benton says, “To join a big thriving church is not always wrong, but it is frequently the easy option…how the devil would love to herd Christians into a few big city centre churches, getting them to travel miles from their communities and leaving vast tracts of our country with no viable witness for the gospel.”

I dig what he is saying. In fact I know some mega churches who specifically see that problem and are trying to avoid it. Then, in my opinion, the review just takes a nose dive:

Elsewhere, Jesus says, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given… Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” These verses almost certainly apply to the conundrum of whether one ought to attend a small church or a large church.

Okay now this is just ridiculoous. These verses most certainly do not apply to what size church you should join. What Jesus is talking about is plain as day: Marriage and Divorce.

Sorry, I was wanting to post about this book because it looked interesting to me, but now I am just frustrated with the tossing around of Scripture in the review. Sheesh, come on Discerning Reader!

Read the rest of the review here.

I’ve read a few books from some of their fellows including How People Change, Blame It on the Brain? and Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave. and attended two of their conferences.   Everything that I have seen from them has been great both in style and biblical grounding.

Anyone who has read, or attempted to read, Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology has probably in retrospect found the subtitle “An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine” to be a little inaccurate. The book is a bit deeper and difficult then an “introduction” as we normally think of one.

That was the case for me at least. Which is why I was so excited when I found audio of Wayne Grudem teaching through his systematic theology. I have found listening to him is a lot easier for me then reading him.

Some topics that are covered:

The Canon of Scripture
The Inerrancy of Scripture
How to Interpret the Bible
The Doctrine of God
The Knowability of God
The Character of God and His Incommunicable Attributes
The Character of God and His Communicable Attributes
The Trinity
The Doctrine of Creation
God’s Providence
Doctrine of the Atonement
Doctrine of Sanctification

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You probably won’t sit down and listen to every message in order, but tuck this away as a great resource for when questions come up.

Here is a sample message with the accompanying outline for the talk:

Doctrine of Election and Reprobation (Part 1) By Wayne Grudem

Wayne Grudem Teaching on Election and Reprobation Part 1

(Right-Click for zooming options)