Monthly Archives: April 2011

ESV Greek Tools

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This online resource is an excellent way to interact with the Greek text of the New Testament with advanced searches, parsing, interlinears, etc. It’s only $10 for lifetime access, and can do most of the things that you’d pay hundreds of dollars for elsewhere. (The price goes up to $14.99 on May 1).

You can try it for free at ESV Online, under the Content tab. Or you can purchase it at crossway.org/GRKTLS.

You can see a video introduction and some explanation below:

ESV GreekTools from Crossway on Vimeo.

ESV GreekTools puts the original language of the New Testament into the hands of beginning and advanced students, as well as seasoned pastors, scholars, and laymen looking for an affordable and accessible Greek reference tool. Intuitive, easy-to-use, and fully customizable, ESV GreekTools is an online application available through the ESVBible.org platform. Now you can do serious work with the Greek text, at home or on the go, no matter your level of proficiency. Continue reading →

I Got You Covered!

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Four quotes from Martin Luther:

“Justification by faith alone is the article of the standing or falling Church.”

“This doctrine [justification by faith alone] is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour. For no one who does not hold this article or, to use Paul’s expression, this ‘sound doctrine’ (Titus 2:1) is able to teach aright in the church or successfully to resist any adversary… this is the heel of the Seed that opposes the old serpent and crushes its head. That is why Satan, in turn, cannot but persecute it.”

“Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater… For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness, and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, holiness, etc… If the article of justification is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost at the same time.”

“When the article of justification has fallen, everything has fallen. Therefore it is necessary constantly to inculcate and impress it, as Moses says of his Law (Deut. 6:7); for it cannot be inculcated and urged enough or too much. Indeed, even though we learn it well and hold to it, yet there is no one who apprehends it perfectly or believes it with a full affection and heart. So very trickish is our flesh, fighting as it does against the obedience of the spirit.”

Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls, the main hinge on which religion turns. Yet as important as justification is, many Christians remain confused about it, and others actively blur its features. This is the case not merely with Christians in general but so called evangelical leaders also.

Over the last few months I have had private correspondence with a number of Christian leaders and ministers, both here in the USA and oversees, as I have challenged them to be clear on this issue. Sadly, I have not been successful at all. In many churches and ministries, the Gospel is often assumed but not proclaimed. That is a great scandal as well as a great tragedy. Continue reading →

Rev. David Wilkerson died today

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Rev. David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, founding pastor of the 8,000 member Times Square Church in New York City and author of the popular book “The Cross and the Switchblade”, was killed Wednesday in a car crash in Texas. He was 79.

His wife was also involved in the crash but as yet there is no news on her condition. Please pray for the Wilkerson family.

What a specter, what a horrible thing death is to most of us. We regard it as a terrible monster that is going to grip us. Death, we say, is the most terrible thing of all, the thing to avoid. No, says Christ, death is nothing but the door of entry to my Father’s house for his followers–‘In my Father’s house are many mansions.’

We tend to think of ourselves after death, do we not, as in some disembodied state in some great eternity where all is strange and terrible. But it is really to go home, if you are a child of God, if you are a brother or sister of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is not some terrible awful power, away in some distant eternity; he is your Father. He is one who loves you with a love you cannot imagine. Thank God for human love, but, my dear friends, our human love pales into insignificance and nothingness by the side of the love of God toward those who belong to him. ‘My Father’s house’ is a glorious home.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled (Crossway, 2009), 73

Update: A few minutes after posting this I received a message from a friend named Rodger, saying, “Wow how tragic. I will be eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for this man of God! My wife, my father and my sister all received Christ at one of his crusades many years ago.”

Clearly, God has used Brother Wilkerson tremendously over the years.