Ed Stetzer has linked to a quote from Rob Zinn. Find the story here. This is one of the quotes:

"Jesus gave a commission to His disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations," Rob Zinn, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland, Calif., said in the convention's annual sermon. "We are a denomination that talks a lot but does little when it comes to evangelism... "Folks, what you did in the '40s and what you did in the '50s isn't going to win this culture to Jesus," Zinn said. "One of the things we are losing right now is our kids." While Southern Baptists must never change "the man [Jesus], the message [the Gospel] or the mission," they must be willing to change methods like the kind of music used in worship if they are going to reach a new generation in a changed culture, Zinn said. His voice cracking with emotion, Zinn said: "My heart is bursting for a generation of people who are lost and dying and going to hell. It's not about you. It's about Him [Jesus], and He loves them all."

Here is my question for you. My spidey-senses tingle when I read that quote. But just like Spidey sometimes I'm not sure why they are tingling. Is it just gas? For the life of me I can't put my finger on what rubs me wrong in this quote. Can you?

There is quite a stir among my Calvinist brethren over the upcoming Jacobus John 3:16 Conference. Rhett from the Reformed Mafia, believes we are being set up for the kill. Tom Ascol continues to have hope. Dr. James Galyon has a very thoughtful response to Steve Lemke.

Frank Turk has an interesting take on the Rick Warren call to Mark Driscoll. (Hey, blogosphere, I just used the name Driscoll and Warren in the same post...can I anticipate 3,000 hits today?)

Great post at The Gate: A Reality Check, It's Not All About Me. (HT: Jared)

How do you apply the gospel to pastoral ministry? This is a phenomenal article by Rich Richardson. Seriously. Read it twice. Then apply.

John Piper offers 6 Apsects of Humility.

The Irish Calvinist (that makes it sound like there is only one guy in Ireland that is a Calvinist, doesn't it), has a wonderful post on Preaching. Here is a sample quote that rips into my small intestine: "Jesus just unfolds the Scriptures...This is a rebuke to those of us who teach and find more power in a pithy quote from a theologian than the precise and power-packed Word of God. Let’s preach and teach as men who are under the authority of the Word. May it be clear when we teach who the authority is. Sometimes contemporary preachers, particularly in the Reformed wing, tread dangerously close to a Protestant Magisterium with all of their appeals to “heroes” of the faith. If you are a preacher, does your word possess authority? If you are preaching the Word then it does. Men, preach to put God on display and make Jesus the hero."

Josh Harris and CJ Mahaney address how a pastor monitors the health of his own soul. Here is a similar article by CJ.

Very convicting statements by Dan Phillips. Here is the foundational point in his article: "Sure, God says to do ___, but I've figured out that that won't work. So I don't have to do it. And I won't. Because I'm too smart."

For those involved in the Purtian Reading Challenge, Timmy Brister offers his monthly biographical on our author of the month. This month is Thomas Watson.

Michael Patton asks, How Many Beliefs Can One Abandon and Still be Called Christian? I'm guessing the magic number is 7, but that's just because God seems to like that number. Maybe you should read Michael's article, it's probably more scholarly than my guess of 7. By the way, this article is really about what doctrines are essential to the Christian faith.

The Canvas:

All great paintings have been copied at one time or another. So it is with this great painting that our author is discussing. The godly man can also be counterfeit. Exposing this forgery is Watson's aim in this chapter.

He begins by considering why people would even bother to content themselves with a show of godliness. His answer is that men love credit. They want the credit of being religious, and being marked down as such, yet lack the desire to actually be godly. This of course is a double iniquity and Watson will give 6 reasons why it is wrong, dangerous, and deadly:

1. To have only a show of godliness is a God-enraging sin
2. To make only a show of godliness is self-delusion
3. To have only a name, and make a show of godliness, is odious to God and man
4. To be only comets and make a show of piety is a vain thing
5. To have only a pretence of godliness will yield no comfort at death
6. You who have nothing but a specious pretext and mask of piety expose yourself to Satan's scorn

If this is damnable condition of those that are such posers, then how can we know whether or not we are hypocrites? Watson gives two signs. 1) When one serves God for sinister ends. 2) When there is some sin dear to a man, which he cannot part with.

What do I do if I find myself to be a hypocrite? His answer is simple. Go to Christ. And he closes by reminding us that "Two hearts will exclude from one heaven".

Discussion:

This is more by way of information than discussion. On page 17 Watson uses the term mountebank. It may be unfamiliar to many. It basically is a reference to a charlatan or a quack. It came from phonies selling bogus medicine.

On page 18, Watson says, "What, then, will it be to have the devil triumph over a man at the last day!" Do you think it is appropriate to refer to the devil as "triumphing" over a man?

Also, I am a little confused in what Watson is saying here. When he says at the bottom of page 18 that a mark of a hypocrite is "when there is some sin dear to a man, which he cannot part with", am I wrong in thinking that this is the lot of us all? Am I wrong in thinking that we are all in some way and in some areas all hypocritical? Then, surprisingly he says at the top of page 19, "Christian, if you mourn for hypocrisy, yet find this sin so potent that you cannot get the mastery of it, go to Christ", it appears that here he is agreeing with what I just said. Yet, he closes with this statement, "Two hearts will exclude from one heaven". It sounds as if he is saying the hypocrite will be damned. Which is it? Thoughts?

Strokes of Genius:

"What good will it do a man when he is in hell that others think he has gone to heaven" (p16)

"The wicked hate the hypocrite because he is almost a Christian, and God hates him because he is only almost one." (p16)

"He who has only a painted holiness shall have a painted happiness" (p17)