Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Tag Archives: Albert Mohler


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Two New Devotionals For This Advent Season

Advent is what we call the season leading up to Christmas. It begins four Sundays before December 25, sometimes in the last weekend of November, sometimes on the first Sunday in December. This year it is Sunday, December 1. For the past several years, my wife Tammy and I have read an Advent devotional to prepare our hearts for Christmas. We have read devotionals by John Piper, Paul Tripp, R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson and others. This year, there are two new Advent devotionals to choose from by Alistair Begg and Albert Mohler.

Let Earth Receive Her King: Daily Readings for Advent by Alistair Begg
From the Amazon description:
“24 Advent devotions spanning the whole of Scripture that celebrate Christmas and Christ’s return.
Follow the story of God’s Messiah from Genesis to Revelation. See how God prepared the world for Christ’s first coming and how that wondrous gift was given; and look forward to Christ’s future coming and how all things will be made new.
Alongside Alistair Begg’s insightful Bible devotion, each day features a question to aid personal reflection and a carol or hymn to enjoy meditating upon. These readings will make December a month of celebrating the wonder of Christmas and the hope of Christ’s return.”

Recapturing the Glory of Christmas: A 25-Day Advent Devotional by Albert Mohler
From the Amazon description:
“Christmas should spark worship and adoration, and R. Albert Mohler offers a book that mines the depths of the advent season, and all the theological riches God has gifted to His people. Recapturing the Glory of Christmas is a call to worship and praise. Indeed, Christmas beckons the world to come and adore the Savior King—the King exulted by the angels; the King who took on flesh; the King who deserves all glory, all honor, and all praise. O come! Come and adore Jesus Christ the Lord.”

Why not check out these two new Advent devotional books?


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What Theological Hills are You Willing to Die On?


In our NXTGEN Pastors Cohort, in which we meet monthly to teach seminary students soft skills, we recently discussed the module “Choosing Wisely: Leadership Triage”. This article is inspired by that module.

A part of the module was based on Gavin Ortlund’s book Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage. The phrase “Not a hill worth dying for” has often been associated with the battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. The word “triage” comes from the French word trier, “to sort things out.” The word is often used in a medical situation such as “the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care.” In Ortlund’s book, he points to Albert Mohler’s metaphor of theological triage as a system of prioritization (see Mohler’s article “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity”).

When you consider the doctrines of Christianity, or the theological issues we face, which of those would you consider to be ones that were “worth dying for”? For example, during the Reformation, people were willing to die for theological issues such as justification by faith alone, or the presence of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper. Continue reading →


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3 News Resource Recommendations

There are many ways to get our news these days, be it from our local newspaper, favorite 24-hour news channels, apps, or other sources. I want to highlight three news sources below that I use on a regular basis, and you might want to check them out. They are:

The Briefing – The Briefing is an approximately 25-minute-long podcast from Albert Mohler that provides a daily worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations. He addresses stories that I don’t hear about anywhere else. The podcast is usually posted by 5:00 am Monday through Friday, and it’s been required listening for me each weekday morning for many years now. You can listen to the podcast on iTunes, via Dr. Mohler’s website, on his app, or you can sign up to have it sent to you via email. When you have it sent to you via email, you will also get links to the articles that he refers to during the program that day.

Not the Bee. Many of you will be familiar with Christian satire site The Babylon Bee. Not the Bee is run by Adam Ford, founder of The Babylon Bee. The site shares real news stories that are so outrageous that you would think they were actually satire from The Babylon Bee – thus they are not from the Bee.

Tucker Carlson Tonight. This has consistently been the highest rated show on cable news, and is the only one that I watch on a regular basis. And while Carlson would generally appeal to conservative viewers, he has done surprisingly well with Democrat viewers in the 25-54 age group in his timeslot.

These are three very different news sources that I use to keep up with the news. They won’t necessarily be for everyone. What news sources do you use and would recommend to others?


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My Favorite Christian Apps

Apps are becoming more and more popular. I use a few on a daily basis, and the last three conferences I’ve attended – Sing!, Ligonier National Conference and the Gospel Coalition National Conference – have all used a helpful app designed to increase the experience for the conference attendees. Here are my favorite Christian apps that I use:

Ligonier. My favorite app is from Ligonier Ministries. I’m amazed at the amount of free content that is included on the app. The app includes:

  • Daily Renewing Your Mind broadcasts
  • Daily videos and devotional readings
  • Ligonier Conference messages
  • Popular articles from Tabletalk magazine
  • Posts from the Ligonier blog
  • More than 50 free teaching series, including The Holiness of God and Chosen by God

Continue reading →


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Why You Should Listen to Albert Mohler’s The Briefing Each Weekday


For several years now, my favorite podcast has been Albert Mohler’s The Briefing. Mohler describes the program as “a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview”. The fast-moving program, which is available early (usually by 5:00 am central time), runs about 26 minutes each weekday. The Briefing is unlike any other program that I’ve found, covering a wide-variety of news stories that Christians need to know about, along with a respected Christian analysis of those news stories.
You can listen to the program on Mohler’s website, The Briefing podcast or on the Albert Mohler app. I will often listen to the program as I’m getting ready for my day. If you miss a program, you can listen to it in The Briefing Archive.
You may not be familiar with Dr. Mohler. He has been the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 1993. Taking over that position at just 33 years old, it fell to him to remake the faculty until the seminary was entirely transformed to support the full inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures, and evangelical, Baptist orthodoxy.
Mohler is an author of many books that I have enjoyed, and another podcast “Thinking in Public”, which is a series of conversations with the day’s leading thinkers. He is a member of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, serves as a council member for The Gospel Coalition, and is a former teaching fellow for Ligonier Ministries. In addition, he is a co-founder of Together for the Gospel.  You can follow him on Twitter at @albertmohler.
The Briefing is my favorite podcast. What are some of your favorites?


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14 New and Upcoming Books You Might Be Interested In


There are a number of new and upcoming books, in a variety of genres, that I would like to share with you that you may be interested in.

Something Needs to Change: A Call to Make Your Life Count in a World of Urgent Need by David Platt

This book, by the author of Radical, is one of the best, and certainly the most challenging book I’ve read this year. Here’s my review. Continue reading →


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Why You Should Listen to Albert Mohler’s ‘The Briefing’ Each Weekday

For several years now, my favorite podcast has been Albert Mohler’s The Briefing. Mohler describes the program as “a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview”. The fast-moving program, which is available early (usually by 5:00 am central time), runs about 26 minutes each weekday. The Briefing is unlike any other program that I’ve found, covering a wide-variety of news stories that Christians need to know about, along with a respected Christian analysis of those news stories.
You can listen to the program on Mohler’s website, The Briefing podcast or on the Albert Mohler app. I will often listen to the program as I’m getting ready for my day. If you miss a program, you can listen to it in The Briefing Archive.
You may not be familiar with Dr. Mohler. He has been the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 1993. Taking over that position at just 33 years old, it fell to him to remake the faculty until the seminary was entirely transformed to support the full inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures, and evangelical, Baptist orthodoxy.
Mohler is an author of many books that I have enjoyed, and another podcast “Thinking in Public”, which is a series of conversations with the day’s leading thinkers. He is a member of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, serves as a council member for The Gospel Coalition, and is a teaching fellow for Ligonier Ministries. In addition, he is a co-founder of Together for the Gospel.  You can follow him on Twitter at @albertmohler.
The Briefing is my favorite podcast. What are some of your favorites?


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13 New and Upcoming Books I’m Excited About

There are a number of new and upcoming books that I’m excited about.  I call it my ‘on deck circle’.  Here are 13 of them:

The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits by Albert Mohler
From the Amazon description:
“In The Apostles’ Creed, renowned theologian and pastor R. Albert Mohler Jr. works line-by-line and phrase-by-phrase through each section of the Creed, explaining in clear terms what it means and how it equips Christians to live faithfully in a post-Christian culture. From understanding the nature of the Trinity and the miracle of the Incarnation to the world-shaking truth of the resurrection and the hope of Christ’s return, the theological heritage contained in this ancient statement has the power to shape us for vibrant and steadfast living today. The Apostles’ Creed shows us how.” Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS


Letters to the Church by Francis Chan. David C. Cook. 224 pages. 2018
****

I haven’t been challenged so much by a book since I first read Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love several years ago. This book has a lot of similarities to Crazy Love, as the author looks at what a church should be according to scripture and shows where the American church is lacking. I read the book in two days, and I’m sure I will read it many more times, just as I have Crazy Love. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.
The author begins the book by discussing why he left Cornerstone Church eight years ago. He admits that he didn’t lead very well, and that leaving Cornerstone was not an easy decision. After some time overseas, he felt that the Lord was leading him to come back to America to plant churches. Five years ago, twenty years after planting Cornerstone out of a living room, he planted We Are Church  In San Francisco.
Each chapter, or letter, of the book addresses a different issue a church may or may not need to work on. The author writes that the book is about the most obvious commands repeated throughout the entire Bible. He tried to pay attention to the times when God seems most bothered by what His people were doing. He has tried to point out only the most obvious biblical truths about God’s desire for His Bride—truths that he writes none of us can afford to ignore. He states that he has written from the perspective of not worrying about the fallout from the book, but sought only to be faithful to God.
Throughout the book he provides encouraging examples of international churches. However, he writes that as he examines the state of the Christian Church today, he can’t help but think that God is displeased with many of the churches in America. He states that the more he studies the Gospels, the more he is convinced that those of us who live in the United States have a warped view of what it means to be a “Christian”, and it is for that reason our churches are in the state they are in.
The author uses a lot of scripture in this book. Aspects of church that he addresses in the book include devotion to scripture, prayer, unity, community, love, serving others, leadership, humility, suffering and children.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
More of this review…
BOOK REVIEW ~ The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution by Albert Mohler
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age by Jonathan Leeman
I’M CURRENTLY READING….
Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS


I’ve long enjoyed playing and watching golf. This week, enjoy reviews of three recent golf books I’ve read.

Arnold Palmer: Homespun Stories of The King by Chris Rodell. Triumph Books. 240 pages. 2018
****

This is a book that golf fans, and in particular Arnold Palmer fans, will enjoy. The author, a Latrobe, Pennsylvania resident since 1992, interviewed more than 200 area neighbors and began each interview with a simple request: “Please tell me your best Arnold Palmer story.” Much of the book contains their answers to that question.
The author got to know Palmer when he was asked by ArnoldPalmer.com in 2005 to go through the boxes and assemble a day-by-day timeline of Palmer’s life. The book includes a part of that timeline, which Palmer fans will find of interest.
The author gives us a good understanding of what Latrobe is like. Correct that, though we have always heard that Palmer lived in Latrobe, he actually lived and died in neighboring Youngstown, a town of just 326 people.
Even though I’ve read several books by and about Palmer, the author gives us a unique look at him. He shows that he was really a great guy, just like we hope our sports heroes would be. He didn’t live in a gated community and incredibly would often answer the door of his home himself to sign an autograph or sign a photo for a fan. The book includes remembrances from CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, who spoke at Palmer’s memorial service in 2016, former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and many others. We hear about the letters that Palmer would send people, spending an unbelievable $100,000 in postage annually to mail them. It is estimated that he signed well over a million autographs in his lifetime. The author, who writes with a good amount of wit, states that plastic surgeons are less careful suturing scars on supermodels than Palmer was when signing an autograph.
I enjoyed reading about three rainbows that appeared after Palmer’s death, just as one did the night my father-in-law died two years ago. The first was when the plane that carried Palmer’s ashes began its ascent, the second appeared during the Palmer’s memorial service and the third materialized at the June 25 Westmoreland County Airshow held in tribute to Palmer.
I read this book quickly, not wanting to put it down. It’s a funny and at times quite touching tribute to the King.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
BOOK REVIEWS ~ The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup by John Feinstein and Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
BOOK NEWS ~ Links to Interesting Articles
BOOK CLUB ~ The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution by Albert Mohler
I’M CURRENTLY READING….
Continue reading →