First Baptist Church

Well, as we approach the top 5, I strongly urge you to read these books. Each one of them is important and offers a great deal of great information.

• 5. Guilty: Liberal Victims and their Assault on America – Ann Coulter. Coulter uses her superb writing style to expose the culture of “victimism” which has been growing larger and larger in this country. Almost everyone considers themselves to be a victim of something and victims tend to expect some form of compensation. Whether it is bank bailouts, auto industry bailouts, victims of 9-11 or the Oklahoma City bombing, poor welfare moms, poor school teachers, poor Native Americans, poor African Americans, poor business owners, poor murderers, poor thieves, the poor airlines, poor obese people, or even poor politicians, we have become a society of victims. They are draining our resources and they are draining our will! Never before has there been a society which leaned so heavily on it’s government to provide for them and compensate them for varying degrees of tragedy in their lives. Liberal victims have become spoiled brats with government being a veritable “daddy warbucks” doling out money like they were printing it themselves!
• 4. A Tale of Two Sons – John MacArthur. The parable of The Prodigal Son appears only in the Gospel of Luke. You are, no doubt familiar with the basics of the parable Jesus taught. However you only think you understand the depth of meaning of the parable. MacArthur offers many stellar insights into this key portion of Jesus’ teachings. MacArthur offers a tremendous amount of background which would have been understood by the first-century Jewish audience which escapes 21st century Westerners. This book covers this parable in almost unprecedented depth. One leaves the discussion feeling informed about what Jesus was teaching in it’s fullness and not only in part.
• 3. The Passion Driven Sermon – Jim Shaddix. Jim Shaddix serves as the senior pastor of Riverside Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado. Dr. Shaddix is a former professor of preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and renown expert in the area of sermon preparation and delivery. In The Passion Driven Sermon, he challenges preachers to not compartmentalize and separate their personal lives from their labors as a preacher. In other words a preacher must not only be a preacher, but also a “man of God.” Too many preachers these days are not really “men of God.” They perform a function but they are not where they need to be in their relationships with God. Shaddix says “passion” is the missing element in their preaching. Not a passion for preaching itself, but an insatiable “passion” for God! Without this passion, the power of God is stifled in their preaching. All preachers must develop a passion which only comes from a close, daily walk with God.
• 2. 9 Marks of a Healthy Church – Mark Dever. I read this book again this year and developed from it a series of lessons which I taught on Wednesday Evenings at the church I pastor, over the summer months of 2009. Churches today are reaching and grasping for anything which they believe might help them grow larger, while generally being only mildly concerned about their level of obedience to God. By and large, their thinking travels along the lines that “if we grow larger, we will be pleasing God.” They, knowingly or unknowingly, tend to measure success or failure only in business oriented terms. The bottom line for a business, and most churches these days, is finances and numbers. Dever postulates that success is not measured in these types of terms at all, but rather individual and congregational obedience to the principles found in God’s word. He calls churches back to an emphasis on things such as careful verse by verse exposition of the Scriptures , adherence to Biblical Theology, a Biblical understanding of conversion, a Biblical understanding of Evangelism, A Biblical Understanding of church membership, and Biblical understandings of stewardship, discipleship, church discipline, and church leadership. After reading this book, it becomes crystal clear why the church is growing larger while becoming less and less effective. It is clear that the church, in large measure, has sold out it’s very soul for the world’s version of success. I strongly urge you to become familiar with this book, and other related books by Mark Dever. Also check out his website (www.9marks.org).
• #1. Fools Gold? Discerning Truth in an Age of Error – John MacArthur. This is, quite simply one of the top books I have ever read. The central reason this book is so important is that it strikes at the very heart of the most important issue of our time. People in the world of today lack “discernment” in epidemic proportions. Everywhere you look there is a competing ideology. Everyone is claiming to have their own version of the truth, or slant upon what they call “their” truth. Instead of seeing the world in black and white, or truth and error, there is now this amalgamation of voices all shouting out in defense of their position while the lines have become so blurred they are virtually indistinguishable. Best-selling books by popular authors such as Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, and others are lining the shelves of supermarkets and becoming best sellers. What about the Revolve New Testament (a version of the New Testament marketed to teenage girls which looks like a fashion magazine and has fashion and makeup tips in the margins)? What about blockbuster bestsellers like Wild at Heart and The Shack? These books are being measured much more by how many copies they have sold, how people report to have liked them, and the testimonials of those who claim to have been helped by them than by how they square with scripture, and what lasting impact they actually have in people’s lives. There are some strengths to some of these books, however to an overwhelmingly theologically illiterate populace, these books present several dangers This is an “open-minded” culture which is much quicker to accept the latest wave of unsound doctrine than it is to stand against it. Measuring it against the Bible, for most, is not really possible because most people now do not know enough Biblical truth to accurately distinguish truth from error. When they turn on their television, radio, or are recommended a book by a friend, or browse magazine racks or bookstore shelves, they really have not a clue whether what they are hearing or reading is good, bad, or somewhere in between. “Discernment” is at an all-time low when it comes to these matters. Consensus opinion is that there is no consensus, therefore everyone is told they must make up their own mind. The problem is that most do not possess the tools by which to make Biblically based decisions. This culture has become a throwback to that of the Old Testament Judges, where it is said, “there was no king in the land in those days, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

I sincerely hope that in addition to your spending time in God’s word each day to learn the truth and sharpen your focus upon Him, you will read some of these books which can greatly assist you in your efforts to be more obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ and your responsibility, as a believer, to engage the culture.

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor