The Second Edition of "The Church: Why Bother?" Is Now Available!

Jeff Johnson announced earlier this morning that the new edition of The Church: Why Bother? is now
available for sale on Amazon. If you want bulk discounts, please contact Jeff. Here is what John MacArthur has said about the book:

In one way or another, virtually every troubling trend in the current world of evangelical Christianity is rooted in misunderstanding about the church. What is her proper mission? What is her role in an increasingly secular culture? What should her priorities be? How should a local church function? Why is church membership necessary? or is it? What is the basis for true unity? This excellent book shines the clear light of Scripture on those and many other questions. Since Christ loved the church enough to die for her, every believer ought to share that passion. Jeffrey Johnson clearly does, and I believe you will find his enthusiasm contagious.

I highly recommend this book. It is an excellent overview of the Bible's teaching on the Church, and it is a great book to give to other people in your church.

Bob Gonzales on the Lord's Day

Recently I was reminded of a couple of very good articles by Bob Gonzales on the Lord's Day. The first article is a defense of observing the Lord's Day as a Christian Sabbath, and it is entitled How I Justify a First-Day Christian Sabbath. Here is the conclusion of that article:

I believe the argument above provides a biblical basis for treating the first day of the week not merely as a time for corporate worship, but also as a Sabbath. This reflects the teaching of our the Westminster and Second London Baptist confessions. We must note, however, that the biblical basis or warrant for a first day New Covenant Sabbath is established neither by the data of the NT alone nor by any explicit command alone. As Richard Barcellos notes, “This issue … cannot be decided upon one proof text for or against. Each text comes in a wider context in the book it appears in and, in its widest sense, a canonical context.” [“The New Testament Theology of the Sabbath,” Reformed Baptist Theological Review 5:1 (2008): 63] So good and necessary inference is an essential part of the argument.

For those, like myself, who agree that warranted inference is a legitimate form of argument, a first day Christian Sabbath can make sense. I can appreciate the Christian who wishes for an explicit command. However, the absence of an explicit command need not preclude such a believer from understanding the Lord’s Day as sabbatic in character. Perhaps some Christians are hesitant to view the Lord’s Day as a “Sabbath” because they think Sabbath-observance entails a long, dreary, and legalistic list of “don’ts.” I can sympathize with their concern. But I suspect their view of Sabbath-observance may be based on a misunderstanding of what the Bible actually teaches. A proper consideration of the biblical data enables one to view Sabbath-observance as a delightful “holi-day” (Isa 58:13). For more along these lines, click here.

The link provided by Bob at the end of that article is for the second article I would like to recommend. This is an article about proper Lord's Day observance, and it is entitled Does All Worship and No Play Make Jack a Holy Boy? Sabbath-keeping according to Isaiah 58:13. I highly recommend reading both articles. My thanks to Bob for writing them!

The Second Edition of "The Church: Why Bother?" Coming Soon!

Jeff Johnson has just announced that the second edition of The Church: Why Bother? will be available in just a few weeks. Here is Jeff's announcement from his Facebook page:

The second, edited, and expanded edition of "The Church: Why Bother?" will be released in just a few weeks. It carries a new endorsement from Mark Dever and a new chapter on missions. If you or your church is interested in bulk orders, please private message me.

I have read the first edition of this book and found it to be a very helpful and Biblically faithful work. A number of people in my church have also read the book and found it very helpful in understanding the true Biblical nature of the local church and there place within it.

I look forward to reading the new edition, and I highly recommend buying a copy, or perhaps ordering a number to hand out to people in your church family.

Voddie Baucham on "How to Fight Addiction in a Pornographic Culture"

The video above was posted on the Desiring God website yesterday. Here is the description on the
site:

In five minutes, Voddie Baucham exposes the pornographic nature of our culture and provides men and women with a key tool necessary to fight addiction.

I highly recommend taking the five minutes to watch this video. May God grant us all His enabling grace to withstand the temptations around us every day.

The Absurdity of Unbelief Coming Soon!

The blog's regular readers will recall that I posted an article previewing The Absurdity of Unbelief, Jeff Johnson's upcoming book on apologetics, here. I then posted an article seeking reviewers here. Now I am pleased to say, however, that the book will be available on December 1 and that Jeff has just debuted a new website for the book here. You may preorder the book at a 50% discount on the website.

Another Great Baptist Reprint Coming Soon!

Regular readers of this blog will remember previous books in the series by Free Grace Press entitled Baptist Reprints. These books are meant to bring some of the best of past Baptist literature to today's Christians at an affordable cost, and I am happy to announce that yet another is on the way. The tentative title is The Ten Most Influential Sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon. Earlier today Jeff Johnson posted this announcement on his Facebook page:

The title may change, but this book is coming soon from Free Grace Press. Every sermon by Spurgeon is excellent, but some were more influential than others. Christian George, the leading Spurgeon scholar and curator of the Spurgeon Library, has collected the 10 most important sermons ever preached by Spurgeon. The goal is to introduce the Prince of Preachers to a new generation of Christians. This book will be inexpensive and one that churches could easily distribute to their congregations free of charge. 

I look forward to reading the book myself, and I hope all of you will want to as well. You may read about the first two books in the series here. In addition, you will find a great price on both of Jeff Johnson's outstanding books on Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology, namely The Fatal Flaw of the Theology Behind Infant Baptism (in my opinion, the best book ever written by a Baptist on the subject) and The Kingdom of God.