Book Review – Interview with Ted Donnelly

The point: Seek to obtain and read recommended books, or borrow them from the church library, to make them part of your personal library and use them for guided, profitable, edifying discussion with Christian friends.

The pre-membership class material is compared to concentrated perfume rather than cologne, indicating its density and richness, not lack of clarity.

Pastor Nichols indicated that in July there will be an adult class marked out as a question-and-answer time, so if you have had concerns, matters that either were not clear to you or the biblical roots of the matters were not sufficient as to carry your conscience, whatever concerns may have grown out of those 13 weeks of very concentrated and dense materials, I don't mean dense in terms of unclear, but they came to us in the different... The difference between cologne and the real perfume that cost $60 for half an ounce, and that was by the direction of the elders that it came in that form,

0:59 - 1:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Cultivate Paul's spirit of lifelong commitment to reading and knowing God's ways and works, seeking spiritual and intellectual growth until the end of your days.

The Apostle Paul, an old man about to die, still requested books and parchments, illustrating his ongoing commitment to spiritual and intellectual growth.

soul merely upon the Old Testament scriptures and upon the scripture that was given to him as an inspired apostle, but as an old man. Pastor Donnelly and I were reading together in 2 Timothy just yesterday morning, and we were struck afresh. This old man about to die, and yet he's not coasting in terms of his spiritual or intellectual development and growth. And among his closing requests given to us by the Apostle Paul, we find in chapter 4 and verse 13 these very fascinating words. The cloak that I left at Troas with

7:24 - 8:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Become readers yourselves and model this habit for your children, so they grow up in a home where reading is a valued part of life.

The widespread negative impact of television on serious reading habits is cited as a sociological fact, urging believers to resist conformity to this age.

And hopefully in the right sense, you'll get hooked on history, hooked on biography. And one of the final things that I want to say, and I want to be very blunt about it, studies being done by educators and sociologists clearly indicate that one of the most cursed, baneful results of living in the television age is it has by and large killed any serious reading among the rank and file of the places where the television is a household item. That's just a fact. It can be established by statistics in an overwhelming way.

27:25 - 28:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Become readers yourselves and model this habit for your children, so they grow up in a home where reading is a valued part of life.

Parents are encouraged to be seen reading by their children, fostering a home environment where reading is valued and children are inspired to become enthusiastic readers.

And the scripture tells us we are not to be conformed to this age, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. And it would be a tragic thing if the erosion of being a reading congregation were brought to pass through careless and shoddy patterns of television watching. And so I would urge some of you who are deeply, committed to the molding of your children's perspectives on life to become readers yourself. They ought to grow up in a home where mom and dad with a book in hand is part of the memory that they carry into their adult life.

28:05 - 28:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for young people manifesting rebellious spirits, that God would restrain them from destructive actions and ultimately save them.

Martin notes the slanted and skewered impression of Northern Ireland given by American television, prompting Pastor Donnelly to provide a more accurate historical and current overview.

first of all, by His common grace, that He will restrain them from doing anything which will mark them for years, but then beyond that, that He'll be pleased to save them. I'd appreciate very much your prayers for those areas. Well, if we can take the last five minutes and just address in a very cursory way the situation of what it is like to live in Northern Ireland, and due to a number of factors, and this is not going out on a tape, I've already spoken to Bill about this, the impression the average American would get from our television is that somehow, sometime in the indefinite past,

48:16 - 49:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for the delicate situation in Northern Ireland, asking God to restrain evil intentions, bring about a just resolution to tensions and terrorism, and enable His people to live tranquil lives.

The question of why trouble exists in a country with many Christians (Northern Ireland) is answered by suggesting the devil would naturally target places where the gospel is strong to cause unrest and blacken their reputation.

Let me just put this to you as I close. Sometimes people have said how astonishing it is that in a country where there are so many Christians, and there are very many converted people in the north of Ireland, how astonishing it is that in that place there should be trouble. Is that astonishing? Where do you think the devil would want to cause trouble in the world?

53:46 - 54:17 Read in full sermon