Deus Misereatur

O God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; one God who is simultaneously three persons in eternal love and joy: thank you that you created all creation and creatures from love and joy; and from love and joy will not let us go but are actively working out the restoration and liberation of your sin-enslaved, sin-damaged creatures and creation. Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him all creatures here below; praise him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost ! Robust and Resplendent God, please take note of our world situation; the destroyed families, homes and livelihoods crushed under the heal of demonic and despotic powers; ethnic tensions promising to explode; regions ravished by this revolution and then that; people groups hunted down and decimated by reigning powers; populations writhing under poverty and pecuniary paralysis. Yes, please take note of our world situation, take note of the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, and Barbados , and defeat th...

Exile: A Conversation with N.T. Wright Ed. James M. Scott IVP Academic A division of InterVarsity Press PO Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426 www.ivpress.com ISBN: 978-0-8308-5183-6; $40.00; July 2017 In some circles he’s ignored, in certain groups he’s mildly tolerated, in a few he’s the target of scorn, and in others he’s loved. Yet he takes it all in normally good humor, never dismissive, and almost always with thoughtful replies that draw the reader to the issue and not to the man. A prime example is the new 336 page hardback “Exile: A Conversation with N.T. Wright”. Editor James M. Scott, professor of religious studies at Trinity Western University, British Columbia, Canada, masterfully convened numerous scholars to accomplish exactly what the subtitle states, have a conversation with N.T. Wright, specifically on his theme of “exile”. Many of the chapters are papers that were presented at Trinity Western University in November 2010, while a few others have...

God & Tattoos: Why Are People Writing on Themselves? by Dmin Allan Dayhoff My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had just begun my 20 year Air Force career when I got mine. I had three etched into my skin when I was eighteen, and the final one applied when I was nineteen. That was almost 40 years ago. There's a story behind each, and together they weave a narrative that now feels prescient. Allan Dayhoff, Executive Director of Evangelize Today and PCA Pastor, has chronicled a pile of tales and stories about skin-ink in his 140 page paperback "God & Tattoos: Why Are People Writing On Themselves?" His writing style is easy, and his approach is simple. But the subject matter probes down under the inked skin into the hearts of many. I warn you, you just might get teary-eyed here and there. "God & Tattoos" takes the reader around bars, bus stops, parks, tattoo parlors and eateries to meet all kinds of people who have become permanently marked. The author explai...

Effective Generational Ministry: Biblical and Practical Insights for Transforming Church Communities by Craig L. Blomberg My rating: 5 of 5 stars Something I noticed with the 2016 presidential election was the intriguing chronological rift between the voters, the fissure among the vocal, and the split amid the vexed. The fault lines in all three sets appeared to me to softly run along generational contours. I began to wonder that if the different age groups perceived the election and candidates in such stark terms, it might well affect Christian ministry. Therefore I was intrigued when a friend of mine recommended I pick up the 304 page paperback “Effective Generational Ministry: Biblical and Practical Insights for Transforming Church Communities”. The volume was co-authored by Elisabeth A. Nesbit Sbanotto, assistant professor of counseling at Denver Seminary, and Craig L. Blomberg, distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. It is a fairly simple manuscript that p...

(For adversity): Mighty God, whose almighty and everywhere present power – as it were by your own hand – upholds heaven, earth, and all creatures, and so governs them that herb and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty – indeed all things – come not by chance or mechanical procedure, but by your fatherly hand: Grant … to be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future they may have good confidence in you – O faithful God and Father – that no creature or condition will ever separate them from your love, since all creatures are so in your hand that without your will they cannot so much as move. All of this we ask through our great high priest, the Lord Jesus (based on Heidelberg Catechism 27-28). O Lord, hear our prayer.   (For liberation): Mighty God, holy Savior – mighty over death and the devil; mighty over addictions and abuses; mighty to save and mighty to sustain! We...

Our highest and deepest thanks and rejoicing arise to you, O God our Father, because neither our condition or class, race or riches, political party or employability define or determine your love for us, nor your pleasure in us: “ For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation ” (Galatians 6:15). Remember, O Lord, that your one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church needs you and your help. Therefore smile on your global church; smile on this congregation, and also Central Baptist; Central Hillcrest Baptist; Cherokee Hills Baptist; and Christ Deliverance Baptist churches; Saved by Christ alone, through grace alone, received by faith alone, and walking by the Scriptures alone; may we shine and exist to the glory of God alone. “ Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old ” (Psalm 25.6). Remember, O Lord, that the nations of this world, including our own country, are as a drop in the bucket, transit...

The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest: Covenant, Retribution, and the Fate of the Canaanites John H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton InterVarsity Press (IVP Academic) PO Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL 60515 Ivpress.com ISBN: 978-0-8308-5184-3; July 2017; $20.00 It is a piece of the biblical story that has inflamed some, incensed others, embarrassed many, and baffled not a few. What does one do with the violent conquest of Canaan by Israel? John H. Walton, professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School, and J. Harvey Walton, researcher in biblical studies, have assembled suggestions that map out one way to read the conquest narratives in their recently published 288 page paperback “The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest: Covenant, Retribution, and the Fate of the Canaanites”. This compilation is one more installment in the multivolume “Lost World” series spearheaded by John Walton. The present work slowly moves the technical and non-technical reader through twenty-...