July 20, 2018 Show with Mack Tomlinson on “The Importance of the Psalms” AND “More Good Book Recommendations from a Christian Book Lover”

Iron Sharpens Iron

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

00:08

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors,

00:16

Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

00:23

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

00:32

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

00:46

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

00:56

Now here's our host Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

01:04

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

01:14

This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Friday on this 20th day of July 2018.

01:22

I'm so delighted to have a dear friend back on the program today and that is with very little notice because we had originally scheduled

01:32

Pastor William Hill to be our guest today and Bill is sick so please pray for Bill, nothing serious

01:40

I don't think, it's just one of those things where he was too sick to conduct a radio program and at last moment we were able to get our dear friend

01:49

Mac Tomlinson, author, conference speaker and pastor at Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas to come on the program.

01:56

He's going to be addressing in the first hour the importance of the Psalms and in the second hour he's going to be addressing more good book recommendations from a

02:06

Christian book lover and we're also going to be announcing the 2019 Fellowship Conference New England and Portland, Maine and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Mac Tomlinson.

02:19

Hello Chris, always good to be with you brother. Always good to be with you too and let me give our listeners our email address it's chrisarnsen at gmail .com

02:30

if you have a question about the Psalms or if you have questions about good book recommendations which is the subject for the second hour and our email address again is chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

02:45

c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com. Please give us your first name as always, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

02:54

USA. Pastor Mac, before we go into the subject at hand, the importance of the

03:01

Psalms, tell us about Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas. Well, we are

03:07

Providence Chapel, a Reformed Baptistic congregation of just under 200 people north of Dallas and Fort Worth, about 30 miles in the university town of Denton, Texas.

03:33

Two team of pastors and marvelous believers among us and it's a very loving atmosphere that takes the

03:44

Bible seriously for preaching and teaching, but it's an atmosphere of love and true fellowship throughout the whole life of the church.

03:54

We have several prayer meetings each week and it's just a delight to be a part of Providence Chapel.

04:00

We would invite anyone who lives in the north Texas area, especially north of Dallas and Fort Worth, to join us.

04:09

You can look us up at www .providencedenton .org.

04:15

So we welcome you to Providence Chapel anytime. That's Providence Denton, D as in David, E, N as in Nancy, T as in Thomas, O, N as in Nancy, www .providencedenton

04:28

.org. Well, the importance of the Psalms.

04:35

This is a subject that I think needs to be brought back to our minds, especially when we have people like Andy Stanley urging

04:47

Christians to unhitch the Old Testament from our thinking.

04:56

Although we do obviously view the New Covenant as a new and better covenant, we cherish the

05:03

New Covenant. We cherish the accomplishments that occurred in the

05:08

New Covenant to secure our salvation, and there are so many things about the

05:14

New Covenant that we rejoice over as Christians. But tell us, first of all, what are the

05:24

Psalms? I mean, that may seem like a very simplistic question.

05:30

You would expect most people listening to this show to know what the Psalms are, but we do have new Christians listening on frequent occasions.

05:39

We do have, even on occasion, Muslims and those who are not inside the

05:46

Christian faith. We have people who are even atheists on occasions, and even people who are in cults listen.

05:54

So, why don't you tell us about what the Psalms are to begin with? Well, the Psalms are right at the center of the

06:00

Bible, literally. The original word in Hebrew were psalmoi.

06:08

Basically, I'm trying to paraphrase the word, and it meant poems set to the music of stringed instruments.

06:17

And really, it became the psalter or the songbook, the prayer book of the Old Testament church, the

06:23

Old Testament saints. And the Psalms are really very unique in the setting of the

06:29

Bible. And by the way, I would just remind people, and especially inform new believers and unbelievers, think of this statistic.

06:42

It's quite amazing. In the last 50 years, the number 8 on the most selling book list with 33 million copies was

06:56

Gone With The Wind. Gone With The Wind sold 33 million copies in the last 50 years, number 8.

07:03

Number 3 was the infamous and evil Harry Potter series, which has sold 400 million copies.

07:14

But the Bible, the best selling book of all time in the last 50 years, think of this.

07:20

The second greatest selling book sold 800 million copies. The Bible in the last 50 years has sold 3 billion, that's

07:30

B as in billion, 900 million copies. And so the

07:36

Bible is unparalleled and unmatched in the history of the world as far as its influence and its popularity.

07:46

And the Psalms are right at the center of it. The Psalms are unique for the believer, for the

07:53

Christian, because they really are a book of prayer. They are a book of singing.

08:02

Many Christian traditions, some of them only sing the Psalms. Other communions sing

08:09

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. But the Psalms really are

08:14

God's worship and praise manual. But a lot more than that, um, someone has said the

08:22

Psalms are the counseling course for suffering people. They are the spiritual medicinal prescription book.

08:31

They are particularly a roadmap and a guide book for those who are suffering. And as far as Christian experience and sanctification, in some ways no book can more equip us because it shows us such things as the spiritual highs and lows of the

08:50

Christian life, the tears and joy, the victories and the defeats, times of assurance and times of sin and defeat.

09:00

The Psalms reflect the deepest sadness, such as Psalm 38 and Psalm 88, and they show the highest joys in worship.

09:11

And so the book of Psalms is very unique because they really are prayers generally, or they are often

09:22

David wrote many of them, Moses wrote some, the sons of Korah wrote some of them. They're not only prayers, they are poetic praise to God.

09:34

So there's no book in the Bible that can be used more um, frequently and fruitfully in private devotion as the

09:44

Psalms. And I, I said recently to a congregation, it would do any

09:50

Christian a world of good to read and meditate in two or three Psalms each day and to notice and write down what they think the general theme of each

10:03

Psalm is. For instance, should I go on Chris or Paul? No, you could go right ahead.

10:09

For instance, Psalm 1, the theme is the contrast between the godly and the wicked man.

10:18

Psalm 2, the theme is man's rebellion and God's response to that rebellion.

10:24

Psalm 15, the theme is the marks of a true worshiper. Psalm 23,

10:30

I bet many can guess that one, the good shepherd and his sheep. Psalm 51, godly repentance, which leads to joy.

10:40

And you could go on and on. Psalm 119 has 176 verses.

10:46

It's the longest Psalm and 172 of the 176 speak about the statutes, commandments, law, precepts, ordinances of the

10:58

Lord. So the theme of Psalm 119 is the glory and benefits of God's word.

11:06

So we should know the Psalms. We should live in the Psalms, pray the Psalms, sing the

11:11

Psalms, because it will help us worship the God of the Psalms. Praise God.

11:18

We do have a listener. Let's see here. We have Harrison in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, who says,

11:29

I have seen the Gideons handing out the

11:34

New Testament and not the entire Old Testament attached to it, but only the book of Psalms.

11:41

I assume that would mean that they also have a very high view of the Psalms, having that only attached to the

11:50

New Testament. Do you agree with splitting up the Bible that way? Is it right to ever give out, in your opinion,

11:57

Bibles that either only contain the New Testament or only contain the New Testament and the Psalms without having the entire canon, both

12:04

Old and New Testaments? Well, the Gideons have been faithful to print the word of God, both the entire

12:12

Bible, the Old and New Testament, and for, I would say, ministry opportunity.

12:20

They do print New Testament with the Psalms, and I do not have a problem with ministries doing that.

12:28

Not only do the Gideons do that, some Bible publishers do that. They're getting out the word of God in a more economical way at times, and that doesn't mean the

12:39

Gideons do not believe the Old Testament is the word of God. It's just one of their ways to spread the

12:45

Word of God, and they feel like it, to publish the

12:50

New Testament with the Psalms. God can use that in the lives of people. Yeah, it's just like if you're handing out a tract that has some

12:58

Bible verses in it, it's not wrong because you're not handing out, every time you hand out a tract, you're not handing out the entire

13:05

Bible. And as long as the book isn't being identified as the entire

13:11

Bible, I can see nothing wrong with that. And of course, everybody who's a

13:17

Christian should own an entire canon of the Scripture that includes the

13:22

Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Absolutely. There are ministries or churches that will publish the

13:32

Gospel of John by itself, the fourth book in the New Testament, just as to spread the

13:38

Gospel itself, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Right, amen. Well, tell us about when in your

13:49

Christian life the Psalms, if you can even remember, when the Psalms seem to elevate in their importance to you.

13:56

I mean, new Christians, they are perhaps in a whirlwind of new information, and they have such a large book in front of them that they are not only to read, but study and remember.

14:15

And they may not right yet at this point in their life recognize the vital importance, specifically and uniquely, that the

14:25

Psalms possess. But can you tell us if you can remember when and why the

14:32

Psalms jumped out to you as being such a precious and uniquely helpful series of inspired writings?

14:39

Yes, after I became a Christian when I was 19 in the first part of my college years,

14:45

I became a consistent Bible reader. And when I came to the Psalms, I realized, unlike any other book of the

14:56

Bible, they were especially prayers. Now, there are many prayers recorded in other places in Scripture, both in the

15:04

Old and New Testament, but the Psalms were uniquely prayers.

15:10

It's a book of prayers. It's a book of praise and hymns, that is, songs.

15:17

And so it struck me, this is, these writers of the

15:22

Psalms are actually praying, and they're addressing God in prayer.

15:29

And what becomes striking is how honest and transparent they are. For instance,

15:34

I mentioned David, Psalm 38, Psalm 88. You read those Psalms, and they are uniquely very transparent and honest about how depressed he is, about how low he is.

15:48

He has no joy. He has no hope. He feels like he's going to die sometimes.

15:55

And so they're very honest prayers, and they show that people should be honest with God in prayer.

16:04

We can express not only our joys, we can express our sadness, our sorrows, how down we feel, how depressed we are, and that doesn't threaten

16:14

God. In fact, just the opposite, He welcomes it. So the Psalms are examples to us, given by God the

16:22

Holy Spirit, of how we can truly pray with honesty and humility, both the hardest things we feel and the greatest joys we feel.

16:35

So that struck me about the Psalms early on in my Christian life. And we know that, from what you just said,

16:44

David is author of some of the Psalms, but he's not the sole author. Can you tell us how many authors of the

16:50

Psalms that we know of? I probably can't, Chris. An Old Testament scholar might be able to answer that.

16:58

There were a group of worship leaders in Israel called the Sons of Korah. They wrote various Psalms.

17:08

Moses, various Psalms are attributed to Moses. David, many of the

17:14

Psalms. That's probably the best I can answer, and I'm sorry that that's maybe an inadequate answer, but there was various men, regardless of who it was.

17:26

We don't know who wrote the Book of Hebrews. And candidly, some of the Old Testament early books, the authorship is somewhat uncertain on some of them, but that doesn't take away their authenticity.

17:44

I mean, we don't even know for a fact who wrote the Book of Hebrews, so obviously that doesn't take away anything in regard to the nature of them being

17:55

God -breathed. That's exactly right. So when you read the Psalms, like all of the

18:01

Bible, you have this, it witnesses about itself as to its divine nature, its power, its authority, its majesty, and you realize this book is divine.

18:18

It's from another world, and it speaks to us not as an academic book, but as words from God, the judge of all the earth, the creator, and the

18:31

Savior, the Savior of all men, Jesus Christ. The Bible is the very words of God, and that's how any true

18:42

Christian views it. Amen. And could you tell us what might be,

18:50

I mean, this might be a difficult task, because the Psalms vary in their purpose and their application, but if you could tell us some of your own personal favorite

19:00

Psalms of all. Well, there really are so many. You know, one thing

19:07

I do, and I would encourage readers of the Bible to do this, to read, try to read two

19:13

Psalms every day along with your other Bible reading, because you can make them, turn them into prayer.

19:20

And what I've begun to do not all that long ago is at the top of the Psalm, I will try to write what

19:27

I think the general theme of Psalm is. For instance,

19:34

Psalm 1 is a classic favorite. It's only six verses, but it's the contrast between the godly man and the wicked man.

19:43

If you put it in New Testament terms, it's the contrast between the Christian believer and the unbeliever.

19:50

And so that's a marvelous one because it's so rich about how a believer should walk.

19:58

And it shows us how unbelievers do walk and how we should not maintain deep relationships as far as fellowship and being joined together with unbelievers.

20:13

Another well -known Psalm would be Psalm 23, the very well -known

20:24

Psalm of the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, and the shepherd's care for the sheep.

20:32

And that leads me to say, when you read many of the Psalms, you won't see the name of Jesus Christ there, but many of them are messianic, what we call messianic.

20:46

For instance, they speak in Old Testament language about the Messiah who's to come.

20:53

And there are numerous messianic Psalms. Psalm 24, the theme is the

20:59

King of Glory. And you read down into the bottom of the Psalm, it says, Who is this King of Glory?

21:05

The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory. Well, all the Bible tells us that the

21:12

King of Glory is none other than Jesus Christ, the Lord. And so many of the

21:19

Psalms are messianic. Psalm 24, Psalm 110, which is quoted more,

21:27

I think, than any other Psalm in the New Testament. Psalm 51 is a marvelous

21:34

Psalm of repentance after David had sinned, committed adultery with another man's wife.

21:41

It's a Psalm of repentance where he cries for mercy, and he's very honest, and he acknowledges his sins, and he cries out for a new heart and for restoration of his joy.

21:56

And so the Psalms are so multifaceted. If you have great joy and assurance, you can find

22:04

Psalms that express that praise to God and joy. If a person has sinned and fallen, they should not give up hope.

22:15

They should not go into self -condemnation. Rather, they should go to God, who is merciful and gracious.

22:22

They can read Psalm 51, and they can see that even the great

22:27

King David, who was a man after God's own heart, he stumbled greatly, but God restored him as David cried out to God in repentance.

22:39

So, so many Psalms. Psalm 119 is another favorite because, unlike any other

22:48

Psalm, it talks about the glory and the majesty and the power and the benefit of the

22:54

Word of God. And I've told people before, if they are dry spiritually, and they don't know what to pray, and they feel far from God, but they want to seek

23:08

God, turn to Psalm 119 and just begin to pray it honestly.

23:14

Make it your own prayer. Turn it into your own prayer. Begin to pray it, and before long, reality will begin to affect your heart.

23:27

Tenderness will come, spiritual desire, and it's a marvelous Psalm to pray when you want to return to the

23:35

Lord again. So many of the Psalms are that way. They are multifaceted songs and prayers of worship.

23:45

Particularly, I would mention Psalm 121. Do we have static?

23:56

Yeah, we just have a little static, but it seems to have dissipated there. Okay. Psalm 131,

24:01

I'm sorry, 121 through 134.

24:07

I'm sorry, it's Psalm 120 through 134 are called the Songs of Ascents, and these

24:16

Psalms are actually believed to have been especially songs that Israel, the tribes of Israel, would sing as they journeyed up to Jerusalem during the annual feast days.

24:34

They would share these. They would sing these together, such as Psalm 121,

24:40

I will lift up my eyes to the hills from which comes my help. My help comes from the

24:45

Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 122, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the

24:53

Lord. So those Songs of Ascents were Psalms for journeys of God's people in the wilderness and in the desert of Israel coming from different places to Jerusalem.

25:12

So the Psalms are just such a marvelous body, and the beauty of them is it's so unique.

25:21

The Psalm speaks to every emotion and experience people have, feeling hatred toward people, feeling envy, jealousy, anger, bitterness, fear, condemnation, joy, happiness, loneliness.

25:44

One of my favorite Psalms of all is Psalm 107. Am I still on with you,

25:50

Chris? Chris Oh yeah, definitely. All right, making sure, sorry about that. Psalm 107 is an amazing

25:57

Psalm because if you read it, you see that the Psalmist mentions four different groups.

26:05

The Psalm is 43 verses long, and it mentions four different groups.

26:11

The first group is mentioned in verse four. They are the wanderers, wanderers in the wilderness, and they are lost.

26:19

They're in a desolate place. They can find no city to dwell in. They're hungry, and they're thirsty, and their soul is fainting in them.

26:29

They kind of come to a time of desperation. They cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivers them.

26:37

The second group is found in verse 10. Those who are prisoners are sitting in darkness.

26:44

They're bound in affliction and thorns. So the first group is wanderers who are lost. The second group is prisoners, whether physical prison or spiritual mental prisons.

26:56

The third group is verse 17 says they were fools.

27:06

They were, because of their transgressions, they were now in affliction. So basically, people have made wrong choices, and now they're reaping the consequences, and they are under severe trials.

27:19

They feel like they're going to die. Then the fourth group is a completely different group. It's found in verse 23 in the

27:29

Psalm, and it's businessmen who find themselves under great pressure and trials.

27:38

And in the psalmist day, it was businessmen who were doing business on ships of commerce, and they were on the seas doing trade.

27:49

Well, their ships come into bad storms, and the businessmen who are successful and courageous and smart and impressive, they're on top of things.

28:01

They are scared to death. In fact, it says they come to their wits end. And all four groups in different situations are greatly distressed.

28:16

They come to the end of themselves, and they know they do not have the answers, the strength, the ability, or the power to change their circumstances.

28:27

And every group, if you read through the Psalm, it says the same thing. Then they cry out to the

28:33

Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. And then the psalmist says four times, oh, that men would give thanks to the

28:43

Lord for his wonderful works to the children of men. So that Psalm, I really call the theme of it, grace for whatever mess you're in.

28:54

He loves to deliver the needy, the desperate, and the helpless.

29:01

And so it is a marvelous psalm. Yeah, that's an excellent way to title that.

29:08

We have to go to our first break right now. If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

29:19

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. Please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

29:28

USA. And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

29:34

That's chrisarnsen at gmail .com. And I'll tell you what, Pastor Mack, I'm going to read you a question that you can answer after the break, and you could have a little time to mill over the answer.

29:46

We have Bob in Hartsdale, New York. And Bob says,

29:54

I have often heard from reformed pastors that we should never complain to God.

30:02

And yet it seems that the psalms do contain complaints, and the words themselves, as you know, are

30:09

God -breathed or inspired. The psalm that strikes me in particular off the top of my head is

30:17

Psalm 94 .3, Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?

30:25

And other things like that, that seems as if the psalmists are complaining. Could you answer that question?

30:31

And we will have Pastor Mack answer that question when we come back from the break. And of course, we will also tell you a little bit more about the

30:39

Fellowship Conference New England that's coming up very quickly, August 2nd through the 4th at the

30:45

Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine. We'll be hearing more about that. But we look forward to hearing from your questions at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

30:53

Don't go away, we'll be right back after these messages with more of Mack Tomlinson and the importance of the psalms.

31:04

One sure way all Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners can help keep my show on the air is to support my advertisers.

31:11

I know you all use batteries every day, so I'm urging you all from now on to exclusively use

31:17

BatteryDepot .com for all your battery needs. At BatteryDepot .com,

31:24

they're changing the status quo. They're flipping the script. They're sticking it to the man. In other words, they'd like to change the battery industry for good by providing an extensive inventory of top of the line batteries that are uniformly new, dependable, and affordable.

31:39

Ordering from BatteryDepot .com ensures you'll always get fresh out -of -the -box batteries you can count on to work properly at competitive prices.

31:50

Whether you need batteries for cordless phones, cell phones, radios, PCs, laptops, tablets, baby monitors, hearing aids, smoke detectors, credit card readers, digital cameras, electronic cigarettes,

32:04

GPSs, MP3 players, watches, or nearly anything else you own that needs batteries, go to BatteryDepot .com.

32:14

Next day shipping available. All products protected by 30 -day guarantees and six -month warranties.

32:20

Call 866 -403 -3768. That's 866 -403 -3768.

32:30

Or go to BatteryDepot .com. That's BatteryDepot .com. Every day at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions, coffee shops, and local hangouts,

32:49

Long Island Youth for Christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need Jesus. We are rural and urban and we are always about the message of Jesus.

32:58

Our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on Long Island, New York by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following Christ.

33:06

Long Island Youth for Christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959. We have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world.

33:20

Help honor our history by becoming a part of our future. Volunteer, donate, pray, or all of the above.

33:27

For details call Long Island Youth for Christ at 631 -385 -8333.

33:34

That's 631 -385 -8333. Or visit

33:39

L -I -Y -F -C .org. That's L -I -Y -F -C .org.

33:51

Hi, I'm Pastor Bill Shishko inviting you to tune into A Visit to the Pastor's Study every

33:57

Saturday from 12 noon to 1 p .m. Eastern Time on WLIE Radio, www .wlie540am

34:07

.com. We bring biblically faithful pastoral ministry to you and we invite you to visit the

34:13

Pastor's Study by calling in with your questions. Our time will be lively, useful, and I assure you, never dull.

34:19

Join us this Saturday at 12 noon Eastern Time for a visit to the Pastor's Study because everyone needs a pastor.

34:29

Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here. I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years.

34:35

His name is Dan Buttafuoco. Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

34:43

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently he wrote a book titled

34:48

Consider the Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword. Dan also has a degree in theology.

34:57

Dan handles serious injury and malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

35:02

Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

35:09

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more and in approximately 10 different states.

35:21

In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

35:30

Law Journal. If you have a serious personal injury or malpractice claim in any state,

35:36

I recommend that you call Dan today. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

35:43

His number is 1 -800 -669 -4878 1 -800 -669 -4878 or email me for his contact information at chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

35:55

That's chrisarnsen at gmail .com. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,

36:02

Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted.

36:11

He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

36:16

You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

36:22

Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

36:35

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered,

36:40

Christ -exalting books for all ages. We invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com.

36:48

That's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

36:57

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And once again,

37:03

I remind you, please pray for Mike Gadosz, the founder and director of Solid Ground Christian Books.

37:10

He has given me permission to extend to you our prayer requests for him as he faces very serious, life -threatening open -heart surgery.

37:20

It is such a complicated surgery that his own physician has suggested that he use another physician out of state that is more experienced with this particular complicated, delicate procedure.

37:38

So please pray for Mike, not only as all these decisions are being made as to when and where and who will perform the surgery, but also that the great physician himself, our

37:49

Lord, God, and Savior and King, Christ Jesus, would guide those surgeons' hands, everyone in that operating room, that he would guide their hands and that Mike would rise up from that hospital bed a stronger and healthier person than he's been in years, and even a healthier person spiritually because of the trial that he has been through.

38:11

We will give you updates as often as we get them. And Mike Gadosz is not only a dear friend of mine and my first pastor after being born again, and the pastor who actually immersed me in the waters of baptism, but he's also a very dear, close, personal friend of my guest today,

38:27

Mack Tomlinson. Isn't that right, Pastor Mack? Yes, Brother Mike is a dear man, a faithful servant of Christ, and we do need to pray for him in this serious time, and I know he would ask every believer's prayers today for him.

38:43

Amen. And I also want to extend a prayer request for my family, my brother

38:49

John, my oldest brother John, who lives in Justin, Texas, just about 10 minutes away from where Mack Tomlinson lives.

38:58

My brother John, his wife Jan, my sister -in -law, just experienced a great loss in her family.

39:05

Her brother Charlie died at 64 years of age. Please pray for that family as they mourn over the loss of Charlie, and also pray that the

39:15

Lord uses this trial in their lives to bring about a great revival, that people would actually come to salvation as a result of this tragedy.

39:25

And pray that they have an open mind and open ears to permit my dear friend

39:31

Mack Tomlinson to enter into their pain with visits and with opportunities for not only offering comfort, but also to extend to them the proclamation of the gospel.

39:46

So just pray about all that. I would appreciate it very much. And before we return to our discussion with Mack Tomlinson, you just heard an ad that you haven't heard promoted in seven years now.

40:00

I am so thankful to God and his grace and his goodness that he has returned to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, one of our key sponsors, the law firm of Buttafuoco &

40:11

Associates. Dan Buttafuoco just yesterday agreed to sponsor the program for six months, and please pray that this is a fruitful experience for him, that it's profitable, and that we can continue a partnership for many years to come.

40:29

Dan was my largest client for 15 years working for Salem Communications, the largest

40:37

Christian radio network in the world, and he was also my largest sponsor when

40:43

I launched Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in 2005. And now that I've moved back to Pennsylvania, it took a few years to get reconnected this way, but we just thank

40:54

God and his providence that Dan has now returned as a sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

41:00

So please, if you know anybody that needs a personal injury attorney or medical malpractice attorney, email me and I will provide you all of Dan's contact information.

41:10

He has lawyers working with him in every state in the union, all 50 states, so no matter where you live, give me that email as soon as possible.

41:19

Well, we are now back to our discussion with Pastor Mac Tomlinson on the importance of the

41:25

Psalms, and as you may remember, Pastor Mac, there was a listener who asked you if it is proper to complain to God.

41:34

He said that he has heard theologically reformed pastors say that we shouldn't be complaining to God.

41:41

In fact, I've heard that. I've heard that you should never say to God, why me? You should say, why not me?

41:47

And things like that. Well, first of all, is that really sound counsel? And how do you harmonize that kind of admonition to not complain to God with what seems to be complaints by David and other psalmists in the

42:07

God -breathed words of Scripture? Yeah. Well, let me quote one who knows better than I how to answer this question.

42:16

A psalm of David. David himself said this in Psalm 13. Listen to see if you hear any complaint in this.

42:25

How long, Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

42:31

How long will I have sorrow in my heart daily? How long will you let my enemy be exalted over me?

42:39

So the answer to the question is, yes, the psalmist, under inspiration of the

42:47

Holy Spirit, they do pour out complaints to God. And that simply means they were very transparently honest with God in telling him how they felt at the time.

43:05

David, in Psalm 88, does the same thing. And so I think

43:12

I'll just get there quickly. Psalm 88, if you read the whole psalm, which is...

43:20

By the way, Pastor Mack, I don't know if you've moved your mouth away from the phone or the speaker, but you're getting a little bit muffled.

43:28

Well, is that better? That's much better right now. Yeah. All right. Sorry. Psalm 88 is 18 verses.

43:36

And the whole psalm is almost complaint. Why do you cast off my soul? Why are you hiding your face from me?

43:43

I'm afflicted. I'm distraught. You laid me in the lowest pit and darkness and depths.

43:50

Your wrath lies heavily on me. So I believe it is biblical and it's right to pour out our complaints to God.

43:59

Job did it in his sorrow. And I think we should understand that there's a difference between humbly in tears with a broken, honest heart when you're hurting, going to God and telling him exactly how you feel.

44:18

That is complaining in a right way. And God welcomes that. He's a tender, loving father.

44:25

Which father or mother would not welcome their children if they were hurting, coming to them and pouring out how they feel to them and crying to them?

44:37

So complaining to God is biblical. What would be wrong ultimately is if we blame

44:46

God in anger and we accuse him of things that it would be wrong to accuse him of.

44:54

And there's a difference between pouring out our complaints and accusing God in anger.

45:00

And of course, if you're being chastised for sin, especially if it's unrepented sin, the way that you complain has to be entirely different, acting as if you don't deserve such a thing.

45:14

It would be entirely wrong is what I mean. Right. But as to complaining to God when you're hurting, when you're sad, when you're depressed, when you're despairing, when you're suicidal, when you feel like everything is collapsing around you and you have no hope, pouring out your heart to God, telling him exactly how you feel is a good complaining.

45:46

And he welcomes us to do that. Think of this. Even the Lord Jesus in the

45:53

Garden of Gethsemane, he poured out his complaints to God.

45:58

Father, let this cup pass from me if there's any other way. And so Jesus did that perfectly as the the true human being, the savior, the friend of sinners.

46:12

And we can follow his example as well. I guess the major difference, though, is that Jesus was and is perfect and without sin.

46:24

And he had the right to say things that we never have the right. I'm not saying that we should never imitate his prayers at all.

46:32

What I mean is, don't you think that we have to be a little bit cautious when we tread into those waters because he was, in fact,

46:38

God incarnate? Yes, we do. And he never sinned.

46:44

And we have sinned regularly. So there's a clear difference.

46:49

But he is a pattern. He is a pattern for us as the human

46:54

Jesus Christ of how to pray. And at times he did pour out longings and complaints, holy complaints to his father in heaven who heard him.

47:08

In fact, the book of Hebrews says, Jesus, Hebrews five, seven, I think it is, says, who in the days of his flesh prayed was poured out prayers with strong crying and tears unto him who was able to save him through death.

47:25

And he was heard because of his piety, because of his godliness.

47:31

So when we're when we're hurting and when we're when we can humble ourselves and fully tell

47:40

God exactly how we feel, it's a good thing. Amen.

47:46

And one of the things just not to be belabor this issue. Don't we also have to be careful not to receive approval for words or actions because we see heroes of the

48:01

Bible saying or doing them because there are occasions when heroes of the Bible are saying and doing things in sin, and to imitate them would be obviously sin as well.

48:12

Don't we need to be careful? Let me ask you a question. How would we know, for instance, that when

48:17

David is complaining to God in the

48:23

Psalms, that that is appropriate compared to when Peter was denying the necessity of Christ's death to Christ's face, which obviously very famously got

48:40

Peter to receive the response from Jesus, get behind me, Satan, which was not exactly a comforting reply to his comments.

48:49

How do we know the difference between something like Peter's denial of the necessity of Christ to die, which he was saying, obviously, out of a good motive, perhaps, because of his love for Christ, but it was still sin nonetheless, and wrong, and a lie, whether it was an intentionally falsehood -spoken statement or not.

49:14

And, you know, how do we tell the difference? Yeah, well, it's not easy. Often the context of the chapter we're reading will tell us, for instance, when

49:25

Peter is virtually rebuking, in fact, the Gospel writer says

49:30

Peter took him and began to rebuke him. Well, we know he wasn't just pouring out a request.

49:37

He was way out of line rebuking the Lord Jesus for something that was

49:44

God's will. So, the Lord Jesus turned and rebuked

49:50

Peter back and told him to get behind me, Satan, because Peter at that moment was expressing the satanic wile, the wile of the devil, to get

50:01

Jesus to bypass the cross. So, the context of what we're reading will tell us, generally, when

50:12

David is complaining, and, Lord, my heart is hurting, my soul is poured out, my bones are dry, have mercy on me,

50:25

I'm one step from death, and then later in the psalm, the same psalm, he says,

50:31

I praise you because you have healed me, because you've heard me. So, often a psalm that we're reading will tell us if it's the right kind of complaining or transparent prayer or if it's not.

50:49

Great. Well, before we go to our midway break, I want, even though we're going to be repeating this information, I want you to whet the appetite of our listeners for the 2019

50:58

Fellowship Conference New England. Yeah, well, it's actually 2018. I'm sorry,

51:05

I was looking at an email about the G3 conference, which is in January of 2019. Well, God willing, we will have one 2019, but for this year,

51:17

August 2nd through the 4th, 2018, we will have our, I guess, 5th or 6th annual

51:24

Fellowship Conference New England at the Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine.

51:32

We invite all believers who could come. It's three days,

51:38

Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We will be finished with a lunch, a free lunch,

51:44

Saturday noon, so people could be home Saturday evening, and it's a marvelous three days of biblical preaching, gospel preaching, pastoral preaching, real fellowship.

51:57

We'll have a marvelous, wonderful book table with greatly discounted books, and the preachers this year will be

52:05

Tim Conway from San Antonio, Texas, Jesse Barrington, Dallas, Texas, Nathan Pickowitz from New Hampshire.

52:16

I'm sorry, the name of Nathan's town in New Hampshire doesn't come to my mind, but Nathan...

52:22

Gilmanton Iron Works. Yes, good. That's why I couldn't remember the name of the town.

52:31

I say it every single day promoting your conference, that's why I remembered it. So we encourage anyone who can get to Portland for the first week of August.

52:45

The conference will start Thursday afternoon, August 2nd, and will end Saturday at noon on August 4th.

52:51

The website to register and to get information is fellowshipconferencenewengland .com,

52:59

all one word, fellowshipconferencenewengland .com. Please come see us, and we would love to meet you there.

53:09

Praise God. And when we come back from our midway break, I actually want to take a little detour from the subject just to ask you what goes into picking conference speakers when you are orchestrating a conference.

53:24

I'm talking about obviously in your particular case in your life, in your ministry, as you organize conferences, and why these men in particular are men that you chose.

53:36

But we're going to our midway break right now. It's a longer than normal break because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

53:45

FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break between our two main segments because they run their own commercials, they run their own public service announcements, and other things.

53:55

So please be patient during this elongated break. Use this time to write down the information provided by our advertisers so that you can properly and successfully patronize them.

54:08

And also use this time to write questions for our guests. Mac Tomlinson will take some more questions on the

54:15

Psalms, but we are also going to be entering into a new topic during the second hour, more good book recommendations from a

54:20

Christian book lover. So don't go away, but send in those questions at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

54:29

chrisarnson at gmail .com. That's C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. And please, as always, give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

54:38

USA. Don't go away. We'll be back with Mac Tomlinson to conclude our topic on the importance of the

54:45

Psalms and to begin our new topic on more good book recommendations right after these messages from our sponsors.

54:57

Iron Sharpens Iron welcomes Solid Rock Remodeling to our family of sponsors. Serving South Central Pennsylvania, Solid Rock Remodeling is focused on discovering, understanding, and exceeding your expectations.

55:12

They deliver personalized project solutions with exceptional results. Solid Rock Remodeling offers a full range of home renovations, including kitchen and bath remodeling, decks, porches, windows and doors, roof and siding, and more.

55:29

For a clear, detailed professional estimate, call this trustworthy team of problem solvers who provide superior results that stand the test of time.

55:40

Call Solid Rock Remodeling at 717 -697 -1981, 717 -697 -1981, or visit solidrockremodeling .com.

55:54

That's solidrockremodeling .com. Solid Rock Remodeling, bringing new life to your home.

56:07

Have you been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio? We remain on the air because of our faithful sponsors and because of listeners like you.

56:16

There are four ways you can help. First, do you know potential sponsors who may wish to advertise their goods or services on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio?

56:25

Second, whenever possible, purchase the products or use the services that our sponsors advertise, and then let them know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

56:36

Thirdly, you can also donate to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio by going to our website at ironsharpensironradio .com

56:43

and click support at the top of the page. But most importantly, keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in your prayers.

56:50

We hope that Iron Sharpens Iron Radio blesses you for many years to come. Iron Sharpens Iron Radio is sponsored by Harvey Cedars, a year -round

57:05

Bible conference and retreat center nestled on the Jersey Shore. Harvey Cedars offers a wide range of accommodations to suit groups up to 400.

57:14

For generations, Christians have enjoyed gathering and growing at Harvey Cedars. Each year, thousands of high school and college students come and learn more about God's Word.

57:26

An additional 9 ,000 come annually to Harvey Cedars as families, couples, singles, men, women, pastors, seniors, and missionaries.

57:36

Ninety miles from New York City, 70 miles from Philly, and 95 miles from Wilmington, and easily accessible, scores of notable

57:45

Christian groups frequently plan conferences at Harvey Cedars, like the Navigators, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade, and the

57:55

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Find Harvey Cedars on Facebook or at hcbible .org.

58:04

hcbible .org. Call 609 -494 -5689.

58:11

609 -494 -5689. Harvey Cedars, where Christ finds people and changes lives.

58:29

Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am

58:35

I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Hi, I'm Mark Lukens, pastor of Providence Baptist Church.

58:44

We are a Reformed Baptist Church, and we hold to the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.

58:50

We are in Norfolk, Massachusetts. We strive to reflect Paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how

58:55

God views what we say and what we do than how men view these things. That's not the best recipe for popularity, but since that wasn't the apostles' priority, it must not be ours either.

59:06

We believe by God's grace that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man, and to be vessels of Christ's mercy to a lost and hurting community around us, and to build up the body of Christ in truth and love.

59:19

If you live near Norfolk, Massachusetts, or plan to visit our area, please come and join us for worship and fellowship.

59:25

You can call us at 508 -528 -5750, that's 508 -528 -5750, or go to our website to email us, listen to past sermons, worship songs, or watch our

59:37

TV program entitled, Resting in Grace. You can find us at ProvidenceBaptistChurchMA .org,

59:43

that's ProvidenceBaptistChurchMA .org, or even on sermonaudio .com. Providence Baptist Church is delighted to sponsor

59:51

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. I believe you'll also find

01:00:23

World to be an invaluable resource to better understand critical topics with a depth that's simply not found in other media outlets.

01:00:31

Armed with this coverage, World can help you to be a voice of wisdom in your family and your community. This trial includes bi -weekly issues of World magazine, on -scene reporting from World Radio, and the fully shareable content of World Digital.

01:00:45

Simply visit WMG .org forward slash Iron Sharpens to get your

01:00:52

World trial and Dr. Sproul's book all free, no obligation with no credit card required.

01:00:59

Visit World News Group at WMG .org forward slash

01:01:05

Iron Sharpens today. Lynnbrook Baptist Church on 225

01:01:11

Earl Avenue in Lynnbrook, Long Island is teaching God's timeless truths in the 21st century. Our church is far more than a

01:01:18

Sunday worship service. It's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant.

01:01:24

It's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement. It's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing.

01:01:32

We're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our Lord Jesus Christ in fellowship, play, and together.

01:01:38

Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman and I invite you to come and join us here at Lynnbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can be.

01:01:44

Call Lynnbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402. That's 516 -599 -9402 or visit

01:01:52

Lynnbrookbaptist .org. That's Lynnbrookbaptist .org. Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

01:01:59

I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

01:02:05

Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind.

01:02:11

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently he wrote a book titled Consider the

01:02:17

Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword. Dan also has a master's degree in theology.

01:02:24

Dan handles serious injury and malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

01:02:30

Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

01:02:36

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for 1 million dollars or more and in approximately 10 different states.

01:02:48

In Illinois his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

01:02:58

Law Journal. If you have a serious personal injury or malpractice claim in any state

01:03:03

I recommend that you call Dan today. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

01:03:10

His number is 1 -800 -669 -4878 1 -800 -669 -4878 or email me for his contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com

01:03:22

that's chrisarnson at gmail .com. Hi I'm Buzz Taylor, frequent co -host with Chris Arnson on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

01:03:35

I would like to introduce you to my good friends Todd and Patty Jennings at CBBBS which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

01:03:42

Todd and Patty specialize in supplying reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone.

01:03:50

Since 1987 the family owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available

01:03:55

Christian books and Bibles at the best possible prices. Unlike other book sites they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly much of what is being printed is not worth your time.

01:04:08

That means you can get to the faster. It also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic, heretical and otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors.

01:04:21

Their website is cbbbs .com. Browse the pages at ease, shop at your leisure and purchase with confidence as Todd and Patty work in service to you, the church and to Christ.

01:04:34

That's Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service at cbbbs .com. That's cbbbs .com.

01:04:42

Let Todd and Patty know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And you can call cbbbs .com

01:04:50

at their toll -free number 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231

01:04:57

Monday through Friday between 10 a .m. and 4 30 p .m. Eastern Time and there is no voicemail on that toll -free line so if nobody answers call back the next day.

01:05:08

If that is indeed a weekday Monday through Friday 10 a .m. to 4 30 p .m.

01:05:13

Eastern Time or you could order online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year at cbbbs .com.

01:05:20

Mention Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and purchase a minimum of $50 or more and you will receive not only the free book by A .W.

01:05:29

Pink, The Holy Spirit, but you'll also receive free shipping on your order of $50 or more.

01:05:36

Mention Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio at all times when patronizing any of our advertisers.

01:05:42

And then we have a couple of announcements to make for upcoming special events.

01:05:48

First of all, we have a really phenomenal, not that we don't always have a phenomenal week on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, but next week it is,

01:05:57

I think, perhaps extraordinary. We have Dr. Tim J .R. Trumper returning to the program on Monday the 23rd of July.

01:06:06

Dr. Stephen J. Wellum returns for part two of his discussion on God the

01:06:11

Son Incarnate, the Doctrine of Christ. Nancy Snyder will be joining us for the first time on her massive book,

01:06:20

The Gospel for Moving Targets, Helping Active Children Grow in Grace.

01:06:27

And John Sampson, my good old friend from Arizona, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, he is going to be discussing seven charismatic deceptions.

01:06:39

And keep in mind, John Sampson was not only a former charismatic pastor, but he was a word of faith

01:06:46

Pentecostal pastor and he was also a word of faith Pentecostal talk show host on the

01:06:53

Trinity Broadcasting Network, one of the most heretical and blasphemous media outlets on the planet

01:06:59

Earth. And he got saved by God's grace, became a reformed Christian, and is no longer teaching that heresy.

01:07:05

In fact, he's exposing it as often as he can. And then we have Morris Roberts, the former editor of Banner of Truth magazine, returning to our program for the second time.

01:07:18

So mark your calendars for next week on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Coming up in just a matter of days,

01:07:25

August 2nd through the 4th, the Fellowship Conference New England is returning to Portland, Maine, as we have been discussing with our guest today,

01:07:33

Pastor Mac Tomlinson. That's at the Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine. August 2nd through the 4th, the speakers include

01:07:41

Pastor Tim Conway, Pastor Mac Tomlinson, Pastor Jesse Barrington, and Pastor Nate Pikowitz.

01:07:47

For more details on this conference and to register, you could go to fellowshipconferencenewengland .com.

01:07:54

That's fellowshipconferencenewengland .com. And please make sure you tell the folks at the

01:07:59

Fellowship Conference New England that you heard about their conference from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

01:08:06

Then coming up in November, our friends at the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals are having their annual

01:08:12

Quakertown Conference on Reform Theology. That is November 9th and the 10th at the

01:08:17

Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The theme is The Glory of the

01:08:23

Cross. Speakers include David Garner, Ray Ortland, Richard Phillips, Timothy Gibson, and Carlton Winn.

01:08:30

To register, go to alliancenet .org, alliancenet .org, click on events, then scroll down to the

01:08:37

Quakertown Conference on Reform Theology. Tell the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals that you heard about this conference from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

01:08:46

Then coming up in January, my favorite conference to have an

01:08:51

Iron Sharpens Iron Exhibitors Booth, and this is my third year in a row doing so, the G3 Conference to be held once again at the

01:09:00

Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia, which is a suburb of Atlanta.

01:09:05

They are expecting between 4 ,000 and 5 ,000 people, so I hope you not only join me there as an attender, but as an exhibitor as well if you have a ministry or business where you would like to promote whatever it is you're doing for the of God, and amidst a crowd of 4 ,000 to 5 ,000 people, go to g3conference .com,

01:09:26

g3conference .com. The theme this year is The Mission of God, and the very long roster includes

01:09:34

Paul Washer, who is actually a personal friend of my guest, Mac Tomlinson, John Piper, Stephen Lawson, Vody Baucom, Mark Dever, Conrad Mbewe, Tim Challies, Phil Johnson of John MacArthur's ministry,

01:09:48

Grace to You, my friend Josh Bice, who is the director of the G3 Conference, which by the way stands for Gospel, Grace, and Glory, if you're wondering,

01:09:55

Todd Friel of Wretched TV and Wretched Radio, Stephen J. Nichols, the president of Reformation Bible College, the college founded by R .C.

01:10:04

Sproul and Ligonier Ministries, and many more are on that roster. Go to g3conference .com, g3conference .com,

01:10:11

and tell them that you heard about the conference from Chris Arns and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Last but not least, if you love this show, you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com,

01:10:24

ironsharpensironradio .com, click support, then click, click to donate now.

01:10:30

You could donate instantly with a debit or credit card, and you could also donate snail mail style to the address that appears on your screen when you click support at ironsharpensironradio .com.

01:10:42

I want to thank all of you who have already done this. In fact, my guest today,

01:10:47

Mac Tomlinson and Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, sent in a very generous donation recently which helped to rescue us out of some very perilous times financially when we had very serious bills overdue that needed to be paid.

01:11:02

It was definitely a godsend to have Pastor Mac Tomlinson and Providence Chapel donate this very generous check to us.

01:11:11

Well, and we thank all of you who have done that, and we thank those of you who have already renewed your advertising contracts, and also our new advertisers like Dan Buttafuoco of Buttafuoco and Associates, New Covenant Church, New York City, whose ads will be starting soon, the

01:11:26

IRBS Theological Seminary in Mansfield, Texas, whose ads will be starting soon,

01:11:31

God willing. But please, if you love the show, go to ironsharpensironradio .com, click support, then click, click to donate now, and if you want to advertise with us, send us an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

01:11:44

chrisarnsen at gmail .com, as long as whatever it is your advertising is compatible with what we believe, we will help you with more than joyful hearts to help you launch that ad campaign, because we truly do need the advertising dollars.

01:11:57

And last but not least, please don't ever siphon money away from your regular giving to your local church where you are a member in order to give to us.

01:12:09

Those are two commands of God, providing for church and home, providing for this radio program is not a command of God, obviously, but if you are blessed financially above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands, and you love the show, and you don't want it to disappear, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com,

01:12:25

click support, then click, click to donate now, or mail us a check via snail mail. And if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own for Mack Tomlinson, either regarding the importance of the

01:12:37

Psalms or with questions about good books, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

01:12:43

chrisarnsen at gmail .com. And Pastor Mack, as I hinted to you before the break,

01:12:49

I wanted to know what goes into your thought process when you invite specific speakers to be on the roster at the

01:12:57

Fellowship Conference New England or anything else that you're conducting. Obviously, you don't want to just say, I'm going to have my good old buddies on, and regardless of who they are or what they believe or what their gifts are, there,

01:13:09

I'm sure, is prayerful thought that goes into this. If you could tell us something about why you specifically chose these individuals to speak there.

01:13:18

Well, it is very important for men who come to preach in any true

01:13:24

Christian conference, evangelical conference, gospel -centered conference, we have relationships widely with different pastors and men of God, and the criteria really is we must know that they are true men of faith with pastoral hearts, with a sound understanding of the gospel, a right view of the

01:13:57

Bible, who are both evangelistically and pastorally preachers.

01:14:04

So these are the criteria that got us in our

01:14:10

Fellowship Conference, both in Texas, which is always Easter weekend near Dallas and Denton, or Fellowship Conference New England.

01:14:20

The men we choose are men who are true seasoned pastors, who love

01:14:26

God's people, who love the gospel and understand it and can preach it clearly, who have a pastoral heart, and who care about the kingdom of God advancing.

01:14:40

They're not about, we don't use famous men, we're not out to use big names to draw great crowds.

01:14:51

We want the men who will most faithfully, with passion and with the love of Christ, preach the gospel and the whole counsel of God.

01:15:02

So these are the guidelines and the criteria that direct us in who comes to preach.

01:15:09

And sometimes we have different men due to schedules rotate in and out each year in Portland.

01:15:17

Next year, God willing, in 2019, Joel Beakey, Dr. Joel Beakey, has committed to preaching at the

01:15:26

Fellowship Conference New England. Wow, I love Dr. Beakey, I've known him for many years. Yes, he's a friend of mine and he has preached in our church in Denton, and so he committed next summer,

01:15:40

Lord willing, to being there. So this year we have

01:15:46

Tim Conway and Jesse Barrington and Nathan Pickowitz, who are as faithful to the scriptures as any men that I know.

01:15:57

They are gifted, they are pastoral, they love the gospel, they love people, and they love the church.

01:16:04

So anyone who comes to Portland, Maine to the Fellowship Conference New England will be greatly blessed by those men.

01:16:13

And by the way, let me mention, if anyone in Maine, particularly in the area of Portland, Maine, the church that hosts the

01:16:23

Fellowship Conference New England is Redeeming Grace Fellowship. It's not a large church, but it's a solid biblical church, loving church, that is serious about spreading the gospel of Christ's grace.

01:16:39

Redeeming Grace Fellowship, anyone can find them by googling

01:16:44

Redeeming Grace Fellowship in Portland, Maine. And we would encourage you if you're looking for a biblical church, or you're looking for answers about what is the truth about God and heaven and hell, and sin and salvation, and what a true

01:17:03

Christian is, we would point them quickly to Redeeming Grace Fellowship of Portland, Maine.

01:17:10

Great. Well, do you have anything to say in summary about the Psalms that we did not cover during the first hour before we move on to your recommendations of good books?

01:17:21

I would just encourage every listener, if you're out there and you're a new

01:17:27

Christian, or you're a Christian that isn't consistent in reading the

01:17:32

Bible, I just encourage you to simply do this. Start reading through the

01:17:38

Psalms every day. Some of them are very short, like Psalm 131 is two verses.

01:17:45

No, Psalm 131 is three verses. Psalm 117 is two verses.

01:17:51

And they'll go from up to eight verses, ten verses, all the way to 176 verses.

01:17:58

Begin reading a couple of Psalms daily, and personalize them.

01:18:05

Turn them into prayer. Pray what it says, because when we pray Scripture, we're praying the very words of God.

01:18:13

We're praying the perfect will of God, and using the Psalms to meditate in them, to see how verses apply to your own experience, to pray them will really begin to be a means of strengthening you consistently.

01:18:33

So I really encourage every listener to get into the Psalms more consistently.

01:18:41

You'll be very glad that you did. Amen. Well, I am waiting with bated breath to find out what new books, not necessarily that they are new, but new that you didn't, in the sense that you didn't promote them on our show already, books that you want our listeners to be blessed with.

01:18:58

What are some of these books? Yes, well I'll start out with a few very small ones.

01:19:06

You know, more and more publishers like Banner of Truth, or Reformation Heritage Books, or Reformation Trust, which is a ministry of Ligonier.

01:19:17

More and more publishers are bringing out very small, brief, very useful books and booklets that are 30 pages, 65 pages, and they're small, they're pocket -sized.

01:19:34

I want to mention three or four of those first, because these are marvelous tools for Christians, not only to read and benefit a short reading that you can read in 30 minutes or an hour, but these are marvelous tools to use in ministry to prisoners, to newlyweds, to people in the hospital, to unconverted friends that don't know

01:20:01

Christ, to neighbors, to people who are in depression. There are more good resources now than ever before, and I want to, a little bit later before I, at the close,

01:20:13

I want to just speak about some practical ways that Christians can use literature and should use literature.

01:20:22

But there are three I want to mention here by Reformation Trust, written, all these written by R .C.

01:20:29

Sproul. This is a long series that he did, and, of course, our dear brother

01:20:36

R .C. Sproul went to be with the Lord in recent months, but his books and his preaching will live on.

01:20:43

One book I'm holding in my hand, it's number 22 in the

01:20:49

Crucial Questions series. This is a marvelous series.

01:20:56

So this book is titled, Can I Lose My Salvation? These are basic questions.

01:21:03

If a person is a Christian, can they ever lose that salvation in Christ and they cease to be an unbeliever again?

01:21:11

So the book speaks about the subject of those who fall away from Christ after they make a profession of faith.

01:21:19

Can a person become a Christian and then cease to be a Christian? It talks about the unforgivable sin.

01:21:28

It talks about the gift of repentance. It talks about how we should view the carnal

01:21:34

Christian. Can a person be carnal, live carnally, not live for Christ, live in sin, and still be a

01:21:40

Christian? So that is a marvelous little book. Another one in that series, Can I Trust the

01:21:46

Bible? That's book number two in the Crucial Questions series by R .C.

01:21:54

Sproul. It just speaks about the authority of the Bible, that the Bible is a revelation to God, the

01:22:00

Bible and how it's inspired, the Bible and how it's inerrant and without error and that it is truth and it's for us personally.

01:22:13

So Can I Trust the Bible? The third one I'm looking at is book number 25,

01:22:20

Are People Basically Good? What is the real human nature of people?

01:22:26

Are we good and we've just made mistakes? Are we neutral toward God? R .C.

01:22:32

Sproul deals with this fundamental question, the supreme paradox that man was created in the image of God but he's fallen.

01:22:43

It speaks of the reality of our sin, the depth of our sin, the extent of our sin. And so this deals with the fact that all men are sinful.

01:22:55

We're not basically good just having made mistakes and we need help.

01:23:01

We're now sinful and we're dead in sin and we need a Savior. Another brief book, a book

01:23:09

I will mention by Reformation Heritage Books which is headed up by Dr. Joel Beeky.

01:23:16

Every Christian should become familiar to some extent with church history.

01:23:22

Church history is important for Christians because really it's a record of what God has done since Adam and Eve.

01:23:30

God is the great biographer and so church history is a collection of the lives of God's people, servants, theologians, preachers, men, women, boys and girls and learning what

01:23:45

God has done in history teaches us great things. Well there's a little book by Reformation Heritage Books, Church History 101,

01:23:54

The Highlights of Twenty Centuries and what Joel Beeky and Sinclair Ferguson and Michael Haken has done in this little book.

01:24:04

It's a marvelous thing. They write basically three pages on every century.

01:24:16

Three pages on the first century all the way through to the,

01:24:22

I think it's the 20th century, yes. Three pages on 20 centuries of history of the church and of course it's a very brief summary, highlights and what happened, who

01:24:37

God used like in the 5th century. They begin to talk about Augustine or Augustine as some people say it.

01:24:46

The 6th century, it's in the other church leaders on into the 16th century.

01:24:57

You have Luther, Calvin and the Reformation and 17th century, they speak briefly about reforming the

01:25:04

Church of England. The 18th century was the great century of spiritual revivals,

01:25:10

George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening. So this little book that's very brief of 99 small pages is a marvelous primer on church history, learning how

01:25:28

God has worked in history. So I really commend those small books because they're great tools and they're very easy to read.

01:25:37

Yeah, they're also easier financially, they're more affordable to purchase in bulk so that you can give them away to loved ones, so that you can give them something that is not intimidating, especially if they're not a believer, where they will just use it as a doorstop or something.

01:25:59

They'll actually hopefully read that and it's also more affordable for churches to buy in mass that they can keep their track racks stocked with booklets like these.

01:26:13

Yes. You know, another type of book that I'll mention is there are wonderful morning devotional books that have been written over the centuries, but usually it's one page or a half a page.

01:26:30

It's marvelous to use with morning devotions. Many Christians don't do this, new

01:26:35

Christians may not know to do it, and many Christians have never chosen to do that, but it's a marvelous thing.

01:26:42

Let me mention a few phenomenal morning devotional books. Devotional books simply usually take one scripture or a thought and the writer will write a page or a half a page, just a devotional thought to warm your heart, to feed your mind, and one of the most famous ones from history is called

01:27:04

Morning and Evening. Amen, and by the way, Pastor Mac, if you could move your mouth again because it's a little bit muffled.

01:27:13

Are we better now? Yes, we are. All right. Morning and Evening by C .H.

01:27:18

Spurgeon is a classical devotional book. It's one of the best you could read. There's one lesser known that's just as good as Spurgeon, and it's called

01:27:29

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus by William Jay. William Jay was a

01:27:35

British pastor in the town of Bath, England, and he pastored one church for 62 years, and he heard both

01:27:44

John Wesley preach and C .H. Spurgeon preach. William Jay wrote a marvelous daily devotional,

01:27:53

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus, that is incredibly good. A more recent contemporary devotional book is called

01:28:03

New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp. It's very rich, practical encouragement from the

01:28:12

Word of God. It's very gospel -centered, and I really heartily recommend New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp.

01:28:21

Moving on to just a few other select books, my wife and I were recently given a unique book by Rosaria Butterfield.

01:28:35

She is well known more and more in reform circles. She was a feminist liberal who had tenure at,

01:28:43

I think it was at Syracuse University, I might be wrong. Yes, I believe you're right, and she was a lesbian as well.

01:28:52

Yeah, she was living a lesbian lifestyle, and God intervened in her life in such a phenomenal way.

01:28:59

She has a PhD from Ohio State University, and she was a former professor of English and Women's Studies at Syracuse.

01:29:07

God saved her and called her out of that darkness, and she has written a book,

01:29:15

The Gospel Comes with a House Key. I'm looking at it right now, because we had planned to have

01:29:22

Rosaria on to discuss that book, and her schedule was just so jam -packed she had to postpone it, but she will be coming back for the third or fourth time.

01:29:31

I can't remember how many times she's been with us, but we're looking forward to her coming back to discuss that very book.

01:29:37

Well, it's a unique title, The Gospel Comes with a House Key. It deals with radical ordinary hospitality in our day, and it's very, very well written.

01:29:48

Every Christian husband, every Christian mother, every Christian young person who wants their home to be used by the

01:29:56

Lord should read that book. Two other books that, well, really three by one author

01:30:03

I want to recommend. The author is St. Clair Ferguson. He's one of my favorite authors and favorite preachers.

01:30:13

He has written a book called The Whole Christ, published by Crossway.

01:30:20

The forward is written by Tim Keller, and the book is very unique. It's dealing with legalism and antinomianism or lawlessness.

01:30:31

Those would be the two opposite extremes of error. Yes, legalism and then lawlessness or antinomianism.

01:30:40

And the book deals with a historical event that happened in Scotland, in the

01:30:48

Church of Scotland, and I don't have time to go into that, but it was called the Merrill Controversy, and it dealt with bringing legalism into the gospel in the

01:30:58

Christian life. And this book is a marvelous read for pastors.

01:31:04

It just deals with the dangers of both legalism and antinomianism, and how nothing can be added to the gospel.

01:31:15

So it is a wonderful book to read. Another book by Dr.

01:31:22

Ferguson is a recent book. By the way, you're getting muffled again, brother.

01:31:29

Sorry to keep reminding you of it. I think I had a call coming in. I had to wait. Okay. A book devoted to God, Blueprints for Sanctification by Sinclair Ferguson.

01:31:42

It's a banner of truth title. It's one of the best books, and it's a new book.

01:31:48

It could be read on the doctrine of sanctification, which is about the Christian growing in grace.

01:31:55

I highly recommend this book devoted to God for new Christians, or for group studies, or for any

01:32:03

Christian that's never read a good book on sanctification and what that means. That book devoted to God by Sinclair Ferguson is marvelous.

01:32:12

Great. The third book by Sinclair that I would recommend is a large book for pastors or those called to the ministry.

01:32:21

It's called Some Pastors and Teachers. It's a banner of truth publication, and it's a marvelous book.

01:32:30

It's a collection of all the standalone articles that Dr.

01:32:36

Ferguson has written over his years related to the ministry. Sometimes it's biographies, sometimes it's theological articles.

01:32:45

Are they all by him, or is he citing some other great men? No, they're all by Dr.

01:32:51

Ferguson. Okay. The banner of truth has collected everything he wrote. There were individual articles on the ministry, on people in church history.

01:33:01

I think there's at least five chapters on John Calvin alone, and the book is very readable.

01:33:07

It's very rich. It would be good for any Christian to read it, not just pastors and ministers, but I highly recommend that one.

01:33:17

Shall I continue or pause? Actually, we are going to go to our final break right now, and if you have a question that you'd like to ask, do so now or forever hold your peace because we're rapidly running out of time.

01:33:30

Our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com. chrisarnsen at gmail .com. Don't go away,

01:33:35

God willing. We are going to be back right after these messages from our sponsors. Chef Exclusive Catering is in South Central Pennsylvania.

01:33:48

Chef Exclusive's goal is to provide a dining experience that is sure to please any palate. Chef Damien White of Chef Exclusive is a graduate of the renowned

01:33:57

Johnson and Wales University with a degree in culinary arts and applied science. Chef Exclusive Catering's event center is newly designed with elegance and style, and is available for small office gatherings, bridal showers, engagement parties, and rehearsal dinners.

01:34:13

Critics and guests alike acknowledge Chef Exclusive's commitment to exceeding even the highest expectations.

01:34:20

I know of their quality firsthand since Chef Exclusive catered by most recent Iron Sharpens Iron Radio pastor's luncheon.

01:34:28

For details, call 717 -388 -3000. That's 717 -388 -3000.

01:34:36

Or visit chefexclusive .com. That's chefexclusive .com.

01:34:43

Linbrook Baptist Church on 225 Earl Avenue in Linbrook, Long Island is teaching God's timeless truths in the 21st century.

01:34:51

Our church is far more than a Sunday worship service. It's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant.

01:34:58

It's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement. It's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people in healing.

01:35:05

We're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our Lord Jesus Christ in fellowship, play, and together.

01:35:12

Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman and I invite you to come and join us here at Linbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can be.

01:35:18

Call Linbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402. That's 516 -599 -9402.

01:35:25

Or visit linbrookbaptist .org. That's linbrookbaptist .org. Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

01:35:33

I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

01:35:39

Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

01:35:45

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently he wrote a book titled

01:35:50

Consider the Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword. Dan also has a master's degree in theology.

01:35:58

Dan handles serious injury and malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

01:36:04

Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

01:36:10

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more and in approximately 10 different states.

01:36:22

In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

01:36:32

Law Journal. If you have a serious personal injury or malpractice claim in any state,

01:36:37

I recommend that you call Dan today. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

01:36:44

His number is 1 -800 -669 -4878, 1 -800 -669 -4878, or email me for his contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

01:36:57

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. Tired of box store

01:37:02

Christianity, of doing church in a warehouse with all the trappings of a rock concert? Do you long for a more traditional and reverent style of worship?

01:37:11

And how about the preaching? Perhaps you've begun to think that in -depth biblical exposition has vanished from Long Island.

01:37:17

Well, there's good news. Wedding River Baptist Church exists to provide believers with a meaningful and reverent worship experience featuring the systematic exposition of God's Word.

01:37:28

And this loving congregation looks forward to meeting you. Call them at 631 -929 -3512 for service times, 631 -929 -3512, or check out their website at wrbc .us.

01:37:44

That's wrbc .us. I'm James White of Alpha Omega Ministries.

01:37:50

The New American Standard Bible is perfect for daily reading or in -depth study. Used by pastors, scholars, and everyday readers, the

01:37:56

NASV is widely embraced and trusted as a literal and readable Bible translation. The NASV offers clarity and readability while maintaining high accuracy to the original languages which the

01:38:05

NASV is known for. The NASV is available in many editions like a topical reference Bible, researched and prepared by biblical scholars devoted to accuracy.

01:38:13

The new topical reference Bible includes contemporary topics relevant to today's issues. From compact to giant print

01:38:19

Bibles, find an NASV that fits your needs very affordably at nasbible .com. Whichever edition you choose, trust, discover, and enjoy the

01:38:27

NASV for yourself today. Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com.

01:38:34

Music Iron Sharpens Iron welcomes

01:38:41

Solid Rock Remodeling to our family of sponsors. Serving South Central Pennsylvania, Solid Rock Remodeling is focused on discovering, understanding, and exceeding your expectations.

01:38:54

They deliver personalized project solutions with exceptional results. Solid Rock Remodeling offers a full range of home renovations including kitchen and bath remodeling, decks, porches, windows and doors, roof and siding, and more.

01:39:11

For a clear detailed professional estimate, call this trustworthy team of problem solvers who provide superior results that stand the test of time.

01:39:22

Call Solid Rock Remodeling at 717 -697 -1981.

01:39:28

717 -697 -1981. Or visit solidrockremodeling .com.

01:39:36

That's solidrockremodeling .com. Solid Rock Remodeling, bringing new life to your home.

01:39:44

Are you a Christian looking to align your faith and finances? Then you'll want to check out Thriving Financial.

01:39:50

We're not your typical financial services provider. We're a not -for -profit Fortune 500 organization that helps our nearly 2 .4

01:39:58

million members be wise with money. We provide guidance that reflects your values so you can protect what matters most.

01:40:06

We help members live generously and strengthen the communities where they live, work, and worship. Learn more about the

01:40:12

Thriving story by contacting me, Mike Gallagher, Financial Consultant, at 717 -254 -6433.

01:40:21

Again, 717 -254 -6433. We know we were made for so much more than ordinary life.

01:40:33

Lending faith, finances, and generosity. That's the Thriving story. We were made to thrive.

01:40:47

Welcome back. This is Chris Arns. And if you just tuned us in, our guest today is Mac Tomlinson.

01:40:53

We have about 20 minutes left of our discussion today. We are in the middle of our interview on more good book recommendations.

01:41:01

And our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. chrisarnson at gmail .com. And of course, don't forget that Solid Ground Christian Books is an incredible resource for excellent books that you could bless the lives of your loved ones with and also bless yourself with.

01:41:18

So just always remember Solid -Ground -Books .com. Solid -Ground -Books .com.

01:41:25

Write that down and tack it to your refrigerator and let it be in front of you at all times, because we really cannot more heartily recommend this wonderful ministry.

01:41:34

Solid -Ground -Books .com. And I know that you also think very highly of that publisher founded by Mike Gaydosch, our mutual dear friend.

01:41:44

Absolutely, yes. I would really encourage people to use his ministry of literature.

01:41:53

He's very knowledgeable. He loves the spread of the truth. And he's done it for years. And I would also say, on a side note, one of the ministries that I've had over the last 40 years is just to one -on -one recommend the best books in different categories, biographies, books for Christian growth, books on the

01:42:16

Holy Spirit and the Gospel. And I would be happy for any listener to email

01:42:23

Chris Arnson privately and ask for my own email contact if people wanted to discuss or ask questions about books.

01:42:32

I welcome that, really. So I just thought I would express that if Chris feels free to do that,

01:42:39

I'm fine with it. And I think I misunderstood you. I think said on a side note. I thought you said on a sad note.

01:42:46

No, no. Side note. Okay. Well, you were about to recommend some more books before we went to our final break.

01:42:55

Yes. The author that is so widely known, there's always some newer material being published by him.

01:43:07

And I would encourage every Christian, if they haven't availed themselves of the writings of Martyn Lloyd -Jones, to certainly do so.

01:43:18

Crossway Books last year published a Martyn Lloyd -Jones book,

01:43:25

Studies in the Book of Hebrews, A Merciful and Faithful High Priest. I believe this is the first material in print by Martyn Lloyd -Jones in his preaching through Hebrews.

01:43:39

It's 19 sermons, 19 chapters. And Hebrews is such a unique book.

01:43:49

It's kind of a standalone Mount Everest in the New Testament, unique in a different way than many of the others.

01:43:58

Martyn Lloyd -Jones handles it masterfully. So if you have no understanding about how to read

01:44:04

Hebrews or what to make of it, I would encourage you to get this book published by Crossway, A Merciful and Faithful High Priest, Studies in the

01:44:13

Book of Hebrews by Martyn Lloyd -Jones. Great. And by the way, do you happen to know of a

01:44:21

Martyn Lloyd -Jones scholar or historian who is thoroughly knowledgeable about the life and ministry of Dr.

01:44:28

Lloyd -Jones that I could interview? Because I would love to conduct an interview on that. You don't have to tell me now. Well, I can tell you now.

01:44:36

Oh, great. The man I would want to interview probably is a man who knew the doctor for at least 25 years, and that's

01:44:47

Pastor Jeffrey Thomas from Wales. Oh yeah, I've interviewed Pastor Thomas on this show and I hope to get him on again.

01:44:54

Well, he is now retired from pastoring. He pastored Alfred Place Baptist Church for 50 years in Wales.

01:45:01

He now lives in London. Oh, he did move. I didn't know that he moved. He's in London now and he's mainly conducting a wide international itinerant ministry, but he will be in the

01:45:13

U .S. more frequently. He'll be with us in Texas, God willing, next spring and April at our

01:45:20

Texas Fellowship Conference preaching. Pastor Thomas knew

01:45:28

Dr. Lloyd -Jones very closely. Dr. Lloyd -Jones preached for him probably 20 or 25 different years.

01:45:40

When Lloyd -Jones would come to Wales for a summer vacation, he would always preach in Aberystwyth.

01:45:46

So, Jeff knew Dr. Lloyd -Jones very well and he would have as close and as accurate of a view firsthand, probably as anyone alive, along with Ian Murray.

01:46:05

You just reminded me that I have to also get Jeff Thomas, God willing, if he is willing, to conduct an interview on his biography of Ernie Reisinger, who is the founder of the church where I am a member,

01:46:21

Grace Baptist Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He wrote a biography of Ernest Reisinger, which

01:46:29

I believe is a Banner of Truth publication. I'm almost certain it is. It is.

01:46:34

It is a Banner book and Jeff Thomas knew Ernie very closely, close friends, and he knew

01:46:40

Dr. Lloyd -Jones closely, though Lloyd -Jones was quite a few years older.

01:46:47

Lloyd -Jones loved those younger Welsh preachers, so Jeff Thomas would be, in my opinion, one of the best interviews on the life of Lloyd -Jones that you could do.

01:46:59

Great. Well, sorry that I interrupted you, although I'm not really sorry because that was an excellent word of advice, suggestion, and recommendation, but if you could, continue now.

01:47:09

Yeah, well, I have one more book to recommend, and then I want to just make some application about literature.

01:47:16

I would encourage every single listener to get the book I'm fixing to mention.

01:47:23

It's by an author that you do not know, probably. It's by an unknown publisher,

01:47:30

Free Grace Press in Conway, Arkansas. Jeff Johnson's publishing manager.

01:47:38

Well, Jeff Johnson published this book, and it's by Pastor Don Johnson, not to be confused with the

01:47:46

TV actor. Not the same guy.

01:47:52

Pastor Don Johnson has written the best book I believe any

01:47:58

Christian could read on the book of Revelation. Wow. The title is Victory in Jesus, and the subtitle is

01:48:06

A Devotional Commentary on the Book of Revelation. It's recommendations on the back cover by Tom Nettles and Sam Waldron.

01:48:19

I'm assuming he's a millennial, then, if Sam Waldron endorsed this. Yes, he would be, but it's very, very pastoral, warm -hearted, and Don is a phenomenal preacher and pastor for years at the same church,

01:48:40

Grace Baptist Church in Batesville, Arkansas. This book is a commentary, a devotional, easy -to -read commentary on the entire book of Revelation.

01:48:55

Wow. I cannot recommend it enough. It's very nicely printed.

01:49:01

You know, Revelation is a mystery book. Over the years, people have said, Hitler's the

01:49:08

Antichrist, Bill Clinton's the Antichrist, Joe Lowenstein's now the Antichrist, you know.

01:49:14

Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Barack Obama. Right, and so there is such confusion over the book of Revelation.

01:49:25

People are scared of it, they're intimidated, and they don't even know how to make sense of it.

01:49:31

This book, Victory in Jesus by Don Johnson, will be the finest thing they could read.

01:49:39

It's published by Free Grace Press. The website is just one word, lowercase, freegracepress .com.

01:49:50

I really recommend this book. It will be very rich, and it will inform a reader of Revelation what really the book is about.

01:50:04

It's fabulous. Great. Well, with that kind of a recommendation, I'm definitely emailing Don Johnson right after this show to try to get an interview with him.

01:50:14

I could not recommend it more highly. A person who says,

01:50:19

I'm confused by the book of Revelation, I don't understand it, therefore I don't want to read it, they should read this book.

01:50:27

It will change their understanding of the book of Revelation entirely. Great.

01:50:33

A few closing thoughts, if I could. Yes, definitely. Every Christian should be a reader.

01:50:43

Many Christians are intimidated because they think I'm not smart, I'm not knowledgeable, reading is hard for me, or they see a big book and they're intimidated.

01:50:55

They say, I can never read a big book. But every Christian can benefit from Christian literature.

01:51:03

So I would really encourage your readers to avail themselves of the direction that Iron Sherpa and Siren Radio can give them about beginning to read.

01:51:13

There are book catalogs, there are the best authors to learn about. I would say two things.

01:51:21

Number one, if you're a Christian and you're not a reader, or an inconsistent reader, just start reading.

01:51:28

Take baby steps. Read a simple book, like some of these that I mentioned, and whet your appetite.

01:51:35

There's no hurry to get through a book quickly. Take your time.

01:51:41

It's like a good meal. You don't gird yourself and eat it all in three minutes.

01:51:47

Read slowly, eat slowly, and reading is one of the best things

01:51:54

Christians can do for their growth. Secondly, every

01:51:59

Christian can use and give out good literature. Let's say there's a young couple out there, or a single person, a brand new

01:52:07

Christian, a teenager, and they say, I don't know what I could do for the Lord. I don't have any ministry.

01:52:13

They can start a literature ministry. They can learn what books to get.

01:52:18

They can start developing a collection, evangelistic literature, tracts, small booklets, small books, and they can start their own book ministry.

01:52:28

How do you do that? Well, you gather a collection of books on various topics. Make sure the authors are good.

01:52:36

I use literature in restaurants and airplanes regularly. I'll have a booklet on the gospel with me, or a book on can

01:52:47

I believe the Bible, and I'll give it to the server who brings my food, and I'll put it in their hands, and I'll say, if I give you this, will you read it?

01:52:58

It will help you, and I have them promise that they'll read it. So, books and literature can do what we can never do on a long -term basis.

01:53:09

I would really encourage every Christian to start and use a book ministry.

01:53:16

Susanna Spurgeon comes to my mind. She lived in the 19th century. She was the wife of the famous British Baptist preacher

01:53:23

C .H. Spurgeon. Early in their marriage, she became an invalid. She was sick, and for many years, she had to stay in her room, and it was very difficult.

01:53:35

So, she said, what can I do for the Lord from my bedroom? She said, here's what

01:53:41

I can do. I will start collecting books of my husband's and other authors, and I'll send them,

01:53:48

I'll mail them to poor pastors who cannot afford to buy books. She started that ministry.

01:53:55

It grew and grew and grew, and she ended up giving away to pastors in rural churches who couldn't afford to buy books, 120 ,000 books over those years.

01:54:10

She did what she could simply by making literature a ministry. I urge every

01:54:17

Christian out there, whether you're a teenager or you're retired, start making books a ministry because you can touch lives with literature in a way that maybe no other way you can.

01:54:32

Well, praise God for that. Let's take a couple of questions while we still have time.

01:54:39

Let's see here. We have B .B. in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who asks, what are your recommendations for the three best books or most important books that a woman should read, whether she is a

01:54:57

Christian or not? Oh, my. That's a hard question for me off the top of my head.

01:55:09

Well, I could recommend, although I have not read it yet, I'm confident it is a very good book, but Don Curran's book on Susanna Spurgeon, I mean, he did his doctoral dissertation on her and the marriage of Charles Spurgeon, so I would assume that this is a good book since I love

01:55:28

Don so much and he's such a gifted writer. Yes, but Don Curran? I'm sorry, that's by Ray Rhodes.

01:55:39

Okay, and I can say the same thing about Ray Rhodes. Yeah, that's great.

01:55:45

I would say to read The Life of Godly Women, I tell you who is a wonderful, oh man,

01:55:53

I hope I get her name, she's one of the main lady authors for the

01:55:59

Banner of Truth, the British pastor's wife. Can you remember with me, she wrote a wonderful biography on John Newton, she wrote, oh,

01:56:12

I'm failing to get her name. Well, all you have to do is go to banneroftruth .org and type in Faith Cook.

01:56:20

Faith Cook. Okay. She's one of the best lady authors and she writes wonderful biographies both on lady

01:56:28

Christian women's lives and on people like John Newton, John Bunyan.

01:56:35

She has marvelous books that women will benefit from. Any woman would benefit from Sinclair Ferguson's book on the

01:56:49

Christian life, it's called The Christian Life, A Doctrinal Introduction. Sinclair Ferguson has a unique ability to take the deepest truth and not only preach it where even teenagers can understand it, but write in a way that every

01:57:07

Christian could benefit from. So ladies tend to be more intimidated about theology, they think they can't get it the way men could.

01:57:18

I would encourage ladies to read Sinclair Ferguson because he's so easy to read, he makes high theology very, very readable.

01:57:28

In fact, he has been invited to speak at a number of women's conferences.

01:57:34

Yes, he's just marvelous. In fact, I want to very quickly, before I forget, a book that was one and may still be one of Solid Ground Christian Books' top sellers is

01:57:46

Stepping Heavenward, the 19th century Christian novel by Elizabeth Prentice, who was the daughter of Edward Payson.

01:57:55

Right, that is truly a marvelous book. And the late

01:58:01

Elizabeth Elliott wrote the forward to Mike's edition of it, Solid Ground Christian Books' edition of that.

01:58:08

Yes, there's another book by Edith Schaeffer, it is a marvelous book called

01:58:16

The Tapestry. Francis Schaeffer's wife? Yes, Edith Schaeffer, Francis Schaeffer's wife,

01:58:23

The Tapestry, it's a marvelous book. Any books by Edith Schaeffer are wonderful reads, but The Tapestry is somewhat of a unique book because it shows

01:58:34

God's providence and how he leads our lives and how he uses hard things and he directs us in different ways than we anticipate.

01:58:44

It's really a tremendous book for ladies to read. It's also my favorite album by Carole King, that's a different story.

01:58:51

But anyway, we're running out of time rapidly, I want to make sure that our listeners have your contact information.

01:58:57

First of all, fellowshipconferencenewengland .com, fellowshipconferencenewengland .com,

01:59:03

and also providencedenton .org, providencedenton, that's

01:59:09

D as in David, E, N as in Nancy, T as in Thomas, O, N as in nancy .org. Any other contact information that you care to give?

01:59:17

Well, I don't know, August, you have my private email. Any readers that are interested in literature and asking questions about specific books or subjects, they can ask you and ask your office there and you can provide them the email address.

01:59:37

Great, and I want to thank you so much for being on the program today, Pastor Mack. I want to thank everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to write.

01:59:43

We apologize to all of you who we could not get to you as far as your questions. I hope you have a blessed, safe, and joyful weekend and Lord's Day, and I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater