Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

A couple weeks ago I made reference to D.A. Carson's wonderful biography of his father, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson.
It was recently brought to my attention that the downloads of the book are available for FREE in PDF form thanks to The Gospel Coalition.

If you are a pastor, please read this book. It is certainly on my short list of those books which have had the most profound impact on me. In an age when we are especially prone to idolize "celebrity pastors" who have gifts and opportunities that most of us will never experience, Carson extols the virtue of faithfulness, which each one of us has the capacity to exercise.

The Unfaithful People of a Faithful God

One of my favorite churches, The Crossing in Columbia, Missouri, put together the following  video which serves to remind us of two things:

1) Whatever self-generated righteousness with which we try to clothe ourselves is really nothing but a polluted garment in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6).

2) Nevertheless, even in the midst of our faithlessness, God is still faithful to those who find their identity and righteousness in Him (2 Timothy 2:13).

As I've highlighted before (both here and here) and as my friends at The Crossing point out here, the Bible is neither a book of rules nor a book of heroes, but rather it is the story of Jesus as the one true hero.

Only Jesus’ faithful life and death for our sin and resurrection to guarantee the full redemption and restoration of humanity and the earth IS the point.

Our salvation is God’s doing from first to last through Christ and his Holy Spirit.

Watch the video below, and if you'd like, click here to listen to a recent sermon on the topic by The Crossing's pastor, Dave Cover.  And may we all be like the man who cried out to Jesus in Mark 9:24, "I believe!  Help my unbelief!"


Revelation of Humanity from The Crossing on Vimeo.