GIVEAWAY! | Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

WINNER: Kevin Chen. Congrats! His guess of what water I was drinking was Costco brand, Kirkland. That was wrong. But Todd Gragg & Nate Downey were correct with "Nestle Pure Life." Good work guys! Thanks for your participation all! Hope you pick up the book. My copy came in the mail today and I ordered two more today to give away.

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UPDATE: WTS has Every Good Endeavor listed for 70% off today!

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TODAY ONLY, I'm giving away one copy of Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller. It's brand new, out today! From Dr. Keller's website...

In a work world that is increasingly competitive and insecure, people often have nagging questions: Why am I doing this work? Why is it so hard? And is there anything I can do about it? 



Tim Keller, pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times bestselling author of The Reason for God, has taught and counseled students, young professionals, and senior leaders on the subject of work and calling for more than twenty years. Now he puts his insights into a book for readers everywhere, giving biblical perspectives on such pressing questions as:


• What is the purpose of work?

• How can I find meaning and serve customers in a cutthroat, bottom-line-oriented workplace?

• How can I use my skills in a vocation that has meaning and purpose?

• Can I stay true to my values and still advance in my field?

• How do I make the difficult choices that must be made in the course of a successful career?



With deep insight and often surprising advice, Keller shows readers that biblical wisdom is immensely relevant to our questions about our work. In fact, the Christian view of work—that we work to serve others, not ourselves—can provide the foundation of a thriving professional and balanced personal life. Keller shows how excellence, integrity, discipline, creativity, and passion in the workplace can help others and even be considered acts of worship—not just of self-interest.

Another great resource from Tim Keller. Glad I have a copy (thanks to the good folks at Dutton) to give away to one of my readers here at Reformissionary. Here's how to enter for your chance to win.

1. Tweet (or post to Facebook if you aren't on Twitter, or do both!) without the quote marks: " GIVEAWAY of Tim Keller's new book, Every Good Endeavor. RT & comment at Reformissionary to enter: http://bit.ly/egeTK "

2. Comment below (so I can confirm you did step 1) with your real name and real email (kept private) and For Fun guess what brand of bottled water I just consumed before bed last night.

*I'll use random.org to pick the ONE winner sometime after 5pm today. I'll announce the winner on the blog & send out an email. May the odds be ever in your favor! And whether you win or not, this will be a great book to give away in our churches as our congregation needs gospel words on our work. So get a couple copies (Amazon | Kindle). I will be.

Tim Keller: Center Church | $8.99 on Kindle

Wow! Center Church is $8.99 on Kindle. No idea how long. So hurry up and get it! I have a physical copy and I'm buying the Kindle version too.

5 Characteristics of Gospel Renewal Preaching

I listed the three basic traits of frontline prayer yesterday from chapter 6 of Tim Keller's Center Church. Chapter 6 is "The Work of Gospel Renewal." Today, from the same chaper, Keller's five characteristics that define preaching for gospel renewal. He explains all five in some detail, so pick up the book. 

1. Preach to distinguish between religion and the gospel
2. Preach both the holiness and the love of God to convey the richness of grace
3. Preach not only to make the truth clear but also to make it real
4. Preach Christ from every text
5. Preach to both Christians and non-Christians at once

(Center Church, pages 77-79)

Three Basic Traits of Frontline Prayer

In chapter 6 of Center Church, Tim Keller discusses "The Work of Gospel Renewal." The first means of Gospel renewal Keller mentions is Extraordinary Prayer. There he lists the three basic traits of frontline prayer (as contrasted with "maintenance prayer")...

1. A request for grace to confess sins and to humble ourselves
2. A compassion and zeal for the flourishing of the church and the reaching of the lost
3. A yearning to know God, to see his face, to glimpse his glory

Keller then states, "If you pay attention at a prayer meeting, you can tell quite clearly whether these traits are present."

Use these 3 traits as a guide when you lead times of focused prayer in your church, small group, and prayer meetings. As Keller writes, "To kindle every revival, the Holy Spirit initially uses what Jonathan Edwards called 'extraordinary prayer' -- united, persistent, and kingdom centered."

(Center Church, page 73)

Tim Keller Speaking LIVE on Center Church

Livestreaming now! 2pm on Friday, October 19th...

Watch live streaming video from zondervan at livestream.com

Tim Keller | New City Catechism

Tim Keller posted on his blog today about New City Catechism...

One of the reasons to develop intermediate catechisms like New City Catechism is to fill a gap between children’s catechisms and the longer and more extensive older ones. New City Catechism is short—52 questions and answers, one for every week of the year. It is based on Calvin’s Geneva, and the Westminster Catechisms, and perhaps most of all on the Heidelberg. As such it gives people a strong dose of each, introducing them to the practice of catechesis, and developing in them an appetite and capacity for going deeper. It can therefore be used by church leaders as a bridge toward teaching members the older and more extensive catechisms of their respective denominations.

Read Dr. Keller's post "Why Write New Catechisms" as well as his previous post "Why Catechesis Now?" I'd also love to hear from those who have started using New City Catechism. What do you think about it?

Tim Keller: The Meaning of Marriage | $2.99 on Kindle

The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller is $2.99 on Kindle. (It's now $12.99...hope you didn't miss the deal! But still, a good price for a great book.)

No idea how long this will last. But I own the physical copy & multiple other copies to give away (and use for marriage counseling). And I still bought this for Kindle. You should too. This may be the most important book written on marriage (or that will be written on marriage) for years to come.

Grab it, and tell others!  

Keller's Five Questions

I'm not sure I've posted this before, but even if I did it's worth putting up again. David Cooke has posted Keller's Five Questions over at Cookies Days (a blog you should check out). He first posted it in 2009, I believe.

Keller said these are five questions he asks of a biblical text as he reads it for himself. Helpful.

1. How can I praise him?
2. How can I confess my sins on the basis of this text?
3. If this is really true, what wrong behavior, what harmful emotions or false attitudes result in me when I forget this? Every problem is because you have forgotten something. What problems are you facing?
4. What should I be aspiring to do on the basis of this text?
5. Why are you telling me this today.

Tim Keller | Center Church Livestream

This should be good. Two hour livestream with Tim Keller focusing on Center Church during a @TGC regional event. A week from today. Mark your calendar. Here's the schedule...

3:00-3:15 p.m.
Introduction to Tim Keller and The Gospel Coalition New England Regional Conference
Stephen Um

3:15-4:00 p.m.
Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
Tim Keller

4:00-4:45 p.m.
Contextualization and Theological Vision
Tim Keller, Richard Lints, David Wells, and Stephen Um

4:45-5:00 p.m.
Live Q&A from Boston audience and from online
Use #TGCNE12 and #CenterChurch

Tim Keller | Center Church Giveaway!

UPDATE: Winners listed in the comments as...

Justin Edgar (@jstuddog)
Dan Buraga (@DanBuraga)
Steve Davis (@WhiteKnuckled)

Congratulations!

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TODAY ONLY, I'm giving away three copies of Center Church by Tim Keller. From the website...

In Center Church, Timothy Keller offers challenging insights and provocative questions based on over twenty years of ministry in New York City. This book outlines a theological vision for ministry—based on classic doctrines but rethinking our assumptions about church for our time and place—organized around three core commitments:

Gospel-centered: The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ changes everything, from our hearts to our community to the world. It completely reshapes the content, tone and strategy of all that we do.

City-centered: Cities increasingly influence our global culture and affect the way we do ministry. With a positive approach toward our culture, we learn to affirm that cities are wonderful, strategic and underserved places for gospel ministry.

Movement-centered: Instead of building our own tribe, we seek the prosperity and peace of our community as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

I'm telling you, if you haven't seen this book it is a sight to see. Big and packed! It will be a staple in seminaries and church planting training programs. "Awesome" is the word for it. Great for reading through or at least having for refererence.

I asked the good folks at Zondervan several weeks ago if they could provide some giveaway copies of Center Church because I want readers of my Tim Keller Resources page to have a chance to win one. They gave me three! Thanks Zondervan!

Here's how you enter for your chance to win. Simple.

1. Tweet (or post to Facebook if you aren't on Twitter, or do both!) without the quote marks: " Want a free copy of Tim Keller's Center Church? RT this & comment at Reformissionary to enter: http://bit.ly/TKbook "

2. Comment below (so I can confirm you did step 1) with your real name and real email (kept private) and For Fun guess the number of writing utensils on my desk right now (pens, pencils, markers, etc. Hint: I have two coffee mugs for writing utensils plus more than that. It's more than 1 and less than 100.

*I'll use random.org to pick the 3 winners sometime after 5pm. I'll announce the winners on the blog & send out emails. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Keller: Every Good Endeavor Intro

The intro to Tim Keller's new book, Every Good Endeavor (book website), is available in PDF form. The book releases November 13th. A blurb...

Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God’s calling, can matter forever. That is what the Christian faith promises.

Tim Keller | Center Church Releases Tomorrow!

I'm very excited to have Center Church by Dr. Timothy Keller in my library. It's nearly 400 pages and is packed full of good stuff. It's hard to describe how "packed full" it is until you see it. You can see pieces of it here...

• Introduction & Table of Contents
• Chapter 10: Active Contextualization

Check out some of the praise it's receiving...

I'm not exaggerating when I say that Center Church is my favorite book Tim Keller has written thus far.
- Scotty Smith, Christ Community Church

This is not simply curriculum content; it is exactly the kind of life-giving, generative gospel theology our churches need.
- Stephen Um, CityLife Presbyterian Church, Boston

This book will help you if you are serious about seeing your city transformed by the gospel of grace.
- Darrin Patrick, Vice President of the Acts 29 Network

In Center Church, one of the great missionary statesmen of our times lays out a vision of the church vigorous enough to transform entire cities through its agency of the gospel.
- Alan Hirsch, Founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network

Watch this video. Note that Keller says, "Things that work in cities often we find work outside of cities as well." This is more than a book for city-center church planting, and as I have said several times, the best books on the church (regardless of where you are located) are urban church books. 

Buy Center Church at 35% off (or 34% off at Amazon, if you prefer).

Tim Keller: "Losing My Religion" Open Forum

If you want to listen to what Tim Keller does when he holds Open Forums for non-Christians, skeptics, seekers, etc...listen to "Losing My Religion: Why Christians Should Drop Their Religion." Redeemer has audio from 44 Open Forums, though I haven't checked if audio for others is offered free like this one. MP3s are typically $2.50, but this one is free.

I listened today. Instructive for us as missionaries and preachers, evangelists and apologists, disciples and strugglers with religiosity. He confronts religion, truths, psychology, philosophy, and truth-claims respectfully, yet still directly. 

How can we as pastors and ministers speak to our city, our culture, with intellect, wisdom, courage, and charity? Keller's example helps me, and I hope it will help you too.

Keller: It Takes Faith to Doubt

From Tim Keller, part 2 of his posts on how the Gospel changes our apologetics...

...a gospel-shaped apologetic starts not with telling people what to believe, but by showing them their real problem. In this case we are showing secular people that they have less warrant for their faith assumptions than we do for ours. We need to show that it takes faith even to doubt.

[...]

There is a way of telling the gospel that makes people say, “I don’t believe it’s true, but I wish it were.” You have to get to the beauty of it, and then go back to the reasons for it. Only then, when you show that it takes more faith to doubt it than to believe it; when the things you see out there in the world are better explained by the Christian account of things than the secular account of things; and when they experience a community in which they actually do see Christianity embodied, in healthy Christian lives and solid Christian community, that many will believe.

Read all of How the Gospel Changes Our Apologetics, Part 2 (Part 1)

Tim Keller | How The Gospel Changes Our Apologetics

How do we do apologetics? Tim Keller weighs in...

Apologetics is an answer to the “why” question after you’ve already given people an answer to the “what” question. The what question, of course, is “What is the gospel?” But when you call people to believe in the gospel and they ask, “Why should I believe that?” —then you need apologetics.

I’ve heard plenty of Christians try to answer the why question by going back to the what. “You have to believe because Jesus is the Son of God.” But that’s answering the why with more what. Increasingly we live in a time in which you can’t avoid the why question. Just giving the what (for example, a vivid gospel presentation) worked in the days when the cultural institutions created an environment in which Christianity just felt true or at least honorable. But in a post-Christendom society, in the marketplace of ideas, you have to explain why this is true, or people will just dismiss it.

Go read Dr. Keller's entire post and visit my Tim Keller Resources page for much more from Tim Keller.

Tim Keller: Dealing With Evil

Tim Keller on how liberals and conservatives deal with the reality of evil in his sermon on Spiritual Warfare...

The Gospel is the only approach that truly is not simplistic, that looks at the messed up families, looks at messed up hearts, looks at messed up neighborhoods and says, "There's biological problems, there's sociological problems, there's psychological problems, there's moral problems, there's spiritual problems, there's demonological problems...we're going to look at all of those things, we're going to deal with all of them. All of them!" ... Until you embrace the Christian understanding of evil, you are reductionistic, you are simplistic. You'll either make the liberal mistake of underestimating cosmic evil, or the conservative mistake, frankly sometimes of just saying we can't do a thing.

Fireside Chat: Tim Keller & Eric Metaxas

If you missed it, you should check out this interesting discussion for the New Canaan Society between Eric Metaxas (twitter) and Tim Keller. The discussion is in large part about science, creation, evolution, hell, and Rob Bell.

Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller "Fireside Chat" from Brian McGee on Vimeo.

Tim Keller Evangelism Tips

The salternlite blog transcribes 10 "evangelism tips" from Tim Keller. I believe these come from this talk. By the way, for some reason blog trolls love commenting on how "preach the gospel" isn't on the list. If you assume Tim Keller isn't talking about preaching the gospel in and through these things, you are dense and your comments will not be appreciated. For those of us who are thinking about how we can bring the gospel to our neighbors, these suggestions should be simple and helpful. A bit more context is given at the end.

1. Let people around you know you are a Christian (in a natural, unforced way)
2. Ask friends about their faith – and just listen!
3. Listen to your friends problems – maybe offer to pray for them
4. Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you
5. Give them a book to read
6. Share your story
7. Answer objections and questions
8. Invite them to a church event
9. Offer to read the Bible with them
10. Take them to an explore course

Keller suggests, according to salternlite, to start with 1-4, move to 5-7, and then 8-10. Too often we start at the bottom.

Keller: OT & Charge of Inconsistency

Once you grant the main premise of the Bible—about the surpassing significance of Christ and his salvation—then all the various parts of the Bible make sense. Because of Christ, the ceremonial law is repealed. Because of Christ the church is no longer a nation-state imposing civil penalties. It all falls into place. However, if you reject the idea of Christ as Son of God and Savior, then, of course, the Bible is at best a mish-mash containing some inspiration and wisdom, but most of it would have to be rejected as foolish or erroneous.

Tim Keller - "Old Testament Law & the Charge of Inconsistency"

Tim Keller | "Changing the World Through Cities"

Tim Keller recently spoke at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee on "Changing the World Through Cities." Go listen and/or download.

UPDATE: There were three talks given, all available online. (Also note the 2007 talk.)

• "Should I Not Love That Great City"
• "Gospel Movements In Cities"
• "Changing the World Through Cities"
• Plus, a little birdie told me there is a Q&A session not posted