John Phillips and Intro Matter
About John Phillips
(1927-2010) He was born in Wales, served in the British army during WWII in Palestine. After the war, he moved to Canada to start a small church. He later worked at Moody Bible Institute and moved to North Carolina in retirement. He taught at the Moody Evening School and on the Moody Broadcasting network. There's a gob of his sermons online here.
The book is divided into seven parts that all start with "p"
1.Prehistorical
2. Pictorial
3. Poetical
4. Prophetical
5. Portrayal
6. Practical
7. Perennial
Warren Wiersbe & Forward
Forward--by Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019)
I didn't realize Wiersbe had passed in May of 2019, so it proved timely to read Justin Taylor's survey of Wiersbe's ministry at The Gospel Coalition website:
"Wiersbe served at Moody from 1971 to 1978, during which time he wrote for Moody Monthly, penning the “Insight for the Pastor” column, where he offered not only practical theology counsel but also wrote biographical sketches of noted figures in church history, which formed the basis for his books Listening to the Giants (1976) and Walking with the Giants (1980). Each of the entries included bibliographic information for further reading—a feature that encouraged and guided many pastors to explore primary sources for themselves. " -from the Gospel Coalition
"The staff at Moody Church quickly discovered Wiersbe’s sense of humor. He recalled:
God has a sense of humor. If you don’t believe that, go to the shopping mall, sit there and look at the people. It will convince you that God has a sense of humor. Humor is based on contradiction, seeing the other side of a situation. In one of the churches I pastored, we would have our staff meeting on Monday morning. We’d spend the first twenty minutes laughing over what happened the day before. Because people are people and situations are situations. I remember the Sunday morning at Moody Church when John the Baptist came in. This guy came in wearing a white robe and carrying a big pole and he said he was John the Baptist. We knew he was a fraud because he had a head." -GC
Jacobsen's survey also led me to this sweet blog post by D. Jacobsen, Wiersbe's grandson, "Be Remembered: My Grandpa, the Bridge Builder." Here are some excerpts:
"Grandpa mutters the phrase, “write for the ear, not for the eye!” but what does that even mean?!"
"The bridges I’ve seen him build are far more impressive. His preferred tools were words, his blueprints were the Scriptures, and his workspace was a self-assembled library. Grandpa knew he was a bridge builder, not a home builder, nor a museum builder, but a bridge builder. Bridges are functional, yet only some are remarkable. I think he had the writing chops to weave together his own Buechner-esque fairy tale, but he stuck to expounding Scriptures, practically helping people move closer to the destination of Christlikeness.... But bridge builders don’t do it for the money, they always build bridges with the utilitarian purpose of helping others get to the other side."
"But one of the greatest gifts my grandfather gave me was a collection of his early sermons and radio shows (think podcasts) where he would rail on hippies for not loving their neighbors who don’t look like themselves. He wrote a very good book with E.K. Bailey called Preaching in Black and White and his ministry always carried with it the sense of grace toward one another regardless of race."
"But the bridge I am most grateful that he built is the bridge that I’ve walked across myself, and which I’m reminded of tonight. It’s the bridge of family heritage. One of Grandpa’s favorite verses was Psalm 33:11, “But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” My Grandpa was a generational bridge builder."
Moving onto the short but purposeful forward, Wiersbe comments that "Without Jesus, the Bible makes no sense; without his atoning death on the cross, the Bible makes no difference. The gospel is gone."
Along the way, Wiersbe compares John Phillips to previous generational writers: Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) and Sidlow Baxter (1903-1999). Both of these men are 20th century fundamentalist oriented preachers and writers. Like these men, Wiersbe states that Phillips has "the rare gift of bringing diverse scripture passages together" (7).
Preface
1.Prehistorical
2. Pictorial
3. Poetical
4. Prophetical
5. Portrayal
6. Practical
7. Perennial
Warren Wiersbe & Forward
Forward--by Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019)
I didn't realize Wiersbe had passed in May of 2019, so it proved timely to read Justin Taylor's survey of Wiersbe's ministry at The Gospel Coalition website:
"Wiersbe served at Moody from 1971 to 1978, during which time he wrote for Moody Monthly, penning the “Insight for the Pastor” column, where he offered not only practical theology counsel but also wrote biographical sketches of noted figures in church history, which formed the basis for his books Listening to the Giants (1976) and Walking with the Giants (1980). Each of the entries included bibliographic information for further reading—a feature that encouraged and guided many pastors to explore primary sources for themselves. " -from the Gospel Coalition
"The staff at Moody Church quickly discovered Wiersbe’s sense of humor. He recalled:
God has a sense of humor. If you don’t believe that, go to the shopping mall, sit there and look at the people. It will convince you that God has a sense of humor. Humor is based on contradiction, seeing the other side of a situation. In one of the churches I pastored, we would have our staff meeting on Monday morning. We’d spend the first twenty minutes laughing over what happened the day before. Because people are people and situations are situations. I remember the Sunday morning at Moody Church when John the Baptist came in. This guy came in wearing a white robe and carrying a big pole and he said he was John the Baptist. We knew he was a fraud because he had a head." -GC
Jacobsen's survey also led me to this sweet blog post by D. Jacobsen, Wiersbe's grandson, "Be Remembered: My Grandpa, the Bridge Builder." Here are some excerpts:
"Grandpa mutters the phrase, “write for the ear, not for the eye!” but what does that even mean?!"
"The bridges I’ve seen him build are far more impressive. His preferred tools were words, his blueprints were the Scriptures, and his workspace was a self-assembled library. Grandpa knew he was a bridge builder, not a home builder, nor a museum builder, but a bridge builder. Bridges are functional, yet only some are remarkable. I think he had the writing chops to weave together his own Buechner-esque fairy tale, but he stuck to expounding Scriptures, practically helping people move closer to the destination of Christlikeness.... But bridge builders don’t do it for the money, they always build bridges with the utilitarian purpose of helping others get to the other side."
"But one of the greatest gifts my grandfather gave me was a collection of his early sermons and radio shows (think podcasts) where he would rail on hippies for not loving their neighbors who don’t look like themselves. He wrote a very good book with E.K. Bailey called Preaching in Black and White and his ministry always carried with it the sense of grace toward one another regardless of race."
"But the bridge I am most grateful that he built is the bridge that I’ve walked across myself, and which I’m reminded of tonight. It’s the bridge of family heritage. One of Grandpa’s favorite verses was Psalm 33:11, “But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” My Grandpa was a generational bridge builder."
Moving onto the short but purposeful forward, Wiersbe comments that "Without Jesus, the Bible makes no sense; without his atoning death on the cross, the Bible makes no difference. The gospel is gone."
The Bible is such a treasure that can be looked at from endless angles, but Wiersbe is correct in that the only lens through which it can be understood fully is the lens of Christ and his work.
Along the way, Wiersbe compares John Phillips to previous generational writers: Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) and Sidlow Baxter (1903-1999). Both of these men are 20th century fundamentalist oriented preachers and writers. Like these men, Wiersbe states that Phillips has "the rare gift of bringing diverse scripture passages together" (7).
Preface
'the mystery of iniquity — the counterwork to “the mystery of godliness” (1Ti_3:16). Anti-Christianity latently working, as distinguished from its final open manifestation. “Mystery” in Scripture means, not what remains always a secret, but that which is for a while hidden, but in due time manifested (compare Eph_3:4, Eph_3:5)."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Phillips states "this is essentially a book of devotion" (9).
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