Book Review: Marks of the Messenger

Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the GospelKnowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel by J. Mack Stiles.

A couple of months ago I listened to a lecture by D. A. Carson and heard him recommend this book, so when I was making my January reading list, I added it. (I didn’t, at that point, remember that it had also been reviewed and recommended at a couple of places on my blog roll.) The brief comment by Carson didn’t tell me much about the content of Marks of the Messenger, so I began reading not knowing exactly what to expect.

What I found was a book focused on developing believers with a mindset for evangelism, or growing Christians with heart for the gospel. I’d half-expected a “how to evangelize” book, which tend to leave me feeling guilty and paralyzed, but instead, what this little book is all about knowing, loving and valuing the true gospel so that the gospel soaks into and out from our lives.

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A Catechism for Girls and Boys

Part I: Questions about God, Man, and Sin

22. Q. In what condition did God make Adam and Eve?
      A. He made them holy and happy.

(Click through to read scriptural proofs.)

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Sunday's Hymn

Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
’Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.

The holy, meek, unspotted Lamb,
Who from the Father’s bosom came,
Who died for me, e’en me to atone,
Now for my Lord and God I own.

Lord, I believe Thy precious blood,
Which, at the mercy seat of God,
Forever doth for sinners plead,
For me, e’en for my soul, was shed.

Lord, I believe were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
Thou hast for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.

When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
Ev’n then this shall be all my plea,
Jesus hath lived, hath died, for me.

This spotless robe the same appears,
When ruined nature sinks in years;
No age can change its glorious hue,
The robe of Christ is ever new.

Jesus, the endless praise to Thee,
Whose boundless mercy hath for me—
For me a full atonement made,
An everlasting ransom paid.

O let the dead now hear Thy voice;
Now bid Thy banished ones rejoice;
Their beauty this, their glorious dress,
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness.

—Nikolaus L. von Zin­zen­dorf (Listen to the traditional tune)

Here are the words set to a new tune by Laurie Sealy:

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Christ Is the Keeper of His Saints at Tried With Fire
• Amazing Grace at Field Stone Cottage
• Praise Ye Jehovah! at Whatever Things
• Revive Us Again! at Theology for Girls
• What A Friend We Have in Jesus at Rosemary at Home
• God, in the Gospel of His Son at Hiraeth
• Read to Me the Blessed Bible at The Happy Wonderer
• Lord’s Day 8, 2010 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Psalm 84 at Daily On My Way to Heaven
• Voices of the Past - February 20, 2011 at The Upward Call
• Sabbath Keeping at Thistle Grove Farms
• Update: The Lord’s Day at Everyday Mommy

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.