Josh Harris asks why we should listen to Solomon’s proverbial wisdom since he rather famously strayed from it himself. Josh suggests that there’s a lesson in that very fact:

We learn that wisdom isn’t a badge you earn once and then get to wear for the rest of your life. You’re only as wise as your next decision. Don’t say, “I’m wise…look at all I’ve done in years gone by.” Show me your wisdom by your next choice. Prove your wisdom by fearing God today.

Read the rest of his post here. Some good thoughts.

By the way, if you’re new to DSC and wanting to explore Proverbs more, you might be interested in a series on Proverbs (28 messages) that we finished about a year ago.

The Resurgence has a new helpful five-part series of short blog posts on biblical masculinity. Men, check it before you wreck it.

Also fairly new to the site is a new book by Mark Driscoll, Pastor Dad: Scriptural Insights on Fatherhood, which you can download for free.

From Fred Zaspel:

What is the Bible all about? What is its primary purpose in writing and its leading theme? We find the answer to our question when we examine the beginning and the end of Scripture. At the beginning God creates the world and all that is in it. We may be sure that he did this for his own glory, for this is his purpose in all he does. His creation is designed to reflect his glory. Humanity in particular was created for God’s glory, and this is our whole reason for being — to glorify God.
 
But we have fallen from our created purpose. With the entrance of sin through our father Adam (Genesis 3), humanity and all the created order has fallen under a divine curse. The whole created order is out of sorts — there is pain and suffering and injustice and death. And there is sin, rebellion against our creator. The curse of God upon the human race is evident in each broadcast of the evening news and in the experiences of our own lives. Through sin we are out of sorts with our creator, and as a result our world has been plunged into chaos and misery of every kind.
 
But at the entrance of sin God not only spoke in judgment. He also spoke in grace and in promise. He promised that a champion would come to defeat the tempter and reconcile us to God. The root problem — our sin — would be corrected, and all of creation would be restored to its created purpose. All this we find at the beginning of our Bible.
 
The end of our Bible (the book of Revelation) records end of the story. History climaxes in a new heaven and a new earth, a new world in which God dwells with his people and his people bask in the glorious presence of God their creator. This blessedness is secured for us, we read, by that promised champion, who by now we know is the Lord Jesus Christ. From beginning to end, he is the theme.
 
Reading our Bible from the perspective of the beginning and the end enables us to gain a right perspective of the whole and all its parts. Throughout the Old Testament the redeemer is anticipated. The promise given and expanded. At the same time the world at large and God’s people in particular (Israel) demonstrate continuously their need for this redeemer. Kings, princes, the people at large, and even prophets fail. Humanity is so given over to its sin that it cannot stop. There is universal abandonment to sin and universal enmity with God. And no king is powerful enough or faithful enough to bring even God’s people — let alone the world at large — to cease from their sinning or into fellowship with God. So the promise is that God will send his servant to fix the entire mess. The whole, overall theme of the first half of the Bible is this — “He is coming!” Over and again the promise is reiterated — “He is coming! God has promised a redeemer! In fact, God has promised that he will himself come to our rescue!” And the Old Testament ends with the promise outstanding. The need for a redeemer remains, but the promise is left unfulfilled — “He is coming!”
 
The New Testament, in turn, makes the happy announcement, “He is here!” — from promise to fulfillment. Matthew and the other Evangelists (the Gospel writers, Matthew-John), introduce Jesus Christ to us as the redeemer whom God had long promised. And so they tell us about his arrival and his life and teachings and miracles, but they tell us particularly of his death and resurrection. They are careful to tell us that Jesus Christ died as the redeemer in place of sinners and has for his people exhausted the curse of God against their sin. Accordingly, he was raised from the dead in triumph and in glory. He has successfully accomplished his assigned saving work. In Acts this message is taken to the world, and the epistles spell out the significance of all this for us in more detail. And in Revelation, as we have seen, it all comes to climax in Christ’s glorious return as judge and as savior, when his redeeming work is brought to final completion and all his people stand in glory with him in the presence of the Triune God.
 
And so in the end, creation reaches its original design — the glory of God the creator. Humanity is saved, and with it the whole created order is rescued from the divine curse against sin and restored to fellowship with God. The divine purpose is accomplished, and all the redeemed will be gathered to sing his eternal praise. God our redeemer has come and will come again to complete his promised saving work in Jesus Christ — this is the whole centerpiece and theme of the Bible.

Many of Fred’s other articles are online at biblicalstudies.com. I recommend them highly!

Three messages by Don Carson on “Prayer and Mission,” recently preached at Evangelical Ministry Assembly conference in London:

• Part 1: Prayer Changes Things—Or Does It? (Exodus 32:1-14)
• Part 2: Steady Prayer, Desperate Prayer, Private Prayer, Public Prayer (Exodus 32:15-35) 
• Part 3: Pray in Line with the Mind of God (Ephesians 3:14-21)
• Q&A

If you’re not aware, practically all of Dr. Carson’s sermon audio is now on The Gospel Coalition website (thanks to the hard work of Andy Naselli). There are even some French sermons there, for all of you Francophones!

Somewhat related, I recently confirmed with Dr. Carson that he will back at DSC for Clarus 2012 (yes, that was the soonest we could get him back!).

Pete Williams continues to do a fantastic job as the Warden of Tyndale House, Cambridge (an evangelical study center and library for  Biblical Studies in Cambridge). In addition to the inception of their Bible&Church conference, the latest example is 4gospels.com. Dr Williams and other top-notch N.T. scholars contribute to hard-but-simply-answered questions, such as:

• When was it decided there should be four gospels?
• Were gospels removed from the Bible? What makes the four gospels different?
• Is there any evidence for the reliability of the four gospels?

If you’re in the mood for some exploration on the unique historicity and reliability of the four gospels, spend some time on (or even bookmark) their site. 

Some of these issues were also dealt with at the beginning of our series on Luke: “What is the Gospel According to Luke? Can We Trust It?”