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Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

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God’s Will and Making Decisions

January 28, 2025 by Andy Naselli

In this free little book, I give advice about how to decide what to do:

Naselli, Andrew David. God’s Will and Making Decisions. Field Guides. Kingsburg, CA: The Mentoring Project, 2025.

  • Free PDF
  • Free Spanish PDF
  • Free audiobook (at the top of this page)

After disagreeing with what I call “the subjective view” of finding God’s will, I propose four diagnostic questions as a set of principles to help you decide what to do:

  1. Holy Desire: What do you want to do?
  2. Open Door: What opportunities are open or closed?
  3. Wise Counsel: What do wise people who know you well and know the situation well advise you to do?
  4. Biblical Wisdom: What do you think you should do based on Bible-saturated wisdom?

Then I give five closing exhortations:

  1. Don’t be anxious. Trust God.
  2. Don’t be sulky. Be holy and happy.
  3. Don’t be inflexible. Be willing to adjust your plans.
  4. Don’t overthink past decisions. Strain forward to what lies ahead.
  5. Don’t be cowardly. Be courageous.

Related: “God’s Will and Decision-Making” (August 15, 2012)

Filed Under: Other

New Website for Christ the King Church in Stillwater

November 25, 2024 by Andy Naselli

Here is the new website for Christ the King Church in Stillwater: www.ChristTheKing.build.

About four months ago, I announced that my family is planning to plant Christ the King Church with some dear friends. If you have been praying for us, thank you. There has been so much to do (this is probably the most I have felt saturated with responsibilities), and God has been kind to us each step of the way. It has been a joy to work with the Dodds, Williams, and Colestock families to prepare to make disciples who glorify God in all of life for all of Stillwater.

We are planning to covenant together as a church on the first Sunday in January, and we plan to start out meeting on Sunday mornings at the beautiful Historic Courthouse in downtown Stillwater. Here’s some drone footage of that building and area from on overcast day in late October (thanks to my former student Kyle Grindberg):

We are asking God to empower us to be faithful and fruitful in this good work. Would you please pray for us? And would you consider partnering with us by investing in this good work?

For more info, see www.ChristTheKing.build.

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: personal

How I Got Stronger with Strength Training (with Advice for Beginners)

November 28, 2023 by Andy Naselli

Today with God’s help I joined the 1,000-pound club—the total pounds for 1 bench press + 1 squat + 1 deadlift.

250 pounds (bench press)
+ 340 pounds (squat)
+ 440 pounds (deadlift)
______________________
= 1,030 pounds (total)

A lot of men can lift way more than that. (Arnold Schwarzenegger recently shared, “My best bench press was 525, my best deadlift was 710, and my best squat was 610.” That’s 1,845 total pounds.) Lifting 1,000 total pounds isn’t hard for super strong guys, but it’s a milestone for me. I’m 43 years old. I’m about 6 feet tall, and I just bulked up to about 200 pounds. And I didn’t start strength training until I was 37.

Here’s the story of how I got stronger (with advice for beginners along the way). [Read more…] about How I Got Stronger with Strength Training (with Advice for Beginners)

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: fitness

Are You a Gentle Man? Must We Be Weak to Be Gentle?

August 7, 2023 by Andy Naselli

New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Are You a Gentle Man? Must We Be Weak to Be Gentle?” American Reformer, August 7, 2023.

This article is an overflow from when I prepared this talk: “The Pastor and His Family: Managing Your Household Well—How a Faithful Father Shepherds His Wife and Children” (a breakout session for Serious Joy: The 35th Bethlehem Conference for Pastors in St. Paul, MN, January 30, 2023).

I condensed the gist of that talk into a short article: “What Does It Mean for a Man to Manage His Household Well?” (Christ Over All, May 2, 2023).

In the Panel Discussion (with Jonathon Woodyard and Jason Wredberg) that followed my talk, I elaborated on gentleness—particularly whether we should always be gentle or whether there may be times when it would be sinful to be gentle (see 9:58 to 14:30 in the panel).

My article on gentleness updates my research:

  • I start with a basic word study on gentleness.
  • I define gentleness as the virtue of humbly and wisely showing tender kindness to someone.
  • I unpack that definition and argue that wisdom is necessary to be gentle because sometimes it is sinful to be gentle.
  • I conclude that men should be both strong and gentle—tough and tender, authoritative and compassionate, brick and velvet.

Filed Under: Other

Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

May 17, 2023 by Andy Naselli

About a month ago, Joe Rigney resigned as president of Bethlehem College and Seminary. (Next he plans to teach and pastor with our friends in Moscow, Idaho.) Today our school hosted a gathering to honor Joe and Jenny Rigney. Here’s what I said. (I sprinkled in some humor to try to help me refrain from choking up in tears! And below I added a handful of pictures.)

Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

In September 2020, the trustees of Bethlehem College and Seminary announced that they called Joe Rigney to serve as our school’s second president. On that day I wrote seven reasons I was grateful about that decision. I’d like to revisit those seven reasons and briefly reflect on them two years and eight months later. [Read more…] about Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Joe Rigney

12 Books I Recently Endorsed

December 2, 2020 by Andy Naselli

Here are 12 books I recently endorsed (nine for 2020, three for 2021):

  1. Albuquerque, Roque N. Presupposition and [E]Motion: The Upgraded Function and the Semantics of the Participle in the New Testament. New York: Lang, 2020. “Dr. Albuquerque skillfully analyzes what the authors of the Greek New Testament intend to communicate when they begin a sentence with an adverbial participle before the main clause.”
  2. Beale, G. K., and Benjamin L. Gladd. The Story Retold: A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020. ”Beale and Gladd concisely survey each book of the New Testament through a biblical-theological lens. I plan to require this book for my seminary course that focuses on the theological message of each New Testament book.“
  3. Crowe, Brandon D. Every Day Matters: A Biblical Approach to Productivity. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2020. “Brandon Crowe distills the best secular books on productivity but with a distinctively Christian approach. What drives his common-sense advice is for us to glorify God.”
  4. Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020. ”Grudem’s Systematic Theology is well organized, easy to understand, usually persuasive, and devotional. Grudem does not merely inform you; he stirs your affections to love and worship the triune God. Grudem is not attempting to write a cutting-edge contemporary theology that plays theological Ping-Pong with trendy non-evangelical theologians. Nor is he attempting to write a historical theology that exhaustively explains what significant Bible interpreters and theologians have believed. Rather, he is serving the church by helping Christians who are not experts in theology better understand what the whole Bible says about God, God’s word, man, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels and demons, salvation, the church, and the end times.”
  5. Harris, Murray J. Navigating Tough Texts: A Guide to Problem Passages in the New Testament. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2020. “Murray Harris is a veteran New Testament scholar who knows the Greek of the New Testament better than most English-speaking people today know English. In this book he shares 66 short devotional interpretations of challenging passages in the New Testament.”
  6. Leeman, Jonathan. One Assembly: Rethinking the Multisite and Multiservice Church Models. 9Marks. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020. “Evangelical churches that are multisite and/or multiservice are like that for good-intentioned pragmatic reasons. Jonathan Leeman challenges us to think exegetically and theologically about a popular practice that may not be as strategic as so many assume.”
  7. Morgan, Christopher W., with Robert A. Peterson. Christian Theology: The Biblical Story and Our Faith. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2020. ‘‘Chris Morgan’s systematic theology is concise, easy to understand, and edifying. He models how to do theology by rooting his conclusions in exegesis and biblical theology while considering historical theology and culminating in practical theology.”
  8. Verrett, Brian A. The Serpent in Samuel: A Messianic Motif. Eugene, OR: Resource, 2020. “Brian Verrett’s work on the serpent is first-class. He skillfully combines rigorous exegesis with whole-Bible biblical theology.”
  9. Winston, Richard Wellons. Misunderstanding, Nationalism, or Legalism: Identifying Israel’s Chief Error with Reference to the Law. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2020. ”Winston demonstrates that the main idea of Romans 9:30–10:13 is not that Israelites are guilty for zealously maintaining their nationalistic boundary markers—circumcision, Sabbath, and food laws. Rather, Paul argues that many Israelites failed to believe in Jesus and foolishly attempted the impossible—to earn righteousness based on the law.”
  10. Crabtree, Sam. Practicing Thankfulness: Cultivating a Grateful Heart in All Circumstances. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021. “I thank God for Sam Crabtree. He is a wise and jovial brother who practices what he preaches in this book: he gives thanks in all circumstances. (Don’t miss the last chapter—a creative list of one hundred practical ways to be thankful.)”
  11. Piper, John. Providence. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021. “John Piper helps us see and savor God’s purposeful sovereignty by inductively demonstrating what the whole Bible teaches about its ultimate goal, its nature, and its extent.”
  12. Wellum, Stephen J. The Person of Christ: An Introduction. Short Studies in Systematic Theology. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021. “Christians affirm seemingly contradictory claims about Jesus: self-existent and depending on food and water; all-powerful and getting tired and sleeping; all-knowing and growing in knowledge; everywhere present and localized; eternal and born from a mother’s womb; unable to sin and tempted as we are; immortal and dying; in short—God and man. How can that be? And why is that so glorious? I require my seminary students to read Steve Wellum’s 500-page God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ because Wellum masterfully answers such questions by integrating exegesis, biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology. This book is shorter, more accessible, and less intimidating—an ideal entry point for someone who wants to better understand who Christ is.”

Filed Under: Other

Joe Rigney Is President-Elect of Bethlehem College and Seminary

September 23, 2020 by Andy Naselli

Today the trustees of Bethlehem College & Seminary announced that they have selected Joe Rigney as president-elect. Details here.

I’m grateful to God for President Tim Tomlinson’s faithful leadership as our school’s first president.

Here are seven reasons I’m grateful that our trustees selected Joe Rigney to serve as our school’s second president:

  1. My school’s presidential profile says that the president must “embody, grasp, embrace, and be able to articulate and defend the Bethlehem College & Seminary Affirmation of Faith,” especially what John Piper, our Chancellor, calls ”Christian Hedonism.” If there is a person on the planet who can articulate Christian hedonism better than John Piper, that person is Joe Rigney. (I have heard John Piper say that he thinks Joe Rigney does it better.)
  2. Rigney is committed to believe and celebrate whatever God’s word teaches no matter how unpopular that may be. As one of my friends put it, Rigney ”would rather die than drift a millimeter from the Bible. A man whose grip on Reality is so firm that you’d have to chop off his hand to undo it. And even then, he’d be holding on with his teeth and his toes.”
  3. Rigney is a rigorous, perceptive, penetrating thinker. He models what Piper calls assiduous attentiveness. He can wisely analyze multilayered intellectual and cultural issues. He is unflappable and intellectually honest.
  4. Rigney has good theological instincts, intuitions, and burdens.
  5. Rigney is humble and eminently persuadable, and he is principled and not easily manipulated. He can sympathize with others while being aware of how empathy can be sinful.
  6. Rigney is gifted at communicating in a clear, articulate, and compelling way. (I borrow the phrase ”Kill the dragon, get the girl!” from him.) He is one of the few people I enjoy listening to talk about anything—whatever the topic—because he is consistently interesting, thought-provoking, and edifying.
  7. Rigney is not just a gifted professor but a faithful family man and pastor. I recently listened to every sermon he has preached to Cities Church (a church that Bethlehem Baptist Church planted about five years ago), and he served me well by faithfully explaining and applying the Bible.

To learn more about Bethlehem College & Seminary, see here.

Update on October 1: John Piper thanks God for Joe Rigney as the president-elect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgdV9bmM4Rw

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Joe Rigney

How I Listen to Online Videos of Interviews, Lectures, and Sermons as Podcasts

October 22, 2018 by Andy Naselli

Problem: I don’t have time to watch a lot of online videos of interviews, lectures, and sermons. I would happily listen to the audio from certain videos on my iPhone if there was an efficient way to do that.

Solution: There is finally an efficient way to do that (at least with a MacBook and iPhone—I’m not sure about other devices). I love this podcast system.

How to Set Up the Podcast System

1. Subscribe to the Castro podcast app on your iPhone ($8.99 per year).

You can use the Castro app as your only podcast app, but I prefer the Overcast app for podcasts I subscribe to. I use the Castro app solely for listening to online media I’ve downloaded as MP3s.

[Read more…] about How I Listen to Online Videos of Interviews, Lectures, and Sermons as Podcasts

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: technology

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God's Will and Making Decisions

How to Read a Book: Advice for Christian Readers

Predestination: An Introduction

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Tracing the Argument of 1 Corinthians: A Phrase Diagram

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433580349/?tag=andynaselli-20

Tracing the Argument of Romans: A Phrase Diagram of the Greatest Letter Ever Written

The Serpent Slayer and the Scroll of Riddles: The Kambur Chronicles

The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer

40 Questions about Biblical Theology

1 Corinthians in Romans–Galatians (ESV Expository Commentary)

How Can I Love Church Members with Different Politics?

Three Views on Israel and the Church: Perspectives on Romans 9–11

That Little Voice in Your Head: Learning about Your Conscience

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology

No Quick Fix: Where Higher Life Theology Came From, What It Is, and Why It's Harmful

Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ

NIV Zondervan Study Bible

Perspectives on the Extent of the Atonement

From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34–35

Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism

Let God and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology

Introducing the New Testament: A Short Guide to Its History and Message

See more of my publications.

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