LAST LESSONS #206 — LAST LESSONS — ASK — 1

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”  Proverbs 9:10

This is one of the first questions I received, and it is one that I love to answer because you know I love books! The question is:

What books would you suggest for building a Christian library in the home?

Of course I would begin with the Bible—all versions, but especially the English Standard Version.

Next, I would have Bible commentaries. That is because those are the books that I go back to again and again. There are two publishing companies that I recommend: P&R and Crossway.

P&R has a series called Reformed Expository Commentaries. The Series Editors are Richard D. Phillips and Philip Graham Ryken.

Crossway’s series is Preaching the Word Old Testament and New Testament edited by Kent Hughes.

Both of these series are excellent.

As far as other books are concerned, I recommend any books written by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I have read most of Lloyd-Jones’ books and love them. Possibly one reason is because I heard him preach when Bob and I lived in London for eight months.

Other contemporary authors I have on my shelf are James Montgomery Boice, R.C. Sproul, John Stott, and J. I. Packer. None of them are alive now.

I read other contemporary Christian authors, but I read them on my iPad rather than buy the books for my library. That’s because I can only be sure of their moral reputation after the authors have died!

There are plenty of other good books for your Christian library, but this is a start, and it depends on how much space you have!

I have another library (The Rosemary Jensen Library) at the Rafiki Home Office. It contains most of the books from my home when I sold my house. That is, the books that my children did not take!

I hope this helps you and enjoy reading!!

LAST LESSONS #205 — LAST LESSONS — ASK

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”  Proverbs 9:10

 

As you know, I have written more than 200 weekly blogs, and I thought it was time for me to discontinue them. My daughter suggested that before I quit writing, that I might want to answer some questions that my blog readers have. I have told you about my life, about my family, about Rafiki, about books, and even about politics.

 

If you have questions that you want me to answer, I will try to answer them from my perspective. I’m no expert on anything, but at least, maybe I can start us thinking.

 

You will need to email me with questions. Please do not call me! My email address is RMJ@rafikifoundation.org It would help if you would put the title ASK ROSEMARY on the top of the email message.

 

I’m not sure if this will be helpful to you or not, but I guess we need to try it to find out.

 

Love,

Rosemary

LAST LESSONS #204 — LAST LESSONS — SHARING

“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Luke 3:11

 

The Bible is very clear in telling us that we are to share with those who have needs. If you had brothers and sisters growing up, you were taught to share. When I was a kid, if someone did not share what they had with others, we called them “stingy.” And that was a really bad word!

 

At this time in my life, living where I do, it’s hard to give to those around me. They have no physical needs with which I can help. But many here are lonely. So, I share about Rafiki. All the time! Some of the residents have no family who visit them or take them for an outing. But I do! I have children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren nearby and they share what they are doing with me. For example, my two great-grandsons play football at their school nearby. My daughter takes me to the home games so that I can watch them play.

 

I have started to tell my meal-mates about my great-grandsons and to show them pictures on my phone. My meal-mates now want to know who won the games and who made the touchdowns. It’s a way to share my family with those who do not have family nearby or maybe no family at all.

 

There are many ways to share. It took me a while to find ways to share in my assisted living facility, but I am determined to find ways to share with these lonely ones.

 

Who can you share with who really needs it? Someone who is lonely?

LAST LESSONS #203 — LAST LESSONS — BSF

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!” Psalm 133:1-2

I’m not sure about precious oil running down on beards, but I am sure that it is good and pleasant when there is unity among Christians.

This week, I want to tell you about two organizations with which I am quite familiar. I am familiar with them because there was a time when I was the Executive Director of them both. They were definitely unified! I am now retired from each of them, but I still do everything I can to promote both of them.

For Rafiki Foundation, I am still on its board as well as the board of the Rafiki Classical Academy. I also do as much as I can to encourage Rafiki’s present Executive Director, Karen Elliott, who is an amazing leader.

For BSF, I do what I can to encourage its Executive Director, Hollie Roberts, who is also an amazing leader. The two leaders do some things together. I am pleased to say that Hollie will be going to Africa with Karen soon and I am looking forward to Hollie’s next trip to visit me in Florida.

God has blessed BSF. It is amazing how it has grown to be the largest in-depth regular Bible study in the world!

God has blessed Rafiki too, to the point where we can provide some opportunities for BSF members, especially during their 10-week summer break. For example:

• Rafiki offers the Rafiki Bible Study material that is advanced Bible study (written by notable theologians) on any book of the Bible.

• Rafiki offers short-term mission trips to its ten countries in Africa.

• For BSF teaching leaders, Rafiki provides the opportunity to teach homiletics in its teacher training colleges in Africa.

To find out about these opportunities, go to Rafiki’s website www.rafikifoundation.org

Here is something fun: This week I am reading the little book So Very Rosemary to the children in the Rafiki Classical Academy. It is a book written by one of my daughters about me in Africa, in BSF, and in Rafiki. It was BSF’s “Book of the Year” one year.

It is good and pleasant to observe how God has enabled BSF and Rafiki to dwell in unity for his glory.