If You Can't Understand God From The Bible, Then Where Do You Understand Him?

Unfortunately, when I was reading this afternoon, I came across this very disheartening quote from a fairly well-known theological apologist:I also think a serious reader of Scripture can doubt that God's Word plays a determinative role in the human knowledge of God.I leave out the source for the author's own sake. But my question to this man is, "If you can't understand God from the Scriptures,...

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And Can It Be? - Lyrics To Refresh Your Soul

This marvelous hymn, written by a new convert just after believing in Christ, expresses deep joy and bewilderment at the sacrifice of the God-Man for us. Read the chorus, Amazing Love, How can it be that Thou My God shouldst die for me?And Can It BeCharles Wesley (1739)1.And can it be that I should...

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Pray For Your Shepherd - He Needs It

May it not cross your mind that your pastor sits around all day enjoying the ease of life doing chores at home with just a few minutes remaining on Saturday night needed to prepare a sermon (if we could even call it that). We trust that pastors labor weekly over the biblical text to find a sermon. Let...

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Interview With My Hero - No Biases Please...

Everyone who reads this silly blog knows that my hero is Dr. Steven J. Lawson. He is pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, in Mobile, Alabama. He is also founder of New Reformation Ministries and an author of dozens of books!In any case, J. W. Hendryx interviewed Steve Lawson at Monergism. It...

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Pornography - It's Worse Than You Think

I want to declare to you that the pornography industry is more rampant than you may think or realize. I was surfing the web for some statistics yesterday and came across these startling facts. Before I give them to you, I want to begin with a quote from Scripture as our foundation:1 Corinthians 6:19-20...

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The Need For Expository Preaching, Part 3

By way of review we have been discussing the dire need for expository preaching in contemporary pulpits today. Here is my working outline: Expository Preaching has three purposes: 1. Exposing the congregation to the knowledge of God 2. Explaining the meaning of a text to know and understand the...

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A Deep-Fried Mouse In Your Chips - Beware!

Today, one of the top AOL news stories had this heading and, of course, it grabbed my attention, Man says he found fried mouse in chips. I had never anticipated these two items going together, but I guess this is not an impossibility! So I read this article about a Jack Hines, a 66-year old man from...

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The Need for Expository Preaching, Part 2

It is my goal today to continue the study on "The Need for Expository Preaching" in our churches today. Here is my working outline: Expository Preaching has three purposes:1. Exposing the congregation to the knowledge of God2. Explaining the meaning of a text to know and understand the meaning of Scripture3. Exhortation to the congregation leading them to obedience and to responseYesterday I discussed...

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The Need For Expository Preaching

It is my hope over the next few posts I will lay before you the need for expository preaching. I hope to do this in defining expository preaching in three various ways.Expository Preaching:1. Exposing the congregation to the knowledge of God2. Explaining the meaning of a text to know and understand...

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Consider God’s Kindness and God’s Sternness

Elizabeth and I have been spent this week at Hume Lake Christian Camps with our youth group from church. We had about 45 students at three different camps, so we made our rounds to the various camps throughout each day and we had a blast.A few nights ago at the Jr. High Bible Study meeting, the speaker, Phil Payne, began his message with Romans 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness...

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Preaching With Fire

In his masterful work, Preaching and Preachers, Martin Lloyd Jones says that a "dull preacher is a contradiction in terms" (87). He spends a great deal of time in the chapter on "The Act of Preaching" in that preaching must be passionate, urgent, powerful, prayerful, vibrant, serious and the like.Just...

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Justification and Sanctification Inseparably Linked

John Owen said: "Let not men deceive themselves, sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be under the conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven but whom He sanctifies on the earth. This living Head will not admit of dead members."Quoted in J. C. Ryle, Holiness [1979], 45....

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The Unavoidable. The Unabashed. The Ultimate Opportunity.

Romans 10:1-4 Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves...

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If this is TRUE RELIGION, then we better listen up.

James 1:27 27 This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. If this is pure and undefiled religion, then we better listen up to this. James so clearly notes that the duty of the believer...

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Beware of New Driving Laws

The RidiculousAn assortment of seemingly crazy state driving laws exists and can be found easily across the internet. Most of these examples are sourced from newspapers and come from the site www.dumblaws.com, whose editors did not respond to a call for comment.Here goes:In California, no vehicle without...

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Culture's Preference - Loss of Confidence in the Scriptures

Alistair Begg in his article, What Happened to Expository Preaching is an excellent read. In it, he notes so well,"Young men beginning pastoral ministry are besieged by members of their congregations wanting them to begin their sermons with man and his need instead of God and his glory. Paranoid preoccupation...

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The Synoptic Problem

I was reading yesterday and preparing for an interview I have in coming weeks and I came across a section in my class notes entitled: The Synoptic Problem. Now, the title itself is misleading for I do not believe there is a "synoptic problem."Let me explain. The Synoptic Problem is the "problem" of...

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