vassal of the King

What a great reminder for us seminarians to remember that the average lay person will never find the time (which is debatable, but anyway...) to study theology in-depth. However, in this article, Collin Hansen speaks to this issue. I think this is a very helpful read and one that everyone ought to read. I must put in my two-cents here. I am a firm believer that everyone ought - that's right, "ought" - to be studying theology - from the pastor/shepherd, to the average churchgoer. We must train our people to be students of Scripture. Everyone must be a Berean and test various teachings to see if they align with the Word of God (Acts 17:11). In order to do this, however, one must be very familiar with the Word of God. We can begin with the basic question, " Have you even read the whole Bible? " If not, then start today. Read a few chapters in the OT, and then a few in the NT, and you'll get through the whole Bible in one year . It's that simple. You

Folks, if this doesn't encourage you, then I'm afraid you need some help spiritually... " There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in which the doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearly stated than in 2 Corinthians 5:21 [He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. ]. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to us. He bore our sins; we are clothed in his righteousness...Chris bearing our sins did not make him morally a sinner...nor does Christ's righteousness become subjectively ours, it is not the moral quality of our souls...our sins were the judicial ground of the sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction of justice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground of our acceptance with God, so that our pardon is an act of justice...It is not mere pardon, but justification alone, that gives us peace with God! (quoted by Charles Hodge in John Piper, Co

I tell you, reading this sad article reminded me of the tremendous treasure the Lord has given me in Elizabeth. Read this sad article on two pastors divorcing in Tampa, Florida. They blame the divorce by saying that their lives are just going in two different directions . It is worthwhile to read this WHOLE MSNBC article, to test and diagnose our own spiritual lives and then to get on the ground and pray that the Lord would be merciful to us in our marriages. READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

Mighty to Save By: Hillsong I invite you to go to this link to watch the LIVE version of the song . However, for you less charismatic in expressing your worship, you may want to watch this link . But my preference is the first video - imagine singing this song with thousands of believers in one giant auditorium. How awesome! Get excited ... heaven will be like this! Forever! The only request I have is that you listen to the whole song and follow along with the lyrics which I have appended here: When everyone needs compassion, And love that never fails, Let mercy fall on me When everyone needs forgiveness, Kindness of the Saviour The Hope of the nation (Chorus:) Saviour, He can move the mountains, My god is mighty to save, He is mighty to save Forever author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave Jesus conquered the grave So take me as you find me All my fears and failures Fill my life again I give my life to follow Everything that i believe in Now i surrender (and i surrender)

In Curtis C. Thomas's work, Practical Wisdom for Pastors , he gives this quote which I received elsewhere, but it greatly encouraged and challenged me this morning... If we ever get to the point where our message is rounded off so that we avoid a particular passage, a needed subject, a pointed rebuke or biblical command for fear that we are going to offend and thereby run off a member, then we have begun to fear men rather than striving to please our Master. That’s a temptation into which Satan wants us to fall. He wants people leaving after our messages very comfortable, soothed, and feeling good about us. But sometimes, in order for us to be faithful, some people will leave the message not feeling very good about us. The truth should comfort the hurting but also unsettle the comfortable. Blessings to you. I pray that we would all preach endeavoring to " comfort the hurting but a lso to unsettle the comfortable ." And I think that we have more comfortable people in the p

This morning, I am more convinced than ever that God's word is faithful, true, inerrant and understandable: Psalm 119:105-111 105 Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path. 106 I have sworn, and I will confirm it, That I will keep Thy righteous ordinances. 107 I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Thy word. 108 O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, And teach me Thine ordinances. 109 My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Thy law. 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Thy precepts. 111 I have inherited Thy testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart.

According to Mike Gilbart-Smith yes! He posts a great blog here. I would like for us to read it and comment together. It is relating paedobaptism and credobaptism and he argues that those who adhere to these views have different concepts of what the church really is. He notes that for a paedobaptist : A church is a community that includes believers and their children. Then he notes that for a credobaptist : The church is a covenanted community of believers. What do you think? READ THE ARTICLE HERE (AND READ THE COMMENTS TOO).

I have been thinking alot about the sad reality that so many boys in our culture are growing up without fathers. Al Mohler brought this reality to mind lately in some of his sermons . In any case, Dr. Mohler's blog is very insightful and sobering when we recognize the staggering statistics of boys that grow up in single-parent homes without a daddy. Read the article here.

Dr. Decker, NT professor at Baptist Bible Seminary and the man whom I will, Lord willing, study under for the next few years, has a wonderful website for NT students . You can check it out and glean from his plethora of wisdom and knowledge. He has recently started a " Bulletin Blog " (instead of a "Bulletin Board"). This is one site that I'll be checking regularly...

My desire is . . . 1. To exalt the grace of God. 2. To proclaim salvation alone through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. To declare the sinfulness, helplessness, and hopelessness of man in a state of nature. 4. To describe, as far as I am able, the living experience of the saints of God in their trials, temptations, and sorrows--and in their consolations and blessings. Find the source here .

A good man, Matt Weymeyer, posted these Biblical Motivations to Preach the Gospel and I so enjoyed pondering them I wanted to have them here for your enjoyment... 1. A Jealous Delight in God’s Glory (Acts 17:16-17) 2. A Heart of Compassion for Lost Souls (Matt 9:35-38) 3. A Sober Awareness of the Need for Evangelism (Rom 10:14-15) 4. A Profound Appreciation for the High Calling (2 Cor 5:18-20) 5. An Irrepressible Excitement about Your Own Salvation (Matt 9:27-31) 6. An Abiding Confidence in the Sovereignty of God (Acts 18:10) 7. A Simple Desire to Obey the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20)

The Emerging Church is so diverse and even those who would see themselves "within" the Emerging Church don't agree on a lot of stuff. I want to post a few posters that were created to represent how the "Emergent's" think. They are entitled: Emerging Church Motivational Posters for you to see and then I will comment below each one. Though they have been created and fabricated to represent these people, I still take them as examples to show the seriousness of the error within this new "movement": If our doctrine comes merely from the imagination as this poster advocates, then where is objective and authoritative truth fit in? If my doctrine is a mere fabrication of my imagination - regardless of what the Scriptures say, I have no objectivity to stand upon. Furthermore, this is doing severe damage to one's "biblical" convictions (if you can call it that) if their belief are based upon mere "imaginations." What about dogma

Sinclair Ferguson gives A Preacher's Decalogue over at Reformation21 online. It is very insightful and refreshing to read. Needless to say, as a preacher, it is very easy to overlook and even neglect some of these aspects in sermon preparation and in daily living. May it be a great blessing and reminder to you as it was to me. 1. Know your Bible better. Often at the end of a Lord’s Day, or a Conference, the thought strikes me again: “If you only knew your Bible better you would have been a lot more help to the people.” I teach at a seminary whose founder stated that its goal was “to produce experts in the Bible.” Alas I was not educated in an institution that had anything remotely resembling that goal. The result? Life has been an ongoing “teach yourself while you play catch-up.” At the end of the day seminaries exist not to give authoritative line-by-line interpretations of the whole of Scripture but to provide tools to enable its graduates to do that. That is why, in many w

I give you the link to check out all the pictures you would ever want to see. Matt Floreen was our photographer and he has an excellent website. You can view our pictures HERE . Have fun! :=)

There is something about hearing a book of the Bible read in sum . Todd Bolen , who is what one of my former professors (and heroes), does it here. He memorized and recites the whole book of Ephesians for one of the classes in Israel last Spring. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Psalm 119:71-72 71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. 72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Ponder that this day.

Just to remind you... He is coming quickly . Are you prepared to meet your Creator if He comes today?

Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia "has taken the extraordinary step of banning John Shelby Spong, a fellow member of the Anglican communion who arrives in Sydney this morning, from churches in his diocese." The article is found in The Australian regarding this issue. Spong is a retired bishop of Newark, N.J. and is well-known in the evangelical world for denying almost every cardinal doctrine that we as evangelicals hold. You name a doctrine - he has attempted to deny it. In one of Spong's books, Jesus for the Non-Religious , here is what it contains: The book questions biblical references to the nature of the birth of Jesus Christ, his ability to perform miracles and the Resurrection. So we see that even in the Anglican church Bishop Jensen is denying some to speak to the people. How much more should we take care in proclaiming the absolute truth to our people. Remember, Titus 1:9 (which I am becoming convinced is the theme verse for the letter): Titus 1:9

This excellent post encouraged me this morning... We need not add to our salvation. Who we are in Christ is sufficient to sustain us in and through all that life here has to offer. We are pilgrims, strangers in a strange land. We are on journey and will soon arrive at our destination. Let us heed Peter's words and abstain from the lustful things this world has to offer. To entangle ourselves with such things is to slap our Lord and savior in the face and tell Him that He is not enough. May God forbid that we ever seek to fill ourselves with anything less than the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit.

Great article here in Christianity Today on the New Perspective on Paul. Also, at the end of this article is a great source for many other articles well worth a read.

John 11:40 40 Jesus said to her [Martha], "Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" This morning I want to give you a few thoughts of mine concerning the phrase, "seeing the glory of God ." We know, first of all, that Jesus' ministry was consumed with the glory of His Father (John 17:1, 4). Jesus was actively living his life for one purpose - to honor and submit to the Father's perfect and sovereign plan. This He did with perfection. Next, it seems as though seeing the glory of God is something that Jesus offers to Martha - if she believes - and not to everyone else (i.e. the crowds) who will witness this extraordinary miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Along these lines, MacArthur notes: It was a sovereign act of Christ, designed to glorify Himself and the Father by putting His resurrection power on display. Consequently it would have happened to matter how Martha had responded. But though all present would see the mira

Who would have ever thought... MacArthur's sermons at Grace Community Church are now online. Watch them HERE .

I raed this quote this morning as our pastor was preaching from John 11 on the "Raising of Lazarus." I read this verse and - no kidding - it was as if I had never read it before . I post it here for your reading and meditation and hopefully it will stimulate your thinking. I am not ready to post my idea as to what I think it means, so I will study it and post it shortly... John 11:39-40 39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" What does it mean when Jesus said to Martha, " you will see the glory of God?"

5 points of inspiration from Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: 1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's witness to Himself. 2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises. 3 . The Holy Spirit, Scripture's divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning. 4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of w

Bob Kauflin has a great post today giving a testimony of a great baptism service last Sunday at Covenant Life Church. Check out the post HERE .

This morning I had a delightful time in Jeremiah 31 being reminded not only of God's faithfulness, but also of his unconditional, unilateral and unchangeable covenant with the nation of Israel. Jeremiah 31:35-37 35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36 "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD. I firmly am convinced, most wholeheartedly, that God's covenant that He made with Abraham was not bilateral - that is, that both parties agreed to enter into the covenant. Rat

Silva in his work, God, Language and Scripture concludes with this quote that I heartily agree with: But I fear most of all for the future of biblical scholarship. Many are the students who have acknowledged that, if they had not been forced to take Greek and Hebrew, they would not have done so, thus missing what they now consider a foundational element in their theological education. Dropping the language requirement leads inexorably to a drain in the pool of potential scholars. Can we afford to abandon the scientific study of the Bible and leave it in the hands of those who have no regard for its authority?

I have been in contact with a friend of mine in India. He does Christian evangelism work there and is a great and passionate soldier for our Lord! His name is Raju. Believe it or not, I met him in New York City recently and he hugged me tighter than I had ever been sqeezed before in my whole life. He was literally overwhelmed and overjoyed to see Jews for Jesus on the streets. This picture here is of Raju and his wife. This picture is of everyone gathered for a meeting. Alot of people at this meeting huh! Here is Raju and some in his congregation meeting together. Here is Raju teaching one Sunday morning. Psalm 96:1-3 Sing to the LORD a new song; Sing to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. 3 Tell of His glory among the nations , His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

I was reminded this morning of the simplicity of evangelism. Of course, I recognize there are many facets to this and one must be ready and equipped to engage in theological discussions, but as far as just the sheer act of being a witness for Christ is fairly simple. Take the conversion of Augustine. One day when traveling to his home in Milan he heard a child say " Tolle lege, tolle lege" ("Take and read!"). He opened the book that the child gave him to Romans 13:14: Romans 13:14 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. He was converted then. May we be those who are witnesses for Christ today...even if it is merely handing the Scriptures to someone in hopes that the Holy Spirit may do His saving work.

This essay is by a guy named Jim Elliff and it's entitled, Pastors Moving To Other Churches: Why? It is excellent. Quite lengthy, but excellent. It is an excellent argument (and a right one) as to why a man should pastor a flock and live life with the sheep. He must become part of them and let them become part of him. It is about living life together and this, Elliff, argues, is one of the greatest ways in which a pastor can make a huge difference in the lives of his people. Read it HERE .

To be a "pastor who is not willing to enter into the theological world" is an oxymoron, I believe. I feel comforted knowing that I have the president of Southern Theological Seminary on my side. Mohler notes, "Every pastor is called to be a theologian." He adds: Nevertheless, the health of the church depends upon its pastors functioning as faithful theologians--teaching, preaching, defending, and applying the great doctrines of the faith. This is why we need men in the pulpits to accurately and convincingly expound the Word of God. We note that in many seminaries today, the credentials of the faculty must not merely be academic, but they also must have pastoral experience. Why not take this same reasoning to the church setting? A pastor must not only have pastoral credentials, but he must also have the academic credentials necessary to expound the Word of God in a way that is theologically sound. Mohler agrees and writes this excellent article. I'm going to

I clicked on the news and one of the top stories was Michelle Duggar and her husband who live in Little Rock, Arkansas who just had their SEVENTEENTH ("17") baby. Same marriage. Same family. Real children! Amazing. This is one family that takes Psalm 127 quite literally ... Psalm 127:3-5 3 Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. 5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. I knew we held to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures... but seriously, 17?!?! AND get this, they are all home-schooled .

This post is from a NT scholar that I have been reading a lot from recently as I prepare for some exams, David Alan Black . He has written numerous works, such as, It's Still Greek To Me, Linguistics for Students of NT Greek, Rethinking NT Textual Criticism , among many others. In any rate, Dr. Black has a webpage that is superb. He has a column with his thoughts (and he puts a new one up every few days or so) that are really challenging and thought provoking. This is an example from the column. I have a salvation prayer list. Do you? “Operation Andrew” suggests you make a list of 4 or 5 people who need salvation and pray for them daily. I might suggest that before you do this you ask God to bring certain people to your mind. Then, when He lays them upon your heart, pray for them at least once a day. Remember: no case is impossible. In New Testament times the Gospel even penetrated the household of the Emperor himself (Phil. 4:22). God may well have a few surprises up His sleeve fo

John Piper writes a short bit on his reflections regarding the collapse of the bridge in the Twin Cities. He notes that many of their workers at the church and at DesiringGod ministries cross the bridge often. Read the excerpt HERE .

One of the books I have been reading for pleasure lately is one by John Piper, Counted Righteous In Christ . The title caught my eye, so I opened up to see how Piper would organize the work. To my surprise, he spends most of the book arguing against a well known New Testament theologian who says that: The doctrine of imputation is not even biblical. Still less it is 'essential' to the Gospel. He goes on to (boldly) note: I join the growing number of biblical theologians, evangelical and non-evangelical alike, who deny that Paul or any other New Testament author speaks of a righteousness of Christ (whatever it might include or exclude) that is imputed to believing sinners, and find instead a doctrine of God's righteousness as his salvific activity in a covenantal framework, not in terms of an imputation of Christ's righteousness in a bookkeeping framework. Well, I disagree with Mr. Gundry very firmly because I believe that the Scriptures do , in fact, teach that be