Sunday, February 28, 2010

home to LA and preaching today.

God is so good. I made it home last night to my beautiful wife and my happy-and-clapping son! We had a wonderful evening together talking over dinner @ Panera. (Amazingly, both my flights were NOT canceled—a miracle in and of itself. God is good.)But now I'm reviewing for my sermon this morning on Hebrews...

Saturday, February 27, 2010

a healthy reminder for Christians...

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me...

Friday, February 26, 2010

Doug Pagitt's Preaching Re-Imagined Book...

Last night I started and this morning I rushed to finish Doug Pagitt's work on Preaching Re-Imagined.You can read and download the full 6-page pdf critique here.But here is my conclusion...It is my plea that all preachers and congregants—yes, all Christians—reject Pagitt’s philosophy of “progressional...

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Shall we preach or shall we discuss?

This week has been one of the most challenging weeks thus far in my PhD program—not in terms of busywork necessarily but in terms of really thinking through the issues. I'm taking a course now on Advanced Bible Teaching Methods (some of you are saying ... "finally!"). Nevertheless, I have been confronted...

Monday, February 22, 2010

Great reminder!

“Let us beware of despising preaching. In every age of the Church, it has been God’s principal instrument for the awakening of sinners and the edifying of saints. The days when there has been little or no preaching have been days when there has been little or no good done in the Church. Let us hear sermons in a prayerful and reverent frame of mind, and remember that they are the principal engines...

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A new hymn I learned this morning in Church

This morning I visited Grace Baptist Church in Glenburn, PA and was greatly edified by a new hymn. You can sing it to the tune of: "Take my Life and Let It Be." It was written in 1817 by Ralph Wardlaw and is entitled: Christ, of all my hopes the Ground. Christ, of all my hopes the Ground;Christ, the...

Jesus Christ is LORD of the World

This morning I had breakfast with a fellow PhD student who is from Myanmar (if you don't know where that is, it's OK, I didn't either). He just finished all his coursework and is now studying for all his "comps" (=comprehensive reading exams) and then he'll embark upon his dissertation. This is now...

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pray when you Preach! Pray for your Preacher!

This article by Dr. Rosscup gave me much encouragement this morning as I meditated on the need for preachers to bathe in prayer and the ministry of the Word (cf. Acts 6:4).I have found that it's all too easy to grapple with the original languages, the theological intricacies, the historical ramifications,...

Friday, February 19, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fat-Head

This is not a derogatory term for anyone. This is, rather, the current condition of my brain. I feel as though it's fat and on the verge of bursting! Today Dr. Decker lectured for about seven hours on the NT's use of the OT. Today was the laying of the groundwork in the whole debate. It was very definitional...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

What's on your heart today?

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heartand with all your souland with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,and when you walk by the way,and when you lie down,and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand,and they shall be as frontlets...

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Update from Cold Clarks Summit, PA

Did I mention that it has been snowing here in (COLD) Pennsylvania yet in my blog posts? Well, it hasn't stopped snowing since my LAST post. In fact, just to tell you how dangerous (and fun!) it is, I was walking with two different men today (one on the way to class this morning and one on the way to...

Monday, February 15, 2010

Spurgeon—Too irresistible to NOT quote

If you're a Christian, you should read this. If you think you're a Christian, you should read this. If you're not a Christian, you should still read this to see how Christians should be living.Do not believe that the common Christianity of the present age will carry anybody to heaven. It is a counterfeit and a sham. It does not make men to differ from their fellows, it pretends to faith and has none,...

Biblical Intertextuality Update #1

This morning started our first day of the "internal residency" which means that all of us in the class (only six of us) meet with our prof (Dr. Decker) to go over our readings and give presentations regarding our work for the 2nd part of the course.Today consisted of five book reviews of 45 minutes...

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Safe in Clarks Summit, PA

After a long day of traveling and some clear evidences of God's providence I made it safely to my dorm room here at Baptist Bible Seminary for my two weeks of PhD modules. My friend Paul picked me up at the airport and then we hit up Taco Bell (a good way to say 'welcome' to your new roommates!). And...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Chauffeured on LA Public Bus System

Today I was coming home from the seminary and had an interesting encounter with three people I've seen before on the bus.First, there's the guy who talks 84 mph and has two friends who all get tgoether great on the bus. But then when this guy gets off the bus, his two friends bag him and ridicule him for talking so much about nothing worthwhile. It's a good lesson on how easy (and harsh) the sin of...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Randomness for Bloggers...

A few random thoughts as I embark upon my studies for the day...I am reading through Leviticus in my quiet times and I'm reacquainted with the reality that God is holy and anything or anyone defiled is unholy and MUST be cleansed before entering the "community" or "God's presence again. I think we would do well to meditate on this simple truths and apply it to our lives so that we live holy and are...

Friday, February 5, 2010

Come to RESOLVED

All High School seniors and College students are invited to join us this year (this is the trailer from the 2009 conference but it gives you an idea of what goes on ther...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Preach the Book of Revelation

One of the books I'm currently preaching through is Revelation. I just laughed in agreement when I read this quote:Many good and faithful preachers rank preaching on apocalyptic texts alongside handling serpents; they have heard that people do it, but they have no desire to come anywhere near them"—Larry Paul Jones and Jerry L. Sumney.How (dissapointingly) true it ...

Monday, February 1, 2010

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