4
Nov
2013
Pastors: Surprising Keys to Evangelistic Effectiveness
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The Life of a preacher should be a magnet to draw men to Christ…. Sanctity in ministers is a loud call to sinners to repent, and when allied with holy cheerfulness, it becomes wondrously attractive. This from Charles Spurgeon in his lecture, “The Minister’s Self-Watch,” in chapter one of his Lectures to My Students. Rather than... Read More
1
Nov
2013
Finding Resources for Kindle without Breaking the Bank
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After using Kindle for PC for several years, this past week I finally bit the bullet and purchased a Kindle Paperwhite. My initial impression of the device is very positive. I think I’m really going to like this thing. Perhaps I’ll write a post reviewing the device itself at some point down the road, but... Read More
29
Oct
2013
Scripture or Zeitgeist as the Determining Factor in the History of American Hymnody?
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A few years ago, Stanley Gundry wrote an article, “Hermeneutics or Zeitgeist as the Determining Factor in the History of Eschatologies?” (JETS 20 [1977]: 45–55). In it, he proposed that the church’s eschatological trends have not been established principally by hermeneutics or exegesis but by Zeitgeist, the “spirit of the age.” In times of persecution... Read More
23
Oct
2013
What Hebrews Teaches Us about Preaching
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I think I can make a pretty good case that Hebrews was a sermon, probably, in fact, a handful of sermons stitched together to respond to the urgent needs of a community in crisis. (You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.) Here I want to reflect on three things aspiring pastors... Read More
21
Oct
2013
Book Note: David Beale’s Historical Theology In-Depth
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I was pleased to receive in the mail this past week a new historical theology text. BJU Press has recently released David Beale’s two-volume work, Historical Theology In-Depth. I’ve only just begun dipping into the set, but I wanted to mention it here and provide a few initial impressions. In contrast to Gregg Allison’s recent... Read More
18
Oct
2013
Another “Old Dead Guy” Gem
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I just finished reading Samuel Miller’s book Thoughts on Public Prayer. As the title suggests, the book does not offer a cohesive treatise on the topic, but a governing thesis nonetheless emerges: since prayer rivals preaching as the most important of a pastor’s public ministries, he ought to prepare his public prayers as carefully as... Read More
16
Oct
2013
Does Your Church Feel the Need for Church Planting?
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How does your church feel about the need for new churches? Sometimes statistics can help out our feelings. Consider these simple statistics briefly: The population of the United States, the third most populous nation in the world, is about 316,700,000. The population of the United States is growing by 0.9% per year. This means we... Read More
14
Oct
2013
Religious Liberty
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Here is an important and helpful discussion on religious liberty with panelists Kirsten Powers, Ross Douthat, Russell Moore, Jennifer Marshall, and Timothy Shah. Panel starts at the 12:15 mark. HT: Denny Burk
11
Oct
2013
Keeping the Church Distinct from the World through Regenerate Church Membership
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The problem of worldliness is an ever present issue for the church. While it is important to warn individual believers against worldliness, it is also vital for local churches to avoid this danger. Why do local churches so often blend in with the world? Local churches are too often composed of a mixed company of... Read More
9
Oct
2013
Jesus' Ethics: Four Observations
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One of the lectures I give each year in my Gospels class is titled “Who’s Invited and What Should They Do?” In the first part (“Who’s Invited?”), I talk about who it was Jesus invited (invites) to follow him, to repent and believe, to enter his kingdom. Here we talk about what the label sinner... Read More