Can We Trade Sexual Morality for Church Growth?
From time to time we hear some telling us that evangelical Christianity must retool our sexual ethic if we're ever going to reach the next generation.
You can’t grow a Christian church by being sub-Christian. That’s why there are no booming Arian or Unitarian or Episcopal Church (USA) church-planting movements. But even if it “worked” to negotiate away sexual morality for church growth, we wouldn’t do it. We can only reach Millennials, and anyone else, by reaching them with the gospel,... Continue Reading
Can We Think Our Way To God?
We do not think or feel or way to God; instead, we are introduced to God by the Holy Spirit.
If you are a Christian, you neither thought nor felt your way to God. God, by the Holy Spirit, revealed himself to you. At his initiative, you saw both your sin and the forgiveness available through the cross of Christ. But that revealing work of the Spirit is not finished. Paul prays for Christians that God would... Continue Reading
Three Cheers for a Bit of Back and Forth
Trying to distinguish between "success" and "fruitfulness” in ministry
Whatever the case, for me at least, faithfulness is the key. It is where I must remain focused. And an indispensable component of that faithfulness is to labor and pray for what God surely desires: a great harvest of souls for God’s glory and the gladness of His church. I am not quite as... Continue Reading
Rick Perry’s Strange Baptism
Baptism is not for personal experience as much as it is a sign of the Covenant
Mr. Perry, by his testimony, has been a Christian for many years, so his recent baptism is not an indication that he has just come to faith. Nor is his baptism an admission that his previous one was improper. Nor did it constitute a step toward joining a church (while the baptism was not a church... Continue Reading
Why Elder Subscription Is a Good Idea
Should your elders subscribe to a confessional document more comprehensive than the statement of faith you use for church membership?
“At first glance, there is something attractive about only requiring pastors to subscribe to one’s confessional standards. Even the staunchest Presbyterian and Reformed folks can likely think of gifted, devout, theologically minded, pastorally sensitive brothers who–though a bit squishy on all five points of Calvinism and not really convinced of infant baptism–have proven to be... Continue Reading
The Gospel Truth Of Jesus
What Happens to Apologetics If We Add "Legend" to the Trilemma "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord"?
“It’s less common these days to hear Jesus honored as a great moral teacher by those who doubt his deity. Today’s skepticism runs deeper than that. The skeptics’ line now is that Jesus probably never claimed to be God at all, that the whole story of Jesus, or at least significant portions of it, is... Continue Reading
10 Pastors I’m Concerned About
10 types of pastors that may be contributing to the Church's decline
“I’m concerned about the pastor who attracts people with fancy self-help sermons instead of teaching people to be students of the Bible and theology. Sure topical sermons can be helpful teaching tools when used appropriately and in moderation. But to pique interest in the unchurched, church-growth pastors have promoted episodic sermons ad nauseam and to... Continue Reading
Reformed (Covenant) Theology
The new covenant is new in that the long-awaited Messiah has come and has fulfilled the old, and the new covenant is superior in its scale, simplicity, and scope
“It wasn’t until I came to grasp the newness and the nature of the new covenant and the relationship between the old and new covenants that I came to see God not only as sovereign over the salvation of His people, but also as covenantal in the way He relates to, sanctifies, and saves His... Continue Reading
Orthodoxy vs. Heterodoxy: The Fundamental Divide in the United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is in a fundamental struggle over the gospel of Jesus Christ
“Paul called Timothy to “preach the Word!” because a time is coming when “people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3,4). This testimony is true... Continue Reading
“I Feel Super Great About Having an Abortion” — The Culture of Death Goes Viral
Emily Letts decided to make a video about her own abortion
If Emily Letts truly believes that there is no guilt rightly associated with abortion, she would not have to insist, over and over again, that she feels no guilt. When she tells of women who “feel guilty for not feeling guilty,” she testifies to the fact that they are moral creatures who cannot stop making... Continue Reading
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