Matthew tells us about a time in which the religious leaders came before Jesus and said, “What we want from you Jesus is a sign, give us a sign.” They’re using the same kind of language that they have used all along. Jesus after all has stood before them casting out demons and they…
The following post is part two in a series of posts titled: Can Jesus heal mental illness? by Heath Lambert. You can read part one here. “Mental illnesses” are spiritual issues In my previous post I tried to demonstrate that mental illness is not a concrete object like a wheelbarrow, but is an abstract…
What lessons have you learned from George Washington? Three aspects of Washington’s leadership are models for my leadership at Westminster: character, concern for the good of the whole institution and self-denial. First, Washington’s life showed that character matters. Honesty, humility, perseverance, conviction for and adherence to core values were all aspects of his renowned…
In the following videos, Heath Lambert discusses biblical counseling and its relationship to expository preaching, calvinism, ecclesiology etc. with Jay Adams, author of Competent to Counsel and founder of the modern day biblical counseling movement. Part 1: What is the relationship between biblical counseling and preaching? Part 2: What is the relationship between biblical counseling…
Did Jesus have to be resurrected for this sermon to work? If not, start over
One of the questions we get asked a lot in the biblical counseling movement concerns whether Jesus can heal those with a mental illness. The question is asked by people who are concerned about Scripture’s sufficiency and Jesus’ relevance to deal with the most difficult problems that people face. Before we can answer the question we…
Perennial Bible scholar D.A. Carson, calls it “divine mathematics.” And that sounds about right to me. Although the New Testament is not a mathematics textbook, when it does speak to the issue it doesn’t follow conventional theorems or formulas. Under normal convention, five minus one equals four – obviously. Not necessarily so with God’s…
The whole Old Testament is realized in Christ. He is the second Adam, the true Israel, the prophet of the Lord, the Messiah, the Son of God and the Son of Man, and the Servant of the Lord.
Have you heard the ballad of the hoped-for hero? Ancient prophecies foretell his coming. Not altogether clear, shrouded in mystery, but enough to kindle hopes and keep the flickering flame alive. Everything depends on his coming. In fact, if these prophecies aren’t realized, there is no final defense against evil. No ultimate hope. No…
EDITOR’S NOTE: In what follows, Michael A.G. Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality at Southern Seminary, discusses his new book — co-written with freelance writer and alumnus C. Jeffrey Robinson Sr. — To the Ends of the Earth, with Towers book review contributor Matt Damico. MD: Why is this book necessary? MAGH:…
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend five days with some of Southern Seminary’s sharpest students discussing the biblical foundations of Christian missions. We walked through the Scriptures together and identified how God’s Word speaks to our missionary task. One of the topics that always arises is the relationship between evangelism and…
Human parenting, and especially human fathering, points and shows something of what it means to know God and who God is.
Read part one of this post here. When you adventure through a process like the one my wife and I did – all adoptions are adventures and each presents its own set of unique circumstances and challenges – you learn a lot about yourself and about your marriage. Like anything else, you can either…
Make your plans in pencil. This is good advice for your career, for your marriage and, yes, for your adoption. When my wife, Jane, and I adopted our second son, our inked-in plans blew up in our faces. There we were, expanding our family, trying to promote the gospel through adoption. And everything went…
Bring about change in your church through careful, patient, and intentional leadership.
Along similar lines today, countless churches desperately need revitalizing. And, in God’s goodness, the same prescription he gives for that ancient church is the same for today’s churches. Indeed, the early church at Ephesus is a case study in church revitalization with relevance far beyond its own time. In Acts 20, the apostle Paul…
One stunning building in Manchester, England, is now a climbing center. In Bristol, one is now a circus school, with trapezes hanging from the rafters. Others are now grocery stores, car dealerships, libraries and pubs. All over England, many are now Islamic mosques. What do these venerable buildings have in common? Until recently, all…
At the North American Mission Board (NAMB), our mission is to help Southern Baptists push back lostness in North America. Our primary strategy for doing that is called Send North America, and that strategy includes two primary goals. First, we want to help increase the church birth rate by helping Southern Baptists start 15,000 new churches over…
