How Important Are Associations for Pastors and Churches?
When I consider many of the pastors in our region today, I see men who have become dear friends and I see brothers who are on the same team. It’s so much harder to walk away from that.
Topic
Why Did Jesus’s Teaching Astonish His Hearers?
Jesus proved to be a masterful chess player. He simply refused to get caught in verbal or intellectual traps, and in fact always managed to turn the heat back on the one who posed the challenge in the first place.
Communication’s Two Catastrophic Cousins
What’s the heart issue behind slander and gossip? The narcissistic duo of self-love and self-promotion. When we traffic in slander and gossip, we tear others down and build ourselves up.
Opposition Is Coming, Pastor. How Will You Handle It?
The Holy Spirit works through the preaching of the Word to accomplish far more than a pastor will ever know, even in opposition.
Sola Scriptura Guards Us from Numerous Dangers
At the heart of Sola Scriptura, is the recognition that fallen humans are always looking to replace God’s authority with some other human/creaturely authority
Paul Anticipates—and Answers—Objections to Election in Romans 9
To say God’s mercy ultimately originates as a response to foreseen faith or mercy is to affirm election does depend on human will and exertion, rather than on God (contrary to v. 16).
What Does the Death of Cultural Christianity Cost?
To lament the decline of cultural Christianity is to lament not simply the loss of a Christian consensus, but the loss of the social capital born of common grace that secular society was borrowing from.
Pastor, How’s Your Bedside Manner?
Like a good doctor, pastors must strive to present difficult truths in a clear, kind, compassionate manner. May we guard against our tendency to allow the tone of our message from hindering the truth from being heard.
Why I Left Ministry (Temporarily) to Learn More about It
During my time at SBTS, I’ve realized that I needed to leave ministry temporarily and give myself to studying the things of God full-time
Study Theology Knowing You’ll Never Plumb the Depths of God
If we ever appear to have exhausted our knowledge of God, we’ve certainly committed idolatry because we’re no longer talking about God.
What Will We Think about Our Rhetoric on the Last Day?
Hyperbole and exaggeration can be effective rhetorical devices, grabbing our attention and constraining us to see what we didn’t see before, but they can also be used for ill and to mislead.
Luther’s Dying Words are True: We are Beggars.
We’re beggars because the words of man will never fill our spiritual appetite. We need food from heaven. We need to hear from God.
4 Reasons Why It’s Important for a Pastor to Know Himself
Until heaven, our motives will never be as pure as they should be. But how can we know if they are carnal unless we first know ourselves?
How Can Pastors Combat Conspiracy Theories in Their Church?
The enemy would love God’s people chasing abstract and far-fetched untruths rather than sharing the good news of the gospel with their neighbors.
What Was the Most Important Lesson I Learned in Seminary?
Oddly enough, the more knowledge I gain, the more rarified intellectual air tends to fill the inner balloon that is my ego. But these words are a deflating pin: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
If Justification Is Once-for-All, Why Do I Need to Keep Repenting?
Praying “Forgive us our debts” isn’t just a duty we have as sinners; it’s a privilege we have as sons.
Your Eschatology Has Consequences
How you live now is correlated with how you believe God is working towards eternity.
Religious Liberty Made Me a Baptist
Religious liberty implies a recognition that individuals make conscientious decisions to participate in group associations that have different requirements and different callings than the rest of society and the state. In my view, these truths lead one inside the walls of a Baptist church.