We have been examining Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel…” We have already seen an exhortation to cling to Christ’s humanity. In the last post we were encouraged to cling to His divinity, victory, and prophecy. Today, […]
Clinging to Christ in Cultural Chaos — Part 3
We are now examining Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel…” In the last post I encouraged you to remember Christ’s humanity. Today, I want us to remember to: Cling to His Divinity We live in a day […]
Clinging to Christ in Cultural Chaos – Part 2
Last time, we looked at some Old Testament background for what it means to cling ourselves to Christ. Today, we turn to 2 Timothy 2:8 to consider Paul’s words to young Timothy. “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel…” Remember? The first thing I think of […]
Clinging to Christ in Cultural Chaos — Part 1
The year 2020 will be an epoch that is talked about in American history books. That is, if when all of this plays out if there is an America still, and if there are still history books. We really live in unprecedented times on a number of levels. COVID-19 has rocked our world. We have […]
Christianity is Supernatural
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book — A Change of Heart Christianity is supernatural. Left to ourselves we do not fear God, seek God, truly understand God, or care about God’s glory at all. Without the Holy Spirit, we don’t even want to know the problem, much less possess the means or […]
6 Obstacles to Revival
W.B. Sprague’s 1832 work, Lectures on Revival, is a helpful book in thinking trough the subject of revival. Charles Simeon called it, “A most valuable book…I recommend the good sense of Dr. Sprague In his third lecture, Sprague lays out six obstacles to revival.[1] They are as follows, Ignorance or Misapprehension of the nature of […]
The Drunkenness and Repentance of Brother Johnnathan Osburn
I have a book I received as a gift from Plum Creek Baptist Church in Taylorsville, KY. This book tells the story of the church’s inception to its 175th anniversary in 1985. I am grateful for my brief time serving there as Youth Pastor for portions of 2008 and 2009. Included in this book are […]
Augustine vs. Pelagius
The Debate In the 5th century — the early 400s — there was a controversy in the church between two men, Augustine and Pelagius, over God’s grace in salvation. Pelagius essentially argued in such a way that would minimize the necessity of regeneration. He taught against men being guilty because of Adam’s sin and against […]
A Primer on Jacob Arminius, John Wesley, and Charles Finney
Jacob Arminius and John Wesley Jacob Arminius (1560-1609), in response to William Perkins, wrote, “No one believes, without the exercise of his will. But the actual exercise of the will to believe is a different thing from the ability to will to believe; the latter belongs to all men, the former to the regenerate only, […]
A Case for Confessions of Faith
Recently I read through a little over half of James Bannerman’s classic tome, The Church of Christ. I obviously disagree with his Presbyterianism, but that aside, I highly recommend this book and hope to finish the second half sometime soon. One of the areas I found him helpful in was his argument for the use of confessions […]
5 Reasons People Don’t Believe Certain Truths from the Bible
In teaching on the doctrine of regeneration recently, I was thinking through explanations on why people would reject the Bible’s teaching on this precious doctrine. I came up with 5 reasons. These reasons apply to other precious doctrines as well. When the Bible teaches something on any given subject, here are 5 reasons one might […]
Counseling Awakened Sinners and Recent Converts
I had the privilege recently of reading William Buell Sprague’s 1832 book* Lectures on Revivals of Religion. This work is a series of 9 lectures that Dr. Sprague gives defending the biblical warrant for revival and instructing churches on how to promote true revival and guard against counterfeits. This post focuses on lectures 6 and 7. […]
The Loveliness of Christ
Jesus is lovely. In Song of Solomon 5:16 the Bride says to Solomon, “he is altogether desirable.” Thomas Watson called this book “a divine marriage song” and so it is. And while I don’t think we ought to allegorize it, I do believe that the New Testament shows us plainly that the marriage relationship is a […]
The Preaching Killdeer
Growing up in rural Arkansas I had many opportunities to walk the woods with my grandfather learning about various aspects of nature, including birds. One of the most interesting birds I can remember is the Charadrius vociferous, or, you probably know it as the Killdeer. Or maybe, you’ve never heard of the Killdeer. That’s okay, […]
What Does my Son Think of Church?
Last Wednesday my wife had a bit of a toothache from a recent filling and so I offered to take our 3-year-old to Wednesday night Bible study. Now, we are just now transitioning back into in-person services so I knew our attendance would be low as we also continue to live stream for those unable […]
7 Ps for Better Preaching
Anyone who faithfully preaches God’s Word always desires to grow in his ability to communicate Scripture’s timeless truths. Preaching the Bible is a high calling and tremendous privilege. It is a task reserved for qualified men, and it is means of grace for Christ’s church that must never be treated flippantly. I’ve only been preaching […]
A Book of Numbers: What the 2019 SBC Annual Church Profile Data Tells us About the Southern Baptist Convention
The 2019 annual church profile for the Southern Baptist Convention came out recently and the numbers aren’t great. While many people will bemoan the Baptism numbers, something else caught my eye. For those of who you are not Southern Baptists, the reporting works like this. Our church, Perryville Second Baptist, is a member of a […]
When God Brings the Sun Burn
Here’s an old sermon outline that I touched up for a blog post. It’s from Jonah 4:5-11. It has to do with God’s patient providential work in Jonah’s life. Let’s consider God’s providence together today: Prevailing Providence First, consider the word ‘appointed’ in Jonah 4:6-8. God is in full control of His universe, isn’t He? […]
Pastors, Plagues, and Playing Games
In my GBTS class on ecclesiology the other night, Dr. Jeffrey Johnson told us the story of John Calvin’s pastoral ministry in Geneva during the plague of 1542. I was able to check out Harry Reeder’s work in John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion Doctrine & Theology (edited by Burk Parsons) to learn a little more. […]
4 Conversion Stories
John Wesley I disagree with Wesley on several important doctrinal points. But consider how he recounts his own testimony from May 24, 1738: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he […]