Things Above Us

Missions - Evangelism - Theology - Sports

Posts by Allen

Allen S. Nelson IV is the pastor of Perryville Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. He and his wife Stephanie have been married since 2006 and have 5 children. Besides enjoying time with his family, Allen loves teaching the Bible, reading good books, and time outdoors. He is the author of From Death to Life: How Salvation Works and Before The Throne: Reflections on God’s Holiness He is an avid Dallas Cowboys and Arkansas Razorbacks fan, which means he's always excited about 'next year.' You can follow him on twitter @cuatronelson.

How to Know the Holy Spirit is at Work — Part 1

by

In 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, from 1 John 4 for the commencement ceremony at Yale. This message was partly a defense of the genuineness of the Great Awakening. Edwards believed the biblical truth that the Holy Spirit could be experienced by the […]

Meticulous Sovereignty

by

The (Apparent) Sovereignty Paradox The theologian Herman Bavinck once wrote, “Round about us we observe so many facts which seem to be unreasonable, so much undeserved suffering, so many unaccountable calamities, such an uneven and inexplicable distribution of destiny, and such an enormous contrast between the extremes of joy and sorrow, that anyone reflecting on […]

Truths on Suffering – Part 2

by

We are doing a bit of an overview of Romans 8 and considering what it has to teach us about suffering. Last time we acknowledged the reality of suffering in a fallen world and we saw that suffering cannot separate us from Christ and that all creation suffers. Let’s begin today’s post with this truth: […]

Truths on Suffering – Part 1

by

Roman 8 is perhaps one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible. Derek Thomas notes, “No chapter of Scripture reaches the same sustained levels or covers the same ground as Romans 8. It is a description of the Christian life from death to life, from justification to glorification, from trial and suffering to the […]

Matchless Grace

by

Grace so permeates the book of Ephesians that one might call the entire book, “Grace Abounding.” Grace has the first word, if you will (Ephesians 1:2). It has the final word (Ephesians 6:24). And it flows like a mighty river through every verse we read in this book. The indicatives of Ephesians drip with grace. […]

Implications of the Imago Dei

by

The “Imago Dei” is Latin for the image of God. Genesis 1:27 tells us God created male and female in His image. In Genesis 9, post-fall, God reminds us that mankind is still made in His image (see Genesis 9:6). Here are three implications of this reality. Every single human being: Displays the Imago Dei […]

Clinging to Christ in Cultural Chaos – Part 4

by

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

by

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

by

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 […]

6 Obstacles to Revival

by

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 […]

A Primer on Jacob Arminius, John Wesley, and Charles Finney

by

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

by

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

by

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 […]