For the last year+ I've been working on a new book, A Change of Heart: Understanding Regeneration...
worship
An Empty Seat on Christmas
I want you to consider your Christmas activities. For some of you, Christmas is a day filled with...
Book Review: A Call to Pure Worship
Book Review: A Call to Pure Worship by Pastor D. Scott Meadows A Refreshing Read Pastor Meadows...
SBC Resolution on A Reformation of Corporate Worship Practices
True, just two years ago I wrote a piece on my apathy toward resolutions. And while I still feel that, as a whole, resolutions don't "do much" in terms of reforming the SBC, I do think they can at least be a tool of assessing where we already are as an association of...
Abounding Love
The Apostle Paul told the Phillippians that his prayer for them was that their love would abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. If the Lord inspired Paul to pray for these saints this way and record it for us, I think we ought to know what it means...
From the Mailbag: “Judge Not”
A woman contacted us through our contact us form and expressed some concerns with an article Justin wrote about The Send. I believe her assertions and my responses could be helpful to you, so here they are. For the sake of the post, I'll call her Holly. Hi, Hope...
Worship Me
Older generations like to make fun of all the selfies millennials take, and to an extent, that’s warranted. However, the selfie generation in America was here much earlier than the 1980s. The god of self didn’t come along with the iPhone. The iPhone is a fruit of idol worship, not the root of it.
The key attribute of the god of self is autonomy. Essentially autonomony means that “I get to do what I want because I am me. There is no one more important than me. In fact, you can’t spell awesome without ME” (I know, Taylor Swift song reference).
God’s Unborable Holiness – Part 1
*The following is an adapted excerpt from Before the Throne: Reflections on God’s Holiness by Allen S. Nelson IV (2019). No Room for Meh When it comes to responding to the holiness of God we have two options (See Isaiah 6:5 and Revelation 4:8). Woe is me or worthy...
Why it’s Not Good for Man to be Alone
Our church has slowly been making its way through Genesis 1–11 on Sunday mornings. It has been so amazing to see how important these chapters are to contemporary events. The Bible truly is living and active! In Genesis 2:18, Moses writes: Then the LORD God said, “It...
Rules for Worship
It may be surprising to many but God is not only concerned that we seek Him, but also how we seek Him. You are probably familiar with the story of Uzzah from the Old Testament but just in case you're not, let's do a quick review: After David became king, he desired to...
Psalm 119:65-68 — Afflicted by God
Here is where we arrive at meat and potatoes of Psalm 119: the Teth octave. Why do God's people suffer affliction? Are they not to be rewarded for their love and devotion to Him? What message does it portray to the unbelieving world when God cannot even protect His...
A Jolly Missionary Report
I made a new friend recently as the result of reading about his faithfulness through a trial. I found myself praising the Lord so much while reading his letter that I wanted to share it with you. My wife and I signed up to begin supporting this mission monthly, and I...
What Time Is Purple? (Evangelism Report)
Thanks to Wretched Radio and a whole host of financial sponsors, I received 1000 copies of Tom Hammond's book "What Time Is Purple?" for distribution on the campus of The Ohio State University. You can participate by being a distributor or by donating money so that...
2018 End of Season Ministry Report for tOSU
Just four months ago I was getting ready to do evangelism at the Ohio State University's home football games. Four months later, I fulfilled my commitment by preaching at all 7 home games. By God's grace, I was also able to preach at an away game in Ann Arbor with...
Psalm 34:15-22 – A Moment of Reflection
Before we begin the final third of Psalm 34, it seems right and good to take a step back and soak in the passage before we dissect it. The first third, verses 1-7, is about simple truths. The second third, verses 8-14, is about instructions for godliness. Now, in the...
Trinitarian Prayer
Let not your hearts be troubled, dear saint of God. For the Father elected you, the Son paid your debt and the Spirit resurrected you and indwells you. The God of the universe has set His love upon you and even so, the whole trinity works in unity to bring you to perfection through intercession on your behalf. Be of good cheer as you consider this glorious truth!
God’s Unmatchable Holiness – Part 2
As we consider the unmatchable holiness of God (read part 1), I think there is practical application for worship in the local church. As we think about the heavenly beings described in the last post, may we not learn a few things about what it means to worship a God...
Unintended Consequences
In one of the early releases of iOS 11.0.1, Apple introduced a feature to iPhones called Do Not Disturb While Driving. The reason for this feature is obvious: allow people to drive without the distraction of phone notifications, but give the folks who text the driver...
What Children Should See at Church
Recently, my dear friend and fellow blogger Allen Nelson and I had a pleasant discussion on our new podcast "The TAU Roundtable" on the subject of Children's Church. Children's Church, in case you are not familiar, is a weekly event some churches practice wherein...
Reasons Not to Have Children’s Church
I sincerely appreciate the heart many of my brothers’ and sisters' have toward children, and I do not wish to attack what they are seeing as liberty and wise stewardship of their time with kids by having a "Children's Church" each Sunday during the preaching hour. I...
Praise Yahweh (the LORD) – Psalm 117
God has provided us with His Word that we might know Him and praise Him. Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter of the Bible, yet it is packed with God-glorifying wisdom, truth, and comfort. Let's take a look at it! Psalm 117 (ESV) 1 Praise Yahweh, all nations! Extol him,...
Christian, Stop Saying You’re Sorry
One of the core tenets of Christianity is the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47; Colossians 1:14). To put it another way, without the forgiveness of sins, the gospel of Jesus Christ ceases to make any sense at all. In that respect, the forgiveness of sins is an...
A Guide to Family Worship
I did not grow up in a Christian family, so family worship was not something that was modeled for me when I was growing up. Additionally, my first decade as a Christian didn't include a lot of teaching or discussion on the topic of family worship. So a few years ago...
8 Practical Thoughts on Corporate Singing
Pastoral duties, coaching little league baseball, and working to finish both the From Death to Life book and small group study guide have kept me from writing as much as I would like to as of late. Today, however, I was reading Psalm 100 and had some thoughts about...
Make Sunday Less Spectacular
The ushers were friendlier than I expected as we came through the front door. We weren't exactly sure where to go after that, but we sort of just followed the crowd until we found our seats. We chit-chatted with those around us as we waited for everything to start. I...