Eight Ways to Lose Your Influence in Theology

Eight Ways to Lose Your Influence in Theology

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Salvation By Grace: Replying to a post-mil argument

Good discussion and defence of a premillennial return of Christ in light of some post-mil and a-mil arguemnets against such return. Salvation By Grace: Replying to a post-mil argument

Exegesis of the Great Commission

Great start to changing and transition our church to become a disciplemaking church.

Preaching is

Preaching is the privileged obligation of a animated conversation in proclaiming thruth through personality.

Common Ground / Uncommon Confidence - Acts 21:37-22:30

Common Ground / Uncommon Confidence - Acts 2137-22:30 from Glenn Leatherman on Vimeo.

Paul now finds himself before the Tribune and asks to speak to the Jews that are gathered against him (for they have accused him of defaming the temple). Paul clears his name being associated with a Jewish assassin group that tried to overthrow the roman rule a couple of years earlier. Paul then speaks to his people in their language detailing his conviction of sin (1-5), conversion to Christ (22:6-16), and calling to bring the gospel to the entire world (22:17-21). The Jews get so angry that they don't let Paul finish his speech and want his life. The entire process is expedited by the roman Tribune who desire to flog him, but don't because they eventually realize that paul is a Roman citizen by birth.

This whole narrative shows that Christians will know God's will with uncommon character because of God's faithfulness. You can see evidence of God's faithfulness all around your life, just as Paul was proclaiming in this passage. Man tends to become unfaithful when things don't go his way, but God remains faithful. Knowing and trusting the character of God's faithfulness will give you strength and allow you to know and do God's will.

No Compromise - Acts 21:17-36

No Compromise - Acts 21:17-36 from Glenn Leatherman on Vimeo.

Community Bible Class @ G3C

Quote: Inspiration of Scripture as it relates to Christian ministers

Here is a very interesting quote by Dr. Robert Reymond on the topic of the Inspiration of Scripture as it relates to Christian ministers: The candidate for Christian ministry who does not believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word should not enter the ministry. He does not belong there. If he is already in the ministry he should either quit because he should never have entered it or at the very least he should tell his congregation that he does not believe the Bible is God's inspired Word so that those who have the sense not to submit to his authority, stripped bare as it is of the authority of God's Word, can leave and listen to a pastor who does believe it, because all the other doctrines of the true Faith are derived from the divinely inspired Bible and rest upon it for their authority. The doctrine of inspiration is the bedrock — the mother and guardian — of all the other doctrines of Scripture! It is that important! — Robert Reymond, Faith's Reasons for Believing (Ross-shire, Scotland, UK: Mentor, 2008), p. 111.

Basic Training For Defending The Faith

Watch and learn as the late Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen teaches you how to think as a Christian. God didn't call us to be secret agents; He demands our minds, as well as our hearts, and expects us to be able to give a reasonable defense for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). Dr. Bahnsen reveals that our job as Christian apologists is not to change unbelieving hearts, but to simply close the mouth of the unbeliever. This 5-part video series will show you how.

1. The Mith of Neutrality (Part 1)
2. Introduction to Worldviews (Part 2)
3. Worldviews in Conflict (Part 3)
4. Defending the Christian Faith (Part 4)
5. Problems for Unbelieving Worldviews (Part 5) (click on the above titles to watch, listen, and learn)

Review by Nathan Pitchford
The responsibility of Christians to proclaim and defend their faith reasonably and intelligibly, in the face of worldviews and philosophies that are antagonistic to Christianity, is a serious biblical concern. So how do we go about equipping ourselves for the task? In order to defend the faith adequately, must we be current with the prevalent philosophies and epistemologies of the day, and eloquent enough to mount a persuasive argument within the confines of those philosophies? In other words, must we be skillful enough thinkers to beat the atheists on their own playing field? No, Dr. Bahnsen would insist; although understanding philosophy and epistemology may be useful, ultimately, if we would be successful apologists, we only need to learn to think as Christians. And in this clear, scriptural, penetrating series of lectures, he demonstrates exactly what that means, and how it can equip any Christian to be a biblical and competent apologist

What is the goal of apologetics? Is it to persuade men to embrace Christianity, to out-reason unbelievers into the Kingdom? Bahnsen would suggest, on the contrary, that while conversion is the ultimate goal, that end is properly the work of the Holy Spirit; our task is just to stop the mouths of unbelievers, to leave them without excuse, and let the Spirit work as he will in a heart whose self-deception has been uncovered. And make no mistake, the unbeliever is self-deceived. His problem is not that he's an unbiased, reasonable man who just doesn't have enough evidence for the existence of God; his problem is that he hates God and suppresses the truth, so that he can justify his pursuit of ungodliness. He claims that he wants to examine evidences for Christianity from a neutral platform; but if there's one thing we must know about apologetics, it's that he's not neutral, and we shouldn't be. To attempt to meet him on his terms, to enter his anti-God worldview in order to convince him of what he already knows but suppresses in ungodliness, is to lose the battle from the beginning; it's to justify him in his presuppositions, which are utterly opposed to the message we have to give him.

So then, how do we go about the task of defending the faith to unbelievers and atheists? Bahnsen would suggest that we simply take those Christian truths which even the unbelievers cannot give up – things such as moral absolutes, human dignity, the existance of universals, the one and the many, the uniformity of reality – and show how, on the basis of their own presuppositions, they are impossible, unintelligible, self-contradictory. Those things about which they express moral outrage, whether it be the abuse of children, the war in Iraq, or any other issue, demonstrate that they do not actually believe what they say they believe about reality. In fact, they must borrow from the Christian worldview even to advance those opinions. Really, the basic “proof” of Christianity is that, without it you cannot prove anything

Of course, this is essentially just a presentation of the principles of what is called “presuppositional” (in contrast to “classic,” or “evidential”) apologetics. And as Bahnsen walks through scriptural principles and examples, he builds up a compelling case that the approach of presuppositional apologetics is uniquely faithful to the biblical witness. It is unique both in its refusal to compromise on the non-negotiable tenets of the Christian worldview and in its ability to “shut the mouths” of unbelievers, and make clear their inconsistency and self-deception

The field of presuppositional apologetics has a reputation for being heady, difficult stuff (after all, was not its “father” the brilliant and sometimes obscurely erudite Cornelius Van Til?); but in reality, the basic approach is simple and liberating to any believer largely unschooled in philosophy or complex argumentation. It only requires that he learn to think consistently as a Christian, and to show how even non-believers are forced to think as a Christian in certain inconsistent ways. And with lucid teaching, adept illustration, and helpful exemplary anecdotes, Bahnsen shows just how possible it is for the unphilosophic believer to be a truly Christian apologist in any situation. Especially geared for prospective secular college students, but highly recommended for all believers!

Less than 10% of Baptisms are Baptisms?

I am a Baptist by affiliation and conviction. One of the cardinal tenets of Baptist life is Regenerate Church Membership. We seek to do all that is possible to guide people on the path of eternal life. The crulest hoax perpetrated upon mankind is to deceive them about the real condition of their eternal soul.

The NAMB (North American Mission Board - SBC) did a study of persons who had been baptized in SBC life. They sought to determine where they were in their spiritual walk one year after their baptism. Less than 10% were still affiliated with the church and involved in any semblance of spiritual growth. I hope that offends and stuns you. It surely should.

What do you in terms of “Due Diligence” to baptize only those persons that show genuine evidence of conversion? What do you offer to other pastors that will help them in this matter?

Intro to IgniteUS Ministries

IgniteUs ministry is Christ-centered, evangelical, Protestant, trans-denominational and kingdom-focused. Their processes are principle-driven and Biblically based. They have strong convictions in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, believing that churches should produce disciples, not warehouse saints. I affirm their belief that believe that disciple-making takes precedent over personal and social agendas. Leading churches to actually "make disciples" is not a “one size fits all,” endever but a Biblical process – a leadership development journey which varies from pastor to pastor and congregation to congregation. . This Journey is not for the impatient or the faint of heart. Check out how they can help you and your chuch actually obey God in his command to "make disciples of all nations."

John Piper - What is Preaching?

Encouragement for Faithful YouTubers [HD]

Power in Preaching: Decide (1 Corinthians 2:1–5)

Raymond C. Ortlund Jr says "Remove wonder-working power from Christianity, and what do you have left? Religious franchises managing community service programs. But is that what we read about in the book of Acts? Biblical Christianity in the world today is an ongoing miracle of God’s gracious power. And if that is so, and it is, then Christian preaching can and must be in divine power. Read Power in Preaching (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. and learn to to be a crucified preacher so that God's divine power may be displayed..

A Necessary Preaching Distinction: Extemoraneous vs. Impromptu vs. Manuscript Preaching

I understand that preaching for all of us preachers is personal and something we all desire to improve on with God grace and calling. Michael Gerson’s recent article, What the Teleprompter Teaches, on President Obama's use teleprompters, and well-crafted words can teach us important lessons. Gerson argues that teleprompters have increased a President’s disciplined thought and communication. Josh Harris says preachers should learn from this and pursue a more disciplined approach to communicating Scripture. Writing is very important for a preacher of the Gospel. Great Writing hones our preaching. We need to spend time in the study reading and writing the ideas we are going to preaching on, otherwise we will be slopy preachers without much depth. We need to communicate the gospel carefully and can learn from Michael Gerson’s article on Presidentual/politician use teleprompters that we need to pursue a more disciplined approach to communicating Scripture accurately and carefully. The Spirit can and does work in our study during the week as well in the pulpit.

But If you will alow me, I would like to push back with the general point and tone of Michale Gerson's article because it presents a partial truth as the whole truth. Is preaching from a teleprompter or a manuscript a good option for most preachers (or for politicians for that matter) as Michael Gerson seems to think for it is for speakers? NO IMHO (not even for President Obama)! It ties one down to their notes and doesn't allow passion and ernestness to be genuine as Spurgeon would encourage his students. When preachers take a manuscript into the pulpit, their manuscript is ususaly writen for the eyes and thus they don't preach for the ears (whcih requires a different style of writing) or connect with the congregation to the truth of the message through their personality. You would never find a lawer reading a manuscript in his closing argument because it is just not persuasive. Manuscripting preaching IMHO is also an act of plargerizing oneself if one doesn't allow for the forming of the actual words at the time of preaching. It is Echo preaching because we don't have the same understanding, passion, ernestness, genuiness for the point of the passage as we did in our study. We must preach the truth out the saturation of the Word and Spirit.

Does Michel Gerson seem to understand the difference between improptu (off the top of my head) and extemporaneous preaching. NO IMHO! While imprompu speaking is lazy speaking because the ideas have not germinated and saturated the speakers heart, Extemporaneous preaching takes alot of work and study and writing (especially if one is committed to Extemporaneous-Expository preaching). Extemporaneous preaching is not off the cuff preaching. When one preaches Extemporaneously, the pastor (speaker) has spent time studying (exegeting) the passage of scripture, writing down ideas, thoughts, pictures, illustrations, metaphors, applications, argumentations, explanations and placing them in relationship to each other. This is oftem painstaking work. But when one place them in a homeletical (sermonic) arrangement to preach, one should have the idea of speaking out of one's real knowledge of their study. In other words, one should craft a sermon after much writing so that one will not need notes (or as little as possible). I don't want to hear what a preacher has written down (he can give that to me in a USB drive on my way out, so I can read it during the week). I want to know what the truth/point/sugject of the particular passage scripture means and that how it has affect him so much that he believes it is necessary that we hear the message God has placed in his heart. Sermon transcriptes are better at this point that sermon manuscripts. Don't bore me! It may be just my opinion, but I see the same judgement of preaching in the history of the Christian church: that extemporaneous exposition is the best.

Yes, I agree that we need to prusue a more discipline apprach to communicating (including writing) but Michael Gerson doesn't make the distiction between inproptu seaking and extemporaneous speaking which makes his overall point less persuasive. Do you think that it is important to make sure that extemporaneous exposition is championed today?

Idol Factory

All of our hearts are idol factories . Richard Gaffin has said "Because we are, each of us, the image of God, we will worship, in fact we must worship, someone or something, either our original, as we should, or, with the illusion that we are the original or our own ultimate point of reference, ourselves. If the latter, we will give ourselves over, with the full, still efficient resources of our imaging capacities, to some figment, some distorted image, focused on ourselves or on some aspect of the world, ultimately seen as an extension of ourselves. What Calvin observed long ago is no less true today: the human heart, our image-bearing and image-fashioning nature, is an idol factory." (Richard Gaffin, "Speech and the Image of God," in The Pattern of Sound Doctrine: Systematic Theology at the Westminster Seminaries, Essays in Honor of Robert B. Strimple (2004), p. 186.) As you may already know, here is some of what the bible says relating to our worship 1. The bible defines evil as the forsaking living water for broken cisterns; seeking to be satisfied in something or someone other than God Himself (Jer. 2:12-13). 2. Our worship of God is intended to bring us pleasure! “For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant” (Ps. 147:1). God’s demand for our worship is a demand for us to be happy and to experience our greatest pleasures! If we are not worshiping God, it’s to our detriment. 3. The essence of worship is to find our deepest satisfaction in Jesus Christ alone — in this life, and even in the face of greatest loss and personal death (Phil. 1:18-23). We can be content in the loss of all things only if we treasure Christ above all else (Phil. 3:8). Further, to say that death is gain — because we long for greater intimacy with Christ — shows that Christ is the supreme object of our hearts. This is worship. So the only way I know to make people move away from this all consuming fasination with celebrities is to make Christ and His Word more glorious by preaching it wil all the passion and earnestness I have and leave the results to God. Well, we don't make Christ more desirable but as the Word of God is proclaimed, God, the Holy Spirit, regenerates a person's life to give them a new desire for God. I don't really have a technique (which many seem to have today) but to show that it is idolatry to enjoy, love, and depend on anything or anyone more than God who is the most glorious being anywhere and call for repentance and faith in God through Christ alone. We shouldn't just say stop worshiping celebrities, but need to also say "treasuring Christ over things." Pleasure is the measure of our Treasure. If you have time and the interest, I have found that this is a good series on this very topic: Idol Factory Sermons mp3 downloads or "Idol Factory" Sermons streaming audio

Where to Start Reading: 40 Suggestions

For the beginning of a well-rounded biblical education for laypersons and leaders Monergism.com recommends the following 40 Books to get started with. These books are theologically sound and devotionally enriching. Knowing God - J.I. Packer Truth For All Time - John Calvin The Everlasting Righteousness - Horatius Bonar The Holy Spirit - John Owen Chosen For Life - Sam Storms When Grace Comes Home by Terry Johnson Saved by Grace - Anthony Hoekema Sovereignty of God - A W Pink Crook in the Lot by Thomas Boston The Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes Bondage of the Will - Martin Luther The Religious Affections - Jonathan Edwards History of the Work of Redemption - Jonathan Edwards Reformed Doctrine of Predestination - Loraine Boettner Redemption Accomplished and Applied - John Murray The Enemy Within – Kris Lungaard Mortification of Sin – John Owen The Bible and the Future - Anthony Hoekma A Case for Amillennialism - Kim Riddlebarger God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology – Michale Horton Israel of God – O Palmer Robertson The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith by Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen Pilgrims Progress – John Bunyan Gospel and the Kingdom – Graeme Goldsworthy Biblical Theology - Geerhardus Vos Systematic Theology – Wayne Grudem New Systematic Theology – Robert Reymond Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter How People Change - Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp Addiction: A Banquet in the Grave – Ed Welch Shepherding a Childs Heart – Ted Tripp Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic – Walter Chantry Tell the Truth - Will Metzger Lectures to my Students – C.H. Spurgeon The Cross and Christian Ministry – D.A. Carson Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Vol Set) by John Calvin The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall Finally Alive by John Piper

John Piper's Heart in the 2008 Election

Here is a great perspective on the election.

A Basic Principle of Interpretation - The Absolute Inspiration of the Scriptures

A Basic Principle of Interpretation – The Absolute Inspiration of the Scriptures We must come to understand and start with the principle concerning the Bible. In Baptist Confessions the first statement of faith is always the Bible because without a proper view of Scripture, Biblical Interpretation is impossible. This is also where dialogue usually gets side track because people have different views of the authority and inspiration of Scripture.

So you may be asking: “What is the Christian doctrine on the Scriptures?” In a sentence the Christian doctrine of the Bible is:

…the verbal, plenary, inspiration of the infallible, inerrant Bible which is the written Word of God

VERBAL: Every single letter and word of Scripture as put down in the original autographs was inspired of God (Matt. 5:18; 22:32)

PLENARY: All of the bible, in all of its parts, is equally inspired. No part is more inspired than the other parts. The 66 books comprising the Old and New Testaments are all equally inspired (Matt. 5:17-18; 2 Tim. 3:16)

INSPIRATION: God sovereignly prepared the authors of Scripture from birth in all things. He stirred them up to write. He guided them so they wrote down everything he wanted them to write. They wrote down the very words of God. God’s sovereign control of the authors did not remove the characteristics and personalities of the authors, but such things were ordered by God to be a better vehicle of expression

INFALLABLE: in principle, the Bible is infallible, i.e., incapable of error or mistake. Why? God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), and the Bible is His Word; therefore the bible cannot be a lie (John 17:17)

INERRANT: the Bible is without error in all it affirms as true, including matters of science, geography, miracles, history, etc.

BIBLE: The books in the Protestant Bible. There are no other “lost” books. The Apocrypha is not inspired.

WORD OF GOD: The word of God expressed in human words by human authors under the direct control of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).

To misunderstand, deny, or fail to apply any part of this principle to our interpretation of Scriptures will lead us to erroneous interpretations. This is where we must start any evangelism, any Bible study, or any dialogue about God. Why? Because we must deal with first principles (presuppositions) that others have. Otherwise we have no common ground for any communication about God.

In our preaching, teaching, evangelism, and conversations with the lost, we are not seeking common group with them, but are tearing down stronghold, and any thought that rises up against the authority of God. (2 Corinthians 10:5 Colossians 2:8). We are commanded not to find common ground in the thoughts of the lost but to start from Scripture to show that their thinking is fatal.

In our discipling, training and teaching other Christians this doctrine is essential for right and true theological reflection and spiritual growth. It seems more and more people today want to start with secular theories in psychology, science, business, philosophy, athletics, etc. and then interpret scripture in light of these man centered theories. But these fields cannot arrive at true truth, only what is pragmatic. They must have the Christian doctrine of the Bible to arrive at any truth in these fields. Humanism creeps into the church in this way and our disciples are affected in that they lack the conviction and power to proclaim a certain gospel. If you are interested in these issues in disciplemaking, I would suggest reading about “presupposition apologetics.”

When one comes to a biblical understanding of the Bible, then one must then deal with the “Unity of the Bible,” which can be difficult to understand.

Understanding Grace: Hell's Best Kept Secret