I've heard it all my life. "We need to restore America to its former greatness." "We need to take our nation back to what it once was." "We need to get back to being the Christian nation we used to be." I believed it and preached it. But I have come to believe that this is not something we should say. There are Christian brothers and sisters who hear something very different than we do when we talk about "going back" and out of honor to them, we ought to reexamine our thinking and our words. Before I make you mad.... ...I'd like to make these things absolutely clear! 1) I love this … [Read more...] about We Need to Stop Talking about “Restoring America”
The Three Fold Union with Christ
The Puritan’s distinguished a multifaceted union that every believer had with Christ. Do you think there is any validity to their teaching?????? Union with Christ and oneness with Him was the guarantee of eternal security. The idea did not depict a ‘moment’ in the application of salvation. Michael Horton said, “. . . it is a way of speaking about the way in which believers share in Christ in eternity (by election), in past history (by redemption), in the future (by glorification).” Union with Christ was a blessing from the Father. Without that blessing one could not see justifying … [Read more...] about The Three Fold Union with Christ
The Future of the Baptist Association: A Prelude (by Joel Rainey)
Joel Rainey is the Director of Missions at Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, an adjunct professor at Capital Bible Seminary and blogs at Themelios. This post, the beginning of a series, was originally published at his site. Over the next few weeks, I want to narrow my focus here a bit. Though I try to contribute to ministry and mission discussions that transcend my own denominational tribe, I'd like to speak specifically to what I believe to be the potential future of local entities within the Southern Baptist Convention; most notably the Baptist Association. Full disclosure: my mortgage … [Read more...] about The Future of the Baptist Association: A Prelude (by Joel Rainey)
World Missions: Overcoming Barriers to the Fulfillment of the Great Commission (Barrier #5: The Spiritual Barrier)
The Spiritual Barrier When one looks around the world at settings in which there is significant resistance to the advance of the gospel, the most important barrier to be overcome is often of a specifically spiritual nature. This barrier manifests itself through an assortment of different symptoms, such as spiritual indifference, hard hearts, spiritual blindness, and spiritual strongholds. Whenever these are the real cause of slow response to the gospel, methods that are normally effective for overcoming other barriers will have little effect. Spiritual problems require spiritual … [Read more...] about World Missions: Overcoming Barriers to the Fulfillment of the Great Commission (Barrier #5: The Spiritual Barrier)
An SBC Voices Forum: How Do You Preach?
No, I'm not talking here about your content - this is not about whether you are topical or verse-by-verse expositional. This is much more simple. What is going on around you when you stand in the pulpit on Sunday morning (and night, for us old-schoolers)? Do you have a manuscript? Crib notes? An outline? Do you have a monitor? An iPad? Printed notes? Do you project your notes onto a screen with Powerpoint or Proclaim or some other presentation software? Does your church project its notes by WiFi so the congregation can follow along on tablets and smartphones? Do you include … [Read more...] about An SBC Voices Forum: How Do You Preach?
Micro-Contextualization
"Lillian," Roger pronounced, "has no interest in God. She cares nothing for matters of holiness or sin." Rog and I were sitting in a humid hotel room in Puyo, Ecuador. He's a Deaf Christian who's been attending Friday night Bible studies for a while. His Christian life has been a rocky one - divorce, adultery, unrepentant arrogance - but he seems to be back on the narrow path. He boldly admits to his sins and the carnage in his wake. Proclaiming a risen Christ and a forgiving God are seemingly high on his priority list. "I tell her she should come to Friday nights. She knows we … [Read more...] about Micro-Contextualization
Deep Sunday School . . . .6 Feet Deep.
It's time to tackle one of my favorite issues, let's talk Sunday School. In many places it's dying on the vine, it's being traded in and swapped out. It's considered out of date and it's not working. I'm here to tell you that Sunday School can be powerful, effective, life changing, church reviving and Christ honoring and will become your favorite time of the week. One of the problems is we are stuck on this idea of Sunday School being something it's not. Today I want to talk about the “D” word. Let's dive into the deep of deep. So you want a deep Sunday School huh. The whole open group … [Read more...] about Deep Sunday School . . . .6 Feet Deep.
Flaunting Our Bacon
Imagine that the apostle Paul has an iPhone with Instagram capabilities. Do you think he would send this out to all of his Jewish friends: “Eat this Jews!” Because of the work of Christ people are now free to eat bacon. Yet, some early Christians had a difficult time making this transition. They grew up thinking that everything that came from a pig was dirty and defiled. In the same way some Gentiles had a difficult time eating food that had been previously offered to idols. Others believed they were free to do anything. This was Paul’s response to both: For though I am free from … [Read more...] about Flaunting Our Bacon
Reflections of a (Former) Fan of Alex Rodriguez
I've cheered for him for nearly a decade, even when a lot of Yankee fans didn't. I heard the petty taunts - "A-Fraud" and such silliness - and I just kept cheering. I heard the sniping about how much he was being paid, but I didn't care - he was worth it and anyway, was he supposed to turn the money down? He's done some weird things, for sure, through the years - knocking a ball out of the pitcher's glove, yelling at the fielder to induce a dropped fly ball, just acting a little nutty. He said things that made you scratch your head and he always seemed to be trying just a little too hard to … [Read more...] about Reflections of a (Former) Fan of Alex Rodriguez
World Missions: Overcoming Barriers to the Fulfillment of the Great Commission (Barrier #4: The Social Barrier)
The Social Barrier The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh barriers are somewhat different from the first three in that they are not unique to cross-cultural contexts. The “social barrier,” in particular, must be taken into account even in contexts in which the communicational sender is from a background that is culturally near to that of the receptor. The “social barrier” has to do with the related issues of credibility and trust. To a certain degree, these issues are tied into a successful overcoming of the first three barriers. Though there are some exceptions to the rule, someone who is … [Read more...] about World Missions: Overcoming Barriers to the Fulfillment of the Great Commission (Barrier #4: The Social Barrier)