SBC Voices

Written on behalf of someone I know.... Even though I attended church until I was 16, I didn’t really know the Christmas story.  I was clueless about prophecies and fulfillments, about Herod’s political intrigues, about the communicative appearances of angels for Mary, Joseph, and Zechariah.  Imperial decrees regarding taxation and census meant nothing to me; the role of the shepherds in the Christmas story was a mystery.  When I left the church halfway through high school, I had no idea Christ was the Incarnation, the image of the invisible God. This had nothing to do with the doctrine … [Read more...] about Deafness, Language, Assumptions, and Judges 2:10

The Bible is an interesting book.  It is one story authored over thousands of years that tells us the history of redemption by God in Christ.  It is the wisdom and guidance of God, a love story for sinful human beings; inspired, infallible and inerrant.  The Bible is all of that. And it is also, at times, very confusing.  Admit it.  There are a lot of passages I just don't understand.  There are things God does that boggle my senses and  truths taught in the Bible that blow my mind. And to cap it all off, there are verses that seem to line up on both sides of most issues.  You know it's … [Read more...] about Understanding Antinomy: A Key to Peace in the Calvinism Debate?

Dr. Albert Mohler is to be credited for promoting a helpful theological grid which assigns to each doctrine a level of importance for Christian faith and practice. While his theological triage framework is conceptually sound, one cannot help but wonder about the convenience with which he somewhat avoids the placement of Calvinism. In the above article, for example, no specific mention is made of soteriology, unless one interprets it as among "any number of issues related to the interpretation of difficult texts," a classification rendering it in the relatively unimportant third-tier category, … [Read more...] about Will Calvinism Shed A Tier?

NOTE: I have just released a book which compiles (and edits and expands) these posts. It is called "Disqualified? What the Bible Says about Divorce, Remarriage and Ministry."   It is available on Amazon.com. The Kindle version will be released in the next couple of days - not sure what the hold-up is there. This book reviews the biblical evidence on divorce and remarriage, beginning with the cornerstone in the Old Testament - the twin principles of God's intent of marriage as a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman and the understanding of the brokenness caused by sin. It then lays the … [Read more...] about Divorce, Remarriage and Ministry: A Summary of Biblical Teachings on Divorce

I was listening to Francis Chan, and he made an interesting statement.  If you started a church today and you had no knowledge of a church, never been to a church and never seen a church, all you had was the New Testament, what would your church look like?  That got me thinking, what would a New Testament church look like?  How would we behave?  What would we do?  How would we meet?  Where would we meet and how often?  Is what we have today really a New Testament church? In the New Testament, how many people came and just sat and left?  How many were not radically changed?  In today's … [Read more...] about Church, Are We Doing This Right?

Until I get to visit my grandson. Then I realize how little it really matters. I'll get back to it when I get back to it. … [Read more...] about Blogging seems important….

There is a phrase that I use quite frequently in my preaching, writing, and praying before services.  In some form or fashion I often say that the Christian life is a quest to enjoy what Christ has already purchased.  I doubt that the phrase is original with me (so little is original with me—that’s why I say that).  However, I thought it may be wise to show where I get this notion from Scripture. Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians with two really long run-on sentences (v3-14 and 15-23).  In 1:3-14 Paul outlines the “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” that are ours in … [Read more...] about Enjoying What Christ Purchased

The end draweth nigh.  Well, I don't know about that end, but the end of the discussion on whether we should accept the recommendation of the task force to adopt the unofficial moniker "Great Commission Baptists" to be used by Southern Baptists.  We've hashed and rehashed it and then rehashed it again.  We've had no shortage of articles published here (mostly against the proposal) and we've discussed it from just about every angle. But now we are about 6 weeks out from the convention and the time is coming to stop talking and start voting.  Bart Barber had an article last week that spelled … [Read more...] about Why “Great Commission Baptists” Matters to Me

Josh King is the lead pastor of Sachse's First Baptist Church in Sachse, TX, and has a blog called JoWiKi.  I am grateful for this post which he shared with us. Social media is a strange beast. The lines between what is socially acceptable have not yet been clearly defined as it relates to twitter and the like. While that is the case I am growing increasingly concerned with the way many young ministers seem to use it in the fine art of self promotion. I am not an expert and have probably crossed the line a time or two but I have put some thought into this. See if you agree with this list … [Read more...] about Social Media and the Fine Art of Self-Promotion (by Josh King)