That the glory of the Lord might cover the dry land as the waters cover the sea
Leviticus 18:5 says, “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.” And Paul quotes this text in Galatians 3:12, “But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’” So does this mean …
Continue reading “The One Who Does Them Shall Live by Them?”
This post is mainly in response to Bret's questions in his comments on my last post. He asked: How much does your order of worship change each week and how (and do you always) do you determine the order? At this point we haven't deviated much from the order that can be seen linked to …
My last two posts have been on Shakespearean Worship, so I thought I would post Redeemer's order of worship from last Sunday, December 4, 2005 in case you are interested in seeing how we are trying to give this hands and feet. If you want to worship with us, we invite you to visit Baptist …
The Emergent Church’s creative and asthetic attempts to help people worship call us to ask how we can best enjoy God as gathered congregations. If we don’t learn anything else from the Emergent Church, I hope that many churches will be spurred to examine the service of worship that they have cultivated. Ultimately, the issue …
Continue reading “Shakespearean Worship and the Emergent Church”
Some churches thrive on a big personality, a trendsetter who draws crowds by sheer magnetic personality. The worship in most churches, however, is led by ordinary people from whose lips profound theology does not spontaneously fall. Is it possible to have a powerful worship experience that is not dependent upon big personality-trendsetting-celebrities? Can we have …
I recently preached on Obadiah, and the sermon is now online.
T. Desmond Alexander’s little book, The Servant King: The Bible’s Portrait of the Messiah, deserves far more attention than it has received. This is a fast read that anyone can understand, and more importantly, this slim volume provides a hermeneutically legitimate way of reading the Old Testament as a messianic book. In other words, Alexander …
My friend Rob Lister recommended to me The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm, illustrated by Gail Schoonmaker. Following Graeme Goldsworthy, this fine volume teaches the Bible’s story to little tots. What a great thing to read to the children before bed! I found its depiction of the fall particularly moving. Thankfully, unlike presentations …
The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on the history of a hymn that has come to be associated with Thanksgiving, We Gather Together. Those of us not blessed to have this melody woven into the fabric of our minds can remedy the deficiency by listening to it at the Cyber Hymnal. And, if …
My Ph.D. mentor, Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner, has done us another invaluable service. He has posted links to many of his articles, presentations, book reviews, and editorials on his faculty web-page on Southern Seminary’s website. Here’s the full address: http://www.sbts.edu/theology/faculty/thomas-schreiner/ I think that Dr. Schreiner’s book reviews are so helpful that they’re one of the …
Along with John Piper’s Advent Poems, some of the best poetry being written in our day is by Eric Schumacher, who is offering a great deal ($3.50!) on a collection of his newly written hyms (just in case you want the address, here it is: http://scripturealone.blogspot.com/2005/11/songs-for-suffering-saints.html). We have employed several of Eric’s hymns in worship …
Available here.
Available here.
Available here.
Two recent books have taken up the question of how churches ought to be led, Who Runs the Church and Perspectives on Church Government. I’m a Baptist, so my main interest is in the arguments in these books as to whether congregational churches ought to be led by a single elder or a plurality of …
For the last 19 years Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has taken students on an Oxford Study Tour. This year I was one of the chaperoning faculty. We take SWBTS students to Oxford, teach them there, spend loads of time together at meals and on buses, and tour major Baptist history sites. You can view our …
Justin Taylor recently posted this famous quote from Martin Luther: "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. …
Dr. Al Mohler has written a helpful piece on theological triage. Briefly, theological triage is an attempt to "sort" the doctrines of Christianity according to their relative significance to the faith. First order doctrines are things that one must believe to be a Christian—things like the Triunity of God and the two natures of Christ. …
Continue reading “Calvinism and Arminianism: A Debate over First or Third Order Issues?”
Earlier this month I presented a paper to the Biblical Theology Study Group of the Tyndale Fellowship arguing that when Matthew claims that the events of Jesus’ birth "fulfill" the words of Isaiah 7:14 he is referring to typological fulfillment. If you’re interested, the essay is posted here. May the Lord help us to understand …
May the message of Revelation 17–18 keep us from whoring ourselves on the immoral wine of the condemned strumpet. May the Lord keep us from temptation by convincing us that the things that we are drawn to are satanic and destructive. The judgment on these hellish lies is certain. You can listen to my sermon …
Continue reading “Judgment on the Harlot Babylon: A Sermon on Revelation 17–18”