That the glory of the Lord might cover the dry land as the waters cover the sea
On Sunday, May 15, it was my privilege to preach Mark 11, “No Fruit on the Fig Tree or in the Temple,” at Kenwood Baptist Church. Jesus is remarkably humble in this so-called triumphal entry. He enters the temple, which essentially belongs to him, and he finds no fruit there. That is, the temple custodians …
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On Sunday, May 8, 2011, it was my privilege to preach Mark 10:32–52 at Kenwood Baptist Church, “Kingdom Greatness.” An excerpt: What are some characteristics of Christ-like service, servant-greatness, slave-first-placeness? It doesn’t do this to get attention, and in doing it, doesn’t draw attention to itself. The consideration of the interests of others outranks the …
For some reason unbeknownst to me, English translations of the Psalms decided not to number the superscriptions of the Psalms. This breaks with other printed practice, since the superscriptions are numbered in printed editions of the Hebrew text as well as the Greek and Latin translations. The verse numbers are not original to the authors …
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What do I mean by cheating? Manipulating evidence so that it says what you want it to say to get people to do what you think they should do, even if that’s not what the Bible tells them to do. Making bad arguments on the basis of bogus statistics that you then use to prey …
Have you ever looked at a flower? This week we went down to Bernheim Forest, and we saw this Quiet Garden full of Peonies. Have you ever thought about how delicate, transient, gratiuitous, and useless flowers are? God has lavished his creativity, resources, energy, mental ingenuity, and power on these things that serve no other …
On Sunday, April 3, it was my privilege to preach Mark 8 at Kenwood Baptist Church, “The Turn to Jerusalem.” To this point in Mark Jesus has been ministering in Jerusalem (Mark 1–7), but after Peter’s confession here in Mark 8, he sets his face toward Jerusalem and teaches his disciples what it means to …
It was my privilege to preach at SBTS chapel this morning. You can watch here or below or download here. May the Lord bless his word.
This Sunday Kenwood Baptist Church will enjoy the ministry of the Word from Wes Pastor, who has nearly 20 years of church-planting and pastoral experience. In 1992 he launched Christ Memorial Church, now the largest Baptist church in Vermont, where he remains as senior minister. In 2000 he started the NETS Institute for Church Planting, …
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Can God bring good out of bad preaching? Here’s Jayber: “In general, I weathered even the worst sermons pretty well. They had the great virtue of causing my mind to wander. Some of the best things I have ever thought of I have thought of during bad sermons. Or I would look out the windows. …
Are you a minister who wonders what people really think? I suspect that the words people say to me probably tend to be a lot nicer than the thoughts they keep in their heads. At Andrew Peterson’s recommendation, I read (listened to the audio book) Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow. Wendell Berry gives us Jayber’s honest …
In God’s kindness we made our way through both Ezra and Nehemiah at Kenwood Baptist Church. The sermons on Ezra can be found here. May the Lord bless his word. September 12, 2010, Nehemiah 1–2, “Pray and Act” September 19, 2010, Nehemiah 3–4, “Building While the Nations Rage” October 3, 2010, Nehemiah 5, “A Wartime …
It was my privilege to preach at the installation of Ryan Bishop as the Pastor of Graham Bible Church in Graham, TX this past Sunday. The apostle Peter, the rock, follows Christ by humbling himself to serve others, identifying himself as a fellow-elder as he exhorts elders to model Christ-like self-sacrificing shepherding (1 Pet 5:1-4). …
It has been my privilege to preach through the book of Ezra at Kenwood, and here are the sermons in one post: June 27, 2010, Ezra 1-2, God Keeps His Promises July 4, 2010, Ezra 3, Disappointing Fulfillment July 18, 2010, Ezra 4, In the World You Will Have Trouble August 1, 2010, Ezra 5-6, The Second …
James Davison Hunter recently published To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, which Justin Taylor and Douglas Wilson both blogged through, and Greg Gilbert reviewed. Ezra set out to advance the kingdom of God, and seeking that agenda entailed nothing less than changing the world. Ezra …
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Time was slipping away from me yesterday, so some parts of the sermon manuscript got passed over. For instance, in Ezra 6:22, the king of Persia, Darius, is referred to as “the king of Assyria.” Here’s how the part of the manuscript that got skipped read: Ezra isn’t confused here about the identity of the …
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In his forum piece in the most recent SBJT (pp. 78-80), Kevin Vanhoozer writes, “TIS [Theological Interpretation of Scripture] holds that the most important context in which to interpret the Bible is the church.” He later states: “TIS acknowledges the Bible for what it is: the word of God at work in believers (1 Thess …
I’d love to see you in Bowling Green if you’re in the area. You can register here. Schedule August 13, 2010 5:30pm – 6:30pm Check-In 7:00pm – 10:00pm Session 1 – A Theological Vision—Churches that Display God’s Glory Session 2 – Preaching & Biblical Theology Q&A August 14, 2010 8:00am – 9:00am Continental breakfast (provided) …
Shakespeare presents Hamlet giving advice to a troupe of actors, and as I watched the fabulous reproduction of Hamlet pointed to recently by JT, it struck me that those who preach the word should heed this advice, too: Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but …
God glorifies himself as the weak overcome the proud and strong by faith, and these triumphs are like God’s creative surprises–he makes butterflies from caterpillars and oaks from acorns. Here’s my attempt to exposit Ezra 4: In the World You Will Have Trouble. The chapter is arranged thematically rather than chronologically. Here’s a chart that …
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You never know who is sitting in your class. When I was teaching at SWBTS Houston, I had the privilege of teaching Jason Skaer. It’s been an even greater privilege to see our friendship grow over the last few years, and he was kind enough to answer some questions about his conversion, how basketball (Oklahoma …
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