stay in intellectual shape

Pastor, one way to "stay in shape" intellectually (post-seminary) is to form a theology reading group where you read and process classic and current material with others. This could be done with your Elders/Pastors as a way to hold each other accountable to theological growth and discernment (kind of like spotting partners at the gym) or with a small group of like-minded people in the congregation.

we need to get back to biblical discipleship

"We have programmed everything to death in our Church. We have rallied it, principalized it, best practiced it. We've gotten so confused...Whatever is the latest, greatest thing becomes a surrogate for discipleship. We need to get back to biblical discipleship, getting guys connected with Jesus and staying with Him." Crawford Loritts, Desiring God 2012 Pastors Conference

God accomplishes things through our prayers

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 is an amazing passage that shows the power of prayer. The New American Standard Bible captures the flow accurately because the end of verse 10 is the beginning of one sentence that goes through the end of verse 11.

Crazy that Paul trusts God to deliver him and his ministry partners from persecution (v10) but says that the church participates in that by helping with their prayers (v11)!!!

Sometimes I really do underestimate the effectiveness of prayer. But the Bible is so clear that prayer is a means through which God accomplishes his purposes.

May we be people who wholeheartedly and maybe even illogically believe in the God to whom we pray!

Here is a great sermon answering the question "Why pray if God knows everything and has planned everything?" One of the most clear and concise messages I've heard on the subject.

Be careful. An OVER-reaction to something negative still lands you on the wrong side of positive.

This is always true.

It applies in so many spheres of life (e.g. personal, social, etc.) but I've become increasingly aware of how true this is in theology and church life. Cessationists overreact against charismatic extremes and end up treating the Spirit like something to be managed rather than Someone to be submitted to. Charismatics overreact against stoic intellectualism and often divorce experience from truth (yes, there is a difference). Liberals (like the emergent church movement) overreact against dogmatism and lapse into relativism (among other errors). Fundamentalists overreact against secularism and end up isolating themselves from...well, everybody.

Social activists overreact against the often reductionistic emphasis of many churches on evangelism and end up reducing the gospel to the good news of upcoming service projects. Evangelism people overreact to social justice people and make serving the poor the equivalent of the free weekend you get at a resort as long as you listen to the timeshare presentation (That's not service by the way; that's marketing). Grace people overreact against moralism and minimize (or eliminate) the necessity of hard work inherent in our sanctification. Seeker-friendly churches often overreact against inward-focused churches and end up making customers rather than disciples.

I could keep doing this. And I will keep doing this as I see overreactions in my own life.

Scripture is the weight that brings us into balance. And yes, we often ironically justify our overreactions with Scripture. But that's a problem with us, not the Bible. We have to continually come before God in His Word, with confidence that His Spirit guides us and with humble awareness that our view may in fact reflect more of our particular theological tradition than the text itself.

But hey, maybe this post is an overreaction....Nah.

"is God sovereign or are we free?" and other theological tensions

My daughter Ava is having a really hard time understanding whether this is "a bottle or "water." It's actually pretty hilarious. The answer is obviously "both."

Makes me wonder if God looks on our theological conundrums and says "Awww, poor baby."

who has true faith?

Helpful distinction:

"Because of the invisible nature of saving faith and because of the complications introduced by the human capacity for inconsistency, we have no infallible way of detecting who possesses true faith in the gospel. What we can do, however, is evaluate who professes faith in the true gospel. We cannot judge the truth (reality) of their faith, but we can—and must—judge the truth (veracity) of the gospel they profess." (Dr. Albert Mohler in Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism)

Note: This is not to diminish the reality of our ability to evaluate whether or not someone's lifestyle is consistent with their professed faith (Titus 1:16; 1 John 2:4-6; 3:6; James 2:17, 24).