a glimpse into my bible study

exultation

"Teachers and parents who do not exult over God in their teaching will not bring about exultation in God. Dry, unemotional, indifferent teaching about God - whether at home or at church - is a half-truth, at best. It says one thing about God and portrays another thing. It is inconsistent. It says that God is great, but teaches as if God is not great."

John Piper in a sermon entitled One Generation Shall Praise Your Works to Another

major doctrines vs. minor doctrines

Elders/Pastors have the responsibility of delineating which doctrines are clear and necessary to believe for church membership/leadership and which doctrines are less clear and less critical.

Wayne Grudem offers a helpful guideline for making those distinctions:

"A major doctrine is one that has significant impact on our thinking about other doctrines, or that has a significant impact on how we live the Christian life. A minor doctrine is one that has very little impact on how we think about other doctrines, and very little impact on how we live the Christian life" (Systematic Theology, p.29).

Obviously, that is is still subjective--we have to decide how to measure "significant" versus "little" impact--but I think it's a helpful start in trying to sort through it all.

VIDEO: dr. gardner taylor advice to young preachers

note to worship leaders

"Far better than the sweet harmonies of a few trained singers is the rough and hale sound of pardoned criminals, delighting with one voice in their Savior. The most beautiful instrument in any Christian service is the sound of the congregation singing." (Jonathan Leeman in Reverberation)

Empathy is one of the first steps toward humility.

When we see someone respond to a set of circumstances in a way that we disagree with, it often fills us with self-righteousness and impatience. Rather than get so indignant about what we can't identify with, we should start with what we can identify with.

Empathize with how they feel even if you can't identify with how they respond.

For example, a husband may get irritated with his wife because she cries and gets paralyzed when she's stressed. Instead, he should empathize with what it feels like to be stressed. He may not identify with crying (maybe stress causes him to be a workaholic) but identifying with how she feels will humble him and temper his irritation. The same dynamic applies to how a faithful believer views a flagrant sinner. You may not be able to identify with the particular sin, but you can most likely empathize with the temptation. That first step of empathy may not change your view of that sin but prayerfully it will change your approach to that person.

Ultimately, every Christian should continually empathize with the universal need for the grace of God in Christ. That should always make us humble people.