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.

preachers, you have enough to give an account for

Charles Spurgeon was once addressed by a young preacher who complained to Spurgeon that he did not have as big a church as he deserved. Spurgeon replied with a question: "How many do you preach to?" to which the young preacher replied "Oh, about a hundred". Solemnly, Spurgeon said "That will be enough to give account for on the day of judgment."

a 19th century description of the 21st century church

“I confess that I lay down my pen with feelings of sorrow and anxiety. There is much in the attitude of professing Christians in this day which fills me with concern, and makes me full of fear for the future. There is an amazing ignorance of Scripture among many, and a consequent want of established, solid religion. In no other way can I account for the ease with which people are, like children, "tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine." (Eph. iv. 14.) There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad, and a morbid distaste for anything old and regular, and in the beaten path of our forefathers. Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice and a new doctrine, without considering for a moment whether what they hear is true.--There is an incessant craving after any teaching which is sensational, and exciting, and rousing to the feelings.--There is an unhealthy appetite for a sort of spasmodic and hysterical Christianity. The religious life of many is little better than spiritual dram-drinking, and the "meek and quiet spirit" which St. Peter commends is clean forgotten, (1 Peter iii. 4.) Crowds, and crying, and hot rooms, and high-flown singing, and an incessant rousing of the emotions, are the only things which many care for.--Inability to distinguish differences in doctrine is spreading far and wide, and so long as the preacher is "clever" and "earnest," hundreds seem to think it must be all right, and call you dreadfully "narrow and uncharitable" if you hint that he is unsound.” JC Ryle from his book, Holiness, 1877

An apt description as well for 21st century Christianity; although there seems to be a growing hunger for old, tried, rugged, plain, confrontational, deep truth

the prime way of honoring God

"This is the prime way of honoring God. We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous services for Him as when we aspire to a conversing with Him with unstained spirits, and to live to Him in living like Him." (Stephen Charnock)

In other words, our personal integrity honors God more than our public acts of service.

"We do not study the Bible just to get to know the Bible. We study the Bible that we might get to know God better."

"We do not study the Bible just to get to know the Bible. We study the Bible that we might get to know God better. Too many earnest Bible students are content with outlines and explanations, and do not really get to know God. It is good to know the Word of God, but this should help us better know the God of the Word." Warren Wiersbe

"I know I should do it but I just don't have the desire."

Here's a video I did for our church's 31 Days of Prayer.

"to overflow spontaneously you must be full"

Trevin Wax wrote a recent blog post that is very challenging to me personally and pastorally. In summary, he challenges pastors to cultivate the kind of private life before the Lord, in His Word, that overflows in public ministry. He shared this quote from Charles Spurgeon's Lectures To My Students (p157):

If a man would speak without any present study, he must usually study much. This is a paradox perhaps, but its explanation lies upon the surface.

If I am a miller, and I have a sack brought to my door, and am asked to fill that sack with good fine flour within the next five minutes, the only way in which I can do it, is by keeping the flour-bin of my mill always full, so that I can at once open the mouth of the sack, fill it, and deliver it. I do not happen to be grinding at that time, and so far the delivery is extemporary; but I have been grinding before, and so have the flour to serve out to the customer. So, brethren, you must have been grinding, or you will not have the flour.

You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food. Work hard at every available moment. Store your minds very richly, and then, like merchants with crowded warehouses, you will have goods ready for your customers, and having arranged your good things upon the shelves of your mind, you will be able to hand them down at any time without the laborious process of going to market, sorting, folding, and preparing…Take it as a rule without exception, that to be able to overflow spontaneously you must be full.

sermon: approval junkies

Untitled from Frontline on Vimeo.

the schizophrenic young preacher

Before I preach, I always think "I never want to preach again!" Afterward, I always think "I can't wait to preach again!"

premature sermons

Have you ever had that moment at a cookout when someone brings out chicken that's not finished cooking? It smells so good. It looks so juicy and perfectly browned. And then you bite it...and what oozes out confirms the fact that it should have cooked longer.

That makes me think about the sermon preparation process. A good friend of mine and pastor said:

"I've never regretted that I held on to a sermon for too long. I've often regretted preaching a sermon too soon." John McGowan

Sometimes, in our eagerness to share something God is teaching us or has convicted us about, we preach something that needed to cook longer. Maybe it needed to cook longer in the oven of meditation/study. Maybe it needed to cook longer in the oven of our own personal obedience/application.

Either way, we as preachers should beware of preaching premature sermons.

"In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously."

John Stott died today and, praise God, he is now in the fullness of the eternal presence of God. I read a 2004 article written about him in the NY Times and was impacted by this quote:

"There's been a lot of twaddle written recently about the supposed opposition between faith and reason. To read Stott is to see someone practicing "thoughtful allegiance" to scripture. For him, Christianity means probing the mysteries of Christ. He is always exploring paradoxes. Jesus teaches humility, so why does he talk about himself so much? What does it mean to gain power through weakness, or freedom through obedience? In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously." David Brooks

So true: Jesus as God and man, the Trinity as three and one, predestination and human choice, etc.

Charles Spurgeon embraced those biblical paradoxes. He once said, "Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other." Speaking of predestination and human responsibility, he said: "These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring."

You can't consistently preach hot sermons from a lukewarm life.

"Leaders, if you create a culture of fear you will ALWAYS get the answer you WANT but NEVER the one you NEED." John McGowan

Love is an others-centered action AND an others-centered motivation (1 Cor13:3).

We can easily start to use love as a way of building our self-image. "Look at me, I'm such a loving person."

Love is not PR.

"No matter what you do, your first 200 sermons are going to be terrible." Tim Keller