One thing I like about the blogosphere is being able to find multiple articles that are interesting quickly. Today, I decided to link to some interesting stories or articles. RC Sproul on Creation R.C. Sproul is a leading Reformed author and preacher and I often wondered what his views on a literal 6-day Creation were (Some reformed guys are not…
Category: <span>Fundamentalism</span>
For every Timothy who is ready to stand with you even at the expense of his own physical and mental well-being (I Timothy4:12-14, 5:20-23) there is a Demas who will forsake you because his present circumstances trumps faithful loyalty (2 Timothy 4:10). For every Epaphroditus who will fight with you as a fellow soldier who will minister to your needs…
As I was looking back through some of my sermons throughout 2010, I came across a short challenge (not an expositional sermon) I shared with our church family around the beginning of 2010. I titled it “My Passion For Our Church in 2010” (Yah, I know real original). But as I was looking through it, I was convicted and encouraged…
In September of 2009 I wrote a series of articles detailing the definition, need, and practice of what is called “expositional” preaching. You can be refreshed if you like by reading the articles linked below. The Primacy of Exposition The Preparation for Exposition The Presentation of Exposition The Need for Exposition Exposition and Ezra To recap: Expositional preaching is explaining…
This is part 2 of the 3 part series on the Christian and Halloween. History of Halloween Medieval and Modern In Medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church enjoyed great influence not just religiously and politically, but also culturally. Pope Boniface IV declared November 1 as “All Saints Day” and subsequently October 31 became known as “All Hallows Eve.” Merging the…
This is Part 1 of a 3 part series written primarily for Christians who wonder about their participation in Halloween. Stay tuned! Every year around the end of September, Christian publications and blogs begin a monthly process debating whether a Christian should observe Halloween. With this happening every year, you would think that eventually Christians would at some point have…
I am becoming more and more convinced that two qualities of life that are absolutely necessary to preaching the gospel are humility and love. Of course these two qualities are necessary whether one is preaching the gospel publicly in a formal setting or preaching the gospel “across the fence.” However, my thoughts are more inclined toward the public proclamation of…
The Lord has used some people recently in my life to teach me about priorities. I am not talking about priorities when it comes to human beings, but rather priorities as a minister of the Word of God, a preacher, if you will. These are not new things, just things that I need to put in remembrance. 1. My personal…
I have been studying the use of the words “anger, wrath, hatred, fury, indignation” in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. Although, there are several words used in the original languages (Greek) that correspond to these translations, there are three common Greek words and their derivatives. Orge-noun and orgidzo-verb which are translated wrath, anger, indignation, fury-but most commonly “wrath”; miseo/misos which is translated as hate, hatred, etc.; and thumos which is translated passion, wrath, or anger (I only referenced the passages referring to “passion that stirs up anger”, not sensual passion).
Although these words are used at times interchangeably, they are not completely synonymous. I won’t go into the details of the comprehensive word searching and studying of each passage, but I did want to draw a few applications from my study.
Thirty one of the ninety-three instances (or thereabouts) refer specifically and uniquely to God’s wrath and anger in judgment. Most if not all of those references refer to ultimate or final judgment upon unbelief. Fifty-one instances reference mankind and anger, wrath, or hatred. I broke down these instances categorizing them as Command/Principle and Example/Illustration.
Responsibilities of Pastors to the Church
God’s organized organism is the local church. The local church is made up of sinners who have placed their trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and restoration of relational worship with God having become saints. God has placed leadership over his church to guide her and protect her, not to lord and control the church’s saints (I Pet. 5:1-4). God gave the church two categories of gifted leaders both to form the structure and to facilitate growth and expansion of the church (Eph. 4:11-13). God’s ultimate intent is glory in and through the church (Eph. 3:21). God’s glory in building his church is accomplished when God’s leadership and God’s people function in harmony with each other. There is a Biblical pattern for how this is accomplished.
Formative Gifts (Eph. 4:11)
Originally, God gave Apostles to form the structure of the church, this was the job of the twelve, Paul calls himself one born out of due time, and the least of the Apostles. In other words, he recognized that the original twelve were apostles, and he was the exception to the rule. God used the Apostles to give Spirit led structure and teaching to the church. As the Apostles died off, so did their gift, but their teaching remains in the NT which really is God’s teaching as he led each one specifically in his writing (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:20-21). Prophets were other individuals God used along with the Apostles to form doctrine and correct understanding of God’s Word—Mark, James, Jude, Luke, were examples of Prophets. As the Word of God was completed and the Apostolic age came to a conclusion, the prophetic gifts also ceased to be necessary for the church. The Apostles and Prophets were used of God to form his church, and God used the next two gifted leaders to expand and lead his church.
Expansive Gifts (Eph. 4:11)
Evangelists or literally, gospelizers, were those individuals who were led by God to expand the ministry of the church by preaching the Gospel and organizing together those who accept the Gospel into local churches. I believe many have misunderstood the gift of evangelists and have characterized them as itinerate preachers who travel in RV’s doing week long revival meetings. I hardly believe that is what Paul had in mind when he told Timothy, the young pastor, to do the work of an evangelist. The fourth tier of leadership God gave is called Pastor/Teacher.