This is Part 2 of the two part series on the difficulties and blessings of systematic exposition. You can read Part 1 here. “. . .So is it worth it? Should we abandon systematic, passage by passage, exposition of entire books of the Bible? Should we go to a topical approach of preaching? Or perhaps one popular method today is…
Category: <span>Doctrine</span>
This is a two part post. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow. My target audience is my fellow pastors/preachers and those who would desire this office of “Overseer.” There are real difficulties in committing to preach systematically through entire books of the Bible in what we call passage by passage or verse by verse exposition. Part 1 will deal with…
In the “Western” world, we are success driven. This is not a bad thing of its own accord. We all want to be successful and we ought to desire success. No one wants to be a loser. But how we define success makes all the difference in this life and the life to come. When Jesus was teaching the Sermon…
I have always liked the children’s song, “Jesus Loves Me,” but was thinking about a greater truth this week, something that is more fundamental than the love that Jesus has for us as his children. It is what Jesus said in John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and am known of mine.” Jesus knows…
*of course there are valid reasons why someone cannot go to church on any given Sunday (illness, out-of-town, work, etc.) that is not what is being addressed in this article. The intent of this article list is to deal with the avoidable excuses for not being faithful to attend your local church. You need to be around other Christians. “Let…
I am relentlessly challenged by the magnificence of the Psalms, especially those penned by David while he was in despair. To those Christians who have or do struggle with the gloomy darkness of depression, these Psalms are like a sweet salve to the soul. I love the way David’s writing always begins with sincere honesty of his depressive struggle, but…
The phrase “derived authority” is a good way to explain pastoral authority, in that the authority pastors have, is derived first from the Scripture and second from the congregation who asks them to lead them. “Delegated authority” is a good way to explain deacon authority. In 1 Timothy 3, Paul instructs Timothy on the quality of men who should occupy…
What Do We Do Now? This morning, as I read the decision by our nation’s Supreme Court to declare gay marriage legal in all fifty states, the first thing that came to my mind was, “What do we do now?” There is a real fear over the continuation of religious freedoms that American churches have enjoyed for a long time…
Congregational authority is derived from the Word of God and is limited to those areas where the Bible gives his people instructions. According to Baptist polity, the regenerated church, assembled in particular localities and autonomously governed, under the principles and commands of Scripture, has authority to admit into membership born again and baptized believers; to expel and remove from fellowship…
Congregational Polity Congregationalism run amok has become a calling card for critics to decry baptistic polity. Sure, it is true that if only sheep lead the sheep, then the entire flock could be in grave danger. While it is true that some churches have an unhealthy practice of congregational polity, one that is more “Americanized” in its application than Biblical; this…