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Oct 2013 31 Oct 31, 2013
1

Read closely Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 14:14-19. “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? Fo...Read More

Oct 2013 30 Oct 30, 2013
1

Look closely at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:3-5. “On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built...Read More

Oct 2013 29 Oct 29, 2013
1

One of the arguments used by cessationists to prove that speaking in tongues in private prayer or in the corporate assembly (even with interpretation) is not a valid experience today is their insistence that tongues in the NT were evangelistic. That is to say, this spiritual gift was given by God primarily, if not exclusively, to enable a believer to share the gospel with non-Christians who spoke a different language. But there is no evidence that tongues-speech was des...Read More

Oct 2013 28 Oct 28, 2013
8

Are tongues human languages? This is a key question for those who say the gift of tongues has ceased for today. To answer that question, a study was conducted of people who claimed to speak in tongues (William Samarin, Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism [New York: MacMillan, 1972]). The conclusion was that rarely, if ever, did any of the subjects speak in what we know to be human dialects. Cessationists have made much of this study becau...Read More

Oct 2013 26 Oct 26, 2013

This is a book that I have looked to as a reference material more than merely something to sit down and read through. The things I have read in it are valuable insights into so very choppy waters. It is well written in a manner that anyone would be able to read. I particularly appreciate the cover design. While the cover for some books is often less than desirable this books cover is completely functional because it lists all of the different topics that are discussed wi...Read More

Oct 2013 25 Oct 25, 2013
9

The recent Strange Fire conference generated a lot of discussion concerning the “prophetic” ministry of Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892). Given the fact that Spurgeon was, in all likelihood, a cessationist, the reactions have been interesting! Let me explain. Spurgeon tells of one particular incident that occurred in the middle of his sermon. “While preaching in the hall, on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd, and sa...Read More

Oct 2013 24 Oct 24, 2013
7

In the on-going dialogue between cessationists and continuationists there is a passage that the former almost always mention. It is, in many instances, their go-to text, their trump card, so to speak. But a close look at Ephesians 2:20 will demonstrate that it fails to accomplish what the cessationist desires. Paul writes: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on th...Read More

Oct 2013 23 Oct 23, 2013

[In the wake of the Strange Fire conference I thought it might be helpful to post again an article I wrote a couple of months ago and published at this site.] It seems everyone has an opinion on what is known as the charismatic movement. I’m no exception. But in this article I want to focus on what I perceive to be both its strengths and weaknesses. In a subsequent post I’ll comment on what I think is most needed in the charismatic world for it to move forwa...Read More

Oct 2013 23 Oct 23, 2013
2

There are numerous other issues we could address, but I want to talk about the one most visibly relevant: physical posture. Although I’ve written on this before, I think it is important enough to address once again. If you were to visit Bridgeway Church, where I am pastor, you would know that we freely and frequently lift our hands when we worship. Some people kneel down. Some sit. Some just stand. Some even dance. On more than one occasion I’ve been asked:...Read More

Oct 2013 22 Oct 22, 2013

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth&rdq...Read More

Oct 2013 21 Oct 21, 2013
16

[In view of the recent Strange Fire conference in California and the numerous critical comments made about so-called “charismatic worship,” I want to spend some time articulating several truths about the nature of worship in Spirit and in Truth. This, therefore, is the first of three articles on this subject.] Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You wors...Read More

Oct 2013 19 Oct 19, 2013
1

A few days ago I wrote an article outlining a dozen things God has done with our sin. I want to follow up on that today by drawing our attention to three things he doesn’t and never will do with it. (1) He doesn’t and never will use it to determine how he will “deal” with us (Ps. 103:10a) (2) He doesn’t and never will appeal to our sin in order to repay us (Ps. 103:10b) (3) He doesn’t and never will count it or impute it against us ...Read More

Oct 2013 18 Oct 18, 2013
3

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). As I said at the close of the previous article, we must be clear about the inter-connection or inter-relationships among love, faith, and joy. You can’t have one without having all three. For example, would it not be a contradiction to say: “I am attracted to the preci...Read More

Oct 2013 17 Oct 17, 2013

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). We saw in the previous article that Peter is providing us here with a description of what I called quintessential Christianity. This is what Christian living is in its purest and most godly form, after faith has been tested and refined by the fire of suffering. First, observe that...Read More

Oct 2013 16 Oct 16, 2013
20

Most are aware of the Strange Fire conference currently underway at John MacArthur’s church in California. It is specifically designed to argue that charismatics, broadly conceived, are guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Yes, you read that correctly. Today, my friend Michael Patton wrote an excellent article that can be read at the blog for Parchment and Pen (www.reclaimingthemind.org). Michael Brown also made an appeal to MacArthur on the Charisma News websit...Read More

Oct 2013 16 Oct 16, 2013
3

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). Define “Christian”. What does it mean? Shift your mind out of neutral for just a moment and think. What is the essence of Christianity? When the secondary issues are set aside, when the extra baggage is eliminated, when all the superficial junk so often associated with ...Read More

Oct 2013 15 Oct 15, 2013
1

All of us at some time or another, to varying degrees, struggle with the fear and the apprehension that perhaps God has not dealt fully and finally with our sin. We read in Scripture about the “joy” of our salvation and we’ve tasted it, a bit here and a bit there. But there is often this unshakable sense of condemnation that simply won’t go away. It haunts us and taunts us and wants us to believe that there’s simply no way God could look wit...Read More

Oct 2013 14 Oct 14, 2013
1

People often have grave and deceptive misunderstandings of what it means to be sanctified or to grow up in Christ. All too often they gravitate to one of two extremes. J. I. Packer refers to one extreme as “rhapsody without realism” (Rediscovering Holiness, 163). These are folk who concentrate “totally on devotional exercises, experiences of divine love, ecstasies of assurance, expressions of their own love to God, and the maintaining of emotional warmt...Read More

Oct 2013 12 Oct 12, 2013

Is inerrancy essential to biblical authority? Yes, says J. I. Packer. Can we speak meaningfully of the authority of the Bible in and over our lives if it is riddled with factual error and historical mistake and chronological discord and theological inconsistency? No, says Packer. Packer insists “that in the realm of belief, authority belongs to truth and truly only. . . . I can make no sense – no reverent sense, anyway – of the idea, sometimes met, that...Read More

Oct 2013 11 Oct 11, 2013
1

On August 5, 1563, John Calvin wrote a letter of encouragement and counsel to Madame de Coligny, the wife of one of the more important leaders of the Protestant Reformation in France. She had recently recovered from a struggle with numerous physical afflictions. In direct reference to her diseases, and all of ours as well, Calvin said: “They [that is, our physical afflictions and diseases] should, moreover, serve us for medicines to purge us from worldly affecti...Read More

Oct 2013 10 Oct 10, 2013
1

Most Christians struggle at one time or another, and some all the time, with the pain of suffering and questions about how, if at all, it fits into God’s plan for our spiritual growth. J. I. Packer is our instructor on this point, especially as found in his inexcusably overlooked and neglected work, Hot Tub Religion: “Holiness is not a price we pay for final salvation, but is, rather, the road by which we reach it, and sanctification is the process whereby...Read More

Oct 2013 10 Oct 10, 2013

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Rev. 5:5-6). [Edwards continues his portrayal o...Read More

Oct 2013 9 Oct 9, 2013

Following up on an earlier post in which I talked about things I wish I had known or done when I was early on in my pastoral ministry, here I want to touch on some counsel for pastors. (1) Being fuzzy about the Bible, truth, and life is not a virtue. Fuzziness is usually done to avoid offense or to gain favor or to avoid the loss of money or to promote oneself. Most who are fuzzy are trying to impress others with their brilliance. You’ll know what I mean when you ...Read More

Oct 2013 8 Oct 8, 2013
3

What follows is the substance of a brief talk I delivered to the Oklahoma chapter of the Gospel Coalition on October 2, 2013. I will post it in two parts. The first article identifies a few things “I wish I had known or done” but, sadly, didn’t. In the second installment I’ll focus on some lessons I’ve learned, maybe a small bit of pastoral wisdom as well, and put them in the form of encouragement for the future. But let me first speak about...Read More

Oct 2013 7 Oct 7, 2013

The Christian life, or sanctification, is partly a matter of putting “to death the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13), what some translations refer to as the “mortification” of sin. “This too,” notes J. I. Packer, “is hard. It is a matter of negating, wishing dead, and laboring to thwart, inclinations, cravings, and habits that have been in you . . . for a long time. Pain and grief, moans and groans, will certainly be involved, for y...Read More

Oct 2013 7 Oct 7, 2013
1

[What follows is the substance of a brief, 10-minute, talk I gave at the recent national conference of Desiring God, a gathering that focused on C. S. Lewis as a “Romantic Rationalist.” In case you weren’t aware, Lewis died 50 years ago in 1963, on the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. My focus in this brief talk was how Lewis changed the way I worship.] Let me say right from the start that when I refer to “the way I worship&rd...Read More

Oct 2013 5 Oct 5, 2013

Matt Chandler (with Jared C. Wilson), To Live is Christ, To Die is Gain (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2013), 224 pp. I’m privileged not only to be the pastor of a church that is an active member of the Acts 29 Network, but I’ve also been given the honor of serving on its Board of Directors. I’m excited about Acts 29 and the vision it has cast for planting churches that plant churches. Aside from one or two others, I’m probably the oldest guy ...Read More

Oct 2013 4 Oct 4, 2013
2

Christians have long struggled with why hell is eternal. One of the principal reasons is that it seems unfair to them that supposedly finite sins, committed briefly in time, should warrant an eternity of judgment. Jonathan Edwards had this to say: “The crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another, is proportionably more or less heinous, as he was under greater or less obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any being that we are under ...Read More

Oct 2013 3 Oct 3, 2013
2

What must we think when we fall into those seasons of life where God seems distant and life is dark? J. I. Packer speaks to us with great wisdom and encouragement. He writes: [Sometimes] “God brings on dryness, with resultant restlessness of heart, in order to induce a new depth of humble, hopeful openness to himself, which he then crowns with a liberating and animating reassurance of his love – one that goes beyond anything that was sensed before. As Chri...Read More

Oct 2013 3 Oct 3, 2013

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Rev. 5:5-6). [Edwards continues his portrayal o...Read More

Oct 2013 2 Oct 2, 2013

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all....Read More

Oct 2013 1 Oct 1, 2013
1

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all....Read More