The Plodding Preacher

"If God can bring blessing from the broken body of Jesus and glory from something that's as obscene as the cross, He can bring blessing from my problems and my pain and my unanswered prayer. I just have to trust Him." Anne Graham Lotz

One week from today is Good Friday.  In light of that fact a "Christian" theologian has just published his blog on how we can celebrate Good Friday when we don't believe in the violence of the cross. What do you do with Good Friday and the Cross when you’ve abandoned the centrality of the doctrines of substitutionary atonement and the divine necessity of Jesus’ death? Like many progressive Christians, I grew up hearing the mantras “Jesus died for our sins,” “Jesus died so that we might have eternal life and escape God’s wrath,” “Jesus paid the price for our salvation,” and “sin deserves death and Jesus stood in our place. Although these “orthodoxies” may have provided assurance for us once upon a time, to many of us who still call ourselves Christian, they no longer make sense, nor do we believe in a God who requires the death of “his” son to secure our salvation. We also see divine grace operating in other religious traditions and in the experience of faithful agno...

This is a terrific article and I hope you take the time to read it all. Sing Your Heart Out Nicholas T. Batzig   · March 25th, 2015 Many years ago, I had an employer who was intent on trying to provoke me with a variety of sacrilegious jokes and statement. Having just come back from visiting her parents over one Easter weekend, she told me how she had visited their church that Easter Sunday. What she said next left an indelible mark on my thinking about congregational singing for many years. She said, “What I don’t get is why you people don’t sing like you believe what you are singing?” She then told me that the congregation was sort of mumbling the words of the hymn, “I Serve a Risen Savior.” Rocking back and forth, she mocked this particular congregation by mumbling under her breath, “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.” Without hesitating, I agreed with her and said, “It is terrible that those who say that they believe that Christ is risen don’t ...

This past Sunday I preached on John 16:5-15 concerning the work of the Holy Spirit.  In that passage, Christ tells his disciples that the Spirit will convict, lead them in truth, and focus on glorifying Christ.  These three things are not found in many ministries that claim to have the corner on the Holy Spirit.  I suggested that any ministry that lacks these things, could not rightly be called a ministry of the Holy Spirit. Today I returned to my desk and came across a blog by a well-respected evangelical pastor.  I will not name him because, in general, I have high regard for the man and his ministry.  However, in the article, he argues that those of us who are not part of the Charismatic movement have no right to speak out against what we see happening within.  In particular, he contended that there was no reason to believe that the gift of prophecy had ceased.  He made no claim to have this gift himself, but he gave credence to those wh...

I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.~George Mueller

Tim Challies asks this loaded question yesterday in his blog.  I would commend to you his biblical answer found HERE . It is tax season again. In just a couple of weeks a lot of us will be writing a check to the government, or, far better, hoping that the government will be writing a check to us. It is this time of year when, more than any other, we are forced to think about taxes, so once again I find myself pondering the first few verses of Romans 13. Paul is writing to the church at Rome and telling them that each one of them is to actively obey the governing authorities in every situation. He makes no exceptions; he simply commands them to obey all the time—”Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” It’s interesting to think about what Paul was commanding here. Read the rest of the article .

Always remember to forget The troubles that passed away. But never forget to remember The blessings that come each day. Anonymous Irish Quotation

I came across this article today and I feel a real need to post it for you.  As a pastor I have been noticing a growing trend.  People who have passed away have been more and more leaving instructions for their family not to hold a funeral for them.  I have been personally disturbed by this trend.  Funerals are not really for the person who has died.  They are for the grieving family that is left behind.  When I read this article today, I found someone who had captured my concerns.  Please enjoy. My Funeral is Back On                       By Stan Gale I’ve heard pastors say that if people really knew what was in their hearts, they would not want them as their pastor. I can attest that pastors sin with the best of them. Lust and greed and envy and all sorts of sin roam dangerously in their hearts. Pastors don’t minister on the basis of a...

In keeping with this week's Irish theme, I want to point you to the story of Amy Carmichael.  I became interested in this lady because when we are in Ireland we fellowship at Millisle Baptist Church.  Amy's father owned the mill in this town and the present facilities of the Baptist Church are located in the school he built for the factory workers' children.  AMY CARMICHAEL 1867-1951     One of the best-known and respected missionaries of the first half of the 20 th century was Amy Carmichael.  Her 35 books have blessed countless thousands.  One who knew her well gives this testimony:  "Miss Carmichael was a blessing to all who came into intimate and understanding contact with her radiant life.  She was the most Christ-like character I ever met, and her life was the most fragrant, the most joyfully sacrificial that I have ever known."   Amy Carmichael was born in 1867 into a well-to-do North Ireland Christian family. ...

A traditional Irish prayer of thanksgiving: Thanks to Thee, O God, that I have risen today, to the rising of this life itself; may it be to Thine own glory, O God of every gift, and to the glory, aid Thou my soul. With the aiding of Thine own mercy, even as I clothe my body with wool, cover Thou my soul with the shadow of Thy wing. Help me to avoid every sin, And the source of every sin to forsake, and as the mist scatters on the crest of the hills, may each ill haze clear from my soul, O God.

" Indeed nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms. " - J. Gresham Machen

Jews Most Targeted Victims of Hate Crimes in America, on College Campuses March 5, 2015   by   Bethany Blankley Read more:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hedgerow/2015/03/jews-most-targeted-victims-of-hate-crimes-in-america-on-college-campuses/#ixzz3TeI9d2MD In America more hate crimes are   committed against Jews   than all other groups combined, according to a most recent FBI analysis on hate crimes. Most disturbing is what this video  documents:  widespread hatred and violence committed against Jews on American college campuses by Muslims. According to the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s   www.JewHatredOnCampus.org , the ten most dangerous American college campuses for Jews are: Columbia University, New York City (New York’s largest employer) Cornell University, Ithaca N.Y. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA Loyola University, Chicago, IL Portland State University, Portland, OR San Diego State University, San Diego, CA San Fr...

The Baptist Community has been stirred up recently because one of our sister churches has placed a statement on its website defending the revamped curriculum for sex education in our public schools.  This has given the usual suspects all the rationalization that they need to jump on the bandwagon and promote the progressive agenda.  I could spend a great deal of time arguing that the church is wrong in supporting this program because it promotes homosexuality and gender confusion.  However, such a debate misses the true point. This is a classic case of government creep.  The government has stuck its nose in the wrong place for so long that people can't even conceive that they shouldn't be there in the first place.  Under the mask of "health education" the government has been teaching children about sex in schools for decades now.  This has allowed them to promote an agenda to be sure, but the greater sin lies in their involvement in this area to...

[The devil’s] doctrine is easily swallowed, for it is comprehensible to reason. But here, where I am peaceful and do not seek war but strive to bring salvation to all the world and preach the Gospel, war is already at hand. The devil senses that the people are being snatched from his toils and trap and are being led into the kingdom of the Lord Christ. Therefore he agitates whomever he can, and he himself wakes up and becomes mad and furious. Thus the peaceful must have a reputation as disturbers of the peace; they must bear the blame for creating discord. But those who break the peace and start the controversy boast that they are lovers of peace. Let it go! The devil rages this way to intimidate people, lest they adhere to the Gospel. Thus he slanders Christ, His followers, and the apostles as instigators of strife and discord (Luther’s Works, volume 23, pp. 291-292).

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose."  – John Piper