The Plodding Preacher

In his movie review of the new film "Risen," Kyle Borg finishes his article with this paragraph which reminds us of what is really important. Finally, viewers need to remember the drama of the resurrection isn’t a cinematic experience. Sure, it may glitter as only the silver screen can, but the real power of the resurrection is experienced every Lord’s Day as God’s people gather for worship. It is there that he is bringing together a community of people who are raised and seated with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:5-6). It is there that Christ is presented before our eyes as crucified in the preaching of the Word (Galatians 3:1) and in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). It is there that he gives faith to believe to the salvation of body and soul (Romans 10:17). It is there that he meets with us and we with him as he confirms again and again that the tomb is empty and we worship a living Savior. That may not be the thing that movies are made of, but it’s through these or...

Thom Rainer makes 11 observations about dead and dying churches.  The full article is HERE. 1. The church refused to look like the community. The community began a transition toward a lower socioeconomic class thirty years ago, but the church members had no desire to reach the new residents. The congregation thus became an island of middle-class members in a sea of lower-class residents. 2. The church had no community-focused ministries. This part of the autopsy may seem to be stating the obvious, but I wanted to be certain. My friend affirmed my suspicions. There was no attempt to reach the community. 3. Members became more focused on memorials. Do not hear my statement as a criticism of memorials. Indeed, I recently funded a memorial in memory of my late grandson. The memorials at the church were chairs, tables, rooms, and other places where a neat plaque could be placed. The point is that the memorials became an obsession at the church. More and more emphasis was pl...

This article lists some of the blessings that come from teaching our children the Bible. THE BLESSING OF TEACHING THE CHILDREN by   Nick Batzig 1. The blessing of remembering the central truths.   As we teach about the nature of Scripture, the Godhead, creation, providence, the fall, sin, the person and work of the Redeemer, the work of the Holy Spirit, the benefits of salvation, the church and eternity, we ourselves are reminded of what is of most importance to our own faith and life. The truths that we are to teach the children of the church are the same truths that must come home to our own hearts and minds over and over again. This is one of the great blessings of teaching the children of the church.  2. The blessing of growing in your ability to break down the deep truths.   Another of the great blessings of teaching doctrine to the children of the church is that we have to learn to break down, rather than water down, the truth. We often underesti...

God forbid that you would ever accept your wife baring herself for our entertainment! So God forbid that you would ever tolerate another woman baring herself for yours! Tim Challies - from an excellent article found HERE

Yesterday the Christian world lost a godly man.  I will always appreciate him because he wrote the notes in my first Study Bible.  Here is a good tribute. A short remembrance of Dr. Charles Ryrie by   Denny Burk   on   February 17, 2016   in   Christianity ,   Personal I was in chapel yesterday when I learned that Dr. Charles Ryrie had passed away at the age of 90. Dr. Ryrie’s name is probably most familiar to evangelicals because of his best-selling   Ryrie Study Bible . He is known to students of theology as an ardent proponent of Dispensationalism, a view that he cogently summarized in his popular book   Dispensationalism   and that he taught for many years at Dallas Theological Seminary. I will leave it to   others   to discuss Ryrie’s wider life and legacy.   Sandra Glahn   has penned a fitting tribute that is worth the read. I simply wish to share briefly about my own experience of the man. I knew ...

Why the media need to stop hounding Christian TV presenter Dan Walker By:   David Robertson   |   Feb 2016 Christian TV presenter Dan Walker has been criticised in the media this week for believing that God created the world. David Robertson responds Dan Walker is a well kent face if you are into football and enjoy Football Focus on the BBC. He is about to become a whole lot better known, as he is due to be the new face of BBC Breakfast. Normally this would only merit a couple of paragraphs in parts of the mainstream media, but Dan is different. Why did the   Daily Mail ,   Times ,   Independent   and   Telegraph   (amongst others) run lengthy articles about Mr Walker? Is Dan the first Transgender presenter? Is he the secret love child of one of the Royals? No. It’s worse than that – he’s a Christian! And not just a Christian, but a Baptist Christian. Even worse than that he actually believes in the fourth commandment ...

Major Ben Schmidt, son of Sue and David Schmidt, on Global news representing the Canadian forces. Watch Here

We all want our kids to love Jesus and His Word.  Here are some ideas for those of you with kids at home. Michelle Brock even has a link for you to download the ideas as a PDF file. 22 Ideas to Help Your Children Study And Love the Bible

A creative update by Mike Leake . And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, shut down your blog, cancel your speaking engagements, back out of that book deal, become an anonymous nobody,   and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had   a large amount of Twitter followers and had gained a good amount of notoriety . And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have ...

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross.' In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable ...

12 “SPARK” PHRASES THAT SIGNAL TROUBLE IN THE CHURCH By Chuck Lawless (see his blog HERE ) No church fire I’ve seen begins in full flame. Instead, it usually begins with a spark, a tiny glow that extends itself one flicker at a time until the flame is raging. Here are 12 “spark” phrases – words that suggest a coming fire if the flame is not extinguished: “Let’s meet without him (or her).”   Such a statement suggests secrecy that is seldom appropriate – and that often leads to division. “We were here before you came.”   The rest of the statement is understood: “and we’ll be here when you’re gone.” The implication is that some group will outlast the leader. “Now, don’t tell anyone . . . .”    When you hear these words, it’s usually best to halt the conversation there. What follows is gossip, sometimes deceitfully cloaked as a prayer request. “I don’t know everybody anymore.”   It’s an honest response to a church’s growth, but it’s also an ominous hint ...

“The smallest kid, a little scraggly-blonde kid named Jared, threw the ball back and forth with me. He asked me again if I would coach. I told him, again, no. They’d have to find someone else to coach the Rams. He caught the ball, stopped, and looked at me. He said, “Okay, but for today, can I please call you ‘Coach’?” When I got home, I had to tell my wife why I was carrying a big bag of footballs, pylons, and flags. I was now coaching the Rams. I was clueless. Over the first eight games, we not only didn’t win; we didn’t score any points. We were shut out, every game. I loved the kids, but I just didn’t know what I was doing. We’d all look over during our practices and see the Yellow Shirt Team Over There, the team that had six football dads, coaching positions, fancy drills, and football-y things I didn’t know about. They were amazing, a well-oiled machine. I feared playing them. We stunk. I think we hit rock bottom when we were penalized for wearing illegal shorts. (Apparently, yo...

It annoys me that we still fight in churches over music.  There is no area where Christians express less mercy than when the church doesn't pander to their particular musical tastes.  Many accuse the older people of this, but I have found that young people are just as rigid in their demands.  So last year in a sermon, I joked that we were going to all bagpipes all the time.  Who knew that I was ahead of my time.

In a world where Christ promised his followers hardship and persecution, prosperity preachers are incapable of being prosperity  pastors   ( John 16:33 ). This is because they promise to lead sheep toward pastures that don’t exist, feed them with words that can never satisfy, and leave them exposed to lies and doubts in the same cycle of futility into which they were born ( Isa. 55:2 ;  Eccl. 1:2 ;  Job 5:7 ;  Rom. 8:20 ).” Steven Jennings This Quotation was part of the following excellent article: Why Prosperity Pastors Don’t Actually Exist