Sermons in honor of Reformation Day

Today is not Halloween — at least not in my house. Tomorrow is Reformation Day. And in honor of the 489th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses on the door of the Church at Wittenburg in Germany, I would like to direct your attention to two sermons I preached in honor of Reformation Day:

• How To Get Right With God (Romans 3:21-26)
• Reformation Then … Reformation Now (Galatians 1:1-12)

Rejoice that the truth of the Gospel was recovered — grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone as revealed in the Scriptures alone. Soli Deo gloria — to the glory of God alone!

“I’d like a Dr. Pepper!” No problem, Dad! (An update)

I went to North Carolina to see my dad who is recuperating from his devastating injuries (click here to read if you’re not up to speed). He was having some complications while I was down there, and when we kept asking him how he was doing, he would say repeatedly, “I’d like a Dr. Pepper.”

Today, he passed his swallowing test and had … you guessed it … a Dr. Pepper and ate a meal for the first time since September 18. I talked to him earlier and asked him how he liked his Dr. P, he told me he was “disappointed.” It was too strong! Well, when going from feeding tubes to Dr. Peppers is like going from zero to light speed in a nanosecond. In time, though — in time!

So on the “Dad front,” life is very, very good. More later as events warrant. Thanks for your prayers.

Dad and I at the Newark International Airport in New Jersey on our way to Trinidad & Tobago, February 18, 2005 (Photo courtesy of Paul “Rainman” Rainey)

“I’d like a Dr. Pepper!” No problem, Dad! (An update)

I went to North Carolina to see my dad who is recuperating from his devastating injuries (click here to read if you’re not up to speed). He was having some complications while I was down there, and when we kept asking him how he was doing, he would say repeatedly, “I’d like a Dr. Pepper.”

Today, he passed his swallowing test and had … you guessed it … a Dr. Pepper and ate a meal for the first time since September 18. I talked to him earlier and asked him how he liked his Dr. P, he told me he was “disappointed.” It was too strong! Well, when going from feeding tubes to Dr. Peppers is like going from zero to light speed in a nanosecond. In time, though — in time!

So on the “Dad front,” life is very, very good. More later as events warrant. Thanks for your prayers.

Dad and I at the Newark International Airport in New Jersey on our way to Trinidad & Tobago, February 18, 2005 (Photo courtesy of Paul “Rainman” Rainey)

Top Reasons for Staff Termination in Churches

Chris Turner of LifeWay has posted a new article regarding the top reasons for staff termination in churches. And sadly, each of them deal with relationship issues — issues that have not changed since 1996.

The general inability to “get along” is again at the root of the top five reasons staff members in Southern Baptist churches are terminated from their positions, according to a recently completed study by LifeWay Christian Resources’ department of pastoral ministries.

Relational issues top the list for the 10th consecutive year, according to Bob Sheffield, pastoral ministries specialist. The top five are

Click here to read the rest of the article.

:

Update on Books Received for Trinidadian Pastors

As mentioned in a previous post, I have set up an Amazon wishlist of books I would like to take for the Trinidadian pastors when I go there in January. So far, three books have been purchased for them:

• Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson
• Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
• The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper

Thanks to all of you who have passed along this wishlist. Be in prayer than many books will come in for the Kingdom!

“Then They Came Together”: Unity Out of Hostility

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.

When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ’s commands. Then they came together.  Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, “What did you do then?” “We were just one,” he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred.

When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

Our Daily Bread, October 4, 1992.

“Then They Came Together”: Unity Out of Hostility

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.

When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ’s commands. Then they came together.  Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, “What did you do then?” “We were just one,” he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred.

When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

Our Daily Bread, October 4, 1992.

Tim Keller’s Defeater Beliefs

Daily, I am gaining more and more respect for Tim Keller, who serves as pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City. Notice the vision:

Redeemer’s vision is to spread the gospel, first through ourselves and then through the city by word, deed, and community; To bring about personal changes, social healing, and cultural renewal through a movement of churches and ministries that change New York City and through it, the world.

He has an excellent article dealing with what he calls “Defeater Beliefs” which expresses and answers many of the doubts about Christianity that arise specifically in our culture. He incorporated that in a lecture he gave at Covenant Seminary not long ago about Preaching to Believers and Unbelievers (this is an mp3). I listened to this as I traveled to see my dad in North Carolina on Thursday — and I felt it was one of the most revolutionary sermons I’d heard dealing with preaching. But the article will be helpful — a bit technical but worth the read for preacher and layperson alike.

Steve McCoy at Reformissionary has a host of resources from Tim Keller (click here). . More and more, I’m becoming convinced how important it is for a visible presence to be made in the community and how we are to be missionaries where we are.

Tim Keller’s Defeater Beliefs

Daily, I am gaining more and more respect for Tim Keller, who serves as pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City. Notice the vision:

Redeemer’s vision is to spread the gospel, first through ourselves and then through the city by word, deed, and community; To bring about personal changes, social healing, and cultural renewal through a movement of churches and ministries that change New York City and through it, the world.

He has an excellent article dealing with what he calls “Defeater Beliefs” which expresses and answers many of the doubts about Christianity that arise specifically in our culture. He incorporated that in a lecture he gave at Covenant Seminary not long ago about Preaching to Believers and Unbelievers (this is an mp3). I listened to this as I traveled to see my dad in North Carolina on Thursday — and I felt it was one of the most revolutionary sermons I’d heard dealing with preaching. But the article will be helpful — a bit technical but worth the read for preacher and layperson alike.

Steve McCoy at Reformissionary has a host of resources from Tim Keller (click here). . More and more, I’m becoming convinced how important it is for a visible presence to be made in the community and how we are to be missionaries where we are.

Pray as I speak at the EKU CCC

This coming Thursday (November 2nd), I will be preaching at the weekly service of the Campus Crusade for Christ at Eastern Kentucky University. They gave me two options on a text, and I chose John 17. I covet your prayers. I have a deep burden for college students, so pray that God would give me the words to demonstrate the power of the Gospel through Jesus’ high priestly prayer.