Posted in Christianity, Godliness, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Paul Washer, Preaching, Reformed, SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE, Theology on February 8, 2024| 26 Comments »
One benefits (among many) of knowing Biblical Greek and applying it to exegesis is that it causes one to give more attention to the Scripture, which yields more insight into the Word of God.
When I look at the salutation of 1 Timothy, which is found in the first two verses, I think many can easily gaze over it and not see anything spiritual or theological.
One thing I see in the text is that there are clues that Jesus is God, from these two simple verses.
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Paul Washer, Preaching, Reformed, SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE, Theology on May 9, 2023| 15 Comments »
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Paul Washer, Preaching, Reformed, SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE, Theology on March 23, 2023| 35 Comments »
When I think of Timothy in the Bible I often think about the Pastoral Epistles, an assistant of Paul and a missionary of sorts.
But there’s one thing that I have been thinking about lately concerning Timothy’s role.
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Paul Washer, Preaching, Reformed, SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE, Theology on March 10, 2023| 38 Comments »
Christians: When you hear the Gospel preach, do you feel its something not for you, but for the non-Christians?
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Paul Washer, Preaching, Reformed, SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE, Theology on February 10, 2023| 40 Comments »
I rarely write a post before I finish it; usually after I’m done I write a review.
But today I thought I share a quote from what I’m reading that summarizes the Gospel.
As a preacher I love ending the sermon with hope and turning listeners attention to Jesus and the Gospel. So in a way I’m always thinking about how to summarize the Gospel (so its not two sermons in one!). Of course I do believe the whole Bible has a trajectory towards the Gospel. But I also think in closing a sermon there needs to be a clear, simple and accurate summary of the Gospel that is a part of the call to listeners to respond to the Gospel.
So with that as background I really enjoyed this Gospel summary:
Posted in Book Review, Christianity, Crossway, God, Godliness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, loneliness, Reformed, Theology, tagged book review, Christianity, Crossway, God, Godliness, Gospel, Jesus Christ, loneliness, lonely, Reformed, Theology on March 30, 2020| 12 Comments »
Lydia Brownback. Finding God in My Loneliness. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, February 28th 2017. 174 pp.
4 out of 5
Purchase: Westminster |Amazon
Do you struggle with loneliness? If so how do you handle loneliness biblically? This book is a great resources for anyone going through the trial of being lonely. I have not heard of the author Lydia Brownback before I read this book so I did not had any expectation in the beginning but when I finished the book I realized I was quite impressed and edified by the content of this book. The work was refreshingly biblical and I am glad that the author is one of the senior editors at Crossway
Posted in Book Review, Christian book, Christianity, Godliness, Reformed, Theology, tagged Christianity, Gene Getz, man of God on April 26, 2017| 9 Comments »
Gene Getz. The Measure of a Man: Twenty Attributes of A Godly Man. Ventura, CA: Regal, August 9th 2004. 256 pp.
3 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon
I have seen this title a few times in different setting and I thought I give this a read. Since I did not know what to expect I must say half way through the book I discovered I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it.
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, holiness, Love of God, love of money, materialism, Reformed, Theology on October 16, 2016| 4 Comments »
The last few Sundays we have featured posts tackling the sin of the love of money. I thought I share them all in one post as a table of contents.
The first post is important because if one doesn’t realize they have the love of money, they aren’t going to see the importance of how one combat one’s love of money. The second and third posts deals with fighting against the love of money in terms of what to put off and what to put on instead, respectively.
Here are the posts:
Posted in Biblical Leadership, Christianity, Church, Church elders, Eldership, God, Godliness, Overseer, Reformed, Theology on September 18, 2016| 11 Comments »
1 Timothy 3:2 teaches that an Overseer must be above reproach. The passage says “An overseer, then, must be above reproach” (2a).
But what does “above reproach” mean?
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, holiness, ministry, ministry success, Reformed, Theology, Too big to fail on August 20, 2016| 17 Comments »
I begin first with an analogy from the physical realm. There’s a business idea out there that some businesses out there are “too big to fail.” There’s even an investopedia definition of this economic term:
“Too big to fail” is the idea that specific businesses, such as the biggest banks, are so vital to the U.S. economy that it would be disastrous if they went bankrupt. The government would provide bailouts to protect creditors against losses and enable managers to retain their high wages and bonuses.
Of course the idea of “too big to fail” is a dangerous mentality for those in the leadership of these big businesses, because there is less incentive for them to do the right thing and more incentive to take irrational risks because there’s always a safety net of the American tax payer. In the end we pay for these business mistakes instead of the businesses and the business leaders.
This leads to a corollary that there are some people who are “too big to jail.” For instance, recently Green Party’s candidate Jill Stein have pointed out how Hillary was ‘too big to jail’ in email case. This isn’t just with Hillary Clinton, its been true with other federal government bureaucrats too.
I believe many Christians believe there’s something wrong with the mentality of “too big to fail” and “too big to jail” in the examples mentioned. But when it comes to the spiritual realm of Christians, some have adopted the very mentality that they reject in other sphere.
Posted in Book Review, Christian Life, Christian living, Christianity, Godliness, holiness, Lou Priolo, Reformed, Reformed Theology, responsibility, Sanctification, Theology on July 28, 2016| 6 Comments »
Lou Priolo. Faithfulness: No More Excuses. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, June 30th, 2016. 48 pp.
This is an excellent resource on Christian living using biblical principles and God centered motivation. I realize the term “faithfulness” can be rather broad and my only real critique of this book is that it might have been better titled “Responsibilities” or something along that line so readers understand right away what the book is about. I totally enjoyed this book and found it immensely practical and helpful. Even for those who would say they are quite responsible would benefit from this book as the beginning of this work made clear that the more one grows in responsibilities, the more one sees one’s shortcoming and need for grace for improvement. With such an introduction I was compelled to read this all the way through.
Posted in Christianity, God, Godliness, Gospel, Grace, holiness, legalism, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on May 7, 2016| 21 Comments »
In another forum someone asked a good question about what are the signs one might know they are walking more of an attitude of legalism rather than by God’s grace. I think this is an important question Christians should think about.
Here’s my quick reply:
Posted in Christianity, Church, God, Godliness, Jesus, Reformed, Spiritual growth, Theology on April 3, 2016| 9 Comments »
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 states:
Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
We begin first with looking at the two commands then ask with what shall we carry out the commands.
Posted in Christianity, Godliness, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, Paul Washer, Preaching, Reformed, SHEPHERD'S CONFERENCE, Theology on March 12, 2016| 11 Comments »
I really enjoy Paul Washer’s sermon today during the Shepherd’s Conference. That was Christ Centered Preaching!
I wasn’t really able to take much notes but here’s one quote that I was edified with:
Posted in Christian living, Christianity, Glory of Christ, glory of God, God, Godliness, holiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Michael Riccardi, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on March 9, 2016| 5 Comments »
Note: Currently the book is not in stock with Amazon but Grace Books do have this book on sale.
Michael Riccardi. Sanctification: The Christian Pursuit of God-Given Holiness. Sun Valley, CA: Grace Books, 2015. 78 pp.
This is a short book on sanctification by Michael Riccardi, the pastor of local outreach at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is the Senior Pastor. It is true that you shouldn’t just a book by its cover—nor by its size. While it is only 78 pages long, the content of the book is packed with biblical truths that would sanctify readers. Riccardi’s chief purpose in the book is to argue that beholding the glory of Christ is foundational and the motivation that fuel Christian sanctification. His thesis is well argued and for the last two weeks since reading the book it has left me renewed and in awe of Christ’s glory and it’s connection with our sanctification.
The Domain for Truth 