One of the great problems we have in studying issues of church government is that we too readily start with the New Testament, and try to build our doctrine there from scratch. But when the New Testament writers used the term elder, the readers already knew what that word meant, and moreover, they had known …
Thinking Outside the Cliche
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 47 Those who are interested in improving their performance in business will find no shortage of books offering to help along the way. The American market is glutted with “guru management” books of all kinds. Those who are interested in …
Pentecost in Public
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Our Father and God, we praise You now in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. You are the one who poured out the Holy Spirit on the great day of Pentecost, and there empowered Your Church to be Your people forever and …
Music for Jericho
We rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit of God, who was poured out upon us so that we could be the true Israel of God in a pagan and dark world. As the true Israel of God, we are summoned and equipped to confront and overcome the paganism of the unbelieving world. In …
The Laws of Thought
I mentioned in the last post that I had co-written a logic text. The following is a draft of something that will be going into the next revision. Here tis: In order to reason well, we have to assume certain things that never show up as particular items in our argument. They are simply (and …
THE PROBLEM OF WINESKINS/PENTECOST 2005
Introduction: Pentecost is not only an important event in the history of the Church, but is also one of the key events in the history of the world. Pentecost celebrates something that has happened to the world, and the Scriptures teach that nothing can be done to reverse this. THE TEXTS: “Then came to him …
Except For Prisms
Been a while since I wrote anything about the Auburn Avenue stuff. So why not? says I. A gentleman named Paul Manata has written a detailed and very fine refutation of Cal Beisner’s claim that the root of the Auburn Avenun teaching was our embrace of Van Til’s apologetic. Manata’s post is called “The Root …
A Godly Customer
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 46 One of the best ways for a merchant, tradesman, or businessman to determine if he is thinking biblically about his enterprise when he is managing it is through reflecting on how he behaves when he is a customer. We …
Flogged to the Bone
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Our great God, Father of Jesus Christ, and the God who bestows the Holy Spirit, we come to You now in the name of this Jesus, in the power of the Spirit You have given, in order to worship You as You …
A Different Kind of King
In the great hymn found in Philippians, we are told that Jesus humbled Himself, and was obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Therefore God exalted Him highly, and has given Him the name that is above every name. This is what we celebrate on Ascension Sunday—Jesus Christ is Lord of …