Glorifying God in Trials (04/30/09 - 18 Comments)
Today's post comes courtesy of my good friend Ryan who offers some reflections on glorifying God through life's trials. He wrote this article yesterday. ***** I am writing this from the waiting area at the Trillium Hospital in Toronto, while my beautiful wife is undergoing a procedure to help bring closure to the miscarriage we first learned about last week. While this isn't our first miscarriage, it is the first since the healthy births of...
The Tactics Blog Tour (02/16/09 - 45 Comments)
Greg Koukl is setting out on a blog tour to support his new book Tactics (you can read my review of it right here). I agreed to participate, asking one question of my own and asking one question on behalf of another person. Here is what we asked and how Greg answered. There are many "traditional" apologetic manuals available to us, perhaps the foremost of which is Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Such books seem...
Ray Comfort on Responding to Atheists (02/02/09 - 14 Comments)
Ray Comfort is setting out on a blog tour to support his new book You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can't Make him Think. Knowing that many of the readers of this site are admirer's of Comfort, I decided to participate. I solicited questions from readers and here is one that Comfort was eager to respond to. I often respond to the questions/arguments posed by atheists not so much because I think...
Why Are We Striving To Make Abortion Unthinkable? (01/22/09 - 34 Comments)
This is a guest post from John Ensor. ***** Today I join hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C., in the annual March for Life to publicly lament the death of 50 million preborn children and to pray for the day when abortion becomes unthinkable. In doing so, I acknowledge the resistance, even offense, taken by many by asserting that abortion is the moral issue of our day. I am familiar with the claim that asserts...
John 3:16 Conference: Question and Answer (11/07/08 - 21 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Congregational singing: "I Love to Tell the Story" The speaker from each of the five points was on the panel. Dr. Patterson had to leave so that his alternate, Dr. Malcolm Yarnell took his place for Total depravity. Dr. Vines announced that he would like to have at least one Calvinist and one non-Calvinist address each one of the five points. Panelist #1: Dr. John Voight (sp?) pastor from Rome,...
John 3:16 Conference: Message on John 3:16 by Dr. Charles Stanley (11/07/08 - 8 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Dr. Vines announced that he asked Dr. Stanley to share how he has proclaimed the gospel throughout the world through In Touch Ministries. Dr. Charles Stanley: "I'm just called to do one thing, and that's to preach the gospel as far and as wide as God lets me." The church has one mission. Great Commission texts quoted from the gospels and Acts. In many preaching magazines the emphasis is "making...
John 3:16 Conference: Message on Perseverance of the Saints by Dr. Ken Keathley (11/07/08 - 8 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Prayer by Phil Roberts. Dr. Ken Keathley: 2 Timothy 1:12. 2 components of assurance: 1. Certainty that one is saved. 2. Certainty that one in a state of grace will remain in this state. What is the basis of assurance? 3 components: 1. Present certainty a. Denied by Council of Trent, Canon 15, which says present certainty only comes through special revelation. (John Calvin pointed to the Bible as special...
John 3:16 Conference: Additional Resource (11/07/08 - 0 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Mark Lamprecht is also live-blogging this Conference, and is catching some statements that I miss. Read his posts HERE....
John 3:16 Conference: Message on Irresistible Grace by Dr. Steve Lemke (11/07/08 - 9 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Congregational singing: "Amazing Grace" Prayer by Ergun Caner. Dr. Steve Lemke: "It is my desire that we as Southern Baptists can go forward in unity." Quote from Nathan Finn that we must be free to hold differing convictions and to attempt to persuade others of our convictions. Irresistible grace did not originate at Dort, but was made famous by this Synod. Quote from one of the Remonstrants that the grace...
John 3:16 Conference: Message on Limited Atonement by Dr. David Allen (11/07/08 - 31 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Congregational singing: "Redeemed, Redeemed." Introduction of Dr. Allen by Dr. Jerry Vines. Dr. David Allen: Quote of John 3:16. Argument against Limited atonement quoting only Calvinists. What two things do these men have in common? (Long list of theologians including Calvin, Bullinger, Ursinus, Bunyan, Edwards, Hodge, Strong.) A: They are all Calvinists, and they all rejected Limited atonement. 2 Corinthians 5:19, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."...
John 3:16 Conference: Message on Unconditional Election by Dr. Richard Land (11/07/08 - 16 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Congregational singing: "Love Lifted Me" Intro. by Jerry Vines. Opening prayer by Dr. Chuck Kelley. Before Dr. Land spoke, Dr. Vines made some comments regarding the messages. One major point that Dr. Vines sought to articulate was that to disagree is not to attack, and that he hope that points are clearly articulated without animosity. Dr. Vines also made the following additional points concerning Total depravity: "God, in his sovereignty...
John 3:16 Conference: Attendance and Mood (11/07/08 - 2 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Before I go to the Conference this morning, I wanted to answer some questions some have been asking me about the attendance and mood of this Conference. Attendance: There appear to be somewhere between 800 and 1000 people at the Conference. [For readers who may be familiar with First Baptist Church Woodstock, GA- the bottom level of the "chapel" in A building, the building behind the main building housing the...
John 3:16 Conference: Message on Total Depravity from Dr. Paige Patterson (11/06/08 - 11 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Congregation singing: "O How Marvelous, O How Wonderful" Dr. Paige Patterson: The most hated doctrine is not the doctrine of election, but the doctrine of the exclusivity of Christ. The second most hated doctrine is that of human depravity. "Everyone knows that I am not a Calvinist, I am not Reformed." Thank God that our Calvinist brothers are trying to preach the Word of the Lord; many non-Calvinists are entertaining...
John 3:16 Conference: Message on John 3:16 by Dr. Jerry Vines (11/06/08 - 4 Comments)
Special signing by an FBCW member, "Gentle Savior, Lead Me On." Dr. Vines introduced by Johnny Hunt. Dr. Vines has previously preached John 3:16 on August 26 of this year in a chapel service of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS). That previous sermon can be heard HERE. Having listened to Dr. Vines' sermon from the SBTS chapel, I note that the introduction to this sermon was substantially the same as that earlier sermon; however,...
John 3:16 Conference: Introduction and Opening Message by Johnny Hunt (11/06/08 - 2 Comments)
Guest blog by Andrew Lindsey Began with singing of "How Great Thou Art." Opening prayer by SBC evangelist Junior Hill for truth, compassion for the lost, and graciousness of spirit. Introduction of Johnny Hunt by Dr. Jerry Vines. Johnny Hunt preached from Psalm 119:33-40, a text that Hunt preached in chapel at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on October 15 of this year. (This earlier sermon can be heard HERE.) Johnny Hunt made comments and...
John 3:16 Conference Registration: Schedule, Vendors, and Books (11/06/08 - 2 Comments)
Thanks to Tim Challies for the opportunity to report on the John 3:16 Conference for Challies.com. I registered for the John 3:16 Conference at First Baptist Church Woodstock, GA (FBCW) about 45 minutes ago and have been looking for an Internet connection since then. I do not know if I will have connectivity from the Conference floor; if not, I will not be live-blogging, but will post summaries as soon as I am able to...
The Revival of a Rebel Jew (05/26/08 - 24 Comments)
In June Crossway will release Colin Duriez’s Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life. To my knowledge there are currently no biographies of Schaeffer in print—and certainly none that could be recommended as being comprehensive (and this includes Frankie Schaeffer’s lamentable recent effort). I have a particular interest in Schaeffer because in many ways he shaped my faith and I’ve been reading the manuscript for this book with rapt attention. Though I have not read many...
Guest Blog: The Crowd Was NOT Fickle! (03/20/08 - 26 Comments)
Today I am posting something rare--a guest post. This article was written by John Ensor, whom you may know as the author of The Great Work of the Gospel and Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart. In this article he takes on what he considers a popular Palm Sunday myth. Read it and let me know what you think. Is he right? Were the crowds really as fickle as we often think? Or...
No One Weeps Like a Prophet (12/04/07 - 11 Comments)
Last week I posted an article written by my mother, Barbara: Tears at Thanksgiving. It seems that people enjoyed it and I received plenty of requests to post more by mom. I’m glad to comply! Here is something she posted a few days ago for the family’s benefit. And we’re glad to share it with you. I suppose it’s a poem of sorts. Whatever genre it fits in, I think it gives plenty of food...
Tears at Thanksgiving (11/28/07 - 35 Comments)
My mother maintains a blog—a private blog that she uses to keep the family up-to-date with the latest family news. Because her five children (and four children-in-law and seven grandchildren) are scattered from Ontario to New York, from Georgia to Tennessee, she makes her blog a central repository for news and information we need to know. Yesterday, based on conversations she had around Thanksgiving, she posted some thoughts on divorce and its awful ramifications on...
