Michael Lawrence, a pastor with a Ph.D. (much like Mark Dever, from whose ministry he comes), uses the following grid to help him make sure to cover all his bases in application: (Lawrence is a Baptist, so he assumes that the preacher will have three outline points,...
Preaching
Wise Advice On The Balance Between Submission to Leaders and Personal Responsibility
The church must balance analytical independence (1 Thess. 5:21) with submissiveness to its leaders (1 Thess. 5:13; Heb. 13:7, 17; Gal. 1:8–9). We “obey [our] leaders” and we “test everything.” Yet we test humbly, reticent to question pastors who have been called by...
Four American Cultural Assumptions Revealed
When we address our culture, we have the benefit of lifelong immersion in it. But alas, that blessing is also a curse, for like fish in water, we cannot see the medium in which we swim. It is hardest to see what is always before our eyes, hardest to remark on values...
Fatuousness
The only person I have ever known to be fatuous—the one person that comes to mind whenever I think of that word—was a preacher. Merriam-Webster’s definition for the word is unfortunately accurate: “complacently…foolish.” Now I do not at all believe that this preacher...
Usage Determines Pronunciation, Even of Obscure Old Testament Names
My post on Puritan names brings up an incidental point. I have heard preachers and laypeople alike trip up many times over the pronunciation of obscure Old Testament place and people names. I myself recently flubbed “Kibroth-hattaavah” in Sunday School. Who can blame...
Three Answers to the Application Question
I am reading Putting the Truth to Work: The Theory and Practice of Biblical Application by Dan Doriani. After just the introduction and first chapter, I am impressed. He has put his finger on questions I have asked; he then asked and answered them better than I ever...
Should a Minister Be a “dumme dogge”?
When James I of Scotland acceded to the throne of England in 1603, the Puritans saw their chance to start anew. Ossified Queen Elizabeth was dead; perhaps James would complete the Reformation she did not allow to be finished. Perhaps Catholic accretions could finally...
The Best BJU Chapel Message I Have Ever Heard
I have heard approximately 500 BJU chapel sermons in the last 10 years. Before that I heard about 100 each year for my four years of undergraduate training. I’m coming up on a thousand, and if you include Bible Conferences and two summer school sessions, I may be...
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I ran across this in my Theological Journal Library in Logos a few weeks ago, and I literally laughed with delight. Maybe you'd have to be living in the country I live in right now (Dissertationastan) to find this as perfectly glorious as I did, but perhaps people in...
Absolutely Stolen
I will happily take this down if anyone has a copyright, but I couldn't just link to it. I had to put it on the blog. It is too perfect. (And then it sat in my queue so long that I can't find the link to the original...) I won't say that no pastor has the capacity or...
Balancing Edwards
It is appropriate and necessary for preachers to judge the needs of their congregation when they teach Scripture. I do it every time I preach, because my goal is to help the people use the Bible. As someone has pointed out, people don’t really understand a portion of...
Edwards Quote Success!
John Piper’s foundational sermon for his philosophy of Christian Hedonism is entitled “Let Your Passion Be Single.” In it he quotes Jonathan Edwards as saying this (I’ll include Piper’s two interpolations): I should think myself in the way of my duty, to raise the...