Entries Tagged 'Pastoral Theology' ↓
July 4th, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
Today we take a broad survey of the entire 6th chapter of Romans. In this chapter, Paul gives us insight into the inner workings of sanctifying faith, the spiritual activity the soul engages in when winning victory over sin.
Having defined the terms ‘godliness’, ‘worldly’, and ‘worldliness’, we now go on a survey that looks at what the Bible says about the Christian’s relationship to the world.
Today we begin a series for communion on Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor 11 about communion. He addresses the subject because of divisions within the Corinthian church in the practice of communion. His correction of this error brings to light a revelation concerning the necessity of divisions in the church and the incredible importance God puts on unity in the local assembly.
June 27th, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
6/20/10
The Law not only magnifies the effect of sin, it brings about a magnification of the immense treasure of grace that is available to sinners in and through Jesus Christ.
Having defined the terms ‘godliness’, ‘worldly’, and ‘worldliness’, we now go on a survey that looks at what the Bible says about the Christian’s relationship to the world.
We continue looking at the qualifications for a bishop or pastor. He must be hospitable, apt to teach, not a fighter, gentle and not a lover of money.
6/27/10
Paul is now transitioning from the doctrine of justification to a salvation-by-faith oriented understanding of the doctrine of sanctification. He begins by posing a question which exemplifies a misunderstanding (deliberate or by ignorance) of the doctine of justification: should we sin that grace might abound?
Having defined the terms ‘godliness’, ‘worldly’, and ‘worldliness’, we now go on a survey that looks at what the Bible says about the Christian’s relationship to the world.
We focus on just one qualification for a bishop in this message, the qualification that his household must be in order. The Bible ties the pastor’s management of the church with his management of his household. As such, God puts the children of the pastor in the "fishbowl" and makes their response to their father’s leadership a test of his church management ability.
June 15th, 2010 — Book Review, Books, Preaching, Revival, Spiritual Life
Some good thoughts on preaching by Dave over here. It reminds me of a book I am reading.
It is called The Scotch-Irish: A Social History, by James G. Leyburn. I picked up during a recent vacation in Tennessee at one of the state’s excellent historical sites. (To my chagrin, I see I could have gotten it on Amazon for $6 less.)
I am a sucker for historical sites and for historical books that you find there. My kids make fun of me… (this time, one of my sons said, “Oh boy, get ready for more Civil War illustrations!”)
This particular book traces the American immigrants who became known in America as the Scotch-Irish from their time in Scotland to their first emigration to Ireland (Ulster) and from there to America. I am just finishing the description of life in Scotland prior to the great exodus.
The story is fascinating (OK, so I’m a nerd). Leyburn was a prominent sociology professor at Washington & Lee University. Their library is named after him. I don’t know if he professed to be a Christian or not, but the book seems to be written from a secular perspective. That’s what makes it’s comments on preaching and the Scottish Reformation so interesting.
Continue reading →
May 9th, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
Our previous Wednesday’s Psalm (4.28.10):
Two key concepts dominate this psalm: Remember! and God acts. Throughout the psalm, Israel is called to remember God’s great works in establishing the nation. None of Israel’s misdeeds are mentioned (they await Ps 106). The entire focus is on God working, directly and indirectly, to make a nation for himself. As NT Christian believers, we can be assured in our faith in the same God and are reminded to remember God’s works on our behalf as well.
The Sunday Messages:
In this message we are surveying the whole of the passage we have been in, Rm 5.12-21. Today we are concentrating on the two major ideas or sets of terms in the passage. On the one hand, Paul uses five different terms for sin and on the other he uses four different terms for grace (or gift). The remarkable contrast between these terms heightens in our minds the magnitude of God’s great grace and condescension towards us in saving us from our sins.
In this lesson we finish discussing the cross references to the terms in Titus 2.12.
(Our recording cuts off a bit of the end of the lesson.)
The next to last chapter of Leviticus seems like a conclusion – in it God gives to his people the promise of blessing if they obey the law and disciplinary cursing if they disobey. He also reaffirms his covenant with the patriarchs. We take warning and guidance from these words as NT believers, and we also rejoice to know that part of the promised blessings are already ours by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit based on the work of Christ on our behalf.
April 29th, 2010 — Evangelism, Ministry, Worldliness
A few years ago, I heard a clip of a prominent evangelical leader justifying the new evangelical decision to pull back from separatism. The gist of the statement was something like this:
The fundamentalists lost any chance at influence of the world by their over-emphasis on separatism.
Well…
Just how well is that influence thing working?
Is North American culture today MORE or LESS influenced by Christianity today than 60 years ago?
Is it the mission of disciples to be salt and light in such a way that they have influence in the culture of the world?
If yes, how would we go about that?
It appears that whatever the new-evangelical strategy was, it didn’t work. I’ll concede that if fundamentalists thought they would influence the world somehow, they failed also. So, let’s just posit for a moment the notion that those who follow Christ are called to be salt and light in the world, and therefore to somehow have a position of influence in the world. One would presume that influence should be towards an increase in Christianity, for starters, but failing that, one would at least hope for some influence on the culture.
So, again, exactly how should we do that?
April 25th, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
Last Wednesday’s psalm:
This psalm, a companion and meditation on Ps 103, speaks to us of our ordered world, set in place by our majestic and glorious God to sustain us and keep us alive so that we might praise him. What folly it is for a sinner to ignore God’s daily doings on his behalf! May we join with the psalmist in his commitment to sing to the Lord.
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Today’s messages:
As we see the unfolding contrasts between the act of Adam and the work of Christ, we come at last to the notion of ‘reigning in life’. The ones who have received the abundant grace of v. 15 and the abundant righteousness of v. 16 receive also the power of grace in life that means not only a future reign, but a present reign in this life through Jesus Christ – a reign over the presence and power of sin as we yield ourselves to the Spirit and grow in grace.
In this lesson we are data gathering in order to get an understanding of Titus 2.12 and the meaning of ‘worldly desires’ in that verse. We are considerning the synonyms and antonyms as they are used in the Scripture to help clarify our understanding about what makes a desire ‘worldly’.
In this message, we address a subject that is controversial in our culture, but not controversial in the Bible. The issue is the place of women in the church. The Bible clearly teaches that women are not to teach or take any leadership position over men in the church. The reasons for this order are rooted in the Creation and in the Fall. The spiritually minded gladly receive this word from the Lord and follows it faithfully.
April 11th, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
The 4.7.10 psalm:
Our psalm looks at a comparison between a man’s days and the Lord’s days. The Psalm has a Messianic flavour that is made definite by Heb 1.10-12. This puts a whole new construction on the psalm, but is in keeping with prophetic themes often seen in the psalms.
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The 4.11.10 messages:
Paul is working toward a comparison of the work of Adam and the work of Christ, but first he must point out ways in which the works contrast rather than compare. The first contrast is this: although Adam’s sin plunged humanity into futility and death, Christ’s work is not simply a reversal of Adam’s sin. Christ’s work is much much more, abundantly more, it is "The Abounding Plus"!
We are working on definitions. Our last lessons brought us to a definition of godliness. Now we are attempting to define worldliness. The first step is to define the term ‘worldly’, since ‘worldliness’ itself is not a Bible term. If we understand ‘worldly’, we will gain some insight into what ‘worldliness’ is. This lesson works through various passages where we find the term ‘worldly’.
Today we see that public prayer is ordained by the apostle for the men. The woman’s role in public prayer is supportive. Both men and women are called to every day holiness as their place in the effectiveness of public prayers and worship.
March 25th, 2010 — Doran, Fundamentalism, Issues, Leadership, Philosophy
Dave said (here and here):
Restore the local assembly to the center where God intended it to be. When your local assembly engages in Great Commission work outside its walls, find some folks you agree with and get busy doing it. Unity is built on agreement about the truth, not by politics. Few things are as political as trying to preserve movements once they have fragmented theologically.
Would that it were so simple. But it is not that simple. In the words of John Donne,
No man is an island entire of itself…
And certainly the pastor and church in question is no island, entire unto themselves. If we were talking about a small church in a small community it might be that simple, but … probably not.
Everyone influences someone else. That’s why our private decisions are important. They have influence on someone.
Continue reading →
March 1st, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
Our Sunday morning service sees us begin the next section of Romans:
In the Bible study session, we conclude our recent study:
And in the afternoon service we take a look at what is a controversial subject (but really shouldn’t be!):
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Not sure what happened to our Psalm from last week. I’ll update this once I find it.
January 31st, 2010 — Sermon Summaries
Our first message is the preached form of our Wed, Jan 20. It is the fruit of our pastors hospital stay last weekend.
Dwelling in the Shelter of the Almighty (Ps 91.1-16)
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We continue with our look at Tyndale’s Prologue to Romans, 5th part, covering mostly his summary of Romans 7.
Tyndale on Romans (5)
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Our afternoon service was occupied with our annual business meeting. We thank the Lord for a good year past and look forward to a good year coming. The Lord is doing some good things among us.
