A Passion for the Supremacy of God!

Over the last couple of days, I've listened to the following two sermons entitled "A Passion for the Supremacy of God".

I've found them to be paradigm shifting, challenging, and worshipful. I really hope you'll take the time to sit down in a quiet place, listen to them, meditate on them, and be as encouraged by them as I was/am.

God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him!

Passion for the Supremacy of God Part 1
Passion for the Supremacy of God Part 2

In part one he lays the groundwork for the main message. In part two he defends the thesis against common arguments using contextual scripture.

I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on it after you've listened to them both. Are there any other objections to his thesis you can think of that he hasn't already addressed?

God Bless!

A Healing Miracle!

Jordan Schroeder is breathing deeply, singing praises, and casting his jewel filled crown at our Sovereign's feet! We prayed for a miracle of healing and the Lord delivered. It was not delivered in a pretty package with a warm fuzzy card, but it was delivered exactly in the way God intended and it brought praise, honor, and glory to His awesomely deserving name! Praise Him!

Jesus took Jordan home around 9:30ish Saturday night. Let's put a hedge of prayer around Katelyn, her girls, and her family. Pray that Satan will not be allowed to whisper lies in their ears, but rather that Jesus will declare truth, peace, and love. May they feel the warm embrace of our Savior.

We weep for the occasion...Jordan will be missed. We will miss him at our young couples Bible Study. We will miss his passion for Christ. But one thing is certain. He would not choose to come back to this sin infested and broken world.

May we all be called to remember that this world is not our home. Christ went to prepare mansions for us, and He will call us there one day! Oh for that glorious day. May our eyes be turned to the fields that are white for harvest.

God Bless.

Why Should Preaching Include Systematic Theology?

I thought this was a great condensed defense of why Systematic Theology is important.1. Systematic theology is necessary in order to understand the text. When a text refers to God, or man, or sin, or Christ, or the church, or faith, you are in grave danger of distorting the meaning of those concepts unless you know what the whole Bible teaches about them—unless you know the Bible’s systematic theology. Also, without systematic theology you lack a crucial tool for defending against false interpretations of texts. In order to rightly interpret a verse in light of all of Scripture and defend a true interpretation against false ones you need systematic theology. Does Matthew 16 declare Peter to be the first pope? Well, that chapter does not say exactly. How you put together the rest of Scripture will affect how you then read Matthew 16 and answer that question.

2. Systematic theology is necessary in order to preach the gospel. Every expositional sermon should include the gospel because no text has been fully expounded unless it has been related to the gospel (through “biblical theology”). Yet in order to preach the full gospel you must preach what the Bible teaches about God’s holiness, our sin, Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, and our need to repent of sin and trust in Christ. Apart from a biblical summary of each of those things—that is, apart from systematic theology—none of those things make sense. Systematic theology is necessary in order to preach the gospel.

3. Systematic theology is necessary for spiritual growth. In order to grow in trusting God, a Christian needs to know what God is like. In order to grow in holiness, a Christian needs to understand the nature and offense of sin, as well as what God has done to save us from sin by sending Christ to die. This doesn’t mean that every Christian has to pore over thousand-page books, or even that every Christian has to understand the technical vocabulary of systematic theology. But it does mean that in order to grow spiritually every Christian needs to grow in his understanding of what the Bible teaches about God, sin, Christ, faith, and the duties of the Christian life. This comes through reading Scripture, synthesizing it, and applying it to our lives.For a definition of "systematic theology", click here.

Miracle of Thinking

Copied and pasted from this blog.

It is amazing how consistently the New Testament refers to the depravity of the individual by mentioning the debasement of the mind. In Ephesians 4 Paul describes those who are outside of Christ in a string of clauses that regard the intellectual faculty of a person– “in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Eph. 4:17-18, italics mine).

Outside of Christ, something is messed up in how we think. This grave condition of our minds is countered by the transformation that occurs in God’s salvation of sinners. Paul calls it the “renewal of the mind” and he prays for its effect (Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10; cf. Eph. 5:10; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9; Phlm 6).

The implications are glorious. I think that what it means at the most basic level is that thinking is a matter of the life transformed by the gospel. Thinking rightly is not about intellectual giftedness. A person’s main problem with messed up thinking is not their IQ, but alienation from their Creator.

Thinking and theology–thinking about God–is utterly miraculous. In order for it to happen Jesus Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree. The smallest reception in our heads of God’s truth is miraculous enough to leave us bewildered and intoxicated by grace until we’re speechless. What do you have that has not been given? What do you know that has not been purchased for you by the blood of Christ?

It is for this reason alone that a kid who bombed his SAT’s can still look forward to a conference on the subject of thinking. Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God is not a conference for academicians, but for those who have been radically transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Rubbish, that's what we should count it as.

Phillipians 3:8 - More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,








Do you? Do I?

Is Paul able to count all things as rubbish just because he suffered the loss of those things? Can we still have "all things" and count them as rubbish?

Paul admits that losing all those things caused him suffering, so did he not count them as rubbish until after he lost them?

What do I need to lose?

What do you need to lose?

What does it mean to "gain Christ"? Once we're saved, have we gained Him and now that part's done?

What say ye?

Pockets of Grace

This short documentary touched me. There is so much pain - so much hurt - so much brokenness in this fallen world. And yet, there are God's people scattered throughout this sharing His love and showing His grace. Here's Lindsay's story.

People of the Book

We are a people of the Book. We know God through the Book. We meet Christ in the Book. We see the cross in the Book. Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book. We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God's inspired and infallible written revelation. Therefore, what the Book teaches matters…

There is no salvation from sin and guilt and condemnation and hell apart from faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:13-17; 1 John 5:12). And there is no other authority besides the Scriptures to show you who Christ is and to give you his Word. So don't leave the Bible, children. Don't leave the Bible, young people. Don't neglect the Bible, dads and moms. Don't ignore the Bible, single people. Under God, the "sacred writings," the Scriptures, are the greatest treasure in the world. They alone make us wise unto salvation through Christ. O don't neglect this Book!