Twelve Challenges Churches Face, by Mark Dever

The Bible is clear, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy to rightly interpret it. Interpreting the Bible rightly is one of the hardest things in the world to do. And if interpretation is difficult, proclamation is even harder. We move beyond the meaning of the points made in the text to questions like: What is the best way to proclaim the gospel from this text? What are relevant contemporary illustrations of this text?

One of the most helpful things to have when thinking about preaching a text is a sermon done by someone you trust to get the message of the text right, to surprise you with applications or illustrations that stimulate your thinking, and to show you strategies for undermining unbelief you haven’t thought of yourself. Because reading this kind of thing is so helpful, I am very thankful that Crossway is publishing Mark Dever’s sermons.

Anyone trying to get their head around how to do expository preaching should read Twelve Challenges Churches Face. Anyone preaching through 1 Corinthians will want to add this book to the things used in preparation to preach. Anyone teaching a Sunday School class on 1 Corinthians could study this book along with their “teacher’s curriculum.” Anyone leading a Bible Study on 1 Corinthians will gain from this book. Anyone who has decided to study 1 Corinthians over the course of a month or a semester or for the whole year will be helped by this book.

Have I mentioned that I like this book and am glad to recommend it?

Biblical, Baptist Ecclesiology

I’ll be speaking on the most biblical form of ecclesiology at Redeemer Community Church in Katy, TX tomorrow night, Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 7pm.

If you’re in the area, I would love to see you. I’ll be arguing that the most biblical form of ecclesiology is the one practiced historically by Baptist churches: elder-led deacon-served congregationalism.

Hope to see you there!

The Church: Not Another Interest Group

How can evangelicals best influence the United States of America?

I submit that there is a better answer than the one that would be given by either Chris Matthews or Rush Limbaugh.

The greatest influence evangelical Christians can have upon American society and politics will not come by lobbying Washington, getting out the vote, or doing anything overtly political. The greatest influence evangelical Christians can have upon American society and politics will come through investing themselves in a local church where the gospel is proclaimed, where the Scriptures are faithfully taught, where people understand what regeneration is, and where church discipline draws a clear line between those who live as though they have been born again and those who do not (and when people don’t repent of sin, they live as though they are unregenerate).

At the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2006, I presented a paper entitled “The Church Militant and Her Warfare: We Are Not Another Interest Group.” That piece has now appeared in the latest issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology.

My article can be accessed here, and the table of contents of the current issue, on the theme of “Church and State” can be accessed here.

Dr. Russell D. Moore writes:

The SBJT, edited by Southern Baptist theologian Stephen J. Wellum, is an excellent resource for pastors and church leaders. . . . You can (and should!) subscribe here.

You can read Dr. Moore’s essay here.

Restoring Integrity in Baptist Churches

It’s great to see this volume on Restoring Integrity in Baptist Churches appear.

Dr. Mohler writes:

“The loss of a biblical vision of the local church–indeed the collapse of biblical ecclesiology in many congregations–is the greatest threat to Baptists. Restoring Integrity in Baptist Churces is a book urgently needed and well timed. The writers of this book are some of the brightest theologians and scholars in Baptist life today, and they are deeply committed to the recovery of integrity in Baptist life and in Baptist churches. We have needed this book for a long time.”

May the Lord use this book for the beauty of his bride!

The Church of England Ordained More Women Than Men Last Year

Informative story here from David Kotter at the CBMW blog.

You might also check out Kotter’s post where he summarizes Wayne Grudem’s reflections on his experience in the gender debate over the last 20 years.

I commend this blog to your attention, and may the Lord grant us grace to glorify him as we enjoy his gift of gender!

reThink: Decide For Yourself, Is Student Ministry Working?

My friend Randy Stinson sent me this book my Steve Wright and Chris Graves. I’ve only thumbed through it, but it looks to me like this is a very important book. If you’ve wondered how best to shepherd your own children, or how the church should shepherd its young people, you’ll want to consider this book.

There is a spectrum of opinion on the question of youth ministry today. At the one end are the churches that take the kids completely away from their parents and the rest of the church and have their own student worship services. These folks conduct themselves as though they might say to the parents, “Don’t try this youth ministry thing at home. Leave it to us. We’re the professionals.”

At the other end of the spectrum are those “family integrated” churches who speak as though God gave the family as the primary means of advancing the gospel. I’m all for the family, and I am against age-segregation in churches, against the idea that the youth will benefit from their own worship service (while the old fuddyduds do their own thing in “big church”), and I am most certainly for encouraging parents, and especially fathers, to disciple their kids and lead their families in family worship. But I would say that the Church, rather than the family, is the means God has given to us for advancing the gospel.

In this regard, reThink seems to offer a helpfully balancing perspective. I appreciated in particular three subtitles that I saw in reThink as I thumbed through: “Championing the Family,” “Championing the Church,” and “Co-Championing the Family and the Church.”

If you’re wondering what this looks like, you’ll want to read this book. Here’s the table of contents:

reSearch: Gauging Student Ministry Today

reValue: Shifting the Values of Student Ministry

reModel: A Biblical Framework for Student Ministry

reShape: Beginning a Transition

reSource: Locking Arms with Parents

reDiscover: Spiritual Formation

reGroup: Facing and Overcoming Obstacles

reVision: A New Perspective

Thanks to Steve Wright and Chris Graves for helping us think through these issues, and may the Lord bless our efforts to transmit the faith to the coming generations.

Spiritual Formation and the Internet: Making Good Use of the Mammon of Unrighteousness

The paper that I presented last week at ETS is here.

May the Lord be pleased to help us leverage all we have–including the internet–for his glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.

Local Church Seminar Audio Available

Baptist Church of the Redeemer recently hosted a seminar on The Local Church: God’s Program for Evangelism and Discipleship.

Thanks to the labors of some good brothers, the audio is available for the two sessions:

Session I: What Is The Church?

Session II: How Does the Church Militant Wage Her War?

November-December 9Marks eJournal

Fascinating discussion on the church’s role in the world here.

Subscribe here.

My recommendation of the new Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament here.

Redeemer Institute Seminar on Saturday

This Saturday, November 10, from 9am to Noon, Baptist Church of the Redeemer will be hosting a Redeemer Institute Seminar on The Local Church: God’s Program for Evangelism and Discipleship.

Hope to see you there!