On this day, October 31st, in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the chapel in Wittenburg, Germany.  This was the modern day equivalent of posting to an extremely well read internet message board.  The crux of Luther’s writings was to decry the sale of indulgences in order to finance the building of St. Peter’s in Rome.  What was an indulgence?  It was a ticket of sorts to free yourself or a deceased loved one from years spent in purgatory.  Purgatory was the place where one went after death to be “purged” of all sin making them truly fit for heaven.  Luther saw how the sale of these indulgences struck at the heart of the gospel- that man is saved by grace alone through faith alone.  Luther lit a match that set the entire known world on fire.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ligonier is offering a limited time special for the Reformation Study Bible for any size donation to their ministry!  Check it out HERE.

R.C. Sproul provides some very helpful insights on our responsibility to vote.  I strongly encourage you to read the entire essay posted at the Ligonier Ministries blog that you can access HERE.  Here are some excerpts:

But here is what I’m going to tell you to do when you vote. As a Christian you have obligations imposed upon your conscious that in some sense other people don’t have, although they should have. And the first thing is this: You have to understand what a vote is. The word vote comes from the Latin votum, which means ‘will’ or choice. And when you go to the ballot box and you vote, you are not there to vote for what’s going to benefit you necessarily. Your vote is not a license to impose your selfish desires upon the rest of the country. You only have the right to vote for what is right. And not only do you have the right to vote for what is right, but when you vote you have the duty to vote for what is right.

Sproul also has this to say that I want to endorse:

I know that abortion is not the number one issue in this campaign because it has become acceptable. Just like slavery became acceptable. But it cannot be acceptable to ethical people. The people of God have to rise up and say ‘NO’! We are not asking the state to be the church but we must say to the state, “Please be the state. God ordained you to protect, maintain, and preserve the sanctity of life, and you are not doing it.” So that has to be on your mind when you walk into that voting booth.

Interesting quote from the first chapter of Michael Horton’s soon to be released book, Christless Christianity:

What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over a half century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday . . . where Christ is not preached.

What is Barnhouse’s point?  Where Christ is not preached, religion is preached.  Where Christ is not preached self righteousness reigns.  The Evil One would be very content for people to trust in their own morality, their own record and not flee to Christ.  Barnhouse reinforces the idea that Christians not only repent of their sin but also of their self-righteousness.

This past week I attended the Ligonier Pastor’s Conference in Orlando, Fl.  This was an excellent week of fellowship and encouragment.  We heard multiple times from R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson (Sr. Pastor of First Presbyterian of Columbia, SC), and Steve Lawson (Sr. Pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist in Mobile, Al).  In addition to preaching/teaching there were several Q & A sessions- which are always a highlight.  We were fed extremely well- I’m hesitant to get on the scale!  We were also housed quite comfortably in the Marriott of Lake Mary.  A particular highlight for me was to spend those days with my best friend from seminary, Ty Blackburn.  Ty pastors the Providence Church in Duluth, GA where he has been for 15 years.  Ty and his wife, Patti, were our neighbors at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS and Connie and I were especially close to them both.

What did I learn?  I reviewed my notes just this morning.  I think the main thing I came away with was to keep the main thing the main thing.  What do I mean by that?  What was continually stressed was to preach the gospel faithfully through the regular exposition of Scripture. Read the rest of this entry »

Just got back from Orlando today.  I’d like to give some thoughts on the Ligonier Ministries Pastor’s Conference tomorrow.  The speakers were R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson, and Steve Lawson.  It was very good.  One cool thing that happened was that as I was getting onto I-4 in Orlando I was stopped by a motorcycle cop.  This was not for traffic ticket but to allow John McCain’s Straight Talk Express to cruise by surrounded by a fleet of motorcyle cops.  Pretty cool.

I received my new ESV Study Bible yesterday. I’m a big fan of the ESV translation and was eager to see this new edition to the pantheon of Study Bibles now available. Admittedly, things have gotten a bit ridiculous when it comes to Study Bibles. I just saw the “Leader’s” Study Bible yesterday where the Bible is filtered through a leadership paradigm. Those attempts at study Bibles hit me as niche marketing and poor hermeneutics as editors make the text fit with their personal agendas.

Back to the ESV Study Bible. I eagerly rushed home yesterday afternoon having been alerted by Connie it had come via UPS. It is a big Bible- it may be  the largest study Bible on the market.  It is filled with resources. What do I like so far?

• It’s the ESV text- I really like the translation philosophy of the ESV that strives to be “essentially literal” and readable.
• Maps, charts, and diagrams- this study Bible is filled with colorful maps and visual aids.  It seems there is one on every other page.
• Excellent articles-  extremely well done.  They are varied in scope and well written.  If I was teaching Bible in a Christian School, I’d be tempted to require this Bible for students’ use just to have them read these articles.
• Extremely thorough in terms of intros and background material- this type of content is critical for proper understanding of the Scriptures.  “Who wrote the book and why?” are key questions that must be answered.
• I like the font used for the Scripture text- that may seem silly, but in this age of choosing fonts via our word processing software, that becomes more and more of a noticeable feature and I like what I see here!  I just haven’t figured out the name of the font yet.

What I’ve read of the notes are quite good.  This Study Bible will not have the distinctly Reformed perspective that I would hold to, but it certainly is committed to solid, evangelical orthodoxy.  It is not anti-Reformed.  I looked at Romans 9, for example, and the notes affirm God’s Sovereign election.  There are a lot of “our guys” who went to work on this effort with J.I. Packer being the theological editor.  Covenant Theological Seminary, the denominational seminary of the PCA, had a few professors who worked on it.

Bottom line:  I’ll still keep my Reformation Study Bible handy, but I look forward to using the ESV Study Bible as well.  It will make for a very helpful tool for personal Bible study as well as for teaching others.  I give it two thumbs up.

Pardon a little Dad pride HERE.

That’s what you tell yourself when your team loses to Vanderbilt 14-13.  It’s only a game.  The sun will come up tomorrow.  There are more important things in life.  What will it matter in 100 years?

I’ve run out of cliches.  I’m still bummed.   Sigh.

From Justin Taylor’s blog, Between Two Worlds: