This blog is Pastor Jay's weekly musings about God's Word, God's world, and God's call to our culture. We hope they encourage, challenge, and inform you. Sign up to recieve them in your email.
I like a sleek sports car and a power torqueing truck as much as the next guy, but I assure you I am not a gearhead or a car enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination. I could have been pretty easily, though. My grandfather worked for a Ford dealership and mechanic shop all his life. For whatever reason, those mechanical genes didn't get passed on to me. So it always ...
Keep ReadingOn December 14, 2012 Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, did an interview with Os Guinness. This interview was transcribed and posted on Al Mohler's blog on March 18, 2013. It was a very interesting discussion about one of Guinness's books titled A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future....
Keep Reading"Yesterday in Baltimore, something didn't happen, despite convincing accounts that it did." This is the opening line of a NPR story about a non-shooting in Baltimore. There was an incident where multiple people described police shooting a man who was running away from them. While their testimony was passionate and spoken with a degree of certainty, it didn't actually hap...
Keep ReadingWe have all said it, and we have probably meant it when it came out of our mouth. "I don't have enough time" is a repeated refrain for many. I was once again challenged about this mindset after hearing a podcast in which a seminary professor named Bruce Hindmarsh made the following statement: "Busyness is moral laziness [because it is often a statement of our self-impor...
Keep ReadingIn one way or another, suffering for the gospel is coming. You might as well get ready. To do so, there is no better place to go than the letter of 2 Timothy. Over and over again, Paul is preparing Timothy to suffer. We can get ready too, if we pay attention and take heed to this letter. Buckle down, open your Bible, and let these instructions sink in. Read the verse; th...
Keep ReadingWhat is theodicy? Theodicy is the term given to what is otherwise called the problem of evil. That problem has been outlined in three statements that many say cannot all be true. Those statements are: God is all-good. God is all-powerful. Evil exists. The Christian realizes that to abandon any one of those statements would be a direct denial of scripture. Many say this i...
Keep ReadingTo wrap up this blog on public rebuke, I want to look at scriptural examples and then try to think through some of the practicalities. Remember, we have a target rich environment, so we need wisdom in the implementation of public warning and reproof. Abundant Example Example and imitation are important parts of discipleship. We are supposed to learn from those who lead...
Keep ReadingWhat do you do in a target-rich environment? If you come to my yard, and I tell you to pull out all the dandelions, you will find yourself in a target-rich environment! But you will soon realize that there are others things that you need to do in life, like eat and sleep and play with children. Your work on all those targets is determined by how much ammunition (or energ...
Keep ReadingThis week's blog post is a transcript of Albert Mohler's weekend edition of The Briefing, a daily analysis of current news and events from a Christian worldview. This particular question and answer is very pressing and very insightful. The Briefing Ask Anything Weekend 4-4-2015 Albert Mohler Question: As Christians we affirm the Bible is our standard for morality an...
Keep ReadingIt happens every time we come to Christmas and Easter. Someone somewhere waves a large red flag of warning over our celebrations. Their argument is that buried in the holiday is a connection to paganism. Is this true? Do we need to jettison these celebrations, or radically alter them? Are there dangers lurking in what we do? These are valid questions. We shouldn't shy a...
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