God Told Me?

We gathered around the table with our Bibles open at the end of our small group with some Skyline dip and Fritos (I always exegete better with some Skyline dip at the ready). The issue of how we hear God today had come up over the last few weeks as the result of the Strange Fire conference held by Dr. John MacArthur. The discussion was edifying and we agreed on almost everything as we looked to Scripture. I have been having similar discussions with others, so I decided to take some time to think through what I see as the core issues.

The Claim

Matt Chandler is a pastor in Texas who doubted the continuation of the charismatic gifts

Careless Words

Sometimes I am a fool. Yes, just sometimes. A recent post I made on Facebook proved that point. I carelessly tagged someone in linking to a blog before I had even read the blog or considered the possible outcome of my actions. After receiving a much-deserved rebuke, I removed the post and sought forgiveness for my sinful actions. Forgiveness was graciously extended and I was reminded of the beauty of Christlike character shining through a brother and sister in Christ.

The issue was referring to one’s wife as “hot.” The blog item by Barnabas Piper spelled out several reasons why this is not wise, though the comments on my post and the blog were mixed on the issue. This phrase seems to have been popularized lately by all of the seeker-sensitive megachurch sermons on “Seven Days to Hotter Sex,” “Sexperiment” and the like.

Proclaiming the Truth for King Jesus

In several recent avenues, I have been confronted with the bold proclamation of the truth of God’s Word set in contrast to the ideas of classical and evidential apologetic methodologies. It is interesting to me how many people have never even heard of presuppositional apologetics (presupp).

For example, in the men’s group I lead at church, we use Grudem’s Systematic Theology as a text to understand doctrine of the faith. Grudem doesn’t even give presupp a nod, let alone a mention.

Is he unaware of the method or just choosing not to present it?

I don’t know.

He mentions, the moral, ontological, teleological, and cosmological arguments for the existence of God, but he never touches on the transcendental argument. So, I had to offer those ideas to the men so that they could be exposed to them

I am not Always Right

I am quite arrogant…if you didn’t already know that. In my BC days, I was inordinately sure of myself, my methods, my ideas, and I was not afraid to tell you how wrong you were. I was shameless.

But God…

Is the Law Written on Everyone’s Heart?

Many Christians are of the opinion that God has written His laws on the hearts of every man so that they may know right from wrong. The classic proof text is from Romans where Paul is discussing the extent of the sin in the world. I am not convinced that this passage teaches such an expansive idea.

Earlier in Romans, Paul describes how everyone knows from the creation that there is a Creator, but they suppress that truth in unrighteousness—knowing that if there is a God, they are accountable to Him for their actions. God has made it plain to them that He is the Creator and that He is powerful (Romans 1:18–32). Everyone knows there is a God who created this world—they either acknowledge Him in some form or suppress that truth because of its effect on their life. There are no atheists!

But, does this mean that everyone knows right from wrong?

Blunt Objects

With a few exceptions, every Thursday morning I gather with a group of men for breakfast and fellowship around the Word of God. The coffee is pretty lousy, but the food is good and the encouragement and fellowship makes it well worth getting up before 6:00. We don't have a leader or any specific structure—we just show up knowing what topic or passage we are studying, and, after a few minutes of light chatter, we dig into the topic. Sometimes the depth of conversation is amazing and always edifying.

Recently, I have been guiding us through a study of Christ—from eternity past to eternity future. We are in the early parts of His ministry, hoping to move forward through the Gospels chronologically. As we approached John 4, I was trying to think of how to frame the

So Much Sausage ... So Little Time

So, I have a small obsession. The funny thing is, my wife hates it. She can’t stand to look at it or the smell of it. It’s sausage … summer, kielbasa, andouille, brats, polish, you-name-it. Even though my wife does not enjoy my little hobby, she was kind enough to buy me a sausage cookbook a few years ago for Christmas. Bruce Aidells’ Complete Sausage Book is my guidebook, but Bruce has some issues. Everything he makes