Serious About Scripture

Mentoring and motivating Christ’s people to live his words

God of Creation, God of Salvation

God of Creation, God of Salvation,Author of all that is gracious and kind;Praise to the Father, Praise to the Spirit,Praise to the Savior of all of mankind! Paradise blooming, Arctic winds blowing,Lit by auroras of midnight display;Tropics are warming, Ocean fish swarming,Swept by the tides and the water’s cool spray! Insects are molting, Plants begin budding,Geysers are spewing from molten-rock mud;Flaming stars twinkling, Planets revolving,Held by the God-man who shed human blood! Sinners are changing, Wretches are praying,Moved by a…

Thinking Biblically and Strategically About Inter-Church Relationships

I am focused in this article on “inter-church” relationships, not “intra-church” relationships. There is a significant difference. An online dictionary (www.dictionary.com) gives this information: “Inter– is a common prefix that means between or among groups,” whereas, “intra– is a prefix which means within or inside one group.” So the content to follow is not about relationships within a single church (intra-), but relationships between multiple churches (inter-).  My church is part of a fellowship of churches that meets annually for…

A Three-legged Stool: All Sides of God’s Salvation Process

Election by a sovereign God was one of the mainstay doctrines in the preaching used by God during great days of awakening. During the revival ministry of Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844) more than 25,000 were converted, principally in the New England area. According to John Thornbury this figure would be about 600,000 if percentaged to our present population.1 Nettleton, for one, did not shrink back from proclaiming a God who elected. The following vignette comes from the book on his life…

Closing With Christ: Rethinking What Has Become Sacrosanct

When modern evangelical churches seek to bring the unregenerate to Christ (and they should do so with passion), they often fall prey to a formula which produces disappointing results. The pattern runs something like this: Extending a public altar call Praying “the sinner’s prayer” Giving immediate verbal assurance that one is in Christ on the basis of the sinner’s sincerity and the accuracy of the wording of the prayer Immediate, or near immediate, public announcement that this person is now…