Don Carson, commenting on 1 Cor 3 v 1-2, said, "T here are Christians who are international-class projectile vomiters, spiritually speaking, after years and years of life. They simply cannot digest what Paul calls “solid food.” You must give them milk, for they are not ready for anything more. And if you try to give them anything other than milk, they upchuck and make a mess of everyone and everything around them. At some point, the number of years they have been Christians leads you to expect something like mature behavior from them, but they prove disappointing. They are infants still and display their wretched immaturity even in the way that they complain if you give them more than milk.  Not for them solid knowledge of Scripture; not for them mature theological reflection; not for them growing and perceptive Christian thought. They want nothing more than another round of choruses and a “simple message”—something that won’t challenge them to think, to examine their lives...

Preface : I recognize this post may make me unpopular with some, but I think it is an important issue to blog about here.  I’ve had time to reflect on this video and in my opinion, I think what is in this video raises some questions.  This gentleman featured below is slotted to speak at the SBC's 2020 Pastors' Conference and it prompted me to think more about this illustration.  I want to note that I don't know him and I have no personal issue with him.   I assume he is a brother in the LORD.  Having said that, I see some significant issues here that relate to this type of preaching being clear on the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, it appears to be obscuring it in my observation. Concern:  Should the SBC or churches, in general, be in the habit of holding this up as a  good and healthy example?  Let's think about it some together.  (Watch this clip below here first.) Context:  The clip was posted to stand on its own a...

Christ-centered living is foolishness to the world. To most of the world, religion is the luxury of the strong and the sad necessity of the weak, but it is utter foolishness to structure your life around the purposes of a being that can neither be seen nor heard. The human ideal of Western culture is the self-made man. We honor the person who has made himself and who rules himself. From this perspective, it only makes sense that our own minds should be the court of highest judgment, and that pleasure should be our highest goal. It seems wise to deify the creation and to ignore the Creator. In this economy, this life is our focus and eternity simply doesn’t exist. It is then the height of foolishness to think that my life would exist for the glory of another.  Tripp, P. D., & Tripp, D. P. (2007). A quest for more: living for something bigger than you. Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press.

The Bottom Line     I resolved to know nothing while I was with you  except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:2 I remember preaching in Dallas, Texas, early in our ministry. It was 1953. Many thousands attended each night, but one evening only a few people responded to the appeal to receive Jesus Christ. Discouraged, I left the platform. A German businessman was there, a devout man of God. He put his arm around me and said, “Billy, do you know what was wrong tonight? You didn’t preach the cross.” He was right. The next night I preached on Christ and His sacrificial death for us, and a great host of people received Christ as Savior. When we preach Christ crucified and risen, that message has a built-in spiritual power. The Holy Spirit takes the simple message of the cross, with its theme of redemptive love and grace, and infuses it with authority. This supernatural act of God’s Spirit breaks down barriers in people’s hearts. So whet...

THE POWER OF THE CROSS For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.  1 CORINTHIANS 1:18 We can never plumb the depths of sin, or sense how terrible human sin is, until we go to the cross and see that it was “sin” that caused the Son of God to be crucified. The ravages of war, the tragedy of suicides, the agony of the poverty-stricken, the pain and suffering of the rejected of our society, the blood of the accident victim, the terror of rape and mugging victims of our generation—these all speak as with a single voice of the degradation that besets the human race at this hour. But no sin has been committed in the world today that can compare with the full cup of the universe’s sin that brought Jesus to the cross. The question hurled toward heaven throughout the ages has been, “Who is He and why does He die?” The answer comes back, “This is my only begotten Son, dying not only for your sins but for the s...

Household Baptisms In Acts Within Acts there are several instances in which households are described as being baptized. The one in which this is described in most detail involves the conversion of Cornelius. The key verses involved are:   10:2 Cornelius is described as “a devout man who feared God with all his household.”   10:24 “Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.”   10:44, 46–48 “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.… For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ‘Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”   11:14 Cornelius is told that Peter “ ‘will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them jus...