Tom Schmidt's BlogOh Seductive Self-Pity You woo me with your claims: ‘I was overlooked!’ ‘I was mistreated!’ ‘I was wronged!’ Your logic is persuasive: ‘They should have known better!’ ‘It’s obvious I’m right!’ ‘I deserve to feel upset!’ Your view of reality intoxicates me: ‘I deserve better!’ ‘They should apologize!’ ‘They need to understand my pain and […]
Jesus Among Exorcists In my last post, I considered the notion of exorcism in the 1st century Jewish mind. In this post I’d like to consider the exorcistic ministry of Jesus. It is acknowledged by scholars, that exorcism was an integral part of Jesus’ ministry.[1] How does the Second Temple Jewish context illuminate our understanding […]
To most today, talk of exorcism, demons, and spirits is the stuff of movies and antiquated religious notions. How can anyone actually believe in these things? The Bible presents a far different picture: we are physical and spiritual beings, and we live in a universe which is inhabited by spiritual beings known as demons and […]
10 Key Issues to Cover In Your Church’s Prayer Meeting Does your church have regular gatherings outside of the Sunday service where members can meet together and pray? Our church does, and I had the privelege of leading our last gathering. My pastor encouraged me to work through a little booklet called “Biblical Patterns for […]
11 Questions that Expose Idols Darrin Patrick has an excellent book for those entering vocational ministry called “Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission.” The book cover three main sections: (1) The Man–qualifications and qualities of those who seek to enter ministry; (2) The Message–the historical/redemptive gospel in all its glory and relevance; (3) […]
Why So Few Men Enter The Ministry Continuing my series on William Perkins, I’d like to share why he believed so few young men enter into vocational ministry. He gives three reasons (‘The Calling of the Ministry’ p 90-91): 1. The contempt with which the calling is treated. To be pastor is to face contempt […]
Perkins on Law and Gospel In a previous post I shared William Perkins’ summary of the task of preaching. Here I’d like to share a few quotes about application and on the Law and Gospel Distinction. Perkins states: “Application is the skill by which the doctrine which has been properly drawn from Scripture is handled […]
One of the first books written in the English language on preaching is ‘The Art of Prophesying” by William Perkins (1606). This book, though written over 400 years ago, is incredibly relevant and profitable today for all who are called to the task of proclaiming God’s word-which is what Perkins means by the phrase ‘prophesying’ […]
In a previous post I described how my friend Dan and I challenged each other to write a new worship song (a song created for the purpose of use for singing in a corporate worship gathering) at some point before the month of March ended. While I love singing worship songs in church, most of […]
Recently, I have begun sharing this video with non-Christians I meet in order to explain to them the gospel, or the gist of the Christian message. I think this video is really well done, and very Trinitarian. What do you think? Do you have any short video links that do a good job of explaining […]