Dr Paul Allen

The aftermath of a conversation can change the way we later think of its significance. My friend — a younger minister — sat down with me at the end of a conference in his church and said: "Before we retire tonight, just take me through the steps that are involved in helping someone mortify sin." We sat talking about this for a little longer and then went to bed, hopefully he was feeling as blessed as I did by our conversation. I still wonder whether he was asking his question as a pastor or simply for himself — or both.  How would you best answer his question? The first thing to do is:  Turn to the Scriptures . Yes, turn to John Owen (never a bad idea!), or to some other counselor dead or alive. But remember that we have not been left only to good human resources in this area. We need to be taught from "the mouth of God " so that the principles we are learning to apply carry with them both the  authority  of God and the  promise  of God to make the

The land was all that the Lord had said it would be, a land flowing with milk and honey. Indeed, they had brought back with them evidence of the plenty of the land. God ’s promise was true. They carried the evidence upon their shoulders, whilst they carried unbelief in their hearts! What were the grapes? They were the earnest of their inheritance. Today, the Holy Spirit is the earnest of the believer’s inheritance, Eph. 1:13, 14; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5. Up to now their report had been positive. They had seen the desirability of the land and were convinced of that. Then, came the ‘nevertheless’, v. 28. They had also seen the difficulties and, in comparison with their enemies, they saw themselves as grasshoppers. What was lacking in their report was any mention of God. There was much about the walled cities, the giants, their enemies, but they had lost sight of God completely. They saw the difficulties. They did not see the Lord at all. They looked at things which were seen rather than at

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Prayer is one of the deepest joys of the Christian life . It is almost too good to be true that in Jesus we have the very ear of God . What an indescribable gift, that the God whose greatness is beyond comprehension actually stoops to listen to us, and is even more ready to hear us than we are to speak. And the joys and benefits of prayer aren’t limited to our personal prayer lives. A shared joy is a doubled joy, and God means for us not only to  pray in our closets , and “without ceasing” ( 1 Thessalon

Baptism of Christ. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River by John. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We were saved by God ’s mercifully deciding to grant the washing of regeneration. When we were saved, we were cleansed of our sin, the decay and filth that is produced by spiritual deadness. Speaking of that truth in his letter to the church at Ephesus , Paul explains that we were cleansed “by the washing of water with the word” ( Eph. 5:26). James declares that, “In the exercise of His will He [God] brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures” (James 1:18). Peter reminds us that we “have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God”(1 Pet. 1:23). Palingenesia (regeneration) carries the idea of receiving n new life, of being born again, or born from above. Jesus told the inquiring Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and

We can understand the purposes of the church in terms of ministry to God , ministry to believers, and ministry to the world. 1. Ministry to God: Worship. In relationship to God the church’s purpose is to worship him. Paul directs the church at Colossae to “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). God has destined us and appointed us in Christ “to live for the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12).  Worship in the church is not merely a preparation for something else: it is in itself fulfilling the major purpose of the church with reference to its Lord. That is why Paul can follow an exhortation that we are to be “making the most of the time” with a command to be filled with the Spirit and then to be “singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart” (Eph. 5:16–19). 2. Ministry to Believers: Nurture. According to Scripture, the church has an obligation to nurture those who are already believers and build them up to mat

English: Ananias restoring the sight of Saint Paul (Photo credit: Wikipedia )  A biblical justification for bible college might be made from a number of passages, from Matthew 28:19 (and its emphasis on teaching disciples) to 2 Timothy 2:2 (and its emphasis on leadership training) to Titus 1:9 (and its emphasis on elders being equipped to articulate and defend the faith). But there is a short passage in Acts that, I believe, provides a biblical precedent for seminary education in a particularly insightful way. These verses, which at first glance may not seem overly significant, show the apostle Paul starting a theological training school in the city of Ephesus . As one commentator explains: “In Ephesus, Paul opened a school of theology to train future leaders for the developing church in the province of Asia” ( Simon J. Kistemaker ,  Acts , NTC , 684). I doubt Paul called it Ephesus Theological Seminary (not to be confused with the modern ETS), but in essence that is exactly w

English: Damian. "Jesus Christ and St. John the Apostle". A detail of the Last Supper fresco from Ubisi, Georgia (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God , to the saints who are at Ephesus , and who are faithful in Christ Jesus ” ( Eph. 1:1). God is more interested in your faithfulness than He is in your accomplishments. Our society is success-oriented. We love success stories. We even have television programs that exalt the lifestyles of the rich and famous. But God’s standard for success is quite different. Unimpressed by our status or wealth, He looks instead for faithfulness to His will. Paul understood that principle and diligently pursued his calling as an apostle—one of those unique men who were foundational to the church and who were recipients, teachers, and writers of the New Testament . That was a high calling, and yet, judging from Paul’s lifestyle, most people would hardly call him successful—having suffered imp

Cover via Amazon Mark Driscoll appeared on a short YouTube  clip entitled, “Don’t Elevate Doctrine above the Holy Spirit .” It’s from Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Revelation 2:1-7 preached at the ancient Celsus Library in Ephesus .  The clip raises the thought, should we pit “doctrine” against the work of the Spirit in the heart. Mark warns against the consequences of elevating doctrine (especially cessationists) over the Holy Spirit with statements like: “You don’t need to pray much anymore, because you have a theology that tells you what to do. You don’t have to listen to the Holy Spirit anymore, because you have a theology that directs all your steps. I’m not saying we avoid our doctrinal clarity, but we still need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  He infers that cessationism tends not to need the Holy Spirit as much as having good theology. One of the repercussions of cessationism, he says, is that “Christianity goes from a relationship we enjoy to a belief system