Dr Paul Allen

A. W. Tozer ’s discerned the decline of theology in the typical evangelical pulpit many years ago. T ozer (d. 1963) points back to the dumbing down of youth ministry as the moment that the cancer of non-doctrinal preaching entered evangelicalism. When youth pastors began to fancy themselves as professional entertainers, they prepared the students to disassociate theology from church:   We have the breezy, self confident Christians with little affinity for Christ and his cross. We have the joy-bell boys that can bounce out there and look as much like a game show host as possible. Yet they are doing it for Jesus ’ sake?! The hypocrites! They’re not doing it for Jesus’ sake at all; they are doing it in their own carnal flesh and are using the church as a theater because they haven’t yet reached the place where the theater would take them. (T ozer on Worship and Entertainment ). He then watches that cancer work its through the body as those youth pastors became pastors, ...

Matthew  5:17 –18 is a key text for interpreting the Sermon on the Mount and the entire gospel of Matthew : “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Here Jesus says that not one iota (jot) or dot (tittle) will pass away from the law. These most likely refer to the smallest strokes of the Hebrew alphabet , indicating that the Old Testament is completely trustworthy, even to the smallest detail. This is consistent with Jesus’ attitude elsewhere. Never do we find Jesus disagreeing with Scripture. Though some have argued that Jesus disagrees with Scripture in the so-called antitheses of Matthew  5:21 –48, He explicitly instructs us otherwise in vv. 17–18. Jesus has not come to abolish the Mosaic law (or the Prophets), but to fulfill it. He does not disagree ...

One of the most important events of the life of Christ was His ascension. We celebrate His birth, His life, His transfiguration, His atoning death on Good Friday, and His resurrection. But all of these events moved Jesus inexorably toward that moment when He would be lifted up from this planet, not simply to rise to heaven but to go to His coronation, His crowning as King of kings and Lord of lords . Immediately following Jesus' ascension comes His session. If I were to ask you, "What's the session?" you might say that it is the group of elders of your church who meet to establish policy and carry out discipline in the church. That's true, but the ultimate session is the session of Jesus; it refers to His seating at the right hand of God . Various views have emerged in church history regarding the concept of the kingdom of God . Some believe the kingdom of God is totally future, that it doesn't exist at all now, not even in part, until the return of Je...

Your neighbor asks what you did over the weekend. You think to yourself,  Should I mention church? If I do, am I ready to share the gospel ? If I am, how do I get there? You know you should say something to your barber, or to the barista at your favorite coffee shop — something about Jesus , something about the gospel — but you feel stuck. Palms are getting sweaty. Guilt is circling like a bird of prey. You feel the window closing. I doubt many Christians need convincing from Scripture that we’re all called to evangelize, to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus ( 1 Peter 2:9–10). Evangelism is the simple and supernatural telling, pleading, and inviting of people to turn from sin, and to place their faith in the one crucified to pay for sin and reigning now over the whole universe. In evangelism, we are telling people to run to Jesus. But we often struggle with how to tell the good news, especially with where to start. One Question If you struggle to get the conv...