Dr Paul Allen

This letter P is an example of an historiated initial (depicting Peter) in an illuminated Latin bible, 1407 AD. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “The Invincible Power of the Inerrant Word.” We understand what the word inerrant means. It means that it is without any errors as it was recorded in its original autographs. This is a flawless book in all that it states. Psalm 12:6 states, “The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.” Refined to absolute perfection. It is a flawless book in all that it states. Psalm 119:140 : “Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it.” Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is tested,” meaning: it has been put into the fire. There are no impurities that remain. It is the pure gold and silver of the truth of God. Jesus prayed in John 17:17 , “ Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.” The word truthmeans reality, the way things really are. It does not mean that which the cultu...

Baptism of Christ. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River by John. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” No membership class. No onlookers are mentioned. No period of seeing whether or not this Ethiopian was serious about his profession. All that we have in this context is a gospel explanation by Philip, a chariot driver, and “some water”. Therefore, churches ought to follow Philip and baptize people upon profession. Right?!?! I’ve had to think through this question in recent days. First I’ve had to think of it because I believe that there are many people within our churches that have said a prayer, given a few correct answers, and then took a bath at church. Upon this bath they are now told that they members of the church. It means that we as a church are standing behind your profession and as it were saying to the Lord, “We believe this pe...

Here is some wisdom from Mark Dever , drawn from  What Is a Healthy Church? . He offers up six considerations for before you decide to leave a church and four to apply if you decide that you must leave. Before You Decide to Leave Pray. Let your current pastor know about your thinking before you move to another church or make your decision to relocate to another city. Ask for his counsel. Weigh your motives. Is your desire to leave because of sinful, personal conflict or disappointment? If it’s because of doctrinal reasons, are these doctrinal issues significant? Do everything within your power to reconcile any broken relationships. Be sure to consider all the “ evidences of grace” you’ve seen in the church’s life—places where God’s work is evident. If you cannot see any evidences of God’s grace , you might want to examine your own heart once more ( Matt.  7:3-5). Be humble. Recognize you don’t have all the facts and assess people and circ...

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Understanding God ’s Design for Sex and Marriage by Challies.com The Meaning of Marriage  by Tim Keller. This book looks at the friendship and companionship and sex and everything else God has packaged into the marriage relationship. It celebrates it all and it does it within the greatest context of all—the gospel of Jesus Christ . (Check out some of the  free resources  related to this book.) This Momentary Marriage  by John Piper . Piper puts a lot of effort into writing about the link between the union of husband and wife and the union of Christ to his church.You can listen to or watch (for free) the  sermon series  this book came from. Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God  by  C.J. Mahaney . Mahaney does a good job of challenging men to be godly husbands. The enduring wisdom here is never to touch your wife’s body until you’ve touched her heart and her mind. Read...

THABITI ANYABWILE | 2:37 PM CT Multi-Site Churches Are from the Devil Okay, that title is homage to James MacDonald, who says congregationalism is from Satan and whom I had the privilege of spending a couple days with at the recent  9marks @ Southeastern Conference .  During the  Baptist21  Panel, our moderator stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest by asking me what I thought about multi-site churches .   Why me?  I thought.  Mark Dever is sitting right there.  He loves talking about this stuff.  Aww… man.  Ask me about basketball. So, after I finished my pity party, I answered my brother’s question, stated something like: “Thabiti, what arguments for multi-site have you found persuasive?”  My articulate response: “Uh, none.” Okay, this should be the end of the post.  But because I’m in the Miami airport and the people-watching has become a bit weird, I think I’d rather invite you all to my misery and discovery. Idolat...

Image via Wikipedia Congregational government is an invention and tool of the enemy of our souls to destroy the church of Jesus Christ . So there, I have said the strongest part of the message first; now some commentary. 1) Congregational Meetings Are Forums for Division: When church life is going well, the leaders of a church struggle to get a quorum for decision making. When things are going wrong, every carnal member lines up at a microphone to spew their venom and destroy the work of Christ in the church.  I saw it growing up, and I have seen it since in churches that are fighting to survive and do something courageous for their future. Good people being held hostage by bad people, minorities hijacking the majority because a set of ‘by-laws’ get higher regard than the Scriptures.  Satan does want to rip church unity to shreds like a devouring lion ( 1 Peter 5:8). He is accomplishing that again and again through a system of church government which elevates the fleshl...