Dr Paul Allen

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. – Philippians 4:5 – This passage of Scripture comes in a list of brief commands that Paul means to demonstrate as the means of remaining spiritually steadfast (cf. Phil 4:1). That list is usually read through very quickly, and this command to be gentle often doesn’t enjoy the extended meditation that it deserves. But the word is packed with meaning, so much so that the translators have always had a hard time translating the Greek word, epieikes. The verse at the top is the New American Standard Update. The older NAS has, “Let your forbearance,” or “your forbearing spirit be made known to all men.” The ESV says, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.” The HCSB has, “Let your graciousness be known to everyone.” The commentators don’t help either, as their lists are even longer: gentleness, graciousness, forbearance, patience, sweet reasonableness, mildness,...

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Gordon Fee hits the nail on the head when he writes, “Joy…lies at the heart of the Christian experience of the gospel; it is the fruit of the Spirit in any truly Christian life , serving as primary evidence of the Spirit’s presence” (The Epistle to the Philippians , 81). He goes onto say that, “Unmitigated, untrammeled joy is . . . the distinctive mark of the believer in Christ Jesus” (ibid., 404). The great British expositor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones , wrote that, “Nothing was more characteristic of the first Christians than this element of joy” ( Life of Peace , 143). Elsewhere he said, “The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful church” (Spiritual Depression, 5). And perhaps the great Puritan Richard Baxter said it best when he said, “Delighting in God, and in his word and ways, is the flower and life of true religion” (The Cure of Melancholy, 257). This teaching absolute...

Holy Spirit Stained Glass (Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble ) The theological fallout still continues from Dr. John MacArthur controversial conference entitled "Strange Fire" where he states all those who believe in spiritual gifts continuing are blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  Dear Dr. MacArthur, I have admired you as an able writer and speaker for years. I have not only read your book Strange Fire but listened to your talks as well as the panel discussions at your recent conference. I am as Reformed theologically as you are and can say we are on the same page when it comes to many issues you address. I was not prepared, however, for some of the things you said. I had to reread some parts to be sure you said what I thought you said. First, if your book purports the danger of offending the Holy Spirit with counterfeit worship, I fear you are in greater danger of offending the Holy Spirit by attributing His work to Satan . Does this not worry you? You are risking an...

Cover via Amazon In 1954, speaking of spiritual depression, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, "I have no hesitation in asserting that one of the reasons why the Christian Church counts for so little in the modern world is that so many Christians are in this condition."  It's striking to hear of how common the struggle was in his day. Depression is no stranger to the great leaders in church history (in fact, it affected quite a lot of them), but neither is depression uncommon in the church today.  So what do we, as a church, do about it? We recently asked biblical counselor Ed Welch. Here's what he said.  Ed Welch is a speaker at our upcoming National Conference. Visit the   event page   to learn more and register.  For more on the theme of depression see — Ed Welch, book,  Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness Ed Welch, booklet,  Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down John Piper, book,  When the Darkness Will Not Lift John...

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This first petition of “the Lord’s Prayer ” (probably better termed “The Disciple’s Prayer”) is first by design. This premier petition that God’s name be glorified acts a controlling grid through which Jesus’ disciples are to pray.  Everything we ask for in prayer and everything we do in our lives is to be asked for and done so that God would be glorified—so that the beauty of His manifold perfections would be magnified for all to see. This is the highest request we could ever attain to make of God, for it is this which is His own most foundational and most ultimate commitment. He Himself has stated that He does all He does with a chief regard for the glory of His own name. Isaiah 42:8 – I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another. Isaiah 43:7 – Everyone…whom I have created for My glory. Isaiah 43:25 – I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgr...

Christ in Gethsemane (Christus in Gethsemane), oil painting by Heinrich Ferdinand Hofmann (Heinrich Hofmann). The original is at the Riverside Church (Riverside Church, New York City). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The twentieth-century British pastor D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, "If we only spent more of our time in looking at Christ we should soon forget ourselves." Fixing our eyes on Christ is the first step and the entire path of the Christian life. We don't look to Christ in faith to be saved and then look to ourselves to persevere. We trust Christ alone as our Savior and look to Christ alone and follow Him as our Lord . In order to look to Christ as our Savior and Lord , we need new eyes and a new heart.  We are born spiritually dead and blind in sin, with our eyes fixed on ourselves and our own glory, but God the Holy Spirit strips the inherited blindfolds from our eyes and graciously rips out our hard hearts and gives us new hearts that love Him and new eyes that ...

Image via Wikipedia Now that   Rob Bell ’s  controversial book  Love Wins  is on sale and many comments have been made, I am feeling like I cannot avoid engaging in the controversy, or at least should read some more material to understand it better. here are a few links and article that will help. These are: Why a belief in hell is so practically important  ( John Piper ) The folly of imagining hell is not real and sin is not deadly  ( Charles Spurgeon ) Mark Driscoll’s sermon on hell taken from the Rich Man and Lazarus. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the folly of thinking God is only love. I have now found a very helpful round up post on  Gary David Stratton’s blog  that lists some of the major posts on each side of this vociferous debate. He says that over 400,000 responses are now available online, so reading every post is clearly not an option!  I have been following some of the posts he lists, and have finally succumbed and am in the process of r...

Image via Wikipedia Now that   Rob Bell ’s  controversial book  Love Wins  is on sale and many comments have been made, I am feeling like I cannot avoid engaging in the controversy, or at least should read some more material to understand it better. here are a few links and article that will help. These are: Why a belief in hell is so practically important  ( John Piper ) The folly of imagining hell is not real and sin is not deadly  ( Charles Spurgeon ) Mark Driscoll’s sermon on hell taken from the Rich Man and Lazarus. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the folly of thinking God is only love. I have now found a very helpful round up post on  Gary David Stratton’s blog  that lists some of the major posts on each side of this vociferous debate. He says that over 400,000 responses are now available online, so reading every post is clearly not an option!  I have been following some of the posts he lists, and have finally succumbed and am in the process of r...