The Daily Bleat

John Newton Unashamed of the Doctrines of Grace

Joshua — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:27:52 +0000

John Newton (1725-1807) in his preface to “Olney Hymns” speaks of his unashamedness of the Doctrines of Grace.

The views I have received of the doctrines of grace are essential to my peace, I could not live comfortably a day or an hour without them. I likewise believe, yea, so far as my poor attainments warrant me to speak, I know them to be friendly to holiness, and to have a direct influence in producing and maintaining a gospel conversation, and therefore I must not be ashamed of them.

It is from Newton’s understanding of God’s sovereign grace that he penned the famous “Amazing Grace”.

I find great encouragement from Newton’s unashamedness of the Doctrines of Grace and hope this quote encourages you as well.

LifeWay Exponential Conference 2012 Simulcast Giveaway – Enter Now!

Joshua — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:33:50 +0000

The LifeWay Exponential Conference 2012 took place back in April but you can stream the conference on your couch with a nifty code provided by LifeWay. Thanks to LifeWay, I have two codes to give away for two providentially blessed individuals.

From the LifeWay site:

The Exponential Conference has become the largest gathering of church planting leaders in North America each year with nearly 5,000 attendees. Exponential champions healthy, reproducing-faith communities by inspiring, encouraging and equipping church planting leaders. From leaders considering church planting to seasoned veterans, the conference’s 100+ national speakers, 100+ workshops, and 15+ tracks provide some of the best church planting training available. For the first time ever, the 5 Main Sessions from anExponential Conference will be made available via live Simulcast. The emphasis of the 5 Main Sessions are:

Sifted for a Purpose

Sifted in our Calling

Sifted in our Purity

Sifted in our Relationships

Sifted for Multiplication

Presenters include:

Wayne Cordeiro

Jud Wilhite

Charles Jenkins

Darrin Patrick

Amie Patrick

Dan Smith

Shannon Smith

Brian Bloye

Amy Bloye

Shawn Lovejoy

Tricia Lovejoy

Bill Hybels

Dave Ferguson

Sue Ferguson

Andy Hawthorne

Rules to enter:

Enter your name and email address and hit submit by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
One entry per person
Share this post with the sharebar on the left!

I will draw the winners by random number generator on Monday.

Thanks LifeWay!

Christian Spiritual Disciplines and Drudgery

Joshua — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:35:49 +0000

In his Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald Whitney addresses the possibility of drudgery entering into the practice of spiritual discipline. I have not done well in keeping up with all the spiritual disciplines Whitney lists and perhaps it is because I have feared drudgery. However, drudgery need not enter into disciplining one’s self for godliness when the proper focus is in view.

Discipline without direction is drudgery. But the Spiritual Disciplines are never drudgery as long as we practice them with the goal of Godliness in mind. If your picture of a disciplined Christian is one of a grim, tight-lipped, joyless half-robot, then you’ve missed the point. Jesus was the most disciplined Man who ever lived and yet the most joyful and passionately alive. He is our Example of discipline. Let us follow Him to joy through the Spiritual Disciplines.

Source: Donald S Whitney. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Kindle Locations 180-183). Kindle Edition.

Another Great Baptist Theologian You Should Know

Joshua — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:55:45 +0000

Steve Weaver over at Credo Magazine has written a brief but helpful introduction to great Baptist theologian John Gill. This introduction is part of series at Credo Mag called “10 Baptists Everyone Should Know.”

I have benefited greatly from Gill’s Exposition of the Bible as it reflects not only a reformed Baptist position but also an historic Baptist perspective.

Weaver writes:

When John Gill (1697-1771) died he was widely recognized as the greatest Baptist theologian of the eighteenth century. While pastoring the same congregation for nearly fifty-two years, Gill more than earned the nickname, “Dr. Voluminous,” by publishing more than ten thousand pages during his lifetime! Gill holds the distinction of being the first Baptist to write a systematic theology, as well as being the first Baptist to write a verse-by-verse commentary on the entire Bible. No wonder that Augustus Toplady predicted shortly after Gill’s death that: “While true religion and sound learning have a single friend remaining in the British Empire, the works and name of GILL will be precious and revered.”

You can read the entire article here.

A Prayer of Contentment

Joshua — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:25:52 +0000

Heavenly Father,

If I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize thy love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings.

It is thy mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them…

When thy Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin, He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny.

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labor to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there.

Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from himself.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live: that in my self I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things.

Source: The Valley of Vision

Paige Patterson Takes Swing at Young Southern Baptist Bloggers

Joshua — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:49:24 +0000

In the new Southwestern Journal of Theology, Dr. Paige Patterson briefly notes the presence of a generational gap within the Southern Baptist Convention. However, Patterson is optimistic, at least he says so while also creating false dichotomies and casually dismissing the legitimacy of blogging.

Finally, Southern Baptists do have a generation gap in leadership due the era of wandering from the faith in our seminaries. That admitted, the younger generation is amazing. I am not speaking of those who seem ubiquitous based on the turmoil they generate and who spend inordinate time meditating on their personal whims on the blogs. Rather I speak of a generation of young adults with a will to take Christ to the nations regardless of sacrifice. They love the Word of God, desire to teach its message, and desire holiness before God. They will grow in grace, prayer, sanctification, and knowledge. The future is in good hands. (197)

Perhaps this is not the best way to fix the perceived generational gap Patterson mentions. Many who are committed to reaching the nations are also bloggers with great concern for the SBC and the rank politics within SBC leadership (Ergun Caner coverup?).

I have noticed there seems to be an expected unquestionable loyalty to anyone who played a role in the Conservative Resurgence (Patterson, Vines, Harrell). Perhaps many did “kiss the ring” for a few decades, however, my generation will have none of it. While we are appreciative of the way God worked in men delivering the SBC from the throws of doctrinal disaster, we value truth and honesty above Southern Baptist politics.

The old guard is moving out, and while they will have their names on buildings, seminary and college programs, and other places of distinguished honor, they will no longer be able to dismiss the hoi polloi who believe the doctrinal deficiencies in the SBC are still legion.

I am thankful for Dr. Patterson’s unceasing work in the SBC and all of his contributions to turn the Convention around. However, I’m not sure dismissing young SBC bloggers is a good way to fix the generational gap within the SBC. I will stop now before I begin “meditating on my personal whims.”

God’s Saving Righteousness as Foundation for Prayer

Joshua — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:44:37 +0000

Everything God has done, is doing, and will do is for his own glory. Out of this comes man’s chief purpose, which is to glorify God and enjoy him forever (Psalm 86; Isa 60:21; 1 Cor 6:20; Rev 4:11).

Regarding God’s glory in the work of justification and the salvation of sinners, SBTS professor Dr. Tom Schreiner writes in his commentary on Romans:

Why does God declare sinners who place their trust in Jesus to be righteous? For the glory of his name (cf. 1 Sam 12:22), for in the cross of Christ both the saving and judging righteousness of God are manifested. (69)

Schreiner points to 1 Sam 12:22 which reads, “For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.”

The Bible tells us that God will keep his people until the end for sake of his name. Yahweh’s chief concern is the manifestation of his own glory. God’s glory is manifested in both the judgment of Christ on the cross for the sins of God’s sheep (John 10:15) and the saving and declaring righteous of sinful men.

Schreiner continues:

A similar parallel is found in Ps. 31 (30 LXX). The psalmist prays, “In your righteousness (εν τη δικαιοσυνη σου) rescue me” (31:1 [30:2 LXX]). But in 31:3 (30:4 LXX) he says, “For your name’s sake (ενεκεν του ονοματος σου) you will guide me.” God’s saving righteousness is a sure foundation for prayer because this in turn is based on the name of God. (70)

We should appeal to God’s saving righteousness in our petitions just as the psalmist prayed. What blessed assurance we have in God when we know that his promises to us, his people, are rooted in the love of himself and the manifestation of his goodness and glory.

I know the Lord will not forsake me nor will he fail to give me all things, because he has chosen to glorify himself, in me, through the redemption bought by Christ.

J.L. Dagg and His Manual of Church Order: 6 Duties of Baptists

Joshua — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:41:58 +0000

Baptist statesman J.L. Dagg finishes his Manual of Church Order with the “duty of Baptists.” Dagg lists 6 duties that all Baptists should uphold and then expounds on each duty.

Regarding the duties of Baptists, Dagg writes:

Although the truth of God does not need human authority, or the patronage of great names, it is nevertheless the Divine pleasure to make it known to the world by human instrumentality; and this instrumentality needs to be adapted to the purpose for which it is employed. If God has commissioned a sect everywhere spoken against, to make known truth which the wise and learned have overlooked, that sect ought to understand the service to which they have been appointed, and ought to fulfil the prescribed duty firmly, faithfully, and in the fear of the Lord. As men designed for a peculiar service, let us, by earnest and constant endeavor, seek to ascertain the will of him to whose supreme authority we yield all our powers, and let us diligently and perseveringly obey that will, whether men revile or praise.

I believe Dagg’s list is helpful for reflection on what God would have us to do and what it means to be a Baptist.

1. It is our duty to maintain the ordinances of Christ, and the church order which he has instituted, in strict and scrupulous conformity to the Holy Scriptures.

2. It is our duty, while rendering punctilious obedience to all the commands of God, to regard the forms and ceremonies of religion as of far less importance than its moral truths and precepts.

3. It is our duty to hold and exhibit the entire system of Christian doctrine in all its just proportions.

4. It is our duty to maintain lives of holy obedience in all things.

5. It is our duty to labor faithfully and perseveringly to bring all men to the knowledge of the truth.

6. It is our duty to promote the spiritual unity of the universal church, by the exercise of brotherly love to all who bear the image of Christ.

Read Dagg’s exposition of each point here.

President Bryant Wright SBC Name Change Interview | Video

Joshua — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:42:08 +0000

Southern Baptist Convention president Bryant Wright was recently interviewed by Jonathan Akin of Baptist 21 regarding the potential name change of the convention. Wright is responsible for forming a task force that researched a possible name change and settled on proposing an official nickname of Great Commission Baptists (GCB).

I must confess that I have no opinion on the matter but many in the SBC care much about a possible name change and the legitimacy of the task force assigned to handle the issue.

Wright answers many questions in the following videos.

3 Resources On Why “Asking Jesus Into Your Heart” Is Deficient

Joshua — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:15:33 +0000

There is much discussion regarding the use of the phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” during sermons or evangelism events. David Platt recently spoke about the phrase being “superstitious and unbiblical” because it does not communicate the gospel imperative that one must repent and put their trust or faith in Christ alone.

Recently, in an article at SBCToday.com, Pastor Ron Hale fails to understand Platt’s message, asserting that Platt does not believe in prayer accompanying salvation. Hale later erects a strawman in the comments section, “I’ve determined that I’m not going to walk around …fearful that somebody might get saved.”

Thankfully, I don’t believe David Platt walks around in fear either, but employing a prayer that is promised to bring about salvation is something that should trouble all Christians as the eternal consequences of such deception is real. “Say this prayer and be saved” is not biblical but damning. I am thankful that men like David Platt, Dan Wallace, and Owen Strachan are bold enough to say so.

Dan Wallace- Inviting Jesus Into Your Heart
Owen Strachan - After Finney: Inviting Jesus Into Your Heart (page 15)
David Platt - Why “Accepting Jesus In Your Heart” Is Superstitious & Unbiblical