Russell Moore and VeggieTales

Deeper Conference 2007 - Russell Moore - Veggie Tales and the Gospel
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The Great Debate over Baptism and the Covenant (11 CDs)

The Great Debate over Baptism and the Covenant (11 CDs)

Linking this CD series by William Einwechter here as I felt this was a very convincing (and influential) series on the Scriptural foundation for believers baptism. This is an issue that, as a former Presbyterian, I've become strongly convinced is what Scripture defines Baptism is to be.

I was baptized as an unrepentant 3-month old in a liberal Presbyterian church in Philadelphia roungly 37 years ago, and in thinking back, I have to wonder where was the blessing of observing/experiencing this ordinance directly? I knew nothing of the joy of sharing a testimony and experiencing the waters of baptism, or of experiencing the symbolic death of the old self ("having been buried with him in baptism" Col. 2:12) and being raised up by the pastor out of the water, the pastor symbolizing Christ's redemptive role lifting me out of sin and into a newness of life. I loved my adult baptism, and the richness and symbolism of that ordinance has such importance in my love for God.

I just don't see infant baptism in scripture. I don't see how a man on a desert island could find a Bible, read it, learn it, and then somehow find the principle of sprinkling babies in this text (well, unless an R.C. Sproul Study Bible washed up on the shore...)

But most foundational, I can't see how infant baptism isn't a gross violation of the regulative principle. How can a practice that isn't explicitly defined in Scirpture be taken and instituted - and then even further, be called a sacrament? How can paedobaptists even know that God's grace will be imparted to a sinful, unrepentant infant? Isn't that somewhat akin to a Landmark church saying that they will host a "revival" on a certain day of the week - in other Words, just like paedobaptists, how can they know when and where the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit will take place? And I for one have known quite a number of people who, baptized as infants, have had no issues with walking away completely from their faith, with only a "half-sacrament" in place.

Anyhow, The Great Debate over Baptism series by William Einwechter is exceptional and informative and I would urge anyone who is divided on the issue to look into this series.

9 Marks of a Healthy Church

Just finished reading "9 Marks of a Healthy Church" by Mark Dever, which was one of the lending books offered at our church's last family camp that I had a chance to check out. I was curious to read this from some various things I've heard about the book, in addition to my familiarity with the 9Marks website and some of Mark Dever's MP3 resources that I've downloaded from that site. I've appreciated his teaching and interview series, so it was great to actually read this book (which I worked into various lunchbreak reading times at work...)

9 Marks presents an excellent systematic breakdown of nine core principles that ideally should be foundational to a genuine church of Jesus Christ. Right off the bat the first mark is expositional preaching, and to me that's so refreshing to see this addressed foremost. During my time church-hopping it was such a drain to find church after church presenting topical teaching with very little Scripture actually used. Dever's emphasis on the exposition of scripture is so refreshing, and how I'd personally love to see this book fall into the hands of so many churches throughout the Woodlands area...

Further marks include sections devoted to the Gospel, evangelism, church discipline - all sections an excellent reference manual of key elements that the church should not be without. Even from my own lazyman lay perspective I was really convicted that not only are these fundamental elements that must be a Biblical church, but the emphasis becomes to examine the church that we are a part of to see if the church work is adhering to these principles (which, praise the Lord, the church I'm currently a member of is... in fact, I wouldn't have had this book to read (see Mark 8... erm, the ninth mark of 'Nine Marks', not Mark chapter 8.... :)

Biblical Overview

Very high-level overview of the Bible from some recent sermon notes from Pastor Justin:

Genesis 1-2 - Creation
Genesis 3 - The Fall and the beginning of redemption
Exodus - Leaving Egyptian captivity/into the wilderness/God gives the Law on Mt. Sinai
Leviticus - Handbook of holiness
Numbers - a book beginning and ending with counting. Joshua and Caleb spy out the land. 40 years in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy - Moses, nearing death, redelivers the law.
Joshua - Entering the promised land. Israel used as God's instrument of justice.
Judges - "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes"
Ruth - introduction to the chronology of David
I-II Samuel - Introduces David
I-II Kings - Rise and fall of the Israelite kings. Emphasis on sin.
I-II Chronicles - Record the same history. Emphasis on good kings and good actions. Written a generation later.
Ezra/Nehemiah - The time after Babylon captivity. The Temple walls rebuilt during a time of the reign of the Persian empire.
Esther - the brave queen
Job - Faithfulness when suffering
Psalms - songs of David and others
Proverbs - Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiastes - Exceptions to Proverbs. "Everything equals nothing aside from God."
Song of Solomon - a love poem
Books of prophets - Israel wasn't keeping their covenants
Gospels - God's King is here!
Acts - Acts of the Holy Spirit
Rest of NT - explaining what just happened.

Adopted for Life - Dr. Russell Moore

The other weekend my wife and I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Russell Moore speak at the 2010 Spring Conference, 'Adopted for Life', hosted by Grace Family Baptist church. We found out about this, providentially, through one of my wife's home school chat boards and, adoption being a topic we've both discussed many times over the years, we considered checking it out. But what really appealed to me was finding out that the sessions were being led by Dr. Moore, who's teachings I had (again providentially) just recently started listening to thanks to Monergism and some of his MP3 sermons listed there (the first message that I heard from Dr. Moore was a fascinating message on the life of T. T. Eaton. I enjoy opportunities to learn more about church history, so the Eaton message was a fascinating one.)

My wife and I took Friday as a date night, and after dinner we attended the first part of the Adopted for Life seminar. Meeting at Trinity Lutheran church on Spring-Cypress, the event was well-attended, largely with folks from Grace Family Baptist but also with a number of visitors (as an aside, Trinity Lutheran has a gorgeous, massive sanctuary with a beautiful pipe organ in the upper loft portion of the church. I'm sure that the worship music must sound fantastic - plus I was impressed to see ESV Bibles supplied in the pews. If only I didn't have problems with the Lutheran views of absolution and consubstantiation it would be worth visiting sometime... :)

Anyhow, notes about the conference: as we arrived, I had the chance to meet Dr. Moore at the door, and I told them that it was great to meet him and that I had enjoyed a number of his messages via Monergism's site. He was a very cordial individual, and his teaching throughout the duration of the weekend was immensely beneficial.

The first two sessions opened with an introduction by Voddie Baucham, followed by hymns, then Dr. Moore spoke two sessions (two more sessions followed on Saturday.)

The first Friday session addressed adoption as gospel and mission, with the second section covering adoption as spiritual warfare. In the first message, Dr. Moore presented the large picture of adoption as something God has put into the world as a depiction of the gospel. Specific to scripture he cited Romans 8 and Paul speaking of the "brotherhood" of the church in Rome of Jews and Gentiles together, and how monumental this was. In the church today, the term "brother" is frequently overused and simplified, but at the time of Paul, writing this about jews and gentiles together was a huge thing, comparing them as being part of the same family. Back then, "gentile" was a much more shocking thing to be, along the lines of individuals like Goliath and Jezebels. But here was the message of adoption into the church, beyond DNA, bloodlines, and genetics - now all part of the same family.

I find it noteworthy how through these lectures Dr. Moore challenged many views that I myself have always just been en grained to think, or taken for granted, such as notions of "I'd like to adopt someday, but first I'd like to have children of my own" - views like that (I'm sure I've thought this myself at some point) betray a false view and definition of a "normal" life, as if for those who cannot have their own biological children, that God is "cheating them out of something." But the fact of the matter is, this type of thinking stems from a darwinistic understanding of protecting your genetic material, and does not reflect a true brotherhood of the spirit, but rather just of the flesh.

Dr. Moore then went on to talk about individuals like Abraham who, even though he's the father of the nation of Israel, was in fact grafted in from the land of Ur, adopted by God. Abraham didn't possess a natural born right to be the father of many nations, but it was purely by the grace of God adopting him into this role.

There were more notes, but this is the majority of what I took. The emphasis of the seminar was adoption and foster care, and Dr. Moore's message was very inspiring. I've researched into adoption, both the steps required and the financial aspects, and its something we haven't eliminated as a possibility. At this point, its about getting our financial situation in order first (plus, with a very young one in the house who keeps us awake at night, it might be nice to let a little time pass for her to grow a little more first.) But it believe that caring for the orphans is Biblically a responsibility and an obligation that I think is important for believers to all give consideration to.

That's about the summary of notes. It was great to actually meet Dr. Moore and hear him speak, and I'd love to catch the opportunity to hear him again sometime.

Voddie Baucham sermons on Monergism

Voddie Baucham is a remarkable teacher and I've been greatly blessed to learn from him both directly here in Houston and also from his MP3 teaching online. His teaching is spot on and very relevant to the world today.

Here's a link to a number of his messages online.

Luke 15:11-32

Some notes on the parable of the prodigal son, or "sons", as Tim Keller referred to this passage in some of his messages. Most of these are notes taken some some of his Redeemer sermons (many of which are free from here.)

In Luke 15 Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son, but the story is actually built around two sons. The younger one wants to leave and requests an early inheritance, basically the same as wishing his father dead. the analogy being built here is of one being ungrateful to God's goodness.

The younger son leaves, spends all of the money, and ends up feeding pigs, and even envying their food (and eating with pigs would have been highly taboo and shocking to the Jewish audiences.) Realizing his fallen state, the younger son decides to go home and, as he's returning he prepares what he will say in terms of an apology. Yet on the way home the father rushes to him, interrupting the son's apology message (here speaking about the fact that there is no stipulation on his return.

The younger son is welcomed back, but the story doesn't end here. The older brother refuses to celebrate with the father and younger son. Again here is an example of a son shaming his father, by refusing to be part of the banquet. The father appeals to the older son to come in, and the curious thing about the parable is that we don't know what happens. Does the older brother come in? We never find out, as the parable ends, a new chapter begins and Jesus starts telling a different parable.

One message about the younger son is that it can speak to the mentality of those who merely stay at church until they get what they want, and then they leave. This parable isn't just about "bad" people out there, but can speak to virtually anyone in the church who sees it with a mentality of "what will I get out of this?"

The older brother speaks of legalism and being faithful to the law, yet at the same time being lost by blind, rigid obedience to works-based righteousness. In this story, both brothers were lost and, at the close of the story, we only know that one of the brothers was saved.