Michael Horton Refutes Grudem's Continuing Gift of Prophecy. Make a 50 word comment on the post and also interact with another student's post. Two comments are necessary for an "A" on this assignment.
Read moreThe Six Marks of Leadership, Mark Six, Part 1 “The Leaders Handle Outside Opposition” Nehemiah 4:1-9
A. Opposition is not the same as Constructive Suggestions
The title of chapter 4 in From Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t is “Confront The Brutal Facts.” Jim Collins contrasts two older grocery stores which responded differently the brutal facts. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company or A&P, was at one point ranked second only to General Motors in the 1950s. Kroger was one half the size of A&P.
Read moreThe Six Marks of Leadership, Mark Five, “He Organizes His Work” (Nehemiah 3)
I read a small book many years ago on pastoring the small church. The author said, “Most pastors are not overworked, they are under organized.” Maybe that is the way you feel about your life. I am overworked because I am under organized. Nehemiah’s leadership in chapter three could help remedy that problem.
Read moreConcealed Carry Class
You are invited to our Concealed Carry Class at Open Door Baptist Church this Saturday starting at 8:00 am. The cost is only $10. If you do not own a firearm bring 30 rounds for a 38 Special. Call 336-479-5133 for more info. We are located at 135 W. White Drive, Archdale.
Read moreThe Six Marks of Leadership, Mark Four, “The Leader Motivates His Followers? (Nehemiah 2:9-20)
I read a book that really challenged my thinking in the area of leadership by Hans Finzel entitled The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make. He defines leadership and identifies leaders.
Finzel's definition of leadership: “Leadership is influence. Anyone who influences someone else to do something has led a person. A leader takes people where they would never go on their own.” That definition includes each of you!
Finzel's identification of a leader: “You are a leader if you are leading a company, a ministry, a department, one or two coworkers, a Girl Scout club, and army platoon, a committee, or your family” (Hans Finzel. The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make. pages 19-21). That identification includes you!
Read moreVideo on Salvation
The Six Marks of Leadership, Mark Three, “The Leader Follows His Leaders” (Nehemiah 2:1-8)
We all have seen Canada Geese fly in their V formation with one leg of the V formation longer than the other leg. Why do they fly in the V formation? The lead goose is making it easier for the other geese who are following his lead. He is moving the wind resistance of the other geese following him. The rest are cruising. But after awhile the lead goose gets tired and the next goose moves up. Engineers in the wind tunnel experiments have discovered that geese flying in the V formation can fly 72% further than by themselves flying alone. Geese flying in the V formation illustrate the necessity and advantages of practicing both leadership and followship.
Read more6 Marks of Leadership, Mark Two, “The Leader Prays for God’s People” (Neh. 1:5-11)
Chapter Two of Swindol’s Hand Me Another Brick, (his commentary of Nehemiah’s leadership) is entitled “A Leader---From The Knees Up.” This characteristic of leadership is certainly seen in Nehemiah’s ministry. One out of every ten verses in Nehemiah is a reference to prayer.
Read moreThe Six Marks of Leadership, Mark 1, “The Leader Shows Concern for God’s Work” (1:1-4)
Mark Dever promotes Four Aspects of Leadership in Nine Marks of a Healthy Church with the acrostic BOSS.
Read more“The Factual Data” Sheet for Sermon Preparation for Narratives (Nehemiah)
The idea of “The Factual Data” sheet comes from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted “The Factual Data” sheet to the different genres of Scripture instead of one-size fits all approach.
Read moreLeadership in Nehemiah
On the front of one church bulletin always reads, “Ministers: The entire congregation Pastor: Rev David L. Buttry.”
Rick Warren in his Purpose Driven Church advocates, “No ministry, no membership.”
Every believer is a minister or servant of God who should be serving God and exerting influence on others through his/her local church. Leadership is one person influencing positively another person. Christian leadership is one believer spiritually impacting others for God’s glory.
Read more"God spared not His own Son"
Jay Herndon is a missionary to a poor mining village in Ireland. He wrote a story that I recently read, telling of something that happened in that village. One cold evening, the company bus, filled with the men of the village after a long day of work, was returning from the mine. The road was slick with ice on that dark winter evening. To the left of the bus was a mountainous wall and to the right was a sheer cliff. It was a very narrow, dangerous road.
Read moreA Biblical Goal for 2018
What day of the year are more goals set than any other day of the year? This coming Monday or New Year’s Day. Michael Hyatt in a video series called 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever says that traditional goal setting doesn’t work. He backs up this statement with these facts:
1. 95% of those who lose weight on a diet plan regain it and some gain more than they originally lost.
2. 25% of people abandon their New Year’s resolution after one week and 60% after six months.
3. The average person makes the same New Year’s resolution 10 times in a row without success.
Read moreThe imputation of righteousness, not the infusion of righteousness, is the only basis for the Gospel
“So important is eternal life that the Bible gives us many illustrations so that no one will miss the message. To the farmers, Jesus talked about soil and seed. To the shepherds, He talked about sheep. To beggars, He talked about a great feast that God had spread. To lawyers, He talked abut justification. To the housewife, He talked about a coin that had been lost and had to be found. But when you use the word ‘imputation,’ you find God speaking to the banker, because it is a financial term . . .. Our English word ‘imputation’ comes from the Latin word which means ‘to reckon, or credit, to one’s account.’ When you go to the bank or the savings and loan association and deposit money, imputation takes place. They deposit that on your account, and they write it on your record . . .. Right in the middle of that word ‘impute’ you have p-u-t, righteousness put to our account” (Warren Wiersbe, Key Words of the Christian Life, Lincoln: Back to the Bible, 1982, pages 55, 56, 58).
Read morePre-suppositional Apologetics
Dr. John Whitcomb taught and practiced pre-suppositional apologetics. Pre-suppositional apologetics depends not on Christian evidence to win over sinners or skeptics but the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. The following is Dr. John Whitcomb’s testimony.
Read moreAre People Basically Good?
Are people basically good? Both Christians and non-Christians agree, “People are basically good.” Barna Research Group found that 87% of non-Christians say, “People are basically good.” What should be shocking is that 90% of Christians in mainline Protestant churches agreed, “People are basically good” (What Americans Believe, 89-91).
Before we examine the different theological views, does life experience show us that “People are basically good”?
Read more“The Church Business Meeting” for Dummies
It is almost 7:00 p.m. and you are about to chair your church’s business meeting. You ask yourself, “Self, what if someone wants to amend the original motion, how will I handle it?” “Self, what if the discussion gets a little out of hand and I need to table the motion in order to do some more research?”
Read moreOUR SINFUL INHERITANCE
Have you seen the car tag, “I’m spending my children’s inheritance?” Comforting thought. Right? There is one inheritance most children wish had been spent by their parents. The inheritance of a sinful nature.
Read moreWhy Do We Baptize By Immersion?
The word “baptize” means to immerse. Lexicons define baptizo to mean to dip, immerge, submerge. “Consider also the testimonies of three non-Baptist who led the Protestant Reformation. John Calvin, founder of Presbyterianism, declared, ‘The word baptize itself signifies immerse, and it is certain that the rite of immersion was observed by the ancient church.’ In commenting on Romans 6:3-5, John Wesley, founder of Methodism, said, ‘Buried with Him, alluding to the ancient manner of baptism by immersion.’ In speaking of the meaning of baptism, Martin Luther, founder of Lutheranism, said, ‘They ought to be entirely immersed, and immediately drawn out. For this the etymology of the name seems to demand.’ I have always appreciated Luther’s practical theology when he advised the pastor to immediately draw out the person being immersed.
Read moreStep Eight: Preach so People will Respond (Part 2)
Haddon Robinson opens chapter 10 “How To Preach So People Will Listen” with an important reminder: Most books on preaching say a great deal about the development of the sermon but little about its delivery. That is reflected in the way we preach. While ministers spend hours every week on sermon construction, they seldom give even a few hours a year to thinking about their delivery. Yet sermons do not come into the world as outlines or manuscripts. They live only when they are preached. A sermon ineptly delivered arrives stillborn” ((Robinson, The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages, second edition, p. 201).
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