To have a healthy, God-proclaiming church, Mark Dever said it is important for the leadership to pray for its people as the Apostle Paul did.
Dever, who is the author of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church and the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., spoke especially to those who currently pastor congregations, no matter the size. His fear, he said, is that 30-40 years from now, the church will see a majority of those who are just entering the ministry no longer active in it.
Speaking from the text of 1 Thessalonians 3:10-13, Dever said it is important to study the words of Paul and see what he desired for the early church in Thessalonica. He outlines three prayers Paul had for the early church and uses them as an example of how modern church leaders ought to encourage and pray for their own congregations. Read the rest of this entry »
Highlights from the 2008 20/20 Collegiate Conference, “Missio Dei.” If you haven’t heard, Mark Driscoll is among those who have committed to be our guests at the 2009 20/20 conference, with the theme “The Gospel Comes to Life.” Click here to learn more about it.
All of humanity is represented by one of two thieves who were crucified alongside Jesus, Buddy Gray said.
The pastor of Hunter Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Gray spoke to the Southeastern family during chapel on February 19. Speaking out of Luke 23:32-43, Gray discussed the relevancy of the two criminals, who were crucified alongside of Jesus, and related them to people today.“I want us to look at those three crosses. I want us to look at those two criminals. The Bible says they are criminals. They were on “Jerusalem’s Most Wanted List,” Gray said. “Both of them were heaping insults on Jesus. They have a great deal in common. One on the right, and one on the left. There is something very different about them, though. That is how they come to view Jesus Christ.” Read the rest of this entry »
Frank Page has a vision for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention, and it does not include bickering, placidity or boredom.
Page, who is the pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., as well as president of the SBC, spoke about the divisiveness that Satan brings to the people of God during Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s chapel service on February 12. His address came out of John 10:10, which teaches that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy.
Drawing from the example of General Edward Braddock, an officer of the British Army during the beginning of the French and Indian War, Page said Christians must never underestimate the enemy. Despite repeated warnings about the tactics and competency of the French and Indians, Braddock believed his British troops were safe from the threats, Page said. Despite his confidence, the British army was severely ambushed, mortally wounding Braddock in the battle.
“You know the moral of that story, don’t you?” Page asked. “Never underestimate the enemy. To underestimate the enemy is to invite dire consequences upon ourselves and upon those with whom we have influence.” Read the rest of this entry »
When the lost world remains in darkness, Christians need to question whether it is their own unbelief in the power of God which is keeping the Gospel from reaching all people.
The challenge to address unbelief in the lives of Christians came from J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C., when he spoke to the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary family during chapel on February 7. Greear said his role as a pastor is to help people believe. In other words, he said, his role is to help with vision.
“When the vision is correct, you have the motivation,” Greear said. “When you don’t have vision, there is no motivation.” He said vision is seeing something, not as it is, but as it would be. In this respect, Greear said vision is the topic of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, in which he prays the believers “will grasp the breadth, depth and height of God’s love for them.” Read the rest of this entry »
There is no comparison between how Christ felt as he bore humanity’s sin and any human situation, C.J. Mahaney said at Southeastern Smeinary’s annual “20/20 Collegaite Conference” February 1.
Mahaney, a longtime pastor and leader of Sovereign Grace Ministries, said he had sought divine assistance to understand what it meant for Christ to take away and bear the sins of humanity. The conference, which is an annual event geared toward college students and young adults, had the theme of Missio Dei this year, which means “the mission of God.” Mahaney opened the two-day conference as the first speaker on Friday evening. Read the rest of this entry »
Passion for people who don’t know Christ was the theme reverberating throughout Southeastern’s recent 20/20 Collegiate Conference: Missio Dei.
The fourth annual conference, which spanned two days on February 2-3, focused on God’s mission of spreading the Gospel – the message of the gift of salvation – to those who have not yet heard.
“God’s not interested in being a part of your life,” said J.D. Greear, plenary speaker at the conference and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C. “Until God is at the center of your life, until your story has been wrapped up in his story, until you see yourself wrapped up in him…Ultimately, no matter how Christian you seem, you haven’t gotten into the story God has been telling throughout the Bible, and that is the story of him.” Read the rest of this entry »
Jim Elliot said he was just a nobody trying to exalt Somebody.
Fifty-two years after his death, the well-known missionary to the Huaorani tribe of Ecuador continues to make the Lord’s name great in the Earth as his efforts and story affects people even today.
“The Lord who is great and greatly to be praised is praised more tonight because of men like Jim Elliot,” said Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Akin’s message detailing the life and ministry of Elliot was given as the second message of Southeastern’s annual “20/20 Collegiate Conference.” Read the rest of this entry »
In a continuing effort to connect people with the message of the Gospel, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., has begun video podcasting of its chapel addresses.
The seminary, which has had a regularly occurring audio podcast of its chapel services for more than a year, recently expanded to include regular features of its twice-weekly messages in video format. About one video podcast will be released each week, and the new use of the technology will enable people worldwide to benefit from chapel as much as the students studying in Wake Forest. Read the rest of this entry »
“Christian rock star syndrome” is a serious sickness infiltrating the church and gutting the body of Christ, Daniel Akin said.
Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, delivered the school’s convocation address January 29 in Binkley Chapel. In his opening message, he noted the Apostle Paul’s example from 2 Corinthians 12 of not boasting in one’s own “superstardom” but rather learning from the weakness of “thorns in the flesh.” Read the rest of this entry »
