Archive for August, 2009

David Platt Interview

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Comments Posted on Aug 10, 2009 Last Updated Aug 10, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

I don’t generally spend a lot of time reading interviews online (you can’t work and read at the same time like you can work and listen). For whatever reason, I decided to read Collin Hansen’s interview with David Platt during a break today. I’m thankful that I did. I was extremely moved and edified by Platt’s love for God’s Word and desire to make disciples. David Platt is the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL. The article introduces him in this way:

David Platt has preached for seven hours straight. He can recite Romans 1-8 on the spot. He delivered the most powerful sermon in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference. People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that his shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.

Okay, so the last item was Peter, not Platt. But enthused congregations are raving about the pastor of the Church at Brooks Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Three years into his pastorate, David Platt is still only 30 years old. He earned his M.Div. and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he served as assistant professor of expository preaching and apologetics. Christianity Today editor at large Collin Hansen spoke with Platt to learn about the man behind the mythology and ask about how to build biblical understanding in the local church.

You can read the rest of the interview here. Trust me, it will be time well spent.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

The Word 8.9.09

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Comments Posted on Aug 09, 2009 Last Updated Aug 10, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

This is further proof that Jesus is God as well as the Messiah. He tells his disciples to ask the Lord to send out harvesters and then calls the twelve apostles to fulfill that role. As well, Jesus is the good shepherd. He is moved to compassion for the lost and desires to gather them up as a shepherd does to lost sheep. Jesus is some Savior. He is everything that we need.

Matthew 9:35-10:4 (ESV)

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

10:1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Letters From The Sky

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Comments Posted on Aug 05, 2009 Last Updated Aug 06, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

You really need to check out Civil Twilight. I haven’t been able to stop listening to their self-titled album which was released a week or two ago. They have a fresh sound. Here’s a little taste…

The Christian Experience of the Spirit

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Comments Posted on Aug 04, 2009 Last Updated Aug 05, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

A Basic Christian Theology by A.J. ConyersThere are so many things we take for granted as Christians. We talk about the comfort we have in knowing that God is near us through Christ and the Spirit. Yet we have a tendency to overemphasize God’s nearness to the detriment of his transcendence. In the process we lose sight of the bigness and mightiness of God. We see God reveal himself in Scripture as three-in-one. The early church fathers fought over the particulars of trinitarian doctrine because they knew that it was extremely important to our view of God. Yet we can assume the reality of the Trinity without even thinking it through. How can something or someone be three things and one thing at the same time? Naturally speaking, it is a paradox. Yet God is beyond time and finite existence. He is not bound by natural law. The early church fathers described the Trinity as three persons of one substance.

The Holy Spirit falls into this category. Try to wrap your mind around the reality that God exists within you. He has given us the Spirit so that it might lead us into all truth (John 16:13). The majestic and holy God of the universe has come down and taken up residence within us. I believe this is the most mind blowing aspect of our relationship with the Spirit. Here’s a great section from A Basic Christian Theology on our experience with the Holy Spirit.

What is distinctive, then, about the Christian experience of the Spirit? The clearest statement of what is new in the New Testament experience of the Spirit is found in the Gospel of John: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you” (John 14:15-16, 17b).

The new in the New Testament experience of the Spirit is the fact that believers will be given the power to “keep my commandments” because of the abiding presence of the Spirit. It is not the occasional manifestation of the Spirit in ecstatic visitation (however valid and important these may be) that distinguishes the church’s experience of God. It is the fact that now God is known as a constant presence who operates in us to do the works he wants us to do. The church will know of God’s Spirit because, now, “he abides with you, and he will be in you” (v. 17). (134)

Too often we take for granted the presence of the Spirit within us. The Father has given to us the Spirit through Christ to guide us into truth, redeem us from sin and death, unite us to God and each other, and preserve us to the end. “In the Spirit we are enabled to be faithful, for the Spirit assures us that the victory is at hand.” (132)

The Word 8.2.09

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Comments Posted on Aug 02, 2009 Last Updated Aug 03, 2009 Posted by Jeff Lash

I found this passage extremely touching and encouraging this past week. It touches on several key points concerning Jesus. More to come soon. For now…I hope you find this account encouraging as it gives us all a better picture of Jesus the Savior.

Matthew 9:18-34 (ESV)

18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23 And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went through all that district.

27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” 31 But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

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