From One Degree to Another

Last week you noticed some posts from Wayne Grudem and John Piper regarding baptism. Now, over at the blog of 9 Marks, Church Matters, Mark Dever relates how baptism ties into church membership. These are very helpful comments in this whole area of discussion.

My good friend, Brad Russell, is the new senior pastor of Old Powhatan Baptist Church in Powhatan, VA (which is a suburb of Richmond I believe). Brad has begun blogging…

A blog to help shepherd his people in applying God’s Word and a blog for his musings and rantings.

They are worth checking out and frequenting.

I have been challenged recently in my practice of family worship and have asked some godly people I respect to answer some practical questions about leading Andrew (my 18 month old) in family worship. Dr. Don Whitney was my Spiritual Formation Professor in seminary and has spoken at 2 churches I’ve had the privilege to serve. He has written an excellent piece on Family Worship. I asked Dr. Whitney about some practical solutions in dealing with a child of Andrew’s age. His counsel was excellent. Among other things, he encouraged me to not neglect using the Bible. He said,

I would not abandon use of the Bible. Perhaps you’ll want to read just one verse, repeating it several times. Perhaps get him to repeat one word with you. Let him see you holding and reading from the Bible every night so that the importance of the Bible will be reinforced visually. Of course, do not neglect your wife, either. Either find another time for the two of you to enter into things at an adult level, or else let part of your time be on an adult level and part directed toward your son.

Tony Reinke was able to get an answer from Ligon Duncan on a question I asked him about family worship. Dr. Duncan has some excellent wisdom as well.

Are there any additional thoughts out there to help with the practice of the discipline of family worship?

John Piper responds to changes in Wayne Grudem’s changes in the recent edition of his Systematic Theology on the issue of churches being divided over baptism. These are helpful words to the discussion…

In two recent posts by Stephen Altrogge, he has urged his readers to be thankful for music (Coldplay and the Cross) and ibuprofen (The Blessing of Ibuprofen). This was a reminder to me of all the “little blessings” of God that I take for granted. So find something, like the Pilot G-2 .05 I enjoy writing with, and thank God for the small things.

Related to sharpening our thoughts on matters, I am really grateful to John Piper and the dear ones at Desiring God that allow us to have so many excellent, God-centered resources for free. I was really challenged and encouraged by the final sermon on a series on marriage that Piper preached recently entitled “What God Has Joined Together, Let Not Man Separate, Part 2.” Part 1 would be worthy of your attention as well, but part 2 answers some basic questions people often raise about the divorce/remarriage issue. I took Piper’s sermon to be charitable, Biblical and forceful in setting forth God’s desires on this issue. It is worth checking out and I offer it to you as the sermon of the week.

There has been some talk online lately about baptism. It seems the good folks at Covenant Life Church have decided to examine to more faithfully administrate the ordinances of the church. This past Sunday, Josh Harris, Senior Pastor, preached on baptism. One of their pastors, Bob Kauflin, wrote a post reflecting on the importance of baptism in the worship service.

Furthermore, reading Justin Taylor today just after lunch, it seems that my favorite systematic theologian, Wayne Grudem, has changed his view on the different views of baptism in the local church. All of these posts are helpful in sharpening our thoughts on these issues.

For today’s Marriage Monday, let me give a shameless plug for our HomeWord worship service held this Friday evening from 7-9PM at the church. These worship services were featured in our latest newsletter and are a great way to deepen your relatonship with God and your spouse. Plan to join us…!

You might have heard me mention the South Koreans missionaries held hostage by the Taliban yesterday in our services. Here is a further update by World Magazine.

This upcoming sermon series by John Piper looks interesting.