A La Carte (December 26)
A La Carte: The thief’s good works / It’s a wonderful strife / The forgotten qualification / How to spend your time during the final days of the year / A new poem / Lessons for church planters/ and more.
Explore Titus 1:9
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What’s the Purpose of … Pastors?
The Bible knows nothing of lone Christians, of believers who are willfully independent from a local church. Rather, Christians gather in communities to worship together and serve one another. And as God commands his people to gather in community, he also commands them to be led—led by men called and qualified as pastors or elders…
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Know Your Doctrine
“Doctrine divides,” the young man explained. “Of course it’s important, but God cares far more for our deeds than our creeds. Doctrine divides, but love unites.” Could he be right? Is doctrine a force for division meant to bow before the primacy of love? “I find doctrine boring,” the husband confessed. “I don’t have any…
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10 Strengths (and 10 Dangers) of Systematic Theology
Systematic theology is the discipline of looking to the entire Bible to determine what God says about a given topic. It answers the question “What does the whole Bible say about __________ [fill in the blank]?” It is a logical, systematic way of organizing truth. To be skillful, accurate theologians, we need systematic theology, but…
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The Five Tests of False Doctrine
T.D. Jakes says that God eternally exists in three manifestations, not three persons. Greg Boyd says God knows some aspects of the future, but that other future events are outside of his knowledge. Creflo Dollar says because we are created in the image of God, we are little gods. Mormonism says God revealed new scripture…
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False Teachers and Deadly Doctrines
For the past few years, lists of Christian bestsellers have been topped by a book claiming fresh revelation from Jesus Christ. Before that, they were overrun by books describing people’s purported visits to heaven. And before the heaven tourism fad, there was the best-selling novel that reframed the doctrine of the Trinity. Meanwhile, the largest…
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The 10 Questions Anyone Considering a Call to Ministry Must Answer
This sponsored post was provided by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The call to ministry is indeed a subjective thing. We use phrases like “feeling called” and “sensing a call.” Sometimes we may talk about “discerning” a call or “wrestling with” a call. If you are in one of those categories of thinking, how can you…