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Why We Need a Prophet, Priest, and King
I recently finished preaching a three-part sermon series on Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King. While researching for these sermons, I came across this helpful paragraph in Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics. He had to be a prophet to know and disclose the truth of God; a priest, to devote himself to God and, in our…
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Singing the Seven “I Am” Sayings of Christ
Last month, I had the opportunity to preach at a Christian camp. Since the campers’ ages ranged from 7 to 12 years old, I wanted my sermons to be simple, memorable, and foundational. So I chose to preach on the seven “I Am” sayings of Christ in the book of John. As I prepared…
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What I’m Reading: Sweet Reason
Sweet Reason: A Field Guide to Modern Logic Sweet Reason is not the sort of book that will keep you wide-eyed, turning pages late at night. It’s actually a pretty dense textbook—the kind with charts, gray boxes, exercises, and odd-numbered answers at the back of the book. So why am I reading this? When working…
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True Love, Genuine Faith
True love springs from genuine faith. That is, in part, what Paul teaches in 1 Timothy 1:5, when he describes the goal of his gospel proclamation. “The aim of our charge,” he insists, “is love that issues from sincere faith.” Does that mean that I must have sincere faith in order to truly love someone?…
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What I’m Reading: Evangelism in a Skeptical World by Sam Chan
I recently finished reading Sam Chan’s Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News About Jesus More Believable. If you’ve read Tim Keller’s Center Church or Kevin J. Vanhoozer’s Every Day Theology you’ll be familiar with Chan’s concepts and efforts to make the gospel intelligible to unbelievers. Chan calls out the unfortunate…
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A Pastor’s Character, Convictions, Competencies
In The Trellis and the Vine, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne suggest a three-fold schema for training church leaders: character, convictions, and competencies. I’ve found it helpful to apply these three categories to the various qualifications for the shepherd/elder/overseer in the Pastoral Epistles. Character: The Lifestyle of a Pastor Combining the list of character qualifications in…
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What I’m Reading: Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow Titan is great biographical writing, and it’s hard to imagine a more intriguing person in the history of American business than John D. Rockefeller. Before reading Titan I knew virtually nothing about this Goliath of industry, besides his incredible wealth. So I was surprised to learn…
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Character, Leadership, and the Gospel
Character Matters Why do we feel uncomfortable trusting a politician who has been unfaithful to his wife? or disappointed when a high-profile athlete–known and respected for “family values”– has been hiding an affair? Perhaps we feel this discomfort because we make an intuitive connection between a man’s character and our confidence in him as a leader. The…
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What I’m Reading: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson This is one of the most interesting, stirring, and helpful books I’ve ever read. It’s easy to see why Peterson has been called “the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now”—he demonstrates a grasp of philosophy, psychology, religion, and speaks…
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And the Best Background Music for Writing Is . . .
Which kind of music helps you do your best thinking, writing, or creating? I took several stabs at that question as I wrote my dissertation. I tried Rachmaninoff but found my heart too carried away with the emotion of the music. Sometimes I brought in Mozart’s chamber music. But most often, I enlisted Bach, supplemented…
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Jonathan M. Threlfall 