Tuesday: Worship in the Splendor of God's Holiness

By James Boice

Theme: A New Song

In this week’s lessons, we learn how to worship God, who is the one true God who rules over all, both now and forever.

Scripture: Psalm 96:1-13

As we saw yesterday, Psalm 96 provides a model of how we can praise God. There are two things to notice especially.

As we saw yesterday, Psalm 96 provides a model of how we can praise God. There are two things to notice especially.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Machen, Confessionalism, and Seminary Education

Posted on Monday, March 18, 2019 by Carl Trueman on Postcards from Palookaville

Seminaries are parachurch organizations but their connection (formal or informal) to churches make confessional integrity in teaching an absolute imperative.

In our ongoing discussion of the doctrine of God, it is worth reflecting on the fact that a church needs two things to be confessionally healthy: a sound form of words (a creed or confession); and a form of government by which the content of this can be preserved from generation to generation.  Positively, that means an eldership which promotes sound preaching and teaching; negatively, an eldership which disciplines those who deviate from the same.

 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.
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Monday: Worship in the Splendor of God's Holiness

By James Boice

Theme: A Model Psalm of Praise

In this week’s lessons, we learn how to worship God, who is the one true God who rules over all, both now and forever.

Scripture: Psalm 96:1-13

There must have been many joyful moments in the lifetime of King David, but to judge from the narratives the brightest of all must have been when the ark of God was brought to Jerusalem from its temporary resting place in the house of Obed-Edom. Thousands of people were assembled, led by hundreds of priests. There were choirs and an orchestra. And when the priests set out with the ark their steps were heralded by the sounding of rams' horns and trumpets, the clash of cymbals, and the plucking of lyres and harps. David was so delighted that he threw decorum aside and danced among the people before the Lord.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Confessional Christology: Catholic Definitions versus Congenital Defects

Posted on Saturday, March 16, 2019 by Carl Trueman on Postcards from Palookaville

In their ongoing series on the doctrine of God and confessional Christianity, Jon Master and Carl Trueman reflect on what questions students need to ask of professors and what questions presbyteries need to ask of ministerial candidates when it comes to Christology.

Given the positive response to our first two posts, and the fact that the doctrine of God is now emerging as a contested locus within our own denomination, we continue this ongoing series with some reflections on the type of questions that should be asked of candidates relative to the Christology of the Reformed confessions.

 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.
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Friday: How to Worship God

By James Boice

Theme: “Today, if you hear his voice…”

In this week’s lessons, we learn how and why to worship God, and also see the need to respond rightly to the gospel while there is still time.

Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11

There is one more thing we need to notice before ending our study of this psalm today. And that is that there is an inspired commentary on it in the New Testament, in Hebrews 3:7-4:13. These two chapters of Hebrews quote Psalm 95 no less than four times, beginning with an extensive citing of the entire last stanza (Heb. 3:7-11). In other words, Psalm 95:7-11 is introduced as a text to be expounded, just as I usually print out the words of a Bible text at the start of one of my sermons or Bible studies. After this, verses 7 and 8 are cited again in Hebrews 3:15, verse 11 in Hebrews 4:3, and verses 7 and 8 for a final time in Hebrews 4:7. This is probably the most thorough citing of an Old Testament passage in the New Testament.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Thursday: How to Worship God

By James Boice

Theme: An Unexpected Warning

In this week’s lessons, we learn how and why to worship God, and also see the need to respond rightly to the gospel while there is still time.

Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11

Suddenly in the midst of these strong calls to joyful personal worship, we find an unexpected warning (vv. 7d-11). It is so sudden that some of the more liberal commentators speculate on this being an entirely separate psalm that somehow got attached to the earlier portion. There is no good reason for such speculation. Abrupt changes like this are not infrequent in the psalms, and the warning to hear the voice of God and obey it is actually a critical part of what needs to be said about the worship God accepts.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: How to Worship God

By James Boice

Theme: Why We Should Worship God

In this week’s lessons, we learn how and why to worship God, and also see the need to respond rightly to the gospel while there is still time.

Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11

We have seen a few ways in which we can worship God. Let's ask why we should worship him. The next stanzas give two important reasons.

We owe God worship because he is God and has created us. But even more, we owe him worship because he has given his life for us, has called us to faith and now keeps and preserves us with a power that nothing either in heaven or earth can shake. We are the sheep of Jesus' hand, and nothing will ever snatch us out of Jesus' hand.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: How to Worship God

By James Boice

Theme: Forms of Worship

In this week’s lessons, we learn how and why to worship God, and also see the need to respond rightly to the gospel while there is still time.

Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11

Psalm 95 suggests some of the forms of worship we can enjoy.

And there is this, too. If we have been able to worship God joyfully, it is natural that we should invite others to do the same. The psalm itself is doing that when it begins: "Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD" (v. 1), and later, "Come, let us bow down in worship" (v. 6). When the great pioneer missionary William Carey reached India in 1792, he found that his predecessor, Christian Friedrich Schwartz, had inscribed over the portal of the Mission Church at Tranquebar the words from Psalm 95: "O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker,” an appropriate invitation to those Schwartz was trying to win to faith in Jesus Christ.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Holding Even Faster to the Confession! A Leading Baptist Theologian Offers Some Help

Posted on Monday, March 11, 2019 by Carl Trueman on Postcards from Palookaville

Matthew Barrett offers us some further questions that student should ask of professors, and which presbyteries should ask of candidates.

Matthew Barrett, a professor at Midwestern Baptist Seminary, recently wrote to us with some questions that he verbally asks of seminarians in his classes.  As the author of a recent book,

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.
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Monday: How to Worship God

By James Boice

Theme: Rediscovering Worship

In this week’s lessons, we learn how and why to worship God, and also see the need to respond rightly to the gospel while there is still time.

Scripture: Psalm 95:1-11

Psalm 95 tells us how to worship. Indeed, it does more. It is a call to worship; it explains how and why we should worship; and it warns of what can happen if we do not worship but harden our hearts instead.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

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