The past several weeks have been quite full, which is an echo of the past few months. I asked Cindi if she thought it was worth the time to give a personal update since I wasn’t planning on writing on a particular topic. She said it was, so here I am. On Friday I finished a … More Life in November
Raw Christianity was born one year ago today. There’s a lot I’d like to say about the title and purpose of the blog and the range and power of the phrase “Raw Christianity.” But words have been failing lately. So I’ll say it with some words from a year ago. Everything below is still an aim and not … More Raw Christianity: One Year Later
O Lord, by the truth of your Word, and the power of your Spirit and the ministry of your body, build men and women at Bethlehem . . . Who don’t love the world more than God, who don’t care if they make much money, who don’t care if they own a house, who don’t … More “A Prayer for Our Church” by John Piper
I took a half-day away this morning, hoping to read through the four gospels. I was able to read three — Matthew, Mark, and John. For the past several years, Jesus has fascinated me. This fascination is increasing exponentially as I get older. His absolute boldness is awe-inspiring, and His undefeatable wisdom is mind-blowing. Time and … More Thinking About Jesus
(Before you read too far, it might be good to answer the question for yourself. It’s worth thinking about.) This was the question I asked at a recent student leadership meeting. There were various answers given, and all had fair (yet different) reasons for their answers. I don’t think the answer is simple, though I do think it’s … More Should Everyone Be Passionate About Missions?
Half-hearted Christianity is the mark of the American church. We are infested with doctrinal compromise, cheap professions, nominal commitment, moral failure, and half-baked passion. No doubt most of you would agree. But I think that one of our biggest weaknesses in the conservative church is that we tend to think that these problems are limited … More What I’m Saying Tomorrow Morning
I know — no one probably thought that I had more John Hannah quotes from my class on Jonathan Edwards seven months ago. But I do. And I’m not recycling them. When taking classes from masterful professors, I lose all self-control in note-taking and basically end up with a partial transcript. Actually, it’s a choice I made awhile back in my … More Wit and Wisdom from John Hannah (13)
In my Theology of Missions class this past week, a missionary came in and spoke to us about his life and missionary work. He’s from America and he serves in a closed country. I recorded a few things he said and thought they were worth passing along. These aren’t direct quotes, and I’m obviously not … More Missionary Insights
A lot has happened since my last post on May 10: The college semester ended with the seniors graduating and all the students moving out of the dorm for the summer; the seminary semester also ended and I graduated along with about sixty-five other men from the M.Div. program at TMS; our families flew out from Oklahoma to … More Thoughts from a Seminary Graduation
Before, during, and after our recent three-week trip to Uganda, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about missions. So many, in fact, that most people think that Cindi and I are locked into being career missionaries (which isn’t true; we’re still deciding that). A lot of those thoughts coalesced a few days ago during a … More Thoughts on Missions and Missionaries
Like any journey to a significantly different culture, our trip to Uganda provided us with fresh (though cracked) lenses through which to see aspects of the American mindset. The lens is fresh because it’s tinted with an African shade that enables us to see American culture from a new perspective. And the lens is cracked … More Kingdom Culture
These are loose quotes from two of John Hannah’s lectures on (1) Edwards’ preaching and (2) Edwards’ work entitled A Treatise on Grace. The latter was tremendously helpful to me in understanding the nature and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But as you may suspect, not all of these quotes are just about preaching or just about the Holy … More Wit and Wisdom from John Hannah (12)
The following are loose quotes from John Hannah as he lectured on Edwards’ writings on the Trinity. Edwards never actually wrote a treatise on the Trinity that was meant for publication, so we don’t know what such a treatment would’ve been like or what it would’ve included or what shape it would’ve taken. But Edwards did write enough … More Wit and Wisdom from John Hannah (11)
Perhaps some of you are a bit bored with John Hannah quotes. That’s understandable. I’ve posted quite a few. You can skim and skip if you want (like you need my permission). I would only give the reminder that just because there’s a lot of something doesn’t mean it’s any less good. There are some very helpful … More Wit and Wisdom from John Hannah (10)
Throughout the history of scholarship, there have been a lot of brilliant minds. And a lot of them have been mistaken (some frighteningly so). In fact, every mind is mistaken to one degree or another. The question is not whether or not we will be wrong about something, but what we’ll be wrong about, to … More Brilliant, Mistaken Men
Part 1 – Monday’s quotes Part 2 – Tuesday’s quotes Part 3 – Wednesday’s quotes Part 4 – Thursday’s quotes Part 5 – Friday’s quotes Part 6 – Saturday’s quotes Part 7 – Quotes from biographical lectures (1) Part 8 – Quotes from biographical lectures (2) Here are some more lecture quotes by John Hannah as … More Wit and Wisdom from John Hannah (9)
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