John Piper preached a message at the T4G that I attended last week entitled, Did Jesus Preach Paul’s Gospel? I found the message extremely helpful in seeing how Jesus taught justification. The argument has been made that Jesus had a certain message and that Paul “embellished” on it to a point that Jesus never intended by adding the idea of being justified by faith alone. Therefore, this issue strikes at the very heart of the Gospel and the authority of the Bible in general.

Dr. Piper argued from Luke 18:9-14 that Jesus taught the imputation of his righteousness comes by grace alone through faith alone….

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Jesus had a way of showing up in the midst of a crisis and making what seemed to be the end just the beginning. Today, we celebrate this hope in the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. The subject of resurrection was nothing new to Jesus. Remember Lazarus? (see John 11). Jesus had been told Lazarus was sick, so he waited. A good friend… waiting… the ability to heal? This seemed very odd. When Jesus finally arrives, Lazarus has been dead four days. Four days of waiting is significant due to the popular Jewish teaching of the day that the soul would hover over and around the body for three days. In waiting four days, Jesus removes any doubt …

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Jesus is dead. The disciples are stunned and scattered. The religious leaders are thanking God for exterminating one more religious nut while basking in the glow of self-righteousness. Mary rides the waves of her memories of Jesus… a baby… a young child… a young man… a son brutally killed! Jesus’ family is reminding themselves that they pleaded with Jesus to not be so fanatical. They told Jesus things like: “Don’t make enemies!” “Don’t speak like that to our religious leaders!” “Jesus be patient, God has told us that He will send the Messiah to make things right.” Now, they must have been left in mourning for all the things Jesus could have done to make things better…“Jesus, what …

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As you slept last night…

Jesus was betrayed in the Garden by one of his disciples, Judas (Luke 22:47-48). Jesus was then taken to the former high priest, Annas (John 18:13). Jesus, the King of the Jews, was bound and delivered to Caiaphas, the reigning high priest who just happens to be the son-in-law of Annas (wink,wink). Then Jesus was taken before the Sanhedrin, a group of top ranking religious leaders who were modeled after a council of elders that Moses convened to administer justice to keep Israel pure before their God (see Numbers 11:16). Jesus, the Son of God was bound by man, the creation of God. The entire series of events leads us into what is commonly called “Good …

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Wednesday of the Passion Week is often called “Silent Wednesday.” The dominant thought about this day was that it served as the day Judas used for arranging the betrayal of Jesus. It seems appropriate that a man who sought riches through betrayal of the Messiah sent from God would receive silence as his reward.

Judas Iscariot is a tragic figure
Judas is derived from Judah, which means, “Jehovah leads.” Is there a more paradoxical name given in history? We know that Judas was from Judah (southern Israel) from the fact that his last name is a geographic reference. Judas’ last name is Iscariot, which is a compound word made up of “ish” (man) and “Kerioth” – a city in southern Judea see …

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On Sunday, Oct. 4, I cited a young mother in Carthage 202/203 A.D. who was killed for her faith. As part of the teaching, I cited examples that serve as fresh reminders of what the writer of Hebrews 12:1-3 was communicating. We find ourselves (metaphorically), surrounded by a “great a cloud of witnesses”-people who have gone before us. These people serve as “witnesses” of the goodness and greatness of God in order that we might gain strength for our lives. One of these witnesses was a young woman named Perpetua and you can gain strength for your journey through seeing the grace of God in her story.

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While Dan Brown likes to fancy himself a fictional writer rooted in factual history, the Telegraph.co.uk has documented 50 factual errors in his books. This is more than one writer getting sloppy, it would seem to be an aggressive attempt at self-promotion at the expense telling the truth:

“FACT. All rituals, science, artwork, and monuments in this novel are real.” [The Lost Symbol]

“All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”
[The Da Vinci Code]

Is Dan Brown a liar? You be the judge.

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This is a question recently submitted for Grace Talk:

How can Mark or any of the gospel writers so accurately record what Jesus said? Was someone writing it down as Jesus said it?

Of course, they wrote in the Queen’s English (or should I say King’s?) Just joking…that blog will be for another day. To answer this question, we must look at the evidence.

Today, there are almost five thousand ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament! Consider this, fifteen hundred years after Herodotus wrote his history there was only one copy in the entire world. Twelve hundred years after Plato wrote his classic, there was only one manuscript of it left. Today, there exists but a few …

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The emperor’s meaning was plain. If Severinus wanted to become pope, he must sign a statement of faith that he knew was false.

“I will not do it,” said Severinus. “I will not agree to heresy.”

Three days after Pope Honorius died, Severinus had been chosen to take his place. In those days (640 A.D), the emperor in Constantinople had to give his approval before a pope’s election was official. Severinus sent messengers to the emperor at once.

But Emperor Heraclitis thought he knew what was best for the church. Because theologians disagreed over the nature of Christ, the emperor insisted that they accept a compromise called the Ecthesis. This was the brainchild of Sergius, the Patriarch of Constantinople. To Severinus, the Ecthesis …

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In 998, a ruthless Viking army raided the Dorset countryside in southwest England near the rural Cernel monastery. Forty-something-year-old Aelfric, a monk at Cernel, responded to this national—and, to him, universal—crisis by creating three homiletic collections (about 120 sermons), the first English translations of passages from several Old Testament books, pastoral letters and other literary works. Aelfric explained his purpose in writing and preaching:

“People especially need good teaching at this time, which is the ending of this world.”

In 1005, Aelfric moved 85 miles northeast to Eynsham, where he served as abbot until his death around 1014. When Viking invaders burned neighboring Oxford in 1009, Aelfric may have even stood in the monastery yard and witnessed Oxford’s smoke.

So …

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