Speaking of Dr. Clark . . .

Took a few hours off this morning to attend Scott Clark's installation service down at the seminary.  Scott gave an important lecture on Caspar Olevianus' treatment of law and gospel, concentrating on the material in Olevianus' commentary on Romans.  Dr. Clark demonstrated the great similarity between Olevianus and Luther (Calvin as well) on a number of key law-gospel texts.  Good stuff.

Thought some of you would enjoy a picture from today's event.  Scott even broke out his special bow tie and formal wear for the occasion. 

During my time on the seminary board I was privileged to participate in several of these installations.  I enjoy them greatly, and I'm not one for ceremonies.    

A Big Day for Scott Clark!

A hearty word of congratulations to my good friend Dr. Scott Clark, who will be formally installed tomorrow as Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary California.  For a seminary professor, the inauguration to "full" professor is a big deal.  And well-deserved at that!

Here's the announcement from the seminary:  "An inauguration ceremony for the installation of Dr. R. Scott Clark as Professor of Church History and Historical Theology will be held on April 14, 2010 in the WSC Chapel at 10am. His inaugural address is entitled, "That we should retain the distinction between Law and Gospel: Hermeneutical Conservatism in Early Reformed Orthodoxy."  Following the ceremony will be a reception in the chapel lobby to honor Dr. Clark."

For more information, Click here

Any Guesses?

Any idea what this might be?  Here's a photo essay which will explain it all.

Click here

"You Were Bought With a Price" -- 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon, the eleventh in a series on 1 Corinthians.

Click here

This Week's White Horse Inn

Christianity: A Faith Founded on Facts

How would you attempt to persuade someone who is unconvinced about the basic truth claims of the Christian faith? We asked pastors that question at a recent convention and their answers will surprise you. Joining the panel for this discussion is noted apologist Dr. John Warwick Montgomery, author numerous books including History & Christianity, and Faith Founded on Fact (originally broadcast April 16, 2006).

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

From a controversial figure in American history:

"I . . . [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow next week.

Update on Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 10:45AM by Kim Riddlebarger

Many of you guessed correctly.  The quote is from the last will and testament of Sam Adams (December 29, 1790).  Yup, that Sam Adams--brewer, patriot, and trusting in the merits of Christ!

My Two Seconds of Fame

So, I'm watching the History Channel's program "The Antichrist."  Except for interviews with prophecy "experts" like Ted Haggard and Tofik Benedictus (Benny Hinn), it wasn't bad.  Hal Lindsey--the man of many mustaches (Click here)--was the primary dispensational expert, but people like Fuller, McGinn and Boyer, were interviewed as well. 

All of a sudden, I look up and there's the cover of my book!  It wasn't on for long, but it was there!

The next time History Channel ran the program, I DVR'd it.  My two seconds of fame!  Immortalized on my hard drive!

Warhol said I'd get 15 minutes, not two seconds.

The National Debt -- A Staggering Figure

As of today (April 8), this is the national debt.  I can't even fathom the number.  It amounts to $41,524.26 per person.  The latter number (41K) I can fathom.  This is your share and mine . . . as of today.   Remember, the meter is still running.  The politicians are still spending.

As a sobering news article points out, the share of the debt per household amounts to $72,000 this year, and will rise to $170,000 per household by 2020 (Click here).

Most Christians agree that any federal mandate requiring tax-payer funding for abortion is a moral outrage.  It is pretty clear to me that making someone who is opposed to the procedure as a matter of conscience, provide insurance for someone else to have the procedure, is flat-out immoral.

But the national debt is a moral issue as well.  We are spending money we don't have, which means we'll have to either print it, or borrow it, or raises taxes to unsustainable levels, because we refuse to live within our national means.  This debt will dramatically impact the lives of our children and our children's children.

When I read through Revelation 17-18, I am reminded how similar modern  America is to ancient Rome.  Rome, if you recall, was too big to fail.  I guess Alaric didn't think that was true.  We too had better not believe that nonsense. 

We keep spending like this, it is only a matter of time.

"One Lord" -- Ephesians 4:1-6

The Eighth in a Series of Sermons on Ephesians

I grew up in churches in which the pastor would often declare “we have no creed but Christ” without noticing that his own assertion was a creed.  In the first six verses of Ephesians 4, we find an apostolic creed–“one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all”–a creed possibly used in Christian worship, and certainly used to identify those doctrines held in common by Christians in the apostolic churches, such as the church in Ephesus.  It is not an accident that this creed appears in that section of Ephesians in which is Paul stressing the importance of Christian unity.  Christians may have a common experience of the risen Christ’s presence in our midst through word and sacrament, but it is our common confession of faith which serves as our collective testimony to the truth of God’s work in our midst.  When we confess our faith together as one body with the words, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father of all,” we are confessing that God has made us one before the eyes of the watching world.

We return to our series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and we pick up where we left off with the opening verses of Ephesians 4.  It has been a number of weeks since we worked our way through the first half of this epistle, so I would like to spend the first part of our time doing a brief recap of the opening chapters, before turning to Paul’s discussion of Christian unity in Ephesians 4:1-6.

Not only would a brief recap of the first three chapters of Ephesians be helpful to get us all up to speed after our hiatus, it is also vital, because as we move into the second half of Ephesians and turn to the so-called “application” section of this letter (chapters 4-6) we need to keep in mind what is being applied in these verses–the doctrine set forth by Paul in the first three chapters.  

Paul’s call for unity in Ephesians 4 makes little sense without considering how it is that Jesus redeemed us from our sin, and how (prior to God saving us) we were dead in sin and enslaved to the sinful desires with which we were born.  Jews and Gentiles had been divided before the coming of Christ, but now in Christ, whatever racial and cultural differences existed between them are no longer to divide God’s people.  Christ tore down the barrier wall by reconciling both groups to God through the cross.  The two peoples (Jew and Gentile) have been made one. 

To read the rest of this sermon, Click here

A Remarkable Record

The Yankees have a reputation for being the best team money can buy.

But what happened yesterday is truly remarkable in a sports world dominated by free agency.  When Mariano Rivera came in the pitch the ninth inning against the Red Sox, it marked the first time in the history of the four major American sports (NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB) that three players have been together on the same team for sixteen consecutive seasons.

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada have been together on the Yankees a long time.  They all came up together in the Yankees system, making the total number of years they have played together closer to twenty.  Had Andy Pettitte not listened to Roger Clemens and stayed in New York instead of spending three years in Houston, there would be four players setting this record.

I'd say they've earned their gold watches.  By the way, the Yankees have fifteen home grown players on their opening day roster.  That too is pretty remarkable.