David Westerfield

Gospel. Culture. Technology. Music.

Category: Theology Page 20 of 67


The Book of Ruth: Reigning Providence

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On April 8, 2010

In Audio, Scripture, Theology

Sermons on Ruth – John Piper

In my yearly trek through the Scriptures, I have come today to the book of Ruth. I have read this book many times, but never studied it in depth. So I thought it would be good to look up a sermon series on this book and I came across some sermons by none other than John Piper, who preached on this book in four sermons in 1984. I really was taken aback by the first one in how he displays so clearly the beautiful providence of God in the midst of deep, bitter trial, designing and intending it for good. There are so many things I have missed in this wonderful little book. I highly recommend these sermons.

Embattled McLaren Wonders Why Evangelical Moderates Are Against His Views

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On April 6, 2010

In Audio, Theology

Why Do Evangelicals Dislike Me So Much? – Brian McLaren

“Brian McLaren and his ilk of the emerging church … all it is, is late 19th century protestant [theological] liberalism in a postmodern dress. There isn’t anything new in it at all. And the only reason they can get away with it is because people are so a-historical and ignorant of theologies of the past.” – David Robertson, Emergent Calvinism (MP3)

Notice how McLaren doesn’t defend his orthodoxy (or lack thereof), he pleads the victim card and calls out the majority of evangelicals for essentially being separationists, you know, where seperationism actually matters. He clearly doesn’t see what is at stake. I mean even one of the New Atheists sees what’s at stake and knows where the dividing lines are! Christopher Hitchens is quoted as saying in a debate against a theologically liberal Christian, “I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.”

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Christless Christianity – White Horse Inn

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On March 31, 2010

In Audio, Christian Culture, Theology

Part 1

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Testimony of Catherine Westerfield

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On March 29, 2010

In Personal, Theology

Testimony of my mother Catherine Westerfield, March 7, 1950 – June 28, 2001

I can remember my conversion at the age of five so very well. It was a Sunday evening worship service. It’s remarkable, as I look back at how God revealed Himself so clearly – His infinite love for me. I was both in a state of bliss and crying at the same time. He revealed how He chose me, yes me, to be His own from all eternity; always in His love – I would never be without Him. I believed in His death on the cross for me personally, Catherine, and His resurrection and ascension into Heaven to be with His Father. I came to these revelations by the intense drawing of the Holy Spirit. He knew the difficulties that lay ahead in my life. Through all of the abuse and mental problems I never doubted my security of salvation or His infinite love for me. I did question, but never doubted that this was His eternal plan for me.

I won’t go into all the pain and problems I’ve had. God says He will give us trials. They came one right after another except for the period of time when I was first married in 1977 until December of 1983.

But we do not look at our trials as do unbelievers. We do not depend on status among our peers, acquiring possessions or position in life as a way of escaping our true need to simply lean on Christ’s breast and know He is refining us.

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Health Care, Fear and the Christian Life

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On March 22, 2010

In Christian Culture, Culture, Politics, Theology

Don’t Be Afraid – Russell Moore

It is a sad day … no, not about health care. It is sad to see so many, I would even venture to say a majority of fellow believers (many possibly assumed believers of the verbally violent conservative bent) controlled more by their affections and longings for a temporal, earthly kingdom that will pass away, yes, even America with all of its greatness, instead of the eternal kingdom ruled by Jesus with His might and power that will never pass away. It is sad to see fellow believers more mournful for the loss they feel of their “rights” or privileges that are gifts of grace to begin with, than upset about the tragedy of sin in their own hearts or the tragedy that a great majority of people around us will go to hell under God’s just punishment (think Jesus looking over Jerusalem and weeping). It is sad to see believers more willing to voice their outrage, anger and fear over legislation that will come and go (all the while ignoring His sovereign authority over that legislation to begin with) than voice their commitment to the Gospel and commitment to solid doctrine.

I am not without fault in these areas. I’ve learned the hard way in the not-so-distant past. This isn’t to say I didn’t struggle with these affections during this recent process even. This does not mean I don’t hold the same convictions I’ve always held. And it doesn’t mean I withhold commentary on points of conviction or withhold my involvement in the political process. If anything, we need more and improved discourse concerning all these issues and more to come. It is unfortunate public discourse has devolved into “tweet” snippets of useless rhetoric that does little to address actual issues.

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It is God Who Justifies

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On March 16, 2010

In Theology

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” – Romans 8:33

Recently, I have been in great need of repeating Gospel promises to myself, almost continually, otherwise my heart has seemed to slip very quickly into bitterness, misery, spiritual depression, anger, and the like. I’m not sure why, but it has been so. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Not me. Knowing Romans 8 to be chock full of promises from God, fulfilled in Christ, I read it and came across this one headline truth that I need pounded into my head and my heart. Romans 8:33 above.

This one statement sums up what the Gospel is about, namely it is God who justifies. The whole Bible itself can be summed up in that one central truth. I don’t justify my existence, or my works, or my interactions with others; God does, more precisely Christ does, and even more precisely in the cross and resurrection. Of course the Bible goes much further than just this simple statement that it is God who justifies. But if you could sum it up, I don’t know how much better you can get. This is what distinguishes the Gospel from all other truth claims of various religions, for each one is all about justifying yourself through what you do. And it is the one central truth I need headlined in my heart when the weight of sin and my own unbelief clouds my vision.

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Piety Versus Legalism

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On March 9, 2010

In Theology, Video

The words ‘piety’, ‘holiness’, ‘righteousness’ amongst others are words few hear today from church pulpits without thinking of the evils of legalism. Even the word ‘religion’ has been lambasted to the point of being equal to that of the ideology of the Pharisees.

What has occurred though to a great degree is that the idea of piety itself, properly defined, in Biblical terms has been left by the way side, in the wake of moving from one extreme to the other. Personal holiness is something that is lightly if ever talked about. We talk about our mistakes or external sins here and there, for sure, but how often are we admonished to pursue virtuous piety, in the terms the Bible describes? It is a shame personal holiness is not advocated the way the Scripture advocate it. The problem is that you risk offending people, which is exactly what Scripture does to sinners (like myself) who are in violation of God’s law. It brings rebuke and correction, something our “enlightened” American society has a hard time with.

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The Outrageous Love of God – R.W. Glenn

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On January 25, 2010

In Audio, Theology

God’s Outrageous Love – R.W. Glenn (MP3) – HT: Justin Taylor

I honestly haven’t been impacted by a sermon like this in a while. Justin Taylor has already blogged about this, but I think it’s worth repeating. God’s Outrageous Love is a sermon R.W. Glenn gave at John Piper’s church, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN a couple of weeks ago. It’s a message on Jonah 4 and how outrageous it is that God loves any of us. Here is a quote: “Until you’re outraged by God’s love, you’ll never think it’s outrageous; until you’re offended by God’s love, you’ll never be overwhelmed by it.” This was really convicting and yet at the same time pointing to the greatness of the mercy of Christ. Highly recommended!

What Is Christmas About? – The Good News of An Objective Salvation

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On December 24, 2009

In Theology, Video

Re-post from December 24, 2008.

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Telegraph: There’ll Be Nowhere to Run From the New World Government

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On December 20, 2009

In Theology

There’ll be nowhere to run from the new world government – Telegraph

Now that’s a newspaper headline you don’t see every day. I’m not one to jump on the ‘conspiracy’ band-wagon, but this isn’t even conspiratorial: what we are entering into, and what just happened in Copenhagen, is just out in the open, being talked about by leaders and promoted by the media.

Now to be sure, as far as global warming is concerned, the accord they came up with accomplished little more than what Kyoto accomplished: good will toward reducing emissions. The carbon output of 60 developing nations for an entire year, and all they achieved was good-will? That is of course if you believe CO2 to be a toxic substance, you know, the same substance required for … life. I digress.

However, what was clear from Copenhagen is that a network of nations is emerging as having clear control over the affairs of the people they govern throughout the developed and even developing world (something the third world nations were irate about after the Danish text leak revealed something to this effect). There are some very good arguments particularly pertaining to democracy in this article. Here are some choice quotes (my insertions in brackets):

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