Tried With Fire

In the 2nd session, Dr. Smith continued with things that impair our communication, preaching, and teaching in the body of Christ.   In all of these sessions, he gave numerous scripture references. 3. Demise of doctrine: In the mind of God, there is no separation between doctrine and praise.  True worship should flows out of the knowledge of who we worship, but today that's not the case.  As he said, "We sing more heresies today than in the first 500 years of church history." 4. Grace has been diluted: We are justified by grace, sanctified by grace, and will be glorified by grace. Don't fall into "sola boot strapsa" where we begin to think that once we are saved, the rest is up to us.  We firmly believe in sola fide but faith is not alone.  Paul is not in conflict with James.  We work from salvation not to be saved but because we are saved. We are able to work out our salvation because God has worked it into us.  Not grace plus or Jesus plus a...

It was a joy and pleasure to hear Dr. Smith last night.  His burden for this week-end is to encourage us to not separate doctrine and doxology.  It's not an either or but a both together.  (Sounds very much like Piper's burden in writing Think .)  He said, "Doctrine is the cradle for Doxology."  Doctrine is not an end in itself; it's not purely information.  But doctrine is for transformation, for the praise and adoration of God.  Therefore there needs to be a reunion between the two. He then shared how we need to be good exegetes, taking out the meaning of the text, not putting our own ideas in.  This involves hearing what God says to us through His word, relating what we have heard, and then relying on the Holy Spirit to bless it.  Dr. Smith says this process is being a good exegetical escort.  It's not in our power to save; it's not in our power to transform.  But we lead the hearer by the Word of God into the presence of Chri...

2011 Annual Theology Conference February 4-6, 2011 “Living Doxologically Through Doctrine; Turning the Ink of Doctrine into the Blood of Life” With Dr. Robert Smith, Jr. Associate Professor of Divinity/
Christian Preaching Beeson Divinity School--Birmingham, AL Robert Smith  joined the Beeson Divinity School faculty in 1997 and teaches Christian Preaching. He is the author of Doctrine that Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life; coeditor (with Timothy George) of A Mighty Long Journey, a collection of sermons on racial reconciliation.   His research interests include the place of passion in preaching and the literary history of African American preaching. An ordained Baptist minister, he served as pastor of New Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, for 20 years. He and his wife, Wanda, are the parents of four adult children.    He holds both the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from The Southern Baptis...