Terry Pruitt's Blog

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Whole Person Education is a Foundational Ministry of the Church The teaching ministry of the church enables evangelism, discipleship, leadership development, and individual growth.  The central teaching ministry of the church is the Sunday worship service.  The worship should engage the heart, emotions, will, mind, social capacities, attitudes, moral compass, and behavioral attributes so that the whole being grows in grace.  Worship directs us to God by being focused on Scripture.  Worship is where we hear God’s Word.  Prayer in worship allows the covenant community to express our hearts to God.  Music aids in engaging the whole being by praying in song, proclaiming the gospel in song, and singing Scripture in song.  Corporate singing is preferred in worship as prayer and learning rather than performance pieces, although sharing performance has a place too.  While the preaching ministry is normally to be done by ordained or licensed leaders, the...

And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."   And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?   The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."   He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.   And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.' "   (Lk. 5:33-39 ESV) Are we being disobedient to God’s Word by giving up face to face meeting for church during the COVID-19 global pandemic?   The...

How should we respond when someone asks us to pray that her dead mother will watch over her like a guardian angel? The question has several components to it.  Let’s deal with the emotional part first.  This lady is likely missing her mother and is grieving.  As Christians we are to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Rom 12:15 ESV)  We share in the emotion of someone who is sad.  Christian counselor Robert Kellemen in his book Soul Physicians describes soul care as sustaining and healing.  An important part of caring for your spiritual friend is sensing your spiritual friend’s story of despair.  One must truly weep with those who weep.  To do so one must empathize and embrace the friend.  If someone is suffering, we as Christian brothers and sisters enter into their suffering with them.  An important part of community is bearing one another’s burdens. (Gal 6:2)  So, listening with a trajectory of making su...

Era of Education:  Traditional Tribal Society How Education Was Done: Stories Learn by Helping Adults (Participation)  I do - We do - You do Goal of Education:  Survival Strength:  Multi-generational Cohesion Weakness:  Narrow Focus and No Curriculum  Era of Education:  Greek and Classical Academy How Education Was Done: Lecture by Paid Tutor Didactic Questions Greek Tutors Trained Roman Elites Goal of Education:  Leadership in Complex City or State  Strength:  Broader Curriculum Weakness:  Audience is Elites Era of Education:  Agricultural American One Room School House How Education Was Done: Lecture by Trained Teacher Canon of Text Books  Focus on Basics Reading Writing  Arithmetic  Goal of Education:  Train Citizens and Work Force  Strength:  Broadly Available and Re-enforce Sense of Community Weakness:  Overly Concentrating on the Practic...

A friend of mine read the Cross of Christ by John Stott and had questions regarding chapter 7.  This chapter deals with the concepts of propitiation & expiation.  He considers the idea of redemption in terms of a ransom price for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.  The ransom price terminology is also involved when Israelites return from exile in Babylon.  God brings Israel out of Egypt in the same way as Christ giving his life as a ransom for many. Stott quotes BB Warfield: "the idea that the redemption from Egypt was the effect of a great expenditure of the divine power and in a sense cost much, is prominent in the allusions to it, and seems to constitute the central idea sought to be conveyed." Stott goes on to say:"For God redeemed Israel "with an outstretched arm" and "with a mighty hand". We conclude that redemption always involved the payment of a price, and that Yahweh's redemption of Israel was not an exception."  What does it...

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:7 ESV) Q. 14. What is sin? A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. The first time sin is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 4:7 where Cain is warned that temptation to sin is coming.  If we look at this passage, does the definition from the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) make sense?  Can we replace the word sin with definition from the catechism?  It then becomes thus:  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, a want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:7 Catechism Definition Substitution Version.) Does this make sense?  Let us first examine if this makes sense from a cultural point of view.  From a modern point o...

Text: For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hos. 6:6 ESV) What We Are Like:  It is often easier for us to imagine a God who desires us to fulfill basic duties. In this Old Testament verse, that duty was sacrificing an offering in the Temple. Today we might think that attending church, giving our tithe or volunteering our time is what God desires. Certainly those are good things, but the God of the Bible desires our hearts to have "steadfast love". Other good translations say "mercy". The second half of the verse has another but related emphasis. The God the Bible wants us to know him. This is not knowledge about him, but relational knowledge. This is knowing him as a person, not a mere academic theological. Knowledge of theology is not bad, but it can be disconnected from things like wonder of worship, sense of purpose in life, sense of connection, and understanding of one's own existence i...

Numeric Growth Resulting from Transfers from Other Congregations: Church Growth in post-modern America often comes from transfer growth from other churches.  When people move from one city or area to another, it is natural for them to find a new church.  When someone relocates, this is good transfer growth.  Transfer growth is less desirable when it is merely the movement of Christians from one gospel believing church to another, but each story is different.  Particular moves may be necessary and good but capitalizing on transfer from other local congregations may provide vitality to the gaining congregation, but not expand the Kingdom of God.  For a new church or a church seeking to revitalize, gaining transfer growth is a good place to build to the congregation.  Transfer growth means that gaining congregation is conserving the discipleship efforts of a sister church which they may or may not know.  Transfer growth means welcoming into the congrega...

New City Catechism: Question 1: What is our only hope in life and death? Answer 1: That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.   οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτῷ ζῇ καὶ οὐδεὶς ἑαυτῷ ἀποθνῄσκει· ἐάν τε γὰρ ζῶμεν, τῷ κυρίῳ ζῶμεν, ἐάν τε ἀποθνῄσκωμεν, τῷ κυρίῳ ἀποθνῄσκομεν. ἐάν τε οὖν ζῶμεν ἐάν τε ἀποθνῄσκωμεν, τοῦ κυρίου ἐσμέν. (Rom. 14:7, 8 NA28) For no one of us lives for himself and no one dies for himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.  If then we live or if we die it is to the Lord.  (Author's Translation)       We all live for some purpose.  It may not be a well thought out purpose.  It may be a purpose that has selfish or sinful motive.  Our underlying motives are often difficult to discern without self examination.  In 21st Century western society, we usually do not think of us dying for a purpose unless it is for render...

ἕκαστος καθὼς ἔλαβεν χάρισμα εἰς ἑαυτοὺς αὐτὸ διακονοῦντες ὡς καλοὶ οἰκονόμοι ποικίλης χάριτος θεοῦ. (1 Pet. 4:10 NA28) Just as each one received a gift so also serve one another as good keepers of the varied grace of God.  (Author's Translation) Of note in this verse is how there is coordination between receiving a spiritual gift from God and the type of service one renders.  This is not merely a nice idea that could be a strong choice, rather it is a matter of proper care of the thing that God has given.  The reason for serving according to one's given gift is οἰκονόμοι (Transliteration: oikonomoi), which is the word from which we get economics.  Rather than theory about finances of the world, nation, or other human grouping, this word emphases originally the wisdom needed to make a household orderly.  The beginning of the word has house in it (οἰκος).  In ancient times, the home was not just a place to relaxation or retreat.  The home had many f...

Lord Jesus, Lord of Hosts, and coming King, We have hope not merely of earthly success but we possess hope in your coming to set all things right.  We often pray in this life that we would be delivered from illness, conflict, and failure.  However, we know that this trajectory is near sighted and we must pray with the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, “Come Lord Jesus” in order to see ultimate delivery.  We approach your throne to see your face and prepare our hearts for your coming.  Come Lord Jesus. Amen

Byzantine Text 1995   Καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. Ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.  Matthew 6:13  BYZ  Nestle-Aland 28  καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ. Matthew 6:13   NA28 Terry’s Translation And you (our Father) do not lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. Matthew 6:13  Translation is an art which draws upon theological and interpretive skills as well as linguistic and textual preservation skills.  Recently the lead pastor of the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis said that the phrase in the Lord's prayer asking God to not lead us into temptations "is not a good translation."    Rather, Pope Francis advocates what he considers a better translation, “Do not let us fall into temptation.”  At least part of the reason is theological, because Pope Francis says, it...

I have not done it in many years, but sometimes I have just opened my Bible in a random fashion to see what God had to say to me.  It was sort of a modern take on the casting of lots or Urim and Thurim .  How do I know God's will?  Let's roll the dice so to speak.  I would hesitate to say one should never do this.  One is reading God's Word.  That is good.  In recent years a funny story has crossed my path a couple of times.  A young man want to know what to do with his life so he opens his Bible in this random fashion and the Scripture Matthew 27:5 about Judas is what the page opened to and the eye caught, "...and he went and hanged himself."  Feeling discouraged by such a dark passage he decided to try again and get a more positive Scripture passage.  He opened the Bible this time and came up with Luke 10:37 which told him "You go and do likewise." I have no idea whether that story is real or not.  I'm guessing it is not. ...

Reading Matthew 23:16-23 helps us see how we are slack in giving respect for all aspects of God's creation.  While we might not use God's name in vain, we might not speak well of our fellow man.  These are beings created in God's image.  Jesus tells the Pharisees that the have it wrong when they teach that swearing by the Temple brings no obligation, but swearing by its gold does.  Jesus points out parallel teachings they have, where they teach about limits of the Law.  Jesus points out how the sacred has relationships and effects to other things.  We might see that we have not been recognizing the holy and the sacred in our own lives. Another teaching of Jesus in this section has to do acting to advance justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  Justice is seeking the right.  Mercy acting forgiving, not giving punishment that someone deserves.  Faithfulness is being true to virtue and duty when it is costly to do so.  These are in contrast w...

In Matthew 23:6-15 , Jesus talks about the dynamics of being a religious leader. When we are religious leaders there is a temptation to exalt our own reputation. There is a temptation even in obeying to do it for the motive of stroking our ego. In my home in the Ozarks it was the practice the churches I grew up in to not use titles like Reverend. Pastors were often called brother, but then again other men in the church could be called brother and the women sister. It seems that brother could also be used as a title of honor also. The intent is to not do that though. After completing seminary I have found it a challenge to find a traditional ministry with the honor that is common in American Protestant churches. So my heart is sometimes seeking honor exactly in the way that Jesus warns against. My own heart has a subtle desire to seek honor and a not so subtle anger in response to dishonor. This is another call to the life to live daily repentance. I've been listening o...

The Bible sees the human as wholistic. The greatest command addresses the whole person in loving God. “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” (Deut. 6:5 KJV) As we look at people to whom we minister we must use the wholistic approach. Tim Keller points out in his book on suffering that the western cultural mindset is to approach suffering by solving it through the use of a specialist. If you have a marriage problem one goes to a marriage counselor. If one has a legal problem one goes to a lawyer. Suffering of neglected children is solved by social worker. Each type of suffering is solved by a particular type of specialist. However, when we suffer it is complex and affects the whole person. When people grieve we often think of grief primarily as an emotional symptom that needs to be relieved, solved, or endured. Grief is the emotional response to loss, however, as Christians we must rightly see the whole perso...