Todd Linn's Blog, page 5

Do Babies Who Die Go To Heaven?

Do babies go to heaven when they die? That’s today’s Theology Thursdays topic as we conclude our study of soteriology (the study of salvation). This Slideshare presentation examines what the Scriptures teach and summarizes a terrific article on this topic by R. Albert Mohler and Daniel Akin, available in full here and modified slightly by Dr Akin here.

Enjoy!

Do Babies Go To Heaven from Todd Linn, PhD

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Good Lord!

Discovering The Goodness Of Christ In Life-Changing Encounters

Pre-Order Kindle eBook For Just $0.99 On Amazon!
(Releases August 11, 2023)

What Do A Few Crooks, Prostitutes, And Grieving Parents All Have In Common?

They all discovered the goodness of Christ through life-changing encounters!

Journey through the New Testament Gospels and enjoy a verse-by-verse study of seventeen unique individuals whose lives were powerfully transformed by the Good Lord Jesus Christ.

Reading Good Lord will help you:

Learn More About The Biblical JesusSee How Jesus Christ Changes LivesExperience Your Personal Encounter With Christ

Purchase Good Lord today and discover the goodness of Christ in life-changing encounters!

More Reasons To Buy:

Clearly written and highly practical, Good Lord offers both the depth of biblical study and the breadth of real-life application.

You’ll enjoy reading about seventeen different people in the Gospels who met Jesus Christ up close and personal, people like a tax collector, a skeptic, a wealthy ruler, a religious fanatic—and more!

Each study contains a verse-by-verse treatment of the biblical text and concludes with a helpful “What About Your Encounter?” section with questions for further study and application.

You’re also invited to share your personal encounter with Christ on the Preaching Truth website!

Use in small groups or for individual and devotional study. Great for pastors, teachers, and any person interested in a faithful study of Gospel encounters with Jesus Christ!

What Others Are Saying About Todd’s Writing:

“Like having a conversation with a good friend!”
“Wonderful verse-by-verse study”
“Practical, insightful, exegetically sound”
“Rich in life application”
“Clear, concise, easy to follow”
“Delightfully written!”

Todd Linn earned his Ph.D. in preaching from Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, and is the author of the verse-by-verse study of the Book of James: You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth! and Preacher Points: 31-Day Devotional For Pastors. Todd has a pastor’s heart and a love for the Word. He writes in a popular style that combines scholarship, humor, and practical application.

You will enjoy Good Lord!

How To Include A Meaningful Call To Response In Your Sermon

Unless we challenge our hearers to respond to God’s Word, we’ve only given them biblical information without telling them what to do with it. Our sermon is incomplete until we call for a specific response to the passage (cf. James 1:22). To be clear, I’m using the term “response” to describe what some call the “invitation.” Whichever term you prefer, consider 5 ways to help your listeners respond to the Word.

1) Think About The Response Throughout Your Study

Note what the passage requires of its listeners as you study. Consider, for example, what the text teaches about God and our relationship to Him. Some of these thoughts will be included in the call for a response, while others will be omitted. At this point, you are merely doing some intentional thinking about the response in the same way you intentionally think about illustration and application.

2) Weave The Response Into The Conclusion

Don’t think of your sermon conclusion as an end to the message but as a conveyer for the response. See that your conclusion leads naturally to your call for hearers to respond to the specific teaching of God’s Word. After you have summarized the main points of your sermon, for example, you may choose to say something like, “But it’s not enough for us just to know these truths; God expects us to live them out this week…” and move into a specific call for listeners to respond.

3) Address Believers And Unbelievers In The Response

When calling listeners to respond to the Word, be sure to address both Christians and non-Christians. Most in attendance are believing church members, so we should be clear in telling them how to live out the truths we have preached. We must also challenge unbelievers to consider the claims of Christ so that they may turn to Him and be saved.

4) Write What You Plan To Say During The Response

My preaching tends to be more effective when I have written out a meaningful call for a response. Writing down what we plan to say doesn’t necessarily mean taking our writing into the pulpit or reading from a manuscript, but we have carefully thought about what to say and how best to say it. Because writing brings clarity, we tend to speak with greater confidence and precision.

5) Be Specific In The Response

Rather than concluding the sermon with a vague prayer: e.g., “God, help us live these truths,” address your listeners directly and be specific as you call for action: e.g., “You may be saved, but you’ve allowed sin to ensnare you this week. Take time right now to confess silently to God” or, “While we sing a hymn of response, thank God for making you a ‘new creation’ and praise Him in song.” And be sure listeners know exactly where to go to get more information about following Christ, joining the church, or getting answers to questions they may have.

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John HurtgenTodd, very helplful! Thanks!!MARCH 25, 2022Comment by post authorTodd Linn, PhDThanks, so much, Dr. Hurtgen! MARCH 25, 2022Sermon TranscriptsThis is good. I often find myself during the concluding prayer restating the points and the response. Ie, “Lord help us to …” JUNE 1, 2023Comment by post authorTodd Linn, PhDGlad it helps!JUNE 1, 2023 

Dealing With Distractions When Preaching

Every preacher has encountered unplanned or unexpected interruptions while preaching. Here are four basic principles to recall when facing those distractions:

1) Many Distractions Should Be Ignored

It’s best to ignore most noises while preaching. For example, the sudden cry of a baby should not interrupt the preacher’s exposition. Most members expect their pastor to continue preaching, even if he must increase his volume. Ringing cell phones and message alerts fall into this same category. If the preacher becomes addled by every sound, he raises the likelihood of losing his hearers as they also become agitated. Ignoring distractions includes not calling attention to individuals who themselves are the source of distractions. Drawing attention to them only brings discomfort to the congregation and makes for unsettling worship moments.

2) Some Distractions Can Be Addressed With Humor

Sometimes preachers can use humor to address interruptions. A frightening thunderclap jarring the auditorium on a stormy morning almost begs for the pastor to say something about hearing an “amen” from God. And when the sanctuary illumines after a brief power outage, more than one preacher has uttered the phrase, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.'” Responses like these put many listeners at ease and help hold their attention. Humor may also address odd interruptions that are difficult to ignore. Once while I was preaching, a bird flew into the sanctuary and stood on the altar! There was little I could do but look over at the bird and smile. While I might have become angry or tried in vain to continue preaching, that bird had everyone’s attention, so we just watched it briefly until it finally disappeared into the rafters. It was an odd interruption, to be sure, but a little laughter eased us back into the sermon.

3) Other Distractions Require Immediate Attention

Naturally, the sounding of a fire alarm or weather siren demands we stop preaching and follow protocol for exiting the auditorium. Similarly, if a member suddenly collapses to the ground or passes out, we should ensure proper care is given immediately. While emergency medical services are contacted or while volunteers offer aid, the preacher should ask the congregation to pray. On a less serious note, the annoying “pops” or scratchy sounds from a faulty microphone should be addressed immediately. It may seem awkward to stop preaching for a moment to fix a microphone, but it is far more awkward to continue preaching as though it were not a problem.

4) All Distractions Should Be Reviewed

While many distractions can be ignored during the sermon, every distraction should be addressed later in the appropriate setting. Discussing them in weekly staff meetings or with other church leaders is the best way to review the interruption and consider possible plans to prevent or minimize future distractions.

Trials Are Good For Us!

Trials—painful as they may be—provide an opportunity to grow in Christian faith and become strong. In this way, trials are beneficial to us. They bring the benefit of strength and endurance. For this reason, we may have joy when facing them:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2-3)

Trials Are Beneficial To Us

Here’s a thought: we rarely consider escaping a trial as a benefit lost. What do I mean? Well, let’s be honest: If we pray without thinking, how do we usually pray about trials and hardships? Do we not usually fall into a sort of “default mode” of prayer, asking to escape the trial, or praying that we or the ones we love would never face any sort of trial at all? 

A friend is sick, and we pray that God heals her. A persecuted Christian is imprisoned so we pray for his release. And one of the reasons we do so is because we normally think only of the joy that comes in the absence of trials. To be sure, there is joy in sound health and religious freedom. No one disputes this. At the same time, however, James is calling for our rejoicing in the ability to benefit from the presence of trials and hardships.

James’ stress is not on the joy we have when escaping trials, but on the joy we may have when enduring them. Indeed, one reason a Christian can be joyful when facing trials is because—as James puts it in verse 3—“the testing of our faith produces patience (or endurance).”

Trials Strengthen Us

Usually, when I go to the gym I feel a bit inferior because I find myself in the presence of guys who have been working on their muscles for years and it shows. As I heard a friend once remark: “They have muscles in places I don’t have places!”  

But how do you get muscles? How do you grow strong? You “work out.” And it is work. Muscles grow when they are tested. It’s like the guy who struggles to carry a load upon his shoulders. The first time is very difficult, but the longer he carries that load, the stronger he becomes. Over time, he moves with greater ease and agility.  

In the same way, the longer you carry the “load” of each trial, the stronger you become. Most Christians want to become strong in the faith. They really want to grow and mature. Well, think of God as your personal trainer who guides you through various “workout” routines because He knows what is best for your program of growth. And know that the longer you keep carrying the “weight” of your trials, God will strengthen you.  

The word “patience” in verse 3 is a word that is better translated as “endurance.” It connotes the idea of standing strong in the presence of adversity. 

Trials have a way of strengthening our trust in God as the One who always does what is right and knows what is best for us. It is often through the experience of painful trials that joy is discovered or enhanced.

John Piper helps us see this truth in his booklet, Don’t Waste Your Cancer.1  In the book, Piper (who was himself diagnosed with prostate cancer) helps Christians understand how God uses trials like cancer to draw us closer to Himself. And while Piper notes that praying for physical healing is certainly biblical and right, he also writes about the joy that can come in the midst of cancer, a God-focused joy that, if not experienced, might lead to one’s cancer being lost or “wasted.” Some of the points he brings out in the book include: 

You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating cancer” means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.

That last point is especially helpful. Our tendency is to think of “beating cancer” as the best goal, but the best goal is to cherish Christ and to be conformed to His image. So Piper reminds us:

Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same.  Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ.  God designs to deepen your love for Christ.  Cancer does not win if you die.  It (only) wins if you fail to cherish Christ.  God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ.  It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord.”  And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 3:8; Philippians 1:21).”

ibid.

Cancer doesn’t win, nor does any trial or affliction win, unless we value our temporary human existence over and above cherishing Christ, and growing in Christ, and becoming more complete in Christ Jesus.  

This takes us to another benefit of trials we’ll exam on another day!

**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 5-7, available on Amazon.

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Trials Are Good For Us!

Trials—painful as they may be—allow one to grow in the Christian faith and become strong. In this way, problems are beneficial to us. They bring the benefit of strength and endurance. For this reason, we may have joy when facing them:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2-3)

Trials Are Beneficial To Us

Here’s a thought: we rarely consider escaping a trial as a benefit lost. What do I mean? Let’s be honest: If we pray without thinking, how do we usually pray about trials and hardships? Do we not usually fall into a sort of “default mode” of prayer, asking to escape the trial or praying that the ones we love would never face any trial at all? 

A friend is sick, and we pray that God heals her. A persecuted Christian is imprisoned, so we pray for his release. And one of the reasons we do so is because we usually think only of the joy that comes in the absence of trials. To be sure, there is joy in sound health and religious freedom. No one disputes this. At the same time, however, James calls for our rejoicing in the ability to benefit from the presence of trials and hardships.

James’ stress is not on the joy we have when escaping trials but on the joy we may have when enduring them. Indeed, a Christian can be joyful when facing trials because—as James puts it in verse 3—”the testing of our faith produces patience (or endurance).”

Trials Strengthen Us

Usually, when I go to the gym, I feel inferior because I find myself in the presence of guys who have been working on their muscles for years, which shows. A friend once said: “They have muscles in places I don’t have places!”  

But how do you get muscles? How do you grow strong? You “work out.” And it is work. Muscles grow when they are tested. It’s like the guy who struggles to carry a load upon his shoulders. The first time is tough, but the longer he carries that load, the stronger he becomes. Over time, he moves with greater ease and agility.  

In the same way, the longer you carry the “load” of each trial, the stronger you become. Most Christians want to become strong in the faith. They want to grow and mature. Well, think of God as your personal trainer who guides you through various “workout” routines because He knows what is best for your program of growth. And know that the longer you keep carrying the “weight” of your trials, God will strengthen you.  

The word “patience” in verse 3 is a word that is better translated as “endurance.” It connotes the idea of standing firm in the presence of adversity. 

Trials strengthen our trust in God as the One who always does what is right and knows what is best for us. It is often through the experience of painful trials that joy is discovered or enhanced.

John Piper helps us see this truth in his booklet, Don’t Waste Your Cancer.1  In the book, Piper (who was himself diagnosed with prostate cancer) helps Christians understand how God uses trials like cancer to draw us closer to Himself. And while Piper notes that praying for physical healing is certainly biblical and right, he also writes about the joy that can come with cancer, a God-focused joy that, if not experienced, might lead to one’s cancer being lost or “wasted.” Some of the points he brings out in the book include: 

You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating cancer” means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.

That last point is especially beneficial. We tend to think of “beating cancer” as the best goal, but the best goal is to cherish Christ and to be conformed to His image. So Piper reminds us:

Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ.  Cancer does not win if you die. It (only) wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 3:8; Philippians 1:21).”

ibid.

Cancer doesn’t win, nor does any trial or affliction win, unless we value our temporary human existence over and above cherishing Christ, growing in Christ, and becoming more complete in Christ Jesus.  

This takes us to another benefit of trials we’ll examine on another day!

**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 5-7, available on Amazon.

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Benefits Of Physical Bibles In Worship

Reading the Bible on phones, tablets, and screens during worship is a blessing of modern technology. Today’s preacher can expect worshipers to follow the sermon by looking at text projected on screens or by “turning on” their Bibles. For this reason, many churches no longer provide physical Bibles in worship, and many worshipers no longer carry a hard copy Bible. While I hold my position loosely, I want to make a case for having hard copy Bibles available and encouraging using physical Bibles in worship. Here are four reasons:

1) Their Presence Suggests Their Importance

The mere existence of church Bibles does not make a church orthodox, but when worshipers see hard copy Bibles in pews or chairs, they likely infer that the Bible is vital to the church. While this benefit is more symbolic, it nonetheless helps communicate a church’s belief in the prominence of Scripture and its relevance for worship and daily living.

2) They Help Worshipers Stay Focused

Even when phones are tucked away in pockets or purses, they tend to light up, buzz, or sound off in some way. Unless we have completely silenced them and turned off every potential notification, they stand a good chance of interrupting us if we’re using them to follow the sermon. And then there is the temptation to glance at a text message, read an email, or check that game score. Some folks are more disciplined than others, but turning off the phone and reading from a church Bible or hard copy of our own reduces the potential for worship distractions.

3) They Help Readers See The Wider Context

Electronic devices are convenient for reading Scripture, but screen size limits readers to what is viewable with each click. While I like reading the Bible on my phone or tablet, I especially enjoy being able to turn pages in my hard copy Bible. Seeing a wider span of text helps me understand the broader context and flow. I can’t do that as well when I’m clicking through hyperlinks or depending upon a text projected on a worship screen.

4) They Help Users Grasp The Overall Content & Structure Of Scripture

Building on the previous point, because physical Bibles enable worshipers to see more Scripture at once, readers can become more familiar with the overall content and structure of the Bible. They can quickly see the layout of the Old and New Testaments, scan chapter headings, and quickly compare Scripture with Scripture by placing a finger in one passage while looking up another. Clicking on a linked text while scrolling on a phone is convenient, but it doesn’t allow for the same seamless experience.

Again, I hold my position loosely and won’t fight anybody over it. If you prefer digital to physical, God be with you! These are merely suggestions to think about.

Soli Deo Gloria

Using Quotes In The Pulpit

Quoting others when we preach may help our sermons or harm them. When is it right to quote other people, and what is the best way to do so? With this in mind, here are seven rules to remember when quoting others in our sermons:

1) Use Quotes Sparingly

Too many quotes in our sermons gives the impression we have not thought deeply about the biblical text ourselves. And, because our listeners hear the thoughts of so many others, our sermon can sound more like a research paper and less like a message.

2) Avoid Lengthy Quotes

Longer quotations can be challenging to follow, even when provided on a screen for congregants to read. Because listeners don’t have much time to process the information, shorter quotations keep them more engaged.

3) Don’t Quote Someone Too Frequently

When our listeners hear quotes from only our favorite two to three preachers or scholars, we limit their exposure to other helpful commentators. We may also give the impression that we are not reading or studying beyond those two to three persons.

4) Use Only Striking Quotes

Rather than quoting general information or common ideas, try quoting persons only when they have said or written something uniquely. From a sermon on Zacchaeus, for example, rather than merely saying Zacchaeus was a short, wealthy tax collector, consider the following: “Frederick Buechner describes Zacchaeus memorably as a sawed-off little social disaster with a big bank account and a crooked job.” 1

5) Be Careful Quoting Controversial Figures

When we refer to politicians, celebrities, or even particular theologians, we must anticipate what our listeners will think or feel as they hear the names of such persons. Many of our listeners may assume we agree with their behavior, worldview, or theology if we quote them without qualification. It is often helpful, therefore, to preface quotations with necessary limitations. For example, “While our theology differs greatly, Gandhi wasn’t wrong when he said, “a man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, that he becomes.”2

6) Quote Those You Want Your Listeners To Study

By quoting sound preachers, scholars, and commentators, we provide our listeners with a helpful collection of names they can trust. And quoting them adds credence to our own conclusions about the text.

7) Keep A Record Of Sources

Sourcing quotations during sermon delivery is distracting and unwieldy. Few hearers expect us to give exhaustive documentation while preaching. At the same time, however, we must keep a record of sources somewhere. This is especially important when we wish to avoid using a particular name in the sermon: e.g., “As one commentator notes…” or, “A pastor friend described it this way…” Should one of our listeners ask later for more information about a particular quote, we will always be ready to give them a full accounting of the source.

Spiritual Gifts

For today’s Theology Thursdays post, we conclude our study of pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit. Today’s study focuses on what the New Testament teaches about spiritual gifts in the church body.

There are four key texts in the New Testament addressing spiritual gifts: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. This presentation also presents ten principles of spiritual gifts.

So, without further ado, here is today’s SlideShare presentation:

Spiritual Gifts from Todd Linn, PhD

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6 Reasons To Build Pauses Into Your Sermons

“Speech is silver, and silence is golden.” So goes the old proverb that teaches the power of things not said. Applied to preaching, what can occasional moments of silence do to improve the delivery of our messages? With this question in mind, here are six reasons to “hit the pause button” periodically while preaching:

1) Pausing allows our listeners to process what we have just said

Especially when wishing to make a memorable point, we should pause for a moment after making it. Doing so allows listeners to think about what we have said and consider its import. For example: “Zacchaeus was more interested in who Jesus was than what Jesus could do for him.” A pause after this statement gives listeners time to think about their own relationship with Christ.

2) Pausing prepares our listeners for what we are going to say next

In addition to giving listeners time to think about what we have just said, pausing also gives listeners time to prepare for or anticipate what we will say next. This is especially useful after asking a rhetorical question such as: “Why do so many Christians feel they have to earn God’s approval?” A brief pause here allows listeners time to think about an answer.

3) Pausing allows our listeners to breathe

Especially when working through exegetically and theologically rich texts, pausing periodically keeps listeners from becoming overwhelmed. We must remember that most of our listeners will not have spent as much time studying the passage as we have.

4) Pausing allows the preacher to gather (or regather) his thoughts

It happens! Sometimes preachers lose their train of thought or forget the next emphasis of their message. Pausing for a moment to look at the text (or notes) allows the preacher to get back on track.

5) Pausing may regain the attention of listeners

Whether we like it or not, our listeners may unintentionally “tune us out” as they begin thinking about a host of matters often unrelated to the sermon. And yes, some may even start to nod off! Pausing upsets the sound equilibrium and alerts listeners that something has changed. I have often been surprised by how many people look up (or wake up!) after I have paused for just a second or two.

6) Pausing allows the preacher to vary his rate and pitch

Often when preaching, I fall into a predictable rhythm and pitch. Like listening to the soft rumble of an automobile on the highway, my listeners may be lulled into a comfortable “ride” where they are not really hearing what I am saying. I have found that pausing periodically helps me recalibrate my speaking rate and vary my vocal pitch, thus reducing audio predictability and maintaining freshness in delivery.

What else can I say? Only that I hope these six suggestions will “give you pause” this weekend!