THE CAPRANICA

Every year I try to preach one sermon on how to listen to a sermon. Today is that day for this year. While every sermon should contain some rehearsal of the gospel, it is also true that the gospel should be that which causes us to listen effectively to a sermon. How [...]

Recently I finished reading Joseph P. Ellis’ Founding Brothers. It is an excellent look into some of the most fundamental relationships and issues that shaped our country in its formative years. Here are a few excerpts I found interesting from the book:
What in retrospect has the look of a foreordained unfolding of God’s [...]

Ed Stetzer notes that multi-ethnic is not necessarily the same thing as multi-cultural.  Stetzer blazes through (wow he talks fast) issues related to being a truly multi-cultural church.
Question, if you are in fact reaching the people in the community of which your local church resides (whether it is multi-ethnic or not), are you a single-cultural [...]

Here’s an excerpt from what I thought was one of the most powerful messages of the 2008 Together for the Gospel Conference. Where are the faithful men? I needed to hear this again tonight!

more about “Where Are the Faithful?“, posted with vodpod

So, Big Chris Meirose spread an infection to me by tagging me to respond to a Meme. IF I were to do this, I would certainly make quite a few people angry since I have dissed virtually every Meme with which I have EVER been tagged.
Here’s my rant: Who really has the time [...]

The Convention is officially over. I sit here in my hotel room thinking through my reaction to the day and to the Convention meeting in Indianapolis in general. First - a recap of the day’s activities.
Thankfully, Justin and I did not have to be at any early meetings. Neither of us has [...]

Honestly, I should be sleeping. I have had little sleep since this trip began. Yet, I never do very well about getting to bed at a decent time when in the Eastern Time Zone.
So, here are a few thoughts on the first day of the SBC.
Justin and I began our day by attending the Founders’ [...]

Justin Peters, one of our church’s interns, and I had a good but very long trek to Indianapolis, Indiana for the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention. We traveled from Hemet to San Diego and caught a very early flight. God was so gracious to get us there safely, since Justin drove on only two [...]

Here’s a reminder of what the privileges we have in our country have cost us in terms of lost American lives in battle:
4,079 Americans have died since the 2003 Iraq War began.

58,169 Americans were killed in the Vietnam conflict.

33,741 Americans died in the Korean conflict.

405,400 Americans were killed in World War II.

115,000 Americans died in [...]

Here’s Mike McKinnley’s introduction and Mark Dever’s opening comments at this past week’s The Whiteboard Conference.

more about “Mark Dever Introduction - Session 5 -…“, posted with vodpod

This is a great video interview with Mark Dever.  Thank God for him.  He spoke so very clearly and kept the Gospel at the center of the conversation and did it in such a way that any offense would be the content of his message rather than his personality.  Ed Stetzer did an excellent job [...]

A prayer for this week:
Teach me how to take reproofs from friends, even though I think I do not deserve them;

Use them to make me tenderly afraid of sin, more jealous over myself, more concerned to keep heart and life unblamable.

Give me such vivacity in religion, that I may be able to take all reproofs [...]

It was quick. It was traumatic. It was devastating. It was thorough. It was liberating and it is humbling. But, I have converted. Many will be shocked by this news. Some will perhaps be saddened. Others will be happy, because they knew it was coming. But, [...]

Abraham Piper, over at the Desiring God blog, recently put up a post for those who are unfamiliar with the beauty and grandeur of RSS. I’ve been an RSS fanatic for a few years now. But what is RSS, how could it be helpful (or harmful) and more fundamentally, should a truly ordinary [...]

I began the day with a serious ode to Mom - I finish with a funny:

HT: Adrian Warnock

Mother’s Day celebration reaches 100th anniversary - Yahoo! News

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of Mother’s Day and the first official year of celebration of Mother’s Day in the Capranica Home. So, here’s my Mother’s Day Card to one of the most superior mothers I know of:
Mother’s Day has not been an easy one for [...]

HT: Justin Taylor
A good meditation for this Saturday for both Pastor and Flock.

On Sunday evenings for the past two months, I have been preaching through the ninth chapter of Romans. It is a difficult one to navigate exegetically and theologically. I’ve enjoyed the study and the preaching. God has used it in a number of people’s lives (as they have relayed it to me) [...]

A few weeks ago, I linked to and posted a question about how to handle e-mail clutter. I think it is safe to assume that the vast majority of modern and ordinary pastors deal with e-mail and thus they deal with the clutter that comes with it. A significant portion of my conversation [...]

I had about three good days after arriving home from Together for the Gospel before getting sick and laying in bed for a week, so, while I’ve had some time to think about it, I have been unable to post any reflections on what was an outstanding conference.
Some of the items I found most helpful:

The [...]