Samuel Wente

• A grievous sinner with a gracious Savior •

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

“If men will not come to hear us preach the gospel, draw them by no other attractions.” - Spurgeon

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

@discussbaseball DeGrom

[Nate Pickowicz @NatePickowicz]

Do you know what my Mother’s Day sermon will be?

The next verse.

Do you know what my Father’s Day sermon will be?

The next verse.

Let the biblical text determine your sermon schedule, not the calendar.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

Scripture is sufficient for church planting.

I would take a student of the Scriptures, a lover of God’s law 1000 times out of 1000 times over a visionary, an eloquent communicator, a mobilizer, etc.

I’d far prefer one who is wholly and utterly dependent upon God above all else.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

Tis the season folks, Tis the season
🔨🔨🔨

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

More preachers need to figure out that the “Left Behind” series aren’t theology textbooks

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

Few things reveal the true condition of the heart like a gossiping tongue

[Keith Foskey @YourCalvinist]

God is not a pragmatist. He does not command things because they work. He commands them because they’re right.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

A preacher once told me he read the Bible through 20 times on his knees & had never found the doctrine of election there. Very likely not. It is a most uncomfortable position in which to read. If he sat in an easy chair he would have been better able to understand it - Spurgeon

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

@SteveGelbs Accountability, or attention seeking self pity?

[Grant R. Castleberry @grcastleberry]

The issue of women’s roles in the church is a litmus test of your view of Scripture. Those who hold firmly to inerrancy and Sola Scriptura will hold fast. Those who do not will compromise.

The issue really is about the authority of Scripture. And ultimately the holiness of God.

[pagemasta @AdamPage85]

Young couples, find a church filled to the brim with 60th wedding anniversaries. Far more important than any musical preference or coffee bar.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

@BrandonLansdown Tossed them dust jackets?? 🤣

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

If You Think You’re Saved Because…

If we receive God’s approval by obeying laws, then Christ’s death was pointless. (Galatians 2:21)

If you think you’re saved because you do good things like:
•go to church
•read your Bible
•evangelize

Or, if you think you’re saved because you *don’t* do bad things like:
•have illicit sex
•do drugs
•steal from your company

then you’ve fired Jesus and hired yourself as CEO of your self-salvation project. Then Christ’s death was pointless.

We contribute 0% to our salvation. Christ does 100%. He saves us, gives us faith, keeps us in the faith.

God gives, we receive.
He is active, we are passive.
All glory goes exclusively to him.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

@the_TXan Murray, Newell, Hodges, Lloyd-Jones

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

In the Lord's Prayer, our Father does this and that, while one and only one action is ascribed to us: forgiving the trespasses of others.

It's that central to the Christian life.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

“…According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…”
- 1 Peter 1:3-5

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

“Those who reject the resurrection do not do that because of a lack of evidence, they do that because of love of iniquity”

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

“The bullet takes no detour around the body of the believer” - John Hutchinson Jr

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

Where is Jesus in Proverbs? He’s the Main Character

Christians may have little trouble seeing how the Lamb of God was prefigured in the Passover and Exodus, foretold as the Servant and Sufferer in prophets like Isaiah, and is the Son of David who prays the Psalms, but what about Proverbs? If all the Old Testament is about Christ, how is Christ in this book? Isn’t Proverbs just an ancient collection of practical, down-to-earth advice on how to live a holy and good life?

No. I would urge that reading Proverbs and missing Jesus is like reading The Lord of the Rings and missing Frodo or Sam. The Messiah is the main character in the book.

What is Proverbs really all about? Wisdom, which in Hebrew is חָכְמָה (chokmah). And Wisdom is not just an abstract quality but a divine personification. That is, the Wisdom of God is similar to the Word of God, Messenger of God, Glory of God, Name of God, and Power of God. All of these are described in the OT, in various ways, as the same divine person, with the Father, of the Father, alongside the Father.

This is most evident in Proverbs 8, which is a lengthy speech by Wisdom. Wisdom was with Yahweh before the creation of the world (verses 23ff). Wisdom was “brought forth” or “begotten” (v. 25). Wisdom was beside God, like a “master workman” or “architect” (v. 30), in the creation and organization of the world. Wisdom is not a mere quality but a Person.

Indeed, the same language used to describe Wisdom’s role in creation is used repeatedly by New Testament authors to describe the work of Christ. Just as “the LORD by wisdom founded the earth” (Prov. 3:19), so Christ is the one “through whom all things exist” (1 Cor. 8:6), “all things were made through him” (John 1:3), and “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). As Paul explicitly says, Christ Jesus “became to us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30).
In the Old Testament, the divine person of Wisdom is the Son of God.

Therefore, in Proverbs, divine Wisdom speaks, as indeed the Word of God does. This Wisdom-Word speaks through Solomon, Agur, and others. This divine Teacher of God’s ways and will portrays what the best, blessed life looks like; how love takes shape in the lives of God’s children; how to walk in the paths of righteousness.

We might say it like this: In Proverbs, Wisdom reveals what the thoughts, words, and actions look like for those who bear the image of the Father’s Son.

The Wisdom of God is the Son of God. He is the one that Proverbs, from beginning to end, is all about.

[Samuel Wente @samuelwente]

Things Jonah didn’t say to a dying Nineveh:

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!”

Things he DID say:

“40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown”

If there is no coming wrath, there is no Gospel.