1. You are a minister of Christ, for the people. You are not a minister of the people, for Christ. Always preach Jesus. 2. Acknowledge your sins to God, and do what He says to do about them. 3. Your principal credentials for ministry are maintained, or not, within your marriage and family. 4. Your …
Like All the Nations
INTRODUCTION:The Lord provided a great deliverance at the second battle of Ebenezer, and Israel was greatly blessed by it. But blessings are like manna—they must be replenished daily. They go bad over time; they don’t keep well. Yesterday’s grace stinks by the time today’s troubles set in. Grace must be replenished constantly. Now Samuel was …
No Shortage of Bread
When Jesus fed the multitudes, He did so in desolate places—in the wilderness, in effect. The thousands that He fed were a motley group, a mixed multitude, just like Israel was when they came out of Egypt. And so when manna fell from heaven, it fed both the full-blooded Israelites and the mixed multitude with …
Hit the Line Hard
This exhortation concerns an event that is still a little over four months out, by which I mean our fall conference, entitled The Grace Agenda. We have held many conferences here over the years, but this year, this one is of particular strategic importance. And because of this, we don’t want it to be a …
Powerlessness Raised Up
“Under the Old Covenant, the children regularly fell into apostasy. But God promises that under the New Covenant, this pattern will change. If we forsake our covenant children, we are returning to the lifestyle seen under the powerless shadows, we could not maintain faithfulness over generations. The Old Covenant had its problems, not because it …
Learn from Them, Don’t Lean on Them
“Too much consultation of commentaries is apt to have a serious effect on the preacher’s resourcefulness, initiative, and originality” (Macartney, Preaching Without Notes, p. 112).
Fill In Details Later
The other day Nancy and I spent a lot of time at Logos for grandparents day. The kids had their projects out, we saw some impressive class exercises, and so on. My grandson Knox had an impressive statement about the Reformation, at a sixth grade level, along with a poem he had written about Luther. …
For Homeschoolers Thinking of College
For those of you who are homeschoolers looking for a place for your graduate to attend college, here is a list of colleges that homeschoolers should be aware of. I mention this, ahem, because of what you might find if your scroll down.
No Abrogation At All
“The Bible teaches that one of the features of the New Covenant was to be the restoration of the covenantal parent/child relationship, not the dissolution of the covenantal parent/child relationship” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 15).
Spadework
“There is no worth-while subject to which the preacher’s mind will not kindle if he thinks enough upon it and about it” (Macartney, Preaching Without Notes, p. 110).