“If you have not lived in your marriage with honest confession of sin, then the chances are good that you have the marital equivalent of a garage that has not been cleaned out for twenty years” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 98).
The Bucket or the Well
“If one merely scrapes together thoughts around a subject, so as to make a sermon, then every sermon consumes part of his material, and leaves him poorer. But if he habitually penetrates into a subject and masters it, every sermon leaves him richer” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, pp. 125-126).
A Reasonable Expectation
One of things we need to do in our discussion of family qualifications for ministry is examine some of our background assumptions. As with many other issues, our understanding of Paul’s requirement here (1 Tim. 3:2-5; Tit. 1:5-6) is affected not only by what the text clearly says, but by the eyes we bring to …
The Turtle On the Fencepost
As providence would have it, last night I read the next chapter of Coyne’s book in order to mull over it a bit before writing my next post. And then this morning, as is my practice, I spend some time reading through any magazines that have accumulated during the course of the week. And, as …
Managing Mammon
Jesus set up a fundamental antipathy between God and Mammon. One way or the other, He said (Matt. 6:24). In another place, He said quite plainly that whoever does not give away all His possession cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:33). Look at your possessions, Jesus says, and if you want to be a disciple, …
A Savior for Gath
Introduction God’s intention in salvation has always been for the salvation of the world. He has always had all the nations of men in mind, and the fact that Israel was the chosen nation was not in tension with this reality, but rather was the down payment on it, the first installment of it. The …
Taking Heart at the Table
One of the things that God wants to do for you here at this Table is encourage you. This is a Table of thanksgiving, which you cannot properly offer when you are discouraged. When we are discouraged, it is often because of affliction around us, or sin within us. Affliction is God’s crucible, it is …
In the Sunlight of Our Deliverance
One of things we should notice about the drive for “social justice” is that the theory of the thing contains a soteriological contradiction right at the heart of it. This is what I mean. In true evangelism, the unbeliever is being called from a state of condemnation into a state of no condemnation. This is …
With Laces Untied
So let’s begin our work on this tough topic by getting two obvious things on the table. The first obvious thing is that the apostle Paul teaches us that how a man behaves in his home is a predictor or indicator of how he will behave in the church. If you want a godly and …
Same Sex Mirage
A number of writers, me included, have been warning that the slopes really are slippery, and that the admission of something as radical as same sex mirage into any part of our political life is to introduce it everywhere. And yet, it has been surprising to see how fast the whole thing is moving. It …