“Young ministers often help to make doctrinal subjects unpopular, by the fact that their sermons too closely resemble the treatises they have been studying, or the lectures they have heard” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 91).
Broken Loose
We live in a bad neighborhood, meaning this world of ours, and so this means that we have two kinds of problems. The first would be, naturally, the bad dudes roaming the neighborhood. The second problem would be those endearing but exasperating naifs living inside the house with us, who persist in leaving invitational lights …
Taste and See: Gospel Presence V
Introduction We worship God the Father through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. But in order for this to work, He cannot be a distant Christ. Remember that in Christ God came near, God became our neighbor. We worship God through a close Christ, a near Christ, an indwelling Christ. The point of …
Real Temptations
God’s saints are often troubled by the mere fact of their temptations. Sin is one kind of trouble, but we know how to seek forgiveness for sin committed in the past. But what about the constant volley of suggestions that seem more than a little attractive, to which you have not given way, but which …
Taking It Personally
God promises us times of refreshing in the gospel, but He always does it on His terms—never on ours. If the arrangement were to be made on our terms, it wouldn’t be gospel at all. Repent, He says. Be converted, He says, which means to be turned . . . away from self and toward …
Hermeneutics As Sexual Identity
Something Orwell could tell us, were he here, is that the perversion of language is the mother of all subsequent perversions. In Politics and the English Language, he pointed to language that consisted “largely of euphemisms, question begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness.” Sheer cloudy vagueness. “My name is Justin Lee, and I’m a committed Christian …
Their Cold Silvery Tips
“He was the kind of man who was entirely unaccustomed to looking at lies from this end of the barrel. He was now counting the rounds in their chambers. He could see their pointed, silvery tips” (Evangellyfish, p. 137).
Inflated Enough to be the Ball
“Brittle pride is not masculine. The male ego is, I am afraid, famous. I have long felt that a pastor has no better diagnostic test for how his congregation is doing spiritually than to arrange a co-ed volleyball game and just watch . . . When the male ego is on a rampage, the only …
Focus
“Take it as a general rule, the more you narrow the subject, the more thoughts you will have” (Alexander, as quoted in Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 90).
About Like That
“The rest of them were about as indignant as a room full of wet cats” (Evangellyfish, p. 133).