We learn good things from our fathers, and we learn how to sin from our fathers. We are a sinful world because we follow in the footsteps of our father Adam, and we will not emerge from that darkness apart from following the final father, the ultimate human father, the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the …
Learning to Lean
When you are discouraged, as one of God’s saints, you should strengthen your hands and weak knees. Whatever your circumstances, God has received you. See? you are here at this Table. You are welcome. This is the opposite of the condition of a man outside of Christ. Whatever encouragements he might have, day to day, …
Positive and Negative Pride
Pride is an insidious spiritual cancer. It lies at the root of all sin and self-centeredness, producing a profound darkness in the minds of those who tolerate it. Some forms of pride are obvious (at least when they occur in the lives of others). Arrogance, boasting, haughtiness and snobbery are all fairly easy to see. …
The Political Results
“His authority is extended by spiritual means and not by political means. It has political results, but His kingdom does not advance in the same way that other kingdoms do” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 130).
Which Might Surprise Everybody
“Don’t be afraid of slang: it’s the salt of speaking. Too much of it, of course, will make your style off-putting; but just enough makes your semon sound as if you mean it” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 128).
But Rather Established
Sam Harris is of the conviction that he can talk about the loss of freedom as though it were the loss of something that left everything else about human nature relatively unchanged — such as when your uncle loses his left leg, well below the knee. You have the same old uncle, just a little …
The Whole Point
“Jesus did not come in order to try to save the world, if the uncooperative world would only let Him. He came to save the world; He will be satisfied with nothing less than a saved world. That was the whole point” (Heaven Misplaced, p. 127).
Staying Oriented
“A good sermon is one that’s long enough to go from its beginning to its end without passing through anything but its own middle” (Capon, The Foolishness of Preaching, p. 106).
Preaching Clockwise
“Screw the word into the minds of your hearers. A screw is the strongest of all mechanical powers . . . when it has turned a few times, scarcely any power can pull it out” (Charles Simeon, as quoted in Murray, How Sermons Work, p. 90).
Glombing Onto or Glooming Under
“We have to be careful not to fall into an either/or hole here. You have a cousin in Oklahoma who, with regard to Cadillacs and Leasr jets, is busy ‘naming and claiming’ every gaudy thing he can think of. And you have another cousin in Grand Rapids, this one a historical pessimist, who is living …