1. You believe the heel of the loaf of bread has more nutrients in it because it is browner. 2. You think that kids were made for the living room and not the living room for the kids. 3. You believe that being a disciplinarian consists of using repeated commands in a professional bossy voice. …
Not Done in a Corner
“Jesus was not murdered in private by thugs, only to come back from the dead in secret, with a select band of followers being told to whisper the news to another handful. ”Pssst! Pass it on.’ No, He was executed publicly by the authorities, and He rose from the dead in such a way as …
The Spirit Gives Ears to Hear
“We are simply pulling rank on people when we tell them, and don’t show them from the text . . . The work of the Holy Spirit in the process of interpretation is not to add information, but to give to us the discipline to study and the humility to accept the truth we find …
A Dog With Two Tails
Rick Santorum has said that those who are critical of his so-called “big government conservatism” are wrong, and they are libertarians to boot. Since he is not a libertarian, he rejects the label — he reasons that if you are a virtual anarchist, then everything is going to look like big government to you. That’s …
As Broad As the World
Paul’s “message is a message that topples the princes of this world, and everything that had previously been under their jurisdiction — and this meant the arts, politics, education, scientific investigation, building fences, cooking, and anything else that men might do. Rightly understood, preaching Christ and Him crucified is as broad as the world” (Heaven …
Standing on the Rock
“Where the Bible is esteemed as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, preaching can flourish. But where the Bible is treated merely as a record of valuable religious insight, preaching dies” (Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 40).
No Way to Hush It Up Now
“Jesus was crucified in a public way, and so His death must have public ramifications. There is no way to be fully faithful to the message of His death and resurrection in private. Private faith in this public event cannot, in the very nature of the case, remain private. The love of God, as displayed …
Why God Strikes the Bell
“All genuine preaching is rooted in a feeling of desperation. You wake up on Sunday morning and you can smell the smoke of hell on one side and feel the crisp breezes of heaven on the other . . . The dangers of self-reliance and self-exaltation in the ministry of preaching are so insidious that …
The Stomach of the Mind
“The minister as the chief pastoral agent does not inject food intravenously as it were, but he provides well-prepared food for the flock. He sets it before the flock and persuades them to feed themselves as they partake of it. It is like filling the stomach with food which then must be digested and transmuted …
An Iowa Caucus Nano-Margin
Here are a few observations that conservatives can pack into their suitcases as they leave Iowa. Romney edged out Santorum by eight votes — a victory so razor-thin close as to make no difference. Eight votes! And the way the expectations world is structured, Romney cannot really claim a triumph here and Santorum can. In …