INTRODUCTION: Under continued pressure from Saul, David is forced to leave Judah and take refuge with Achish, who was the king of Gath. He had complained in the previous chapter that certain men were trying to force him to serve other gods (1 Sam. 26:19) which he was unwilling to do. He was willing, however, …
Fussers and Ladder Kickers
We have a strong religious tendency to get things backwards. We have a strong religious tendency to keep things exclusive. We have a strong religious tendency to want to climb up on the high platform of grace, and then to kick the ladder away, so that the riff raff cannot follow us up. This tendency …
Tend To Your Own Knitting
One of the great Pauline principles we have to be reminded of on a regular basis is the principle called “minding your own business.” As soon as we move away from a realm of life that we are not directly responsible for (as in, our own job, our own family, our own sanctification), and we …
A Woman’s Body and Fatherlessness
We have been told, over and over again, that abortion is all about “a woman’s right to choose.” The pro-life comeback has been — correct as far as it goes — that this leaves the child’s right to life (and therefore the child’s right to choose) out of the equation. This is a valid argument, …
Medicinal Abstractions Don’t Heal Anyone
“Two inches of snow on a dung heap can look pretty nice, but it doesn’t address the deeper problem. So if we sinful men go left, we sin on the left. If we go right, we sin on the right. If we become atheists, we sin there. If we become Jehovah’s Witnesses, we sin there …
Wine Instead of Dish Water
“This is the ultimate foundation for Christian hedonism and profoundly shapes a pastor’s pulpit ministry. As Christian hedonists we know that every listener longs for happiness. And we will never tell them to deny or repress that desire. Their problem is not that they want to be satisfied but that they are far too easily …
Life Needs Food
“The power that makes preaching pastorally effective does not reside in the preacher, but in God who utilizes him as His instrument in His good pleasure . . . the life of His creatures is finite . . . It is not sufficient to itself. It needs God in an absolute sense and it needs …
Considering All Things on All Things Considered
For those of you who have access to a radio, Nate will be on All Things Considered this afternoon, right near the end of the first hour. That would be approximately 4:50 pm. For those of you here in Moscow, that should be 91.7 on your dial. And if you are on the East Coast, …
Racisim That Goes Clean to the Bone
“Given the fact that human beings evolved from primates, as you asserted earlier, is there any a priori reason why a consistent evolutionist wouldn’t cheerfully agree that one race of human beings could certainly be lower on the evolutionary tree than the others? Any reason why, when we get to homo sapiens, magic suddenly intervenes …
To This End I Labor
“Good service is always and fundamentally receiving mercy, not rendering assistance . . . The only right way to serve God is in a way that reserves for Him all the glory. ‘Whoever serves [must do it] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may …