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Saul and the Serpent
INTRODUCTION:Saul functions in this story as the last of Israel’s judges. He has been anointed as a king, and acclaimed as one, but he has not yet been made a king. This fact alone means that at the beginning of his reign, there is faithfulness to the theocratic ideal. And, at the very beginning of …
Answering the Invitation
The Supper we partake of here is, among other things, a glorious foreshadowing of the great eschatological banquet. This is the time at the culmination of history, when all God’s people sit down together in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In the course of history, before that time, there is a winnowing—which foreshadows those …
Threshold
For a number of years, in addition to our monthly Psalm sing, we have had a Sunday evening service that we have held once a month, one which we called Evensong. A number of months ago, we shifted the emphasis of that service, making it explicitly evangelistic—church for non-Christians. We have been grateful for how …
Not Credo Circumcision
“The advent of Christ did not result in Jewish parents starting to wait until their children made a profession of faith before they were circumcised. The Jewish Christians did not suddenly switch to ‘believer’s circumcision'” (To a Thousand Generations, p 65).
Failure to Communicate
“The anti-authority mood makes people unwilling to listen, addiction of television makes them unable to do so, and the contemporary atmosphere of doubt makes many preachers both unwilling and unable to speak. Thus there is paralysis at both ends, in the speaking and in the hearing. A dumb preacher with a deaf congregation presents a …
Jewish Boys Still Included
[Concerning Acts 21:18-25] “A false report concerning Paul and his teaching had in the Jerusalem church before Paul had. This report was that he taught Jewish Christians to cease circumcising their infant sons” (To a Thousand Generations, p. 62).
An Important Point of Grammar
“Too many sermons are written ‘in the imperative mode’, whereas the religion of the Bible ‘is written largely in the revealing language of the indicative mode’ . . . The power of the religion of the Bible is to be found in its affirmations” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 57)
Pulpit Words
“Common usage of pulpit words reflects this distortion. ‘To preach’ has come to mean ‘to give advice in an offensive, tedious or obtrusive manner’, while to be ‘sermonic’ is to inflict on someone a patronizing harangue” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 52).
The Evangelical Center
“Consequently, we are never to look for salvation in mere externals like physical circumcision or water baptism. We cannot manipulate Him through the things that we can do on the outside. The Lord is sovereign in salvation. From the time of Abraham until now, it has been clear that only He changes the one thing …