“In our modern world, the more conservative in theology a particular church or denomination is, the less likely they are to love poetry. Many conservative believers and defenders of the faith have sought to do their work through doctrinal engineering and theological abstractions. This has resulted in a truncated form of the faith — which …
Sermons Built From Legos
“I used to feel guilty about the sermon which seemed to have its own demands and desires . . . Of course I was violating the rules of sermon making — for many years before I had been taught the engineering science of sermon construction! To change the metaphor, I had been taught sermonic architecture …
When the Enemy of Your Enemy is the Devil
Conservative Christian activist, what is missing from GOProd? U are! And there is a reason for that. Recent months have seen a significant shift on the right, as the conservative organization CPAC invited the right wing homosexual group GOProd to participate in its annual parade of candidates and the near future’s erstwhile candidates. We shouldn’t …
But I Have No Way to Tilt the Arrow As It Moves Down the Page
There’s a new video clip of our friends at Veritas Hall, which you can get to by clicking on their ad over there →
Introduction and Background: Samuel 1
INTRODUCTION:The book of Samuel is the repository of some truly great Bible stories. But more than this, it represents the tale of three very complex characters—Samuel, Saul, and David. And behind it all, we see the promises and mercies of the steadfast God. One of the central things we will learn is the ways of …
Turning Into Grace
You have all heard the truism that you are what you eat. This is true on a number of levels, and of course it is also false in other ways. No matter how carelessly you eat, you are not going to turn into high fructose corn syrup. And no matter how finicky you are when …
Covenant Ties
You have heard the word covenant many times, and there is a temptation to think of it as just one of those Bible words. But the word covenant means something. In fact, it means many things, and one of the important ones has direct relevance to the make up of our congregation. Because we are …
Discarding the Word
Father in Heaven, You are the Father of all forgiveness, and we come before You representing a nation that has ingloriously discarded Your Word with regard to the honor that is due our fathers and our mothers, and our grandfathers and grandmothers. Father, we have sought to build communities out of materials that You never …
When the Other Guy Is Missing His Camel
One of the reasons Christians get tangled up in worship wars is that they fail to realize that something can be relatively unimportant theologically, but still be of immense practical importance. And then, when they realize that “something important” is going on when it comes to this practice, and conflict has started to heat up …
Pious Worry Sessions
“We tend to want our hearts and minds to protect the peace of God within us. Paul actually reverses this and says that the peace of God protects our hearts and minds. But this does not happen simply because we present our petitions to God. It is quite possible to be anxious on our knees. …