“The first truth concerns the source of the preacher’s incentive. Preaching is hard work. The preacher is often tempted to become dispirited. He needs powerful incentives to strengthen his flagging soul, and there is no doubt that he can find one here. St. Paul certainly did. He was a steward of God’s mysteries, ‘a trustee …
I Dare Say
“While in Mecca, he had remained married to only one wife, Khadija, who died after twenty-five years of marriage. During his first year in Medina, Muhammad signed a marriage contract with the daughter of one of his most loyal followers, Abu Bakr. This would not seem unusual except that the girl was only six years …
Sign of Spiritual Election
“Until then I had assumed, along with most of my generation unacquainted with real hardship, that a scruffy appearance was a sign of spiritual election, representing a rejection of the superficiality and materialism of bourgeois life. Ever since then, however, I have not been able to witness the voluntary adoption of torn, worn-out, and tattered …
Books Other Than the Bible
“The writing and reading of God-honoring books is not a substitute for Bible reading; it is the result of Bible-reading . . . The teaching of Scripture on this point [Eph. 4:11-12; Neh. 8:7-8] is very clear. God requires uninspired teachers to exposit His Word and apply it to the lives of God’s people . …
Another Surprise From Ron Paul
Ron Paul certainly has some Internet buzz going, but whenever he does surprisingly well in some straw poll or other, the talking heads of received political wisdom attribute it to dedicated spammers in the Paul campaign. But whatever you say about the capacity of spam, it does not raise money. In politics, you have to …
Idolatry of the Grand Scale
One of the great political temptations that moderns face is the temptation of the “grand scale.” When the state aspires to deity, the state needs to generate the requisite awe in those who participate in the process. One of the ways of doing this is to proclaim that the future of the planet is at …
Communicant and Excommunicant
You are communicant members of the body of Christ. That means that one of the great privileges of grace you have been given is that of participating, of communing, at this Table. When we discipline someone, as we have done this morning, this is the center of what they are being excluded from. The prefix …
Go Check out the Upgrade
I am happy to announce that Nancy’s blog has a new look — check it out here. And joining her in posting will be my daughter-in-law Heather Wilson, and my two daughters, Bekah Merkle and Rachel Jankovic. Go, fight, win.
A lot of pastors could do worse than to insert this little number in a service somewhere as “special music.” HT: Peter Scholtens
Important Correction
A few days ago I ran this photo below. And as much as I would like to run the “false but true” defense that Dan Rather has wielded so effectively in the past, it appears that the photo is actually from a 1994 Dutch indie film entitled The Stone. The actress in the photo is …