Kevin Johnson quotes from an article in the most recent Credenda, and admonishes me for something I didn’t say in it. “Correspondingly, the Reformation was first about our repentance and embracing of Christ something which Wilson never mentions in this article. This was curious on two counts. First, it should be possible to write an …
A Widow’s Cruse of Oil
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Father and God over all, we gather before You to honor Your name, and so that You might bless us, Your people, as we seek to honor Your name. We come before You as an empty people, but we come in order …
Mutual Indwelling
Jesus explicitly prays for His followers to be one, just as He and the Father are one. This is the basis for the likemindedness that we find frequently commended in the pages of the New Testament. But too often we just glide over this, thinking that the unity we are to have is a mere …
Organic Allegiance
The world is a sacramental place. By this I do not mean to say that you should be hearing some kind of spooky music everywhere you go, but rather that God has built into the world the inescapability of what might be called “rites of allegiance.” This in fact is where our word sacrament comes …
Jess and Natali
The Scriptures are full of metaphors that describe the glory of fulfilled longing. That longing, the kind of thing that is frequently no fun at all, is nevertheless the basis for one of the deepest kinds of joy. One illustration used for fulfilled longing is the imagery of “return from exile.” Psalm 126 puts it …
More Than One Use for Pretty Much Anything
Well, it turns out that Ron Paul has more shekels in the bank than John McCain, one of the front runners. And so just what is a front runner anyway? Might it be anyone who is deemed to be such by the media? Is this a great country or what? HT: Tom Brainerd And as …
Those Chapters
I have to say honestly that the book of Romans has caused me a great deal of trouble over the years. At the same time, I also have to say that it is trouble for which I am profoundly grateful. Although these were difficulties which I did not request, a retrospective look is cause for …
Guarding Against Error (1 Tim. 4:1-16)
INTRODUCTION: Just as Adam was assigned the task of protecting and guarding his wife in the Garden, so the minister is assigned the task of guarding the congregation of God against error. There is always a need for it. THE TEXT: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from …
Ordinary as Brown Dirt
Just a quick Fourth of July note. Hope you set off lots of fireworks, and eat lots of hamburgers. But here’s also hoping that you do it with a clear head. This civil holiday celebrates resistance to tyranny. And of course, some of the most ardent participants at such events are those who want to …
The Central Gift
In the ongoing discussion among Christians over the validity of the “sign gifts,” those (like myself) who believe these gifts have now ceased are sometimes tempted to dismiss the question with a platitude and a wave of the hand. “We should seek the Giver and not the gifts” provides a representative sample. But this is …