“That minister . . . whose preaching results in the actual conversion of human beings, contributes far more, in the long run, to the progress of society, literature, art, science, and civilization, than he does, who, neglecting these themes of sin and grace, makes a direct effort from the pulpit to ‘elevate society’” (Shedd, Homiletics …
Spontaneous and True
“When the clergy shall dare to speak to the people, with extemporaneous boldness, out of a full heart, full head, and clear mind, we may expect . . .” divine blessing (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 244).
And Gave Gifts to Men
Introduction: As our congregation has grown and developed, our form of government has grown more defined along with it. To a certain extent, once we get used to it, we just function the way we function. But whenever we alter something, it generates questions that should always be answered from the Scriptures. Or other times …
Load the Right Truck
Self-control involves much more than simply refraining from taking one more cookie. It is easy to relegate self-control issues to sins and peccadilloes of the flesh, strive to above average respectable in that department, and call it self-control. Now of course it is important to have the appetites under control, but for most Christians today, …
The Necklace of the Church
The neck of the Church is that which attaches her to her Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is it that brings us into union with the Lord? Is it not our faith? Living and evangelical faith is therefore the neck of the bride, without which there can be no bride at all. We …
Some of Them Two
“Hence, the language he did use is full of meaning; as one said, ‘every word weighs a pound’” (Shedd, Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 238).
Cremation and Burial
Introduction: Part of living together is learning to deal with the fact of death. In the early years of our congregation, we had almost no funerals. The reason we had few funerals in the early days of the church is that we were all babies. Now we have had a number of funerals, and given …
Thoroughly Gay
As we continue to meditate on the importance of self-control, and its relationship to other forms of free governance, we have to do more than consider control of appetites and emotions that we know to be a problem. We also need to exercise self-control when it comes to suppression of false virtues. One of the …
Each Morsel Contains Worlds
When we partake of this meal we are partaking of both the Lord’s disgrace, and His promised glory. “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the …
A New Feature at ChristKirk.com
As you make your way to this blog regularly — and I do appreciate it — you ought not to do it to the detriment of other fine places to visit. ChristKirk.com has a lot of new features, and with more being added in the near future. One thing you’ll want to make sure not to …