I think it was Luther who said that a man required two conversions, the first of his heart and the second of his wallet. Have you ever noticed how some people are preeminently quotable, such that all sorts of pithy sayings get attributed to them whether or not they said it? So Luther, or maybe …
Church Discipline and Life
Introduction A church that does not or cannot discipline errant members of the congregation is a church with AIDS. It has no means of fighting off infections—whether those infections are moral or doctrinal or both. The infections can be in the heart or the head, but the church has to be able to deal with …
Little Plastic Cups
The bread and wine here represent and embody the most precious gift that has ever been given to anyone. You were redeemed, Peter says, not with gold or with silver, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-19). This is a precious gift indeed. What kind of vessel should this be put …
Establishing His Name
As we continue our series of meditations on our new church building, we should reflect for a moment on the name it will have. Our church building will have the name of our church—Christ Church. The name of our church bears or carries the name of our Savior. We never want to take, or bear, …
Making Seneca Crack Up
My friend Garry Vanderveen has been kind enough to suggest a side-by-side comparison of what Jim Jordan and I teach on the subject of regeneration, coming to the conclusion that we are not all that far apart. I commend that post to you, with the exception of whatever was going on when they justified the …
Caleb and Mallory
The word I want to emphasize at this wedding is the word heritage. We have the privilege today of witnessing, not only the wedding of two individuals in Christ, but also the wedding of two distinct, but very complementary, heritages. I want to talk about the unique blessings that we are praying that God will …
Let It Ebb and Flow
“Another serious and very common mistake is in the effort to maintain uniform energy throughout a discourse . . . In highly passionate speaking there must be variety, alteration” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 378).
Make the Spirit Come by Waving Your Arms
“Some speakers imagine that they must be energetic in style and manner even when it does not suit the subject, or does not accord with their actual feelings” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 377).
No Theological Schadenfreude
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #158 Charity “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). In this verse, we see that love does four things. Two of them are active, and two are responsive. In the middle …
Down Heaven’s Alleys
The Bible uses the word mystery in a particular way, it allows us to use it in another way, and forbids us to use it in a third. So everybody be careful out there! For those keeping track, this is a follow-up on my post about mystery and contradiction. First, how is mystery used? In …