Okay, I am a Protestant. I get that. This is why I believe there are many things wrong with the papacy, and that is not even counting the barnacles. But hope springs eternal, and every time a new pope is selected, a lot of people — including Protestants who should know better — start yearning …
To Curvet and Simper in the Pulpit
The sodomy challenge — and all related sexuality challenges — present us with a glorious opportunity. It is a glorious opportunity that the Spirit has cleverly disguised as a real hazard to our future comfort and well-being. For the gospel is a troublemaker. Let me explain that first and then come back to the sodomy …
Crown of the Argument
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #129 “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of …
Not in View
In the area surrounding 1 Peter 3:10, the apostle Peter gives a wonderful set of exhortations on keeping your lips from speaking evil, and your mouth from telling lies. His section on avoiding a life of deceitfulness is a quotation from the Psalms (Ps. 34:13). But for those who are over-scrupulous about such things — …
Don’t Waste Your Shake Up
If we adopt the policy I am suggesting in the larger church — that of asking elders and ministers to step down if their children are excommunicate (or the moral equivalent) — this solves some problems, but not all of them. It actually creates a few interesting problems. One interesting problem it could create is …
David as Patsy
Introduction This tragic story follows immediately after the David and Bathsheba tragedy. Details and names change, but we have a beautiful woman, fulfilled lust, and then murder. The Text: “And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of …
President of Presidents
I want to begin this exhortation with two qualifications. The first is that I know you have heard this point from me before. But as Paul says in Philippians, to repeat the same things over again is not a trouble to me, and it is helpful to you. Secondly, this is a word to Americans—and …
And We Sing
One of the great blessings that accompanies coming to this Table every week is the blessing of being able to sing at this Table. One of the names for this meal comes from the Greek word for giving thanks—this is the Eucharist, a true sacrifice of praise. The 22nd Psalm says that God inhabits the …
Earning Respect Through Being Opaque
[The minister must be] “a plain preacher, suiting his matter and style to the capacity of his audience (1 Cor. 14:19). Some ministers, like eagles, love to soar aloft in abstruse metaphysical notions, thinking they are most admired when they are least understood. They who preach in the clouds, instead of hitting their people’s conscience, …
Because Most Word Pictures Don’t Even Have Hands
“Do not try to hold your word pictures by the hand. Put them out there and let them do their work” (Hughes, Expository Preaching With Word Pictures, p. 146).