Our Lord and God, we call upon You now, asking You to bless us as we bless and magnify Your name. You have summoned us, gathered us, called us, and as a consequence we cry out to You. You have established the seasons, You have established the pattern of the week, with one day of …
Blood on the Envelope
July 2005 Dear Friends of Credenda, I see that the time has come for me to write another support letter to those of you who help keep the ministry of Credenda afloat. And so let me put it to you this way. Having grown up in evangelical ministry circles, I have been acquainted for many …
Marriage as Manifest Glory XXVII
INTRODUCTION: The usually cynical Ambrose Bierce defined a widow in this way: “A pathetic figure that the Christian world has agreed to take humorously, although Christ’s tenderness towards widows was one of the most marked features of his character.” James tells us that pure and undefiled religion involves visiting widows (Jas. 1:27), and a moment’s …
Professional Arrogance
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 55 As we consider our responsibilities in the business and professional world, we have to begin by distinguishing different kinds of professional or vocational arrogance. The first is arrogance of an anti-intellectual sort-driven by the egalitarian assumption that anyone can …
Our Table Fellowship
Our Father and God, we bless Your holy name, and we ask You to prepare us for worship tomorrow as we do. You have called us to Yourself, and have established us here in this community so that the kingdom of God might grow and flourish. We pray that Your kingdom would come, Your will …
Faith is Exegetically Indefensible
Introduction: In all the various controversies we have seen recently, what is common to them all? The common theme is confusion with regard to the intersection between Scripture and the world, and the role faith plays in understanding this rightly. Suppose a precocious young boy, after his father has finished saying grace over the evening …
666
The gloomy old reprobate Ambrose Bierce said this about the book of Revelation: “A famous book in which St. John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the commentators, who know nothing.” It is indeed unfortunate that we by our sloth have made a revelation into one of the most …
Expertise
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 54 Vocation is important in business, and when a man is called to his profession, one of the things that develops over time is expertise. “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall …
Sidelong Glances
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 53 In the world of business and vocational callings, one of the hardest things for the Christian heart to mortify is the carnal reaction to what other people make. Even the ludicrous examples illustrate the principle. In a free country, …
Let The New Testament Explain the Old
In this series of posts we have been presenting what is, for many, a very different way of looking at the Scriptures. We have been talking about historical optimism, as opposed to the rampant historical pessimism of the modern evangelical world. But we must be careful in using phrases like “way of looking at the …