It is worthy noting that the Lord Jesus describes one of the features of hypocrisy as being manifested in an inability to read the culture. “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” (Luke 12:56). A hypocrite does …
Love and Truth Link Arms
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #157 Charity “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). This verse comes right to the point. There is one verb, used twice. Charity does not rejoice in one thing, and does rejoice in another. …
Needing a Good Set of Brakes
“Metaphors present to the orator an inexhaustible source of energetic expression. It is imagination that must produce them, and good taste that must regulate their use” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 374).
When the Word Grows
I am filling the pulpit tomorrow at All Souls in Lewiston. Introduction: The congregation here at All Souls is a church plant, and so one of the things we should consider is a theology of church planting. If we don’t have a biblical basis for what we are doing, then the mere raw fact of …
Hard Providence and Trusting God
Introduction We live in a world where rough things happen. Despite all our advances in technology, everyone in this room will still die. We still get sick. We still have financial challenges. We have the heartbreak of wayward children. We still have to deal with the perversity of sin that we can still find stirring …
Cascading Copiousness
“While diffuseness is unfavorable to energy, there may be a profuseness . . . which is highly energetic. The former spreads sluggishly over a wide expanse, the latter pours onward in a rushing torrent” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 372).
Rise Above Offense
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #156 Charity “doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (1 Cor. 13:5). We are taking care to work slowly through Paul’s description of what love is like. We have noted …
Grace and Peace
Introduction Today we celebrate the giving of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. As we consider this great event, we have to remember that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal force. He was given to the Church at Pentecost so that He might glorify Jesus Christ, who in turn brings us …
Don’t Trail Off
“No syllable ought to end in a large number of unaccented syllables, as ‘comparable,’ ‘exquisitely,’ ‘agreeableness.’ It is best to end with a word which accents the last syllable, or any any rate to have the accent only one syllable from the end. In like matter, we must not close the sentence with a large …
Love is not Furtive
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #155 “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up” (1 Cor. 13:4). We have come to a famous and very exalted passage, the apostle Paul’s paean to love. Given the …