“When we envision the kingdom of God on earth we are not envisioning everything under the authority of the church. We’re envisioning everything under the authority of King Jesus . . . Christ’s kingship is wider than His rule over the church” (Steve Schlissel, Christian Culture in a Multicultural Age, p. 8).
A Seven-fold Woe/Amos 7
INTRODUCTION: In this passage, we begin part way through chapter five, and continue on through the entirety of chapter six. Amos eloquently continues to hammer away at the two things that turn God’s stomach—false worship and an opulent, violent stupidity. THE TEXT: “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! . . .” …
Bum-fuzzled, Pole-axed, Gob-smacked, and Bewildered
Lane does not believe the chess game is over, as he states here. He says he is not going to “answer every point,” which is fine. I would be content if he simply answered the central one. He says this, “Quite simply put, our response to God’s command to come to faith is God’s doing, …
This is What We Do
The structure of our worship service follows what we call a covenant renewal pattern. First, there is a call to worship, where God’s people are solemnly called to order in the name of Christ, making this a worship service. When we do this, the Holy Spirit gathers us up and escorts us into the heavenly …
Then Come to Christ
We are continuing to reflect on what our doctrinal standards—the teachings of the Westminster Confession—say about the sacraments. A striking thing about our standards is that they say that the Old Testament contained sacraments, and not only the New Testament. In the New, we have two sacraments, but the number of sacraments in the Old …
Disaster A or Disaster B
As the campaign unfolds, I will be writing more about all of this, but let this serve as a basic orientation. This November, we are facing a choice between disaster A or disaster B. We are piloting a plane that is going to crash, and we have the choice of crashing in the sea or …
Once for All
A word that literally means “to recrucify” is anastauroo, and is only used once in the New Testament. There the apostle Paul says that those Christians who return to the sacrificial system in Jerusalem are those who “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.” So “crucify afresh” is the unusual rendering — because in …
Science as Blowing Bubbles
“So the bubbles go on bursting, and meanwhile more are being blown, and we are expected to believe in whatever comes, and wait with open mouth to see what comes next. But we shall not just yet fall down and worship the image of human wisdom, notwithstanding all the flutes, harps, sackbuts, psalteries, dulcimers, weekly …
Hidden Under the Lights
“Faking of the words and pictures to fit the theme has been particularly prevalent in compilation programmes which purport to reconstruct out of stock footage some historical scene or happening . . . The accumulated documentation of our time will be so vast, and for one reason and another, so slated, that posterity will know …
Half Way There and Face Down
“Half measures generally fall down half way” (For Kirk and Covenant, p. 158).