Ten shekels and a shirt — a sermon worth hearing

A couple years ago, a friend sent me a link to a sermon entitled “Ten Shekels and a Shirt,” by a pastor/missionary named Paris Reidhead. I was unfamiliar with the sermon or the pastor, but found the message to be very challenging. This week, I listened to the sermon again, and was challenged afresh over […]

Books, the internet, reading, and thinking

A couple years ago, I read Iain Murray’s classic biographical work on Jonathan Edwards. As I put the book away, I remember being struck at the depth of thinking produced by Edwards. A couple brief stories. Murray recounted that Edwards would often go on journeys by means of the common mode of transportation of that […]

Why a study of God’s attributes is important

We are now three sermons into a series on the attributes of God. Why study about God? Why spend 45 minutes each Sunday just thinking about one aspect of God’s character? Is there really that much that is important that can be said about God? In the past week, I’ve come across two statements that […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/17/08)

Two quotes about God’s immutability that didn’t make it into the sermon yesterday: “One of two things causes a man to change his mind and reverse his plans: want of foresight to anticipate everything, or lack of foresight to execute them. But as God is both omniscient and omnipotent there is never any need for […]

A few more thoughts about angels…again

I’ve still been mulling over our discussion the other day about angels. My thoughts have been centered around the old slogan created by Flip Wilson, “the Devil made me do it.” Now I don’t think that too many have problems with the idea that the devil might provoke and stimulate unbelievers to particular modes of […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/10/08)

There is a malady in America that has been labeled by at least one epidemiologist as “John Henry-ism.” The so-called disease refers to the eponymous folk hero who in an original “man vs. machine” contest, worked himself to death driving railroad spikes more rapidly than a steam-driven hammer. He won but he lost. He proved […]

Idolatry and minimizing God

I came across this statement about idolatry in preparing for my sermon Sunday. I will not have the time to develop this idea, but thought it worthwhile, in assessing what happens when we construct and worship idols in our hearts instead of God. Read carefully: All idolatry, whether ancient or modern, primitive or sophisticated, is […]

Motives for evangelism

Reflecting on Paul’s anger over the idolatry he viewed in Athens and his resulting evangelistic sermon, John Stott pondered the question of what an appropriate motive to evangelize might be. Is it enough to simply evangelize, or is the reason why we evangelize also important? Or because of opposition, should we even attempt to evangelize […]

Free audio book — Augustine’s Confessions

Each month, Christian Audio makes a complete audio book available for a free download. This month’s selection is Augustine’s classic work, Confessions. To download a copy, simply add the book to your cart, and when checking out, simply offer the coupon code: AUG2008 and you will not be charged for the book. An added bonus: […]

A few more thoughts about angels (and Jude 9)

Last night we digressed ever so briefly into a discussion about Michael, Satan, and Moses’ body. This morning, I consulted my favorite commentator, and he had this to say on the passage in question: “Michael,” whose name means “Who is like God?” is one of only two angels whose names the Bible reveals; the other […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/3/08)

The eternality of God is one of the (many) truths about God that is incomprehensible to God. Oh, we can understand the words and concepts, but the actuality of the truth is beyond our ability to digest. Thinking about Moses’ psalm, A. W. Tozer wrote this, “‘From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,’ said Moses […]

Self-righteousness, judgmentalism, and confronting sin

I’ve been listening to an excellent pair of sermons this week by Dave Harvey, entitled “The Surgeon, the Scalpel, and the Saint in Sin.” Preaching from Luke 6:27-36, Harvey addresses the question of how to confront a sinning believer without becoming self-righteous and judgmental ourselves. His basic premise is: “The manner in which we respond […]

Sin’s delusion

From Thomas Fuller: Lord, often have I thought to myself, I will sin but this one sin more, and then I will repent of it, and of all the rest of my sins together. So foolish was I, and ignorant. As if I should be more able to pay my debts when I owe more: […]

Cohabitation and marriage

Al Mohler has an interesting summary and brief analysis about the recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau (as reported in USA Today) that there is an increase in cohabitating couples. The summary statistics: In 2007, there were 6.4 million cohabitating, heterosexual couples in the U.S — up from approximately 5 million in 2006. There […]

Idols of the heart

Last week I listened to C. J. Mahaney’s three-part series “The Idol Factory.” I highly recommend the entire series (though I thought the first two were the strongest). A couple of statements about idolatry from those sermons — “Husband and wife — you desire to have a spouse that relates to you with respect, etc. […]