Topics: proclaiming the gospel
Noticing the Elephant on the Diving Board
An article I read recently opened by describing the gospel as “a pool in which a toddler can wade and yet an elephant can swim.” While the imagery is meant to communicate the simultaneous simplicity and depth of the gospel, it also alerts us to a potential problem in studying one aspect of the gospel to the neglect of others. That is, we could become the toddler that wades for a while then assume he knows [...] Continue reading
Posted by admin on June 15, 2008
Hold Fast to the Gospel!
Now that we have wrapped up five months in the Psalms, we plan to move to a number of shorter series in the pulpit this summer. The first of these will be a three week series called “Hold Fast to the Gospel!”
This began with my desire to simply preach the gospel for three weeks. As I studied New Testament texts where the authors were very careful to unpack precisely what the gospel is, I found an i [...] Continue reading
Posted by admin on June 1, 2008
Loving our Enemies with Uncle Sam’s Help
Of the numerous items in the news today, two may have a strategic kingdom connection, namely, the printing of the economic stimulus checks and the continuing efforts to bring aid to the Myanmar cyclone victims. On the one hand, we have the most prosperous nation in the world giving it’s people more money. On the other hand, we have a nation whose average citizen makes 8% of what an average American makes in [...] Continue reading
Posted by admin on May 9, 2008
Why Host a Neighborhood Picnic?
One of my consistent personal motivators for ministry is our house’s proximity to a Jehovah Witnesses’ Kingdom Hall. As I ascend the stairs to my back yard office, I frequently see the “Witnesses” gathering to head out for door-to-door knocking as they offer literature and home Bible studies. Their commitment to spread a heretical message (which denies the deity of Jesus) for the wrong reason (so that [...] Continue reading
Posted by admin on May 2, 2008
Brightening the Gospel Bulb
During my university days I attended a church that constantly called us to “preach the gospel to yourself.” You can imagine all the puzzled responses I had to that mantra, and hopefully sympathize with the fact that it took me about 10 years to begin piecing together what the pastor was talking about.
This week another piece of the puzzle fell into place as I listened to an interview with one of my [...] Continue reading
Posted by admin on April 18, 2008