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Outline of Biblical History
I have learned that I am one who learns best from outlines. Perhaps not in all subjects, but I think certainly when it comes to learning history. I can often recall many of the stories, but I am sometimes slow to remember how things played out and how things connect. Outlines helps to remind me…
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PCA Consensus Revisited
Preface The denomination in which I serve, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), is approaching the 50th anniversary of its founding. Through these years God has blessed this expression of His Church, and it has been a privilege for me to have been part of it. The sailing has not always been smooth. There have…
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Prayer of Re-Orientation
Dallas Willard on the importance and centrality of the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Your Name”: “This request is based upon the deepest need of the human world. Human life is not about human life. Nothing will go right in it until the goodness and greatness of its Creator and Sustainer is…
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4 Admonitions For (Christian) Justice Seekers
In his preface to Thaddeus Williams‘ excellent Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth, the widely esteemed John Perkins writes a two-page Foreword that itself is worthy of the price of the book. In his Foreword Perkins writes: “Through my sixty years of working for justice, I offer four admonishments to the next generation of justice seekers.”…
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The Secret to Restoring the Glories of Our Past
J. Gresham Machen, in the Introductory chapter of his 1923 classic Christianity and Liberalism, wrote: “The condition of mankind is such that one may well ask what it is that made the men of past generations so great and the men of the present generation so small. In the midst of all the material achievements…
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Dear Father in Heaven…
While preparing for my Summer series of sermons, which I will begin this coming Sunday, I stumbled upon – or re-discovered – Dallas Willard‘s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer. While it is a paraphrase, and therefore may be slightly skewed here and there toward the author’s personal perspective, nevertheless Willard’s was an informed perspective and…
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What’s Wrong With Our World?
According to legend, The London Times once sent out an inquiry to famous authors, asking the question: “What’s wrong with the world today?” Among those asked to write up short essays in reply was the noted G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton’s reported reply: Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton [Whether or not this story is factual…
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How to Make Disciples
Dallas Willard, in The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship, wrote: “The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live…
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To Those “Born Again” in the USA
My good friend, Fred Liggin, recently posted a contextualized paraphrase of John 8.30-37 on his blog, Long Way Here, and on his Facebook page. “As He was saying these things, many believed in Him. So Jesus said to the Christians living in the USA who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you…
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What Of It?
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his book Spiritual Depression, poignantly asserts: “Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them…
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What’s the Problem?
Writing in 1974, Francis Schaeffer suggested: “The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even the threat of rationalism and the monolithic consensus which surrounds us. All these are dangerous but not the primary threat. The…
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Balance of True Christianity
Edward Payson (D.D. 1783-1827), a 19th Century Congregationalist minister, was a popular long-time pastor in Portland, Maine, where he was dubbed with the moniker “Praying Payson of Portland”. Portland’s Payson Park is named to commemorate his tremendous influence and legacy. Among many insights preserved in his writing, Payson mused over the meaning of true Christianity: True…
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Anniversary of a Great Christian Divide
On May 21, 1922 – 100 years ago today – a minister noted for exceptional eloquence ascended the steps into the pulpit to deliver his message. His name was Harry Emerson Fosdick. Though Fosdick was a Baptist, he had for several years served as pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church in New York City.…
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