This past week I have been reading Cornelis Venema’s The Promise of the Future. It is an excellent book and well worth a pastor’s read. It was in Part IV on how the future is marked with ‘Signs of the Times’ that got me thinking and writing of what has been a month of thlipsis that intensified… Read More Thlipsis
Our Wednesday service has been reading through Luke’s gospel consecutively each week. We have just concluded Luke 15, a favorite chapter of many. Jesus tells there the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost sons. Those of you who have read Luke 15 with frequency as I have done and have… Read More The Ninety and Nine
There are times in a regular pattern of study in God’s word and in a regular pattern of prayer that brings together who God is in his holiness and my deep and desperate need in my sinfulness, to see afresh the amazing grace and mercy in our Savior’s bloody sacrifice done for me as a… Read More Man A Nothing
Why did Jesus have to die? He is your substitute. He took the punishment you deserved so that you can receive the blessing he deserved, all for the glory of God. Here it is in black and white. The most important paragraph in the Bible. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart… Read More The Most Important Paragraph in the Bible
With sermons for tonight, tomorrow night and Easter Sunday done, my thoughts and prayer turn to those whom our heavenly Father draws to hear the gospel this year – those who only come to church on Christmas and Easter. Do you know what is true about folks who only come to church on Christmas and… Read More Holy Week, Easter, Prayer and Preaching
I do not usually remember my dreams and I don’t usually put much stock in them but I had a dream the other night that was very vivid. I was standing before a crowd of people and it obvious by their stance and facial expressions that I was being interviewed and evaluated by them. It… Read More I had a dream.
F-Troop was a satirical western television situation comedy series of the 1960’s. One of the recurring word plays that marked its humor (along with burlesque, slapstick and visual gags) was the directions from the Hekawis encampment, the local Native American tribe, to Fort Courage the home of F-Troop: “Turn left at the big rock that looks… Read More Bear Signs
“Most people go to the country or the ocean to relax. I go to the 16th and 17th centuries,” is a light-hearted truth about me and explains today’s entry. After a fruitless search on Netflix for the documentary film God’s Outlaw on William Tyndale, Netflix had created a new “Recommended for Henry” list. I then… Read More Relax in 1564…
Yesterday, July 27, 2011 at 1515hrs GMT, that quiet lion of the gospel John R. W. Stott, left this frail flesh behind and entered into the glory of Christ. About the time he was leaving the Church militant for the Church triumphant, I was journaling through Romans 12.1-2 with his commentary (in the Bible Speaks… Read More Uncle John
One of my favorite ways to describe ministry’s on-display-life is to use the metaphor of the department store window. “You live your life in the front of Macy’s department store window, it’s all on display for the congregation,” is what I usually say. In my earlier days in ministry I must confess that I used… Read More Living in Macy’s Window
The Vicar's Garden 