RSS FeedRICK WARREN ON PREACHING
Thirty years ago I attended a Seminar led by Rick Warren of 30,000 member Saddleback Church, that included a section on preaching. In retirement I am listening to the preaching of others and find myself comparing them to what I learned from Rick Warren. He began by...
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
One of the most frequent questions I get from strangers is, “Where are you from?” My accent betrays my origins. If we want to get to know people we inquire about their origins, where they were raised. We carry our origins throughout our lives. They form us, they...
WHY AM I?
When I first held my newest grand-daughter, Erika, in my arms and looked at her, I asked, “Who are you? Where have you come from? What will your life be like?” Her perfectly formed face, eyes, nose, ears, fingers and toes fascinated me, as did my two daughters’ when...
ETERNAL LIFE
November 1 ALL SAINTS DAY Revelation 21:1-5 Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels invented the immortal Stuldbrugs of the flying island of Laputa. Gulliver supposed they would be wise, serene and knowledgeable because of their great age, and instead found them the...
NONDENOMINATIONAL AND INTERDENOMINATIONAL
Leaving church the other day a lady asked me a question about nondenominational churches: what they believe, do their pastors have a theological education etc.? I first of all responded by distinguishing between nondenominational churches and interdenominational...
CONTEMPORARY EVANGELISM
In the winter term 1971 I participated in a mission to Durham University where I had studied from 1964-67. It consisted of lectures by the well-known evangelist David Watson who was pastor of a church in York and the author of eight popular books on the Christian...
SUFFERING
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV) “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” Or “works together with those who love him to...
THE LAUGHTER OF GOD
We visited the Columbia (SC) Museum of Art to view 45 paintings of the Hudson River School of Painters on loan from the New York Historical Society. Antoinette and I also viewed them at an exhibition in the National Gallery in London. The magnificent landscapes of...
DEATH DEFEATED
Psalm 16 is the third psalm used by Handel in Messiah. It is also used in the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles by St. Peter (Acts 2) and St. Paul (Acts 13) to present the Gospel to their contemporaries. Why did they use this psalm? Jesus himself used...
HEART-BROKEN
On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, Antoinette and I walked past St. James’s Church, Spanish Place, next to our hotel in the West End of London, and noticed that there would be a performance of Handel’s Messiah that evening, by the choir of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial...
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