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Tomorrow is Sunday – the Lord’s Day, the Christian sabbath. The Puritans called it the Market Day of the Soul. The Lord calls his beloved congregation to assemble, and places before them treasures from the overflowing storehouse of his grace. Before them he sets a rich feast as the word of God is preached and believed. Just how important is the Word of God to the faith of his people? John Calvin insists that “faith needs the Word as much as fruit needs the living root of a tree.”* Without the Word, faith withers. With the Word, faith flourishes as God displays his mighty power to save and sanctify and sustain. Your faith needs the Word. So, eagerly anticipate tomorrow.…
Read MoreYou shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Exodus 20:4 You shall not covet. Exodus 20:17 Put to death . . . covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 Whenever we give to a person, idea, or object the worship, devotion, and obedience that belong to God alone we make that person, idea, or object our functional god, our idol. We give our heart to a God-substitute. The Puritan Thomas Watson exposes the heart of idolatry: “To love any thing more than God, is to make it a god.”* Covetousness is one of those idols…
Read MoreYou shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. Isaiah 54:5 I love wedding days. No other days are like them. Promises made, tokens of love exchanged, and two lives changed forever. With two words the bride gives herself away. She looks into her husband’s face as the minister asks: “Will you take him as your husband and live together as God has ordained? Will you love him . . . and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?” “I will,” she promises.…
Read MoreAn encouraging day at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson. Dr. Carl Ellis, Senior Fellow of the African American Leadership Initiative and Provost’s Professor of Theology and Culture, preached in chapel on “What’s in a Name?” from Ezekiel 36:16-32. During the lunch hour, Dr. Ellis met with prospective students before delivering an afternoon preaching lecture and participating in a discussion of Francis Grimké’s Meditations on Preaching.
Read MoreCooper was a remarkable dog, a beloved member of the family of my Alabama friends, Matt and Rebecca Harnesss. For years, he was at my side as I trained for several marathons. He passed away earlier this month and will be sorely missed. In recent years when I visited, he was unable to run. Still, whenever I showed up, he found his way to me and stood beside me. Becca remembers how protective he was of Anne Marie after she was born, hovering close by and keeping a watchful eye whenever visitors held her. She summed up well Cooper’s life: “He was a good friend and a loyal companion.” This picture was taken in 2011. I wrote then: It’s fall,…
Read MoreDay of all the week the best, Emblem of eternal rest.* Preparing for the Lord’s Day is the obligation of every Christian, and especially gospel ministers. A part of that preparation means cultivating the right attitude toward Sunday. Yes, it is the best day of the week! Francis Grimké has just the attitude we need: Sunday is a great day for the minister; and if he is the right kind of a minister, it will also be a great day for his flock. Sunday is the day particularly on which he is to meet his flock, on which he is to feed them, to lead them into green pastures and beside still waters. It is the day particularly in which he…
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