The mania after glamor and the contempt of the ordinary are signs and portents in American society. Even religion has gone glamorous. And in case you do not know what glamor is, I might explain that it is a compound of sex, paint, padding and artificial lights. It came to America by way of the … Continue reading “GLAMOR”
GIVING; PROSPERITY
I hear people testify that they give their tithe because God makes their nine-tenths go farther than the ten-tenths. That is not spirituality; that is just plain business. I insist that it is a dangerous thing to associate the working of God with our prosperity and success down here. I cannot promise that if you … Continue reading “GIVING;
PROSPERITY”
GIVING; FUND-RAISING
It is to the everlasting credit of God’s children that they can be moved to sacrificial giving by a touching story or the sight of human suffering. It is only necessary to fly around the world and return with pictures of human misery, and God’s dear sheep will promptly go down on their hunkers and … Continue reading “GIVING;
FUND-RAISING”
GIVING; CHURCH: FINANCES
Remember, my giving will be rewarded not by how much I gave but by how much I had left. Ministers are sometimes tempted to shy away from such doctrine as this lest they offend the important givers in their congregation. But it is better to offend men than to grieve the blessed Spirit of God … Continue reading “GIVING;
CHURCH: FINANCES”
FUTURE; HOPE; ETERNITY
Amid all the world religions, only Christianity is able to proclaim the Bible’s good news that God, the Creator and Redeemer, will bring a new order into being! Indeed, that is the only good news available to a fallen race today. God has promised a new order that will be of eternal duration and infused … Continue reading “FUTURE;
HOPE; ETERNITY”
FUTURE; HOPE; ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE; PROPHECY
As we move into deeper personal acquaintance with the Triune God I think our life emphasis will shift from the past and the present to the future. Slowly we will become children of a living hope and sons of a sure tomorrow. Our hearts will be tender with memories of yesterday and our lives sweet … Continue reading “FUTURE;
HOPE; ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE; PROPHECY”
FUTURE; GOD: HIS SOVEREIGNTY
First, the Holy Scriptures tell us what we could never learn any other way: They tell us what we are, who we are, how we got here, why we are here and what we are required to do while we remain here. They trace our history from the beginning down to the present time and … Continue reading “FUTURE;
GOD: HIS SOVEREIGNTY”
FUTURE; FAITH: EXPECTATION
Now, in conclusion, the Christian’s future is still before him. I will give you time to smile at that, because it sounds like a self-evident bromide if ever one was uttered. But I assure you that it is not a self-evident banality; it is rather a proof that we ought to ponder soberly the fact … Continue reading “FUTURE;
FAITH: EXPECTATION”
FUTURE; FAITH: CONFIDENCE IN GOD
It is wholly impossible for us to know what lies before us, but it is possible to know something vastly more important. A quaint but godly American preacher of a generation past said it for us. “Abraham went out not knowing whither he went,” said he, “but he knew Who was going with him.” We … Continue reading “FUTURE;
FAITH: CONFIDENCE IN GOD”
FUTILITY: OF THE WORLD; PEACE: FALSE
It is time that we Christians awake to the fact that the world cannot help us in anything that matters. Not the educators nor the legislators nor the scientists can bring us tranquillity of heart, and without tranquillity whatever else they give us is useless at last. For more than half a lifetime I have … Continue reading “FUTILITY:
OF THE WORLD; PEACE: FALSE”