For a gardener, like myself, March is an in-between month. The dried, gray-brown stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform. And like a Continue Reading
November 4, 2010
Now What? Some thoughts after the Election on Lessons and Expectations
On the other side of the election, what can we learn? What can we expect? For the believer, our lessons and our expectations are grounded in the Word of the Lord. Our hope for our nation is grounded not in electoral victories, but in "victory in Jesus" Continue Reading
October 19, 2010
Lesson from Lausanne # 4: Great Things are Done in Hidden Places
There is higher history, of kings and queens, and there is lower history, of ordinary men and women who are otherwise anonymous. They look small compared to the big players on the scene, but often they move history. Like Ruth. And like the young lady we Continue Reading
July 9, 2010
Acknowledge the Sin, Accentuate the Grace, Honor the Fathers: Why I love the PCA and RTS
Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place. 1 Chronicles 29.28 There has been some talk lately, quite recently, that has come to me about the publication of a book (by Peter Slade) claiming that Continue Reading
March 17, 2010
“We Were Made to Go: The Goal of the Gospel for the Entire World” (Acts 13.47b)
This message was the second in a two part series preached at the World Missions Conference at the Scherer Memorial Presbyterian Church in Lake Wylie, South Carolina on March 14th, 2010. Isaiah 49.6; Acts 13.47a Introduction to the Reading I bring Continue Reading
February 28, 2010
“If He is the Hope of the World, Then This is the Challenge of Your Life!”
A World Missions Sermon for Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Missouri, February 28, 2010 It is my joy and honor to be with you today. I bring greetings from Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte and from our entire cluster of seminaries. We Continue Reading
November 19, 2009
Hikikomori and the Call for Ministers to Japan
We all need time in which to be alone. But this has been taken to extreme proportions with boys and young men in Japan. Have you heard about Hikikomori, which means withdrawn? We all understand how a child might want to be alone after receiving a bad Continue Reading
September 19, 2009
World Missions Strategy, Mark Baxter and Scriptures to Pray
Christ will win. A new heavens and a new earth is on its way. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has inaugurated a glorious rule and reign that will end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the judgment, the acquittal of the elect and Christ making all Continue Reading
March 28, 2009
Missions Conference in Atlanta Area on the Book of Jonah: “Deep and Wide”
Through all of my recent travels, meetings, and even other preaching times, I have had Jonah on my mind. And so I leave now to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the Book of Jonah at the wonderful Grace Presbyterian Church, Douglasville, Georgia, Continue Reading
The Lord of the Monsoon: As the Tide of World Attention Shifts to the Indian Ocean so Must the Mission of the Church
The smoke of ten thousand camp fires rise from primitive villages and green jungles mingles with the heat and gasoline fumes from snarled traffic in innumerable, economically booming and yet humanity-crippled urban mega-centers, while locusts and flies Continue Reading