Original post date - October 22, 2010 Preaching, I have discovered, is a hazardous occupation. I first learned this a short time after starting in the pastorate, when I made the mistake of preaching a series on the Christian and his money. I did not consider the subject personally threatening. My finances were above reproach. I sought to live a simple life style. I was ...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - April 11, 2006 A question I frequently ask people is, "If you were to die and stand before God and He said, 'Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?" Most people recognize that it's a crucial question! The answer I most frequently hear goes like this: "I've tried to do the best I could. I've never hurt anyone intentionally. I've been a...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - December 1, 1996 I sat staring at my computer screen for over an hour, trying to think of some warm, fuzzy thoughts on the holidays for this issue of our church newsletter. I'm sorry to disappoint some of you, but I'm just not a warm, fuzzy holiday sort of person. I truly hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, but I often fee...
Keep Reading WHAT CAN THEY DO OR NOT DO? Pastor Steven J. Cole and FCF EldersFebruary, 1996 (Revised) The issue of women's roles in the church is complicated and emotionally charged. These comments are only a brief synopsis of some of the issues. As elders, we affirm the rationale, purposes and affirmations of The Danvers Statement (see below, or go to: http://www.cbmw.org/about/danv...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - September 29, 1996 I want to answer a very practical question for Christians living in this sex‑saturated society:How can we win the war against lust and the overt sexual sin which results from lust?We're bombarded daily with sensuality. You can't watch TV, read a news magazine or drive past billboards without being confronted with blatantly sexual ...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 1, 1996 Christian unity is a hot topic. Here in Flagstaff, there have been a number of inter-church "Unity" services and other cooperative events which often include both Catholics and Protestants. I recently received an invitation to attend a worship service being held at the Nativity Catholic Church, where Dr. Emilio Castro, former General Secre...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - January 19, 1996 President Clinton has voiced his opinion that abortions should be "safe, legal, and rare." I hope the American public can see this for what it is: Rhetoric.Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionarydefines rhetoric as "insincere or grandiloquent language." In case "grandiloquent" is not a familiar word, it means that which is marked by...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - February 1, 1995 Promise Keepers (hereafter, PK) began in 1990 through the vision of then Colorado University football coach, Bill McCartney. Aimed at discipling men, PK "is a Christ-centered ministry dedicated to uniting men through vital relationships to become godly influences in their world" (from their purpose statement). They have an orthodox, t...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - November 16, 1993 Almost weekly I deal with unhappy people. Some are unhappy in their marriagestheir mates are "not fulfilling their needs." Others are upset with their children, their parents, or their bosses. Many are unhappy with themselves because of failure or problems they can't seem to overcome. Why are we Americans so unhappy when we have so ...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - February 1, 1993 With football season behind us (that high church holy day, Superbowl Sunday, is now past) and Valentine's Day just ahead (as I write), maybe it's a good time to put in a word for marriage, especially to husbands coming out of "football hibernation" (that period of winter when husbands' bodily functions slow down as they sit for months...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - November 14, 1987 As I was speed-reading the latest book on how to be a more efficient executive, I realized that God is terribly inefficient. I say it reverently, of course. But really, the Lord could have been much more efficient in the way He administered His eternal plan. I'm not sure the Lord would do well in modern America. We live in a culture...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - December 1, 1985 Say, Mary, how about if we go over to First Church this Sunday morning? I see in the paper that they're having that famous Christian speak." "Well, honey, I don't know. I noticed that Second Church is having that recently converted rock star, and I think the kids would enjoy that. And we can catch the sacred concert and prophecy film...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - November 4, 1984 "It would be political suicide to give that speech," said an aide to his boss. "He's right, Senator," chimed in another aide. "It's just one clear-cut statement after another." Perhaps I am committing pastoral suicide to dare to talk on an issue as emotionally explosive as "Christians and Politics: How Shall They Mix?" That may be es...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - April 1, 1998 On March 24, 1974, the day after our wedding, my wife, Marla, and I rented a rowboat at Lake Arrowhead, California. Being a cheapskate, my intention was to rent the boat for only one hour. I planned to row out into the lake for about 20 minutes, sit and bask in the presence of my bride for about 20 minutes, and row back in time to avoid ...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - February 1, 1998 When I was in seminary, I knew a man who married a woman he did not know. He had met her once and did not find anything objectionable. Since his parents and her parents had arranged the marriage, he agreed to it. In India, where this couple was from, that's the way it's often done. Before you knock their system, think about the result...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - December 1, 1997 A florist got the messages mixed up on the orders he sent out. A woman received flowers sent by her husband who was at a business meeting in Florida. She was puzzled to read on the card, "My deepest sympathy." But she was not nearly as surprised as the woman whose husband had just passed away. Her card read, "Hotter here than I expec...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - October 29, 1997 Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, wrote, "I have always thought it would be a blessing if each person could be blind and deaf for a few days during his early adult life. Darkness would make him appreciate sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound." Her words lead me to ask, Do we truly appreciate each day as God's gracious gi...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - July 12, 1997 One of the most popular ideas to emerge in Christian circles in recent years is that we all need to build and maintain proper self-esteem. Dozens of best-selling Christian books are laced with this theme. It is frequently mentioned in sermons and on Christian radio shows. It is a fundamental assumption underlying most Christian counselin...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - June 1, 1997 A couple of years ago, around the time of her sixteenth birthday, my middle daughter said to me, "Dad, do you remember how you used to take each of us somewhere special for our birthday, just time alone with you?" I remembered, of course. Not every year, but on three or four of the kids' birthdays, I had set aside a Saturday, or sometimes...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 1, 1997 Some Thoughts on the Limits of Cooperation withOther Christians with the World One of the difficult issues for every Christian to work through theologically and implement practically is the degree of separation from professing Christians and from the world. All Bible-believing Christians would acknowledge that Christians are called to be...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 14, 1999 When I was 18, a friend asked me what I had been reading lately. I replied, "I don't read anything that isn't required to pass a course." He looked me in the eye and shot back, "If you don't read, you won't grow spiritually!" Wham! His words hit me right between the eyes. I asked him for a recommendation, got started and was hooked. In t...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - April 22, 1999 Consensus leadership refers to the process in a local church by which the elders make decisions by seeking the mind of the Lord, not by "voting their own mind." The mind of the Lord will be revealed by an uncoerced unanimity among the elders, reached after thorough, biblically-based discussion and prayer. In some decisions, individual e...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - January 1, 1999 What if Uncle Sam issued a sum of money to each citizen at birth? You would know the average national allotment, but not how much you had been given. It could be average, above average, or below average. You don't know. But what you're issued is all you get. You can't earn any more. When you run out, you're out! And you don't know when...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - October 1, 1998 I have found much help for my prayer life in two sources: Calvin'sInstitutes, Book 3, Chapter 20; and, in the biographies of George Muller (George Muller of Bristol, by A. T. Pierson [Revell];George Muller: Delighted in God, by Roger Steer [Shaw]; andAnswers to Prayer, by George Muller [Moody Press]). Six Reasons for Prayer(from Calvi...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - June 19, 1998 Nausea, grief, anger, fearthese were some of my feelings a few weeks ago when I heard about yet another student who took a gun to school and opened fire. I fear because I'm a parent: What if it happens at my son's school? What can we do to halt this frightening trend? Obviously the problem is linked to the overall moral decay of our soc...
Keep Reading June 5, 1998 I once served on a jury for a drunk driving case in California. The defendant, a woman in her early twenties, was driving with a blood alcohol level measuring .20. At that time, the law stated that .10 and over was too drunk to drive. The judge gave us explicit instructions. We were to set aside our personal opinions about drinking. We were not to base our de...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 22, 2002 Some Common Questions Answered During the past 15 to 20 years a dramatic shift has taken place in American Christianity: Psychology has flooded into the church. Christian psychologists are now the ones many Christians primarily look to for guidance in the Christian life. Christian psychologists write many of the best-selling books and do...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 22, 2002 Baptism is an important topic that also arouses much controversy and confusion. The decisive issue is, what does the Bible teach? I want to answer from the Bible some common questions about baptism. If you have a different understanding, I simply encourage you to study the Bible for yourself to see what it teaches (see Acts 17:11). Script...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - September 7, 2000 It's fascinating when engineers strategically place explosives and then set them off so that an old skyscraper collapses into a heap of rubble. With the Christian faith, you only have to set the explosives at one point: Blow up the resurrection of Jesus and the whole thing comes tumbling down. That's what the apostle Paul said. If y...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - September 7, 2000 The other day my wife and I hiked up to Fremont Saddle, where we came across an old rusty iron bedstead. I said, "Isn't that amazing? How many million years do you suppose it took for that iron to be worn down by the weather and glaciers until it looked like a bed?" "Don't be ridiculous," she said. "Someone used to have a cabin up h...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - January 13, 2006 In my spiritual life, the men who have helped me the most possess two qualities: solid biblical scholarship and a fervent heart of devotion for God. Some are impressive Bible scholars, but they are like spiritual dry toast. These men could look at a picture of a beautiful mountain scene and criticize the technical skill of the photogr...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - August 24, 2004 What I've Learned from Reading Christian Biographies During a class in my final year in seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks said something that jumped out and grabbed me for life: "Two factors will have the greatest impact on where you find yourself ten years from now: the books you read and the friends you make. Guard them both very caref...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - September 1, 2005 The following summary of Bunyan's life is culled from "Memoir of John Bunyan," by George Offor, who edited Bunyan's 3-volumeWorks[Baker], in volume 1. A Brief Overview of Bunyan's life: John Bunyan lived from 1628-1688 in or near Bedford, England (north of London). He is most famous for his allegory,Pilgrim's Progress, which Spurge...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - August 26, 2005 A fictional story about a minister who embraced the modern psychobabble culture and abandoned God's Word. As he eased his BMW along the freeway in the crowded morning traffic, Dr. David Shaw reflected on the stunning success of his ministry. Just fifteen years before he had been the pastor of a struggling little church that wasn't gro...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - August 27, 2003 An open pastoral letter to a young Christian woman considering marriage to an unbeliever Dear Mary, Last Sunday at church your parents told me of your wedding plans. Being in love and looking forward to marriage is an exciting time in life. I can imagine your hopes as you look to the future. Your parents told me that your fianc is a...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 16, 2003 A Review of Neil Anderson'sVictory Over the Darkness Reading Neil Anderson'sVictory Over the Darkness[Regal Books, 1990, 245 pp.] is like eating steak laced with arsenic. The steak tastes great and makes up the major portion, but the arsenic, imbedded throughout, will kill you. First, the steak: Anderson strongly sets forth the believer...
Keep Reading Original Post Date - May 31, 2002 Dave Hunt's Misrepresentation of God and Calvinism As I read Dave Hunt's latest book,What Love is This?subtitled, "Calvinism's Misrepresentation of God," I felt both profound sadness and righteous anger. I was sad because many unsuspecting and uneducated Christians will believe that Hunt is accurate and thereby miss out on one of the ric...
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