A parishioner in one state wants to tactfully suggest that his minister shorten the sermon, while a preacher in another state inquires how to make his sermons more effective. Both invite my opinion on the subject. * * * I am instinctively sympathetic toward preachers, having personally delivered two sermons each Sunday for about 20 years and still enjoying the pleasure of preaching from time to time. The truth is that a few listeners are bored by a sermon of any length and they need our love and prayers. However, preachers also need to remember the truth discovered by an … [Read more...]
THE ANGLICANS
1. The Christian Church began in England: a. About 200 years after the apostles died; b. During the Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror; c. In the reign of Henry VIII; d. With American missionaries after World War II. 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury preaches in: a. Canterbury Church of England; b. Cathedral Anglican Church; c. Canterbury British Cathedral; d. Cathedral Church of Christ, Canterbury. 3. John Wycliffe of Oxford was: a. a reformer 200 years before Martin Luther; b. a great fan of Martin Luther; c. a notable opponent of Martin Luther; d. a Fulbright scholar … [Read more...]
FOLLOW ME (2)
There is a time to analyze, to study, to reflect. There is also a time to respond, to move, to act. Mark's Gospel is intended for the second occasion. It is 65-67 A.D. Nero is Emperor in Rome. He has just beheaded Paul and crucified Peter upside down. Now he is unleashing a wave of lethal persecution against Jesus' followers in the imperial capital. Some he ties to stakes, drenches in oil and burns as human torches. Others he dresses in animal skins and exposes to killer beasts. Others he crucifies. Jesus' followers remember the master's challenge: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him … [Read more...]
GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING
That's what you give loved ones when you give books by Edward Fudge. Choose from the following (see pictures and descriptions at www.EdwardFudge.com/written ). GracEmail: Daily Answers to Life's Big Questions (HillCrest Publications) The Great Rescue: The Story of God's Amazing Grace (New Leaf Books) The Sound of His Voice: Discovering the Secrets of God's Guidance (New Leaf) Two Views of Hell, co-authored with Robert Peterson (InterVarsity Press) The Fire That Consumes (Paternoster Press edition). To order using major credit card for shipment anywhere, call toll-free (in U.S.) … [Read more...]
HEALING PRAYER & TRUSTING GOD
A gracEmail subscriber in the U.S. Southwest writes that he prays fervently for God to restore a loved one who is ill, believing that God will mercifully heal but humbly entrusting the matter to his sovereign will. * * * Like you, I urgently beseech God to heal the sick. For their sake and their family's, but also to advance his kingdom, to show his glory, to manifest his mercy, to build faith of others, to vindicate the faith of those who pray -- and of those who specifically express faith by praying and anointing with oil (James 5:15). Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Fiery … [Read more...]
GRATITUDE AND PERSPECTIVE
I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, September 25, 2005 from our son Jeremy's home in Dallas where the four generations of our family in Houston came last Thursday to escape Hurricane Rita's expected arrival there on Friday/Saturday. We did not anticipate that three million other pilgrims would be travelling west and north from Houston that same day! The trip from our homes in Houston to Jeremy & Kristy's home in north Dallas normally takes about five hours. This time our daughter Melanie, son-in-law Michael and their two little ones left at 4:00 a.m. and got to Dallas 14 hours later. … [Read more...]
WHEN GOD DOES NOT HEAL
A gracEmail subscriber knows a Christian lady who remains seriously ill although she prays continually for healing and has sought anointing with oil and prayer by a believing elder in the church. Does this lady's ongoing sickness mean that she lacks faith to be healed? * * * I believe that it is very harmful to blame someone's illness on a lack of faith. Such accusations misrepresent God, pervert faith and discredit prayer. Our faith is in God, not in any formula or theory or teaching. Faith involves a personal relationship between an individual and God who knows us intimately and who will … [Read more...]
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROTECTION
Last week [June 1997], son Jeremy left our driveway in suburban Houston to drive to Colorado for the summer, where he hoped to find work near a young lady who lately has become special in his life. It had not been 21 days since we watched him graduate from Baylor University with high honors, "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," as my own Mother used to say (a squirrely expression if I ever heard one), with plans to attend the University of Texas Law School come September. As the familiar '87 Chevy Blazer left our driveway, Jeremy also left standing there two parents, a Grandma and an older sister … [Read more...]
A SIMPLE ACT OF FAITH
I felt the warmth of their presence last Sunday morning [Feb. 1998] as they gathered round me and placed their hands on my body. I love and trust these elders of my local church, with whom I served for 13 years before rotating out this last term. "Edward, we anoint you with oil and claim God's promise of healing," the presider said, dipping his finger in oil and making a sign of the cross on my forehead. Each man then prayed aloud -- an attorney, a physician, a telecommunications engineer and others. Not presumptuously, but in faith. Simply asking, leaving the answer to God. This little … [Read more...]
WORSHIP ‘IN TRUTH’
A gracEmail subscriber writes that all believers outside his group are lost and that their worship counts for nothing before God. In support, he quotes Jesus' statement in John 4:24 that God seeks worshippers who worship Him in truth. He says that means following a precise New Testament pattern of external details which his own fellowship (and likely no other) has discovered and accurately follows. * * * The expression "in truth" usually means "truly," "genuinely" or "sincerely" (Phil. 1:18; 1 John 3:18). God wants worshippers who really mean what they say when they praise and thank him, who … [Read more...]