"It is the height of hypocrisy to stand behind the pulpit and make God say something He did not say" -Dan Winkler
Hard verse, Mt 11.12. But Jesus wants us to know the conflict is fierce. I mentioned it yesterday in Corollaries: http://wp.me/pIFLD-6sD I think I'll use it Sunday for my guest sermon at Jd Esplanada.
I asked sr. Benedito if he had something he wanted me to preach on. He mentioned John the Baptist. So this is close.
In a guest editorial on Richard Mansel's blog, Stan Mitchell gives churches the what-for:
Brethren, it’s time someone said something about this! We are limiting ourselves as a fellowship when we shut these good people out of service. On the mission field, single people can serve without the limitations of a married man; in our pulpits they can serve with distinction, just as preachers in Bible times did. The Lord’s kingdom has been hurt by our blinders, our prejudice against single people. Let me be blunt and urgent. It needs to stop!
My turn to preach this morning in SJC. My text is Psa 119.130: "The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand" NLT. We'll look at who are the simple (inexperienced), the meaning of light (salvation), and the role of teaching (How can I understand, unless someone guide me?).
"Paul's recollections about the time he and Silvanus and Timothy spent in Thessalonica and the depth of emotions in those recollections might be instructive for a church that seems in danger of treating its ministers like disposable commodities."
—B.R. Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians, Interpretation (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998): 9.
First Thessalonians records a church planter who writes in relieved thanksgiving at the faithfulness of the converts under pressure and hopes to consolidate the faith of new Christians in a recently established community. Today's preachers are usually workers whose jobs are to maintain well-established churches and keep the wheels of activity turning. With that difference, it is often hard, it seems, to capture the spirit of deep feeling that Paul demonstrates in 1 Thessalonians.
I have learned that contracts are not for dishonest people. Contracts are to preserve and protect agreements made by dead people and forgetful people.
If you're forgetful and need to write things down, it ought to be the same for people who make agreements between them. Very good article by Barber. Click above and read the whole article.
The apostle John wrote the letters of 1-3 John probably within the same general situation, or occasion, and shows a central concern in all
three, that of preaching, and supporting, the truth and not false doctrine.
Three imperatives (command verbs) in each of the letters seem to capture the emphasis of each one. See those HERE.
Together, the letters emphasize the need, still acute today, for discernment between truth and error and how we should support the (preaching of the) truth and how we should refuse to support error.