John the Apostle always brings us close to heaven, especially as he reveals to us the glory that was in the Lord Jesus Christ. Both in his gospel and his first epistle he graphical portrays what it was like to behold the Son of God in the flesh. In two short parentheses, he lets us […]
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Author: Rick Shrader
Giving Thanks: For the Church of the Chr...
I look forward to my regular reading of Revelation 1-3 as much as any portion of Scripture. The description of The Lord Jesus Christ in chapter one ought to become familiar to any believer who is waiting for His return—for that is how He will appear when we see Him. And we ought to desire […]
Why Bad Things Happen In God’s World
September 11 will long be the signal date for remembering that tragedy can happen, even in America—one nation under God. The following has been my response, which I shared with my own church the Sunday before 9-11. I find the Christian’s response to the presence of evil a mirror response to the question of atheism: […]
To Him That Overcometh
In 1858 Rev. George Dufield received these words from a minister friend, whispered while dying from a tragic accident, “Let us all stand up for Jesus.”1 For the next Sunday’s sermon, Dufield wrote a poem from those words in memory of his friend titled, “Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus.” The final stanza of the […]
Who Is Controlling Whom?
On our church web site I received an interesting note from a young man named Steve. Steve is an active member of a church that is going through a typical change (which of course is not a “change” at all but rather a conforming) from traditional to contemporary type of worship. Steve is emotionally caught […]
Compromise Is Always A Synthesis
R.C. Sproul wrote concerning the modern evangelical penchant to build bridges with defective theologies that, “The mythical element is the naïve assumption that one can build bridges that move in one direction only.”1 Meaning, that such bridges will bring the error closer to truth but not the truth closer to error. But it is the […]
The Corruption Of Good Manners
I have written often on the subject of manners. I was first introduced to the subject by my mother who impressed upon me the need to continue the course, even after she has gone. Sometimes the lessons were taught at the end of a hickory switch, but more frequently with the ease of comfortable wit […]
Our Wonderful Counselor
Jesus would have been a failure at counseling had He lived in our time. Today we do not just want someone to counsel us who knows and feels our infirmities, we want someone who has experienced our failures; someone who has fallen into the same problem we are in and who will not judge us […]
What In The World Are We Doing?
The Belgic Confession (1561) pictures God’s creation as, “a most beautiful book in which all created things, whether great or small, are as letters showing the invisible things of God to us.”1 When the angels in heaven sing before God they say, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for […]
The Vision Of The Traditional Church
The 8th century Irish hymn Be Thou My Vision has, ironically, become popular today as a modern “Celtic” hymn. In my opinion, the irony lies in the fact that so many people today do not make the Incarnate Christ the subject of their vision at all, but rather seek for an individual vision from Christ. […]