What are the advantages of preaching consecutively, chapter after chapter, all the way through a book of the Bible? There are five reasons…
The essence of Christmas is the mysterious, glorious and profound claim that God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. To this astounding truth one might be compelled to ask: did it have to be this way? Was there any other way for God to redeem us? The second chapter of Hebrews gives us three reasons why God had to become a man:
Next Saturday (April 19, not tomorrow) is Record Store Day. This annual celebration of independent record stores has been taking place since 2007, and gives special attention to the vinyl record, which happens to be the main reason independent records stores are still in business. As music consumption moves away from CDs and increasingly toward MP3 downloads or direct streaming, there has been a movement back toward buying records the old fashioned way. Vinyl sales have been on the increase for the last few years, and show no signs of slowing down.
It is a common expectation in our culture, and probably all cultures, that people should be thankful. Parents teach their children to say “thank you” when someone is kind to them. Hallmark has made a lot of money selling cards specifically designed to articulate gratitude to people. And we set aside an annual holiday called Thanksgiving, which we will celebrate this Thursday.
Originally this was intended to be posted last week, in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, but the Ferguson situation was so prominent that I chose to comment on it instead. So, with the holiday past but still fresh in our minds, the following are things, truths and people for which I am very thankful (in no particular order):
