Privilege the Text!
Yup, that’s my latest, published by Moody in Chicago, and due out later this year.
(Actually, I’m speaking at Moody Bible Institute’s Pastors’ Conference, and Moody Publishers is planning a release to coincide with that event! Fun!)
Yes, I know, I know, the Bible warns against all these book productions.
My son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless,
and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.
Ecclesiastes 12:10–12
But I kinda sorta feel
Giant!
Last week I blogged about “Shoulders!” and how we all stand on someone’s.
This week a giant with some incredibly broad shoulders went home to be with the Lord.
Dr. Howard G. Hendricks, affectionately known as “Prof” to thousands of his students and the many whose lives he influenced for Jesus Christ. There may be many professors at Dallas Theological Seminary, but there will only be one “Prof,” and he is now in a better place.
Mark 3:7–35
Disciples—insiders with Jesus—are those who do the will of God.
For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.
Mark 3:35
This pericope opens with a summary (Mark 3:7–12): crowds are still following him, looking for what Jesus has to offer in terms of healing of disease and alleviation of affliction—they’re following him for the wrong reasons. The reader is beginning to wonder: If everyone is after Jesus for ulterior motives, is there
Shoulders!
The tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah is another gem in the city of Agra, India, home of the Taj Mahal.
This one is often called the “Baby Taj,” a prototype of the big gun.
It was completed in 1628, and is the transitional form, so to speak, between the Mughal Emperors’ earlier red sandstone constructions with marble decorations, and their later creations in white marble with decorative pietra dura inlays—the ornamental art that uses cut and fitted colored
Broke?
You thought you were broke? Zimbabwe has only $217 left!
The other week, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, the Hon. Tendai Biti confessed that his nation had only US$217 (GB£138) left in its coffers after its civil servants had been paid.
Therefore, argued Mr. Biti, elections, due later this year, would not be held.
Nice excuse! The current President, Robert Mugabe, is widely acknowledged to be a “repressive authoritarian responsible for human rights abuses and severe
Mark 2:1–3:6
Following Jesus in discipleship involves facing opposition boldly and persistently, without being deterred from God’s calling.
And looking around at them with anger,
grieved at their hardness of heart,
He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
And he stretched [it] out and his hand was restored.
Mark 3:5
The plot moves on from Jesus’ increasing popularity (for misguided reasons) in Mark 1:21–45 to escalating opposition in 2:1–3:6 (also for wrong reasons).
That
Entrance!
Most ancient forts in India have a Diwan-i-Khas, the Hall of Private Audiences, the place where the ruler conducted meetings with royal courtiers and state guests.
So also in the Red Fort (Lal Qil’ah) in Delhi, one of the most fascinating of all such edifices in the country. “Red,” because of the extensive use of red sandstone for the massive walls that surround it. The fort dates back to the 17th century and was built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan—yup!
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.