Sovereign!
A strange thing happened the other day.
An Israeli dude wanted a restraining order against God. He petitioned the Haifa Magistrate’s Court to issue one.
“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who reproves God answer it.”
Job 40:2
The name of the petitioner has not been reported, but he represented himself in court, creating quite a storm with his audacity.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said,
Philip Ryken: How I Preach
Philip Ryken: And this is How I Preach …
[Philip Ryken is the eighth and current president of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, and a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary and Oxford University. He joined the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in 1995, and succeeded James Boice as its Senior Minister in 2000. He has been at Wheaton for the last six years (where his father, Leland Ryken, still teaches), succeeding
Weighty!
If you want to get folks to carefully and thoughtfully consider answers to a weighty matter, then you might do well to make the weighty matter actually weigh something significant.
A few years ago, Psychological Science published “Weight as an Embodiment of Importance,” by researchers from the University of Amsterdam.
Subjects were asked to respond to questions on either a light clipboard (1.45 lbs) or a heavier one (2.29 lbs). Guess what, the folks holding the latter
Marathon!
The other week LeeAdianez Rodríguez decided to run 3.1 miles. But she made a mistake. She ran 13!
Rodríguez, called Lee or Adi by friends and family, intended to run the Wegmans Family 5K that day. But the 12-year-old lass from Irondequoit, NY, outside of Rochester, was already late and so she scrambled to get to the starting point on Broad Street Bridge in Rochester. Mom Brendalee dropped Lee off and went to park.
There were already thousands of runners assembled at the
Genesis 29:1−30
God’s blessings do not preclude the possibility of appropriate discipline for misdeeds.
Jacob is fleeing from his brother, Esau, whom he had deceived. We find him here in Haran, the land of his uncle. He happens to arrive at the well where shepherds from Haran congregate. Which also happens to be the place where Rachel, Laban’s daughter, waters her flock. And it also happens that she arrives at that opportune moment. And it happens that Jacob finds the strength to move
Broken!
Perfection! We always entertain the fond hope that we will achieve it.
At least in a few arenas of our lives: becoming or finding the perfect spouse, being the perfect parent with the perfect children, achieving that perfect job, attaining to the perfection of being respected by everyone around us, accomplishing perfection in our tasks, hobbies, responsibilities ….
But, invariably, life deals us these down-to-earth put downs that crack our hopes and shatter our dreams.
Liars!
Election season is upon us, those of us who live in the US of A. Ergo, the “season of lies” is upon us (as one correspondent called it).
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump labeled rival Ted Cruz “Lyin’ Ted.”
Cruz hit back:
Falsely accusing someone of lying is itself a lie and something Donald does daily.”
There is the standard joke that we’ve all heard:
How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving.”
News organizations dedicate tons
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.