Grace Blogs

The Amazon.com search link was a temporary casualty of the Web site redesign. It is coming back, but in the meantime, you can bookmark this entry. If you are not familiar with the way this works, you simply start your search from the Amazon search box. A percentage of your purchase (usually around 6-7% for books and 4% for electronics) will automatically go to the church.

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I am young enough that I didn’t really appreciate what William F. Buckley did for the cause of conservativism in this country until those that I consider great conservative thinkers today began paying tribute to him in his recent death. He was brilliant, untiring, charming, and witty; so, it comes as no surprise to me that his office looked like this…

I’ll bet you can guess whether I am a neat or messy office person.

HT: Justin Taylor

Here are a some thoughts on his passing from a few thinkers I respect…

John Mark Reynolds

Doug Groothius

Melinda

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The other morning at the Men’s Bible Study, the subject came up the need for humility in interpreting God’s purposes in the midst of trials. That made me think of a short story by Max Lucado that I heard some years ago and has always stuck with me. You can read the whole thing here, but here is the heart of it…

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse. Even the king coveted his treasure. A horse like this had never been seen before—such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength.

People offered fabulous prices for the

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You know that feeling you get when someone says something that nicely articulates something that you have long felt but just didn’t quite know how to say? Os Guinness is one of those authors that, as I read him, I think “Wow! I wish I could have said it like that.”

Justin Taylor dropped one of those Guinness passages on hi blog yesterday. He is quoting from Guinness’ latest book, The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It (pp. 93-94), on Christians playing the victim…

As one who believes that the call of Jesus is to a path of suffering that shuts the door to every form of victim-playing, I am angered by

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This past Sunday’s GraceTalk included the following question…

I struggle to know the difference between forgiving someone for sinning against me and allowing them back into my world. Do I have to just forgive and forget? If this is true, I don’t know how. Thoughts?

It is sometime hard to tell exactly where the author of a question like this is coming from. Is this person having trouble forgiving? Is he or she able to forgive, but struggling with the practical implications of the person after forgiving? And as is the case with most questions, the details of the particular situation are important. Given all of that, we’ll look at the biblical principles involved. We are to

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We start our Spring Bible Study classes this Sunday (February 17th). We are offering four classes. Each class will have one teacher taking the lead and a second teacher in an assisting or back-up role.

The Seven Wonders of Ephesians 1 & 2

Tim Bell and Hugh Williams will lead this class. Here is Tim’s description of what to expect…

The 7 Wonders of Ephesians 1-2 is an interesting study created for a small group Bible study setting. The study idea was gleaned from Acts 19 which tells the story of a riot that was started by silversmiths who were mad at Paul for preaching the Gospel and hurting their business. They were making and selling

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John Mark Reynolds captured my thoughts well on Mitt Romney’s announcement yesterday that he was getting out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He exhibited a graciousness that is too rare in public life today. Here is a brief excerpt from Reynolds’ post…

A gentleman knows how to lose and do so with dignity.

He knows what is important and what is not. He lives for a cause bigger than self.

Nothing so proved the point that Mitt Romney is a gentleman and a statesman as his withdrawing from the race.

He could have continued and built up delegates for himself. He could not win. Most important, he loves this nation and this nation is at war. If the Democrats

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This week’s GraceTalk featured the following question…

In discussing the fact that we are all sinners and need to repent, I have run into the following argument that I get stumped trying to answer.

In John 8:1-11, Jesus is confronted with a clear situation of sin in relation to a woman “caught in adultery” yet Christ refused to condemn her actions as wrong. Jesus seems to actually excuse her by simply telling her that she is not “condemned” and she can go without any type of judgment. I was under the understanding that she and the man should have been put to death (according to Lev. 20:10). I have had people tell me that this

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As one who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock, I’ve long know that a catchy tune can be employed to to teach. However, I’ve never seen it used to teach church history–until now that is….

HT: Gene Edward Veith

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We kicked off the Fall Bible Studies this past Sunday. I have the great privilege of teaming up with Hugh to teach the Christian Essentials class a second time. We had a good start and I’m looking forward to the rest of our study. In the introduction, I offered a definition of Christian teaching…

“To teach is to come alongside another, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to seek an encounter together with the Truth: taking aim to perceive it more clearly, consider it more critically, embrace it more passionately, obey it more faithfully and embody it with greater integrity.”

Gary Parrett, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

I came across this while listening to Dr. Parrett’s

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