Archives for September 2008

Chapter Four: Jesus: The Center of the Story

Chapter One: Let Me Tell You a Story Chapter Two: The Story from Above Chapter Three: The Story from Below Chapter Four: Jesus–The Center of the Story 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in […]

Chapter Three: The Story From Below

Thanks again for all the helpful feedback on these chapters. Here’s the next one. Chapter One: Let Me Tell You a Story Chapter Two: The Story from Above Chapter Three: The Story from Below In the Ancient Near East–the time and place out of which much of the Bible was written–kings often erected statues of […]

Opening Line

How is this for an opening line to a sermon on “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”? What I’m about to say today makes absolutely no sense and may end up being of no practical value whatsoever, but since what I’m about to say is based on something Jesus said, I […]

Chapter Two: The Story from Above

Before you look at chapter 2, let me take this opportunity to say that I haven’t dropped any footnotes in this manuscript and I don’t think it would be a good idea to put a bunch of them in the finished product, but I do see including a “for further reading/study” list at the back. […]

Chapter One: Let Me Tell You A Story

Thanks to everyone for their feedback on my question about a project I’ve been working on. Your comments have been encouraging. I’m going start putting some chapters online for more feedback. Here is what I’m thinking: this manuscript is intended to be a resource that can be used broadly by many different kinds of churches […]

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

A crowd has gathered to hear him teach. Their eyes are swollen. Their cheeks red. They are grief-exhausted. They’re waiting for him to speak. Everyone who has ever suffered a heartbreaking loss or backbreaking disappointment or has come out on the short end of the stick in a battle with darkness is there. Adam and […]

A Needed Resource?

Help me out here. I’m doing a bit of market research. I’ve been working on a manuscript for a little book that could serve as a resource for churches that want to give newcomers/seekers something that explains a “bigger” gospel than has usually been presented in such literature. By “bigger” I mean an explanation of […]

In a Nutshell

In The Reason for God, Tim Keller tells about how Flannery O’Connor was once asked to put the meaning of one of her stories “in a nutshell.” She responded that, if she could have put the meaning into a nutshell, she wouldn’t have had to write the story. I love it. How many times do […]