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 might seem strange that a pastor would write a book review on the Beatles, but all of history is God’s history, all of life is theological, and to some degree, the Beatles’ creativity reflected the glory of their Creator, even though they apparently didn’t know it, and sadly didn’t give proper thanks for the gifts God gave them…
Given all of the effusive advance praise for this book, one would think it is the best treatment of Christian cultural engagement since Augustine's City of God. The book doesn't quite meet that standard, but it is definitely worth the extended time necessary to read it if you are interested in how Christianity provides an alternative and superior way of looking at the world as compared to competing secular approaches to reality…
