The best articles from Lark News are the ones that are just slightly beyond believable…
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I had the opportunity to preach at the Fresno Rescue Mission on Saturday, April 12th. It has almost been a year since my last preaching opportunity so I was pretty nervous, but I trust God used the message for His Glory.
I’m thankful for the Fresno Rescue Mission’s willingness to have me and for those who showed up to be an encouragement. I am so grateful for the partners in ministry who were willing to serve with their musical gifts and arrive early for prayer. That was a wonderful blessing.
Here’s the manuscript for my sermon.
Promises of the Risen Messiah | Acts 1:1-8
This morning I want to look at the first 8 verses of the Book of Acts. They show us a picture of the apostles after Christ’s resurrection and prior to His ascension. And their appearance is quite different at the beginning of Acts compared to the end of the book. They transform from timid and confused men, into a group of evangelists who proclaim the gospel “with boldness” (Acts 28:30). How does this happen? Continue reading ‘Promises of the Risen Messiah | Acts 1:1-8′
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photo credit: smiling_da_vinci
In preparing to attend Reformed Theological Seminary I am often drawn to articles that refer to the pastoral office. In this article Horton talks about Charles Finney’s impact on the office. The qualifications for office are no longer those outlined in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, but rather it is whether or not you have the ability to attract a crowd and keep them entertained.
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The moment we’ve all been waiting for is almost here! Your television will be worth turning on again in seven days. Hang in there people!
In the meantime you can visit The Office on NBC and catch all of the deleted scenes from Season 4.
Here’s a little Office trivia for you:
Who said the following line? (no Googling) -
Share This“You a big William Hung fan?”
- Michael
- Jim
- Ryan
- Dwight
Say goodbye to this:
Check out the buyer’s offer! Hopefully, it goes through without a hitch!
Jackson, MS here we come!
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I began reading The Cross of Christ by John Stott tonight. Stott opens with a reference to the painting above by William Holman Hunt.
It depicts Jesus as a young man prior to his ministry, working as a carpenter. He is shown stretching his arms after sawing wood. The shadow of his outstretched arms falls on a wooden spar on which carpentry tools hang, creating a “shadow of death” prefiguring the crucifixion. His mother Mary is depicted from behind, gazing up at the shadow, having been looking into a box in which she has kept the gifts given by the Magi. (via Wikipedia)
from page 35 of The Cross of Christ:
Indeed, the paradox John records can hardly have been accidental, that the hour for which he had come into the world was the hour in which he left it.
Stott details three reasons Christ knew he was going to die.
- He knew he would die because of the hostility of the Jewish national leaders (Mark 3:6).
- He knew he would die because that is what was written of the Messiah in the Scriptures (Mark 14:21; Luke 24:25-27; Luke 24:44-47; Zechariah 13:7; Psalm 118:22; Psalm 22:1; Psalm 69:21; Psalm 31:5; Isaiah 53).
- He knew he would die because of his own deliberate choice (Matthew 26:54; Luke 12:50, Luke 19:10, Luke 24:26 Luke 24:44; Mark 8:31, Mark 10:45).
Francis Schaeffer was influential during his lifetime. His challenge for the Christian community to defend the lives of the unborn helped to spark the Christian Right movement. He wouldn’t likely support the movement in its current form due to its theonomist tendencies, a concept Schaeffer clearly opposed in A Christian Manifesto. Schaeffer died in 1984 after battling lymphoma cancer for six years.
His approach to apologetics was primarily built upon a clear presentation of the Gospel borrowing from both the presuppositionalist mindset as well as evidentialism. Basically, Schaeffer, began by pointing out how the unbeliever’s logic is built upon a faulty presupposition. But his main goal was to bring them to the realization that their theory is bankrupt. In order to do this he would utilize whatever evidence of their inconsistency he could point to. Illustrating his point, Schaeffer runs through several means he would use in evangelism.
To the extent that the individual is illogical we have a point of contact. Therefore, to a certain type we preach of sin and point out to him that by his sin he has been brought down to the gutter. To some we give Dr. Machen’s book, The Virgin Birth. To some we appeal to fulfilled prophecy. To some we use the classical arguments. To some we use the philosophical approach. We show them the alternatives, whether it is the man in the gutter or the philosophically minded unbeliever. We use what point of contact we can get. If they flee from the nearer contacts into the distant we pursue them there. In either case it is Christ or death. It is Christ or Diana, Christ or Modernism, Christ or irrationality, Christ or suicide. So it goes. The last step back to which we press them is into the blackness of irrationality, and if they are already there we ask them why they haven’t committed suicide. (A Review of a Review)
Schaeffer also founded L’Abri Fellowship International, an informal school that allowed people to have a place to stay where they could discuss their questions about God and the significance of life. There are currently eight study centers operating throughout the world continuing in Schaeffer’s tradition. Needless to say, Francis Schaeffer left an enduring legacy.
In Escape from Reason, Schaeffer writes with excellent clarity on a subject that too often contains overly complicated arguments. His simplicity is a rarity in the field of philosophy. Escape from Reason is probably the first book in this genre that I was able to read without constantly needing to backtrack and re-read several pages out of confusion.
However, just because the logic was easy to follow, it was in no way amateurish. Each chapter builds upon the first adding greater certainty to his analysis. I found myself wanting to write it all down somewhere so I wouldn’t too quickly forget. This is a book you will want to re-read just to be able to apply it’s content to your own philosophical discussions.
Schaeffer’s goal is quite ambitious. He attempts to prove that once men reject the Biblical God they also lose their foundation for reason. He explains what he terms a “two story” division of knowledge that every philosopher must deal with. The “upper story” contains faith while the “lower story” contains reason. Beginning with Thomas Aquinas and ending with modern man, Schaeffer reveals how everyone was struggling to answer the same questions. Yet, apart from a Biblical foundation, the questions remain unsolved.
Escape from Reason contains a mere 96 pages. Schaeffer perfected the art of removing superfluous words from his writing making each one count. College students will find this book especially helpful when philosophy classes deal with theories that are the very antithesis of the Bible. Plus, did I mention the book is short? I wish I would have found this book sooner than I did. It would have helped me provide more thorough critiques of the epistemology of every philosopher we studied in class.
Purchase Escape from Reason by Francis A. Schaeffer at Westminster Bookstore for $7.60 (5% Off) or you can purchase Trilogy (which contains 3 books by Schaeffer including Escape from Reason) for $16.25 (35% Off).
Related Resources
- Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer Set $75.00 (40% Off) - Contains all 22 books Schaeffer wrote
- Francis Schaeffer on Wikipedia
- A Review of a Review Schaeffer’s article on apologetics
- The Shelter A website that promotes the work of Francis Schaeffer
- L’Abri An organization that Francis Schaeffer founded
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We’re hanging out in the backyard giving Carrie some peace and quiet.
Mobile post sent by bradmills using Utterz. Replies. mp3
I’ve uploaded a few more photos of Caitlin. Thank you so much to all of the people of have called, sent text messages, written on Facebook, sent emails, and twitters. We’ve read them all and feel very blessed to have so many friends and family members who are thinking about us and praying for us. We love you all!
We are home now so we are hoping that Carrie can finally get some decent sleep. She wasn’t able to get any rest at the hospital. Sharing a room with a snoring mom and her fussy baby is no fun!
Caitlin has been sleeping, eating, and pooping like a champ. No concerns there praise God! She hasn’t even cried much. Although whenever she heard the other baby in the room crying she would get a little upset.
Maddie and Lauren were very thankful to have Caitlin home. We let them stay up an extra hour in order to meet her and hold her. They love her very much. Now the only challenge is answering their constant questions about how she came out of Mommy’s tummy…
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