"Worshiping God Better"

In His 1968 book "The God Who is There", Francis Shaeffer tells the story of his encounter with a pastor and their discussion about various matters he termed “intellectual rather than devotional.” At the end of the discussion, Shaeffer, believing that the pastor would say something related to what they had discussed such as “thank you for helping me be a better evangelist,” was completely surprised by what the pastor said in closing their exchange. "Thank you for opening these doors for me, now I can worship God better." Although Shaeffer was taken aback by the comment, he nevertheless says that, not only was he glad that he had been used by God to bring about that result in the life of the pastor, but he understood why that had been his reaction. 

"Remember Your Baptism"

The preacher at our congregation is going through 1 Corinthians 15. In verse 29, Paul mentions something rather curious which has given many an exegete lots of headaches. "Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised, why are they baptized for them?" As the preacher mentioned, you will probably find as many opinions on just what exactly Paul meant as there are commentators. This passage is one of those biblical passages which is not quite clear and that demonstrates the importance of examining such verses in their full context: culturally, socially, historically and biblically.  

What is Faith?

Recently I read a circular message sent to those of us who work at a particular government agency from the person in charge of a higher office. As you can imagine, there were a lot of platitudes about the work that we do, about how important it is and how grateful this individual was for us and our dedication to the mission. But there was one particular section that really caught my eye. And it was in the middle of a section of the message where he spoke about his own personal experiences and values.