You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2009.
October 25, 2009
1 John 2:27
Exordium: When the men of old Scotland went out to battle by clans they shouted out their slogans. Strong crisp words that said who they were and what they were doing.
That was also the way of the Reformers. They had slogans too.
Sola Gratia-Grace alone
Sola Fide-Faith alone
Sola Scriptura-the Bible alone
Sola Dei Gloria-God’s glory alone and
Sola Ipse-the individual alone.
It is that one that we want to focus on just now “Sola Ipse”. The Reformation has been called “the declaration of intellectual independence”. It stresses the worth and the place of the individual as over against the institution.
And out of that spirit and the writings of the Reformation came democracy in the Western World with its conviction that the state ought to serve the person rather than the person the state.
How indebted we are to this truth of the Sola Ipse. We need to find out more deeply what it means.
1 Timothy 6: 17-21
October 18, 2009
Exordium: Ephesus, where Timothy served the church, was a wealthy city. It was a center for commerce and education, much like our own Annapolis. There could be found in its streets and gardens, rich people and about one of three people who lived there were slaves purchased and kept in servitude by their owners. Both of these groups, rich and slave poor, were also to be found in the Church. Paul commands Timothy to charge the people with the Christian approach to their abundance and their need.
1 Timothy 6:11-16
October 11, 2009
Exordium: I want to start at the end of this passage. Paul’s great exhortation to Timothy and to each one of us who aspires to be a person of God – leads to the mountaintop. That is where this section ends – at the summit.
I Timothy 6:1-10
October 4, 2009
Exordium: As you hear these words, they may seem like assorted topics which hardly belong together. But they are related to each other. The Blessed Holy Spirit who gave us these words has placed them like different colored beads on the beautiful neck of I Timothy 6. Together they speak of God’s provision for each of us along the journey of the Christian life.
I Timothy 5:17-25
September 27th, 2009
Exordium: The minister faces challenges and situations on every hand. He may feel like a juggler trying to balance things and keep the ship of the church on its right course toward the Kingdom of God.
