It's easy to look at Xerxes and condemn his overindulgence and desire for glory. But what we had in reality, some have on their hard drive. The times have changed, but the hearts have not. Be careful about whom you condemn.
This clip is excerpted from the sermon "Jesus Is a Better King," part 1 of our new sermon series, Esther. It was preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Downtown Bellevue and released online on September 16.
Esther is a "godless" book: God is never mentioned, no one prays, there are no miracles, etc. For some of us, this feels like our lives. We ask questions like, God, do you exist? Are you paying attention? Don't you care? And sometimes there aren't answers and sometimes there isn't a healing. But as we see in Esther, God is silhouetted and he doesn't always work through his visible hand of miracles, but through his invisible hand of providence. God is working everything out according to a plan for his glory and our good.
This clip is excerpted from the sermon "Jesus Is a Better King," part 1 of our new sermon series, Esther: God's Perfect Work through Imperfect People. It was preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Downtown Bellevue and released online on September 16.
The ancient prophet Isaiah predicted the coming of a servant of the Lord, a deliverer for the nations, with graphic detail about the servant's appearance and mortal suffering. Join Dr. Michael Rydelnik, Dr. Michael Brown, Dr. Walter Kaiser, and Dr. Darrell Bock as they engage in a captivating discussion to unlock the mysteries of one of the most fascinating passages of Scripture, Isaiah 53. You'll gain insights from the Jewish and Christian perspectives as you examine the interpretations and implications. Discover and explore the clues that help to reveal the mystery of this passage of Scripture.
Dr. William Lane Craig speaks on the importance of the intellectual life for Christians at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, Georgia - January 3, 2010. In this short clip, Dr. Craig explains the traditional understanding of "tolerance" and how this understanding has now changed in our politically correct society and is now logically incoherent.
Love Bound Him to the Cross and Held Him There! - John Eadie
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
He was born at Alva, in Stirlingshire. Having taken the arts curriculum at the University of Glasgow, he studied for the ministry at the Divinity Hall of the United Secession Church, a dissenting body which, on its union a few years later with the Relief Church, adopted the title United Presbyterian.
In 1835 he became minister of the Cambridge Street Secession church in Glasgow, and for many years he was generally regarded as the leading representative of his denomination in Glasgow. As a preacher, though he was not eloquent, he was distinguished by good sense, earnestness and breadth of sympathy. In 1863 he removed with a portion of his congregation to a new church at Lansdowne Crescent.
In 1843 Eadie was appointed professor of biblical literature and hermeneutics in the Divinity Hall of the United Presbyterian body. He held this appointment along with his ministerial charge till the close of his life.
He received the degree of LL.D from Glasgow in 1844, and that of D.D. from St Andrews in 1850. He died at Glasgow on 3 June 1876. His library was bought and presented to the United Presbyterian College.
Song of Solomon 2:5 Sustain me with cakes of raisins, Refresh me with apples, For I am lovesick.
Thomas Watson - (ca. 1620-1686), English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author
Watson was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably intense study. In 1646 he commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen's, Walbrook. He showed strong Presbyterian views during the civil war, with, however, an attachment to the king, and in 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love's plot to recall Charles II of England. He was released on June 30, 1652, and was formally reinstated as vicar of St. Stephen's Walbrook.
Watson obtained great fame and popularity as a preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license to preach at the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston, Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28 July 1686.
When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt under Pharaoh, God sent a plague across the land where the firstborn son in every household died, except for those who were covered by the blood of a slain lamb, and out of which the tradition of Passover comes. Years later, we Christians don't sacrifice animals, though, because there's already been one Lamb whose blood covers us all.
This clip is from the sermon "How Jesus Taught the Bible," preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church Ballard in Seattle, Washington on November 13, 2011. This is the 99th and penultimate sermon in our sermon series on the Gospel of Luke.
Did God really ask Abraham to murder his son, Isaac?? It sounds crazy, and completely counterintuitive. But, as Pastor Mark explains, it's not a story about murder, but about a greater Son who was sacrificed, Jesus.
This clip is from the sermon "How Jesus Taught the Bible," preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church Ballard in Seattle, Washington on November 13, 2011. This is the 99th and penultimate sermon in our sermon series on the Gospel of Luke.
This clip is taken from the sermon "Jesus Gives Sight to the Blind," preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at the Mars Hill Church Ballard campus in Seattle, Washington, on June 5, 2011. It is the 77th sermon series on the Gospel of Luke.
When Jesus builds his church, it's made up of regenerated church members, and at Mars Hill, we reserve official membership for those who know and love Jesus Christ. And if you're not a Christian, you are totally welcome at Mars Hill Church, we love you, we are earnestly glad to have you.
This clip is excerpted from the sermon "Jesus Builds His Church," part 2 of the sermon series Jesus Loves His Church. It was preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll out of the Bible books of Matthew and Acts at Mars Hill Downtown Bellevue, and released online on July 1.
Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason answers the question, "What is the best argument you've heard against theism?". For more information, visit http://www.str.org.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
John 9:25 He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."
2 Corinthians 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Acts 9:6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
Thomas Watson - (ca. 1620-1686), English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author
Watson was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably intense study. In 1646 he commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen's, Walbrook. He showed strong Presbyterian views during the civil war, with, however, an attachment to the king, and in 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love's plot to recall Charles II of England. He was released on June 30, 1652, and was formally reinstated as vicar of St. Stephen's Walbrook.
Watson obtained great fame and popularity as a preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license to preach at the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston, Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28 July 1686.
We Wrestle not Against Flesh and Blood - Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D7D28E0CDFFEA3D6
Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a 17th and early 18th Century minister of the Gospel and Calvinist biblical exegete in Chester, England, and died in 1714. Quoting Charles Spurgeon: "First among the mighty for general usefulness we are bound to mention the man whose name is a household word, Matthew Henry. He is most pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, terse and trustworthy...."
He was born near Wales on October 18, 1662 and was primarily home-educated by his father, Rev. Philip Henry, and also at the Thomas Doolittle academy from 1680-1682. He first started studying law in 1686, but instead of pursuing a career in law he began to preach in his neighborhood.
After the declaration of liberty of conscience by James II in 1687, he was privately ordained in London, and on June 2, 1687, he began his regular ministry as non-conformist pastor of a Presbyterian congregation at Chester. He remained in this position for 25 years. After declining several times offers from London congregations, he finally accepted a call to Hackney, London, and began his ministry there May 18, 1712, shortly before his death.
His reputation rests upon his renowned commentary, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (1708-10, known also as Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible). He lived to complete it only as far as to the end of the Acts, but after his death other like-minded authors prepared the remainder from his manuscripts. This work was long celebrated as the best English commentary for devotional purposes and the expanded edition was initially published in 1896. Instead of critical exposition, his focuses on practical suggestion, and his commentaries contains rich stores of truths. There is also a smaller devotional commentary on the Bible from Henry known as Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary.
"On the Box" is a daily (Monday through Friday) live, 27-minute, web-based talk show hosted by Ray Comfort and the Living Waters team. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/on-the-box Episode #367
2 Corinthians 6:4 But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God...
John Angell James (1785-1859) was an English Nonconformist clergyman and writer.
He was born at Blandford Forum. After seven years apprenticeship to a linen-draper in Poole, Dorset, he decided to become a preacher, and in 1802 he went to David Bogue's training institution at Gosport in Hampshire. A year and a half later, on a visit to Birmingham, his preaching was so highly esteemed by the congregation of Carrs Lane Independent chapel that they invited him to exercise his ministry amongst them; he settled there in 1805, and was ordained in May 1806. For several years his success as a preacher was comparatively small; but he became suddenly popular in about 1814, and began to attract large crowds. At the same time his religious writings, the best known of which are The Anxious Inquirer and An Earnest Ministry, acquired a wide circulation.
James was a typical Congregational preacher of the early 19th century, massive and elaborate rather than original. His preaching displayed little or nothing of Calvinism, the earlier severity of which had been modified in Birmingham by Edward Williams, one of his predecessors. He was one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance and of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. Municipal interests appealed strongly to him, and he was also for many years chairman of Spring Hill (afterwards Mansfield) College. He was also an ardent slavery abolitionist, and is portrayed in the huge canvass depicting Clarkson's opening address at the world's first International Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840, in the National Portrait Gallery, London. He died in Birmingham.
A collected edition of James's works appeared in 1860-1864.
Jeremiah 32:1 'For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from before My face'
John Angell James (1785-1859) was an English Nonconformist clergyman and writer.
He was born at Blandford Forum. After seven years apprenticeship to a linen-draper in Poole, Dorset, he decided to become a preacher, and in 1802 he went to David Bogue's training institution at Gosport in Hampshire. A year and a half later, on a visit to Birmingham, his preaching was so highly esteemed by the congregation of Carrs Lane Independent chapel that they invited him to exercise his ministry amongst them; he settled there in 1805, and was ordained in May 1806. For several years his success as a preacher was comparatively small; but he became suddenly popular in about 1814, and began to attract large crowds. At the same time his religious writings, the best known of which are The Anxious Inquirer and An Earnest Ministry, acquired a wide circulation.
James was a typical Congregational preacher of the early 19th century, massive and elaborate rather than original. His preaching displayed little or nothing of Calvinism, the earlier severity of which had been modified in Birmingham by Edward Williams, one of his predecessors. He was one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance and of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. Municipal interests appealed strongly to him, and he was also for many years chairman of Spring Hill (afterwards Mansfield) College. He was also an ardent slavery abolitionist, and is portrayed in the huge canvass depicting Clarkson's opening address at the world's first International Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840, in the National Portrait Gallery, London. He died in Birmingham.
A collected edition of James's works appeared in 1860-1864.
The work and ministry of sermonindex can be encapsulated in this one word: REVIVAL. sermonindex is not a organisation, business, or any attempt by man to build something for God. It is rather a expression of a heart burden to see the Church revived and brought back to holiness, purity, and power with God. "The mission of SermonIndex is the preservation and propogation of classical vintage preaching and the promotion of genuine biblical revival to this generation."
Ravi Zacharias answers a question on whether God was created by man because of his fear of death and another question about those who haven't heard the Gospel.
The questions were posed during a Pastor's Conference.
The audio was downloaded from www.rzim.org under the podcast Just Thinking.
What is Truth? Who is God? Who is Man? What is a worldview? Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?
Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview, and because of this, today's believers live very similarly to non-believers. A personal sense of significance is rarely experienced, we spend our money and time on things that fail to satisfy and we begin to wonder what life's ultimate purpose really is. We are, in short, losing our bearings as a people and a nation.
The Truth Project is an innovative DVD curriculum that teaches viewers how to develop a systematic and comprehensive biblical worldview. Educator Dr. Del Tackett is both engaging and winsome as he teaches Christians to apply biblical truths to every area of life. As it has been throughout history, God continues to call ordinary people to make an eternal difference in our world.
In this clip, Christopher is taking issue with the heart and soul of Christian living, which is love. This is Christopher at the top of his enfant terrible form—attacking love! He will be kicking puppies next, trying to get all the Christians to gasp and go white in the face.
Love for God and neighbor is the summation of all the law and the prophets. Love describes the way God is, and the command to love is really a command to be like God. To obey it (by grace) is to bring yourself into conformity with ultimate reality. But Christopher didn’t like being told what to do, and he especially didn’t like being commanded to love. He regarded this kind of love as an extraordinary bit of luck, if it happens to you, but it could not be a rule to be followed. And he reserved a special ire for the command that Scripture gives to us when we are told to love our enemies. That is something that Christopher flatly refused to do.
But let us stop and reflect for a moment. One of Christopher’s favorite tricks was that of saying shocking things, and this was designed to get us to stop thinking about what was just said. In the previous outtake from Collision, his complaint against God was that God treated his enemies in exactly the way that Christopher was insisting (now) that our enemies must be treated. In short, in the previous clip, how dare God send his enemies to hell? In this clip, how dare God interfere with our attempts to send them there?
Cornelius Van Til once used the illustration of a rebellious child who needs to sit on his father’s lap in order to slap him. In order to attack God, a rebel must pick some place to stand (which necessarily must be an attribute of God’s considered in isolation) in order to be able to be critical of another of God’s attributes. These two video clips provide a perfect illustration of the technique. In this clip, Christopher uses the doctrine of justice to attack God’s words concerning love. In the previous clip, sitting at the same table, he was using the reality of God’s love to attack God’s words concerning justice.
G.K. Chesterton once said that it began to look as though Christianity were not big enough to encompass any errors, but rather that any stick was good enough to beat Christianity with.
In this segment from our debate in the fall of 2008, the late Christopher Hitchens asks me why I kept saying things like “God wants . . .” How on earth could I possibly know something like that?
The question at root is one of epistemology. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that asks how we can know that we actually know anything. And, trotting briskly on the squirrel cage run we have climbed on, when we finally answer the question of how we know things, we can then be asked if we are sure we know that.
There are three basic approaches to this question. One is called rationalism, with claims to knowledge based on objective reason. The second is called empiricism, with all knowledge derived out of experience. The third, embraced by Christians, is an epistemology of revelation: We know what God wants because he made a point of telling us. We know because he wrote a book.
“Belief in God’s revelation does not exclude reason or experience—rather it creates an appropriate place for them.
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Now of course it should be noted that belief in God’s revelation does not exclude reason or experience—rather it creates an appropriate place for them. After all, when I have read the Bible, I think and reflect on what I have read, using reason. Not only that, but in reading Scripture I have the physical experience of holding the Bible in my hands, and having light rays bounce off the page toward my eyes, which are experiences. In all this, I am assuming (believing) that I live in a universe in which the Creator of it speaks. If he is speaking, I don’t have to make him heard—he does that. What I must do is take my fingers out of my ears and stop humming the national anthem.
Now of course, a talented unbeliever (like Hitchens) is going to try to push all of this back one step. How do you know God wrote a book? And the answer to that is . . . well, I have read it. Of course, that reply might well remind Hitchens of the time Mark Twain was asked if he believed in infant baptism. He replied with something like, “Believe in it, sir? I have seen it done with my own eyes!”
In this clip, I mentioned to Hitchens that all finite creatures think axiomatically. We all have a starting point, and that starting point is not our destination. We do not reason toward our axioms; we reason from them. They are the ground beneath our feet. They are our foundational assumptions, our staring presuppositions. I mention the basic one in this segment when I referred to Francis Schaeffer’s book He Is There and He Is not Silent. God is not the ultimate mime.
God has spoken, first, in the created order. The heavens declare God’s majesty. He has spoken, secondly, through his apostles, prophets, visionaries, and martyrs. We have their accounts in Scripture, the only ultimate and infallible book in the world. And lastly, God has spoken to us through his Son, our Lord Jesus.
This is where I begin my journey. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7). And to fear the Lord means listening to him when he speaks.
A few years ago, a documentary called Collision was made where Douglas Wilson debated Christopher Hitchens on Is Christianity Good for the World? Hundreds of hours of footage was shot and edited down to 90 minutes of solid debate and conversation. The clip you see above didn't make into that 90 minutes. Consider it deleted scenes. This is the first time it's being released, and we have it here for you to learn what it means and looks like to make a defense for your faith.
When it comes to apologetics, the question, “By what standard?” really is a fundamental question. The same question arises in disputes on many playgrounds—it's the same thing as asking, “Who says?” If you claim that I have to do something, the question should come back, "Why do I have to do this?" It is at this point that a presuppositional approach to apologetics has its cleanest shot. A good place to go to study this approach further would be something like Greg Bahnsen’sAlways Ready.
During our three days together making Collision, this was one of the few times where Christopher was brought up short. I think it was because the question here was a complete novelty for him, and he needed a moment to think about it.
When he tries to answer the “By what standard?” question, notice how he smuggles in the assumption that I am asking him to prove. He says that he knows certain (moral) realities because he is among the “higher primates.” But there is a word in there that is value-laden—higher. Higher by what standard? What are we talking about?
Christopher set up the next exchange nicely by acknowledging that as primates, we have a jumble of conflicting instincts. The response I offered was something I first learned from C.S. Lewis. If I have two competing and contradictory instincts, an evolutionary approach can account for each of those instincts (say, self-preservation and herd preservation). What it cannot account for is a third instinct that tells me which of the first two instincts I ought to obey in this instance. I do not have an “umpire” instinct that decides between them.
What I do have is a conscience, which cannot be accounted for apart from God. Christopher tries to take a “conscience vote” among the students there when he brings up the question of eternal torment. But we don’t need a conscience vote. We need to account for why we have consciences in the first place.
All of Thomas Watson's writings and sermons are replete with sound doctrine, practical wisdom, and heart-searching application. His profound spirituality, gripping remarks, practical illustrations, and beauty of expression make him one of the most irresistible of the Puritans.
He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably hard study. In 1646 he was commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen's Walbrook. In 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love's plot to recall Charles II. He was released on 30th June,1652, and was formally reinstated vicar of St. Stephen's Walbrook. He obtained great fame and popularity as preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license for the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston in Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28th July, 1686.
You can bring life or death to that relationship by the words you choose. If we're not careful and don't seek the Holy Spirit, we can become bitter, and bitterness can mean death in a relationship because it grows. Pastor Mark talks about how his own bitterness was the issue that most negatively affected his and Grace's marriage for the longest period of time, and he regrets and grieves how this came out in his sermons during that time and asks for forgiveness.
This clip is excerpted from the sermon "Taking Out the Trash," part 5 of the Real Marriage sermon series. It was preached by Pastor Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church West Seattle and released online February 13, 2012.
This question was answered by Pastor Mark Driscoll and his wife Grace during the sermon Marriage and Women from the Trial series at Mars Hill Church. For more from this sermon, visit http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-women
Dr. Alan Cairns served for 25 years as pastor of Faith Free Presbyterian Church, Greenville, SC, before retiring and being named Pastor Emeritus in 2007. Prior to coming to the United States, he pastored Free Presbyterian churches in Dunmurry and Ballymoney, in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Dr. Cairns also held the position Professor of Theology in the Whitefield College of the Bible in Northern Ireland and lectured in what is now Geneva Reformed Seminary in Greenville. As both an author and expositor, Dr. Cairns is revered for his Christ-centered focus and gifts of scriptural insight.
It is always a joy to be able to turn to the word of the living God, in fact, the living word of the living God, to be instructed from the mind of God for our own blessing and for his glory.
One of the subjects that is at the very center of Christian experience is the matter of the will of God, the will of God. Throughout all of my life, I have heard people tell me they were looking for the will of God, searching for the will of God, trying to find the will of God. In fact, many, many years ago, I wrote a little book called, The Will of God is not Lost.Because it seemed to me that so many people were acting as if it was lost, as if God had placed his will in some obscure place, as if God were some sort of a divine Easter Bunny who had stashed the golden egg in some bush and all he did was sit in heaven saying, "You're getting warmer," or, "You're getting colder," as we meandered through the shrubbery of life trying to find the egg.
There are people who think that the will of God is the most undesirable thing, that it's like a diet. If it doesn't taste good, you can eat it. But the will of God is everything that you don't want to do, that God is sort of a cosmic killjoy who says, "There's one having fun, get him." As if God wants to make life painful and somber and sorrowful and hard. There are those who think that the will of God is sort of like, I guess you could say a serendipitous traumatic experience, like you're running down the street, trying to catch a bus, your foot slips on a banana peel and you land on a map of Argentina in the gutter. And, "Ah, I'll go to Argentina as a missionary, this is a divine calling." ]
There are people who approach the will of God in those ways. Some people think the will of God is like a lottery ticket. Not but a few are every gonna get one and if you get one, you become really, really blessed and most of us just throw away old tickets and never know what it is to win the will of God....
J.R. Miller - We Should Learn a Lesson from the old Heathen Artist
Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Luke 1:5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly.
James Russell Miller was born on March 20, 1840 at Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania and died on July 2, 1912. Besides authoring over 80 books, booklets, and pamphlets, Dr. J.R. Miller was the Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and a very active pastor in a succession of churches.
The crucible of J.R. Miller's education was his service with the United States Christian Commission, an agency set up to minister to the troops, during the civil war. When the war ended Miller completed his theological studies and was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867. On June 22, 1870, when he was thirty, he married Miss Louise E. King.
The end of life on earth came without warning on the afternoon of July 2, 1912. JR's wife, Louise Miller, and their only daughter, Mary Wanamaker Miller (Mrs. W.B. Mount), were present, but it was impossible to summon the sons — William King Miller and Russell King Miller. One moment Dr. Miller seemed to be resting quietly; the next he was at rest.
JR Miller DD was one of the best selling Christian authors of his era. Rev. Miller's books had a total circulation of over two million copies during his lifetime and in 1911 the Presbyterian Board of Publication, under his direction, published over 66 million copies of its periodicals.
I was saying to someone the other day that I'm not sure that it is nearly as important for you that I preach as it is for me that I preach. This is the passion of my life, the joy of my life. And for the privilege of preparation itself if I never preached, I would give everything in this world because there's no joy like the joy of digging deep into the discovery of the truth revealed in Scripture and especially when it has to do with the most compelling person of all, the incarnate God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus we find ourselves again in a gospel and it is now the gospel of Mark and I invite you to take your Bible and if you will, open your Bible to Mark chapter 3...Mark chapter 3. We're going to be looking at the last section of Mark chapter 3 verses 20 through verse 35. It's a prolonged section and it's a story within a story. So we're going to have to split it into two weeks. I would have to let you know that this week will be, in some ways, the simpler of the two and next week, perhaps, the more challenging and the more compelling and the more stunning teaching. But these are two very important portions of Scripture that are blended together by Mark in a unique way as a story within a story.
Many of you will be familiar with the name C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis, the great writer, the great thinker, the great Christian apologist has written many, many things that all of us are very, very familiar with. And in his effort at apologetics, he came up with a paradigm that has probably become somewhat well known, maybe it's more widely known even then its author, namely C.S. Lewis...
