A Surprising Hope: Barren Wombs and Unexpected Fruitfulness
Billings preaches the biblical pattern of barren wombs becoming the very means by which God brings forth promise, from Sarah through Hannah to Elizabeth. A talk about waiting, hope, and the kind of fruitfulness that resists every category we try to put around it.
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A Sermon: The Holy Bond of Marriage
What should the church do while the Senate debates a marriage amendment? John T. Mabray calls Christians to repent first, then turns to Genesis 2, Calvin and Matthew Henry to show marriage as a holy bond that mirrors the love of the Trinity and of Christ for his church.
Holiness
St. Christina the Astonishing tried to flee the stench of sinners; Isaiah collapsed in terror before the Holy One. Sara Jane Nixon argues that the content of God’s holiness is love, a holiness that draws near to sinners rather than away from them.
Two Views of Mortality
Billings is dying of cancer, and the bones inside him are described by a doctor as 'like Swiss cheese.' He writes about how Christians and the wider culture talk about death, and why those two ways of talking diverge so sharply at the end.
Never Easy, Ever Hopeful
When will pastoral ministry ever be easy? Preaching on 2 Corinthians 4, Mary Holder Naegeli says it never will be, and finds in Paul’s hardships three reasons for hope: this is not heaven, glory is coming, and God is strengthening us.
The Head: Who Your Church Follows
Why does the debate over ordaining practicing homosexuals matter so much to a congregation? W. P. Campbell, in a chapter from his book, argues that leaders shape the people who follow them, and that the church must avoid both the Sadducees’ compromise and the Pharisees’ legalism.
Essential Tenets and Reformed Distinctives
What must a Presbyterian officer believe to take the ordination vows with integrity? The Presbytery of San Diego sets out six essential tenets and seven Reformed distinctives, each with Scripture, confessions and what is not affirmed, and adds questions for examining candidates.