God opened (or closed) the door – We’ve all heard someone say something like this: “I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out, but then God opened a door for me to go.” Or perhaps just the opposite: “I was all set to do that, but then God closed the door.” What do you think about that language? Is it legitimate? Just evangelical-ese?
I Love a Church That Sings Badly – Tim Challies: "These people do not know how to sing. Most of them sing quietly. They sing without a lot of skill. They depend upon instrumentation to help carry them. But the reason they sing so poorly is that there are so few among them who are mature in the faith; there are so few among them who have been raised to hear those songs week by week from their youngest days. This is a church where the gospel is being preached in the worship services and where the people are taking that gospel to those who live nearby. The gospel is doing its work, many are being saved, and they are coming to those Sunday services to pour out their praises to God. This church sings so poorly because they evangelize so well."
Your Testimony Is Not the Gospel by R.C. Sproul – we shouldn’t confuse our personal testimonies with the gospel. Sharing our personal testimonies is not evangelism. It’s merely pre-evangelism, sort of a warm-up for evangelism. Our testimonies may or may not be significant or meaningful to those with whom we are speaking. There are lots of folks who can relate to my story; they say, “Yeah, I know what he’s talking about because I used to live like that too.” But not everyone can relate to my story. In any case, the gospel is not what happened to R.C. Sproul.
Wynter At Large: Background to The Gospel of Mark: “Date” – Ay Wynter begins his study of the Gospel of Mark, he first briefly examines the evidence for the various dates at which the book could have been written.