Tag: Bible
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May 3, 2020 Sermon — God and Our Gatherings: Jesus’ Grace Meets Thomas’ Doubts (John 20:24-29)
We have been told for several weeks now that the church’s worship gatherings are non-essential. That is how they have been categorized. The thought seems to be that the world can get on fine without us. Everything can just go on fine without us. The thought seems to be that without our public prayers, without…
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April 19, 2015 Sermon — No Other God and No Place for Doubt: The Word Was Made Flesh Again, and We Beheld His Glory (John 20:24-31)
Today is the third Lord’s Day of Easter season. But we are going to be looking at what happened on the second Lord’s Day of that very first Easter season. This is eight days after Jesus’ resurrection, which by John’s way of inclusively counting days puts us again on a Sunday, the first day of…
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April 20, 2014 Sermon: The Battle-Scarred God (John 20:24-31)
In John chapter 20, beginning at verse 24, we read: Now Thomas called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and…
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April 12, 2015 Sermon — Peace Be With You: The Scars and the Spirit of the Lord (John 20:19-23)
It is Easter or Pascha. Either one of those names will do. Either one of those names can be used to label this 50-day season celebrating the resurrection of Christ. Some years we have put Easter on the bulletin. Other years we have used Pascha. But either term is fitting. Easter is certainly the more…
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Israelized Gentiles, Gentilized Israelites
The church is the new Israel. Paul explicitly calls the church the “Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” Some argue that Paul distinguishes two groups in this verse. For example, a Christian Zionist paraphrases…
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God of My Youth
GOD OF MY YOUTH:INFANT FAITH, INFANT SALVATION, AND COVENANT NURTUREIN THE PSALTER AND PSYCHOLOGY RICH LUSK Introduction: Focusing the Questions Historical Background Our children are a gift from God, which means parenting is a form of stewardship. As John Calvin emphasized, every child is a special blessing from God and every birth is a divine…
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Will the Real Israel Please Stand Up? A Response to Critics
In the last year, I wrote two essays on Israel, one for The Federalist and one for Theopolis. Like all things related to Israel these days, they generated some vigorous responses. In this essay, I want to counter-respond to a couple of critics of my articles. First, Jerry Bowyer pushed back against my Theopolis article…
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Notes on Recent Events: April ’26
X was made for man, not man for X, so I’ve been off the app lately, doing far more important things. But here are a few comments on what were recently “current events” and ongoing discussions while I’ve been away, covering the Pope vs. Trump, Tucker Carlson’s posts on Trump and Islam, Hegseth’s comments on…
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The Suffering of God in the Cross of Christ (Sermon Notes/Follow-Up from April 29, 2007)
Rich Lusk Sermon follow-up: I have to admit that the theology of “God crucified” has held my attention for several years now. Indeed, I’ve been mesmerized by it for quite some time. As a result, I’ve done quite a bit of teaching on God’s suffering over the years. Some of that has been recorded and…
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Ministry and Masculinity: Notes For Aspiring/Young Pastors
I was asked to be a panelist for Reformed Evangelical Seminary’s roundtable discussion answering the question, “What is your message to future pastors on the subject of masculinity?” Other panelists included Bill Smith, Aaron Renn, and C. R. Wiley. This is the gist of my presentation (because of time constraints I did not get through…
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