Mark 8:27-35
“Get behind me, Satan!” (Mark 8:33) Can you imagine how Peter would have felt when Jesus directed those words at him? Wow! If I’d been Peter, I would have wanted to crawl under a rock! ...
When was Jesus Really Born?
Bibliographical Information: When Was Jesus Really Born? Early Christianity, the Calendar, and the Life of Jesus, by Steven L. Ware. St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 2013. 281 pages. Credentials: Steven L. Ware, PhD, is ...
Four Branches – August 2021
Jump to: ExegeticalSystematicHistoricalPractical Exegetical theology: Preaching on Numbers 12:1-15 Logos Bible Study Software lists the “best” commentaries on every book of the Bible. I don’t know their algorithm, but two of their top three commentaries ...
Reflections of Light: The Odyssey of a Black American Lutheran Pastor During the Civil Rights Years
Lonnie L. Branch received a Master of Divinity by completing a curriculum between the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. He was the ninth black pastor ordained in ...
“Yes, you can!” 1Kings 19:3-8
"I can’t do this anymore!” Do you guess that Elijah might have said those words, or felt that way? That sure seems to be a fair rendition of what he says in 1Kings 19:4, ...
Book Review: From Here to Maturity: Overcoming the Juvenilization of American Christianity
Thomas E. Bergler is professor of ministry and missions at Huntington University in Huntington, Indiana. His book The Juvenilization of American Christianity (2012) was featured in Christianity Today and won an award of merit from ...
Four Branches – July 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Way He Should Go? “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov ...
“Chosen” Ephesians 1:3-14
Do we love preaching predestination? Or does it perhaps scare us, or intimidate us, or at least cause us to pause? I’ll confess some of the latter. That seems reasonable, doesn’t it? After all, predestination ...
Preach the Word – July/August 2021
Movements in Sermon Writing I find that writing isn’t difficult. Sitting down to write—that’s difficult. The good lurking within my procrastination, fueling the fear at the edges of my work, is that it matters to ...
Book Review: Christian Freedom: Faith Working Through Love
Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) lived and served in what is today Wittenberg, Germany at the University of Wittenberg. Martin Luther published countless treatises, commentaries, sermons, lectures, confessional statements, and other writings, many ...