shepherding the shepherd
from PreachingToday.com
The Healing
Imagine the damage Peter’s denials had done to his soul. He must’ve been utterly bewildered. … As we all know, it’s hard to get back up after our soul takes that kind of a beating.
‘Do You Love Me?’
“More than these.” Comparisons plague pastors. We’re not supposed to do it, of course, except for edification purposes, but who hasn’t? When we stand knee-deep in the sludge of greater-than, more-committed-than, and more-strategic-than, Jesus’ question will call us out, “Yes, but do you love me more than these?”
Take a Deep Breath
Four years ago, almost every church building in America and beyond was closed and silent on Easter. … In a way, like the disciples that first Sunday, we had “locked doors for fear” of the pandemic. But the risen Lord came to us, as he did to them. In the struggles, wounds, and heartaches of these four years, the Lord Jesus has not left us alone or helpless. This Sunday remember that the Lord has been with us.
‘He Has Done It!’
So much was wrong with hearts, with the world’s systems, with creation itself. Satan reigned and death inevitably had the last word. But then all the promises of God, every jot and tittle of his law, every vision of his prophets, converged in the cross where the last mortal words of God’s Messiah declared the almost incomprehensible salvation miracle: “It is finished!”
Jesus’ Family Celebration
But what Jesus joyfully celebrates most is the innumerable procession of his glad captives, the orphans, beggars, and prodigals flocking to the Savior from the remotest parts of the earth, sinners like us who had not even been a people but who are now the people of God.
When Our Bridegroom Rises to Speak
I wish I could more clearly imagine the wedding supper of the Lamb. I picture innumerable tables heavy with celestial specialties at which are seated the great assembly of the saints, the bride of Christ, radiant in righteousness. I imagine our Bridegroom rising and we grow silent.