My Cup Runneth Over (Musings of an Unspecialized Generalist)

What’s the best way to get to know another person? It is to learn his/her story; isn’t it! Everyone has a story, and it’s nearly always true that the better you know someone’s story; the better you know the person. Could the same be true about getting to know God? Yes, the better one knows God’s story, undoubtedly, the better one knows God. There is a difference between knowing a person or God and knowing their story, but the two go hand in hand.      The Bible is God’s Story. For many years I thought that the Bible was a book of theology. (I could not have articulated that early on, but that’s what I thought.) “I might know the stories of the Book, but it was the preachers who really understood the Bible.” And, if I wasn’t going to be a preacher, which I wasn’t , I probably wouldn’t ever really understand that somewhat foreboding, “funny talking” book with its “thee”(s) and“thou”(s); etc. Oh yes, I knew that the Bible was God’s Word.   ...

I had the joy and honor of preaching the Resurrection Sunday sermon at Plainwell Presbyterian Church; here is my message, somewhat abbreviated, and written after delivery from an outline, but very much as I spoke it.      In the grand scheme of All, how big do you think the issue of Easter is? (pause)  It's huge, isn't it! The importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ probably cannot be overstated; it's cardinal; it's right there beside the incarnation in terms of its importance and relevance. Narrowing our thinking down a little, what would you say the message of Easter is? What is the proclamation of the resurrection?      For many years in my Christian experience I would have answered that question something like this: “The importance of Jesus’ dying, and rising from the dead is that it guarantees that I can do the same.” And, so can anyone who puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ. A few years ago I came to believe wh...

A somewhat abbreviated message by David Youngs, to First Presbyterian Church Basic Scripture: John 10: 1-11 & 14; Colossians 1: 15-20      You have noticed some similarities in most of my messages, haven’t you? It didn’t take long for me to realize that we are the kind of church that you don’t have to park your brain at the door. Of course, it’s not all about the brain, but I like propositional truths, and I operate from a base of those. The Bible is God’s story; I believe in it’s narrative primacy, but it has many, many propositionally stated truths. Check Genesis 1:1; Galatians 4:4; Revelation 21:3; for instance and multiplied others.       My launch proposition for today’s message, “What Does God Want?” is: There is always a bigger picture than is readily obvious. You have all been in situations where sooner or later you realized there was something bigger going on than you first realized. We all have spi...