Scripture is Christ-Centered

"The bodily resurrection of Christ not only signifies God's victory over sin and death but also declares the nature of that victory. It is total, comprehensive; so comprehensive that it claims that history is moving towards nothing less than a fully restored and glorified universe. Those who are in Christ, along with the entirety of creation, will receive his resurrection life upon his appearing.

This means that Christ is the center of the biblical story. Through out its length, Scripture has a Christ-centered thrust: he will come! The Bible tells the redemptive story of the promised Messiah who came to redeem. That thrust must define our understanding of the nature of Scripture and the way we read it. As we look back to the earlier chapters in the story, we must see that the coming of the covenant promise to Adam that God will crush the power of the evil one (Genesis 3:15). The coming of the Messiah forms the foundation for God's covenant promise with Noah that creation will be sustained for all time (Genesis 8:22). The coming of the energizes God's covenant promise to Abraham that he and his posterity will be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:3). And the coming of the Messiah burns in the covenant promise to the prophets that God will write his law on the hearts of his people and will give them the gift of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31-34). In the resurrection of Christ, God has begun to make good on his promise....Because God's plan of salvation is fulfilled in Christ, Jesus is the leading player, the protagonist of the biblical drama of redemption."

From Mike William's Far as the Curse is Found

If Billy Graham Could Do It Over

An excerpt from John Stott's, 'Between Two Worlds'.

"Speaking to about 600 clergy in London in November 1979, Billy Graham said that, if he had his ministry all over again, he would make two changes. People looked startled. What could he possibly mean? First, he continued, he would study three times as much as he had done. He would take on fewer engagements. 'I've preached too much,' he said, 'and studied too little.' The second change was that he would give more time to prayer. Moreover, in making these emphases, he must have been deliberately echoing the apostolic resolve: 'we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.' (Acts 6:4) Because afterwards I commented appreciatively on what he had said, Dr. Graham wrote to me the following day and added: 'I remember that Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse (of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia) once said: "If I had only three years to serve the Lord, I would spend two of them studying and preparing."'


These are wise words, especially to young men going into the ministry.