StephenBarkley.com

Help us, poor and wretched souls who cry unto Thee and earnestly seek Thee according to the grace which Thou hast given us by the Holy Spirit, who with Thee and the Father liveth and reigneth, blessed forevermore. Amen. — Martin Luther When God shuts a door, he does a good job. His work would make Mike [...]

Bartender, please Fill my glass for me With the wine you gave Jesus that set him free After three days in the ground — David J. Matthews, “Bartender” from Busted Stuff © 2002 For the renewed presence of God, there is a new set of rules. Just like Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai, [...]

Confession is a divine sadness which leads to divine joy. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer Repentance. It sounds very religious. Somewhat medieval. Definitely uninspiring. We’re told daily to look to the future, to move on, to leave the past behind. But God challenged Israel to take the past seriously. It wasn’t as simple as moving on for [...]

Every Harlot was a Virgin once. — William Blake, “To The Accuser Who Is The God Of This World” Last Sunday I preached an awkward message.  I’ve been preaching through Revelation, taking every image and symbol as it comes.  Last week was chapters 17-18. The Whore of Babylon. To compound matters, our junior church program was over [...]

Let us then put off our shoes, and draw near, and bow the head, and kiss those feet that bear forever the scars of our victory. — George MacDonald (Unspoken Sermons) There’s nothing worse than a plot thread left unstitched. When it happens in a movie or a novel, you anticipate a sequel. When it [...]

Hi everyone, I’m up in Terrace Bay this week speaking at my friend’s church.  I’ll resume the normal Ezekiel posts next week. Thanks for reading. Steve.

The gods and goddesses who lived therein, who had caused the flood and the downpour, whose visage had become sad, I raised up out of their miserable condition; I had their dusty trains polished; I cleaned their dirty garments; and I caused them to dwell in their holy places forever. — from Asarhaddon, episode 32 [...]

A holy people will by their lives transform mundane things into beautiful and acceptable offerings to God. — R. K. Harrison (Leviticus) If you want to understand what Ezekiel’s temple looked like, you need to find a good reference work and see how it is physically laid out. The text of Ezekiel gets so muddy [...]

To worship is to adore someone infinitely greater than we, and therefore to have our sights raised above ourselves. To worship is to be oriented away from ourselves. — Victor Shepherd (Seasons of Grace) The travelogue is interrupted. It’s as if the tour guide (the man who shone like bronze) paused in the tour and started [...]

Hope, like a muscle, will not be strong if it goes unused. — Douglas J. Moo (The Epistle to the Romans) Planning is a creative event. Anyone who has built something significant knows the possibilities that a good designer can bring to the table. At New Life, we have just finished adding a gymnasium on our [...]