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Edward H. Schreur

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Good Sermons

Have you heard any good sermons lately? Many people answer, "No." If you are dissatisfied with the quality of preaching that you hear, you may be listening for the wrong thing. Here are some suggestions. Observe Paul's example. The Apostle Paul was a gifted speaker but by his own admission, he deliberately preached dull sermons. He explained that he tried to avoid "eloquent wisdom so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power." (1 Corinthians 1:17)…
Edward H. Schreur
January 1, 2011
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Mosque Prayer Questions

What can be learned from praying in a mosque? The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat, Oman is a landmark and, surprisingly in a land ruled by sharia, opens for visits by Christians and other non-Muslims. I visited on a Wednesday morning and was inspired by the grandeur. Completed in 2001, the Grand Mosque can accommodate 20,000 worshippers and features marble paneling, a Svarovski crystal chandelier that spans a length of 14 meters, and a hand-made Persian carpet consisting of…
Edward H. Schreur
April 1, 2009
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Christians in the Arabian Peninsula

The church is alive and well in the A rabian Peninsula. That is one of the truths I encountered upon becoming a pastor of the Protestant Church in Oman two years ago. In the land where Islam began, the Christian church prospers. Originally, Christians came to Arabia from Persia. The Nestorian Church established a bishopric in Sohar, Oman by 424 A D, but the rise of Islam 200 years later largely eclipsed the church for centuries. After 1,000 years passed,…
Edward H. Schreur
February 1, 2008
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Smiling in Church

"I need to say something," the seminarian said prior to giving a benediction to a surprised congregation. "I've led worship here three Sundays in a row and I detect an absence of Christian joy," he declared from the top of the chancel stairs, facing the center aisle and two long sections of pews, peopled by a small congregation of Reformed Christians, all of whom were much older than the twenty-something seminarian. "I see serious faces and frowns rather than smiles…
Edward H. Schreur
January 16, 2003