The Southside Lectures are now twenty-nine years old. This year’s program is, without a doubt, one of the very best. It became clear from the first day that the subjects discussed were just right for each person to whom they were assigned. Each of the speakers addressed his subject with talent, concern, and dignity, and with a sense of urgency.

What are the Southside Lectures? A series of sermons on a special topic concentrated in a short time span so as to give special emphasis to some spiritual matter. These lectures require some special effort on your part. If you attend as you should, you’ll be dog-tired by the time the lectures end next Thursday. But it will be a special tired.

Fundamentals are a vital concern for whatever the project or enterprise. Without a firm foundation, any endeavor is eventually doomed to failure. Fundamentals are the things that undergird something, the foundation on which that thing rests. The Christian system has certain fundamental things that underlie it. These are necessary fundamentals. Here are some suggestions concerning those essential parts.

The dog days of summer. The doldrums. The summer lull. Everybody has a different name for the upcoming time of year. I have found that these descriptions all have one thing in common – when the weather gets got, there is a tendency for Christians to get cold. If we’re not careful, we can become so caught up in making plans and going different places that we neglect the work that must be done right here at home.

Moses says, “We spend our days as a tale that is told” (Psalm 90:9). What a truism! We have only so many – how many, no one knows, saving for Him who gave us the days. But they are ours to spend. It’s important how we spend them, what we buy with them.

When they are all tied together, they become our tale that is told. Every tale is different, lived in different cultures and societies, lived in distinctive families, lived in differing circumstances, enjoying different pleasures and enduring different tragedies.