When Prayer Becomes Joyless

It’s hard to pray. Sometimes we lack the discipline to pray. Sometimes we forget to pray. Or perhaps worse, we allow the pressures and burdens of less important but seemingly more urgent responsibilities push aside prayer. At times prayer is inhibited because of sinful indulgences — and those indulgences become more precious to us than […]

Because Christ is Resurrected…

Passover is finished. The crowds are gone from Jerusalem. The Roman soldiers are relaxing. The disciples and their friends and family are returning to their daily duties and a few added priorities. There is still some buzz in the city and among the disciples, but Easter is over. Or is it? What happens after the […]

The Greatest Message

“The Greatest Message”1 Corinthians 15:1-11April 5, 2026 What’s your most important possession? (Not your most important person, but possession.) You might say, “My cash/wealth,” or “My job” (no cash without some kind of job), or “my car” (have to get to work somehow) or “my house,” or “my special collection — wedding pictures, art, stamps, […]

Our Savior, the Son of Man

“Our Savior, the Son of Man”Luke 1-9 SummaryMarch 29, 2026 When you think about Christ, how do you characterize Him? What is He like? What does He do? How is He different from everyone else that has walked on earth so that we should believe in and follow Him? John Newton said that Christ is […]

Jealous?

Jealousy and envy are insidious and persistent, showing up in unexpected places and at unexpected times. Jealousy wasn’t there. And then it was. Even in church. Among church leaders. Among the faithful servants of God. Consider the story of Jesus in Matthew 20:1-16. Workers arrive at the town marketplace looking for work; a landowner arrives […]

The Great God and Our Quest for Greatness

“The Great God and Our Quest for Greatness”Luke 9:46-50March 22, 2026 It’s hard to be humble. Pride may show up at the most unexpected times and unexpected places. Consider the story of William Masvinu and Mison Sere. For three years (2012-14) William won Zimbabwe’s annual “Mister Ugly” contest. But in 2015 he lost the title […]

Our Great God

“Our Great God”Luke 9:37-45March 15, 2026 In recent years, it seems that there has been a fair bit of talk about GOATs. Not goats, as in “domesticated, social, and intelligent mammals in the Bovidae family, related to sheep, known for providing milk, meat, and fiber.” GOATs as in the Greatest of All-Time. As in Willie […]

The Son of Man, Revealed

“The Son of Man, Revealed”Luke 9:28-36March 1, 2026 In Luke 14, Jesus offers two parables to explain the importance of considering the cost of believing in Him and following Him: a builder who makes sure he has enough money to construct his tower and a king in battle who first determines if he has enough […]

You Will Lose Your Life

“You Will Lose Your Life”Luke 9:23-27February 22, 2026 Perhaps no advertising campaign has ever been as successful as the one undertaken by the US government in 1917. Initially designed to promote patriotism and enlist men into the military for World War I the campaign has persisted and remained an iconic slogan in American culture: “[Uncle […]

Building the Church

“Building the Church”1 Corinthians 12February 15, 2026 Someone called this maze of relationships, “the theory of relativity:” …consider the marriage mayhem created when 76-year-old Bill Baker of London recently wed Edna Harvey. She happened to be his granddaughter’s husband’s mother [granddaughter’s mother-in-law]. That’s where the confusion began, according to Baker’s granddaughter, Lynn. “My mother-in-law is […]

Do You Pray?

It has been said that whenever we teach, “we stand on the shoulders of others.” That is, we are dependent on the understanding and interpretation of Scripture by others, or we confirm our interpretations by the insights of others. Additionally, other writers and speakers will often have more compelling ways to say about biblical topics […]

He is Available

In the 1930s, famed physicist Albert Einstein fled the impending war in Europe and the Nazis and came to America, purchasing a home near Princeton University. While residing there, he frequently was visited by famed politicians and mathematicians. And a 10-year-old girl named Emmy. It seems she had heard he was something of a math […]

The Gospel in Three Minutes

[Note: We affirm that salvation is given to those who both repent of their sin and believe in Christ alone. In my message on Sunday, I inferred the act of repentance without explicitly using the word; I have clarified the statement below to include the necessity of repentance as a part of the act of […]

Teach Us the Gospel

“Teach Us the Gospel”Selected ScripturesJanuary 18, 2026 Ask the question, “What is the gospel?” (even in the church) and you will get almost as many answers to that question as there are people. There just does not seem to be much consensus on that question. In his book, What is the Gospel? Greg Gilbert recounts […]

Teach Us to Pray

“Teach Us to Pray”Selected Scriptures in LukeJanuary 11, 2026 After quoting Luke 18:1, J. C. Ryle writes — I have a question to offer you. It is contained in three words, DO YOU PRAY? The question is one that none but you can answer. Whether you attend public worship or not, your minister knows. Whether […]