Victorious FaithHebrews 11:32-40July 24, 2022 They have been called “The Most Crushing Losses in Sports History,” “The Hall of Flameout,” and “Snatching Defeat from the Hands of Victory.” They are sports events that are considered major failures, gaffs, and defeats. For years, ABC captured the sense of loss on Wide World of Sports with an […]
Read More Sermon: Victorious FaithWhat makes a man? That’s not an irrelevant question for a day in which gender is so widely misunderstood and misused. It’s also not irrelevant to ask in the wake of Father’s Day. While opinions of manhood, fatherhood, and gender abound, I have found the four qualities of mature manhood in Titus 2 to be […]
Read More Four Questions to Examine a Man’s CharacterLiving by Faith in Our Great GodHebrews 11:30-31June 19, 2022 In his book Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? Robert Wells exposes the size of the universe in understandable terms: The largest animal on earth is the blue whale.… But a blue whale isn’t anywhere near as big as a mountain. If […]
Read More Sermon: Living by Faith in Our Great GodGod’s Provision for His Church1 Timothy 4:11-16June 12, 2022 In April of 2001, I received this email — Greetings from California! This is Keith Palmer… I heard through my in-laws that there may be an intern position opening up at your church this summer and thought I would write you to get some more information. […]
Read More Sermon: God’s Provision for His ChurchThe New Testament both exhorts its readers to give thanks and exemplifies the giving of thanks. Gratitude is a common attribute of the sanctified believer (in part because it is so unlike the natural man). Of all the things that might be said about giving thanks, I want to draw attention to two characteristics of […]
Read More With every memory, giving thanksChoosing to Live by Faith: Living with UncertaintyHebrews 11:27-29June 5, 2022 In Malaysia there is a relatively small group of people (59,000) called the Semai. They might be fairly typical of what you might think about a Southeast Asian culture: they are sustained economically primarily through farming and hunting, they live in small, isolated […]
Read More Sermon: Choosing to Live by Faith, Pt. 2Injustice, suffering, and persecution are normal and will happen in this world. That doesn’t mean persecution is right; but it does mean that nothing unusual has happened when someone is ostracized, condemned, persecuted, or even martyred for having faith in Christ. To be a follower of Christ is to live with the expectation that one […]
Read More When threatened with persecutionChoosing to Live by FaithHebrews 11:23-26May 29, 2022 In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz tells of a trip to his local moderately sized grocery store. He found 285 varieties of cookies, 13 sports drinks, 65 box drinks, 85 kids’ juices, 75 iced teas, 95 types of chips and pretzels, 15 kinds of bottled water, […]
Read More Sermon: Choosing to Live by FaithI have seen the headlines of the shooting in Uvalde yesterday. I have not read the stories. I started to read one article. But I closed the web page. My heart couldn’t take it. I started to cry. “Lord…Lord…how many more? How much longer until You return and make all things right?” I have not […]
Read More One more…A few weeks ago I made a case for organizing your biblical counseling resources (or any other discipling and teaching resources you use in caring for others). I had at least one request for the complete list of categories. So here it is. Most of the folders just have the articles and homework ideas sorted […]
Read More Organizing Resources for Biblical Counseling, Part 2Yesterday, I wrote about thinking about death. Today I offer some quotations from others who have spoken biblically and wisely about death: “The question is not whether we will die, but whether we will die in a way that bears much fruit.” (John Piper, Filling up the Afflictions of Christ) “Death is a threat to […]
Read More They said it better than me: DeathA few months after I became a pastor, a funeral home called me and asked if I would do a funeral service for a woman whose family did not have a relationship with a church in our community. I agreed and went to meet with the family to talk about the service. They wanted one […]
Read More Thinking about deathBlessings and Dying WordsHebrews 11:20-22May 8, 2022 The legacy of people’s final words is fascinating. What were the final words and thoughts on people’s minds as they departed this life for eternal life (or eternal death)? These words are significant because death is the ultimate enemy of all men. There are more harsh and less […]
Read More Sermon: Blessings and Dying WordsTrials are regular and normal. Disappointment is inevitable. Failure is common. One skeptic rightly noted, “In times like these it’s good to remember that there have always been times like these.” If we expect a trouble-free life, we will never be satisfied. However, the goal in life is not to avoid trouble and trial, […]
Read More Remember God’s PromisesI don’t have OCD. Really. I don’t. (And denying it doesn’t mean that I do have OCD.) I just like things organized. So my personal library is organized by the Dewey Decimal System. I have more than 20,000 file cards (both printed and digital) of preaching illustrations organized by topic and biblical passage. I have […]
Read More Organizing Resources for Biblical Counseling
