What grace we have received

John 1:16 has long been one of my favorite verses — “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” The verse is written in the context of the coming of the eternally existing Word — the One who is co-existent with God and is God Himself. The Word, the second member […]

Bible reading plans

I have previously noted a number of sites for Bible reading plans. And I have also published a plan for our church to follow this year — reading the New Testament on weekdays and the Psalms on Sundays. the goal of this effort is to provide ample time for reading and reflection. (If you have […]

The path

Like planning a route with Google maps, many people today are designing and outlining the moral pathway they will take this year. Out with the old, in with the new. All the well-worn, dead-end paths of the past will be forsaken and a new route will be followed. Whether we will or will not succeed […]

2012 Bible Reading Plan

Every year many people make plans on reading through the Bible in a year. It’s a worthy goal. But too many get bogged down somewhere in the middle of Numbers or one of the prophets, and never make it through the Bible. What is more important than reading through the Bible in a year, is […]

“I am the Lord”

It has been often noted that at the base of all sin is some form of pride. A man pridefully deems that the protection of his finances is more important than the government’s right to tax, so he is deceitful on his 1040 form. A child yearns for a toy and is billigerent in his […]

A steadfast mind

Author George Bernard Shaw went to visit fellow Brit and sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein on one occasion. As the artist showed the writer his studio, Shaw noticed a huge block of stone in the corner and asked Epstein what his intention was for the granite. “I don’t know yet. I’m still making plans.” “You mean […]

A study in contrasts

Call this a study in contrasts. Isaiah 9 is a well-known passage for its description of the advent of the Messiah: For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal […]

Let him who boasts

All men tend towards pride. A wise man’s temptation is to boast in his own wisdom. A strong man is tempted to boast in his own strength. A rich man is tempted to boast about his riches (Jer. 9:23). There is a two-fold problem with this pride. First, the pride is rooted in an exaltation […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the last couple of weeks: A long time ago I began recognizing a changing trend in counseling. Women were battling with lust and pornography too, as Carolyn McCulley affirms in her recent post, “Lust: Not for men only.” She writes: “We have a message of hope and redemption in the morass […]

Church is not that complicated

There are many ideas about how to do ministry (I receive new ideas on postcards and flyers virtually everyday in my mailbox and inbox). There have always been many diverse and divergent ideas about the priorities of ministry. The temptation is often to take a pragmatic approach to “make the church grow.” Now having dancing […]

Do I believe this?

The Psalms repeatedly affirm the goodness and lovingkindness of God. He is merciful. He is trustworthy. Reading Psalm 118 this morning, I wondered, “Do I believe this?” So I turned the statements of the psalmist into a series of questions to test the condition of my heart — Do I believe that God is lovingly […]

A sermon do-over

Every preacher has them: sermons that they realized after-the-fact that they did the worst thing that can be done in a sermon. They missed the point of the passage. I’ve had at least my fair share of them. But one stands towering over all the others in my mind. I remember studying that week, wondering […]

Approved by God

It was an incredible offer. Thousands and thousands of dollars were at my disposal. Power, I was told, would be mine. Prestige. Privilege. All because I had been pre-approved for a Platinum Visa. Or if I preferred, I could opt for the offer of a Gold MasterCard that came from another bank that same day. […]

Afflicted for the sake of comfort

I don’t recall where I first heard this principle, but after 20+ years in ministry, I believe it is true: in every seat in every sanctuary is a person with a sad story or heartache. Talk to anyone for any significant length of time and ask the right kinds of questions and you will find […]

An acceptable sin

Pride is an acceptable sin. It is not acceptable to God, of course, but both in culture and church, pride in its various forms is often not only accepted, but lauded. In another day, one might have written a book and then waited for others to write reviews of it. Today, it apparently has become […]