Excelling Still More: Marriage1 Peter 3:1-7February 13, 2022 The couple that stands before their friends and family and in front of the preacher in a gleaming white dress and an immaculate tux, with flutters in their hearts and beaming smiles on their faces (and maybe tears in their eyes) can never imagine the time when […]
Read More Sermon: Excel Still More – MarriageGod’s Shepherding Care for His People 1 Peter 5:1-4 January 19, 2020 My grandfather was a farmer. He emigrated to Canada from Russia in the early 1920s and was a very successful farmer. As a young boy, I remember going out to the fields with him on his tractor and picking up rocks and other […]
Read More Sermon: God’s Shepherding Care for His PeopleWhat Believers Do When Suffering 1 Peter 4:12-19 December 7, 2014 Over the past couple of months Keith and I have been preaching about some basics of church ministry — church membership, corrective discipleship (church discipline), the roles of elders, deacons, and members, and then last Sunday the nature of marriage and gender. There are […]
Read More Sermon: What Believers Do When SufferingI wrote the benediction below for the conclusion of our worship service this morning; it also serves as a fitting prayer for the beginning of a new week. The content of this prayer is taken from 1 Peter 1:2-9. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. May you know the power of the […]
Read More A benediction to worship and a prayer for the weekWhat we deem to be necessary for our lives and what God deems to be necessary for us are often in conflict. We idolize simplicity and solitude and ease. God desires our sanctification and Christlikeness. And sanctification rarely happens in ease and leisure. So God — decreeing what is necessary for us (1 Peter 1:6) […]
Read More Necessities of lifeAsk a disobedient child or a wayward teen, “Do you remember when I told you…?” and you are sure to get “No” for a response. Imagine a boss training a new employee: “This is the most important thing you will do each day. Remember to…” Listen in to a conversation between two retired men talking […]
Read More Remember?Too many people presume that God is too loving to condemn them — or anyone — to Hell. Yet Scripture asserts that God’s judgment is sure. It will come and it cannot be avoided. Consider Peter’s logic in 2 Peter 2:4-10: If [a better translation is “since”] God condemned the fallen angels to Hell (v. […]
Read More God’s judgment is sure…and His grace is greatSome time ago I was having a problem with my e-mail. Try as I might, I could not send e-mail. My computer just didn’t want to talk to the server. Yet it was retrieving e-mail just fine. Grrrr. This has been a problem that had recurred periodically but would then go away. Not on that […]
Read More Diligence and the Christian life“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:6-7). I confess. I am an incurable mailbox watcher. I have often made the 100-yard trek to the mailbox at my office more than […]
Read More A little patience…To protect itself from aggressors, the Texas horned lizard (more commonly known as the horny toad) uses some unique defense mechanisms, as the Smithsonian reported a few years ago: When the creature is threatened by a large predator, it runs through an elaborate behavioral repertoire. First, the lizard will hiss and swell its body with […]
Read More Protect yourself“To sum up, let all be…brotherly…” (1 Pet. 3:8; NASB) In the past couple of decades a new kind of profession has developed. This professional is, “a blend of consultant, motivator, therapist, manager, and friend. Who are these people? Personal coaches, who help people ‘define and achieve their goals — career, personal, or both.’ Coaches […]
Read More What good is a brother?“Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” (1 Peter 2:2-3; NASB) When our children were younger, we kept a growth chart for them on the inside of a closet door in our […]
Read More Are you hungry?“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood…” (1 Pet. 1:1-2; NASB) Though far from my first act of disobedience, it is my earliest recollection of my […]
Read More Obedience and joyAt the conclusion of his book, Into Thin Air, outdoorsman and author Jon Krakauer recounts a conversation he had with fellow climber Neal Beidleman after they both successfully made it down from Mount Everest in May, 1996 — the same month when 12 people died attempting to climb the world’s highest peak. Beidleman had led […]
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Words of Grace 