At the Right Time

At the Right TimeGalatians 4:4-5December 24, 2023 A couple of days ago I thought of something that might be a nice gift for someone, but I didn’t have time to look for it, so I quickly went to Amazon and found what I was looking for. The right price! But when will it arrive? I […]

Are You Now Being Perfected by the Flesh?

The sermon I preached for the ACBC National Conference in October, “Are You Now Being Perfected by the Flesh?” is now available on the ACBC website. The message is from Galatians 3:1-5 and focuses on the sufficiency of the Spirit to address every issue of life — and every issue that might arise in a […]

What the Spirit has done (and does)

The Galatians overlooked and minimized the work of the Holy Spirit of God. They acknowledged that He was instrumental in their salvation, but they were determined to bypass His work for their ongoing sanctification — they believed that they were capable of sanctifying themselves without His efforts. The temptation that derailed their walk with Christ […]

Sermon: Loving Others, Bearing Burdens

Loving Others, Bearing Burdens Galatians 6:1-5 May 30, 2021 I’ve said it many times. Relationships are hard. It’s not that we don’t like people, but sometimes we just need a break. Sometimes it would just be nice to be a hermit and inaccessible to people (at least we thought that before COVID forced us into […]

Sermon: The Fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:16-26 March 16, 2014 It’s about the size of a bowling ball, covered with sharp, stiff, spiny points, and grows on trees throughout southeast Asia, most predominantly in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. The business end of a durian, which is the inside, is mucuslike in consistency, and the unique […]

The fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 reveals to us the kinds of fruit that the Spirit produces in the life of the believer who is walking with and filled with Him (Gal. 5:16; Eph. 5:18-21). These are not only in contrast to the deeds of the flesh, but they also relate to virtually every aspect of life, as shown […]

Sermon: Christ in Us

The Message of the Cross: Christ in Us Galatians 2:20-21 October 27, 2013 (Communion Sunday) There are many ways to talk about the cross of Christ. Over the years I’ve not only preached the crucifixion passages, but I’ve also preached many other sermons relating to the effects and accomplishments of the cross. We’ve seen how […]

Bragging rights

It’s been called “the Me Monster” — the insatiable desire to exalt oneself and boast in one’s accomplishments. A toddler will say, “Watch me, Mommy.” A mom might say, “I just got my child’s report card today…” A businessman will say, “I just closed the deal I’ve been working on for six months…” A pastor […]

Are you growing in fruitfulness?

Are you growing in spiritual fruitfulness? There are many questions that can be asked to evaluate one’s spiritual life. (Don Whitney’s book, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health is a particularly helpful resource). But I ask this question because I think it encompasses many other questions that we might ask about the spiritual life, […]

The work of ministry

Many years ago, when I was a first-year seminary student, a retired pastor in our church cornered me in a hallway one day, and knowing I was preparing for vocational ministry, asked me, “why do you do what you do?” I was perplexed. He pressed in closer, both physically and metaphorically. “Why do you do […]

Four questions about sanctification

Not only is the means of our salvation — justification — essential, but so is the process of our salvation, called sanctification. If one asserts (as is true) that justification is only by faith in Christ, then so must our sanctification be by faith in Christ. Or to state the same truth in the opposite […]

Justification by faith is essential — three statements

Some things are worth fighting about. Some things are worthy dying to defend. Personal preferences aren’t worth defending (and more fits into that category than most of us would generally be willing to acknowledge). Some truths are worth defending — but not worthy dying to defend. So, while I believe that the Scriptures teach a […]

The gospel in miniature

Earlier this year, I preached a sermon entitled, “What is the Gospel?” In that message, I attempted to provide the essence of the gospel, explaining it with six words (grace, man, God, Christ, faith, hope), then one sentence (“Our sin is imputed to Christ and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us so that we can […]

Boasting in the cross

We are people of the cross. The cross is the source of our spiritual life. It is the reason for our hope. It is the foundation of our victorious living. Paul says it this way: “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which […]

Pondering David and Paul, pride and hope

Pride is sneaky and subtle. When a man is humbled and broken, pride raises a small voice that whispers, “you are doing well to be so humbled. How good you are…” When a heart is weak, pride suggests, “You are strong and able…” When an obvious grace from God has been received, pride ponders, “how […]