What follows is a manuscript of my message at this morning’s Christmas worship service. What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received? When I was a child, it was a table game called, “Pro Draft.” It was a 1974 game that simulated being a general manager of a pro football team and it came with […]
Read More What Christ gained through His incarnation“The Son of God Has Come” Selected Scriptures from 1 John December 18, 2016 What gift are you going to give to that special person in your life? Five years ago Alan McCutchen ended his relationship with his girlfriend, Mary Jo Smith, and he thought the relationship was completely over. Not quite. Two weeks ago […]
Read More Sermon: The Son of God Has ComeWednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. A godly man shows his love to the Word written: (i) By diligently reading it. The noble Bereans “searched the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11). Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures […]
Read More A godly man shows his love to the Word writtenSeveral years ago I called a friend to ask him a couple of questions about an event (enough years have passed so that I no longer remember the precipitating reason for the phone call). It didn’t seem to me, as I made the phone call, that it was a particularly significant issue or that it […]
Read More “I need to see you”Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Godly Man’s Picture. Chrysostom compares the Scripture to a garden set with knots and flowers. A godly man delights to walk in this garden and sweetly solace himself. He loves every branch and […]
Read More A godly man loves the Word written“Behold the Lamb of God…” John 1:29 November 27, 2016 In one sense, the death of Christ is a simple truth understood even by the youngest child. I am a sinner and Jesus died for sinners so that we can get to Heaven and get God. In another sense, there are deep complexities to the […]
Read More Sermon: Behold the Lamb of God“In Everything Give Thanks?” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 November 20, 2016 A few years ago the London Times reported about the many letters that are sent to God from around the world. Many of those letters end up at the post office in Jerusalem in the undeliverable mail department. “We have hundreds of thousands of letters […]
Read More Sermon: In Everything Give Thanks?“Essential Actions After the Election” Pt. 2 2 Timothy 4 November 6, 2016 This Sunday we conclude the brief sermon series, “Election Essentials,” where we have considered a number of topics related to the coming election. During this series we have examined: The role and responsibility of government — what should governments do and what […]
Read More Sermon: Essential Actions After the Election, Pt 2In America, we feel entitled. We have a constitutional right to life, liberty, and happiness, we believe. The constitution actually says, “the pursuit of happiness,” but in this day, we believe that to mean that we should have happiness (and ease) without having to labor for it. We should not have trials, difficulty, suffering, or […]
Read More Expect persecution“Essential Actions After the Election” Pt. 1 2 Timothy 3 October 30, 2016 I have done more than one fix-it project at my home where just past the point of no return something has happened that made me think, “Now what am I going to do???” Most of those happened with the water turned off […]
Read More Sermon: Essential Actions After the Election“The Essential Issue in the Election” Daniel 4:17-35 October 23, 2016 My sermon title this morning is, “The Essential Issue in the Presidential Election.” Pull up an editorial or blog post about the election and you will have someone’s opinion about what the most critical issue in the election is. Opinions abound: The makeup of […]
Read More Sermon: The Essential Issue in the Election“Behold the Man!” John 19:1-5 October 2, 2016 Familiarity, it is said, breeds contempt. It may not always breed contempt, but very often, it does produce apathy. We are familiar with someone or something so we no longer find the amazement and joy that we did when we were first introduced to that item or […]
Read More Sermon: Behold the Man!When the Scriptures speak about the Christian’s relationship to the government, the emphasis is consistently on the civil obedience, not civil disobedience. For instance: The believer is to pray for his civil authorities (1 Tim. 2:1–3) The believer is to submit to his civil authorities (Rom. 13:1; 1 Pet. 2:13–15) The believer is to obey […]
Read More When civil disobedience is permissible“Essential Reminders About Responding to Government” Romans 13:1-7 September 18, 2016 Last week we began talking about “Election Essentials” — understanding what the Bible has to say about politics, the church, and you. We began that series by thinking about the role of government and the authorities in government — what is the role of […]
Read More Sermon: Essential Reminders About Our Responsibility to the Government“Essential Reminders About the Role of Government” Romans 13:1-7 September 11, 2016 Robert Wilson, in his book Character Above All seeks to answer one fundamental question: “What is the relationship between the President’s character and presidential leadership?” He asks the question because it is his observation that as a group, the American people “‘started out […]
Read More Sermon: Essential Reminders About the Role of Government
