When suffering, it can be hard to give praise. It can be hard to worship. It can be hard to be thankful. The pull of our hearts towards disappointment, complaint, discouragement, lament, and even despondency can preclude the desire to honor the Lord with our praise. How might we stimulate praise when we are in […]
Read More Praise God for your salvationThe Song of God’s GloryRomans 11:33-36June 9, 2024 On more than one road trip, Raye Jeanne and I have lamented the countryside we would miss while driving before dawn or after dusk. The night sky was going to obscure the waving grasslands, or the rolling hills, the mountain peaks, or the waves on the seaside. […]
Read More The Song of God’s GloryBe Steadfast in Your SufferingRomans 5:3-5February 18, 2024 Christian university professor Mark Talbot tells his story of suffering in When the Stars Disappear: When I was seventeen, I fell about 50 feet off a Tarzan-like rope swing, breaking my back and becoming partially paralyzed from the waist down. I spent six months in hospitals. Initially, […]
Read More Be Steadfast in Your SufferingBe Steadfast in Fighting SinRomans 6:12-14February 4, 2024 On a very limited number of occasions — once, maybe twice — I have felt like I had reached the limits of my physical ability. My arms and legs trembling with weariness, I was near the end of my body’s strength. On a few of occasions I’ve […]
Read More Be Steadfast in Fighting SinAll day Tuesday American flags were flown, songs were sung (how many times did you hear “God Bless the USA” or “America the Beautiful?”), hot dogs and hamburgers were consumed, parades were held, and as an exclamation on the day of rejoicing in liberty, fireworks were set off. Tuesday was a day of freedom. Yet […]
Read More Set FreeHaving Hope While Living in a Broken WorldRomans 8:18-25April 23, 2023 We live in a broken world and we have seen it too closely this week: Two teenaged students in Granbury died suddenly and tragically this week. Ruby Sargent’s last sibling passed away last week. One of our members experienced an accident at work that […]
Read More Having Hope While Living in a Broken WorldIn 1864, having served as a slave for 32 years, Jourdan Anderson escaped with his wife Amanda from their master, Colonel P.H. Anderson. They went to Ohio where Jourdan found work as a free man, finally able to support his family. A year later, Jourdan received a letter from P. H., asking him to return […]
Read More Set freeSanctification is a long (life-long) process that is hampered by painful battles against the flesh, temptation, and sin as well as the hard task of enduring in doing what is right. It’s hard. But it’s not complicated. The pathway to sanctification is also the road to Christ. That is, if you want to be sanctified […]
Read More Enjoying Christ and His giftsSubmission isn’t easy. It isn’t easy for children to submit to parents. Or students to teachers. Or slaves to masters (or employees to employers). Or wives to husbands. Or church members to elders. And it’s not easy for citizens to submit to governing authorities. In 2021, it seems especially true that it is hard for […]
Read More Five reasons to submit to governmentLast week, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled, “Finding Hope When Everything Feels Hopeless.” The thesis of the post was that people today feel hopeless and need hope. But hope “feels increasingly elusive,” with COVID, the election, winter, and more weighing on people’s minds. Author Elizabeth Bernstein suggests that hope “guards against anxiety […]
Read More Think hopefully, not wishfullyYou are aware of the saying, “You can be anything you want to be; you can do anything you want to do, if you just try hard enough.” I am intentionally working to burst bubbles and change thinking when I say, “Bologna.” That saying is just wrong. Completely wrong. And foolish. And deceiving. And hopeless […]
Read More God’s merciful use of sinWe are used to people breaking promises. We assume politicians — Presidents, Senators, Representatives, State legislators, city councilmen and more — will break their promises. We know that some marriage vows being given in earnest this year will be broken in years to come. Promises to children for vacations and days away (“Six Flags!” and […]
Read More Promises, PromisesThe most popular cultural conception of God is that He is loving. The idea is that He is a God of all (and only) grace, overlooking the foibles, peccadilloes, and even most severe sins because He is too nice to be mean. He is so loving that He could never be angry. This perception is […]
Read More Have you considered God’s kindness — and severity?In Romans 10:20, as Paul recounts the revelation of the gospel to the Israelites, he notes that Isaiah is “very bold” when he writes what he does in Isaiah 65:1ff. The word “very bold” has the sense of words that are daring, astounding, and even shocking. What God says through Isaiah is unanticipated and unexpected. […]
Read More God’s shocking grace“It’s Not Fair!” — A Question of God’s Righteousness (Part 3) Romans 9:27-29 September 15, 2019 The question of the day is whether God is fair and whether He is faithful to His promises. Know therefore that the Lord, your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to […]
Read More Sermon: “It’s Not Fair!” A Question of God’s Righteousness (Pt 3)
Words of Grace 