Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 3)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 3 Romans 1:1-7 June 7, 2015 You don’t need me to tell you this, but our world is changing. Rapidly. This week I read a sobering article entitled, “Stage Two Exile: Are You Ready for It?” The author’s premise was that over the past thirty years or so the […]

Q & A: Christ’s heavenly throne

Following Sunday morning’s sermon, I had the following email interchange to clarify one point from the message on Romans 1:4. The essence of the question is, “just what does it mean that Christ was “declared [a better translation is “appointed”] the Son of God with power?” Q: I wanted to ask you for a bit […]

Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 2)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 2 Romans 1:1-7 May 24, 2015 A few years ago I saw a book in the bookstore and was curious about the title and book, Jesus, Life Coach, so I looked it up online and found this description from the editors: There was a time when only athletes had […]

Sermon: Paul, God, and the Gospel (Pt. 1)

“Paul, God, and the Gospel” Pt. 1 Romans 1:1-7 May 17, 2015 If you’ve ever had a young teen in the house, you know that teens don’t always want to listen. They believe that they have all the answers to life and that their parents are ill-equipped and to handle life because they have not […]

Romans: the most OT book in the NT

Romans is a complex logical argument, and much of the logic is derived from the OT. In a sense this is a research document, with its primary source being the OT. In addition to a great many allusions to the OT, Paul directly quotes it 63 times. And at least 14 OT books are quoted […]

What Romans says about God

The book of Romans is about two things: it is about the gospel and it is about God. That Romans is about the gospel might be widely assumed and understood, since the themes of justification and sanctification are particularly prominent in the book. And since Romans is in the Bible, it is slightly obvious to […]

A summary of the book of Romans

Sunday morning I began a sermon series on the book of Romans. My goal in starting a new sermon series is to provide a summary and overview of the contents and flow of the book. And sometimes that is best seen in a chart. Here is my current attempt at charting Romans (I reserve to […]

Sermon: God’s Gospel

“God’s Gospel” Romans May 10, 2015 I am rarely at a loss for words. Preachers usually have something to say about most everything. And my personality is that I generally have an opinion about everything, and I often want to express that opinion. I frequently have to force myself not to say something and too […]

Stop letting sin reign

The father had been busy all week and made a plan to have a special time with his son. So Saturday morning, off they went. First stop? The donut shop. A few minutes later they were headed down the road. “Dad, can I hold the donut holes?” An interesting proposition that was fraught with possibilities! […]

Thanks be to God for freedom

While on vacation a number of years ago, we turned on the hotel television to watch the morning news and were greeted with images from France. President Clinton was honoring fallen veterans on Omaha Beach. Crosses — lots of crosses (some without names) — marking a sea of graves of men who never made it […]

When you look at the church…

In an essay on the life of Dwight Eisenhower, historian Stephen Ambrose recounts the following story: In 1963, when he was filming with Walter Cronkite a television special entitled ‘D-Day Plus 20 Years,’ Cronkite asked [Eisenhower] what he thought about when he returned to Normandy. In reply, Eisenhower spoke not of the tanks, the guns, […]

Good Friday: “Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

“Why Have You Forsaken Me?” Mark 15:33-34 April 18, 2014 (Good Friday Communion Service) How do you estimate something’s value? If you own a home, you can have a property evaluator or insurance adjuster come to your home and give you and estimate of your property’s value. If you own a car, you can take […]

Sermon: The Gifts of the Spirit, Pt. 2

The Gifts of the Spirit, Pt. 2 Romans 12:3-8 March 30, 2014 There are many characteristics of Christianity that set it apart from all the religions of the world: Only Christianity recognizes the extent of man’s sinfulness and inability to do good to save himself from the judgment of God. Only the God of Christianity […]

Sermon: The Gifts of the Spirit

The Gifts of the Spirit, Pt. 1 Romans 12:3-8 March 23, 2014 Gifts are funny things — sometimes what we think would be a nice gift for someone is hardly noticed or received well; other times something we think is insignificant or even inappropriate is the favorite gift of all. Many years ago — back […]

What God changes at salvation

The writer to the Hebrews exhorts his readers to “consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (12:3). In other words, one antidote to discouragement, despondency, and depression is a serious consideration and meditation on the work of Christ. To that end, […]