Sermon: Life Against the Flesh (Pt 4)

Life in the Spirit, Life Against the Flesh (Pt. 4) Colossians 3:10-17 October 21, 2018 How can one become good? Only by God’s transforming work — which is what Colossians 3 has said — 3:1 — “you have been raised up” (i.e., God raised you) 3:3 — “your life is hidden with Christ” 3:4 — […]

Sermon: Life Against the Flesh (Pt 3)

Life in the Spirit, Life Against the Flesh (Pt 3) Colossians 3:1-9 October 14, 2018 Several years after inventing the radar, Sir Robert Watson Watt was arrested in Canada for speeding. He’d been caught, ironically enough, by a radar trap. To commemorate this infamous event in his life, he wrote a brief poem about himself: […]

Sermon: Life Against the Flesh (Pt 2)

Life in the Spirit, Life Against the Flesh (Pt 2) Colossians 3:1-17 October 7 2018 “In April, 1983, Robert Vierling of Winchester, Missouri was found in his bed, crushed to death by his sixteen-foot, one hundred pound, pet Burmese python. Vierling’s wife said he had complete trust in the snake and often played with it […]

Sermon: Life Against the Flesh

Life in the Spirit, Life Against the Flesh Romans 8:12-13 September 30, 2018 One of the hardest parts of the spiritual life is dealing with the daily reality that we are in a fight. Spiritual maturity does not come easily. Sin rarely waves the white flag of surrender. The flesh often proposes a truce with […]

Sermon: Life in the Spirit, Pt 2

Life in the Spirit, Pt. 2 Romans 8:9-11 September 23, 2018 A couple of years ago a Great Dane was brought into the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland, Oregon because the dog had been retching and vomiting all through the day. The doctors examined the dog with abdominal radiographs and found “a severely distended […]

Sermon: Life in the Spirit

Life in the Spirit Romans 8:5-8 September 16, 2018 Columnist Sydney Harris rightly summarized the feelings of many of us when he observed, “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” Yup. That’s me. However, […]

Sermon: Discerning the Spirits, Part 2

Discerning the Spirits, Pt. 2 1 John 4:1-6 May 18, 2014 I’ve always been pretty curious, and I like to collect questions and somewhere I picked up these: What color is a chameleon on a mirror? Where does weight go when you lose it? Why are Chinese fortune cookies written in English? Why is abbreviated […]

Sermon: Discerning the Spirits

Discerning the Spirits 1 John 4:1-6 May 11, 2014 On this day that we recognize our mothers — and the mothers of our children — we recognize the uniqueness of a mother’s role. And as you have reflected on the way your mother has influenced you, perhaps you’re asking the question today, “what makes my […]

Sunday Leftovers: what in the world is the Holy Spirit doing?

In one of his books, R. C. Sproul quotes a portion of Martin Luther’s final sermon — something preached just days prior to his death in 1546. Among those final words, Luther said: In times past, we would have run to the ends of the world if we had known of a place where we […]

Sermon: What in the world is the Spirit doing today?

What in the World is the Spirit Doing Today? John 16:5-11 May 4, 2014 We live in a crazy world. I know it’s always been that way. But it certainly seems to be getting worse, doesn’t it? It is easy to look at the world and shake one’s head in disbelief at what is happening. […]

Sunday Leftovers: the gifts of the Holy Spirit (tongues)

This morning we considered the sign gifts — the gifts given by the Holy Spirit that were to authenticate the apostolic and prophetic message and messengers — and particularly the gift of tongues, which is the most commonly practiced sign gift today. It is impossible to consider all the biblical teaching on the subject in […]

Sermon: The Gifts of the Spirit (tongues)

The Gifts of the Spirit, Pt. 3 1 Corinthians 14:1-28 April 27, 2014 Over the past two months, we’ve taken a brief excursus from our study of 1 John to study the work of the Holy Spirit. We did this because in 3:24 it says, “We know by this that He abides in us, by […]

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 […]

The holy ointment of the Holy Comforter

Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ’s name and grace. He takes not of his own things, […]