Grab bag

Some helpful articles I’ve bookmarked recently (or not so recently): “How to Pray for Afghan Christians” (Kevin Carson) “Jesus Is Literally All They Have Left” (Randy Alcorn) “9 Things You Should Know About the Taliban” (Joe Carter) “Celebrating 50 Years Of Marriage” (Paul Tripp) “Preaching the Funeral Sermon I Once Most Dreaded” (Hershael York) — […]

Sermon: Jesus Prays

Jesus Prays John 17:20-26 January 3, 2021 Few things reveal the nature and condition of our hearts like prayer (when we are genuine and truthful). That is true as well of the heart of Christ, which makes the Lord’s prayer in John 17 a particularly rich and stimulating passage of Scripture. Of this passage, Melanchthon […]

Sermon: What We Want from the Word

What We Want from the Word Psalm 119:129-136 December 27, 2020 What did you want this week? That’s a fitting question for a week when there is much gift giving. What gifts were you anticipating giving? What kinds of gifts were you hoping to receive (or not receive)? Where did you want to go (or […]

Sermon: A Prayer for One Another

A Prayer for One Another Philippians 1:9-11 January 5, 2020 One of the questions that the elders have been wrestling with (that you will hear more about in our state of the church meeting) is “how do we continue to shepherd well a growing church in a way that honors the Lord?” There are things […]

Why pray?

Two weeks ago, Pastor Keith exhorted us that in thinking about the future of Grace Bible Church, we should be thinking in terms of prayer — that a God-honoring church is a praying church. Last week, we were given an example from Paul’s letter to Colossae of the kinds of prayers to pray, and how […]

Sermon: How Shall We Pray?

How Shall We Pray? — A Prayer for the Future Colossians 1:9-12 August 18, 2019 We have remembered our church’s past. And we have remembered God’s faithfulness in our past. We have given thanks to God for His care for us over the past 40 years. Now what? As we said last Sunday, by the […]

If you have a need, ask God

In a potent, revelatory, and brief set of verses, Jesus upends what His hearers know and believe about prayer. Matthew 7:7-11 contains instruction and hope for praying. But the concise words are more than just “teaching” and “encouragement.” They are revolutionary words about the believer’s prayer life. They are revolutionary and transformative in at least […]

Sermon: The Good Gifts of the Good Father

The Good Gifts of the Good Father Matthew 7:7-11 June 16, 2019 Approximately 80 years ago, the Germans started bombing England in what was known as the Blitz. Over the course of eight months, the Germans dropped 30,000 tons of bombs on Britain, more than half of them on London. While many had nowhere to […]

Sermon: He Prays for You

He Prays for You Romans 8:26-27 December 16, 2018 I saw another article on the topic this week. We are lonely. The Wall Street Journal article even called baby boomers, “The Loneliest Generation,” saying, Baby boomers are aging alone more than any generation in U.S. history, and the resulting loneliness is a looming public health […]

Prayer in the Bible

If you ask any believer in Christ — even a mature believer — if he is satisfied with his prayer life, it is likely that you will receive a negative response. Most believe that they could pray more frequently, pray longer, pray more broadly for more people, and pray more intimately, enjoying the practice of […]

Sermon: Prayer and the Gospel

“Prayer and the Gospel” Ephesians 6:18-20 January 7, 2018 One of my annual goals is to read at least one book each year on evangelism. So this week I read Rico Tice’s book, Honest Evangelism: How to Talk About Jesus When It’s Tough. In his introduction he writes: I find evangelism hard. The problem with […]

A prayer for Election Day

[This prayer is based on 1 Timothy 2:1-8; it might be helpful to read that passage before beginning to read and pray the following prayer.] Our Father, we come to you this morning as needy individuals and as a needy nation. And as we come in need, we first of all also come recognizing our […]

Watch and pray

Several years ago I was driving down a county road through some ranch land a few miles from my house when I saw him. Hanging upside down with his bound hind legs draped over a fence post was a very dead fox. And just like a turtle on a fence, it was obvious he didn’t […]

Keep up daily prayer

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from Heaven Taken by Storm. Keep up daily prayer. Prayer is the bellows that blows up the affections, and a Christian is most active when his affections are most violent. Prayer keeps the trade of […]

Sermon: Pray for One Another

“Pray for One Another” Ephesians 3:14-21 January 3, 2016 In my freshman year in college, I began to grow significantly in my spiritual life. One part of that growth was that I began attending a Wednesday evening Bible study — and part of that study was a prayer time with other men in the church […]