There is an ordinariness to life. Most days are not filled with remarkable and extraordinary events, but a succession of events that are very, dare I say it?, mundane. To say “life is mundane” sounds pessimistic. Or fatalistic. It sounds like one has resigned himself to inescapable ordinariness — he has given up his dreams […]
Read More Life is mundaneLove Still More1 John 4:7-11August 14, 2022 The number/letter combination A113 is seemingly everywhere in animated movies. It’s Andy’s mom’s license plate number in Toy Story; It’s a door number in Monsters University; It’s the courtroom number in Up; It’s the camera model number in Finding Nemo; It’s on a rat’s ear tag in Ratatouille; […]
Read More Sermon: Love Still MoreComfort Still More2 Corinthians 1:1-7August 7, 2022 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor and theologian in Germany in the 1930s and 40s. He not only was opposed to the doctrine of Naziism, but was one of only a few pastors to publicly oppose Hitler and his regime. His vocalism against Hitler propelled him into leadership of […]
Read More Sermon: Comfort Still MoreFixing Our Eyes on JesusHebrews 12:1-3July 31, 2022 In 1948, Dutch physicist Hessel de Vries began doing some research on the two daughters of a colorblind father and discovered that their eyes perceived colors differently from both their father and others with normal color perception. Our eyes perceive color through the cones in our eyes; […]
Read More Sermon: Fixing Our Eyes on JesusVictorious FaithHebrews 11:32-40July 24, 2022 They have been called “The Most Crushing Losses in Sports History,” “The Hall of Flameout,” and “Snatching Defeat from the Hands of Victory.” They are sports events that are considered major failures, gaffs, and defeats. For years, ABC captured the sense of loss on Wide World of Sports with an […]
Read More Sermon: Victorious FaithLiving by Faith in Our Great GodHebrews 11:30-31June 19, 2022 In his book Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? Robert Wells exposes the size of the universe in understandable terms: The largest animal on earth is the blue whale.… But a blue whale isn’t anywhere near as big as a mountain. If […]
Read More Sermon: Living by Faith in Our Great GodChoosing to Live by Faith: Living with UncertaintyHebrews 11:27-29June 5, 2022 In Malaysia there is a relatively small group of people (59,000) called the Semai. They might be fairly typical of what you might think about a Southeast Asian culture: they are sustained economically primarily through farming and hunting, they live in small, isolated […]
Read More Sermon: Choosing to Live by Faith, Pt. 2Choosing to Live by FaithHebrews 11:23-26May 29, 2022 In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz tells of a trip to his local moderately sized grocery store. He found 285 varieties of cookies, 13 sports drinks, 65 box drinks, 85 kids’ juices, 75 iced teas, 95 types of chips and pretzels, 15 kinds of bottled water, […]
Read More Sermon: Choosing to Live by FaithWednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity, Part I: “Man’s Chief End.” We glorify God, by being contented in that state in which Providence has placed us. We give God the glory of his wisdom, when we rest […]
Read More We glorify God by being contentedIn Ecclesiastes, Solomon does a Q&A with himself on a variety of life topics. Listen in as Solomon conducts this “interview” with himself. Q: What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? (1:3) A: All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is […]
Read More Q&A with King SolomonDavid Brainerd: As long as I see any thing to be done for God, life is worth having: but O how vain and unworthy it is, to live for any lower end! HT: CQOD.
Read More A life worth havingC. S. Lewis makes some helpful observations about greater and lesser things in an essay in God in the Dock. The first few paragraphs I quote lead one to personal application — if I pursue anything more than I delight in and desire God, I am an idolator and will have neither the thing I […]
Read More Greater things, lesser things, and our cultureWhat we do in ministry, we do so that God is glorified, and not us (1 Pt. 4:11). Everything we do in service of Him, we do so that He is glorified. Now the term, “God is glorified” is used commonly but is often not carefully defined. By working for God’s glory, we mean two […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers — you and your ministryAuthor George Bernard Shaw went to visit fellow Brit and sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein on one occasion. As the artist showed the writer his studio, Shaw noticed a huge block of stone in the corner and asked Epstein what his intention was for the granite. “I don’t know yet. I’m still making plans.” “You mean […]
Read More A steadfast mindHT: Justin Taylor.
Read More Can there be meaning in life without God?
Words of Grace 