Sermon: When Life is Hard

When Life is Hard… Romans 12:12-13 November 1, 2020 I am what you might call a “fair-weather exerciser.” I prefer to get my exercise outdoors, but I prefer to get it within certain parameters. I don’t like it (and generally won’t go) when it’s over 80° and I definitely won’t go when it’s below 40° […]

The priority of loving one another

Perhaps the most-recognized attribute of God is His love. And it is true. God is love (1 Jn. 5:16). God not only loves, but His very nature is love — His identity is love. His nature is love and He loves — He acts lovingly (1 Jn. 4:10). Further, all love emanates from Him (1 […]

Sermon: Relationships in Christ’s Church

Relationships in Christ’s ChurchRomans 12:9-11October 18, 2020 While the Bible is a big book, we sometimes forget the simplicity and conciseness of its teaching. It is a big book, but the overall message is not complicated. When I share the gospel I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone say, “wait a minute — that’s really […]

Sermon: The Character of Love

The Character of Love 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 May 12, 2019 What is love?… One cartoon explained it this way: “Love is what one feels when one meets a person who has a very profound impact upon one, and meets all of one’s psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs.…It’s either that, or, when one’s heart goes pitter-patter.” […]

Have holy conversations

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is from The Great Gain of Godliness. Christians, when they meet together, should use holy conference.…Have not you matter enough in the Word to furnish you with something to say? Let me suggest a few things to […]

Sermon: Love One Another, Part 3

Love One Another, Pt. 3 1 John 4:15-21 June 15, 2014 Some things that should be self-evident aren’t as obvious as we might suppose. When he was a football coach, Buddy Ryan was known as being a no-nonsense, tough-nosed coach. He learned well from his father, as an article from 1994 recounts: Leaving Korea as […]

Sermon: Love One Another, Part 2

Love One Another, Pt. 2 1 John 4:11-14 June 8, 2014 It is perhaps the worst case of amnesia in the world. Deborah Wearing tells the story of her husband, Clive: Clive had no idea that Tuesday, March 26, 1985 would be his last day of conscious thought. We weren’t ready. Did he feel his […]

Sermon: Love One Another, Part 1

Love One Another, Pt. 1 1 John 4:7-10 June 1, 2014 While it is true that you never stop being a parent, there are definitely particular transitions in the process of parenting, and this weekend Raye Jeanne and I are crossing one of the big transitions: for the first time, neither of our girls will […]

The sinners in our lives

Jason Helopoulos writes about a common relational circumstance and then offers a hopeful encouragement: Many of us have friends, sons, daughters, wives, and husbands who we struggle to keep hope alive for. They are resistant to the Gospel. Their lives are not only filled with sin, but dominated and controlled by it. Some of the […]

Rescued

Here is a story of rescue and redemption from the former senior pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Skip Ryan (he’s now an assoc. pastor there). It’s worth 15 minutes of your time to see how God redeems sin for our good and His glory: HT: Dane Ortlund.

What good is a brother?

“To sum up, let all be…brotherly…” (1 Pet. 3:8; NASB) In the past couple of decades a new kind of profession has developed. This professional is, “a blend of consultant, motivator, therapist, manager, and friend. Who are these people? Personal coaches, who help people ‘define and achieve their goals — career, personal, or both.’ Coaches […]

Treat others…how?

Grace Slan lived and died in a secret world where time stood still. When police entered her two-room flat in London they thought they had stepped into another era, a museum exhibit or a film set. Outside, planes buzzed overhead and traffic jammed city streets. Inside, the 81-year-old woman lived in a dark, solitary world […]

When you are sinned against

You cannot keep people from sinning against you. You will be treated unjustly. You will be lied to and gossiped about. Ungodly accusations will be spoken against you — and said directly to you. Others will be angry with you — sometimes because they have misunderstood you and sometimes because they understood you. Sometimes people […]

Why do you enter relationships?

Preparing for my sermon on Sunday, I came across this statement by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp: We enter relationships for personal pleasure, self-actualization, and fun. We want low personal cost and high self-defined returns. But God wants high personal cost and high God-defined returns. And although we frequently disagree with God, his plan is […]

Do friends let friends sin?

There is a cultural sentiment that if you love someone then you will not confront that person’s sinful choices. To do so is profoundly unloving, the thinking goes. Yet if we love one another, we will still abhor sin and cling to everything good (Rom. 12:9). And that is true of our relationships as well. […]