Singing the Shepherd Song

Singing the Shepherd SongPsalm 23May 12, 2024 Where do you go or what do you do when you are uncomfortable — when you are discouraged, sad, hurting, uncertain about the future (or even today)? You could go to the internet for some suggestions: Comforting Smells — Scents from lavender to rose, cinnamon to vanilla, delivered […]

The Godly Life in an Ungodly World

The Godly Life in an Ungodly WorldPsalm 15May 5, 2024 Gracie Allen, an actress from a couple of generations ago and the wife of comedian George Allen once received an alligator as a gag gift. What do you do with a gift alligator? Who knows? So she put in the bathtub and left for […]

Examples of Steadfastness, Part 2

Examples of Steadfastness, Part 2Selected ScripturesMarch 17, 2024 Many of you have exercise routines. You enjoy getting out in the morning and running for 30-60 minutes, or heading to the gym after work to lift some weights and put in some cardio work. I’m guessing that none of us has a workout routine like Candice […]

Examples of Steadfastness

Examples of SteadfastnessSelected ScripturesMarch 10, 2024 Slowly read Psalm 16. Did you hear what the psalmist said of his relationship with God? “I take refuge in You.” “I have no good besides You.” “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup.” “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my […]

A Prayer for Steadfastness

A Prayer for SteadfastnessColossians 1:9-12March 3, 2024 Patrick Lawler had a persistent toothache. For about a week his tooth had been bothering him. It was bad enough that even his eyesight became blurry. He tried painkillers. They didn’t work. He tried icepacks to reduce the swelling. Nope. He even tried the cure-all for all mouth-related […]

Be Steadfast in the Gospel

Be Steadfast in the Gospel1 Timothy 3:14-16February 25, 2024 After his death, a documentary entitled Won’t You Be My Neighbor? chronicled the life of seemingly everyone’s neighbor, Mr. Rogers. In the film, Rogers’ wife, Joanne reveals a question he asked her shortly before his death: “Am I a sheep?” As he approached his last moments […]

Be Steadfast in Your Suffering

Be Steadfast in Your SufferingRomans 5:3-5February 18, 2024 Christian university professor Mark Talbot tells his story of suffering in When the Stars Disappear: When I was seventeen, I fell about 50 feet off a Tarzan-like rope swing, breaking my back and becoming partially paralyzed from the waist down. I spent six months in hospitals. Initially, […]

Be Steadfast in Fighting Sin

Be Steadfast in Fighting SinRomans 6:12-14February 4, 2024 On a very limited number of occasions — once, maybe twice — I have felt like I had reached the limits of my physical ability. My arms and legs trembling with weariness, I was near the end of my body’s strength. On a few of occasions I’ve […]

What the Spirit has done (and does)

The Galatians overlooked and minimized the work of the Holy Spirit of God. They acknowledged that He was instrumental in their salvation, but they were determined to bypass His work for their ongoing sanctification — they believed that they were capable of sanctifying themselves without His efforts. The temptation that derailed their walk with Christ […]

Sermon: What Can We Eat? (Pt 5)

What Can We Eat? Answers About Liberty (Part 5) Romans 14:19-23 July 4, 2021 If one country wants to demonstrate its appreciation for and friendship with another country, they do what people do when they have friends: they give gifts. But what do you give a country that has everything? That was the question the […]

Sermon: What Can We Eat? (Pt 4)

What Can We Eat? Answers About Liberty (Part 4) Romans 14:13-18 June 27, 2021 Have you noticed how many times a day you are given warnings? Among my favorites On a cup of coffee — “Caution: Contents Hot” (yes, isn’t that the point?) On a Dremel rotary tool: “This product is not intended for use […]

Sermon: What Can We Eat? (Pt 3)

What Can We Eat? Answers About Liberty (Part 3) Romans 14:10-12 June 20, 2021 There are many things that can destroy the unity of the church. Among the most effective tools that Satan uses is the tool of hypocritical pride that takes the form of judgmentalism. Whenever we think we are superior to others in […]

Sermon: What Can We Eat? (Pt 2)

What Can We Eat? Answers About Liberty (Part 2) Romans 14:1-9 June 13, 2021 Seventy-seven years ago, 76 POWs held at the German Stalag Luft III camp fled that camp through a tunnel they had dug under the camp to a location outside the fence of the camp. They had actually dug three tunnels — […]

Sermon: What Can We Eat?

What Can We Eat? Answers About LibertyRomans 14:1-4June 6, 2021 One of the great themes of Romans is the freedom the believer has in Christ: for he who has died is freed from sin (6:7) But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the […]

Sermon: Loving Others, Bearing Burdens

Loving Others, Bearing Burdens Galatians 6:1-5 May 30, 2021 I’ve said it many times. Relationships are hard. It’s not that we don’t like people, but sometimes we just need a break. Sometimes it would just be nice to be a hermit and inaccessible to people (at least we thought that before COVID forced us into […]