“Semper Reformanda: Always Needing Reformation” Romans 12:2 December 10, 2017 On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted 95 theses for theological debate in an effort to transform the Roman Catholic Church. He hardly anticipated when he posted and printed those 95 topics that he was lighting the fuse that would create the dynamic explosion that […]
Read More Sermon: Semper Reformanda“Sola Gratia: a Pillar of the Reformation” Ephesians 2:8-10 November 19, 2017 In late November of 1988, a 19-year-old woman fell asleep while driving shortly after midnight on a Los Angeles freeway. The car went through a guard rail on an overpass. But the left rear wheel got trapped by that guard rail and left […]
Read More Sermon: Sola Gratia“Solus Christus: the Center of the Reformation” Colossians 1:15-20 November 12, 2017 Rowland Taylor was a Reformer living in England who died on February 9, 1555. He was identified as a Protestant, questioned, imprisoned, and then taken from London to his hometown of Hadleigh “where to his great delight [he was] to be burned before […]
Read More Sermon: Solus Christus“Sola Scriptura: the Foundation of the Reformation” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 November 5, 2017 The passage before us this morning is well known to us: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good […]
Read More Sermon: Sola Scriptura“Luther, the Reformation, and You” Selected Scriptures October 29, 2017 You might say that the Reformation began because a church building program went awry. Pope Leo X wanted to paint the church ceiling, but he wanted a man named Michelangelo to paint it, and because of Leo’s other art expenditures, he couldn’t afford the project. […]
Read More Sermon: Luther, the Reformation, and You“A Tale of Two Men, and the Supremacy of Christ” Pt. 4 Romans 5:18-21 October 15, 2017 There is a notion among unbelievers that Christians and the Bible don’t understand real life — that we live sheltered lives away from harsh realities and burdens. You don’t have to read far in the Bible to see […]
Read More Sermon: A Tale of Two Men (Pt. 4)“A Tale of Two Men, and the Supremacy of Christ” Pt. 3 Romans 5:15-17 October 1, 2017 I suppose that I was 10 or 11 when my 4- or 5-year-old brother introduced me to the following lyrics: One of these things is not like the others One of these things just doesn’t belong Can you […]
Read More Sermon: A Tale of Two Men (Pt. 3)“A Tale of Two Men, and the Long History of Sin” Pt. 2 Romans 5:13-14 September 17, 2017 How long? Don’t you wonder sometimes how long it will take to get something completed? How long will it take to finish the road work on 377 through Benbrook? How many more years can a nine-month pregnancy […]
Read More Sermon: A Tale of Two Men (Pt. 2)“A Tale of Two Men, and the Sad Story of Sin’s Origin” Pt. 1 Romans 5:12 September 10, 2017 If you read the news most days, you will find many stories that are filled with tragedy and senselessness that inevitably leads us to ask, “why?” Why does a man drink alcohol and then get behind […]
Read More Sermon: A Tale of Two Men (Pt. 1)“The Blessings of Justification” Pt. 4 Romans 5:9-11 August 27, 2017 One pastor decided to take his family, including his four children on vacation — “We’re going to Junction City, Kansas,” he said. “It’s where my dad used to pastor a church, and we can have lots of fun there — they have playgrounds, and […]
Read More Sermon: The Blessings of Justification, Pt 4“The Blessings of Justification” Pt. 2 Romans 5:3-5 August 13, 2017 Four years ago, Ryan Boomershine, a principle of a Christian school in Nashville, wrote this account: Last Wednesday, the third day of this year, I was working at my desk at school when Christie called me on my cell. She said a jumble of […]
Read More Sermon: The Blessings of Justification, Pt 2“The Blessings of Justification” Pt. 1 Romans 5:1-2 August 6, 2017 Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.” So the day that Raye Jeanne and I got married, I knew I was a blessed man. Only a little more than a year before we […]
Read More Sermon: The Blessings of Justification, Pt 1“The Message of Justification: Delivered and Resurrected for Us” Romans 4:23-25 July 23, 2017 In Geneva, Switzerland, there is a park near the church where John Calvin preached and conducted his ministry. In that park there is a memorial wall containing the statues of 10 of the leading men of the 16th Century Reformation. The […]
Read More Sermon: Delivered and Resurrected for Us“By Faith Alone” Part 2 Romans 4:17-22 July 16, 2017 This week I read this statement by John MacArthur in Justification by Faith Alone: “No doctrine is more important to evangelical theology than the doctrine of justification by faith alone.” That’s a strong statement. J. I. Packer affirmed that statement when he wrote, “Martin Luther […]
Read More Sermon: By Faith Alone, Part 2“By Faith Alone” Romans 4:17-22 July 9, 2017 On October 31 this year, we will mark the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses (topics for debate) on the door of the Wittenberg (Castle) Church. Historians typically interpret that event as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. And the Reformation is vital to […]
Read More Sermon: By Faith Alone
Words of Grace 