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 — […]

The danger of affirmation

We all like and long for approval. We desire affirmation. We want to be liked. We want the thumbs up of approval and the back slap of affirmation. We want to hear “good job” after a presentation, an “I’m impressed” after a house project, and a “you’re a great parent” from our parents when they […]

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 […]

Setting Goals

While we often wait for the beginning of a new year to think about it, setting goals, evaluating goals, and refining goals is a worthy task for most any day. Many decades ago, Albert Einstein is reputed to have said, “The perfection of means and the confusion of goals is the hallmark of our time.” […]

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 […]

God takes sin seriously

Read Isaiah 6 — even quickly and superficially — and you understand the horror of sin when standing before a holy God. One of our many difficulties with sin is that even for the redeemed and forgiven man, sin still exists. Even when declared righteous by God, we still sin and God is concerned with […]

Books to encourage your sanctification

Romans 12-13 is about some everyday practices in the believer’s life that need sanctification. Both the first verses (12:1-2) and the last verse (13:14) of that section emphasize the basic steps of sanctification: Aggressively put off sin Joyfully put on Christ and righteous replacements of sin Intentionally cultivate a renewed way of thinking To help […]

Enjoying Christ and His gifts

Sanctification is a long (life-long) process that is hampered by painful battles against the flesh, temptation, and sin as well as the hard task of enduring in doing what is right. It’s hard. But it’s not complicated. The pathway to sanctification is also the road to Christ. That is, if you want to be sanctified […]

Sermon: The Holiness of God

The Holiness of God Isaiah 6:1-8 May 9, 2021 Early in his ministry, Donald Grey Barnhouse, the famed preacher of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, was invited to preach at Princeton Theological Seminary, the school from which he’d graduated a few years earlier. One of the school’s most prominent professors, Dr. Robert Dick Wilson, was […]

The Hard Work of Sanctification

As believers we cannot expect a life of ease; in fact, we should anticipate a life of labor. We labor to serve one another in the church. We labor to disciple and discipline our children well. We labor to cultivate and develop our spiritual gifts. We labor not to sin — to control our personal […]

Sermon: It’s Time (Pt 3)

It’s Time (Part 3) Romans 13:11-14 May 2, 2021 In 1899 just months after being sworn in as governor of New York, Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech in Chicago which remained one of his most well-known and well-loved oratorical masterpieces. In it, he calls the technologically-growing, wealth-amassing Americans to be wary of the life of […]

Sermon: It’s Time (Pt 2)

It’s Time (Part 2) Romans 13:11-14 April 25, 2021 In 1940, Japan formed an alliance with Axis powers Germany and Italy, to the dismay of Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet. He protested the alliance without success and then set about the task of preparing for what he perceived as an inevitable war […]

Sermon: It’s Time (Pt 1)

It’s Time (Part 1) Romans 13:11-14 April 11, 2021 Larry Walters had always dreamed of flying, but because of poor eyesight was unable to get into the US Air Force. So he made his living with another kind of transportation service — driving a truck. But he would still frequently think about flying. At some […]

Service and Suffering

We all know the priority of service. But how is it possible to serve when you are suffering? That is is an important question because all of us suffer hardship. Christ Himself acknowledged that fact — “In the world you have tribulation…” (John 16:33). And this has been our very own experience. We have various […]

Sermon: The Resurrected and Revealed Savior

The Resurrected and Revealed Savior John 21:1-14 April 4, 2021, Resurrection Day What is your source of discouragement today? What is keeping you awake and night and occupying your thoughts when you have quiet moments during the day, or even when you are in conversation with friends? What is enticing you to not just buy […]