Our relationships will change us. If we are married, we are one with our spouses (Gen. 2:24) and through years together we increasingly become like one another — our life philosophies become unified, our desires become singular, our words and vocabularies mimic one another, and we become increasingly dependent on one another. What we were […]
Read More Our union with Christ“Since Grace is Grace…” Pt. 4 Romans 6:8-11 February 4, 2018 In her book, How Did I Get to Be Forty and Other Atrocities, Judith Viorst recounts her “Self-Improvement Program:” I’ve finished six pillows in Needlepoint, And I’m reading Jane Austen and Kant, And I’m up to the pork with black beans in Advanced Chinese […]
Read More Sermon: Since grace is grace (Pt 4)“Since Grace is Grace…” Pt. 3 Romans 6:6-7 January 28, 2018 In his tremendously helpful book, The Enemy Within, Kris Lundgaard writes this in the opening chapter, “Evil at My Elbow:” All I wanted to do was surprise my wife. Since we had moved into our new house almost a year ago, the refrigerator door […]
Read More Sermon: Since grace is grace (Pt 3)“Since Grace is Grace…” Pt. 2 Romans 6:3-5 January 21, 2018 Yesterday our family went to the Fort Worth Stock Show. We attempt to do that at least one day every year and yesterday was our day. Where we park, we always start with the animal barns. Though we didn’t do it completely yesterday, we […]
Read More Sermon: Since grace is grace (Pt 2)“Grace is the daily motivation for us to press closer toward Christ, to ‘be daily hungering and thirsting after him, and daily receiving from his fullness, even grace for grace; that you may rejoice in his all-sufficiency, may taste his love in every dispensation.’ We seek more grace by seeking to experience more Christ.” [Tony […]
Read More Grace: the motive for sanctificationThe enticement to sin often seems like a good idea. The consequences appear to be minimal and the pleasure appears to be maximum. And there is always the lavishness of God’s forgiving grace, should one decide that the sin really wasn’t a good idea. So goes the temptation for even many believers. I have heard […]
Read More Why licentiousness is a bad idea“Since Grace is Grace…” Pt. 1 Romans 6:1-2 January 14, 2018 Two years ago, the former director of Exodus International, a ministry designed to help people struggling with Same-Sex Attraction from a biblical perspective, said this about his understanding about sin: I think, as Christians, sin is irrelevant. I look at what Jesus did on […]
Read More Sermon: Since grace is grace (Pt 1)Most believers affirm the difficulty in communicating the gospel. Telling the gospel is hard. But telling the gospel is also a privileged joy. The Lord has entrusted the communication of his salvation plan to — us! We are the vessels (ordinary, weak, cracked, and broken) into which God has placed the eternal and infinitely rich […]
Read More Some ways to increase your evangelism in 2018“Prayer and the Gospel” Ephesians 6:18-20 January 7, 2018 One of my annual goals is to read at least one book each year on evangelism. So this week I read Rico Tice’s book, Honest Evangelism: How to Talk About Jesus When It’s Tough. In his introduction he writes: I find evangelism hard. The problem with […]
Read More Sermon: Prayer and the GospelI’ve always liked to read, and I supposed that’s a benefit for me since so much of what I do as a pastor is bound up in study and reading. I read a lot. I read a significant amount in preparation for my sermons each week — typically somewhere between 15-20 commentaries on the passage […]
Read More The best books I read in 2017The spiritual life is not complicated. It can be difficult, but it’s not complicated. Growth in the spiritual life and development in Christlikeness happens as we take in God’s Word and then apply that Word. And taking in God’s Word begins with reading it, then studying it, meditating on it, memorizing it, and finally applying […]
Read More Reading your Bible in 2018Cheryl Treadway and her three children were being held hostage by her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson. He evidently was high on methamphetamine and threatening her with a knife if she attempted to leave. Trapped and scared, Treadway took the only course of action she could think of — she received permission from Nickerson and then ordered […]
Read More Will God help me?“Life’s Questions and God’s Word” Psalm 119:81-88 December 31, 2017 It’s hard to think about Americans being persecuted for their faith for two reasons: While our country was founded largely for a pursuit of religious freedom, that very pursuit of religious freedom has largely kept believers from being persecuted for our faith since that time. […]
Read More Life’s Questions and God’s Word“The Greatest Christmas Gift” John 6:37, 39 December 24, 2017 This might be the most extravagant, unexpected gift given this year. Two weeks ago a man walked into the “5 & Diner” restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ for a Saturday morning breakfast. He ordered an ordinary bacon and eggs breakfast with coffee. The bill came to […]
Read More The Greatest Christmas GiftThe word “Christmas” elicits many sensory responses: the vanilla, buttery smell of spritz cookies baking, the sounds of excited children whispering with giggling anticipation about gifts and Christmas songs at church, in the car, on iTunes, and at the mall and Home Depot, the sights of houses lit up in various kinds of splendor every […]
Read More What will you see at Christmas?
Words of Grace 