It’s graduation season. Young people around the world are wide-eyed and ready to go do something with their education. When I was in school, I spent as much time thinking about getting out and what I would leave behind as about entering into the future. The closer...
In his meditation on Psalm 81, Charles Spurgeon says the divine voice speaks warnings, promises, and precepts. All three are necessary and good aspects of the word of God. Sometimes we emphasize only one aspect of God’s word. We can hear only the warnings and become fearful...
This Sunday at Grace Community Church we will continue with the theme of congregational ministry, from Romans 15. This week, the focus will be on our ministry beyond ourselves. I sense that this focus on our ministry beyond ourselves is especially important in these days. So...
The central command of Romans 14-15:13 is to welcome one another in the church even when we hold different opinions over nonessential issues of the faith. We have been considering this long section of Romans for a few weeks at Grace Community Church. We have put the vision...
For several weeks we have been considering how God’s mercy in Christ transforms us. When Paul makes an appeal to us by the mercies of God, he is reminding us that God saved us for a purpose (Romans 12:1). The first appeal is that we...
The ice will melt, and the effects of COVID-19 will subside. . .someday. The question is not when will we come to church, but how? As a congregation, we are walking through Romans 12 in prayer and in preaching. This chapter opens with a reference to...
Motivation matters. That’s true because we need motivation to do the right things, and also because we need to do things from the right motive. The mercy of God is our motive and motivation in life. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,...
A good way to read the Bible is from the thirty-thousand feet vantage point. When we do, we see the flow of the grand story of God and the big truths about him and his work. Then, the details are understood in light of the...
Every Christian has what we call “a testimony.” A testimony is an account of how a person became a Christian. Testimonies can include dramatic events that tell of obvious changes in a person’s behavior after coming to faith in Christ. Or they can tell of quiet...
Let me tell you something about myself that concerns me. Sometimes I read and talk more than I pray. I would rather get the perfect book on prayer than actually pray. This morning I read a few news stories and talked to my wife about...
