Without an understanding of the gospel, we are not likely to appreciate the word repentance. Repentance is for most people a bad word. It sounds harsh and judgmental to say we need to repent. It sounds like it leads to the death of fun and...
Worship is the expression of the relationship of grace and faith that we have with God. This relationship (called a covenant in the Bible) is foundational. God calls, saves, keeps, and leads us by grace. We respond to him in faith. Faith is trust, love,...
One of the reasons the Bible has been such a challenge for me over the years is because some of God's people are so flawed and they do such horrible things. I still have trouble getting my head around some of the people and events...
This Sunday at Grace I will be preaching a sermon from perhaps the most graphic and disturbing passage in the Bible, outside of the crucifixion of Jesus. A woman is given up by her husband in exchange for his own life to a band of...
I awoke this morning to the news that five police officers were killed in Dallas at a march protesting the death of two men killed by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota. I am working on the sermon for Sunday from the book of Judges that...
A moment of honesty hereÂ…Judges is one of those books that I have not been eager to preach. I'm sure there are hardcore pastors who relish the thought of talking about battles and blood, and preaching through Judges is permission for them to do so....
This Sunday at Grace we will bring our Philippians sermons to a close. Finishing a sermon series on a book of the Bible feels a bit like saying "good-bye" to a friend after a rich conversation over a long meal. We'll always be friends but...
We read the Bible through the lens of individualism. I often preach that way. A discipline I am learning is to read, think, pray, and live corporately. Here's an example. The past couple of weeks at Grace we have considered passages in Philippians 4 that address...
A couple of times in my life I have been driving in my car and suddenly realized that I didn't recognize where I was. I had become so deep in thought that I made driving decisions without conscious awareness of where I was going. Thankfully...
Some of the most difficult sermons to preach are those that touch on human emotions and experiences that are raw. These can also be the most difficult ones to listen to. Why is that? Consider the passage we will deal with this Sunday. Philippians 4:4-7 tells...
