“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”— John 15:13 When I was a kid, I grew up admiring the military uniform from afar. Living on the East Coast, I was surrounded by history that was only a short drive away—Harpers Ferry, Point Lookout, Gettysburg, and Antietam…
There’s a lot to get to in this post, so let’s jump right in. From the cutting room floor: If you’ve followed my musings for a few years, you’ll notice that sometimes I add things to this that I took out of my Sunday sermon. I usually do this for two reasons: 1) I didn’t think…
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need the Lord to stop me in my tracks and slow me down. I often get caught up in my own thoughts and can easily become overwhelmed. It’s always nice to be reminded how to eat an elephant – one bit at a time. Sometimes, the most important thing to…
Speaking of idols, Psalm 115:8 says, “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” We become like the person or thing we worship. The reason this is true is that when our hearts admire someone, we imitate them. Some have said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Consider a young boy…
The last six weeks have been a challenge. Many of you asked me if I was okay after Sunday. Many of you have never seen me cry the way I did at the beginning of the sermon, and others saw tears combined with me checking my phone and thought something was wrong. I greatly appreciate the…
To say I’ve been looking forward to our study of James would be an understatement. I’m thrilled to be in this book. One reason: it’s WAY different than Genesis. It’s shorter, and the study and prep work will focus on shorter sections of scripture. I’m eager to dig deep into the language and think deeply about each section. The other…
Sunday was another privilege to share God’s word and mission with our church. Over the last few weeks, we have introduced our church’s mission statement and ministry process to our church. We have attempted to share some non-negotiables and how people connect and grow at CLF. It’s been a clarifying series. This past Sunday was about growing…
This post has much to cover, so let’s get to it. Clarifications After Sunday’s service, Chris Guastaferro sent this text to our elder group thread: “The example you gave about sick kids. I want to make sure I understand. Are we encouraging parents to attend even with sick kids? I’m sure I misunderstood.” My response was, “Haha! No.…
My favorite sermon topics are those about mundane life. In this post, I want to clarify some points and give practical advice on serving Christ right where we are. The Lure of the Secret As a young Christian, I was deeply concerned about missing God’s will. I worried I would somehow miss God’s signs and wanted…
The lifelong lessons of Jacob and his family keep coming. Remembering his compromise and his son’s overzealous actions is a great reminder that there is never a time in our lives to get sloppy or lazy. As leaders, there’s too much at stake. As young people who tend to be more zealous and idealistic, it’s imperative that you lean into older, seasoned, experienced, and mature Christians as you navigate how to deal with the stuff you see in your world. I’m sure you’ll find that there are many warriors who’ve gone before you who have learned how to engage in this spiritual war in a way that honors the Lord and makes an impact.
So, when we look around the world today and see the confusion about any of the issues listed in Genesis 2, we need to realize that it’s because sin and Satan have clouded our vision of what God intended and why God gave us these things. There is no confusion with God. The confusion is with us. We want something other than what He lovingly gave us. That’s the issue with us and our world.
There is quite a bit of content that I want to get to in this post, but let me start with a few areas of conviction from the message from Haggai. The Lord used Haggai to “adjust” me a bit in these areas.
We must admit that much of the confusion about gender and gender roles is not because God is not clear or that God has not spoken. It has to do with the Church misapplying or even in some cases, abusing the truth. This has created an overreaction in our world to these abuses or misapplication (not in every situation). The Church, must not only correct these misapplications and abuses, but we must live lives in our manhood and womanhood for the glory of God and the good of others.
When the power of God goes to work in our lives after we believe in the gospel, God begins to open our spiritual eyes and appetite to a variety of things. One of the areas that happened to me was beginning to see that God has provided all things for us to “richly enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).
There is so much to be said about the Church. I really wanted to help all of us see how the Church benefits to our souls. The combo of “drawing near to God” and “drawing near to one another” was challenging for us. Especially in the independent and isolated Northwest. My hope was that we would see how valuable and precious the family gatherings are to us and that we should make them a priority in our lives and calendars.
I have really enjoyed this sermon series. In hearing from many of you, it seems this series has been needed and encouraging. My prayer is that it’s a good launching point for 2021. We are children of God…adopted by God’s grace; representing Jesus in this world; empowered to overcome sin and the grave; and we love Jesus more than our lives.
It is always amazing to me how the Lord providentially puts us in a text that fits perfectly with issues in our world. That was certainly true this past Sunday.
A major principle: Love should win the day because Christ has won our hearts. Let that guide all of this.
Doing an overview of 1 Corinthians 5-7 is a challenge due to the vast amount of information that is covered. When I went back and reviewed for this sermon, I was struck that I had preached 10 sermons in these 3 chapters. So…taking that information and reducing it into 1 sermon was a fun challenge.
The texts from 1 Corinthians 7 have been incredibly challenging to interpret and then make clear. Much of the dilemma is cultural, but the syntax, grammar, and language also made these sections really hard. So, my prayer is that throughout this chapter, it has been clear and hopefully, encouraging and helpful.
ALL of God’s people are in ministry, at one level or another. And when Jesus enters our lives, he doesn’t expect us to move, change locations/jobs/spouses/etc., to be better Christians or be more acceptable to God.
I added some thoughts in 1st service that I didn’t add in the 2nd, and vice-versa. For instance, in the 2nd service, one thought I gave that I didn’t say in the 1st service, was that as Christian parents, raising Christian kids, the tendency is to treat sex as bad, rather than good, when it’s in it’s right context.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve had a desire to provide hope and help during all the craziness. As I mentioned at the outset of yesterday, our goal has been to shed some light on the reality of the craziness…a historical battle about the supremacy of Jesus.
A full day of services, preaching 3 services, and hearing other voices in the church building…let the musings begin. Sunday’s services: I cannot tell you how excited I was (and am) about Sunday’s services. It’s the first time since March 15th that we had an in-person church service. I didn’t sleep well (more on that in a moment) but I was full of faith…
In the weirdness of our times, I really cannot thank you guys enough. Our church has been so encouraging and helpful throughout this time. I’ve heard from many of you, expressing your gratitude, as well as giving us areas of improvement. The gracious critiques, as well as the encouraging words from you have been amazing. Thank you! Also, coming up in the coming weeks, after hearing…
One of the things that I don’t want you to miss, as we’re blitzing through these 4 books, is that we’re covering a lot of ground, in a very short time. Believe me when I tell you, if we were studying each of these books, and allowing them to “breathe” a little, we would take a lot more time mining the depth…
This past week, as I was thinking through various things (kids starting school, the blitz of a summer, leadership meeting, Sunday gathering, Sovereign Grace Council of Elders, etc.), I was reminded of Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 4:7 when he wrote, “What do you have that you have not received?” A phrase like this causes you to pause of a moment and…
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a sermon by Thomas Chalmers. I couldn’t remember the name of the sermon, until…the moment I walked off the stage:). This sermon is about how a growing affection for Jesus, will expel sin from our hearts. This is a sermon that’s great for people like us….who’s hearts are “a factory of idols.” Here’s the link that will lead…
My daughter, Abi, who’s one of our most direct, honest communicators, said to me last night…”Dad, I have to admit, I can never tell a difference between your inside voice and your outside voice.” My voice isn’t in “mid-season form” yet, as one of my coaches recently told me and luckily the Lord kept me from sounding like I had gone back to…
No one will ever have a successful marriage, let alone one filled with intimacy and romance without a firm understanding of what that is supposed to look like form a biblical standpoint. (Ephesians 5) Every marriage is unique because couples are unique. Your marriage will not look exactly like mine or anyone else’s. But every marriage between two born again believers joined…
This past Sunday we started a new sermon series on the Sufficiency of Scripture. It was fun. There are times and themes that we teach on periodically that are just a blast to talk about. And this one is one of those themes for me. I can’t wait to learn throughout this month how Scripture is sufficient to equip me, help me…
Jesus’ famous words ring in my head, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29, ESV). How can a yoke bring rest? A yoke implies woak…hard work. And yet, these words from Jesus declare something that we all long for…rest for our souls.…
Part of my morning routine is reading from Mornings and Evenings by C.H. Spurgeon. The January 6th morning read was another reminder of how caring God is for His people. Maybe you’re like me and you’re a bit of a worrier. Most of my worry comes in the form of stress. I worry about my health, about my kids, and about church-related things.…
The start of the New Year is always interesting for me. Like most, I spend some time reflecting on the past year and wondering what was good and what was not good. I examine what spiritual disciplines I should change and what routines of life I need to adjust. And for the most part, this usually leads me to something new that…
This past Sunday we studied Hebrews 5:11-14 in our series through this book. So far in this book we have studied three different warnings and each warning has caused us to take time to do a spiritual check-up. This past Sunday was no different. These type of texts in Scripture are challenging and convicting. In these texts, we see places in our…
