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Sovereignty

The Big Story

If you’ve been in our church for very long, you have heard me talk about long-term faithfulness. In my mind, Joseph is the first biblical case study of that. We obviously can’t miss the big story of why God put Joseph in Egypt. Joseph was there to provide for God’s people during the famine in Egypt. He was also there to bring Israel to Egypt, eventually bringing Israel’s growth and Exodus to the Promised Land.  But Joseph’s faithful service, no matter where he landed.  The Lord brought favor in leaders’ eyes each time—from the jailer to Potiphar to Pharaoh. 

Trusting God’s Timing

Hallelujah!  What a Savior! Wasn’t that a great day at church?  Resurrection Day service followed by baptisms was a great way to celebrate our Savior.  I was reminded on Sunday about Luke 15:7, when Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”  The joy of our people hearing testimonies and observing baptisms was heaven-like.  What a day!  

The Im-Possible

One point I didn’t have time to cover in the sermon is something that I find very important when thinking about God doing the impossible.  Often, people get frustrated or disillusioned with God because they believe He hasn’t come through for them on issues not clearly addressed in His Word.  Let me explain.

Abram looks at the stars.

Lessons from Sarai and Hagar

I don’t know if enough attention gets drawn to the idols of our hearts.  Idols are generally not evil or sinful things. Usually, they are good things that we want too much and want now.  They move from desires to needs.  They become things we crave and think we cannot live without.  And they dominate our thinking.  

Hand reaches down from the clouds to a child's hand.

Missing Something?

In the last two posts, I have mentioned how I’ve been dealing with some spiritual ‘heart’ issues.  In the 34 years of Christian ministry, I have found that the Lord does not leave me alone, and He normally walks me through texts that I’m preaching on to get my attention.  That has been true over the last several weeks.  Some of you have asked me about this.  You’ve noticed a sober approach to my preaching that you haven’t seen before or that the sermons seem more personal than usual to me. 

A Reminder, Hypocrisy, and Genesis

One point of clarity that I want to bring up from Sunday is that I believe there should be a time to discuss things like “old-earth,” “young-earth,” science challenges to the Bible, and so forth.  I just don’t think that it has a place in the pulpit for a Sunday morning gathering.  I think the point of that moment is to preach the author’s intent and draw conclusions for the congregation from the author’s intent.