Archives for June 2017

Psalm 1, Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Psalm 103, Psalm 110, Psalm 121 and Psalm 139. These are just a few of my favorite Psalms. Through the years, I have prayed these Psalms, memorized them, preached them, and turned to them in dozens of counseling situations. In fact, I remember one Sunday a few years ago when in preaching Galatians, I called an audible and preached Psalm 103, b...

The Bible begins with a marriage, and it ends with a marriage. In fact, the goal of all humanity is a spiritual union between Christ and his bride the Church. In between, we must decide if we will abide by God's design for marriage or design our own. To be completely honest, every single one of us has sinned and fallen short of God's ideal for sex and marriage. Born outsi...

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;it was granted her to clothe herself with fi...

On paper, we Americans are all about putting children first. You see it everywhere from politicians who perennially promise "to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren," to people who step out of public life to "spend more time with their children," to otherwise divorcing couples who vow to stay together "for the children." We want our children to have the...

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow worker...

When Paul finishes his doctrinal defense of the resurrection, he says, "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (15:58). Clearly, in his mind the resurrection is not an esoteric point of doctrine; rather, it fuels ministry andmissions. Indeed, in 1 Corinthians 16 ...

A few months ago I wrote about the importance of hospitality and five ways to show hospitality in the church. Today, I want to offer five more. While much hospitality focuses on individuals or families opening their homes to others, a vital practice which enables "house churches" to meet (e.g., Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19), I am focusing attention on churches gatheri...

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For Christ also suffered once for sins,the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 3:18 In and around the church, there hasalways been a group of theolo...