Categories
Prophets

Grand Theft Wife

02-Aug-15 2 Samuel 11:26-12:7a Most of us, I think, are fairly familiar with the treachery and conniving that King David engaged in, in order to secure a new love interest for himself. The story of David and Bathsheba is a complicated account of lust gone wrong in just about as many ways as possible. It […]

Categories
Epistles

Aspirations of Grace

26-Jul-15 Ephesians 3:14-21 From time to time, the Apostle Paul says something very practical and very understandable. When that happens, it is usually something that we can stick our teeth into, chew on it like good, healthy food, and ultimately have our lives transformed by it. This isn’t one of those passages. At other times, […]

Categories
Prophets

Dance!

12-July-15 2 Samuel 6 What we’re looking at this morning is a grand celebration gone sour. The Ark of the Covenant, which had long been forgotten and neglected, is finally coming home to gain a place of prominence among God’s people. And so a big parade is planned to bring the Ark home, with the […]

Categories
Epistles

A Thorny Struggle

05-July-15 2 Corinthians 12: 1-10 The Apostle Paul is in deep trouble with the folks in the Christian church in the city of Corinth. They don’t like him anymore, and maybe they never did, at least not for very long. The Apostle Paul was the one who brought Christianity to Corinth. He was the one […]

Categories
Epistles

The Wheedler

28-June-15 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 I’ll be up front with you. The Apostle Paul is wheedling money out of the good Christians in Corinth, and he’s doing it with sarcasm and shame. The Apostle was gifted in the arts of sarcasm and shame, and he knew when and how to use them to his advantage when […]

Categories
Prophets

That Kid’s Story

June 21, 2015 1 Samuel 17 It’s a kid’s story. Most of us learned about David and Goliath when we were in Sunday School. It’s a story about a young lad who defeated a menacing giant against all odds. It’s a story about bravery and heroism, and it taught us as little kids not to […]

Categories
Gospels

Born Wild; Grown Tame?

May 31, 2015 Acts 2:1-21 I have a feeling that if some strangers happened to show up unannounced in one of our worship services one Sunday morning, that one conclusion that they would probably never come to is that we are all drunk. We might look sleepy, but we certainly wouldn’t look like we were […]

Categories
Epistles

Love Again…And Again

May 10, 2015 1 John 5:1-5 From time to time, it is a good thing for us to check our identity.  Usually when we think of making an assessment of our identity, the first question that arises is, “Who am I in this world?  Where do I fit in this big, round chunk of rock […]

Categories
Epistles

Love is What Makes Us Work

May 3, 2015 1 John 4:7-21 “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”  That quote, from verse sixteen, describes the essential nature of God, it describes the essential nature of the relationship that we have with God, and it describes the essential nature of the […]

Categories
Gospels

Moving Toward Faith

April 19, 2015 Luke 24:13-49 I sometimes wish that the disciples of Jesus had done a better job of believing that Jesus was alive after his resurrection.  It seems like it took them forever to accept the fact that Jesus was alive, even when they were confronted with him face to face.  I would like […]