Preparing for the Lord's Day Why is Paul so upset in his letter to the Galatians? It was a common form, in first-century letter writing, to offer some type of thanksgiving or compliment to the recipient. If one investigates Paul's other epistles, he will find that Paul follows this convention. However, in Galatians, he skips with the initial gestures and goes right to his...

Preparing for the Lord's Day No Other Gospel: A Study of Galatians Everyone is born a legalist. That is to say, everyone has a natural tendency to view acceptance and reward as the just fruits of our proper action. This instinct can be useful and helpful in this world. Children who behave and study are rewarded with acceptance and good grades. Employees who follow protoc...

Preparing for the Lord's Day It is easy to think of prayer as an inward-looking practice. However, what we see in the word of God is that there is nothing more powerful than prayer to send people out on a mission. This first Sunday of the year we will begin by looking at the power that prayer gives to move people out into the world on a God-given mission. This sermon will...

I think it's safe to say we all want to lead productive lives. We want to give ourselves to people and projects that add meaning and joy to our lives and theirs. That's why it can be frustrating when you come to the end of your day, and there are still things left to do. There are unfinished projects and plans. There are unreturned emails and phone calls. It can be frustra...

Preparing for the Lord's Day On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we focus our attention on the theme of love. Love is a difficult theme to grasp since its nature eludes simple definition. One simplistic expression of love is the feeling of attraction. In this manner one might say, "I love my wife Linda, my child John, my dog Farfel, Virginia Tech football, and chocolate chip...

Preparing for the Lord's Day This Advent season we have focused our attention on the theme of waiting. We have seen that we are to wait with hope and with peace, and this week we will look at how we are to wait with joy. Psalm 97 begins and ends with a command to rejoice. To give praise to the Lord with gladness and joy. And this command is rooted in the reality of the Lo...

Preparing for the Lord's Day In the sermon for this week, I make an important distinction between waiting for peace and waiting with peace. The difference between these two realities is expressed merely by a difference of preposition yet is experienced by a difference of magnitude. To wait for peace means that peace lies somewhere in the future. It is far off. It may even...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Throughout our lives we are often waiting. We wait for the alarm to wake us to a new day. We wait for the traffic lights to change as we drive to work/school. We wait for the work/school day to end to return to the comforts of home. Some of us are waiting to graduate from school, to hear from a job interview, to marry a fianc, to deliver a bab...

Preparing for the Lord's Day There are many signs that your home has been built on a poor foundation. Some of these signs include cracks in the brickwork, doors, and windows that stick when you open them, sagging or uneven floors, or counters and cabinets that are separating from the walls. You might try to fix all of these issues but if you have a poor foundation the pro...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Home Town is one of HGTV's most popular shows. It showcases couple Ben and Erin Napier who restore historic homes in their hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. Their vision is to bring new life to vintage and historic homes which have fallen into disrepair. This dedication has made for great TV but it has also created a great boon to the local eco...