I recently read the following parable in Mark Dever’s What is a Healthy Church?. I pray that you’ll find it amusing, soul-searching, & motivating with respect to your heart-attitude toward your place in the local church. Nose and Hand were sitting in the church pew talking. The morning service, led by Ear and Mouth, had…
Gospel Gluttony
The dictionary defines gluttony in very simple terms: “excessive eating or drinking.” It surely is that. But I believe it is more than that. Gluttony is the sin of finding your chief joy in food, drink, & sloth while despising the responsibility to actively love & serve others. Gluttony plays itself out in eating too…
The Fruitfulness of Thankfulness
Have you ever met a spoiled kid who was the epitome of unthankfulness? You know, the kid who never says “thank you” for anything. He always wants and expects something, but never shows gratitude when he receives it. He has an air of entitlement. The more gifts he gets, the more entitled he feels. Does…
“Love God & Others.” Seriously?!?
A scribe once asked Jesus, “What is the most important commandment of all?” This was Jesus’ reply: “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with…
How to Die Spiritually
We are in a sermon series titled “Ears to Hear” from Revelation 2-3. On Sunday I preached a message titled “Dead or Alive” from 3:1-6. Sardis was a church that looked alive but was actually dead. It had all the appearances of life and health – activities, programs, meetings. Churches in other cities looked at…
Different, Not Divisive
All Christians should agree on the inspiration of Scripture and the hope of salvation through the person and work of Jesus Christ. No Christian should ever dispute such key spiritual realities as these. But there is a host of other spiritual matters upon which we can have a difference of opinion and still be good…
Redeeming the CROSS Conference (part 3)
At the age of 24 (1999) I wandered into a bookstore in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee looking for a book I could afford. I found one on the closeout sale rack. It was Desiring God by John Piper. And it was like $2.99. I bought it. I read it. And it changed my Christian life. The…
Redeeming the CROSS Conference (part 2)
Thabiti Anyabwile preached a message titled “Beauty from Ashes: The Plan of God and the Plight of Man” from Romans 1:13-18. The big idea of the message was this: The plan of God is to send unashamed preachers to unreached peoples to display His unparalleled power and the unearned righteousness that is found in Christ.…
Redeeming the CROSS Conference (part 1)
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a very popular time for Christian conferences geared toward college students. Many of them are excellent. Some are not. But when I first read about the CROSS conference in the early Fall I was admittedly intrigued. The stated mission of the conference is “the global purpose…