The Urgent Or The Important

Ecclesiastes 3:2 One day a professor took out a one-gallon pitcher from under her desk. She also produced about a dozen fist size rocks. She carefully placed the rocks in the jar. The rocks stacked up to the rim of the pitcher then she asked her bright students if the pitcher was full. "Yes" was their...

Out Of Egypt I Have Called My Son

Matthew 2:13-23 It's amazing how quickly we can go from the heights to the depths in our lives. That is what we see happening in Matthew 2 to Joseph and Mary. A group of wise men from the East come and visit them and throw a baby shower that is fit for a king and, indeed, that is who they say this baby is. ...

Listen . . . Just Listen

A church member shook Pastor Smith's hand after worship and enthusiastically stated, "Great sermon, Pastor. You ought to submit that one to Preaching." "Thanks," replied Rev. Smith who then quietly noted, "I hope to have all my sermons published one day, perhaps posthumously." Nodding...

God’s Whistle Blower

Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6 In our watchfulness for the coming of the Christ-child, this is the Sunday for John the Baptizer, one of God's last Old Testament prophets, and the original whistle blower. But then again, who among the prophets is not a...

Expository Preaching That Touches The Heart

Half a century ago Andrew Blackwood lamented that "expository preachers and sermons, rightly or wrongly, have been known for tameness, sameness, and lameness."1 More recently, Christian columnist Terry Mattingly observed: "In most congregations, the word 'sermon' means a verse-by-verse explanation of...

Is Reconciliation Possible?

Psalm 133; Ephesians 2:11-22; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Michael Christopher's play The Black Angel haunts everyone who struggles for reconciliation. It involves Herman Engel, a former German army general who is trying to make a new beginning for himself and his wife outside a little French village. He has spent the last thirty years in prison, having been sentenced by

Crossing The River: A Metaphor For Proclamation

Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be...

Love Never Fails

Christmas is all about letting God make the arrangements. And God is so much more able to make all the arrangements than even the best wedding planner or travel agent. Why? BECAUSE HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS! This Christmas sermon details how God's love for us arranged the first coming of Christ perfectly, and how his love can still be trusted to get it all right.