Articles
Sermon and Study Notes for the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19:11-27
This is without a doubt one of the hardest of the parables to exegete. I struggled with this passage for nearly twice as many hours as it takes to prep a normal sermon. Therefore, I feel it is all the more important to give my resources away for this sermon. Here are my files: Study Notes For Luke 19.11-27 - A...
Meet Christ at the Rock: Learning to Pray for God’s Will Over Mine
Remember these words – “Not my will.” It was a simple prayer and a hurting cry from a torn soul. Jesus prayed it on the night before His death, and it is a prayer that is important for us to copy ourselves. I am sure it was not the pain of the nails or thrashing of the whip that Jesus feared the...
Finding the Courage to Get Back in the Game When You Don’t Feel Like It
My dad was a linebacker for the Air Force Academy football team, and he told me this story: After the huddle broke, he approached the line. My dad is a pretty big guy, but when he saw who he was up against, he didn’t feel so big anymore. He explains how his opponent was larger than life and even...
Process of Preparing a Sermon
1. God Lays a Message on the Heart of the Messenger Here you need to ask the Lord, through fervent prayer, “What is it that you want to communicate to your people, God?” Identify ways that God is communicating to you personally. What is it that He is stirring within your own heart? Also, identify the needs of those you...
Every Christian is Called to Care for Others: Generously and Selflessly
The Bible is clear that every Christian is called to care for others. This includes generously giving of our time, resources, and ourselves. It can be easy to get caught up in our own lives and forget about the needs of others, but we are called to put others first. In this blog post, we will discuss what it...
The Rest of God
Summer is usually a season where we get to kick back and enjoy some long weekends and a vacation here or there. I believe God desires for us to rest and enjoy life, even more than we allows ourselves to at times. We too often are like Jonah – instead of finding our peace in the sovereignty of God,...
What the Shooting in Dallas Reminds us of About Life
All life matters to God. Black lives. White lives. Asian lives. Middle Eastern lives. All life matters because all life is from God. Once again social media has been ablaze with people saying, “Black lives matter” in the wake of two prominent police killings of two black men. But then last night happened in Dallas. A dozen Dallas police officers shot, five of them killed, all because...
Taking a PAUSE to Pursue Peace
When it comes to describing the current state of our world, peaceful is not the word most people would use to characterize culture. God calls us to a kind of peace that doesn’t mean living in the absence of conflict. Instead, He gives us a roadmap for navigating the struggles and disagreements that come when sinful people engage with one another, inevitably leading to broken relationships. Here is a way to take PAUSE to pursue peace.
5 Essential Things to Consider When Planning Communion
Communion services are one of the most important services we have the opportunity to lead our churches in on a regular basis. Communion should never be something that becomes so routine that it loses it impact, it should also be something that is done regularly and with great intentionality. When planning a communion service, here are five things to keep...
Write Everything Down
One of the many lessons I’ve had to learn over and over in life is the importance writing everything down. My friend and mentor, Doug Tegner, once told me that “If it is not on paper it doesn’t exist.” Whether it is for business or just for personal journaling, it is so important that I write everything on paper. There are a...
Killing the “Me Monster,” Being Honest to God and other valuable links
August 4, 2018 Sometimes we need a few good things we can enjoy quickly over a cup of coffee and for less than $5. Five Under Five is a regular post of a few things I think you’ll enjoy that won’t cost you more than $5 and can help make the most of some of your downtime. This week’s Five Under Five: ...
Teens and Texting
It seems like more and more parents are struggling with their teen’s addiction to texting. Perhaps you’ve gotten the monthly cell phone bill only to find that thousands of text messages were sent from you teen’s phone. Don’t worry; this is not as tragic as you think! First, understand that this technologically infiltrated generation is being trained to communicate in...