Our church is in the middle of a 4 week sermon series in the Gospel of John. Here are my recommendations for studying the book for yourself:
The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary is my go-to Bible dictionary (I have 4-5). John goes out of his way to explain many cultural/geographical details to the uninitiated reader. It is, however, helpful to have a handy reference for terms, cultural practices, and geography.
Last week’s lesson was probably some of the toughest material in all of Philippians. Paul’s harsh words for the false teachers forces us to answer some harsh questions. What are we worshiping? Where do we put our confidence? What makes us think we are better than other people? Is it our looks? Our ability to make money? Our fame? How healthy we eat? The success of our children? Is it our political views? Or maybe …
Here’s the sermon manuscript for the 3rd sermon in the I Am Jesus series at CCC Huntersville. Delivered on 3/20/2016.
Paul in Philippians 2 calls the church of Jesus to unify around the message and mission of the incarnate and crucified God. But what about Christians and churches who preach a different message or who are on a different mission? How should we relate to them? Paul in Philippians 3 tells us how we are to think about those people and their message, and he is not polite.
The Apostle Paul had a nasty history …
This past Sunday our church studied John 15:1-8. Below is a segment of the sermon I preached followed by further application:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (John 15:4, ESV)
The essence of spiritual life is a vital connection to a person. Don’t miss that. Spiritual life isn’t spiritual behavior, it’s …
The people of Philippi understood strife. They knew what it meant to live in a troubled world. The city was birthed four hundred years before Paul’s letter arrived there as a military garrison of Philip II, the renown conqueror and father of Alexander the Great. Three hundred years later the city was the site of the Battle of Philippi, the military campaign that ended Rome’s bloody civil war fought over the assassination of Julius Caesar.…
What we call the “book of Philippians” is a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the churches in Philippi, a city in ancient Macedonia (modern-day northern Greece) while he was in prison for preaching the gospel. These churches had partnered with Paul and supported him throughout his ministry. They sent Epaphroditus to take care of Paul while he was in jail (Phil 2:25). They sent money to keep Paul’s ministry going while he was …
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. – Romans 8:26
We do not know what to pray for. We never know what to pray for. Paul tells us that the Spirit helps us, not in our weaknesses, but in our weakness, singular. We aren’t people who mostly have it …
If you’re a Christian, chances are you’ve heard John 3.16 or Psalm 23. The other day I asked myself, “If I could choose 5 passages that would instantly cement themselves in the mind of my church members which ones would I choose?” For the next 5 Fridays I’m going to share one a week. I’m sure that if I created this list 5 years from now I’d likely choose 5 different passages, so in a …
I constantly get asked by church members about resources for Bible study. Most of them read their Bibles daily, but would like to have a resource or two from trusted Bible scholars. A problem arises when they step into a book store and realize there are commentaries on every book of the Bible that range from pamphlet size up to several hundred pages. Which one should they buy? Which one can they trust? Which one …