When we worked our way through John 15 and 16, many of you may have noticed that I broke those chapters up in a way that did not exactly match the paragraph structure of the Bibles that we provide at our church. I actually had a couple of paragraphs explaining why I had broken the passage up in the way that I did, but due to time (and my love for the children of our congre...

As Christians, one of our great struggles is to live in the reality that what God has done far outstrips what we were and what we have done. When we live in light of what we were and what we have done, we underestimate the power of God. We remember our past, but we live in light of the present and coming reality. In Colossians 1:21-22, two short verses, Paul writes out the...

Food, football, and fake plates. That's what a number Thanksgiving's growing up looked like for me and my family. We would often travel to Ohio to visit extended family for the holiday, and rather than sitting around a table, we would sit around the TV. Then there were the Thanksgiving hockey tournaments. If we weren't with unbelieving family members in a smoke-filled hous...

It may surprise you that I celebrate October 31st. Then again it probably doesn't. In my pastoral prayer, I gave thanks to God for what happened on October 31st in 1517. I gave thanks that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Chapel, and that the Lord used this event to help spark a recovery of the biblical gospel all across Europe and the World...

So this past Sunday when we were studying Christ's cross-work from John 18:28-19:42, I wanted to include a few quotes that reflected on the power of Christ's coronation and crucifixion. I wanted to keep the sermon to a reasonable length, so (sadly) I had to cut all of them. But because there some that I find to be so powerful and moving, I thought I'd provide a few for you...

Over the past several months I've been reading up on a few theological trends and thoughts. Some of these issues have risen during my preparation of sermons in John's Gospel, while others have come up in personal conversations and evangelistic endeavors. While these theological issues, thoughts, and trends have been varied and disparate, they all have a similar undercurren...

This past week I began a study of the book of Colossians with a neighbor. We're going through a guided study entitled "The Complete Christian" prepared by the folks at Matthias Media. They have a number of guided book studies and if you're looking for something to help you remain focused during your quiet time and work systematically through Scripture, then they have a num...

Brothers Sisters, The past two weeks, I've shared some reflections on my time at the Together for the Gospel conference (T4G). This week I'll finish up sharing those reflections as well as sharing some of my reflections on my time at a small pastor's fellowship following the conference. So far I've mentioned the talks given by Thabiti Anyabwile, Matt Chandler, Mark Dever...

As I began last week's sermon preparation, I prayed. For some reason, last week I scribbled down the major headings of the prayer that I brought before the Lord that day, and I discovered them again today. I thought that I would share the rough outlines of that prayer because I believe that it is one that we can all offer to God when we are endeavoring to understand his Wo...

On Tuesdays, I am reading through Sinclair Ferguson's The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction with another brother in the church. This past week we talked about chapters 8 and 9, but I was particularly encouraged by chapter 8, "True Repentance." One of the things that struck me, as it has before, is how wonderful God's mercy is. In the course of identifying elements i...