On Sunday, should the Lord Jesus tarry, we will finally reach the chapter in which we read the words I consider the most frightful words in the book of Amos. So far in the book we have heard God's promises to devastate his people. He has promised to crush their homes, destroy their fortresses, wipe out their high places, and bankrupt their economy. All of that, in my mind,...

A few months ago while in class a professor of mine went off on a tangent. I must confess that I love it when seminary professors go off on tangents in class. Not that seminary is boring, it just that tangents can get really interesting. The professors are often showing their true interests and pet peeves on those occasions. Anyway, he went off on a short diatribe on the s...

Brothers Sisters, When I think of being refreshed I often think of a cool glass of water on a hot day or swimming in the shade in a cool pool of water... a sense of rest, a calming of spirit and body, a peaceful respite in a world of constant action. I also think of deep time in the Word of God where I feel rejuvenated and excited to go back out and serve him more. Afte...

In October I have the privilege of preaching at a Sunday prayer gathering of a handful of Southern Baptist churches here in Northern Virginia. I have been asked to preach on the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." During my time with the Lord this morning, I spent some time reflecting on this petition, and I thought that I'd share one ...

Over the last couple of weeks I've been doing some reading on various matters related to the church. In the midst of that reading, I came across an article entitled "Duties of Church Members," by John Angell James. James was the Pastor of Carrs Lane Church in Birmingham, England for 54 years. He began at Carrs Lane as the pastor when he was only 20 and remained there until...

This past Tuesday, I unintentionally delivered something of a state of the church address in the middle of the Men's Bible Study. We took the entire evening to talk about Acts 9:31 where Luke tells us, So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it m...

Being in the midst of a sermon series in the book of James has had me reading a lot of Proverbs. As you may know, James is sometimes called the "Proverbs of the New Testament." There is some truth in that. James has much to say that is wise and for that matter he has much to say about wisdom. Also like Proverbs, James' letter has also provided many ideas and practical sugg...

During the Tuesday men's small group, we studied Acts 4:12-13. We meant to study more, but we so thoroughly enjoyed thinking about those two verses and their implications for our lives that we did not move beyond them. Here's what they say, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Now when ...

Recently I've been dipping in and out of Matthew Henry's wonderful book, A Method for Prayer. If you ever have difficulty getting going in your prayer life, then I highly recommend reading over the prayers of other brothers and sisters in Christ. It's good and right for us to learn how to pray from other faithful saints who know how to plead and petition our Heavenly Fathe...

On Sunday I mentioned a few things about prayer, and I thought that I'd take this opportunity to circle back, remind us of them, and throw in a great Paul Miller quote for good measure. God is honored when we pray. Prayer honors God because it is an expression of faith that he exists. It is an expression of faith that says, "God, you're powerful." And it is an expression o...