Annotations on Anatomy– I Corinthians 6:19-20

Years ago, we had a member who, earlier in his life, had been a Baptist pastor. Knowing the pressures and problems of the ministry, he went out of his way to be a blessing to Judy and me. He and his wife were generous, taking us out for meals, and often inviting us to...

Prayer Problems – Hebrews 10:19-22

What would you say is greatest blessing that we have as Christians? Is it the forgiveness of all our sins – past, present and future? Is it the ability to live above our temptations with assurance of victory through Christ and the Spirit? Is it eternal life and our...

Sitting Close to Jesus – Ephesians 2:1-7

Before we return to Ephesians 2, I would like to take you back to John 13. You don’t need to turn there; I will just try to stir your imaginations. John doesn’t follow the same outline as the Synoptic Gospel, but it is all there. Christ and His disciples were alone in...

How Much Grace is Too Much? – Acts 4:32-35

Judy and I read from a couple sources during our devotions together. The other day, I was reading Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening,” when I came across these words: “Think how much grace one saint requires… So much that nothing but THE Infinite could supply his...

Good Leadership; Great Leadership – Romans 2:1-4

Let’s assume we are here in the house of God this evening because we are all children of God.  We have all been saved by grace, and our hearts yearn for fellowship with our Saviour and other believers.  If that is true, then verse 4 doesn’t really apply to us except...

Fishing by Day; Fishing by Night – John 21:1-6

This scripture falls apart into two sections, and they create a simple outline for this lesson. The disciples went out fishing one night, but they caught nothing. Then as the sun came up, Christ blessed their efforts, and 153 large fish were led of the Lord into their...

Paul the Prisoner – Ephesians 4:1

Yesterday, I spent an hour or so looking at the timeline of the life of Paul the Apostle. I was trying to put into my mind the relationship between Paul’s years of free and open ministry to the amount of time he spent in jail. About a dozen times, in his epistles,...

God to Go – Psalm 121

You will notice from its inscription that this is one of the “Songs of Degrees.” There are fifteen of these in our Bibles – one tenth of all the Psalms. But I wonder how many Christians know what makes them special? The truth is: there is some disagreement among the...

The God to Whom We Pray – I Timothy 6:13-16

In a few minutes we will be going to prayer. Once in a while, when we do that, we need to ask ourselves: “To whom is it that I am praying?” There are millions of people praying to deities which aren’t deities at all – they are idols, ideas or ideologies. So we need to...

Taking the Bull by the Horns – Exodus 4:1-5

I’m calling this message,  “Taking the Bull by the Horns,” but there is an obvious slight of hand involved in that. To “take the bull by the horns,” probably originated out in the old west cattle country. Sometimes it was necessary for a cowboy to get up close...

The Importance of Reality   –   Proverbs 16:19

For some reason, unknown to me, our lesson last Wednesday was relatively well-received on Sermon Audio.  It was heard by at least sixty people from around the world, almost four times as often as is usual for us.  That is in no way an expression of pride, because many...

Obedience’s Most Important Element – Hebrews 11:6-8

For what is Noah best known? If you didn’t assume this was a trick question, wouldn’t you say Noah is best known for building the ark? Extending our answer, we might point to the deluge, which is erroneously called “Noah’s flood.” After a little thought you might say...

Ingredients of Worship – Psalm 96

Let’s say that you want to bake a simple, lemon-flavored cake. In order to do that you have two options: the hard way and the easy way. You could mix the correct amounts of butter, eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, lemon flavoring and a few other organic,...

Knees Upon Which to Worship the Lord – Psalm 96

I don’t usually tell you how my messages come to me or how they are developed, but this time I will. For several weeks I have been thinking about bringing a message on the subject of “worship.” After prayer and deliberation, the Lord gave me a topical outline on the...

The Faith of Jesus Christ – Matthew 17:14-21

Four times the Bible uses the words “the faith of Jesus Christ.” Have you ever thought about the faith that Jesus must – or might – have had in God His Father? That is our subject for this evening. But there isn’t a single scripture anywhere which speaks about that....