Feb 8, 2013 | Matthew
How did Peter walk on the water and why did he sink? Those are related questions, and the single answer is related to “faith.” How many times has the Lord asked you the question: “Wherefore didst thou doubt”? For me it has probably been in the thousands of times....
Feb 7, 2013 | Matthew
For years I subscribed to a magazine called “Christianity Today” – feeling somewhat guilty the entire time. There were two reasons for my subscription – the religious news articles and the cartoons – the latter of which I would often put into our bulletin. Earlier...
Feb 6, 2013 | Matthew
Having looked at the Lord Jesus in relationship to this storm, let’s move on to look at ourselves. I mean, let’s look at the disciples. The Word of God has been given to us as a means of revealing Jehovah, but it is more than just that. Have you ever visited...
Feb 4, 2013 | Matthew
Many things in our Saviour’s life are recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke. Once again, the word “synoptic” is related to “synopsis” – a summary. In the case of the first three gospels, each summarizes the life of Christ, and they...
Feb 3, 2013 | Matthew
I hope that many of you would call yourselves “Bible students.” If you are not, I hope that some day the Lord will create in you such a love for the Word of God that you will become Bible students. The requirements do not include a working knowledge of Greek and...
Feb 2, 2013 | Matthew
You’ve been sent to the store to buy some vegetables – or perhaps some fruit. Whichever it is, you are in a hurry, and you don’t examine the fruit bag or vegetable box very well. The items on the top look good enough, but you don’t try to look past them to see what’s...
Feb 1, 2013 | Matthew
We could use Herod as an example of several wicked things. For example he is a picture of the ultimate in political corruption. When you think about American politics, please keep in mind that we could be under the dominion of people a lot worse. The family of Herod...
Jan 11, 2013 | Matthew
History is littered with spiritual casualties. There have been a great many famous atheists and unbelievers who were exposed the truth of God earlier in their lives. I have read that both Marx and Lenin attended Christian churches and Sunday Schools in their youth...
Jan 10, 2013 | Matthew
The Lord Jesus had spent perhaps the better part of a day teaching His Kingdom parables to a large crowd. Afterward He spent even more time discussing some of the finer points of those parables with the disciples. Then late in the day, when it was just the twelve,...
Jan 9, 2013 | Matthew
I have borrowed the title for tonight’s message from a movie of a few years ago – “The King’s Speech.” I have more than just a passing interest in recent British monarchy. When I was born, the King of England and of the British Commonwealth, was George VI. Even...
Jan 8, 2013 | Matthew
I am trying to be thorough in our study of this great Book of Matthew. Sometimes we have spent four or five messages looking at one paragraph in an attempt to see all that the Lord might have for us. But then in some cases we have skipped over certain statements or...
Jan 7, 2013 | Matthew
As I tried to say this morning, the seven parables in this chapter discuss the days in which we live. One of the things unique to the Word of God is its ability to cross the lines of time, culture, language and all the other things which separate people in this world...
Jan 6, 2013 | Matthew
Matthew 13 is sometimes called the chapter of the “Kingdom of Heaven Parables.” Although the first parable didn’t begin like the rest of them here – it could have. Notice verse 24 – “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto…” Verse 31 – “The kingdom of heaven is...
Jan 5, 2013 | Matthew
If this message was delivered in about two weeks, you might think that it was designed to be a Thanksgiving Day message. But I often say things like “Thanksgiving should not fall on only one day out of the year” – and I mean it. Our hearts should always be full of...
Jan 4, 2013 | Matthew
Thursday, as I was getting ready for my plasma donation, the man across from me was being sent home. He was told that he couldn’t return for several months. The machine which had drawn his blood had permitted some of his red blood cells into the container which was...
Jan 3, 2013 | Matthew
Here are a couple of obvious, but hated Bible doctrines. First, God gives His saving Grace only to those who are empty – not to the proud, satisfied or self-satisfied. The second principle is that God likes to give more and more – “He giveth more Grace.” God gives...
Jan 2, 2013 | Matthew
Let’s begin this morning with a short philosophical question: “What is the purpose of life?” “What is the purpose of life?” I suppose that the answer depends on the person. I saw a television commercial the other day showing some sports star whose name I can’t...
Jan 1, 2013 | Matthew
I feel as though a dozen of you might be able to preach this scripture as well as I can. This is one of the great and glorious parables of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the stories of the Lord which children learn fairly early in their Sunday School classes....
Dec 20, 2012 | Matthew
That the Son of God came into the world through a normal human birth is a basic part of Bible Christianity. We call it the “incarnation” of Christ – where “incarnation” in this case means “to take a human body.” In the incarnation – the Son of God was conceived...
Dec 18, 2012 | Matthew
These three verses develop into a very good gospel message – a salvation message. But since most of us here today are professed Christians, I would like to take this in a slightly little different direction. And yet I cannot ignore the salvation aspect of these...
Dec 17, 2012 | Matthew
Have you ever read or heard much of Shakespeare? It is said that William Shakespeare wrote 68 plays, 122 sonnets, several narrative poems, as well as a few other things. The numbers vary between scholars, because there is debate about what he might have written and...
Dec 15, 2012 | Matthew
Please turn to Acts 26 and let’s think about Paul’s defense before King Agrippa. “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall...
Dec 14, 2012 | Matthew
If I was the produce manager of a grocery story, my job would be to display and sell fruit and vegetables. If I laid out light bulbs instead of apples or batteries instead of bananas, I would probably be fired or sent to a mental hospital. As your pastor, my most...
Dec 13, 2012 | Matthew
This was Christ Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ charges that He was a tool of Satan – if not Satan himself. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the...
Dec 12, 2012 | Matthew
It is not a major part of my ministry to attack other people’s doctrines – heretical though they might be. I would prefer to preach positive truth and let heresy just slide naturally into the mud by the force of gravity. But that doesn’t always work, and sometimes...
Dec 11, 2012 | Matthew
I wish that we had a choir. I wish that our church in Post Falls had a 120 or 150 voice, well-trained choir lead by a musical master. I wish that we had a group of people to whom we could listen as they sang the praises of God, lifting us up to the very gates of...
Dec 10, 2012 | Matthew
I don’t plan to keep you long this afternoon. My message has only about a dozen primary points. I call this a “message” or perhaps a “discourse,” but it would be hard to call it a “sermon.” It’s not that it’s without a purpose, but that purpose is more to inform and...
Dec 9, 2012 | Matthew
You and I should have a great deal of interest in this scripture – because this scripture has interest in us. There is one word – repeated – which throws these somewhat mysterious words right onto our laps. I am thinking about the word “Gentiles.” As far as I know,...
Dec 8, 2012 | Matthew
If I told you that when I awoke this morning, there was a thousand pounds of pure gold at the foot of my bed, you probably wouldn’t believe me. That is preposterous. If nothing else, how could someone walk into my bedroom with a thousand pounds of gold, and I didn’t...
Dec 7, 2012 | Matthew
You might think that this scripture has no relevance to your life or to anyone else in the 21st century. In verse 14 we have something which is repeated in different ways a dozen times in the New Testament. You might consider it a matter of historical curiosity; a...
