One Better As Our Perfecter
As FaithTree begins its Winter/Spring season, Brad Harris (Associate Pastor at Bible Baptist) and I began a message series delving deeper into the One who is Better, following up from my sermon from a few weeks ago. You can see our shared message on Heb. 12:1-2, as well as the rest of the service from Thursday, January 10, below. (Don't miss the great worship music before and after the message!)
One Better
For the last six years, I have had the joy to share God's Word the Sunday after Christmas (seven years ago, my first Christmas as a pastor, I shared a message the Sunday before Christmas). For this year's message, I felt led to turn to Hebrews 1:1-4, a beautiful, powerful description of the one born in Bethlehem. Now that the Christmas rush has died down and we find ourselves on the sixth day of Christmas, let's dig into more about the one who came to save us on that first Christmas morn.
Twelve Days, Twelve Responses
Have you ever noticed the silence that happens on Christmas Eve? One of my favorite memories growing up was leaving church after Christmas Eve service and seeing the normally busy stores all over the city shutdown in observance of Christmas. Of course, even if the stores are closed, we usually have so much going on between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that the lessening of one sort of busyness is only replaced with another sort. In the midst of this, we can often struggle to find time to truly reflect on what we're celebrating: God With Us.
That's why I love celebrating the 12 days after December 25 that lead to Epiphany, traditionally known as the Twelve Days of Christmas. It provides time to reflect. A time to take in the mystery of the Incarnation. A time to reflect on how every single celebration of Christmas is a call to us to respond to God's grace and experience his presence in our lives.
Radioactive
I preached on Romans 8:28-39 at Grace PCA this weekend. These are some of the most beautiful words ever written and ones that I've found myself interacting with a lot these past few weeks. In this message, we look at how they are meant to assure us of God's already finished work that we cannot yet fully see.
Blunders and Wonders
What do we do when Christ calls? Do we react by seeking to hide from his call or to wonder at it? In this message from Matthew 2:1-12, 16-19, we examine the responses Herod and the Wisemen made to God's calling.
Recalibrated
In this message, we turn to Luke 17:11—17:19 to see how God recalibrates our focus in order that we can see what is truly important.
The Unfair God
I had the blessing of delivering this message reflecting on God's very different way of “doing business” from our own on February 12, 2017. The text of the sermon is from Matthew 20:1-16.
Have the Mind of Christmas
As we begin 2017, we shouldn't lose sight of the real point of the Christmas season we are just departing from. What is the “Mind of Christmas”? Paul speaks about it in Philippians 2:1—2:11.
The Purloined Prophecy
On October 16, 2016, I shared a message from John 12:27—12:36 at Grace PCA. We reflected on how our Savior rescues us from our blindness and brings us into the truth.
Road Work Ahead
Called to Work by the Power of the One Who Saves Us
I preached on Philippians 2:12—2:16 at Grace PCA over Memorial Day weekend. We often look at the first part of Philippians 2, where we find Paul's beautiful description of Jesus's incarnation and sacrifice for us, but what does it mean when Paul follows those familiar words with a call to work out our salvation in fear and trembling? It means there is road work ahead in our lives as Christ transforms us to be more like him.
