Confession: I have a critical spirit at times. There are ugly moments in my life when I find myself identifying more with the religious leaders in the gospels than the people who come to Jesus, who are needy, helpless, and desirous of healing, acceptance, and love. At times, I completely miss the heart of Jesus…
Today is Mark 2. I’m actually preaching Mark 2:1-12 this Sunday at Graceland Church, specifically our New Albany campus so this passage has been on my mind. There is one observation that floods my mind whenever I read Mark 2 and it’s this: What should be MORE amazing is NOT the fact that Jesus told…
Today is the first day of our church’s Bible reading plan. Today we’re reading Mark 1. Here is one observation from my time in reading Mark 1: I’m struck by the openness people felt to approach Jesus; this is in stark contrast to the religious leaders. In Mark 1:41 a leper came to Him asking…
I believe this with all my heart: Christian leaders need close friends who can serve as “pain partners.” The phrase “pain partner” is from Samuel Chand’s book, “Leadership Pain: The Classroom for Growth” and one I highly recommend. Here is a quick 8-minute summary of the phrase pain partner that I recorded on our church’s…
In his 1877 lectures on preaching at Yale University, Phillips Brooks asks, “What sort of man may be a minister?” (35) He notes that “there is far too little discrimination in the selection of men who are to preach, and many men find their way into the preacher’s office who discover only too late that…
For the past decade or more, I have had an interest in the concept of holiness. The interest was piqued by Dr. Peter Gentry, now retired Old Testament professor from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, KY. Years ago, I listened to a lecture by Dr. Gentry where he challenged the idea that…
Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash Deuteronomy, written by Moses, is a sermon he preached to a generation that had been born, grown up, and learned of the promises of God in the wilderness. This generation is about to transition into the Promised Land. Moses realizes he’ll go no further and they know he’ll go…
One of the things preachers must aim to do is move the hearts of their hearers. That is, the sermon is not a lecture that seeks to merely inform the mind, though that’s necessary. The sermon aims to engage both the mind and the heart. Tim Keller writes, “A sermon that just informs the mind…
Tim Keller offers insight into how preachers can effectively engage the modern mind in Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism. To do this, he offers five cultural narratives that mark our modern society. Understanding these narratives is the first step towards challenging the modern mind with biblical truth. What are these five narratives?…
Photo by Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11 Jesus-like wisdom makes us patient people and patient people are forgiving people. Instead of becoming irritated, wise, and patient people overlook the sins of others. Q: What does it mean to overlook the sin in other…
Theology Along the Way 