Nothing can hurt us if we receive it as God teaches. No one can do us real harm if we remain faithful to God. The six categories of life experience that most commonly cause damage — temptation, sickness, pleasure, sorrow, slander, and the general experiences of…
Giving is a grace — not a tax, not a formality, not a matter of convenience. It is a spiritual discipline tied to the sowing-and-reaping law, offered to a God who responds to liberality, and ultimately inseparable from the unspeakable gift of Christ. There is a…
Human judgment is persistently wrong when it operates from outward appearance alone — and six biblical cases demonstrate the pattern. God alone judges from the inside. Man’s judgment is often wrong. The instinct to assess a person, a situation, or a claim at a glance is…
The marriage of one man to one woman is not incidental imagery — it is the relationship God uses to describe the bond between Christ and his church. One Christ; one church. Any affection given to a substitute institution is spiritual adultery. Paul’s instruction in Ephesians…
The sermon frames itself as a solution to the fundamental problem: What is the right way to live? Not in the sense of technique or discipline, but in the sense of ultimate orientation. Every person who does not live the Christ life is living a life…
The Bible is the source of all fundamental sermon material. Everything a preacher needs to address the human condition is present in the revealed facts about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, sin, and promised blessing. Secondary material — illustrations from experience — supplements but…
Three theories of inspiration have been proposed that do not adequately explain all the facts of the Bible. The mechanical theory fails to account for the genuine human diversity in the biblical text. The natural inspiration theory fails to account for the divine content that exceeds…
Paul at Athens declared that the Godhead is not gold or silver or stone, or an image formed by the thought of man (Acts 17:29). The idol-worshipper makes a god that fits in his hand. The rationalist makes a god that fits in his system. Neither…
A final judgment is coming — one day, one Judge, all people. The biblical description of that event and its two outcomes is not speculative or symbolic; it is the most concrete and consequential fact about the future that the New Testament presents. Some people dismiss…
The church is in the world but not of it; worldliness creeps in through worldly leadership, worldly recreation, idle and unspiritual members, and neglected worship — and the only cure is for each member to refuse to be conformed to the world. Jesus prayed for His…