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Ash Wednesday – Hope for Our Sin

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Was explaining Ash Wednesday to the boys on the way to school.  I kept circling back to being aware that I’m a sinner and that Christ has come.  Then, I opened up Psalm 130 this morning:

If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:3-4 ESV)

Rest there…


Weekend Preview – 3 John

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This coming Sunday, Lord willing, we’ll be exploring the tiny New Testament book of 3 John.  We meet 2 characters in this short book: Diotrephes and Gaius.  I think the way Mark Dever concludes this book (from his book The Message of the New Testament helps us):

“There are Diotrepheses in the church and there will always be.  It has been so since the beginning.  But there are also Gaiuses.  They are the ones who leave vivid, lasting, and inspiring examples for us.  And by his love, God keeps those examples fresh in our minds’ eyes.  The Gaiuses are the ones who fire up and propel us forward by the example of their love for Christ.  In his grace, God gives us Gaiuses.

“Now I ask you, why go to all the trouble of being in a church?  For God and his gospel, or for yourself?  Dear friend, I give you the warning of the elder: ‘Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.  Anyone who does what is good is from God.  Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God’.

(taken from p.511)

Hope to see you this coming Lord’s Day as Matthew Ellison and I unpack this amazingly powerful book.

Weekend Recap – Watch Yourself

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My 2/7/16AM sermon, Watch Yourself from 2 John 1:1-13, is now online.  As one who grew up in church, I honestly don’t remember taking a look at the book of 2 John.  In this sermon, which continues looking at John’s letters, we looked at 2 John.  I grabbed my sermon title and outline using 2 John 1:8’s command to watch ourselves.  My outline was fleshed out showing how we watch ourselves when it comes to love, Jesus and abiding.  I hope it encouraged you.

Weekend Preview – 2 John

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This coming Lord’s Day (2/7/16), we’ll be journeying into the book of 2 John.  Here’s a good intro from the ESV Study Bible on the themes found in this book:

The focus of 2 John is living in the love of God in accordance with the truth of Jesus Christ. This love extends not only to God but to other people. It is also discerning; it does not “go on ahead” of biblical revelation (v. 9), and it does not lend aid to enemies of the gospel message (vv. 10–11). Instead, Christ’s followers “walk according to his commandments” (v. 6) and through faith “win a full reward” (v. 8).

I hope you come expecting great things from God in this book this Sunday.  

Weekend Review – 1 John is a Wrap

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My 1/31/16AM sermon, Believer’s Benefits (2) from 1 John 5:18-21, is now online.  This sermon wrapped up my series on 1 John (I’ll attempt 2 John and 3 John in the next couple of weeks).  It’s been a great study and, like most books of the Bible, authors front and back load their content which makes those opening and closing verses of the book pack a powerful wallop. I chose to outline these closing verses as unpacking a few more benefits that the believer enjoys.  I hope it encourages you.  

Leadership Reno County 2016 Begins Today

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I’m privileged to serve as a facilitator with Leadership Reno County, a program of the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce.  Today, a new leadership journey begins for a group of our program participants.  Right about now, they are starting to get oriented to the big problems our community is facing, how we can think about them differently, and how we can act or behave in ways that might help us make progress in these areas.  If you’d like more info on the type of curriculum we use to develop people who engage in acts of leadership, check out the many resources at the Kansas Leadership Center.

Ray Ortlund on Men With A Whole Heart

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Love this post from Ray Ortlund in so many ways.  Here you go:

There is only one way to play football — 110% effort every play, all the way to the end of the fourth quarter.  You lay it all down on that field.  Then you crawl off the field after the final gun with nothing left to give.  Football must be played with wholehearted abandon.  It’s the nature of the game.  It prepares us for life.
If I could change the Bible, all I would do is add “play high school football” to the qualifications for elders.  Men who have experienced such intense effort, hurling themselves into every play, especially as a team sport — such men understand what ministry demands and how good it feels to give their all for a cause greater than self.
Of course, there are other ways God provides for men to punch through to the experience of total abandon.  Football is not the only way.  But every man needs some kind of experience like this, to become the warrior God wants him to be.
There is only one way to serve Christ — all-out passion.  Passive men don’t understand, men who are afraid they might get knocked down or hurt.  Christianity must be lived with wholehearted abandon.  It’s the nature of the faith.  It prepares us for eternity.
Men with a whole heart — joy awaits them!
“Blessed are those who seek Him with their whole heart.”  Psalm 119:2