Growing in the Word

I am preparing for an upcoming trip where I will have the opportunity to recite the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) from memory.  I did this at our church several years ago and have been working on refreshing it for the trip.  While doing so, I remembered one (among many) striking and powerful […]

As adoptive parents, my wife and I have many times been the recipients of insensitive comments regarding the nature of our parental status.  Most of these comments, generally involving someone wanting to know about our daughter’s “real” parents, are offered in a completely benign manner not wishing to cause any offense.  We have taken the […]

One of the most amazing things to me about God’s love is that the cause of his love for us is found solely in him, not us.  There is nothing about us and nothing we have done to make God love us.  He loves us because he has chosen to love us (Deut. 7:7-8; Eph. […]

I was reading recently where an author posed a thought-provoking concept—what if every thought you’ve ever had could be written down in a transcript.  For all of us, that would be an embarrassing document.  Thoughts of violence, lust, pride, greed, and unabashed selfishness have all passed through the corridors of our minds.  Undoubtedly, most of […]

When the first disciples of Jesus started to follow him, Jesus asked them “What are you seeking?” (John 1:35-42).  He wanted to know if they would follow him on his terms, or if they merely wanted to follow on their own terms to seek some selfish benefit.  This same question is one we must ask […]

John the Baptist declared that Jesus was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  He clearly used the title and imagery of a sacrificial lamb based on its frequent use in the Old Testament.  Most prominently, in Exodus 12, the Israelites were instructed that in order for the […]

I am often asked by people about the relationship of law to grace in the Bible.  What is confusing is how Scripture seems to contradict itself on the value of the law.  In one verse we may read that the law is bad (Rom. 8:3), but in another that it is good (Rom. 7:7).  The […]

I have had so many people ask me for a copy of the story I read at the end of the message last weekend from Gal. 2:1-10 I decided to put it on my blog. The story is by a woman named Eddie Ogan who tells of her family growing up in the 1940’s who […]

The past few weeks I have noticed a good deal of debate on the Internet among Christian and non-Christian friends about the importance of marriage. Some claim that the biblical definition of marriage is merely a religious perspective on the institution and should not be interwoven with the fabric of civic expectations or norms. Others […]

Earlier this week I ran the OKC marathon. It was my third full marathon to run, but my first time to run the OKC Memorial. The race started two hours late due to storms, pushing the event deeper into the humidity, heat, and wind of the day. This made for brutal conditions. My time was […]