Sermon Series (Page 7)
What Child is This?
This coming Sunday morning, December 19, we will be all in for Christmas during our worship time together. On this day of Christmas celebration, we will have the kids light the fourth Advent candle, we will give a special Christmas gift to the children, and I will share a Christmas message entitled, “What Child is This?” Most of us have a list of favorite Christmas songs; on my favorites list is the song with that title. But it’s not just a…
A Dependent Prayer Life
As you get ready for this Sunday, December 12, read ahead in these three locations out of the book of Acts: Acts 1:12-14 Acts 2:42-47 Acts 4:23-31 Philippians 4:1-13 2 Corinthians 5:7 We are working on building what would be called the second Wall to His Church—the Koinonia/Fellowship wall. This week, I am concentrating on the prayer part of the believers’ life. In each of the above passages, I want you to highlight the word prayer when it appears, thinking…
Breaking Bread, Sharing a Table
There are times when I like to read the Bible slowly, and even in a repetitive fashion. Now, of course I read chapters of the Bible most of time in the same fashion we all read—rather quickly. But I like slow reading, too, as I will go back and review a verse or two over and over again, thinking carefully about why certain words or phrases were used the way they were. This is true of the short passage in…
Devoted to the Word of God
Acts 2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship (Koinonia), to the breaking of bread and to prayer. As we taught last Sunday morning, this verse is a snapshot of what was taking place in the early Church that we see in the book of Acts. The amazing events at Pentecost had just occurred; thousands came to faith there in the city of Jerusalem, and the Church (the Koinonia church) was coming together. And what did they do? What was…
Koinonia: The Fellowship Wall
Κοινωνία—The Fellowship Wall We Build for His Church When you are around a church for a while, one of the most familiar terms used to describe it is FELLOWSHIP. The English word here comes from the Greek word in the New Testament, Koinonia (κοινωνία). When I was a young man, this word was most often used as the ideal goal of the Church. There was the feeling that this is what we sought after, described with words like… Caring fellowship Loving…
Preparing for Sunday
Beginning with last Sunday, we are taking four Sundays to work through the biblical application of the word, OBEDIENCE. The essence is that we must determine our identity, and then literally live it out—do it—BE it. Take a moment and try to remember back as a child, to what you dreamed of being as a grown-up. I wanted to be a naturalist—a wildlife specialist of some kind. All I knew of and imagined in this job was that I would spend…
Global Impact Celebration—GIC Time
I recently preached two of what I call “location sermons” on video. The first of those sermons was in front of the Annex, where I began many years ago. The second sermon was in front of our main building, which was built about 30 years ago. I did this to help illustrate the fact that we think a church is traditionally formed—a building, a place, a pastor, a sermon. These elements are wonderful parts of our history, but they are not…
Preparing for Spiritual Battles
Have you ever been in battle? I mean a real military battle! For me, one who was born in the USA in the late 1950s, I was never in the military. I was too young for Vietnam. Neither of my parents served in the military—they were too young for WWII. Neither of my grandfathers served in the military—they were both too young for WWI, and too old for WWII. My wife’s father served in the Korean conflict days, but didn’t…
Distributing the Priceless Bounty of God’s Kingdom
Have you ever owned something of great value that was extremely precious to you? Have you ever shared something of great personal value with someone who benefited greatly from it—maybe something that filled a huge void in the person’s life? A meal to someone who was hungry? A tutoring lesson to someone who needed help with a classroom assignment? Emotional support to someone who was experiencing grief? A shoulder to cry on for someone experiencing pain? This coming Sunday morning…
The Kingdom Wall is Built by Kingdom Citizens
The label of citizen in our country has been in the news quite a bit these days. As soon as you read this, some of you will turn your thoughts toward the politics of this term and how we should or should not apply it to our country and our borders. Let me quickly tell you to take your mind off of that and turn your thoughts instead to the storyline that is found in Acts 2:36-41. Peter was addressing…
What Really Happens When the Holy Spirit Comes Upon You?
In this section of our teaching series about Building His Church, we are spending a few weeks teaching through the aspects of the Kingdom Wall in the life of the church. This week, we are spending time on the Holy Spirit’s work in us. Most of us know about Acts 1:8 as the marching orders for the church, and we consider it our duty to comply—much like joining the army during wartime. But let’s not overlook the critical piece here:…
King for the Day
When our son was a toddler, my wife made up a song to make his bath time a little more fun. The song went something like this: “King for the day—I am the king for the day!” She would put a towel over his shoulders, which he felt for sure was a royal robe, and she would sing it loud and proud: “I am the king for the day!” It was quite cute and highly entertaining. (He’s a grown man now…
Preparing for This Sunday: Building His Church
This Sunday, September 12, marks the official beginning of our academic year. We are launching the teaching series for the year—“Building His Church,” the focus of study that will take us through Easter 2022. The series is constructed on the foundation of last year’s series, “The Book of Jesus” (September 2020 – May 2021). How are we going to do this? Well, we are going walk through the building process together. Let me illustrate: If you were building a new,…
An Overview of Our Summer Study in Proverbs
We have spent twelve Sundays over the course of the summer taking a good look at the book of Proverbs. You may not have spent much time in this book of the Bible before this summer, but I do pray that the series has helped opened up a wealth of wisdom for you. If it has, then mission accomplished! If you missed any of these summer services, you can find them in the sermon archive (or in the list below).…
This Fall at LifeWay
This Sunday is Labor Day weekend, and then next Sunday, September 12, we officially launch into the new academic year. Where are we going this new year? you might ask. What will Fall at LifeWay look like? What is our new schedule? What are we teaching? Read and find out! 3 Doors to LifeWay Church When COVID-19 began, we moved our worship gathering time to 10 a.m. each Sunday, which will continue for both in-person and online worship this fall.…
The Word of God—How Does It Shape You?
Proverbs 30:5-6 (NIV) Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. We are nearing the end of our summer series focused on Proverbs, and God’s wisdom merged with our real lives. This Sunday we are coming into what I consider one of the most important proverbs, all about the wisdom of God’s Word. To shape…
Iron Sharpens Iron
Have you ever worked with a dull tool? I have a chainsaw. In fact, I have had many chainsaws in my life. My friend always warned me to be careful to keep the chain away from the dirt because it will grow dull quickly. I have struggled with heeding his warning. The last time I used the saw, it seemed like it took forever to cut through a piece of firewood that normally would have taken me just a quick…
Making Plans: Does It Really Matter?
If we have learned anything over the last 17 months, it’s that when we make a plan of any kind, we’d better be prepared for the reality of needing to change those plans. Just about every plan you’ve made over the course of this year and half has probably needed to change. We’ve changed vacation plans, financial plans, school plans, work location plans, wedding venue plans, and more. Our summer study in Proverbs is all about learning to merge God’s…
Wisdom and Wealth
How impressed with money are you? Imagine for a moment that you are at a large gathering of people—a wedding, or some kind of party. Then a wealthy person walks into the room, someone famous and super-rich! (Insert a name here.) Would you notice? Would you be impressed? Most of us would. But why? I think it is because we are impressed with money and those who make lots and lots of it. Somehow we equate wisdom and success with the accumulation…
God’s Wisdom in My Parenting
We are continuing to study Proverbs all summer, which is a merging of God’s wisdom with our real lives. Many of the proverbs we have highlighted are not well known at all. I encourage you to continue to read through the book of Proverbs for the summer, and highlight some that stand out to you. Some you will find interesting—and a few you will even find odd-sounding. But this coming Sunday’s focus verse is actually one of the most famous…
Talking in the Proverbs
There are more than 7.7 billion people living on this planet, but as you know, there is not one culture. There are many different cultures, and this makes our planet a most interesting place to live. Because there are many different cultures, we do many things differently, of which one is how we talk to each other. Did you know that not everyone talks in the same way Americans do? People from different parts of the world talk with each…
Gossip
In a 2019 study published in a journal named Social Psychological and Personality Science, 467 adults were asked to wear electronic devices on their bodies that recorded their verbal conversations over the course of several days. The researchers listened to the recorded audio files and hunted for conversations or anything that could be identified as gossip. The results were very interesting. Practically everyone engaged in some form of gossip. Only 34 individuals showed no evidence of gossip at all. Seventy-five…
God’s Wisdom and My Pleasure
What does God’s wisdom say about my pleasure and leisure? Rarely do we discuss what God says about “pleasure” and “leisure” in church—but Proverbs does have a quote about it. Proverbs 21:17 (NIV) Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich. There it is. We have already learned that Proverbs has many wise sayings about many subjects that are all over the board. Some make perfect sense to us logically; some challenge…
Integrity in the Proverbs
One day, a mother brought her young boy to an old man, and asked him to tell her boy how he was never to eat sugar again because of its harmful effects on his teeth and overall health. The old man didn’t say anything to the little boy that day. However, he asked the mother to bring the boy back again to him one month later. When she returned with her boy, the old man did what he was asked…
A Proverb of Personal Alignment
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. I have many, many Bible passages that I review, pray through, think about, and from which I apply truth at different times in my life’s journey. But this passage, Proverbs 3:5-6, ranks in the Top 2 for me. (The other is 1 Peter 5:6-11.) This proverb is a cornerstone. It seems to…