Sermon Series (Page 8)
Merging God’s Wisdom with Real Life
Merging God’s Wisdom with Real Life: Our summer study in the Proverbs Have you ever read the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament? There’s lots of quotes and sayings that go all over the place. But do you know why Proverbs is in the Bible? Here’s how the book opens to help us understand why this is here for us: Proverbs 1:1-7 (NIV) The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight;…
Until We Walk Again
Well, we’re almost there! It’s been a slow (but hopefully good!) walk through 2 John—a book that many of us have probably overlooked for most of our Christian walk. We have so far seen that the elect are those who remain in obedience to walk in truth and love and who will receive the reward of Christ. Through our faithfulness to allow God’s Word and our relationship with him to change every aspect of our lives, we will receive the…
The Walk Continues
If you think of this sermon series as a ham and turkey sandwich, the first week was the piece of bread laid down with some condiments, last week was the Black Forest Ham (only the best for LifeWay), and this week is the delicious deli turkey that we’re going to lay on top. That is to say, we are continuing the meat of the message with the second part of the body of the letter, verses 7-11. Next week, we’ll…
Let’s Start the Walk
This Sunday, we will be continuing in our series through “The Postcard Epistle.” Last week, we started by diving deep into the first three verses. That whole sermon was definitely more on the head knowledge side of things, but I hope that you found it helpful in understanding just how rich scripture is and how much is there. In understanding the context of the book we saw that, most likely, the Elder was John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee,…
An Introduction to the Postcard Epistle
This Sunday we are beginning a slow, four-week sermon series through one of the shortest books of the Bible: 2 John. It’s a book that is so small (about 245 words and only 13 verses!) that I’ve titled this series, “The Postcard Epistle.” You may be wondering why we seem to be jumping over 1 John and going straight to 2 John, and the reason for that is really two-fold: Unlike other books such as 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians,…
Women of Valor
Last week Billy finished up our series on the Book of Jesus. We were reminded of the foundational truths on which we build our lives. In the last few weeks of the series we learned how Jesus, after perfectly reflecting God in humanity, handed off his mission to us. We, as the church, have been restored so that we can reveal God to others. This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day. It’s not necessarily a biblical or Christian holiday, but it…
A Test from the Book of Jesus
Many of our college students from LifeWay are in finals week right now. They are collecting all the information from the class notes and all their readings from the year, and they are sitting at a desk or a computer and having the lay out the mounds of information they have learned over the whole semester to prove how well they know the subject. Well, this coming Sunday morning, May 2, I am finishing the year of teaching that we…
Why are You Looking Into the Sky?
As you get ready for Sunday’ teaching, I am asking you to read ahead in two places: Luke 24:45-53 Acts 1:6-11 As you heard Scott J. teach last Sunday morning, the book of Acts is actually “Luke Part 2.” Luke finished the story of Jesus’ earthly life, and then continued it with the story of the work and mission of the Church in the book of Acts. This whole year we have been teaching a series called, “The Book of…
Easter is Over—I’m Going Fishing!
That’s the statement (in the title above) Peter made in the days after the Easter resurrection of Jesus. I think when we have a tremendous time of failure in our lives, we will often say something like this: “I am just going to do something else and try to take my mind off of the failures that are mine.” Peter was a fisherman by trade. That’s what he was doing when he met Jesus the first time (see Luke 5).…
From the Lowest Possible Place to the Highest Peak
Getting ready for Easter Sunday — John 20 I don’t believe that, humanly speaking, you can get any lower than the events of Good Friday. In fact, even calling it “Good Friday” seems bizarre. There was nothing good about a thrown-together courtroom and trial to convict the totally innocent Jesus to a brutal death on a cross. To top it off, almost all of those who had sworn they would stand by Jesus to the bitter end actually ended up…
Preparing for Palm Sunday and Holy Week
Jesus enters Jerusalem on the way to the cross—John 12 As you get ready for this coming Sunday, March 28, let me remind you that you are not just preparing for a normal Sunday, but much more: you are preparing for what is traditionally called Holy Week, Passion Week, or Passover Week. We all need to read ahead—not just for Sunday, but for each day of the week leading all the way to Easter Sunday. Your assignment for the whole…
The Raising of Lazarus
As you get ready for the church teaching this coming Sunday morning, March 21, read the amazing story of John 11. Read the whole chapter. Catch the names of the characters in the story. See if you can catch the intensity of the situation at hand. Try to capture the human emotion and agony of sisters Martha and Mary when they were pleading for Jesus to come and heal their dying brother, Lazarus. Try to place yourself in the moment…
The Most Important Shepherd
Did you know that the process of sheep giving birth is called lambing? Did you know that sheep have rectangular pupils? Did you know there are over 1000 breeds of sheep? Did you know sheep have excellent memory, and they can recognize up to 50 other faces—sheep faces, that is. Did you know sheep do not have teeth in their upper front jaw? Did you know all these things because you grew up on a farm? Have you sheared sheep…
Because Jesus is the Light of the World, Then I as a Disciple…
As you get ready for this coming Sunday morning, I am asking you to read two chapters from the book of John: John 7 John 8 Through this season, we are spending our time looking deeply at the life of Jesus from the book of John, learning and connecting the dots on how the entire Bible is built around Jesus in our years-long series, “The Book of Jesus.” But last Sunday morning we crossed a continental divide, theologically. We saw…
Warning Label
Are you turning back also? When Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life,” he actually said it twice—in John 6:35 and again in John 6:48. The statement came on the heels of last week’s story, the famous feeding of the 5000. Remember Scott Jackson’s phrase from the sermon: Jesus had “bread power”! We were challenged again to truly come and make a decision as to who this Jesus really is to us: A Quid Pro Quo Jesus, the trade-off…
Getting Ready for This Sunday
John 6:1-15: Jesus Feeds 5000 When I was a little boy, I grew up in a Sunday School class and went every summer to Vacation Bible School. Those days certainly impacted my life in a huge way, and I am so grateful for the teachers and leaders who led me. Often we don’t remember details about those Sunday School days, but I do remember this one. We learned the story of how Jesus fed 5000 people (actually, because of the…
Do You Really Want to Get Well?
If I walked into a hospital room (which somehow sounds strange in our new world of COVID-19 restrictions!) and asked the sick patient if they really wanted to get well from the illness that hospitalized them, I am pretty sure they would give me a sarcastic response. “Why do you think I am here? Of course I am looking for a cure!” The story I am teaching this Sunday is from John 5:1-15. I ask you to read ahead before…
True Worship: The Woman at the Well
This coming Sunday, February 7, we are looking at the next story in our “Book of Jesus” series: the famous story of the Samaritan woman at the well. You can find the story in John 4:1-42. In every story we study this winter from John, we find Jesus revealing something new about himself. This story is no different. To help shape your thoughts, I want you to think about what it means to worship God. For most of us, worship…
“For God So Loved the World…”
“For God so loved the world…” I would guess that for many of you, if I gave you this opening line, you could finish it for me. You might be able to tell me where to find it in the Bible. Many of you have seen this famous verse on a billboard signs at stadium events, or even painted on the uniforms of a famous football player. If I ask you to think a little deeper, you probably could tell…
Where Have We Been, and Where Are We Going Next?
LifeWay Church Sunday Teaching: The Book of Jesus In September 2020, LifeWay began a journey of study that we have called, “The Book of Jesus.” The intent of this journey is to highlight how God’s story—as written in all of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament—is completely centered around Jesus. I want to remind you today where we have been and where we are now, and share a little look ahead into where we are going—and how you can and…
One Day in Cana
Have you been invited to a Jewish wedding before? Even though I used to live in New York and I have many Jewish friends and colleagues, unfortunately, I have never been to a Jewish wedding before, and so what I know about Jewish weddings comes from what I know from the movies. I know that the groom wears a skullcap, or yarmulke, to cover his head. I know that everyone shouts “Mazel Tov!” a lot. Lastly, I know that the…
From Fishermen of Fish to Fishermen of Men
Do you know what are walking, swimming and camping? They are the top three most popular recreations in our country, in that order. If you got that right, then do you know what came in 4th place? The correct answer is fishing. Even though fishing did not make it into the top three most popular recreations in our country, it is more popular than cycling, bowling, golf, skiing, even jogging. As a matter of fact, fishing is more popular than…
A Most Special Relationship Under Scrutiny
Back in September, Billy launched a comprehensive five-year Sunday morning teaching plan. For the next five years, he has committed himself to teach us how to read the Bible for ourselves, and to catch the deeper theologies of our God. At the end of five years, it is his hope that each one of us at LifeWay would mature in our ability to take what we read in the Bible to direct how we think and do, no matter what…
Can Things Be New in the New Year?
Most everyone is ready to turn the calendar over to 2021. But we also know well that just turning over a date does not make all things new. I don’t mean to be a downer. But here’s what I do know about making all things new: it doesn’t come from turning over a calendar page, or watching the clock strike midnight on December 31. It comes from a life in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the…
Proclaiming to the World Who He Is
“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen you salvation which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:29 The passage above is the amazing proclamation of a man named Simeon. Luke chapter 2 tells his story. Read Simeon’s words in Luke 2 for yourself over the Christmas weekend. This elderly man had…