Blog (Page 10)
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…
The Image of God
In my devotional time with my 12-year-old son this past week, we talked about what it meant for God to say that we were created in his image. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” After our sovereign God created the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the cattle and every living thing that creeps on the earth, he created the man and woman in his image. What…
Advent, Week 2: Love
This coming Sunday, we will enjoy watching the second Advent candle being lit, the candle that represents love. Whose love are we talking about? Luke 1:26-38 tell the story of the angel Gabriel coming to the young virgin girl Mary, who was pledged in marriage to Joseph—but it was announced to her that she would have a child. When this was announced, of course she was scared to the core. But in this announcement, she was told that she has…
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…
Giving Thanks
There is nothing is quite as grand and noble in life than GIVING THANKS! Thanksgiving is such a unique and wonderful American tradition, but as we learned at our Thanksgiving service last Sunday evening, giving thanks is historically not unique to America; it comes out of the tradition that God set up with his covenant people long ago. One of the powerful theological terms that we build our faith on is the word, remember. God says over and over again,…
To Whom Shall We Pray?
In your daily quiet moments with God, to whom do you pray? What I meant to ask is do you pray to God the Father? Or do you pray to God the Son? Or neither? Or simply, God? Somewhere, sometime, I must have learned to pray to God the Father whenever I prayed. Ever since I was a little boy, I have mainly prayed to God the Father. I say mainly because sometimes I prayed to God the Son. And if I…
Fall Leaves: KidVenture Art
Last week during KidVenture, I helped teach the LifeWay kids some basics in acrylic painting. I have been teaching art for years and wanted to share my expertise with them. While we painted huge cutout leaves, we reflected on the sermon and shared stories about being an effective witness. God created each person unique and individually beautiful—just like the leaves in fall. Each has a different shape and yet belongs to the family of leaves. LifeWay children are important to…
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…
Thanksgiving in the Bible
Some of you may know this, but I didn’t grow up in America. In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan where I grew up, as in America, people celebrate holidays. But there were no holidays I can remember where families and friends came together purposefully to give thanks in those countries. This is why it is most interesting to me there is Thanksgiving in America. The most important holiday in both Taiwan and Hong Kong is the Chinese New Year. The…
GIC: What’s the Big Deal?
What’s the big deal with Global Impact Celebration week at LifeWay? Right now as this goes out to our church family, we are in the middle of our annual Global Impact Celebration week. Last night (Wednesday) we kicked things off with a celebration worship service, where we introduced some amazing guests who represent incredible gospel work around the world. But one part of the service really stood out to me. For about eight minutes, we showed a video produced here…
International Students: Sojourners Loved by God at Our Doorstep
I recently learned there’s a special day dedicated to students studying outside their countries and it’s coming soon. It’s International Students’ Day that’s celebrated on November 17th. Here’s a short description via Wikipedia. “International Students’ Day is an international observance of the student community, held annually on 17 November. Originally commemorating the Czech universities which were stormed by Nazis in 1939 and the students who were subsequently killed and sent to concentration camps, it is now marked by a number…
Dear LifeWay Church Family…
You have often heard me say that the Global Impact Celebration (GIC) week at our church is far and away the most important week of the year. I have said that now for 10 years; that has been and remains to be true to this day. With that said, I’m writing this to remind you of the value of what is coming over the next few days. I am pleading with you, as your pastor, to treat this week with extra care and attention. If…
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…
The Doctrine of Prayer, Lost
Recently, Billy and I attended the Puget Sound Baptist Association Leadership Conference and Annual Meeting. There were the usual things to cover at a meeting like this. The Executive Director gave a report. Ministry teams also gave reports. New leaders for the coming year were announced, and the new budget was decided. But in the middle of the order of events, a representative from the International Mission Board came up to encourage us and remind us the importance of prayer.…
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…
Bondservant
Of the designations Jude gave himself in Jude 1, he first and foremost said he was a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Jude 1 says, “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James.” Many New Testament writers also called themselves bondservants. It happened in Romans 1:1, Galatians 1:10, Titus 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, Revelation 1:1. The Greek word for bondservant is douvloß, or doulos. What is a bondservant? Is bondservant the same as slave? What do you…
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…
Who is Jude?
Did you know there are some books in the Bible that receive less attention than others? We all know the Gospel of John and the Book of Romans. But have you heard of the Book of Jude? Did you even know there was a book in the Bible named Jude? There sure is. It is a short book so you might have missed it. Only 1 chapter, 25 verses. That’s all. Who is Jude? What kind of name is Jude?…
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…
Clean and Unclean
Recently, I went hiking with two friends at Dash Point State Park. The weather was absolutely Northwest gorgeous. We had planned to hike together for a long time, and finally, I found the time to join them. I looked forward to having conversations with them during the hike about each of our favorite foods and vacation destinations. They, on the other hand, had something totally different in mind. They wanted to talk about God, and faith, and the Bible (they…
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,…