Bible, theology, culture, etc.
https://youtu.be/TAxe6fuaprc It’s third grade in Mrs. Baker’s class at Sunset View Elementary. Recess has just begun and you are being lined up by the biggest kids in class to play a game of kickball. Each team captain begins to pick who they want on their team. It’s seventh grade in your third-hour English class. Mrs. Williamson … Continue reading The Folly of the Cross (1 Cor 1:18-25)
There is this strange problem in my city where streetlights are slowly turning blue. The LED components apparently were cheaply manufactured and the other colored lights that mix together to create the normal white-light have burnt out, leaving behind a neon-blue reminiscent of a dive bar at 2 AM. It isn’t everywhere, but is beginning … Continue reading What You See Depends on Where You Stand (sort of)
Before Tim Keller wrote The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, and before Dane Ortlund wrote Gentle and Lowly, there was A.W. Tozer writing The Pursuit of God. On a single train ride from Chicago to Texas, the Christian Missionary Alliance pastor wrote through the night, producing one of the Church’s most beloved meditations on communing with God. The book first released in 1948 … Continue reading Tozer on the Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7975sjlFD4XeXdG9k772t6?si=7867087161834a4c Sermon Discussion Questions: What stood out to you the most? Why is Jonathan, second only to David, the hero of 1 Samuel? How can grow to be more like him? How is our ego like an elbow? Saul's story is an extreme example of what happens when you are controlled by the approval of … Continue reading The Providence of God (1 Sam 18)
The following is an unedited sermon manuscript; for an explanation of my sermon manuscripts, click here. *Originally preached February 7th, 2021* Sermon Audio: Jesus and Service (Mark 10:32-52) 32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And … Continue reading Jesus and Service (Mark 10:32-52)
The following is an unedited sermon manuscript; for an explanation of my sermon manuscripts, click here. *Originally preached in March 2022* Sermon Audio: He Emptied Himself (Phil 2:5-11) The great New England pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards once wrote: “God is God, and distinguished from all other beings, and exalted above them, chiefly by his…” How would … Continue reading He Emptied Himself (Phil 2:5-11)
For the last few years I have written out a full manuscript of my sermons before I preach them and then have been able to post them here on my blog. However, this Sunday I preached my first sermon in a very long time without a manuscript and just an outline. So, in leu of … Continue reading Consider Your Calling (1 Cor. 1:26-31)
27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask … Continue reading Puncturing Pretensions (Mark 11:27-33)
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. - Mark 4:9-10 I have often been perplexed by Jesus' reasoning for why He used parables - mostly because Jesus' answer seemed to be the opposite of what I had always been … Continue reading Jesus’ Confounding Parables
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom … Continue reading God’s Eternal Love (Rom. 8:28-30, Part 1)
Marc Sims 