sin

Lisa Nowak ———— This two-part meditation is from an old sermon (2007) about an old problem– the sinful human heart.  I did not update the illustrations, but the stories of the ‘mighty falling’ are always in the news.  As you read this you may be reminded of more recent stories.  But the main message here […]

————— Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson, 35, is a husband, father of five, and a 12-year NFL veteran who last year had his best pro football season.  In 2014, he wrote a Facebook post that went viral and led to his first book: Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race (Tyndale Momentum, 2015).  Since then,

———————– From The Road to Character, by David Brooks, (Random House, 2015), 53-54:      Today, the word “sin” has lost its power and awesome intensity.  It’s used most frequently in the context of fattening desserts.  Most people in daily conversation don’t talk much about individual sin.  If they talk about human evil at all, that evil

Luke 15:1-2  —  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ****************************************      (…continued)  You may not be in the category of Mrs. Finney’s vicious neighbor Fred or Louie the murderer.  So

Everett Piper The following is an open letter posted on the website of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, a Christian school, by the college’s president Dr. Everett Piper.  It addresses the growing problem of college students being ‘offended’ by everything, and college officials caving in to their increasingly ridiculous demands.  This is having a chilling effect on

     I Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up.”  LeRoy was an expert at that, wasn’t he?  He was a pleasant man, witty, quick to smile, and always had a friendly word to say; and oftentimes, it was a word of encouragement.  Not long after I became his pastor,

     In our post-Christian society we hear much about the failures of Christianity.  The late Christopher Hitchens even wrote a book entitled How Religion Poisons Everything.  I am a pastor, I have studied church history, I have for four decades followed closely the news of the church in the world today, I have served

     (…continued)  Sinners home from college come to church, too.  They are beginning to break away, but not yet completely.  They are thinking new thoughts now, thoughts beyond youthful hormones– doubting thoughts, thoughts calling into question everything they at one time might have believed in.  Maybe all this religion business is a sham, they

The Seven Deadly Sins ———— A SERMON ON SIN ———————- I Peter 3:18a  —  For Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. ******************************************      Jesus died so that he could bring sinners to God.  We have come here this morning to respond to

      The Book of Bebb, published in 1979, is composed of four short novels by author and Presbyterian pastor Frederick Buechner.  Leo Bebb is a former Bible salesman and an ex-con, who then became a pastor and evangelist.  He is a preacher and a schemer; a man who knows his Bible inside and