Category Archives: Encouragement

Daily Bread

Does God really provide our daily bread – what we need for life today? Can we trust him to take care of us? Jesus knew we could. This encouraging message helps us to trust God as we pray, “Give us … Continue reading

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Hope Is Not Pollyanna Positivity

Occasionally, I read or hear someone say something like, “Christians believe some really strange things.” They usually mean that Christians believe in miracles like a six-day creation, a man who was swallowed by a great fish (and spit out days … Continue reading

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Unanswered Prayers: The Rest of the Story (2 Cor. 12:6-10)

Here is the thesis of this message: When God says no, he does so because of love. When he says no, it is because saying yes would be unhelpful in the long run to you and to others. When he says no, it is to preclude some evil that would happen or to promote some good that would not happen had he said yes.

The evil that must be precluded and that good that must be promoted may not be apparent right now. They may not even be apparent in our lifetimes. That good or evil might be four generations away or twenty. We cannot see it, think it, or even imagine it – our minds are too limited; we are still babes in the infancy of humanity. There is so much we don’t know. Continue reading

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How to Honor Your Parents

How do we honor our parents? Can we honor parents who are, or were, dishonorable? Why should we honor them? This message is for people who have (or had) honorable parents and for those who have (or had) dishonorable ones, … Continue reading

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Storms of Doubt (Sermon: John 20:19-31)

A hopeful sermon to share with doubters, deconstructors, and those who care about them.

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What Was He Thinking? (Jesus on Death – John 11)

(Excerpt) Have you ever asked, “What was he thinking?” Or perhaps said, “I don’t know what I was thinking.” We ask these questions because something has been done that should not have been done, but the question is just as … Continue reading

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On the Edge of the Promised Land – Numbers 13-14, with a look ahead to Joshua (Biblical Theology Class 9)

In this class we see how Israel’s refusal to enter the Promised Land put the “Eden Project” on hold for decades. But God remained faithful to his promise. This class fits the wilderness wanderings into the metanarrative of the Bible … Continue reading

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Eveready (A sermon from 1 Peter 3:14-4:6)

What does it look like to be ready for Christ? How do we get ready? Peter shares 3 areas in which Jesus’s followers need to be prepared.

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What it Means to Say, “God Bless You”

Whenever some alarming thing happens that affects us as a nation – the attacks on 9-11, or when our troops are engaged in battle – leaders from across the political spectrum feel it necessary to end their speeches by saying, … Continue reading

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Wide Angle: Christmas, in God’s Time, in God’s Way

It’s time to zoom out and consider the Christmas story from a wide-angle viewpoint. After four hundred years of radio silence, heaven re-established contact and sent messengers (that is the meaning of the Greek word we translate as “angel”) to … Continue reading

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