-
On sabbatical
“The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, ‘Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.’ He said this because there were so many…
-
Wishing for a “do-over?”
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time” (Jonah 3:1 ESV). Don’t you wish life came with a “do-over” button? You know, so that after you really mess up, blow it, miss an opportunity, or take…
-
Prayers from the pit
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my…
-
No not Nineveh!
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.’ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of theLord. He went down to Joppa and…
-
The upside-down, inside-out effect of the gospel
“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17 ESV). “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3 ESV). “And he said…
-
Who needs the gospel?
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ESV). “The gospel is not just the ABCs but the A to Z of the Christian…
-
Two gospel thieves
“Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves,” so the gospel “is ever crucified between two opposite errors” (Tertullian, early church father). “If our gospel message even slightly resembles ‘you must believe and live right to be saved’ or ‘God…
-
Evangelium: What the gospel is… and isn’t
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 ESV). We’re starting a new 4-week sermon series this Easter weekend talking about the gospel.…
-
Two weeks in God’s story
“The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of…
-
The power of story
“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11 ESV). “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms” (Muriel Rukeyser). “God made…