by Sarah Ivill Each day you and I awake to a world that is experiencing the effects of sin. Broken relationships abound. Financial hardships occur. Places are wiped out by fires, hurricanes, and tsunamis. People die from sickness and starvation.…
by Rob Ventura I recently preached a series on the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians chapter five and found it to be, well, fruitful. This vital section of Scripture draws a sharp contrast between the works of the flesh…
Perhaps more than anything, we need to be heard by God. That is, we need divine favor. We need God to look upon us sinners favorably. The problem is, we’re sinners, and the God whose eyes are too pure to…
One of the first sermon series I ever preached was on the life of Samson. I was new, at the time, to expository preaching, and I wanted to start with something manageable and familiar. Little did I know, a careful…
How many times this week has someone told you, You’ve got this, after confiding in them about a difficult situation, work assignment, final exam, or important conversation that lay ahead of you? How many messages have you heard through advertisements,…
Josiah is introduced in 2 Kings 22 as the new king of Judah who is merely eight years old. As a young boy growing up in church, this story intrigued me. Later in elementary school in writing for an assignment…
Two summers ago, I preached through the book of Jonah. It remains one of the biblical narratives that I identify with most personally. Like Jonah, I once ran from God’s call on my life. The story of Jonah is straightforward,…
God had cursed David for his sin with Bathsheba. The curse is spelled out in 2 Samuel 12:10-15. In the next chapter we see the ugly blossom of the curse in David’s life. Not surprisingly, sin produces sin in its…
You and I spend a lot of time interacting with others. In conversations and meetings, texts and emails, and social media posts, we communicate a lot of words and ideas. And in our actions we communicate a lot too, especially…
When the reader of second Samuel arrives at chapter eleven, he can hardly believe what he is reading. The previous two stories give us no warning about what is to come. We have no preparation for the David we are…
