Sermons from February 2023
WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE?
Micah 6:6-8–I have many Bibles. I buy different translations with different layouts, different size fonts, and different thicknesses of paper. Various purposes drive my purchases; I use some for reading, some for writing in, some for studying, and some for teaching. Despite those differences, all my Bibles have a common feature – they all have A LOT of pages filled with A LOT of words. English translations have, on average, 750,000 words, not including references, footnotes, and other added features (by comparison,…
Buried with Christ
Buried with Christ Romans 6:4-5 If you read the letter of Romans in one sitting, what does it teach about how the first Christians became Christian? In Romans 10:13, Paul writes to those who are already Christian. He says, “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” What do you think Paul meant? Is that what these Christians had done? In Romans 6, Paul ties conversion and sanctification together as he writes about being “buried with…
Love One Another
In the book of 1 John, John wrote to Christians facing challenges from a group who separated themselves from him and the other church leaders and who denied Jesus’ identity (1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-3). Motivated by the turmoil they were creating (1 John 3:4-10), John wrote to address those Jesus-denying “antichrists” (1 John 2:18-19). His response revolves around two central messages: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no…
God is Light
Christianity spread throughout the Roman world despite encountering fierce, consistent resistance. Its growth reached a tipping point early in the fourth century when Rome officially legalized the religion and, only ten years later, adopted Christianity as its official religion. Roman emperor Julian (AD 332–63) came to power shortly after Christianity’s legalization and adoption and wanted to undermine its rise by reinvigorating Rome’s ancient religion. However, his agenda met with resistance that he blamed on Christianity’s practice of love. Writing about…