Those of you who have attended a game night with Sueanne and me know that I am a rather competitive person. In fact, I’ve been pretty competitive all my life. I’m sure my mother could share some stories of ways I annoyed my parents and my sisters with my need to win. And the…
Shaped BY the cross into the shape OF the cross
Sermons on Commitment
This morning, I want us to take a look at a conversation between Jesus and Mrs. Zebedee. Now, I call her that because the only way Matthew identifies her in our text is as “the mother of Zebedee’s sons”, although her name was probably Salome (and you can figure that out by comparing all the…
About thirty years ago, Sueanne and I spent a couple of weeks in Scotland. On that trip, we saw a lot of huge cathedrals. Those cathedrals are among the most beautiful buildings in the world. If you were to build one today, it would cost millions and millions of dollars. But, to me,…
Just about every preacher is familiar with the Pareto Principle. They may not know it by that name, but they understand how it works. Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who noticed that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Later, his principle was expanded to say…
It was July of 1961 and the 38 members of the Green Bay Packers were gathered together for the first day of training camp. The previous season had ended with a heartbreaking defeat when the Packers squandered their lead late in the 4th quarter and lost the NFL Championship to the Philadelphia Eagles. …
In the book of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, Jesus sends a letter to each of seven churches in Asia Minor. And, in those letters, he says a lot of things to commend the Christians in those congregations, but he also has a few things to say by way of rebuke, some things…
I’ve told the story before of Hernan Cortez. In 1519, that Spanish explorer sailed to Mexico. He brought with him only about 600 men, and yet over the next two years his vastly outnumbered forces were able to defeat all the warriors of the Aztec empire. The interesting thing was how he was able to…
The story is told of a father who was driving down the road and his 5-year-old son was in the backseat. And the boy says, “Dad, how do you spell God?” And his father is thrilled. Because he thinks to himself, “Finally! After all those nights reading Bible stories, going to church, being a…
This is Memorial Day weekend, one of the most significant holidays that our country observes. A time for us to remember those who have given their lives so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we do in this country. It is an especially significant time for those of you in the military who know…
I want to talk with you about the idea of being recommissioned. I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear that term, I think of ships, specifically navy ships that are commissioned and sent out into battle, then at some point are…