Angry at God
Introduction: Angry at God! Have you ever been angry at God? No one ever has the right to be angry with God, yet so many are. Even some Christians think that it is ok to be angry with God. They justify it saying things like ‘God is big enough to handle it.’ They think that the Psalmists cry of ‘How Long?’ is a criticism instead of an earnest plea for God to fulfil His promises. They think that Jonah’s and Job’s complaining against God is an example forgetting that Jonah was rebuked and Job repented. Anger against God can span...
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Proverbs 13:12 – Heartsick or Satisfied?
Introduction: Today we are going to be reflecting on our hearts, our desires and what satisfies us. We are coming to the end of 2018 and approaching a new year. It is a good time to take stock and be deliberate in our plans for the coming year. The verse for our reflection is Proverbs 13:12, ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.’ The book of proverbs is a particularly fitting book to reflect on as we seek to plan for 2019. It is a book about wisdom; practical wisdom on...
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Envy: Proverbs 23:17-24:2
INTRODUCTION: Today I would like to speak to you about what has been called one of our ‘respectable sins’, envy. Envy, jealousy, coveting, illegitimate wanting, sinful desiring, etc.; this is a sin you and I are assaulted by every single day. You and I have the hearts of adulterers and adulteresses, ‘prone to wander.’ We need to be most aware of this sin and how it works in our hearts. We see coveting as idolatry as Paul tells us in Col. 3:5, but your government sees covetousness, your consumer desires, as the heart and soul of our economy and...
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Proverbs 9:7; 15:15; 27:7: Eating right in 2018
Introduction: There are many New Year’s resolutions relating to food. Eating less, eating right, eating clever, we change our eating habits to improve our lives whether it is for our weight, our blood pressure, our performance, etc. Today I want to share some eating tips in relation to spiritual health. In the book of proverbs there are many texts that talk about food and eating, I would like to point you to just three. We will be considering ‘eating’ texts as they relate to sin, suffering and satisfaction. These are three areas we all need instruction in for 2018.
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Homosexual Marriage 4: Practical Engagement
Outline Home Work Introduction Given the newness of engaging with the problem of homosexuality in society in the Western world Christians are still struggling to know how to engage homosexuality in some of the complex everyday life situations. My goal in this message is not to give you a list of laws that you can apply in any situation but rather to try and demonstrate how to think through issues for yourself. You see, when one wanders into the realm of ethics we are faced with as many different situations as there are people, personalities, cultures, perspectives, etc. it...
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Proverbs 18:1: Isolation
Introduction: Isolation in the medical world is a good thing, but isolation in the church is a bad thing. God lives in community and so should we. Sin drives us into ourselves away from all others. The statement that individualism is sinful and community is holy is generally true, but there are some necessary qualifications that must be made. We do not mean community at the cost of individuality but individualism which is a dominant humanistic influence in the 21st century. And, we do not approve of all things done in the name of community because there are many...
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Proverbs 14:14: Backsliding in heart
Introduction: One of the greatest spiritual battles facing the Western Christian is the fight to stop being a backslider in heart. In other parts of the world like Northern Iraq where ISIS is beheading children, the great struggle is for faithfulness and patience in the face of aggressive persecution. In the West we have the opposite problem; we struggle against ease, pleasure, comfort, excess and the other conveniences of modern life. And so we must conclude that one of our greatest dangers is the innocuous unseen danger, not of cancer, but backsliding. As Christmas approaches and we are inundated...
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