Tag: Grace and truth

Digging in Deeper: Romans 13:4

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“For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Romans 13 is one of the more challenging passages the apostle Paul wrote. Understanding exactly how we are to apply and obey it is tricky and often is inextricably intertwined with our particular political perspective. When the party in power happens to be the party we support, we agree with Paul heartily. When it’s not, we’re quicker to find exceptions and reasons Paul missed some things. Occasionally we’ll remember that Paul wrote this under the authority of an aggressively anti-Christian government. I don’t want to get into all of that today. Instead, I want to focus on just this part of the whole, and to do so through the lens of an experience I had recently.

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Two Are Better than One

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This week we pick back up our teaching series, Love Like Jesus. From our conversation a couple of weeks ago we understand a bit better why loving like Jesus is such a big and important deal (especially for followers of Jesus), but we still need to see it in action. We need examples. What does it look like to love like Jesus. Let’s look together at a story that gives us one of the best pictures we can find in the Gospels.

Two Are Better than One

I want today’s message to be sticky, so we’re going to start out here by talking about glue. Literally, not metaphorically. Have you ever used a two-component epoxy glue before? Admittedly I didn’t know that much about them and had to do a bit of research this week. Epoxies are glues that are chemically activated and form bonds at a molecular level. This makes them much, much stronger than your average bottle of Elmer’s best. Some epoxies use just a single substance that does the trick. Some, though, use two different substances. That’s why they call them two-component epoxies. I know, this is complicated stuff today.

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Strange Fire

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This past Sunday morning we continued our series, Bible Stories to Make You Squirm, with what I think is about the hardest story in the whole of the Scriptures. I didn’t want to write this sermon. But if all Scripture is God-breathed, then we need to be able to deal with this part of it too. Check out what makes it so hard and what we should do with it below. Thanks for reading.

Strange Fire

I didn’t want to write this sermon.  Can I say that out loud?  I didn’t want to write this sermon.  Have you ever felt that way?  I mean, probably not about a sermon, but maybe about something else you’ve done.  You did it.  You had to do it.  It needed to be done.  But you didn’t want to do it.  Maybe you were helping somebody out and you knew it was going to wind up being a lot of effort for you for a little gratitude from them.  Perhaps you were given some task at work that you knew was just not going to be a pleasant undertaking—and you were right, by the way—but the boss asked for it and you were stuck with it.  You may have experienced this kind of feeling in yet some other way.  I don’t know what your experience was.  All I know is that I didn’t want to write this sermon. 

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The Greatest Gift

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Merry Christmas!  In this penultimate entry in our series, God Moved into the Neighborhood, we talk about the greatest gift ever given.  When Jesus came to earth as a baby, He came bringing with Him the first and greatest Christmas gift.  He gave us the gift of knowing God.  Keep reading or listening to learn more.

 

The Greatest Gift

Okay, so I want to take a little poll this morning: Who’s finished with all your Christmas shopping?  You don’t have to make any last-minute trips out to the store this afternoon.  Alright, tougher question: Who already has everything wrapped?  I think we’re officially done in the Waits household.  Do you have any gifts that you’re especially excited to give this year?  We have a couple of cool surprises picked out, but I can’t say anything in present company.  I actually have one in particular I’m pretty excited about…but I can’t say anything about that either in light of other present company.  Do you remember the best Christmas gift you ever received?  And forget for a minute that you’re in church and get totally materialistic.  What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever gotten for Christmas?  I’m not sure what would go on my list.  I remember getting new cymbals for my drum set when I was in high school.  That was pretty fun.  A few years ago, Lisa got me a donut maker about which I was awfully excited.  Part of that, though, was due to the fact that it combined two things I love—kitchen gadgets and donuts—into one appealing package.  It was even shaped like a donut! Read the rest…