Sermon Series:In His Steps

Back in my youth ministry days I embraced a principle concerning teaching teens that I came across at a youth conference I attended in Nashville. It went like this: “Never TELL a young person something you can lead them to DISCOVER on their own.” And I have to say, that principle seemed to click with […]

The journey to the cross was indeed a “Day of Surprises,” as R. Kent Hughes called it. Jesus, in the midst of His suffering, continued to amaze; he left an example for us to follow. “It is finished,” but we are not.

The first time I flew on a commercial airplane was back in the early ‘70’s shortly after I graduated from high school. I flew from DC to Alabama to visit my grandmother. My parents took me to National Airport, which was much smaller back then.  They helped me check my luggage and saw me to […]

Of our five senses, our sense of smell is one of the most powerful. I mean I don’t know about you but my nose can smell spring on the way—and I’m happy to say I finally smelled the approach of that scene Friday on my way home from the church office! Pastor Carlos told me […]

In her essay, An Expedition to the Pole, Annie Dillard describes the ill-fated Franklin expedition—an expedition in the mid 19th century that perished because its preparations were adapted to the posh conditions of the Royal navy officers’ clubs in England instead of the harsh realities of the Arctic. Here’s an excerpt from Dillard’s essay: “In […]

1st John 2:2 – “Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” As I told you a few months back, this year I’m reading the Chronological Bible—which is the entire Bible in 365 daily readings, arranged in the order that it happened. […]

I’m sure you would agree that the Sistine Chapel is one of the true jewels of the art world—especially the world of CHRISTIAN art. Michelangelo spent four years painting it—finishing his amazing masterpiece in 1512. Now, in Michelangelo’s day the only light source came from candles—and as all those candles burned to illuminate the  Sistine […]

For the past 17 years my life has pretty much revolved around sermons. Let me put it this way, preaching is not just my occupation. It’s my pre-occupation. When I’m not actually delivering a sermon, I’m preparing to deliver one or praying for God’s help in my prep or I’m reading books and commentaries or […]

As I told you last week my undergraduate degree is from the University of North Alabama, a small school located in Florence, which is in the northwestern corner of that state. The Tennessee River flows right by the edge of town and during the four years I was there I participated in one of the […]

I preached my first “real” sermon at Leighton Baptist Church—in the fall of 1975. I was a junior at the University of North Alabama at the time and was on staff at Leighton. I was the “Associate Pastor in Charge of Music and Youth” — longest job title I’ve ever had. When people asked what […]