2021 February

When in Romans, Accommodate, But Don’t Capitulate, Part 2

When in Romans, Accommodate, But Don’t Capitulate, Part 2

This is part 2 of the previous sermon and is also based on Romans 13:1-7. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel during the weeks we cannot meet due to Covid-19 restrictions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: A few months ago, I let my dark secret slip: Romans is close to being my least favorite book in the Bible (Nahum may be less appealing, but just barely). People were mortified when they heard this. Worse, they were bewitched, bothered and bewildered. I could have said I was a member of the Communist Party and received less questions (and less prayers for my salvation). After all, how could anyone NOT love Romans? Its theological argument flows so logically. It was the book that led Luther to rediscover salvation by grace alone. The “Roman Road” has led many seekers to Christ. And Romans is not only Paul’s gospel, but

How They Did It

How They Did It

Okay, before we go any farther, we all need to practice our detective voice. Here are three lines from the great movie/book, The Maltese Falcon. Once you can say each one of these lines with the proper snarl, then you are ready to read the rest of the post. We will start off with an easy one. Sam Spade says to Effie, his secretary: “You’re a good man, sister.” Sam Spade says to the tough guy, Joel Cairo (played by Peter Lorre): “When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it.” And last, as the police are carting away the bad guys, the chief detective asks Spade what that black statue of a falcon is and Spade sums it all up with this great line: “The stuff that dreams are made of.” Okay, having now graduated from detective school, we are ready for today’s mystery. We walk into a room,

When in Romans, Accommodate, But Don’t Capitulate

When in Romans, Accommodate, But Don’t Capitulate

This sermon is based on Romans 13:1-7. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel during the weeks we cannot meet due to Covid-19 restrictions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: A few months ago, I let my dark secret slip: Romans is close to being my least favorite book in the Bible (Nahum may be less appealing, but just barely). People were mortified when they heard this. Worse, they were bewitched, bothered and bewildered. I could have said I was a member of the Communist Party and received less questions (and less prayers for my salvation). After all, how could anyone NOT love Romans? Its theological argument flows so logically. It was the book that led Luther to rediscover salvation by grace alone. The “Roman Road” has led many seekers to Christ. And Romans is not only Paul’s gospel, but it may be the best articulation of the

Mark’s Gospel Is for Failures

Mark’s Gospel Is for Failures

I read a story this week about a guy who, when he was quite young, received some life-changing wisdom from his father. His father said, “Knowledge is power,” and then attributed those words to Francis Bacon. But the boy heard his father saying, “Knowledge is power. France is bacon.” For years afterwards, he struggled to figure out what the expression, “France is bacon,” meant and how those two sentences were connected. In high school, he once asked his teacher what this quote meant; and she went on and on for ten minutes explaining how knowledge was power, but stopped short of clarifying how France is bacon. Frustrated with her avoiding his true question, he cut to the chase, threw up his hands, and asked, “France is Bacon?” And she said, “Yes. Francis Bacon.” For the next decade, whenever someone said the famous line, “Knowledge is power,” he would always “finish”

When in Romans, Love Your Neighbor

When in Romans, Love Your Neighbor

This sermon is based on Romans 12:4-21 and 13:8-10. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel during the weeks we cannot meet due to Covid-19 restrictions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: A few months ago, I let my dark secret slip: Romans is close to being my least favorite book in the Bible (Nahum may be less appealing, but just barely). People were mortified when they heard this. Worse, they were bewitched, bothered and bewildered. I could have said I was a member of the Communist Party and received less questions (and less prayers for my salvation). After all, how could anyone NOT love Romans? Its theological argument flows so logically. It was the book that led Luther to rediscover salvation by grace alone. The “Roman Road” has led many seekers to Christ. And Romans is not only Paul’s gospel, but it may be the best articulation

Faster than You Can Cook Asparagus

Faster than You Can Cook Asparagus

Apparently, I know more Latin than I think. At least that’s what a website told me (“Mental Floss”). It listed off a bunch of English words and said they all were all Latin loanwords: words like memo, alibi, agenda, veto, alias, versus, etc. (i.e., all very common and very popular “English” words that I know and use often). And yes, “i.e.” and “etc.” are also Latin loanwords (or are they loan abbreviations?). And the following phrases are also all Latin (that’s right, in this post we are broadcasting “all Latin, all the time”): phrases like alma mater ("nourishing mother"), bona fide (“in good faith”), alter ego (“other self”) and vice versa (“position turned”). But not all is bright in Latin land. We also have a very sad Latin expression, barba non facit philosophum ("a beard does not make a philosopher”), which is very upsetting because I really want my beard to make it so! Here’s Point 1: A lot of people feel that

When in Romans, Serve One Another

When in Romans, Serve One Another

This sermon is based on Romans 12:3-16. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel during the weeks we cannot meet due to Covid-19 restrictions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: A few months ago, I let my dark secret slip: Romans is close to being my least favorite book in the Bible (Nahum may be less appealing, but just barely). People were mortified when they heard this. Worse, they were bewitched, bothered and bewildered. I could have said I was a member of the Communist Party and received less questions (and less prayers for my salvation). After all, how could anyone NOT love Romans? Its theological argument flows so logically. It was the book that led Luther to rediscover salvation by grace alone. The “Roman Road” has led many seekers to Christ. And Romans is not only Paul’s gospel, but it may be the best articulation of the

The Difference that Matthew Makes, Part 2

The Difference that Matthew Makes, Part 2

Let me give you some advice. It’s even good advice. First, from Henry David Thoreau: “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” That’s good advice. And now, from Fran Lebowitz: “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” Now, that is better advice! And third, from Saint Thomas Aquinas (the philosopher, not the high school): “Beware of the person of one book.” Now, that is the best advice yet! No wonder they name high schools after him! Ask anyone and they will tell you, it would be so much easier if we only had ONE gospel (“one gospel to rule them all; one gospel to combine them”). Why? Because four gospels give us headaches. Case in point, the cleansing of the temple. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus cleanses the temple on the Monday of Holy Week. On Friday of