Sermon Summary We live in a painful, confusing world with way too much evil and injustice; how can we make sense of it? Believers have a hard time reconciling all the pain and evil in the world and the existence of God. Does God cause or allow these evils? What are the theological implications if…
Sermon Summary Last Sunday we completed a 13-part series on the New Testament book written by and bearing the name of Jesus’ little brother, James. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Seeing is believing.”, but James thoroughly disproves it. James spent more than 30 years seeing perfection—watching Jesus “up close and personal”—and yet he was a…
Sermon Summary Genesis chapter 1 tells of God’s creation of the world and his evaluation of it: God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. But the tragic shootings in South Carolina in June of 2015 were not good; they were evil. Evil exists all around us-and in us. So it…
Sermon Summary All parents, either consciously or unconsciously, parent according to their understanding of the the following questions: What is a child’s basic nature? Are they basically other centered or basically selfish? How should parents and children relate to one another? Do parents have the right or responsibility to exercise authority over their children, or…
Sermon Summary The Bible has a lot to say about being single. Marriage, as we know it, is a temporal institution that will not endure in eternity (Mark 12:24-27). If there is no marriage in Heaven, then you don’t have to worry about singleness being some kind of a relational disadvantage in eternity. The loneliness…
Sermon Summary The fourth and final vow we must make to our spouses is “The Vow of Purity”, which says: “I commit to loving you with the purity of Jesus Christ.” But how can we gain and maintain the personal purity we need to become the kind of lovers God desires? It begins by establishing…
Sermon Summary Today, Pastor Doug continued his series on marriage entitled “Take a Vow.” We looked at the Vow of Partnership, which says this to our spouse: You are my covenant partner in Christ (Genesis 2:24). A covenant is a pledge where vows are made between two people committing their lives to one another, until…
Sermon Summary In Genesis 2:24-25 we learn of our second vow, the Vow of Pursuit. Here, God is saying that husbands are not only to make their wives their top priority, but they are to consciously pursue them. In fact, both husbands and wives are to do all that they can do to maintain a…
Sermon Summary Today, Pastor Doug began a new series on marriage entitled, “Take a Vow.” For the next four weeks, we are going to look at four vows that serve as the foundation for a great marriage. In snapshot fashion, Genesis 2:24- 25 gives us God’s blueprint for marriage. Among other things, we learn here…
Sermon Summary In Genesis 45:14–15 we have a beautiful picture of reconciliation—tearful apologies, expressions of deep repentance, and the assurance of God’s forgiveness. Soon, God’s blessing flowed (v. 16–20 cf. 12:1-2). And we live at a point in history where we are the beneficiaries of those blessings which flowed from the Jewish people (Galatians 3:8).…
