Simply Gospel

May my steps be worship. May my thoughts be praise.

  • Partisan Spirituality

    Have you ever been part of a congregation that began to internally debate a matter of scripture? I’m not talking about a few people discussing a small disagreement. I mean speakers representing different sides of an issue actually standing before the congregation having a moderated debate. I’m talking about the type of setting where supporters of each idea will sit on the opposite sides of the auditorium. It’s been years now, but I have. And it’s not pretty. Worse, it’s not productive. I recently touched on this topic in a sermon I gave at my congregation about doctrinal integrity (which… Continue reading

  • Imprint the Image of a Godly Man on Your Daughter’s Heart

    Imprint the Image of a Godly Man on Your Daughter’s Heart Perhaps the greatest gift a father can give his daughter, outside of leading her to salvation, is to imprint the image of a Godly man on her heart. One day we will be walking our daughter down the aisle, and the choice she made for a husband will likely hinge more on OUR actions than hers. For nearly 20 years, we will have the greatest influence on our daughter’s understanding of how a man should treat his wife in a manner consistent with God’s plan. Continue reading

  • I Didn’t Watch the Nye/Ham Debate. Here’s Why

    I Didn’t Watch the Nye/Ham Debate. Here’s Why We all have to start thinking like missionaries. Ideally, that should mean helping people see why following Jesus is different from any other way of life. Unfortunately, debates like yesterday’s force us to take an extra step. We have to start by disentangling the Jesus way of life from specific scientific (or political…) ideologies. Continue reading

  • A Better Question is: Why Do Any of Us Stay in Church?

    A Better Question is: Why Do Any of Us Stay in Church? When they started to live out Jesus teachings, they had to do it together. They had to share their stuff. They had to feed each other. Continue reading

  • Pain, Relationships, and the Body of Christ

    Pain, Relationships, and the Body of Christ Every human organization will produce stories of pain. School, sports, work, military service, dating… each one of those endeavors have their detractors, people whose memories are more focused on the hurt than the gain. Some of those are justified; others not so much. Continue reading

  • Truth and Tone Go Hand-in-Hand

    Truth and Tone Go Hand-in-Hand There is a kind of selfishness that makes us angry with and opposed to those who are different than us. We believe that we are serving God’s cause in our anger. But, let us not forget the words of James 1:20, “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness God requires.” You may absolutely right in your doctrinal or practical conclusion, however, you may be communicating your rightness in a sinful way. You could be right on truth and wrong on tone. And as a result, you are wrong on truth! Some feel they are… Continue reading

  • Sports vs. Church

    Sports vs. Church When we say “yes” to one thing, we are saying “no” to something else. I have seen it too easily happen that without meaning to reject church, families are saying “yes” to extracurricular activities – but this “yes” is also a “no” to consistency at church activities and developing relationships with our church family. Continue reading

  • Love Is Not a Verb

    Love is Not a Verb Love is not merely the action of meeting others’ needs; it includes the motive of the action. True love cherishes God supremely as the supreme Treasure and therefore wants others to also cherish the supreme Treasure and be eternally happy. Continue reading

  • How to Live in a Secular Culture

    How to Live in a Secular Culture In the United States, many Christians act as if something has been stolen from them, and they approach non-Christian culture in a very combative and antagonistic way. To make an impact on our culture and see people meet Jesus, we must be good citizens, do good works, speak good words, and display good manners. If we’re going to be filled with the Holy Spirit and live in a culture where the rhetoric is toxic, we need to be an exemplary in our actions. Otherwise, people will never see Jesus in us. Continue reading

  • A Simple Tip to Make Sermons Stick

    Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. – II Timothy 2:15 Be honest with yourself. How many sermons do your remember? How long does it take for you to forget the morning lesson after leaving worship for lunch? The fact is we participate in a largely ineffective learning model during every Sunday sermon. We sit in an audience passively while a person lectures to us for thirty to forty minutes (twenty minutes if I’m doing the preaching). This culture of delivery isn’t changing any time… Continue reading

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