preach-itSermon Archive

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April 2019

The Boy Who Would Be King

I hope you can listen in to this message as we embark on a new sermon series through the life of Israel’s greatest King, David. His story spans multiple books, and his life story is rich with meaning and application for God’s people today. Like most people we encounter in God’s Word, David is a complicated figure. He defies simple labels. This coming Sunday we will be unpacking the first 13 verses of 1 Samuel 16. In those verses we will be introduced to David for the first time, and as he is anointed King by the prophet Samuel we will learn some important principles about Biblical leadership.



Enter By the Narrow Gate

On March 27, 1513, a squadron of three ships flying Spanish colors drew within sight of the Florida mainland for the first time. The leader of the expedition was an aging Conquistador named Juan Ponce De Leon. He came ashore at a site just south of where the St. John’s River flows out into the Atlantic, and there he planted a cross and raised the royal banner of Spain. Because he made this discovery at Easter time he called this new land that he’d discovered “Terra de Pascua Florida,” w



Making Known the Unknown God

On January 8, 1815 a rag tag force of approximately 4,700 Americans under the command of General Andrew Jackson defeated 11,000 British Regulars in the Battle of New Orleans. However, as you may remember from history class, the great irony of that battle was that it came just fifteen days after the signing of the treaty of Ghent which officially ended the war. In those days news traveled at the rate of wind-powered boats and horses, and news didn’t reach forces in the field until after th



A Jailer Set Free

In this message we will be studying the exciting account in Acts 16 of how a first century prison guard in the city of Philippi became a follower of Jesus. I have never worked as a prison guard exactly, but when I was a police officer my job was at times not so dissimilar. I’m not sure if this is also true in Maine, but in Vermont, where I worked in law enforcement, when I would arrest someone during court hours I had to take them over to the courthouse to see the judge that same day. Und



March 2019

The Conversion of Lydia

The sixteenth chapter of Acts documents for us the moment when the Gospel first arrived onto the mainland of the European continent. In the centuries that followed Christianity would go on to become the prevailing worldview of nearly all European peoples. Christianity would serve as the muse that inspired painters, musicians, architects, and craftsmen of all sorts. From those countries Christianity would gain many of its most influential thought leaders. Today the European landscape is dott



A Blind Guide Exposed

The only training I ever received in delivering a death announcement was during my time at the Vermont Police Academy. One afternoon, the belt broke on a vacuum cleaner as it was being used in one of the academy’s hallways. We had just received a block of instruction on CPR so our instructors thought they would use this as an opportunity to test our knowledge of the subject. They singled out a friend of mine and demanded that he attempt CPR on the broken vacuum cleaner. Giggles ran up and d



The First Frontier of Mission: Our Own Wicked Hearts

I remember once in Junior High I overheard a classmate of mine explain to a teacher why she celebrates St. Patrick’s Day. “St. Patrick was Irish,” she said “And my family is super Irish!” She was dressed all in green with temporary shamrock tattoos on both cheeks.

The teacher was smiling and nodding her head, when I interrupted, “Actually, St. Patrick was from England,” I said. “He wasn’t Irish. He was brought to Ireland as a slave, but he escaped, and then later he came back to Ir




The Changed Mind of Paul

As I have disclosed previously, I am a fan of westerns, and it seems to me that one of the unsung heroes of all the many westerns that I have watched are the horses. I mean really, what would a western be without horses? Would the bad guys just walk into town? Would the good guy ride off into the sunset on a bicycle?

There comes a moment though in nearly every western where somebody makes a horse do something that it would never do if left to its own devices. In the movies I have see




Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

A few years ago, while living in North Florida, I took the kids fishing at Watertown Lake. Like all of the lakes there in North Florida the water was very dark. They say it’s from all of the tannins in the oaks. I always thought it was beautiful- like a tea that had been steeping for thousands of years. The lake had a long, L-shaped fishing pier that went out beyond its weedy fringes into deeper water, and after the kids spilled out of the van, my oldest, Bowden, led the charge, clomping



February 2019

More Than We Can Ask Or Imagine

I remember a time several years ago when I attended a conference in Philadelphia. The hotel I was staying at was located several blocks from the site of the convention center where the conference was being held, and every day as I walked back and forth I encountered dozens of panhandlers on the street. Some were fairly aggressive in their approach, but others just sat silently and passively behind rough cardboard signs. Being from the country I was unaccustomed to interacting with beggars.





 
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