The Blameless Walk

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.  O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you” Psalm 84:11-12, NIV.

The Psalmist mentions just before this that he would rather be a doorkeeper for the Lord than to be in the tent of the wicked.  God is the giver of all things good, and He freely gives to those who truly love and trust Him.  In fact, this text says that He withholds NOTHING from those who are truly obedient to Him, whose walk is blameless.

Team Players – Sermon Summary

1 Corinthians 12:14-27.

Sometimes being a team player means that you will receive little if any recognition.  Some jobs are simply not performed in plain view for everybody else to see.  For example, playing defense as your primary focus on a basketball team doesn’t provide nearly the recognition of those who score most of the points.  This principle applies to the church as well.  Sometimes, this can present some difficult feelings and issues that must be understood.

Puzzle Pieces – Sermon Summary

1 Corinthians 12:1-12.

I love “working” a puzzle.  Diane and I will get one started once in a while and it won’t take long for Derek and Doug to join us.  While we may not be the speediest of puzzlists around the world, it is always a fun thing to do.  There is only one time when putting together a puzzle results in frustration and aggravation – when a piece is missing!

God puts the church together much like a puzzle.  There are pieces of various sizes and shapes.  They are mixed and matched and pieced together in such a way that we can see in time precisely how He formulates the portrait known as His church.

Double Vision

“They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.  Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon,” 2 Kings 25:7, NIV.

That may not be a passage used in many devotional thoughts, but sometimes reading more helps bring things to light.  This was part of the story about King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians overtaking Jerusalem.  What we are also told in 2 Chronicles 36 is that Zedekiah was not a ruler who had followed after God, choosing evil as a lifestyle.  Was this his punishment from the Lord?  Notice the great humiliation of the deed.

Toe Dipping – Sermon Summary

Joshua 3:7-17.

We have assembled many of our ideas and dreams as a church.  Some ideas may be spot on while others may be a bit off target.  If we look at things through the lens of target practice, we see the bulls-eye as the primary target.  When we shoot and miss, we don’t give up.  We don’t put our tools away, admit defeat, and quit without ever trying again.  When it comes to the church moving forward in seeking God’s will, our bulls-eye is what we would call the center of God’s will.  If we don’t hit the target with our first shot, we cannot allow ourselves to feel defeated and lose our desire to try again.

In other words, we must learn from our past if we plan to continue to move forward again.