After four consecutive Sundays “on the road”, I welcome the quietness of today. The Lord’s Day is familiar after 3000+ Sundays, but I am also today enjoying familiar surroundings, my own bed, my usual routines. Already this morning I am recharging, reflecting, rejoicing, and praying for what God is preparing in coming weeks. What a …
Category Archives: Sunday
It’s Sunday Again: Iglesia de Cristo-Crieve Hall
An incredible spiritual family of God exists around the world! The opportunity to meet brothers and sisters with hearts set on faithfully following Jesus Christ is stimulating and encouraging. While an unseasonable cold snap has had a slight impact on attendance during the seminar, the body of Christ is alive and well in this place. …
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It’s Sunday Again: Lexington
Another Sunday, anticipating the gathering of God’s spiritual family, meeting with a part of God’s family that we have not met. Because of shared faith, hopes, and goals–we know in advance that it will be a time of encouragement and blessing. The seminar will “kick off” today with Sunday Bible class, worship, and other shared …
It’s Sunday Again: “To Whom Am I a Neighbor?”
Another Sunday, the opportunity to worship with another part of the wonderful, great, extended family of God. Today Jan and I are representing Baxter Institute at the Missions Fair at the Park Plaza church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after which I will preach in the Spanish-speaking assembly. My sermon text is the parable of the Good …
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It’s Sunday Again: Thanksgiving Sunday?
Across more than 40 years of preaching, I always struggled with the question of the Thanksgiving sermon–especially which Sunday to consider “Thanksgiving Sunday” It may seem obvious to think of the Sunday after Thanksgiving (concluding the Thanksgiving weekend) as “Thanksgiving Sunday”, but at least two problems arise. First, attendance is often lower due to holiday …
It’s Sunday Again: The Lord’s Day (?)
It’s Sunday. Even though the number of regular churchgoers in our nation has dwindled drastically, millions of people in the US will attend church somewhere today. (If the surveys are correct, reflecting an attendance of only 15-25% of the population nationwide, 50-75 million people in the US will attend church today.) When the church attendance …
What a Spiritual Family!
Our visit with a different part of our “forever family” yesterday did not disappoint. The opening scripture and prayer led by a young teenager, songs of praise and adoration, a thoughtful and challenging meditation as we surrounded the Lord’s Table, prayers for special needs including a special time of assembled prayer to send a member …
It’s Sunday Again: Are You Part of My New Family?
The little girl, only six years old, was in awe at the number of people who attended the ceremony as her mother remarried. Since the accidental death of her father three years earlier, the little girl and her mother had struggled. Her mother’s family was quite small, her mother an only child. Few relatives lived …
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It’s Sunday Again: The Communion We Share….
For me, Sundays provide time for reflection. What is the nature of the fellowship Christians share? What does it mean that we assemble, that in fact the Greek word for church can also be translated assembly when referring to secular meetings? Is assembly something we do or something we are? How do the shared activities …
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It’s Sunday Again: Sunday Morning Reflections on the Lord’s Day
It’s Sunday again–no preaching nor teaching obligation today. Early this morning the breeze on the back patio feels cooler than normal–a welcome harbinger of summer’s almost end. Another Lord’s Day–this must make over 3000. I suspect that I have preached on at least 2000 of them. The opportunity to arise and celebrate God’s presence and …
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