Here is the sermon that I preached at Christiansburg Baptist Church on Sunday, April 22, 2012. It was one of my first sermons that I’ve preached. By God’s grace, He used a poor sermon and a weak preacher to point the congregation to Jesus, which was my prayer. I pray that it serves you similarly.
There are moments in the life of one who studies Scripture that remarkable connections are noticed from beginning to the end of the Bible. All of the sudden these strings of story jump out and grab the reader, much to his excitement and wonder. This happened to me recently. Allow me to share.
A friend and I are currently teaching through Mark’s Gospel at a halfway house. We recently just got through chapters 4 and 5. It’s fascinating to note how the imagery of the sea was used in two accounts that are back to back in his Gospel. The first, of course, being the account of Jesus calming the sea and rebuking the wind, demonstrating divine authority over nature, and the second account being when the herd of demon-possessed pigs rush down into the sea and are drowned. These instances prompted my friend and I to examine the Bible’s portrayal of the sea. Here, in short, is what we found.
Several months ago I was engaged by a Catholic student from Wheaton College in the most constructive and challenging conversation over the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism that I’ve ever had.
My former Roommate (always my Roomy) and best friend, Nate Frantz, has entered in to full time ministry now that he has graduated from college. Interestingly, however, he was already in full time ministry during his time at Olivet Nazarene University. This ministry that put Nate on mission with such Christ-centered resoluteness and fiery passion was disciple-making on college campuses.
It’s been an exciting past couple of weeks! The Lord has blessed me in many great ways recently. Firstly, the Gospel has been continuing to get sweeter and more real to me.
My thoughts as a redeemed image bearer, finding and fighting for joy in God in every station of life. "For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
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