Sin

The Bible is filled with fascinating characters. From Exodus to Deuteronomy, Moses and Aaron are prominent figures. They have interaction with many different personalities.

Scripture tells us that the devil is a liar. One lie he tells is that we can sin and get away with it. Perhaps a worse lie is that once we do sin, God doesn’t want us back. Even after Christians repent and return to fellowship with God, the devil tries to make them think that they are now second-class citizens.

Notice very carefully what John is saying to us (born-again Christians addressed as “little children”) in the First Epistle of John, chapter 2, in the first two verses. He is telling us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit how we should deal with sin. But take note of what he actually says to us. Let us understand what he means by the context.

On July 4th, 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote some of the most powerful words in all of history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

For several nights in a row I had felt a slight pain in my stomach while I was preaching. I didn’t think much of it—I chalked it up to be something I ate or perhaps the early symptoms of the flu. It was Saturday night, and I was exhausted from driving just over a thousand miles to a church where I would be privileged to speak all day on Sunday.

An 8:00 am flight out of Detroit, through Phoenix, to Los Angeles seemed simple enough. The airport was only fifteen minutes from the hotel, and after returning my rental car, I was two and half hours early—just like I had planned.

Most of you can remember what life was like in America before what has simply come to be called 9/11. And while we have become accustomed to living under a constant threat of terrorism, our lives are different since that infamous day. Nowhere is this more evident than at an airport.

I recently ventured the clean­up of a hazardous material spill in my kitchen. My thermometer had fallen and broken on the dark linoleum floor, spilling the mercury which dispersed into little rolling beads.

Sermon outline: This is an abbreviated outline with the complete sermon downloadable at the bottom of the post. Malachi is about “a last cry”, “a final appeal” that God is making to His people before the close of the Old Testament period.

There is no such thing as “instant holiness.

The preaching of the Word of God is both negative and positive. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16, that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for:

Over the two million miles I have driven preaching revivals, I could count on one hand the number of times I have had a flat tire—that is, until recently. Over a period of six weeks I was able to practice my tire-changing skills three times! Culprit number one was a nice sharp . . .