by Pastor Curt on January 12, 2012
filed under
discipleship, idolatry, sacrifice, sanctification, self-denial
I admit it. Working through this quarter’s edition of Free Grace Broadcaster on the topic of self-denial has left its share of bruises and wounds on my experience. For example, consider this paragraph from one of the articles by Charles Spurgeon entitled Family or Christ?: What, then, is the expense [of following Christ]?…The answer is [...]
by Pastor Curt on December 29, 2011
filed under
Bible reading, discipline, planning, sanctification, spirituality
Whoever coined that little saying, got it right. Making a plan and working a plan can make all the difference on so many fronts in our lives from the physical to the relational to the spiritual. For over a decade now I have followed a plan of one sort of another of daily Bible reading [...]
by Pastor Curt on August 31, 2011
filed under
change, community, gospel, growth groups, sanctification
We’re gearing up this fall for a church-wide growth group emphasis using the How People Change DVD Seminar Curriculum. You can hear more about this during our congregational meeting this Sunday during the 9:30 hour. Here’s one description of the material: In the How People Change Seminar Paul Tripp and Tim Lane explore the truth [...]
by Pastor Curt on June 20, 2011
filed under
cross, gospel, guilt, legalism, sanctification, spiritual growth
Lately the Lord has seen fit to slap me around a bit about my lack of attention to the gospel as the main thing in my ministry. Believe me, not even someone as thick-headed as me could miss the many messages from on high. As a consequence I’ve made it my mission the last couple [...]
by Pastor Curt on May 16, 2011
filed under
gender differences, marriage, sanctification, Singleness
This Saturday in our Oxford Club meeting for men we will continue our discussion of Richard Phillips’ book The Masculine Mandate. We will turn from the theological ground work laid in part one of the book to the practical application of those principles especially and primarily within marriage. Phillips says some provocative things in this [...]
by Pastor Curt on April 21, 2011
filed under
gospel, moods, sanctification, spiritual growth
For years, even after my conversion, I went about my days often as a pretty moody person. Back in the time when Tim LaHaye’s temperament categories captured the evangelical imagination, I always got stuck with the same label of the four: melancholy (choleric, sanguine, and phlegmatic rounding out the group). Ask Nancy and she will [...]
by Pastor Curt on April 12, 2011
filed under
gospel, grace, justification, mercy, sanctification, spritual growth
After the picnic on Sunday I crashed in front of the tube to watch the final round of the Masters golf tournament. Have to admit, I was curious to see if Tiger would rise from the ashes and win his first major since his crash and burn. As always he sported the Nike insignia on [...]
by Pastor Curt on April 11, 2011
filed under
change, identification with Christ, potential, sanctification, spiritual growth
By “P” word I mean potential. I used to dread hearing from others, “You have so much potential.” This implied in my mind far too painfully that I still had a long way to go in more ways that I could imagine. Lately I don’t hear that so much any more. I suspect getting older [...]
by Pastor Curt on April 9, 2011
filed under
grace, John Bunyan, license, preaching, prison, sanctification
As I prepare today for another Lord’s Day and the challenging preaching assignment God has given me from John 12:20-26, particularly vv. 25-26, I find myself decidedly grateful for the grace of Christ and His gospel. That and that alone enables anyone to hate his life in this world that he might keep it in [...]
by Pastor Curt on March 30, 2011
filed under
excitement, masculinity, sanctification
Most exciting things about manhood? Easy. Hunting, fishing, shooting, football, basketball, baseball, most other balls, biking (motorized or mountain), climbing, diving, flying, camping, riding, cooking (hey, it’s my list), lots of things. Oh, did I say hunting? But what about holiness? You want to put spiritual growth on a list of masculinity’s greatest excitements?! Richard [...]
