Pastor at Dover Baptist Church in Goochland, VA.
From the Tax Booth Imagine a busy seaside road in the region of Galilee. Beside the road sits a small table equipped with a ledger, a set of scales, a Roman seal, and a box for coins. Levi, the son of Alphaeus, is collecting tolls and taxes for the Roman Empire at his booth. Although... Continue Reading →
When God Starts in the Margins Let me begin with a question: If you were going to launch a movement to transform and redeem the world, where would you start? It is natural to think in terms of power, visibility, and influence. Our minds go to capitals, capitals of religion (Jerusalem), of politics (Rome), of... Continue Reading →
Introduction: Before Jesus preached a sermon, before He healed the sick, called the disciples, or walked on water, He went into the wilderness. He didn’t wander there by accident. Mark tells us in Mark 1:12, “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.” Now pause right there. That’s not how we usually imagine the... Continue Reading →
I. The Time of the Beginning (Mark 1:1; Luke 3:1-2) Mark doesn’t ease us into his Gospel. He opens with the forceful declaration: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1, ESV). There’s no mention of mangers or Magi, no angelic announcements to Mary or Joseph. Mark skips the... Continue Reading →
I. Jesus’ Growth in Nazareth (Luke 2:39–40) There is a kind of mystery in the years that pass between Jesus' infancy and His public ministry. The Gospels give us snapshots of His birth, then again when He’s twelve, and then the curtain lifts in full in His thirties. We might be tempted to call those... Continue Reading →
Sermon Audio: LINK Introduction: For the past few weeks, we’ve been walking through the Sermon on the Mount, spending time reflecting on the Beatitudes. We’ve explored what it means to be poor in spirit, to mourn over sin, and to hunger and thirst for righteousness; each building upon the other to shape us for a... Continue Reading →
Sermon Audio: LINK Welcome: This morning, as we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, I want to invite you to pause for a moment and think about the most godly person you know. Picture someone whose love for God and for others is so genuine, so unmistakably real, that it has left... Continue Reading →
Sermon Audio: LINK Opening: As we have seen over the last three weeks, the story of Ruth is one that begins with tragedy, and yet gradually unfolds with hope. In the first chapter, Naomi and her family leave Bethlehem during a famine, but after the loss of her husband and sons, Naomi returns home with... Continue Reading →
Sermon Audio: LINK Opening: For the past few weeks, we have journeyed through the book of Judges, a dark chapter in Israel’s history when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Today, we focus on Abimelech, the son of Gideon, who lacked his father’s reverence for God. Instead, Abimelech was driven... Continue Reading →
Sermon Audio: LINK Series Introduction: Living in obedience to God doesn't come without its challenges. One of the most difficult trials we face is criticism, and it's inevitable that those who seek to live out their faith will encounter it. We might expect to face opposition from the world, but when criticism comes from those... Continue Reading →
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