Last year I wrote several times about my friend Andy McQuitty, pastor of Irving (TX) Bible Church, who was diagnosed in the summer of 2009 with Stage 4 colon cancer. Marlene and I have known Andy and his wife Alice since 1983 when we served together at Northeast Bible Church in Garland, Texas. They are dear friends to us. On Monday and Tuesda…
Notes from Chapter 9 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. This chapter contains a sermon called “Walking Without Fainting” based on Isaiah 40:31, “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”…
Notes from Chapter 8 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. This chapter contains a sermon called “Spiritual Shortsightedness” based on 2 Peter 1:9, “But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”…
What’s the difference between a real Christian and a religious person?This question originally came from an unsigned slip of paper turned in during a congregational survey when I served as pastor in Oak Park, Illinois. Whoever wrote this question deserves an A+ for creativity and for getting right to the point. The wording suggests that the…
Notes from Chapter 7 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. Chapter 7 contains the sermon “Hindrances” based on Galatians 5:7, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?”“The difference between an excuse and a hindrance is the difference between a feigned and a real obsta…
Notes on Chapter 6 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. This chapter contains a sermon called “Temptation” based on 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a…
Notes from Chapter 5 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. This chapter contains the sermon “Sin and Grace” based on Romans 5:20, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.""The text suggests a battlefield; it tells of a conflict that has been proceeding since time began, which is proceeding now, which i…
Notes taken from Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. Chapter 4 contains a sermon called “The Death of Christ” that examines Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:3 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."The Cross was never meant to be a puzzle, a baffling, hopeless mystery.""And in so far …
Notes taken from Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. Chapter 3 contains the sermon called “The Son of Man” based on Jesus’ question in Matthew 16:13, “Who do men say the Son of Man is?” Dr. Jones explains what it means to call Jesus the “Son of man.” “We are perhaps more familiar with difficulties…
Notes taken from Chapter 2 of Paul’s Certainties by J. D. Jones. This chapter contains the sermon “The Unaccountable Man” The chapter title refers to that moment in Christ’s ministry when he returned to his hometown and the people began to wonder, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” …