Our church in Naperville recently met together to think through “how to listen to a sermon.” It was a fruitful and very edifying time! Here’s the notes we gave out. There is nothing revolutionary or Earth-shattering in these points, some are drawn from personal experience and others from the resources listed at the bottom. While […]
Author: Tom Schmidt
Christian, husband of Rach, Church Planter,musician,
Here’s a few quotes from Bonhoeffer’s excellent book on Christian community “Life Together.” These are all taken from the first chapter: “It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians.” “It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather […]
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Ruth 4 Sermon Outline
Here’s my sermon out for Ruth 4. You can listen to the sermon here. Ruth 4: A Costly Redemption INTRO: Ecclesiastes 3:11: “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” We see this in the book of Ruth. It is a story that began with a famine and death but ends with a marriage and […]
A cursory reading of the Book of Ruth may lead you to conclude that it is a love story between Boaz and Ruth. Ruth comes to town after the death of her husband, and she happens to work in the field of a generous and godly single man named Boaz. They are both in a […]
Does theology make any difference in our everyday lives? Does it actually change how we live? YES. I believe a right understanding, a right perception of the truth of who God actually is, and what has actually occurred in the gospel has incredible relevance for our everyday lives. It changes how we live. It brings […]
7 Helps When you are Tempted to be BITTER TOWARD GOD As Christians we will suffer in this life. It has been graciously granted to us not only to be believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him (Phil 1:29). Suffering is part of living in a fallen world under the curse of sin. […]
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2020 Books Read
This was a good read year of reading books for me. I think the pandemic afforded more time to read. This year we read more outloud as a family together , which is a practice I would like for us to continue. It was a lot of fun to read through the Narnias together and […]
A big theme in the book of Ruth is the providence of God. I like how John Piper describes providence as God’s purposeful sovereignty. God is in control of all things (He is SOVEREIGN) and the exercise of His sovereignty in our lives and in the world is what we would describe as providence. Daniel […]
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20 Highlights from 2020
In our latest Cross of Christ Fellowship newsletter we gave 20 highlights from 2020. If you missed it, here it is.
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5 Lessons from Ruth
I start preaching a new sermon series this Sunday at our church in Naperville, Cross of Christ Fellowship, on the book of Ruth. I’ve been using Daniel Block commentary as help in thinking through the text more. Here’s his 5 “practical and theological lessons” to be learned from the book: 5 Practical and Theological Lessons […]
