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I am a waterfowler. I enjoy seeing ducks swim. I like hearing the whistle of the wind under their cupped wings. I am often struck by the beauty of a flock of Canada Geese in their familiar V-formation. More times than I can count, I have nearly run off the road while gawking at a field full of feeding geese. And I enjoy hunting ducks and geese, and enjoying them later as table fare.

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You and I have an enemy within us. Our flesh fights against us and leads us into sin. We must kill it! This book can help. The Christian life is about becoming more like Jesus Christ everyday. Jesus was perfect, righteous and holy. He never sinned. We on the other hand sin often. The Christian life is a an ongoing battle against sin. We put off the old and put on the new. Christian maturity is about the process of putting sin to death and striving for holiness. The war will last the rest of our earthly days, but we are not fighting it alone. We have been given the Spirit of God Himself. He is at work within us. He is also given us a weapon for the fight which is the Word of God. Sadly many Christians neglect the power and weapon that is available to them. Probably the most helpful writing on the topic was penned about 300 years ago by John Owen. His works Indwelling Sin, The Mortification of Sin and Treatise on Temptation have become Christian classics. They are a very challenging read and have been recently combined and updated into more modern English under the title Overcoming Sin and Temptation. Owen's writings are a boot camp that will prepare you to fight sin. To make this treasure of wisdom even more accessible an author has done a modern rewriting and abbreviation of Owen's books. The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin by Kris Lundgaard is a little book that I believe every Christian should read. It is filled with practical ways to gain victory over the sin that so easily entangles us. I have read this short book many times and keep coming back to it because I have found it extremely helpful in my own fight against sin and is a practical guide to introduce others to the raging battle. It is an easy read, but it is about a difficult fight. I want to strongly encourage you to prayerfully read through this book. Better yet, find someone to read it with. Look up every scripture referenced and think deeply on the implications of each text. It will do you good. The following are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

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As a preacher, my bread and butter is verse-by-verse, or passage-by-passage exposition of the Scriptures. This normally means preaching through Books of the Bible. The advantages of this kind of expository preaching ministry are manifold, and have been expounded upon by men far more qualified to speak to the subject than me. For my purposes here, just suffice it to say I do not do as well in the pulpit when trying to come up with topical sermon series.

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With more and more violent persecutions being committed against Americans and Christians by Islamic militants (not to mention Hindu radicals or North Korean atheists), we western Christians are being forced to deal with matters we'd prefer to ignore or not think of often.

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Veterans Day in America is humbling.

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For nearly seven years now as a Pastor, I have been warning parents about the harmful effects on their children of too much "screen time."

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I graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1995 with a Major in Human & Organizational Development. I almost minored in Geology. I really enjoyed studying the earth, and at that time bought into the geologic epochs, millions of years, and so on.

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Gossip... Definition...1. Casual unrestrained conversation about another person who is not there..conversation that is demeaning or slandering. 2. Idle talk. Well, boy, am I guilty of this. So many times in my life. And my idle talk has caused so much hurt. Gossip is a weapon of destruction. We don't see it that way because we don't see the souls of those we are destroying. We cannot see the deep wounds that our talk causes and many times we cannot see the horrid scars left behind. I am so thankful for grace that has forgiven me time and time again while it also works to change me. Why in the world do I ever gossip? I think the only reason that makes sense is that I love it. Have you ever gotten an adrenaline rush when you heard something that made you go "oh my?" Well, that is pretty much why we gossip because it fuels us. It makes us feel better about ourselves. But really holy people (like me and I suspect many of you) have learned to clothe gossip in robes of righteousness. We say things like this:

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It was nearly two years ago that the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place. Precious young lives were snuffed out by a man whose heart was evil and deranged. May God spare us another such tragedy and show us mercy.

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A wise Christian lady in the church I serve was recently sharing with me how much God had used genuine biblical accountability to grow her husband in godliness. It was a very encouraging message for this pastor to receive. I've been and will continue to try to convince the men of our church, every man in our church, to join what we call Disciple-Making Disciple Groups (or DMDs). These are gender-specific groups where 2-3 men or 2-3 women gather together to:

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