Sterling Griggs

I read Psalm 111 today (HCSB) and thought it was too good not to share.  Each verse is a vivid reminder of how great our God is and worthy of all the praise and glory that we can give to Him: Hallelujah! I will praise the Lord with all my heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The Lord's works are great, studied by all who delight in them. All that He does is splendid and majestic; His righteousness endures forever. He has caused His wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has provided food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His works by giving them the inheritance of the nations. The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His instructions are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, enacted in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people. He has ordained His covenant forever. His name is holy and awe-inspiring. The fear...

Having 4 kids under the age of nine can be a chaotic thing.  I'm not sure how it happens but when one has a meltdown the others are sure to follow.  The cycles of calm to chaos in our home are fairly regular and Kellie and I are learning more creative techniques everyday to keep the peace.  Don't get me wrong, my kids are wonderful.  But there are those times where life gets out of balance and minor episodes can turn into major meltdowns. Ever since the Lord has led me to step away from the church I served for over nine years and take a step of faith for Him, I knew that there would be more time spent at home with the kids, something that I was more than ready to happen.  God has been gracious to provide me with many opportunities to go and preach, but there is still much time that I have to study and prepare from the comfortable confines of my home.  With Kellie switching over to day shifts as a nurse, I now enjoy the kids unassisted for the better part ...

Yesterday I was faced with an opportunity to put into practice what I have believed and preached for years.  Please note that this post isn't an attempt to pat myself on the back or to make me out to be someone better than I am.  It serves as an example of what Jesus asks us to do as His disciples. We've all seen the guys on the street corners, holding cardboard signs asking for spare change.  Some claim to be veterans, others claim that they will work for food, while there are others that simply ask for money.  How uncomfortable does it make you when the light turns red and you discover that these guys are standing right beside your car?  As followers of Christ we suddenly find ourselves in a dilemma.  On the one hand, do we want to be responsible for giving these men and women money only to have them spend it on alcohol or drugs?  But then there is always the possibility that they might really use the money that we give to buy food and basic nece...

There has been and will probably always be a lot of discussion and presumption about the end times and the return of Christ.  Eschatology (study of the end times) comes with such scholarly sounding words as pre-, post-, a-millennial, and mid-, pre-, and post-tribulation, and finding a consensus on their meaning and agreement is impossible.  In the gospels of Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21, Jesus spends much time addressing the "end times" and trying to answer some of His disciples questions of just how these things would come down. In the words of Jesus we find potential explanations of not just the great tribulation that will follow the return of Christ (or precede it depending upon your eschatological viewpoint) but also of how things will be when the temple is destroyed by Rome (which would occur a couple of decades after He spoke these words).  Making sense of the time line and order of it all can be a daunting task, one that I choose not to dive too deeply int...

These past couple of weeks I have had an "open" schedule for one of the first times ever.  I have a huge list of things that need to be done around the house - fix the molding, clean the basement, install shelves in the garage, fix and clean the kitchen chairs - not to mention the weekly mowing and weeding of the massive yard.  Since I am in between ministry opportunities I assumed that I would have more than enough time to get all those things done and by June I would looking for more projects to accomplish. I looked at my list this morning and only one thing has been accomplished, the fixing of the basement steps.  That only got done because if I didn't fix them then someone was going to get hurt.  It seems as if every minute of every day is being sucked dry, yet I'm not the least bit frustrated that my list isn't being completed. When I do inventory of my time at home, it has been consumed with my family.  I have spent more time with my kids than I can te...

A pastor that I heard preach this past weekend delivered a sobering point during his sermon.  He said that my generation (the 30-40 crowd) is the second generation removed that delivers consistent discipline to our children.  Our grandparents were the last to really "lay down the hammer."  Our parents were a little squeamish to discipline their children, instead choosing to let us learn from our mistakes rather than trying to prevent them.  This means that I am part of the current generation who is continuing that trend.  He didn't offer any proof for his assertion but he didn't have to.  As a parent of 4 children and as one who spent the last 20 years in student ministry, I would say that his assessment is spot on. Just recently I had a discussion with a woman whose older teenage daughter was wrestling with some moral issues.  Her daughter had been "raised in church" but she was struggling to make right decisions.  She told me that her daughter...

This week I have enjoyed the privilege of preaching revival services at Sandy Springs Baptist Church in Harmony, NC.  I have never preached a full revival before, so this is a new and exciting experience for me.  It's a small church and there have been a couple of nights where I'm pretty sure I was the youngest person in the room, but it's an honor to preach whenever God grants the opportunity. As the time for the revival services was approaching I was busy preparing multiple sermons, seeking God's direction as to what He would have me say to His people.  It didn't matter to me how many people came, I was just excited to preach that many times and to pour myself into the life of this church.  For the first two nights I felt as if I had prepared well and that I had been faithful to give God my all.  But last night was different.  Since last night was youth emphasis night, my plan was to share my personal testimony and then bridge over to an abbreviated s...

Yesterday was one of those really long days, the kind of day that takes a little while from which to recover.  Not only was it my 40th birthday but it was also my last day on staff at Union Grove Baptist in Yadkinville, NC.  The people there were so kind and gracious to me and my family and it was a wonderful time of celebration of all that God has allowed us to be a part of there for the last 9+ years. It's impossible to unpack over nine years of ministry in one sitting.  One would expect that when I finally left the church yesterday that I would spend the rest of the day at home with my family contemplating all that God has allowed us to be a part of for this past decade.  And usually Sunday afternoon is a time of rest in our house - that is if the kids will rest - but not yesterday.  I was scheduled to begin preaching revival services that evening so I spent as much of the afternoon as I could in preparation.  I left the house to preach at 5:45 and di...