Hello Dear Church, Around the world every day, Christians around the world are persecuted for their faith. People just like you and I who are persecuted simply because they have called Jesus their Lord. They are not of this world. This reality was brought home to me a few years ago. At the seminary where…
Good Afternoon Dear Church, One of my favorite things to do as a pastor is to get together with people and read through the Bible/books. Today, I was finishing up reading through Jude with someone. And we were talking about what it means that God will present us “before his glory” (Jude 24). After all,…
Good Afternoon Dear Church, I hope and pray you’ve had a good week! This week I’ve been thinking a lot about how we as Christians answer objections to the faith. After all, our whole preaching through Philemon has been skirting around a rather uncomfortable question, namely, why doesn’t Paul just condemn slavery outright? Does Paul…
Good Evening Dear Saints, I hope and pray you are having a good week! This week while studying for the sermon, I was reading through 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy was the last letter that Paul wrote before he was killed for the sake of Christ. It is a poignant, personal, and touching letter that Paul…
Good Afternoon Dear Church, I hope and pray you all have had a good week! My phone regularly shows me pictures of what my son looked like one year ago. The changes are drastic! Today he is waddling/running around and dipping fries in ketchup (and chips in salsa! – Prov 22:6). A year ago, he…
Happy Thursday Church, I hope and pray you are having a wonderful week! Today, I was reading through Jude with someone, and I noticed something that I never noticed before Now, what is interesting about this, is that I have preached through Jude before. Which means that I have probably given 40-50 hrs of my…
Good Afternoon Church, It might surprise some of you that over the last few years I’ve noticed that I tend to feel anxious. Being a pastor, I’ve experienced a fair amount of loss and tragedy, heartbreak and disappointment. And I often carry with me a sense that these things, or worse, will happen again. Thankfully,…
This week after my sermon, I have been thinking about the topic of forgiveness. In my sermon, I referenced the idea that Christians are called to forgive even those who have wronged them (though, not necessarily to restore trust immediately!). I was thinking how strange that is to a world that wants all justice and…
In my sermon, I referenced the idea that often when we read these words in Romans 1:16-17, we often feel guilty, because we don’t share the gospel enough. And so, paradoxically, by making us feel guilty and ashamed, we use these verses to motivate us to share the gospel. While evangelism is the most obvious…