Difficult tasks often have easy beginnings. It is easy to learn the first few pages of a new piano piece when the melodies were familiar, the chords simple, and the accidentals few. It is easy to run the first mile of a marathon surrounded by the contagious energy of a hundred other runners. It is…
Salvation is a posture of repentance and faith toward the finished work of Christ in which you transfer the weight of your hopes of heaven off of your own righteousness and onto the finished work of Jesus Christ. The way to know you made the decision is by the fact you are resting in Christ…
Our book for January through March will be Infinite Journey: Growing toward Christlikeness, by Pastor Andrew M. Davis. One of my favorite books, it offers wise counsel on almost every aspect of the Christian life. I look forward to reading through it yet again with you all! Reading Schedule for Infinite Journey January 15—January 21…
Dad, Why Must I Obey? “Have you ever heard a child ask, “Why do I have to obey?” As a father of six kids, ages seven to seventeen, I have heard this question often — when not explicitly, then in the tone of their voices and the looks on their faces. As a parent, I…
[I]f we are to have boldness, we must be clean from wrath, that none may impute our words to that. No matter how just your words may be, when you speak with anger, you ruin all. John Chrysostom [347–407], Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, in Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers Series I, Volume…
Philip the Tetrarch was one of the three sons of Herod “the Great” who received territory when he died in 4 BC. Directly mentioned in the New Testament only in Luke 3:1, he ruled over Ituraea and Trachonitis. These almost exclusively Gentile regions were located to the northeast of the Sea of Galilee. It was…
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in every thing give thanks—for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ( Thessalonians 5:16–18) Giving thanks in every thing is relatively easy when the sun is shining and everything is more or less, “going our way.” Yet there are times—and for our church family at…
T. S. Eliot once noted that the serious books we read do not influence us nearly as much as the books we read for fun (or the movies we watch for entertainment). Why? Because when we are relaxing, our guard is down and we engage in the “suspension of disbelief” that allows us to enter…
Grappling with the Fears of Technological Change “Today we are at the dawn of the digital revolution, and we are grappling with many of the very same fears people faced at the dawn of every other communications revolution… But even now we can have hope. We can look to history to see how God has…
God the Father, looking upon the sinful children of men, and seeing them all in a perishing condition by sin, out of infinite bowels of tender compassion, has provided a glorious way of mediation, of propitiation for sin. And, to that end, He has sent His only beloved Son out of His bosom, who has…
