We are now squarely in the summer season, which, for many of us, means abnormal schedules, travel, and vacation opportunities. This also means that we may be more sporadically plugged into the events and rhythms of church! That's not necessarily a bad thing - just a reality of the season. But we might miss some things, so I want to encourage you to engage in a few specific ways!
Keep ReadingOur June elder meeting was held July 1. Josh gave us an update on their mission; we were encouraged and spent time in prayer for their mission. Much of the remaining time was spent formulating a budget for the 26-27 fiscal year.
Keep ReadingSatan is aggressively opposed to the proclamation and spread of the gospel. I think this is clearly established in Scripture and life experience. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says; "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ..." In 1 Thessalonians 2:18, Paul tells the church he wanted to visit them, but Satan prevented it.
Keep ReadingAs you read this, Lord willing, I will be on vacation with my family and enjoying some rest and rejuvenation. Whenever I take vacation time, I find myself reflecting on a few things. I'm greatly relieved to be able to step away and rest, and be reminded that all things are in the Lord's hands. Truthfully, every time we even go to sleep it's a reminder that the world is not dependent on our conscious activity. We ultimately are not needed. Only the Lord is.
Keep ReadingWhen you hear the word "Puritan," what comes to mind? For most people, who may not be as familiar with church history as we generally are, the word Puritan has associations of prudishness and uptight morality. We even have a word for it - "puritanical." It is true that they, as a rule, took matters of Christian ethics very seriously.
Keep ReadingI am very thankful for all the people who put in so much time to make VBS happen this year. I know I'm biased because my wife had a big hand in writing out the curriculum, but I do think we put together a great week of VBS.
Keep ReadingOct 23
2025
I mentioned on Sunday that sin in our hearts and minds inevitably affects us physically, and what we do physically affects us spiritually. We could probably find many examples of this. Simply consider how prone you are to sin when you haven't gotten sufficient rest and sleep.
Feb 6
2025
Last summer as we were in our Proverbs sermon series, we spent some time one Sunday on the topic of sexual immorality. It's a big theme in Proverbs, and we'll touch on it again this week in Romans. In that Proverbs sermon, I issued an invitation, that if any man wanted to take steps in freedom from lust/pornography, to get a hold of me. Several reached out, but I want to issue that call again.
Oct 17
2024
I recently read, in a book about sexual addiction called “Freedom Fight,” about several related and fascinating experiments. In the first experiment, researchers put a rat alone in a cage with two bottles. One had normal water, the other morphine-drugged water. The rat invariably chose the morphine water, and drank until it became addicted and eventually died. The experiment purported to show that addictions are primarily chemically-driven.