The believer’s hope

The true account of the death of the philosopher Socrates serves as a parable of the hopelessness of the world. With the poison of hemlock already flowing through his veins and death momentarily awaiting him, one of his disciples leaned forward to him and whispered, “Master, shall we live again?” That’s an important question for […]

The problem of emotions

Emotions are the whole-bodied (inner and outer man) response of a person’s values in and evaluations of given circumstances. [That’s a paraphrase from Brian Borgman.] The problem of our emotions is that they have been skewed by the Adamic fall and curse. They no longer operate righteously at all times. They are sorrowful when they […]

Sermon: Excel Still More – Prayer

Excelling Still More: Prayer for One AnotherEphesians 1:15-19January 30, 2022 I am going to go out on a limb and make a generalization that I believe applies to all people. No one is satisfied with his prayer life. None of us will say, “I pray enough; I am content that God always gets my best […]

Day and night in the Bible

If you have ever needed to rid yourself of a few pounds, you know how your mind can be absorbed with thoughts about food while on a diet. You wake up hungry. You are hungry before meals, shortly after meals, and at bed. When you aren’t engaged in a task, your mind wanders to the […]

Sermon: Help Me!

Help Me!Psalm 119:145-152January 23, 2022 I know some of y’all enjoy hiking and camping. But serious hiking is not for everyone. Several years ago, the staff of the Bridger Wilderness in the Tetons released some of the comments taken after people had concluded their hikes. Here are a few samples: Trails need to be […]

Sermon: Living in Our Changing Unchanging World

Living in Our Changing Unchanging World2 Timothy 3:1-17January 16, 2022 In December Canada passed bill C-4 that outlawed what is called “Conversion Therapy” or “Reparative Therapy” for counselors. The bill became Canadian law eight days ago, on January 8. Conversion Therapy is a practice where people with homosexual desires and actions are re-oriented and “converted” […]

Counseling and first impressions

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression. Bad first impressions can be corrected, strengthened, or supplemented so that initial miscues aren’t lasting failures. As first impressions go, Job’s friends were masterful. When Job’s tragic circumstances became known, his friends came immediately to be with him (Job 2:11). No delay, no mental hesitation, […]

How To “Excel Still More”

Jesus said that the way for the world to know that we are followers of Him is to love one another (Jn. 13:34-35). A dominant theme of the “one anothers” in the New Testament was that the individual believers have a mutual love and care for one another (Rom. 12:10; 13:8; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2; […]

Books we recommended last year

Every month, our church promotes a book of the month — a resource we believe will help our church body grow in Christ. Here is the list of books we recommended in 2020 (this morning we recommended Ken Sande’s book, Peacemaking for Families): December 2021 – Heart and Habits, by Greg Gifford October – November […]

Sermon: Excel Still More

Excel Still More1 Thessalonians 4:9-12January 2, 2022 I have been asked many times (most often by visitors), “What is your vision for the church?” I haven’t always known how to answer that question. Sometimes that question implies other things like, “How big do you see the church being in five years? Ten years?” “What […]

Take in the Bible in 2022

At the time of year when many of us are thinking about setting goals for 2022, the best thing we can plan is how we will take in the Bible so the Bible can, in turn, transform our lives. What will your Bible reading, meditating, and memorizing plan look like next year? It all starts […]

Introduction to the Christ-Child

We are familiar with the birth account of Jesus. It’s hard not to know the story — even Charlie Brown’s friend Linus understands the advent of Christ. But there are details to the story that are easy to overlook and miss. One of the fascinating components to the birth accounts is how Jesus is addressed […]

Sermon: The King’s Worshippers

The King’s WorshippersMatthew 2:1-12December 26, 2021 We are well familiar with the Christmas stories: the appearance of Gabriel to Zacharias and Elizabeth announcing the arrival of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ — and Zacharias’ unbelief and silence. the appearance of Gabriel to Mary announcing her pregnancy with the Messiah and her willing […]

The great King and ordinary people

In the genealogy of Jesus there are many names that are foundational to the nation of Israel and even to our own faith in Christ — names like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, Solomon, Joseph, and Mary. But near the end of the list of names in Matthew, there are a series of people about […]

The King’s Humility

Below is the text from the message I gave last night at our Christmas Eve service. A few years ago I listened to Walter Isaacson’s masterful biography of Albert Einstein. I am not really scientifically inclined, but I thought the story would be interesting. It was — Einstein was a fascinating character. Along with the […]