This question about church membership came to me in August of 2024. Unfortunately I lost the card it was originally written on. So I have done my best to boil down the basic thrust of the question. A lot of today’s Christians realize that we are united to Christ’s body
I received the following question in writing on August 25, 2024. “Do we have to pray for the fruits of the Spirit? Or, because we accept Christ does He give us what we need for our lives without asking?” Before answering this, I think it’s important to lay out what
This article is based on a message preached at our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service in 2018. “4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5
I received a question along these lines on August 18th, 2024. The original question was worded as follows. “Can you explain the recent trend of Christians involved with drinking alcoholic beverages? IE., wine tours, brewery tours, overt beer and wine, mixed drink, drinking?” When I stumbled into the church in
This question came to me in this exact wording on August 8th, 2024. There has been a trend in the last several years of people choosing cremation for themselves or their loved ones upon their passing. How to treat the remains of the deceased is something filled with all kinds
First things first… If you are contemplating suicide, please don’t do it! God loves you, and there is a purpose for you to continue. Call 988 to get some immediate help. The Bible doesn’t have a whole lot to say specifically about suicide. There are several suicides recorded in the
I’m currently doing a sermon series that is a little different than my normal approach. I’ve called it Pastor’s Perspective. During the month of August I collected written questions from the congregation. In this sermon series I am doing my best to answer the questions I received.After collecting the questions,
“God, if you’re real, just prove it to me.” I wonder how many of us have prayed some version of this. Maybe in a moment of crisis you cry out for God’s immediate presence. Maybe in a cynical moment you find yourself doubting God’s existence. So why doesn’t God just
Precious heavenly Father, we come before you, recognizing that you are our Creator and Sustainer. You are a loving Father who watches over us from heaven. You came to us in the person of your Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus died for us upon the cross, His death a penalty for
I continue to reflect on the meaning of the blood Jesus shed on the cross. In part 1, the emphasis was on the New Covenant which was brought by Jesus’ death (Matt 26:28; Lk 22:20; Jer 31:31-34). Part 2 was about our redemption, purchased by his blood (Eph 1:7; Mk