“How are you doing? Really doing? How are you handling your hard week?” she asked. Then she followed those questions up with, “Can I pray for you right now?” Encouragement–we would recognize it anywhere. It’s like a gentle push forward…
Whenever our congregation ordains new officers (i.e. elders and deacons), I love to sing the hymn, “Rise up, O Men of God"…well, except for the words. It’s a high energy hymn and one with a stirring tune (we sing it to Festal…
Preaching is an important gift from God. How important is preaching? Jesus is a preacher.1 The truth that Jesus is a preacher should point you to the weight of preaching. You can see the value Jesus placed on preaching when…
When I was a kid I would often go fishing with my dad. Our fishing trips usually started at the tackle shop. For a little boy, a tackle shop is a nearly magical place filled with colorful lures, live bait,…
Confessionalists value unity; Millennials celebrate individualism. Confessionalists cherish tradition; Millennials love innovation. Confessionalists are guardians; Millennials are liberators. The combination of these words seems like an oxymoron. But does it make sense to completely separate the categories “Confessional” and “Millennial?” To…
We live in what has to be the most frenetic society in all of human history. It seems as though things are just getting faster and faster, and the pressure to fill our schedules with non-essential activities is becoming more…
The book of Job presents the preacher with a myriad of homiletical challenges. First there’s the book’s sheer length, weighing in at a hefty 42 chapters. Then you have the cyclical and repetitive aspects of Job’s conversations with his three…
A number of years ago, Sinclair Ferguson made the observation that "the Puritan movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries…underlines for us the significance of spiritual brotherhood in the movements of the Holy Spirit." The more we study the writings…
The first Sunday on which I invited guests for lunch after church, the oven settings failed. We all arrived at the house, anticipating the mouthwatering aroma of baked ham and instead opened the door to . . . nothing. The…
Conflict regularly occurs in the church. If experience doesn’t teach this reality, then we only need turn to the pages of the New Testament for verification. Paul and Barnabas separate (Acts 15:36-41), divisions arise in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:10-17), accusations…
