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Newsletter — June 30, 2024 June 30th, 2024

How shocking! “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love” (Proverbs 5:18–19). Can you believe Pastor Thacker read that verse …

Newsletter — June 23, 2024 June 23rd, 2024

In Pastor Joe’s sermon last Sunday, he dealt with Exodus 21:20-21, which is a tightly written passage without a lot of explanation that we moderns would like. Verse 20 seems forthright and Pastor Joe summarized it concisely: the principle is “no excessive brutality” by masters over slaves …

Newsletter — June 16, 2024 June 16th, 2024

There was a time when the very idea of publicly talking about certain topics was frowned upon. The censorious nature of the television gatekeepers was such that to even use certain words (such as, say, the word “virgin”) would cause major controversy. How far we’ve come. The …

Newsletter — June 2, 2024 June 2nd, 2024

Pastor Joe noted last week that baptismal water and the Holy Spirit always go together (“…unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the KOG…”). That’s something us whole-bible, baby-baptizing people stress to other Christians! We stress it because we believe Jesus …

Newsletter — May 26, 2024 May 26th, 2024

When we think of Pentecost, we rightly think of the Great Commission and the unraveling of the confusion of Babel. Now the gospel can be heard and believed in every language!But what many Christians miss about Pentecost is that the Apostles spoke in actual known languages …

Newsletter — May 19, 2024 May 19th, 2024

Today we remember, celebrate, and rejoice in Pentecost, on which we wear red to represent the coming of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2 (one of our Lectionary readings today) tells us that when the Spirit appeared on God’s people as tongues of fire, that they spoke with other tongues in …

Newsletter — May 12, 2024 May 12th, 2024

What, is Ascension Day? Well, after Crucifixion and Resurrection Days, it’s the most important day to remember all year.How is that? Ascension Day is the day Jesus left the visible earthly realm in the presence of his disciples and sat down to rule the universe at the right hand …

Newsletter — May 5, 2024 May 5th, 2024

Some theological reflections on the resurrection of Jesus, as we contemplate his coming Ascension on May 9. God made his covenant with Adam. When Adam sinned, the curse of the covenant (death) fell upon him, and upon all those in union with him (the whole human race …

Newsletter — April 28, 2024 April 28th, 2024

You’ve probably heard it said that “every Sunday is Easter,” or “Every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday,” usually to stress the ongoing blessing of Easter, so as not to limit it to one day a year. And they are correct, of course, because each week we eat the Lord’s Supper and we are …

Newsletter — April 21, 2024 April 21st, 2024

The Athanasius Presbytery Spring meeting was held last Monday and Tuesday in Birmingham at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Spring meetings are more focused on fellowship amongst the pastors, elders, and mission church planting staff (pastors, elders, or laymen putting together a church plant …

Newsletter — April 14, 2024 April 14th, 2024

We are now in that 40 day period between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension to the throne. Ever wonder why “40 days” and not 99 or 23 or 77? Well, you know the answer. Think biblically; not American-ly. How many days did it rain, testing Noah and family while they …

Newsletter — April 7, 2024 April 7th, 2024

“Where is Jesus?” Reflecting further upon the resurrection in Mark 16:1-8, who is notably absent? Jesus. In Matthew, Luke, and John’s accounts, each of them records Jesus making some form of appearance, whether to the women (Matt. 28:9), the disciples later (Luke 24:13–49 …