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Newsletter — March 3, 2024 March 3rd, 2024

Let’s face it; the bumper sticker is correct: Life is Good. We live in a stable society, we get paid regularly, the electricity is always on, and we can count on life being pretty consistent. Yes, some have illnesses and people get sick and don’t recover, but Life is Good.

Newsletter — February 25, 2024 February 25th, 2024

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. But let steadfastness have its maturing effect, that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. — James 1:2–4

Newsletter — February 18, 2024 February 18th, 2024

This past Wednesday, the ashes of remembrance shaped in the sign of the cross on our foreheads, provided a reminder of the dust to which we are destined to return. This is not a morbid, introspective self-examination, but a realistic call to face the reality of our condition. And in so …

Newsletter — February 11, 2024 February 11th, 2024

Pastor Josh Anderson of Colleyville, Texas has an interesting point about the practice of Lent: In the Scriptures, there is often a temptation to understand piety before God as fundamentally about “giving up something” or fasting. But ultimately, defining piety as …

Newsletter — February 4, 2024 February 4th, 2024

In our day, the church has so personalized the gospel that all gospel presentations, all gospel tracts, focus primarily upon the individual and his/her salvation/standing before God. Rarely, if ever, is the church or the body of Christ mentioned in these presentations. And so, you wouldn’t …

Newsletter — January 28, 2024 January 28th, 2024

Theologian Peter Leithart makes an interesting observation about the prayers of Christians in his book “The Theopolitan Vision” that we should consider and apply. He notes (p. 102) that prayer is another way we “‘one-another’ one another.” We cast our anxieties, and the …

Newsletter — January 21, 2024 January 21st, 2024

Often you hear Christians say “Let go and let God” in response to something someone says about working out a situation to God’s glory. Often you hear Christians say to others “Don’t be a legalist” or “that’s legalism” when they hear somebody recommend a course of action …

Newsletter — January 14, 2024 January 14th, 2024

Have you ever taken note of how the writers of the new Testament often refer to themselves as “bondservants” of Christ? Paul does so in Romans and Titus, and references it in the book of Galatians. Peter, Jude, and, James do the same. Though these are all leaders and pillars in the …

Newsletter — January 7, 2024 January 7th, 2024

Have you ever wondered, week after week as you sit and eat at the Lord’s Table, how you are now drinking the blood of Christ, but Israeli saints were forbidden to drink blood? Have you ever wondered why the change? And perhaps every once in a while you remember the Apostolic charge to the …

Newsletter — December 24, 2023 December 24th, 2023

Christ is come! Advent gives way to Christmas. As you give gifts to each other tomorrow, remember the gift of Christ the King, who’s birth and life we celebrate this season. While some may (rightly) decry a consumerism that has taken over Christmas, the giving of gifts, when …

Newsletter — December 17, 2023 December 17th, 2023

It’s Advent season, where we focus on the comings of God in history, feasting on their remembrances as we look forward to the final coming of Jesus when he overcomes death and Satan, throwing them both into the eternal lake of fire. But we still live in a sinful world, and it …

Newsletter — December 10, 2023 December 10th, 2023

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. — Mark 1:1–8, today’s lectionary gospel reading We are currently in the beginning of the church year, in the season of Advent — that time of …