Pastor’s Blog

This book review by Terry Delaney appears on his website, Christian Book Notes (December 23, 2011). Used by permission.  Fitzpatrick, Elyse and Jessica Thompson. Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2011, 208 pp. $14.99. Introduction Elyse Fitzpatrick is an excellent writer and editor. I have reviewed two of her previous works, both published […]

Notice to the reader: another in the series from “If They Could Talk” follows; the story of our redemption through the eye-witness accounts of animals who found themselves at key redemptive moments. The target audience is children; that they might better understand the Bible and God’s plan of salvation as it unfolds in Scripture. Other […]

Note to reader: A number of years ago, I began writing what I hoped one day would be a children’s book. It was penciled out to be 26 chapters (letters, actually) entitled “If They Could Talk.” It was to cover redemptive history from creation (Genesis) to the return of Christ (Revelation) from the perspective of […]

Back to those “holes” in your backyard (please see previous blog: “Take a Drink”); those “cisterns” you’ve been drinking from in hopes of being refreshed. If you don’t know, a cistern is not a well. A cistern is a dug out reservoir to hold water; water directed to it from a nearby spring or more […]

I finished reading Isaiah a few weeks ago; my devotions have since taken me to Jeremiah. About 100 years separated these guys who shared the same profession and mission: be God’s voice to God’s people. Isaiah prophesied to Judah in a time when her northern sister, Israel, was being overrun and exiled by Assyria. His […]

Jeremiah had a difficult gig. He was a priest and prophet during the days leading up to Judah’s demise and deportation by Babylon in 586 BC. Most of his sermons and prophecies concerned the impending doom. As a result, he was unpopular: “I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; […]

Do you know that you gave $1 to an abortionist this year? And without your consent, that dollar was used to kill a baby. How so? Planned Parenthood received $363 million dollars this past year of taxpayer funding. We are a nation of 312 million people. Do the math and each of us actually gave […]

“Ouch,” cried Toe. “That’s the second time this morning you’ve been stubbed,” responded Elbow. “What’s your problem?” “I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” informed Toe, “walking when I’m supposed to be walking. Why didn’t Eye tell me to stop?” “He’s not around,” Elbow said, “something about being tired.” “Tired? Doesn’t he know we […]

“Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people.” That’s Ecclesiastes 12:9. Who is the referenced “Teacher”? It is Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes (1:1). Early in Solomon’s reign, God gave him a “genie in the bottle” opportunity: “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5). […]

“Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative,” wrote Dr. J. Gresham Machen in his line-in-the-sand book Christianity and Liberalism. Writing in the early 20th century, Machen clearly saw the difference between liberalism (liberal church) and Christianity when he said “Liberalism begins by telling the sinner what he must do; Christianity begins by telling the sinner what […]

Our Father wants us to be like Him: “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). I sometimes wonder, however, if we have exchanged holy for happy. That is, our becoming more like Him […]

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance,” says the Apostle Paul to his young protégé Timothy, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). The worst, are you sure Paul? Paul’s pedigree said otherwise. He was the son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6). From […]