Pastor’s Blog

Every young parent hears it. It goes something like this: “Enjoy these years with your kids, it will go quick.” Its not that I didn’t believe them when they told me; it’s just that I didn’t realize how fast quick is! Our eldest received his diploma last week. It was a sad/glad moment. It was […]

The culture war is not an onion. Peel away the layers of an onion and you still get onion. Peel away the layers from people and organizations warring against God’s law and biblical norms; you discover deeper issues—that is, lying beneath their agenda is something else propping it up. The pro-homosexual crowd exemplifies. Last fall, […]

It’s easy to lose things—even important things. “Where are my keys?” “Have you seen my wallet?” “Can you call my cell? I can’t find the blasted thing!” Yes; it is easy to lose things. We identify. But how do you lose the most important thing? Josiah was just eight years old when he became king […]

If you hadn’t heard of him before, you probably have since May 21, 2011 is now behind us. Harold Camping, the self-described Bible scholar and radio station mogul, proclaimed that was the day Christians were out of here (his understanding of “the rapture”—which is an entirely different matter, by the way) and the day the […]

What’s going on your stone? You can find this one at Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona for someone named Butch: “Here lays Butch. We planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger; but slow on the draw.” Apparently, Butch was a lousy gun-slinger; but if that’s all they could come up when he […]

We love his name though I’ve never heard anyone name their son after him. Does it have something to do with being four-syllables long? Did his friends call him “Phat,” for short? Though there are no little Jehoshaphat’s running around, he does have a phrase named after him (“Jumping Jehoshaphat”). That’s pretty cool. Anyway; he […]

A few Friday’s ago, man celebrated the “41st Earth Day,” cleaning mother earth by picking up garbage, planting trees, and promoting composting. On that same day (Good Friday), the church celebrated the Father sending the Son to die on a cross to clean us. The competing celebrations offered quite the contrast. One was man’s effort […]

There is a surprising word in our Bibles. According to my Exhaustive Concordance, it is used only once in the sixty-six books that comprises our Holy Spirit inspired Bible; but it is there. And if it was used more than once, you’d remember it. I came across it in my devotional reading a month or […]

by J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) What do you think about the cross of Christ? The question may be one that you consider of little importance: but it deeply concerns the everlasting welfare of your soul. Eighteen hundred years ago there was a man who said that he “gloried” in the cross of Christ. He was […]

A number of years ago, preaching to his beloved 10th Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pastor James Montgomery Boice threw out a little test for his congregants—especially the youth of his church. He set it up this way: “What I cannot understand is people, particularly young people, believing that everything is well with their souls simply […]

The numbers just came out and once again, bad news for mainline denominations. They can’t stop the leak. The numbers are compiled by the National Council of Churches and were just released in their 2011 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. Here are the five “biggest losers”: United Church of Christ (UCC) down 2.83%; Presbyterian […]

We’re told it’s unwise to be a one-issue voter. We are told it’s naïve to jettison a candidate who fails our particular litmus test; that we’re losing sight of the big picture when we do. There is an issue, however, that trumps all other political issues and says a lot about a candidate. That issue […]