In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.Genesis 1:1 Let the rivers clap their hands,Let the mountains sing together for joyBefore the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;He will judge the world with righteousnessAnd the peoples with equity.Psalm 98:8-9I took the above photo this week...
“Throughout Scripture, in the life of every saint, of God’s own Son, throughout the history of God’s Church, God is, first of all, a prayer-hearing God.”—Andrew Murray, The Ministry of IntercessionIf we learned anything from this year’s Church in the Park, it’s that we have a prayer-hearing God, and, that...
Every Sunday I stand before you and see your faces for 40 minutes or more. I see a lot; body language that is sometimes open and sometimes closed. I see facial expressions which reveal a great deal. Some I can read like a book. Others are harder to decipher.There is...
I was pulling into a parking lot this morning when an older woman in front of me started backing up. I honked to let her know I was directly behind her. A few minutes later she was behind me, and graciously apologized for nearly backing into me. She told me...
Several weeks ago, Tara Orchard wrote about discouragement as an often-overlooked scheme of the enemy. Discouragement can arrive at any time and paralyze our faith. It often comes out of nowhere and catches us off guard. But there are other schemes that can ensnare us if we are not on...
This day, like so many others in Iraq, was depressing. May 1, 2003 -- I was in the desert with an invading force of Marines. As chaplain of 1,800 people, it was my job to meet spiritual needs.Being in an isolated area, our communication was limited. The only contact with the...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "Battle-Ready". [Watch video]For years, I believed that Jesus died on the cross. But I also believed that if I was a good boy I’d make it to heaven. If I wasn’t, well then. I believed a distorted gospel. At the...
This post is a response to Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "Drawing the Battle Lines". [Watch video]Our Life Group was discussing some of the schemes the enemy uses in our personal lives. As I listened to the group conversation, there was one thought that was headlining in my mind. It was discouragement. That's...
Our efforts as a church to create an “Easter Advent” paid off. Since Easter is the most important holiday for Christians, we devoted four weeks of preparation in order to give Easter its due, but also to focus on outreach. After all, the reason Jesus came and saved us was so...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "Save Now". [Watch video]Where was Satan during Holy week? When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Satan did not turn tail and run. During that week, I believe he marshaled all His demonic forces in an attempt to destroy the...
This post is a follow-up message from Caleb Klontz's sermon entitled "Lift Up Your Eyes!" [Watch video] “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.”(John 4:35) “The harvest...
This post is a follow-up message from last week's Missions Sunday sermon entitled "The Heart of the Disciple". [Watch video]“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” Revelation 12:11This past...
The story of Zaccheus is a well-known favorite, and certainly one of the most often told Sunday School stories. The liability here is that we think of it as just a Sunday School story. Then there’s the song: “Zaccheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "Slaves & Masters, Part II". [Watch video]One of the fascinating things I learned while studying slavery the last few weeks was the place of Christianity during the Civil War. As a retired Navy Chaplain, I was interested to learn that during...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Chris's sermon entitled "Fatherhood". [Watch video]Repentance is a humbling concept, especially for men. If repentance could be taken in pill form, it would come in a brightly colored jar with all sorts of wonderful benefits printed on the label. But inside that jar would...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "The Mystery of Marriage". [Watch video]My wife and I love a good whodunit. We often watch British mysteries online or on TV. The thing about mysteries is this, someone has to die. Yup, someone dies just for our entertainment! Of...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "The Highest Calling". [Watch video]Our garage nearly flooded this week as all our snow and ice began to melt. Water takes the path of least resistance and the frozen ground combined with rain and snowmelt meant the path of least...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "A High Calling". [Watch video]Many years ago, our family experienced a couple of Navy deployments. The first one was when Ben was on an aircraft carrier, and the other was when he went to Iraq. Both times meant months of...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "Marriage Equality, Part II". [Watch video]Does God know the end from the beginning? Is He really the Alpha and Omega, the God who was, and is, and is to come? Does God know what is going to happen in history? Consider...
This post is a follow-up message from Pastor Ben's sermon entitled "Marriage Equality". [Watch video]Last Sunday we began laying the groundwork for the subject of marriage in Ephesians 5. Why must we lay groundwork by talking about “Marriage Equality” before we address husbands and wives? The reason is that our culture...