Meditation on Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” As the creator of life, God does not like death. He created man and woman to live with him forever in the Garden of Eden. When Adam sinned, death entered the world as the penalty for sin and spread to all of Adam’s descendants because “we all sinned” in Adam (Rom. 5:12). Death is a fair penalty for our rebellion against the God who made us, but it was not handed down by [...]
One of the ways that the church should be different from the world is by having a unity amidst diversity. Unity and diversity are both important goals for the church. Having one or the other is not enough. They both serve to set the church apart from the world. They are both to be prayed and worked for in order to display the glory of God in the church of Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about how the glory and nature of God can be more fully reflected in [...]
Meditation on Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 and Psalm 90:12 “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in [...]
As I traveled around Israel last month with over thirty other pastors, I learned so much from our guide. Erez, a messianic Jew, did a phenomenal job of explaining how biblical events were affected by the geography of the land. For example, it was easy to understand why Gideon was afraid to attack the Midianites after the Lord shrunk his army from 32,000 to 300 (Judges 7). Not only was his army much smaller now, but the Midianites camped at the hill of Moreh were within eyesight of the springs [...]
Ever since I wrote the article titled “The Sacred Duty of Voting” in March of this year, I’ve realized that the Presidential election this November might present Christians with one of the hardest choices they have had to make in a long time. The option of not voting at all seems preferable to many, and, unfortunately, the choice to not vote will be the choice that many Christians make. As I argued in March’s newsletter, I think that Christians have a sacred duty to vote. We are made in the [...]
Meditation on Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – [...]
As I drove home from work on “Super Tuesday” (March 1st), I saw something really encouraging. The local library on Frankford Road near Preston Highlands had a line of people coming out the front door, down the sidewalk, and almost into the road. There were people parking across the street and running through busy traffic to get over to the library. There was a line of cars trying to get into the parking lot of the library. It was a scene you typically do not see at a local library [...]
Friday, June 26, was a day when many Christians in America lost hope. On that day, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down one of the most important decisions in its history. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court legalized same-sex marriage across all fifty states, stating that individual states do not have the right to decide on this issue for themselves. Most states had already legalized same-sex marriage before this ruling, and the winds of American culture have been blowing in this direction for over ten years, but [...]
Why should local churches and individual Christians do things like go overseas to tell people about Jesus? Why should we raise funds and leave the comforts of home and family behind in order to tell people about the love of God in Christ? In other words, why do we do missions? There are several reasons why we should do missions. We are commanded to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). We know that people who die without trusting in Jesus face an eternity in hell, separated from God (John [...]
The Old Testament book of Judges is probably not one that many of us have spent much time studying. It is nestled in between the books of Joshua and First Samuel, and often gets overlooked because there does not seem to be any stories in Judges that apply to us today. The one exception might be the story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 13-16). Many of us have heard this story because of Samson’s incredible physical strength and his single-handed victories over the Philistines (Judges 15). Samson ultimately failed as [...]