The cause is worthy and we must succeed. The enemy is powerful and enjoys a great numerical advantage. We hold the key to victory which no one can take away, yet we often succumb to the enemy, key in hand, without ever using it. I appeal to you today to join the resistance. Who are we resisting? […]
At the trial of Jesus, Pontius Pilate famously exclaimed, “What is truth?” Good question! Pilate lived in a world filled with so many competing claims to truth it would make your head spin. Sound familiar? The competing truth claims of our culture cause even the strongest Christian to wonder how to sort through it all. […]
A few weeks ago I got an email from a concerned parent about how to raise their children in a culture that has rejected God’s created order and Jesus, the One sent to restore that order. I just so happened to have been teaching the last hour on the Beatitudes from Matthew 5. The answer […]
At Bethel Lutheran Church, where I serve as Pastor, we have different types of worship music every week. Walking into worship you never know if you will hear organ, piano, guitars and drums, handbells or even an African praise team! This diversity is very deliberate. It is intended to help defend us from one of […]
It seems to me we travel through life generally seeking our own self-interests. When we consider what kind of impression we want to leave with people, we naturally want to leave a positive impression of ourselves. Now, that’s not all bad. Nobody wants to spend time with someone who leaves them with a bad impression […]
Over the past week, my denomination, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), has been dragged through the mud internally and externally over a very difficult issue for us. The context is the horrible school shootings that happened recently in Newtown, CT and the interfaith prayer vigil that followed. A pastor in the LCMS, Rev. […]
Have you ever wondered what the big deal is about the name of God? It’s everywhere, but what does it mean? At the beginning of our worship we invoke the name of the Triune God. We baptize in the Triune name of God. Christians bear the name of God and praise the name of God. […]
Maybe it’s happened to you. You’ve read a particular passage of Scripture time and time again, but this time something sunk in and changed you. It’s happened to me. I’ve been changed. Funny thing is, it’s a passage I’ve read hundreds of times, the Great Commission. As I reflect, a lot of things came together to bring […]
They don’t go together well, do they? If I’m being honest with myself, I can’t characterize our American Christmas with words like stillness, peace or tranquility. The fact is, it’s a frenetically busy time with overwhelming social obligations. It gets so crazy that many things we would like to accomplish in December get pushed back […]
“You shall have no other gods before me.” Those are the first words of instruction on how God wants His people to live. Closely following that instruction is some explanation. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth […]
