The Bible is filled with ideas. Some ideas are beautiful, others are challenging, some give us comfort, others bring a deep fear. But Christianity is so much bigger than ideas. Just reading through the Gospel of Matthew can convince you of that. We may be tempted to think that Jesus is all about ideas, but […]
Mammonaholic? What’s that? What’s Mammon in the first place? We usually think of Mammon as “riches,” and that’s quite true. However, Mammon is much broader than that. Mammon is the misuse of God’s good creation through prideful expressions of power, prestige and possessions. In essence, Mammon is the power of Satan in and among us. […]
We are so easily insulted. We take offense at the smallest of things. We use the word “hurt” for our feelings as much as we do for bodily injury. Our automatic response to being insulted, offended or hurt is almost always self-defense. We must defend our pride. We must not let them get the upper […]
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. […]
