“Pray for the nation and seek its good.”

This morning we pause and give thanks to our God for the freedoms we enjoy, freedoms that have come at significant cost to those who provided them. Those early signers of the Declaration and our first patriots all stood, served, and sacrificed while God gave birth to a new nation. For almost 250 years, our

This Is Advent

Thanksgiving is past. December has arrived. And it is now safe to play Christmas music without fear. This is the season of Advent. The word itself means “coming.”  This is the time when we celebrate the coming of the baby in the manger, a Savior to forgive us of our sins and provide a way

Thankfulness FOR Requires TO

“What are you thankful for?” This question (or one like it) will be asked around dinner tables all across the country this week.  As families gather and blessings are counted, we will rightly pause and consider all we are grateful for. Giving thanks FOR our blessings, however, is only one side of the gratitude coin.

Christ’s Church & His Sacrifice

Every believer should be a faithful and active member of a local church. Over the past two articles, I have tried to support this truth. I have attempted to establish it with two initial points: (1) every believer should be part of a local body of believers, and (2) becoming a formal, recognized member of

Is Church Membership Biblical?

Last week we considered the idea of the Church and the reasons why every believer should join with a local church. I do not know if the reasons given were compelling or not. Either way, I want to press the issue a little further. Not only is it a necessary expression of our faith to

It’s Time to Re-engage

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25, ESV) We are living in odd, difficult, and uncertain times. What we have experienced and are experiencing cannot be easily summarized or readily processed. But

Why Join A Local Church?

(adapted from Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever) Perhaps you have met someone, or you’re related to someone, or maybe, you ARE someone who doesn’t believe in “organized religion.” You might prefer to keep your faith a private matter between you and God – after all, the experiences you’ve had in church

The Sufficient Word of God

The Word of God ALWAYS produces a response. Paul wrote to the Colossians, “…you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood

Our Calling: Make Disciples

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And

When God Seems Absent

We’ve all been there. Some of us have been there more times than we want to remember and more recently than we care to admit. We have been on our knees, asking the Lord God to intervene on our behalf. Maybe for you it was in the midst of chemo. Maybe you have been calling