The church world is the only world I’ve ever known. My dad is a pastor. I have an uncle and a cousin who are pastors. I’m a pastor. In growing up in the church there are numerous realities one notices. Perhaps the most visible is this: people come and people go. People leave other churches…
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This Sunday we’ll conclude a short sermon series on the book of Job. Even though the subject of suffering is a dark one, Job is able to find hope. In the midst of excruciating pain, he is able to confidently declare: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand…
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When tragedy strikes, what do you do? You seek counseling. It may be with a professional therapist or it may be with your family and friends. Whoever it is, you seek them out primarily because you’re looking for comfort. In a few texts from Job, we’re going to look at three counseling models. Each one…
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The moment God used words to create the universe, he gave them an inherent power and dignity that is to be stewarded wisely. This is why I treasure words. And I am especially drawn to people who carefully craft words in such a way as to bring honor to Jesus Christ. “Spoken Word” is a…
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The first two chapters of Job pull back the curtain to allow us to see some of the inner workings behind the experience of suffering. Specifically, we’re given four different vantage points into suffering. How Satan sees suffering Satan operates under a premise: you will be loyal to God only if He blesses you. Read…
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Ray Ortlund Jr. once posted a provocative blog entitled, “One Anothers I Can’t Find in the New Testament.” His list is both somewhat amusing and gut-wrenching: How often are we Christians really good at doing these “one anothers”? I know. It’s sad. But if the church is going to be a harbinger of the new heavens and the new…
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Work makes up a significant portion of our lives. One would hope God’s Word would help us think about and approach our work in healthy ways. It does. Four God-Honoring Ways to Approach Work: 1. We were made to work God made galaxies, animals, plants, and human beings. All of it is called his ‘work’…
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Anxiety and anger are staples in our lives. There probably isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t feel a twinge of worry or some shred of underlying irritation. Why is that? And what do we do about it? 1. The anatomy of anxiety and anger “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your…
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Almost any genuine Bible-believing Christian will be able to articulate we are saved by grace not through our works. Salvation by grace is a uniqueness to Christianity not seen in any other world religion or philosophy. But in many instances the Christian church is missing something: we love our doctrine of grace, but we can be horrible…
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The Bible is very nuanced in its discussion of money. Within its pages, money falls into two different categories. It’s either a “danger” or a “blessing.” If money is a life-pressure, it’s not my financial position that needs to change. It’s my attitude towards it and my relationship with it that needs to change. How…
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