Worth Reading

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+12.28-34&version=ESV

Mark 12:28-34

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-one-must-read-this-year

The One Must-Read This Year

I have never called any book a “must-read” except one, the Bible. I suppose that’s because I take the word “must” so seriously. I mean, “Must,” or you perish. “Must,” in order to make it to heaven.

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/can-we-sing-too-much-about-the-cross

Can We Sing Too Much About the Cross?

Years ago I talked with a respected Christian leader about the need for our songs to refer more often and concretely to the cross of Christ. His response caught me off guard. “I think Matt Redman has written enough songs about the cross for all of us.”

http://www.alliancenet.org/christward/the-church-comes-first#.VnqZv4Rk7zI

The Church Comes First

As we come to the end of the year and press into yet another new year, it is always beneficial for us to evaluate our commitments and priorities from the past year--noting the ways in which we have, by God's grace, grown in certain areas and the ways in which we desperately need to grow in other areas. . . there is one area of supreme importance where growth is always needed yet sadly neglected. It is the need for us to resolve to give our lives to Christ in the worship and service of the local church. In a very real sense, it is right for us to insist that the church should come first in the order of priorities of our lives.

Worth Reading

Luke 2:8-20

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Advent Announces Reality (Advent: Part 3)

It was the most important event ever, accompanied by the most important song ever, containing the most important announcement ever - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased." (Luke 2:14)

The End of Christmas

Every person coming onto the stage merged together to bow down to this child…

The deep and abiding reality of the coming of the Son, from the beginning of creation to its end, together with his climactic appearance as the God-man in the incarnation, has a host of implications for us.

Did Jesus Even Exist? Responding to 5 Objections Raised by @rawstory

Well, its that time of year. Christmas is almost a week away and we are already seeing various media channels releasing stories, articles, and documentaries on Jesus. And when the dust settles, they all make the same point: the real Jesus is a lot different than you think.

Worth Reading

Mark 12:13-17

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Advent: Part 2

I wish I could write to you today and say that at all times, I trust in the breadth of God's immeasurable sovereignty and the depth of his endless love. While I have experienced these things on many occasions, I have to be honest with you: when the comfort and ease of life is interrupted, I wrestle with who God actually claims to be. I know I'm not alone in my struggle.

10 Reasons Why You Should Underprogram Your Church

Always ask “Should we?” before you ask “Can we?” Always ask “Will this please God?” before you ask “Will this please our people?” Always ask “Will this meet a need?” before you ask “Will this meet a demand?”

What True Love Does

If you want to advocate for and love others but are resistant to the idea of serving those in your own home + sphere of influence, perhaps you should evaluate your motive. Perhaps you should ask yourself if you’re truly motivated by love. If a person is truly motivated by love, they will serve others…no matter who it is or who is watching.

Worth Reading

Mark 11:27-12:12

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Christmas means that God IS fixing this

“God is not fixing this” is the headline at The New York Daily News in the wake of the horrific shootings in San Bernardino yesterday. The message reflects an unfolding social media dispute about gun control laws. Several Republican candidates for president had tweeted that their “thoughts and prayers” were with victims and families of the shooting. A backlash against such prayer followed...

...And that is why “God is not fixing this” is fundamentally at odds with advent season. God is fixing this. The new world order has already begun through the coming of Christ, and we are awaiting its consummation when He returns. In the meantime, we live between two worlds—between what the world is and what it can and will be. And we weep and grieve and labor and strive in patient hope...

Advent: Part 1

There's a second lie we believe: behavior reform will clean up the mess. In other words, we often think that all our world needs is a harsher justice system, a little faster police response, and a new election to replace corrupt politicians.

Again, there's some truth to this. God established law and order for the health of mankind, but the Bible never once proposes that the lasting solution for the human condition is more law. No, the Bible teaches that what humanity needs is radical heart change. . .

And that's what Advent is about - the arrival of Jesus Christ to fix what is broken: the human heart. This December, celebrate the work of the Messiah and the new heart you have (Ezekiel 36:26) because of his birth, death, and resurrection.

Why Bother?

This question—Why bother?—is about hope, and the purpose and the value and meaning of everyday life. Some of us can skirt it by staying busy, or finding something we enjoy doing. But many of us have to answer it or we can’t get through the day.

How do you answer the question: Why bother? Here are a few of the many possibilities.

Worth Reading

2 Timothy 3

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

What is Thanksgiving Day?

Thanksgiving is an American holiday that stretches all the way back to a time long before America became a nation. The Pilgrims landed in 1620. They faced brutal conditions and were woefully unprepared. Roughly half of them died in that first year. Then they had a successful harvest of corn. In November of 1621 they decided to celebrate a feast of thanksgiving

Discipleship: A Synonym for Christian Living

Just last weekend I went away with our elders for a time apart to re-examine our priorities as a church. The word “discipleship” started as one of many things on a “to do” list, and the more we talked and prayed, the more that word pushed its way to the top of the list.

That was all well and good, but almost immediately the discussion turned into a program — how could the elders begin “discipling” people, and how could that, in turn, multiply discipling throughout the congregation? Before we got too far down that road, I encouraged the group to substitute the phrase “making disciples,” from the Great Commission, for the word “discipleship.” That makes us stop and think biblically and comprehensively about just what Jesus’ mandate should mean in the life of our congregations.

Peace, Love, and Puritanism

To return to the first of these harvest feasts is to return to the puzzling figure of the Puritan, the name borne by most of the English people who came to New England in the early 17th century. What did they hope to gain by coming to the New World, and what values did they seek to practice?The easy answers simplify and distort. Nathaniel Hawthorne, who came along a couple of centuries later, bears some of the blame for the most repeated of the answers: that Puritans were self-righteous and authoritarian, bent on making everyone conform to a rigid set of rules and ostracizing everyone who disagreed with them. The colonists Hawthorne depicted in “The Scarlet Letter” lacked the human sympathies or “heart” he valued so highly. Over the years, Americans have added to Hawthorne’s unfriendly portrait with references to witch-hunting and harsh treatment of Native Americans.