Worth Reading

James 1:12-18

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.

The Biggest Temple in Town

Many Christians aren’t allured in the least by spectator sports. God bless you. But for those of us who claim Jesus as Lord and also get hyped about our favorite teams, we need a regular soul-check. And especially at the onset of football season.

Love One Another With Brotherly Affection

Even if you hate sports you will love this story. Read/Watch it and, if you have children, share it with them!

Kids, Broccoli, and Jesus: Teaching the Gospel with Passion

Is Jesus the most important person in the universe? Absolutely. Is the gospel the most important message in the world? Of course. But when we leave it there, we are incomplete. Jesus is not just important. He is important and satisfying. Don't present Jesus just as someone kids should need. Present him as someone they should want. The gospel is the most thrilling news in the world about the most thrilling Person in the world. When our affections are ignited for Jesus, we will teach with passion and communicate with our words and attitudes that Jesus is not just important, he is better than anything else this world can offer.

This blog was written by Andy Styer

Worth Reading

James 1:2-18

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.

One Question to Unlock Your Evangelism

I doubt many Christians need convincing from Scripture that we’re all called to evangelize, to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus (1 Peter 2:9–10). Evangelism is the simple and supernatural telling, pleading, and inviting of people to turn from sin, and to place their faith in the one crucified to pay for sin and reigning now over the whole universe. In evangelism, we are telling people to run to Jesus.

But we often struggle with how to tell the good news, especially with where to start.

How a troubled Gulfport teen went from foster care to medical school

Shortly before he was taken to the shelter, Andrew had attended the youth group at First Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, where Russell is director of youth and church administrator. The friend who invited Andrew to church asked Russell if he would visit the teenager at the shelter.

God May Postpone Your Relief for His Glory

God is vitally concerned about his glory, about humanity recognizing him for who he is. This includes the people around us, observing us as we wait for deliverance. It also includes we who wait. Waiting on God is the essence of faith.
We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Jesus didn’t get relief when he requested it. He didn’t get relief at all. The greatest display of God’s glory (the cross) involved God refusing relief to his own son. God was glorified in not showing compassion to Jesus so that his compassion could be multiplied to the nations.

God is vitally concerned about his glory, about humanity recognizing him for who he is. This includes the people around us, observing us as we wait for deliverance. It also includes we who wait. Waiting on God is the essence of faith.

We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Jesus didn’t get relief when he requested it. He didn’t get relief at all. The greatest display of God’s glory (the cross) involved God refusing relief to his own son. God was glorified in not showing compassion to Jesus so that his compassion could be multiplied to the nations.

This blog was written by Andy Styer

Worth Reading

James 1:1

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.

9/11, History, and the True Story

We will never know, this side of heaven, where 9/11 fits in the larger story God is writing. But our literature and our history testify that it does.

Kindness Changes Everything

Kindness is underrated. We equate it with being nice or pleasant, as though it’s mainly about smiling, getting along, and not ruffling feathers. It seems a rather mundane virtue.

But the Bible presents a very different, and compelling, portrait of kindness.

What Does the Bible Say About Transgenderism?

I have not begun to answer all the important questions about pastoral care, counsel, and compassion for the hurting and confused. But with the cultural winds gusting as they are, we cannot assume that Christians—even those in good churches—know what to think about gender or why to think it. Hopefully this brief post, and these three building blocks, can help us ensure the right foundation is in place. After all, the goal is not to build a wall to keep people out, but that God might build up his church in truth and grace that we can welcome people in, calling his image bearers to embrace the life that is truly life (1 Tim. 6:19).

This blog was written by Andy Styer

Worth Reading

Psalm 145

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.

All of these will help prepare you for this Sunday:

God has a name, and he's given it to Jesus

. . . the claim of the New Testament is exactly that: Jesus Christ now bears the name Yahweh. And rather than detract from God’s glory, confessing Jesus as Yahweh magnifies it.

It takes a little bit of work to see this, however. . .

. . . as our God becomes that much more magnificent in the eyes of all, we will offer our praise to him, to his glory.

Singing Helps Us Feel the Gospel

God gave us singing to affect the things we love, to remind us of the things that are most important about what Jesus Christ has done to save us, to redeem us — those things are most important in life. We want to be amazed by those truths.

The Past, the Trinity, and the Community: Reflections on Race and the PCA

If we as a denomination long to delight in racial reconciliation, such truth-telling is required. To put it another way, the PCA needs confession and dialogue in order to live out the implications of our theological commitments. We need these things in order to pursue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What’s more, such truth-telling is an outworking of what it means to image our Triune God.

This blog was written by Andy Styer

Worth Reading

Psalm 124

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.

13 Reasons You Are Precious To God

Reading this will also help prepare you for the wonderful truths of Psalm 124…

We who believe in Jesus can often be more aware of our sin and unworthiness than God’s love for and delight in us. We may believe that God accepts us in his son, but it’s hard to believe he takes pleasure in us and views us as precious to him. Yet 1 Pe 5:7 tells us that God cares for us. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us God delights in his children and rejoices over them. Here are thirteen reasons you are precious to God:

When My Parents Left Me at Hardee’s

When my parents drove me to college, they left me at Hardee’s. For three hours. And I was the only other person in the car.

What Is Distinctive about Preaching, and How Does It Differ from Other Ministries of the Word?

People read their Bibles at home. People go to Bible studies. Children and young people are taught the Bible. So members of churches are hearing the words of God all the time. What is different about the Sunday sermon? What is distinctive about the Sunday sermon is that is addressed to the church?